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Barry Cleveland's guitar playing combines psychedelic, ambient, progressive, funk, and various "world" music influences with unusual sounds created using unorthodox playing techniques and electronic processing.
Cleveland released his first commercial album on Larry Fast's Audion Recording Company label in 1986. Mythos combined layers of guitar with Bob Stohl and Kat Epple's woodwinds, synthesizers, and light percussion; and Michael Masley's otherworldly bowhammer cymbalom. The CD received glowing reviews in Option, Jazziz, the Stereo Review Compact Disc Buyer's Guide, and numerous other publications.
Voluntary Dreaming, released on Scarlet Records in 1989, also met with critical acclaim. The music had an electronic edge—Cleveland played samplers and synths in addition to electric and acoustic guitars—but also encroached upon world music territory with the addition of Michael Pluznick's African and Middle Eastern percussion. Michael Masley's bowhammer cymbalom, and Robert Powell's pedal-steel guitar, added exotic harmonic and melodic touches.
During the '90s Cleveland began a parallel career in journalism. Between 1996 and 2002 he worked in various editorial capacities and wrote dozens of articles and product reviews for Mix, Electronic Musician, and Onstage magazines. In mid-2002 he joined the staff of Guitar Player magazine, where he continues to serve as an associate editor. Cleveland's first book, Creative Music Production: Joe Meek's Bold Techniques, was published by MixBooks in the Fall of 2001.
The '90s were a busy time musically as well. Cleveland performed with the improvisational quintet Cloud Chamber, a group which included multi-instrumentalist Michael Masley, bassist Michael Manring, cellist Dan Reiter, and percussionist Joe Venegoni. Cloud Chamber performed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area over a period of several years, and released its critically acclaimed Dark Matter CD (produced by Cleveland) in 1998. During this time Cleveland also recorded material that would eventually appear on Volcano and Memory & Imagination.
Volcano is an explosive mixture of African and Afro-Haitian rhythms and progressive, jazz, ambient, and world music elements, featuring Michael Manring (bass), Michael Pluznick (percussion), Norbert Stachel (winds/reeds/EWI), Michael Masley (cymbalom/original instruments), and other extraordinary artists. The 2-CD Memory & Imagination features the very best of Cleveland's critically acclaimed Voluntary Dreaming and Mythos albums on one disc, and nine loop-based improvisational guitar and percussion compositions, performed almost entirely by Cleveland, on the other.
Cleveland is currently recording new material (this time with lyrics) for an upcoming CD. Featured artists include bassist Michael Manring, drummer Celso Alberti, pedal-steel guitarist Robert Powell, and vocalist Amy X Neuburg. Unmastered mixes of “Suicide Train” (featuring vocals by Cleveland), "Lake of Fire," "Money Speaks" (both featuring vocals by Amy X Neuburg), and a cover of "Telstar" by Joe Meek (with a vocal by Amy at the end) are posted above. Comments are welcome!
Click on the song titles below to hear/download samples of music from Volcano and Memory & Imagination.
Volcano
1. Makanda (4:50)
2. Tongue of Fire (5:36)
3. Secret Prescriptions of the Bedroom (5:40)
4. Black Diamond Express (4:10)
5. Ophidian Waves (5:32)
6. Obsidian Night (5:32)
7. Volcano (4:51)
8. Rhumbatism (4:42)
9. Dervish Circles (6:30)
10. Dark Energy (5:10)
Memory & Imagination
Disc One
1. Voluntary Dreaming (7:15)
2. Ritual Sticks (5:53)
3. Visual Purple (2:26)
4. The Inward Spiral (3:13)
5. Cleopatra's Needle (2:34)
6. Hawk Dreaming (4:33)
7. Aeon (5:00)
8. Abrasax (7:05)
9. Mythos (19:10)
10. Voluntary Dreaming/Alternate Mix (7:15)
Disc Two
1. Still Smiling (3:13)
2. Signless (3:25)
3. Snakey Jake (4:05)
4. Bottoms Up (3:23)
5. Lucid Mirrors of Eroticism (3:17)
6. Memory & Imagination (24:24)
7. Echoes on Echoes (4:57)
8. Stones of Precious Water (5:21)
9. Indigo Runes (5:51)
Direct CD and book sales may be found
HERE
Music by Barry Cleveland and Cloud Chamber may be downloaded at Apple iTunes:
VOLCANO
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MEMORY & IMAGINATION
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DARK MATTER (Cloud Chamber)
CDs by Barry Cleveland may also be purchased from CD Baby:
VOLCANO | MEMORY & IMAGINATION
EXCERPTS FROM REVIEWS
"There's little doubt that Cleveland has a full command of his instrument, both as a player and a shaper of sound, utilizing all manner of processing to create sounds that are at times distinctly un-guitarlike. ... But what is most revealing about his approach, as evidenced by Volcano, is that Cleveland sees the guitar more as a means to an end rather than the end itself. ... (Cleveland's music) isnt fusion per se, but it has some fusion elements, in particular some of Cleveland's guitar tones; it isn't exactly
progressive, yet some of the complexities and thematic development might make it so; it isn't specifically world music, although the multi-rhythmic approach, melodies, and some textures certainly would place it within that definition; and it isn't jazz by any stretch of the imagination, yet collective improvisation plays a large part. ... In the end, it's an appealingly multilayered aural experience that continues to reveal new things with every listen."
John Kelman, All About Jazz
"Barry Cleveland's third album as a leader finds the
renowned guitarist and composer exploring the nuances
of rhythm. Drawing from a varied palette of
traditions, timbres and tonalities, Volcano bridges
the impressionist leanings of his previous releases
with a more audacious, kinetic approach. Listeners
will appreciate the disc's pulsing rhythms,
inter-weaving melodies, and layers of evocative
atmospheres."
Anil Prasad, innerviews.org
"Barry Cleveland's highly imaginative and resplendent guitar playing incorporates elements from a panoply of sources including, but certainly not limited to psychedelic special f/x, progressive rock, ambient and new age soundscapes, world, jazz, funk and other (re)sources. Like Jimmy Page, for instance, he sometimes bows his electric guitar. To that, add Cleveland's keen command of digital and analog recording studio devices and techniques. All told, you've a pretty talented cat on your hands. ... Volcano is an imaginative, somewhat heady album, yet with plenty of deep-rooted rhythms to keep the whole thing from exploding into the upper thermosphere. Cleveland's sonic cyclorama is a real treat. To quote Oliver Twist, 'Please, Sir, may I have some more?'"
Robert Kaye, Abstract Logix
"Sometimes spacey, oftentimes jazzy, this fascinating
take on ethnic-flavored progressive jazz (Volcano) brims with an
Afro-Haitian multi-rhythmic undercurrent that is
nothing short of infectious, beguiling, and ultimately
seductive. Cool stuff!"
John Collinge, Progression
"Much of Cleveland's work doesnt sound like the work
of your conventional guitarist at all, but rather a
far-reaching compositional visionary who uses whatever
instruments and processes necessary to achieve his
ends."
Peter Thelen, Expose'
Full reviews of Volcano, Memory & Imagination, and Dark Matter are posted
HERE
www.barrycleveland.com
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