Blog Moved to Sliptide.com

Welp.. It has happened again.  The constant back-and-forth, love-hate, good-vs-moderately-neutral-in-moral-character war over who hosts my blog has shifted in favor of my original home site: http://www.sliptide.com/

I moved the site.. well wait.. NICK moved the site over to a wordpress platform and designed the new theme.  You can hit the blog at http://www.sliptide.com/?cat=5

Enjoy!

New Website and Promotional Materials in the Works

Well of Souls is mixed and mastered!! A few more listens to iron out a kink or two, but the bulk of the work is done and the tracks are oh-so-close to being ready for pressing! Wahoo!!

With all of the excitement of getting into Twitter and discovering that I really enjoy social media, micro-blogging, and "viral" marketing.. I was kicking around some ideas with Nick and it has been decided that Sliptide.com is going to see a complete overhaul. Notable changes include moving the website to the WordPress platform, complete with category management, a TON more content (music, movies, and pictures), and special content for my fans (project clips, studio sessions, dj sets).

A budget is being worked out for song and album promotions through iLike, MySpace, and the Seattle community. I'm excited!

I am gearing up, with the help of my friends, for an all out audio assault!

Oh and as a side note, I took my "I'm Listening" blog and moved it under the SNN umbrella. It is now a featured blog at http://www.snn-core.com/imlistening

I'm still working on the theme a bit, but it is certainly in a presentable state ;)

Enjoy!

UStreamTV: Sliptide working on a new track.

Keep in mind this is all pre-master stuff.. It was a clip taken from the result of tonight's working session. Enjoy! I will be Twittering and posting Facebook announcements when recording/broadcasting producing sessions for Sliptide (techno, downtempo, house) and Silver Standard (atmospheric-electroindie).

There isn't much to SEE on this one.. it's mostly about the audio and giving people a taste of what they can hear (and the potential to see me make) when tuning into my work sessions. =D


Online video chat by Ustream

L.A., Well of Souls, and Tech-House

Amy and I traveled to L.A. 2 weekends ago to visit our dearest friends and a new addition to my 'family' down in California: Keian!

It was incredibly refreshing to get some decent weather and see Ian & Roxanna & baby Keian.  We stayed at a nice hotel in Redondo Beach and spent a few days hanging out with them. It was definitely relaxing and I can't wait to go back!

Nick & Ashely also came over from Riverside to hang out with us that Sunday.  Ian joined the four of us for a breakfast at Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles in Hollywood.  Needless to say that Hollywood is a colorful place: that particular day the Academy Awards were taking place so it was beginning to be a sea of characters and star chasers early in the day!

I can't offer up the level of detail in type that I would otherwise talk about, but some highlights from the trip: Breakfast at Uncle Bill's Pancake House, walking around Hermosa Beach, grilling with Ian,  shopping for a baby-sling for Ian with the gang, seeing Nick & Ash and hitting up Santa Monica Promenade,  Ian's kick ass motorcycle, meeting Jacqui and David, Universal Studios Mall, Hardrock Cafe... sheesh.. tip of the iceberg really. We plan on going back down later this year and couldn't be more excited!

Already missing everyone down there (and the weather.. beach.. sigh..),  I'm finding the groove with work.  Thankfully, though, I have a renewed sense of spirit and calm that is driving my music production to ever increasing heights!

Well of Souls is coming.  New tech-house inspired tracks are in the works for a late 2009 release.  DJ sets are planned.  Watch sliptide.com and keep your eyes open on all fronts for announcements! (hint: 2 singles from Well of Souls will be seeing the light of day soon!).

Oh.. I will try not to neglect the blog so much. ^_^

The Silver Standard EP

I already made the announcement on Twitter, MySpace, iLike, Facebook, etc. that Jeff and I have released our first EP as Silver Standard.

"The Silver Standard EP" is now up for listening on http://www.silverstandardmusic.com/. You can also get a hardcopy by contacting either Jeff or myself via numerous online resources. Suggested "donation" is $5, but as we've said before we aren't interested in making money per-se, so much as we are interested in being able to continue to make music our friends, family, and fans want to hear!

