the Next Album
Finite Space
The new Alias Zone album uses the well-known electronic genres of Space Music and Berlin School as its jumping-off point, and extends them with touches of jazz, classical, and world musics – all serving Chris’ melodic, cinematic approach to aural storytelling. His unique, interactive approach to sequencing brings very human melodic phrasing to music otherwise created by machines. Complex pads, languid leads, haunting choirs, deep basses, field recordings, and acoustic percussion add layers of detail and texture. The intoxicating results definitely rewards multiple listens. Longtime collaborator Richard Bugg lends his hyperacoustic flute to the epic closing track, “Nightfall: Kyiv.”
Previews from the upcoming album:
Premonition
Ash Tree Window
Sputnik's Ghosts
Nightfall: Kyiv
Chris Meyer of Alias Zone
Alias Zone is the “zen master alter ego” of Chris Meyer of LearningModular.com. Each composition starts with a sound that catches Chris’ ear: an experiment on his modular synthesizers, a particular rhythmic pattern, a field recording, or even something as simple as a Tibetan bowl being struck. From this core, he builds stories and entire worlds by researching and retelling the stories behind those sounds, weaving in layers of complimentary textures as he conjures his own narrative to this “alias” or alternate reality.
Musically, modular synthesis is at the core of each new Alias Zone composition. However, Chris is unafraid to blend in struck & plucked arpeggios, ambient soundscapes, ethnic rhythms & percussion, and “found” spoken word in different languages as part of his journey creating this uniquely emotional, impressionistic electronic music.
Upcoming Events
Alias Zone performances have been described as “amazing,” “nuanced,” “transcendent,” as being in “a whole other class,” and simply “one of the finest live electronic sets I have ever witnessed.” Make sure you catch Chris Meyer perform when he appears near you:
June 20, 2024
Albuquerque Museum
New Mexico Control Voltage members will provide ambient backdrops in the museum’s main gallery (#4) during the first half of the Albuquerque Museum’s free Third Thursdays evening program. During the second half, Chris will open for a very special guest in the museum’s auditorium, with quadraphonic sound. Festivities run from 5 to 8:30 PM; introductions + Chris’ set will start at 7 PM.
September 7, 2024
Knobcon Chillout Room
Alias Zone will be peforming during the upcoming Knobcon show in Schaumburg, Illinois, as part of the Chillout Room – in quadraphonic sound. We’ll post more details when the date gets closer.
performance
Premonition: Rough Mix
From the upcoming album Finite Space
Something different for a “music video”: Getting to watch the digital audio workstation (Ableton Live) timeline of the recorded piece, illustrating where the different musical parts come in and out, and where edits were made.
This is the final track I’m creating for my next album (Finite Space, previously called Eastern Front), and will be cleaned up and edited before the album is released – but I wanted to share some new material with you before then.
For those who are interested in more details about how this track was made (both compositional considerations and technical tips), click here for a Track Breakdown for my Patreon subscribers.
Chris Meyer: modular and virtual synthesizers and samplers; acoustic percussion
the Previous album
Water Stories
Bodies of water – and the mysteries that lie beneath their surface – is the thread that runs throughout this deeply-layered audio travelogue. Inside these three extended tracks,
Chris takes you searching for sea monsters in Iceland, waking the souls stranded underwater in a shipwreck off the coast of Cyprus, and exploring a series of majestic underground caverns by canoe in Thailand. His goal is to create a uniquely emotional experience. Ellison Wolf of Waveform Magazine described Water Stories as “a relaxing, positive-vibed, soothing listen.” It has also been featured on numerous playlists, and was named one of the best Ambient/Space Music releases of 2022 by Lloyd Barde.
Previews from the Water Stories:
Iceland
Shipwrecked
The Cave
Compelling Dreamscapes
We Only Came to Dream
Aztec poetry (read by a descendent of the author), a Buddhist ceremony in Vietnam, and a Navajo elder sharing his wisdom provide the inspiration for the tracks on this album. Chris Meyer takes these seeds and carefully crafts entire musical worlds around them with each story slowly unfolding for the listener to explore and enjoy. Two pieces also contain flute by old friend Richard Bugg, who appeared also on the original Alias Zone album from 20 years ago, Lucid Dreams.