The Dry Well

Collection Contents

#		Title	Length
1		Two-Thirds God	3:15	Play
2		Descent of Inanna	8:39	Play
3		Under	5:35	Play
4		For Want of a Nail	7:56	Play
5		Valence	8:24	Play
6		The Dry Well	15:40	Play

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Description	Amount
Bitmunk Marketplace Service	USD $0.88
CD Baby Artist Royalty	USD $5.37
CD Baby 9% Digital Distribution Cost	USD $0.49
Bitmunk Download Service	USD $0.64
Bitmunk MicroPayment Service	USD $0.01
Total	USD $7.36

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Description

The Dry Well is a dark and emotionally charged work of musique concrete, created by extreme digital processing of acoustic sound sources.

The first three tracks ("Two-Thirds God", "Descent of Inanna", and "Under") are based on the Epic of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian legend that may be the oldest surviving work of literature. They evoke ritual, mythic journey, and the transition from the material to the spiritual realm.

The last three tracks ("For Want of a Nail", "Valence", and "The Dry Well"), by contrast, are based on the formal idea of achieving as much as possible with severely limited means. Every sound in the three pieces originated from a kalimba (African thumb piano) built by one Molly Clark, age 8. From this child's instrument, a wealth of sound was created, gradually moving away from "natural" kalimba tone and toward the realm of pure noise.

Some review excerpts:

Probably one of the greatest feats a musician can accomplish is to overpower their listener and take them inside the world they have created, making them experience their music in more ways that just aurally... [Walters] has succeeded at it quite brilliantly..... An intense work that will undoubtedly enthrall fans of dark ambient and experimental music, The Dry Well creates its own unique atmosphere. It's visual music for your ears. (Parabrisas)

Truly fascinated, I found myself completely absorbed in the aural world of Tim Walters.... Well articulated and structured, these pieces create sonic experiences that will resonate profoundly between the ears. (imr)

Much of the time as I listen to this music I think of late nights spent alone as a child without adult supervision as I listened to the house creak and sway in the wind. There is a great deal of reminiscent quality within distinct pieces of sound present on this album that I can readily identify having experienced throughout my life. I find it both eerie and vaguely ecstatic that I find myself going through deja vu while playing this album in the background while accomplishing many of my daily tasks. Tim Walters has done an excellent job of quantifying musically many of the memories evoked by sound whether intentional or otherwise. (Sonic Boom)

Tim Walters has a "handle" on this art - I greatly enJOYed his work, and those of you out there who aren't AFRAID to travel new paths will, too! For those inclined to explore, this is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! (Improvijazzation Nation)

Ever wonder what it sounds like *inside* that trash can icon on your desktop? Tim Walters knows. The Dry Well is deep and hollow with digital echoes, and trashy metallic samples (including, prominently, a kalimba) provide much of the source material. No pop music roots are detectable: The texture mutates continuously, the way they teach you when you study electroacoustic composition techniques in college--and indeed, much of the album was realized at the Mills College Center for Contemporary Music. The gaps in "Valence" are a Cageian meditation on unpredictability. (Keyboard)

Intense electroacoustic music, this, derived from unlikely sources, stark, shuddering and resonant. Blitz your ears stuff really, though very well done. Somewhere betwixt the harsher scrapings of early Nurse With Wound and Iancu Dumitrescu. (Audion)

This is digitally conceived Neo-Pagan vomit. And I've never tasted vomit this good. Based around the Epic of Gilgamesh, "Two-Thirds God", "Descent of Inanna", and "Under" are part of a collaboration with choreographer Marti Johnston that make for dramatic, spiritually-based sonic eruptions. Kee Kille's wailing vocals are the icing on the cake. All the soundz on the last 3 tracks originate from a Kalimba built by an 8 year old girl, along with effects of course. In the last track, "The Dry Well", the Kalimba itself is rarely recognizable because the derived soundz are so processed. It's all very multilayered, Twilightzonish, at times feedbacky, and often downright grating. And therein lies its power. Intercept this screaming beam of Post-New Age steam. And fill yer void. OK? (Sonar Map)