An album dedicated purely to the acoustically rich and rewarding sound of the veena, a stringed instrument of ancient South Indian history and lore.

Featuring a range of ragas, starting from morning prayerful melodies of Bowli, the straight forward Gowla, on to the unique and awe inspiring dignity of the raga Todi, winding on to the flavor of an Indian afternoon in the monsoon with a rhythmic free flowing exposition of the raga Kirvani, and then over to the beauty and charm of the alluring Karaharapriya, on to the laidback Purvikalyani and a lullaby to end it all.

Some of these are interpretations of classical gems, others are extempore free flowing explorations into the form and characteristics of the raga. A traditional musical offering of pure South Indian Carnatic classical music, from the artist and the instrument, to God.

Imagine Indian temples, religious festivals, spiritual quests, contemplation, introspection and the soul's awakening.

This album, the third in a row of abstract ambient soundscapes, a complementing counterpart to its prequel, A Touch Of White. Bleeding Black Old Sun: a soundtrack to the end of the world.

Photo credit:
Pioforsky flickr.com/photos/pioforsky

On this album you will hear Ukrainian melodies and Bulgarian folk songs which have survived centuries, Indian tabla rhythms and Japanese taiko drums, medieval motifs and open ethnic vocals.

All these compositions create the feeling that the Renaissance is a kind of mood, this music leaves a unique impression, bringing the listener close into the colorful World of World music.

Hunter & the Dirty Jacks are a Los Angeles based blues/rock band that is on the rise, putting on great shows with an exhilarating mix of originals with choice covers, and have been playing around extensively.

Hunter & The Dirty Jacks have performed at House of Blues Sunset, House of Blues Anaheim, Saint Rocke, Biscuits & Blues, The Mint, Harvelle's, and toured all throughout California, including San Francisco, Monterey, Sacramento, Humboldt County, as well as into Nevada.

Hunter & The Dirty Jacks have also started and run a weekly residency on Tuesday nights for a year and a half at Harvelle's Santa Monica, which benefits feeding the homeless and teaching underprivileged children music. Many international touring artists come out regularly to join the band onstage to jam, which helps raise awareness.

After different years and many musical adventures Dubmaster Conte is back with a solo album. A work completely dedicated to his first musical and genuine love: Dub Music.

Bass-heavy riddims, advanced delay techniques, deep reverbs for a dubby space are the trademarks of this album. The sounds are rich and tight, the bass is just phat and put forward.

It is an energetic take, largely instrumental and saturated with delay, reverbs and horns. The organic mix follows the structures of the original Dub of the seventies and eighties. Some field recordings were used in the final mix to create an unique sonic collage.

The songs were created during different periods and largely were written during the Artist's travels and movements. Collected together, they were mixed and dubbed in the Magic Garden home studio. So it's easy to understand why the album, unconsciously and genuinely, is created and built around the theme of the human journey. A physical and spiritual journey able to free the listener from the bad vibes of babylon.

Bass guitar, Drum machines, Sampler, Field recordings, Synths, Keys, Processings, Dubbings, Mixing and Mastering by Dubmaster Conte.

A musical survey of the wonderful repertoire of solo lute music from 16th century Italy, adapted for and played on the guitar. The recording ranges from the earliest printed music from Venice to the rich counterpoint of the time of Palestrina.

"In playing this music, I followed some simple guidelines. It is important to understand that the music is played directly from its original notation - lute tablature - without changes, deletions or other enhancements. I prefer to think of them as adaptations rather than transcriptions and this is a guitar recording, not an attempt to imitate the lute. The pieces are played at the normal baritone pitch of the guitar, without the use of a capo on the neck, rather than at the higher pitch of the tenor lute. (Lutes were often made in families of instruments with different string lengths and body sizes adapted to ensemble playing, so it is entirely within historic practice that the music be played at this pitch. Indeed, it gives the music a meditative and appealing sonority.)

In order to preserve the chord structure and voicings so characteristic of the instrument, I opted to re-tune the guitar to the normal relative tuning of the lute, altering the third string so that the intervals remain the same (G=F#). In accordance with the speaking articulation of the period, I minimized the slurring of notes (one pluck, several notes) which is common in the music of the guitar.

One of the fundamental differences between the lute of the 16th century and the modern concert guitar is the stringing of the two instruments. In order to overcome the short sustain of gut strings, earlier lutes' bass courses were accompanied by a thinner string tuned an octave higher, which produces a shimmer in the sound, [an emphasis on higher partials]. There are numerous instances in which the higher of the two notes becomes important in the voicing, harmony and continuity of the melodic line. It is not really feasible to duplicate this feature on a single- stringed guitar, and I have added this note(s) where it is particularly important to the structure of the piece."
Alan Rinehart