the cacophony of light - bits (2005)
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Topic: the cacophony of light - bits (2005)
Posted By: Dean
Subject: the cacophony of light - bits (2005)
Date Posted: August 19 2008 at 15:08
 Since 2002 I have been making self-indulgent music under the moniker The Cacophony Of Light. There is nothing spectacular about this, it's just a hobby that consumed my time for 3 years then sort of died away. Over that period I recorded 51 CDs full of electronic/experimental/neo-classical music of varying and questionably quality. Most of my friends (bless'em) were very supportive and said nice things, though some did say things like "Oh, I thought it would sound weirder" or would stroke their beards in a knowing way and say"Hmm, you should have spent more time on that" but on the whole most liked what I did and the musicians among them would encourage me and suggest things I hadn't considered trying, like tone-poems and unusual modes and scales. Several times I set out to purposely make a full-blown Prog album, but failed on each occasion, though there is a Prog influence in everything I did.
Anyway, it was kind of fun to do and rather than let this music fester on my hard-drive I thought I'd share some of it with everyone here and "release" a CD into the wild from time to time. Don't expect great music, just some over-ambitious noodlings put together in some semblance of coherence.
------------- What? |
Replies:
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: August 19 2008 at 15:09
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Moments - 2002
Moments was the 5th CD of music I ever produced. Written in 2002 as the antithesis of those pseudo-new-age relaxation disc, I deliberately set out to make music that sounded relaxing, yet was dissonant and full of "wrong-notes" (so many in fact you would wonder if I ever knew any right notes). On a flight of vanity, this was the only CD to get a "proper" release, all be it through mp3.com.
here is the download link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TYRKQRBF - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TYRKQRBF ------------- What? |
Posted By: ewblank
Date Posted: August 29 2008 at 08:49
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Hi there Dean, Thanks for posting your work. I listened to about half of this last night and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm not sure I would call this work dissonant as much as moody and/or dark. It reminded me of the soundtrack work of Eduard Artemyev from the films he did with Andrei Tarkovsky. Ether way - I thought it was very well done, with some very nice depth to the mix and the variations of synth tones that caught my attention. May I ask what synths you used on these pieces? cheers, ew |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: August 29 2008 at 11:37
The synths on that album was 100% Reason, I didn't get a real synth until a little later (Oberheim OB-12 - a great Analogue Modelling version of the classic OB-1). All the Reason patches were tweeked - I never use vanila sounds as Reason is more geared to dance music and I didn't like the synth patches that came with it (too close to Ibiza floor-fillers for my liking  ). Thanks for the soundtrack comment - a number of people have likened my "music" to film-scores and I like that - Solaris is one of my top-five favourite films and I love the music.  ------------- What? |
Posted By: ewblank
Date Posted: August 29 2008 at 13:03
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Hey, I'm amazed that you did all of that in Reason. I guess it just goes to show that when used properly, a completely digital recording can sound amazingly full and natural. Well, as natural as any electronic music can sound, that is. I'm going to go back and listen to the rest of the release. Keep up the great work! cheers, ew |
Posted By: cobb2
Date Posted: August 30 2008 at 23:41
| Love to listen to it, but failing on the proxy (NAT)- showing my ISP's IP, not mine. Ain't technology grand! |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: December 26 2008 at 08:30
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Indulge - 2005  Indulge was the 47th CD of music I ever produced. The indulgence implied by the title refers not so much to the music itself (which is indeed a folly of whim), but to the means of production, which I allowed myself to indulge in a fair amount of post-production mucking about. Indulge consists of a single piece of music, called Dream Off, that lasts 75 minutes. I created/composed a 75 minute piece of music (titled Dream Over) using http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason_%28software%29 - which was then played through the http://darqdean.oxyhost.com/instruments1.html - and re-recorded on three separate days, including one where it rained persistently. These 3 recorded tracks (Dream Away, Dream Away Too and Dream Away Rainy Day ) were then overlaid on top of each other and mixed with the original Dream Over. The phrases from the original score were then played repeatedly several times over at a faster tempo (8x) and mixed with the LTW tracks, then more loose phrases of the same sequence and random odd notes were added using an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberheim_OB12 - synth. Finally 75 minutes of free-form http://darqdean.oxyhost.com/instruments5.html - sounds (tuned to D) were recorded and added to the final track to produce Dream Off.
If forced to pigeonhole Dream Off, I'd call it Epic Ambient
 .------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: March 22 2009 at 10:01
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The Gaia Cacophony - 2003  The Gaia Cacophony is a monster - it is a suite of three one hour pieces that meander from avant garde to symphonic and all ports in between - at the time of writing it I called it a a neo-symphony of electronica, but that sounded pretentious so I called it a cacophony instead, and that sounded even more pretentious, but this isn't commercial Pop, it's supposed to be like that.
 The three tracks went through several changes and developments as the ideas that formed the concept and the musical themes slowly jelled into a semi-coherent whole, The original intention was to depict The Gaia Hypothesis as a garden (eg Eden or Elysium) where the symbiosis of all five of the biological kingdoms with the primeval elements (air, soil, water and wind) forms a self-contained bio-system, this was then expanded to include the development and evolution of life on Earth as part of that system. Contrary to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, this system becomes more ordered and less chaotic as time progresses, although ultimately, as fuel (ie the Sun) is consumed it will succumb to the 2nd Law, so the "music" becomes more complex and at the same time more ordered.
CD1 - Dawn
 Dawn is primordial soup, it is the Gaia's creation, a statue gazing over a shapeless void. It is a musical image of a sunrise, the rays breaking out of the horizon and spreading across the Earth, warming and nurturing as it grows.
CD2 - Evolve
 Evolve is growing, it is Gaia's development, growth and blossoming, and it is the evolution of life from primative forms into more comlex organisms, still reliant on those simpler forms for existance.
 CD3 - Forever
 Forever is infinity- it is Gaia continuation, and abundance of noise and colour where cycles of simple to complex are interleaved within themselves.
 The Gaia Cacophony was composed and recorded in the spring of 2003 in my conservatory, (a glass room bolted onto the side of my house - not a place of acedemic musical learning), and in my garden using a combination of Reason, live instruments and found-sounds. The bird-song you can hear in the music was recorded "live" as it were as were other natural sounds. Piano and guitar feature heavily in the pieces, however the prime instrument is a replica of Alvin Lucier's http://darqdean.oxyhost.com/instruments1.html" rel="nofollow - Long Thin Wire which was was used through-out the recording process as a instrument, as a means of recording the sounds of nature and as an effects unit (like a 30m long spring-line reverb).
