Hopi Torvald 2011 Almanac - Volume 11 - November

 Hopi Torvald Almanac Vol 11 - November by HopiTorvald


November was pretty great.  There were some little hurdles to make it over at the beginning of the month, but they ended up being for the best, as my mind has been a bit clearer, my anxieties more relaxed and my overall productivity boosted..."re-setting" has been the theme...the month ending with a more than satisfying visit to see the m and p for thanksgiving...

many little highlights here and there...live shows, making music, recording, mucho spa time, time with friends well spent....oh, and i had to go to traffic court this month...4 hours of waiting, but i took the day off work and it ended up being one of the best days i've had in ages.

i will have to stop distinguishing songs as "anomalies in the hopi catalog" since each of these things is quite different.  i think an anomaly would be a noisy drone song at this point...so this particular tune is about owls and feeling good.  it has a little dancey edge to it, i guess...somewhere beneath the swarm and clamor...synths, drum machine, live percussion, and yeah...buncha owls...

this month's randomly ordered top ten:

1. owls - they hoot up a mighty fine racket in my backyard almost nightly now...love those things!
2. thanksgiving - i've become less and less of a holiday person, but going home this year was rejuvenating and relaxing...got to spend great time with my m and p,  my sisters and their critters...and bingo the one-eyed dog.
3. david thomas in todd's living room.  yeah, the once larger-than-life pere ubu frontman is doing a living room circuit!  he played accordion and sang depressing songs about regret and tainted love.  it was sad, weird and somehow beautiful.
4. new websites being put together for both hopi torvald and the holy amalgamation (thanks to sadie for all the help!)  will be sharing these with everyone once they are tuned up a bit more.
5. the hopi 2011 almanac release currently slated for around christmas time.  working out packaging details and such now!  this will contain all 12 almanac songs, some bonus songs, and some other non-musical goodies...details pending
6. hopi/nows split (mentioned in an earlier post) from the beginning of the month..working on more collaborations...
7. cymatics
8. gentleman broncos - don't be embarrassed to tell your friends how genius you think this movie is...
9. upcoming out-of-town shows and the upcoming annual respite from the cold event that robby and i are piecing together at eyedrum for december 17th! it's at the first existentialist church this time! details on the lineup will be rolled out soon...
10. talk talk, sudden infant, colin blunstone, jean-claude vannier, miles davis, dave brubeck, omar souleyman, rahsaan roland kirk, etc etc etc.

anyway, enjoy the song, enjoy yourself, and keep in touch.

love,
nathan

Hopi Torvald 2011 Almanac - Volume 10 - October

 Hopi Torvald Almanac Vol 10 - October by HopiTorvald

October was a crazy little month for me...kinda flew by.  played a show with tree creature at joe's coffee in EAV which was a ton of fun (mos def wanna bring hopi torvald to that venue)...did some stargazing, spent a lovely day at the hambridge center for creative arts...beautiful day with all kinds of good food/music/entertainment)...had a string of late nights which left me tired and spent...and in need of spa time, and the whole thing ended with a lovely and low-key halloween (the way i dig it) which consisted of dan deacon's comedy tour at eyedrum and a wild night at the gold room (imagine shoulder to shoulder ballers, celebrity rappers in the house, and someone trotting in on a real live horse as part of their costume..ha)...anyway, it flew by...all for the best as it proved cathartic and transmogrifying...

so this song, hot on the heels of last month's 17 minute epic, is a short little ditty...just over two minutes...all about hopefulness, finding joy and peace, and living life...cause nothing gets easier, friends....just different...a subtle loping field recording loop sets the pace for whistling and layers of buzzy synths...that's about it.  a few cymbals and slightly cheesy vocals smooshed in there...

this month's randomly ordered top 10:

