pwdood@quarkspace.com

Church of Hed Live Stream Coming Soon

May 21, 2020 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

Howdy! Sorry for the lack of an update during the difficult, uncertain, and simply strange times due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Rest assured we are staying healthy and active musically and hope you are also keeping well.

PaulKAT — My TrapKAT and I transverse the sky in rehearsal for a live stream performance. Photo by Angela Williams.

I just updated The Fourth Hour page with some fresh reviews that arrived over the last few months. Check them out and consider downloading the album from our Bandcamp page. It’s still quite a psychedelic album.

Live Stream(s) on the Docket

Around the Holidays I picked up a Zoom Q2N-4K camera for recording studio performances and potentially doing a live stream. As of yet, I only made one recording of an improv session potentially titled The Fifth Hour. Here’s the YouTube video.

Fun with astral butterflies.

I also began considering a live streaming performance, hopefully with Dink, within the next few months. Then the pandemic happened, with the entire live music scene forced to cancel public shows and tours. A smattering of streaming performances took place in their wake.

Dink works on the front lines of the grocery industry. He’s staying healthy and hopes to come down later in the summer. So I forged ahead with rehearsing a set list performed by myself. For those who may have forgotten, I haven’t played out publicly as Church of Hed since 2004. Quarkspace’s last public gig was in 2001. It gon’ be fun! And weird.

Rehearsals are going well. Doing live versions of tracks with a host of overdubs is challenging, but fun. My studio is setup for recording, not performance, so there’s a lack of ergonomics. We persist nonetheless.

Expect a hearty dollop of Hed material sprinkled with some tasty Quarkspace classics. I am not singing — this time. A couple of tributes to musical giants we lost this year are also planned. McCoy Tyner’s death hit me especially hard, but my ham-fisted drummer-first piano chops can’t come close to paying tribute to that master. So Mr. Tyner isn’t one of the tributes.

So stay tuned. Expect the streaming shindig to take place in mid June. We’ll let you know when it’s scheduled. I plan on doing at least one per month. Since my camera’s mic spits out 24-bit audio, I also plan on doing live recordings with higher-fidelity audio. Streaming audio lies at the crappy MP3 level — 128 to 160 kbps.

Construction of The Father Road Continues

While rehearsing for a live show, I am still hard at work on The Father Road — the next Church of Hed album. The entire road is partially recorded, meaning I have compositions partially recorded for each section from San Francisco to New York City. I think there are 21 tracks in total. Currently the focus lies on drum tracking. The energy of a live performance — and the extra rehearsal time — hopefully informs those takes.

Part of the reason I have extra time to rehearse a live show involves the release date of the album. After releasing The Fourth Hour during the Holidays, I resolved to never repeat that mistake. I am too distracted and my already lackadaisical promotional efforts suffered even more.

At the rate I was working, the new album was going to be finished right around the Holidays this year. So I figured I’d ramp up live rehearsing and practice the hell of the drum tracks for The Father Road and record them after the first gig. With that delay, I plan to release the new album early in 2021.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the recording process this year. We also hope you tune in for a regular live streaming activity over that same period moving forward. Thanks for listening!

The Fourth Hour is Officially Released!

November 21, 2019 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

Indeed, the news is true. The Fourth Hour was officially released this week. Check out our convenient page if you need proof. In fact, that same page is laden with links to the Bandcamp page for the release, as well as CD Baby, Apple Music, and Spotify. We’re simply here to help!

Of course, it was a fun project to complete. Reaper worked beautifully as our new DAW, enabling us to finally move on after nearly two decades of Pro Tools. We also mastered everything “in the box” using a full array of cool plugins that essentially sound the same as our outboard gear.

Work on The Father Road Continues

It’s nice to be able to work again on The Father Road. I am currently porting everything over from Pro Tools to Reaper; the ADAT light pipe cable is shining. After that effort is complete, we move on to recording drum tracks, followed by melodic and spacey overdubs. The Lincoln Highway was never this psychedelic!

Expect a CD release some time in the latter half of next year. We can’t wait. After that, look for The Fifth Hour (yes, The Fourth Hour is the first release in our own “Spacefolds” series), as enough high-quality improvisational material is ready for overdubs. Dink and I went hard. Then Cycle comes next. As always, we’re keeping busy.