Equipment:
Oberheim OB12 Synth
Kramer Striker 244 guitar
'The Long Thin Wire' Hewlett-Packard 3325A function generatorReason 2.5 & Magix Audio Studio 7 TASCAM 788 DAW portastudio Downloads:
Disc 1 - Dawn : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=M8TQF8E1" rel="nofollow - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=M8TQF8E1
Disc 2 - Evolve : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=X5S051MH" rel="nofollow - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=X5S051MH
Disc 3 - Forever : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EJLIMI87" rel="nofollow - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EJLIMI87
------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: April 01 2009 at 07:11
Antiquarian - 2003
 During the summer of 2003 we took our family vacation on the Penwith peninsula of Cornwall (UK) to find that the area was littered with neolithic monuments, so between days at the seaside and trips to the usual tourist attractions, we drove around the countryside searching out these stone landmarks and photographing them.
Unlike the more popular and famous neolithic sites like Stonehenge, Avebury and Carnac, these where surprisingly small - yet for all that they were equally as impressive - for they where on a human scale, which made them more personal and "real" - somehow, the fact that they were something that you could imagine farmers of 6000 years ago erecting them in a day or so and still have them standing in the landscape today bridged that distance, making a connection from those ancient times to the present day.
On returning from our holiday, I sat at the PC and composed some music that tried to capture what I felt there, not as some pseudo-spiritual new-age noodling, but as distinct tunes representative of the physical nature of the stones and the landscape they were placed in.
 (more pictures http://darqness.mine.nu/images/jpegs/anti/pages/men-an-tol2.htm" rel="nofollow - here )
Tracks:
1. Mên-an-tol
2. Lanyon Quoit 3. Mên Scryfa 3. The Merry Maidens 4. The Pipers 5. Tregiffian (A Moment Ago part 2) Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EY9DQD7O" rel="nofollow - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EY9DQD7O ------------- What? |
Posted By: xneon
Date Posted: May 18 2009 at 07:09
| Can you re-upload "Indulge"? Rapidshare don't have it anymore. |
Posted By: progkidjoel
Date Posted: June 04 2009 at 01:36
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Hey hey I'm just downloading the album now, looking forward to it... Thanks -Joel ------------- 
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: June 27 2009 at 07:10
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Benign - 2004
total time: 76:20
Not much to say about this - I wrote and recorded it in 2004 and it's 100% electronic with a mild Vangelis influence (I think I may have chanced upon a Vangelis-like synth patch and just played around with it). That's about it really - I'd forgotten I made it and by chance I was listening to it last week and quite enjoyed it (in as much as you can enjoy your own music). I haven't a clue what the artwork is about - it was just a rendered 3D iamge I made using PovRay.
download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=URPAR9HB - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=URPAR9HB
------------- What? |
Posted By: The Truth
Date Posted: June 29 2009 at 15:15
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Great stuff man, I was just wandering around the website and thought I'd check your stuff out. I'm impressed! ------------- http://blindpoetrecords.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow">  
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Posted By: progkidjoel
Date Posted: June 30 2009 at 05:25
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Hey I downloaded moments about a month ago... Awesome stuff! I really enjoyed the ambience of it, but the thing is, unlike alot of ambient music, it actually went somewhere! Thanks for allowing it for free download, -Joel -------------
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Posted By: Alberto Muñoz
Date Posted: July 16 2009 at 18:06
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Dean, i will download your music on friday night
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Posted By: Tuzvihar
Date Posted: July 27 2009 at 16:04
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Hey, Dean! Maybe you should ask Rico to add you to the database?
------------- "Music is much like f**king, but some composers can't climax and others climax too often, leaving themselves and the listener jaded and spent." Charles Bukowski |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: July 28 2009 at 04:16
^ 
Oh oh oh - no. ------------- What? |
Posted By: Tuzvihar
Date Posted: July 28 2009 at 13:07
Don't laugh at me, please. I didn't listen to your music ( ). I asked you on the basis of what you had written in your initial post ("electronic/experimental/neo-classical music").Or do you feel you're not worthy? ------------- "Music is much like f**king, but some composers can't climax and others climax too often, leaving themselves and the listener jaded and spent." Charles Bukowski |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: July 28 2009 at 18:06
(not laughing at you, just at the idea of me being added
)But it's a good question, that prompts a thousand answers...
I don't think my music is particularly "Prog" - whenever I've tried to write anything "Prog" I've always failed -everything is a little bit Prog because I use odd time signatures, strange key changes, exotic scales, funny chord progressions, layering and counter-point and non-standard song structures (I've never written an AABA song in my life) ... and because Progressive Rock is a big influence on me, but having some of the component parts don't make it Prog, lots of non-Prog music also uses these techniques (Jazz, New Age, Neo-Classical etc...). I think I am too close to the material to judge - perhaps someone else can hear it as Prog - one of the reasons artists don't like being pigeon-holed is because they think they are being original and non-generic.
My only aim when setting out to record all these albums was to make weird/avant garde/exotic/experimental music that sounded "normal" and accessible - I don't think that is Prog in itself. Certainly not all avant garde music is Progressive AG, not all Electronic music is Progressive Electronic and not all Psyche Rock is Progressive Psyche Rock.
Whether "worthy" or not I cannot judge - I think my music is naive, amateurish and simplistic, and while I don't think "quality" has anything to do with being added to the PA, I think we must draw a line somewhere
. (of course there is a modicum of fear involved - it's one thing having your friends saying nice things about your music (regardless of how bad it is) - it's something else when a total stranger rips it to pieces over the internet)
When we were discussing "unsigned" bands back in 2007 we noticed that with modern home-recording equipment and software it was possible to produce a "professional" product without the expense of a studio and record label and self-release over the internet as a download only album, in principle the status of "unsigned" does not exist once a band has recorded something. For a very modest sum of money it is even possible to produce a saleable CD complete with booklet and jewel-case - I did this for my Moments album using mp3.com, and there are a number of vanity-press businesses out there who will do this for you for very low production runs. So we decided on a set of "rules" that determined whether an unsigned band who had self-released an album could be admitted to the PA and since then we have added a number of bands and artists who meet that criteria.
The problem as I see it is people like me - I have met all the rules for being a signed artist (all of my CDs are "for sale") - yet I do not consider my self a "serious" artist - I am still an amateur playing around with some recording gear at home making - whichever way you look at it I am unsigned, and I don't think we should be adding "artists" like me. (My personal opinion)
------------- What? |
Tuzvihar wrote:Posted By: JLocke
Date Posted: July 28 2009 at 19:17
^ Well, just for the record, Dean, I think you be quite a welcome and loved addition to the site! 
