Aardvark - Instrumental Progressive Rock

[Aswepe]

Aardvark is a virtual rock band. I use computers, sequencers, samplers & virtual instruments to realize the music. I don't play particularly well (See a more detailed explanation in my Polaris post).

There are 33 songs on Aardvark's soundclick page, representing their entire history. http://www.soundclick.com/aardvarktxusa

The newest stuff is at the top of the page.

Terminus Obscura will appear on the 6th CD - Zero-Percent-Off Sale. I've completed 4 songs for this CD. Interestingly, Terminus Obscura has a twin - Polaris' Enceladus, part 6 of Saturn Suite

Secret Keeper (yeah, I'm a Harry Potter fan), Glide Path, A Bucket of Steam & Aardvark's Theme (its about time the boys had a theme don't you think) are all from the 5th CD - Photo Not Available - not yet released - it'll be out before 2009.

The next 9 songs are all from the 4th CD - Subterfuge In Disguise, released in December 2007.

The next 10 songs are from the 3rd CD - Some Assembly Required, released in October 2006.

The next 5 songs are from the 2nd CD - Perfectly Flawed, released in December 2005.

The last 4 songs are from the 1st Cd - Intellect Void, released in February 2005.

The tunes that I am most proud of include...

Terminus Obscura

Glide Path

Scenes From An Untelevised Mini-Series

You Got Me So Strung Out I Can't Even Tie My Shoes

Promises Here Witnessed

Behind The Mirror

One Red Feather

Avoidance Maneuver

Pegasus' Ride

Advance To Contact

He Missed The Tag

Over at Download.com there are different songs.  http://music.download.com/aardvark

I'm particularly proud of Situation In Sector Nine & Lock and Load.

Please feel free to comment on any of the songs as you see fit.

Remember, I will automatically discount any review that does not tell me WHY you like or dislike a particular song. It's only common courtesy.  Please take the time to provide constructive criticism to your fellow musicians.

Possible future Cd titles include, but are not limited to...

Spending Money on Saturday
I Quit Trying To Quit
Places I Occasionally Frequent
Friday Night Down at the All-You-Can-Eat

And thanks for listening!!

[Brian Dobbs]

I posted this in the other thread...but same thing...gig today, will totally listen once I have time.  \m/.

[PeteLaramee]

Cool stuff.  Lots of songs there.  I listened to four - my fave being "He Missed the Tag" and not only because I'm a baseball fan.

[Aswepe]

Thanks guys for the listen.

Appreciated Muchos.

[Brian Dobbs]

Wow, another classic post!  You seem to be an extremely organized individual.  I think it's great how you're sharing your own thoughts on your material.

This is like a hard rock version of Polaris.  Again, I'm digging this stuff.  Even for being synthesized, it's better than 99% of what's on the radio nowadays.  REally cool patches and riffs on "Terminus Obscura".  Sounds like Animusic meets Yes.  It starts off kinda slow, but it builds and really gets your attention.

Along with Polaris, I'll have to listen to more before I post more comments.

[Aswepe]

Thanks Brian for taking the time to listen to my stuff.

[Brian Dobbs]

This stuff would make for some great epic video game music.  Especially "A Bucket of Steam."

[Aswepe]

Here's the CD cover for the next Aardvark CD - Photo Not Available.

The picture was taken this past March at DisneyWorld during a trip to Spring Training.

I tweaked in PhotoShop Elements & added music from a screen capture.

I like the new Aardvark logo with the Treble Clef sign & although its pretty small in this photo, you can see the A'swepe logo that T-Rav made for me.

[Brian Dobbs]

A, is the name of the next release, "Photo Not Available" ?  Is that your head?

[Aswepe]

Yup, that is my head in the "Photo".

I'm such a clever dude, "Photo Not Available".

[Brian Dobbs]

Yup, that is my head in the "Photo".

I'm such a clever dude, "Photo Not Available".

LOL

[dangig]

Hi,

I've listened so far to Terminus Obscura and Secret Keeper and I must say that I really liked what I heard.

- Terminus Obscura
The bell at the beginning really settles a mood, great job there, it creates such an atmosphere! The word Obscura already takes all its meaning here!

The piano gives a really interesting style to the piece, and the whole piece gets us into a classical-prog-rock mood that is particular and with a great personal sound! The changes of dynamics in the song are really sounding great, I love the rock parts vs the piano alone, the fast changes between the two really makes everything alive! The smooth beginning and then the rapid change that gets to something fast is really killer! Great arrangements!

- Secret Keeper
I really love the mellotron and all that Ayreon vibe of that piece. Really cool, well composed. I really loved the part at about 2:37 when the keyboards comes in!

Great work!! Do you think you'll play this with a band someday or its only a studio project?

[Aswepe]

Daniel:

Thanks for the wonderful review. As I mentioned previously, Terminus Obscura is a Prog version of one of my classical pieces. I really like this version - the Progger in me loves it. If I may say so myself, the Piano at 1:38 along with the Power Chords throughout that section create great contrast & dynamic tension. My favorite part of this tune is the ending, starting a 2:59 where the synth repeats a line while the guitar & piano play off the sequence. I don't know where that came from but I'm glad I found it.

As to Secret Keeper, I wanted to do something with the Mellotron in a 70's Prog vein. This tune was originally going to be just keys but it really needs the Bass & Drums to accentuate the melodic content. The part starting at 2:37 was just an attempt to keep the song going by simply shifting gears. This tune features three Mellotrons (heavily layered), three minimoogs, piano plus Bass & Drums.

As to the playing out, firstly, I ain't that good - it's all the computer - OK I can play sone of it but not that well & not that fast. Secondly, I'm far too old to be slogging equipment around - I did that back in the mid 70's. It was fun (most of the time). I don't really want to be there anymore. That is (generally) a job for young energetic musicians.

