News:
March, 2024
Several new albums finally seeing the light of day being independently released by Faith Strange on download and streaming platforms. No cd or vinyl releases are planned due to the ongoing onslaught against independent artists by anarchic billionaires.
The Diary page has been resumed after several years in order to issue single long form tracks and EPs, these being released on Bandcamp only for the time being, and then released through our new digital distributer worldwide soon afterwards. This facilitates quick releases at lower prices when the mood strikes.
The first orchestramaxfieldparrish presents ÆRA album since 2009's critically acclaimed To The Last Man / Index Of Dreaming entitled Engineered God, will be released mid March. This will be followed up with a new trilogy of albums, Mind Mirror, Mind Mirror II and Mind Mirror III, with the first being a remixed, remastered, reissue of the album originally issued under the ÆRA project and now deleted. The name ÆRA has become problematic to issue titles under at the present time, the name taken from the long defunct Berlin School Cosmiche outfit from the 70's of the same name and first issued by Faith Strange in 2009 with the EP entitled “…I have found paradise / Surely no man has ever attained such happiness / Here there is much time for everything / Each time your arms hold me it's as joyous as the first / Each kiss is as the first…”. In the years afterwards there have been at least 8 other artists that have taken that name and are issuing their own music that has nothing to do with Faith Strange and consequently has jeopardized anything released by Faith Strange as far as distributers and their databases are concerned as well as databases on Wikipedia and Discogs. Unfortunately, the world has drastically changed and not for the better since 2009…
Later in Summer 2024, orchestramaxfieldparrish - Euphêmê - Guitar Improvisations Volume 10, is scheduled to be released. This is a meditative long form guitar piece with field recordings.
A new project has been started called Kafka's Diary and with it several new albums have been recorded and mixed and are now being mastered for digital distribution. This is a continuation of the series of EPs released digitally several years ago (all with white covers and gold print) that utilized prepared acoustic instruments such as arch top guitars, zithers, piano, obscure stringed and bowed instruments, metals, bowls, mellophone and computer manipulation.
In the meantime, several other social media platforms have been tried after the downfall of Twitter and with Wordpress unfortunately falling out of favor with most, with limited initial success (there is no platform presently comparable to Wordpress) but will continue with Instagram and Mastodon since they seem to be the most insulated from negativity.
Listen with intention.
Resist the surrendering to passive consumption.
Open to the subtle observations of presence.
View the internal.
Follow the guidance in noticing.
- peace,
m * f
February, 2024
orchestramaxfieldparrish
En Plein Air
fs73
Sometimes, when a bird cries out,
Or the wind sweeps through a tree,
Or a dog howls in a far off farm,
I hold still and listen a long time.
My soul turns and goes back to the place
Where, a thousand forgotten years ago,
The bird and the blowing wind
Were like me, and were my brothers.
My soul turns into a tree,
And an animal, and a cloud bank.
Then changed and odd it comes home
And asks me questions. What should I reply?
-- Hermann Hesse
November 2023:
Two new releases from orchestramaxfieldparrish - The Wandering Moon & Caught Between The Impenetrable Stars have been released in 24 bit / 96K and 16 bit CD quality digital as well as a 24 bit / 96K remaster of Guitar Improvisations Volume 7 are now available. Please check the Catalog or orchestramaxfieldparrish pages. Two additional new albums will be released January 2024…
July 2023:
Faith Strange 24 bit / 96k hi res digital downloads and streaming distribution partners
As some astute musicians and music fans might already know, CD Baby, the largest independent music distributer in the USA has now changed corporate direction and will no longer carry any hard formats (CD, vinyl, cassette) for independent artists.
Faith Strange has partnered with CD Baby for over 25 years and relied on it to distribute releases worldwide especially in Europe which is our largest audience, but has not delivered any new releases to it in three years because of changes in direction and it's steady erosion of standing by independent artists. This new development of not carrying hard formats is disastrous and a proverbial slap in the face to all small independent record labels that have relied on them.
Faced with the worldwide decline of CD sales and the ever increasing costs for shipping CDs and especially, vinyl LPs overseas, coupled with the fact that most if not all distributers will not carry independent releases from small labels anymore due to these costs, most non-mainstream artists have now turned to streaming. Although there are some positive aspects with this, there are several platforms that have proven toxic for many artists to associate their music with which disrespect artist's copyrights and their right to make a living with their own music.
On a brighter note with sanity, we have set out to find forward thinking companies that will distribute 24 bit / 96k audio, which we feel is the future now and will continue to grow.
Since most titles produced in the last 15 years were recorded in hi fidelity and then downsampled to CD quality and distributed digitally in 44.1k audio, we have begun the task of making available remasters of several titles in 24 bit / 96k fidelity as well as new titles that have just been finished. This task will be finished by end of Summer 2023 and will include four new releases, with small run handmade cassettes and CDRs being handled directly through this website only, as well as any future vinyl releases. As Peter Gabriel once said, "When things get so big, I don't trust them at all. You want some control, you have to keep it small."
The following platforms will be carrying 24bit / 96k audiophile fidelity albums in the near future:
Apple Music
Amazon HD
Amazon Ultra
Tidal
7 digital
* All of these platforms have uploading limits for independent artists and since a good amount of music that has been and will be released is long form tracks, some titles unfortunately will not be available in 96K resolution.
We will continue to partner with Bandcamp but due to their existing upload limits, we cannot and have not released 24 bit / 96k titles with them, the few that have been released in 24bit are in 44.1k. All existing older titles released with CD Baby will remain with their digital distribution partners that we have chosen out of their roster, for the time being.
- peace.
May 2023:
The Great Theatre Of Mirrors (Guitar Improvisations Volume 7) has been remastered using a reproduction of the EMI desk used on Dark Side Of The Moon.
May 2023:
New Sonic Arts Society recording hits first week of May.
Thief Of Sleep - fs 66
October 2022:
Turner And Kirwan Of Wexford - Absolutely And Completely
Long lost recordings I remastered for my dear friends of 40 years now, Pierce Turner and Larry Kirwan released. 
Turner and Kirwan of Wexford’s lost 70’s classic from New York City is finally available here, and only here. It is not available through any of the streaming services, and if you buy it, you are buying it directly from the artist, no one else.
https://shop.bandwear.com/collections/turner-and-kirwan-of-wexford-shop
Caught between Irish Folk roots, psychedelic adventure and the advent of punk coming out of CBGB’s. These two young Irish emigrants, Turner and Kirwan of Wexford, stayed true to their stubborn belief that music should not be compromised for anyone, or anything. Not for fans or fashion, that’s why this album takes off in several directions. And in 1977 when Absolutely and Completely was released, NYC Radio was equally adventurous. Turner and Kirwan fit in somewhere between the new Bands that were heading towards Punk, like Roxy Music /Talking Heads and the more vintage artists like David Bowie and Pink Floyd, who were to transcend the yoke of progressive music.
Even the name Turner and Kirwan of Wexford was uncompromising. Where is Wexford? A small town in the South East of Ireland. How is it pronounced? Who’s gonna remember a name like that? let alone say it. They didn’t care, that’s where they were from, and if they could grow up singing about American places that they had never heard or seen, why couldn’t the world learn how to pronounce Wexford!
Was this wise, probably not? But the thing that Larry Kirwan and Pierce Turner feared most was selling out. Labels were interested, but they were half afraid to deal with these two stubborn Irish men. That’s why this record has been lost since then, it was the underground Radio hit of the year in NYC, and it has rapidly risen in value on the Internet. Now you can have it on CD, and to boot they are including a bonus of some early recordings made by Pierce Turner and Larry Kirwan before this album, including a never heard before track called “Adoremus” from a Space Opera that intrigued David Bowie.
Be transported back to NYC 1977, and hear where the city stood musically at the time, eclectic and in the throes of change. And spend some time with this duo, affectionately known as ‘Larry and Pierce’ who brought so much pleasure to so many New Yorkers.
Spring 2022:
Three new orchestramaxfieldparrish albums to be released.
orchestramaxfieldparrish
Four Thousand Trees
fs 64
Limited edition 10" clear vinyl handmade lathe cut with handmade cover and printed insert, of which only 25 are publicly for sale.
