This will be my first full album that I plan to release widely to other platforms. It has been a couple of years since I've put out an LP or EP. After holding off for a while I feel I've finally reached a critical mass of recent songs that fit together into a cohesive final product here. If you've been following me and keeping up with my semi-weekly song releases then everything here will sound pretty familiar, but it was a fun exercise to construct the flow how this all fits together.

Listen now on SoundCloud/BandCamp... out soon on Spotify, Apple Music, etc.!

Earth Anthem (NEW ALBUM 2023)

Photo credit to Mike Lewinski (CC BY 2.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ikewinski/8667690822

Head In The Clouds

I recently picked up Korg Module Pro so spending a bit more time within the Gadget ecosystem for this one, although it does still incorporate a few lines using the Minilogue XD. 

The image is from Yellowstone National Park and the crazy colors are from extremophile bacteria. credit to Filip Goč CC BY 2.0, found on Flickr.

Chemotrophic

This is another track that started with a quirky volca drum beat. This time most of the melodic layers were made with Korg Module, and virtual synths from Moog including the Model 15 and the Model D. I also used a variety of other soft synths and a little bit of the Minilogue XD.

Cover image credit: Stewartbaird CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Lighter than Air

I usually don't sit on unreleased tracks... but this one started last Winter as a proposed collaboration that never came together. After giving it another listen recently, it resonated with me as an especially good track to put out during the week of the Summer Solstice! This is my favorite time of year and I'm finding there is something really nostalgic about this one. Once again the minilogue xd is heavily featured.

Cover image credit to Richard Rydge (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), found on Flickr.

Summer Skies

This is my first track working with my new hardware synth, the Arturia Microfreak! It's my second major synth purchase, and it has lots of interesting routing capabilities(a bit of a semi-modular design based around a digital matrix system). I know I'm barely scratching the surface with it on this track, which also features the trusty minilogue xd and lots of vst instruments such as the Animoog Z and the Arp Odyssey.

Image credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (CC BY 2.0)

Ocean Currents

@grevusanjl a.k.a. Justin and I have collaborated only once before, resulting in this track posted to his account that features a really fun fusion of styles and moods: https://soundcloud.com/grevusanjl/atman-and-the-atomics-vs-the-poly-ticks-tea-are-sea-grevusanjl 

Since on the earlier track he had made the initial stems, we figured we'd do a reversal on this one. I created a weird sampled beat that had some vocal elements in them and some initial synth melodies. Then he added to and fleshed out those parts into this really cool funky flowing alien-sounding beat!

It's always a fun and creative process working with Justin. And I also really appreciate his collaborative spirit when coming up with titles and concepts.

Full credit to Justin on the final artwork here. It was created using WOMBO Dream. https://www.wombo.art/
Since I am a fan of creative apps on the tablet, I'm looking forward to giving it a try myself.

Hope you will enjoy this change of pace, thanks for listening!

Venusian Vox On The Rox - with GrevusAnjl

I'm getting deeper into sound design with the new synth, the arturia microfreak! ... had fun with this one layering multiple patches on top of one another. I also used the korg minilogue xd and a handful of korg soft synths.

After GrevusAnjl recommended it, I'm also experimenting a ton with AI-generated artwork using the WOMBO dream app which I used to produce the cover art on this track.

As always, thanks for listening!

Metaplasticity

This is a weird one! It started with a little loop I built on the microfreak sequencer, then I added drums and some minilogue parts, as well as e. piano from Korg Module.

Once again the art was generated with the AI app Wombo Dream.

Earth Anthem

Hello all, we are excited to share with you the final installment in the mega-collaborative pyschedelic fantasy concept album project 'Land of the Zed', from the group that we have now dubbed the Smoking Trout. Uziel, Stonerjazz and myself were involved in all 10 installments. We had other friends plug in along the way, including some new names this time around: Nic and Nadia Selvaggi. Special thanks to Jo Richter for contributing to the vocals as well. Thanks to all who participated, listened, and commented!
We had too much fun to stop here, so don't be surprised if we start another Zed concept album. 

Here is the full album on Bandcamp! 
https://thesmokingtrout.bandcamp.com/

Or you can listen on SoundCloud if you prefer:
soundcloud.com/tea_are_sea/sets/land-of-the-zed
Cheers,
Terry
---
Jeff / Stonerjazz @user-911083679 contributed
Lyrics, 
Lead vocals
Drums and bass during the second half
Background guitar during the first half

Uziel @user-455619833 contributed
Piano
Background vocals

Nic @nic_nic_nic contributed
Background vocals
Guitar during the second half

Nadia Selvaggi @nadiaselvaggi contributed
Operatic vocals during intro and outro
Background piano during intro

Terry / TRC @tea_are_sea produced and added
Drums-percussion during the first half
Synths and experimental sounds

Jo Richter / Sonic Structures and Silent Stretches @sonic-textures
Wrote a poem that Stonerjazz adapted into verse III. 

