Julean and the Rai

Muse Tree

LP, Release Date: 2007
MP3 Download Only $9.90
Approximate Running Time: 47:16
10 Tracks / 320kbps Join Channel Stereo MP3s
Album Art Included
*Artwork by Benjamin Bader

The show up in Northern Poland went well, and as promised, the performance has been captured, mastered, and this week released to the public. “Live at the Lizard King” includes 21 tracks from the August 28th, 2009 show and is available online as a single instant download for only $10.  Purchase using the option above via PayPal and download your album immediately after buying it. This album can be purchased at this link or using the cart below:

Download part of the first set of the show (30 minutes) free here: Julean Rai – Live at the Lizard King, Set One

For fans on the official mailing list, “Live at the Lizard King” is available free after confirming your email. Fans can find the mailing list in the right sidebar column of each page on the website. Download links for this and other shows will be sent to your email as a welcome to the fanlist.

Live at the Lizard King runs one hour and fifty-five minutes (01:55:00) and has performances of 11 originals from the “Here.”, “Secrets and Stains”, and premiered or unrecorded songs, as well as 8 covers throughout the show. Tracks on the live album include:

1. Mountains of Anastasia (Live)
2. Darlene (Live)
3. Redemption Song (Live)
4. Big Time (Live)
5. Some Plans (Live)
6. Sin (Live)
7. The Dusty Boot Song (Live)
8. Wild World (Live)
9. Secrets and Stains (Live)
10. Black Sea (Live)
11. Kristin (Live)
12. Tear In Your Hand (Live)
13. Secret World (Live)
14. New York State (Live)
15. I Know (You Used to Know) (Live)
16. Aint No Sunshine (Live)
17. Wonderful Tonight (Live)
18. Just Like a Woman (Live)
19. Alexandria, Falling (Live)

Cover for the Julean and the Rai album "Here."

Last week, the 2008 LP “Here.” (Vol. II) was released at the official store at TheRaiBand.Com, alongside “Muse Tree” (2007, Vol. I) and “Alexandria, Falling” (2007, Instrumental EP).  The album is Julean Rai’s ninth recording release, and the second release in the seven-album CHRONOLOGY project, which includes “Muse Tree” and the upcoming album “Secrets and Stains”.  Available in both download and physical formats, “Here.” is the story of the “Muse Tree” character beginning the process of growing up and separating from his hometown and his past, and is a sequel to 2007’s “Muse”.

Lately, aside from opting not to add this album to thier iTunes, Amazon, and eMusic catalog, the Rai Band has made some interesting decisions regarding their discography releases, including offering 2007’s “Muse Tree” as a free download.

“Offering up [Muse] and making “Here.” only available at the website was kind of a choice of my own,” Julean stated in a recent interview. “Since we’d been a while without an official website, I wanted more of the focus to be on the new site.  I also want to experiment with the band maintaining full control of the album sales for a short time.  “Muse Tree” is a great to get to know my music, and I see no reason that can’t be free for at least a little while as we’re getting the site together.  It’s just a way to reach more people.  I don’t plan to do that with any of the other albums, expect for maybe the live shows.”

“Alexandria, Falling”, an instrumental EP originally crafted by Julean Rai in 1999 and recorded in 2007, has officially been released in the online store at TheRaiBand.Com. Both downloads and physical CD distribution is available for this release. The full EP can be downloaded for $4.49 (payments are processed securely through PayPal and downloads are available immediately following order and checkout) and individual tracks for $0.79 ea. This release includes two sub-tracks not available on the Amazon, iTunes, or eMusic releases.

The “Alexandria” EP, which began solely from the single track, “1:1 Alexandria, Falling” was written in 1999 by Julean Rai as Julean’s only political piece.  Later, with the popularity of the song in live shows, ringtones, and among fans, Julean expanded the (previously 9 minute opus) into an experimental concept album based on the same theme.

Julean explains his motivation for redefining the song “Alexandria” and giving a new home on an EP:

“It was always something I had considered, even when I first started performing the song with [previous band] AXIS in Colorado.  The idea was, to take the one idea, that always had several movements and many things being said at once, and split them up into more…more definitive themes with a more fleshed-out concept and a well thought-out package.  Instead of dragging one song through seven movements, for a recording it was probably better to have seven short, strong songs that really echoed the concept that they were written to explain..”

