So once the music end of things was done on the new album, i had to figure out how i would package the physical version of it. i wanted to do something a little different, so i opted for a packaging option from Stumptown Printers in Portland, Oregon made from recycled paper rather than the typical boring jewel case.  It's actually designed to be the same size as a typical plastic DVD case and my thought was that it would be great to use it in a landscape orientation, as i hadn't seen a lot of releases done up that way before.

I've always dabbled in the visual art world, but with everything else i do, i just don't have a lot of time for it, so i really wanted to take advantage of this album release as a chance to do something special.  and it all started with a photo i took when leaving the studio as the sun was rising after a crazy all night recording session:

This Image really just captured the feeling of everything i was working when i started the sessions at the top of 2009 that would eventually lead to the release of this album. i had just gone through a breakup a couple months before, i was working long hours, and was a bit disenchanted with life at the time. and i basically just realized that i wasn't doing enough with music, which has always been my biggest passion and the only things i've every really been able to count on. it was time to get things back on track. so sleep be damned, even after long days at work i ended up staying up and playing and writing and recording sporadically through the rest of 2009 and 2010, and then after composing music for Octavo, i had finally accumulated enough music i felt strongly enough about to release an album. The music on the album was pretty much always born out of the small hours, and i became sort of obsessed with feeling like i was the only person awake in my little corner of downtown Richmond. So many times i'd leave the studio as the sun was coming up, as construction workers began parking on the 4th street bridge, there was a certain romanticism to it. That spurred both the title of the album and the cover artwork.

So with the concept in mind and knowing what packaging i was going to use, i was off to figure out how i could print it, and i really wanted to figure out a way to get this thing screen printed. Initially i though about doing two different halftone gradients to achieve the sunrise effect which would be cool, but when i sat down with my friends at Triple Stamp Press to talk about it, my buddy Wil had a number of other ideas about how to pull it off. We ended up deciding to go with a split fountain technique thanks to Wil, and it turned out amazing! The coolest thing about this technique is that you are pulling two colors of ink across the screen at once, which allows the colors to mix, and consequently every single print ends up being slightly different because of it. with me doing a run of 300, this makes things really special, everyone who gets a physical package will end up with a one of a kind art piece as well. below you'll see a slideshow of some of the more interesting covers that turned out during the printing process: 

Now on both the cd and the insert in the package i ended up doing my own take on the design aesthetic from the United Artists Ultra Audio Series of records. I first ran across these records in high school, i had always loved the style and wanted to do a bit of a tribute to them. here's some various shots of the rest of the packaging from the assembly process:

I'm really happy with how this whole thing turned out, i wanted to create something that i felt as strongly about as i do with the music, and i really think this does it justice. Massive thanks again to Triple Stamp for the screen printing work, and also to Revolve for printing and duplicating the CD'S!

the new album is finally out! you can preview it and download it below. 

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 going 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*  

my new solo album "when no one else is here and everyone is asleep" comes out next week on church hill records. i am beyond stoked about this.

you will be able to stream the entire record here for free on the second.  there will also be the option to purchase a digital copy as well.

the physical package, will be available for the first time on august 4th, at the camel. if you are are in richmond or near by you really should come by and get the full blown package as it is going to be beautiful.  i designed the art and triple stamp press is screen printing it. also huge thanks to revolve for the cd duplication and printing. 

you should also come to the release show because it's just gonna be an amazing time, lobo marino, nelly kate, and to all my dear friends (from gainesville) will be playing so it's simply going to be a night of mind blowing music.  7:30 at the camel.

if you can't come out thursday you will have another chance to pick up the album on friday at first fridays in the courtyard (304 n Adams).  i will be doing a set with the colloquial orchestra, but i will have some copies on hand for purchase.

for my out of town friends: i am hoping to have myself a little mini road trip/vacation/tour thing in mid august and hopefully i'll be coming thru a town near you, but if not you can always do the digital copy or i can mail you a copy as well, i'm going to figure out more details on that soon.

that's all for now, be sure to stop by next week for some surprises, and as always, thank you for your support, and thank you for listening.

"Everyone carries a room about inside them. 
This fact can even be proved by means of the sense of hearing.
If someone walks fast and one pricks up one's ears and listens, say at night, 
when everything round about is quiet,
one hears, for instance, the rattling of a mirror not quite firmly fastened to the wall."

