New Updates

It really has been a long time... since the last time I said it had been a long time. Here is what has been happening. The new Sky Shadow Obelisk recording is almost complete, just putting the finishing touches on it. I am very excited about this album because the timbral palette has expanded significantly. The instrumentation for this one, in addition to core ensemble of Guitar, Bass, Drums and Vocals, is Recorder, Mellotron, ARP, Cello, Trombones and perhaps Tuba(fingers crossed). The compositions, I hesitate to call them songs, seemed to call for a more diverse instrumental ensemble. I'm sure the critics will accuse me of being pretentious, self-important or whatever term they use to dismiss me, but that doesn't, and never will bother me. I am just trying to record and write the music that I hear and imagine. I am just continually striving to be true to my art. The main thing for me is communication. I want my music to be heard, because it expresses what I can't express in words. And I hope it resonates with the people who listen. Incidentally, the lyrical content is a bit more personal on this one, but also deals with the usual concerns of the globalization of culture and art and the demise of our civilization, And of course a smattering of my obsessions with death and dying. Lighter topics like that. hahahahaha. It is my sincerest hope that we try and turn this seemingly imminent downfall around. I don't want to get too preachy, because that is annoying, but it deeply saddens me that we have lost our culture and our history. Anyway, I will try and update this more often.

Not Dead....but Dreaming

Currently swamped with work- mostly music related, which is a good thing. However as soon as I get a free minute I will be updating this blog with information on Yuggoth and all my various projects. There is a good deal of news to report, the most exciting of which is that the Record Industry is now officially dead, but you already knew that. Yuggoth however, IS and WILL ALWAYS BE, UNDEAD!!! -Peter

Deathspell Omega or Depart From Me, Cursed One, Into Everlasting Fire

A good deal has been written about this rather clandestine band from France, especially since their release of their brilliant 'Fas, Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternem.' So why do I feel I need to add to the many accolades that have already been bestowed upon this masterpiece? Ultimately it is for the sheer originality of this artistic creation that I wish to put my two cents in. But more than that, it is the fact that Deathspell Omega are pushing themselves both spiritualy and artistically, whereas most bands have resigned themselves to mimicing what's already been created. Everything has already been done so why bang your head against a wall trying to create something unique? Deathspell Omega have in their modest 'ouvre' disproven this notion in grand fashion. I have always believed that there are ulimited possibilities in the modes of sound creation, so why limit yourselves to a few exhausted chord progressions and a set of even more cliche rhythmical figures? Haven't we evolved beyond a 12 bar I, IV, V progression? It is fine to honour the past, but honour it as that, and do not be content with simply recreating a mediocre similitude. Art is a process of probing deeply into subconcious realms in to hope of revealing and conveying universal truths. If you are playing 'Black Sabbath' riffs all day long this will not happen. By the same token, an overly complex piece translates into a meaningless exercise or simple technical posturing. There is a trend of technical metal bands in which they try to play as many dissonant intervals in as many time signatures as humanly possible in one song. Who wants to listen to something that sounds like practicing? To get back to Deathspell they seemed to have acheived a balance of musical elements that seems to be lacking in todays musical landscape. The songs are so thoughtfully constructed, that it is hard not to harken back to the Baroque period in art and music. Yet there is a wonderful vulgarity, or let's say an unrefined quality to the work as well. Anyway, this is all my opinion and the internet seems already too full of opinions. I implore you simply to listen. Listen and pick up the gauntlet that Deathspell Omega has thrown down. It is our duty as artists to accept the challenge and get back on the path that they are walking. It is a sacred path that has been tread by the likes of (and I will use French composers here): Machaut, Josquin, Rameau, Berlioz, Alkan, Debussy, Ravel, Milhaud, Varese, Boulanger, Messiaen, Boulez and the great modern spectralist Grisey.