We are already back in the 'studio' working on new materials almost weekly now and plan on having another EP or maybe even enough materials for an LP this year!  Also expect some YouTube action as we work towards our performing our music to a live audience!

Out sick, but a great weekend.

I was sick about a week and a half ago, and after feeling pretty solid for a few days I began to come down with a cough again and was feeling icky on Friday. Saturday was the same deal. After an afternoon with some friends at the Tap House in Bellevue, we were invited last minute to go see MxPx at El Corazon in Seattle. I decided we should go, and I was not disappointed in the slightest.

The show was freaking awesome. We saw Amber Pacific play after spending 2 opening bands in the bar (which is in the back in its own room). They put on a solid pop punk show and threw down a ton of energy into the crowd. When MxPx got on stage it was wicked hot in the venue but well worth seeing them play some new tracks from their latest album (Secrete Weapon) and some classics from Life In General.

Back to the 'sickness', Sunday I was doing alright but my coughing was pretty bad. I didn't sleep well overnight and today I had to call in sick to work. I've been a bump on a log all day sleeping here and there, trying to get rid of whatever it is that I caught. Amy is sick, too, with sinus garbage and lots of stuffiness. I hope tomorrow goes much better.

At least we had an awesome weekend of music, outings, and great food. I will post more in detail and provide links when I'm feeling better. Time to lie back down.. ugh.

The Silver Standard EP and more Silver Standard music

Jeff came over last night and we started hammering out ideas for our next track. It went very well and we are SUPER excited to be bringing more Silver Standard goodness to your ears!

Recently we finalized the disc art for "The Silver Standard EP". We will be ordering the discs soon and they will be available in person from Jeff or me, first-come first-served.

Expect a new track to be posted online along w/the artwork in the next week!

City Shadows now available on iTunes! (and Amazon MP3!)

From circa 2000 to 2004, City Shadows is certainly an album I am proud of even nearly 5 years later.

Now available on :

Sliptide - City Shadows

Update: Also available on Amazon MP3!

Enjoy!

Crazy weather, chilled Christmas, and a new year.

Wow.

One would think that being snowed into your house for 13 days would provide you with plenty of time and motivation to blog. Unfortunately, it's the motivation killer aspect of being snowed in that prevents one from doing much of anything but lamenting about "going out".

We figured that when it started snowing the Wednesday before Christmas week we would get a snow day or two. A somewhat early Christmas gift from the weather that would give us some additional time at home (moreso: away from work).

Little did we know that the snow would then continue to dump on us at the top of this giant freaking hill we live on (which then you go down a steep, yet not so long, street) and we'd be stuck 12 more days in our house w/out being able to get our car or truck up the hill.

Two bus trips were made during our 'adventure' in being stuck at home. We went down to Kirkland on Christmas eve to eat some Mexican food. At that point we were starting to go a bit stir crazy and needed to get out. We also needed to hit up a grocery store to pick up some food for Christmas Day dinner. The dinner at Jalisco was great, and our stop by QFC was quick and pointed. It was nice to get out and take the bus to Kirkland and back.

Our second trip to Kirkland for some food, light shopping, and a grocery trip ended up taking a bit longer than we had expected. The darn bus broke down right near the transfer "station" (it was just a uber wide side street). It only took about an hour for DOT to deliver another bus to use on the route, but it was somewhat frustrating ;)

A quiet Christmas, an enjoyable kraut, sausage, and mashed potatoes dinner, and a serious over dose on video games and home-habits made for an alright holiday season. Looking back on it, I'm glad we did not make plans to fly out to Virginia. The dates we were to fly out we would have been stuck at home or at the air port!

So now that the new year is here there is, of course, many plans and many things on my list of 'things to do for the new year' as so many other people have. I certainly don't consider myself above resolutions all be it that I don't have any, but I mostly have 'plans'.

I was able to get more than a few projects started music-wise while I was snowed in over the holiday season. Everything from thick and meaty house, to darker trance, to progressive ambient and more. Some of the samples made it up on the new website, while some of them are baking on the back burner while I get them to a more presentable stage.

City Shadows volume 1 is up on CD Baby and is making its way to other online distributors soon. Physical CDs will hopefully be available sometime Q1 2009.

Well of Souls is working through the 2nd pass of mastering and mix down. Once it is finished the artwork will be going through the final review process, then expect some announcements on the release! Digipaks, anyone? =D

Alrighty.. I'd like to keep this short, so off I go to enjoy the rest of my Sunday and prepare myself for another week at work!

Pz.

New Clips in the Fan Club

I have posted four new clips in the Fan Club. Some of them are almost full songs but require some additional production work to be completed before 'official' release.

"Solitude - An introduction with potential to morph into a full fledged Orbital-esque track with a lot of ambient power behind it. The synth was custom made in Reason from a bare-bones Subtractor.

We Move Together - A tech-house track that I'm really digging. The sound is very light and groovy with some indie flare to it (imo). Drum work, EQ, additional details and some progressive work needs to be completed before it is release worthy.

This Desert Soul - Trancey, and not sure if I'm completely behind this one but the potential is there.

House Start 1 - A song I was working on with vocals in mind. I passed this version to Jacqui Johnson to see if she would like to record with it. She said yes, so we will see what comes back and where it ends up. "

Enjoy!

Sliptide Fan Club (A Google Group).

City Shadows coming to iTunes!

It's official, folks.

City Shadows (volume 1) is coming to iTunes! Unfortunately due to they way iTunes processes their music, I won't know the exact date that my album is available online. As soon as I know I will be making posts here, the new Sliptide.com (coming out shortly), and of course make it known on Facebook, Twitter, etc. ;)

Things have been great since my last post. I have had the opportunity to take some vacation. I had an incredible week off filled with birthday fun for both Amy and I. Work has been pretty chill while being able to accomplish some major milestones and goals.

Life is grood right now. I will make a more formidable blog post soon!

The 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk

First and foremost: Thank you to my friends, family, co-workers, teammates (GO HOTTIES!), and perfect strangers who supported Amelia and I in our fund raising efforts. Even more thanks to everyone who showed support in cheering us on in training and through the 3-Day event itself.

Amy and I woke up incredibly early-- 4:00 AM, to ensure that we were dressed and ready to take our Green Cab to Bellevue Community College.

I would like to breifly state that our experience with Green Cab was a positive one: The driver was polite and helpful, readily admitted to needing some help back to the highway (Kenmore isn't easy to navigate if you aren't familiar with it), and the car was clean and quiet.. We will be taking a Green Cab to the airport next month ;)

We arrived to the event pretty early. The view from the cab was already exciting! We saw an incredible amount of pink colored banners and advertising. Early bird walkers talking, cheering, stretching, keeping warm with espresso and coffee, some eating on-the-go breakfast, some doing last minute pack or bag adjustments. All be it 5 AM, everyone seemed to exude a positive attitude.

Loading our gear onto our gear truck was a breeze. I'm not sure how many there were, but it could have been 24 or more Budget rental trucks that lined one of the walk ways off to our left. Each one clearly lettered so we knew where to drop our bags that contained our camping gear and extra supplies for the next three days.

We turned around and took in the view of the stage and the holding area where opening ceremonies were going to begin. It was already a sight to behold! Luckily, Amy and I both zoomed in on a small Starbucks logo that was near the holding area. We walked our happy butts over to this poor Starbucks van and 4 barristas that were going to be supplying free coffee for the entire crowd of ~3,500 people! Thankfully Amy and I were some of the first in line and we got our free tall drip house blend which kept us warm and infused a bit of energy in our step for the morning (we are chronic espresso drinkers.. and we will drink coffee at home when we don't feel like spending money or time on espresso out).

When it all got under way we meandered through the Bellevue Community College campus, and the three days of walking ensued.

Highlights of my journey:

• People were of all varieties when it came down to personality, politeness, and positive or negative mind sets. We experienced a lot of positive, upbeat and talkative individuals along our routes. Amy and I generally walked faster than majority of the people at the 3-Day, so it was fun passing people on the left and asking them how their day was going, finding out more about them if they were really chatty, and sharing experiences with our fellow walkers along the way.
  
