Name: Cicada: Eastern Double Drummer (Thopha saccata) calling song by dr-pop
Duration: 35 s
Description: The harsh electric whine of an Eastern Double Drummer (Thopha saccata) cicada, recorded near Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia.

No wonder it's so loud. Those tymbal covers look huge.

I apologize for the noise, didn't realize I had the gain on my sound card cranked up so much. I'll try re-recording this track soon. 

Torroba - Castles Of Spain (Torija)

Vapor Trail from a Paper Plane is my first full-length collection of all original material. I’ve made a couple strictly classical records, but this project is a messy hodgepodge of musical influences—American mostly. There’s a string quartet in “Roadside Attraction” and a modified Bluegrass lineup in “Old Chuck Flynn”. I tried to let the songs dictate the arrangements and didn’t worry too much about sticking to one genre or another, which led to some surprising and often rewarding collaborations. Double-bass and mandolin wunderkind Erik Alvar contributed to four tracks, the amazing Coreopsis Wind Quintet sat in on “Cicadas at the Equinox”, Paul Petrucelli added some wonderfully oddball clarinet lines to “Mama is a Big Girl”, and I was fortunate to be able to call on the crack team of Natasha Peliska, Laurel Yu, and Marcos Vives for string parts. These were fun sessions with super-talented musicians, augmented by the remarkable sound engineer Pete Winter, the Man With the Golden Ears. Art design provided yet another inspiring collaboration. I sent the rough tracks to Shauna and Sarah Dodds, and Nancy Bell at Backstage Design Studio in Austin. They came up with some beautiful quirky images that really capture the spirit of the music (they also designed this website…pretty cool, huh?) 

The title Vapor Trail from a Paper Plane is a line I lifted from the album’s third track, “Old Chuck Flynn”. The line was originally a throwaway, but as other songs emerged, I began to recognize a few themes that reappear throughout the record. Turns out loss is a big one: missed opportunities, mixed signals, wasted youth…Most of the characters in these songs are lamenting something that either never was, or never could be. At times that makes them funny, other times tragic. I’ll let the listener determine which is which.

Oh, and for the guitar enthusiasts, there are two originals for solo guitar. You can buy the sheet music here. 

To download a copy of Vapor Trail from a Paper Plane, click here. If you’re really into iTunes or Amazon, pre-sale copies are available now, and should hit the streets Nov 15. You can stream the full record under the “Listen” tab on this page and on Spotify. 

We’re working on a bunch of live dates for Spring and Summer ‘14, some with the whole Vapor Trail Ensemble, some with a string quartet, and a few solo shows. Stay tuned for details. Thank you for listening—your support allows me to make more music!

Cheers,
Matt

Cicadas At The Equinox

The harsh electric whine of an Eastern Double Drummer (Thopha saccata) cicada, recorded near Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia.

Cicada: Eastern Double Drummer (Thopha saccata) calling song

Concierto del Sur For Guitar And Orchestra - III. Allegro Moderato E Festivo  (Manuel Ponce)

Leo Brouwer - An Idea (Passacaglia for Eli)

F Moreno-Torroba - Madronos

Manuel De Falla - Homenaje pour Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy

Burgalesa, de Federico Moreno Torroba, , tocada per Miquel Javaloy amb una guitarra model Torres 1865 feta per Joan Pellisa. Cordes Knobloch Strings Sterling Silver. Presa de so realitzada a Barcelona per Alfred Fernàndez.

Burgalesa,Federico Moreno Torroba

Widjabul country
mixed subtropical vine forest/rural land
january, 2019

thanks to adam, kelly & charley for letting us crash at their property

twilight cicada's, jiggi valley

https://galaverna.bandcamp.com/album/j-j

lake nuga nuga, central qld, australia
april, 2019

recorded on karingbal country

dawn, lake nuga nuga

Steve Reich’s 1987 Electric Counterpoint brilliantly established the electric guitar within an art music context.  Reich originally imagined the piece performed by a single guitarist playing over a prerecorded track consisting of up to 10 guitars and 2 bass guitars. A version for guitar ensemble also exists with all parts performed live. First recorded by Pat Metheny on the 1989 Nonesuch release “Different Trains,” Electric Counterpoint has been performed, recorded, rerecorded and sampled enough that, even if you don’t know the piece, you probably kind of know the piece. I’ve performed Electric Counterpoint a few times using Pat Metheny’s backing track but I’ve always had a yen to make my own version. I found the experience of learning and recording all the parts profoundly inspiring. As an unapologetic gearhead, I also relished in the opportunity of deciding which guitar paired best with which amp, microphone, etc. for every part.*

Guitarist David Tannenbaum worked closely with Steve Reich while adapting the composer’s 1994 Nagoya Marimbas for two guitars. Tannenbaum’s recording features two classical guitars, but with some minor technical adaptations, Nagoya Guitars becomes an idiomatic gem for two electric guitars. 

For the very first release on my own Bend Records label, I performed all the parts, produced, mixed and mastered the project myself.

*Performing guitarists: I would be delighted to share my recording of Electric Counterpoint without the live guitar track. Please contact me for details.

Reich - Electric Counterpoint 3 - Fast

Each summer, Lindsay Popple travels to isolated parts of the Australian outback to capture the sounds of its insects and birds. He specializes in obtaining recordings of unique and previously unknown species of cicadas and making these sounds available to the modern world in the form of sound effects and ring tones.
Lindsay has been capturing the sounds of cicadas and other aspects of nature for 12 years. He holds a PhD in zoology and has discovered and described many new cicada species.
Having previously studied guitar through Trinity College (London), Lindsay is also an accomplished classical guitarist and composer. He weaves his own unique style through a platform of improvisation. 

Cicada: Eastern Double Drummer (Thopha saccata) calling song

dr-pop

Recent comments

Mark Ridgway

Related tracks