Tag: Curious Automata

Extrapolations on a Familiar Theme by Ellis/Carrillo/Crews (Produced by Vic)

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Disaster Squad’s jam is finally fully released. 20 years ago, in pre-Katrina New Orleans, guitarist Richard Ellis, percussionist Louis Carrillo, and bassist Kendal Crews met to run some tunes. Richard was hoping to start a band balancing covers with long improvisations. They played “Strange Brew”, then jammed for hours, filling 5 cassettes. The sound was there, they just needed to refine it and gig. Then came Katrina. Homes were destroyed, clubs closed, and Richard moved to Colorado.

But we have these remarkable tapes. And you can now hear the tune that started the jam, their cover of “Strange Brew”, and wonder what might have been.

Happy 10th to Curious Automata

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I started Curious Automata on April 5th, 2013, to solve a problem: that almost every band and musician I knew had a nearly completed project sitting unheard. Aspen Street’s “Still, Still, Still” lost its distributor less than a year after being released. Graphite Addiction’s debut recording had been out of print since 2008. Richard Ellis’ “Disaster Sessions” tapes were shelved for a decade. Tim Carmichael’s “Watching Water” was finished in 2012 with gorgeous production by Gusty Christensen, but no label seemed interested. Pete Ehrmann and I were recording “The Pete & Vic Duo”, a swing duo album that would be a difficult sell during the 2010s push for funkier jazz. I hoped that if I found a way to release those five orphaned albums, along with one of my own, it would encourage all of us to create new material. 10 years later, artists working with Curious Automata have produced a total of:

  • 42 CDs
  • 4 Lathe-Cut Vinyl LPs
  • 5 Bandcamp Exclusive Digital Releases
  • 3 Books
  • 3 CDs Produced for Other Labels
  • 3 Scores for Ads
  • 2 Play-Along Albums
  • 47 Unexplained Noises Archive Club Releases

I think it works.

“Disaster Sessions” by Richard Ellis (Curious Automata, 2023)

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CDs: Code One | Code Two | Code Four | Code Seven

I believe music is good. Good when it’s grandpa’s fiddle on the porch, when it’s jazz with cocktails, when it’s pop blasted to the earbuds of a few million teenagers, and when it’s a local orchestra sawing away on tunes by 19th century composers whose names start with B. Music to distract, accompany a meal, or draw attention to oneself is still often better than silence.

But I think music is best when it is not made for the listeners pleasure or bent to the makers’ ideals, when it stands by itself, when it is made by those in service to the sound who make music because the music must be. I’ve seen a few great players who live in that space but it seems exceedingly rare in my own music making. Occasionally, I’ve had moments at gigs or recording sessions where we truly served the song but more often those come in rehearsals. We spark fire when least expected, then play its memory at the show.

So the music on this collection is special. Guitarist Richard Ellis, percussionist Louis Carrillo, and bassist Kendal Crews didn’t set out to make anything special on September 19th, 2003. They were just jamming on tune at their rehearsal space in New Orleans when they found a trancendent groove. They stayed there for hours-even Kendal leaving for an appointment then returning didn’t break the spell. It’s the kind of one-in-a-million collective improvisation that is almost always lost to the moment. But Richard happened to be taping it, just for future reference.

These are a few of those tapes. You should listen to them. They’re up on all streaming services, too.

The CDs for this release are also the 39th, 40th, 41st, and 42nd released by Curious Automata. 42: the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything in Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide. I can think of no better way to hit that milestone than with this project.

CDs: Code One | Code Two | Code Four | Code Seven

New Release: What Was (Curious Automata, 2023)

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With the 10th anniversary of Curious Automata coming up in March of this year, I think it’s time to clear out the archives a bit. This album is a collection of misfits whose tone didn’t match the projects for which they were intended. Also, in the spirit of moving on, all the tracks on this album are released under a Creative Commons Attribution license so anyone can use them as they see fit.

“Broken Tree” was improvised after my favorite shade tree was split in a late spring storm in 2017. It was previously released as a rough cut for my Bandcamp subscribers but it’s much prettier and has been edited for time here. I think it still captures my mood as I waited to see if the tree survived, though.

