EXTRASOLAR by The Red Book
The latest album “Extrasolar” by The Red Book is now available at https://theredbook.bandcamp.com/album/extrasolar. This album differs a bit from the previous album because it is all instrumental (no vocals), and there are no live drums (although a couple tracks might fool you). The short first track, “They Came From Venus”, is all computer drums and effects, there are no guitars or other instruments. The next track “Wizard Island”, is the heaviest tune I’ve written so far and has some of the gnarliest fuzz guitar tones ever recorded. Don’t believe me? Check it out and then see what you think. The third track “Mind Meld” has different guitar melodies that are introduced, blended, and finally melded together at the end, all over some killer drums. After that is “Transmissions From Somewhere to Nowhere” which, in places, makes use of a plugin called “Moon Echo” that is modeled after a radio telescope in the Netherlands that bounces signals off the moon. It pings nasa to get the exact current location of the moon and then uses those parameters (if and when I want) to determine the echo sound. So there actually is a real, albeit indirect, ‘connection’ to outer space on this album. The final track, “Extrasolar”, is a weird psychedelic leftover track from the first album “Sleeping is Living”. The titles of the tunes, when read in order, make a loose story, but don’t think about it too much, it’s not that deep. Enjoy and play it loud!
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ELK AND THEIR ILK
ELK AND THEIR ILK is a solo side project of mine that is only guitar and effects, no drums, bass, or vocals. The music is a combination of riffs, noise, experimental sounds and production techniques, as well as a place to put a few tunes/ideas that didn’t really fit in with my other projects. With this project I have freed myself from the confines of traditional songwriting and drum beats, and have an almost “anything goes” attitude. Really the only limitation I imposed on myself was “only guitar and effects.” And I spent a lot of time as well trying to coax out some of the gnarliest tones I could get from my equipment.
The first album, “root fire” was released in June 2023. The second album, “for eons” was released January 2024. It is a little less chaotic than the first album but still gets a bit crazy in spots. This album was about experimenting with some new effects I had gotten, and new (to me at least) ways of mixing and combining sounds to come up with some truly interesting soundscapes.
I have always been interested in all kinds of music, and that includes stuff like japanese noise music, crazy atonal modern “classical” music, free jazz, anything trippy or weird. All that kind of stuff was an influence on this project, as well as stuff like heavy doom riffs and groovy fuzz sounds. While a lot of the music on the ELK albums may sound chaotic, everything is deliberate and exactly where I want it to be and how I want it to sound. So I recommend approaching this music as regarding each piece as a deliberate composition, and the albums as taking you on a trippy sonic journey. For best results, listen to an entire album all at once, in the dark, as loud as possible. Enjoy.
You can hear them on any streaming service, including here on YouTube: root fire, for eons
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SPSHL SNWFLK
SPSHL SNWFLK is an aggresive, punk-influenced side project of mine along with vocalist Jake Silvas. In January 2023 we released a four-song EP titled “F Minus”, with songs that have lyrics from 19th century poet George Parsons Lathrop as well as lyrics from chapter 135 of Moby Dick by Melville. Check it out here and turn it up!
“Sleeping is Living” by The Red Book
Let me introduce you to the debut double-album “Sleeping is Living” by my studio project I call The Red Book: psych-prog-space rock that will take you into, through, and out the other side of its sonic dreamscape. One fan described it as “Pink Floyd meets Hendrix through a Sabbath filter.”
All music was written, performed, mixed, mastered, and produced by me, except for the awesome contributions by guest drummers Andi Preen and Darryl Dimaggio.
I released it in November of 2020 on bandcamp.com, then spent the first half of 2021 remixing and remastering it, and re-released it as the new version in August 2021 on all major streaming platforms. You can listen to it on YouTube here.
I am intending to print it on CD and eventually on vinyl — stay tuned. If you would like a free digital copy please write me an email at “dan (at) theredbookmusic (dot) com” and I’ll be glad to send you a download code.
For more info please go to theredbookmusic.com and primamateriarecords.com, and follow on Instagram.
Thanks for checking it out and play it loud!
