THE BLEED is an album that was recorded over the course of more than a decade, in studios, bedrooms, basements, hotel rooms, and tool sheds across North America. Many of the pieces of music on the album are comprised of combinations of recordings from various points in time within a ten-year span. For example: a piece may include vocals, guitar and bass tracks I recorded in different spaces in Santa Cruz, CA in 2008, a piano track recorded in Ludlow, MA in 2012, combined with drum and vocal tracks I recorded in Easthampton, MA in 2016, and a baritone sax recorded in Monson, MA in 2019. Some musique concrète samples combine sounds from scenes in environments recorded in a variety of spaces across America. 

THEREFORE… 

THE BLEED is a collection of pieces of music recorded by multiple versions of myself, all collaborating from different points in time and space. With this concept in mind, THE BLEED slowly evolved into it’s own entity that simultaneously exists within and outside of time. 
It may help the reader/listener to visualize multiple photo transfer sheets overlaid, with each instrument part for each piece being played by a different version of myself at a different point in time and space, but all coordinated in sync to create a new self-contained space that exists outside of the concept of a traditional linear timeline. 

THE BLEED is an eclectic collection of styles, genres, song forms, and electro-acoustic ensemble combos. Almost every single sound captured, performed, recorded, composed, arranged, and mixed on this album was created by me, in isolation. 

This album is dense with instrumentation and experimentation. It begs the listener for multiple listens to broaden and deepen the overall experience. For, with each subsequent listen, new material presents itself to us as we progress through our own perceived timelines. 

THE BLEED demands an open and vulnerable approach from the listener. Suspend your preconceptions and allow the music to wash over and through you. 

Thank you


All music and artwork by Ken Topham
ktopham.com

Mastered By Carl Saff
saffmastering.com

all rights reserved

The Bleed

THE BLEED is an album that was recorded over the course of more than a decade, in studios, bedrooms, basements, hotel rooms, and tool sheds across North America. Many of the pieces of music on the album are comprised of combinations of recordings from various points in time within a ten-year span. For example: a piece may include vocals, guitar and bass tracks I recorded in different spaces in Santa Cruz, CA in 2008, a piano track recorded in Ludlow, MA in 2012, combined with drum and vocal tracks I recorded in Easthampton, MA in 2016, and a baritone sax recorded in Monson, MA in 2019. Some musique concrète samples combine sounds from scenes in environments recorded in a variety of spaces across America. 

THEREFORE… 

THE BLEED is a collection of pieces of music recorded by multiple versions of myself, all collaborating from different points in time and space. With this concept in mind, THE BLEED slowly evolved into it’s own entity that simultaneously exists within and outside of time. 
It may help the reader/listener to visualize multiple photo transfer sheets overlaid, with each instrument part for each piece being played by a different version of myself at a different point in time and space, but all coordinated in sync to create a new self-contained space that exists outside of the concept of a traditional linear timeline. 

THE BLEED is an eclectic collection of styles, genres, song forms, and electro-acoustic ensemble combos. Almost every single sound captured, performed, recorded, composed, arranged, and mixed on this album was created by me, in isolation. 

This album is dense with instrumentation and experimentation. It begs the listener for multiple listens to broaden and deepen the overall experience. For, with each subsequent listen, new material presents itself to us as we progress through our own perceived timelines. 

THE BLEED demands an open and vulnerable approach from the listener. Suspend your preconceptions and allow the music to wash over and through you. 

Thank you,
Ken Topham

The Notion Of Observable Reality Is Drifting Out Of Reach

Nuclear Man (Nobody Understands)

Ghost Pipes - Aeolian Canon (Renaissance Counterpoint Species III)

Another Delicious Day In Cookie Forest (i-iv)

Impendectomy + [My Brother Wears A Pink Tie, His Mouth Full Of Black Sand As You Rest That (...)