Tracks 2-12 were all recorded during the two sessions for 2018’s “We Were”. Those were during the end of my marriage, so they were a bit of an art therapy project as I went through a divorce. I wrote a list of things to remember, then improvised around each idea. For the original album, I decided to lean toward the positive tracks, so the remaining ones here have a bit darker tilt.

I hope you enjoy these moody leftovers, and thanks for listening.

-Vic Dillahay, Guitarist

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New Release: Music for Chasing Squirrels

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“Music for Chasing Squirrels” is here! A follow-up to last year’s “Music to Squeak By”, it’s another album of guitar-driven instrumentals with odd and unexpected twists.

First off is “Mrs. Harvey’s”. Named after Longmont’s historic bakery, it’s an up-tempo tune in mostly 6. “Nines”, the second cut, is a funkier version of Graphite Addiction’s “Mental Morphology”. “Cibeles” and “Blues for Phrygia” are two sides of the Phrygian Dominant coin, one an uptempo Latin and the other a Swing Waltz. Side A ends with “Dearest”, a ballad in memory of lost love or alternately a lost invoice. Same difference.

“Fossil Creek Tunnel” starts Side B with its portrait of an incomplete trail. “For C and D” features C major and D minor triad masquerading as a jazz standard. Almost 21 years in the making, “Near Majority” is a musical joke taken much too far. “Somewhere West of Wichita” is a welcome return to normalcy. Almost. Continuing on that road, the record closes with “Actually, Actually”, which as close to country as I dare venture.

Check it out today streaming, at Bandcamp, on CD, or on lathe-cut vinyl. Thanks for listening!

-Vic Dillahay

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New Release: Umm…Whaaat? by Richard Ellis (Produced by Vic Dillahay)

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This is “Umm…Whaaat?”, a guitar and vocal improvisation by Richard Ellis. He played it on July 23rd, 2021 at Spring Creek Music .

It is one continuous track. It is 25 minutes and 5 seconds long. It is completely improvised. It is presented exactly as it was performed, with no edits or overdubs.

The cover is by Kiley Ellis.

You should listen to it now.

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New Release: Music to Squeak By

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New today is “Music to Squeak By”, my ninth solo album. Inspired by the classic guitar instrumental albums of the 50s and 60s, like those of Howard Roberts and The Ventures, it runs the musical gamut from jazz to blues to funk. There’s even a somewhat-warped boogie thrown in for good measure. While it was originally intended as a vehicle to collaborate with a few old friends on some of my original tunes, the shutdowns caused by COVID-19 changed it into a more solitary project. I wound up playing or programing all the instruments on this recording, for a very personal take on these compositions.

The record opens with “Grin”. A fusion tune that manages to evoke both Pat Metheny and Toto, it sets the mood for a sometimes cerebral set that still cracks a smile. “Penguin Eddie” follows, with an instrumental funk tribute to a tale of attempted penguin abduction. From its smooth harmonies and dulcet tones, “Laetitia’s Lost Chords” would be firmly in the easy-listening camp if not for its constantly shifting meter. “Serva Jugum” continues to warp time, but with a hard-driving gopuccha yati-inspired groove that gives way to solos on a funk waltz. “Kiddo” closes side A with a 12-tone row disguised as a swing ballad. It’s a tribute to my grandfather who was both a lover of irony and completely tone deaf.

Side B opens with “Smolkin’s Boogie”, a quick boogie-woogie blues that wanders through a few more keys than usual. “Half The Times I’ve Failed”, originally written as a example for lessons, is a study in melodic constraint and the lack thereof, as it moves from moody monotone to free noise. “Frickle Frackle” is a minor blues because every guitar album needs one. A tongue-in-cheek take on the exotic guitar genre, “Somewhere East of Omaha” intentionally misses a smörgåsbord of world influences, landing somewhere else entirely. “Ricky Loves LuLu” closes the album. There was a bridge by Erie, Colorado with these words graffitied on it that I would drive under on my way to college in Denver. When the railroad repainted it, “Ricky Still Loves LuLu” appeared the next week written in the the same handwriting. I think that deserves a song.

It’s also my first release available on lathe-cut vinyl, for the true vintage experience. Check it out on the streaming service or disk of your choice and thanks for listening!

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