as with my previous full length releases, the download is available for whatever price you like including FREE! the only catch in that regard is that you sign up for my mailing list. however, if you do pay, it goes right back to helping me make more music and go on tour and such. 

the physical edition will be available for the first time this thursday at the camel during my official release show, i am also going to be selling this strictly on a donation basis, at this point it is more important for me to get the music out there and gain listeners than to loose a listener cause i'm selling a cd for $15 or something, but do know that you are going to get something really special for your donation should you decide to get a physical copy. this is a limited run of 300, all of these feature artwork i designed and had hand screen printed by triple stamp press, and the nature of the technique they used to make the sunrise gradient image on the front means that every single one of them is ever so slightly different. inside, these things are hand numbered and signed by me and you will also find an insert that i printed plus a wonderful compact disc made by revolve that has a collection of music on it that i am truly proud of. that's the deal, i want people to be as stoked as i am about this album, and if you are, please tell your friends, tweet about it, facebook the world, embed the album player in your blog, get crazy! i will love you forever! as always, thanks for listening! tomorrow i will have another post with photos of the packaging and some info on various influences i pulled from for the design.

*there will be brief pauses in between songs if you listen to the whole album through the bandcamp player. downloading the album and playing it in itunes or what have you will allow for seamless playback as there is no silence between tracks on this recording*  

-Franz Kafka

i am super excited as tomorrow is opening night for Octavo, a new work by choreographer Gina Patterson for Richmond Ballet. this piece has been in the works for a while now, and really heavily for me over the past two months. it features three original movements that i composed and recorded and the rest of the music is by Max Richter from his Blue Notebooks record (which is devastatingly gorgeous by the way). so suffice to say this is an honor i am truly excited to talk about.

The Richter music had some of it's inspiration from The Blue Octavo Notebooks, a collection of writings by Franz Kafka. i Had read this years before i'd ever heard the Richter music and had always wanted to do some sort of theatrical piece based on it, so when this opportunity arrived it was perfect.

So i set out to create music with Kafka, Richter, and Gina and the dancers i'd be composing for as my major influences and then to get even crazier there is an entire movement in the ballet that features the dulcitar! i may be out of line saying it, but this could be the very first dance piece to feature the dulcitar, if it isn't i'd love to hear about others that have.

so i've recorded real piano, fake piano, piano with lots of effects on it, all sorts of dulcitar madness, and some percussion and even a little fuzz bass... it's subtle, but it's there! all in big rooms and small rooms, and did some field recording to boot. these songs are exclusive to this ballet at the moment but will be included on my upcoming solo release on Church Hill Records. get stoked for that!

anyway here are some videos about the creation of the piece for your viewing pleasure:

an interview with choreographer Gina Patterson:

and an interview with me:

the ballet opens March 24 and runs through April 3, 2011 get tickets at www.richmondballet.com

as always, thanks for listening (and watching)
dave