Dimænsion X Realm

Merry (Dimaension-)Xmas!! More music!!!

2011-12-24T05:13:00.000-08:00

Yep - more music - I dug into the vaults and found some unreleased tunes that I recorded a few years ago (whilst in a very Metal mood!) and decided everybody behaved themselves very well this year and deserved another extra present from yours truly. More free music!!

This is a short EP, called "fUTUREGRIND", featuring my Schecter Omen 6 while it still had the stock pickups and using an Open C/D tuning (C,G,C,G,C,D). I was also testing my Behringer X1204 mixer, so the last few songs are recorded with that and my old Tech 21 Original Sansamp instead of my usual PODXT Live.

And yeah, I realized after I did the cover that it does look a lot like Jeff Loomis's solo album cover. Sorry, Jeff. But I really don't think anyone will mistake my album for yours.

Here's the link to The Internet Archive page, and the DIRECT DOWNLOAD link.

This stuff is very metal. So have a Very Metal Xmas and a Blastingly Loud New Year!!

To Black Dresses and Exploding Robots

2011-12-23T09:51:00.000-08:00

To Black Dresses and Exploding Robots is the name of the new Dimaension X album, which should be available very soon at The Internet Archive.

I just finished uploading the files to The Internet Archive, so they should be all done deriving the file formats in about a day or so, so the album should be ready for download just in time for Christmas.

Click HERE to go to the page at The Internet Archive to download the files.

You can also begin a DIRECT DOWNLOAD from The Internet Archive by clicking HERE!

And finally ... HERE is the Mediafire Link.

Thanks again for listening.

New Deadside Manor song

2011-12-18T06:26:00.001-08:00

Here's a (kind of) new song that my live band, Deadside Manor is adding to our live set:

Holy Roller by dimaensionx

New album in the works for early 2012?

2011-12-10T05:53:00.001-08:00

I managed to get a bunch of guitar tracks recorded yesterday for some new music I've been working on is whatever small amounts of spare time I've had lately. Next comes bass guitar, and I really have to work on the mix on some of the more complex songs. Lot's of weird synth parts combined with the heavy guitars, some orchestral sections, some guitar solos, etc. You know - a typical Dimaension X album.

Not sure if I'll have it ready before Christmas, but perhaps early 2012.

I've recorded all of the guitar tracks exclusively with my Schecter Omen 6, which has the new GFS Power Rails pickups - man these things cook! I liked the Mean 90's, but these just fit what I want to play much better. Heavy and crunchy.

Here's a preview below:

To Black Dresses and Exploding Robots by dimaensionx

Working on Zappa Tribute Album

2011-08-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

I am working of collecting all of my Zappa covers (plus a few non-Zappa covers) and compiling them all into one album that I'll post for download.

The only thing is they were all recorded at different times, so I have to do some re-mastering first and make sure the levels are all relatively even.

I'm also thinking of starting a new project like Burn Without Me. Just weird, heavy, complex, lots of different parts that wouldn't normally go together.

More later.

E-Crisis-1 complete and ready for download!

2011-07-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

Here it is, finally, by first full album recorded since 2009 -

E-Crisis-1

(or download the ZIP file direct from the Internet Archive by clicking HERE!)

Or download from Mediafire HERE!

Another foray into my musical roots of progressive ambient rock fusion.

The music from this recording was actually first realized way back in 1999 on cassette tape. Yes, cassette tape. Similar to my Gothambia Redux album, I decided to give some of my old music an update, so I dug out the old tape, listened to it, and began re-creating it using the newer modern studio equipment that is now in existence (better drum samples, Reaper DAW software, VSTi Synths, etc.)

I also mainly used my Schecter Omen 6 with the new GFS Mean 90 pickups. I think my rhythm guitar tones came out pretty good, and my leads sound okay, too. I did also use my other guitars for some solos and rhythm parts (my trusty old Yamaha SSJ-550 Hr with DiMarzio pickups, and my new Xaviere XV-870 Darkside w/Lil Killer rail humbuckers).

I'll be adding the album to my Discography, complete with link to it's download page at the Internet Archive as usual. Dig in, download, and crank it up!!

E-Crisis-1 Guitars almost done!

2011-07-17T12:51:00.000-07:00

Finally managed to get most of the guitars done for this Dimaension X project - it's been sitting there waiting for me since early May, when I started my new job (so yeah, I've been a bit busy), but now it is "mostly" done. I've got one song left to do, kind of a bonus track that I already recorded and posted at Soundcloud under the name "Darkrisis-1", but without any guitars. I will add some heavy, abstract guitars to this mix, and add it to the E-Crisis-1 project.

It sounds a bit different than the other tracks on this album, but it might be a good lead into the next project, whatever it may be.

I'm really rusty as far as "lead" playing goes. I've mainly been concentrating on rhythm playing with my band, and haven't played any extended solo improvisations in a LONG TIME. Plus my left arm has a bit of tendinitis. And my left hand fingers seem to be developing some arthritis. My dad just calls these symptoms of a common condition known as "T.F.O."

Too F#%kin' Old

Yup. My dad. A sayer of truth if there ever was one.

So ... hopefully I will be posting the new album at The Internet Archive soon. I'll let y'all know when it happens. Oh, the anticipation.

2nd Gig - polar opposite, and yet not really...

2011-07-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

2nd gig accomplished.

Same result, but different journey along the way.

Instead of opening for an alterna-pop band and a cover band, we opened for three metal-core bands. And these guys were intense. Very talented musicians, completely "damaged" vocalists, blast-beats, sweep-picking/shredding, 8-string guitars, and so on.

As They Looked To the Sky (8string guitarists, no bass needed)
Destroy the Legacy (completely whacked-out vocalist, damn!)
Amnaeon (all under 21 years old - a girl guitarist - GO JUSTINE!!)

Boy do I feel old.

But the sound was much better - I could actually hear myself without turning my up to eleven, and I think we played pretty well. Lights were cool. Awesome size stage (though the drum-riser is really un-necessary). We stayed pretty tight, a few flubs here or there, but not really noticeable to anyone but us. And the other bands were appreciative and supportive (and we did the same, staying until the end of the last bands set).

The club (Whiskey Alley, in Fitchburg MA) was pretty much empty, except for my wife, son, brother, two friends of the bassist, a few other band girlfriends, and ... well, the other bands. I'm sure the club owner was pissed, but I still had a great time. Not many metal shows in the local areas featuring bands with that kind of "intensity" and dedication.

We may have another gig on October, this time with local legends Musclecah (our drummer is their drummer - we are wicked lucky to have him.) More updates at a later date.

Deadside Manor Videos

2011-06-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

The gig at the Lucky Dog Music Hall went pretty well.

Yeah, there were only about 15 people there, but they really seemed to like what we did. We also got a buddy there to video record the whole show, and we're getting the vidz up one at a time on Facebook, and on our webpage.

here's the link the the Video page:

Deadide Manor Live Video

The sound isn't all that great, but it was done with a FlipCam. Whadaya expect? A Spielberg production?

Deadside Manor Website up (sort of)

2011-06-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

The Deadside Manor website is up and running (sort of). At least I think it is. Try the link and see. It seems to work for me, but when I try to add it at the band's Facebook page, it just doesn't seem to want to apply.

Deadside Manor Website

Weird.

Well, try it out.

Oh, and the Deadside Manor email address is:

deadsidemanor@gmail.com

Thanks.

Email us for booking info, etc.

Debut Gig at The Lucky Dog!!

2011-06-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

Yup, our debut gig is June 17th, 9:00pm at the famed Lucky Dog Music Hall (formerly sir Morgan's Cove) in Worcester MA. The Rolling Stones played there in 1981. Yeah, the Rolling-freakin'-Stones!

Anybody into Motorhead, Clutch, Foo Fighters, Entombed, Sex Pistols, and any insane combination of all of the above should get themselves down there. We're hoping anybody with a decent video cam will record us and post it at the YouTube, or Vimeo, or any of those online video services.

We also have a Facebook page started up, so hop on over and LIKE us.

Scroll down a bit, or just click HERE, DUDE for our online demo (also posted directly at Soundcloud).

For the uninitiated, Deadside Manor is:

Dan "the Man" Flynn - Vocals

Clint Mitchell - Bass

James Jones - Drums

Dave Lanciani - Guitar

Please c'mon by for the debut gig. There's only one debut gig ever for any band, and this is ours!

E-Crisis-1 gets the "George Lucas" treatment

2011-05-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

This project was originally one of my last "cassette tape" recordings from 1998, just before I finally began recording on computer and CDs. Stylistically, it is more similar to my "Bryson's Universe" album. Spacey synths, simple rock rhythms and extended guitar solos. I was going to try transferring the original songs directly from cassette, but the sound quality was just too bad.

I also realized that I deleted all of my original MIDI files, so I could not use any pre-existing tracks. I decided to re-create the whole thing completely from scratch. Yay.

So I sat at the computer with my DAW open, and started listening to the tape. And began playing/programming all new tracks. And made some revisions here and there, but the songs are basically the same as before, but a bit different, revising the order of some of the tracks, and trying to re-create some of the weirder synth sounds from my old Casio keyboards with GM Standard MIDI sounds in my Cakewalk TTS-1 VSTi, and a few other VSTi's.

Overdubbing and punching-in guitar tracks will also be very different than my original guitar tracks which were recorded "live" on one track from start to finish in each song. This time I can stop and re-do parts, layer, pan, add effects, etc. And hopefully my guitar-playing ability has improved a bit since 1998. And my equipment has been upgraded a bit.

I've been exploring my old computer files and disks, and realized I have accumulated enough music for at least six albums that I never committed to recording final versions. I will begin "raiding the vaults" for as much material as I can, and try to bring some of these old albums to life. I think some of this music really deserves to be properly recorded and released. I think my album, Gothambia Redux really came out good, far better than it's original incarnation, so perhaps it is time I gave some of my old and unreleased music the "George Lucas" treatment.

Deadside Manor Demo (so far...)

2011-05-17T09:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the Deadside Manor Demo posted at Soundcloud.com

Deadside Manor Demo

Deadside Manor is:

Dan Flynn - Vox

Clint Mitchell - Bass

James Jones - Drums

Dave Lanciani - Guitar

Note: - the drums are currently still my programmed drums, but I tried to match what Jonesy plays as close as possible, and believe me, his live drums friggen' ROCK! I've had the pleasure of seeing this guy with his main band, Musclecah at Ralphs' in Worcester, MA and the whole room shakes. Really.

We've burned some disks and will hand them to club owners, promoters, etc. This band has been a great experience for me; just an absolute blast.

Debut/Warm-up Gig Soon?

2011-04-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

Rumors of a debut/warm-up gig may be true very soon - stay tuned!!

Wisdom from the Deadside Manor ...

2011-03-04T11:54:00.000-08:00

If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

Deadside Manor

2011-01-30T05:37:00.000-08:00

the name of the band is ...

Deadside Manor

Finally agreed on a name. Now onward...

First Song by the New Band

2011-01-20T09:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, kids, here's the first song that we've decided to post from the still unnamed band. Technically, I'm actually playing all the instruments for this particular demo, but we are adding live bass guitar from Clint, and Jamie will soon be recording his live drums.

Right-click to open in new tab or window.

http://soundcloud.com/dimaensionx/mr-flynns-rockit-ride

It's a heavy, kinda bluesy tune called, "Mr. Flynn's Rockit Ride." Here's a few comments we've already heard from a few "fans" on the Reaper DAW Users Forum.

"Great rocking tune! I like the sounds too, especially the bass growl and string clunk."

"Liked your dirty 70s blues sound."

"Sounds like a great start. IMO, you should make this band all about the singer. He's got a very gritty and distinct blue-collar kind of style. Make sure that he always has interesting phrasing and bad attitude."

So far so good, huh? Here's the details on the band:

Dan Flynn - vox

Clint Mitchell - bass

James Jones - drums

Dave Lanciani - guitar

Arisen from the ashes of the "Basement Barfers" (today's color is "chunky pink"), the eternal trio of Dan Flynn, James Jones, and Clint Mitchell "volunteered" (conscripted/recruited?? lured by the prospect of money, drugs and groupies) Dave Lanciani into the mix, hoping to temporarily stave off the "revolving-door policy" of random guitar-players. The new band, now with more of a rockin' thrashy, traditional heavy metalbackground (imagine the Sex Pistols jamming with Entombed, Motorhead and Iron Maiden) forge ahead into the unknown.

Wow, that sounds really pretentious...

We're going to get a link up on Facebook, too. And we still need a name. Any ideas?

Some new music ... yet another Zappa Tribute

2011-01-03T09:26:00.001-08:00

I managed to get a new tune recorded on Sunday, January 02, 2011

After watching my new copy of Frank Zappa, "The Torture Never Stops", which is a DVD of his great concert from Halloween Night, 1981 at the Palladium in New York, I was feeling a bit down, realizing that Mr Zappa has actually been gone for more than ten years. We'll never have another musician like him. So I pulled out my new Xaviere XV-870, plugged in, and recorded this:

Dimaension X "Ink Ero Des"

It's basically a cover of Frank Zappa's guitar solo section of his song "Inca Roads". One of my favorite solos from Frank (and apparently one of the more popular guitar solos from him, since there's a ton of different versions of this very solo).

Hope y'all like.

Burn Without Me and Moroghor news

2010-12-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed, there haven't been any news or updates for quite sometime now. Neither band is considered "active" anymore. Both are on extended hiatus. There are a few reasons for this.

First and foremost (and here's the big reveal for those of you who still may not have actually figured it out yet) neither band actually exists. Both are fictional bands created by Dimaension X. Yup, I, Dimaension X (also know my my true identity of Dave Lanciani) am the sole member of each project. I made each one up to explore different styles of music without too much of a connection to my own main Dimaension X stuff. Any other band member names in either project are fictional. Kind of like Brandon Smalls and Dethklok, or Steven Wilson's early vision of Porcupine Tree.

Secondly, I just haven't had any time to devote to either project, or even my own stuff since I joined a real band. Yes, a real band that actually does exist in reality - i.e., other actual humans who play instruments and sing. For now, this is what I am concentrating on. Quite frankly, I really needed this. It is such a blast to take part in musical creation with real people, just cranking up the amps and blasting away on simple chugging muted rock-power chords.

I'm also closing both bands' Myspace accounts. I'm just too busy and too lazy to keep up with maintaining them. I also closed my Dimaension X Myspace page. Everything you need to know about either project is still at their respective websites and blogs which are still active, as are the links to download their albums. I am going to try to upload Moroghor's music to The Internet Archive soon, so that ALL of the music I've done is readily available from there.

I'll be posting the same new update at all of the main websites, so all of our fans (all three of you!) will be properly informed.

Please note that this news does not mean that any of these projects are gone forever. When I have some time again, I may dig in and post some new music, depending of what mood I'm in. Feeling black and evil - I'll do some Moroghor tunes! Feeling generally schizophrenic and heavy - Burn Without Me! Jazzy-rock-ambient-classical? Dimaension X.

New band and more...

2010-11-21T05:51:00.000-08:00

New band - yup, I guess that's the first big news - I've actually joined a band. I haven't played with a live band since 1994, but I decided it was time to brush up the live chops and just do it.

My next-door neighbor's band, "The Screamin' Barfys" broke up, or the guitarist was kicked out, or left, or a little of both, due to personality and musical conflicts, etc., so the left-over band, Clint, my neighbor on bass, Jamie on drums (also the drummer for Musclecah!!), and Dan of vox asked me if I'd be willing to step in and help out.

Since I've known these guys for a while now (Clint does live right frickin next-door!), and helped record their first album/demo, I said "sure." And it's been a blast. Really.

Where the Barfys' sound was more like 90's grunge-meets-hardcore, we're a bit more classic/traditional/early heavy metal/hard rock-meets-classic punk rock. If the Sex Pistols, Motorhead and Rollins Band fell into a blender ... well, that's kinda what we're trying. Maybe mid-to-late Entombed with clean singing?

We're pretty much sticking to all-original material (eleven songs written so far), and perhaps an odd cover tune or two if we ever get around to it. Dan has most of the lyrics done, and we're refining things as we practice. I'm also working on demo recordings as we progress, so we can do full versions when we're ready. I'd personally like to try recording the whole band live to capture that "energy."

Oh, we still don't have a name yet.

