Over the last few years I have released an enormous amount of sonic vomit onto the internet. I have decided to use http://paultompkins.bandcamp.com as my exclusive platform for a number of reasons, mainly it costs no money for me, the streaming audio quality is indistinguishable from my master recordings to my own ears, and you can choose to give me money or not, download or not, etc. However, because i am not constrained by ANY commercial or artistic restrictions, it is impossible to guess what you are getting into without actually listening to the hours of music i have published. So, this post is meant to be a rough guide as to the wide range of styles/genres that comprise my music. I'll go chronologically through the albums and give a general synopsis of what to expect, as well as provide a direct link to each album.
The Slumlord EP - http://paultompkins.bandcamp.com/album/slumlord-ep
Electronica/synth pieces composed somewhere between 2003-2005. All tracks were made in jeskola buzz with various vst instruments. The desktop computer that these tracks were made on died many years ago, and though i have some of the original .bmx files, i no longer have the VSTIs or a computer that can render them properly. The rendering process was actually highly unstable, and several tracks took multiple attempts before a satisfactory recording was obtained.
The Build Me Something Experiments - http://paultompkins.bandcamp.com/album/the-build-me-something-experiments
Tracks made while learning to use Cool Edit 2.00. These include sample/loop pieces, reverse playback, time stretching, and effects. These tracks were also part of an unreleased album entitled
"7 Meditations."
Variations on a Tone Row - http://paultompkins.bandcamp.com/album/variations-on-a-tone-row
Each track is actually the same 12-tone piece, but the VSTIs used were dynamic in nature and produced radically different outcomes. Only the finished audio still exists.
Piano Music -
Piano miniatures ranging from counterpoint and programmatic pieces to 12-tone and aleatoric.
Sonata for Flute and Piano -
I think of it as a pseudo-Ivesian, modal sonata.
Daphne and Apollo -
A song cycle for guitar and voice. Alternative folk i guess.
Insertions -
Mostly guitar duets of various types. I imagine them popping up randomly throughout your large mp3 collection (hence the title).
Sounds you can make with things that make sound -
My first dip into the waters of improvised ambient guitar. Heavily influenced by the physical nature of composing with the tc electronic mini ditto.
Not Every Thought Can Be Congruous -
This is sort of a junk drawer album. It has new stuff and old stuff and things that didn't fit right on other albums. It also starts my tendency to use whatever track wasn't finished when i released an album (i get impatient sometimes) as the starting point for the next album.
The Uncollected -
I had a bunch of rock/metal guitar riffs stuck in my head and decided to make the album itself the process of writing and recording each track one at a time.
On A Porch -
Another old/new junk drawer album, this time worked into a single piece in 4 movements.
Fifth Year -
Songs written in my teens and 20s. 1:17 was the basis for Daphne and Apollo.
Contrapuntus ad libitum -
I adore counterpoint and wanted an entire album of arrangements for guitar and bass of various pieces (some i wrote myself). So, i made one as a christmas present to myself.
Simple Pleasures -
My biggest junk drawer album yet. Literally everything i love to do: old, new, reworked, looping, improvisation, electronic, ambient, noise...
The New Blue -
More guitar experiments; looping, duets...
Air -
Like i said, i get impatient, and i finished these a day or two after i published the new blue. I spent a day trying to figure out what else to put with them, but ultimately decided they stand on their own. Am ient blues?
An Evening In The Echo Chamber -
Serious messing around with reverb, echo, looping, and delay. Probably the least structured noise album in my discography.
For the record, i want the next 3 albums to be officially labled the start of my "left-hand period." Feeble, Album of Death, and Difficult Sounds were all recorded in the weeks before shoulder surgery when i had very little control of my pick arm. There's rock and blues and jazz and noise and cheesy synths aplenty.
I'm currently working on synth versions of pieces no one has heard, perusal recordings of classical/academic pieces written over the last 20 years. I gave up on copying links in favor of just finishing this post, so just go to my main bandcamp discography page....
Cheers
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