-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

i haven't fallen off the face of the earth, i have just been super busy and have always been bad about blogging consistantly, but here are some things i have been up too/things you should be stoked about:

-actively fighting a battle (and finally winning!) against computers generally not wanting to work
-being my own IT consultant & recovering/cloning hard drives and replacing components and such.
-working on a new solo record
-working on music for dance pieces
-projection designing for one of those dance pieces
-working on the long lost ptfckp album (it's almost done i swear)
-running sound for shows i play and shows i don't
-planning on doing a colloquial orchestra ep soon
-getting old ptfckp material online for your amusement
-designing artwork and packaging for the new solo record
-plotting and scheming about touring in the summer to support the new solo record
-ballet, lot's of ballet...
-fixing an old 71 raleigh grand prix
-constantly tinkering with my surly cross check and getting some serious winter riding in too
-getting ready for another tour de cure with team hamberger time
-taxes! yeah! give me my money back!
-and i'll probably spend my tax return on duplication and artwork production for my new solo record.

-and as much as possible; having fun, hanging out with friends and family, and listening to and playing as much music as possible, cause that's what truly matters.

in other news, i am super excited (and you should be too) to have had two records i worked on come out in January. The Low Branches just put out their first EP "Sinking, Rising" on Churchill Records, i mainly acted as assistant engineer and provided recording space and generally just enjoyed hanging out while this was being made. it's a lovely record. check it out! 

the other record is Lobo Marino's "Reincarnation EP" which i did all the production work on. From the outset we planned for it going to 7" vinyl (which it will be available on soon) which made for a slightly different approach on my end, but most importantly it was a blast to record and it sounds awesome, it'll definitely be one of the most epic 14 minutes of music you've heard in awhile. you'll be able to play it on your turntables soon, for now you can hear it on their bandcamp page.

and that's the news! i will hopefully write some more about stuff on that list up there as projects reach their end, i'm in a pretty good spot motivation wise right now, so i'm stoked to finally knock some of this stuff out.

-dave 

hey folks, at the end of the month im doing a huge show, and i'm super excited about it. i will be playing for just over an hour, without stopping, in surround sound, and will be playing many more instruments than i normally do, in order to improvise a live score for Lotte Reiniger's The Adventures of Prince Achmed. this is certain to be an amazing show and i hope everyone can make it out! 

check out more details get a little taste of what you are in for in this interview i did with Jameson Price (who heads up The Silent Music Revival) over here at RVA Magazine.

check out this little xtranormal promo:

UPDATE! the tour de cure was a total success! individually, i raised $370, team hamberger time raised $6,526 and the event raised over $570,000 total! it was truly the single most insane thing i have ever done for a good cause... time to start training for next year!

i'm less than two weeks away from doing a 100 mile bike ride in support of the american diabetes foundation. it's gonna be epic! click  here for more info, pictures, and a new video.

also, please donate!!!!! every dollar helps aid the fight to prevent and cure diabetes.

thanks for your support,
dave watkins

well It's about time that i start updating this site more! summer is now upon us, which for me means that work is slowing down and i have more time to get back to music projects that have been put off for far too long, and i should have a few weeks off work completely to finish up the long awaited record by my old band ptfckp, and my new solo record. so expect more updates on those two things in the coming days, weeks, and months, and a couple new pages on my site one dedicated to my recording space and projects, and one temporary page dedicated to my participation in the tour de cure, which is a 100 mile bike tour that im riding in on june 20th in support of the american diabetes association.

but for now here's a little reading to tide you over on a recent project i worked on: tracking the upcoming low branches ep back in january with my good friend allen bergendahl. a beautiful writeup by  shannon cleary, with photos by pj sykes.  it'll give you a little inside look at the recording/collaborative process within my studio that isn't really a studio. check it out here.

greetings friends the world over!!! welcome to my official website, here you will be able to find anything and everything having anything to do with the various projects i am involved with. be it music, dance, theatre, so on and so forth.

swing by the sounds page and you will be able to listen to all of my records in their entirety, and as a website grand opening bonus i have posted when no one else is here... a four song ep that is a bit of a teaser for my upcoming solo record which will hopefully be out in the top half of 2010. please download the ep and share it with your friends.

and definitely stop by the videos page as right now i am running two short motion pictures set to the the tunes of music that i have recorded this year, one is some footage i shot on my way to scotland in the summer of 2008, which i cut to the tune of "these jet wings" off of when no one else is here...  the other was filmed and edited by my friend logan kornhauser and uses a song called "grand traffic" which is a long improvisational minimalist piano duet with passing traffic that i did back in february that is currently unreleased, be sure to check it out, and stop by his page atwww.kitchentablelegs.com

you'll also find my latest performance dates, along with links to all of my various web incarnations, and some to friends pages too.  so kick off your shoes sit back and enjoy some content!

it's just little old me designing and maintaining this site so contact directly me at [email protected] with any questions / comments / ideas / concerns / stories / fun random facts / really cool made up words / what have you, and you can always leave comments on my blog here.

thanks for stopping by. take care and of course, rock it out!
dave watkins