More news ... new toys - since my Schecter sounds so great with the GFS Mean 90 pickups, I've been oggling other stuff at the Guitar Fetish website, and finally gave in to my G.A.S. disease (Gear Aquisition Syndrome). In the clearance/blemish section, I found a very cool guitar, a Xaviere XV-870 Darkside Edition on sale for a ridiculous low price, plus I had a 15% off coupon code, so I dove in, along with ordering a set of Lil Killer Rail pickups for it. The guitar is basically a Strat-copy, but it looks like David Gilmour's strat, the black one with Maple fretboard and white hardware. It will hopefully be ready in less than a week. Can't wait to crank that thing with the new pickups. I already gave it a test-run with the band, and it really sounded great with the original stock pickups (which are GFS Vintage Alnico Staggers), but I had to adjust the amp and effect settings for traditional single coils, which tend to be a bit thin and trebly. But it did sound great, so these new pickups should really kick butt.

I also upgraded the firmware in my Line 6 Spider IV 75, so I added a bunch of new effects to an already great amp. They finally included their great simulation of the Tube Screamer, which I use all the time in my POD XT Live. There's also a bunch of new delays, and other stuff that I just haven't gotten around to yet. Gotta live Line 6. Yeah, I'm a walking advertisement, but I love their stuff.

And in other Interwebs news - I cancelled/closed my Myspace pages, including the Moroghor and Burn Without Me pages. I am still online here (duh, obviously), and Moroghor and Burn Without Me still have their regular websites where you can still download their albums. I just found that I totally lost interest in Myspace. I guess the new un-named band might still make a Myspace page when we're ready, but for now I'm done. Hmmm. I think I'll probably cancel my account over at last.fm, too.

New Toys Update

2010-08-31T08:54:00.000-07:00

Wow. That's how everything sounded when I jammed with my next-door neighbor's band with my new amp and Mean 90 equipped Schecter.

The Mean 90 pickups sound great - they do sound like a cross between a single-coil and a vintage humbucker. Granted they do hum like a single coil would, but not as much as you would think. Very clear and crisp, yet with plenty of crunch. I had the pickups installed at Wavelengths Pro Audio Studios by Dianne Redstone, who is also a guitar instructor at the facility. I highly recommend this place to anyone looking to have their guitar adjusted or setup, pickups installed, etc. Very professional and not expensive.

The Line 6 amp performed well beyond expectations. I don't think I even had the master volume up to "ten-o'clock"(there are no actual numbers on any of the control knobs) and it was PLENTY LOUD. There were a few moments when the drummer got really loud, and I may have gotten drowned out a bit, but other than that, it sounded real good.

So all has ended well with these new toys, and I have kinda started a new band with these guys. We're writing a bunch of tunes, hopefully recording them, and then we're gonna try to get some local gigs in Worcester. More on that in later posts.

My new toy

2010-07-25T08:41:00.000-07:00

Yup, I bought myself a new toy, kids. A Line 6 Spider IV 75 Watt amp.

Here she is:

75 Loud watts of output into a custom 12" Celestion Speaker - hundreds of built-in presets, 64 user locations to store your own sounds, and I also bought the FBV Mk II Express pedal control board so I can switch thru 4 of the presets at at time.

Can't wait to really play this thing loud and test it out!!!

I am also looking into replacing the stock pickups on my Schecter Omen 6 with some GFS Mean 90's, which are a humbucker-sized version of a vintage P-90 pickup. This may drastically change the sound of that guitar, but I want something with a bit more clarity and "spank", as opposed to the loud, but kind of dull sound I get now.

Any opinions on pickups, let me know whatcha think.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

2010-07-03T13:51:00.001-07:00

I finally decided to release an album I was holding on to, in hopes that I could find a singer to add some vocals, but alas, n'er did I twixt to findth yon vo'clist.

Sorry for the Shakespearean dramatic text, but I really needed to post some "new" material for the masses, since I haven't done anything productive in a LOOOONNNNGGGGG time.

So here it is. I actually just finished posting the songs to the Internet Archive, so the derivation files may not be complete for another few hours from now (5:00 PM EST), so wait a while, then zoom on over and download the tunes.

Here's a copy of the details as posted at the Archive Page:

"Light at the End of the Tunnel" almost didn't see the light of day (hah! pun!). I actually had this music done back in September of 2009, but decided to hold off to see if I could find a vocalist to add some vocals to the songs. Well, that didn't work out, so I decided to finally release the songs as they are. At that particular time, I was listening heavily to "post-rock" and "post-metal" bands like Pelican, Isis, Kayo Dot, Gifts From Enola, Sigur Ros, and Mono. So I decided to try my hand at some similar music. Not that it turned out that way, but the influence is there. Hope you like.

The whole album was written and performed with the guitars tuned to Open C/D (C,G,C,G,C,D), except for the last song, which is in Standard E tuning."

So here's a pic of the Cover:

And the link:

Dimaension X - Light at the End of the Tunnel

Like I said above, the Internet Archive is busy creative Derivative Files (MP3, OGG Vorbis, ZIP of whole album, etc.), so it might be a few hours (or even a day or so) before we're fully ready for download.

Check it out when you have the chance.

Also available at a Mediafire link - Download Here

ThanX,

My Online Portfolio

2010-05-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

I've finally created my own online professional portfolio, displaying my graphic arts, printing and music experience. Anyone interested in seeing what I've done as a professional artist, designer, and pre-press technician, please stop on by.

http://sites.google.com/site/davidlancianisportfolio/

THNX.

Moroghor is back!

2010-03-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest post from Moroghor's website:

"March 24, 2010 - Zath is back! Yes, our original drummer Zatholal is back in the drum throne and has inspired us to begin work on some new material. Our bud Dimaension X will still be working with us as a producer and recording engineer, and will be contributing some synths, some guitar parts and ambient backgrounds

We're kind of psyched up about this, and have some new ideas for new material. We will also be returning somewhat to our more black metal roots, lots of blast-beats and evil tremolo picked riffs, but keeping a spacey and dark atmosphere. Kind of like Marduk jamming with Darkspace and Xasthur.

We will update with the latest news as the recording progresses."

So yeah, I'll be doing some new recording and producing for Moroghor pretty soon. I'm looking forward to NOT playing drums again, since I had a real tough time with it for their "darkness" album, and really didn't like the final drum mix. This time I can pay attention to the details without having to worry about my own performance, etc.

More news soon...

Captain Cook's Adventures in the Fruity Dimaension

2010-02-08T15:02:00.000-08:00

If you think this blog's headline is too silly, then don't bother reading any further.

I've been collaborating with a former co-worker, named Matt Fruit who is a heckuva bassist on some new material. We're also planning on bringing aboard a vocalist, another former co-worker named Jason Cook who's a bit "loopy" like myself with an odd sense of humor and a love for nerdy sci-fi like Dr. Who.

Both of these guys were members of 2nd Class Citizen, a local band that recorded two pretty hefty demos and never quite got the attention they deserved. So maybe I can borrow their talents and turn them into something somewhat twisted and original.

The blog title was originated by (and somewhat modified by myself) another former co-worker who was the drummer in 2nd Class Citizen, named Mick Short. Hmmm. Am I putting a rhythm section together? Hmmmmmmmm? Recording drums would be a serious challenge, which I may not be up to quite yet. But perhaps ... ?

Mick's original title for the project ("Fruity Cooked Dimaension") inspired me and my somewhat twisted sense of humor to further extend the title, which brings to mind Devin Townsend's own "Ziltoid the Omniscient" project, which inspired me to write a short "screenplay" introducing Captain Cook, a sort of Zapp Brannigan-ish character seeking adventure after he's already defeated all of his enemies.

Who knows where this is going. It may flop completely. Most likely it will suck.

21,845 downloads from The Internet Archive

2009-12-19T06:57:00.000-08:00

Yup, ... did a count of total downloads of my albums at the Internet Archive -

21,845

Cool, huh? And that actually does NOT count the various albums with uploads to Mediafire, Megaupload, Rapidshare, etc.

Yeah, I needed a little ego boost. I need some inspiration for my next musical project which has come to a complete halt due to work, holiday stuff, etc. Maybe I'll have a bit more time in the next few weeks once the holidays have passed.

21,845.

Cool.

By the way, ... thanX to all you knutz who actually downloaded my tunes. Much appreciated. Really.

New Demo Songs up

2009-12-12T05:31:00.000-08:00

It's been a looonnng time, ...

Yeah, I finally have some new tunes posted. I actually had them done a few weeks back, but haven't gotten around to posting them anywhere. So I finally uploaded them to my "basic" Soundclick page for your listening displeasure.

They're also in the Soundclick player located right on this page - you should see it if you scroll down a bit.

These are NOT what I would call completed songs, though. I just plugged in the geetar, spontaneously came up with a riff, recorded it, next riff, recorded it, etc. Not exactly "improvised", but not well thought out either or "composed" in the traditional sense. They all have a bunch of different tunings - the first is in Open C with a D, a few in Drop-D, a few in E Standard, etc. Just whatever I felt like at the time. And some have real bass, too.

Well, just listen, and let me know what you think.
ThanX.

The New Album - "Laws of Repulsion"

2009-09-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

Here it is folks, the new album completed - "Laws of Repulsion"

The Song List:
1. Obviate, Question, Give
2. Cosmic Disorder
3 .Unholy Magick
4. Divine Forgetfullness
5. Quantum Irrationality
6. Negative Thinking
7. Extinguish
8. Elysian Failure
9. Irreligious Science
10. Obverse Purchase
11. Pathological Solipsism

This album is my return to my love of free-form jazz-rock-fusion and improvisation. My tribute to some of my old favorites - Sonny Sharrock, Bill Laswell, Last Exit, Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Greg Ginn's Gone project, Joe Morris - and some new ones - Nels Cline, Marc Ducret, Marc Ribot, Gregg Bendian, and too many more to mention.

Basically, the music is in the form of a guitar/bass/drums power trio with some extra synthesizers sparsely added here and there to spice up the intros, outros, etc. But what you have as a result is a bunch of very freely improvised jams, mostly first takes, ... to borrow from a John Scofield album title - "loud jazz."

I'll also be posting this album at last.fm and most likely provide a Mediafire "mirror" link.

Please download, burn to CDs, play it loudly, tell your weird friends about it, re-post the link at your blogs, etc.

Jazz Improv Project

2009-09-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

I've put my current semi-vocal project album aside to work on some completely new music. I've been immersing myself back into a style that I was heavily into in the 1990's - free jazz improv. Sonny Sharrock, Bill Laswell, Last Exit, and a few others were big on my playlist back then, and I've begun to listen some of the newer guys in the noisy-improv scene, like Marc Ribot, Nels Cline, Gregg Bendian, Joe Morris, etc.

These bands create some incredible music, most of it improvised and created on the spot. And some of it is pretty noisy and chaotic. So I'm forcing myself to try to come up with some jazzy-sounding stuff, and record it as fast as possible with very little preparation. Just hit play and record. I want it to sound very loose and spontaneous, like a trio of musicians in a room just jamming and having fun, making noisy music and musical noise.

It's not as easy as it sounds. I may try recruiting a few folks to see if we can actually get some live jamming done, but we'll see. I may just have to be daring on my own. I haven't played real free-form in a while, so I'm sure I'm a bit rusty. Maybe the guys from Burn Without Me or Moroghor might be daring enough to face this odd challenge. Hmmmm,...

Vocals?? Maybe, but not mine...

2009-09-09T05:47:00.000-07:00

The album is on hold for a bit - I've decided to give a copy of it to my neighbor, Clint Mitchell, who is the bassist for The Screamin' Barfys. He's going to give it a listen along with Screamin' Barfys vocalist, Dan "The Man" Flynn, who I might have come up with some lyrics and lay down some vocals. This will be a big "first" for Dimaension X.

I decided to do this, because I just thought the music was missing something. It was a lot of great chord progressions and riffs, but it sounded like it was ust missing something on top, like WORDS. These songs actually sounded like songs for once, so instead of trying to add additional guitar riffs on top, which just wasn't working, I'm gonna wait and see what Dan and Clint come up with.

I like Dan's style with the 'Barfys. It's not my usual style, but I like how his lyrics are somewhere between Jim Morrison and Henry Rollins. His vocal style is more like a more unstable (in a good way) Eddie Vedder, or, again, Mr. Henry Rollins from his early Black Flag days - very raw, but with some interesting lyrical twists.

So we'll see what happens. Either way, I'm not crazy about the music on it's own, so if the vocals don't work out, I may only release a few of the songs that are fine on their own.

New Dimaension X album nearing the end

2009-09-03T07:10:00.000-07:00

Nearing the finish line I am! The parts are basically recorded, but I need to give it a few more critical listens and mixdowns before unleashing it unto the universe. It's a bit odd; I'm really not sure of how to describe the music. It's actually very spontaneous, a lot of the parts recorded as I came up with them, so not a lot of forethought went into this effort.

I did use my "Word/Phrase" composition method for the "basic" chord progressions and riffs, but kept it very loose, and revised things that didn't quite work. I also did most of the album with my Schecter Omen-6 tuned to CGCGCD, so I had to completely re-learn the fretboard, too. To help with this, I discovered a very helpful website called StudyBass.com (www.studybass.com - duh?). This site has a great feature that allows you to print out fretboard diagrams with custom tunings, scales, chords, etc. A huge help. Just type in how your guitar or bass is tuned, and then tell it what scales you want to see, and it creates a great printable diagram of the fretboard.

This album is very different than my usual work, which usually has a lot of keyboards and synths. This one is 95% guitar-oriented. Only a few very short and simple synth parts, and a few that are actually guitar with some freaky effects that make it sound like a synth. There aren't a lot of "melodies", mainly chord progressions and riffs that will hopefully keep your head bobbin' and your foot tappin'. I've been listening to a lot of "post-rock" and "post-metal" bands lately, and their music tends to be comprised mainly of very open and free chord structures - the songs mainly rely on simple and repetitive chord progressions, but the variety is in the dynamics of the songs, going from heavy to lighter sections, creating crescendos and decrescendos through sheer volume and tempo changes.

So you may love it or hate it. It could be ground-breaking or a total snooze-fest. But I've been wanting to do something new and different for quite some time, and my work with both Burn Without Me and Moroghor inspired me to delve into unexplored areas.

I also have to work on the cover art, and figure out the best places to post it. Very soon, folks.

What's next?

2009-08-23T06:10:00.000-07:00

Okay - here we go - I've been trying to come up with ideas for the next Dimaension X project, and have been immersing myself in a few different types of music:

Post-metal
Atmospheric Black Metal
Devin Townsend
Tortoise

Post-metal bands as mentioned in the previous blog have really been seeping onto my consciousness as of late, much more so than your typical metal music. I just find this kind of music more open and interesting, and capable of going into different directions, unlimited by the usual "constrictions" that most "Metal" bands feel the need to adhere to. It can be subtle and mellow, or heavier than hell. It can be fast or slow. Loud or soft. Brutal or melodic. So much interesting potential.

Atmospheric Black Metal is also an area of great potential, similar to post-metal, where it may have the typical blast-beats and tremolo picked riffs, but it is the haunting atmosphere and general feel of the music that removes it from the usual stereotype. I'm not about to start adding evil screeching vocals to the music. It's more about "atmosphere". I just discovered a great band called Organ, who play all-instrumental "black metal", but they sound more like Tortoise with blast-beats and weird vocal samples.

Devin Townsend and Strapping Young Lad have been coming out of my speakers lately. I've had an odd musical relationship with the HevyOne. At first, I found him to be really annoying, just overdoing the whole "wall-of-sound" thing, but as time has gone on, and I've acquainted myself more with his music, and with the way he creates music that I've come to respect the man and the music more, and even grow to like it a lot. His tuning alone has inspired me to once again re-tune the Schecter in a similar fashion. Dev tuned most of his music to an Open C chord (CGCGCE), but I have tuned to Open C minor (CGCGCEb). Personally, I think the Open C minor is better, because you can easily make the chord Major again with one finger fret. The problem is that I now have to re-learn the whole fretboard and associated scales/modes, which are completely different in this tuning.

Tortoise is a band that I never listened to until just recently. I think I did listen a bit years ago, but just didn't have the patience or musical maturity to fully appreciate them. Their music is open and expansive, jazzy and rockin', improvisational and stricltly composed. Each member is capable of playing numerous instruments, and does so in their live performances, switching from guitar to bass to vibraphone to synths, etc. I'd love to actually be able to put together some kind of similar ensemble of local musicians and do this kind of thing. If only I could actually find like-minded musicians. That's the problem.

So my next album with probably be some odd combination of all of the above. Or not. We shall see.

Post-Metal and beyond

2009-08-18T07:01:00.000-07:00

As I approach the completion of the drums and mixes for the 2nd Moroghor album, I am looking at the future of Dimaension X and trying to decide what's next. I am beginning to reach a sense of frustration in the metal music world, and have begun to explore more on the boundaries of what might be known as post-metal. I am finding too many restrictive "rules" and cliches in metal. I want to be a bit more exploratory and daring. Go out on a limb and take more musical chances, rather than adhere to tremolo picking over blast-beats and dark atmospheres.

I've been discovering a few more bands that are more interesting and have more to do with my current musical interests.

From Monuments to Masses, Gifts From Enola and Ahkmed are a few of those bands, along with very experimental bands Maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot. These bands still have some metal in their nature - loud, distorted guitars and basses, pounding drums, but there is a more experimental and meandering quality to their music.

The first two mentioned I can describe as having similarities to Sigur Ros, but without the annoying falsetto vocals, and with more "rock" in the sound. In fact, Gifts from Enola often sound downright heavy and angry, more like a lighter Neurosis or Isis. FMTM have more of a "pop" sound and can be pretty darn "funky" in spots, even if the beat is odd-timed. And I would describe Ahkmed as more expansive space-rock, similar to Subarachnoid Space or Led Zeppelin during the real long live versions of "Dazed and Confused" or "Whole Lotta Love". And not a blast-beat anywhere on any of there albums. Oh well.

Now, MOTW and Kayo Dot are basically the same band (sort or), being led by c-founder/multi-instrumentalist/composer Toby Driver. Their music contains elements from many different genres including doom metal, indie rock, jazz, progressive rock, post rock, progressive metal and death metal. Their latest album was made available for FREE download at their website. Very cool. Go there and download it now. Really.

So what now for Dimaension X. Frankly, I don't know. I am most certainly still a big metal fan, and metal will always be a significant part of my musical (and genetic) makeup, but I like other stuff, too, and will be incorporating more different stuff into my next projects. When I get around to it.

I am still job hunting, which is a big priority, and the weather right now is hot and humid - not great for sitting at a computer with my guitar as my fingers sweat all over the strings and the computer cooling fans are over-worked. So no music creating just this second. When the weather cools off, I'll start working on some new material, and I will be finishing Moroghor's new album very soon.

Drumming - UGH!!

2009-08-04T06:16:00.000-07:00

Drumming - ugh!!!

I started working on the drums for the new Moroghor album. God, I am fricken' AWFUL!

My edrum kit is not exactly a professional setup. Two years ago, when I first got into edrums, I went out and bought TWO of those cheapo ION Audio drumkits at TARGET. Yes, Target.

I spent a few days looking at drum setups online, and basically customized the two kits into one decent setup. The only big problem was with the pedals that came with the kit. Terrible.

So first I built my own triggers from Radio Shack door buzzer parts and used a few actual kick drum pedals, but these were very inconsistent. Recently I upgraded to a new, and inexpensive alternative.

ROCK BAND replacement pedals. That's right. I went to the local Gamestop store and bought one of those $25 pedals that you can buy when you break the pedal that comes with Rock Band. Guess what. It works great. And you can buy two and link them together for double bass action. Which I haven't done yet, cause I'm still unemployed and shouldn't be spending my unemployment compensation on toys and such.

So anyway, back to the original topic. Now armed with an adequate setup, I can play and record decent drums. But I still basically suck, so yes, I will be doing quite a bit of Quantization and correction. And I most definitely will be programming any of the fast, double-bass work.

I admit it way up ahead folks. I ain't Neil Peart or Dave Lombardo. More like an even slower Phil Rudd. Luckily, playing drums for Doom/Drone Metal is not too complicated. So stand back while I have at it. Hopefully I'll be done soon.

Dimaension X - a drummer???

2009-08-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

Well, you may have heard the bad news from the band Moroghor - their drummer, "Zatholal" is leaving the band due to musical disagreements. I'll be lazy, and copy-paste from their website news:

August 2, 2009 - Our drummer Zatholal has announced that he is leaving the band. The band has begun a definite shift in sound and style to a more Doom and Drone orientation. Zatholal stated that he "was not enthused about the changes in style" that the band will be pursuing over the next album or two, and will leave before doing any drumming for the albums. Dimaension X (aka Dave Lanciani) has stated that he will step in to temporarily replace Zatholal in the drum and percussion duties.
"I can't say as I really blame him," said Ygorathla. "Zatholal is a pretty technical drummer who really likes playing those fast blast beats and double-bass parts, and there really isn't much of that at all in our new music. It takes a rare drummer to have the patience to play in a Doom/Drone band. The drum beats and beat-per-minute tempii are incredibly slow and monotonous for most drummers who'd rather be playing more complex patterns."
"That's where I come in," stated Dimaension X. "I'm a terrible drummer to begin with, and can really only play very slow parts. I'll still be programming some of the parts I can't play, but I'm going to try actually sitting at my edrum kit and play as much as possible."
So the album will be slightly delayed as DX takes over as drummer.

We wish Zatholal all the best and are leaving the door open if he ever wants to come back.

So it looks like I'll be slammin' the skins (or rubber trigger pads) for Moroghor's next album. Yup. There will be MUCH QUANTIZATION happening in these tracks. Y'all know I am not originally a drummer, but with most Drone/Doom music, the tempo tends to be reeeaaaalll sssssllllloooooooowwwwwww. I don't have to play like Neil Peart. More like Phil Rudd on downers.

This means there will be a slight delay in the completion of the new album, as I bring my laptop downstairs, hook up to my edrum kit, and begin doing something that I almost never do.

Wish me luck.

Burn Without Me 2 and Moroghor

2009-07-17T07:10:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in a while, so I figured it was time for an update. Here goes.

Finished the 2nd Burn Without Me album, titled, "Holy Blade of Death" and helped the band post it to their Myspace, Webpage and a Mediafire link. I think it came out pretty good, though some folks might think there's a bit too much of my influence on it. Seth and the guys told me to do what ever the heck I wanted to contribute, and they were there the whole time. So they could have just said, "no more guitar solos or spaceout jams," but they stayed out of the way, and seem to be happy with the final product. Obviously the brutal grindcore influence is lessened a bit, but progress and growth are necessary for a band to, well, progress and grow. As long as they don't completely shift to something totally wimpy and boring (Rush??) .

I also "helped out" a new band named Moroghor. Their music is right up my alley. Spacey, psychedelic, experimental, lots of fast blast beats, tremolo guitar riffs. They sound a bit like Darkspace produced by Trans Am. They describe themselves as "psychedelic xperimental black metal." I agree, but not so much with the black metal part. They have the tremolo riffs, atmospheric synths and blast beats, but they're really not that dark or "evil" sounding.

How did I help them? Well, I showed them a bunch of good sources online for downloading free VSTi synthesizers, effects, and the Reaper DAW, which they used to record their album. I also play some of the synths here and there, but not much. they do want me to play more on their next album; actually they're planning on a two album release (one album about "light" the other about "darkness"), so it could be interesting. I also helped them post their album to a Mediafire link, and helped set up their Myspace page and Webpage.

What else, ...? Oh yeah. Still job hunting. There is really not much out there right now. I'm still sending resumes, had a few interviews, but every job has 15-20 people interviewing. So no hits yet. Any ideas? Let me know.

Maybe I should look into being a "Band Consultant"? Any thoughts? Suggestions?

Burn Without Me - 2nd Album on the way!

2009-06-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

Well, as you may have already read on their Myspace page, Burn Without Me announced that their keyboardist/co-guitarist, Everett Jordan is leaving the band to move to Oregon (or Colorado? Some place way out west). In order to complete work on their second album, they have asked me to take on a more active and creative role.

I will be putting the Dimaension X project aside for a bit, and begin working on some riffs, synth parts, samples, and arranging in general. Seth Tracy (band founder, guitarist, keyboardist, producer. etc.) also wants me to do come up with some guitar solos and extended jams to add some more variety to their overall sound. Sounds like a challenge. Let's hope I cam come up with some stuff that they'll like. Seth will still be writing most of the really heavy stuff, and I'll be coming up with the more "atmospheric" synths, jam parts, and so on. I also want to throw in some surprises.

Expect an update soon.

The Screamin' Barfys and Burn Without Me - two new bands

2009-06-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything since the end of May, so i figured it was time for an update.

First and foremost, I am still unfortunately unemployed. I had a few interviews, but didn't get picked for the jobs. Oh well.

Second, I have been helping out my next-door neighbor's band record their 6-song debut. The Screamin' Barfies now have four of their songs up and streaming for preview at their Myspace page, and would like to start playing some live gigs. Their music is a combination of Black Flag jamming with Pearl Jam, and sounds very much like the great old bands from the SoCal hardcore scene in the early 1990's. This was the first time I ever recorded real drums, but I think the demo sounds pretty good. They pretty much mixed and produced the demo themselves, ... I just pointed them in the right direction here and there with some mic placement issues, overdubs, separating dirty guitars and clean guitars onto separate tracks, etc.

They did a really good job mixing it themselves (well, mainly their bassist, my neighbor, Clint Mitchell - 'cuz he owns the computer they recorded on, the band space in his basement, etc.) and it really retains that classic raw 1990's SoCal sound - right outta the old SST Label (remember SST? Black Flag, the Minutemen, Husker Du, Gone, Saccarine Trust). Good stuff, plus the guitarist, Justin Lombard comes up with these really interesting chord progressions. Drummer James Jones slams the drums (loud!!!), but with a lot of finesse and interesting fills. He kind of reminds me of Brann Dailor (of Mastodon), almost never playing a straight beat. And vocalist/lyricist Dan Flynn is in that lost realm between Eddie Vedder, Henry Rollins and Jim Morrison. Really.

Good stuff - jump over to their Myspace Page RIGHT NOW!

Thirdly, I have been helping an experimental extreme metal band from Westboro, MA called Burn Without Me record and mix their album, which should be up and streaming at their Myspace page and at their Last.fm page. Actually, I really did next to nothing that they couldn't have done themselves. They recorded everything themselves at guitarist, Seth Tracy's home studio, called Blister Studio, and uploaded the song files to an online file-sharing space. I then downloaded the files, brought them up on my computer (which was very easy - we both use REAPER as our main Audio DAW). I just fiddled a bit with the levels between the instruments, added some compression and limiting, some delays and reverb and that's about it.

The drums were ridiculously easy, and sound incredible, because their drummer plays an electronic kit, and recorded everything as MIDI. We both use Toontrack's EZ Drummer for our drum samples/sounds, so I just loaded EZ Drummer onto the tracks, made some adjustments and whamo! Incredible sounding drums.

Oh, the music! Wow, that's a tough one - imagine Napalm Death or Gorefest jamming with Marduk and Infected Mushroom. Yeah, really. Agoraphobic Nosebleed if produced by Bill Laswell. Anyone remember Praxis? The kind of "super-group" with Buckethead, Bill Laswell, Mick Harris? Kinda like that. If you like experimental grindcore, avant-garde death metal, and weird samples from old, really bad Kung Fu movies, then this is the band for you.

That's all for now, kids.

Gothambia Redux - now at The Internet Archive

2009-05-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

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.

Gothambia Redux - 2009

2009-05-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

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

New/Old album almost done!

2009-05-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

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).

More New (old) to come soon...

2009-05-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

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.

The Doom 2 Variations READY!!

2009-04-30T12:28:00.000-07:00

Yup, I said it! Ready for Download. My own versions of the classic Doom 2 video game soundtrack are ready at a whole bunch of links. Take a look in the usual spots like my discography here in the blog, at my Myspace page, my Last.fm page, The Internet Archive, and Soundclick. And I'm also guessing a few folks who like the album may post a few mediafire or rapidshare links, too. Here's one of the mirrored links - (CLICK HERE!)

I think it actually came out pretty good, considering I still think my wrist is still a bit "funky", so some of the guitar solos may not be all that great, but overall, it's a good album to blast in the car. If anyone knows how to add the songs to their own Doom game mods, please do so. That would be kinda cool.

Let's also remember that this is a freebie. I'm not selling or profiting from its distribution whatsoever. I really enjoy this music and wanted to pay proper tribute to the guy who wrote these great songs originally - Bobby Prince. Any real Doom fan knows him and that he's at least partially responsible for the success of Doom. He was also one of the first guys (along with George Sanger) to embed MIDI files as the music in a game.

The cover art is "borrowed" from the original box cover, and modified slightly, so it is still technically ID Software's property. But I am NOT selling anything or profiting or making any money at all. This is a tribute. Dat's all. Hopefully I won't get into any trouble over this. It's not like I'm anyone important anyway. Just a musician and music fan.

Please listen and enjoy, and maybe let me know what you think.

ThanX.

Doom 2 Soundtrack ALMOST DONE!!

2009-04-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

I am in the midst of listening to my mixes for the album - and I'm almost there! Yup, just about done with this project, and I will begin uploading the music as soon as I can. I am doing the art for the CD cover, and saving it out to uploadable formats. I also have to prepare my basic write-up for the Internet Archive information/notes sections.

I'm kind of psyched about how this is actually going to come out. I think it sounds really good so far. I took some liberties with some of the basic themes, added guitar solos over the static, repetitive sections, revised some of the drums, did some weird guitar effects, and used the "Intermission" as the intro combined with MAP01. I also skipped the actual "Intro" music, mainly because it would no longer all fit on ONE CD. I may go back and add it as a bonus track later, but much later. For now I'm done and tired of this one.

Time to move on to the next project, which is, ... well, I have no clue. But I am done with DOOM stuff for now, and may go back to the stuff I mentioned before, a few posts ago, which is some MUCH older music that I am going to re-create with my better and newer equipment.

I am also helping out my next-door neighbor's band with some recording. They're called the "Screamin' Barfys". Yup, The Screamin' Barfys. Kind of alternative heavy music, Pearl Jam meets Black Flag meets Alice-in-Chains-ish. Interesting stuff. Not my usual style, but it's good to do other things and listen to all kinds of music. When they get some tunes recorded, they'll post them at their Myspace page here.

I also have an interview for a full-time job coming up soon, so let's cross our collective fingers. It'll be nice to get back to a full-time job and paycheck, and get off of unemployment.

So all Doom fans, please check my discography in a few days, either here, or on my Myspace page. ThanX again to you all.

Doom 2 Variations Soundtrack

2009-04-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

Yup, I'm back to working on this project that I should have completed long ago. But obviously, I've had a few setbacks - wrist surgery, lost my job, and I'm also working with my neighbor who happens to have a band in need of some production help. So I'm going to sit in, listen to what they've got, and try to give them a hand in recording their band, which means real drums and vocals.

But I did begin working on the Doom 2 music again, with my wrist pretty much healed, and I'm trying out my new guitar, the Schecter Omen 6. Which is working out pretty good. The guitar is made for shredding. Very high output stock pickups. The only problem with it is getting good clean and slightly overdriven sounds, which I may go back to my old Yamaha guitar for those.

I am really looking forward to finishing this one off and posting for all to hear. I'll post them online at the Internet Archive as usual, and probably at Last.fm, too. Note that these are NOT my compositions - I give full credit to Mr. Bobby Prince, the original composer of these Video Game Classics.

Please also note that I am adding some extended guitar solos over the more repetitive and simple parts that weren't in the original versions, so that's MY little niche in the arrangements. I also used some better instrument samples that just didn't exist back when the original versions were created, so hopefully these will be nicely updated and modern versions of these songs. That's why I will title this project "The Doom 2 Variations."

Stay tuned. Please. ThanX.

No News is ... well, no news

2009-04-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

Yup, no new leads on any new employment yet. Still looking, still hoping. Still optimistic that I will at least find a decent job with decent pay that will pay the bills. I know I'm not going to make mega-bucks. I just want to find something that I can do and be proud of.

Oh, music. yeah, I'm still healing up a bit, but I should be back to normal pretty soon. The wrist almost feels as good as ever, but it is still a bit sore and itchy where the stitches are still under the skin. They should be fully dissolved by July of this year. But I do plan to work on some new music soon. I have once again dug into my huge back catalog of old ideas that I feel need to be resurrected. My newer direction will definitely be a bit less metal, a bit more rock-fusion, but still kind of "intense". The music is more Miles Davis/Bill Laswell-ish. Very open and atmospheric, slower in tempo, kinda jazzy. Imagine being in one of those smoky 1960's underground clubs in London or New York, waiting for Miles or Monk or Mingus to take the stage. "Slow burn" is also an apt description.

Plus, I'm doing some more electronic stuff, too. Sorta Zombi/Tangerine Dream. Lot's of new weird synths. Maybe even some more in the direction of my Ugotllathath album. I've been listening to lots of underground atmospheric black metal (Sieghetnar, Xasthur, Darkspace, Chainerdog, ColdWorld), so that dark ambient background is working its way into my system.

We'll see what develops over time.

The Job Search

2009-03-06T05:26:00.000-08:00

I know that I usually focus on my music hobby in this blog, but at this time I figured I might do a bit of self-promotion in the job market.

I was most recently employed for almost eleven years at 360 Imaging / Garlock Printing in Gardner, MA (USA) as a Customer Service Rep. and Graphics Coordinator. I also spent my first years there as a Pre-press Technician.

Here's some fo the things I did there:
- Co-created and directed “Form, Fill and Seal” Polybag Template program
- Cost estimation and project planning/management
- Quality control and customer service interaction
- General maintenance of Dolev 800 Scitex Imagesetting Equipment
- Maintenance/Inventory Control of Imagesetting Processor
- Trained new employees

QUALIFICATIONS
Proficient in numerous forms of media and office software including:
- Microsoft Word/Works
- Microsoft Excel
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Acrobat
- Esko Backstage Pilot
- Bar Code Pro
- Freehand

On February 9 of 2009, I was informed by the HR Manager that due to cutbacks (also refered to as "R.I.F." - Reduction In Force) I would be laid off. She then escorted me back to my desk and then out the door. I don't view this as a very bad thing. Sure I lose a weekly paycheck and benefits, but I have to opportunity to explore some new venues. Maybe get lucky and find something bigger and better? It's possible. Even in this economy.

The INTERVIEW - almost ready!

2009-02-28T07:13:00.000-08:00

Hey folks! The interview is almost ready for posting - I uploaded the files to The Internet Archive this morning, and the site is in the process of deriving the files into streamable and downloadable files. It's not quite ready, but here's the link so you can at least visit the page and bookmark it if you wish.

Interview at WCUW

It may take a day or so before the files are complete and ready for streaming. But it is there. The whole TWO Hours. Yup. Betcha didn't think I could actually chat for that long. Yah, sure youbetcha, when I get going on music, you can't shut me up.

So there you go.

Or, yeah, I AM going to delete my account from FACEBOOK. It just isn't worth the time and effort. I was originally only going to use it as a connection for MUSIC Networking, but it has turned into a gigantic waste of valuable time. If I need to talk to my friends and relatives, I know how to pick up a phone and dial the number. And I never wanted to contact a bunch of people I went to High School with that I was never close to back then, so why would I want to contact them now? I know it's all done with good intentions, but if I wanted to go to the High School Reunions, then I'd go. But I do NOT want to go to my High School Reunions.

I know that sounds incredibly hostile and misanthropic - that's not my intention. But the whole Facebook thing is just not something I want to continue doing. I will keep the account open until the Interview link is posted, but I WILL close it sometime this week.

WCUW - Feb 24th 8:00 PM

2009-02-22T05:14:00.000-08:00

Just reminding everyone that I am still scheduled to appear on the "Under the Influence" show, hosted by Valerie Sampson - February 24th 8:00 Pm.

Click HERE, then click on the "Listen Live" link to get the pop-up player (it's a Live 365 player).

We'll be talking about my various influences, playing some of their tunes, playing some of my tunes, just chatting music in general which is always a cool thing to do in a public forum. I'll try to be polite, and not be too "snobbish" about my music tastes, but let's face it - any questions regarding Hannah Montana or American Idol will not go down well.

This is going to be a lot of fun for me, and hopefully for anyone who's a "fan" of my music.

ThanX again to everyone (oh, yeah, I'm still umenployed and actively job-seeking - please contact me with any leads in the Printing Industry in Central Massachusetts).

Laid Off - and more recovery

2009-02-11T11:29:00.000-08:00

Yup, As of Monday, February9th, I am officially unemployed. After almost eleven years at my job I was let go due to cutbacks and financial troubles for the company. Not happy, but then again, I have to look at this as an opportunity to seek out something new and different. I don't think there's any way of pursuing music as a full-time career, but if anyone has any legitimate ideas, I'm open to suggestions.

Anyone with ideas or leads in the Central Massachusetts area, please contact me. I've been acting as a Customer Service Representative for a printing company (mainly in the pre-press department), but I was also a pre-press technician for ten years (using Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Esko Backstage, Quark Xpress, etc.).

Oh, surgery recovery is going fine - my hand is still pretty weak, but should be back to normal in a few months. I am going to start playing guitar VERY CAREFULLY and slowly as part of my own physical therapy. Just fretting notes and doing scales for a few minutes a day to get the wrist strength and callouses back. I may not be doing any actual recording for a while, but I'll let you know when. I promise.

Thanks again all my friends and family for your support and help.

I'll get a new picture of my wrist up soon.

Recovery !!

2009-02-03T08:56:00.000-08:00

What an ordeal! I thought I was only going to be in the doctor's office for a half hour.

NOPE!

It was like a full surgery prep, two IV's (valium and novacaine), etc. Then my blood pressure was too low, so they wouldn't release me afterward. Finally I get out, I get kind of sick on the Vicodin (never, ever take that stuff!!), and I have to keep my hand iced and elevated
for two days. My fingers are still numb.

I can take the bandage off tomorrow and wash it, but then I have to begin wearing the wrist brace on a more permanent basis for two weeks.

The pain is not bad, more itchy, and feels like someone "tugging" on my wrist nerves.

I took a picture from my webcam on my laptop, so pardon the lo-res detail.

Thanks to all of you who've wished me well. I really appreciate it. I really can't wait to play my new guitar which is now collecting dust. I also am having trouble typing with just one hand. ThanX for your patience.

Dave

I Can't Make a Fist with The Cyst on My Wrist

2009-01-17T10:04:00.000-08:00

...by Dr. Seuss (his as-of-yet unpublished masterpiece)

Yup - finally got some pictures of the evil thing growing on my left wrist - my wife thinks it's a new thumb, my son looks at it and goes, "ICK!", and one of the guys at work wants to know when I'm selling my guitars.

This is why I'm not playing much guitar right now. When I bend my wrist at a 90 degree angle (necessary for 2nd Position Barre Chords) it hurts like heck.

Doctors don't even know where they come from, except from a possible injury on the joint which is where it is attached. And you can't just pop and drain it, because they just fill up again. So it HAS to be surgically removed. Fun.

Anyway, I felt like grossing out the lot of you who dare to look upon the beast that grows within.

Thanks to my Mom for taking the photos (she's the Ansell Adams of the family) - and thanks to Dad for giving her the digital camera for Christmas.

WCUW February 24th

2009-01-14T09:23:00.000-08:00

Hi folks! I am tentatively scheduled to appear at WCUW, a local community radio station (located at Clark University) on Tuesday, February 24 on the "Under The Influence" show hosted by Valerie Sampson.

The show features interviews with local musicians, mainly focusing on their influences (obviously?!). Valerie has asked me to round up some of the music that has influenced me, along with some of my own music, so we'll be playing some of my own tunes, along with some of my heroes. I'll be bringing along some Black Sabbath, Kiss, Zappa, Sonny Sharrock, maybe some Mahavishnu Orchestra, King Crimson, and a few more.

I have a few songs of my own picked out, but if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know - leave a comment.

If you're in the local Central Massachusetts area, you should be able to pick up the show at channel 91.3. However, anyone can listen to a live stream of the show from the station's website. Here's the link:

WCUW

Just click on the "WCUW LIVE - Listen Now!" banner on the left of the webpage. That'll bring up a Live365 pop-up window - hit play and listen. Remember, this is Eastern Standard time (Boston, MA).

Hopefully I won't come off as a total goof-ball. Luckily, it's only radio, so you won't have to see my ugly mug for two hours.

Thanks to both Valerie Sampson, and Jeff Sampson (as she describes him - her "sort-of husband" who currently lives in Colorado Springs) - by the way - Jeff Sampson (who recommended me for the show!) is a founding member of the experimental ambient band, Embracing the Glass. You can find out more about his music, and other projects he's involved with at the Burning Shirt website. Burning Shirt is a small record label formed by Mr. Sampson, and mainly features music of an ambient and experimental nature. Check it out!

Hope you can all listen in!

Going under the knife...

2009-01-10T05:49:00.000-08:00

No this is not the title of my new suicidal black metal project...

I have finally scheduled my cyst-removal surgery for January 30th. Oh boy. So not looking forward to it (I'm a big baby with needles, I.V.'s, etc.), but I do want to get this cyst removed. It really does effect my guitar playing, among other things. It's just a serious throbbing sensation constantly in my wrist (imagine having a small ball bearing under your skin right where your thumb meets your wrist). It's just THERE all the time.

Well, I do want to try to work on my Doom2 Variations recording, if at all, before the surgery. After the surgery, I'll be wearing a wrist brace for two months and won't be allowed to used my left hand for anything strenuous, so no guitar, no push-ups, no weight-lifting, etc.

Most likely, I won't be able to finish much of my recording, and it may be crappy anyway.

I think maybe this project was never meant to be. Here's my reasoning:

Number 1 - It's called "Doom", so it's probably doomed from the start.

Number 2 - my new guitar that I bought is a Schecter "Omen". How's that for a "bad omen?"

Number 3 - It's not just a few covers, it's a complete album of someone else's music. Well known music.

Number 4 - a few of my Internet buddies (and myself) have announced that I will be doing this music, so it may be jinxed.

I think I'm just being paranoid. Let's face it - crap happens. To everyone. And it could be worse.

I am just a big baby when it comes to medical stuff, so it's not as bad as it seems.

Well, just thought I'd spout off a bit. Let's see what I get done this weekend, if anything.

Ego Boost - 12-21-08

2008-12-21T09:55:00.000-08:00

Okay, I've been a little bit down and depressed lately - can't play guitar with this stupid cyst, lost power for 5 days, holidays coming up (always get the holiday blues), so I need a boost. Yeah, I'm posting the latest numbers on downloads of my albums.

It's not like it actually means anything; it just makes me feel good that people like my music.

Here goes:

Bryson's Universe 4,222
Aetherial Art of Decay 3,541
Leprosia Doom 1,722
I Am Become Daevel 1,455
Dimaensia Nexus - Improvisations for the Ancients 816
Ugotllathath 733
End of an Era 727
1st iZ LaZt - The Daevellation Suite 588
Deus Fetor, Pt2 422
Loco-Motives 409
Cyberthief Strikes Again 126

Total: 14,761 downloads

Don't know why so few people have downloaded "Cyberthief". I actually like some of the tunes on that one. Some very weird covers. Very weird. And I think the production on it is actually pretty good, too. Oh well.

Well, the song titles are hyperlinks to get to the download pages, so go ahead and help yourselves.

I personally want to thank the 14,761 obviously mentally deranged people who have downloaded my albums. Please seek professional help. Really.

Dec 23rd Orthopedic Specialist

2008-12-17T12:18:00.000-08:00

I am seeing an Orthopedic specialist on Dec 23rd - so the cyst will either be drained, or removed. Oh, what fun it will be either way. If they do drain it, there is a 50% chance that it just fills up again, so they may just remove it. Or decide to leave it and show me how to work around it. It isn't fatal or malignant or anything. They're actually quite harmless except for the pain they cause. Here's a good link:

American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons

See - not so bad. Treatable. And mine is actually quite small compared to others that I've seen online.

Thanks again to everyone for your support and who've left comments and encouragement. I WILL get back to my guitar playing ASAP.

All projects on hold...

2008-12-11T15:01:00.000-08:00

Well, all of my music projects are on hold for now - I have developed a ganglion cyst on my left wrist where the thumb meets the wrist joint. Not fun. Painful. Well, at least it is NOT carpal tunnel syndrome.

I will be seeing an orthopedic specialist later this month, so hopefully it will be taken care of soon.

Meanwhile, playing guitar will be a bit painful, and my fingers are a bit weak. I'll probably have to wait until the cyst is fully drained or surgically removed before I can actually play guitar to the best of my ability.

I will keep working on the basic audio tracks for the Doom 2 Variations, so I'll have everything ready for when I can play again. I'll keep everyone apprised as things progress.

ThanX.

Doom 2 - The Soundtrack

2008-12-05T06:24:00.000-08:00

My next project is underway - I have chosen to do my own versions of the Doom 2 Video game Soundtrack. Based on the original music and actual MIDI files by Mr. Bobby Prince, I have begun re-arranging the tunes a bit, re-assigning some of the instruments with more symphonic and orchestral sounds, using better drum samples (Toontrack EZ Drummer!), and adding my own real guitar and real bass (here and there).

The music will not be as "metal" as my most recent projects have been. I'd like to remain as close to the originals as possible, keeping the original flavor, but beefing them up a bit with the various guitar parts. Some of the songs that are basically just simple backing with be used as vehicles for some guitar solos, which I haven't really played in a while, so it's time to do some "woodshedding".

I am pretty much going to include all of the tracks ("maps") EXCEPT one or two, depending on how much room I have on a CD. I may leave off the original INTRO, and just use the short "Intermission" track as the new intro. It really depends on how much room on the CD, and how lazy I get towards the end.

My thanks go out to original composer Bobby Prince, Sonic Clang (who did the Classic Doom 3 music), and I know there are a few other guys who were involved in the initial game music development. This music is a tribute to your art and skills, which I greatly appreciate.

The Ripple Effect Interview

2008-11-23T13:19:00.000-08:00

Once again, The Ripple Effect music review blog-website has posted an article featuring yours truly. It's an interview which is part of their great series of interviews called, "Sunday Conversations With...". They ask the various artists questions about music, composing, their first songs, heroes, etc. Pretty cool stuff.

I'm still contemplating why anyone would want to read or write about me, let alone actually listen to my music. Bit I'm glad they did. Maybe I'm not as much of a hack as I think I am.

Many, many kudos to the folks at The Ripple Effect for continuing to feature such interesting and unique artists. I genuinely appreciate the support.

ThanX.

A new member of the family

2008-11-13T04:35:00.001-08:00

My new baby...

A Schecter Omen 6 - Black Finish.
24 Frets. Stock Schecter Pickups.

This is the first 6-string guitar I have bought since 1988. It was time. My Yamaha is still in great condition, but I decided it was time for more of a "shredder" guitar, wide flat neck, big frets, high output pickups. This is a solid, well-constructed guitar that is made for heavy sounds. I have yet to do any recording or real playing with it yet, but I plan on running it through the full studio setup this week.

I tried about three other guitars before settling on this one. An ESP LTD EC100QM, which is similar to a Les Paul, but was just muddy-sounding, and I hated the neck. Felt like a baseball bat. Would not stay in tune at all, especially in Drop-D. Then I tried two other Schecter Omen 6 guitars. A Natural, dark red stain version, with major fret-buzz on the high E string, and a White version, that just didn't do it for me. Then I looked around and saw a Schecter Damien 6, which would have cost another $100, and then spotted a Black Omen 6, way back behind a bunch of cheap Jacksons. Plugged in, tried a bunch of tones through a Line 6 Spider amp. Yup. That was it. That's what came home with me.

Free Music Shout-Outs

2008-11-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

I decided to give a few shout-outs to some other musicians like myself who create and distribute their music for FREE. Yep. We give it away. We're not whores, we're just a little slutty. That's better, right?

Inappropriate, I know. Sorry. I apologize to all the clean-minded, innocent young folks for my horridly "adult" language. Anyway - I'd simply like to recognize some interesting musicians who may not always be the most technically skilled, but are still creative and capable of making some interesting music that I guarantee you will never hear on the radio. They deserve our appreciation, so let's visit their various websites/pages and give 'em a try. You may find something you like, and it's FREE.

Vortech - now here is a guy that IS very technically accomplished. A one-man band with some guest vocals, Vortech create technical death-metal very inspired by Morbid Angel, but with an industrial undertone via some interesting synth backdrops and atmospheres. Heavy, fast riffage over blast-beats and deep-growl vocals. For fans of Morbid Angel, Zyklon, Deicide, Vader, etc.

Disciples of Zoldon - another tech-death one-man band. The lyrical themes revolve around the fictional God of Metal, Zoldon. I like when an artist uses their imagination to create a whole backdrop for their music, not just spew out violent, Satanic chants.

DIS - otherwise known as Aaron Schilling, from Nunya, Indiana, yet another one-man band with supreme technical mastery of his various instruments, played, programmed, or otherwise created. His project is reminiscent of a more death-metal oriented Emperor. Part Symphonic Black Metal, part Technical Death, always interesting, always heavy, and not at all cliche. I've been a fan for years, first finding his stuff at Soundclick (it's still there!) and now through Myspace and The Internet Archive.

David Fang - on a lighter note, how about some great symphonic classical music? David Fang composes soundtrack music for various video games, but his best work is composed in tribute to the TV Series, Andromeda. He has two different soundtracks available, both over an hour and a half long. You can find download links through his Myspace page, and his Soundclick page. You won't believe the great, full sounds he creates with a computer, some great orchestral sample sets, and super compositional skills.

