new Kurt Michaels cd set for Aprill 2007 release !!!

[Kurt Michaels]

*Release Source: Umbrello Records

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Outer Worlds - Live CD From Kurt Michaels Set For Release on Umbrello Records

March 12, 2007 — "[Music} is a force of nature - and if you are a musician, you are compelled to serve it." This concept is the one behind guitarist Kurt Michaels’ "music by accident" philosophy. That sort of approach is certainly best captured in the live performance, so it is fitting that Michaels’ Outer Worlds, Part Two (his Umbrello Records debut) is a live disc.

Discovering music during his childhood, the die was cast for Michaels to become a musician when the Beatles came to the United States. After thirty-five years in the business he can boast sharing the stage with the likes of Woldman Jack, Badfinger, Bobby Vinton, the Marvelletes, and the Chiffons. In 2004 all his experiences culminated in the independent release of Inner Worlds, Part One. That disc, described as "Olias of Sunhillow meets The Prisoner," earned rave reviews and got him names as U-Magazine’s 2004 Ambient Artist of the Year.

Outer Worlds, Part Two is compiled from archives of shows performed between 2004 and 2006. The live nature in itself makes it a change from its predecessor. It serves both as a new way of looking at Michaels’ musical vision and a continuation of the foundations that the debut established.

Michaels explained the process of creating the live music this way, ""It took me a year to figure out how to approach a live performance in the spirit of Inner Worlds. Since I didn't have the desire to recreate art I'd already done, I decided to take the opposite approach, and use live performances as an opportunity to let people experience me creating new music. In other words, the shows are completely improvised--something very common amongst ambient/electronic musicians."

He continued by saying that, "rather than simply interact with myself [Inner Worlds was purely solo], I usually involve one other musician (a keyboardist), mostly Jim Gully, (although performances by John Melnick and Michael Cosentino are also featured on Outer Worlds). These excursions are not for everyone, but for me it was the most natural way to approach a live performance in the spirit of Inner Worlds. A lot of the music I immersed myself in while growing up, emphasized improvisation, particularly in live settings (Hendrix, Cream, Mahavishnu, Chick Corea, Miles Davis etc), so really this was a trip down a road I was already quite familiar with."

Outer Worlds is set to be released on April 17th in Europe and April 24th in North America. Live audiences have gotten to experience Michaels’ "fourth dimensional" playing first hand. Now the rest of the world can, too.


Websites –www.kurtmichaels.com, www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.asp?epk_id=62626, www.myspace.com/kurtmichaels1, www.umbrellorecords.com
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[Kurt Michaels]

The Ho-fest continues on, as the first review is posted on Music Street Journal:

http://www.musicstreetjournal.com/kurtmichaelsouterworlds.htm


Kurt Michaels – Outer Worlds

as reviewed by Rick Damigella


Overall Review

If there is one thing that I really enjoy musically is a great mixture of guitar and electronic instrumentation. Whether it be classics like Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, the ambient recordings of The KLF or even the new age dreaminess of the music of Lanz and Speer. The new release from Kurt Michaels called Outer Worlds features elements of all of these styles of music in various forms. The album has a decidedly spacey, new age quality to it with some truly inspired guitar sections throughout.

What is positively unique about Outer Worlds as a listening experience is the fact it was recorded live. Not just live in a studio mind you. These improvisational recordings were done on stage, which you would never guess at first since the recordings are so clean. There is not a bit of the airy feel of a concert recording so one can only imagine the sound comes from a direct mixing desk recording. The first three tracks were done when Michaels toured in support of The Syn, featuring Chris Squire and Alan White of Yes.

This might be going out on a limb, but the music really feels like a living, breathing entity when you listen. It evolves and changes shape at random like sonic chaos theory come to life, yet with such melody that the term “chaos” doesn’t fit. It pulsates, drones and sings. It rises and falls. It breathes in a sense. Indeed, Michaels has been quoted as calling music “a force of nature” and it would seem from this release, he has helped bring to life a truly unique being and listening experience.



Track by Track Review




Senor Wences: Doubtfully this song has anything to do with the only genius in Hollywood (please see “America’s Sweethearts” if you don’t get the joke). Starting off with shimmering ambient synthesizers, the “4th dimensional” guitar of Kurt Michaels joins the sound very quickly. Dreamlike, trancelike and spacey, the overall sound is quite unlike anything you are likely to hear anytime soon. This piece would be an amazing thing to visualize in a classic Lazerium show. Running nearly 14 minutes in length it is by far not the longest piece here, but it is one of the most complex and well composed.


Lamb Chop: Where the synths on the previous song were purely spacey in nature, here they are a bit more watery and new agey in feeling. The guitar of Michaels is once again soaring, wailing and altogether otherworldly. One might almost think they were synth based too, except that midway through the piece, you can hear actual picking as opposed to the long, melodic notes he holds and bends in his unique style.


