This site contains some solo and side projects. Four of the songs now playing are new, un-released recordings, available nowhere else. The other two tracks are from the CDs "Heaven Machine" and also "The 4th Wave" and they are currently available at www.DjamKaret.com
Many Thanks!
You can hear my acoustic group called FERNWOOD at:
www.myspace.com/FernwoodMusic
(or use the link in the FRIENDS section below)
And here are some other groups/sites I play in:
www.myspace.com/DjamKaret
www.myspace.com/UkabMaerd
Gayle Ellett plays: analog synths, electric guitar, flutes, bass, drums, field recordings, etc.
Below are some reviews, published in PROGRESSIVE WORLD, of two previously released CDs by The Masket Chamber:
"As opposed to "Heaven Machine", which consists of ten shorter pieces of music, here the composer tries to deliver the ultimate progressive rock solo album by means of "The 4th Wave", consisting of one track lasting just over 50 minutes.
All of the 35 different instruments heard here are performed by the composer, whether it concerns Moog or Mellotron, African hand drums or 12-string acoustic guitar, wind-up music box or answering machine - its all there. He describes his lengthy composition as "a dreamy journey for your mind as you travel through a never-ending mosaic pattern of barren deserts and swampy bug infested jungles and mingle with exotic urban crowds and howling coyotes." So expect a perfect blend of world music, ambient, electronic, and progressive, which would be ideal as a soundtrack. So why not close your eyes and let the music take you on its magical wings from one side of the world to the other, from one side of the universe to the other.
The sound of the acoustic twelve string is crystal clear and a treat to your ears, especially if youre wearing headphones (this album is a divine headphone experience!). Seen as a cross between Pink Floyds "Ummagumma" and Fripp & Enos "Evening Star", this album also includes its fair share of traditional ethnic instruments such as oud, gimbri, lute, suling, slit drum, wooden flute and clabbers, all to give it an extra dimension, a feeling even the best samples couldnt produce. Again he embraces his analogue synths and often picks up his distorted guitar to distinctively mark it with his exclusive audio initials. Seventeen minutes into the track and he displays heavenly Mellotron that seems to take over the entire aural landscape, overwhelming as only Mellotrons can! Then its full steam ahead for the ambient feel which hails back to the cosmic heydays of Ashra and Klaus Schulze, whilst also adding the tapeloop frenzy as made immortal by Robert Fripp.
Out of the synthesized wind comes the sound of a solitary acoustic guitar and it doesnt take you long to stand face to face with that famous joshua tree. Forty minutes into the piece and dogs are barking at industrial noise which gives him all the scope to fiddle with the Moogs modulation. In fact, the latter experiment comes closer to McCartneys audio "collage", released as Liverpool Sound Collage, than what we have earlier heard from the composers previous 20 CDs.
Again, its sad to know that, once the initial 250 copies are sold out, this release will be forever out-of-print. Hopefully, in centuries to come, aliens will unearth this beauty and send it to the other side of the universe by means of transcendental MP3!
Without going into detail where the instrumentation is concerned, on "Heaven Machine" one can clearly state that the e-bow is certainly back in business as are a multitude of different instruments. Those instruments mainly consist of analogue synths of which of course the Moog gets a royal treatment. Just listen to those typical Moog sounds in the opening track "Italian Horror Movie Soundtrack number 6" and you clearly get the picture.
The composer describes the Moog as the "heaven machine," hence the title for this album which consists of ten compact instrumentals ranging from uptempo elements to floating, dreamy atmospheres. "English Countryside" is exactly what the title implies focusing both on the vastness of the landscape as well as the majestic idea behind the English chauvinism. Its oscillators a-go-go during "Mosaic 2000" where he explores all of the Moog techniques as made immortal by a very young Rick Wakeman. Here the sound of the Moog alternates with "dirty" sounding guitar drowning in a pool of distortion. Wave sounds and guitar "arpeggios" make up the appropriately titled "Floating Arpeggios". The percussion at the end of the song makes way for the next song, which takes us to "Free Tibet", wind and all.
The wittily labeled "Transcendental Medication" turns the atmosphere completely around, as the song even becomes a bit funky, reminding me of the exclusive nature of a band like Air. In the same vein one can catalogue "Bill & Monica Shuffle" which sounds very contemporary by using a drum machine on one side and by also incorporating fragments of Clinton and Lewinskys version of "the facts" backed by great Moog sounds. The possibilities of the Moog are put to an extreme test when they are used to underline the brutality of the war in Kosovo, whilst pieces of text are interspersed to make it a musical documentary in "Kosovo". The composers wonderful diverse solo outing ends in an ethnic way with "Indian In The City" incorporating some wonderful tribal flute into a synthesized setting representing the urban jungle.
On this album, he has delivered a wonderful easy listening, all instrumental creation, which illustrates both his musical and compositional skills. Sadly it is very uncommercial to know this album has only been pressed on 250 copies and will never be pressed again once the initial run has dried up. Snap up the remaining copies fast. You wont regret it!"
Howdy,
I am producing another cool compilation fund-raiser CD for the Topanga Community House. And your music might be right for this project. But I can't even consider your music, if I don't have one of your CDs.
This is a collection of local Topanga bands, so at least one member of your group needs to be currently living in Topanga, to be considered for this CD.
Can you PLEASE send me your CD to my POBox 1421, Topanga, CA. 90290, so that I can see if its right for this project. No one is gonna get paid for this fund raiser, including me, but it is for a worthy cause!
Its going to be a fun, up-beat, dancey collection of local bands from Topanga.
The earlier one I produced: "Topanga, Music Of The Mountains" was filled with 18 ballads and mellow tunes, and sold over 700 copies so far, raised over $7,000, and gave all those artists great exposure for them and their music & websites, and is still available at Mimosas, Topanga HomeGrown, Hela Bela, and other locations around town.
Please write me back, and let me know when you're sending it to me, or contact me and I'll give you my home directions so you can drop off a disc (and save $ on mailing it to me).
Your pal,
Gayle
-3445
PS: Do you know any other cool Topanga groups that I should contact?
Thanks Gayle, I appreciate the kind words...I haven't been to any of the Progfests except the two I put together in Cleveland. Unless the Rick Ray Band is booked at one of those events it's hard to "just go" to one of those, not that I wouldn't want to, just so busy...I am a fan of Djam Karet by the way, maybe sometime we'll be booked at the same concert...thanks again.
Rick
Listen To The Rick Ray Band on Hard Axe
Thanks for supporting our cause! You can download our music for FREE!!!! So get it and spread the good word of Baghead. Sign up at our official site to be on our street team and we'll hook you up with more free promo gear to pass around if that sounds like something you'd be into!!!!! Thanks again for your support!!!!!!!
hello dear friends..,
Greetings from my Prog-Art-Sky!
...thank you for possibility to get acquainted.
Thank you also for your interest to my artworks...
You also always welcome to myspace!
Have a great Space!
All the best,
Online Now!