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Posted By: Tuzvihar
Date Posted: July 29 2009 at 16:28
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I tried to download your albums to hear for myself, Dean, but the links no longer work I'm afraid... I get the message that the source file could not be found... ------------- "Music is much like f**king, but some composers can't climax and others climax too often, leaving themselves and the listener jaded and spent." Charles Bukowski |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: July 29 2009 at 17:30
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^ I've just tried all the links and every one works except "Indulge" ------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: July 30 2009 at 17:28
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Metamorph 2005
 Metamorph is another single-track album, the track is called Tessellation Boulevard (though no actually tessellations were used in composing it) and consists of 2095 bars of music written to a set of rules. For the melody, each bar contains 10 semi-quavers (10/8 time) in a pentatonic scale (C#) and only one note is permitted to change from one bar to the next, the harmonies and accompaniments are written individually around each specific bar. This results in a piece of music that sounds repetitive, yet there is no actual repetition. As if each note was an ice crystal and each bar forms a snowflake then the resulting 65½ minutes of music is a snow field that appears uniform yet has drifts that often disguise the underlying structures.
The cover picture is nothing special and has no meaning - it is just a doodle I did one evening while not watching TV, like the doodles I used to draw in my exercise book at school during a particularly dull lesson as the teacher droned on in a monotonic dirge to some long dead king of a long dead civilisation in a land far far away that no one could say for sure whether what they attempted to teach us was actually verifiable true or was mere supposition and wishful thinking based upon a scant few traces of archaeological evidence...
Download Metamorph here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4YR8APDN - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4YR8APDN ------------- What? |
Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: July 30 2009 at 18:18
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Beautiful cover. Did you make that? Also, I downloaded this. It will be my first TCoL experience...I just don't have time to listen to it right now. ------------- https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: July 30 2009 at 18:24
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^ thanks Rob. I do all my own artwork - it's cheaper that way ------------- What? |
Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: July 30 2009 at 18:31
I do too...but man, that is one gorgeous cover. There's a lot to appreciate about it. It makes me want to hear your piece now, but it's sort of family time, and here I am still fooling around on Progarchives. Shame on me.  ------------- https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: July 31 2009 at 09:09
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I just finished listening Dean, and let's just say it's probably best you didn't get added to the database... ...because if you did, we'd have to create a new category: "Math Electronic Prog." ------------- https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: progkidjoel
Date Posted: July 31 2009 at 09:11
Make sure you get MOMENTS aswell - Absolutely phenomenal stuff! -Joel -------------
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Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: July 31 2009 at 09:20
Will do!  ------------- https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: July 31 2009 at 10:57
I've done a couple more albums that would probably fit that category (I'm an Engineer - I love numbers) - I'm listening to the first now ("spunos" - you'll have to turn the monitor upside down to get the gag) all based on the number seven it was the second album I ever made and it's dreadful  ...and the other is The Mathematica Cacophony - a suite of three CDs about three key eras in mathematics, music and astronomy(Ancient Greece, Renaissance Italy and the present day). Hopefully all my other stuff is more "organic",------------- What? |
Posted By: Tuzvihar
Date Posted: July 31 2009 at 11:02
Damn Megaupload! I can only get 16 kB of data and the download finishes... 
------------- "Music is much like f**king, but some composers can't climax and others climax too often, leaving themselves and the listener jaded and spent." Charles Bukowski |
Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: July 31 2009 at 11:07
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I just downloaded Moments. I'll listen to it in a...*ahem*...moment.
------------- https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: JLocke
Date Posted: July 31 2009 at 11:19
| ^ That's the only work by Dean I've heard so far. Let me know what you think about it. |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: July 31 2009 at 11:19
 ... I don't know what to suggest - sometimes a different time of day gives a better response.------------- What? |
Posted By: MovingPictures07
Date Posted: July 31 2009 at 23:43
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I just saw this thread. I absolutely love electronic music, and I plan on downloading these right now. Can't wait to hear them, Dean!  ------------- 
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Posted By: LanCaiHe
Date Posted: August 07 2009 at 09:22
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Loved the music! Don't be surprised if someone might want to use your score for a film! I felt constantly moved that something was happening, or was about to happen. You created really subtle tension, almost unnoticeable at times, until it was too late and I was taken in by it! Nice! Oh, the picture on the back with the wings absolutely killed me! I loved it!
------------- Jim |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: August 07 2009 at 12:19
 gosh, erm, thanks
...the picture was a bit of fun and a gentle reminder not to take myself (or my music) too seriously. ------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: August 09 2009 at 17:36
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Passing 2003
 Passing was the sequel to Moments, eventhough I tried quite hard not to make it Moments 2, it is a sort of Passing Moments, or a Moments Passing. Recorded in 2003 just before Antiquarian it was the 10th album I wrote & recorded and the 9th to be released (album #3 has yet to see the light of day).
passing...
...wind & whethering ...out the other side ...without due cause ...trade & industry ...issues ...currents ...broad thoughts from home ...whole life support ...sleep ...strangers in the rain Total Plaing Time: 51 minutes
Track 6 - Passing...Currents was the first and last of many tracks never to be recorded under the pseudonym of 'The Olde Oak Trio' - a fictitious wandering band of guitarists of indeterminate skill and dexterity.
The cover photograph was taken in the ruins of Christchurch Castle in Dorset, England - the young lady leaving the picture is my daughter, I don't know the name of the seagull, but there is a good chance it wasn't the same one that is on the Moments cover. Feeling rather good about the accidental co-incidence of having a seagull on two of my album covers, from this point on the bird appears somewhere on all my CoL covers.
Download link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NYKBIPDM - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NYKBIPDM ------------- What? |
Posted By: Chris S
Date Posted: August 09 2009 at 18:51
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have been listening to Antiquarian Seems like a good prog fit to me. ------------- ...As I venture through the slipstream, between the viaducts in your dreams...[/COLOR] |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: August 09 2009 at 19:24
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Pilgrim 2005
 This was the 50th and (to date) the penultimate album I recorded as The Cacophony Of Light. It is currently available as a stream on LastFM ( http://www.last.fm/music/The+Cacophony+Of+Light/Pilgrim" rel="nofollow - http://www.last.fm/music/The+Cacophony+Of+Light/Pilgrim ) - I had intended the whole ablum to be downloadable from there, but something went sideways and only 2 tracks ended up as downloads.
