20 years after releasing Vostok on Spotted Peccary, Craig Padilla presents an evolutionary new solo album of electronic music on the Portland-based label.

PORTLAND, OR, USA, February 18, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Today, Spotted Peccary Music releases veteran electronic composer-experimenter Craig Padilla’s new album Discovery of Meaning, a celebration of the endless lessons brought by living in the present. Intimacy is the essence of Discovery of Meaning: the intimacy of solitude, the intimacy of family and the intimacy of a single moment. In this work Padilla faces isolation and finds connection in spite of it: connection to the sylvan wonder of his home environ, connection to the artists who inspired him and connection to his daughters, his family, his friends. Consumers can stream the music from their platform of choice at https://orcd.co/discovery-of-meaning

Elements of electronica, trance, new age, drone, ambient, and cosmic space music blend into a new sound for Padilla, who first began Discovery of Meaning in Oregon while working at a modular synthesizer shop and learning more about modular techniques. He merged his worlds by completing it at his home in California in the middle of the pandemic lockdown, painting in sounds inspired from across his long career. He draws material from modular synth explorations in Oregon, serene naturescapes at his Cottonwood, California home and the hovering anxieties of 2020. This study in Oregon informed his compositions: the MST/Division 6 Modular Synth and Mattson Mini Modular Synth are featured on almost every track, sometimes as a rhythmic anchor and sometimes as a hypnotic melody. On opener “Perception Stream,” a modular bassline swings like a stellar orbit around a trance-like beat. Their interplay is subtle but cyclical, rapturous. Penultimate track “Cottonwood” features natural samples from Padilla’s backyard; sounds of wind, forests and frogs simmer under cosmic pulses and gentle modular striations.

In mid 2020, Star’s End Radio Host and fellow electronic artist Chuck van Zyl commissioned Padilla for a song about what artists were doing to stay sane and healthy during quarantine. This song, “Continuum,” features spoken word elements about time (in German: zeit) featuring a German foreign exchange student Paula, who was studying music with Padilla’s daughters, Harmonee and Melodee, recorded just prior to Paula’s return flight to Germany. The track also features wordless vocals from Harmonee and Melodee, which entwine over a cinematic swell, adding organic warmth to a cold, electronic landscape punctuated by a propulsive modular loop that gallops through oscillations of texture and voice. van Zyl called “Continuum”: “something rare… a new sound, a new atmosphere,” adding, “I almost do not know how to absorb this new music, as it reaches to such a personal space.” Read van Zyl's new review of the entire album.

The track "Cottonwood" was inspired by sounds recorded on a handheld digital recorder, "You can hear a breeze moving some wooden windchimes, and some birds in the trees,” says Padilla. “In the evening, I went into the front yard to record the sounds of frogs and crickets. I loved the way the recordings sounded, and I got inspired to make a piece of music with them. I added some organic electronic textures and sequences..." and the overall vibe of the music was also inspired by the meditation sessions that he was experiencing while visiting Portland.

Mastered by Howard Givens, Discovery of Meaning is available for physical purchase in CD format and in 24-BIT AUDIOPHILE, CD QUALITY LOSSLESS, MP3 and streaming formats. The CD version of Discovery of Meaning arrives in a factory sealed 6-panel gatefold package that includes vibrant artwork, liner notes, a 4-page booklet, and brilliant package design by Daniel Pipitone that underscores the label's slogan, Music Is Art.

A personal and contemplative record, Discovery of Meaning is an exploration of the immediate moment—and a celebration of the connections no distance can break.

Please contact Beth Ann Hilton (beth@spottedpeccary.com) at Spotted Peccary Music with requests for interviews, onesheets, radio edits, and media review copies.

Tracklist:
01 Perception Stream
02 Discovery of Meaning
03 Continuum, Part 1
04 Continuum, Part 2
05 Adrift in Memory
06 Cottonwood
07 Festive Awakening

About Craig Padilla:
Craig Padilla is an internationally celebrated and award-winning electronic music artist. After more than two decades of performing live and recording his own music using many vintage analog and newer digital synthesizers, his style reflects the classic electronic musicians of the past, while finding new sound and music styles that are unique to the true ambient electronic music genre (often found in categories from New Age to Trance to Electronica). His music and creative environment is inspired and influenced by the lands surrounding Coeur d’Alene, Idaho where he once resided, and by his earliest influences of being raised in far-northern California where he resides again. He first explored the works of Wendy Carlos, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Steve Roach, and many other pioneers of the electronic form. He has composed soundtracks for various television, theatrical, and film productions. His music is heard on XM Satellite Radio and radio stations throughout the US, and on celebrated radio programs “Echoes” and “Hearts of Space” repeatedly.

About Spotted Peccary Music:
Portland-based Spotted Peccary Music is North America’s finest independent record label with a focus on deep, vast and introspective soundscapes. For over three decades, the artists of Spotted Peccary have been on a mission to develop, produce, publish and release ultra-high-quality, deep-listening experiences that engage the listener and exceed expectations. Every release is carefully prepared in a variety of high quality formats from MP3 to high-res studio masters. Explore more than 165 titles and 45 artists at www.SpottedPeccary.com and www.AmbientElectronic.com.

Links:
Spotted Peccary: https://spottedpeccary.com/shop/discovery-of-meaning/
CD Unboxing: https://youtu.be/_YQDbhpjpAw
Bandcamp: https://ambientelectronic.bandcamp.com/

Beth Hilton
Spotted Peccary Music
+1 310-560-8390
beth@spottedpeccary.com
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Unboxing Video & Preview: Discovery of Meaning