Welcome to Deepspace Newsblog

  "The Barometric Sea" has sold out again at cdbaby. And "Slow Moving Lifeforms" has begun to spark some sales as well. Not that it's about sales, but it is a nice way to check your progress in the greater scheme of things. Only as a commercial marker of course. There sure are better ways to check your artistic development than sales. I'd be in trouble if that was the case anyway. Sales are never a strong point of ambient music, lets put it that way. Ambient artists sell chicken feed (have I mixed metaphors there?) next to pop/rock artists, and even they sell less than people think.
I've had some label interest from some people, and while I am a very cautious about these sort of things, I think my next mission may be to get a release on a label. Just to get it out there more. There's only so many people I can physically tell about this music, before I get tired, and they become tired of me telling them.
I'm still waiting on a few people to get some reviews printed up. It seems that this is one of the more difficult aspects of the online ambient career: People are just so busy that they find it hard to get around to you, for reviews. But I'm a patient kind of guy. I think. Maybe I'll review my albums myself. :)
Well, here it is. After around 3 to 4 months of work, the new album is finally out. I've been uploading the files over the last few hours, and have given the site a new little bit of colour. The old colour scheme didn't suit the new material, so I went with something a little cooler and more applicable.

A bunch of reviews for "The Barometric Sea" and one for "Slow Moving Lifeforms" are poised to come out in the next few weeks, so I'll be including them here on the site. Watch this space for details.
So, if you want to hear the new album, simply go to the streaming page, select the full album file (best choice, as you won't get tracks stopping and starting), sit back and enjoy.
Good evening. Today I mailed off the new album to cdbaby, which should be for sale in, realistically, about 2 weeks. I will sadly have to take the stream of "The Barometric Sea" down, and replace it with "Slow Moving Lifeforms." It's exciting, but I feel a bit sad, as I have to move on, and "The Barometric Sea" won't be my only baby anymore, so to speak. Everytime I listen to it now, it has the slight, almost imperceptible taint of nostalgia on it, as in the "remember this" feeling. It just happens I guess, whenever you move forward. Memories are but the present, tomorrow.

Regarding the new album, I think I might put not just the separate songs on the streaming page, but also a complete album file that you can simply click, and then listen to the entire album without interruption- The reason for this is because all of the songs fade in and out of each other- some of them mesh together for over a minute- and if you listen to the songs randomly, they will break off with an audible end click, and other songs will start abruptly. So, in a nutshell, you'll be able to listen to each song, but it will be best to select the big full album file, and stream that, to get the true intended effect of the album. I'm sitting here, printing out copies of the new album on my printer. Tomorrow night, I'm heading of to my friend Davin's place, to master the album, then I'll be sending it away.
I've been listening to Ulrich Schnauss's new album "Goodbye" and I have to say that I am very jealous. He's just such an amazing sonic painter. The sound of this album is so massive and complex that the modern recording medium struggles to contain it. There are hundreds of layers in these songs, all struggling to be heard, and I have rarely heard an album with such complexity and beauty. I remember Jimi Hendrix saying that he was frustrating with the primitive quality of studios in the late sixties, when he was recording "Are you Experienced" and "Axis: Bold as Love" and even though we have come so far with technology since then....it feels like Ulrich may be frustrated in a similar way. His songs are so detailed that I can parts of them threatening to dissapear in the mix. I absolutely adore his style- it's an amazingly sophisitcated blend of shoegaze, electronica and pop music. I don't have the words to describe it. The title track just makes me want to cry, it's so wonderful. Not many people work at these heights- it's an exclusive area, for the few.
The album is quite different from "The Barometric Sea". It is less cosmic, and more internal, I feel- even though there is a definite feeling of very large spaces, only on the inside, this time. The pieces are a bit longer, and fit together more cohesively than the last album. I'm very happy with it. There are two moods on the album- The three pieces that hold the album together, Track 1, 4 and 8, have a kind of lying on the ground with the sun in your face feeling. The other pieces all seem to have an early morning pre-dawn feel. So I was happy with how the two moods complement each other. That little accident came out quite unexpected.
Hi, I'm back from my little holiday in Tasmania. It was a lot of fun- even though staying in one place for a week did presents it's share of problems with two small children. I wish I had that sort of energy....
The landscape was rather sublime though- We stayed in a place called Glazier's Bay, which was a quiet and serene town (more like neighbouring farms really, overlooking the bay. The surface of the water was like a mirror. Just a short blog to let you know that I will be away from my computer for a week from tomorrow, so there won't be a blog or update until June 2. I'm going to Tasmania, which should be a lot of fun, albeit very cold fun. When I get back, I'm going to master the new album, and then get it out there, so you can expect it soon.
Stay safe, and I'll see you then.