Recorded between July 27, 2021 through December 17, 2021.
Consists of 2 long form compositions which will also be released digitally in 24 bit fidelity.
Inspired by and dedicated to Ziya Abay.
Side A - Island Of Memories - 12:40
Side B - Four Thousand Trees - 13:22
This will be released should June 1. 2022.
______
orchestramaxfieldparrish
Ancient Exiles, Tell Me About Your Seas
fs62
A new full length album produced during March 2022.
This is the logical successor and fourth chapter in the deeply personal musical path first started with Crossing Of Shadows, followed by Instant Light and then continued on The Mysteries.
1. Farewell here, no matter where. - 07:44
2. the breaking wave - 14:36
3. It’s found we see. – What? – Eternity. It’s the sun, mingled with the sea. - 05:26
4. As for the world, when you emerge, what will have become of it? Nothing, in any case, of its present seeming. - 04:36
5. Arrival from forever, you who’ll depart everywhere. - 10:32
6. …it shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea. - 05:20
This will be a 24 bit digital release and planned for June 1, 2022.
_______
orchestramaxfieldparrish
Passio - The Exiles Companion
fs63
This short ep length (15 minute) three track release is a vastly stripped down rendering of Ancient Exiles, Tell Me About Your Seas using only organ as it's focus and will be released at the same time as Ancient Exiles.
1. частина перша - 04:24
2. частина друга - 05:28
3. частина третя - 05:10
The orchestramaxfieldparrish project after many years, has now moved onward, as of the release of The Clouds Of Michelangelo on textura in 2019:
https://textura.bandcamp.com/album/swallowed-by-the-sky
and has been divided into three distinct musical projects being released since the past 3 years and will continue to do so as:
orchestramaxfieldparrish
Guitar Improvisations
ÆRA
These three new releases fall under the small orchestra scenario utilizing performances of guitar, other stringed instruments, keys, percussion and vocals of orchestramaxfieldparrish, with strictly guitar generated live compositions being released under Guitar Improvisations and mostly synthesizer generated live compositions being released under ÆRA.
All three divisions are 100% improvisational in nature.
- peace.
www.faithstrange.com
https://faithstrangerecordings.wordpress.com
https://www.instagram.com/faithstrange_recordings/
August 2021
November 18, 1978
The recent interviews of Representative Jackie Speier about her experience with the Jim Jones Jonestown massacre of 1978 and how it relates to present day events in the USA have brought back long repressed emotions of what I experienced when I was doing research for the recording of this track for the CT Collective back in 2006 and thought it might be apropo for releasing here on Bandcamp.
Congresswoman Jackie Speier worked for representative Leo Ryan when they went to Guyana to investigate Jim Jones' cult and she was shot 5 times by Jones's security detail and left for dead. Ryan and 4 others were killed. She lay there 11 hours before help arrived.
The focus on this project called CT Great Speeches was to compose a music to "furnish" a famous speech. A "great speech" is a speech that has a relevant historical, religious, political, artistic or social content. The goal is to realize a music encyclopedia of some important events.
Originally released through the ct collective (chain tape collective) 2007:
www.ct-collective.com/index.cfm?page=music&albumid=24
from Discogs:
The CT Collective is a group of artists working on collaborative musical projects that are then released under the CT banner. Originally begun by Michael Klobuchar as a "chain tape" group that used cassette tape as the mailed medium, with members recording music by mailing a master tape throughout the United States and Europe, the collective is now digital, releasing the material on CDR and MP3. Projects are coordinated via mailing lists and members come from all over the world.
www.discogs.com/label/69204-CT-Collective
for further reading about the impetus of this track:
stevenwarran.blogspot.com/2013/03/david-hume-kennerly-aka-fisheye-friends.html
Painstakingly coordinated by Fabio Anile is CT - Great Speeches - released 2007. The aim of this project was to compose music to "furnish" a famous speech. A "great speech" is a speech that has a relevant historical, religious, political, or social content. The goal is to realize a music encyclopedia of some important events. Included is an exclusive M. Fazio guitar composition entitled November 18, 1978, in remembrance of the Jonestown cult suicides, incorporating the speech from Jim Jones to his disciples in the last minutes of their lives.