Lastly, I would like to use your tunes on my radio show. I'll PM you shortly.

[Brian Dobbs]

listened to Secret Keeper again for the mellotrons...cool.  I think I prefer the Polaris stuff over Aardvark though.

[Aswepe]

Hot off the Hard Drive - something new from Aardvark,

Driftwood - Instrumental Progressive Rock - enjoy.

Started on 21 Sep & finished on 12 October 08.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=396963&content=songinfo&songID=7045455
-----------------------------------------------------
Severance Pay

Started on 21 October & finished on 26 October 08.  Final tweaks were completed this morning.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=396963&content=songinfo&songID=7045477

Comments are always welcome & encouraged. Good, Bad, Indifferent. Just tell me why you like/dislike/don't care one way or the other.

And thanks for listening!

[Brian Dobbs]

Driftwood - I like the piano runs and synth unison parts, but I'm afraid it's a little to 'atonal'-ish  for me. 

Severence Pay - While I feel pretty much the same way about this song, I actually did hear my girlfriend start humming along to the last minute or so.  I be she had no idea what the music was!

[phyziczteacher]

Hey A',

I gotta tell ya, Terminus Obscura is ssswwweeeettttt! I love the piano playing, especially around the :55 mark and around the 2:50 mark. The end is very cool when you add in all of those layers playing there own thing.

There are some very nice moments in Driftwood, especially the unisons throughout. I liked the synth unisons at 3:05, then I really love the guitar and synth unison after.

My only dislike of Driftwood is it feels a little slow in developing, or I should say slow in grabbing my full interest. But, once it does, I'm hooked.

Severence Pay is a little slow in the beginning too, but it hooks me again at around 1:30 or so. You won't believe this, but I think Jeremy and I have a part in one of our new ideas that is almost exactly like the triplet part at 2:34! I'll have to go back and listen to ours, and once we get it on here you can see what you think. Kinda funny 

All in all, good stuff. You and I seem to have the same taste when it comes to prog music 

Tim

[Aswepe]

I've gone back & listened to both tracks & I can see where you're coming from Tim.

On Driftwood, the section that starts at 2:09 through 3:08 was written first. I sat on that section for a couple of months, inspiration eluding me with  determination & purpose.  I finally decided to take the bull by the horns & what you hear is the result. This Brute Force approach to composition can sometimes lead to good thinks, but as often as not, it just leads to average stuff. Yes, there are some good moments on that track, but you're right, the intro is likely too long. I'll have a look at that before the CD goes out (which will be late 2009).

Severance Pay - The Bass part starting at 0:25 was actually written on the bass (although I can't play well enough to play what you hear on the track). The idea developed while messing around - a lot of stuff gets written that way, doesn't it.  That guitar part at 1:30 - also just messing around with one of my guitars. Again, I don't play well enough to pull it off. I really like the contrast this little section provides to what comes before & what follows. The triplet guitar part was written on the piano - again some contrast to the flutes & strings that come before it

BTW - Aardvark's 5th CD, "Photo Not Available", should be up on CDBaby within the next few days.

Looking forward to hearing your new stuff guys. As always, thanks for listening & for your comments.

[Aswepe]

Aardvark's 5th CD, "Photo Not Available" is officially available (minus photo of course) at CDBaby.

http://www.cdbaby.com/aardvark5

This is a close to a press release as I'm gonna get.

[Brian Dobbs]

Thanks for letting us know Aswepe.

[Aswepe]

New Stuff from Aardvark is now available on Soundclick.

Two (relatively) new tunes are now available on my Soundclick page.

Olaf's Dream - another part to the continuing saga of King Olaf II of Norway. Look it up on Wikipedia - it's a pretty interesting story. Total time - 6:37 not quite Epic but longer than most of my stuff. As Tim has pointed out previously, this one starts off a bit slowly, taking time to get to it. Listen for the English Horn at 1:25 & the violin at 1:48 with reprises from both later in the song.

The part starting at 2:32, like a lot of my stuff just fell under my left hand while tinkering on the piano. I'm not sure I did it justice with the accompaniment though. You be the judge. The choral part immediately following this part was simply an attempt to get from that last part to the ending.

Undoubtedly my favorite part is the ending starting at 4:06. It is simply one progression repeated seven times with different instruments taking the lead part. If I get off my lazy ass I'll record the guitar parts with an actual guitar. As it turns out my paltry skills on guitar will allow me to play that melody line.

The song can be heard at http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8069376

Prime Meridian is also scheduled for Zero-Percent-Off Sale (I'm so clever with the CD titles).

Found this killer Church Organ patch & the rest is history. Not really much of a story here Boys & Girls.

Listen to it here:  http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8069367

Thanks for listening.

[Brian Dobbs]

listening now...

[Brian Dobbs]

Aswepe, I think the new Aardvark stuff reminds me initially of the music of Doom 2, the video game.  Have you ever played it?  Anyway, I believe it's mostly because of the abstract qualities of the MIDI patches.  I hear some good melodies here, that could really be enhanced simply by replacing them with real instruments.  The challenge with MIDIs is that it's hard to get other listeners to hear the same thing that you hear.  I know this because when my guitarist MIDIs out our songs, they sound dramatically different than when we rehearse them live, even though they are note-for-note accurate.

I've listened to these new tracks multiple times, but I'll have to listen more to offer more feedback.

FWIW, I love your clever use of titles.

[Blairnt Central]

Wow, very nice! Very orchestral. I was going to sit here and write something but I think I'm just going to listen instead. Very impressive arrangement in the tune Olaf's Dream.