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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!