  We *did* encounter negative people. Most of them were pretty rude in trying to pass us on the route (w/out saying "on your left!"), or were fairly rude when we attempted to talk or pass them ourselves. Such is life! I hope they had an overall positive experience at least.
• Camping was quite an experience. A sea of pink tents at Marymoor park, the mobile showers (which upon my first shower didn't work.. the generator was out of gas!), the giant big-top tent in which we sat and ate, joked, saw some incredible (-ly good and bad) karaoke.. and a decent nights rest after a full day of walking. It was comfy enough, though if we do this again we know that it gets COOOOLD at night and in the AM when you are trying to get ready to go.
• At the end of Day #1, I had some nasty looking blisters on my pinky toes. The medical tent (which was uber busy during the whole event) had to lance, drain, and bandage my toes. They said to try walking on day 2. Day 2 was uncomfortable from the get go. My toes were hot, and I could feel the rubbing even in my bandages. We got about 7 or so miles in, and my feet were KILLING me. It felt so hot out along the Snohomish river.. and I decided that I had to call it for the morning. We took a shuttle to lunch, and during lunch I aired out my feet-- it was pretty bad =T I tried to put my shoes back on and walk across to Walgreens from Juanita Park.. no go. My feet were done for the day. Amy was with me 100%, so we took a shuttle back to camp to spend the rest of the afternoon cheering on the walkers making it back to camp. *That* was a lot of fun and very motivational/inspirational.
• Day 3 started early early with taking our tent down, packing our stuff, dropping our equipment at the equipment truck, then getting a quick breakfast and hopping in line to catch a bus to downtown Seattle. When we arrived at the JAPANESE GARDENS (*not* the Arboretum as they kept telling us), we proceeded to do a very familiar path for the day that eventually dropped us downtown. The day was moving quick. My feet were doing well as long as we didn't stop *too* long. Unfortunately we ended up VERY far ahead of most of the Hotties, and it was hot enough (and lack of shade--) at the last checkpoint that we decided to press on. Again, we stayed at the very last steps to the end of the walk to cheer on everyone until our team arrived and we could all walk in together being cheered on by the public.

So that's the extremely condensed version.. anyone is welcomed to talk to me about the whole experience! It was a lot of fun.

Here is a link to one of our teammate's (Hottie Courtney) Picasa Albums. I have yet to get the small amount of pictures and videos off of my camera.

An Update to Talk About Future Updates

My mind is a bit hazy right now. It's 8:30 and the day is nearly over, but I'm left wondering where the hell it went!

I didn't get half of the things done today I should have, not to mention I forgot to call a best friend today. While I blame the insurmountable amount of tiredness, trying to take care of a few chores to get ready for the work week-- ah forget it.. I dropped the ball (sorry Jessica!!)

I even forgot to 'relax'. I'll take it where I can get it I suppose. Here is a list of things I have to blog about (this is my own check list.. might as well put it here, right?):

-The 3-Day experience
-Weekly Shenanigans (happy hour fun)
-City Shadows and Well of Souls progress

I also need to upload pictures from the past month or so (at least I did the ones from Rainier).

Tomorrow brings me to the Redmond Campus for some monitoring tools and analysis training. I've heard this class is awesome, so I'm looking forward to see what Microsoft can offer in the way of providing me with some new approaches to analyzing data. *nerd alert!*

I don't think it will be as cool as taking some of the CA Wily Introscope classes, but it's all goooood.

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday I will be participating in the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk!

Amy and I have just about reached our fund raising goals, and we couldn't have done it without the support of our friends, family, and the Warming Hut Hotties!!!!

Tonight Amy and I are going to a team dinner in the U-District, then heading home to finish packing. We have to get to sleep really early since we need to be up at the plumber's-butt-crack of dawn to take a cab to Bellevue Community College by 5:30 AM.

I'm excited (and somewhat anxious) for this event to finally be taking place. It was such a huge commitment, but we didn't realize just how huge until we began the training walks, the fund raising, the application of blister band-aids, the shoe shopping, the sock finding. Walking, by my quick count, over 300 miles in total, and raising $4,400 for the advancement of breast cancer research and awareness certainly gives one a good feeling ;)

I know my feet are going to struggle with the walking this weekend. The lack of arches (yes, I am uber-flat footed) don't lend themselves to an easy time walking long distances over urban terrain (yet I can hike all day on a mountain trail!). This will be a big challenge for me to pick my feet up on day 3 (though I know I will be in a bit of pain by the end of day 1, and probably some serious torment by day 2) and keep going to the very end. I won't over do it, of course, as nobody wants to seriously injure themselves on such a positive event like this.

Thanks to everyone who donated, showed interest in the event, and has given Amy and I the support to continue forward through this amazing journey. We couldn't have done it without every single person being there for us along the way.

A Quick Update

Let's see.. what did I leave out of my last post?

Bumbershoot: was pretty cool.

Amy and I were really tired from hiking Mt. Rainier on Friday, and doing a Hottie training walk on Saturday. Sunday we went to Bumbershoot to see what it's all about (we have never been). It wasn't bad! We met Amy's friend there and hung out drinking some beer in one of the many beer gardens (with a very limited selection).

I will cut to the chase: The most noteworthy performance we saw before we took off early (from exhaustion) was the KEXP Larry's Lounge (an on-site recording studio) presentation of Sons & Daughters. It was an incredible opportunity to see them play on a stage outfitted for live radio-- and listen to them in this incredibly intimate and audiophile-sound-quality setting. A real gem, and made Bumbershoot worth the trip!

Sadly, no, we did not stay to see Stone Temple Pilots that night. I heard mixed reviews of the show in that it was 'good' because they played a lot of their hits, but 'meh' as in there wasn't the energy or emotion as expected. A seemingly true STP fan did tell me that the show was way worth price of admission to get the nostalgia and hear some great alt rock classics.
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Next on the list:

This past weekend we had a team picnic. The Warming Hut Hotties have been an incredible team to train with this year. Their benevolence, support, and incredibly positive spirit has helped Amy and I make it through to the final event. I will make a separate post about the 3-Day, which is taking place this weekend.

Work: I had to work this last weekend. That meant some video games, house chores, and thinking about other things I would have rather been doing.

I have plenty of work to keep me busy once the 3-Day is over. Between my IT career and my plans to bring my music hobby to the forefront of my everyday life: This fall and winter is going to be extremely busy (yet very gratifying).

We have a few trips planned for in-state and out of state. We will be going to Boston and California, Long Beach and a few more trips to mountains for hiking, as well as another trip to Portland.

Now that I think about it.. I need to book some flights.

Mt. Rainier Day Hike

Friday brought a day off for both Amy and me. We decided that, having been so darned busy and caught up with stuff in life this year, that we would take a day for us and head up to Mt. Rainier.

It is a place we've found that we love very much. We had a total blast up there on Friday. We took our sweet time hiking from Paradise Visitor's Center (via Dead Horse Creek Trail), up through the High Skyline Trail, and back down through the meadows around to the new Paradise Lodge.

The first time we went up last season, we spent the entire first 2/3 of our hike in cloud cover. I'm not talking about overhead, so much as I am clouds were all over the mountain, with 10 foot visibility!

Amy and I had wanted the same experience sooner, rather than later. Our desires were met with an experience that far exceeded our expectations.

We were greeted by some chilly weather and a mountain blanketed by clouds. Our hike up was incredible. There were water droplets perfectly gathered on leaves, blades of grass, flower petals; we could see far enough to enjoy the immense amount of greenery, yet not far enough to see the distant views from the trails.

The deer were out in full force. They were taking advantage of the dense clouds, half paying attention to the passers by as they munched on grass and flowers together. Some were only 30 feet away!

Marmots.. god I love those little guys. We learned what a Marmot whistle sounds like-- we mistook it for bear whistles. They were rustling around several areas we hiked in. We watched them from 20-50 feet away, eating flower heads and scurrying around (more like fast-waddling I suppose). At one point, we nearly found ourselves in a minor altercation with one that was feeling a little threatened! He took off after giving us a few good sniffs about 4 feet away.