We appreciate your continued support. Consider supporting us with a download of the new album from our Bandcamp page. Sure, streaming is available, but it’s more fun collecting your own music, isn’t it?

Once again, thanks for listening!

Our New Single, Q Ching is Released

July 5, 2019 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

We finally released our new single, Q Ching. Check it out at Bandcamp, Apple Music, or even Spotify. It’s also available on CD Baby and a host of other digital media sources – some feature streaming, while some provide downloads. Musically, picture a spaced-out mix of Manuel Gottsching and Ennio Morricone.

Q Ching Single — The Q Ching single cover, inspired by single covers through time. Image copyright, Eternity’s Jest Records, Inc. So there.

We prefer you support us with a download, and Bandcamp is the best place for that, as they offer the lossless FLAC format derived from our 24-bit master. Note that even though Q Ching is from our next album, The Fourth Hour, this single version of it won’t be on that release. It’s shorter than the album track, obviously, but there are other differences as well.

In short, don’t miss out on this unique release!

The “finally” in the first sentence is also notable. As I’ve rambled on about in the past, we recently switched from Pro Tools to Reaper as our digital recording software, after two decades. Every Quarkspace and Church of Hed release from Drop onwards used Pro Tools.

Needless to say, I’ve been experimenting with different effects plugins as part of the recording and mastering process, let alone getting used to Reaper’s interface. Things are going well, but the process just takes a bit more time.

We’ve Reached The Fourth Hour

Now I am working on getting The Fourth Hour ready for release. This includes adding some drumming and other overdubs here and there. The album version of Q Ching features drumming and a different “verse” melody. Other surprises abound, and every piece is longer than seven minutes, for the psychedelic voyagers among you keeping track.

cat speaking on synth — Listen ye, whilst I pontificate on our upcoming projects. Image copyright by someone very cool on the Internet. I just found it.

The Fourth Hour is the first release in a series of more immediate albums, not unlike the Quarkspace Spacefolds series. I tend to get tied up with larger musical projects, like The Father Road and Cycle, so having room for spacey krautrock improvisations is necessary for one’s musical sanity. In fact, Dink was just at the studio helping out on The Father Road, and we laid down some improvs for the next release in this new series.

Expect to see The Fourth Hour released later this summer, but things might get delayed due to technical exploration with Reaper and other new plugins. Either way, stay tuned!

Updates on The Father Road and Cycle

As noted earlier, I decided to put The Fourth Hour out before The Father Road since it provided the opportunity for a smaller project to learn Reaper. This approach fits nicely within our workflow, as The Father Road’s material requires more work writing melodies and drum parts, as well as the time to nurture and learn how to properly play those fresh ideas.

Recording the drums is the next big task; scheduled to take place after The Fourth Hour is finished. At that point, everything then gets transferred to Reaper with full melodic overdubbing to follow. A 2020 release should be easily attainable.

I practice the piano parts for the last two sections of Cycle on a daily basis. Full recording work on this project is scheduled to happen after The Father Road is released. Expect another release in our new Spacefolds-esque series around that time as well.

We are staying busy and appreciate the support you all give us. Thanks!

New Church of Hed Releases Coming Soon – Spring 2019 News Update

April 2, 2019 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

Welcome to the latest news update from those intrepid travelers at Eternity’s Jest Records. With an emerging Spring now upon us, our thoughts turn towards a few upcoming Church of Hed releases. Let’s dive into the details!

But wait! A quick note to let you know Brandenburg Heights, formerly a Bandcamp exclusive, is being distributed to other digital providers, including Spotify, Apple Music, CD Baby, and more. We’ll do a quick post whenever the album is available.

Now we can dive into the details!

New Church of Hed Single and Album are on the Docket

We are hard at work on multiple fronts here at the Church of Hed. Our next three albums happily reside in various states of completion. We’ll look at each following their expected order of release.

First off comes The Fourth Hour, an album focused more on the immediate and the improvisational – it’s almost Spacefolds-esque. We figured this album would come out after The Father Road, but the fact we recently switched from ProTools to Reaper as our DAW (recording software) of choice – after nearly 20 years – rearranged things. The Fourth Hour requires less production than The Father Road, so it makes more sense to finish this one as a project for learning Reaper.

Q Ching in Reaper — The beginnings of the Q Ching single in Reaper. Image by author.

A release sometime this summer is likely. So expect more news on that front in a month or two. In the interim, a single derived from The Fourth Hour sessions, titled Q Ching, is slated for release later this month. Once again, this approach provides us a great way to learn Reaper as well as a robust array of recording plugins, including a ton from Eventide.

Obviously, we’ll let you know when Q Ching and The Fourth Hour are ready for your ears. Expect digital-only releases. Stay tuned!

Driving The Father Road

At the same time as The Fourth Hour, we are also traveling hard down The Father Road. Currently, drum parts are being written and recorded – still in Pro Tools – and when that process is finished, everything gets transferred to Reaper. At that point, the process of finalizing melodies and other “trebly material” is scheduled. The album is coming together fantastically, and since this is a much more complex project from a production standpoint (and twice as long!) it makes sense to release The Fourth Hour first.

There’s still a chance The Father Road might be ready by the end of 2019, but a 2020 release is more likely. We’ll keep you in the loop. Expect a CD and digital release.

Other Church of Hed Projects in the Oven

Every time we enter the studio, piano practice ensues. Over the last two years, two new pieces appeared during this practicing and are gradually being developed. These two compositions, when paired with two other previously released tracks are slated to make up another Church of Hed album, called Cycle.

Cycle is likely to be released sometime in late 2020 or early 2021. Of course, there may be other albums before that happens, perhaps The Fifth Hour or even The Sixth Hour? Stay tuned and thanks for listening, we’ll keep writing and recording new music for you.

Quarkspace All These Suns Reviews Abound!

January 31, 2019 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

Well, the new Quarkspace album, All These Suns, has been out for a little over two months now, and we are pleased with the support. Check out these few fine reviews of the album posted in one place for your convenience.

Thanks again, and stay tuned for some upcoming news on the next two Church of Hed albums.

All These Suns #3 on Psychedelic Waves Top 3o Albums of 2018

All These Suns ranked at number 3 on the Top 30 Albums of 2018 list at Psychedelic Waves. Here’s their quick review of the album.

The legendary US space rockers return for the “first real Quarkspace album since 2001’s Drop.” 2018 finds the band in fine form weaving their distinctive brand of space rock with both composed and improvisational parts. Solar and majestic with all the brooding power of their classic works. – Jeff Fitzgerald

Legendary, majestic, and brooding. We’ll take it!

A Five-Star Review from Sea of Tranquility

Here’s a five-star review of the album from Pete Pardo at Sea of Tranquility.

Longtime fans of US space rock outfit Quarkspace can rejoice with the release of All These Suns, the first release from the band since 2001’s Drop, and now available digitally via their Bandcamp page (link below) as well as all major download & streaming services. The line-up for this release includes Darren Gough (guitar, vocals), Chet Santia (bass, guitars, vocals), Jay Swanson (keyboards, vocals), and Paul Williams (drums, keyboards, vocals), with special guests that include Carl Howard (synth), Stan Lyon (bass), and Carlton Smith (drums), each appearing on a few tracks.

The 12-minute title track is the centerpiece here, a piece that the band have played live many times, here a percolating mix of haunting space rock, folk, and jazz, with hazy vocals drifting in and out of the mix, dreamy keys & synths, wah-wah guitar solos, and plenty of tribal drums and percussion. One can totally envision this track taking on epic proportions in a live environment. There’s a nice blend of jazzy piano with bubbling electronica, busy drumming, and rock guitar on “Who Lost Frederick?”, while the lovely “The Prodigal Spaceman” will just sweep you away with glorious ’70s styled synth explorations and Mellotron sounds. It’s Tangerine Dream meets Hawkwind on the stunning “Solar Progenics”, spacey synth blips & bleeps colliding with heavy guitars, and the drifting “Watch For Swimmers” follows suit, with a dollop of Pink Floyd thrown in for good measure. Let us not forget just how well Quarkspace can throw some addicting grooves into their music too, which they do so well on “Starbridge Freaks 4” and the chilling “The Prodigal Galaxy”, the latter again tossing in some jazzy piano to match up with the haunting Mellotron, synths, booming bass, psychedelic guitar leads, and intricate drumming. And, wait until you hear the killer guitar solo on closing cut “Space Folds Upon Itself”…talk about going on a journey.

Honestly, not a weak track to be found here, and I can safely say that All These Suns is easily one of the best space rock albums I’ve heard in 2018. Hopefully it’s not another 17 years before we hear from this talented outfit again. Mandatory listening right here folks. – Pete Pardo, Sea of Tranquility

You heard the man. It’s mandatory listening, head on over to Bandcamp and give it a “spin.”

Jerry Kranitz chimes in with His Take on All These Suns

Jerry Kranitz used to publish Aural Innovations, a legendary resource on spacerock and psychedelic music. He still posts album reviews on that popular social media network that likes to sell your personal data. Let’s check out his review of All These Suns.

The long defunct Quarkspace lives on thanks to the archival efforts of original drummer and electronics maestro Paul Williams. Billed as the first ‘real’ Quarkspace albums since 2001’s Drop, All These Suns was recorded by founding members Williams, Darren Gough, Jay Swanson and Chet Santia between 2009-2014, with help from guests, including new bass parts added this past year by later Quarkspace guitarist Stan Lyons and keys by Williams.

Starbridge Freaks 4 opens the set with the trademark Quarkspace blend of propulsive, rhythmically grooving and cinematic soundscape flowing space rock. The 12 minute title track brought a smile to my face, being a classic Quarkspace blend of space jam and song, the likes of which we’ve not heard since Drop and the classic Hidden Moon album. Strumming acoustic and psychedelic bluesy electric guitars lead the way, along with a steadily drifting yet intense space/prog jamming vibe. It’s a pleasure to hear Chet’s haunting vocals again after all these years. And I like the nasty fuzz injection from Stan’s bass. Who Lost Frederick? is symphonically majestic, led by Jay’s piano, jamming guitar and a Star Wars mélange of electronics. The Prodigal Spaceman is shear space orchestral beauty, with Blues guitar and it’s given an industrial grunge edge by Stan’s fuzz bass. Solar Progenics features more luscious piano from Jay, ripping guitar licks, and space symphonic intensity, and I love the spaced out prog key melody.

Watch For Swimmers is beautifully mesmerizing and groove jamming, with a cool psychedelically shimmering Bluesy edge and corrosively soaring effects. The Prodigal Galaxy sounds like a space-orchestral sci-fi soundtrack, with a gorgeous combination of Jay’s piano, dirty Blues guitar, floating Mellotron keys, and eerie electronic effects. And Space Folds Upon Itself is classic Quarkspace high intensity yet meditative prog infused space rock.

Quarkspace may be long gone but as long as Williams plays curator to the unreleased material, I for one am happy to them keep comin’. I miss the days of yore when Quarkspace live shows happened regularly.” – Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations

We miss those days of yore as well, Jerry. Sadly, there isn’t enough unreleased Quarkspace material left worth curating.

Expose Online Reviews All These Suns

Finally, Peter Thelen of Expose Online recently published the following review of the new Quarkspace album.

The long hiatus has come to an end; Quarkspace is back recording again. Frankly, oh me of little faith, I wasn’t sure they would ever be back. It’s been at least fifteen years since Node in Peril, and even a few more years since Drop, and with all the Church of Hed releases by Paul Williams… But let me say this: what we have here on All These Suns certainly rivals anything from their classic period from 1996 to 2001. The band features longtime bassist Chet Santia, also covering some guitar and lead vocals, longtime keyboardist Jay Swanson, Paul Williams on drums, synths, loops, keyboards, and the mighty “fake” Mellotron, plus backing vocals, and guitarist from an earlier era Darren Gough, who also features on backing vocals. Welcome back, all. In addition, veteran guitarist Stan Lyon joins on a few cuts, as does Carl Howard (analog synth) and Carlton Smith (drums on three tracks). The band members share the composition credits, and in fact much of what’s here sounds like a blend of composed material mixed with heady improvisation, but that’s much like it always was, a swirling psychedelic space rock with an abundance of keys and electronics, and it still works effectively. The title track is a sprawling 12-minute epic driven by guitars with shimmering undercurrents, a tune that the was part of the band’s live repertoire for many years, now given the studio treatment. “Solar Progenics” moves in mysterious ways, growing loosely over a piano based groove with fiery exchanges of electric guitar and synth, it’s a fine example of group improvisation. “Watch for Swimmers” is another improvised piece, following a groove set in motion by bass and drums, over which we have a cauldron of synths and effected guitars stirring the pot, the result being a dreamy slab of ordered chaos. There’s a lot more excellent psych to be found here, eight tracks in all, but you won’t find this in your local record store in any format. As for now and the foreseeable future, this will be available as a download only. – Peter Thelen, Expose Online

There you have it. A few new reviews of All These Suns for your reading pleasure. As noted earlier, stay tuned for additional news on the upcoming Church of Hed albums. Thanks for listening and reading!

Quarkspace All These Suns Now Available!

November 23, 2018 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

Indeed. The new Quarkspace album, All These Suns, is now available.

Quarkspace All These Suns — The cover of the new Quarkspace album, All These Suns. Thanks, NASA!

<a href="http://quarkspace.bandcamp.com/album/all-these-suns">All These Suns by Quarkspace</a>

We’ll also add a sidebar widget so you can stream it right here at Church of Hed Slash Quarkspace Dot Com. This is a very spacey and trippy album as expected, so dive right in. It’s priced at $6.99 per download, but we are currently doing a Black Friday Sale with 40 percent off our entire Bandcamp collection, so it ends up being less than $3. Whoa.

Here’s some additional information on All These Suns from the one-sheet for the album.

Quarkspace — All These Suns

The long wait is over. All These Suns, the first “real” Quarkspace album since 2001’s Drop, is now available. The album features the 12-minute title track, long a staple of Quarkspace’s live shows, as well as a hearty dollop of improvisational and electronic instrumental cuts.

Ultimately, All These Suns reveals a classic Quarkspace inspired by its psychedelic mix of song craft and improvisation. Special guests include Carlton Smith from Columbus’s legendary Royal Crescent Mob, Carl Howard from Nomuzic, and Stan Lyon, our former guitarist during the early 21^st Century. It’s a powerful album, veering between psychedelic folk and deep space rock excursions sometimes presented in an electronic fashion. In essence, this is Quarkspace!

A digital-only release, All These Suns is available for download from Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon, etc. as well as the usual streaming services, such as Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Remember to support Indie Music!

Starbridge Freaks 4 (3.44)
All These Suns (12.13)
Who Lost Frederick? (3.18)
The Prodigal Spaceman (6.05)
Solar Progenics (6.14)
Watch for Swimmers (6.48)
The Prodigal Galaxy (5.28)
Space Folds Upon Itself (5.34)

All Music Composed, Improvised, and Played by Quarkspace

Darren Gough: Guitar, Backing Vox
Chet Santia: Bass, Guitars, Guide Vox
Jay Swanson: Keyboards, Synths, Beats, Backing Vox, Song Length Commentary
Paul Williams: Drumming, Synths, Keyboards, Fake Mellotrons, Beats, Loops, Moog, Backing Vox

Special Guests: Carl Howard: Analog Synth (3,5,6), Stan Lyon: Bass (1,2,4), Carlton Smith: Drumming (3,5,6)

Produced by Lance Starbridge

New Quarkspace Album Coming Soon!

November 15, 2018 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

Just a quick note to let everyone know the new Quarkspace album — All These Suns — is imminent. By imminent, I mean in the next week or so. Mastering or technical issues are the only risks for a delay. The album is mixed and 40 percent mastered.

All These Suns is likely Quarkspace’s farewell album, as we are essentially retired. Chet is in California with any plans to visit a few years away. Darren perpetually hopes to make it down, but vehicular issues conspire to limit his travel. Jay remains incognito.

Any future releases likely will focus on anthologies or archival material. It has been a good run. Unexpected really, as our mid 90s reunion/genesis just happened.

Why did Quarkspace Dot Com Redirect Here, Man?

Yeah, Ye Olde Quarkspace Dot Com was an obsolete ASP.NET website I no longer wanted to maintain. The Quarkspace.com domain isn’t going anywhere, but for now it points at ChurchofHed.com. That may change in the future, but for now I am focused on doing music. As always.

Expect to see additional Quarkspace news, information, and sidebar widgets over time. You are able to purchase the three CDs still in print at our Bandcamp page. We still include freebies and postcards with any order over $10. It remains the best deal in spacerock, psychedelic, electronica, or cool prog rock. So there.

Additionally, I need to re-upload the Worcester live show to Bandcamp. That should happen sometime before the end of the year, as we are focused on getting All These Suns to the people.

Work on the Next Church of Hed Releases to Continue

After the Quarkspace release work finishes up, I return to Church of Hed activity. Most of my focus is on The Father Road, but perhaps a single is in the works? A funky piece of electronica appeared recently and Dink added some overdubs. Check back in 2019!

I am also switching from Pro Tools to Reaper as our DAW of choice. Ye Olde Pro Tools served us well, but Reaper seems a better path moving forward.

As always, thanks for reading and listening!

Work continues on New Church of Hed, Quarkspace Albums

October 19, 2018 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

I’ve got the time for a quick update on the latest goings-on here at the palatial Eternity’s Jest Records HQ. Sandstoned continues to garner great reviews and airplay from all across the word. Check out our Bandcamp page for the album to read them — and consider paying for a download or two to help support our activities. Thanks!

New Quarkspace Album Imminent!

Dink (Stan Lyon) arrived last weekend to work primarily on the next two Church of Hed albums, The Father Road and The Fourth Hour. But we also spent some time recording tracks on the soon-come Quarkspace album, All These Unfinished Suns. The key word in the album title is “Unfinished.”

Quarkspace All These Suns Cover? — Might this be the cover for Quarkspace’s All These Unfinished Suns?

Chet is in California, but would love to warp in for a recording session. Jay seems totally uninterested and won’t return repeated attempts at contact from both Darren and myself. He makes us sad. Darren would love to make it down, but family obligations and an aged truck conspire to hamper his efforts. Enter Dink.

Stan learned bass parts for Starbridge Freaks 4, All These Suns, and The Prodigal Spaceman; getting his Hugh Hopper fuzz bass action going on the latter two tracks. He nailed his tracks and I am now doing a few minor overdubs throughout — you know I had to put the Moog and Streichfett on there. Mixing commences shortly.

I expect the release to be available in mid-November. A new redesign of Quarkspace.com is also in the works. Plan on a WordPress site similar to the one you are reading.

It’s bittersweet knowing this is likely our farewell album. We worked on it off and on from 2009 to 2014. Chet hasn’t been back from Cali since late 2009, and Darren and Jay’s last appearance at the studio was in 2014. I just want people to hear it after all this time.

Special guests include Carlton Smith from the legendary Royal Crescent Mob and spacerock synthesist, Carl Howard. Carlton played kit on a couple of the improvs, allowing me to join Jay in a keyboard maelstrom. These improv sessions happened in early 2009. I guess we can count Dink as a special guest as well.

Hitting the Father Road

Church of Hed’s The Father Road is the sequel to Rivers of Asphalt. They were originally expected to be released together as a big double album. Drive Route 66 west to Los Angeles, and the Lincoln Highway east from San Francisco to New York City. My left brain always bites off more than the rest of me can chew. As such, some of the material was composed 10+ years ago; the Muse released more of it over the last few years.

Dink went hard on his bass parts and we ended up recording most of the backing tracks last weekend after the Quarkspace work. The basic composition is complete from coast to coast. Melodies and those frilly bits come next. I am taking a break to finish the Quarkspace album, but expect the Father Road sometime in the second half of 2019.

Embrace the Fourth Hour

The Fourth Hour is more of a Berlin School electronica freak out, like Brandenburg Heights or Sandstoned, but with more of an improvisational focus. Freaky improvs and beats are gradually emerging and being collected for the album. Dink and I fleshed out the interesting synth loop last weekend, now slated for The Fourth Hour.

Expect its release sometime in 2020, if not sooner. The recording and composition are more immediate compared to The Father Road.

Well, that’s all I got. As always, thanks for reading, listening, caring, and supporting!

Church of Hed — Sandstoned Released!

June 1, 2018 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

Indeed, the news is true. Church of Hed’s new album, Sandstoned is officially released. The easiest way to check it out is to head over to our Bandcamp page for the album. There you are able to listen to it, buy it digitally, or even get an autographed CD copy. CDs still aren’t dead, by the way.

It’s a lovely cover, right? Beautiful Lake Erie at dusk. Those stony times of yore provided inspiration for the music. Thanks to Dan Engelhardt for letting use his cool photos for the front and back covers of the album.

What about streaming Church of Hed?

If you are interested in streaming the album, links to Apple Music and Spotify are on our website page for Sandstoned. We’ll add more links and reviews to that page as they become available. At this point, we are just happy to get the album out to folks.

Tell your friends and enemies (in a Buddhist way) to check out Sandstoned. Its unique mix of psychedelic ambience and freaky beat work needs to be heard. As always, spreading the word helps us immensely! Support Indie Music!

Next on the Docket

The spirit of experimentation and musical exploration blesses our studio. Recording work continues on The Father Road, the sequel to Rivers of Asphalt. An aural travelogue down the Lincoln Highway from San Francisco to New York City, expect its release in 2019 or 2020.

Dink is coming down later this month to work on The Father Road as well as overdubs on The Autumn Shrine and Cold White Universe title tracks for some future release. Spring and Summer are also emerging. More on all that later. Some Quarkspace may even be on the docket?! What!? Once again, more on the later, along with a no promises caveat.

On the studio front, after nearly two decades I am gradually moving from Pro Tools to Ableton Live. Pro Tools’ exponentially growing system requirements don’t warrant further support from us. I thrive on learning, so this change provides fun.

Ultimately, thanks for listening and for your support! Enjoy Sandstoned!

New Church of Hed Album — Sandstoned — coming Soon!

May 14, 2018 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

Yes, it’s true. The new Church of Hed album, called Sandstoned, is arriving very shortly. Well, expect it in about a month, give or take a week. The track listing is as follows:

1. Sandstoned (5.31)
2. Synth Cadence (2.16)
3. 1AM at the Dean Road Bridge (4.18)
4. Quarrydosing (2.19)
5. 2AM at Crownhill Cemetery (5.28)
6. Dark Matter Sandstone (3.25)
7. Wallace Lane (4.30)
8. 3AM at Hole in the Wall (10.50)
9. The Prodigal Swanson (1.21)
10. Sandstoned No. 2 (5.16)

Note the mix of shorter material with a longer trip to the legendary North Coast spot of illicit activity: Hole in the Wall! Residents of Lorain and Amherst know what is up.

Here is the front cover:

sandstoned cover — Church of Hed — Sandstoned front cover.

Followed by the back cover:

sandstoned back cover — Church of Hed – Sandstoned back cover.

The photography of one Dan Engelhardt shines on both.

Pixelated Memories from Beyond

A collection of pixelated memories from those North Coast halcyon days of yore, Sandstoned features the standard Church of Hed mixture of spacerock, prog, and electronic music. Some tracks are quite catchy, but don’t worry, esoteric music still abounds. Quarkspace’s Stan Lyon makes an appearance on guitar and bass — in some cases, with his e-Bow in tow.

The album will be available on CD and at most digital music services. We’ll add some extra liner notes on the listing on our Bandcamp page — including a listing of the gear (hardware and soft) used on the album. As noted earlier, expect the actual release in three to five weeks.

This isn’t about 80s Nostalgia!

The musical influences of the album run the gamut of CAN, The Orb, John Bonham, Talking Heads, Cluster, Brian Eno, and so much more. An 80s vibe naturally lurks, but with the typical forward-looking focus of Church of Hed. Not that that guarantees looking in the right spots! Expect a post or two as the album becomes available in a few weeks.

As always, thank you for the support! Keep listening and tell all your friends!