1. outdoor  shows
2. meteors!
3. autumn (changing leaves, cooler weather, the holy amalgamation not being so sweltering anymore...)
4. pumpkin stuff
5. secret chiefs, michael white, ornette coleman, gospel hymns, drones on all fronts, talking heads, stereolab, dumb top 40 dance songs, rhys chatham, noise, scrapes, and field recordings of owls, wolves, loons, and simians!
6. sauna time
7. harmonic frequencies and sound therapy
8. putting out a cassette in the upcoming months
9. halloween
10. recording and mastering for friends

anyway, hope your october was smashing (pumpkins), enjoy the tune, and keep in touch.
love,
nathan

Hopi Torvald/ Nows Split

a collaboration between hopi torvald and atlanta's nows!  song one was created when nows sent me a droney audio track and i chewed it up and spat it out as a rollickin' waltz song...a little lovelorn ditty...track two...well, i don't remember what i gave nows to work with because it came out so blisteringly unrecognizable...it's sort of a monster.  i really like what nows does with racket and i hope we all get to hear more from him rather soon.
nuff said...dig it!

 Hopi Torvald/ Nows Split 01 by HopiTorvald

 Hopi Torvald/ Nows Split 02 by HopiTorvald

Hopi Torvald 2011 Almanac - Volume 9 - September

 Hopi Torvald Almanac Vol 9 - September by HopiTorvald


September had bunches of ups and downs...sometimes they were mixed together....although getting an MRI was stressful, it was nice to have good clean results and over 500 pictures of my brain!  i entered in and out of calmness, was able to play a show at 529 with heroes Bryan Lewis Saunders, Sudden Infant, and Mr. Natural and had a blast....that room sounds so good.....and ended the month with a two week bout of the nastiest, most crippling flu.  Mingle all of this with some fun hanging out times, a foot massage, getting to see the Swans (!!!), Secret Chiefs AND three nights of the epic Blast Off Burlesque show at 7 Stages,  and playing bunches of music, and you got yerself a pretty interesting month.

This song was originally created as my live set for the show at 529.  i decided to create a studio version of it...it seems to pretty much serve as a fractalized representation of my time as of late, my headspace, my goals, my shortcomings....it's a hefty chunk at a whopping 17 minutes or so...comprised of synths, MRI samples, live and sampled drums and percussion and some vocals...dig on it and play it LOUD.

this month's randomly ordered top 10:

1. playing live and with people who i really dig
2. foot massages
3. the microphones, arnold dreyblatt, bill fay, stars of the lid, terry callier, sun ra (again), john zorn (that blasted morricone album can't be beat), creedence clearwater revival,  etc etc etc...
4. cool(er) weather
5. pho
6. new recording projects and live show opportunities
7. holywarbles.blogspot.com AND http://ghostcapital.blogspot.com/   go peruse the archives...so wonderful...
8. new shoes
9. surf music at ethiopian restaurants (and the shenanigans therein)
10. buford highway farmers market

anyway, enjoy the tune and stay in touch.
love,
nathan

Hopi Torvald 2011 Almanac - Volume 8 - August

Hopi Torvald Almanac Vol 8 - August by HopiTorvald

i hope the tip end of august is finding you well. this month has been flat and uninspired, mostly. it's funny how ups and downs happen within such short spans.

this song is a reflection on the mundane and sedentary past four weeks....now i'm not going to complain too horribly much, lest my year-end reflection be one of regret and stimulated woe at a pretty bad time all around. all i will say to this end is that prescription sedatives are helpful but kinda icky...and that i get to have my brain scanned on friday (this is a positive thing, in that i may be able to procure a snapshot of my inner grey slop)!

the good is that i've been privy to a lot of neat things...events, music, friends, family, new homies...hearing is back to a large degree, but not quite there. keep to my left ear and you should be fine...i worry that i ask folks to repeat things too often or don't hear things that i'm supposed to be hearing, but again, the plus is that i have an excuse and if anyone gets snarky, i can just pretend i didnt hear it.

this song is a drone...a singular note copied 9 times overlain with 3 tracks of ambience accumulated from my screened in porch while sitting out in my skivvies. it is all about the flatness and numbness...towards the end, a 4-note chord emerges...one note at a time..signaling a hesitant hopefulness and a return to a clean empowerment of body and mind...exactly what i am looking to achieve/regain over the next few weeks.

this month's randomly ordered top 10:

1. contact staff - i finally lit my staff up (thanks, sadie) and twirled it around a bit. nothing like wooshing fire sounds...

