[LAU] [Music] Prog supergroup's first outings

[Q]

Hail citizens!

M'colleague and I are proud to announce the first releases from Julius 
Quintus, LAU's least-productive prog supergroup (for which I am entirely 
to blame -- the productivity thing, that is, I'm only partially to blame 
for the music).

These were recorded at JQ's first recording session (and second ever 
meeting) in August 2010, in the UK.

Rough mixes were done three years ago, but they've languished ever 
since, basically waiting for me to get my arse into gear. An injury 
earlier in the year that rendered me unable to play, together with other 
personal circumstances, made it a good opportunity to revisit these two 
pieces and finally do them justice.

I'd like to take this opportunity to dedicate these two pieces to 
m'colleague, Julien, as a thank you for all the friendship and music 
we've shared, and as an apology for being so damn slow with everything. 
Those that can, make music: those that can't, make excuses. We have a 
good partnership: m'colleague makes the music and I have a batch of 
freshly made excuses specially prepared...

https://soundcloud.com/quirq-uk/julius-quintus-as-a-cloud
https://soundcloud.com/quirq-uk/julius-quintus-time-to-go

Details and other links further below. We hope you enjoy and, as always, 
comments are welcomed.

No capes, Persian rugs, curries, knives or ice rinks were harmed during 
the making of this music.

Ave,

Julius Quintus

---

AS A CLOUD PASSES THE SUN, SO MY LIFE TURNS GREY
This main bulk of this short piece was written in the studio in August 2010.

The flute was added later in August, following the main session. The 
take was only supposed to be a placeholder until a better one could be 
recorded, but so far that hasn't happened. So the flute playing is even 
crappier than is usual.

The guitar overdubs were the last to be done, being added in September 
2010 following an inspirational break in Orkney.


J: Black Grand piano, Virtual String Machine, M-Tron Pro (three violins, 
eight choir), drums
Q: guitars (SA503TVL, Les Paul), fretless bass, flute, percussion

Music: J&Q
Engineering, mixing & mastering: Q

SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/quirq-uk/julius-quintus-as-a-cloud

FLAC download:
http://juliencoder.de/nama/Julius_Quintus-As_A_Cloud_Passes_The_Sun_So_My_Life_Turns_Grey.flac

---

TIME TO GO [6:01]
This was a studio marmalade -- you can't really jam a full prog piece 
with two people -- recorded in August 2010.

Piano and guitar were laid down together with the string machine overdub 
quickly following (sadly not the real deal, since the studio wasn't 
equipped with real string machines until later). The next day, the drums 
were improvised/overdubbed, followed by the bass (improvising on a 
fretless was not the best of ideas and protestations were made!).

The improvised lead guitar part was overdubbed on the last full day in 
the studio, as it was beginning to dawn that it would soon be time to go 
and something needed to be laid down. It's the first take.

The other details were added during pre-production, which commenced this 
summer.


J: Black Grand piano, Virtual String Machine, drums
Q: guitars (SA503TVL), fretless bass, ChamberTron (female voice, male 
voice), M-Tron Pro (boys' choir, female choir, male choir), Little 
Phatty SII, Dark Energy, percussion

Music: J&Q
Engineering, mixing & mastering: Q

SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/quirq-uk/julius-quintus-time-to-go

FLAC download:
http://juliencoder.de/nama/Julius_Quintus-Time_To_Go.flac

---

Our special thanks go to, but are not limited to, all those behind: 
Ardour, Linuxsampler, Hydrogen, linuxDSP, Calf, Invada, zita, IR, SWH, 
Guitarix, ZamAudio, GForce Software, Sampletekk, NI, plus Ian Shepherd.