ProStudioMasters.com

For the anniversary of Winter & Winter, drummer Jim Black compiles his personal selection of the recordings of his group AlasNoAxis: Music for open ears, for explorers of the unusual and unconventional. "Sometime in 1999 I read somewhere that singer/songwriter virtuoso Joni Mitchell would pick up a guitar and tune it to a random tuning that she thought sounded good, and would then proceed to slowly figure out her own chords and progressions while singing melodies on top to write songs … Thus began my journey to write all of the music for AlasNoAxis on various randomly tuned electric baritone guitars, while having no idea how to properly play guitar. A slow and painstaking process to say the least but one well worth the effort and unexpected rewards ... After I had the songs, I needed the right band to provide all of the sound, color, shape, energy, and to breathe life and soul into these sonic imaginations. After two minutes of thought, it was an obvious choice to give them to my oldest and most open-minded musical friends at that time: Chris Speed, Hilmar Jensson, and Skúli Sverrisson. With these gentlepersons, you are working with artisans that play, arrange, and spontaneously compose from the inside of each composition, highlighting the meaning and message of each section of every song ... The compilation you are in possession of is a sampler platter. Hopefully it piques your interest to explore each of these six albums in full. Thank you for listening to our music." - Jim Black