Thulnar - still along the symphonic lines, but with some black metal mixed in, this Italian duo create an interesting mix of, well, symphonc black metal. Imagine a cross between Austria's Summoning and Italy's Rhapsody In Fire. Or if Rhapsody In Fire created a black metal album, this is probably what it would sound like.

Novistador - one-man band black metal from the frozen wastelands of Canada. Icy riffs played over blast-beats, the guitars feature a warmer, "woolier" tone than usually associated with most raw black metal. Some interesting harmonies greet us over spacey atmospheric backdrops. Harsh vocal screeches vomit forth from the glacial cavern-demons. The production on his self-titled full album is raw, yet clear, allowing us to hear every instrument. The linear song structures are just different enough from most "normal" metal to keep you listening. Highly recommended.

Jacker - here is a musician that does some great progressive-metal (in the vein of Dream Theater), without any real guitars or drums. You heard me, NO real guitars or drums (well, except for ONE guitar solo provided by the singer on one song, but THAT's ALL!). Actually very little is known about this artist. I discovered him through the Toontrack (makers of Drumkit From Hell) Forum, and didn't even realize there were no real guitars in his music until I had listened to most of his album, "The Devil Inside". He offered free downloads of the songs from this album, plus a bunch of other bonus songs at a French Music website called Audio Fanzine. I noticed that this page has recently disappeared, and his posts at the Toontrack Forum are no longer updated, so I uploaded the original album to the above link so that anyone willing would get a chance to hear his incredible music. I hope he hasn't vanished from the music scene, because it would truly be a great loss to us all.

That's all for now. Musicians like these are why I am still interested in music after 32 years of head-bangin'. And it's all FREE. Yep. These are not illegal downloads. They are authorized by the musicians themselves because they enjoy making music for people to hear. Like me.

ThanX.

Decibel Magazine demo review!

2008-10-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hey! Decibel Magazine's November 2008 edition has a short feature/review on my "Ugotllathath" album in their demo review section called, "Throw Me a Frickin" Bone." Reviewer Cosmo Lee apparently actually doesn't hate my album. Cool.

Here's the quote (yeah, I am copying it verbatim - it's about me, so doesn't that make it okay to copy??).

Dimaension X "Ugotllathath"
The artist's self-description: "minimal heavy metal drone with maximum extreme drumming - imagine Flo Mournier jamming with Sunn O)))." With song titles from a random Lovecraftian name generator, this screams "worst thing ever." It's not. It's pretty rad - space-y, synthy, super-energetic. Imagine Hella, but heavier and less annoying.
http://myspace.com/dimaensionx

Pretty cool, huh? I can't wipe the grin off my face. NO, really, I am glad that someone out there in the actual metal world seems to appreciate something I've done.

Many thanX to Cosmo Lee for actually putting in the time to listen.

1st iZ LaZt fully up and ready

2008-09-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

I finally got everything straightened out at The Internet Archive. The album is now fully uploaded in multiple formats as single files, and as a whole zip folder download in two formats (VBR 192kb and lo-fi 64kb).

1st iZ LaZt

The more I listen to my own album, the more happy I am with it. Granted that there is only one "guitar solo" on this album, but I think the album works overall as a cohesive symphonic rock ensemble recording. It's mellow in parts, but not too sappy or new-agey - at least I don't think so. There's plenty of heavy rhythm guitars "chunking" away, along with mucho double-bass drums, so it should be "metal" enough.

Maybe.

I also like my "cover tunes". Hopefully I won't get into any trouble. I'm not selling them or making any profit. I want to pay tribute to these artists for their various contributions to music.

Hey, while I'm here, let's get an update/ego boost of my album downloads at the Internet Archive, shall we. I need an encouraging pat on the back.

Bryson's Universe - 3,588
Aetherial Art of Decay - 2,937
Leprosia Doom - 1,592
I Am Become Daevel - 1,382
Improvisations for the Ancient Ones - 771
End of an Era - 669
Ugotllathath - 530
Loco-motives - 370
Deus Fetor, Pt 2 - 356
Cyberthief Strikes Again - 73
1st iZ LaZt - The Daevellation Suite - 63

Wait, does that mean that my albums have been downloaded a total of 12,331 times? Dang! Now imagine if I actually posted these at CD Baby and charged for 'em? Nah, then nobody would buy 'em. I'm glad to let'cha'll have 'em for freebie. I greatly appreciate anyone who actually puts forth the effort needed to wade through my catalog of atonal crapola.

That's all for now. As I said before, I may be taking a little break from creating any new music for a while. I might actually use this blog like a blog, i.e., do some music reviews, and give some shout-outs to other artists/bloggers whom I admire and enjoy.

That's all for now. ThanX.

1st iZ LaZt - Available NOW!!

2008-09-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, kiddies, the full album is finally uploaded and available for all.

I did do a bit of adjusting to the finale of the album - the guitar solo was just a bit too loud, so I dropped it down in the mix a bit, to give the bass and drums their proper due respect, and I think the songs sounds way better.

Here's a direct link to the album:

1st iZ LaZt

or here is a Mediafire mirror link

You can also visit my discography and find it there, along with the rest of my albums.

I think I'll be taking a break from music for little while. I need some new inspiration, and need to recharge the batteries a bit. Oh, in the next few weeks, the Ripple Effect is supposed to do a short interview with me (that reminds me, I gotta contact them with some more details).

Check out their music review blog!

Please download the album, burn it, rip it, re-post it at your blogs, review it, etc.

ThanX for your time and support!
Dimaension X

New Album Posted! ... Almost.

2008-09-21T08:54:00.000-07:00

The new album is almost posted. Almost. I just completed uploading the files to The Internet Archive, so it usually takes them a few days to straighten out the files, and format them into their proper formats, setup the Flash Player, etc.

So, ... I will post the link here, but just remember, the page may look a little funny, and may not be ready to play the songs or download them properly, but you can take a look and bookmark it. if you wish.

I am adding it to my discography, too, along with the front cover pic, and a short description of the album, which is not easy, since this one is hard do describe in a short space.

You can also listen to the songs in the player at the lower right of the page - note that the Internet Archive has lost the ability to show which song is playing, so you can visit the actual page and stream it there, too.

Here's a link to the album.

I'll try to post again once the Archive is completed it's formatting, etc.

ThanX

New Album almost done!

2008-09-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

Yup, I am close to completing the latest album - seven songs are mixed and mastered, one and a half originals, and a cover tune to go.

All will be uploaded and posted soon. This album has almost NO actual guitar solos, though. It is much more of a symphonic-rock ensemble recording, focusing more on mood and atmosphere, and sound in general, rather than being a "metal" album.

There are plenty of thick and crunchy rhythm guitars and fast double bass drums, and even live bass guitar on every song this time, which I was very insistent on having. But I wanted this to be a true "symphonic ensemble" project, thematic in nature, perhaps even soundtrack-ish - a movie for your ears. It may need that extra amount of time and attention to really listen to this one. Yes, Metalheads, I am asking for patience as you digest this one.

But please, turn it up loud. Even though it has its mellow moments, it has plenty of heavy moments of epic proportion, if I do say so myself.

Then again, I am biased, but if I didn't like it, I wouldn't post it.

I will be recording the last songs this weekend, and hopefully mixing and mastering the rest very soon.

A major shout-out to the developers of Reaper. This is truly one great program that I highly recommend to all musical folks into home recording looking for an inexpensive alternative to ProTools, Logic, Cubase, etc.

Reaper - Audio Production Without Limits

A few new songs posted at last.fm

2008-09-13T08:18:00.000-07:00

Well, a "fan" suggested that I upload a few of the new songs to a better location where they don't have to sign up for a membership to download them - so I figured I'd start a new post of the first couple songs at last.fm.

Well, at least the first five songs, ... and please note that they haven't been mastered to a better volume yet, ... they are basically just demoes so far, but they should at least give y'all an idea of what the general album will sound like.

Five more songs to go. Gimme some feedback if you can in the comments section, or at my Myspace page, or on the last.fm pages.

last.fm album page

New Review of "Ugotllathath"

2008-09-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

A new review of my latest effort at:

Final Alert's Musical Explorations

I am very surprised at the positive response to this album, since it was really thrown together in a relatively short time, and is downright sloppy in spots. But that's the nature of experimental improvisation, and thankfully there are folks out there who can appreciate it.

More notes and thought later.

ThanX for the review (I am truly blushing...)

Three Demo songs posted!!

2008-08-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

The first three songs (demo versions) have now been posted at Soundlick.com. Here's a picture of the cover art (as is in progress, anyway - it may change as time goes on), and a link to the songs.

The new demo songs!!

Please note that the 2nd song gets cut off after six minutes, so I've got to figure out that enigma. They seem to sound really lo-fi, too. Try playing the individual songs in hi-fi. they seem to sound better that way. I'll upload the final versions eventually, anyway. Hopefully these songs give you a good idea of what the new album will sound like. I'm definitely doing more with the symphonics and orchestral stuff, which I really enjoy more and more. I still love my metal, but I also like other sounds and styles

Hope you like 'em so far!

Please leave a comment in the Comments section.
ThanX.

The New Newer Album

2008-08-27T15:57:00.000-07:00

Today I finally got started on setting up the final backing tracks for the new New album. Yes, the newer new album. I think I referred to it with a working title of "First iz Last", or something like that.

I rendered out the MIDI tracks to audio, and imported them into Reaper, each with an appropriate click track. Looks like nine original songs (with a surprise snippet here and there of a more familiar song), and one "sort of" cover tune; just the solo section from Zappa's "Eat That Question". Oh, I forgot, ... there is one cover tune that you should recognize, actually a combination of two TV themes, plus some original music tying the two together.

I wanted to note once again that this one has the more symphonic and orchestral style pushed up front a bit, and my guitars will be more of an accompaniment than the focus. Certain sections will feature more guitars, but all in all, I think this will be a pretty good sequel to "I Am Become Daevel".

After this, I'm not sure what's next. Maybe more minimal drone-doom, maybe a focus on improvised guitar solos, maybe a purely symphonic album with no guitars, maybe some jazz-fusion??

Let me know what you think!!

I had one more song which I may still try to work out, but I'm having difficulty with some of the guitar arrangements. The parts are just a bit too tricky for me to actually play, and the synth parts alone just don't sound right. I may just leave this one out, or do a lot of re-arranging so I can actually play the song.

The unfinished backing tracks actually sound pretty good on their own. Hopefully my guitars won't screw it all up.

Contact

2008-08-24T06:00:00.001-07:00

Here's an additional list of various links and ways to contact me, should you feel the need to communicate beyond the galaxial borders of this plane of existance.

Here (yes, I know you'r already here!!)

My Online Portfolio

At Soundcloud

At Last.fm

At Soundclick

You can always leave a comment in one of the various posts, too. I look forward to hearing from anyone who wishes to post my music at their blogs, review my music, or just say "hello."

Ugotllathath - Download it NOW!!

2008-08-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

POSTED!! Yup, it is now available at The Internet Archive, along with cover art in several audio formats (two types of mp3, and ogg vorbis).

This was just one of those projects I needed to get out of my system. I realize most "traditional metal-heads" may not like it at all; some may even hate it. But I don't listen to metal music alone. Back in the early nineties I pretty much stopped listening to most extreme metal and instead listened to a lot of experimental, avant-garde, free jazz improvisation, and jazz fusion. I also recently got into some of the drone metal bands like Sunn O))), Khanate, Nadja, and Jesu, which are really the biggest influences for this new album, along with the more traditional older black metal like Burzum, Darkthrone and Mayhem.

Here I am, just after turning 45 years old, still listening to this kind of music, creating my own twisted version of these genres, and still loving every second of it. Something must be seriously wrong with me.

Please, those of you who are also somewhat mentally damaged are invited to download this new garbage, re-post it at will at your own blogs and web-pages, and annoy your neighbors, family and friends by blasting it LOUD!!

Download Ugotllathath - The Sound of the End of the Universe

Ugotllathath - The Sound of the End of the Universe

2008-08-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

Is is done!! "Ugotllathath - The Sound of the End of the Universe" has been completed!

I finished recording all of the tracks, mixed them down (not ALL of them were done today - some here and there over the past few days, etc.), completed the cover artwork, converted the mp3 files for posting, and will begin to post the files ASAP. Be warned - this one is very experimental, a return to the more free-form, improvisational sound of "Aetherial Art of Decay" and "Improvisations for the Ancient Ones", combined with the sustaining drones of "Leprosia Doom".

There probably isn't a typical metal riff on the whole hour-long recording. And the solos that are there are very much based on free improv; not meant to be thought out at all. The whole point of the musical exercise is spontaneity and openness, while simultaneously being crushed by pure noise, feedback and sound.

I'm not really sure how most people will react to this one. In my own mind, it is just what I needed to get out of my system before attempting to tackle the very arranged music of my other upcoming new project. I really needed to just blast out some very fast blastbeats and loud guitars, and so on. I may also have another project coming focusing again on wild, out-of-control improvisational guitar, but it may be a short one, an EP, perhaps. And maybe more "ambient" synths (Phrozenlight, watch out!! - yeah right)

I will post the mp3's and various links within the next few days (hopefully). I'll be sure to let everyone know how to get 'em.

ThanX,
Dimaension X

Ugotllathath - The Daevel Drone Suite

2008-08-10T06:35:00.000-07:00

Latest updates on the new, very experimental project from Dimaension X:

Please pardon the potential long-windedness of this post - I guess I just have a lot to say about the ongoings of this current project, which I managed to get started on recording the guitars this past Saturday. Here is some more in-depth info about this project. Keep in mind, that this one is an “experimental” project, and may not be like any of my other music. Or it might be EXACTLY like my other music.

This particular project is a combination of approaches:
Combines the sustaining doom-drone of “Leprosia Doom” with the improvisational nature of “Aetherial Art of Decay”. Instead of all the music being completely random, I decided to have some Chord Progressions created from my usual Word/Phrase technique, but the chords are from an entirely different set of song titles. I had come up with a series of song titles from the random black metal song title generator on the internet (search around, you’ll find it) and created chord progressions from these titles. And then got bored with the project in general.

I needed to do something a bit different to distinguish this project as its own manifestation. The original songs had about 3 sets of chords each, but I was finding this to be too complex for its own good, and wanted something far more simple. I had also just discovered “Pentemple”, the latest recording from Sunn O))), which I found fascinating. They had once again decided to visit the realm of black metal combined with their usual doom-drone. But this time around, they have Sin Nanna (of Striborg) on drums, providing wild blast beats and other improvised percussive chaos. His drumming adds such a unique feature to the already odd music, bringing Sunn O))) to a whole new level of extremity-en-musique.

So thus I began to deconstruct the current project, and re-focus once again on my own version of doom-drone, but this time with blast beats instead of ultra-slow drums. Even though blast beats are themselves very fast, I find they often provide almost the opposite feel, almost a hypnotic “floating” sound in the background - listen to Darkthrone’s “Transylvanian Hunger”, for example. Here we have 8 songs that are all almost the exact same song, with simple, repetitive chord progressions over blast beats, almost all the same tempo. But this recording is hailed in the underground metal scene as an absolute classic, and I heartily agree.

So, … as I re-approached the project, I decided to use far fewer chords, opting to use only the first page of the FOUR pages of chords I had originally composed, leaving only nine sets of chord progressions. Nine songs.
The chords would be similar to “Leprosia Doom”, in that I would write long, sustaining passages of these chords, holding them over two, or more measures. Once again, I would use “dirty” sounding synths as a backdrop, providing and almost guitar-like sound to start. I also began creating the blast beats under these synths, practically independent of any time signature or tempo in mind at all. But blast beats alone do not make an interesting song cycle, so as I went along, I decided to create some more “normal” beats, fills, percussive patterns, etc.

I actually had no idea of what the guitar parts themselves would be like, other than holding these sustaining chords. This would be the “improvisational” aspect that would occur at the actual recording stage. No real idea what the heck I would do until I actually did it. And then try to add a second or third layer as I go along.

That’s the idea, anyway. So when I decided on a whim to go ahead and actually start recording yesterday, I made a few decisions: Just play whatever comes to mind, don’t worry too much about it, and just play whatever comes to mind. Whether I feel like adding a solo, some slide guitar, some clean, some out-of-tune, some super-distorted, some slightly overdriven, … whatever. It all doesn’t even have to be “heavy”. After all, I’m Dimaension X, not Sunn O))), right? The whole point is to create my own thing, not copy someone else’s.

I got about 7 songs done, or at least I can say I recorded guitar parts for 7 of the songs. I really didn’t put too much though into the parts, just picked a guitar tone, listened to the track a bit, and just played along. This isn’t going to be a very “technical” or “melodic” project. It is an experiment in sound and atmosphere.

Nothing more or less.

REVIEWS

2008-08-07T09:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of a few websites that have honored my with a review of my music. This will be updated as more reviews (both positive and negative allowed) show up.

27/05/09
The Doom 2 - Variations - um Tributo a Bobby Prince
A review from a Brazilian Videogame blog (in Portugese!)

11/7/08

Decibel Magazine's "Throw Me A Frickin' Bone" Demo Reviews

also, here in this blog

or here, at the Internet Archive page

09-09-2008 - Latest Review Update:
Final Alert's Musical Explorations Blog

Leprosia Doom & Brysons' Universe at Sonic Curiosity

I Am Become Daevel at The Ripple Effect

List of Albums and Links at Metal Madness
- (you will have to scroll down about halfway to see my listing - and while you're there, check out some of the other great bands - ALL FREE Downloads!!)

Leprosia Doom at The Internet Archive
- (at the bottom of this page is a review)

Bryson's Universe at The Internet Archive
- (again, at the bottom of the page)

Hopefully we'll get more reviews of the other albums so you can get an idea of what I sound like, etc.

thanX -

The Updates in progress...

2008-08-06T15:56:00.000-07:00

As you can see (those of you rare freaks who actually read my blog), the blog/website is undergoing some revisions. I have added some features to make it more responsive, like an actual website, like a table of contents, bio, discography, and a gear page.

As time goes on, this will continue to develop, and as new posts are added, they will be featured as the "Latest News" on the Home page. I plan on adding links to my actual albums from the Discography page, so you can click on them and be transported to the actual download pages at the internet archive, etc.

The Biography will face the most changes, as I edit it to my liking. I'm not real happy with it right now, but we'll make it work. I may also dedicate a post/page to my "Word/Phrase" Composition method, with better examples of my music.

And so, it continues onward... (I'm running out of "epilogue-like" ending phrases).

BIOGRAPHY:

2008-08-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

(NOTE: as of 01/18/2009, this bio is on-going and may be in a state of update, etc.)

Please visit here to listen to an interview with Dave/Dimaension X

Dimaension X (located in central Massachusetts), formed in 1991 by multi-instrumentalist Dave Lanciani, is an instrumental band that fuses elements of heavy metal, space rock, and jazz-rock fusion. In Dimaension X, Lanciani (currently) records and plays all instruments entirely on his own. Additionally, Lanciani has collaborated with several bands via the internet, and is currently collaborating on a multi-media CD project with a comic illustrator. He has been playing guitar longer than any other instrument, and is completely self-taught in all other instruments (bass, keyboards, and drums). He cannot read or write formal music notation, but does use some simple music theory, such as modal improvisation, chord structures and progressions from major/minor keys.

Music Style
Dimaension X's music combines electronic elements, such as arpeggiated synthesizers and ambient pads, with extreme heavy metal elements, such as blast-beats, double-bass drums, and heavily distorted tremolo picked guitar riffs, and jazz-rock fusion elements such as extended guitar or keyboard solos, drum solos, ostinato bass lines, and improvisation. He has also begun to incorporate string and brass sections from classical music, along with timpani drums and other orchestral percussion.

His most recent project involves working with a live rock band, creating new, all original music. Stylistically somewhere between the Sex Pistols, Entombed, early Judas Priest and Motorhead, this new (as-of-yet unnamed) band plans on getting a few live gigs under their belt and recording a demo for local distribution.

Word/Phrase Composition Technique
Dimaension X is also known to have created his own method of music composition, using techniques similar to serialism or the twelve-tone technique. Known as "Word/Phrase Composition", notes or chord progressions are "randomly" created from words and phrases. Each letter of the alphabet corresponds to a musical note, octave root, or rest/space/sustain. The notes are used as a "starting point", and are not necessarily the final choices for chord progressions or basslines/riffs.
The following chart outlines the basic alphabetic letter/note relationship:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A B C D E F G A - A B C D E F G A - A B C D E F G A
(the 2nd A would be the higher octave root note, the dash " - " would be no note, therefore a rest or sustain of the former note) The name "Lanciani" would create the following note choices:
L A N C I A N I
C A E C - A E -
Therefore, a chord progression of C, Am7, Em, C may be used in a song, or perhaps the notes C,A,E,C, (rest), A, E (rest) would be used as a bassline for a solo section. The actual use is entirely up to the composer, along with the music style. The notes/chords are merely meant to be used as a "jump-start" to get the creative "juices" flowing. The rest is up to the individuality of the composer.

Many of the albums in the discography were composed in this method, including "Bryson's Universe", "Deus Fetor Pt.2", and most of "Leprosia Doom".

DISCOGRAPHY:

2008-08-06T14:46:00.000-07:00

Each album can be downloaded for FREE, by clicking on the title - this takes you to that album's page at the Internet Archive, where you can preview the album, download the whole album, download individual songs, cover art, post a review, and explore other music by artists.

fUTUREGRIND EP (2011)

A Dimaension X EP - just a bunch of songs that I recorded a few years ago that I never officially released. I was in a very heavy metal mood when I did these - they are very METAL!

The first few songs are actually recorded in Open C/D (C,G,C,G,C,D), which is the same tuning I used to record my "Light At the End of the Tunnel" album.

Click HERE to go to the Internet Archive page to stream and download, or click HERE to directly download the whole EP and album art.

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To Black Dresses and Exploding Robots (2011)

A new collection of songs with no real concept in mind othe

r than it's a bunch of new Dimaension X music. Some orchestral bits, some guitar-y thrashing, some extended solos, some atmospheric synths. Just some stuff I've been working on in what's left of my free time between my job, the band (Deadside Manor), and the rest of my life.

Download directly from the Internet Archive HERE.

Download from Mediafire HERE.

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E-Crisis-1 (2011)

Another foray into progressive ambient rock fusion.

Originally recorded in 1999 on cassette tape, these songs have been completely reimagned, reconstructed, and re-recorded using today's technology. Dimaension X is back for 2011, presenting the music world with another dose of his unique brand of progressive ambient rock-fusion.

Atmospheric synths, rock drums, heavy guitars, extended improvisational guitar solos... the original music created back in 1999 was mostly improvised and recorded "on the spot" as conceived, so the newer versions may be a bit more "composed" and thought out", but still retain a spontaneous feel.

Download directly from the Internet Archive HERE or direct from Mediafire HERE!

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Light at the End of the Tunnel (2009)

This album is a return to heavy rock, but not quite metal. More "post-metal". Yeah, that's an over-used term for semi-shoegazer heavy metal, but "post-rock" and "post-metal" bands were a big influence and inspiration for this album. Along with Devin Townsend, and his Open C tuning. I did (nearly) the whole album in a derivative of Open C (C,G,C,G,C,D is how I tuned my guitars).

Also available at a Mediafire Link - HERE

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Laws of Repulsion (2009)

This album is my return to my love of free-form jazz-rock-fusion and improvisation. My tribute to some of my old favorites - Sonny Sharrock, Bill Laswell, Last Exit, Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Greg Ginn's Gone project, Joe Morris - and some new ones - Nels Cline, Marc Ducret, Marc Ribot, Gregg Bendian, and too many more to mention.

Basically, the music is in the form of a guitar/bass/drums power trio with some extra synthesizers sparsely added here and there to spice up the intros, outros, etc. But what you have as a result is a bunch of very freely improvised jams, mostly first takes, ... to borrow from a John Scofield album title - "loud jazz."

I'll also be posting this album at last.fm and most likely provide a Mediafire "mirror" link.

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Gothambia Redux (2009)

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. What else?
Three completely new songs.
Three songs that were originally on my “End of and Era” album (2005), but I never liked how the drums sounded on any of the songs, so I took my favorite songs from it and re-recorded them from scratch.
And Three very old ones from my 1995 cassette tape. The original versions were interesting, but my guitar playing was just not all that good back then, and of course the recording quality was not great - lots of tape hiss, fake drum sounds, etc.

Here are a few mirror links:
Download from Mediafire Here, or from Last.fm Here.

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The Doom 2 Variations (2009)

A re-creation of the Doom 2 videogame soundtrack. Original music composed by Bobby Prince, and re-arranged and performed by Dimaension X. Now you can listen to those original songs from the game presented with a modern sound. Plus additional guitar solos and parts that were never in the original songs.

Megaupload link
Mediafire link (pt1)
Mediafire link (pt2)

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Ambient (2007)

An all-synthesizer project from 2007 (I just got around to posting it now)

This project was done on all keyboards, no bass or guitars at all. It is more of an ambient project, inspired by Tangerine Dream, Phrozenlight, Fripp & Eno, etc. I was just in the mood to do something like this which is way more "mellow" and less song-oriented than my usual fare. My metal fans may be bored stiff listening to it, while the more avant-garde minded might like it a bit more. Like I noted above, fans of Tangerine Dream an other heavy ambient bands will most likely like it.

It is definitely more of an improvised project, though. Very little though put into it at all, just pick a sound and start touching the keys. Thats about all. Please put your headphones on, turn down the lights, close your eyes and hit play.

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1st iZ Lazt - The Davellation Suite (2008)

Or a mirror link at Mediafire

Symphonic Rock from 2001

This album is actually the last of four exclusively MIDI/Synth albums I did about seven years ago. Revamped, and re-recorded with real guitars, bass, better drums and orchestral sounds, this excursion into symphonic rock territory also contains a few cover tunes and snippet tributes to various musicians. The music is "less metal", more focused on the mood and atmosphere of a symphonic rock ensemble creating a soundtrack for an imaginary movie. Only one guitar solo this time, right at the very end, so please don't be too disappointed.

If you liked Miles Davis' "Aura" album, you might like this one.

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Ugotllathath - The Sound of the End of the Universe (2008)

Minimal Metal Drone meets Maximum Extreme Drum Seminar

That's the only way I can even begin to describe it. A combination of the heavy droning, sustaining guitars and synths of "Leprosia Doom" and the free jazz improv and general reckless abandon of "Aetherial Art of Decay". After listening to this one a few times, I realized it's really more of a "drummer's album", chock full of extreme metal blast beats, thundering double bass drums, percussive solo breaks, etc. Flo Mournier was a big influence in this one, Dave Lombardo, Sin Nanna (Striborg, Pentemple), Martin Axenrot, Hellhammer, John Bonham and Phil Rudd.

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I Am Become Daevel (2008)
"I Am Become Daevel" - the new album, something old, something new

... the years 2000 - 2001 were musically interesting, ... I was discovering some new bands (to me, anyway - Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Krisiun, Enslaved, Gorguts, Nevermore, Arch Enemy, Opeth, Sigh, Darkthrone, Children of Bodom, and AYREON!!) and experimenting with Drop-D tuning on a 4-string guitar (a la Max Cavalera).

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Aetherial Art of Decay (2007)

An amalgam of Free-jazz-improv and extreme metal.

Imagine Bill Laswell and Marc Ribot or the late Sonny Sharrock jamming with Gene Hoglan at The Knitting Factory with Dimmu Borgir's Mustis providing sporadic symphonic synthesizer arrangements. Sort of.

All of this new music is pretty much improvised and recorded on first or second take, with a few overdubs of some extra synths or guitars here and there. Nothing was really planned out.

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Bryson's Universe (2006)
Progressive Space Blues Fusion! A song cycle based on Bill Bryson's great book, "A Short History of Everything". A combination of Ozric Tentacles, Tangerine Dream, Hawkwind, Frank Marino, Sonny Sharrock, Pink Floyd? These long jams are comprised of a bunch of smaller jams that have been spliced together to form longer songs. Each smaller section is based on a chapter from the book. Find it, read it, and take another look at the very galaxy we all live in as you listen to this music.

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Leprosia Doom (2006)
An instrumental "concept album" - heavy drone-doom metal - minimal feeding-back guitars, simple bass, heavy drums, based on bands like Khanate, Sunn O))), Jesu, but not quite as heavy or down-tuned. Very simple and droney, but a few pieces are of my more common style, with improvised guitar solos, and spacey synths. A few might even be considered heavy metal, or death metal.

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End of an Era (2005)
This is the last of my recordings with the Johnson J-Station guitar processor and Roland Virtual Sound Canvas. I'm still a bit Zappa-influenced here (various marimbas and extended guitar solos), but the music is still a bit heavy, progressive and odd. I perform a cover of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata", in a more "metallic" format, along with some Beatles hidden in a reggae-ish guitar solo section.

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Cyberthief Strikes Again (2004)
Cyberthief Strikes Again - This is my first recording from 2004 where I began using Cakewalk 2004, better software, and the Johnson J-Station guitar pre-amp/processor. I did a lot of cover tunes in this one, including parts of songs from Frank Zappa, Rogers & Hammerstein, Led Zeppelin, Darkthrone, Queen, The Sweet, Slayer, Motley Crue, Metallica and Focus. Plenty of odd blast-beats, weird riffage, too-long guitar solos, etc...

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Deus Fetor, Pt 2 (2003)
This recording was done soon after Loco-Motives, except without the wacky voice samples and with the old equipment back in June of 2003. Old General MIDI sounds from my computer's actual soundcard, and guitar thru my Johnson J-Station, which sounds suprisingly good! A bit less humorous without the weird voice samples, but also a bit better, no "jaunty" piano songs, or overly extended meandering (well, a little bit...)

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Loco-Motives (2003)
This is an older CD I recorded in 2003 when I still was using Cakewalk Home Studio 7 (only 4 audio tracks!!) Lots of "bouncing" and grouping audio files. I was experimenting with Blast-beats and Samples from some weird video games. It's sort of Instrumental Progressive Death-Thrash, but not really, but maybe more?? No Cover Art for this one, ... sorry folks. All instruments except Guitar are from the General MIDI sound library available on most computers back a few years ago...

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Dimaensia Nexus - Improvisations for the Ancient Ones (2002)
A bit of a side-project for Dimaension X (hence the name "Dimaensia Nexus"). This project is kind of a cross-hybrid of technical death metal/grindcore, with some ambient synths and free jazz improvisation. The drums were played/programmed first, but with no idea of what I would then do with guitar or bass or synths. I then when back and improvised guitar processed thru an octaver to get that unison guitar-bass sound...

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Learning Curve (2001) No Cover Available - (posted at Last.fm, download by individual songs)

As on 08/06/08, the Internet Archive seems to be having some technical problems, so you may have some difficulties navagating to it. Give it some time to recover.

I am also going to come up with some "mirror" download locations through Mediafire, which is WAAAAAAYYY better than Rapidshare (now a bloated, slow mess), or Megaupload (buggy anyway). Zshare also works okay.

My Gear

2008-08-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

Here's the list of my current gear that I use to play, record, etc.

GUITARS:
Yamaha SSJ-550 HR (c. 1986??) with DiMarzio Pickups (Humbucker from Hell in Neck, Super Distortion in Bridge)

Schecter Omen 6 (2008) - GFS Mean 90 pickups, neck and bridge.

Xaviere XV-870 Darkside Edition (2010) - GFS Lil Killer pickups.

BASS:

Squier Affinity P-Bass (2002-ish??) all stock

KEYBOARD:
M-Audio 61es MIDI Controller

DRUMS:
ION edrums (customized - actually TWO kits built together, with
custom-built kick-drum triggers)

AMPS:

Line 6 Spider IV 75W
Laney Linebacker 50

Peavey Rage 158 (rarely, if ever used)

PROCESSORS:
Line 6 PODXT Live
Johnson J-Station

Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress Deluxe (c. 1984 !!))

SOFTWARE:
SONAR HS6
FL Studio XXL
Reaper

Audacity

VSTs, etc.:
Toontrack EZ Drummer
Sytrus
Crystal
Motion
etc...

Drum Samples:
Here is a Mediafire link to my small and simple collection of drum samples that I have created than anyone can use in their music: Dimaex Drums

Here's the actual "studio" - my Laptop (Dell Inspiron 1525) - Logitech X-140 speakers for monitoring (bought them for $26 at Target!)

That's it so far...

Updating the blog...

2008-08-06T14:29:00.000-07:00

Over the next few days or so (or hours or however it works out), I am going to be updating the general "feel" of the blog. Sort of. Visually, it will remain the same, but I will have links in the sidebar that will act more like a website, ... i.e., links for Latest News (which will be the latest post), a link for my Gear, a Biography, Discography (which will also act as direct inks to the downloads of the albums at the Internet Archive), and maybe a few more things as I come up with new ideas.

I think I came up with a way to do this, so we'll test it and see if it works. If it does, then I think I'm inventing a new way to create a cheap website (or maybe someone else has come up with the idea, anyway)

Here's hoping this actually works, since I really only have a little experience with websites (I took a course in how to use Dreamweaver).

See you!

