17 Jun 2011.
I am a huge fan of everything my buddy Ben Crenshaw does. He's the amazing graphic artist who designed all three of my album covers, as well as that of my wife's band, House Red. His jewelry designs are world-renowned. But the rarest of his talents is that of a master game designer. With his longtime art partner Chris Pallace, Bent Castle Workshops has invented and published a couple of tabletop card games that I find to be absolutely classic.
My favorite of these is Numbers League. It's raucous good fun, and kids love it, even though a side-effect of playing is that you become a math ace.
Ben asked me for some advice in February of 2010. He had wanted to convert Numbers League to a computer game since its inception, but it didn't feel right to do it for a regular computer. When he saw the iPad for the first time, he thought- "Now there's our platform." The advice he wanted from me was how to find and hire someone to program such a thing.
I'd never written a game, much less any GUI (screen-based) software, but I was very curious about the language and framework behind the iPad. I asked Ben if he'd consider letting me take a crack at it. Much to my good fortune, he agreed.
The learning curve was steeper than I expected, but with a little persistence, I was soon writing code. As the basic game started taking shape, Ben's vision included lots of levels and options to satisfy an extraordinary range of tastes and proficiency levels. Numbers League quickly turned into a truly enormous project. Still, to see Chris and Ben's beautiful artwork dance around on the iPad screen was exhilarating enough to keep me going.
I originally intended to let a professional game guy write the music for Numbers League. After much cajoling from Ben and my wife, I experimented with Logic Express and discovered that much of the soundtrack was already in my head. I was surprised at how much I loved recording the sounds, voices, and especially the music. I'm really proud of the game in general, but especially glad I took on that part of it.
It's hard to believe it's June of 2011 now. I've been a bit of a hermit throughout most of this project. On days that I'm home, I've been getting up in the morning and working clear through until time for bed. Now it feels a bit like the end of a really, really long college semester. I think Shawn and I are going to ride our bikes to the theater this afternoon and watch a movie- how decadent!
The game is in review at Apple as I type this. Once it hits the App Store, if you have an iPad I'd be honored and grateful if you pick it up, particularly in its first week, so we can get a boost into the charts!
The Numbers League website is: http://numbersleague.com/.
11 Jul 2010. I finally have some sheet music ready! Per many requests, I've scored the last track from each of the albums. They're all title love song, so the title of the book is 3 love songs. I'm going to take orders and send them myself, so please order from me, and I'll include a nice thank you note!
24 May 2010. I've been lucky enough to have nice words before from RJ Lannan over at Zone Music Reporter, and he just got a chance to listen to october. Thanks, RJ!
21 Mar 2010. A very nice review of october has been posted on the Circles Of Light website- thanks for the kind words, Barbara and Sandy!
14 Nov 2009. I particularly like how this review from Wales ends- "Anyone who derives visual pleasure from instrumental music should have a feast of lush footage going on in their head while listening to this album!"
2 Nov 2009. I love this article about Shawn and myself by Hart Fowler. Hart's Arts Magazine is one of my favorite things about Blacksburg.
27 Oct 2009. Very nice review from Belarus.
17 Oct 2009. The radio charts are out for September, and october is number 3!
27 Sep 2009. And for you German speakers...
21 Sep 2009. Another review, and this one's a tongue twister.
12 Sep 2009. october will be featured as CD of the week on Radio Rijnwoude (Holland) for the week of September 20!
10 Sep 2009. Some nice reviews!
mainlypiano.com
Wildy's World
newagemusic.nu
28 Aug 2009. Today is the official release of october! I have sent out many, many sneak preview and promotional copies, and feedback is remarkably encouraging. Thanks to all!
20 Aug 2009. Frantically trying to prepare for release. Went live with the new website. I designed and built it based on Landon Michaelson's beautiful Reaching Warmth photo.
31 July 2009. I've got the CDs and they look (and sound) fantastic! I've decided to move up the official release to 28 August, but if you just can't wait, please mail me an order form, or, even faster, email me at orders@matthewlabarge.com.
14 May 2009. I finished assembling the tracks yesterday and am quite taken with how it's come out. I really can't wait to get this out.
19 March 2009. I had more to learn about recording than I'd imagined, but it's surely coming along!
3 August 2008. There is a new CD in the works!
After the release and distribution efforts of in small hours, I intended to take at least a year strictly to work on my playing abilities, rather than writing and recording. Best laid plans! The first half of these pieces wrote themselves in the nooks and crannies of practice time, and I soon realized that they were preparing to assemble themselves into a new album whether or not I was ready.
It was the easiest time I've ever had finishing a composition. The pieces are musically the simplest I've written to date, but as the work neared completion, I realized that the piece as a whole had taken on a life of it's own, despite the simplicity of its parts. I'm very happy with the music.
As to the recording, I'm in the midst of an experiment- I've decided to try to record it myself. A big part of the year has been spent researching equipment and software, and an even bigger part has been spent learning how to use the software. I've concluded that I might be able to do a pretty good job of it!
7 February 2008. Connecticut Fine Arts Radio, NPR radio stations WMNR, WGRS, WGSK, and WRXC, ran a feature program on in small hours tonight, including eight tracks from the CD! Great thanks to Music Director Dick Hageman, who has been a terrific supporter since I first started publishing music.
30 January 2008. The Italian arts magazine Emme K has included a feature article on me and in small hours, and included a track on a sampler CD that was included with the issue. Emme K has circulation of more that 15,000. My friends who read Italian have yet to get back to me on what the article says!
8 December 2007. in small hours has been in the top 100 of the NAR radio charts for two months, getting as high as number 9 in October. At last count, 183 broadcast and internet radio stations are playing the new music!
8 September 2007. Even though some of the pages aren't finished yet, it's time to launch the new website. Thanks to Ben Crenshaw for more amazing design work and Joakim Back and Aaron Mahler for use of their fantastic photos!
1 September 2007. in small hours is released today! The music on in small hours is deeper and more sophisticated than my first cd, first fall night. It was engineered and co-produced by Grammy Award-winning engineer Corin Nelsen at Will Ackerman's Imaginary Road Studio, and mastered by legendary mastering engineer Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering.
