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JEFF SAMPSON        VOICES - SYNTHESIZERS - LYRICS



Collaborations: Jeph Jerman (Akrude) -- Bret H Hart and Eric Wallack (WooSH) -- Sara Ayers.

Group participation: Embracing the Glass -- SanRenSei -- Kepheus.

And solo.



March 19, 2010

My working relationship with Sara Ayers has been cemented into digital bits and bites. You can find the evidence at Sampson-Ayers, the principle repository for music updates and partnership news. We also have a Reverb Nation page, and a presence on MySpace.

January 9, 2010

Sara Ayers has a freely downloadable album recently released on the Endless Ascent net label. Titled “Ambient Collaborations”, it’s an interesting cross-section of her work with a variety of sound artists and includes one of the pieces we’ve done together, Not Even All the Stars. You’ll find it at endlessascent.com/ea009.html

Not long ago, I created an a cappella piece titled Cannibal Box. This song is a new approach for me - the first time (unless memory completely fails me) I’ve written an original melody for someone else’s words. Right now, you can only hear it at myspace.com/jeffsampsonmusic or myspace.com/themethodlearned

Those of you who've been with me for awhile probably remember Outside Inner Space, my synth-only album from 2005 -- released in a cloud of no fanfare and almost immediately deleated. It's been remastered and can now be found through MusicZeit.

November 17, 2009

10/30 at Academy Frame turned out to be a voices-only performance....with live loops and effects, of course. As planned, the music leaned strongly on the side of "spookiness". A highlight comment from an audience member: "John Carpenter is looking for you."

For several reasons, I expected my return to Rubbish Gallery on Nov. 13 to be - at least - artistically successful. For one thing, I LOVE it when the 13th falls on a Friday (the best ones are when the moon is full - which it wasn't last Friday, but that didn't have a negative effect). For another, the gallery owners and the folks attending the openings are very supportive. Plus, Lance Green - whose opening it was - is a very successful, and creative, painter. To no surprise of mine, the place was wall-to-wall people - numbers that turned out to be a bit too loud for the recording process, but very stimulating for the preformance process. I had a great time! Thank you, everyone.

September 17, 2009

The gig at Rubbish was a blast. Great crowd which, along with the gallery owners, was very supportive. I played non-stop for 2 hours 'cept for a ten minute pre-recorded break about halfway through. It's all recorded - don't know what I'll end up doing with it all, but there are a couple of excerpts at my Myspace page .

Going back to Academy Frame Company October 30th. This will probably be a synth and voice show, like the first time I played there Valentines Day. But, as it'll be the day before Halloween, the music will probably be a bit, umm, spookier.

August 30, 2009

Really - really - looking forward to this one. Rubbish Gallery (Colorado Springs, CO) is presenting a month-long show titled "Loss" starting September 11. Here's what the Open Call to Artists says: "In light of recent losses in the Colorado Springs art community, Rubbish is asking that you donate your artwork in order for us to provide a donation to local charities supporting suicide prevention and mental health advocacy in the Pikes Peak region. Rubbish also invites community members to share their personal stories of loss for an installation piece to be completed at the event".

This is truly an important event and I'm honored to be selected to provide improvised background music during the September 11 opening. Instrumentation this time will be only my voice, using a couple of microphones, delay-type effects and live looping. My particiaption runs from 6 pm to 8:30.

July 30, 2009

The big story this time: Often Coiled, the "progressive garage power trio" made up of Mandy Christensen, Matt Gehrung and myself, has been taking some significant sonic strides lately. We keep pushing the limits of what we thought we could do only a few months back. We're feeding off each other's ideas and taking this original music in some interesting directions. Yes, more than one direction - or, at least several simultaneous branchings of a reasonably thick trunk. I bet if you asked each of us, we'd all have different answers to the question, "What is your core sound?". You can hear some of that core via the links below. The last.fm page has a short series of the track "Effigy" (the jam that started it in February and a rehearsal take in June) and a video built around our first public performance on Record Store Day, April 18th. The Myspace and Bandcamp pages have more recent demos (everything is recorded live via a Zoom H2)

Bandcamp (lyrics here)
Last.fm
MySpace (plus video)

As a band, we're real new to the above sites - could use some friendship :

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I've also taken control of my name on last.fm and have added a few tracks to what has been scrobbled by other folks (my sincere appreciation for those of you responsible for those scrobblings). One of the new pieces, the first set from my Valetine’s Day gig, is available for the first time anywhere. Everything on last.fm is freely downloadable (well, one track isn't).

