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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.

Electric Sepulcher reviewed at Expose

December 4, 2015 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

Peter Thelen of the legendary progressive music magazine, Expose, recently reviewed Electric Sepulcher. Check out this great take-away quote:

“If you miss the old days when electronic music was progressive and innovative, and not just a brain-dead wallpaper of 4/4 dance beats, then Electric Sepulcher is definitely worthy of exploration.”

Indeed.

The irony is there are no odd time signatures on Electric Sepulcher. I’ve got the filters at the beginning of Godspeed You! Alien Dingo pulsing in 5/4, but that’s about it. The title track of The Autumn Shrine EP does have a 5/8 section in the middle. I will always love my weirdo timesigs! You should love strange time signatures, too.

Make sure to check out the rest of Peter’s review and explore the rest of Expose if you have any interest in progressive music. No neo/symph only bleating there — although they do cover both sub-genres.

Thanks for listening! And for reading.

The Autumn Shrine EP Officially Released!

December 1, 2015 by pwdood@quarkspace.com 1 Comment

The Autumn Shrine EP is officially released! Featuring 22 minutes of Prog, Space Rock, Minimalism, and Electronica, this mini album belongs in your collection today.

The Autumn Shrine EP Cover — Church of Hed — The Autumn Shrine EP

A digital only release, the Autumn Shrine EP is the first in hopefully a regular series of timely EP albums released in concert with our normal schedule — as long as the muse allows it! Check out this description:

The Autumn Shrine EP, Church of Hed’s fourth release, is centered on the nearly 14 minute title track, a Floydian spaceprog epic essentially serving as a requiem for Quarkspace. A Philip Glass-inspired Moog improvisation and a beat-laden electronica track from the Electric Sepulcher sessions (Church of Hed’s third album) round out the EP.

You can sample the tracks and purchase a download from CD Baby today. We will be offering a free download with every order of either Electric Sepulcher or Rivers of Asphalt (Quarkspace’s Node in Peril too!) from our shop here at Church of Hed Dot Com. This also includes the free copies of the debut Church of Hed album, as well as Quarkspace’s Drop (an All Music Guide Top Pick), Spacefolds 8 and Spacefolds 9. Whoa. What a deal! Give Hed for the Holidays!

Expect the EP to be available soon from other digital sources, including iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Music, Spotify and more. In fact, we already heard from one fan who listened to the tracks on Spotify overnight. She loved it! Keep an eye on this website, since we’ll update things when reviews are published. As always, we appreciate your support.

New Church of Hed EP — The Autumn Shrine — coming soon!

November 13, 2015 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

I’ve been working hard over the last month on a new EP, entitled “The Autumn Shrine.” More time should be spent marketing and promoting Electric Sepulcher, but hey — music work comes first! I’ve always been jealous of Stereolab’s ability to release EPs and other cool projects almost simultaneously with their regular albums.

The Autumn Shrine Possible 2 — This photo will be used in the cover for The Autumn Shrine EP.

The Autumn Shrine contains three pieces. The first one is the title track — a 13-14 minute (still finalizing the ending) epic that essentially works as a requiem for the retired/inertially-challenged Quarkspace. (Bless us.) It follows a suite structure not unlike Shine On You Crazy Diamond; the Floyd influence never leaves us far behind.

Frankly, it’s been a blast writing and recording this fresh piece over the last month or so. The opening piano motif is about two years old and I actually taught it to Jay and we played it with Darren one time back in those halcyon days of 2013.

A Philip Glass-inspired arpeggiation (played on the Moog Sub 37) is the basis for the second piece. A three minute ditty with piano alongside, this piece appeared in late August nearly fully-formed as an improvisation. I just need to mix the thing. And give it a title.

Finally, there is Transaxiom, a track from the Electric Sepulcher sessions that seemed to work better on another release. It was hard work balancing ES into a 40-45 album and the album already had enough “happy” electronica pieces. Once again, the Stereolab model or even The Beatles for that matter applies in this case. Some of the best songs from both bands weren’t on albums.

The Autumn Shrine will be available digitally from the usual sources — iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, etc. — probably around the end of the month. It won’t be released on CD. Expect to pay around $5 for a download, but we’ll work up a scheme to give downloads away for free with every purchase of Electric Sepulcher or Rivers of Asphalt.

