ELK AND THEIR ILK
ELK AND THEIR ILK is a solo side project of mine that is only guitar and effects, no drums, bass, or vocals. The music is a combination of riffs, noise, experimental sounds and production techniques, as well as a place to put a few tunes/ideas that didn’t really fit in with my other projects. With this project I have freed myself from the confines of traditional songwriting and drum beats, and have an almost “anything goes” attitude. Really the only limitation I imposed on myself was “only guitar and effects.” And I spent a lot of time as well trying to coax out some of the gnarliest tones I could get from my equipment.
The first album, “root fire” was released in June 2023. It was created as a cathartic release while grieving the loss of my beloved dog Blondie, who died in August of 2022. My emotions were so intense at that time that normal songwriting just wasn’t allowing me to express myself in ways that I needed to, so I started making this album, and it was a big help. The second album, “for eons” was released January 2024. It is a little less chaotic than the first album but still gets a bit crazy in spots. This album was about experimenting with some new effects I had gotten, and new (to me at least) ways of mixing and combining sounds to come up with some truly interesting soundscapes.
I have always been interested in all kinds of music, and that includes stuff like japanese noise music, crazy atonal modern “classical” music, free jazz, anything trippy or weird. All that kind of stuff was an influence on this project, as well as stuff like heavy doom riffs and groovy fuzz sounds. While a lot of the music on the ELK albums may sound chaotic, everything is deliberate and exactly where I want it to be and how I want it to sound. So I recommend approaching this music as regarding each piece as a deliberate composition, and the albums as taking you on a trippy sonic journey. For best results, listen to an entire album all at once, in the dark, as loud as possible. Enjoy.
You can hear them on any streaming service, including here on YouTube: root fire, for eons
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SPSHL SNWFLK
SPSHL SNWFLK is an aggresive, punk-influenced side project of mine along with vocalist Jake Silvas. In January 2023 we released a four-song EP titled “F Minus”, with songs that have lyrics from 19th century poet George Parsons Lathrop as well as lyrics from chapter 135 of Moby Dick by Melville. Check it out here and turn it up!
“Sleeping is Living” by The Red Book
Let me introduce you to the debut double-album “Sleeping is Living” by my studio project I call The Red Book: psych-prog-space rock that will take you into, through, and out the other side of its sonic dreamscape. One fan described it as “Pink Floyd meets Hendrix through a Sabbath filter.”
All music was written, performed, mixed, mastered, and produced by me, except for the awesome contributions by guest drummers Andi Preen and Darryl Dimaggio.
I released it in November of 2020 on bandcamp.com, then spent the first half of 2021 remixing and remastering it, and re-released it as the new version in August 2021 on all major streaming platforms. You can listen to it on YouTube here.
I am intending to print it on CD and eventually on vinyl — stay tuned. If you would like a free digital copy please write me an email at “dan (at) theredbookmusic (dot) com” and I’ll be glad to send you a download code.
For more info please go to theredbookmusic.com and primamateriarecords.com, and follow on Instagram.
Thanks for checking it out and play it loud!
Fata Morgana
A book of my drawings is now available, the link below will take you to the Blurb.com page where it is for sale. If you click on the image of the book cover on the Blurb site, you can page through it to preview it.
While it can be purchased from Blurb, you can also get one directly from me which would likely be faster for you and would also help me out because Blurb requires me to reach a sales threshold before I get paid. If you would like one for $25 postage paid, send me an email at “dan (at) theredbookmusic (dot) com” and I will get back to you. Thanks for checking it out.
FATA MORGANA – drawings by Daniel Schubarth
