Digital Bliss News

Halo: CE Anniversary Video Game Soundtrack

2011-11-15T22:33:00.001-08:00

I had the pleasure of transcribing and re-recording an iconic, short piano solo from the original Halo soundtrack a few months ago. You can hear it at the end of the track tittled 'Installation 4', which contains the main theme, men's choir and driving percussion associated with the sonic signature of the game. LISTEN and BUY on Itunes.

The Pyramind Studios team in San Francisco, led by Paul Lipson, transcribed and re-recorded the entire soundtrack in record time, improving the quality and scope of the music for the 10th Anniversary edition for of the game released by Microsoft. Halo was one of the first games for the XBOX and has legions of devoted fans from around the world. Many gamers I've talked to have logged many hours playing Halo. The bulk of the complex orchestral soundtrack was recorded at Skywalker Ranch by grammy winner Leslie Ann Jones, pictured above at the console. Also in the pictured are Lennie Moore (orchestrator), Paul Lipson, Kristopher Mellroth (Microsoft), Tom Salta (percussion) and Myself in the purple shirt looking rather serious while clutching my coffee - or rather, listening intently. It was a magical experience to be in that control room and hear the full orchestra playing on the sound stage.

'...Beautifully Honest and True to It's Theme...' Whitney at WomensRadio.com

2011-10-09T20:32:00.000-07:00

Click Here to read Whitney's review of the Hammer Inventions Album. WomensRadio.com has been a great supporter of Digital Bliss Productions and Divasonic over the years and is a site that continues to grow with interesting articles, reviews and editorials on a variety of subjects.

The Hammer Inventions Album is now Available on Bandcamp1

2011-10-02T10:38:00.001-07:00

18 Tracks of Piano Glory are finally available on the Hammer Inventions Bandcamp Site! Daniel and I are so proud and excited to share ours album with everyone and we encourage our fans, friends and family to buy directly from us on our Bandcamp site. The album will be available on other digital retailers starting Oct 15th and CDs are coming for those of you who requested them. ;) Now's the time to sign-up and follow us On Twitter, Reverbnation and/or Facebook so we can keep spreading the word about this unique and beautifully haunting record. More news to follow about live performances and other swag type items we are developing. Also Visit us At our Official Website: Hammer Inventions.

Hammer Inventions Digital Album Pre-Sale is ON!

2011-08-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that my instrumental piano album project with Daniel Berkman called 'Hammer Inventions' is available for Digital Pre-Sale on our Bandcamp site: Hammer Inventions Bandcamp Site. Buy the album now and receive 3 tracks from the album immediately and the rest of the record on October 1st. We will also have CDs for sale shortly for those of you who still prefer to collect CDs. We worked hard on this record, self-funding it's recording and development and spent many hours in front of the piano crafting our original sounds and arrangements. We are asking for your support and encourage you to spread the word about this special music project.

Official Website: http://www.hammerinventions.com

Album Preview on Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/divasonic/hammer-inventions-album

The album, ‘Hammer Inventions’ by Lynda Arnold and Daniel Berkman features piano compositions and layered electronic orchestrations made entirely of sounds generated from the piano. From delicate and ethereal acoustic piano moments reminiscent of George Winston or Philip Glass to layered textural moments similar to Steve Reich, or Autechre, Lynda and Daniel create new pieces within the limits of piano-generated sounds. What emerges is a fresh take on the instrument, both as a collaborative, skilled piano duo and as seasoned electronic music production artists. Some of the piano sounds used include prepared piano (John Cage homage), plucked piano, bowed piano, toy piano, backwards piano, detuned piano and more effected and sampled expressions. The acoustic piano recordings where done at Broken Radio studios on George Winston’s piano in San Francisco with the help of engineer Matt Boudreau.

The project was born out of a spontaneous piano four-hand improvisation session and grew from there. After a dozen piano writing sessions, Daniel and Lynda went into the studio to start recording the compositions while at the same time dreaming up ways to incorporate other unique sounds like sticking screws and bolts in Lynda's Yamaha piano to create drum sounds, plucking the strings to make a sampler of plucked piano notes and a bowed piano library by Sonic Couture to add more sustained, string like sounds to layer the arrangements.

Stay tuned for raw writing footage from the studio and a documentary featuring an interview with Daniel Berkman and Lynda Arnold talking about their creative writing and production process produced by Michael Roache. Below are pictures from the performance debut of Hammer Inventions at the Apple Store in San Francisco on July 5th during SFLogicNinja's Logic Forum. CD Release performance to be announced soon.

Spring Adventures in Sound Creation

2011-05-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

Improvisational jam with Sound, Voice and Music Healing group

Members of our Sound, Voice and Music Healing program from CIIS in San Francisco got together for an afternoon of sonic exploration and improvisation at the Oakland Noodle Factory Performance Space. The only requirement was to bring instruments and be open to explore. We had so many interesting instruments, tones and textures including Tibetan and Crystal bowls, glockenspiels, harp, keyboard, shruti boxes, drums, shakers, chimes, tuning forks, flutes and our voices. It was really cool to see what kind of instruments showed up. I set up some mics and a compact laptop recording rig to capture the experience. The day started out loose and ended with us working together to create more structure to the improvisations. You can listen below to excerpts of our afternoon.

The excerpts start with a Bansuri solo, followed by a crystal and tibetan bowl meditation. We decided to expand on the 'metal' sounds idea and started in on a loose improvisation using those sounds. The next excerpt is taken from later in the same 'metal' improvisation, where a groove started to take shape and other sounds found there way in, including a native american flute. After the climax of that cacophony of sound, we decided to plan things out a bit and pair down the instrumentation starting with a groove in 3 on the frame drums, adding the harp and lyre and then a trio of glockenspiels. One of the best musical moments happened when the groove dropped out and the glockenspiels took a solo - what a gorgeous and sweet sound. The next song started with a native american flute 'Invocation' by Laura and Izzy and then a slow percussion and melodic build with the melody of the flute invocation sneaking in on different instruments. Naia came in with a beautiful vocal song over the top. Next the group had the idea of a vocal melody circle, where each person solos over of the shruti drone and then 'passes' the melody to the person to the right. What a great vocal exercise to do with any group. Lastly, we toned/chanted the Vedic Mantras - Lam, Vam, Ram, Yam, Ham, and Om. The Vedic Mantras correspond to the chakras or energy systems of the body, starting at the bottom. Emphasizing the rising quality of these chants in the body, we sung these seed syllables with the notes of the C major scale. The notes of the scales are often used and correspond to the chakras or energy centers.
Noodle Factory Jam with Sound Healers - Exploration Excerpts by Divasonic

A visit to Ron Nadeau's 'Spirit House' in Mendocino, CA

Artemis and I visited our sound healer friend Ron Nadeau in Mendocino and his wonderful ceremony, event and healing center he calls 'Spirit House.' Below he is showing us his custom made drum in the Yurt he built to showcase art/music and healing events. Below are some shots of him showing us how to play it - it's huge! It's size is similar to some of the large Japanese Taiko drums I've seen. Big Sound.

Marissa Guzman in the Studio

Marissa Guzman was recently in the studio recording vocals for her new dance single, 'Balloon.' Her first single and remixes, 'Time to Go' was released on Traxsource, a great underground electronic and dance music resource, a few months ago and shot up to number 1 on the Traxsource Charts. I'm looking forward to doing more work with her in the coming months. She's on fire and touring in support of her music as well as the cause and message of NextAid.org - our charity of choice for past Digital Bliss compliations and events.

Recording Tibetan Bowls with Magdalena Pomer

Magdalena is a wonderful woman and spirit from the sound healing cohort at CIIS. She has the healing gift and is a joy to be around. We recently got together to record her Tibetan Bowls. She has a variety of them in different sizes and pitches. We worked for a couple hours to get to get them to tone and sing. The smaller bowls were a little more challenging to get sustained tones out of, but just hitting them produced beautiful sounds. These are cleaner recordings than what we were able to capture in the performance space jam session. I can use individual sounds later in other compositions.

New Gear! Yamaha CP-33 Keyboard and Authentic Shruti Box from India

Got a couple new toys in the studio ;). I sold my Roland FP-2 and another m-audio interface to get a new Yamaha CP-33 88 keyboard. This is the keyboard Daniel Berkman and I decided on after trying all of them at Guitar Center one afternoon. This will be the main keyboard we will use to perform our piano CD 'Hammer Inventions' - WHICH is ALMOST Done - BTW!!! - We are in the mastering and artwork stages so more information will be coming soon about that - exciting! We decided on the Yamaha CP-33 because we liked the feel. The onboard piano sound is pretty good, but we will mainly be using it as a controller and using the Ivory 2 piano sample library for our piano sound.

I've also been lucky to have an authentic Shruti Box from India come into my life in the past month. Silvia Nakkach had a couple she was selling and I seized the opportunity. Shruti Boxes have a drone-like sound. The pegs in the front represent the Chromatic notes from C to C. It's even configured like a keyboard. The Sound is made by pumping air into it from both sides like an accordian, only the pegs that are moved off their holes make sound, so you can have backing drones at any pitch. You can hear the Shruti Box throughout the Jam session above.

happy soundings....