Included in this collection are works by Nick Robinson, Giuseppe Farinella, Michael Frank, Fabio Anile, Mike Fazio, Michael Peters, Milco Montagna, Anders Östberg and Norelpref.
The entire album including artwork can be downloaded or streamed at:
www.ct-collective.com
from MUTE REACTIONARY:
This is a concept album; a collection of different artists furnishing music to accompany famous orations. I liked it so much that it took me a long time to write a review, I've been listening to it all week.
Firstly, there's no question this is full of substance. Presidents, Prime Ministers, despots, visionaries, leaders of change and even cult figures all get their turn. The music varies from non-rhythmic soundscapes, to hip-hop, to pure sonic experimentation, definitely never overtaking the text but never sitting meekly in the background, either.
First is Nick Robinson, accompanying Winston Churchill. The repeating and the vocal treatments point out the musical value in speech, the rhythms and pitches suddenly making sense when presented in a context. Statements like "we shall go on to the end" take on an even more immense gravity when isolated and repeated. The discordant pitches that emerge towards the end belie the horror that awaited many of those who heard these words in their original time. A masterful start.
Next is Giuseppe Farinella, with Benito Mussolini (!). The cheers that follow the statements are pretty creepy, then nicely become part of the gentle tonal bed. When an overdriven, aching guitar solo emerges through the shouts, it sounds like a wordless voice of reason above the din. The baby cries at the end are an unexpected surprise and a great addition. It would be interesting to have heard even more of the rhythmic "Muss-o-lin-i" chants.
Then, a touch of humor from Michael Moore over a stark hip-hop background from Michael Frank, which fits perfectly with the melodramatic declarations. I love the guitar commenting in between his phrases, sometimes hinting at the dark reality behind the funny statements, sometimes chuckling along. (However, I'm pretty sure the powerful voice is Lewis Black reading Moore's text; if I'm correct, it should be noted as so).
Event organizer Fabio Anile is next, providing a beautiful background for Mahatma Gandhi. His accompaniment adds strength to Gandhi's voice which on its own is almost humorously thin, and sometimes a butt of jokes. The distant, minimal drums are wonderful. Really matches the title, "Mysterious Power".
Mike Fazio takes on the unenviable task of dueting with Reverend Jim Jones. The atmospheric, watery background is a great complement, and the well-timed chords, as well as the spacious use of the voice, are very effective. It's quietly terrifying, especially the cries. "If you'll be quiet... if you'll be quiet...". Whew. It's brave to tackle this one.
Back to another great figure, with JFK (and then NASA ground control and astronauts) backed up by Michael Peters. Some crazy vocal treatments here, probably the most unusual use of the voices as raw material. Hearing a spoken word seemingly turn into the sound of a liftoff is astonishing...! Having heard that, it may be that much of the music comes from the voice, I can't really say but it's a bold and otherworldly piece.
Milco Montagna provides a highly "composed" musical passage, with two accounts of the Challenger tragedy superimposed on each channel. Instead of necessarily supporting Reagan's attempt to inspire and encourage the nation with an uplifting soundtrack, the music itself mourns, gravitating more towards underscoring the dry radio commentary with a reading of the true drama. The radio voice covers the event from liftoff to explosion, beginning with the standard liftoff announcements. But then there's a musical pause and strange thump partway through, after which the voices begin to describe the problem - "Obviously a major malfunction. We have no downlink...", and finally, calmly, "The vehicle has exploded". Very moving.
Anders Östberg generates a screaming wash of what seems to be white noise, a real wake-up call, which soon reveals its tonal qualities before subsiding to allow Dr. Albert Hofmann to espouse. The music then returns, bookending the speech, its impossibly high, overtoned flood of sound like a chemical rushing through the cerebral cortex.
Norel Pref then gives us the only multi-voiced piece, a free-wheeling intermixing of presidential quotes, over a flowing, portentous rhythmic background with chordal stabs that sometimes seem to be triggered by the voices themselves, a great effect I'd have liked to hear even more of. It's a rich blend of hilarity and deep thoughts, rather broad in its focus but fascinating.
