Recap of May 3rd concert at Sangati Center

This almost two months overdue, but I thought I would give you a quick post about a concert at Sangati Center on May 3rd, 2008.

The concert featured myself on saxophone, Ajay Narasimha on Violin and Anantha R. Krishnan on Mridungam. It was great to play with both of these artists. I had played with Ajay before and it was the first time playing with Anantha, who in case you did not know, is the grandson of the legendary mridangam vidwan Palghat Raghu. As he jokingly said before the concert, "that doesn't mean I play well." But of course, he played wonderfully, and we all had a good time.

I am looking forward to performing together again.
 
Here are a couple photos and excerpt videos from the concert, with more to come. Full photoset on flickr here.

I still have news to tell you about VidyA. I am off to India for some personal practice time and a few concerts. I will try to get in a few posts while I am there.

VidyA CD Release Concert Tonight!/ Radio Play / Record Stores

Hi!
That is me right this moment...not sure why I decided to include this picture.

Today we will be performing at the Red Poppy Art House to celebrate the release of the new CD!

It is extra special, because today is my dad's birthday (mom, myself, dad below).
Happy Birthday!


We will also be doing a photo shoot with Bay Area photographer Nate Keck, so you can finally expect to see some updated photos of the group for press purposes and otherwise. Here is a random (and blurry) shot of us playing, just for kicks.



Today the new album was played on KPFA's Music of the World show with David McBurnie. I believe they played "Lost Tales," the track based on Bhairavi ragam. They also gave away a couple sets of tickets for the concert.

The latest development is that the new album is now available at Ameoba Music in Berkeley and Rasputin in Berkeley, with other locations following soon, like Aquarius in SF (they have East Facing right now). Some of my Indian Classical albums are there also. If you can't find it there, ask for it and be persistent!

I will post more info as I find out.

Thanks to everyone for your support. There has been so much activity leading up to this album, but I wouldn't even call it "work" because I have been so lucky to have many great people to work with and great listeners.

Have a great long weekend.

VidyA CD unboxing, packaging preview

I just received the first shipment of the new VidyA CD, which we will be releasing at the Red Poppy this Friday. It was an exciting moment, so I thought I might as well share it with everyone. Here are some pictures of it so you can imagine what it will look like in your own hands...

Of course, it was just made available online for download at http://prasantmusic.com/store. Soon it will be available on CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon, etc.

See you soon!

VidyA Album Release!

Yes! The time has finally come for our first full-length CD. It has been about two and a half years since members of VidyA first met. During that time we performed quite a bit, made a good amount of friends, released a preview EP, changed our configuration a bit, and now, finally, can present an audio music package that we are excited to share with our listeners.

The new album features eleven tracks, all of which we have performed extensively live. We recorded the album at N.I. Recording, thanks to Eli Crews and Rich, who helped make it all happen. We were extremely fortunate to have Sebastien Richard do an excellent job mixing our music. It was great working with him and I'm looking forward to the next project to work with him again. Also, thanks to Michael Romanowski who did an amazing job mastering our CD. Everything is finished...we just have to wait for the CD's to show up at my doorstep.

So when/how can you get the CD?? Well there are a few phases.

1. May 17, 2008 at 12am PST - The VidyA album releases on the new Prasant Radhakrishnan and VidyA Online Store, exclusively as an immediate high quality MP3 download. Pre-orders for the physical CD can also be taken (note that these orders include the immediate download of the MP3 version). If the online store thing is news to you or you want to know more about how it works, check out the previous post.

2. May 23, 2008 at 8 pm - CD Release Concert at Red Poppy Art House, San Francisco. The actual CD will be available for purchase at this concert, so if you are in the SF Bay Area, and you can wait an extra week, come on down, enjoy the show and pick up a copy. Pre-orders from the online store will be shipped on May 23rd, 2008.

3. May 24 onwards - The new VidyA album will be rolled out to major retailers starting with CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon etc., with select availability at regular stores like Aquarius Records, Amoeba Records, Rasputin (?), Borders, Barnes & Noble etc. I can't guarantee any specific release dates for these places, just that it will be there eventually.

My advice is to purchase it at the online store, or through one of the smaller retailers.

We are really looking forward to sharing this with you. Hope to see you at the concert!

Online Digital Download Store Launch!

This is an exciting period as quite a few things are happening. I hope everyone is doing well and is in good health. The weather has been great here in Oakland, California.

So....a few big announcements, the first being the subject of this post. There will be a few more quick posts, so make sure to check them all out!

Prasant Radhakrishnan and VidyA Online Store Launches today!

There is now a fully functional online store native to www.prasantmusic.com.

Currently East Facing and Duality are available, but on May 17, 2008 at 12am PST, the new VidyA album will become available as a digital download exclusively available at the store.

Why, you may ask, would I want to have my own online store, when my music is already available at most of the major online retailers like iTunes, CDBaby, Amazon, Rhapsody etc etc...?

Here is why:

1. Exclusive content and control over timing.

With my own store, I can release special exclusive content such as live concerts, DVD's, and other things for you at a price that I set. This, is many cases, may be extremely affordable or even $0!

To me, this is huge. This allows you, who have taken an interest in this music, to see many other facets of it publicly than were ever available before. Not just the regular stuff like shirts, but exclusive videos, or perhaps an old concert that was never released, or maybe even a lecture demonstration on a useful topic that I had given recently.

2. DRM-Free. No restrictions.

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is the dreaded handcuff of the music industry on our digital music. It basically locks you into confusing rules that dictate what you can do with digital audio files that you purchased. In more cases than not, DRM has left me with unplayable files OR getting stuck with one online retailer or another. As a constant music listener, I can vouch for that being both frustrating and unpleasant. I just found that image above on the internet. Pretty funny, but sadly true in a way.

Everything you purchase from the prasantmusic.com digital store is completely free of any restrictions. You purchased it, you own it, you can do what you like with it. I am a firm believer that people who love music and care about art and culture in this world will support the people who make it.

3. I try to present a good thing for everyone. CD + MP3 = Joy.

I can't tell you how much it has upset me that CD's are SO extremely expensive these days. If you go into a regular retail store, a CD by a jazz musician is $18.99. Why?? I am a musician, and naturally a voracious listener. But I have to think twice, maybe three or four times whether or not to buy a CD that I really like because of the cost. Plus, that artist is probably getting $0.02 from that transaction.

In the new store, you can order a physical CD with shipping to your door included (no one likes getting to the checkout and suddenly seeing $5 added for shipping!). No CD is over $15. You get a link to immediate downloads of high quality (256kb LAME encoded) DRM-free MP3's included as well. This has been done by some other well known musicians, and I think its a great idea. It lets you order online without having to wait for the CD to arrive to listen, and saves you the trouble of ripping the CD to your hard drive if you were to buy a CD normally elsewhere. It lets you "have your cake and eat it too." But why would you have cake if you were not going to eat it? Exactly.

http://www.prasantmusic.com/store

VidyA album releases May 17, digital, physical CD pre-orders OK. Physical CD release May 23, 2008

P.S.: If any of you feel like you would like to have FLAC, 24-bit WAV, Apple Lossless etc., let me know and I may consider adding it to the store if enough people request it.