Ambrosiacos

After I Clean Up This Mess

Machete Mile

A Powerful Blast

A Drifter In A Frozen Desert

An original electro-acoustic score for short film, Bloody Mary was conceived as a series of twenty compact miniature compositions that segue without pause between sections, with recurring themes and motives interwoven throughout.

Bloody Mary is a folklore legend historically consisting of a ghost, phantom, or spirit conjured to reveal the future. She is said to appear in a mirror when her name is chanted repeatedly. The Bloody Mary apparition may be benign or malevolent, depending on historic variations of the legend. Bloody Mary appearances are mostly "witnessed" in group participation play.

Historically, the divination ritual encouraged young women to walk up a flight of stairs backward holding a candle and a hand mirror, in a darkened house. As they gazed into the mirror, they were supposed to be able to catch a glimpse of the face of their future husband. There was, however, a chance that they would instead see a skull (or the face of the Grim Reaper), foreshadowing that they were going to die before they would have the chance to marry.

In the urban ritual of today, Bloody Mary allegedly appears to individuals or groups who ritualistically invoke her name in an act of catoptromancy (divination via use of a crystal or mirror). This is done by repeatedly chanting her name into a mirror placed in a dimly-lit or candle-lit room. In some traditions the name must be repeated a specified number of times (often recurring as 3, 7, 13). The Bloody Mary apparition reputedly appears as a corpse, witch or ghost; can be friendly or evil; and is sometimes covered in blood. Much lore surrounding the ritual states that participants may endure the apparition screaming at them, cursing them, strangling them, stealing their soul, drinking their blood, or scratching their eyes out.

The short film Bloody Mary (written and directed by Chris Almeida) proposes a world in which the apparition is not simply the one-dimensional horror character of classical urban lore. Rather, she is a complex, dynamic woman who lives like many of the rest of us. She is a regular person, walking among us. She experiences and shares in many relatable frustrations with the tedium of day-to-day life. However, many of her problems- relationships, jobs, bills, etc.- all stem from the same root: her inconvenient position of being the chosen one who blinks from existence in one space, instantaneously teleporting to another point in space to commit acts of unimaginable horror without hesitation or evidence of empathy or mercy; often without joy, but out of obligation. She seems alone; aware of peoples’ inability (or unwillingness) to empathize with the role she must play.

At its core, the musical accompaniment to "Bloody Mary" is designed to function as an audio extension of the blend of setting and character- as a product of the interactions in each particular scenario- so as to expand and enhance the quality and dimension of connection between the audience and the story.

Inspiration and motivation for the creative direction of this compositional project come from many influential modern composers including Bernard Herrmann, Angelo Badalamenti, Ennio Morricone, John Carpenter, Brian Eno, John Zorn, and Trey Spruance. 
credits

Bloody Mary

This album is comprised of material that was written and recorded in a variety of locations on the east and west coasts of the USA

All music written and recorded by Ken Topham at Beef Studio
ktopham.com

Mastered by Carl Saff
saffmastering.com

released July 3, 2020

all rights reserved

Captain Barnacle (Part 1)

“Synesthesia” is a collection of sounds, recorded by Ken Topham and several collaborators, arranged into musical pieces, representing audio interpretations of types of scents. The collaborators were given a list of scents from which to choose and interpret into sound. These sounds were arranged, accompanied, edited, and produced by Ken Topham at Beef Studio in Western Massachusetts, during the month of October, 2010.

ktopham.com

Mastered by Carl Saff
saffmastering.com

released July 3, 2020

all rights reserved

Alliaceos

Aromaticos

Nauseosos

Tetros

Hircinus

Fragrantes

Collaboration between Ken Topham and Kalyn Harewood. Ken plays all instruments. Kalyn sings. Written, recorded, and produced by Ken Topham. Mastered by Justin Pizzoferrato.

Just The Way (feat. Kalyn Harewood)

Nothing To Lose (feat. Kalyn Harewood)

Ken Topham is a world-renowned performer, composer, and educator of music.

Ken Topham

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