Ambient Highways: Volume 1–Issue 9

What’s New

Happy New Year!

It’s December 31st, 2015! Today marks the end of a stellar year and also marks the final issue in the first volume of posts for the Ambient Highways Newsletter!

Here’s what’s new and things to look forward to in 2016!

Kickstarter Campaign for production of physical CD of Ambient Highways

I have given it much thought over the past couple of months, and have decided to initiate a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the production of Physical CDs for my album Ambient Highways.

Why I’m asking for your support

I have released several albums over the years with my most recent releases being Digital only. My latest Ambient Highways was released in digital form and is proving to be my most successful thus far. It has also won a couple of noteworthy music awards. Several fans have noted they would like a signed copy of the CD if I released it in physical form.

I also find that I need physical CDs in order to send to various music review sites as well as radio stations for potential airplay as this is generally the desired media they need and sometimes the only media they will accept.

Your help in this endeavor will help me with achieving these goals.

If you don’t mind, would you kindly share the link to my Kickstarter project with your family and friends?

Thank you in advance for your continued support!

You can read more about the campaign by clicking on the following link!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/637393315/award-winning-cd-ambient-highways-by-keith-richie

Holiday Special Extended to January 8th, 2016!

As noted in my previous newsletter, I have kicked off a holiday special of my music which gives everyone the option to grab a copy of each of my albums for only $3.00 each! I’ve decided to extend this special again till January 8th as there were some announcements about the special that were made by friends that only showed up within the last week. To give everyone a bit more time, I’ve extended the special till January 8th.

You can take advantage of this special pricing on my albums if purchased directly from CD Baby or Bandcamp! That equates to only $15.00 for my entire discography!

Speaking of my entire discography, I’m also offering a %15 percent discount on it as an option on Bandcamp!

This includes of course, my award winning album Ambient Highways; March of the Inanimate; For the Willow Wept…; La famille du solénoïde; and The Maestoso Interstellar Suite!

If you have not purchased any of my music before, this is a great opportunity to get it at a very special low price.

If you have enjoyed my music and already own your own copy, consider gifting it to a friend or family member! Most of the various digital stores provide a great way to gift music to other people.

What’s Next

A recap from the last newsletter, and of course shipping CDs out to backers if the Kickstarter campaign for Ambient Highways gets funded!

Skylines – New album in progress!

When I set out to create the Skylines album, it was due to the fact that I was listening to a lot of synthwave / retrowave styled music. It was my intention to do a purely synthwave / retrowave album, but as things usually happen… The music morphs into something else, and I have to just let the music take me where it wants to take me. Therefore, Skylines will not be targeted directly towards the sythwave/retrowave movement.

I WILL however try to keep Skylines focused on each track representing my musical interpretation of a major city skyline. So far, that seems to be coming together rather nicely.

I have released singles for both Lost in Beijing and Seattle Walk, and from what I can tell so far, they are doing quite nicely. I am considering placing each song (as it is complete) as a subscriber only exclusive on Bandcamp as the album progresses, however I have not made my mind up on this completely yet.

You can listen to some samples of the tracks via Soundcloud below.

I also put together a quick album release date video announcement for Skylines on Youtube. What is there, is not really anything fancy, just some high quality images of the current cities used in the single covers for now. It’s just something to drive a bit of anticipation while the album progresses. The song used in it is the current version of Manhattan Nights that I’m working on. It is one of the more ambient pieces on the album and the beginning of it to me sounds a bit Blade Runner-esque, so the video release teaser simply follows that theme.

Project Ideas for 2016 and beyond

Once I complete the Skylines project I have many ideas I want to finally push forth with. At least one or two of these will make it to release during 2016. Here is the current list of project ideas.

10 Year anniversary release of The Maestoso Interstellar Suite

June 2016 will mark the 10 year anniversary release of my album The Maestoso Interstellar Suite. It has proven to be one of my more popular releases, but it certainly has some places in it I’d like to polish up. I plan on releasing an updated version of it, and possibly extended slightly. It also provides a perfect placement to utilize the Moog Theremini I received as a gift a couple of years ago.

Equipment / Sound library investments

After getting the above projects completed, I plan on doing another large investment in my studio equipment and sound library. It’s going to be largely important for some of the other project ideas I have lined up.

Untitled Ambient styled release

I started work on new music that is more on the pure Ambient side of things. You can hear a sample of it via this link to Candles on Soundcloud. Ambient Highways has proven to be a very popular release, and while I’m sure my next push towards an ambient styled album will not be purely ambient, it will align well to the styles included in Ambient Highways.

Follow up to March of the Inanimate

I want to produce and have ready a follow up to March of the Inanimate ready for the 2016 Halloween season. My inner dark ambient feelings surface from time to time, and I’d love to get another horror / Halloween themed release ready in time. It would also fall in line with my Original “N”otion Picture Soundtrack series.

Musical Interpretation of The Dark Tower Series.

I have long loved The Dark Tower series of novels by Stephen King. I have considered many times doing a “Musical Interpretation” of the series. Of course this goes hand in hand with my ideas for the following two releases as well. This would be part of a “Symphonic Electronica” series of releases. Utilizing mostly Orchestral sounds. If you are unfamiliar with this series, please be sure to check it out!

Musical Interpretation of The Dune Series

The spice must flow. The music must flow. Along with a musical interpretation of The Dark Tower Series, I’d love to do one on the Dune Series as well. Along with The Dark Tower Series, I want to be sure my equipment and sound library are up to date, as these will both be epic projects I want to surely shine.

Musical Interpretation of Liliths’ Brood

For me, this is one of the greatest sci-fi related works of fiction, and I’m constantly re-reading it over the years. Lilith’s Brood is collection of three works by Octavia Butler originally released as the Xenogenesis series. I would love for this to be turned into a movie or set of films if done right. This would be another release in my “Symphonic Electronica” / Original “N”otion picture soundtrack series.

I’ll be spending more time over my holiday weekend working on new music so be sure to keep checking back!

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter, and if so please leave me your comments!

If you have received this newsletter from a friend, or read it on my blog be sure to sign up for the email based newsletter by visiting my official music site at http://music.krichie.com

I’m just Keeping the Dream Alive!

– Keith Richie

Buy or Stream my award winning album Ambient Highways From: