The Contrarian

Goes great with a smoky-peaty single malt!

Yesterday was the official release of my new record, Eldritch Musicks. I’ve got the CDs in hand, and the album has populated to the majority of online stores, like iTunes, eMusic and Amazon MP3. To those of you who preordered, I expect to ship by week’s end — just waiting on the padded envelopes to materialize.

I’ve talked about the project briefly before; you can visit the official page for more info and to give a listen. What’s that? You want a little backstory? OK, fine.

This record is based on the weird fition of HP Lovecraft, etc. The blinking banner ad on the right side of your screen tells you that much. What it doesn’t tell you is that there’s quite a community of Lovecraft enthusiasts out there who I’m happy to say have received this project warmly. There are a few album-related happenings on the calendar that I can’t tell you about quite yet, lest the Old Ones tear my soul asunder.

For the time being, maybe you want to buy a CD? If you purchase it from this site, you get access to some nifty “digital extras,” including a password-protected link to download:

• Lyrics to all the songs on the album in maddening “eldritch font”
• “The Cove” — a short story with exclusive illustrations
• 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!

Frankly, the illustrated short story is worth the $10 price of admission. But the album rocks, too, if I do say so myself.

Oh, and I’m not much of a video guy, but I did manage to cram together a clip for the first song on the album, “Sunken City.” I plan to do more — not because I’m into moving images, but because it’s always good to have crap on YouTube for people to stumble across. Maybe I’ll even get better at it, who knows? (And if any of you want to help me string together some clips, please let me know.)

(Thanks to Diabologue for posting the video!)

Here are a few more sexy shots of the CD: