Orchid Track #1: The Gentle Art of Not Forgetting

New Blog is At www.comecloser.com/blog

The streaming songs work there.

1) Prelude: The Gentle Art of Not Forgetting 1:38

 

This song was available on the 2006 compilation `Abandoned In Situ.’ So you regulars out there, I am sorry that the first thing you are hearing is something you already own.

The Hot Attic of Despair

When I listen to this track, I remember being in my attic (I lived in the attic in my parent’s house) and playing the piano part. I remember the Green and Orange signal level lights on the Tascam 4 Track jumping up and down.

I remember the oppressive New Jersey heat and humidity, the sweat dripping off my nose onto the white keyboard keys. I had an air conditioner that only cooled 1 square foot of the room and I was 20 feet away. Average temperature in the summer was about 110 degrees in that attic.

Despite the heat, I loved that attic. It had dark brown faux wood beams and a cathedral-style ceiling. It kind of looked like an old rustic Swiss tavern. In better times, it was a great haven. I was fortunate to have spent my `tender years’ in such swanky digs.

It was mid-week and I was absorbed in my microcosm until the weekend job; which consisted of lugging musical gear up and down Interstate 95 for a tribute band. Where would I be this week? Poughkeepsie? Providence? Vermont? They were all the same to me. Except for West Virginia.

Orchid: 10 Years Later

My new blog is at www.comecloser.com/blog

 

August 2009 is the 10^th anniversary of the `Orchid’ demo. It was considered my first `real’ work and considered by some to be my best. (Though I vehemently disagree)

 

For the next 19 weekdays, I will be releasing, each day, a track from this demo. I’m going to share my recollections behind each song, some opinions as well as talk about my life at that time.

 

At the end of the 19 days, the CD version will be available to buy. It will be a 2 CD collection. Disc 1 will be the 75 minute demo. Disc 2 will be all the outtakes and fragments.

 

Being that it hasn’t been released for a decade, `Orchid’ is unfinished business. While I have felt that `Torched Laughter’ is a sort of `final chapter’ to this part of my life, `Orchid’ is Ouroboros. We come to the beginning again.

 

It’s time to give this piece of work it’s due, YET, put it in proper perspective. A lot of what I will be reflecting on will be quite uncomfortable for me.

 

How `Orchid’ Will Be Posted:

 

The day that each post and song is due, I am going to listen to each song cold. Whatever memory pops in my head I will write it down. None of these posts will be planned. `Orchid’ was a spontaneous, albeit flawed, experience. It is appropriate to approach each recollection and song the same way.

After the jump is an FAQ, and some scattered thoughts.

New link for `Lucifer Rising’

www.comecloser.com/ikonowerk/christopher_lucifer_rising.mp3

That is the new link for the re-interpretation of the Jimmy Page soundtrack `Lucifer Rising.’  Had to consolidate servers a few weeks ago. So if you were looking for it and were getting a `not found’ error, here is all 27 minutes or so of it.

For the newly curious, the above is a cover of the Jimmy Page’s soundtrack for Lucifer Rising. More info can be found on this project in the `Lucifer Rising’ section of the blog.

www.comecloser.com/ikonowerk/christopher_lucifer_rising.mp3

Christopher.mu Is NOT Dead

 

36 minutes after my original blog about the death of my domain Christopher.mu, I find that the domain now works. I have not heard anything further from this domain company. Perhaps they realized the error? Perhaps there were mystical forces at work that felt my domain issue was way more important than the suffering of those in 3^rd tier economies?

 

Either way, the domain now works. For now. When it goes down again I’ll be sure the next Death Pronouncement is a cornucopia of woe and self pity,

Christopher.mu is dead.

There are probably several people out there who click on the domain www.christopher.mu and get greeted with a cold `SITE UNAVAILABLE’ and are probably assuming that Christopher has disappeared off the internet. Only detritus of myspace profiles and reviews going to dead ends remain of this misadventurous artist.

 

The domain went offline on September 30, 2008.

 

The same exact day the album `Torched Laughter’ was released.

 

This wasn’t my choice but the domain provider’s decision. The timing could not have been worse. It took over 2 weeks to even attempt to renew the domain. By that point it was pointless. The damage was done.

 

Several CD’s went to the distributor, press, etc with that domain. Had to explain to them that the domain is now dead. Any content on the internet associated with me that I have control over had to be changed.

 

While I initially tried to renew the domain, they wanted more money and wanted me to pay for the past 2-3 years. I disagreed with having to pay for these `already paid for’ years. They disagreed with my disagreement. And here we are now. They want more money, I want a domain that works. Neither of us will get what we want, and I care not to have my career sabotaged by a stupid domain; or lack thereof.

 

So, with equal parts anger and stubbornness only ascribed to mythical dwarves in Forgotten Realms novels, I said goodbye to the domain which I invested a considerable amount of time into for the past 6-7 years. C’est la vie.

 

From a website perspective, it certainly has been ugly since the loss of the domain, but one has to soldier on. Good old www.comecloser.com is still in service thankfully.

 

The .mu extension was a weird one. When they first went online, Billboard magazine was touting them as the official `Music Domain.’ Artists like Janet Jackson and Sting were able to circumvent cyber squatters who owned Janet.com and Sting.com thanks to the .mu extension.

 

When I heard about this, I immediately grabbed up the Christopher.mu domain through a 3^rd party company called Samsdirect. I got rather tired of the emails from the owners of Christopher.com or christopherx.com etc offering to sell their domain to me for an affordable rate of $50,000.

 

Later on I found out .mu was not a music domain. It was reserved for the island of Mauritius. A small island off of Madagascar who housed the last dodo birds prior to their extinction.

 

At this time I’m not planning on finding some new variant of `Christopher’ in a domain name.

 

Christopher

www.comecloser.com

www.myspace.com/officialchristopher

 

 

Torched Laughter – Now Available

Buy CD – MP3 Version- FLAC Version

CD Version:$6.99 Standard DVD Case, album art, etc.

MP3 Version: $4.00 All songs 320 kbps encoded. DRM Free. Comes with a 13 Page PDF Booklet and Web Extras such as wall paper, avatars, etc.

FLAC Version: $4.00 Lossless Compression. Comes with a 13 Page PDF Booklet and Web Extras such as wall paper, avatars, etc.

Or

Torched Laughter & Smoke and Origination Bundle:

MP3 Version: $10.00 All 18 songs 320 kbps encoded. DRM Free. Comes with 2 PDF Booklets and Web Extras such as wall paper, avatars, etc.

FLAC Version: $10.00 All 18 songs Lossless Compression. Comes with 2 PDF Booklets and Web Extras such as wall paper, avatars, etc.

If you want to listen to all the songs on `Torched Laughter,’ you can hear them on the front page at www.comecloser.com

Some Notes:

I intended to do some updates prior to the release, but there was way too much to do. In order to release this album the way I wanted to, I had to sacrifice any updates/blogging to get everything ready. Hell, I’m still getting everything ready.

About the FLAC and MP3 Versions of `Torched Laughter:’

While you can get the album on i-tunes, (eventually. They take forever.) I set up the option where you can buy the album in better quality and get a whole bunch of extras that would not be available on i-Tunes or any of those sites and it’s considerably cheaper.

For the time being, the MP3 and FLAC versions are available through Paypal.

It was a lot of work and pretty risky to release the albums in multi-formats before the digital distributors get their hands on them because this is the first time I’m managing it on my own. If you experience any issues trying to purchase and download the music, let me know: info@comecloser.com

Thanks to all of you for your support and being involved peripherally in the recording of this album. You had to endure over 8 months of my constant yammering, and now you can hear what I’ve worked extremely hard at. Hope it was worth the wait.

Domain/Website Issues -

Talk about perfect timing, I’m having a dispute with a domain company regarding christopher.mu. As of now, it will NOT work. Please use www.comecloser.com
to access the site. I have no idea when this will be resolved.

-Christopher

Torched Laughter – Artwork and Other Little Updates

Hi All,

The artwork is being done right now. It looks fantastic. Why? Because I’m not doing it. Doing everything yourself is severely overrated.

 

The front cover is done but the inner sleeve and liner notes need to be finished. The visuals are somewhat related to `Smoke and Origination’ and the `artwork for each song’ concept is present on this album. When I have a tangible release date in my mind, I’ll post the artwork. I would hate to post it now, and through some profound bad luck the album is held back until 2009. 

 

Some other notes:

 

I don’t have a whole lot to report on regarding the release date of `Torched Laughter.’ I’m shooting for September but I am going to take my time and release it properly with hopefully minimal stress.

 

Press folks, you’re getting the album after it’s released. It has nothing to do with illegal downloading. It has everything to do with the 1-5 month lead times websites and magazines have. Trying to synchronize my record to your schedule just does not work. It certainly didn’t work last time. And I have no cocaine to bribe you with.

