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This is an ever-growing online repository of my entire recorded musical archive from youthful rock bands, to college experimentalism, to works perhaps best forgotten. Virtually all of the audio in this archive is unreleased and uncirculated demos and other 'pre-market' releases that would otherwise never be heard again by human ears. Please peruse the exhibits below with a sense of adventure and appropriate understanding that what you're hearing is the humble audio chronicle of a young developing musician.

Audio Museum

Rachmaninov All-Night Vigil (Vespers) 

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2019 remaster by Peter Benjamin

featured 

Conducted by Richard Sparks at PLU's Lagerquist Concert Hall in 1996.*
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The All-Night Vigil was composed by Sergei Rachmaninov in 1915. It features Church Slavonic, the traditional language of the Russian Orthodox Church. An all-night vigil is a type of sacred music that accompanies a traditional Orthodox liturgical ceremony, similar to Catholic and Lutheran styles of liturgy. This piece is said to be one of Rachmaninov's personal favorites. It's also one of mine and performing it was one of the most profound musical experiences of my young musical life.
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*The original audio of this recording was very quiet and used little to no compression. The remastered version below features lesser dynamic range and the result, in my opinion, is even more nuance and articulation in the performance.

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Peter played guitar in not one, but two separate Radiohead tribute bands before seeking his fortune in the Northwest country music scene in the early 2010's. First, Backdrifters played a handful of shows in Seattle before disbanding. A few years later, Radioland rehearsed a set in preparation for a Halloween show at a local venue that never materialized.

Radiohead Tribute(s)

(2009, 2014)

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'Just' Backdrifters
'Blackstar' Backdrifters
Radioland Airbag Demo rough
Radioland Subterreanean Demo rough
Radioland Electioneering Demo rough

The Roans (2008-2010)

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The Roans were a psychedelic roots rock band led by singer-songwriter Nate Gullickson on loan from the the commonwealth of Montana. Peter's stint with this band- which persisted for most of it's ignominious career as a studio project- was somewhat short lived playing only two or three shows and co-producing a three song EP called Ebb. Below are three of the tracks from that release featuring Peter on lead guitar and backing vocals. This EP was recorded during the same studio session as Peter's first record For Your Enjoyment & Leisure. On another note of trivia, Nate Gullickon was the last bass player for Edisyn (below) before they finally disbanded in '08.

FiresideThe Roans
00:00 / 04:21
Soft ForestThe Roans
00:00 / 04:35
Winter SleepThe Roans
00:00 / 05:07

EDISYN Archive (1998-2008)
 

Edisyn was a Seattle-based alt rock band that offered three official releases from 2003 through 2008. Below are a handful of original demos, live recordings, radio appearances, and other misc. morsels from the Edisyn vault.

Live on KEXP's Audioasis (2003 & 06') - A rite of passage for Seattle bands of this time (perhaps still) was playing live on KEXP, where music was said to have mattered....

Nothing is Changing (live at KEXP '03).mArtist Name
00:00 / 04:40
Edisyn Live @ KEXP A Banquet with Guido (Scary Clown Music)Artist Name
00:00 / 05:22
Edisyn Live @ KEXP Faking TheArtist Name
00:00 / 03:51
Edisyn Live @ KEXP Circles Block the SunArtist Name
00:00 / 04:45
Edisyn Live @ KEXP AmaranthArtist Name
00:00 / 04:05
Edisyn Live @ KEXP On the Climb BackArtist Name
00:00 / 06:11

Live @ The Crocodile (July, 2006) - This is a rough and ready board mix given to the band by veteran sound tech Jim Anderson in  '06. After founding member Terry Mattson left the band, friend Dave Banuelos joined the band for several months to a year or so while they tried- ultimately to no avail- to resurrect Edisyn's former promise. Dave's style worked especially well on the more aggressive tunes and these tracks showcase that.

Peter's guitar rig: 

Guitars: 

"-The Heritage H170 - flame maple arch top all mahogany double cut LP-style made by a pretty famous American guitar manufacturer. 

