A vow

Well I vowed not to touch a keyboard for Warning Light related business for a month and I ended up doodling around with tape recorders, making hours of tapes of the city outside my window. Listening to the tapes has recharged my batteries a little- that and listening to Roger Eno. Anyhow, it has me thinking about where this project is going. I want more space in the next recordings. I want huge wide open spaces, like laying in the middle of the field at night, staring up at the stars and not seeing a thing on the horizon, only stars.

So I'm turning back on the keyboards. We'll see what happens.

Oddly

So even though I've been talking about it for over a year, the upcoming CD, now entitled Further On, is finally being mastered for a release on Stickfigure.

Crazy. I don't think I ever would have guessed when I started working on it in late 2007, that it ever would have been such a long road... Three bands came and went, I moved twice, and something in the manner of five other Warning Light releases were recorded in between work on this one record.

Even though the record itself is a kind of fable about the end of human civilization, it also encompasses all the other little things that happened along the way. I dunno if I could have written "Nights on the Vacant Sphere" without visiting NYC for the first time and staying up every night staring at the city below. And some things I had tried to work into other bands I had been in, but none of it had worked until I sat down and made it Warning Light music. Go figure.

With work on Further On completed in late April, I've finally moved on to other music. My hope is to continue in the relatively "pop drone" vein of Further On (hopefully containing a tad more collaboration with other sound artists) with another full length while pursuing new ideas in the "pure atmosphere drone" realm on some new CDrs.

Microphones...

Up in the wilds of North Georgia I recently recorded about an hour of nature sounds to use on my next recording. I've been working on another full length called "Fallow" that will be a more experimental, more atmosphere based.

Mastering for "Further On" is still awaiting more money being saved. Thanks for waiting.

Different Geographies

   2008 was a strange year for Warning Light, though I was able to get a double album of atmospheric drone out in the Spring called "Different Geographies." After the variety and length (78+ min) of 2007's "Eternity Drones" I wasn't sure where I could go next. So I practiced alone for weeks, trying to come up with something new. The album really just takes the extended drone motif from the longer "Eternity Drones" tracks and lets it stretch out to a more relaxed length. It was a bit of an undertaking to juggle over two hours of music into one release, but I think it came out well. "Different Geographies" is definitely a listen that requires patience and is definitely populated with quieter atmospheric drones that alot of the heavy keyboard stuff I do. I'm going to post a few parts for people to download and enjoy.

Track one, "Twilight Across Empty Woodlands" (34:11)

      This is the first track of the first disc. While I think this can be enjoyed on its own, this is the piece that sets the tone for the entire double album. It's comprised of crescendos and valleys of pure drone, made from a synthesizer and effects.

Track five, "Oceans Filled with Miniscule Kingdoms" (13:36)

      This is the second track of the second disc. It's a shorter piece that utilizes a slow building loop of processed synthesizer drone that fades in and out and plays on differing textures.

If people enjoy, I'll post a little more of this record. I'm pretty sure the Stickfigure Distro still has a few copies of this, but I'm all out.

A new year

After much hassle and such, the Warning Light CD on Stickfigure is closing in on being sent away to be mastered. These are exciting times.

There's a new CDr on Tiny Kraken called "Unknown Clearing" that you might be able to get ahold of, you might not. It's limited to 30 copies. I might post the files on this blog after the CDr is out of print.

Summer

I know it seems like this project has been hibernating all summer, but I actually was fairly busy. Earlier in the summer I recorded and mixed an EP for Atlanta noisenik Rajio called Cast Your Pure Eyes. It ended up coming out on my boutique label Tiny Kraken, in association with Songs About Wizards.

As for strictly Warning Lights activity... I ended up recording an entire album of sythesizer/droney stuff on my parents' computer and it crashed. I'm working on getting a copy of it back. Some of it I would really like to appear on the full length I want to release in the fall.

After putting out Different Geographies this spring, I really wasn't sure where all I could go with this project, but I've had so many ideas this summer I'm going to keep recording. Different Geographies was just a bear of a project, and so I suppose I needed a little time to catch my breath. Anyone considering recording a coherent double CDr collection of ambient traveling music should consider the difficulty of having it fit together. I am working on another all drone CDr ep that is called First Element for now.

Anyhow, I'm at work on the music that will comprise of what will hopefully turn out to be the first Warning Light CD or LP, we'll see.

Guitarsss

I love guitars. I have three of them, a Hagstrom, a Harmony and an Epiphone I've been using alot lately. Even though this project is rather avantgarde, I like alot of music

Some of my favorite guitar albums:

- CAN "Tago Mago". It's a great album in general, but listen to those guitars... Every track has great, intricate guitar work.
- Public Image Ltd. "Metal Box". Keith Levene might be one of the most underrated guitar players ever, he manages to keep the sounds fresh over the course of a long album. There have been alot of imitators since then, but no one seems to be in the same league as Keith.
- Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band "Safe as Milk". Damn, bluesy-rockin-noodly guitar that's heavy on the treble mostly but still manages to utilize some really tasteful fuzz.
- Television "Marquee Moon". This one's obvious too, but it's hard not to listen to that title song and enjoy one of the best guitar players of the punk era.
- Spacemen 3 "The Perfect Prescription" There's alot of great guitar on this album, but that "lead" on "Call the Doctor" is a great sublime example of guitar.
- Black Sabbath "Black Sabbath Vol4" Really, any of their first five albums could be on here, this is just the one I've liked so much the past couple of years.
- Jesus and Mary Chain "Psychocandy" They did the whole fuzzy thing so well, it's a wonder to think so many have tried to do it since...
- Landing "Oceanless" Possibly the album that has the most to do with this project, the endless guitar sound of this band is something I've listened to countless times.