Anile then returns again, delicately ushering in possibly the most powerful text, taken from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech (interestingly avoiding the most commonly-heard phrases). It's a great touch to have a long introduction to establish the music and to insert long spaces between statements. The balance of voice to music is excellent, the speech becomes part of the music, as opposed to a film documentary soundtrack that would place the music clearly in second place. A gorgeous piece that works wonderfully with the vocal.
The only suggestions I'd make for improving this concept in the future is that on some tracks, the noise between words, combined with quick cut-offs after a phrase, can be distracting when listening closely. If there is tape hiss from an old recording, it would probably help consistency to find a way to include and integrate it over the whole piece. Also, the inclusion of applause sometimes works, becoming part of the music, and other times seems like an intrusion.
But these are minor quibbles. This is a fully-realized, ingenious project. Kudos to all. Best of all, it may be downloaded free in its entirely.
Daryl Shawn
credits
released August 2, 2021
M. Fazio - Guitar, tapes, remaster.
Originally released 2007 in MP3 CDr format as part of CT Great Speeches by the CT Collective. This version remastered in 24 bit from the original analog master tape.
license
some rights reserved
July 2020
to be released July, 2020:
orchestramaxfieldparrish - Guitar Improvisations Volumes I - VI
(strange box three)
Strictly one time limited edition of 100.
6 new albums with 32 page 4 color printed perfect bound book, handmade OBI and 4 color printed vellum outer sleeve.
Recorded between February 1, 2020 through May 6, 2020 in New York City.
All 6 albums published in WAV audio on printed USB drive.
Mastered in 64 bit High Definition audio.
Volume I - Unseen Unspoken Ascending (fs38)
Volume II - Path (fs39)
Volume III - Paisaghji (fs40)
Volume IV - The Coldest Spring (fs41)
Volume V - A New Treatise On Cosmic Fire (fs42)
Volume VI - Ævum (fs43)
November 2018 
Eleven years in the making, Fazio has produced a very different album unlike any in his history. A 70’s art / rock / ambient sensibility seen through the eyes of an artist with a reverence as well as a lightheartedness for the historical importance of our shared musical experiences. Through the past, fondly.
Fazio, known foremost for his beloved orchestramaxfieldparrish ambient project, is a veteran of the downtown NYC experimental performance scene of the 1980’s and college radio alt rock scene of the 1990’s has been part of hundreds of recordings, independent film soundtracks and modern dance recital music.
The Vast Apart is Fazio’s 35th recording on his Faith Strange imprint since 1992. Limited CD pressing in gatefold card sleeve | unlimited DL
Exquisitely recorded and mastered in 24bit / 96k high fidelity.
“Never one to overindulge himself, Fazio's textures and patterns service the tune far more than
any egotistical self-journey.” - Brainwashed
“Artfully navigating the interstices between experimental ambient and a distillate of neo-classical.” - Igloo Magazine
“Fazio’s hand is more than capable.” - WHITE_LINE
“This is music that is beautiful, powerful, intimate and cinematographic; the end of a great trilogy of some of
the finest ambient music; in whatever form Mike Fazio wishes to play this. He shows he has a few tricks up his sleeve.” - Vital Weekly
“In a perfect world, there would be a place for explorative music of such genuine quality
in thousands of receptive listeners' homes, but such a world, alas, doesn't seem to be the one we inhabit.” - textura
“one more reason to consider him amongst what I consider to be the unsung contemporary masters
of the Musique Concrete style of experimentalism alongside more well-known names such as Daniel Menche.” - Heathen Harvest
from musiquemachine:
Here we have The Vast Apart, a curious project from experimental guitarist Mike Fazio which was apparently begun all the way back in 2007, left dormant, and only recently finished. It also differs from his usual work by being a collection of short pieces, as he has often been inclined to fashion twenty minute longform collages.
What I consider to be Fazio's trademark sounds are in full effect: chordally imbued harmonized guitar and glassy celestial resonances that hint at consonant tonal systems, yet frolic unbounded by any meter, undulating playfully like aurora borealis.