The best part of it all was the show we experienced on our descent. There is an incredible look-out point with a rock bench along the trail. On a clear day you can see Paradise Lodge, an off-center view of the Nisqually Valley, and some incredible mountains off to your left that have snow patches on them year-round.

Since it was cloudy, we saw an amazing show of blowing clouds straight up the cliff side into, through, and over us. The sun popped out in amazing holes of pristine blue sky only to be quickly gobbled up by another cloud. It was intense when we saw a clear view from the vantage point, then watched as clouds miles away blew in low to the ground, through the trees and consumed everything in their path. They climbed the mountain right up to us and blocked our view; moving the cieiling and visibility to about 20 feet!

I posted a few of the pictures on Picasa! I also have a few awesome videos but those will have to be edited and posted later.

Great times!

Silver Standard - "Memorial Lapse"

Jeff came over a few weeks ago with an incredible start to a song. Glitchy drums, some slow and haunting piano notes and chords, and a great plucked sequence that really presented some emotion.

We worked to add some more ambience, pads, crunchy background noises and a bit more drum work-- and now you have "Memorial Lapse" to listen to!

Check it out!

For you Facebook people

For you MySpace people

For the Cure 2008 - Limited Edition Hard Copies!!!

"For the Cure 2008" limited edition hard copies are now available!!! There are only 50!!

There are two ways to get a "For the Cure 2008" limited edition print CD. The price is a $15 *MINIMUM* (more is always appreciated for my hard work and dedication!) to my 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk fundraising goal:

1) MAIL ORDER: Join the FAN CLUB (Sliptide's Google Group) and check out the instructions for ordering a CD! You will make the minimum donation of $15, then email me your shipping info-- I pay for shipping, and you have a snazzy CD! (Your information is kept private. See the bottom of this post for more info).

2) IN PERSON DELIVERY: This applies to the local community, my friends and family, co-workers, etc. You must see me in person to buy and/or pick up the CD(s).

Either donate online beforehand and I will reserve a copy for you to hand-deliver (it is your responsibility to contact me and let me know you made a donation for a CD), or have cash or check available on hand when you pick up a copy (I will not reserve copies for cash/check). I will be carrying the discs with me everywhere I go, so just ask!
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Q: Where can I listen to samples?
A: The best place right now is to check out http://www.myspace.com/sliptide - The album is available via SNOCAP, however:

Q: Why buy the CD?
A: 100% of the proceeds go towards my fundraising goal! If you buy the digital copy found on http://www.myspace.com/sliptide via SNOCAP, only $7 of the $10 price (or 70% of each song) is able to be donated to my cause.
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This means you either see me in person to buy a CD, or you join the fan club to mail order a CD.

The reason I have chosen to use the fan club as a venue for ordering the CDs is it enables the most privacy for each person who orders. I will be the ONLY one to have your shipping information, the group is approved members only-- your email address is safe in the community-- and I treat everyone with the utmost privacy and respect (no spam, I don't sell your info, etc.).

If you have any questions or concerns get a hold of me by the usual means, or leave comments on this post!

Thank you all!

Silver Standard

Here it is everyone! Jeff and I have brought our collaborative efforts to the public. You can now find Silver Standard music at any of the links below.

The music is down-tempo at its core, with plenty of ambient textures, a bit of guitar, and future releases with a healthy dose of spoken word and vocals.

Check us out, and keep up to date with our releases. Add us on MySpace, Facebook, or iLike, and be on the look out for a website proper!

Silver Standard on MySpace

Silver Standard on Facebook

Silver Standard on iLike

For the Cure 2008

The pricing of my benefit album has been updated! You may now purchase individual songs at $1.50 each, or the entire digital download for $9.99. Remember that all proceeds go to my 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk fund raising goal of $2,200!!

Hard copies of the album (with full color on-disc label) are on order and will retail for $15.00. They will be made available online to fan club members ONLY. Otherwise, you must purchase them from me in person.