Yuggoth News 3.20.08

There are some new projects in the works. First, an instrumental CD consisting of pieces by myself written over the past 5 years; two pieces for woodwind quartet, a piece for clarinet quintet(no kidding, 5 Bb clarinets) and hopefully the newest work, a piece for wind quintet. The wind quintet has still not been performed, so I am still waiting on this one. If the wind quintet falls through, I will include instead the classical guitar duo piece Difference Engine. Either way the CD will be out by July at the latest. Another CD slated for release is the debut of my Sky Shadow Obelisk project, previously called Obelisk. The CD will contain 3 tracks written again over the last 5 years, the newest of which was finished a few months ago. The character of the music is for the most part slow and atmospheric. I hesitate to put a label on it, lets just say it's heavy in every possible way. And last but not least a new Anechoic CD, which will be representative of our newest incarnation with keyboardist Dave McNally. We are still in the process of recording this one, so once again probably a late summer release. Stay tuned for further updates. Thanks always to the supporters of the true underground. I relish the obscurity!

The Making of 'Leng Jin' by Anechoic

The interesting thing about this album is that it was recorded in numerous houses/rooms with different microphones, pre-amps and recorders on practically each song. Somehow mastering engineer Jeff Lipton was able to create a coherent and complete sounding album; between consuming two over-sized cups of coca-cola and taking random jogs around the building, more about this later.
The recording was made between December of 2003 and October of 2005. By this fact alone, we were setting ourselves up for an inconsistent sounding recording. My studio set-up seemed to change every week with the acquisition of new microphones, pre-amps and other random electronics thrown into the signal path, including a distortion pedal I built.
The first recording we made was the title track 'Leng Jin'. It was recorded on pro-tools with three mics in a concrete basement. Two Royer R-121 in front of the drum kit about 4' away, with 4' between them and level with the toms and one Shure SM-57(Steve Albini's nemesis) on the guitar amp. The Royer's of course picked up the guitar and created a nice ambient sound between the guitar and drums. The original improvisation was about about 30 minutes long, but it took us 20 to get into the meat of Leng Jin. It's a little creepy listening to the un-edited version and hearing how we came into the developed ideas together at the the same moment and then just rode it to the end. We could never write anything that good....sigh. So we compressed the crap out of the royers and mixed it down with lots of reverb.
The second recorded track on the recording was Variation No. 1 and was recorded using a now obsolete mini-disc recorder by Yamaha called the MD-8. needless to say the sound suffered a bit from mini-disc compression, but overall it came out ok. The drums and guitar were recorded in the porch of a beach house I was renting in the winter of 2003. The guitar signal was split between a peavy tube amp and a Sears Silvertone amp, the guts of which guitarist John Lima stuck into an old wooden crate. It made for a very interesting squashed sound that also breathed at the the same time.
Kaseja and Hyperborea were both recorded on my Sharp 2-track mini-disc recorder with two lapelle mics, much to Jeff Lipton's dismay. Love that thing though, because you can adjust the recording levels without using an automatic leveler, unlike the Sony version. We just added some reverb and some slight eq and that was it.
The last two tracks we recorded were 'Aqueous Suspension' and 'Deathstar Gamma Burst' (a title which still makes John cringe, saying it's too "highschool/sci-fi"– guilty as charged.) Those were pretty straight forward pro-tool recordings using the built-in pre-amps, with guest musicians Sarah Ladd and Christine Harrington on Clarinet and Cello respectively.
The real fun started when we made our way up to Newtonville MA to meet Jeff for the mastering session at Peerless Mastering. He ran most of the tracks through analog tape and used a billion dollar George Massenburg compressor to even things out. Some of the highlights were of course: his laps around the building, which thankfully we didn't pay for, his pacing around the room and drinking oversized cup after oversized cup of high octane soda, and my favorite comment about tweaking one of his eq's: "I have never had to turn this knob this far in my life!" This was on one of the Sharp mini-disc tracks, which needed an extreme 20K injection. It made him giddy to turn that knob. I think we heard a creaking and saw some rust fall out.
Fond memories.

