Tag: New Releases

New Release: into worlds strange by audiosalvage

 in News

I’m a big fan of the E-mu Proteus line of ROMplers. They are not hugely versatile, but their sounds were all over 90s and early 2000s sci-fi television and games. Probably my favorite of those was Kenji Yamamoto and Kouichi Kyuma’s moody atmospheric score for Metroid Prime. Since the 20th anniversary of Prime’s release was last Friday, November 18th, I decided to play around with some of the patches used in the game and explore that sonic world with my guitar rather than a GameCube. I owe a huge thanks to SynaMax for his excellent research into the synths and patches used in the Prime series. It let me quickly dive into Yamamoto’s tools so I could see what I could make with them.

Since this one is a bit of a departure from my normal genre, I’ve released it under my audiosalvage production moniker instead of my own name.

Please enjoy this bit of a throwback to the futuristic sounds of the 1990s, and thanks for listening.

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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: Graphite Addiction Vinyl Reissue

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Graphite Addiction’s 2007 debut release has been reissued in a limited run of lathe-cut vinyl!

15 years ago, we played a CD release party at the sadly long-gone Deja Brew in Longmont. We had no idea that the next decade and a half would bring dozens of gigs together and 5 more albums. And now the original album is available on vinyl – as we originally sequenced and mixed it.

Check it out at the Curious Automata store, and thanks for years of listening!

New Release: Somewhat Precedented

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What if it happens?

What if it happens and you thought it could happen?

What if you thought it could happen and it happens and you are surprised it happened?

What if you are surprised it happened and you thought it could happen and it happens and it happened again?

What if it happened again and you are surprised it happened and you thought it could happen and it happens and you hope it won’t happen?

What if you hope it won’t happen and it happened again and you are surprised it happened and you thought it could happen and it happens and you know why it happened?

What if you know why it happens and you hope it won’t happen and it happens again and you are surprised it happened and you thought it could happen and it happens and you cannot stop it happening?

What if you cannot stop it happening and you hope it won’t happen and it happens again and you are surprised it happened and you thought it could happen and it happens?

What if you cannot stop it happening and it happens again and you are surprised it happened and you thought it could happen and you hope it won’t happen?

What if you cannot stop it happening and you thought it could happen and you are surprised it happened and you hope it won’t happen?

What if you hope it won’t happen and you thought it could happen and you are surprised it happened?

What if you hope it won’t happen because you are surprised it happened?

What if you are surprised it happened because you hope it won’t?

What if you hope it won’t because you are surprised?

What if you are surprised because you hope?

Then this is an improvisation on acoustic guitar recorded in a single improvised take on June 26th, 2021 at The Foundry in Loveland, Colorado.

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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

 in News

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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New Release: Spring Cleaning by Tim Carmichael and Vic Dillahay

 in News

Tim Carmichael and I have a new album! We decided to celebrate getting vaccinated and things starting to open up with a bit of free improvisation. We hadn’t played together since recording Graphite’s Thoughtful Departure in February of 2020 but we weren’t too rusty and the ideas still flowed. As Tim says in the liner notes “When you listen to this album imagine yourself getting together with a friend over a cup of coffee to catch up and enjoy the stories of your life’s journey. And, ideally, you will enjoy listening to this album with a great friend.”

Check it out at Bandcamp, on CD, or the music service of your choice!