In the end, the tracks on the “Alexandria, Falling” EP neatly fit together to form one song, with each concept bleeding into the next and performed in real-time (one take, 42 minutes total).  On several songs, the tuning and detuning begins or ends the movement and becomes part of the song, taking us from one idea into the other.  The music itself is an ecclectic fusion; a mix of indian and egyptian rhythms with a slight touch of arabic rai — all against the backdrop of orchestral soundtrack-style rock.

For Julean Rai, known primarily as a singer-songwriter, “Alexandria” is Julean’s second album (“Pretty Things / Shanna’s Planet” being the first, from 2000) where lyrics play only a minor role; appearing briefly in only two of the seven tracks.  In fact, apart from the background vocals heard during the bridge in “1:3 The Handbasket” and the “blow-out” vocal performance on “1:1 Alexandria, Falling”, Julean’s voice is rarely heard during the album.

“I wanted to keep things like lyrics and vocals out of the mix, this time.   I mean my first love was piano, and I didn’t really sing much if at all back then when I played that instrument.  For me, things like this, which is really more of a soundtrack, should tell their own story.  Too many lyrics would be cheating; like a narrator [...] I also almost left the lyrics out of ["1:1 Alexandria, Falling"] too, honestly, but I thought that fans of the song who’d been waiting for this recording would be kind of upset about that.”

But what is it all about?  Is the album political?  Besides the raging Indian sitar-esque guitar solos and the wall of Dumbeks, is there a message or angle behind the “Alexandria, Falling” album?  Julean says that he will never tell:

“Honestly, there’s definitely a message, for me, especially as I was recording and separating [Alexandria] into different movements the message itself became clearer and clearer — I only helped it along.  But it’s one of those things that dies or is meaningless if you tell about it, really.  I think I didn’t spend an enormous amount of time cloaking the album in mystery or anything, I … I mean “Alexandria” is pretty loud and vocal and “Closing” doesn’t hide much, but…think of it, as I do, as something you kind of “get”, or you don’t.  It’s not really something to be discussed.  I will say it’s about my country, and there’s a slight, dark, prophetic edge to it, but … that’s it.  It’s satire.  That’s important to know.  But other than that … I’ll probably never tell if I can help it –”

Fans can stream the entire EP for free and download the “Alexandria, Falling” EP by going to the discography page / shop at:

http://theraiband.com/julean-and-the-rai-shop-discography/julean-and-the-rai-alexandria-falling-ep/

“1:1 Alexandria, Falling” Copyright 1999 Julian Rai (BMI). “Alexandria, Falling” EP Copyright Julean Rai (BMI), Julean and the Rai (BMI) 2007, All rights reserved.

Album artwork for “Alexandria, Falling” by Benjamin Bader (http://www.benjaminmbader.com/).

To commemorate the new website, I’ve decided to once again offer up the “Muse Tree” LP as a free download…temporarily.  Download the 2007 LP ZIP file here: http://ow.ly/hjx0

The album will be made available to keep spreading the word and the sound to new visitors, friends, tweeters, FB fans, and newcomers to the website.  It’s a 95MB download, so be prepared.

The “Here.” LP, “Alexandria, Falling”, and others will still be in the store / discography for sale.  Keep your eyes on this space for more spontaneous freebies and discounts, as well as special demos, as I plan to be taking “Muse Tree” back to the regular catalog very soon. 

To download the popular “Muse Tree” album, please use this link:  http://ow.ly/hjx0

The “Muse Tree” promotional download will expire soon, so please get your copy when you’re ready but as soon as you can.

-J

We recently updated our bandbox with new music from the 2008 LP “Here.”, as well as a few of our other albums. BandBox is a great way to buy and download new music, so be sure to check it out.

Currently, this player and our site are the only places to find the 2008 LP release “Here.” — which we have not made available through the same distribution networks.

For others who prefer alternate means, be sure to check us out on iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic, Amazon, and Napster, or simply buy direct from us through our BandBox or our store catalog.