Michael Haneke

Michael Haneke has indeed created a great deal of controversy throughout his career as a film director. I have to say that I was shocked when I first saw 'Funny Games' in 1997, but after buying the DVD and watching it a few times I saw that there was a very strong message behind a seemingly excessive dramatic portrayal. His movies actually exhibit great subtlety, even though your impressions during and after viewing are quite the opposite. He repeatedly takes the approach of not showing the violence directly, but giving you just the sound, or the aftermath of the violence. In this way Haneke's movies are not gratuitous or insulting in any way, as I found Gaspar Noe's 'Irreversible' and 'I Stand Alone' to be. I will let Haneke explain his intentions in making these films in the following quotes, taken from the wonderful interviews at the end of the 'glaciation' trilogy. The trilogy includes 'The Seventh Continent', 'Benny's Video' and '71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance.' The most striking thing about this trilogy to me is the starkness, particularly in the soundtrack. I believe that his love for music is so great that he never stoops to using it as a mere device. His approach to sound is more about the sound of the film itself, an effect that Andrei Tarkovsky beautifully acheived in his 'Stalkers' and 'Sacrifice' films. As a musician and composer I appreciate this technique very much. Also, Haneke never insults the viewer by showing too much or explaining too much. He, as Tarkovsky does, likes to simply pose the questions. I think the greatest art we can produce induces within the spectator a sense of reverie, introspection and reflection. That is not done by mainstream movies, which give you everything through a feeding tube and vulgarly make you feel emotions using some over-the-top, overly-romantic soundtrack. I always feel manipulated when I see these movies, don't you? Anyway, with the immenent release of Hanake's US version of 'Funny Games' I thought I would post some of his thoughts on film and art.

"With sound, just like with words, you incite the imagination. If I want to touch someone emotionally I use sound rather than an image"

"You feel violence in the exact measure that you don't show it. And I think you also sense beauty and grace in the way you avoid showing it. In today's sociological climate, if I try to show beauty it becomes a lie. So by avoiding to show it, we cause it in the viewers reactions."

"Art has never agreed with the status quo. You should always rebel against what is wrong. You can rebel against it in a film by showing it. By showing it in a way that gives you a desire for the alternative; not in a way that makes it consumable, evil or violence or what have you. In general the mainstream does that. It makes even the most reprehensible side of things into something consumable. You see films that are very violent. Violence is shown in a manner that is enjoyable. I find that disgusting."

"My films are the expression of a desire for a better world."

To Not Be Recognized

What does it mean to not be recognized as an artist? By the press, a panel, a judge or even a peer. Of course the root of the inner turmoil created by such an occurrence is the ego. Something you could spend your entire life trying to destroy. This is the reason why I studied Zen buddhism for so long. My study however was more intellectual than spiritual, which of course nullified any desired end result- being enlightenment or even satori. Although I did glean a few things from my studies, I have to admit that it still hurts receiving a letter stating that you have not won a competition or received a grant. The ego interprets this as: "You are not good enough." or "There are better artists than you." Both of these notions are absurd because it is not a competition and being an artist is not about being better than someone. But still the ego is ever armed and ready to wage war on the sensitive soul. So if a person knows that creating art is not a competition, then why subject themselves to just that? I continually enter competitions and continually lose. I think it's because we need to feel that we are an important part of the whole and that we have a place somewhere in the sociallogical structure. Art after all is about communication, and we enter these contests to win thus proving that a connection had indeed been made. One shouldn't miss the seemingly insignificant connections however. I once received a letter from a little girl in France saying that she loved my music and had been following my work for some time. She said it inspired her to play and write music. The letter moved me very much and no matter how many competetions I lose that letter stands as proof that a connection was made. That has to be enough for any artist. The works are ends within themselves and all the rest is superfluous.

"I am sorry to report that you were not selected for the Music Composition Fellowship this year. It was a competitive cycle for Music Composition--we thank you for your care and consideration in applying, and encourage you to apply again next year. We also have your materials here for pickup, just let me know when you would like to come pick them up.

Apologies again for any inconvenience, & Best wishes in the New Year."

COMPETETIVE CYCLE...Repeating and ringing in my ears...