2. first aerial performance with likeminded peers at the goat farm as a supplement to the fascinating david dove/miss yet trombone/bellydance duo from texas

3. medieval times (nuff said)

4. catsitting

5. purling

6. upcoming shows with tree creature and as hopi torvald (playing with sudden infant and bryan lewis saunders at 529 in sept. raaad)

7. seeing the swans in a couple of weeks!

8. these bands/artists: arvo part, brian eno, eddie south, elisabeth waldo, gary newman, the grateful dead, xenakis, mahmoud ahmed etc. etc. etc.

9. MRI on friday! i've been researching how it works and what it entails. i'm hoping they let me listen to music and that they will let me have a pic

10. bears

enjoy the tune and stay in touch.

love,

nathan

Hopi Torvald 2011 Almanac - Volume 7 - July

Hopi Torvald Almanac Vol 7 - July by HopiTorvald

Ah, July....the summer heat has been just fine to me. i've not been running the air conditioning except when company comes, i've been going bike riding, getting some sun...yes, summer suits me ok....this month started out swimmingly. this was month two of an extensive dietary cleanse/detox which was supplemented by new types of exercise and a general clarity of mind. the fourth of july was a spectacular time. despite overcast skies, i spent it on the rooftop of a downtown hotel, swimming and sunning up when we could alongside tons of fun-having strangers and it ended up being the chill downtempo holiday that it was meant to be...even temporarily broke the diet for a hot dog... i also got to see visiting peers richard and brynna from auburn days...so awesome to catch up....everything else has been pretty smooth. not so much to report on the hopi torvald front...but working on several new projects which include mastering for several folks and recording some songs with purling...fun...

well...so, a week ago i started experiencing hearing loss in my right ear. my ears being precious to me and put to daily productive use, i went to the doctor the day after feeling a bit of muffledness....a good cleaning and antibiotics did no good, however, and the hearing worsened over the weekend until all i had was a deaf ear with a good mess of ringing going on...a week of this has had me extremely discouraged..especially since precious music sounds muddy and distorted and it's hard to communicate with folks...the specialist today told me that the cause is still unknown...possible nerve damage? so now, on steroids and antibiotics, i face a mysterious musical future. i have hope that my hearing will return and that this is a minor setback. today i decided to cope by documenting the experience in a song.

about a week ago, i learned that i couldn't even play piano well without muffled tones and distorted frequencies just ruining it for me. i found that i DID, however, enjoy putting my "good ear" against the wood of the piano and playing notes...the resonation comforting/soothing to my tired ol' ears....so with this song, i started the whole thing off with strong plucked piano tones...adding distant melodies and some synthy washes in tribute to a month well passed...a bit in, however, the melodic aspect disbands in place of the piano note's resonance...the trail of the notes that linger and vibrate slowly...i used these sounds, looping and stretching, as a palate to explore the hearing loss. it's hard to tell what the song actually sounds like...if it's mixed or mastered well...if the volume level is correct...if parts are even in KEY...but i suppose that's the point. this almanac IS, after all, a document of my year. i think it's a bit of a departure from recent sonic sundries i've posted for just this reason.

SO...enjoy if you will and if not, know at least where it's coming from.

this month's randomly ordered top ten:

1. fire! getting a new fire staff..hopefully this weekend!

2. that new bike...i ride over to stone mountain about twice a week now and it's such a lovely trail and great exercise!

3. upcoming eyedrum shows that i booked this week including wooden wand (now on young gods!) and the renderers (previously on none other than one of my faves...flying nun! from new zealand) really happy to be working with labels that i love and these great bands.

4. planning a tour. ear issues or not, i'm going ahead and planning an east coast tour in early october. i want to do chapel hill, balitimore, nyc, philly, and johnson city tennessee so if you're in the area, give me a shout and let's do musics together!

5. the diet..it's officially over but it's become a lifestyle change now. mind and body....eating right has never felt so good on my system.

6. rap music....not much else...nwa, easy-e, big boi, mos def, tribe called quest, ultramagnetic mc's, jay-z, nas, eric b and rakim...something just clicked and it feels great revisiting some old hip hop friends and listening to some stuff i never really gave a chance...

7. soundtracks to underwater documentaries.

8. peanuts - charlie brown and those guys

9. almonds and cashews - they are better than peanuts

10. good friends.

i sincerely hope that july was good to you and that you are doing very well. thanks for listening and i hope to see you soon.

love, nathan

Hopi Torvald 2011 Almanac - Volume 6 - June

Hopi Torvald Almanac Vol 6 - June by HopiTorvald

June! It is really early in the month still, but already it promises renewal...i have started a detoxification/cleansing that i hope will last for the rest of the month. This is simply a dietary cleanse...no meat, no wheat, no sweets, no caffeine, no anything...ha...fruits, veggies, nuts, certain grains, fish...all of this supplemented by weekly trips to the sauna and morning bike rides (getting it this week!) this is day seven and right now i just feel a little trippy...apparently this is a phase to push through on the way to more energy, shinier skin, and a clear frame of mind...i'll let you cats know!

so this song is an impromptu...one instrument, one take, no overdubs, a simple exercise in free form melody and texture. it's a rather cheesy cheap trumpet sound with some delays and distortion thrown in hither and tither...this improvised tune serves as a metaphor for the transformations that i'm experiencing right now...i am not certain where they will take me, how it will end, but im improvising my way through it and determined to see what happens...this little song is kinda like that, i guess. a lot different from the other songs i've posted in the almanac, but i think it fits nicely in the canon so far, looking back...

this month's randomly ordered top ten:

1. tree of life - it was a difficult film, but reflecting, i think it was quite brilliant...
2. eyedrum retreats - scheming and dreaming..fresh stuff ahead
3. these bands/artists: amon tobin, anbb, the caretaker, francois de roubaix, igor wakhevitch, swans, sightings, bjork, etc etc etc
4. eating fire.
5. making smoothies
6. new musical collaborations just getting underway (deets pending)
7. body scrubs at the spa
8. boiled eggs
9. this diet thing, really...i am still in the first week of it...am in that mildly hallucinatory, quick-to-grumpiness frame of mind...weird, but it's making me pay more attention to my body and it's needs.
10. retro-futurism

anyway,
enjoy the tune and stay in touch.
love,
nathan

Hopi Torvald 2011 Almanac - Volume 5 - May

Hopi Torvald Almanac Vol 5 - May by HopiTorvald


May was my birthday month. i just turned a whopping 37 years old....i remember being a kid and thinking that 35 meant "adult". now a shade beyond that and a couple of years older than my dad was when i was born back in 1974...i am reminded of birthdays past...from the sesame street themed party when i was maybe four (and i got my first projectile launching toy), to my 14th or so when i cut my toe on the side of an above-ground swimming pool and saw my first freshly drowned cadaver while getting stitches at the emergency room...to just having some friends over and going skinny dipping in the creek, going fishing with my dad and matthew and his dad...countless little parties and gatherings...birthdays can be fun, can be weird.

this month was a sprawl...played a few shows, met a bunch of new folks, fooled myself into thinking i was making more life changes, and came out of it spent..having indulged and self-destructed just a little too much. had a lot of fun. the birthday itself was a pleasant affair...my parents came to visit for the first time and that was really great and needed. then a few close homies came over and we kept good company together. got a couple of nice presents, including tickets to see the swans later this year (!) and a photo of robots!