Jeff Sampson

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The Lycan Knight is a graphics artist and the admin for an online RPG, Queen of Darkness. QoD had a contest early this year - the piece of music I entered (which, I believe, was the only musical entry in a contest without style or media boundaries) was awarded 2nd place. You can hear the track and view the drawing I received as my prize at:

Winter's Chill


June 10, 2009

The Jeff Sampson - Sean Carroll CD, "Letting Go" is available at most (maybe all, now) download sites, and physical CDs can be acquired through CD Baby. It's 29 minutes of cathartic melancholy - perfect for any sad or depressing situation you might find yourself in.

December 2, 2008

The EP with Sara Ayers, "Thrice Thy Heart Shall Broken Be", is no longer available through Atmoworks. You can, however, acquire it through Musiczeit in your choice of FLAC or MP3 downloads, or from CD Baby as an MP3 download.

July 15, 2008

Here's a couple of updates on the "Letting Go" project with Sean. We decided the we didn't like the titles of tracks three and four, but haven't settled on what they should be, and I've edited the previous post to reflect that.However, to help you in this time of Wait, we've put an unmastered version of the first track online. You can find it right here.

June 18, 2008

Sara Ayers and I are a few solid steps into a new project. We expect this one to be album-length and are projecting it to be available by spring of '09. There are a couple of nearly-finished pieces so far - one is a short-shorts with the other in a more conventional 7ish minutes range. They both continue in the style of our 2006 EP - only more so :)

Sean Carroll and I are putting the final touches on a 30 minute EP titled Letting Go -- another look at the atmosphere of "Dearly Departed". Whereas that song was one piece in three parts, the EP has four songs exploring the emotions we might feel when we lose someone very close -- "Among the Infirm", "Dead at 35", "(needs a name)", and "(also needs a name)". Hoping for this to be out by early fall.

September 15, 2007

Endless Endless is a very interesting web-only project hosted-maintained-assembled-sponsored by the good folks at audiobulb.com. It's a simple idea with deep results. Audio submissions are 120 seconds in length. The accepted ones are alternately added to the beginning and end of what has come before. So what you hear is an ongrowing mix of atmospherics and (mostly) electronics carefully blended into a really cool listening experience. Version 5 has just been put online, and contains a submission of mine, "Inhospitable", which is presently the fourth bit in the mix. You can listen here. There's currently a direct link on the left-hand side of the page - or click the Projects link at the top. The whole mix runs about 40 minutes.

Also: I've been remiss in not mentioning the newest release from one of the ongoing projects I'm part of, Embracng the Glass. This past May, Cohort Records released a split CD-R with Embracing the Glass and Haslam. It's been getting good reviews, which you can read here -- sound samples there, too.

August 16, 2007

I have a new -- free -- download for you. It's titled "Seedling (sunshine mix)" and is the second in the Seedling series. The first one, "Seedling (reunion mix)" was on the CD Metaphor, which was created specifically for my high school class reunion in 2006 (and no, as long as you've asked, it didn't make much of an impression on my former classmates -- but who really thought it would, eh?). This version has a couple of additional vocal tracks added to the mix (and the synth track has been removed).

Back in March, "Seedling (sunshine mix)" was offered to someone who has a long-running drone download project. His initial reaction was enthusiastically positive (I'm not making that up or enhancing it). But I've sent him 2 copies (via ftp and a physical CD) and haven't been able to get him to acknowledge receipt, never mind has he played it. I'm left to presuming he didn't like it, and have too much going on to be looking for another outlet. So here it is (7:30 - 6.4 mb) -- hope you enjoy it.

And in case you're wondering, a reworked Metaphor may be available to the general public by the end of the year. I've been going over all of it, removing the restraint I tried to apply when I was initially recording it. (I guess I really was trying to make something "mainstream" listeners would like.) "Seedling (mountain mix)" is finished (so be sure to download this free version so you'll be able to recognize the differences); "Working the Stream" is having a bunch of new bits added; "Seeping Through the Boundaries" is being remixed (and partially re-recorded).

April 30, 2006

I've spent 2007 looking for a new home. I'm not talking about a new building (although that, obviously, comes into play) -- rather a different part of the country. New England winters finally got the best of me -- before I could figure out where to move to, unfortunately. For various reasons, Oregon, California, Arizona and Florida all came up short. I'm now calling Colorado home - again. When I left here in 1984, a friend said I'd be back. I guess she was right, but I have a feeling she wasn't thinking it would be this long. I'm still re-acclimating myself, but ideas haven't stopped appearing. Through a conversation with another friend shortly after I arrived, I've got a great solo project in the works. I'm going to be coy about it for awhile, but I will say it has a lot to do with bridging the present day and the European dark ages.

August 8, 2006

Today's the day! The "duet" with Sara Ayers, Thrice Thy Heart Shall Broken Be was released today on Atmoworks. 3 tracks -- haunting, foreboding and luminous -- created with a sound palette made up entirely of voices. Sara is a world-class vocalist, and a real treat to work with. We're really pleased with the result -- would love to know how you feel about it. You can preview and purchase (download or hard copy) exclusively at Atmoworks. Currently, we're all over the front page -- if you don't find us there, click the Ethereal link in the left-hand column.



July 1, 2006

Well now -- that didn't take long. The page for Outside Inner Space can be found here.

June 24, 2006

ALL RIGHT! It isn't just a nasty rumor any more -- Outside Inner Space is finally available. You can download the album, and preview most of the tracks, here. The physical, hold-it-in-your-hand version enclosed in a slim DVD case will be available for purchase as soon as I can get the page written for it. (Yeah, I know -- you'd think I'd have gotten that done while we were all waiting for the packaging to be finalized -- but that would have made too much sense.) So, why are you still here? Go ahead, click on that link!

February 8, 2006

"Using Two for One" is now available as a free download. Click the appropriate link to the left. (8-14-06 update: I've changed the way pages link together, and a couple of things still haven't been sorted out. One is the link to this album -- sorry. The new trail should be blazed fairly soon.)

January 18, 2006

I've just added a personal discography, which can be viewed by clicking the -- ta-da! -- DISCOGRAPHY link ( it's since been changed to History). What happened to the '90s?

Obviously, Outside Inner Space wasn't nearly as close to being released as I thought it was, and the scenario is now too, too similar to a groom perpetually being left waiting at the alter. No more voiced or printed "any day now" about that one. It'll be here when it gets here.

However, a perfectly suitable replacement IS available. Woosh is a trio release (Eric Wallack, Bret Hart and myself). Rock, but not rock -- this is a one-of-a-kind blending of old and new. You can hear samples here.


April 25, 2005
Using Two for One is now available. A solo release of synthesizer and voice(s), it contains two tracks of live looping (with a running time of 36:38) recorded direct to stereo. Currently, it's only available by request. Send an email to jeff at toadware dot net -- if you live in North America, I'll probably just send it to you. If you're outside North America, I may ask for a couple of bucks for postage. I'll try to get sound samples up in a timely manner -- but I don't seem to be real great at "timely manner" stuff, so...

Outside Inner Space is really, really close to a release date. It's getting hard to contain the excitement!


March 3, 2004
Sheltered Shadows, a compilation of drones and related artifacts, was released today by Burning Shirt Music. It contains my track, "Outside Perimeter Two". You can learn more about the CD by clicking here.


December 13, 2003
Played an interesting gig at the Worcester Artist Group (Worcester, MA) with New Jersey's Mutation Vector . It was the first time I'd played solo in an a capella manner with two microphones sending sounds through separate signal paths. Each path used its own looping device and signal processors, allowing me to create complex pieces with interacting loops. Very cool -- and very mind-opening. The ideas that have come from that night have been almost non-stop. Oh, the third set -- where the three of us improvised together -- was pretty cool too. At the end of it, Greg said, "That was interesting -- you sounded like another synthesizer".


August 6, 2003
Added "Tour of the Gas Giant" to my Ampcast page, and it also was immediately added to Blue Water Drift Drive. -- (I've since left Ampcast as I felt the minimal feedback didn't justify the expense. -- JS 10/14/04)


July 7, 2003
Joined Ampcast and uploaded "Perimeter One". It was immediately added by Palancar to his Blue Water Drift Drive internet radio show.


June 9, 2003
An instrumental drone of mine, "Perimeter One", has been added to the Dark Duck Drone Download Project.

This free download is available at www.darkduck.net/drone.htm -- it’s number 30.

The music made available through this project is all of a high caliber and it’s an honor to be included with it.