 

I was going to post a `final last word’ on the `Torched Laughter Studio Diary’ experience. I’m looking over it now; it’s very long winded and quite negative. I think I’m going to give myself some more time before I write my final thoughts on this recording experience. It was pretty exhausting all the way to the mastering process.

 

Thanks to all of you checking out my Hockey Night In Canada Theme Song Entry. Please view it and share it. Here it is again: http://anthemchallenge.cbc.ca/mediadetail/298424

Hockey Night In Canada Theme Music Contest

http://anthemchallenge.cbc.ca/mediadetail/298424

 

I just submitted my entry to the Hockey Night In Canada Theme Music Contest. Please check it out.

 

 

For you non-Canadians who are not familiar with this contest, here is the backstory:

 

Hockey Night In Canada is one of Canada’s most watched weekend shows. It features NHL Hockey games. The Theme Music to this show has been part of the Canadian lexicon since 1968. Over the past year there has been a legal and financial rift between the show producers (CBC TV) and the composer. Neither party could come to an agreement so the license for this original Theme song has not been renewed.

 

CBC decided to hold a contest to see if us Canadians could come up with a new theme. Thousands have entered (like myself) and the odds of winning are fairly low. I am going to assume that most views, comments, and ratings will play a large roll in the voting process. The goal right now is to get this submission into the Semi-Finals so you and CBC producers can vote on it. So please view it, share it on facebook, tell your friends if you like it.

 

I’m up against famous Canadians and other signed or former signed acts along with hobbyists and struggling artists. I believe that the theme I created is an appropriate addition to the Hockey Night In Canada program.

 

The name of the piece is called `Yours to Hold High.’

 

Again the link is: http://anthemchallenge.cbc.ca/mediadetail/298424

 

Torched Laughter Studio Diary: Album Completed!

`Torched Laughter’ was officially finished on August 2^nd 2008 at 3:12pm.

 

More details to follow.

Torched Laughter Studio Diary: Mastering

Mastering audio is a horrid, horrid process. It takes a very special set of ears and perception to do this type of job. I do not have those ears. But since I am not budgeted for a proper mastering specialist, it’ll be DIY.

 

Mixing, with all its warts, algorithms, and soul sucking cubicle-esque methodology, is tolerable. There is a lot of room to play around and get creative.

 

Mastering? Hah. No. It’s about adding the polish to make the final recording sound vibrant and stellar. You know that glossy sheen you hear on your favourite songs that make it sound all professional? That’s mastering. Thankfully, the product I am working on is my own. If I was mastering someone else’s album, I probably would eat a bullet.

 

Mastering is also a deceptive and seductive mistress. With all the mastering software and outboard gear at your disposal, you can easily wreck a recording simply through making it incrementally louder and adding more eq. Each increment sounds glossier and louder than the previous step. Before you know it, you have this over-processed over-loud recording that is louder and harsher than any Brit Pop record.

 

The other deception is when you THINK you are done. As I thought I was on Saturday. I heard the playbacks on desktop, laptop, car, and home theatre speakers. They sounded great. Fantastic to my fatigued ears, actually. I almost wrote a great press release proclaiming that the recording was finally completed. I would exhale yet another effervescent breath and move on to other things.

 

Then I listened again Sunday. And since Sunday I’ve been eq’ing and compressing (tastefully) until the damn thing sounds right. The problem with the initial finished product is that it was too hot, too harsh and sounded `narrow.’

 

In other words, it sounds like every other professionally recorded album out there right now.

 

You know that glossy sheen you hear on your favourite songs that make your ears tired and you can’t listen to an entire album straight through? That’s mastering.

 

That other devil within Mastering is its capability to make something unnaturally loud without distorting that much. This realisation started the great LOUDNESS WARS of the 90’s which continues today. Record labels, and now bands, think that in order to compete on the radio and your mp3 player, they have to be louder than the next recording. The problem this causes is that when a well mastered recording with a respectable volume is played against a hard mastered song, that well mastered recording does indeed sound weak. Our stupid ears respond to intervallic relationships, not on actual sound.

 

After a good 10 years of listening to recordings that are very hot, I am conditioned to make it very loud and hot as well. It’s an ugly practice contributing to the decline of this art. Fortunately, you can get the best of both worlds (volume, sheen, and tasteful) but it takes a bit of work to do. I have 3 songs I am very happy with so far. Only 3 to go. They should be finished tonight.