Likely due to the originally concept this work as being the creation of a 'radio friendly ambient rock band', we have a greater emphasis on loops and rhythms than in a usual Fazio drift, and overall the music feels more organized. Influence from post rock is clear, as warm e-bow drones anchor these pieces in decisive emotional spaces. At times they match marvelously with their titles, particularly "Beautiful Losers (3AM, Figures by a Window)", which sums perfectly moments of intimate domestic idleness.
"The Empath (and Other Love Stories)" is a bleeding heart guitar soliloquy from Fazio, for once presenting himself without copious processing. With his note choices presented naked as such, it becomes easier to analyze his style of melody, which, with its otherworldly liquidity, borrows most from jazz fusion, with hints of folk and blues.
I was surprised to hear "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair" covered here, as I've never heard any kind of sung vocals on any of Fazio's many projects. His voice is raw and unsteady, but communicates an intense earnestness and nostalgia. Perhaps coincidentally, a cover of this song was also the first and only instance that Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound ever made his voice heard on an album. Comparatively, NWW's is the more straightforward cover, as this version is more like an ambient piece that incorporates a chunk of the lyrics.
The lone longform piece on this album "So Long, August Day" is a deeply serene and melancholic piece which centers again around Fazio's lovely exposed guitar playing, backed by harmonized whispers and fragments of speech. It emphasizes Fazio's ability to summon a divine, shimmering, cloudlike environment from a small amount of musical content and clever processing. Ghosts and presences seem to linger in every crevice of the spaciousness. At times I recall classic Greek ambient musician Iasos and the angelic / celestial sphere in which he resided. Their chord choices are similar.
All in all, I can see why Mike Fazio might return to these short fragmentary pieces so many times over the years, as they have a particular emotional poignancy. A short album at thirty eight minutes, this is one of the most playable and affecting works of Fazio's career.
Josh Landry
from textura:
Mike Fazio: The Vast Apart
Faith Strange
The Vast Apart presents a different and somewhat unexpected side of Mike Fazio's music-making but an immensely satisfying one nonetheless. In contrast to the long-form soundscapes associated with his orchestramaxfieldparrish alias, the new release is dominated by models of concision, vignettes that in some cases last little more than two minutes at a time. Calling it new, by the way, requires some clarification: as Fazio explains on the inner sleeve, the album's ten tracks originated as demo tracks (three or four albums' worth, apparently, and half of it obscure covers) recorded in 2007 for an intended live band project involving Fazio's (since-deceased) colleague Jeff Ladd. With that project never reaching fruition, the material remained archived until 2017-18 when Fazio rescued it from the vault to midwife it into its now-issued form.
The material exudes an ease and confidence that are natural byproducts of experience, which Fazio has in spades: the release is the thirty-fifth independent recording to have appeared on his Faith Strange imprint since 1992, and during his career he's participated in hundreds of sessions, soundtracks, dance productions, and independent live theater presentations. Fazio himself describes the album as “a collection of oddities,” though endearingly; originally conceived with the LP format in mind, The Vast Apart's tracks, brief by design, accord nicely with the two sides of a vinyl release, though the ten also work well when played sans interruption in the CD presentation.
A strong case could be made for The Vast Apart as a guitar album, but, ever the anti-traditionalist, the New Yorker rarely plays the instrument straight-up, preferring instead to reprocess its sound using digital filters and granular synthesis. Guitar histrionics are eschewed in favour of textural explorations, Fazio's focus as much on atmosphere as rhythm and compositional development. Such treatments lend the material a seductive quality that draws one in to attend closely and better appreciate the artistry in play. Such an approach also gives the tracks a rather stealthy character in the way they get under one's skin: what at first might seem a sketch or work-in-progress, reveals itself after repeated exposure to be subtly crafted sound design. In “The Empath (And Other Love Stories),” for instance, limpid lead guitar playing naturally functions as the primary focal point, but the pitch-shifting swirls and warbles fluttering in the background prove just as interesting.
