Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$6.99USD or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
The spacey music is by Quarkspace; the included comic book features a story and art by the legendary underground comic book artist, Matt Howarth. Includes the Eternity's Jest "Buy One Get Four Free" deal! Free CD-r copies of Quarkspace's Drop (an All Music Guide Top Pick!), Spacefolds 8, Spacefolds 9, a CD copy of the debut Church of Hed album, and a download card of Church of Hed's The Autumn Shrine EP with every order. The best deal in music right here, yo! Git ya some!
Includes unlimited streaming of Node in Peril
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Matt Howarth is a legendary comic book artist, known for his Savage Henry series and other science-fiction works. Being a spacerock fan, he soon discovered Quarkspace and became a supporter. In 2004, we decided to do a project together, where he would do a mini-comic with song titles and a storyline and we would do the music. Thus became Node in Peril.
The packaging and comic are great. Musically, we took some of the best improvs in our "to be released" bucket and did some overdubs. Combined with a couple composed instrumentals, it is probably our most sonically intense release. Now available on download, but we also have the CD available with the comic book. It's a great package! So buy both, after all, it makes a great gift!
credits
released September 1, 2004
Chet Santia: Bass, Guitar, Percussion (on Entering Node 817)
Jay Swanson: Keyboards, Synth
Paul Williams: Drumming, Synth, Keyboards, Loops
Stan Lyon: Guitar
Special Guest
Carlton Smith: Percussion on Entering Node 817
All Music Composed and Improvised by Quarkspace
Produced by Lance Starbridge
Copyright 2004, Eternity's Jest Records, Inc.
Artwork and Story Copyright 2004 Matt Howarth
Reviews
The latest from Quarkspace is billed as a collaboration with comic artist Matt Howarth. The music is all Quarkspace, but along with it is a 16 page CD sized comic book by Howarth that provides the story and theme that the music is a soundtrack for. Howarth has long had his hands in the space and prog rock world, having featured the likes of Hawkwind, Ash Ra Tempel, Klaus Schulze, The Residents, Richard Pinhas, and many others in his comics, created the artwork for album covers, and done similar album-comic collaborations like Node In Peril.
The music for Node in Peril was selected from among the all improvised, instrumental Spacefolds sessions, the main difference
being that for this project the musicians allowed overdubs to achieve their goals. The music is trademark Quarkspace, chock full of soaring synth waves and guitar notes that wrap themselves around your brain. These guys excel at combining a killer jamming quality with a clear sense of direction and thematic development. Some of my favorite moments are when Jay Swanson's piano plays the lead melody while the bass and drums provide the driving backbone, and guitar and synths inject the high octane cosmic factor. The nearly 14 minute "Waking The Beast" is a highlight in this regard. Stan Lyon's guitar style couldn't be more different from the departed Dave Wexler, working very much in cooperation with the keyboards and synths for color and character formation. "Signal-to-Noise Ratio Error" is a track that jumped out at me, particularly because the bell styled melody brings to mind a heavier and spacier version of Goblin's Suspiria theme. And "Entering Node 817" has a heavy driving pulse that recalls the title track to Pink Floyd's Obscured By Clouds.
Quarkspace long ago established their own recognizable sound, though reference points for the uninitiated would be a spacier and
trippier version of Ozric Tentacles and elements of Pink Floyd. A number of reviewers throw in Hawkwind but I don't hear it. And
though very much a space rock band, Quarkspace has much to offer the prog rock fan. In any event, Node in Peril is a must for fans of Quarkspace's Spacefolds series, though the music, as intended, definitely flows much more smoothly from beginning to end. And there's a small note in the CD jacket that says "optimized for headphones listening". Trust them on that. -- Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations
Node in Peril is both stellar jamming and design galore. A collaboration between space rockers Quarkspace and comic book artist Matt Howarth, this album is candy for the eyes and ears. Howarth's 14-page (booklet-size) comic book lacks a bit of development, but it still offers much to feast on and a stimulating environment for the group's music, a natural choice to fill in the void of the "underspace," the realm humans use to travel far distances, where only organic technology can be used. The album has been pieced from overdubbed improvisations (including "Reality Resumed (All Stars Shine)," the fifth "Star" improv recorded at the same time as the four other ones appearing on Spacefolds 7) and pieces composed specifically for this project. The contrast between Stan Lyon's obsessive acid guitar licks and Jay Swanson's mellow piano playing is what defines this particular album. Of course, there is a generous helping of synthesizer swirls, graceful basslines and inspired drumming (Paul Williams is constantly refining his technique; this time around he uses a light, bouncing touch reminiscent of Bill Bruford), but the best moments of the set are found when piano and guitar tug the fabric of the music in different directions. Highlights include "Underspace," the protomorphic epic "Lucid Rust" and the single-sized "The Misinformed Eco-Terrorist." Node in Peril is an all-instrumental album and, as such, it may disappoint a few fans, especially following the very socially conscious album Drop. But that's nitpicking and nothing more. This quartet can pull off an hour's worth of quality wordless tripping any day of the week. Recommended. -
Church of Hed is the solo electronic space prog project of Quarkspace drummer/synthesist, Paul Williams. RIYL: Floyd, the
Orb, Stereolab -- Quarkspace is an American band together since the mid 80s. Known for combining spacerock and electronics with folk and progressive songwriting, their influences straddle the American and English psychedelic scenes of the late 60s with more modern influences....more
