QuietMelodies is now open!

As many of you might already know, the new portal is finally open!!!!!  I am so sorry that it has taken so long to happen, but I do hope you find it worth the wait.  Some of the new features you will be able to enjoy are being able to message any member & being able to post your own favorites.  There will also be a forum added so that requests and such can be made there.  Eventually hope to in essence mirror this blog there and of course have new content available.  The new music available should be substantially more than here as there will be multiple people posting =-).  Please stop by and join your NEW home for QuietMusic – www.quietmelodies.com!

PHP coding help

As so many of you have been patiently waiting for the new portal to open, I felt it was only right for me to ask for your help.  The problem that I’ve encountered is the actual coding involved with getting the portal to operate correctly from the outset.  I’m fairly conversant in PHP, but my current problem is beyond my ability to handle.  So if anyone has PHP coding experience, and would be willing to help, please leave a comment below.  Thank you very much in advance =-)

Annoucements

Hello!  Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog.  Here you will find all manner of quiet music.  The stuff that just might make you smile, laugh or even cry is here.  Once I get a good base of music available, I’ll be putting up a poll to better get an idea of what YOU the user would like to see.  So please, enjoy your stay, and don’t hesitate to comment.  I’ve added a couple more pages at the top.  The first addition is just an informal way for you to comment or suggest something you would like to see here.  The second addition is a page to help out one of your fellow viewers.  Please click on the links to get a more detailed description.

Best,
QuietMusic

PS.
I’ve added a requests page up on the topbar. Why don’t you go take a peek? ;-)

New Trouble

Hi Everyone,

It seems that when it rains, it pours.  I woke up this morning (after getting about 2 hours of sleep) to the smell of my main computer literally burning.  The motherboard had short-circuited to the case, and caused a fire inside the case itself.  I managed to put out the fire without much trouble, but the damage done to the motherboard cannot be repaired.  I have applied for an RMA on the board itself, as it’s been working fine for 5 months without an issue at all, and then this happens.  Hopefully that will be approved and I can get my main system back up and running.  Until it’s back online though, the uploading will have to wait.  The drive that I backed-up all my mp3’s on was damaged by the power surge that went through the case at the time of the shortcircuit, and so I will have to try to recover what I can on the drive itself.  It’s a shame too, because it was a 2tb external drive that I just bought.  Right now, I’m hating firewire like you can’t believe =-(.  Anyway, please bear with me, obviously, there are things happening that are way beyond my control.  I will try to take time tomorrow to answer all the comments, and do apologize for not doing it tonight.  Extremely tired, and have had a rough day =-(.  Thanks once again for all the support, we’ll make it through this.

Best,

Bright

Rapidshare Troubles

Hello again everyone,

I have horrible news that just happened.  Evidently someone has complained about the files that I have been sharing via Rapidshare.  This has caused my premium account to become frauded, and in the process all of the files that were associated with the account have also become frauded.  The only way that I know around this is to find another host and start the uploading process all over again.  I cannot apologize enough about this, and wish there was something that could be done, but to my knowledge, there isn’t.  If anyone has some suggestions or ideas, please let me know.  I’m at my wits end.

New Hosting

Hi everyone!

Have some great news!  I was finally able to purchase some very good hosting late last night.  So far the service has been phenomenal.  I was also able to purchase a domain – QuietMelodies.  I know that it’s not QuietMusic, but unfortunately, the .com was taken.  I prefer to stay away from anything other than .com domains, so wound up with QuietMelodies.  I do hope that everyone approves =-).

I’ll be setting up the scripting on the site the next couple of days, and then launch the site for everyone to use.  Please let me know if you can think of anything I should add while doing the actual setup itself, as it will be much easier to do before the actual launch.

Dead Can Dance – Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun

Dead Can Dance – Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 38:48 min | 1987 | 118 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry actually manage to out-shimmer the Cocteau Twins on this 1987 release, which finds their beautiful minimalism adorned with increasingly developed compositional genius. The cascading melodies that grace “Summoning of the Muse” and “Persephone” are tailor-made for that next Christmas or Winter Solstice celebration, while more conventional (albeit somewhat somber) pop tracks like “Xavier” and “Anywhere Out of the World” keep the going from getting too arcane. All in all, more fun than a barrel of goths.

Dead Can Dance – Toward The Within (Live)

Dead Can Dance – Toward The Within (Live)
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 1:07:59 min | 1994 | 222 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Originally released in 1994, this record was an audio document of the band’s 1993 sell-out world tour. Recorded at the Mayfair Theater in Santa Monica, CA, in front of an invited audience at the conclusion of the tour, the shows were also filmed with the intent of releasing a long form concert film. Includes twelve previously unrecorded Dead Can Dance tracks as well as material from their six previous studio albums.  (For Monica =-))

Dead Can Dance – The Serpent’s Egg

Dead Can Dance – The Serpent’s Egg
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 36:16 min | 1995 | 131 MB | 10% Recovery Record

The fourth Dead Can Dance album, THE SERPENT’S EGG, continues the band’s evolution away from tradition rock/pop song structures. The tracks are instead built on sustained chords, vocal harmonizing, and brittle-sounding string instruments. “Orbis de Ignis” is almost a cappella, the only music being a bell struck between verses, with the ethereal voice of Lisa Gerrard (and others) skittering over the surface. Along with the insistent tribal drumming of “Mother Tongue,” which eventually evolves into a wordless chant by Lisa Gerrard, the best tracks here are two featuring Brendan Perry’s vocals, “Severance” and “Ullyses.” The first opens on an ominous drone as the song’s narrative tells of a fading community (or civilization, even). The second features some of Perry’s most interesting work with the hurdy-gurdy, which is echoed by a string section. Also of note is the creepy vocal interplay in “Echolalia.” For fans of This Mortal Coil, “Song of Sophia” distinctly recalls that band’s “Song to the Siren.” This is maybe not the best Dead Can Dance record to begin with–it is certainly the group’s most insular–but for fans it is another fascinating trip to the dawn of Western music.  (For Monica =-))

Dead Can Dance – Spleen And Ideal

Dead Can Dance – Spleen And Ideal
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 38:01 min | 1985 | 121 MB | 10% Recovery Record

The primarily experimental structure of their second album, released in 1986, dispelled any notion that the band deserved the post-Gothic label slapped on them by the music press. “Spleen And Ideal” defined a new richness of unification between voice and music, lyrics and structure. (For Monica =-))

Dead Can Dance – Spiritchaser

Dead Can Dance – Spiritchaser
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 51:56 min | 1996 | 191 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Listening to Dead Can Dance is a transcendental experience. Enriched with dedications to the living Gaia, their creations subsist in natural and other worldly realms. Initially crafting songs which augmented their Australian roots with Gothic and Renaissance traditions, the group have since grown to encompass a hybrid of global sounds. On Spiritchaser the enchanted souls of founding members Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard shine in this, their most ethereal LP to date. Whereas earlier endeavors succumbed to genres grounded in eras of the past and non-Western present, it’s immediately apparent that this album has loftier aspirations. Hypnotically threaded with traditional and electronic instruments, the exorcism of each song touches upon the universal essence beyond. While Gerrard’s heavenly vocals are used primarily for instrumental effect, Perry’s fertile lyricism both compliments her efforts and expresses the spiritual associations related to the album’s title and meaning. Intrinsically delivered with shamanistic connectivity, the sensations ritualize the modern mortal. (For Monica =-))

Dead Can Dance – Into The Labyrinth

Dead Can Dance – Into The Labyrinth
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 1:05:31 min | 1993 | 236 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Their goth-sounding name and dour visual image aside, the prolific duo of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard produce wildly eclectic but utterly unique music. Their painstakingly crafted albums encompass numerous arcane genres, from European classical music to ancient Celtic and Middle Eastern folk styles, often employing authentic antique instruments to achieve their ambitious, emotive soundscapes. The 1993 effort Into the Labyrinth found Dead Can Dance mixing their medieval leanings with more exotic Eastern influences on “Saldek” and “Yulunga,” while exploring Celtic balladry on the traditional “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” and theatrical songcraft in their interpretation of Bertolt Brecht’s “How Fortunate Is the Man with None.”  (For Monica =-))

Dead Can Dance – Garden Of Arcane Delights

Dead Can Dance – Garden Of Arcane Delights
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 15:00 min | 1984 | 62.7 MB | 10% Recovery Record

This 1984 release set the pace for the band’s career, helped define the tone of the 4AD label, and opened the door for a genre that includes Delirium, Deep Forest, and Enigma. While much less dense and textural than more recent DCD, this album begins the group’s study of combining global rhythms and instrumentation from various musical eras with contemporary sounds. Here they explore the somewhat Gothic electronic and rock instrumentation of post-punk European pop. Featuring the lush, sonorous vocals of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, this is a dark, mysterious, and compelling release. Fans of later works will not be disappointed; newcomers will find this groundbreaker a good place to meet Dead Can Dance.  (For Monica =-))

Dead Can Dance – Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance – Dead Can Dance
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 36:33 min | 1984 | 113 MB | 10% Recovery Record

In March 1984, 4AD release the first Dead Can Dance first album, a collection of the songs they had written over the previous four years.  The album artwork featured a ritual mask from Nuova Guinea, which would almost become the logo for the band.

The mask,though once a living part of a tree,is now supposedly dead. Neverthless,it has, throught the artistry of its maker,been imbued with a life force of its own.  (For Monica =-))

Dead Can Dance – Aion

Dead Can Dance – Aion
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 36:12 min | 1990 | 149 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Reflecting their deepening interest in early Renaissance music, "Aion" featured Gregorian chants and baroque elements, and was recorded using authentic ‘early music’ instruments, including hurdy gurdy and bagpipes. But the album was less a purist’s recreation of the past, than an exploration of the way music can transcend time.  The cover is a particular of Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights”, 1503-1504.  (For Monica =-))

Ray Lynch – Deep Breakfast

Ray Lynch – Deep Breakfast
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 39:59 min | 1984 | 151 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Even if you don’t recognize the name, you’ve probably heard music from THE classic Ray Lynch album. It’s playful and uplifting, rich with romantic, melodic themes and playful arrangements. This is the first independently produced album to be certified Platinum by the R.I.A.A. Ray and Kathleen had sold over 50,000 copies of Deep Breakfast from their little apartment in 1984. Includes the popular Celestial Soda Pop; with  The Oh of Pleasure, recently included in the highly popular video game, Grand Theft Auto IV. Viola, piano, guitar, flute, and keyboards.