this song is something i cooked up in early may on piano. i decided to do a more minimal synth version and post that here. there's not much to tell, really...two synthesizers, some drums, and a bit of vocals...a return to song structure as of late probably speaks to my need for more order in my life, something i'm currently working hard toward...june's entry should be more revealing to this end...

this month's randomly ordered top ten:

1. chipmunks
2. eyedrum satellite shows
3. korean spa time
4. planning a september tour
5. center for puppetry arts
6. birthday time with friends
7. these bands/artists: chancha via circuito, kwjaz, modern english, gurdjieff gi, emil richards, fastest, the sea and cake etc etc etc
8. faulkner
9. living alone
10. new kitchen table

anyway, enjoy the tune, be well, and stay in touch.

love,
nathan

p.s. i decided to simply post the soundcloud link in the blog this time instead of directing you to mediafire. the song can be downloaded there as well, if you, dear listener, are so inclined.

Hopi Torvald 2011 Almanac - Volume 4 - April

http://www.mediafire.com/?8271278z1fj2q42

April was a fairly calm month. Things have settled in my noggin a bit more and I have been trying to embrace a more insular approach to life...now living pretty much alone in my bottom sector of the holy almalgamation and tuning it in to my preferred frame of cognition...so this song pretty much sums that up...it's different in a way...tiny, short, concise...two whole minutes...minimal in some regards...this entry is comprised of guitar mostly, with the usual synthy fare and some buried throbs when it gets kinda kicky...

so...april's randomly ordered top ten:

1. playing shows - sous whisky marin, goat farm (as tree creature with robby), upcoming racket at wonderroot and planning a few short jaunts to some neighboring states to wreak hopi havoc on foreign ears.
2. new house situation - as mentioned before, i just took over the bottom floor of the house and am working to situate it to my needs...this including an upgrade to the holy amalgamation setup...new studio monitors and headphones...working to make sure all the mastering/mixing/recordings sound all nice and shiny.
3. new mixing/mastering gigs lined up...love working with other people and helping get their music out there.
4. "replicate" - volume one in the epic bryan lewis saunders 10 - cassette stream of unconsciousness series. just got a batch of these in the mail. they look and sound amazing. so happy to have been a part of it. will absolutely continue working with bryan...
5. new (to me) vintage raleigh bicycle, currently being refurbished and tuned up by mr. mike kane. excited to try it out and to hopefully have a new bike by the end of the week or so...
6. my cat timothy, who graced the house with a live chipmunk over the weekend. i think i shooed it out, but if not, there's a quivering critter hiding somewhere in the back of the amalgamation...
7. these bands/artists: merle haggard, john zorn (the big gundown in particular), sudden infant (who will be coming to atlanta soon, btw), shipping news, gnaw their tongues, whitehouse, more and more mingus, etc etc etc
8. faulkner - what's more difficult than reading one faulker novel? reading two. as i lay dying is the one i take to restaurants and coffee shops, go down moses is the one for bedside reading and long waits...i just picked up two more at book nook today for when i finish these. im shocked at myself for coming into this amazing author so late in the game, but am simply delighted by the material...dense, rich, and immensely southern...awesome.
9. korean spas.
10. sleep. been working on how to get more. new bedroom is daaaaaaark and cozy. here's hoping (hopi-ing).

anyway, hope you enjoy the little ditty. have a great month and do keep in touch.
love,
nathan

download the track here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?8271278z1fj2q42

Hopi Torvald 2011 Almanac - Volume 3 - March

http://www.mediafire.com/?mlgmwlhndj27vcg

Well, i had a crazy month and although this song was finished a couple of weeks ago, i simply forgot to post it within the actual month of march...grr...anyway, so march was a nutso month...had a lot going on in the ol noggin chassis...evaluations, realizations, compensations...i think i'm learning some things about myself that maybe i wasn't allowing into the forefront of my consciousness previously...if i'm going to be perfectly candid here, i guess i should say that there are some things in there that i really wasn't happy to see. april has already brought a mild rebirth and i am determined to shed some of this outward negativity and replace it with acceptance and optimism.