The album's not without surprises, too. During “Traveling South by Southwest Just Me and My Baby in a Pink Cadillac (Big Hit Single),” Fazio lays across a relaxed 4/4 groove funky, wah-wah shadings that wouldn't sound out of place on a Meters record; he also includes his own singing on the cover of “Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair (Funny How Time Flies),” and while his delivery of the still-legible words has been liberally altered into ghostly form by treatments, the vocal is nevertheless haunting. Needless to say, the oft-recorded traditional has never been interpreted quite like this before, one more sign that Fazio never stops evolving and exploring.
January 2019
from Vital Weekly:
| MIKE FAZIO - THE VAST APART (CD by Faith Strange) |
August 2018
The new album entitled 'The Vast Apart (A Collection Of Arcane Scenarios - Volume Two)' has been approved for pressing. This will be a very limited CD pressing of 100 copies in a 4 panel mini-Japanese style wallet. End of September release date is scheduled.
December 2016
orchestramaxfieldparrish - A Midsummer's Night voted one of the Best Of 2016 at textura
October 2016
Two new orchestramaxfieldparrish titles released mid-October 2016 on Faith Strange. Details on the orchestramaxfieldparrish page. Cheers.
June 2015
On ongoing music diary (or journal of sorts) has been started in order to release new music in digital form only (for the time being at least) without the constraints and costs of traditional pressing plants can be found here.
January 2015
A new interview with guitarist Mike Fazio has been published in Musique Machine.
May 2013:
Fazio - Interiors (fs17)
(24 bit digital and 16 bit digital albums)
Originally recorded during the long hot summer of 2010 and part of Music From The Strange Box, which was a small micro, private pressing of a 4 cd box set, only given to record labels for promotional use only. The first 50 copies of A Guide For Reason - Iconography will have a printed insert with a free download code for 16 bit FLAC (or MP3, AAC, etc) digital files for Interiors. Interiors is also available separately as either a 24 bit digital album or as a 16 bit digital album in the faith strange shop.
Interiors as well as A Guide For Reason - Iconography will be released in 24 bit and 16 bit digital file sets and both levels of fidelity sound wonderful, whichever one chooses, and we feel the deluxe edition of Iconography that include copies of Interiors will be a nice surprise for those who purchase Iconography and a special thank you for their interest. Interiors consists of 3 tracks and are guitar based whereas Iconography consists of 4 (lp side long tracks) and is predominately electronic based, making the deluxe version the equivalent to 3 albums for the price of one.
The deluxe version of Iconography with Interiors is now sold out. There is a very limited number of the regular version left. To purchase the regular version of Iconography, please see the faith strange shop page.
Iconography will also be available separately in 24 bit or 16 bit digital albums as of July. The CD version in gatefold sleeve is an extremely limited run and will not be reprinted once it is sold out.
We feel the FLAC formats have the closest fidelity to the original hi definition studio recordings and strongly recommend these over mp3s or Apple Lossless. iTunes can play FLAC files with an easy update if your installed version does not have it already. For further information about FLAC digital files please see:
http://flac.sourceforge.net/comparison.html
160 kbps soundclips:
faith strange recordings on soundcloud
Fazio - |
Released through | CT-Collective.com in 2007 is the dvd production Calgari: An Exquisite Corpse. Eleven composers collaborated in Exquisite Corpse fashion to produce two brand new soundtracks for the German Expressionist classic silent film The Cabinet Of Dr. Calgari.|||
Included in this collection are works by Nick Robinson, Giuseppe Farinella, Michael Frank, Fabio Anile, Mike Fazio, Michael Peters, Milco Montagna, Anders Östberg and Norelpref.
The entire album including artwork can be downloaded or streamed at:
ct-great speeches
from MUTE REACTIONARY:
This is a concept album; a collection of different artists furnishing music to accompany famous orations. I liked it so much that it took me a long time to write a review, I've been listening to it all week.
Firstly, there's no question this is full of substance. Presidents, Prime Ministers, despots, visionaries, leaders of change and even cult figures all get their turn. The music varies from non-rhythmic soundscapes, to hip-hop, to pure sonic experimentation, definitely never overtaking the text but never sitting meekly in the background, either.