Chucky: A much more mainstream sounding melody opens this piece, not surprisingly as it sounds very much like Michaels is riffing on the song “Linus and Lucy” (perhaps more popularly known as the Charlie Brown Theme) by Vince Guaraldi. The shortest song on the album, it is also the most mainstream sounding because of the popular source material.


Jade Princess: The sound of this number is even more unique in its Eastern flavor. One can almost imagine seeing the Princess walking amongst the temple gardens at the break of day whilst listening to this composition. The soaring, multi toned guitars are back on this number. I mentioned earlier the new age music of David Lanz and Paul Speer. This number more than any other reminds me of their style however the sound overall is uniquely Kurt Michaels.


Hitch Hiker on Venus: The dissonant, stretched guitar notes are not nearly as dreamlike and spacey here. Relying much less on synths and more on his six-strings, Michaels paints an ambient picture of the planet as a lonely and mysterious place. It's one where the hitch hiker is likely not to find a ride any time soon.


One: Wow - just wow. This is a nearly 44 minute long epic. Yes, that long. I can only imagine how amazing it would have been to see this performed live. Frankly the audience should have sat riveted to their seats as Michaels and his keyboard accompaniment gently flowed their way through this lengthy number. It features more shifts in style than you can realistically keep track of. Very ambient at its core, this features a wonderful mixture of synth and guitar. At one moment it is quiet and almost still in its sound and the next it has transitioned into a tone that could have come from a late 70’s sci-fi movie. Minutes later you are led back down a photo realistic green garden path in the dew kissed morning only to be taken quickly into a realm of dreamlike bell tones. This barely begins to touch on the myriad of moods which Kurt Michaels brings to life. What is quite astounding about this particular piece is that, despite the numerous stylistic changes, the performance holds together quite well. None of the shifts are jarring or take you out of the moment. That is exactly what a progressive ambient number like this should do. It's challenging to the ear yet relaxing at the same time. This is not recommended while behind the wheel, but gets the highest possible recommendation for listening with ear phones so you achieve the full effect.

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British residents can buy from Amazon UK.

Or you can download the music from Apple's iTunes.

Or you can download the music from Yahoo Music, with a free trial for the service.


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©2007, Music Street Journal

[elektro80]

Excellent review!

[Kurt Michaels]

Well people....the final count down is on for the "Outer Worlds" release party this Saturday, April 28th at Vine Tastings in Roselle, IL. While I know it won't be possible for many of you to be there, I hope we'll get a chance to hook up somewhere down the road. Here's the info for this Saturday:

Vine Tastings
123 E. Main Street • Roselle, IL 60172
Phone: 630.529.1825 • Fax: 630.529.1826

Event begins at 7:00 pm.....If you are coming, be there a bit early, as the seating could become scarce.

Here's a link that will tell you a little bit about Vine Tastings:

http://www.vinetastings.com

There is no cover charge on this event and plenty of parking off to either side of the building. The festivities are scheduled to occur from 7pm - 10 pm. I expect to be sharing a couple of stories, and of course, playing some music. We'll have copies of Outer Worlds available as well. ......

Other dates coming up:

electro-music 2007 - Sunday June 3rd, 2007 in Philadelphia PA
my performance is at 3:45 pm
http://event.electro-music.com/

M.A.R.S Festival - Saturday June 9th, 2007 in Milwaukee, WI
just added, no details yet
http://www.myspace.com/marsfestival2007

See you there?

KMCc:)

www.myspace.com/kurtmichaels1
www.kurtmichaels.com

[Kurt Michaels]

For anyone that is interested, this week on Wednesday May 23rd at 8 pm EST on Delicious Agony Progressive Rock Radio, Don Cassidy (host of the popular Yes themed South Side of the Sky show) will be airing an interview I did with him last week. I think he will also be playing tracks from my new cd "Outer Worlds" as well. The chat room there is usually a lot of fun and I do intend to hang out there on Wednesday.
Delicious Agony can be accessed at www.deliciousagony.com and offers all kinds of ways to get the stream.

A few weeks back on 4/28/07 we did the cd release party here in Chicago, and had a great time with it. Fritzie happened to capture the entire event on his camcorder, and has graciously made the audio available to me. I was able to harvest 5 tracks from this and I'm going to put them up (one by one in rotation) on my MySpace page (at www.myspace.com/kurtmichaels1 ) and enable them for downloading. The first track from the release party that I'm posting is called "About The Round"...and if you listen to it carefully, you'll see why! I'll probably leave it up for a week or two before posting the next one.

Coming up next: electro-music 2007 festival in Philadelphia on June 3rd..more to follow shortly!

KMCc:)

www.myspace.com/kurtmichaels1
www.kurtmichaels.com