this song is a little on the gnarly side...definitely a result of the tempest grey matter tsunami i have going on (take note of the astute topical analogy please..this IS an almanac after all). the sounds are comprised of a few things...most recorded at a trapeze workshop for doubles at aerial jam that i attended in early march..the lumbering washing machine that was on before class, the rhythmic panting of mel's dogs, chatting between participants...these things overlain with a pulsing manipulation of crowd banter, some tweaked synth sounds, and a loop i made of myself playing drums...it's not the prettiest song in the almanac series by a sight...the metaphoric value of this short (~3 minutes) piece residing in the prominent distorted churn and the buried wandering melodies which i see as a glimmer of optimism...

anyway, that's the nickel tour. this month's randomly ordered top 10:

1.playing a number of shows coming up...wade matthews at goat farm, the fader vixen album release show (happening online april 10th at www.fadervixen.com at 7pm), an upcoming art gallery in castleberry hills, as part of tree creature with magicicada and nomen novem at the goat farm again, and who knows what else...glad to be out and about again.
2. fader vixen - transmitting pulses...finished mastering this album last week...shimmery poppy synth driven songs with catchy melodies and really really nice composition. check it. really happy to work with these very nice people.
3. learning to work with fire in a performance atmosphere...been watching sadie do it for so long and it looked so fun, i just couldn't help it. today i have red burns on my arms from last night's efforts..
4. these bands/artists: bill fay, xtc, nath family, pan american, harrapian night recordings, coil, george harrison etc etc etc
5. roommates leaving. jennie and i have lived together for something like 12 years...it's going to be a strange transition. i know why she's moving and it's going to be very good for her for a lot of reasons, but i'll surely miss her.
6. bicycle. im going to buy one soon.
7. actually have a modeling gig coming up...crazy...but true...for dr. sketchy's...yes, people are going to draw me hanging from a suspended hoop.
8. pollen. i have come to the conclusion that i am willing to quietly suffer from this recent bout for the sake of the trees and flowers that are starting to smell so nice out there. saw a pink dogwood yesterday in avondale, smellin lovely and flourishing in the sunshine...not gonna complain.
9. couple of music projects...finished the first song (piano) for a new suite intended for aerial collaboration. working on a show to showcase duets of musicians and performers...also, working on a new album, next month's almanac, and a couple of long overdue collaborations...
10. caldo de pollo. gonna wrap this thing up so i can go eat.

paz. hope you dig the track.
love,
nathan

download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?mlgmwlhndj27vcg

Hopi Torvald 2011 Almanac - Volume 2 - February

http://www.mediafire.com/?t495vea6b5brd60

here is volume II of the hopi torvald 2011 almanac...just did beat march to the end of february. This month has been kind of a mess...suffered a concussion with some minor brain hemorrhaging just at the end of january in what i'm just going to call a trapeze accident. this resulted in a bout of cranial discomfort, a couple of doctor visits, and worse of all, a cloudy shade of fuzziness that has tinted my grey matter an unreasonable azure. mix in some stressish work stuffs, many restless nights and lamenting my unrealized career as a saboteur and you got yerself a mudfangled 20 some-odd days. not all complaints, however, as i've been privy to many a happy rendezvous with people i care about, made some new homies, been involved in some new mastering projects, and have really been working on relaxing into my fate...plus, the head's getting better...


this song, february, is a microcosmic representation of my month. it is comprised of a batch of field recordings i made at the doctor's office after my accident (the loomingly loud clock ticking in the office, the sound of rubber being stretched around my arm in preparation for the drawing of blood, the sound of distant office doors slamming, various bumps, scrapes, and ambient small room claustrophobia), sounds from the water fountain at the plaza theater, some manipulated synthesizer sounds, live percussion, and some vocals on top not unlike a little pat of butter on a thick slice of warm egyptian rye. all of this was assembled, mixed and mastered at the holy amalgamation of his majesty's kingdom on earth (hit us up on foursquare..haha) it's a little more tense and insular than january's entry, but again, i think it's appropriate for the way this month has been goin. btw, the faintly heard mantra is "loading (sweetly) physical geometry"...