I discovered a very interesting ambient artist today. His name, well his artistic name is Oenyaw. I found his site in the cdbaby recommendations, and had a listen. Very nice stuff. Then I noticed something that made me look twice....His albums, on average are around 5 hours long!! That's right. 5 hours. In fact, he only releases material in mp3 format on discs, as that is the only medium (apart from impractical dvd) that will allow him to have enough room for his music. His site was rather fascinating, as was his justification for having such long cds. I think this is an important first step in the evolution of ambient music. I also think that in a few years, we will see more of this, as ambient artists take advantage of the technology. Have a look at Oenyaw's cdbaby site here. I love the idea of having an album that takes a whole day to play. What an experience! Or, as Brian Eno would interject: What a non-experience. He thinks you're not really meant to notice ambient. Maybe. But I get excited at the possibilities. An all night long cd of ambient seems ideal. Oenyaw, make an 8 hour one please, as that is the length of a recommended night's sleep. Your releases are actually too short!
I've also been listening to Yume Bitsu, a kind of second or third generation shoegaze band. Beautiful stuff. Long guitary pieces, with a full band, and some whispered vocals. I'm such a sucker for good shoegaze. Those droned out distorted guitars, undulating and screeching....so blissful. But it's an art, and not many bands can do it. Out of every ten shoegaze bands I heard, there's only one decent one, and out of every ten decent ones....you get the picture. I listened to previews from Ulrich Schnauss's new album "Goodbye" and the man has shoegaze down. And his own type of shoegaze too.
For some reason they did a cut and paste of my entire bio, and so the entry is about 5 pages deep! Golly. That's a bit silly isn't it. But I'm very happy it's finally for sale in digital form. I'm suprised it got onto itunes so fast, as I've heard stories of it taking over 3 months, and that's after the distributor or label has sent it to them.

Hmmm....Last night's blog was erased as well. Not quite sure what's going on. Well, here's a condensation of what was in it: Basically, it was about the new deepspace sites at last.fm and myspace. I have to say that my initial reservations about these sort of sites, and in particular, myspace, have changed somewhat. While myspace is quite parasitic by nature, in that I don't think many people actually listen to your music while looking at your site, it does seem to have some useful features, mainly in areas of self promotion. You find someone you like or listen to, ask to be added as a friend, they accept, then you say hello, and maybe let them know about yourself (and in my case, your album). They in turn, do the same. It feels a bit artificial, like 'friends' should just be called 'contacts' It makes me feel a certain kind of....numbness. Like when you order a drink at Boost or Starbucks and they ask for your name. It makes me shudder. Why do you need my name? Are you selling me 'familiarity'? Will you pretend to be my friend? Is this meant to make me feel like a local? It's just so....convenient and false. brrrr...

Last.fm however, actually seems to be what it says. It calls itself a social music revolution, and I, at this stage, think it is. We seem to be in a new era, where anyone can make music/art and get it out there. There is a lot of rubbish of course, but there are some gems to be found in this giant trashcan called the internet. People at last.fm seem to be genuinely interested in listening, and you don't see a lot of spamming on the forums and shoutboxes, which is nice. These sites are kind of genius in a way. Once you're out of them, the internet seems even more vast, disorganised, chaotic and strangely empty, making you want to head back inside, where the lights are bright, the fonts are warm and where you have musical neighbours and so called 'friends'. Last.fm has just been bought up by CBS....so maybe things will change for the worse. Here's hoping they don't.