5/29/09

Gothambia Redux - now at The Internet Archive

Yes, the album is (or will be very soon) now available for download from The Internet Archive.

Click HERE! (or click the album cover!)









I just completed my upload, so the Archive has to complete its various verification processes and create derivative files (lower resolution mp3's, ogg vorbis, etc.). But it should be ready to go very soon. I will also add it to my discography, complete with the other mirror links as provided in the former blog post.

You can also still download the album from Mediafire Here, or from Last.fm Here.

Please feel free to download, burn CDs, play them for your friends, etc., and thanX again for all your support.

5/24/09

Gothambia Redux - 2009


















01. Intro (Grey)
02. VM
03. Gothambia Redux
04. Tempo Volare
05. Esab Fails to See
06. Shadows
07. Justification
08. VB
09. Outro (Blue)

Download from Mediafire Here, or from Last.fm Here.

A dark and moody mix of progressive rock and jazz fusion. A mix of old and new songs. Guitar and piano solos. Real bass guitar.

I will be posting the full album to The Internet Archive as soon as possible. they seem to be having some difficulties with their search engine right now, so I figured I'd start with a Mediafire link to get the album posted and ready for download. Just avoid the stupid pop-ups at the Mediafire page (I really hate those thngs, but whadaya expect from a free service?).

Once it is posted at The Internet Archive, I will put it in the discography with all applicable links.

Please download, crank it up and enjoy. Please feel free to re-post the the link at your blogs, burn CDs and blast it in your cars, and annoy your neighbors.

ThanX,
Dimaension X

5/20/09

New/Old album almost done!

Yup, I am listening to what will hopefully be the final mixes of my new (old) album. I did two different versions of the mix - the first was just too compressed, and the drums just didn't stand out at all. So I removed the heavy compression from the master track, revised the drums' "leakage" to be a bit drier sounding, and re-mixed some of the levels to balance everything out.

The final tracks may not be as loud as a commercial CD (or MP3s), but I'd rather have more dynamics and variety than to have everything sound so squashed and compressed (like Metallica's "Death Magnetic" album). And the drums sound very different than they usually sound.

The music, ... how would I describe the music? I'd say Contemporary-Progressive-Classical-Rock-Fusion. There's 3 brand new songs, 3 recent songs completely re-recorded, and 3 from "Gothambia," my 1995 cassette recording (see my most recent post below). Those songs are not what I'd call "mellow," but definitely less "metal" than I've been doing lately. Think more Kayo Dot or maudlin of the Well, with longer guitar solos and piano solos. Oh yeah, GUITAR SOLOS! I've got some really long doozys there for all of you who might think I've given up the guitar solo. Nuh-uh! Some nice long ones. But please forgive the piano solos. I'm WAY out of practice, and they're downright amateurish. But I think they fit the mood of the album very well. OH! And all of the bass guitar is 100% real. No synth bass this time.

When the songs are ready (very soon!), I will post them to The Internet Archive, Last.fm, and probably a Mediafire link. From there, anyone who wants to create their own links to Rapidshare, zshare, P2P BitTorrents, and the like, please feel free to do so. I will probably not post them to Soundclick, because some of the songs are just too long for my free account.

I really love those older songs. I put a lot of work into the original recordings back in 1995, but decided that they needed to be redone for the digital age (without tape hiss and crappy samples).

5/13/09

More New (old) to come soon...

I seem to be having good luck lately with my old material that was never completed. So, ... I am in the midst of completing a new project - a collection of old songs from 1995 (!) that I have updated and re-recorded. This material was originally recorded using a very old Yamaha MIDI sequencer, called the QY-10. This was one of the first commercially available multi-track sequencers that was combined with a multi-timbral sound source - eight channels, though, not 16. The project was recorded to CASSETTE Tape. Yup, cassette. Wow. Old school, huh? To the left is the original cassette cover.

I also decided to re-record a few songs from my "End of An Era" CD that I was never quite happy with. I also decided to NOT use any synthesized bass guitar. All real bass guitar. Which was a real bugger to do for the whole album, since my bass chops are NOT up to par. Not to mention, my wrist is really sore after playing so much bass. Hopefully I won't develop any more cysts. Bass is not easy to play, especially with my small, "girlie" hands.

So far, the album is only 50 minutes long, so I may try to come up with another old song, or maybe even try to create something new. Maybe just a blues-jam type thing, where I just blast away. I might also try to play my edrums "live". I just bought a new pedal controller for my kick drum, so that might help.

Oh, the name of the project is "Gothambia Redux." I actually played some of these songs back in 1994 with a live drummer named Paul Roger. He was the original drummer for Absolute Zero, and was replaced by Pip Pyle (who played with Gong, National Health, and Hatfield & the North). Paul played an electronic drum kit LONG before they were fully developed and commercially available. I did record a few versions of these songs with him, so those old tracks might make interesting bonus tracks. Hmmmmmm,... I'll have to find that CD, rip 'em to my laptop, and remaster those suckers.

I have my work cut out for me, so I'll update you when I have more tracks and stuff.