Cover art produced using Wombo Dream

LYRICS:
I.
Amanita Amanita Aminita Muscaria, we're so happy, we're so happy yes we're so happy that your in the area
Amanita amantia amanita muscaria.
The clinical psychologist says it's in his head
that's why that boy won't get out of bed
He's dreaming of a journey taken to the land of Zed
and a magical Accordion.
Amanita singing songs of the land of Zed
singing songs in Johnny's head.
Amanita Amanita Amanita Muscaria
we're so happy, yes we're so happy you're in the Area.
Well two clarinet players named Sally and Roberta
and a monkey named Steve
came up to Johnny and said
"Johnny we think it's time to leave; we're out of water and we're outa Bread
and all of us are damn near dead.
So Johnny Thought for a moment and he said Okay.
then he sat down on boulder and started to play
that golden magic accordion.

II.
amanita amanita amanita muscaria
A crack appeared in the side of the wall
and exposed a magnificent Hall,
a fountain appeared in the middle, gushing crystalline clear water so sweet and so pure.
And as each traveler had their drink, they did proceed to disappear.
Johnny had a drink and then he woke up in his bed
in his room
in his house
in his state
in his country
in his world.

III.
ln ths welcomeless abode where tenants rights perptually erode
where bills are paid by humiliation and toil.
The air is full of burning oil
Where street lights outshine the moon
And dust has more rights than me
Awoken by faint sirens in the caccaphony
Whow is me who played that accorrdion for free
I fed the starving with golden tune and lifted up the many with melodies refined.
And hope spread golden
In keys made light
Humbled here and squandered in this wretched flight

IV.
Though in a way, this is a comfy place
And quaint.
And yet it feels like restraint that keeps me from the land of Zed
From where I wish I'd never fled.
How I long for how I yearn for rat and crow and monkey too
And even Roy who loves those blues.
And my accordion nowhere in sight occassionally late at night
Sings in the clouds and I remain within my shrouds
While smiling secretly with knowledge of a Gate
In my vicinity.

Amanita Muscaria (Land of the ZED #10) w/ Stonerjazz, Uziel, Nic, Nadia Selvaggi, and Jo Richter

This track is built on top of a sequence that I produced with the microfreak sequencer which I was quite happy with. The drum track was created in Korg Gadget and many of the added synth lines are from the minilogue.

"A cascading failure is a failure in a system of interconnected parts in which the failure of one or few parts leads to the failure of other parts, growing progressively as a result of positive feedback." - Wikipedia

Cascading Error

This is my first collaboration with Clive / @winkandwoo 
We decided to make a song after he commented on the artwork for another one of my tracks (Metaplasticity) where he said it looked like a 'chewing gum sea'. I suggested it was a great song name so went for it. I am super happy with the results, hope you'll enjoy it too!

Lyrics :-
What is reality?
With these marshmallow clouds
Lollypops are all around
The trees are candy canes
There is sherbet on the ground
We swim so far
In the chewing gum sea
We swim so far

Chewing Gum Sea - Winkandwoo & tea are sea

This is the first track I've completed with Noxpox @noxpox-page10 ! I've wanted to work with other of his open collabs but never quite landed anything before now. 

His original open collab track can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/noxpox-page10/noxpox-german-beats-open-collab

The original is an epic 12 and a half minutes long. I had so much fun with it that I just kept adding song sections and letting the synth melodies evolve as it moves along. My track is just 6 minutes. Still pretty long for me, and with a bit of a progressive song structure to it that evolves as it goes. Thanks for checking it out!

Choppy Waters - German Beats collab with Noxpox

Finally working the Volca Drum back into the mix after not having used it for a little while. I like the lofi effect it gives the drum beat. With this track I leaned a little heavier into the Vital VST I've been experimenting with, also used the old minilogue and microfreak. Thanks for listening!

Homeostatic Imbalance

Continuing to go deeper in exploring unique electro textures, many of the melodic lines contain at least 3 synth patches/instruments layered on top of each other (Minilogue XD, Microfreak, Korg Gadget, Animoog Z, Zeeon, Vital and more, with the underlying beat constructed in Korg Gadget)

Global Awareness

It's a huge honor to work with the great ROOTS DUBMAN @dubman-9 on our first collaboration! He sent me a really inspiring couple of tracks that I built from to construct this psychedelic space odyssey. Hopefully there will be more to come from the two of us!