NextAid.org Fundraiser 3-31-11 in San Francisco at Public Works

2011-03-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

Boutique Electronique Records and Digital Bliss Productions
Present: Ladies of the House @ Public Works S.F.
A benefit for NextAid and Maternal Health in Africa
Thursday, March 31, 2011

For over seven years NextAid has rallied music industry leaders and enthusiasts from the electronic dance music community to action, channeling the positive energy from the dance floor to sustainable development projects that support orphans and women in Africa.

“Ladies of the House” will take place March 31, at Public Works SF, 161 Erie Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. Tickets are $10 to $20, sliding scale. The event is produced by Digital Bliss Productions and Boutique Electronique Records, two unique San Francisco based music production and promotions companies that are thrilled to collaborate with NextAid in this fundraising event. Honoring National Women’s History Month this March, this event is geared towards raising awareness and money for NextAid’s work in Kenya and Sierra Leone.

“Ladies of the House” will feature leading women DJs and electronic artists from San Francisco including DJ Icon (Illeven Eleven Records), DJ Dulce Vita (Opel Productions), Tamo (Angels of Bass/Space Cowboys), DJ shOOey (Space Cowboys) and Marissa Guzman LIVE (Juicy Lucy Records).

Joining NextAid, Digital Bliss, and Boutique Electronique Records, are a plethora of partners, including: Space Cowboys, Opel Productions, Nitevibe, Angels Of Bass, The Women’s Recording Mission, sexyvisuals, ABCey Events, and Illeven Eleven Records. Each with its own strong following, they are joining forces to ensure that “Ladies of the House” will have a wide reach to a diverse and sophisticated audience.

In addition to the massive talent in the main room, there will be a second room upstairs dedicated to projecting footage of NextAid's sustainable development projects for women and youth in Africa, food, raffle prizes, massages, and other activities to pamper the soul. The event will also feature and onsite art gallery show by various artists and visual effects by: sexyvisuals- www.sexyvisuals.net.

About the Beneficiary Project
In collaboration with the First Ladies Initiative, NextAid is helping to bring much needed resources and support to women and girls in Sierra Leone. This project, supporting the global movement towards achieving Millennium Development Goal #5 (reduction of maternal mortality), engages grassroots activism, high-level advocacy and creative design to show impact and inspire change. NextAid is working with the First Lady of Sierra Leone and supporting the design and planning costs to begin the first phase of constructing a Birth Shelter that will serve women and girls in the Mattru Jong area of Sierra Leone, where timely access to maternal care, can be a matter of life and death. Sierra Leone has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world. The center will also provide health education and nutrition programming, child development education, and income-generating activities.

Pyramind Online is Launched!

2011-02-27T19:53:00.001-08:00

Pyramind Online is the audio industry's newest resource for modern sound production, networking, and discussion. View tutorial videos on all aspects of music production and keynote speeches and presentations by industry leaders in music performance, audio for video games and much more. Pyramind Online allows you to set up your own profile and interact with the Pyramind production team and instructors, students who are attending the school and others who subscribe around the world.

I've taught Piano, Production and Reason classes at Pyramind since 2007, appeared on two Test Press Compilations released by Pyramind's own Epiphyte Records, sat on a Test Press panel in 2010 and contributed to 2 books on Theory and Creative Production techniques that will be published by Alfred. Surrounding Pyramind is a creative, passionate and knowledgeable community of professionals committed to the best audio production and training available. My first contribution to Pyramind Online is a series of basic piano technique videos focusing on the key of C major. Video content director and editor Charles Geoghegan and chief academic officer Matt Donner shot the videos in my home studio. The piano videos will be included on a DVD in the Pyramind Music Theory book coming this year. More piano and production videos are also in the works.

Fans, Friends and Fellow Audio Producers and Artists, Please use CODE: DIVA2011 when signing up!

Go to PYRAMIND ONLINE now

Have fun and see you around the growing Pyramind Online Community!

2011 Kick-Off, Artemis : Divasonic Truth Single & Remies, 'Push' single videos and Piano CD Developments

2011-01-10T13:26:00.001-08:00

Happy 2011 Fans :) I hope everyone is having a happy, healthy and productive start to the new year. The key to keep things rolling is balance, balance and more balance. It's the year to work on a new Divasonic record and I'm eager to get started and promise to keep you in the loop along the way. This includes jumping on the live webcasting/streaming wagon and showing you more of my process and progress in the studio. My immediate creative community of musicians and producers continues to grow and inspire me to keep the flame burning - ON We Go!

Artemis : Divasonic - Truth Single & Remixes
RTFM Records
WEBSTORE LINK

The Artemis : Divasonic Truth single is out now on Bandcamp (link above) with fantastic remixes by Tyler Stone, David Earl, Daniel Berkman (Colfax), Daniel Durrett, miKronaught, Mijo, Chris James and Celeste Lear. The official video, edited by Jake Durrett, is also available and has been featured on Anji Bee's VidCast, the front page of Mevio.com and the Femmebox newsletter by Brian Ball at Womensradio.com.

Also check out the cool merchandise designed by Artemis and Keith Crusher at RTFM Records for this release. There are a couple different USB packages including the music, bonus music by Artemis and Divasonic, the video and the first edition of the RTFM magazine that has interviews & photos from the duo and remixers. You can buy merchandise packages or individual goodies from the Bandcamp site: Truth - Artemis : Divasonic

See a preview of the Mag Here:

RTFM Magazine Issue #1 - Truth Single Edition on MAGCLOUD

PUSH Videos

Jaswho feat. Divasonic - Push
Now available on the critically acclaimed debut album NuDroid Musik by Jaswho?
Temple Music Group

There are two videos available on youtube for the song to check out:

Still Clip/Video Montage by Lynda Arnold featuring images inspired by the song shot by Jessica Vermette - VoxinLux.com

Live Performance Video by Martha Traer for Temple Television and Temple Music Group taken from Oct. 28th and Oct 30th release party performance at Temple Nightclub in San Francisco.

THE Piano Record - Lynda Arnold & Daniel Berkman

We are getting close to a name for our piano concept album so stayed tuned. What I can tell you is that the record is ALL piano and sounds derived from the piano including plucked, bowed, prepared, detuned, effected, reversed, sampled, and chopped to come up with an interesting mix of classical, avant garde, subtle pop, experimental, looped atmospheric piano ambience and more. We are so excited about completing this project and performing the material. We recorded the 'real' piano parts at Broken Radio Studios in SF last summer on George Winston's 7ft Yamaha and are finished up the process by creating more electronic/sampled works in our respective studios to round out the album.

Thank You Fans for all Your Continued Support!!

Blessings and Love,
Lynda

DBP Fall News and Collaborative Releases - Jaswho?, Artemis and Frost Raven, plus Test Press at Pyramind

2010-11-08T13:13:00.000-08:00

For those of you who recently joined my mailing list on Reverbnation.com/divasonic, Thank You! If you are interested in receiving more frequent news from the world of Divasonic, please folllow on Twitter or join the Divasonic and/or Digital Bliss Productions fan page on Facebook.

New Collaborative Releases out now and coming up:

Jaswho? - NuDroid Musik

Out now on Itunes, Amazon, Beatport

The multi-instrumentalist/producer/vocalist born Jay Williams, has been at the forefront of the “San Francisco Sound” for more than a decade. With a list of credits stretching a mile long, its no wonder that his debut album, Nudroid Musik (out on Temple Music Group on November 2, 2010) encompasses house, hip-hop, R&B, dub, dubstep, techno, and downtempo blended and mashed-up into one of the most infectious electro-pop albums of the year.

The Album features a different vocalist on each track. The song 'Push' features the vocals and strong lyrical style of Lynda Arnold (aka Divasonic). Watch a promo video for the song 'Push' on YouTube featuring images inspired by the song. The image below was taken from the record release party at Temple Nightclub in SF on Oct 30th during the 'Haunted Temple' event. Super fun!

You can also listen to an interview with Jay and Lynda on DJ Canary's Monday night show on Pirate Cat Radio. The show was recorded on November 1st right after the SF Giants won the World Series, so you may hear some honking horns and fireworks in the background. :) Listen to Podcast

Frost Raven feat. Divasonic

Geomagnetic Records

Out Now on Beatport

This is a powerful dubstep track by Frost Raven with Flute performed and recorded by Divasonic. Listen on Soundcloud

Dustin is a prolific producer of many styles of electronic/dance music - be sure to listen to his many other releases on Beatport and Itunes.

Artemis : Divasonic

Truth Single and Remixes

RTFM Records

Out November 12 on Bandcamp: http://music.artemis.fm/

Out Dec 3rd on Itunes, Amazon, Emusic, etc.

The first collaborative single release by Artemis & Divasonic called 'Truth' features music production by Lynda Arnold and vocals and lyrics by Artemis Robison and Remixes by David Earl, Mikronaught, Tyler Stone, Colfax, Chris James, Mijo, Celeste Lear and Daniel Durrett. From glitch to trance, Chillout to Dance, Thisones got you covered!!

Stay tuned for more detailed information about this release including special usb packages, merchandise our DHC cosmetics sponsorship and a live streaming event coming up Jan 2nd, 2011 featuring an acoustic performance by Artemis and Lynda and a special auction to raise money for NextAid.org's First Ladies initiative in Africa.

photo by Jessika Vermette (VoxinLux.com)

Lynda Arnold was recently a panelist at Test Press/Flux Summit event at Pyramind in San Francisco along with video game sound artist/composer Tom Salta and 2 time Grammy Nominee Carmen Rizzo. They reviewed new music submitted by up and coming producers, offering up healthy doses of praise and constructive critique.

