Craig Padilla & Zero Ohms :: To Sleep On Stellar Winds (Spotted Peccary Music)

To Sleep On Stellar Winds is an epic space music album with Berlin-school influences that feature unique blends of modular synthesizers and wind instruments, to carry all listeners floating along the cosmic breezes to the outer edges of the universe, and beyond.

A study in travel

To Sleep On Stellar Winds is an epic space music album with Berlin-school influences that feature unique blends of modular synthesizers and wind instruments, to carry all listeners floating along the cosmic breezes to the outer edges of the universe, and beyond.

The first track features guest Skip Murphy who plays KORG Mono/Poly synth. “Past All We Knew” (4:52) opens with the motion of pulling in interesting directions and the feeling of floating, flowing wider into sustained shimmering long notes with many layers of complexity, combining into a sound that is both simple and impossible while keeping a tempo like a calm heartbeat, sometimes with building intensity, all within a granular wind rising and taking on new forms.

“Initiation, This Ship of Exploration” (10:42) blends classic EM with the weaving electronic tones, the sequencer sound of electronics is not so new anymore, here it is very distinct and tells a story or illustrates a journey using electronics to create a calm and infinite rolling sequencer further and further. The scope and scale is intimidating, over ten minutes. The mission is solid. We are inside a new spaceship and it is really big, floating down a long corridor always in motion. The ear is complex without being overpowering. It sounds like the engines are running and the whole thing is too big to slow down. “The Momentum of Intention” (9:08) creates huge dark echoey chambers, the blend of bow and breath and hum. The patterns are mathematical tempos with repeating cycles, coming in and going out, coming in, repeating over and over in slow motion. I am slowly rising, the tempo brings new things to contemplate, and the steadying and never turbulent melodics are picking up on the slow deliberate progression as the energy is increasing. You can hear the engines always humming while the melody emerges and pulsates. On “A New Space Revealing” (13:12), the feeling comes in glowing and smooth, twisting into a melodic whistle and bowed drone, flutes and ocean hissing, horizons of flutestreams through huge oceans of toned air slowly emerging, wider and deeper and faster but not too fast.

We are inside a new spaceship ::

What are dreams when you explore space? This final track in my opinion, is the main event. This is the ride that keeps on going, where dreaming and sleep are intertwined. After a slow fade in, “Asleep on Stellar Winds” (22:05) we realize that we have exceeded our frontier. We are successively building a continuous form, and it is really big. The winds are protecting us. The frequency of the pulse follows melodically step after step, here is where the new discoveries are. The winds are very strong. With the engines throbbing steadily, perhaps the winds are angry as new elements slide into the beats and flow into new glowing colored currents. To me, the light is changing how things appear as far as the mood, we are flying at a great speed and at a great height.

To Sleep On Stellar Winds could be marked as a study in travel, dreaming, and the synergy of air with electronics. First, we are on a new vessel for the first voyage, we consider our velocity into the new worlds, then cruising in the new area, and finally, departure to the dream places. The music was made by Craig Padilla on Analog, Digital, and MST/Division 6 Modular Synthesizers, Sequencers, and Drum Programming; Zero Ohms on Concert Flute, Bass Flute, Yamaha WX-5 Wind-controller, Roland JV-1010, Audiokit Synth One, Soprano Recorder, and Tin Whistle. The first track “Past All We Knew” has a guest artist, Skip Murphy on KORG Mono/Poly Synth.

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Craig Padilla’s Selected Discography includes Weathering The Storm (2023, with Marvin Allen), Discovery of Meaning (2022, solo), Precipice of a Dream (Live from SoundQuest Fest 2021) (with Howard Givens and Madhavi Devi), Strange Gravity (2021, with Marvin Allen), The Bodhi Mantra (2020, with Howard Givens), Toward The Horizon (2019, with Marvin Allen), Being Of Light (2017, with Howard Givens), Heaven Condensed (2016, solo), Spirit Holy Rising (2015, with Howard Givens), Life Flows Water (2015, with Howard Givens), Sonar (solo), Strange Fish 1 (solo), When The Earth Is Far Away (2012, with Zero Ohms), The Heart Of The Soul (2012, solo), Beyond The Portal (2009, with Zero Ohms and Skip Murphy), Below The Mountain (2008, solo), The Light In The Shadow (2006, solo), Path Of Least Resistance (2005, with Zero Ohms), Genesis (2004, solo), Vostok (2002, solo)

Zero Ohms’ Selected Discography includes Cloudwalker & The Ascent (2022, solo), Broken Stars Through Brilliant Clouds (2015, with Numina), Process Of Being (2014, solo), When The Earth Is Far Away (2012, with Craig Padilla), Beyond The Portal (2009, with Craig Padilla and Skip Murphy), Path Of Least Resistance (2005, with Craig Padilla).

To Sleep On Stellar Winds is available on Spotted Peccary Music. [Bandcamp | Site]