A Million Miles Away - w/ ROOTS DUBMAN

Kind of a laidback synth jam, I worked in more of the Zeeon synth plugin that I've been finding really useful lately, it has really excellent analogue modeling. Also made good use of the trusty minilogue xd and microfreak of course. Cheers!

Path of Least Resistance

Had a lot of fun with this one! Going a little deeper with the Volca drum, and again using lots of minilogue and microfreak.

Liquefaction

I'm very happy to release this new track with @enigmacurry !
I always really enjoy the results when the two of us get together. Check out this playlist on his page to find all of our past collabs: https://soundcloud.com/enigmacurry/sets/tea-are-sea

Credit for the art goes to Ryan/enigma

Thanks for listening!

Cyclic Blues - w/ Enigma Curry

Been working on this one for a little while, nice to finally post it!

Reverberations

My second track collaborating with the great E.P. Beats! ...  @lala-land-361191160

He sent me the drum loop this one is built on a couple months ago. I tried a few approaches, but was happiest with this one that layers sequencer parts from both of my hardware synths overlapping. It's a bit of a different style than what I usually work with, hope you will enjoy listening.

Neurotransmitter w/ E.P. Beats

Hey friends! The crew that brought you 'Land of Zed' is back to launch a new collaborative concept album adventure! After wrapping our last project, Uziel, Stonerjazz and I dubbed ourselves 'The Smoking Trout'. The 3 of us are just the founding members of this group. Like last time we plan to bring in lots of guest appearances.

This first track is an instrumental. There will be more world building and myth making on subsequent episodes... The Quest for the Holy Dumpling follows a traveling band of characters, some new and some that have already made appearances in other songs. For example Sally and Roberta are the 2 clarinet players that make a cameo in the final Zed song, Amanita Musaria. This track is their cosmic call to action to open the new album. Thanks for checking it out!

Uziel @user-455619833 contributed much of the instrumentation on the second half, including the 'clarinet' lead, the guitar sounding elements, and the percussion that kicks in during the final leg of the song... and also gets lots of credit for developing the mix.

Stonerjazz @user-911083679 contributed the trippy mellotron lead and other experimental melodic elements that you hear during the first half of the track.

I contributed the drums and synth elements that persist across both halves of the song, and finalized the mix.

Sally & Roberta's Cosmic Call (Smoking Trout: Quest for the Holy Dumpling #1) w/ Uziel, Stonerjazz

It has been a little while since I've used my little Volca Drum machine on a track. I think it gives a lofi kind of industrial feel to a lot of the tracks that I've experimented with it on, including this one!

Machine Learning

This one sounds a bit mysterious to me, so I'll let you come up with your own interpretation. As always, thanks for listening!

In the Vicinity

Bright Nights, Dim Days

This is my first collaboration with @mralchemy !

I love what he did with the stems I sent him, there are some super cool transitions in this song, gives a really interesting feel to the mix, hope you will enjoy it too.

Breathing Underwater - w/ Mr. Alchemy

Bent Out Of Shape

Hey music friends, this is my very first open collaboration. I've been meaning to to do one for a little while now but was waiting for a track to come along that has enough open space for additions but that can also kind of stand on it's own. I thought this one fit the bill. It's a minimal beat that I created using the Volca Drum with just a few melodic lines produced in Korg Gadget. One of the lines is accentuated with the Minilogue. I hope a few of you will be inspired to try working with it!

Feel free to use the elements in anyway you would like--  just the drums, just the melodies, or any combination. I would appreciate a reference to my artist name and ideally a link back to the original track. Please send me a link to anything you make and I'll add it to this running playlist... https://soundcloud.com/tea_are_sea/sets/earth-sky-open-collaborations 

You can download the stems here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10rahX42DUUsbSinXgjcOSckqJY5kXupo?usp=share_link

BPM = 59.5 (or 119)
Key is E minor.

Earth & Sky - OPEN COLLAB

The Quest for the Holy Dumpling is the second concept album from the Smoking Trout, a SoundCloud collaborative band started by me, Stonerjazz (Jeff), and Uziel in 2021. We build these albums by releasing one song at a time, so the story is a work-in-progress. This is the first track on the new album to contain words/lyrics so it's really kind of launching a new tale that we'll continue to develop over the next year or who knows how long! In addition to Jeff and Uziel, we were fortunate to be joined by TexMexShaman (Stephen) and Sonic Structures and Silent Stretches (Jo Richter). For me, this was a really rewarding collaboration and perhaps one of my favorite tracks I've been involved with. Thank you so much to all who contributed. See below for more detailed credits (in chronological order of when each person contributed to the track) and to read Jeff's fantastic lyrics.

