Sunday, June 15, 2014

New Weave Compilations

... Of All Possible Worlds (1989) cassette - Featured Artists: Group Du Jour, Jamie Haggerty, Echo System, Tribal Machine, Daniel Crommie.

Octangle (1991) cassette - Featured Artists: Paul Ellis, Daniel Crommie, Dave Fulton, Jamie Haggerty, Group Du Jour, Tribal Machine, Foundation.

Timecode New Weave Artists (1995) CD - Featured Artists: Group Du Jour, Jeanne Mare Werle, Kaitlyn ni Donovan, Lew Jones, Daniel Crommie, Just Duet, Janie Mitchell, Jamie Haggerty, Dave Fulton.

Friday, May 30, 2014

Echo System Discography


Nightmares and Dreams cassette (1986)
Bad Medicine cassette (1987)
In A Strange World cassette (1987)
Radio Play cassette EP (1987)
Heat Lightning cassette (1990)
Bad Medicine expanded edition (2015) Digital-only reissue
Songs 1986-1987 (song compilation) (2014) Digital-only reissue
Echo System - Live at East Avenue 1987 (2016) Digital-only reissue
The Architect of Secrets (instrumental compilation) (2019) Digital-only reissue

Daniel Crommie and Jamie Haggerty founded Echo System in 1986 as a collaborative entity, initially making ambient/electronic creations and later recording some original electro-pop with vocals. The roots of Echo System go back to 1980 when Daniel and Jamie founded progressive/traditional folk group "Continuum", later that year recording their duo album "Passion & Allegory". In 1986 Daniel was already making music within the experimental electro-pop realm as a founding member of Group Du Jour, while Jamie was helming Cour Des Miracles and performing Breton and French tunes. Reconvening in 1986 they quickly recorded "Nightmares and Dreams" direct to digital with no overdubs - an anomaly at the time. In the autumn of 1986 they recorded the "Bad Medicine" mini-album on a 4-track PortaStudio and mixed it to digital during the Christmas holiday. That same winter of 1986/1987 would find Jamie and Daniel busy composing and recording pieces for their follow-up "In A Strange World", resulting in a cluster of electro-pop gems that deviated from their ambient beginnings. A few live performances in 1987 resulting in several pieces they would later use on the 1990 album "Heat Lightning", which would be their last album together for many years. The next few years will see the digital reissue of much of their back catalogue. You can download Echo System music here.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Group Du Jour Discography

Group Du Jour: Live 1986 - 1993 Official Bootleg #1 (2014) digital-only
OVAL - (2009) CD and digital
Listening In... to the Past 25 Years - (2008) CD and digital
Terra Incognita - (2007) CD and digital
The Mystery Plays - (1992) CD, cassette and digital
Down to the Wire - (1990) CD, cassette and digital
Hinterland - (1989) cassette and digital
Waiting for the Sky to Fall - (1988) cassette, CD and digital
Wonderful Vision - (1987) vinyl, cassette and digital
Forgotten Colors - (1986) cassette and digital
The Perfect Triangle - (1985) cassette
Cave Art - (1984) cassette
Triple Entendre - (1983) cassette


Group Du Jour creates original music culled from the seeds of folk, ethnic/traditional forms, free jazz and rock – resulting in an invention best described as “Techno-Ethnic”, utilizing electric & acoustic guitars, vocals, flute, keyboards and African percussion. The band was founded by Daniel Crommie and Bo & Paul Parker in Portland, Oregon in 1983 as a contemporary pop/folk conglomerate until coalescing into a more experimental sound following their groundbreaking "Forgotten Colors" album in 1986. Gathering momentum the band released their LP “Wonderful Vision” and gained recognition in places such as England, Russia and Yugoslavia in a time when they opened for artists such as Richard Barone, Suzanne Vega and Obo Addy. 1990's "Down to the Wire" was voted as one of the year's best albums by Seattle's Rocket magazine. "The Mystery Plays" (1992) was an ambitious production with some of the bands best playing - but was largely ignored by the press as grunge pushed it's way into the pop marketplace. The New Weave artist compilation "Timecode" (1995) featured two more songs, "Mojo Sleeping" and "Stranger's in the House" as the band focused on individual projects in the mid-90's. As the new millennium approached a revitalized GDJ resumed playing live engagements and released “Terra Incognita” (2007), a varied assortment of new songs, adventurous improvisational instrumentals and a few remakes of earlier material. 2008 saw the release of “Listening In… to the Past 25 Years”, the first career-spanning compendium of the bands techno-ethnic pop work, with the companion album “Hinterland” representing their instrumental work in an expanded edition. The most recent studio album “Oval” was released in August of 2009. You can download and find Group Du Jour CD's here.