so, on my mind right now, this 27th day of february...this month's randomly ordered top ten list:

1. throwing knives...got them as a late christmas present. (the artwork that accompanies this song is the result of today's practice)
2. mastering new tracks for several different friends. not sure if i can really divulge everything at this point...i'll just say that im lucky to be working on some really cool music projects.
3. these bands/musicians: tim hecker, dolphins into the future, alog, america, the church, can, old depeche mode, gino bordin, english beat, magic apron, dead fader etc etc etc
4. al jazeera news. although this has been a big part of my work stress this month, i've become happily familiar with this network and am kinda glad to be part of a team that's bringing it to a wider american audience.
5. mochi
6. aerial jam - an open format gathering where a messa folks get together and mess around on aerial equipment. been learning stuff on the aerial silks and making some new homies along the way.
7. bbc's documentaries the planets and the human body. stuck on brit docs lately.
8. hints of warm weather. means short pants, short sleeves, maybe getting a bicycle, and that timothy's little cat girlfriends are starting to show up outside...producing the gnarliest little caterwauls for his benefit. i let him out to flirt since he's all fixed and stuff.
9. more piano dialy
10. slew of upcoming performances, collaborations and releases, including the first proper hopi torvald full length...due in may!

anyway, enjoy yourselves. hope your february was a riot.
love,
nathan

download the song here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?t495vea6b5brd60

Hopi Torvald 2011 Almanac - Volume I - January

http://www.mediafire.com/?s7y7a2aroad437o

2010 was a good year. Lots of changes, lots of developments....i definitely learned a lot, did a lot, and loved as much as i could. I wish all of you a happy new year and hope that the time ahead of us brings you joy, love, and inspiration.

This post represents the first of 12 installations which i am calling my monthly almanac. Each month, there will be a different song for your gentle ears to download and hopefully enjoy.

This song, "january", is comprised of the sound of large snowflakes falling on beech leaves in the woods behind my parent's house...this mixed with more recordings from the aquarium/lyra class and the usual synths and such. Christmas can be a lonely time...especially as you get older. i enjoyed my trip home overall and the magic of being able to peruse those old familiar woods (once called "russian fields" to the old-timers) as they collected the white snowfall was simply lovely...and inspirational. i came home full of energy and faith in the productivity of the upcoming year.

so...on my mind right now, this 5th day of january...a randomly ordered top ten, if you will:

1. eyedrum - we are currently moving into our new location and concocting all manner of good things to fill it. im confident that sonic and visual wonderment will ensue.
2. blast off burlesque - helping these uber-creative and terrific people with a show next week...titled "holidazed and confused". i've been privy to the prelude, and it's gonna be two halves of a hoot.
3. these bands: salah ragab and the cairo jazz band, gnaw their tongues, charles mingus, herbie nichols, celso murilo, jacques loussier, milton nascimento, king crimson, omar korshid, etc etc etc...
4. bbc's wonders of the solar system - watched every bit of this when i was sick a couple of weeks ago. too cool.
5. tree identification - got one of those handy dandy audubon society guides and it's been great..next up, birds and insects..
6. the hound of the baskervilles...my first sherlock holmes book...diggin it
7. sun ra's space is the place...awesomely bad yet incredible movie. the music ranks among my fave from this jupiter-born genius..
8. playing piano daily...playing more drums...
9. local faves magicicada and nomen novum...tree creature (my other musical project) is doing a 3-way split release with them to be unveiled at our show at the music room at the end of february. stellar.
10. lyra (the aerial hoop) - best and most fun exercise i've had. dig it.

anyway, enjoy yourselves and hope to see you soon.
download the song here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?s7y7a2aroad437o