Expect more news when the EP is released!

Church of Hed interviewed at Aural Innovations

October 7, 2015 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

I was recently interviewed by Jerry Kranitz for the famous Spacerock magazine, Aural Innovations; he also reviewed Electric Sepulcher. We covered a lot of topics, including the retirement of Quarkspace, the recording of Electric Sepulcher, and what other items are in the queue here at the Church of Hed.

Some highlights from the review:

“The album is a luscious instrumental journey that consists of quirky spaced out electronica, Space-Prog symphonics, sci-fi soundtrack and electro grooves. Paul excels at seamlessly blending disparate styles and influences, and the thematic development throughout the set is among his best yet.”

“Godspeed You Alien Dingo is the 10 minute epic of the set and where Paul’s thematic development skills really shine. It kicks off with a few minutes of meteor shower space synths and cosmic Mellotron wave, before transitioning to a combination of syncopated electronic pattern, alien effects, and a beautiful dual combination of gently pleasant piano and spaced out synth melody.”

And from the interview:

“PW: At this point, any new Quarkspace release — barring something unexpected — would be of a retrospective nature — maybe a two or three-disc overview (which would include some of the tracks from All These Suns) and a two-disc Best of the Spacefolds release? I have zero interest in working on anything like that right now, but if any other record label is interested in releasing them, I’d listen.”

“PW: I am currently working on The Autumn Shrine EP which will be released around Thanksgiving. It features a new composition, a freaky improv, and two pieces originally slotted for Electric Sepulcher that I cut, not for quality’s sake, but to better balance that album. I have always been jealous of Stereolab simultaneously releasing great albums and EPs, so I hope to follow that model moving forward.”

Jerry continues to be a godsend for the entire worldwide spacerock scene. Check out of some of the many other articles, reviews, and archived radio shows covering the experimental music underground at Aural Innovations.

Electric Sepulcher reviewed at Sonic Curiosity

September 30, 2015 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

Electric Sepulcher gets its first published review from the legendary comic book artist Matt Howarth at his site, Sonic Curiosity.

“A tasty dose of bouncy electronic tunes.

While being versatile, these electronics also comport themselves with a touch of spry humor. (Not outright silly humor, but suffice it to say this music lacks the taking-itself-too-seriously intellectualism practiced by many purveyors of contemporary electronic music.) There’s a nice balance of background layers supporting a bevy of centerstage keyboard riffs, which sidereal effects are frequent-everything blending to formulate some appealing tuneage.”

You can read the full review here. Be sure to explore the rest of the site, which includes reviews of most Quarkspace and Church of Hed releases, as well as from the best in underground progressive, electronic, and freaky musics. Explore Matt’s robust library of classic comic books.

We’ll post other reviews of Electric Sepulcher when they are published. You can keep a running score at the ES release page on this very website. Boom.

Church of Hed — Electric Sepulcher Officially Released!

September 1, 2015 by pwdood@quarkspace.com Leave a Comment

The new Church of Hed album, Electric Sepulcher, is officially released!

You can buy the CDs and digital audio (in a variety of formats, including FLAC) from CD Baby or directly from us (we throw in some free albums as well when ordering from us). Check out the shop on our new website, the Audio and Media page has videos for every CoH tune as well — including Electric Sepulcher. The album will be available on iTunes, Amazon MP3, and other digital providers shortly.

We’re happy the album is finally able to be heard all over the world. We are also looking forward to starting on new albums and continuing work on the sequel to Rivers of Asphalt.

Church of Hed’s Paul Williams: “This is the first album I’ve recorded and released since Quarkspace retired (or went on hiatus) last year. As such, it is easily the most focused Church of Hed album to date. I really was inspired to take my playing and composing to a higher level being without the “nurturing arms” of the mothership, Quarkspace. Mixing electronica with organic and kinetic playing was my goal and I hope you freak on the result. Indeed.”

The album is dedicated to the memory of Gong’s Daevid Allen, Tangerine Dream’s Edgar Froese, Cluster’s Dieter Moebius, and Yes’s Chris Squire. All four artists, who tragically passed earlier this year, are major influences on Church of Hed and Quarkspace for that matter.

Expect more updates in the coming weeks as more digital audio providers add the album to their services.

Enjoy!