AMBIENTGUITARIST.COM

Welcome to ambientguitarist.com, The Music of Har

Here you will find information on my various music recording projects, albums, collaborations, live performances, and more.

Latest News: 12/16/2009

HAR NOW HOSTING Stillstream.Com's new show "NIGHTSCAPING"...

NIGHTSCAPING, Har's new weekly Sunday night radio show on Stillstream.Com, officially launches on Sunday, December 20th 2009 starting at 6:30pm Eastern / 5:30pm Central!
(yep, now you can listen in and still be able to get up early for work the next day! :-)

Stillstream sez about "Nightscaping":
"Join Har for a journey into the darker and more mysterious corners of the ambient universe. Ranging from darkly soothing to spacey to edgy and occasionally nightmare-inducing, Nightscaping focuses on music for generating vivid mental imagery of twilight. Perfect for when you need your weekly dose of live ambient but can't stay up late. Live performances can also occur without warning, so don't miss it."

Stillstream sez about Har:
"Har is a solo ambient artist and guitarist / Chapman Stickist for the experimental art-rock band Christus and The Cosmonaughts. Known for his profound take on ambient guitar, we are very happy that Har calls StillStream home. Be sure to catch his weekly show Nightscaping, during which live performances can happen at any time. Not to be missed."

Stillstream is 100% free to listen to using your favorite media player (Winamp, Windows Media Player, iTunes, etc), and also simulcasts on iTunes. Hope to "see" y'all there!

HAR GUEST-HOSTING Stillstream.Com's Ambitar Radio on DECEMBER 11, 2009...

That's right! On Friday 12/11/2009 I'll be guest-hosting Stillstream.Com's Ambitar Radio show, filling in for Allen Goodman. Start-time is 10pm Central/11pm Eastern and will run for about 3 hours.

No live ambient performances this time; just Yours Truly being Online DJ, playing tracks from some of the finest ambient artists. And oh yeah, some of my own junk as well. ;-)

If you've ever wondered what my speaking voice sounds like (...you have? Really? Wow, sorry to hear that! LOL), or are just dying to know the how "Har" is actually pronounced, here's your chance!

Stillstream is 100% free to listen to using your favorite media player (Winamp, Windows Media Player, iTunes, etc), and also simulcasts on iTunes. Hope to "see" y'all there!

DOWNLOAD! MORE LIVE SOLO PERFORMANCES on Stillstream.Com's Ambitar Radio...

On Friday, 4/10/2009 and 9/4/2009 Stillstream.Com broadcast two more of my LIVE-in-the-studio online streaming solo ambient guitar/bass/Chapman Stick performances on their Ambitar Radio program (hosted by Allen Goodman). And both are now available for you to freely download and enjoy (links below)!

The 4/10/2009 performance was an improvised 66+ minute set that had me this time focusing primarily on Chapman Stick and 8-string bass, and was once again working purely with pedal and rack effects and processing (buh-bye software FX). While still dark and pensive - the results were perhaps a little less, shall we say, nightmare-inducing than my first solo performance on 11/14/2008 and starts off with a barrage of psuedo-percussion generated by my banging on the Stick with my fists...it then gets quite a bit more smooth from there. ;-)

Click to download the MP3 (~62MB) directly from Stillsteam's Archive site. I plan to have a streaming audio version as well as photos from the performance available here on the site soon.

The 9/4/2009 performance took things even further while using even less: a much longer improvised 96+ minute set this time performed on a single 6-string guitar, and featuring new processing, looping and playing techniques. This resulted in a much more rhythmically intense set, of almost orchestral/cinematic-sounding scope - one of my personal favorite performances to date.

Click to download the MP3 (~90MB) directly from Stillsteam's Archive site. I also plan to have a streaming audio version as well as photos from this performance as well available here on the site soon.

FIRST LIVE SOLO PERFORMANCE on Stillstream.Com's Ambitar Radio!

On Friday, 11/14/2008 Stillstream.Com broadcast my first-ever LIVE online streaming solo ambient guitar/Chapman Stick performance on their Ambitar Radio program (hosted by Allen Goodman)...!

Performing an improvised 48+ minute set showcasing my new all-pedal-based rig live in my studio, I jumped between 6- and 12-string guitars and Chapman Stick - quite a juggling act, believe me! Aiming for a more dark, edge-y sort of mood, the results are a bit of a sneak-preview of my upcoming new follow-up release to 2007's "Dream Tower Blueprints"

Click to hear a streaming audio recording of the entire 48 minute performance (Flash player required) as well as see photos addtional notes about the show.

CaTC ALBUM RELEASE: "From Atop This Hill"

Scot and I are proud to announce that our long-awaited new Christus & The Cosmonaughts album, "From Atop This Hill", has been officially released by Beta-lactam Ring Records and is now available!
(note to you vinyl fans out there: the vinyl LP version is scheduled to be released on August 10th, with pre-ordering available)

You can purchase the album from the Beta-Lactam Ring website at http://blrrecords.com/ (you can't miss us, today we're right at the top of the page!).

You can also go directly to the CD and vinyl LP pages, which are at:

This album has been several years in the making, and we're thrilled to see it now finally available. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it. (wow, how corny-sounding...but hey, it's true!)

TRACK LIST:

The Painfree God (Beyond Belief)
Nothing To Say
From Atop This Hill
Surviving the Fanatics
The Fractured Faithful
Nod if You Were the Last Man Alive
Modulating Between Faith and Knowledge
No Chance To Dream

Audio samples available at both the BLRR links above (including the new Christus & The Cosmonaughts podcast, featuring a ton of our new, older and unreleased tracks), and at our (kinda) new MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/christusthecosmonaughts

NOW AVAILABLE ON ITUNES: "Dream Tower Blueprints"

Rejoice, those who would rather download files than spin little shiny disks! :-)

My solo ambient album, "Dream Tower Blueprints" is now available to purchase online as digital downloads from iTunes.

Click to go to the "Dream Tower Blueprints" iTunes page now.

"FULCRUM" NOW PLAYING ON HEARTS OF SPACE...

Wow, first Star's End and now this - legendary long-running NPR/XM ambient/space radio show and label Hearts Of Space (or, for you MST3K fans: "Music From Some Guys In Space" LOL)...is now playing "Fulcrum" on this week's program, "Downtempo To Space"...! (program # 804)

Aside from being available on NPR and XM radio, you can listen to streams of their shows directly on their website, either via a membership subscription, or on their free Sunday shows.

More information on Hearts of Space can be found on their site at: http://www.hos.com/

NEW CaTC MYSPACE PAGE AND BLRR PODCAST NOW ONLINE!

After pestering Scot about it for ages, we finally went and did it...heh heh...

As the June 10th release date of the new Christus & The Cosmonaughts album "From Atop This Hill"rapidly approaches, we have finally put The Official Christus & The Cosmonaughts MySpace Page online at http://www.myspace.com/christusthecosmonaughts....whooo-hoo!

Yes, not only do you get to see wacky photos of us, you also get to see examples of Scot's incredible artwork (such as the cover art for the new album), listen to audio clips of both new and unreleased CaTC tracks, read blog postings (three so far from Scot; I'll contribute some as well), and...you know, MySpace-y stuff.

Also, in preparation for the June 10th release date, our label Beta-lactam Ring Records has posted a huge new podcast featuring all manner of Christus & The Cosmonaughts tracks: new, old, remixed, and even some cool unreleased tracks we've been hiding up our sleeves! Not only that, there's two voice introductions from both Scot and myself...so now you can finally hear the proper way to pronounce our names! :-)

Check out the podcast at: http://www.blrrecords.com/podcast.php.

SOLO ALBUM RELEASE: "Dream Tower Blueprints"

Yep, at long last it's here! :-)

I'm thrilled to announce the full CD release of my first solo album, "Dream Tower Blueprints" - which is now available to purchase online from CDBaby at http://cdbaby.com/cd/harmusic, with digital-download purchases from iTunes and others coming soon!

There are 6 tracks on the album, all of which are processed guitar and Chapman Stick -based instrumentals in the ambient/dark-ambient/soundscape vein, with the main underlying theme being mostly based on dream images from my childhood. The overall feel ranges from soothing/dreamy/hypnotic to dark/edgy. Several of these tracks have already been getting airplay on the excellent 24/7 ambient online radio station StillStream.Com, and the track "Fulcrum" has been available to hear on my MySpace page.
MUSO/TECHIE NOTE: No MIDI, synths or samplers were used; with the exception of some subtle percussion on the title track, and the quick recorded sound-bite at the beginning of "Urban Forge" (which I recorded back in the 80's from a gang of fighting kids walking past my home's window), everything heard is either guitar or Chapman Stick.

You can hear 2 minute streaming audio excerpts of all six tracks on the CDBaby site, though of course the audio quality of their little Flash audio-player streams is geared more towards fast downloads than audio quality - so if you have a decent high-speed connection, I recommend using the "hi-fi: broadband PLAY ALL SONGS" option...to get a better idea of how things sound.

Caveat: of course, being of the ambient/drone nature, those who live and die by Ellington's Theorum ("It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing...") may understandably not find all this to be their cup of tea at all. :-) ...so:

"Well, for those who like that sort of thing, I should think it is just about the sort of thing they would like."
-- Abraham Lincoln

Purchase the album online at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/harmusic
And if you like what you hear, please do post a comment on my CDBaby page! :-)