journal

NitM comes in at #4 on Rickter Scale's Top 40 countdown of the best albums of 2010. The show airs on Delicious Agony Radio this Tuesday, January 4 from 12-3 PM EST.

And if that weren't enough it has also been nominated for Best Foreign Record of 2010 by the Italian site Prog Awards!

USA Progressive Music has rated "Notes in the Margin" the 7th best prog album of 2010. It is of course quite an honor to be associated with so many really talented artists. Many thanks to the USA Progressive Music staff for their consideration.

So the good news is I have finally pieced together a nice rig. For recording I use a rack based setup, but I didn't really have a proper guitar amp suitable for live performance or just for jamming.

Over time I was able to acquire a Pearce G1 and G2r amps. I had custom cabs built for them by Miyako Designs in California. The cab dimensions are modeled after the original Pearce cabs. But these are loaded with neodymium speakers and are constructed out of solid pine so they weigh in a full 15lbs less than the originals. And they are open/closed back convertible.

The custom padded slip covers were made by Studio Slips.

Essentially I'm configuring the two amps as a 4 channel 200 Watt stereo amp using a TC Electronics G system to handle the effects and channel switching.

The bad news.... I can't play with my new toys for awhile. Monday, I fell down the stairs of that deck in the amp photos and broke my shoulder in two four places (not to mention sprained my ankle and smashed my head into a post). My left arm is immobilized for awhile (I can now testify that typing w/ one handed sucks) and after that I'm looking at a long rehab process. Doc says I can expect considerable pain for 6 months.

The good news about the bad news is they don't think I need surgery and when all is said and done I should recover almost a full range of motion from the shoulder. 90% or better.

The bruise on my bicep is pretty gruesome.

Shot photo in mirror so it is reversed, it is the left shoulder that I fractured.

Jon Neudorf in his 4 star review of Notes in the Margin writes:

Kulju has made an excellent sophomore effort with Notes in the Margin. Fans of Gilmour inspired guitar work and melodic progressive rock will surely want this in their collection and I can see this one getting plenty of more spins in the days and months to come.

Read the rest here.

New distributors: You can now pick up the new CD at Synphonic, ZNR, and Progpulsion.

Notes in the Margin is now available for download via eMusic and iTunes in addition to CD Baby which has had it up for the better part of a month. Of those I believe CD Baby offers the best quality files (200kbps VBR) and you don't have to be a member of a service or use special library software to download. eMusic offers fairly high quality downloads as well. Last I knew iTunes was still distributing at 128kbps which is too low in my opinion.

Not to bash iTunes, in fact our household uses iTunes simply because it integrates more easily with the hardware. I don't really use any of them personally as I'm still a CD guy. So take my advice with a grain of salt.

[update: A sharp reader emailed to let me know that iTunes now distributes 256kbps AAC files. According to wiki they started doing so back in 2009. So I stand corrected.]

Incidentally I've discovered there is a Russian language site out there offering a free illegal downloads of my new CD, but I've heard tell of people getting infected with viruses from that place so I'd stay clear if I were you.

Notes in the Margin is officially released today!

FYI: For those looking to purchase it in mp3 or digital format it will be available via you can download the album now at CD Baby and then iTunes and the other major Digital Delivery sites in the coming weeks. CD Baby handles the digital distribution for me and they say that iTunes is usually very quick (1-3 weeks) others can take as long as 4 months.

And don't forget to tune into The Rickter Scale today at noon EDT for the premiere of the CD (or Wednesday at 7PM EDT). I will try to chime in here and there on their chatroom to the extent my day job permits.