Return to Mono with guest Divasonic and Broken Radio Piano Sessions

2010-07-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

Divasonic filled in for producer Andy Sybilrud at the last Return to Mono gig at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on 7/18/10. The set featured new songs from RTM's upcoming release 'Framebreaker' - a collection of sweet electro songs with the incomparable vox of Tanya Kelleher. Divasonic held down the back end triggering the backing tracks, playing Andy's moog voyager parts (yay!), adding some flute improv and singing background vox on a few tunes. Super fun gig. Chicago's Mahjongg and local band 'The Actors' also performed.

Broken Radio Session #1 - Daniel Berkman and Lynda Arnold with Matt Boudreau engineering at Broken Radio Studios in San Franciso.

After months of writing and rehearsing, Daniel Berkman and I went to Broken Radio Studios in SF to record our piano music on none-other-than George Winston's 7Ft. Yamaha Grand with Matt Boudreau, studio owner, engineering for us. What an awesome, magical day and also a bit of a reality check for us. We prepared about 7 pieces for the session and managed to finish 3 before becoming totally burnt out. The three we were able to do turned out great. I forgot how grueling acoustic sessions can be, especially when we are going for absolute perfect takes. We didn't compose material that's super easy to play either. Next session is scheduled in August and we hope to knock out the rest of the material. Daniel has already started to work out some mixes on the pieces we finished and I can't wait to get this music out there. It's truly beautiful stuff while also being a little experimental with our prepared piano drum loops, toy piano and other top secret piano based sounds. The original idea of our collaboration was to do a lot of improvising. When we got together however, our love for structure, arrangement and development took over and we now have these super special works of musical art. Hopefully we'll be able to fit in some time for improv during the next session.

Divasonic joins Karmacoda and AnjiBee at Harlot in San Francisco 7.9.10

2010-07-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

I'm super excited to be a part of this upcoming show hosted by downtempo live electronica band, Karmacoda. Harlot is a great spot in downtown SF on Minna Street hosting many downtempo music happy hour events on Thursdays and Fridays over the past couple of years. And it's Free!

I'll be debuting some new tracks and opening the live music portion of the evening around 7pm. AnjiBee (The Chillcast) will be on the decks delivering downtempo cuts and also promoting her new 'Love' single EP featuring a variety of cool remixes - check them out on bandcamp and download them for free for a limited time - including a remix by Divasonic.

Lovespirals Bandcamp Site Link

Lovespirals - Love (Divasonic Remix) by Divasonic

Great Article - 'Women account for less than 5 percent of producers and engineers — but maybe not for long'

2010-06-11T16:49:00.000-07:00

Great Article posted in NashvilleScene.com online mag about women engineers and producers. Worthy of noting and reposting here at DBP. Thanks to Micropixie for sending this my way. I think what we have now are way more women doing their own recording, engineering and producing, but on the indie level. As more of us come up, this trend will certainly be reversed.

From the Article:

Women are as visible as ever in music — between them, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga have sold over 22 million records since 2008. But look closer at the credits on those albums, and women's names are few and far between. What about producing and engineering? Who's guiding the sound and leading the recording process, and doing the work in the studio that takes the sound waves, electrical impulses and digitized bits of sonic information and shapes them into the music we hear? Those roles are almost all filled by men. Beyoncé was a producer on I Am ... Sasha Fierce, but she is a rare specimen. By most estimates, women represent less than 5 percent of producers and engineers industry-wide.

READ MORE!

May 1st - the Second Coming at the Noodle Factory

2010-04-15T21:50:00.001-07:00

News and Events from DBP

2010-04-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

Lots of exciting projects and events going on in Digital Bliss land. Time for a little update on our past, present and immediate future. We are having a fantastic 2010 so far.

Feb 27th Thousand Wordz event was a great success. $2000 was raised for Haiti earthquake relief. Our little performance space in Oakland came alive with live performances, amazing art, food and homemade brews. Refraction provided the gorgeous lighting design and sound for the evening.

Click here to see the 2.27.10 Thousand Wordz PHOTO Gallery by Harry

The Next Thousand Words event and fundraiser at the Noodle Factory is set for Saturday May 1st, 2010 and features another great line-up of visual artists, performance artists, VJs, DJs the Hood Chefs, local breweries and bands including Digital Bliss Artists Artemis, Return to Mono, Weather Pending, DJ Celeste Lear and Divasonic and more.

Facebook Event Link for May Day - The Second Coming

Divasonic played a high energy set at the Buena Vista School Fundraiser at 111 Minna Gallery March 19th to a packed house. Jetman was back on drums along Thallenbeck on bass and Artemis on vocals. The event was produced by Irene Hernandez-Feiks' Chillin Productions and raised thousands for the Buena Vista Elementary School. For more information visit: Buena Vista School

RTFM Records just celebrated their triple record release. Artemis 'Aurelei' EP, Daniel Durrett's Inner Sunset EP and Colfax 'Tapes' were all released in Feb 2010. The official release event at Harlot March 25th showcased all artists live supported by Groovera Radio and Brian Ball from Women's Radio. Our San Francisco downtempo community is getting stronger with each event - great vibe and crowd. Here's a pic of me and Artemis. I did some back-up vox and flute with the band.

IN the Works: Spring/Summer 2010

I'm in the studio with Artemis working on our upcoming single 'Truth', looking for remixers and planning a video shoot at the carnival. It's time to get on some classic childhood rides and do some action footage - yay! Besides music making, we've been learning the basics of aerial tissue at Studio 12 in Berkeley and will be performing with our Sunday night class during Bay Area Dance Week in June. Just your average gals doing their thing.

Just started a brand new collaboration with Tanya Kelleher from Return to Mono. The first two sessions consisted of Tanya playing various instruments, toys, percussion and creating vocal textures against a basic groove. We'll go into editing and arranging next. There are some magic moments in those sound layers already - fun. Tanya threw out the idea of a performance project featuring Divasonic production and all our talented ladies
featured on the tracks - a collective performance or album of sorts...hmmm...TBC

Other projects in the works include new, HOT Divasonic single produced by Jaswho? that will appear on his artist album coming out this Summer on Temple Music Group. The song is called 'Push' - edgy and raw.

And if that's wasn't enough - I'm currently working on some original piano duets with Daniel Berkman aka Colfax. We've got 3 pieces in the works so far...giving them some structure/arrangement while also leaving room for improvisation. We'll head into Broken Radio Studios in SF in May or June to record the duets and some piano solos too on George Winston's grand piano (of all pianos!!!!!).

Other music tidbits, loops and vibes are coming into the studio from producers Paul McLachlan and Frost Raven too - I just have to clone myself at this point so I can give these tracks justice and time. Just so you know - I am not bored. There's so much to look forward to.

xo
Lynda

2.27.10 - Thousand Word Art and Music Event at the Oakland Noodle Factory

2010-02-07T23:58:00.000-08:00

DBP is collaborating with Atiim Chenzira's A Thousand Words project in a multimedia art and music event showcasing Bay Area artists, musicians and residents of the New Oakland Noodle Factory. The event on 2.27.10 will raise money for Haiti Relief and provide a platform for community development and collaborative arts.

A Thousand WordZ presents...

a night filled with mixed genre arts and artists, a thriving community of creative folks raising awareness, and some funds for Haiti relief.

Cost: $5.00 - $10.00 sliding scale at the door

Enter and you will find art, photography, DJ's, great live music/bands, some great food, and beer by donation brewed by local brewers to raise funds for clean water, medical supplies, and food for Haitians in need. That is a night, and a $5 bill well spent. Come join us in celebrating diversity, and community.

The evening will go from 7pm to 12am in the Theater, and there will be some smaller after parties following. So far,

Sonic Art:
Dahrio Wonder (R&B), Dragon Spit 22 (Hopadelic Rock N' Soul), Divasonic (Live Electronica), Ecdysis (live world folk n' soul), DJ Manny Black aka Kosmic Kid, Mixed Nuts, and DJ Willie Adam, More to come...

Visual Art:
Suzie Ferres (Live art), Reshma Azmi (Paintings), Andreas One (Paintings), Project Elefont: Lorenzo Vasquez (Paintings), Local 365 featuring Local365 Teamsters: Suzie Ferras; JD Crayne; Kelly Porter; Lauren Stower; Celena Carrillo; Karen Fremont; Crystal Davis; Sarah Gonsalves; Kimarie Torre; Vanessa Woodhall (Paintings), SooozhyQ (Photography), Bethanie Hines (Photography), Decoy Galorina (dance), More to come...

Tasty Art:
Pat Brown (Gourmet food), Hood Chefz (Gourmet food), DNA Brewing Organization, More to come...

Design & Support:
reFraction (lighting and audio), Lux Capacitor (lighting and audio), Digital Bliss Productions (audio), and Ridah Ridah Entertainment

Divasonic and Celeste Lear are on WomensRadio's Hot "Up-N-Comers" List of 2010

2010-01-13T00:13:00.000-08:00

LINK: Divasonic and Celeste Lear are on WomensRadio's Hot "Up-N-Comers" list of 2010

Riding high on an already-astounding catalogue of releases, as fresh as 2009’s Can of Wormz single, and dating back as far as 2002, our senses are telling us that Lynda Arnold aka Divasonic is about to make a big impression in 2010. There’s no telling what’s coming next from this Bay Area sensation, but we’re absolutely sure that it’s going to be a crowd pleaser.

Current Release: Can of Wormz ft. Atiim Chenzira Single

Genre(s): Trip-Hop, Jazz, Experimental, Electronic, World, Electroacoustic, Indie

Celeste Lear

The unreleased tracks are starting to leak onto the web and there’s a strong hint that what’s coming next from this young and talented Los Angles producer is going to be some of her finest work to date. Take into consideration the prowess of her partnership in Digital Bliss Productions with Lynda Arnold aka Divasonic and the sheer talent dripping from the label’s roster and you’ll completely understand why Celeste Lear is on our 2010 watch list.

Current Release: Looking Up From Underwater LP

Genre(s): Indie, Electronic, Downtempo, Trip-Hop, Singer/Songwriter, Classical

KBCS 91.3fm Interview and Live Performance 12-4-09

2009-12-11T21:44:00.001-08:00

KBCS 91.3fm Variations - Digital Bliss Show - 12-4-09 by Divasonic

Digital Bliss Vol 2 Album Preview and Track Promo by Brian Ball on Womens Radio

2009-12-11T15:34:00.000-08:00

DIRECT LINK to Women's Radio Feature

Digital Bliss Volume 2 [Album Preview]

By Brian Ball, Host of WomensRadio Music Review
WomensRadio Music Review offers an intimate and in-depth perspective on the music and mission of the world’s finest Independent Female Musicians. Throughout the all-inclusive span of topics and genres, you’ll find everything from producers to pianists, labels to lawyers, venues to violinists and cowgirls to showgirls. Join us, as we take you on a journey not only into sound, but through a healthy variety of real-life topics on the minds of today’s new music industry leaders.

Tracklist:

01 - Phauna - Always Here
02 - Costanza - In The Sun
03 - Divasonic - Processing...Luv
04 - Salme Dahlstrom - Superstar Car Crash
05 - Micropixie - Alice in Stevie Wonderland
06 - Celeste Lear - Continental Drift
07 - Weather Pending - Perfect Weather
(Divasonic Morning Sun Mix)
08 - Auradrone - Indigo Child
09 - Return to Mono - Caterpillar
10 - Pixelfrog - Mystic Dunes
11 - Alice Rose - Mora With A Golden Gun
12 - Artemis - Subterranean (Remix by Jimmy 2 Sticks)
13 - Madeline Puckette - Act II: The Silver Planet
14 - Rena Jones - Driftwood

Genre(s): Electronic, Pop, Rock, Experimental, Jazz, Classical, Glitch, Trip-Hop, Alt. Rock

Imagine a world without music. Ok, stop. That was scary, right? Ok, now imagine a world where all of the best electronic female musicians shine ever-so-brightly. This world is not an imagination. It is very real, and exists in our very own backyard. Here in Oakland, California, we are very lucky to have the undeniable talent of Lynda Arnold and Digital Bliss Productions forging ahead in not only areas of artistry and collaboration but promotion and production as well. The second volume of Digital Bliss features an amalgamation of talent brought together to serve up a tasty selection of eclectic and experimental electronica, synth pop, rock hybrids and instrumental awakenings. Check out our play-by-play below:

Phauna – “Always Here” [Toronto, Canada]

Sweet and inviting midtempo synth pop. Similar to Client and Moloko with a glint of Moby.

Costanza – “In The Sun” [Rome, Italy / Brooklyn, NY]

Glitched-out trip-hop featuring old-school loops and melodramatic pads. Industrial-edged progressions that build with a heavy experimental vibe. Soft and raspy vocals sounding as though they were a mix of PJ Harvey and The Cardigans. A little bit of her accent comes across through sweet and sunny vocals. When not conveying words, vocals are used as an additional instrument…telling timeless tales of forgotten lore through raw emotion and a nod to early 90’s rave music (without actually *being* rave music).

Divasonic – “Processing...Luv” [Oakland, CA]

Definitely one of our personal favorites off of Divasonic’s Changing Wind release. Lynda’s innocent and experienced vocals melt the listener’s heart upon first inception and the electronics are beyond tight. This song revealed itself to us as what it actually feels like to be high on love. Here’s a little mathematical equation for you: Computers (C) process data; Humans (H) process love = Lynda Arnold (D) processes both. Simply stated, the music world is very lucky to have Ms. Arnold at the helm of Digital Bliss Productions, and through the Divasonic moniker she will continue to impress.

Salme Dahlstrom – “Superstar Car Crash” [New York, NY]

Electro Pop at its finest. Slicing through rock guitars and electro-clash riffs, bold vocals, big beat like Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim or Junkie XL. Great party song from the freeway to the frat house.

Micropixie – “Alice in Stevie Wonderland” [San Francisco, CA]

Nu-Jazz elements mix with classical and J-Pop styled vocals. Intellectual list of things to stop doing. A nice blueprint for achieving a successful world. Similar to several offerings on the Ninja Tune label.

Celeste Lear – “Continental Drift” [Topanga/Venice, CA / Reno, NV]

This Southern California electro-pop/trip-hop darling offers curious vocals, positive vibrations and a unique vocal style that sound a little bit like Lachi at times. Excellent travelling music…perfect for airports or road trips…soulful and serenading and respectful to nature and even life itself.

Weather Pending – “Perfect Weather (Divasonic Morning Sun Mix)” [San Francisco, CA]

Giant Bay Area collaboration here between Lynda Arnold and Weather Pending…The best elements from vocal jazz and electronic programming meet somewhere between 40-80 degrees Fahrenheit, while the listener is lyrically urged to “come outside to the sunshine”…A faultless and fuzzy accompaniment to any day of the year, no matter how perfect (or un-perfect) it may be outside.

Auradrone – “Indigo Child” [Los Angeles, CA]

Thick ambience and gitchy sounds quickly build into an Underworld-styled bassline that explodes into a mix of theatrically inclined dance rock and electro pop that fuses acid basslines, the epic-ness of Oasis and a hint of Queen and Bryan Ferry.

Return to Mono – “Caterpillar” [San Francisco, CA]

Jazzanova meets Sneaker Pimps produced by Lee “Scratch” Perry… under-layered electronics sound like something off the Fight Club Soundtrack, while building a marathon of resonance in a folktronica shell.

Pixelfrog – “Mystic Dunes” [Switzerland]

Reminiscent of Matthew Herbert / Mr. Scruff and Compost’s Future Sound of Jazz compilations…house grooves with broken beat breaks and deep peripherals steal our hearts while funky synths and sweeping atmospherics do the same with our consciousness. Can’t wait to hear more!

Alice Rose – “Mora With A Golden Gun” [Cologne, Germany / Denmark]

A dark supposition of Bjork’s commission to do James Bond-themed music…Histrionic like Alū, and over-the-top in all of the best ways. The whistle is as infectious as that in Kill Bill, and a commanding mix of cabaret and urban vocabulary flourish throughout.

Artemis – “Subterranean (Remix by Jimmy 2 Sticks)” [Oakland, CA]

Longtime WomensRadio favorite, Artemis, remixed here by Jimmy 2 Sticks, features molasses vocals that meld with gentle touches of sub-bass and lucid dream-worthy soundscapes. Oh, and samples of backward spoken vocals juxtaposed by duck-like synths. A real treat for all you kiddies out there.

Madeline Puckette – “Act II: The Silver Planet” [Pasadena, CA]

A mixture of pop and alternative rock that sounds something like a Nirvana intro that meets Royksopp methods with a Minutemen mentality…Bubblegum that doesn’t lose its flavor, ever.

Rena Jones – “Driftwood” [Portland, OR]

Literally “One of the best experimental artists currently making tracks.” Layers and layers of experimental-electronic goodness…focus constantly shifts from leads to bridges to the beat and back around again…using sounds in Ableton Live that many others would have difficulty with, but instead forms an analog/virtual opus.

More about Digital Bliss Productions:

Digital Bliss Productions was established in 2004 to promote women electronic music producers, vocalists, instrumentalists and engineers as well as women who combine media and disciplines to create their own unique voice in the digital realm. Digital Bliss seeks to connect groups in the genre-bending Electronic music scene to create more community and cross-pollination in the Bay Area and subsequently on a Global Scale. Through performances, education, touring, compilation releases and blogging we share our new voices and music.

A note from the founders:
Innovations in digital music technology over the past 5–10 years have revolutionized the way we make music. Samples of every conceivable musical instrument and genre at our fingertips. Because of this, we are truly in an exciting new age of musical collaboration and sound development.

Equally important to the use of this personalized technology is the thought process and musicianship associated with bringing studio creations to the stage. There are so many individual/hybrid flavors being created and our goal is to help bring these unique performers and producers into the limelight.

Future goals include releasing compilations, touring and continuing promotion through new online distribution networks.