If you're interested you can find our first completed album, the Land of Zed by going to the 'albums' tab on my page or by looking up 'the smoking trout' on BandCamp. 

Stonerjazz (Jeff) @user-911083679 
Lyrics, Lead vocals, bass, and cowbell percussion

Tea R. Sea (Terry) @tea_are_sea 
Synthesizers, quirky percussion hits, production

Sonic Structures and Silent Stretches (Jo) @sonic-textures
Additional drums and percussion, especially on second half

TexMex Shaman (Stephen)@texmex-shaman
Guitar

Uziel @user-455619833 contributed
Background vocals, fluttering and modulated clarinet sounds 


lyrics:

you may have heard the creaking noise and tiny footsteps n the darkened corridors
that stretch to the southern boundaries of the unpolluted parts
where souls are living with total disregard for the nature of the Holy Dumpling
floating on the cosmic stew that simmers horizontally to your soul ln your heart

Traveling with the HOBO CYBERPUNKS, l learn a thing or two from the leader of the band Cosmic Stu who n a wild tangent and a Rant, described a different spot
a flthy plot, lnvaded by tribe of bots, who stank of superficiality
an opportunity that he lost

The teachers teach ln empty auditoriums to pupils lost ln 4 inch screens
sequestered ln squalid scenes, that go unnoticed as useless lnformaton ls gobbled up and gobbled down ln every home and every town
Put the monster down and walk away He sald
lron John ls not afraid of the queen
and even though the prlnce ls doomed
the purpose doesn't change

let me introduce you to some members of the band
there's Sally and Roberta who play the clarinet with beauty and with Grace
who plays the violin and Viola who makes the Djembe
bounce around the brain
with subliminal referrels to her pleasure and her paln
The horns are played by the twlns
Maurece and Nostradamus, their trumpeting sublime

the accordlan of course ls played by Johnny who you might remember from the land of Zed, He did eventually get out of bed and sald
Ths reminds me of a time when thngs were real and l could feel the rope of
hope wrapped firmly around and round my throat
before l knew the truth about the Lle
before l knew the meaning of goodbye

Now Stu he claimed to know or knew the whereabouts of the holy condiment that grew only
just outside his windowsill (and was essential to the Dumpling's flavor)
where he lived ln another life with Mary-Ann his ex-wife
who left hm for a guy named Sid who was a maestro on guitar
and had a band that traveled wide and far
including Mary Ann, and Larry too

Looking for that very thing
Hoping for just one bite
of that heavenly delight
before the turning of the light

The Holy Dumpling (Smoking Trout #2) w/ STONERJAZZ, TexMex Shaman, Uziel, Jo Richter

Altered Perspective

Lithosphere

Hello! On this page you'll find my solo and collab tunes plus music from the collaborative SoundCloud band, The Smoking Trout.

Genre influences include electronic, downtempo, lofi, experimental, rock, blues, indie, prog, post rock, ambient, synthwave, trip hop, and hip hop. I make tracks primarily with Cubasis and Korg Gadget (iOS); Ableton Live; Korg and Moog softsynths, Volca Drum, Minilogue XD, Arturia Microfreak, and Vital, along with a variety of ipad and vst instruments. I recently started using FabFilter Pro mixing tools.

Hope you will check out some of my collaborators!

@user-911083679 - STONERJAZZ
@user-455619833 - Uziel
@grevusanjl
@dubman-9
@enigmacurry
@winkandwoo
@mralchemy
@dough-factory
@jerome-hearn-994307260
@zed4209819
@lala-land-361191160 - E.P. Beats
@llanpsych
@ruizzoidman21centurions
@sonic-textures
@Ladyofire
@nic_nic_nic
@nadiaselvaggi
@sonic-textures
@chefboyextreme
@scilentsymphony
@azealotrous
@pablomoretti
@prof-oddfellow - Neons Gone a Mad
GMO / Green Mercurial Owl 

I have been inspired by Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Tycho, DJ Shadow, Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, the Flaming Lips, Tame Impala,M83, Godspeed you Black Emperor!, Mogwai, Pink Floyd, Animal Collective, Nicolas Jaar, Dirty Projectors, Massive Attack, Björk, Dan the Automator, Del, the Gorillaz, Reggie Watts, Ween, Neon Indian, Ott, Shpongle, Danger Mouse, Built to Spill, Yo La Tengo, Velvet Underground, My Bloody Valentine, Modest Mouse, Tool, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Hendrix, the Books, and too many others to list here.

Thanks so much for stopping by and listening!

Tea R. Sea

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