Album Notes

The "Dark Experiments" CD is comprised of some of Skutle's darkest and most gripping music, most created through the use of synths, but four ("Ambient Noiz," "Etude in the Key of Csound," "Dark Fantasia," and "Radio Noir") were created using the Csound computer music compiler running off of my PC at home.

While a couple of the pieces on Skutle's second CD- "Creative Beginnings"- were inspired by film music (a field he hopes to venture into one day), almost ALL of the MIDI-based compositions on this CD were film music-inspired. "Mysterious Realms" (in either version) is reminiscent of "Metropolis" and "Dark City" in its ability to inspire the listener's imagination as it enters a noirish city of the future. The popular "Chant of the Vocoder" and it's sequels- though more inspired by traditional Gregorian Chant and the music of Wendy Carlos- also creates haunting images in the listener with a feel that harks of Stanley Kubrick's provocative "Eyes Wide Shut" and its spellbinding orgy scene, with superb music by Jocelyn Pook. Speaking of Kubrick, his "2001: A Space Odyssey" and its journey into the unknown was the inspiration for "Beyond the Infinite," as well as a follow-up project of CD length- currently in progress- that expands on that piece's mesmerizing sound and feel.

The final piece on the CD- "In a Lonely Place"- apart from being the first time ever this version of the piece can be heard by fans (whom, up until now have only been able to hear a trombone quartet arrangement of the work), is also inspired by Graeme Revell's stunning music to Skutle's favorite film of all-time- "The Crow."

As the title indicates, all of these pieces are experimental in nature, including some which contain on-the-fly improvising by the composer. Still, all of the pieces have a few things in common- they're dark, they're unique, and they're intensely-creative journeys into the imagination, and now they're available on CD for your listening pleasure.