Greetings. I hope everyone is still hanging on during this latest Coronavirus surge. We are staying busy by re-releasing the Quarkspace classics Spacefolds 6 and Spacefolds 7 on Bandcamp. Additionally, working on Church of Hed’s upcoming The Father Road album while publishing more live in-studio video performances also helps. Let’s check out the news!
Quarkspace Spacefolds 6 and Spacefolds 7 Now on Bandcamp
I regularly get asked why most of the older Quarkspace releases aren’t on Bandcamp. My standard answer mentions they are available on all the other digital music services and I tend to stay forward-looking as opposed to worrying about older releases.
But with Bandcamp’s generous Free Friday celebrations, where they donate their cut of all sales to the artist, I figured it would be a good opportunity to release some of these older albums on the service.
Spacefolds 6 is my favorite Spacefolds release; a searing mix of spacerock and electronic music. Thus, it made sense to put it out first. I also discovered a couple extra tracks we included as a bonus.
Spacefolds 7 makes a perfect pairing with Spacefolds 6, albeit a more ethereal and psychedelic spacerock experience. Sadly, I couldn’t find any bonus tracks for this album. Note that this album is still available on CD at Bandcamp, so you can get the download, a CD, plus our free BOG4 deal with free CD/CD-R copies of Spacefolds 8 and 9, the debut Church of Hed album, and Quarkspace’s Drop. It remains the best deal in spacerock or any music genre, for that matter.
Expect more surprises and other re-releases for upcoming Bandcamp Free Fridays. Hopefully, they continue this practice into 2021, considering we are NOT “rounding the corner” on COVID-19.
New Church of Hed Live Videos on YouTube
Our last post talked about posting our Facebook live stream concert on YouTube. The week before that show I recorded the set as individual pieces with a separate stereo audio track run through our outboard mastering gear. I synced the video and audio together in Reaper and produced videos with truly kick ass sound quality.
We are in the process of posting these to YouTube. I also updated our Audio and Media page with a few of them. And here they are!
Expect more of these videos in the future. In fact, I think I am just going to eschew the Facebook live stream next time out and just publish videos with superior sound quality on a one-off basis. I am working on a completely new set list with a large dollop of Quarkspace material, in addition to different Hed tuneage. However, a Solstice-time Facebook live stream still might happen.
Also please subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Update on The Father Road
Another reason I am less apt to do a Facebook live steam in November is my focus on The Father Road, allowing for less time to rehearse live material. I recently finished the drum tracks, which enables the writing of melodies and other sonic decorations. Construction on The Lincoln Highway in California is going quite well.
If you don’t understand that metaphor, The Father Road is an aural travelogue down the LH from San Francisco to New York City. It’s a sequel to our earlier album, Rivers of Asphalt — an aural travelogue down Route 66. In fact, I originally intended on releasing both together as a double album when I began composing it way back in 2003-4. There are motifs shared between both albums — including two versions of Open Road Illinois, since the LH and Route 66 actually share the road for a bit in Plainfield, IL. RIP, Bel Air Drive-In sign!
Well, that’s all I’ve got this time out. Expect another update before the end of the year, if not sooner! Thanks for reading and listening!