NEWS

Now up are three more tracks from THE QUICKENING,

UNLEARNING
HERO
ROAR OF THE EARTH (Ko Otani)

A few words to wind it down, the basswork you are hearing on the new track HERO is Jon Oloier from DEUS EX. I was very fortunate to get Jon’s hand in the mix this time around as he is an amazing musician.

With six tracks already UNLEARNING was the odd one out in 2009 and something newly inspired came together this time around. I could never hear HERO in its entirety until I was tracking, and suddenly this song sounded tremendous and became a favorite. The cover ROAR OF THE EARTH is a fusion of three songs, A Despair-Filled Farewell, Counterattack and Revived Power from Ko Otani’s Shadow Of The Colossus composition. A hell of an adventure with truly stunning music, and an entirely different and fun challenge to re-envision.

Thank you all so much for checking out DZOGCHEN.

I am releasing the first track from The Quickening, “A Boy”, now in the media area and at the dzogchen myspace. The core notes materialized early in Am’s pregnancy and I knew the song was his.

I’d recommend taking a good deep listen when you have a few minutes and I think you’ll find something you’ll really like in this song.

Thanks for checking out the new music and I will be releasing three more tracks from The Quickening later this week.

There’s volumes and levels to finalize but the 2010 material is nearing completion and I have constructed a preview here for everyone looking for an idea of what’s ahead. The teaser includes the four tracks:

HERO
YEAR OF THE WAY
ROAR OF THE EARTH
A BOY

A fifth track is coming along and will very likely be released with the first four. Thanks for taking a listen and I hope you all hear something that inspires you in the teaser, and look for the tracks to start coming out around mid March.

Check out the new teaser in the Media area here.

I’m off and immersing myself in recording the new zen metal work. Things are rolling just at the right time and I’ll be hammering away to get these tracks moving. How it’s stacking up: three originals and a cover for certain, one more original and one more cover depending on how everything is coming along. Some new inspiration, some new pieces coming in and some seriously cool music on the way. In the past I tend to jump from track to track when I need a break from a project, and this won’t change. At the same time this is the order I am looking to record:

YEAR OF THE WAY
UNTITLED track
ROAR OF THE EARTH (KO OTANI)
HERO

if time:
BURY
SECOND COVER

Happy 2010 to you all. Getting recording underway with the start of the new year. At the time it looks like I have 6 songs and I think 4 or 5 of these will actually happen. There’s a little baby boy due in May and I am in the process of switching all my recording software from my PC to a mac, so I’m not certain how recording will go. In any case I am starting new 2010 zen metal and I thought I would toss out the tracks I am working at now.

TWO HEROES
UNLEARNING
YEAR OF THE WAY
BURY
ROAR OF THE EARTH (KO OTANI)

I am working on new zen metal music over the winter of 2009-2010 and aiming to release this around springtime as I have in past years. At the moment I have 6 song ideas I have been juggling. I will probably narrow these down to 4 or 5 to actually work with and record starting in the next few weeks. As far as the new music, there is a very grounding theme through the songs, some dark and some adventurous sound, I am really looking forward to sharing.

The big news now is that I am going to be a daddy. As of today, November 18th, Amy is 13 weeks into her pregnancy. I take whatever time I can get to put towards new music but the majority of the time I have been really fascinated learning about what is ahead of us. For those interested, Amy is doing real well, and is very excited. And I know this baby is going to be amazing.

As far as music work, I’ve been keeping ideas together and I’m looking at 4-5 songs when I sit down to write this fall. I’m adding a few pictures here of some metalwork I have been doing this summer. As a start I sketched out a few ideas for a 3d copper standing sculpture. Working with hand and torch his armor and musculature were forged and coarsened, his weapons and shielding given some bronzing and color under fire. With some weight on him glue worked well in fastening his structure though in the future I will be working to refine a soldering technique for metalwork.

I will be doing a little more work cleaning up the blockhead and starting some new projects in July. Sol was a really cool first metal project. I am basically swinging for the fence when I have time to step up to the metalwork.

Reading:
The Road  Cormac McCarthy
The Physics of Consciousness  Evan Harris Walker
Don Quixote de la Mancha  Miguel de Cervantes
Black  Ted Dekker

I wanted to thank everyone for taking a listen and a look around the site here. I have received a number of encouraging emails, comments, and phone calls and I was pleased to hear everyone was doing well and finding something they enjoyed in these pages.

At the moment I can say that I have found inspiration in a very exciting source and I have started new music.

In the meantime I will be participating in a Kuk Sool Won tournament and initiating some metalwork projects in April. Amy and I are planning some landscaping work this month and I am looking forward to spending time with her.

For those interested I am reading:
The Way of the Peaceful Warrior  Dan Millman
The Master and Margerita  Mikhail Bulgakov
Essential Sufism   James Fadiman, Robert Frager
Astral Dynamics  Robert Bruce

A full year after first posting “dzogchen” and “I Am” on the dzogchen myspace page, the official zen metal site is now up and houses all dzogchen music and art, including new 2009 work. First and foremost I want to thank Cathy from activecore.org for the design and function of the dzogchen site. Everything from the player and image linking to the coding and search tools are all her work.

A few notes: this news page will have information for upcoming dzogchen music and art (and possibly other interests). There is a comment feature and please feel free to use this.

The media page has all of the 2008 and new 2009 music. Every song has a music track that will start when the play button is touched and original art that will open in a really badass media window when the thumbnail is clicked. There is also a working 2008 / 2009 media search tab on the right of this page.

The bio page is a short record of how zen metal came to be, a little about myself and inspiration. The contact page has a direct link to me.

There are tabs at the top and a search tool on the right that will track down posts or music based on a keyword input.

I will be here writing about upcoming work often and continuing to run the dzogchen myspace site as well.
Thank you all for you encouragement and patience, and for taking some time here for a look and a listen, and I look very forward to hearing from you all.

The tracks and original art from the 2009 year are now up in the media area:

1. ATMA
2. THE STRONG (IL FORTE-Ennio Morricone)
3. DAWN
4. SOUND AND FURY
5. THE DARK ADAPTED EYE
6. MIND OF FIRE

Trying something new with this session, I included a quote along with each track that inspired the song or myself.
The 2009 tracks and art are now in the 2009 media and all media.

The tracks and original art from the 2008 year are now up:

1. DZOGCHEN
2. I AM
3. THE NEW PHYSICS
4. A MIDDLE WAY
5. MOMENT OF CONSCIOUSNESS

The 2008 tracks and art are now in the 2008 media and all media.