Saturnalia Trio Discography

It Was In May - (2019) CD/digital
Saturnalia XX recordings 1996-2016 A Collection - (2016) digital-only
Skin, Wood and Steel - (2015) CD/digital
30/11/2001 Live at the House Concert - (2013) digital-only
Hummingbirds - (2009) CD/digital
Of Mosaic & Muse - (2004) CD/digital
Mercury Rising - (2002) CD/digital
The Juturna Codex - (2000) CD/digital
Salterello, Psaltery & Song - (1997) cassette/digital


Saturnalia Trio presents an energetic, ethereal and eclectic mix of original songs and melodies which incorporate elements borrowed from world folk music, infused with European Medieval and Renaissance music played on flutes, violins, percussion, mandolins and dulcimers with their recordings utilizing modern production technology. While eschewing an academic approach to performing medieval music, Saturnalia Trio has been performing their progressive folk music for audiences since 1995 - releasing critically acclaimed albums with world-wide internet distribution and receiving airplay in various markets. You can download and find Saturnalia Trio CD's here.



Personnel:

Daniel Crommie is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist (mandolin, buche, balalaika, recorders, flute, synthesizers, etc.) and producer who has released over two dozen solo albums, several albums with Group Du Jour, four with Echo System and eight with Saturnalia Trio over the last 25 years on the New Weave label. Not content to adhere to any singular flavor or color, Daniel Crommie's musical palette includes forays into medieval, techno-pop, folk, electronic and experimental genres using a wide variety of acoustic and electronic instruments. A founding member of Group Du Jour, Echo System, Continuum and most recently Saturnalia Trio, Daniel's music has been critically hailed as far afield as Yugoslavia, England, Russia and Japan, and has been featured in several French & American television documentaries. 

Leslie Gray plays violin, viola and sings. Classically trained since the age of nine, she has branched out studying jazz, early renaissance and even a bit of Celtic music. Leslie has performed in orchestras and while living in Sydney, Australia played in a chamber ensemble. A teacher by trade and a perennial musician, Leslie is a creative string arranger for Saturnalia Trio, which she co-founded with Daniel Crommie in 1995. Leslie released her first solo instrumental album "Songs for Kyle" in 2006.

Eldon Hardenbrook plays acoustic bass guitar and nylon-stringed guitar. In addition to contributing his talents to Saturnalia, he's been Daniel Crommie's long-time collaborator in DC Sound Collective playing keyboards, bass and guitar.


Former Saturnalians:

Michael Treadwell plays frame drums, tombek and various percussion. A native of New Jersey, Michael joined Saturnalia Trio/Quartet in July 2013, playing on the "Skin, Wood & steel" album.

Tracey Brown plays harp, sings and hails from Edmonton, Alberta Canada.

Paul Evans plays dumbek, djembes and flute. Paul studied jazz saxophone performance and classical oboe performance at Arizona State University where he held a staff position as composer and accompanist for the dance department. A gifted composer and arranger who also plays keyboards, guitar and sings, Paul also publishes his original poetry and photographs when he's not playing in a gypsy jazz, middle eastern or trip hop band. With Saturnalia Trio from summer of 2000 until 2012, Paul contributed his skilled and diverse musicality and arranging talents to the band.


Elizabeth Nicholson plays harp and sings and graced Saturnalia Trio/Quartet from 2000 t0 2002.


Jamie Haggerty played percussion in Saturnalia Trio from 1995 until 1998 and continues to be involved in mastering, graphics and sound design for the band.


Bruce Gelman plays percussion and contributed to "The Juturna Codex" and "Of Mosaic & Muse".

Daniel Crommie Discography


A Factor of One (2023) CD/digital
Collected Singles, EP Tracks and Other Morsels (2023) CD/digital with DC Sound Collective
Perihelion Chronicle / Journey to the Aphelion (2022) double CD/digital
Creature Machines (2022) with DC Sound Collective CD/digital
Twenty Twenty 2 (2022) digital-only
Two of a Kind (2022) with Leslie Gray CD/digital
Inner World (2021) CD/digital
A Prelude to the New Normal (2021) CD/digital
Noisemaker (2021) CD/digital
Light Occurrences (2020) digital-only
VIA (2020) CD/digital
Darjeeling Wireless (2020) with DC Sound Collective CD/digital
Rarities #2 (2020) digital-only
starseedhead (2019) CD/digital
Dirae Pax (2018) with DC Sound Collective CD/digital
Phantoms from the Passed (2018) CD-only compilation
Winter Roses (2018) digital-only
Storm Front (2018) digital-only
The Sea is So Wide and My Boat is So Small (2017) with DC Sound Collective digital-only
Inside-Out (2017) digital-only
Portal (2017) digital-only
Following the Noise EP (2016) with DC Sound Collective digital-only
Ghostwriter single (2016) with DC Sound Collective digital-only
Earthbound Facing Skyward (2016) digital-only
A Memory of Errors Volume 2 (2015) with DC Sound Collective digital-only
A Memory of Errors (2015) with DC Sound Collective CD/digital
Other Elements (2015) digital-only
Penumbra - Summer Solstice Sketches (2014) digital-only
Rarities 1976 - 2008 (2014) digital-only
A Silent Sea (2014) digital-only
Precious Time - 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (2014) digital-only
PsychedelicMedievalSpaceJazz (2014) digital-only
Rotation (2013) with DC Sound Collective CD/digital
Selective Amnesia Vol.2, The Early Years 1976 - 1984 (2013) digital-only
Selective Amnesia – The Best of 1984 - 2009 (2012) digital-only
Aquarius In Retrograde (2012) with Glyn Havard & Friends CD/digital
Blue Microdot Breakfast (2011) digital-only
Direct Current (2011) with DC Sound Collective digital-only
Solstice Sketches (2010) digital-only
Between the Darkness and the Dawn (2010) with Glyn Havard CD/digital
Life Rattle (2009) digital-only
The Last Thing I Remember (2006) CD/digital
Sargasso Manuscript (2005) CD/digital
Creatures of Habit (2003) CD/digital
When Wendy Was Walter (1999) CD/cassette/digital
The Feast of Saturnalia (1996) CD/digital
Out of My Head (1995) cassette EP 
Quiet Night (1994) CD/cassette/digital
Chrysanthemum (1993) cassette/digital
At the Waters Edge (1993) cassette/digital
Tidepool of the Sky (1992) cassette EP
Skybridge (1991) cassette/digital
Shadowgraph (1991) cassette/digital
Precious Time (1989) CD/cassette/digital
Animosity (1988) cassette/digital
Raised By Piranhas (1987) cassette/digital
Sun Construction (1985) with Cara Tomlinson cassette/digital
Info (1985) cassette
Attention to Details (1984) cassette
Miniatures (1983) cassette
Polarity (1983) cassette
The Fishermans Path (1982) cassette
Skeletons (1978) cassette



Daniel Crommie is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist (mandolins, buche, balalaika, recorders, flutes, synthesizers, etc.) and producer (Janie Mitchell, Kaitlyn ni Donovan, Lew Jones, Karen Searcy, Jon Davis Miller) who has released well over two dozen solo albums, numerous albums with Group Du Jour, four with Echo System and five with Saturnalia Trio over the last 30 years on the New Weave label. Not content to adhere to any singular flavor or color, Daniel Crommie's musical palette includes forays into medieval, techno-pop, folk, electronic and experimental genres using a wide variety of acoustic and electronic instruments. A founding member of Group Du Jour, Echo System, Continuum and most recently Saturnalia Trio, Daniel's music has been critically hailed as far afield as Yugoslavia, England, Russia and Japan, and has been featured in several French & American television documentaries. In 2009 Daniel Crommie began collaborating with Glyn Havard of the English band Jade Warrior, producing “Between the Darkness and the Dawn” in 2010 and with three other Jade Warrior members (David Duhig, Colin Henson and Allan Price, plus Eldon Hardenbrook, Bruce Hazen and others) produced “Aquarius In Retrograde” in 2012,"Rotation" in 2013 and "A Memory of Errors" (volumes 1&2) in 2015. You can download or find Daniel Crommie music here.