-2000 American Deluxe Telecaster (I bought from Terry)

Amp: Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2x12

Effects: pedalboard with various pedals including DL4, EH small stone, big muff, etc.

Looking back, this was a very nice setup for me and I definitely wish I still had the Hertige which I sold out of financial desperation at some point. Such is the life of a rock musician...."

Edisyn _Plans and Commitment_ Live @ TheArtist Name
00:00 / 04:05
Edisyn _How to Give Up_ Live @ The Croc Artist Name
00:00 / 04:16

Live @ The Central Saloon (2001?) - This is a live EP demo recorded by Shaun Disch at the Central Saloon in Pioneer Square in Seattle. All three songs ended up being released as studio tracks on Edisyn's debut self-titled release which can be found on the 'PB releases' page of this site. 

Peter's guitar rig -

 

Guitar: 90's era Gibson LP Special w P-100 noiseless pickups. This is by far one of the coolest and best sounding guitars I've ever owned. I often call it my first real electric guitar after my ill-advised love affair with shredder style axes, which you can hear on earlier Edisyn demos. Alas, it, along with Sean's Aria Pro (also featured on this recording) was stolen after stupidly leaving it in my truck at a friend's place in Federal Way- the guitar theft capital of the world.....

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Amp: Peavey Classic 50 4x10 combo. Meh...

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Effects: Hard to remember exactly what I was using at this point but may have been some shoddy conflagration of a rack mountable Lexicon effects unit for delay/verb/modulation, a 'wah' pedal, and a cool overdrive pedal that Terry lent me. Needless to say, things were still coming together for me rig-wise at this point.

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Running Live @ The Central (mastered).mpArtist Name
00:00 / 04:36
The Faking Live @ The Central (Mastered)Artist Name
00:00 / 03:41
Sore Live @ The Central (Mastered)Artist Name
00:00 / 03:40

White Noise - Demo (2000?)

"Affectionately (or derisively) referred to as 'The Roland Demo,' this was Edisyn's second attempt at a demo recording and was produced during a time when they did not have a drummer. The drums, therefore, are electronically programmed by Terry Mattson using the sound bank and sequencer from a Roland workstation. Personally, I don't think they sound horrible- just a bit quiet for most of the mixes. Cheers to Terry who, in addition to playing bass and programming drums, basically dragged the rest of band kicking and screaming into making this demo. I'm glad we did and feel that it still sort of holds up in some ways. Sean's voice, for example, sounds especially youthful and agile at this point. Enjoy..."

Guitar: Parker Nitefly - You can really hear the brittleness of this very artificial sounding instrument that came and went out of fashion sometime in the late 90's to early 2000's. The last of my shredder guitars...

 

Amp: This whole thing was recording direct likely using a sans amp preamp and/or my old digitech RP-1. Yikes..

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Effects: Internal to the recording system, I believe...

maxresdefault_edited.jpg
White Noise (2018 Master)
Head Like A Clown (2018 Master)
As She Goes (2018 Master)
Diana (2018 Master)
Right Beside You (2018 Master)
What Perfect Side (2018 Master)
Ever After (2018 Master)

Experimental Era

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                 in re  (1998?)

in re was Peter's first post-college band and was co-led by keyboard player and composer Eric Goetz. They labeled their sound 'smooth metal' acknowledging the equal portions of progressive rock, hard rock, and jazz-rock fusion elements that influenced their writing. They release one demo on cassette, which is why the recordings below sound a little 'warbly' and sonically inconsistent. Tape degrades over time and produces a range of unwanted sonic artifacts as a result.

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Peter's guitar rig

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Guitar: Jackson Performer Series

Amp: Sans Amp Pre, MosValve Power amp, into a Peavey 4x12 cab. Not good.