Ray Lynch – The Sky Of Mind

Ray Lynch – The Sky Of Mind
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 45:27 min | 1983 | 115 MB | 10% Recovery Record

The Sky of Mind was created after I realized that there was a small (but robust and growing) alternative market for something called “new age” music. I wasn’t sure what that was, but  SKY  seemed to fit in okay. Aside from the fairly obvious “classical” connections, this album was influenced to some extent by the ambient music which began to appear in the late 70’s (especially Brian Eno’s work). I also drew on much of the music which I had originally created for the devotional culture which had formed around Samraj Adi Da during the 70’s. Of my five albums,  SKY  probably fits most comfortably into the assumptions that are made about so-called “new age” music. However, I think that those who respond to it do so not because it is “laid back” or “meditative”, but rather because they can feel both the devotional and the melancholy qualities that were so much a part of my life at this time.

Ray Lynch – Nothing Above My Shoulders But The Evening

Ray Lynch – Nothing Above My Shoulders But The Evening
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 44:20 min | 1993 | 234 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening  was both very difficult to make (even more so than  No Blue Thing) and, at the same time, unique in what it achieved. Many were surprised by its “classicism” (or, more accurately, by its classical structures and lyrical/romantic content). Its title is even more uncompromising than the music and serves, I think, as an analogy. Many, far from merely not understanding the title, can’t even remember it; and some related to the music similarly, that is, without much understanding (the media critics seemed especially puzzled). Fact is, this album is more difficult, more serious and uncompromising, and less accessible than  Deep Breakfast  or  No Blue Thing; in a word, challenging, like the title is challenging. (“Headlessness”, ego-transcendence and the “experience” of consciousness, to which Samraj Adi Da’s beautiful poetic phrase refers, is not automatically grasped by many contemporary minds.) But it is worth the effort in my estimation.  Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening has a musical depth and emotional richness that both summarizes my classical roots and marks the completion of a chunk of my career.

Ray Lynch – The Best Of

Ray Lynch – The Best Of
MP3 @ 256 Kbps | 1:09:10 min | 1998 | 149 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Ray Lynch has quite some talent! This “Best of” CD features 10 of his most loved compositions, plus two brand new tracks and a remix of his most well known piece: “Celestial Soda Pop”.
His music is highly melodic. Foot-tapping stuff indeed! The two new tracks are excellent, and it goes without saying that the other compositions are top-notch. The only surprise is the absence of “Ivory”, a track many regard as Ray’s most beautiful piece.

Ray’s music is hard to describe. He uses a great assortment of instruments and produces a huge range of sounds; some very conventional, other really unusual and original. Everything, however, blends together really well and this is the sort of music you’ll find yourself whistling at work. It’s addictive stuff!

If you enjoy melodic, catchy rhythmic music that’s full of life and energy, you’re sure to enjoy this CD.

Very highly recommended.

Ray Lynch – No Blue Thing

Ray Lynch – No Blue Thing
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 39:24 min | 1989 | 120 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Engagingly lyrical and upbeat melodies with Clouds Below Your Knees, Here & Never Found, Drifted in a Deeper Land, Homeward At Last, and others that have delighted over 400,000 listeners and earned 2 Billboard Awards, one for the album and one for Ray as Artist of the Year. Guitar, violin, flute, viola, oboe, cello, English horn and keyboards.

Brian Crain – Piano Opus

Brian Crain – Piano Opus
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 49:23 min | 2009 | 139 MB | 10% Recovery Record

“When I started working on my album Piano Opus in the summer of 2008, I didn’t have the faintest idea what I wanted to compose.  This being my thirteenth album, I found it challenging to write something fresh.  I listened to many other composers in an effort to spark inspiration.  I was surprised by how many albums lose their appeal after the first few songs.  So I set out to create a solo piano album that can keep the listener’s interest all the way through.”

“I found that  one of the main reasons so many other composers’ songs sounded similar was that they were written in the same time signatures.  Most music is written in 4/4 or 3/4 time.  So I set out to write a song in complex time.  I chose 5/4 for my first attempt.  I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to play in 5/4, let alone compose in it.  I carried on my experiment for a couple of months until I composed the song titled Wind.”

“After the exhausting work of composing in 5/4, I tried to go back to composing in common time (4/4 or 3/4), but I now felt more comfortable writing in complex time.  So I continued my complex time adventure and wrote an additional song in 5/4, then three in 7/8 and one in 11/8.  I was having so much fun that I often wondered if others would think that I was off my rocker.  I hope you think I’m still rocking. ;)” ~ Brian Crain (From cd insert)