Label Partners: Celeste Lear (Boutique Electronique Records), Keith Crusher (RTFM Records)

Two Digital Bliss Shows coming UP - San Francisco & Seattle

2009-11-15T22:22:00.000-08:00

Dec. 5th at the Jewelbox Theater in downtown Seattle featuring Ramona the Band, Divasonic & Celeste Lear and DJ sets by Dragan from KBCS 91.3fm. Also catch our live interview and performance on Friday night Dec. 4th from 11pm - 1am on DJG-Ital's long running 'Revolutions' show on KBCS 91.3fm. Divasonic's set features Atiim Chenzira on vocals and Thallenbeck on bass. Rock on!

NOVEMBER 24TH, 2009. 7 P.M, – CAFÉ DU NORD - 2174 Market St. San Francisco, CA 94114-1319 - The Beat Box Armada & Cafe du Nord present” Le Chill du Nord.” Grab a drink and cruise the legendary Victorian venue on this autumnal Tuesday night. Loungey female vocalists will serenade whilst you absorb the work of fashionistas and local visual artists. Between the sets, listen to some banging right-on performance pieces. All for a fantastic cause!

Featuring some of SF's finest chill downtempo music acts:
- MICROPIXIE
- UNDER
- DIVASONIC
- MIA CALDERON
Chill beats & grooves before and after the sets will be provided by BELOW ZERO. Special Yoni Ki Baat performances by SOUTH ASIAN SISTERS, Anjali Verma and Anjali Kamat.
Art by:
NICOLETTE NIGRO and LARK CALDERON-GOMEZ.
Fashion experiences by:
THE MISSION STATEMENT, SZOENYI, and ITPAPALOTL.
MC'd by Writer and Conscious Fashionista, NAYOMI MUNAWEERA.

Proceeds of all art, merch, and 100% of door sales go to SF WAR, RAINN & Free the Slaves for Rape & Human-Trafficking awareness. 21+

SOMAfm offering Digital Bliss Vol 2 as Premium

2009-10-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

SOMAfm is offering Digital Bliss Vol 2 as a Premium on their website. Please donate to keep this unique online station going! They've created a nice page with pictures of the artists from Digital Bliss Vol. 2 as well.

SOMAfm.com LINK

An exotic complexion of haunting melodies, creative loops, lush digital production and poetically charged vocal journeys through electronic landscapes, Digital Bliss Volume 2 is a strong and stirring compilation where the music simply speaks for itself, featuring downtempo and mid-tempo ambient grooves, eclectic electro pop, subtle trip-hop and psychedelic moods. Fans of Groove Salad and Lush are sure to like this CD, which features many of the artists we play on SomaFM.

This diverse mix of talent from San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Cologne, Portland and Toronto provides a gorgeous expose on the current independent electronica movement. The CD features Phauna, Costanza, Divasonic, Salme Dahlstrom, Micropixie, Celeste Lear, Weather Pending, Auradrone, Return to Mono, Pixelfrog, Alice Rose, Artemis, Madeline Puckette, and Rena Jones.

Digital Bliss Vol 2 Release Party and NextAid Fundraiser in Santa Monica Nov 1st

2009-10-11T23:10:00.000-07:00

We are excited to announce the Digital Bliss Vol 2 Release Party and NextAid Fundraiser in Santa Monica Nov 1st at Zanzibar. Tell your LA friends to come down for great live trip hop, electro and downtempo from Auradrone, Celeste Lear and Divasonic and to show support for the LA based organization, NextAid.

Expand Your Musical Horizons Podcast Interview

2009-09-21T12:16:00.000-07:00

Special Interview Episode:

DJ Cary - Expand Your Musical Horizons Podcast

This special episode is a conversation with San Francisco electronica artist Divasonic. We talk about her own music and about the new music compilation that she’s just released w...ith musician Celeste Lear: “Digital Bliss, Volume 2.”

Following on the success of the first edition of Digital Bliss, it
features 14 tracks from women electronica artists (or women-fronted
musical ensembles), including Costanza, Micropixie, Return to Mono,
Alice Rose, Artemis, and Rena Jones, among others.

On October 2nd, Digital Bliss will have an official launch party in San Francisco. Come join the party, and if you can’t, then take a listen to the CD on CDBaby, Amazon, or iTunes.
The tracklist from this 30-minute episode:

1. DIVASONIC – Calm of the One (from “Birth,” buy from CDBaby, Amazon, iTunes)

2. CELESTE LEAR – Continental Drift (from “Digital Bliss, Volume 2,” buy from CDBaby, Amazon, iTunes)

3. WEATHER PENDING – Perfect Weather [Divasonic Remix] (from “Digital Bliss, Volume 2,” buy from CDBaby, Amazon, iTunes)

4. PIXELFROG – Mystic Dunes (from “Digital Bliss, Volume 2,” buy from CDBaby, Amazon, iTunes)

Digital Bliss Release Party in San Francisco 10/2/09 at 111 Minna

2009-09-05T14:12:00.001-07:00

Check out These Recent Releases from Digital Bliss Artists!

2009-09-01T21:14:00.000-07:00

A Few Artists From Digital Bliss Vol 2 have recently put out some fantastic albums. Check them out!

AURADRONE - Whitelite Britelite

Auradrone is a creative force of passion and innovation, fast-forwarding us into a new sonic epoch. Masterminded by the multi-talented Jon Mack, Auradrone mixes sensuality and deep spirit into ultramodern post-rock electronic music, creating a multimedia experience with maximized appeal: to heal and transform, to bring you back to yourself, and then take you elsewhere

RENA JONES - Indra's Web

In Buddhism and Hinduism, Indra’s Web is a profound metaphor for the structure of reality, representing the interconnectedness and interdependency of all things, describing a rich and diverse universe where infinitely repeated mutual relations exist between all its elements and entities. Through her composition, Rena creates a musical metaphor of this philosophy exploring a concept of repeated modalities similar to that of Stevie Wonder's "the Secret life of Plants", while skillfully taking full advantage of the capabilities of modern digital sequencing software to create complex and playful glitched out grooves and transcending some of its limitations by using the warmth and depth of analogue sound.

WEATHER PENDING - And How!

On their first album, And How!, the San Francisco trio known as Weather Pending creates deep, sultry, continuously unfolding music with a sound that’s vaguely familiar and surprisingly unique, a fever dream of exquisite beauty. The band’s sinuous electronic grooves and the smoky vocals of singer Janie Oliver draw you in, enticing you with their understated charm. Bass player and producer Rob Cross accompanies Oliver’s luminous vocals with the dark, melancholy rhythms of hip hop and dub reggae, profound tones that swirl and dance with the elemental force of a restless ocean while guitarist Brian Bloi’s chords color with shimmering overtones that emote with aching melodies.

Digtial Bliss Artists on Anji Bee's CHILLCAST

2009-08-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

The CHILLCAST with Anji Bee

Anji Bee is continuing to give Digital Bliss Vol. 2 artists LOTS of love on her ChillCast. Phauna's 'Always Here' is on #177 and Micropixie's 'Alice in Stevie Wonderland' is on #178.

Pirate Cat Radio - 8/3/2009

2009-08-03T13:34:00.000-07:00

Download the show with DJ Canary Here: http://www.nerdnetworks.org/pcr/Canary-20090803.mp3

Lynda Arnold and Celeste Lear are Interviewed on Pirate Cat Radio 87.9 fm, a community run radio station and cafe in San Francisco that also features live performances. Digital Bliss Vol. 2 will be discussed as well as the latest release from Divasonic Feat. Atiim Chenzira - 'Can of Wormz'! Katherine will be our host around 8:30pm...listen in online if you are not in the area.

Salme Dahlstrom featured in Wall Street Journal for her licensing success

2009-07-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

Digital Bliss Artist Salme Dahlstrom has been called 'The Licensing Queen' by the Wall Street Journal. Congrats! Article Below:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

You may not know who Salme Dahlstrom is, but you’ve probably heard her music. The savvy singer, who knows a thing or two about earning in an era of declining recording sales, licensed every song on her latest album “The Acid Cowboy Audio Trade” for use in films, TV shows and commercials — a rare feat. According to Luke Eddins of Luke Hits, who placed some of Dahlstrom’s music, only Moby has succeeded in out-licensing an entire album.

Bank of America, Buick/Pontiac, Miller, Nike, Subaru, Suave, Virgin Mobile and Vodaphone, as well as production companies for 14 TV shows and 13 films, were among those who secured the rights for the album’s 10 big beats electronica meets hook-heavy pop songs.

“Licensing has become my business,” Dahlstrom told me. Not that providing songs for soundtracks, trailers and commercials was her goal when she began making the album. “No, I wanted to sell a million copies. I wanted a platinum record and I don’t know where it went. Where did it go?”

She wrote and recorded the album by herself in her home studio in New York City, playing keyboards, guitar, bass and drums to create her own samples for use in her mixes. She promoted it via MySpace and YouTube. Eddins first found her on www.garageband.com.

Dahlstrom says “The Acid Cowboy Audio Trade” is selling well for an independent album, with licensing providing a nice bump. “That Suave commercial,” she said. “It’s done more for my sales than any PR campaign or making an expensive video.” Suave’s used of “C’mon Y’all,” she said, resulted in 1,000 downloads of the song.

Amazon Buy Links for New Releases

2009-07-09T17:23:00.000-07:00

DIGITAL BLISS VOL 2

CAN OF WORMZ SINGLE

Divasonic Feat. Atiim Chenzira - Can of Wormz Digital Single Release!