Effects: Digitech RP-1

in re 'Rue' (Master)Artist Name
00:00 / 07:16
in re 'Give' masterArtist Name
00:00 / 06:19
in re 'The Wheel' masterArtist Name
00:00 / 03:29
in re 'lavender' masterArtist Name
00:00 / 05:49
pacificlutheranuniversity-logo_edited.pn

In the fall of 1993, Peter commenced his university education at Pacific Lutheran University. PLU is nationally recognized for the size and scope of its music department and serves as the crown jewel of the university's School of the Arts. Below are a small collection of original compositions for guitar and other instruments, choral performances, and other musical experiments that represented Peter's strong pull toward harmonic and rhythmic complexity during his time in college. 

Solo for electric guitar # - This is a solo piece for electric guitar in three movement. The first movement introduces expository material such as an arpeggiated melodic figure within a diatonic chord progression, as well as the rhythmically dynamic material that will come in the third movement. The second movement explores more static harmonic and melodic material and the third develops the rhythmic material of the third more adventurously. Audio quality is quite poor due to it being a transfer from tape in a live recording environment in which the input volume was very low.

Solo Electric Guitar piece #1Artist Name
00:00 / 11:51

Duet for clarinet and Bassoon - This is a piece for clarinet and bassoon exploring the whole tone scale. Similar to the 12-tone technique developed by Arnold Schoenberg to obscure and 'defeat' the tonal dominance of the tonic, the whole tone scale also evades tonal centeredness due to its lack of the traditional tonic-dominant relationship within the scale. As a result, the instruments are free to relate to each other in strictly melodic and rhythmic ways rather than ways dictated by harmonic convention and expectation.

Duet for Clarinet and Bassoon #1Artist Name
00:00 / 03:13

Solo for electric guitar #2 - This piece continues Peter's exploration of harmonic ambiguity and openness as well as rhythmic density and intensity.

Solo for electric guitar #2 by Peter BenPeter Benjamin
00:00 / 02:58

Choir of the West

PLU's Choir of the West is one of the premier collegiate choral ensembles in the country. As an exemplar of the Lutheran choral tradition, COW is international renown and stands among the top college ensembles of its kind. Below is a growing compendium of some of the performances Peter's singing as a tenor in the celebrated group.

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (COW 1997)Artist Name
00:00 / 02:26
Oh, Day Full of Grace (COW, Spring 1997)Artist Name
00:00 / 04:55

Cruel Designs/Sub Rosa 1995-1999?

Even after his inspiring glimpse of the PLU's music program his freshman year (fall 1993), Peter hadn't yet taken seriously the possibility of pursuing music with his college education. Rather, it was film that was his principle creative interest. Because of this, he decided to go to junior college to regroup, save money, and plan his application to film school. During the school year of 1994-95 he met Ian Dorsch and Jeff Moses while attending Grays Harbor College and together they assembled a progressive metal recording project called Cruel Designs, then later Sub Rosa. Below are some of the tracks that came out of the Dorsch family studio during that fateful and life-changing year.

Under the Rose

The Forsaken

Peter's guitar rig:

 

Guitar: Jackson P4 Performer series

Shredder guitar , for sure. Jacksons are a lot like Ibanez in that they cater to the shredder style.

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Amp: Sans Amp pre into an all-tube Peavey Classic (late 80's). The sans amp pre amps are actually pretty legit and a lot of producers and engineers still use them today for distortion and amp modeling. The Peavey was actually a decent amp but it's traditional simplicity was lost on a young aspiring shredder who desired above all else to play fast and furious with high gain shred tones...

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Effects: Digitech RP1 multi-effects unit. Made as an all-in-one effects and pre amp to play direct or put in front of an amp. Sounded artificial, but was relatively standard guitar gear from the time.

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The Storm

Endless

Musically, Peter's guitar playing was focused on fast, precise diatonic playing as influenced by the 80's and 90's generation of guitar slingers like Steve Vai, Satriani, John Petrucci, and other Italian American guitar heroes. This was a huge contrast to the textural, timbral, and melodic focus that would later come to characterize his playing in the alternative style turn.
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