On to the Next One!

Feeling a bit fed up with programmatic music, yet weirdly enough still fond of "concept" albums, for the next one I have come up with a concept so abstract it doesn't really put any restrictions on the music it can contain nor put specific images in the head of the listener. Or so I hope.

So, the next album will be called "Concurrences", and each piece will simply be named "Concurrence #n".

Note: That's "concurrence", not "concurrency". Amongst other things, it's a term used in quantum computing, and has to do with, errr, very roughly speaking, simultaneously occuring states or events. (By the way, "very roughly speaking" is the only way I and 99.9999% of the rest of the world's population CAN speak of quantum computing and quantum theory I'm afraid. However, that doesn't stop my favourite author Terry Pratchett from constantly referring to various odd events as "probably quantum"...)

Other things I'd like to strive for are seriously long pieces of music with great fluidity and lots of transitions. The snippet of Concurrence #1 here is just the first part of something substantially longer!

  Concurrence #1 by pethu

Trek - Full album available

The download version of Trek is now available in high-quality MP3 files. Just click below and then prove to my web server that you are a human and not a web robot  :)

pethu - Trek.zip (68MB)

Also included in the archive is a PDF version of the CD booklet.

36:46!?

I was brought up in the era of the high-tech vinyl LP, where much effort often seemed to go into producing as long an LP as possible. Soon, of course, came the CD where one selling point was being able to cram much more music in than the LP ever could.

Those are a few of the reasons I have to fight a definite (though irrational) sense of embarrassment producing something like Trek, which is not very remarkable length-wise. But you should of course be aware that your formative years are never more significant than anyone else's!

The point is that while mega-albums may have been the order of the day during my teenage years, things were very different in the sixties and early seventies. Many famous bands you feel were around forever and must have a humongous output really, er, didn't. If you'd like a different perspective on the concept of "impressive body of work", let's have a look at Simon and Garfunkel, for instance.

Total number of "proper" studio albums produced: 5. Album lengths:

Wednesday Morning 3 am - 31:31
Sounds of Silence - 29:13
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme - 27:54
Bookends - 29:41
Bridge over Troubled Water - 36:46

(forgetting for the moment sound tracks and solo albums...)

So, a total output of about two and a half hours there... and only one album substantially over half an hour long.

Now, if one of the top ten LPs of all time didn't need more, then why should mine? In fact, "Trek" is now also exactly 36:46 until the music stops - the four extra seconds on the final song is just letting all levels drop to zero from the final note!

All in all, I feel much better now!

Sea And Beyond (Final)(?)

Since I just uploaded this to Soundcloud, I might just as well share it right away. I'll be back later with answers to pertinent questions like "Why 4:59?" and others! :)

  Sea And Beyond by pethu

...and we're back!

Music takes us out of the actual and whispers to us dim secrets that startle our wonder as to who we are, and for what, whence, and whereto.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Sea And Beyond", piano roll score, current stage.

Sorry, been a bit busy: Several versions of the game released, game website redesigned/recoded, change of operating system and complete re-install of the main computer, Christmas, work, and a couple of health issues (though more "health hiccups" than "health scares", fortunately).

Anyway, last time (way back in November) this final piece of my "Trek" puzzle was one minute long and counted six instruments (just at the "1" marker in the sequencer screenshot above). Now it's grown to four minutes and 23 instruments which means its all but a minute or two from being finally finished. You'll probably get to hear it this weekend!