2009-07-07T16:25:00.001-07:00

Our Double Release Day Continues!!

Divasonic is excited to announce the release of our Brand New Digital Single 'Can of Wormz' featuring Atiim Chenzira. 'Can of Wormz' features dark, downtempo electro production from Divasonic with the incomparable songwriting and vocal style of Atiim Chenzira. 'Can of Wormz' was originally an instrumental, composed using many of the sounds from Key to Sound's Nexsyn Software Instrument. It has evolved into an exciting hybrid of Electro & Hip-Hop with the help of Atiim's rhythmic delivery. The Single also features dance remixes by Pance Party, Jaswho? and DJ F - all San Francisco based DJs/Producers in our local electronic music community. DJs! Download this NOW!

You Can Purchase the Single On Amazon, Itunes, Emusic or On Our Brand New Webstore: DivaDirect (http://www.divasonic.bandcamp.com) where you will also find the other releases in the Divasonic Catalog.

Tracklisting:

1. Can of Wormz feat. Atiim Chenzira

2. Can of Wormz (Original Instrumental)

3. Can of Wormz (Jaswho? Remix)

4. Can of Wormz (Pance Party Remix)

5. Can of Wormz (DJ F Remix)

6. Can of Wormz (DJ F Instrumental)

LINK to the LYRICS

Can of Wormz is also featured on TEST PRESS 02 compilation released by Epiphyte Records and features the best electronic music producers in the Bay Area.

THANKS FANS! We Would Love Your Feedback

Digital Release of Digital Bliss Vol. 2 - July 7, 2009

2009-07-07T12:07:00.001-07:00

July 7, 2009

The Downtempo Compilation of the Year, Digital Bliss Volume 2, has been released by Boutique Electronique Records and Digtial Bliss Productions. Please support these talented Women Producers, Vocalists and Instrumentalists and Enjoy This Fantastic Album.

Now Available for Purchase!

Itunes

Amazon

CDBABY

Digital Bliss Vol. 2 on CDBABY

2009-06-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

You Can Get Your Physical Copy of CDBABY Volume 2 Before it's available on iTunes and Amazon:

Buy DIGITAL BLISS VOL 2 NOW!

A portion of sales goes to support NextAid.org

Both “DIGITAL BLISS" compilation CDs are the brainchildren of San Francisco based electronic music producer and event promoter Lynda Arnold (Divasonic) and music producer/label owner Celeste Lear and are designed to celebrate and promote some of our favorite talented female artists who have proven themselves to be forerunners in the field through their hard work, tenacity, ingenuity and artistic visions. Digital Bliss successfully exposes this carefully handpicked team of independent female electronic musicians, producers and vocalists from all genres of electronic music and exposes them to a broader audience.

An exotic complexion of haunting melodies, creative loops, lush digital production and poetically charged vocal journeys through electronic landscapes, DIGITAL BLISS VOL. 2 is a strong and stirring compilation where the music simply speaks for itself. This diverse mix of talent from San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Cologne, Portland and Toronto provides a gorgeous expose on the current independent electronica movement. DIGITAL BLISS VOL. 2 features downtempo and mid-tempo ambient grooves, eclectic electro pop, subtle trip-hop and psychedelic moods.

Relesed in partnership between Boutique Electronique Records and Digital Bliss Productions, this compilation features the emotion stirring words and worlds of trip hop and downtempo high priestesses: Costanza, Divasonic, Celeste Lear, and Micropixie. The electro/pop visions of Madeline Puckette and Phauna. The stunning, otherworldly psychedelic and ambient work of Artemis, cellist Rena Jones and Pixelfrog. And the dancy, edgy and saucy programming of Salme Dahlstom, Auradrone and Weather Pending. Fulfilling the prophecy that the beats shall inherit the earth...

Digital Bliss Vol. 2 Artists Announced and Release Date - July 7th, 2009

2009-05-06T22:06:00.000-07:00

Digital Bliss Productions and Boutique Electronique Records are very excited to announce our artists selected for the Digital Bliss Vol. 2 compilation due out this year. We are very busy behind the scenes getting ready for this release and planning events highlighting these incredible artists:

Official Release Date: July 7th, 2009

Current Track list order and websites –

1. ‘Always Here'- Phauna – www.myspace.com/phauna

2. 'In The Sun' - Costanza - http://www.costanza.tv

3. 'Processing...Luv' - Divasonic – www.reverbnation.com/divasonic

4. 'Superstar Car Crash' - Salme Dahlstrom – www.salmedahlstrom.com

5. 'Alice in Stevie Wonderland'- Micropixie – www.micropixie.com

6. Continental Drift' - Celeste Lear – www.myspace.com/celestelear

7. 'Perfect Weather (Divasonic Morning Sun Mix)- Weather Pending - www.myspace.com/weatherpending

8. 'Indigo Child' - Auradrone - www.myspace.com/auradrone

9. Caterpillar'- Return to Mono – www.myspace.com/returntomono

10. 'Mystic Dunes” - Pixlefrog – www.pixlefrogmusic.com

11. 'Mora with the Golden Gun' - Alice Rose – www.myspace.com/alicerosemusic

12.. 'Subterranean (Remix by Jimmy 2 Sticks)' - Artemis – www.artemisfm.com

13. “Act two the silver planet” – Madeline Puckett - www.madworldrecords.com

14. 'Driftwood' - Rena Jones – www.renamusic.com

WMC Miami 2009 - Divasonic Plays NextAid.org 'Beats for Hope' Party

2009-03-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

Widget Grab Box...Promote Divasonic!

2009-02-12T10:34:00.001-08:00

2009-02-09T11:24:00.000-08:00

Digital Bliss & Boutique Electronique are excited to announce our partnership with NextAid.org. We will be donating a portion of our music sales and event funds to NextAid from our upcoming tour and Digital Bliss Vol. 2 release.

NextAid is a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization committed to developing and implementing innovative solutions to the challenges facing African children.

NextAid's mission is to promote community-driven, environmentally sustainable, economically and socially empowering responses to the AIDS orphan pandemic.

NextAid collaborates with individuals, businesses and nonprofits to produce creative, culturally-rich, awareness-raising projects and music events involving technology, the arts, public education projects,and volunteer opportunities.

Divasonic Studios Has Moved and Test Press Competition News!

2008-11-17T11:56:00.000-08:00

Divasonic Studios has moved to the New Oakland Noodle Factory in West Oakland, CA. Lynda Arnold is an Artist in Residence for 2008. The Noodle Factory has 11 live/work studios/lofts, a performance space and rehearsal space. More details and future events to be announced soon. In the meantime, it's a transition period into new ideas and new material.

TEST PRESS - Compilation Competition and Music Industry Mixer at Pyramind Studios in San Francisco:

'Can of Worms' - A Brand new Divasonic track has won a place on the next Test Press Vol. 2 compilation released by Epiphye Records and Pyramind in San Francisco. Stay tuned for a 2009 release. Can of Worms features Atiim Chenzira on vocals...and a darker, heavier production vibe from Divasonic. An older instrumental version of the track is available for streaming on the Key to Sound website. Happy Hunting!

Divasonic featured on 'Passion Lounge Vol. 2' compiled by Henri Kohn at Clubstar Records

2008-10-26T22:32:00.000-07:00

'I Feel High' is featured on the latest chillout Compilation release compiled by Henri Kohn at Clubstar Records called 'Passion Lounge Vol. 2.' Clubstar Records in Germany has been on the cutting edge of dance music for over a decade.

Northwest Tour for Divasonic

2008-09-03T23:09:00.001-07:00

We had a great time up in the Northwest last week. This time I traveled with the gifted vocalist Atiim Chenzira who sang back-up vocals with me and also performed a few of his tracks live. Not to mention he's the best person to travel with!

Mt. Tabor Theater in Portland is under new ownership as of August and is getting off the ground again, but apparently has a long history of great shows I learned from locals. Besides that they had killer sound system which made the show even more enjoyable. Thanks to all who came out. Next stop Bellingham and an in-store performance at Everyday Music. Fun but they really need to upgrade their PA system. Three Tress Coffeehouse was a sweet little local hangout with a lot going on. They have superman Mitch Senti running everything there...not just the music. When I was setting up there was a Literary group going on, followed by my performance and then a bible study...interesting conversations going on. Seattle has a really great scene. We were taken care of by two awesome DJs, Dragan and DJG-ital, from KBCS 91.3fm (Bellevue) on Labor Day weekend. We had a interview on DJG's Friday night radio show, 'Variations' and also an in-store performance at the legendary Bop Street records on Friday. I invited local electro band I9 to also perform and promote our Saturday show at Tost. Everything was smooth until a bunch of punk rockers came in and demanded to be on the stage...too bad the owner overbooked his venue. Rude kids though...Jeez. Let's have some manners people. Tost Lounge on Saturday night in Fremont was great - pretty good turnout considering the Bumbershoot Festival downtown. We had a great sound guy to help us make the room nice and sweet sounding. Local electronic bands I9 and Manazma Sheen performed as well. Thanks to Manazma Sheen for bringing their bachelor party along (keyboard player is engaged) - they definitely added extra ruckus. We topped off the week by going to an afterhours party at Brian DeWaide's Loft...I guess it's called 'The Monkey Loft'. I went there to see KJ Sawka and was suprised to see the Blake Lewis band perform instead (ADD they are called). I was wondering why they had so much gear on stage...pedal boards fully stacked with the latest toys. When they came on...i thought oh...right - of course. Big Label bucks! The band sounded good, but WAY too loud for the space. My ears were shot.

Until the next adventure...

Great Digital Bliss Show with Alu, Return to Mono and Divasonic

2008-08-16T23:10:00.000-07:00

A few pictures below from the Retox Lounge performance in July. Performed with local favorites Return to Mono and Alu from Los Angeles. I'm rockin a new haircut...needed to change things up a bit. More big news soon! It's been a great year of rehearsing and performance with the band. I'm looking forward to getting back into the studio for some new tunes. I know u'r ready too!

Check Out Celeste Lear's New Album!

2008-07-13T16:13:00.000-07:00

Sophisticated, moody and cutting edge. Celeste Lear, vocalist, guitarist and music programmer, produces downtempo and trip hop inspired electronica with wicked beats, luscious layering and meaningful lyrics for today's modern listener. Granddaughter of the 8-track inventor and deaf in one ear, Celeste is an artist with an intriguing background and an unquenchable thirst to create inspiring and groundbreaking new music.

"Her voice and on camera presence are as dramatic and expressive as her music. With a rich mix of world/electronica/trip-hop'ish/dance and a flair for counterpoint Celeste Lear is a virtual smith of the arts who knows how to hammer out audio and visual delight." Frank Gaultier - Independent Music Artists - "A Cherry pickers Journal"

"Lear is an artist/producer with an edgy and intricate vision." Music Connection Magazine

"Celeste Lear is a hot new artist fusing her programming, guitar playing and vocal skills into some sexy downtempo electronic music." Music Reviewer, AboutEntertainment.com

We are accepting submissions for Digital Bliss Vol. 2 on Sonicbids

2008-03-18T23:55:00.002-07:00

Digital Bliss Productions is currently accepting submissions for Digital Bliss Vol. 2 on Sonicbids.

Digital Bliss Vol. 2 on Sonicbids

Digital Bliss Productions (S.F.) and Boutique Electronique Records (L.A.) are working together to create “Digital Bliss Volume 2”. There are two slots reserved for female Sonicbids producers, vocalists, or artists. They’ll be promoting the compilation this fall and will showcase talented emerging and already established women in the electronic music world.

The 1st compilation CD they released was well received in the electronic music community, received great reviews and a good amount of media attention and they are working to keep the ball rolling. At least 200 CDs will be pressed and all songs will be released digitally online through iTunes, Rhapsody, napster, eMusic, Amazon, CD Baby, etc. Boutique Electronique Records and Digital Bliss Productions will run an ongoing PR campaign and all artists selected to be on the compilation CD will have their names mentioned in all press releases, websites, etc.

They will also work to license any and all songs on the compilation for television and film. You might be asked to tour with some of their other artists when they launch the PR campaign this fall. This is a great opportunity to be onboard with a growing community of electronic musicians that are working hard to build buzz.

Accepted genres include any and all of the following: electronica, dance, drum & bass, downtempo, trance, electro, IDM, trip hop, dub - basically any and all genres that fall under the electronica category. They will select the best tracks that are submitted to be included based on performance, composition, originality, marketability and style. All submitted songs must be mixed and mastered (or you will have to do this by July).

Digital Bliss Productions was established in 2004 by Lynda Arnold (S.F.) to promote women electronic music producers, vocalists, instrumentalists and engineers as well as women who combine media and disciplines to create their own unique voice in the digital realm. Boutique Electronique Records was founded in 2005 by music producer/engineer Celeste Lear who wished to create a “Kinder, gentler label” to record, produce and market electronic music made by cutting edge musicians and producers around the world. Through performances, education, touring, compilation releases and blogging they share their new voices and music.

Divasonic 'Girationz, LUV & High - The Remixes' Available Now!

2008-03-18T23:55:00.001-07:00

Next order of Business: Releasing Some Remixes!

Girationz, Luv & High - The Remixes

April 2008

Remixes by Divasonic, Return to Mono, DJ F - Breakshop Studios, Harry O, Jaswho?, The Tunemaster (Dave Jones), Matrixx/Dappa Don and Gothboy are available for Download Below! These mixes represent a wide range of tastes and styles - truly reflective of the Changing Wind album.

Processing...Luv (Diva's Respect Mix)
Processing...Luv (Return to Mono Mix)
Girationz (DJ F Mix)
Girationz (Harry O Mix)
I Feel High (Higher Gothboy Mix)
Girationz (Tunemaster Mix)
Processing...Luv (Jaswho? Thick Synth Mix)
Processing...Luv (Jaswho? Broken Soul Mix)
Processing...Luv (Matrixx/Dappa Don Mix)

Remixes are available for purchase in this Snocap player as well as on Itunes, Emusic and Rhapsody!

Hear Samples of the Remixes in the Reverbnation Player - Tracks 9 - 12.
Sign up as a fan on my Reverbnation Page and Get a Free Download of my vocal edit dance mix of Processing...Luv.

Divasonic is on Reverbnation

2008-03-07T18:30:00.001-08:00

Divasonic is on Reverbnation, a great site for bands to promote, publish work, sell songs, interact with other musicians from around the world and consolidate fans from my general e-mail list, Facebook and more. Divasonic has been in the top 10 for the past 4 months in the electronic/dance category. Also check the official Divasonic website: http://www.divasonic.com for other updates and press.

'Changing Wind' Album review by Chris Lindsay at Slacklineradio.com and ProperlyChilled.com

2008-02-21T23:54:00.000-08:00

Fiction is far from the minds of artists like Lynda Arnold who wear their heart on their sleeves, exposing emotion in melody. In Divasonic, Lynda Arnold finds an outlet for her personal expression and bolsters it with true musical experimentation. Divasonic’s eclectic sound is built on a foundation of Arnolds’s flutes and piano and is expanded with the digital work of beats and synths. But, it’s Arnolds’s vocals that are not unlike Fiona or Tori that maintain the rawness in her work. She sets her poetry in motion with her own personal accounts.

On Changing Wind, Divasonic delivers her latest effort and it reveals that no matter how hard you try to point to a category for her style of music, you just won’t be able to put your finger on it. Each track remains grounded in the world of electronica but it’s her fusion of styles that make the overall genre feel unpredictable.
The remake of Gershwin’s “Summertime” and the sax-y “Tick Tick Boom” are a dead give away that jazz has its influence on this album. But, others like “Seed” and “Calm Freeze” pay homage to an urban breed. “Anticipating Haze” is brilliantly meditative with the use of piano looping and well accompanied ambient noise work while the mix of “Glass Pebbles” treats us to a nice glitch dessert.

You can be sure that Divasonic brings together a selection of moods on Changing Wind. Her methods may not be mainstream but that’s what helps lead to an end result with a product of distinction and diversity. Changing Wind harnesses Arnold’s discussion with the world and there are many reasons for your attention here.

Track Listing:

1. I Feel High
2. Summertime
3. Girationz
4. Tick Tick Boom
5. Processing…Luv
6. We Will Not Haste
7. Calm Freeze
8. Mammal Magnets
9. Anticipating Haze
10. Changing Wind
11. Seed
12. Glass Pebbles (beat mix)

Properly Chilled (.com) Review of Digital Bliss Vol. 1

2007-10-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

ProperlyChilled.com Page Link

Sometimes a compilation can be a hard thing to describe. A variety of musical influences can direct or misdirect a particular sound that is trying to be captured. For DBP, the focus is to bring a wider audience to the music of women in the digital age. With that goal in mind, DBP have successfully put together a collection of modern music and have managed to show that women in electronica are a diverse group, spanning a broad range of sounds. This disc does a good job of bringing to light those acts which although shinning, may have not been visible yet.

Vocals are a mainstay on each track of Digital Bliss and we are introduced to a wide variety of singing styles and music. The collection begins with a solid introductory track chosen from Musetta's catalog. The vocals of Marinella Mastrosimone are of high value on "Peace and Melody" as a high BPM curiously carries this downtempo rhythm into true digital bliss.

Return to Mono brings us a soft-glitch creation on "Give Me Something." This track from the trio features the lyrics of Tanya Kelleher layered upon digital mechanics and experimental noise production. Her voice is soft and sultry and adds just the right compliment to the overall ear pleasing tone of sounds.

Divasonic is the brainchild of Lynda Arnold. She is a skilled musician as a flautist and is apparently also a skilled promoter as the creative force behind the Digital Bliss project. Divasonic contributes "We Will Not Haste," a lyrically-driven, electronic union of digital beats. The occasional flute solo makes her history of classical training apparent.

The stew is thickened with the addition of Lila's Medicine's soft trip-hop creation, "So They Say." Linda Scarborough delivers a solid performance of slow-creeping lyrics. The structured beat work is imaginative and brings to mind some of her other work as a guest vocalist with her Texan neighbor of world sounds, Govinda.

Later, Celeste Lear supplies an electro-pop sound on "The Way I Do." Rolling synths and a foot-tapping rhythm are added delectably to her vocals. Loop!Station brings forward some of the most inventive cello work around in electronica. Robin Coomer pours her Harvey-esque vocals over an interesting array of loop techniques backed by Mike Bass's string instrument. Don't stop there because many other quality acts are worth your attention on Digital Bliss Volume 1.

