The Contrarian

Astute readers may have noticed the blinking banner ad on the right hand side of your screen. (Fine, you don’t have to be astute, merely sighted.) The reason for the blinky thing is because I am gearing up for the release of my new album, Eldritch Musicks.

I have written briefly about it before, but I didn’t want to bore you with more details until the record was in the can. Now that it’s complete and in the manufacturing stage, I figured it was a good time to annoy you with some shameless self-promotion.

If you click on that there ad, you’ll be whisked over to the official page for Eldritch Musicks, which features more info about the project. But allow me to summarize.

A while back I was gabbing with one of my heroes, Sandy Pearlman (manager/producer, Blue Öyster Cult, etc.), when the topic of conversation turned to HP Lovecraft. Specifically, how there hadn’t been a halfway-decent album inspired by the Lovecraft Mythos in at least a couple of decades. So I figured I’d take a crack at recording one.

Unlike my previous effort, I decided to release this sucker on CD. I firmly believe that we’re at the end of the era of physical media, but if there is to be one more redundant audio artifact, it might as well be this! So, I enlisted the remarkable talents of designer Jared Metzner, and we set about coming up with the look of Eldritch Musicks. I’m very pleased with the results, and I’m certain you will be, too.

Many thanks to our very own Wes Covey of The Ten Thousand Things, who contributed four “eldritch drones” to the album that make my hair stand on end (in a good way).

I’ve also created a “value-added” package to entice you towards the physical disc rather than simply buying it from iTunes or eMusic (which of course, you can still do — buy early and often!). Obviously, I’m limited by time and budget, but it’s important to me that these extras are both fun and provide a unique window into the product. And I think they do.

Here’s what you get if you purchase directly from this site:

• A signed and numbered CD copy of Eldritch Musicks

And a link to download:

• Lyrics to all the songs on the album in “eldritch font”
• “The Cove” — a short story with exclusive illustrations (VERY excited about this)
  
• A behind-the-scenes video shot at Sounds of the Baskervilles studio in Washington, DC
• The Contrarian: Eldritch Podcast — a track-by-track exploration of the album’s themes and the inspiration for the songs. Just like getting drunk with The Contrarian in real life!

I’m expecting to have everything ready to ship by mid-December. Can you think of a more awesome Christmas present for the anachronistic weirdo in your life? (You know you have one.)

As you were.