A New Review of my music

2008-08-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

A really cool music review blogsite called "The Ripple Effect" has published a review of my latest album, "I Am Become Daevel". I owe these guys a BIG Thank You. I've long enjoyed their entertaining and informative reviews of many different styles of music, from metal to alternative, to classic rock, etc. They always manage to come up with some really obscure stuff to check out, too.

Here's the link:
The Ripple Effect - Dimaension X Review
(which goes right to my review - while you're there, click on the header for the actual site.)

They also have a Myspace page - become a "buddy" of theirs. You won't regret visiting any of their sites. They really cover a lot of very different types of music. Hey, if you're in a band, or create music that you post online, contact them and give them the links to your site. They'll probably give you a review if they like what you've got.

ThanX directly to Racer X, who wrote the review, and obviously listened to a lot of my music (not a feat for the weak, mind you!)

The Dimaex Principae - the Mythology of Dimaension X

2008-07-31T09:44:00.000-07:00

Well, my twisted, yet hopefully somewhat creative mind has been coming up with a "history" of Dimaension X - a "mythology", if you will, to have a storyline behind the music, the musician, and the universe. It may be a little convoluted, being a first draft I wrote during lunch at work, so forgive my own discrepancies and plot holes.

Here goes, ...

07/31/08 - The Dimaex Principae

Dimaension X, an alternate universe, or "dimaensional alter-reality quantum anti-phase" ruled by The Supreme Lord Daevel. Leprosia is the main planetary body, the "capital" center of the universe, in which there are 3 suns, each with 3 planets. The other 2 main planets are Necropoli and Thanatos.

The Dimaex Principae is the secret theory developed by the Supreme Magicks Council of Leprosia that Dimaension X is in reality an "alternate" dimension of the "true existing dimension of reality"; a parallel universe of the true plane of existence (called "The 1st Plane" and sometimes "Bryson's Universe") where only one planetary body (mysteriously called "Iirth") in the main solar system of nine planets actually supports life.

Iirth is said the be the original planet where all human life began, and was altered when a series of theories concerning alternate planes of existence were put into practice, causing a "rip in the very fabric of existence, space and time", creating an alternate plane - "Dimaension X".

The residents "created" in this plane were basically "copies" of those from the "1st Plane", snapping immediately into existence with no knowledge of who or what they were - causing immediate and absolute chaos on a planetary scale - war broke out - most of civilization immediately fell and was destroyed - 85% of the population was killed, or died of disease, starvation, or other various reasons.

Only a small group of people retained memory of the 1st Plane, mainly the scientists involved in the Primary Application of the Dimaex Principle - the lead physicist, Dr. Iam Bekum Daevel assuming the role of self-appointed leader, eventually becoming a tyrannical dictator - the rest of the scientists either became his fanatical followers or were hunted down and assassinated. Daevel, being brilliant, but somewhat eccentric and egotistical, also found that by applying further theories of his Dimaex Principae, that reality could in fact be further altered to his whim. He utilized this knowledge to create his new identity; that of a Master of Black Wizardry (which only he and his followers understand that there is no real "magick" - just the application of scientific principles and the laws of physics, which in this plane of existence are very different than that of the universe containing Iirth).

Daevel has strictly enforced rules regarding education and science to a very small segment of the population, who are loyal to him and his ideals. Certain levels of technology above that of the "Bronze Age" equivalent are forbidden. However, Lord Daevel has continued his own forbidden research of The Further Theoretical Analyses of the Dimaex Principae, causing the two alternate dimensions to begin to "bleed" into one another - bringing "copies" of the people into each other's realities, ... becoming extremely confusing when one of these people might already be deceased in the other plane. This phenomena has become known as the Necropolisean Duplex.

A select group of rebels, members of the original Scientific Council of Iirth who were not assassinated, managed to found their own secret society dedicated to the downfall of Lord Daevel, and the Supreme Magicks Council of Leprosia.

More ideas to be added later, ... hopefully this kind of "fleshes out" some of the concepts behind some of my music.

thanX,
Dimaension X (or perhaps I Am Become Daevel, Himself??)

A Preview of the new album cover...

2008-07-28T11:02:00.001-07:00

Here is a quickie preview of the working art for the latest project, ...

similar to "Aetherial Art of Decay", this project will be mostly improvised
- some basic chord progressions will be written out, and some drum patterns established, but what we do with them and how they turn out is very much left up to fate.

Who knows what'll happen?

More is new, less is better, huh? - and ... Pentemple!!

2008-07-21T07:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I got bored with the "1st iZ lazt" project - I'll get back to it very soon, - actually, I just hate playing guitar in hot weather - it's been 90+ and humid.

Started fiddling with programming some more ambient ideas again after listening to Sunn O))) "Presents ... Pentemple Live" - a beast of a live improvised recording from the Sunn O))) boys (Stephen O'Malley Gred Anderson, with Oren Ambarchi) with the insane Attila Csihar on vokillz once again, and this time around, Sin Nanna (of Australian solo lo-fi black metal project Striborg) on drums and vocals.

Similar to "The Black One" and "Altar", we've got incredibly loud sustaining down-tuned guitars, and bass just basically holding one chord and feeding back for about 40 minutes, Attila and Sin doing eerie chants and indecipherable screeches, and Sin providing some improvised blast-beats and other various drumming that may or may not have any particular tempo at any given time. Imagine Darkthrone jamming with Last Exit on LSD wearing Monks robes. But louder. A lot louder.

Actually, if you liked "The Black One", you may like this even better. A real amalgamation of drone-doom, free improvisation and black metal.

Which is why I started working on a new, kind of experimental project. Going back to my Leprosia Doom idea, but slowing it down, make it more repetitive and even darker (sometimes not, though). Simple blast-beats under droning, repetitive synths and sustaining guitars is the theme. Maybe. I got seven songs basically laid out with synths and drums. That's all I want. The rest will be live guitars and bass added afterward. This is really almost a combination of "Leprosia Doom" and "Aetherial Art of Decay". A return to improvisation and experimentation.

I will probably also do some separate orchestral snippets to use as segues between the drones, like "AAOD". Maybe some guitar solos, too.

Who knows. I may go back and make it "noisier". Some of the synth parts might even be too "melodic". We shall see, ...

The Wonders of Embedding

2008-07-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

Saluti! (that's Italian for "Howdy Pardner!)

I have now added a flash player to my blog which will play one of my albums directly from the Dimaension X Internet Archive Collection.

Oh, you are so lucky...

I invite you all to go to that page whenever you wish (see the links below, or click on the hyperlink above, you rascally HTML freaks!) and listen, download, burn, rip, whatever you desire. My music is all FREE and protected under Creative Commons license (which means you can download, and distribute/re-post it as you wish, as long as you don't sell it or alter it from its original form). Please help yourselves, burn it to a disk, I-Pod, I-Phone, or whatever other I-Devices you have.

Have fun, enjoy, and be enthralled. (yeah, right.)

But sincerely, I thank all of you who do listen to and appreciate my music. Feel free to leave a comment or message me through Myspace (yes, I do have a page at the Evil Empire of Myspace).

ThanX!
Dimaension X

Last iZ First - a few steps ahead

2008-07-06T05:23:00.001-07:00

I've only taken a few "baby steps" ahead on my latest project. A minor snag has been hit with a few of the later songs - I've programmed a few parts that I simply cannot play on guitar. The earlier songs I began composing with actual guitar playing in mind, but the later ones I just let go and added a bunch of parts that are well beyond my ability. Maybe Steve Vai could play them, but I doubt he'd agree to it.

I am reminded of a scene at the end of "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" where Bill insists they'd become famous rock stars if they could only get Eddie Van Halen to join their band, Wylde Stallionz. And Ted, with a touch of maturity showing through, replies, "Maybe we should learn how to play our instruments first?" Or something to that effect, anyway.

Well, I do know how to play guitar, just not quite as good as the notes I've programmed, so maybe I'll do one of two things, ...

1. Just let the synthesizer play the parts - don't even bother trying - if the synth parts sound okay, leave 'em. Just find a good "sound" for the synth that works with the part and leave it.

2. Maybe "halve the time" of the particular parts. Adjust them so that they are at a playable tempo, and adjust the notes so that you could actually reach them on the fretboard - that's most of the problem - I can't "reach" some of those notes.

Or just change those parts to a fast riff that you can play. The whole album was composed on keyboard without my guitar in hand. Maybe I should actually pick up the guitar and have it in my hands while I am re-adjusting these parts so I would know if I could actually play 'em.

Duh? Make sense? Maybe? Eh? Might actually be interesting to play some parts composed on guitar again - I haven't actually done this since the "End of an Era" album.

By the way, here's a link to a really talented guy who CAN play all his own guitar parts - a band called VORTECH. Another one-man band who puts most "pro" bands to shame with his unique combination of Melodic Death Metal and Industrial styles. He has FIVE albums available for FREE Download, along with cover art, tablature (!), lyrics, etc. - PLUS you can order a real copy of the CDs directly if you want to support the artist. You can also find him through the Metal Madness link.

Seriously, go the the link and check out his tunes. His style is somewhere between a more modern Morbid Angel, Zyklon, or even Gojira, with touches of Fear Factory (when they were good). Great heavy guitars, very well programmed drums, and some interesting synth textures that really punctuate and accent the music.

I leave you now, hoping that I might be able to solve my own musical dilemma.

New Worx - Last is First

2008-06-28T04:27:00.000-07:00

Hey, here's a progress report on the latest Dimaesnion X news, ... (like anyone actually cares...)

I decided to work on the last of the series of the four all-MIDI albums first (originally titled "MIDI Metal, The Final Chapter")- since it is actually very similar to "I Am Become Daevel" - much use of symphonics and classical themes. Though not many guitar solo spots within these particular songs, so we may have to rectify that. I have pretty much finished re-working the basic MIDI tracks and arrangements, subject to my whim and actual playing ability. And some parts I may just remove entirely.

Once I'm done with this particular album, I really don't know how I'm going to handle the other three. They have a lot more very fast fusiony keyboard work that I'll NEVER be able to actually play on guitar. I just have to figure out the best synth sounds that won't sound cheesy, and just avoid playing guitar parts that I can't play.

Actually, a good reference might be an album by Anders and Jens Johansson with Allan Holdworth called "Heavy Machinery". It's mainly lots of fast synths and drumwork, a sort or metallic jazz-fusion, where the only actual guitar playing is during Holdsworth's guitar solos. Otherwise, it's just synths and drums, but still some great music. I'll have to listen to that one again before working on my stuff, just to "borrow" some ideas and try to re-create some fo the synth sounds.

Oh, I revised some of my Myspace page. I am now streaming my "Bryson's Universe" album for your listening displeasure. If you like it, please feel free to download and distribute at will.

Any ideas, comments, questions, etc., are welcome. Use the comments section, or go to my Myspace page and leave a message. I'll try to work on my tunes this weekend in between all the other usual stuff.

... and another thing... supposedly, a music-blog page called The Ripple Effect is going to review one of my albums, so keep your eyes and ears peeled. They seem to have very similar tastes in music to yours truly, so it might be interesting.

ThanX.

New WorX - Old Becomes New...

2008-06-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

New Project - actually equals old songs given new life, ... again, ...

Since I was very pleased with my "I Am Become Daevel" album, which was actually a bunch of old songs that I never recorded properly until recently, I decided to attempt the same thing with more unpublished material from my "archives".

Way back in 2000, I ended up recording FOUR Albums as pure MIDI/Synth - i.e., no real guitars. Yup. FOUR of these buggers exist. All played or programmed solely with synthesized instruments on an old Casio keyboard, which sounded surprisingly "okay" for Casio equipment. And some of the songs were actually pretty cool. I did a lot of really really fast "virtuoso"-type songs, very progressive, almost neo-classical, ... very influenced by Dream Theater, Symphony X, and a lot of other bands that play waayyy too many notes.

So now I've been listening back to some of these and wondering, "What if I actually tried re-recording these with my new drum samples (Toontrack rules!!), newer SONAR software, better symphonic samples, and REAL guitar?"

Not that I can actually play a lot of these songs note-for-note, ... (far from it), but I can play most of the rhythms and some of the "note-riff" sections. And a lot of the really really fast sections can just be played by the computer as synths anyway. Kind of like having Rick Wakeman or Jordan Rudess help me out with the keyboard parts. Plus, I can finally add some guitar solos (these albums have PLENTY of open spaces for actual improvisation).

I am going to try to go right thru each album, and maybe get rid of parts that didn't work, add some new stuff - in general, breathe new life into these old songs.

I'm actually kind of psyched up and can't wait to dig out the old files. these won't be done in a week or so, though. This might take a while, but I now have a goal. With the bar set very high.

New Material in the worX ??

2008-05-23T06:15:00.000-07:00

Yup, new project in the process of being developed (hopefully)

notes for my new album - working title - "skwoze"

the sound - somewhere between Greg Ginn, Sonny Sharrock / Last Exit, Ruins, Tangerine Dream, and Frank Zappa

i.e., a return to "classic" Dimaension X - less metal, more jazz-space-rock-fusion-improv

I am not completely abandoning all ties to metal, just backing off a bit and wanting to play more guitar solos and improvisation - sort of like on "Bryson's Universe" - which is like wall-to-wall guitar solos with some synths and sequencers in between, ...

I am just starting this, so it may evolve and change into something else entirely as time goes on, or may just fade away like so many other projects

Hey, here's a shout out to a local band, Before the Fall, with a co-worker of mine on bass named Matt Fruit. I believe they are actually playing at Tammany Hall in Worcester, MA on June 27, 2008, as a release party for their new CD, called "In The Garden". These guys play a sort of old-school hardcore/crossover/metal style that reminds me of Black Flag and early Rollins Band. Please check 'em out. They also have a Myspace page.

That's it for now - stay tuned for more news.
D.X.

Patting myself on the back...

2008-05-08T09:46:00.000-07:00

Yep, latest results of my album downloads from The Internet Archive:

As of May 8, 2008:
Bryson’s Universe - 2,560
Aetherial Art of Decay - 1,970
Leprosia Doom - 1,446
I Am Become Daevel - 1,203
Dimaensia Nexus - Improvisations for the Ancient Ones - 678
End of an Era - 580
Loco-Motives - 324
Deus Fetor, pt2 - 239

Now you can go directly to the download pages by clicking on the album title, here!!
Though I think if you had to pay for them, there'd be WWAAAAYYYY less.

More later, ...
DX

Just checking in, ...

2008-04-26T05:35:00.000-07:00

Howdy kids. No I have not "blogged" here in a while, ... been busy with work, family, life-in-general, and trying to figure out what my next music project will be. I really haven't a clue what to do next.

I have been listening to a boat-load of different music. Everything from the new Cryptopsy, to swedish black-metallers Craft, to Ihsahn's new one, to dISEMBOWELMENT (old-school death-doom from Australia), Satyricon, Septic Flesh, Woods of Ypres, The Disciples of Zoldon, Thulnar, etc., ...

Out of everything so far, I really like Craft. Yup, raw, old-school thrashy black metal. These guys just have great head-bangin' rhythms, with very raw, yet clear production. Not as "lo-fi" as I read they would sound. The production is actually very good, and fits the music perfectly. Sure it doesn't sound like an Andy Sneap or Fred Nordstrom mix, but it's not supposed to.

And I've learned about a few more artists like me who creat music for fun and post it for all to hear FOR FREE. I mentioned them above, and will provide you all with links to these artists.

The Disciples of Zoldon. This is a one man band of a guy named Luke Brimblecombe from New Zealand. He records and/or programs everything: Vocals, Guitars, Drum Programming. But the coolest thing about his music is that he's concocted a whole fictional theme and concept - that of Zoldon, the God of Heavy Metal. Cheesy, ... sure, but Immortal look like a bad Wrestling Tag-team, and I still love 'em to death. Go to Luke's website and read the whole thing. It really is a very cool concept and is perfect for creating heavy metal music.

Luke also has a Myspace page for Zoldon, and a last.fm page. Try going to the Encyclopedia Metallium and do a search for Zoldon. This page will also have links to his various pages.

now the next band, ...

Thulnar. Two Italian musicians by the names of Elric Blackcrow - vocals, trumpet (also of Mors Tua) and Al Walker - guitar, bass, drums, synth have provided us with an insanely great combination of the over-the-top epic symphonic metal of Rhapsody with the black darkness of Summoning. Their whole demo is available for free download at the link, along with high-resolution cover art. They also have a Myspace page and more music available through download.com. Also a page at the mighty Encyclopedia Metallium.

As I said above, fans of Rhapsody and Summoning will be able to pick out the references from Thulnar's music. Actually, I am reminded of an internet rumor I read that Rhapsody was going to record a black metal concept album called "Rhapsody in Black", and Thulnar's music is exactly what I would imagine that music would sound like.