~ Chris Lindsey (http://www.slacklineradio.com)

* Digital Bliss Vol. 1 is a joint release of Digital Bliss Productions and Boutique Electronique Records. Founders of both organizations are closely related to this project and each others work.

Urbnet.com Review of Digital Bliss Vol. 1

2007-10-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

URBNET.com
Review by Bradley Miller
Digital Bliss Vol. 1

Digital Bliss Vol. 1 was compiled by Lynda Arnold and Celeste Lear (of Digital Bliss Productions) to expose their handpicked group of independent female ‘electronic’ artists to a wider audience. On the CD we’re treated to a wide range of delicate, ethereal voices that frequently outshine their (mostly) downtempo and ambient backdrops. In the few cases where the soundscapes effectively compliment the vocalists’ skills (Divasonic’s soaring “We Will Not Haste”, Artemis’ polished Twin Peaks-inspired “Lagoon” and Comfort Food’s Julee Cruise-like “Lowk”) the results are astonishing. But ultimately the anonymous, uninventive trip-hop meanderings of songs like Lila’s Medicine’s “So They Say” or Loop!Station’s “Sweeter” expose the shortcomings of these indie artists’ producers, and not necessarily the singers themselves.

Download: “We Will Not Haste”, “The Way I Do”, “Lagoon (Baba)”, “Lowk” [Bradley Miller]

For more info: http://www.digitalblissproductions.com

Boutique Electronique Records

Regen Magazine Review of Digital Bliss Vol. 1

2007-08-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

Regen Mag Link
Various Artists
Digital Bliss Vol. 1
Digital Bliss Productions Posted: Wednesday, August 01, 2007
By: Charity VanDeberg
Staff Writer For those of us who have been desperately waiting for trip-hop and down-tempo music to make its big comeback, Digital Bliss' first compilation is a highly anticipated gift.Digital Bliss Productions is the brainchild of Divasonic's Lynda Arnold, established to promote the uncelebrated women in the electronic music industry, one which has always been dominated by their better known male counterparts. Each track in the compilation is an example of excellence from independent female producers, musicians, and vocalists hailing from all over the world.

For those of us who have been desperately waiting for trip-hop and down-tempo music to make its big comeback, Digital Bliss' first compilation is a highly anticipated gift. As a collection of 12 mellow, electronic, dance tunes highlighted by stunning female vocals, it couldn't be more perfect. Each song seems to have been carefully handpicked by committee for its mood, vocal and musical attributes, originality, and the artist's storytelling talent. And as listeners, we are the ones to reap the benefits of their meticulous efforts.

There isn't enough time to extol the virtues of every amazing treasure on this album. If we discuss the brilliant storytelling in Alu's "Confessions to the Undertaker," the ethereal beauty of Return to Mono's "Give Me Something," or Loop!Station's PJ Harvey-inspired "Sweeter," we would be leaving out the haunting "Lagoon (Baba)" by Artemis and the politically charged "Chaos Among Us," not to mention the other eight wonderful songs. But Digital Bliss Vol. 1 does more than just introduce us to a world of music we may not have found on our own pebble strewn paths; it teaches us a couple of things. We learn that only a woman's voice can sound so absolutely otherworldly and the violin is like the gorgeously wicked older sister to the rowdy electric guitar.

Review of Digital Bliss Vol. 1 From Penny Distribution!

2007-05-26T18:36:00.001-07:00

The term "Electronica" is widely derided among the dance music and post-raver community. It's generally seen as a term invented by the industy as a catch-all to easily market (read: sell) all music with a predominantly digital edge in it's production and in the 90s, acts such as Moby & Orbital brought those sounds to the stadiums of the world. But at it's roots, Electronica (alternatively called Intelligent Dance Music (IDM) & Electronic Listening Music at various points) was simply a variation of dance music made more for home listening rather than the dancefloor.

But as is the natural cycle of this industry, stadiums sell out and then the backlash begins. And after the backlash, the genre returns to where it began, to flourish anew. And I watched it flourish again at the launch of Digital Bliss Vol. 1 this week in San Francisco.

The greatest downfall of downtempo electronica or trip-hop has always been an over-arching dependance on a beat and atmospherics, vocal or otherwise. The victim? The song itself. All the swirling electronic sweeps and vocal gymnastics in the world can't hide the lack of discernable narrative, tension-and-release song-structure and the vital ability to emote something within a listener that is rife in independant electronica today. Happily, these failings are mercifully absent on this CD.

The continuity is a little off from song to song, but being this is a sampler, it does it's job admirably. The opener from Italian duo Musetta is a pulsating, fully-formed lesson in great electronica. Kraftwerk-esque beats meld perfectly with a subtle bembe feel. It's european with a Tropicalia edge and it just feels right. Although wonderfully delivered and with an exceptionally warm quality, Marinella Mastrosimone's voice takes a back seat to the incredibly funky beat.

In contrast, Return To Mono's "Give Me Something" pushes vocalist Tanya Kelliher's voice to the forefront of the track. Although the textures of the song benefit from valuable and interesting live instrumentation throughout courtesy of Jim Paulos it's Kelliher's crystalline vocals that carry the track, somehow able to combine incredibly strong delivery while maintaining the overall seductiveness of Return to Mono's sound.

Digital Bliss is the brainchild of Lynda Arnold aka Divasonic and her contribution focuses on the marriage of the organic with the electronic. An accomplished flautist, Arnold strips down the production here to focus on her strongest assets: her voice and her flute. It's this sparcity that makes the track so engaging, taking it's rightful place among this strong collection.

Other standouts include Sutro's "Undying" and "Lowk" by Comfort Food. Sutro, fronted by former Everthing but the Girl remixer/producer Tyler Stone, were brought together by fearless bay area DJ Polywog at the latter's improv collective "Poly's Playhouses". The jazz-infused melodies and electro-acoustic beats reveal the group's penchant for improvisation, complementing perfectly the track's themes of search & discovery.

The real discovery (or should I say mystery) here is the track "Lowk". Rightly saving the best till last (being the last track on the CD, that is), the erratic almost arhythmic beat of "Lowk" rises slowly at the beginning of the track, joined by the thin-ice brittleness of a female voice and eventually coalesces into the song's first third. Throughout, the jarring, minimalist rhythmic chirpings continue to develop in perfect unison with the rising urgency of the voice, interspersed by a short toy piano solo, until the emotional climax - and then the song drops off a musical cliff into nothingness. Astonishing.

To add to the interest, I can't find a single piece of information about Comfort Food on the internet: It's like an episode of "Lost"....C'mon guys! Show yourselves! You've got yourselves a buyer.

Digital Bliss Compilation...Announcement and Update On Progress!

2006-09-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

Digital Bliss Compilation - Volume 1

The Digital Bliss Vol. 1 Compilation is Released through Boutique Electronique Records in April 2007! It is now available on CD Baby, Cyberset.cc, Vanderkitten.com, RTFM Records website and Itunes. Support us now!

Divasonic

Alice Rose

Alu

Artemis

Celeste Lear

Laura Scarborough

Sutro

Bekka Fink - Bekka's Frogland Orchestra

Return to Mono

Loop!Station

Musetta

digital bliss 2005 photos below

2005-11-27T21:59:00.000-08:00

Hey Friends...you can now check out a photo from each artist who performed at Digital Bliss 2005 at 1015 Folsom. Information about the Artists and links to their websites can be found on the festival 2005 page under 'events' on our website.

amber

2005-11-27T21:31:00.000-08:00

amber
Originally uploaded by artloft805.

artemis

2005-11-27T21:30:00.001-08:00

artemis
Originally uploaded by artloft805.

divasonic

2005-11-27T21:30:00.000-08:00

divasonic
Originally uploaded by artloft805.

goldilox

2005-11-27T21:29:00.002-08:00

goldilox
Originally uploaded by artloft805.

laurascarborough

2005-11-27T21:29:00.001-08:00

laurascarborough
Originally uploaded by artloft805.

murmur

2005-11-27T21:29:00.000-08:00

murmur
Originally uploaded by artloft805.

quantazelle

2005-11-27T21:28:00.001-08:00

quantazelle
Originally uploaded by artloft805.

RenaJones

2005-11-27T21:28:00.000-08:00

RenaJones
Originally uploaded by artloft805.

SariahStorm

2005-11-27T21:27:00.000-08:00

SariahStorm
Originally uploaded by artloft805.

Digital Bliss T-SHIRTS

2005-11-17T21:34:00.000-08:00

Limited Edition Digital Bliss T-Shirts are Now On-Sale at the Vanderkitten Store - - Check them Out!

Official Event Flyer!!!

2005-10-30T22:36:00.000-08:00

Hey All!! Things are getting pretty exciting around here.......Check out the beautiful promotional flyer by phidelity.com

Digital Bliss 2005 Event Logo!!!

2005-09-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

Check out our super cool event logo designed by Dave V. at Vanderkitten.com. If you are not familiar with Dave's logos and clothes, go to his site right now! He also actively supports women artists in the Bay Area.

Welcome to the Digital Bliss Productions Blog!

2005-04-17T12:17:00.000-07:00

Here you will find more news about what our artists are doing, updates on the women's festival and random meanderings about our first love, digital audio technology! Feel free to post comments on our topics....