I really like bandcamp. What a great website.

You can download Lift, Stick Figures, Shapes (most of it), Water on the Moon, Ether Ore and a few previously unreleased tracks in high-quality file formats.

check it out:

http://greghoward.bandcamp.com/album/lift


http://greghoward.bandcamp.com/album/water-on-the-moon


http://greghoward.bandcamp.com/album/ether-ore


http://greghoward.bandcamp.com/album/shapes


http://greghoward.bandcamp.com/album/stick-figures

Yes, I too think it's a great service! Taking the time to wrap up and post a CD whenever someone is buying can be a good thing because you are able to ad up-to-date paper material to slip into the packages as a complement the fixed album art text. One of my Bandcamp albums is available as 48k 24 bit download, beside the CD format, and it surprised me to learn that some folks prefer that; myself I don't hear any difference compared to the slightly lower CD fidelity. Another great BAndcamp feature, I haven't seen anywhere else, is that you can have a unique image for each track of an album. You may also offer extended artwork as PDF that become instantly downloadable even when a customer orders a CD.

Bandcamp doesn't aggregate for expanded digital distribution, as for example CD Baby does, so in essence it is an advanced showroom and web shop.

Hi Greg,

I've been enjoying Lift the last couple days in the office, I think my favorite album of yours overall- a great combination of interesting compositions, cool arrangements and creative Stick textures. I enjoyed getting your "play-by-play" commentary on that album when we drove together up to the Stick Night in NYC a couple years ago...

I also quite like Bandcamp, some album sales still trickle in a bit.
http://robmartino.bandcamp.com/album/one-cloud

Very cool, Greg.
I, personally would rather own a hard copy of these recordings. Heck, I would even love to have a vinyl record of this stuff. But the immediacy of our culture demands this format and I don't disrespect that. I have noticed that most of your recordings state that there are no loopers, synthesizers, etc. used in making them. I was wondering if you have a dislike of synthesizers(specifically) in music or just don't own any, and so don't use them? I often play, using a Roland GR20, to separate myself sonically from the guitar player in my band(and must confess that I enjoy the variety of sound) but do find the extra gear I need to carry and communication with the sound guy to be an additional stress added to an evening of playing. I once overheard a man complaining that he couldn't hear the Stick, but really enjoyed the organist's addition to the music(we don't have an organist, that was me) Anyway, just curious what your thoughts are on this.

Mike

Ha, ha... just want to throw in a big LOL here! Totally cracked me up.

Thanks Rob, Glad it works for you. I like the blend of spontaneity and overdubbed orchestration on that record. Hubert, Jan and Jan are all great players, very creative.

There's an ethic, mostly in the jazz world, of being "in the moment". To be able to be spontaneous and create music with a lot of depth, and counterpoint, is a big part of the magic of The Stick. In reference to loopers, there are great artists who use them, some Stickists, even, but to make complex and interesting music as a soloist, when you have a Stick in your hands they are not needed, so I guess I wanted to make sure people didn't think that was what was going on (though several reviewers of Water on the Moon didn't get that message and made the assumption I was looping).

The different uses of delays, as a rhythmic device, and as a kind of "delay soup" I like to use might seem very much like looping in their sonic results, but I want the music to evolve and breath more than I feel looping allows me.

I love synthesizers, and programmed and played them avidly for many years, but I also love programming effects and finding new sounds without synthesis. Some of the sounds on Ether Ore are quite "synth-like" and I wanted to be clear that they came from effects processing, and were "live sounds" as well.

The possibilities as a Stick soloist what intrigue me most, and if I am to add tonal shaping to the mix I want it to be as immediate as the raw unprocessed sound is. I don't want it to be an oscillator but an enhanced string. I want to feel it.

I want the most immediate path to, as Per says, find the "unplayed music".

LIFT is just and incredible record all the way around…. Great band, great tunes, great playing and the recording itself has great head room…. I would love to see this band together and play again!!
YES!

I don't know about what you can and can't make available on Bandcamp, but how about at least "The Dance" from Code Magenta....Holy Mackinaw what a smokin' tune

Hi Randy,

Yes, I miss playing with those guys. Practicality...

Hoping to remix the record, maybe do my first 5.1 mix someday...



Thanks, John, Great idea! I love that track, as well. It was the first thing I recorded with the new rosewood Stick I got in 1995, and the sound and playability were blowing me away. What a great poem, too.