First is Nick Robinson, accompanying Winston Churchill. The repeating and the vocal treatments point out the musical value in speech, the rhythms and pitches suddenly making sense when presented in a context. Statements like "we shall go on to the end" take on an even more immense gravity when isolated and repeated. The discordant pitches that emerge towards the end belie the horror that awaited many of those who heard these words in their original time. A masterful start.
Next is Giuseppe Farinella, with Benito Mussolini (!). The cheers that follow the statements are pretty creepy, then nicely become part of the gentle tonal bed. When an overdriven, aching guitar solo emerges through the shouts, it sounds like a wordless voice of reason above the din. The baby cries at the end are an unexpected surprise and a great addition. It would be interesting to have heard even more of the rhythmic "Muss-o-lin-i" chants.
Then, a touch of humor from Michael Moore over a stark hip-hop background from Michael Frank, which fits perfectly with the melodramatic declarations. I love the guitar commenting in between his phrases, sometimes hinting at the dark reality behind the funny statements, sometimes chuckling along. (However, I'm pretty sure the powerful voice is Lewis Black reading Moore's text; if I'm correct, it should be noted as so).
Event organizer Fabio Anile is next, providing a beautiful background for Mahatma Gandhi. His accompaniment adds strength to Gandhi's voice which on its own is almost humorously thin, and sometimes a butt of jokes. The distant, minimal drums are wonderful. Really matches the title, "Mysterious Power".
Mike Fazio takes on the unenviable task of dueting with Reverend Jim Jones. The atmospheric, watery background is a great complement, and the well-timed chords, as well as the spacious use of the voice, are very effective. It's quietly terrifying, especially the cries. "If you'll be quiet... if you'll be quiet...". Whew. It's brave to tackle this one.
Back to another great figure, with JFK (and then NASA ground control and astronauts) backed up by Michael Peters. Some crazy vocal treatments here, probably the most unusual use of the voices as raw material. Hearing a spoken word seemingly turn into the sound of a liftoff is astonishing...! Having heard that, it may be that much of the music comes from the voice, I can't really say but it's a bold and otherworldly piece.
Milco Montagna provides a highly "composed" musical passage, with two accounts of the Challenger tragedy superimposed on each channel. Instead of necessarily supporting Reagan's attempt to inspire and encourage the nation with an uplifting soundtrack, the music itself mourns, gravitating more towards underscoring the dry radio commentary with a reading of the true drama. The radio voice covers the event from liftoff to explosion, beginning with the standard liftoff announcements. But then there's a musical pause and strange thump partway through, after which the voices begin to describe the problem - "Obviously a major malfunction. We have no downlink...", and finally, calmly, "The vehicle has exploded". Very moving.
Anders Östberg generates a screaming wash of what seems to be white noise, a real wake-up call, which soon reveals its tonal qualities before subsiding to allow Dr. Albert Hofmann to espouse. The music then returns, bookending the speech, its impossibly high, overtoned flood of sound like a chemical rushing through the cerebral cortex.
Norel Pref then gives us the only multi-voiced piece, a free-wheeling intermixing of presidential quotes, over a flowing, portentous rhythmic background with chordal stabs that sometimes seem to be triggered by the voices themselves, a great effect I'd have liked to hear even more of. It's a rich blend of hilarity and deep thoughts, rather broad in its focus but fascinating.
Anile then returns again, delicately ushering in possibly the most powerful text, taken from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech (interestingly avoiding the most commonly-heard phrases). It's a great touch to have a long introduction to establish the music and to insert long spaces between statements. The balance of voice to music is excellent, the speech becomes part of the music, as opposed to a film documentary soundtrack that would place the music clearly in second place. A gorgeous piece that works wonderfully with the vocal.
The only suggestions I'd make for improving this concept in the future is that on some tracks, the noise between words, combined with quick cut-offs after a phrase, can be distracting when listening closely. If there is tape hiss from an old recording, it would probably help consistency to find a way to include and integrate it over the whole piece. Also, the inclusion of applause sometimes works, becoming part of the music, and other times seems like an intrusion.
But these are minor quibbles. This is a fully-realized, ingenious project. Kudos to all. Best of all, it may be downloaded free in its entirely.
Daryl Shawn