Some great stuff here to check out. I also recommend all metal fans to check out a blog called Free Metal Albums. This is a blog that posts links to, well, Free Metal Albums. No, not illegal downloads, but links to music that the bands themselves have endorsed and have posted themselves. This is a large (and growing larger) source of free music for all of us metal-heads that like good stuff cheap.

Until I figure out what my own new music is going to sound like, I will continue checking out as many new artists as my sponge-of-a-brain will allow. There is so much out there just waiting to be sound. Just dig deep enough and you may be surprised at how good some of these artists are.

ThanX.

Old Album released at several links

2008-03-16T07:42:00.000-07:00

I have now posted an old, unreleased album at Last.fm. and at a Mediafire link.
"Cyberthief 2" was recorded way back in 2003-2004, and only a few tracks from it were available. Now, anyone can download it from Last.fm.

here's the links:
Dimaension X at Last.fm
Cyberthief 2 at Mediafire

This old album is my first recorded with Cakewalk 2004, and actually sounds pretty good, now that I've given it another listen. It actually has a bunch of cover songs on it, or at least "parts" of songs that you should recognize. Please note that I did not request permission to use these songs or "snippets" or songs, but I did re-record all the parts myself - NO SAMPLING (hear that Puff Diddy??) I PLAYED everything myself. Myself!

Some of the songs are pretty good, others kind of not so great, but I was still trying to define my style (at as of today, still have yet to do so!).

Visit the page, download, repost if you like on your blogs, torture your landlord, whatever you want, ... just don't re-sell it, you little cyberthieves!!

Some Studio work at MWCC

2008-03-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,
I recently helped out an Audio Production Class at the local Community College (taught by local studio owner John Little - Upside-Sound Studio) by playing guitar and having them mike and record my amp. Then they take what they recorded and will mix it, compress/EQ, etc. as their assignment. They also recorded some bass playing via Direct Injection.
I realized just how little I actually know about "real" recording, mike placement, patch bays, etc. These kids really know what their doing, due to their teacher's encylopedic knowledge. I had a lot of fun, and probably learned something.

Check out my MASSIVE Super High-Wattage Metal amp! (a Peavey Rage 158) being attacked by a rabid family of microphones
and here I am in the control room with my P-Bass demonstrating Direct Injection

Very cool stuff! Thanks to the students at MWCC and to their instructor, John Little.

Latest Ego Boost

2008-03-01T05:39:00.000-08:00

Well, here's the latest boost to my ever-dwindling ego. The latest tallys of downloads of my albums from The Internet Archive are as follows:

As of March 1, 2008:
Bryson’s Universe - 1,980
Aetherial Art of Decay - 1,447
Leprosia Doom - 1,311
I Am Become Daevel - 925
Dimaensia Nexus - Improvisations for the Ancient Ones - 543
End of an Era - 505
Loco-Motives - 270
Deus Fetor, pt2 - 208

Why keep track and torture you readers with this meaningless info? Ah, who knows? I like to see that people actually like my music. It makes me feel good. That's it. Ego Boost.

Does it mean I'm actually a decent musician? Well, we all know that Paris Hilton and William Hung (did you know he was actually offered a $25,000 advance for his album??) will always sell thousands of albums to the mindless drones, so numbers don't really matter. I just hope my music has entertained someone. That's all. If you enjoyed my music enough to download and burn to a disc or portable player, then I sincerely thank you.

Hey, it's FREE, right?

Gone, gone, gone, ...

2008-02-23T05:27:00.000-08:00

Well, I realized that I recently deleted a Word file that had a boatload of potential Blog topics - dang, now I gotta start over and organize my thoughts, ...

Wait, maybe if I list 'em here, I'll at least have away to remember them and try again, ...

Blog Topics:

Ihsahn - the genius of (the)Emperor

Black Sabbath - My 1st Encounter

Latest Downloads - my EGO Boost of the week

The further (mis)adventures of Poseidon’s War

Bedroom black metal - Xasthur, Leviathan, and more

Darkthrone - gone indie-punk?

Xasthur - gone Darkwave?

The future of Dimaension X and Daevel

Comic Books and Heavy Metal - geekwars

Other Bedroom musicians: Bulb, Toxic Grind Machine, Jacker, Bloodline

Death To Music - and other Netlabels giving it away for FREE

Tattoos - why they freak me out,...

Well, that oughta' keep me busy for a while. I'm just not into creating any new music right now. I need a break to let my brain-dust settle. To make music, I really have to feel like making music, so I'm not gonna work on anything new until I really get the urge.

Until then, I'm going to do to some "creative blogging", ...

Read 'em and weep.

Mucho Downloads of My Albums!!

2008-02-16T07:23:00.000-08:00

As of today, February 16th,2008, here is the latest tally of downloads of Dimaension X albums from the Internet Archive. This does not count any of the other blogs, websites, file-hosting pages etc., that my stuff may be posted at.

Bryson's Universe - 1,773 downloads
Aetherial Art of Decay - 1,266 downloads
Leprosia Doom - 1,236 downloads
I Am Become Daevel - 689 downloads
Dimaensia Nexus - 498 downloads
End of an Era - 461 downloads
Loco-motives - 244 downloads
Deus Fetor, Pt.2 - 87 downloads

My sincere and grateful thanX go out to all of you that have downloaded and listened to my music. Evidently you suffer from some form of brain damage. Please seek professional help.

Wikipedia turned me down!!!

2008-02-05T17:02:00.000-08:00

- Bastards! Just who do they think they are? Self-important snobs! (... you realize I'm kidding, right? I'm a big fan of Wikipedia and use it all the time ...) Then again, why do I need to be there? Here’s a cut-and-paste copy from the Wikipedia submission (and subsequent refusal) form:

Dimaension X (located in central Massachusetts), formed in 1991 by multi-instrumentalist Dave Lanciani, is an instrumental band that fuses elements of heavy metal, space rock, and jazz-rock fusion. In Dimaension X, Lanciani (currently) records and plays all instruments entirely on his own. Additionally, Lanciani has collaborated with several bands via the internet, and is currently collaborating on a multi-media CD project with a comic illustrator. He has been playing guitar longer than any other instrument, and is completely self-taught in all other instruments (bass, keyboards, and drums). He cannot read or write formal music notation, but does use some simple music theory, such as modal improvisation, chord structures and progressions from major/minor keys.

Music Style
Dimaension X's music combines electronic elements, such as arpeggiated synthesizers and ambient pads, with extreme heavy metal elements, such as blast-beats, double-bass drums, and heavily distorted tremolo picked guitar riffs, and jazz-rock fusion elements such as extended guitar or keyboard solos, drum solos, ostinato bass lines, and improvisation. Most recently, Lanciani has begun to incorporate string and brass sections from classical music, along with timpani drums and other orchestral percussion.

Word/Phrase Composition Technique
Lanciani is also known to have created his own method of music composition, using techniques similar to serialism or the twelve-tone technique. Known as "Word/Phrase Composition", notes or chord progressions are "randomly" created from words and phrases. Each letter of the alphabet corresponds to a musical note, octave root, or rest/space/sustain. The notes are used as a "starting point", and are not necessarily the final choices for chord progressions or basslines/riffs.
The following chart outlines the basic alphabetic letter/note relationship:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A B C D E F G A - A B C D E F G A - A B C D E F G A
(the 2nd A would be the higher octave root note, the dash " - " would be no note, therefore a rest or sustain of the former note)
The name "Lanciani" would create the following note choices:
L A N C I A N I
C A E C - A E -
Therefore, a chord progression of C, Am7, Em, C may be used in a song, or perhaps the notes C,A,E,C, (rest), A, E (rest) would be used as a bassline for a solo section. The actual use is entirely up to the composer, along with the music style. The notes/chords are merely meant to be used as a "jump-start" to get the creative "juices" flowing. The rest is up to the individuality of the composer.

Discography
All currently CD-R's
Cyberthief Returns (2003)
Jam Session 11-20-05(2005)
Leprosia Doom (2006)
Bryson's Universe (2006)
Leprosia Falls (working title, unreleased)

Singles
Leprosia Doom, Intro reached # 14 in the Goth Metal Charts at Soundclick.com ( 1,832 songs currently listed in Metal > Goth Metal)
Fusionopolis reached # 18 in the Jazz-fusion Charts at Soundclick.com ( 4,419 songs currently listed in Jazz > Jazz Fusion)
Lost in the Cosmos reached # 62 in the Progressive Rock Charts at soundclick.com ( 11,360 songs currently listed in Rock > Progressive Rock)
Moonlight Sonata reached # 90 in the Instrumental Rock Charts at Soundclick.com ( 17,327 songs currently listed in Rock > Instrumental Rock)
Noyade De La Sorciere reached # 131 in the Cover Songs Charts at Soundclick.com ( 4,648 songs currently listed in Rock > Cover Songs)

Lineup
Current members
Dave Lanciani – All Instruments

External links
Official Soundclick.com Site[4]
Official Myspace Site [5]
Music available at the Archive.org [6]
Reviews by Matt Howarth (soniccuriosity.com)[7]

[edit] Sources
A review by Matt Howarth at http://www.soniccuriosity.com/sc287.htm
A review by Norelpref, www.archive.org, October 12, 2006 at http://www.archive.org/details/bryson_uni
A review by Schism, www.archive.org, April 24, 2007 http://www.archive.org/details/leprosia_doom
A list of the reviews at Soundclick.com http://www.soundclick.com/bands/reviews.cfm?bandid=494863

72.74.107.211 20:34, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Declined. This suggestion doesn't sufficiently explain the importance or significance of the subject. See the speedy deletion criteria A7 and/or guidelines on musical artists. Please provide more information on why this musical artist is worthy of inclusion in an encyclopedia. Thank you. --Draicone (talk) 22:39, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

And that's it. "Declined." Cold, huh? Okay, so apparently I haven't explained the importance of my existence to the webmasters of WIKIPEDIA, ... Should I fade to black, quietly relinquish my soul and escape this mortal coil due to my sheer embarrashment, ... nah, who gives a fork?

Whatever, dudes,... hey, they love me in Portugal and Romania! Just "Google" either "Dimaension X" or any of my album titles in Google's Blog Search and you'll see!!

Other Bands named “Dimension” or “X”

2008-01-27T07:12:00.000-08:00

Here's an odd thing that I've been thinking about ever since I chose the name, "Dimaension X": I am not the first, nor will I be the last musician to use the terms “Dimension” or “X” in their music project’s name. I’m sure there and more than you can fire a photon torpedo at. Let’s try list all of them that I can think of:

Dimaension X (me, of course)
Symphony X (you should know them if you are a metal fan!)
Project X (Derek Sherinian’s instrumental project with Tony Macalpine and Virgil Donati)
X-Japan (an odd prog-rock-metal band from Japan)
X (one of the early SoCal punk-new wave bands)
Dimension X (not me, a prog metal band like Dream Theater from Indiana)
Dimension (another prog-metal band like Dream Theater)
Dementia Absurda (a noise-drone project in Croatia)
X28 Project (a prog-rock music project from Pennsylvania)
Dimension X (not me again, but another Soundclick artist who plays mainly space-ambient music)
The 3rd Dimension (a band from Washington DC)
The 4th Dimension (apparently, John McLaughlin’s latest backup band?!)
Dimension Zero (an electro-goth band from Salt Lake City)
Dimension Zero (a melodic death metal band from Gothenburg, Sweden
Static-X (an industrial nu-metal band)
Band X (a cover band)
Lady Sunshine and the X Band (an R&B band from Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Racer X (Paul Gilbert’s annoying speed-metal band, talented, but annoying)
Generation X (a punk band, actually Billy Idol’s first band!)
Lazarus-X (an alternative-indie rock band from Houston)

Like I said, ... not the first, most likely not the last ...

Hey, if you know anymore, leave a comment in the comments section!!

I Am Become Daevel

2008-01-24T18:43:00.000-08:00

Download from The Internet Archive

"I Am Become Daevel" - the new album, something old, something new

Okay, everyone seems confused with the title of my new album, "I Am Become Daevel"

What the hell is "Daevel" ??? Is this a foreign language? The name of a mythlogical being? Huh?

At work, we have new nametags on our cubicles. With our first name and last initial. Mine is "Dave L." The "L" is just a bit too close to the "Dave", so it looks like my name is "DaveL".

My humorous new boss & co-workers started calling me Davel, (pronounced like the Russian name Pavel - pah-vel), and it has stuck. So at work, I have become Davel.

Twisted sense of humor I have, I decided to add a little catch-phrase above my name tag, adding "I Am Become" to it, similar to the old phrase "I Am Become Death" from the quote frequently attributed to Oppenheimer at the testing of the first nuclear bomb, but which is originally from he Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita:

"If the radiance of a thousand suns were to
burst forth at once in the sky, that would
be like the splendor of the Mighty One."
"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."

So I decided this would be a cool (and kind of weird) album title, with a slight adjustment in spelling to match my odd spelling choice of the word "dimaension".

Davel becomes Daevel. I Am Become Daevel.

It also kind of describes how I am going through some changes in my life. I believe I am at a crossroads-turning point-crucible in my current amateur musical exploits, and life in general. Am I getting too old for metal? Sure I'm the same age as Kerry King, Dave Lombardo, Dave Mustaine, and Glenn Benton. I'm younger than Steve Vai, Arjen A. Lucassen, and Jaz Coleman. I'm waaayyyyy younger than Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Dio, Rob Halford and Lemmy. But I feel that I am at a turning point in my listening and playing enjoyment. I feel the need for more atmosphere and expression, rather than rage and aggression. I am becoming something more than just an old metalhead. I am becoming something more than just a guitarist. All things in my life are currently changing (job, health, approaching middle-age, my son in college and becoming an adult, etc., ... ). I Am Become Daevel, the next evolutionary process in my life.

So, ... what is next for Dimaension X? Only the future will tell.

Dimænsion X Realm

Merry (Dimaension-)Xmas!! More music!!!

To Black Dresses and Exploding Robots

New Deadside Manor song

New album in the works for early 2012?

Working on Zappa Tribute Album

E-Crisis-1 complete and ready for download!

E-Crisis-1 Guitars almost done!

2nd Gig - polar opposite, and yet not really...

Deadside Manor Videos

Deadside Manor Website up (sort of)

Debut Gig at The Lucky Dog!!

E-Crisis-1 gets the "George Lucas" treatment

Deadside Manor Demo (so far...)

Debut/Warm-up Gig Soon?

Wisdom from the Deadside Manor ...

Deadside Manor

First Song by the New Band

Some new music ... yet another Zappa Tribute

Burn Without Me and Moroghor news

New band and more...

New Toys Update

My new toy

Light at the End of the Tunnel

My Online Portfolio

Moroghor is back!

Captain Cook's Adventures in the Fruity Dimaension

21,845 downloads from The Internet Archive

New Demo Songs up

The New Album - "Laws of Repulsion"

Jazz Improv Project

Vocals?? Maybe, but not mine...

New Dimaension X album nearing the end

What's next?

Post-Metal and beyond

Drumming - UGH!!

Dimaension X - a drummer???

Burn Without Me 2 and Moroghor

Burn Without Me - 2nd Album on the way!

The Screamin' Barfys and Burn Without Me - two new bands

Gothambia Redux - now at The Internet Archive

Gothambia Redux - 2009

New/Old album almost done!

More New (old) to come soon...

The Doom 2 Variations READY!!

Doom 2 Soundtrack ALMOST DONE!!

Doom 2 Variations Soundtrack

No News is ... well, no news

The Job Search

The INTERVIEW - almost ready!

WCUW - Feb 24th 8:00 PM

Laid Off - and more recovery

Recovery !!

I Can't Make a Fist with The Cyst on My Wrist

WCUW February 24th

Going under the knife...

Ego Boost - 12-21-08

Dec 23rd Orthopedic Specialist

All projects on hold...

Doom 2 - The Soundtrack

The Ripple Effect Interview

A new member of the family

Free Music Shout-Outs

Decibel Magazine demo review!

1st iZ LaZt fully up and ready

1st iZ LaZt - Available NOW!!

New Album Posted! ... Almost.

New Album almost done!

A few new songs posted at last.fm

New Review of "Ugotllathath"

Three Demo songs posted!!

The New Newer Album

Contact

Ugotllathath - Download it NOW!!

Ugotllathath - The Sound of the End of the Universe

Ugotllathath - The Daevel Drone Suite

*REVIEWS*

The Updates in progress...

*BIOGRAPHY:*

*DISCOGRAPHY:*

REVIEWS

BIOGRAPHY:

DISCOGRAPHY: