electronic music

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.

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

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!

Church of Hed — Holidays 2017 Update

December 1, 2017 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

I’ve been remiss in properly adding a news story or two in the last few months. Sorry. As always, keep an eye on the Church of Hed Facebook page for more timely dispatches. Nonetheless, it’s the Holiday season, and we’ve got some relevant news to report!

Church of Hed Holiday Deal at Bandcamp

We’re currently running a promotion at our Bandcamp site giving you 35 percent off our entire digital discography. It’s a great deal and Bandcamp even makes it easy to give the discography as gifts. As more people rely on streaming services for their music consumption, downloads remain the best to truly support the musical artist. Manage your own music library; don’t let The Man do it!

Of course, CDs are also available through our Bandcamp site, and a great deal is to be had as well. Simply spend $10 on CDs and receive 4.5 albums for free — including both Church of Hed and those lovable nursing-home residents, Quarkspace. As always, thanks for the support — we appreciate and rely on it!

New Church of Hed Album coming Soon!

Work continues on the next Church of Hed album. The pieces are around 90-95 percent composed and I’d estimate recording is nearly 80-85 percent complete. The album features a mix of krautrock, spacerock, prog, and psychedelia, per usual, expressed in both shorter and longer songs. Some of them are quite catchy, but esoteric weirdness abounds throughout; so don’t you worry. Overall, it is definitely more beat-oriented compared to our last full release.

amherst sandstone — The Sandstone Center was “a land that would nourish a lot of space rock activity.”

The album’s theme is essentially a postcard from (or to?) my hometown. More on that when it gets closer to release. Stan Lyon (of Quarkspace, New Druids, and Church of Hed fame) visited to add some bass and freaky guitar stylings. Dink went hard and the album benefits because of his presence.

I made a couple YouTube videos showing me working on drum beats for two of the tracks. The sound quality isn’t the best, as we were experimenting with how well the iPad worked for recording sound and video without any other hardware or embellishment.

The above video is from the title track. You’ll learn more at a later date.

This is from the last piece to be composed so it is pretty sparse — just Moog bass, a drum machine rhythm, and my live kit work. Recently, I wrote a love letter to my TrapKAT e-drum for my music technology site, TabMuse, and these videos were part of that article.

I’m getting a new music computer and audio interface soon, and will be experimenting with fresh mixing and mastering techniques, so that part of the album’s process might take longer than usual. Nonetheless, I am still shooting for an early 2018 release.

Progress continues on The Father Road Too!

I’ve also made good progress on the following Church of Hed album, the long-awaited sequel to Rivers of Asphalt, called The Father Road. All the basic tracks are composed — nearly 80 minutes worth — and some of the motifs and basic parts are recorded. Dink helped out with that process. Still looking at a late 2018 – early 2019 release for that album.

The Church of Hed Debut now a Free Download at Bandcamp

For its 15th anniversary, we decided to make the debut Church of Hed album a free download at Bandcamp. Of course, you can donate a payment as well. Many of you have already taken advantage of this deal with some actually donating. Thank you! Remember, an autographed CD copy of the debut album is available for free when you spend more than $10 on CDs at our Bandcamp site.

Well, that’s it for now. Enjoy your Holidays and stay tuned for news on our new album early in 2018. Like us on Facebook for more up to date information. Hell, you can follow us on Twitter as well.

Church of Hed — June 2017 Un-Fake News

June 5, 2017 by pwdood@quarkspace.com 2 Comments

With summertime nigh, it becomes the perfect moment to offer an update of the latest goings-on here at the Church of Hed.

New Church of Hed Projects proceed Swimmingly

Not surprisingly, I’ve roped myself into working on two projects simultaneously, with both seeing significant progress worthy of reporting. Our next album is more of a beat-laden work with shorter pieces; it’s similar to Electric Sepulcher in that regard. I wake up in the A.M. and compose a beat…

Beats are arriving from everywhere — hardware drum machines, human playing, iOS apps — whatever channels the Muse. There are now more inspired ideas than necessary, which bodes well for filling-out future seasonal EPs. Riffs and melodies bubble up and are usually captured. I expect to be able to release a single by the end of this year, with the full album arriving sometime in 2018 — hopefully early. Stay tuned.

The other album, known as The Father Road, is the sequel to our Rivers of Asphalt release. This time out, we travel the Lincoln Highway from San Francisco to New York City. The basic musical motifs and interludes for the entire journey are now composed, and some of them are actually recorded. I am a little more focused on the “beat-laden project” for the time-being, so expect The Father Road to be released in 2019. I expect to rope a few special guests to help on this project, so that may delay its eventual release as well.

Needless to say, I’m happy with the progress on both fronts. While we’d love to have a full album out in 2017, the Muse remains the ultimate arbiter of release dates. So there.

I’m a KAT Official Artist!

Alternate Mode, the fine purveyor of electronic percussion equipment, produces the TrapKAT, which has been an essential part of my studio and live setup for years. The company recently anointed me as an Official KAT ARTIST. Check out the short interview and such. B’boom! Guys, I’d love a MalletKAT if you have one to spare!

PaulKAT — My TrapKAT and I transverse the sky. Photo by Angela Williams.

Church of Hed Interview in Inside the Rift with a Special Remix

Inside the Rift is an excellent online resource covering music (predominately of the electronic form) in addition to other takes on the nexus between art, intellectualism, and business. Prox interviewed me for the magazine a few weeks ago. I also produced a special exclusive remix as part of the fun. Said remix, Caesar Grinder Salad, mashes up the old Quarkspace tracks Recaesarian and Astral Grinder into one freaked-out whole. I had loads of fun putting this together, despite my left-hand almost dying when doing the e-piano bass line on the weighted keys. First world problems.

That’s about it for this month’s edition of the news. I will shout out when anything else newsworthy happens.

P.S. — I’ve been working on live versions of some of the Church of Hed material primarily for practice purposes, but hope to record video of the in-studio fun for public consumption. As I don’t want to schlep gear around anymore, hate driving any farther than 20 miles at a time, and I can’t afford roadies, this would be the closest to a live show we’re willing to perform. Stay tuned, again.

Church of Hed — A Cold White Universe EP now released!

March 6, 2017 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

The new Church of Hed release — A Cold White Universe EP — is now available. A digital only release, you are able to download it from Bandcamp, CD Baby, and other sources. I’d recommend getting it from Bandcamp. First, it’s only a $4 download, and I used the 24-bit masters, so a lossless FLAC download ends up being better than CD quality. Boom!

CD Baby only allows 16-bit music uploads and they are our main distributor for the other digital retailers — Apple, Amazon, Spotify, etc — so the music will still sound great when downloaded or streamed, but not as good as a FLAC from Bandcamp. So there.

Too bad this winter has been so un-winterlike, or else the release would have been finished sooner. It’s difficult to get inspired to do an ambient wintertime album with no snow on the ground and severe storms in the forecast. Oh well!

Other Church of Hed News

Now, I am able to move on to other music projects. The basic composition for the Rivers of Asphalt sequel — The Father Road is essentially complete with the exception of Wyoming. I continue to practice these pieces and expect to commence recording over the next few months. A release in 2019 remains the most likely outcome. Simultaneously, I am working on an album more akin to Electric Sepulcher — shorter songs, more concise, but still freaky and psychedelic.

A live show isn’t likely any time soon, but I may record a live performance inside the studio for video consumption. In fact, I recently jammed out on a bunch of classic Quarkspace loops — Recaesarian, Starbridge Freaks 1, Sheep Farm, and Park Rangers — and they sounded great with the Moog and Streichfett added to the sonic mix. It took me half the track to realize Park Rangers was in C# — we rarely played that one out. I also synced up the new DrumBrute with the Moog, Volcas, and PO-12 and performed a weirdly intense version of Brandenburg Heights, Part 1.

Practicing live performance is a good thing, whether or not I actually play out. My chops have been on an upward swing ever since I got the Yamaha MM8 with weighted keys, but playing the tracks in the studio definitely helps. Oh well, I ramble on. Support Indie Music and download your copy of A Cold White Universe EP today — from Bandcamp hopefully!

Church of Hed February 2017 Real News Update

February 7, 2017 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

Howdy.

Well, winter hasn’t really happened here in the Midwest, but nonetheless I continue working on A Cold White Universe EP — the soon-come Church of Hed release. As you might have noticed, this would make two “seasonal” EP releases when combined with The Autumn Shrine EP. This may be part of a larger plan? Stay tuned.

Mixing is going well, and I hope to begin mastering the tiny album this weekend. It features two tracks. Echoes of December is a five-minute exploration with arpeggiated synth and drumming. The title track is a ten minute jaunt of wind, ambience, delayed piano ostinatos, and a gradual descent into a foreboding winter. So there.

Expect a release in about two weeks — Bandcamp, Amazon, iTunes, Spotify, etc. We’ll let you know.

Aural Innovations Jerry interviews Church of Hed Paul

Jerry Kranitz, retired head-honcho of Aural Innovations, recently interviewed me about the making of Brandenburg Heights. It was published on TabMuse, my online magazine about cool music technology. Check it out, read some of the other content, and tell your friends.

New Brandenburg Heights Reviews Abound

Peter Thelen, for the legendary prog magazine-now-webzine, Expose, recently reviewed our Brandenburg Heights release. As Peter says: “Needless to say, this one is a grower, new things are revealed with each successive spin.” Indeed.

Andy Garibaldi, better known as AndyG, also reviewed Brandenburg Heights. “As a complete 40+ minute piece, it’s not a lie to say that this is faultless, almost a masterpiece, and certainly the finest piece of music I’ve heard to date from Church Of Hed, and decidedly an album that anyone into strong and varied, dynamic and consistent, quality and repeat playable electronic music, should really consider owning and enjoying, long, loud and often.” Yeah, man.

New Church of Hed Activities

Once A Cold White Universe EP is released, I plan on beginning work on a new studio album. This one will be beat-laden: live playing and soulful drum machine patterns — most of the time, simultaneously. A bit more upbeat compared to Brandenburg Heights, but still freaky as ever.

I am also recording a few drum beats and synth bass lines for Greg Kozlowski, guitarist for the US spacerock band, Architectural Metaphor — I’d link to their website or Facebook page, but they have neither. This work is either for an upcoming solo album or part of Greg’s Antrilon electronic music project.

Finally, practice work on the parts for the Father Road — my sequel to Rivers of Asphalt — continues unabated. New ideas for the Sierra Mountains and Nevada portions of the road recently arrived, leaving only Wyoming as the only part without any composition work. Dick Cheney would be pleased.

As always — thanks for reading!

Church of Hed Holidays 2016 Update

December 27, 2016 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

With a New Year ready to dawn, here’s another news update from the Church of Hed. We hope your Holiday Season has been peaceful, so far.

The Yamaha MM8 serves as a nice finger exercise machine. Photo by Paul Williams.

Rivers of Asphalt and Church of Hed Debut on Bandcamp

We just published Rivers of Asphalt and the Church of Hed debut album on our Bandcamp page. Our standard “Buy One Get 4.5 albums Free” (BOG4.5 Free) sale is also available from Bandcamp — it’s the best deal in music. Because of the redundancy with the “Shop” on this website, we now link to Bandcamp from the ChurchofHed.com menu. Git ya some!

Church of Hed reviewed at Sea of Tranquility

Brandenburg Heights and Electric Sepulcher were recently reviewed by Pete Pardo at the prog website, Sea of Tranquility. Pete ruminates about Brandenburg Heights:

“Brandenburg Heights is a fascinating listen from start to finish, Paul Williams’ ability to create seamlessly shifting moods quite effective over the course of 40+ minutes of instrumental music. Fans of synth dominated music would be well advised to seek this out!”

He opines on Electric Sepulcher:

“The more majestic “Trace the Rubycon” features Williams’ always excellent drum skills supported by lovely synth & piano melodies for one of the albums more prog rock styled compositions. If you are a synth enthusiast, there’s plenty to enjoy here on Electric Sepulcher, an album with many layers that is just seeping with space rock, psychedelia, ambient, electronica, and proggy goodness.”

Thank you for insights, Pete!

Upcoming Church of Hed Projects

A new “Seasons” EP is currently in the oven. This one will be called “A Cold White Universe EP” and it features darker Holiday and Wintertime explorations. Expect its release sometime in February.

I am making progress composing and rehearsing sections of The Father Road — the sequel to Rivers of Asphalt covering a journey from west to east on the Lincoln Highway. Recording is expected to commence next year with a 2018 release the most likely outcome at this point. The piano is the engine for traveling the old LH!

Concurrent with these other projects are two new “regular” albums. One album will be slightly more concise and beat-laden, while the other one is expected to be more of an ambient Berlin School release. Expect these albums to become available for public consumption over the next two years.

As always — thanks for listening!