Conceptually it is based around John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, though as an instrumental album it does not delve into storyline or attempt to depict any of the alegorical journey undertaken by Christian (and later by his wife Christiana) - if anything it is more about one of the secondary characters found in Part 2 of Pilgrim's Progress, Mr Valiant-for-Truth and his journey from The Dark-land to the Celestial Country.
1. Valiant Overture (3:48)
2. Dark-land (6:09) 3. The Slough of Despond (5:20) 4. Beelzebub Castle (4:48) 5. The Wicket Gate (5:25) 6. The Hill Difficulty (3:58) 7. The Valley of Humiliation (6:07) 8. Valley of the Shadow of Death (5:34) 9. Doubting Castle (3:36) 10. Who Would True Valour See (8:00) 11. The Enchanted Ground (4:50) 12. The Celestial Country (7:40) Total playing time: 65:23
(track 10 is based upon the hymn "To Be A Pilgrim" - music by Vaughan Williams)
Download link: http://www.mediafire.com/?tal7wsbus61ro8y" rel="nofollow - http://www.mediafire.com/?tal7wsbus61ro8y [corrected download link - 31/12/2012]
/edit: in updating the covers due to a webhost failure, I discovered an alternate cover for Pilgrim:
 ------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: August 09 2009 at 19:46
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PS: I don't think I like Pilgrim very much - some days I listen to it and almost enjoy it, but mostly I hate it. It wasn't what I set out to do when I started producing music three years earlier, and it certainly wasn't the kind of music I really wanted to make - somewhere along the way I seem to have wandered off course. I recorded one more album (Stateless - also available on LastFM), and in December 2005 I just stopped.
------------- What? |
Posted By: J-Man
Date Posted: August 11 2009 at 15:10
Wow, Dean. I really like Pilgrim! It's got to be one of my favorite that I've downloaded along with Moments and Metamorph. Very good stuff I know it's been mentioned, but you really should try to get on the archives. -------------  Check out my YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: August 30 2009 at 09:31
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I promised myself I'd leave this thread alone for a few months, but I'm terrible at keeping promises, especially to myself.
Cast A Long Shadow, sample track from unreleased CD, Edge
 My third album was supposed to be a concept album with vocals provided by several of my friends - I wrote and recorded all the music for the album, but with one thing and another recording the vocals went a bit sideways and it never got finished. Most of the problem was my self-conscious insecurity with the lyrics themselves - I should thrown out the words and have just asked Becki to vocalise over the whole thing.
Cleaning up my harddrive the other day I found two of the tracks that did get the vocal treatment, and I present one of them here - it was never intended to be the final version of this particular song, and I think the vocals probably are too high in the mix, but I quite like it as it is.
It's called Cast A Long Shadow, vocals are by Becki (Clark) and the random spacey guitar is by David (Stanton) - both of Prog Metal band Season's End.
Becki's vocals were recorded one hot summer's evening in 2002 in my attic where the temperatures where hitting 38ºC and it was only later I discovered that I'd clipped the signal on one of the high E's in the last verse - I underestimated the power of her voice and should have been more careful
 - (she has been known to blow stage monitors when a hapless sound engineer thought "oh, a girlie singer, I'd better wack the gain up") - I hadn't the heart to ask her to re-record it.this is Becki:
 A year after recording it I sent it to Future Music Magazine, this was their "review":
"Could be misconstrued as someone messing with an old analogue synth with someone singing over the top. One of the strangest jobs reason will ever be put too. Bit random but we can sort of see what you're doing." - Future Music (fm138) August 2003.
- I love that review - kind of gave me the encouragement that I was doing something right.
So here it is - it's only 4:27 long....
Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=F0RBA8PR - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=F0RBA8PR
------------- What? |
Posted By: progkidjoel
Date Posted: September 01 2009 at 05:30
^^ Need to get that one soon! So far I've only got MOMENTS (Which I love), but over the next couple of days, I'll grab a few more. Good work Dean -Joel -------------
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Posted By: J-Man
Date Posted: September 01 2009 at 18:56
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^^ Joel, Also pick up Metamorph. That album is phenomenal! And that really is saying something because I generally don't like electronic or math music. -Jeff ------------- Check out my YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime |
Posted By: el dingo
Date Posted: September 02 2009 at 17:27
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Hi Dean
Just downloaded Moments - real smooth download (free artwork too
) and from a 30-sec burst sound quality is pretty damn reasonable. Just got a new 8-gig Walkman phone and coincidentally I'm taking Mrs Dingo to the hospital tomorrow so an hour or so wait in the car park seems an ideal time to try out both the phone and your music!I didn't even know you did this sort of thing - first thirty secs said Tangerine Dream to me but I guess I'd better hear the rest as well ------------- It's not that I can't find worth in anything, it's just that I can't find worth in enough. |
Posted By: progkidjoel
Date Posted: September 12 2009 at 03:37
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Evenin' Dean! As per J-Man's advice, I'm currently downloading METAMORPH I'll drop in later and tell you what I thought Thanks! -Joel -------------
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Posted By: progkidjoel
Date Posted: September 12 2009 at 21:26
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Just finished listening to TESSELLATION BOULEVARD for the first time - Great work Dean -Joel -------------
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Posted By: The Quiet One
Date Posted: December 13 2009 at 14:29
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Hey Dean, could you please "update" the cover-works from some of the albums? You know how prog fans are when choosing an album, they look at the cover-work first If it's too much of a problem then don't worry, I'll download some of them which cover-work can be seen.
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Posted By: The Quiet One
Date Posted: December 13 2009 at 14:41
THANKS! 
Downloaded Antiquarian will listen it as soon as I finish what I'm listening.
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: December 13 2009 at 14:56
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^ The server where the covers are stored is a bit erratic - usually a refesh or show-pictures will reveal them.
If anyone wants the complete artwork for any album drop me a PM - Moments has the full set of artwork (booklet & jewelcase tray) in the zip-file, the others haven't.
------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: December 13 2009 at 16:29
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Trilithon 2004  Trilithon (pronounced Tri-Lith-on) is a single track composed in three movements that was partly inspired by an earlier CoL album (Antiquarian), 2001 A Space Odyssey and Stonehenge. It was a concept album that proposed the idea that the solitary monolith found on the Moon in Kubrick's 2001 was in fact part of a larger structure that was an exact replica of Stonehenge. (Full story >| http://darqness.mine.nu/trilithon.html" rel="nofollow - here |<).
The length of the track is 62:26 ... not a coincidence, though not particularly significant.
"Instruments" on this album were Reason 2.5, Oberheim OB12 and some odd bits of electronics. I'd call the musical style Electronic With Percussion.
download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MC3NBSEV" rel="nofollow - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MC3NBSEV
------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: January 13 2010 at 03:23
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Intro Red - Video This is a video I put together for the last track on the last album I made (Intro Red from Stateless). It was filmed using an old Fuji finepix digital camera that only allowed 1 minute bursts of filming and the individual scenes were put together using some freeware editing package whose name escapes me at the moment.
------------- What? |
Posted By: SaltyJon
Date Posted: January 16 2010 at 03:32
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I've downloaded Moments and Metamorph tonight to listen to (tomorrow at the earliest, I need to get to sleep soon since it's now 4:30 AM), from what I've seen people saying in this thread it seems like the kind of stuff I'm interested in.
------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Salty_Jon" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: SaltyJon
Date Posted: January 16 2010 at 14:12
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I'm enjoying Moments so far, Dean, it sounds great to me.
------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Salty_Jon" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: February 08 2010 at 19:18
My website's down ... I'm currently looking for a new host.
I've updated the covers from PhotoBucket and the mp3 Downloads are still okay. ------------- What? |
Posted By: The Pessimist
Date Posted: February 08 2010 at 20:27
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I'm very impressed with how you've managed to create so much music in just 3 years. I find it unbelievable in fact. You are one gifted man Keep them coming as well man, I've had a ganders at some of it and some very nice stuff indeed. ------------- "Market value is irrelevant to intrinsic value." Arnold Schoenberg |
Posted By: Negoba
Date Posted: February 13 2010 at 19:02
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I dug the video so I finally am currently downloading Moments as it seems to be the entry point or most rah-rah. I've been getting into more moody music lately, but also dissonant stuff so it sounds right up my alley.
This is really good stuff Dean...better than any TD I've heard.
------------- You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all. |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: February 26 2010 at 05:17
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Finally sorted out the website - taken it "in house" and running it on a stand-alone server on my home network as that seems to be the only reliable solution. Unfortunately it is a slooooow uplink so the pages take a while to load, I'll fix that one day by moving all the images to photobucket or something, but at least it's back: http://darqness.mine.nu - http://darqness.mine.nu
------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: February 26 2010 at 05:18
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Ballet  http://darqness.mine.nu/ballet.html - http://darqness.mine.nu/ballet.html
Recorded early in 2005, this isn't a dance album, though I have put some "beats" into it (never really mastered using a drum machine, probably because I don't like programmed drums - I sat down at a real drum kit once and it felt like I had two left hands so that's never going to be an option) - the title comes from the cover image and not the music which in itself was incidental to the concept. It's one of the few where the cover and title came first and the music was added after (as an after thought as it where). I don't know whether that shows in the music, or even if it is relevant
I created a set of Postcards (using recycled backgrounds
) to go with the album, which can be found here: http://pbckt.com/sw.hh - http://pbckt.com/sw.hh http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa289/darqdean/ballet%20postcards/?action=view¤t=dance1-pic.jpg">
 http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa289/darqdean/ballet%20postcards/?action=view¤t=dance2-pic.jpg"> http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa289/darqdean/ballet%20postcards/?action=view¤t=dance3-pic.jpg"> http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa289/darqdean/ballet%20postcards/?action=view¤t=dance4-pic.jpg"> http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa289/darqdean/ballet%20postcards/?action=view¤t=dance5-pic.jpg"> http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa289/darqdean/ballet%20postcards/?action=view¤t=dance6-pic.jpg">
 http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa289/darqdean/ballet%20postcards/?action=view¤t=dance7-pic.jpg"> http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa289/darqdean/ballet%20postcards/?action=view¤t=dance8-pic.jpg"> http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa289/darqdean/ballet%20postcards/?action=view¤t=dance9-pic.jpg"> http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa289/darqdean/ballet%20postcards/?action=view¤t=dance10-pic.jpg"> Tracks:
1. prima ballerina (20:43)
2. dancing on the edge of time (34:11) music download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IHZQVWLE - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IHZQVWLE ------------- What? |
Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: February 26 2010 at 07:36
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"Prima Ballerina" is your best work yet (from everything I've heard). That lead at nine minutes was phenomenal.
------------- https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: February 26 2010 at 07:52
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Thanks Rob, I think I must have been listening to a lot of The Enid that week ------------- What? |
Posted By: SaltyJon
Date Posted: February 26 2010 at 09:53
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Woo! New album! I'm downloading it now, I'll listen when I get some free time.
------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Salty_Jon" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Negoba
Date Posted: February 26 2010 at 10:58
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I must admit that of the 20 or so albums I've downloaded, borrowed, and bought outright lately, that Moments may be the one I listen to the most. Intelligent dark ambient. Thanks Dean. ------------- You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all. |
Posted By: paganinio
Date Posted: April 20 2010 at 22:42
 I was just enjoying the OP's artwork and text description of his albums. I don't listen to much music these days, but a picture of two are always welcome
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: February 26 2011 at 06:05
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spunos - by the cacophony of light
I have been playing around with a couple of online vanity presses to see if they are a worthwhile method of self-releasing CDs. The two I have looked at are http://www.lulu.com" rel="nofollow - www.lulu.com and http://www.createspace.com" rel="nofollow - www.createspace.com - both are fairly well known for self-publishing books and both offer a service of converting your album tracks to a hardcopy CD-R (called CD On Demand) complete with full-colour artwork and disc label. To try these services out I have released one of my early CDs by this route.
My aim for both methods was to produce a CD as cheaply as possible, forgoing any profit on my part, so the prices shown are the minimum that these sites will allow you to set (ie production costs+profit for them).
For both sites you prepare the "mastered" version of the music (.aiff or .wav) and all the necessary artwork (they provide sizing templates) and simply upload them. They do the rest.
 Lulu.com: http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/spunos/14704990" rel="nofollow - http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/spunos/14704990
They produce a CD-R on demand with a black jewel case tray and a single page inlay booklet - which to my mind is not quite good enough. The proof copy of the CD-R had a pretty poor label print otherwise was fine. The price was set at £3.25 ($5.23 or €3.81) which was excellent, however the CDs are made in the USA so the postage and packing to the UK is a scary £8.99 (€10.53) - hopefully the postage to the USA is considerably cheaper.
The cost to the artist is minimal - you pay for one proof copy and that's it, there are no set-up charges or minimum order quantities.
CreateSpace.com: https://www.createspace.com/1950952" rel="nofollow - https://www.createspace.com/1950952
CreateSpace is part of Amazon.com and they also produce CD-R on demand, this time with a transparent jewelcase tray and a 4-page full-colour inlay booklet - which is perfect. The proof copy of the CD-R had a good label print. The price was set at $9.99 (£5.59 or €6.25) which is a little more expensive than lulu, but I think worth the extra for the better package - these are also manufactured in the USA so shipping is again expensive, but not as much as Lulu coming in at $5.35 (£3.22 or €3.89) - again, I assume shipping within the USA will be cheaper.
The cost to the artist is minimal - you pay for one proof copy and that's it, there are no set-up charges or minimum order quantities.
MP3 Download from CreateSpace is not free (unfortunately) but will cost you $5.99
The advantage of using CreateSpace is the direct link into Amazon.com, so anything you publish using CreateSpace can be made available via Amazon - though it appears that it is only Amazon.com and not Amazon.co.uk.
Anyway, here's the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/spunos-Cacophony-Light/dp/B004MYG6WG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1298508734&sr=8-2" rel="nofollow - http://www.amazon.com/spunos-Cacophony-Light/dp/B004MYG6WG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1298508734&sr=8-2 ... which is kind of sexy to see in an egotistic vanity induced way.
 Conclusion.
CreateSpace/Amazon make the better product, and taking postage into account, they do it cheaper. For anyone out there making music wanting to self-release it as a hard-copy CD-R this is definitely the way to go.
anti-plug: please don't buy my CD (unless you really, really want to) - download it by all means (edit: I'll be uploading it to megaupload in the next few days). I only chose this title because it is linked to a book I wrote and was publishing on both sites at the same time - it's far from my best (though the artwork is rather sexy).
------------- What? |
Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: February 26 2011 at 06:16
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I downloaded one of your albums ages ago. Never got to listen I'm sorry to say. Are the song titles meant to be lower case? (for tagging purposes I ask) Also the band name? ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: February 26 2011 at 06:28
------------- What? |
Posted By: AtomicCrimsonRush
Date Posted: March 10 2011 at 17:12
------------- 
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: March 17 2011 at 12:25
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spunos - free download version
..as promised - the free download version of "spunos". This was the second CD of music I ever recorded, so features the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st pieces of music I ever composed. It's like a very poor curates egg - good in parts, (it's just that those parts are quite tiny).
001 : feldspar (7:00) Total playing time 49:00
Track 6 includes some rhythm guitar by a Mr T. Gifford-Hull, (ex Season's End and ex Razorblade Kisses), all other noises were made by me.
download link - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=34SE2TNQ" rel="nofollow - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=34SE2TNQ ------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: March 18 2011 at 08:02
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The Mathematica Cacophony - 2004 three principals of mathematical principles
 In 2003 I created http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=51077&PID=3189432#3189432" rel="nofollow - The Gaia Cacophony - a three disc concept album that was a simulacrum of a classical symphony in electronic form, a bit pretentious perhaps, but hey, it's not hurting anyone and doesn't cost anything so quit whinging
. The following year I decided I really liked the notion of 3 hour albums and set about creating another - this time based upon mathematics, its relationship to music (Harmony, Rhythm and Melody) and as a homage to three "giants" of mathematics whose shoulders we all stand upon.All Music and Artwork by Dean Cracknell, composed and recorded as 'the cacophony of light'. All the artwork shown below is included in the downloads in print-ready format to construct the 8-page inlays for each disc in the set should you feel so motivated to do so.
The Mathematica Cacophony - Disc 1 - Geometric
 Geometric is centred on Pythagoras and his concept of Musica Mundana, The Music of the Spheres - and relates to the Harmony of music, the relationship of one sound to another and the tensions between them.
   
total playing time: 56:49
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AH7BYKG6" rel="nofollow - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AH7BYKG6 (68Mb)
note: The artwork for this album was produced 18 months before Octavarium was released, so you can imagine how "miffed" I was that Dream Theater had used Newton's Cradle on their cover - anyway, mine's far cooler
.The Mathematica Cacophony - Disc 2 - Derivative
 Derivative is centred on Sir Issac Newton and his laws of motion and relates to the Rhythm of music, its pace and tempo. its meter and timing.
   
total playing time: 68:12
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IZV039NX" rel="nofollow - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IZV039NX (82Mb)
note: "(Na, K)AlSiO4 [Nepheline]" is a reworking of "nepheline" from http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=51077&PID=4097744#4097744" rel="nofollow - spunos - I make no apologies for that, it needed reworking and it is now 3 times longer than it was, so that's bonus.
warning: my voice can be heard on "My God! It's Full Of Stairs" - and for that I do apologise.
The Mathematica Cacophony - Disc 3 - Quantify
 Quantify is centred on Albert Einstein and his ideas of quantum mechanics and relates to the Melody of music, the quantisation of music into movements, verses, bars and individual notes.
   
total playing time: 72:00
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5T1HA9Z9" rel="nofollow - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5T1HA9Z9 (114Mb)
This download includes 7 bonus tracks that don't strictly form part of the box-set (they won't fit on the CD!), but since they were composed and produced as part of the composition process for Quantify (by way of binary progression) they are in essense part of the suite.
total playing time of all three discs:
(without bonus tracks) 3:17:02
(with bonus tracks) 3:40:53
The "Disc 3" download also includes the artwork to make a slip-case for the three CDs:
 Since putting this download together I've had chance to listen to this in full for the first time in many years - I think this one possibly could be "Prog" - I was always striving to make that 1 prog album but IMO never really managed it, it was all too easy to drift off into random noises or psuedo classical/new age soundscapes, but on this album I was more constrained, and in that a little more controlled (of course those elements are still there, just not as "flighty") - I'll be damned if I know what kind of Prog it is, but I think it's possibly Prog never the less.
 enjoy.------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: March 18 2011 at 12:31
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The quotes from Mathematica Cacophony inlay booklets As you can imagine I put a lot of thought, time and effort into the research and the artwork for The Mathematica Cacophony. One of the more time consuming, but ultimately enjoyable, tasks was finding apt and appropriate quotations to fit the theme and concept of the album. Those quotes themselves, while not being directly referenced in the music did influence its composition and the thoughts that directed it. They are probably a little hard to read in hte jpegs above, so here they are in full:
Geometric - Harmonia Est Discordia Concors (harmony is discordant concord)
"...Look how the floor of heaven Is thick inlaid with patens of bright gold.
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st But in his motion like an angel sings, Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins; Such harmony is in immortal souls, But while this muddy vesture of decay Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it" - Shakespeare Derivative - Standing Upon The Shoulders Of Giants
"Against that time, if ever that time come,
When I shall see thee frown on my defects, When as thy love hath cast his utmost sum, Called to that audit by advis'd respects; Against that time when thou shalt strangely pass, And scarcely greet me with that sun, thine eye, When love, converted from the thing it was, Shall reasons find of settled gravity." - Shakespeare Quantify - Simplicity Is The Ultimate Sophistication
"And, when he shall die,
take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night, and pay no worship to the garish sun" - Shakespeare ------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: March 23 2011 at 06:20
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The West/Wind Cacophony - 2004  ... the last of my 3-hour/3-disc suites (thus far...)
My house faces east, so from the kitchen window at the rear of the house, I get commanding views of the sun as it sets over the fields in the distance. The downside of this enviable vista is the West Wind that rips over the fields, leaps over the back hedge and bludgeons my patio with relentless fervor. I saw three ways of exploiting this phenonomina: make a windmill, build an aeolian harp or write some music. I did the last two.
The West/Wind Cacophony is a piece in three movements
Xolotl
 The West, Land of the Setting Sun and entrance to the Underworld. It is odd, concidering that we live on a globe floating in space, that we have a concept of Eastern and Western cultures, because like it or not, if you travel far enough east, you arrive in the west. And vice versa. If you stand on the shores of China looking out over the Pacific Ocean towards the America's, you would be facing east. From where I'm standing, people of the east come from Sussex and those of the west come from Whiltshire. For the Aztec and Toltec people of Central America, there were no people in the east or the west, just endless ocean. However, the west was more than just where the sun set. It was the place where Xolotl pushed the Sun into Mictlan, the underworld, and guarded it through its journey until it emerged in the east the following morning, for Xolotl was Lord of the West and the god who guided the dead into Mictlan.. Yaponcha
 The Wind God of Sunset Mountain The West Wind always blows from the west towards the east. If it changes direction, then it is no longer the West Wind. This sounds a little too obvious when you actually write it down, but it is not true of peoples. Western people remain Westerners regardless of which direction they travel in and western culture remains Western culture even when it is transplanted into other cultures. A burger from the golden arches is pretty much the same in every country I've ever eaten one. For the Hopi Nation of central North America, the West Wind blew from the mountains where the sun sets every evening. Zephyrus
 The God of The West Wind. The West is somewhere that can never be reached, like the end of the rainbow it is just over the horizon in the land where the sun sets. Similarily, the West Wind is just a conceptulisation of the wind that blows from that place that-can-never-be-reach. And so the gods of the west wind can still exist even if there are no followers who believe. This is more than just semantics - a falling tree still make a sound if there is no one to hear it - it creates the same compression waves in the air - eventhough it takes an ear to convert those pressure waves into sound, they still exist. Thus a Wind God will still create the wind, but without humans to interpret that wind and to speculate on it's origin, the god that created it would not have a name. But still the wind blows. download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IE4PD8S0" rel="nofollow - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IE4PD8S0 (206Mb)
The Aeolian Harp:
 (more details > http://darqness.mine.nu/instruments5.html" rel="nofollow - here <)
------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: April 07 2011 at 13:02
Part of perhaps. My philosophy is generally inclusive, but I recognise that some artists can be "progressive" without being Prog. Since much of my stuff is neoclassical/electronica I don't see that as being Prog as such.
Yes and No - there is no easy answer. Originally the Prog Archives was intended to be of "signed" artists, ie those who released albums commercially through a record label... The argument for that was simple enough - if the artist hadn't released anything then there was nothing to review, and we are a review site, so there is no point in listing an artist with zero discography.
Of course times have changed and now artists can release albums without the need for a label and they can release them for free if they wish, so we adapted our policy to permit "unsigned" and "free-release" artists to be included at the discretion of the evaluation team for each subgenre. In theory this would enable anyone who recorded anything to be eligible - the provision still has to be - release a readily available product that people all over the world can write a review for.
As I have said in an earlier post, I don't think that amateurs like myself should be included - and I don't mean "amateur" in a derogatory way either - any "amateur" who is unhappy with that I would call an "aspiring musician" - ie they would be pro or semi-pro if they could - I wouldn't - I'm happy to be an "amateur". I believe the site should be for "serious" artists - those that are signed, or could be signed - those that produce a professional product in a professional manner that people would be prepared to spend money if free-release wasn't an option.
Ironically I do not qualify as an "unsigned" artist by the " http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=73146&PID=3942758#3942758" rel="nofollow - rules " of this site - I have released albums commercially since 2002, and still do. Technically I am eligible for evaluation by virtue of having an album available for purchase on Amazon.com alongside Yes, Genesis and Tangerine Dream.
Sorry, no - and I'm not sure which other one-click sites would be a viable alternative - places like SendSpace limit the number of downloads and that's a pain. "Someone" else has had a problem with Megaupload and I don't know why - I've just tried it and it worked fine - wait for the timer to countdown from 45seconds to zero and click on the "Regular Download" button when it appears. ------------- What? |
Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: April 07 2011 at 14:25
My god this a long one...........  ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: April 07 2011 at 14:28
------------- https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: April 07 2011 at 14:29
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^ Did she?Not to me.
BTW..Cultural info alert. In Britain we say "As the actress said to the bishop" (did I already tell you that?) ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: April 07 2011 at 14:33
Nope- news to me! But wait, in Wales, don't you speak in an unpronounceable language? Like "Crwyerrf Cnwmarg Llannegemff yr Gymraeg?" ------------- https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: April 07 2011 at 14:34
It isn't compulsory (yet) ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: April 07 2011 at 15:01
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Fel y dywedodd yr actores i'r esgob ------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: April 29 2011 at 04:39
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Carousel - 2004  Carousel came about after hearing Autechre and Four Tet for the first time. What struck me about their music was not that it was IDM, but that it was dark and in some ways menacing and that in some respects was what I was striving for with the cacophony of light. However, rather than go lock myself in the attic and produce my version of dark IDM I wanted to infuse the feeling I got when first hearing it into my own 'brand' of music. The theme of fairgrounds and circuses seemed natural choice for this album, inspired in part by the artwork of Dave McKean (for Neil Gaiman's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tragical_Comedy_or_Comical_Tragedy_of_Mr._Punch" rel="nofollow - The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch and the comic book for Alice Cooper's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Temptation_%28Alice_Cooper_album%29" rel="nofollow - Last Temptation ), the track " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_Boiled#Circus_of_Death" rel="nofollow - Circus of Death " by the early incarnation of The Human League, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carousel_%28musical%29" rel="nofollow - Carousel , the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that features "You'll Never Walk Alone" and by Stephen Sondheim's " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Send_in_the_clowns" rel="nofollow - Send In The Clowns ". The main inspiration came from a doctored photograph of demonic/vampiric carousel horse I produced for a spoof website of a black metal band called Warriors of Doom. The title of the track 'Into The Pantomime' was also borrowed from the WoD website, being a parody of "Into the Pandemonium" by Celtic Frost, not that this version is a black metal parody - far from it, I just liked the title (not that I think myself above such parodies, my first album contains a BM parody track called "The Penultimate Battle Triumphant As The Immortal Emperor Entombed In The Woods Of The Carpathean Forest Creates Necrophobic Mayhem At The Gates Of Marduk's Darkthrone And Nevermore Shall Thorns Rest On Thorns I Lay Against Borknagar’s Green Carnation Until We See The Anathema That Is Hecate Enthroned With My Dying Bride At Bal Sagoth’s Ancient Ceremony And The Infantile Hordes Are Nested In Their Cradle Of Filth (Part 1)" - it is precisely 13 seconds long, but that's for another day).
Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DEOUW9P7" rel="nofollow - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DEOUW9P7 50Mb (includes all artwork)
------------- What? |
Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: May 31 2011 at 13:14
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The first time I tried listening to Carousel, I fell asleep (not the artist's fault- it was quite late and I'd been in the cups). I snoozed during the second track, and wound up having an extremely vivid dream. I was running from something in this steampunk-like factory, and whatever was chasing me had a very distinct groan (which was actually the low grumbling noises throughout the beginning of the second half of the piece). At the end of the piece, I woke up, frightened, but remembering that I had made it out of whatever place I was running through. This could be your best one. It's one of the better prog-electronic albums I've heard. ------------- https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: TheGazzardian
Date Posted: May 31 2011 at 18:31
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: May 31 2011 at 18:41
... all the other CoL uploads appear to be okay. Perhaps it will recover in a few hours, if not I'll re-upload it tomorrow.It appears to be working again ------------- What? |
Posted By: TheGazzardian
Date Posted: May 31 2011 at 23:39
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Thanks Dean, checking it out
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Posted By: Andy Webb
Date Posted: June 01 2011 at 17:46
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Cool, downloading now And just a suggestion, have you tried Mediafire? It obviates the tedious waiting time for downloads. ------------- http://ow.ly/8ymqg" rel="nofollow">  
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: June 02 2011 at 08:41
Moments on MediaFire: http://www.mediafire.com/?7dk9h1b18540ok8" rel="nofollow - http://www.mediafire.com/?7dk9h1b18540ok8 ------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: June 02 2011 at 08:49
 I wanted to evoke a nightmare, not invoke one! (yes, it's taken me two days to think up that reply
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Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: June 02 2011 at 08:58
------------- https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: June 05 2011 at 06:46
For a giggle I thought I'd catalogue all the Cacophony Of Light albums... all those listed here are real and actually exist, though one (Edge) hasn't been released as yet because it isn't finished and perhaps never will be:
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Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: June 30 2011 at 05:08
Dean, I remember you made a similar post where you compared in detail a few online vanity presses for books, but I can't seem to find it. Do you remember it, or am I just imagining it? Thanks. |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: June 30 2011 at 05:36
(ps: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&field-author=Dean%20Cracknell" rel="nofollow - buy my books or http://www.lulu.com/browse/search.php?fSearchData%5bauthor%5d=Dean+Cracknell&fSearchData%5blang_code%5d=all&fSort=salesRankEver_asc&showingSubPanels=advancedSearchPanel_title_creator" rel="nofollow - buy my books or http://www.amazon.co.uk/Darqlands-Dean-Cracknell/dp/144678925X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309430092&sr=8-1" rel="nofollow - buy my book ) ------------- What? |
Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: June 30 2011 at 05:59
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Thanks Dean. I see you're using Amazon / Lulu; are there any notable differences to their CD publishing process? I see you have proof copies of your book from both providers - did you notice a difference in paper and print quality? Also, did you happen to happen to have colour images in your books? The quality of colour printing is what would interest me most. Vomps might have other questions - it appears the time is ripe for a Vompatti anthology. |
Posted By: Vompatti
Date Posted: June 30 2011 at 06:05
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: June 30 2011 at 06:22
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Quality wise Lulu and Createspace are about equal on books, and the processes to get a book into print are also similar for both (on balance Lulu is perhaps a little easier, but not by much).
I make my own .pdf files and upload them rather than let them convert my Word documents - that gives me more control over formatting and layout since not all pdf writers convert Word docs the same - I use CutePDF - it's freeware and works really well.
I don't have colour images in my books so I don't know what the quality is like - B/W images are a little grainy in a B/W book. My first book (Darqlands) was originally a full-colour webnovel with over 200 images - I reduced that to about 20 monochrome images for the final book. Full colour books are stupidly expensive - for example on Createspace a 200 page 5x8 full-colour book is $25.75 while the black'n'white version is only $5.50, and you cannot mix full-colour pages in a B/W book, so if only 1 page is colour, the other 199 pages are costed as colour too. Full colour is best for low page-count large format books - for example 50 pages @ 8x10 would be $7.75 (don't forget to add on about $7 per book shipping with Createspace).
The covers are full-colour regardless - and as they are CMYK print and not RGB they need gamma correcting to get the colour exactly right - I didn't bother so my royal-blue covers have a slight purple tint to them, but I quite like that.
ps: with Createspace you can skip the Proof copy stage if you want, but I wouldn't recommend it - it's surprising how many mistakes you spot in the first print copy that you never saw on the PC monitor.
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: June 30 2011 at 06:51
Looks like Alex has appointed himself your manager and agent (...busy on the phone, selling coloured photographs to magazines back home) ------------- What? |
Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: June 30 2011 at 06:54
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Thanks a lot Dean! Those prices don't look high from a French perspective; here a new, medium-sized, book with no illustrations at all costs from 15 to 25 euros. The 50 page @ 8x10 colour book you mentioned at 15 dollars (10 euros) print+shipping would be perfect for me. I doubt I'll ever try going to treaty size, so an illustrated essay would fit in there perfectly. I'd only need to actually write something interesting... |
Posted By: Vompatti
Date Posted: June 30 2011 at 06:54
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Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: June 30 2011 at 06:55
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Posted By: Tony R
Date Posted: June 30 2011 at 07:01
Oh noble bard, Dean, if one is setting oneself up as an author, ought it to be a given that one's biography has no spelling errors? http://www.amazon.com/Leaf-Freefall-Dean-Cracknell/dp/1456514784/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309434926&sr=1-2" rel="nofollow - [quote - in the south of England with is wife [/quote -  |