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ELWOOD HERRING'S MUSIC CATALOGUE
All music and noises © Copyright Paul A. Williams aka Elwood Herring - Please read these notes before downloading
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EXPLORING NEW DIRECTIONS AND NEW POSSIBILITIES IN MUSIC COMPOSITION.
LOTS OF DIFFERENT STYLES AND APPROACHES, EVERY PIECE A MUSICAL EXPLORATION. GIVE YOUR EARS A TREAT!

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NOTE ON PLAYING MIDI FILES: All my MIDI works are meant to be played using the standard Microsoft GS Wavetable. Usage of any other wavetable will give unintended results. By all means experiment if you have the capability, but please be aware that what you end up with will not be what I intended!
Also, some MIDI files played on Winamp before version 5.3 will not play correctly. If you use Winamp, please upgrade to the latest version (5.3 or above.


Play Mins Concentric Circles op.19 (1983)
     As a contrast to most of my earlier work, this was an attempt to do something accessible and easy to listen to. Part 1 certainly is, but part 2 is a bit heavier going and more experimental.
Incantation /
Midnight Expression
 
 
 07:00 A slow tentative start leads into an expansive theme called "Midnight Expression" with a motoring bass line. This gives way eventually to...
Unfanfare /
Middle of November /
Autopilot
 
 
 10:15 the quirky "Un-fanfare" theme with its duelling synth solos, then a tune from my old Interface song "November" takes centre stage for a while with lots of added "Jarre"-ish whooshes and whistles (the only time I've really done this sort of thing, just to show how easy it is!). Then the mood relaxes a bit for the quiter "Autpilot" section with its syncopated rhythm and bell-like tones, which gradually dies away into silence. This is abruptly shattered by...
Cat's Cradle    02:37 a hesitant jumpy tune which won't sit still, just like a fussy cat! Then after a brief clash of car horns we find ourselves...
City Limits    02:49 motoring along in "City Limits" which is based on the Cradle theme. This repeats annoyingly a couple of times without really getting anywhere (must be a traffic jam), then quotes another theme from November before cutting off, then...
Name that Tune    00:30 A whistful tune wafts over the scene, as if lost (which it is - it doesn't really belong in this piece.)
A Farewell Wave    04:35 Then a return to the expansive Midnight theme to finish off this section.
Almost Archaic    04:40 Part 2 is a totally different beast to part 1. It opens with a melancholy harpsichord-like solo called "Almost Archaic" (a nod to the late Tim Souster who wrote pieces with titles like "Arcane Artefacts" and "Arboreal Antecedents" etc. Why? I have no idea. I made my own compilation of Souster's best AA pieces and called it "Accumulated Anthology"! But I digress...), before sequeing into...
Preramble    06:22 "Preramble" and then...
Lazy Haze    01:35 "Lazy Haze"; strange electronically described landscapes with some weird off-key bass noises from the Korg permeating the calm like an angry insect. This eventually self-destructs violently, and in the clearing that it leaves behind...
Built Up Logically    06:55 a huge construction gets going: "Built Up Logically" is a musical jigsaw comprising small segments attempting to interlock into a cohesive rhythm. I never quite got this right and it goes on just a bit too long, but I still like the idea. It turns out to be more like a musical Tower of Babel. It shows basically that my ideas were way ahead of the instruments and technology I could afford at the time. The shaky tower eventually collapses like a house of cards, bringing us back to...
Pulsar    06:05 the serene but slightly disturbing scenery similar to what's already been heard. This fades into silence, and we hear a muted clip from "Midnight Expression" as if playing on a distant horizon.
Childhood's End    04:40 There is ultimately no escape from the melancholy as the work ends with "Childhood's End"; a nostalgic piece that ties into the opening Midnight section by interweaving its bass line into the tune, and brings the whole work to a wistful close. (NOTE: The tune I called "Childhood's End" is NOT the Pink Floyd one or any other copyrighted work; it is my own composition, as is the entire work.)
November Odyssey    27:30 This is a huge MIDI suite that reworks some of the material I composed for "Concentric"; in particular November, Autopilot, Midnight Expression and Childhood's End (arguably the best bits!) Don't write off simple MIDI files - this shows what can be done with them if you have the patience.





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