ZenWest : Meditating with a Hammer 15 Song CD Costa Rica Original Music Meditation Zen, 1. Good Morning, Dr. Nietzsche, 2. Cosmic Gigolo, 3. Dawn of Reason, 4. Requiem for the Journey, 5. The Same River Twice, 6. TerrorTrain, 7. Thus Spake, 8. Original Sin (To be Continued), 9. Mindful Whirlwind, 10. Dancing the Equator, 11. On a Sea of Thought, 12. Zen vs. West, 13. Distant Horizon, 14. Trans-Alpian Baroque, 15. Explosion of the Now, Santiago de Puriscal, Meditation,

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Meditating with a Hammer

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EXCERPT from INTERVIEW…
SANTIAGO DE PURISCAL, COSTA RICA— About 10 degrees above the Equator, high in the lush green mountains of Costa Rica, in the Land of Pura Vida and perpetual Spring, and just to the west of the capital city of San Jose, you can find the artistic workshop of ZenWest.

ZenWest writes, produces, and performs it own brand of Musica del Mundo and has released a 15-song CD entitled Meditating with a Hammer. The songs swing from ethereal and soothing (11. On a Sea of Thought) to rhythmic and thought-provoking percussive storytelling. (4. Requiem for the Journey)…

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MEDITATING WITH A HAMMER

← Song #1 →
1. Good Morning, Dr. Nietzsche

1. Good Morning, Dr. Nietzsche 1:36 The album title is inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's maxim and book title: Twilight of the Idols or, Philosophizing with a Hammer, a metaphoric combination of a Hammer and a Tuning Fork he used to sound out idols… idols of Belief, idols of Ideals, idols of Idols… Are they solid and true? or, Hollow and meaningless?

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ZenWest
← Song #2 →
2. Cosmic Gigolo

2. Cosmic Gigolo 3:00 The Music Celebrates the joy and fun of hand-clapping, foot tapping, and dance, with lots of Space and no fiddles, though they are implied sonically, they are unapplied, actually. Though, there is a plethora of percussives. But, that's good right? No strings. We can Dance then, go our merry way… Cosmic Gigolo. Get it?

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ZenWest
← Song #3 →
. 3. Dawn of Reason

3. Dawn of Reason 3:25 Ah, the fragility of Reason. Volumes could be written, but we used 59 notes… more or less. Many of the more Meditative, non-Hammering songs here, found their inspiration in the writings and teachings of early Greek philosophers, their progeny, and the Dawn of Reason. You can blame the rest on desultory Western European and enigmatic Eastern Asian influences.

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← Song #4 →
4. Requiem for the Journey

4. Requiem for the Journey 8:20 A rhythmic cinematic journey into the night. Replete with chanting Gregorians, melodious Sopranos, driving Percussion, including a sprawling 11-second Drum Solo, and of course, sultry Night Sounds.

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ZenWest
← Song #5 →
. 5. The Same River Twice

5. The Same River Twice 5:59 The title and inspiration for the song is from Heraclitus' You cannot step twice into the same river, another of the intrepid early Greeks who dared-think they could fathom without phantoms.

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ZenWest
← Song #6 →
. 6. TerrorTrain

6. TerrorTrain 3:39 So, it's a pleasant train ride into Paddington Station, London… not quite, or should I say not quiet. Inadvertent recording onboard shows the angst and fear we are bombarded with every day, even on what should, and hopefully, will one day be again— a fun ride. Remember Fun?

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ZenWest
← Song #7 →
. 7. Thus Spake

7. Thus Spake… 1:18 Ah, Zarathustra, Mithra, and the Son of Suns where art thou… this Bridge tolls for thee… Nietzsche considered his Thus Spake Zarathustra his greatest work.

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ZenWest
← Song #8 →
. 8. Original Sin (To be Continued)

8. Original Sin (To be Continued) 6:12 Peace and Serenity at last… But no! What's that? Here it comes again, that ever-chiding, juggernautic, bugaboo of our self-imposed morality Original Sin, tearing through and into the minds, hearts, and pill bottles of us all. Will it never end? Look out! Oh no…

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ZenWest
← Song #9 →
. 9. Mindful Whirlwind

9. Mindful Whirlwind 4:39 Epicurus, also of Ionia but a contemporary with Plato and Aristotle, had a school in Athens, referred to as The Garden. There, unlike nearly everywhere else, men, women, and slaves, were welcomed as equals. Epicurus taught Natural Philosophy, discussed things like Atoms, Causation, and Reality. He also was much maligned and villanized for allowing the aforetomentioned people entrance into The Garden, and for considering Pleasure and Happiness, an actual Good. Lucretius, a later Roman follower put some of Epicurus' philosophy in the book On the Nature of Things.

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ZenWest
← Song #10 →
. 10. Dancing the Equator

10. Dancing the Equator 11:28 Another journey in life, this time celebrating and embracing the rhythmic and entrancing Tropics… Starts out, hanging by a thread to some semi-rhythmic beats, then suddenly, goes to ground and earth, Dancing Stirring the dust of a million years of Us.

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ZenWest
← Song #11 →
. 11. On a Sea of Thought

11. On a Sea of Thought 3:56 Ionia, that lost coast of the ancients, the beginnings of questioning thought. Thales, Anaximander, and their kindreds plying the waves and skies of the eastern Mediterranean and for the first time saw the World and showed the natural course. Where did we veer? Could this be the song that will help put us back on course? Probably not, but it certainly can't hurt to un-wedge the mind a bit from the moors of mores.

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ZenWest
← Song #12 →
. 12. Zen vs. West

12. Zen vs. West 6:54 Ah, the age-old problem Western Mind-Eastern Mind. Order or Quiet? Full or Empty? Drums or Chant? Coffee or Tea? Secondly, okay, the Tuvan, throat-singers are not of the Zen school… more Animism, Shamanism, with tinges of Tibetan Buddhism… but, with a credo of living life in harmony with the world, we took some liberties and harmonized. Besides, those Zen-Chan guys don't chant as interestingly and certainly don't do that fantastic whistlely-like thing at the end… Now, that's Zen. Thought-Full Meditation.

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ZenWest
← Song #13 →
. 13. Distant Horizon.

13. Distant Horizons :26 Our minds clear of the mist, our eyes widely open, our direction finally realized, we can at last come out of The Cave.

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ZenWest
← Song #14 →
. 14. Trans-Alpian Baroque

14. Trans-Alpian Baroque 12:10 Pachelbel, Vivaldi soar on a trip across the Alps and Bach. Electronisized, TransMogrified, Synthesized, and Eulogized… but not Homogenized… It was Baroque, so I fixed it.

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ZenWest
← Song #15 →
. 15. Explosion of the Now

15. Explosion of the Now: 1:40 Tearing throught the miasma one note at a time. Meditating with a Hammer, Meditating, with a Hammer, Meditating with a Hammer, Boom…

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ZenWest
←INTERVIEW →

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DOWNLOAD ZenWest Interview PDF (68k):
ZenWest: Interview (675 words)

DOWNLOAD ZenWest One-Liner Notes PDF (68k):
ZenWest: ZenWest: One-Liner Notes

SANTIAGO DE PURISCAL, COSTA RICA— About 10 degrees above the Equator, high in the lush green mountains of Costa Rica, in the Land of Pura Vida and perpetual Spring, and just to the west of the capital city of San Jose, you can find the artistic workshop of ZenWest.

ZenWest writes, produces, and performs it own brand of Musica del Mundo and has released a 15-song CD entitled Meditating with a Hammer. The songs swing from ethereal and soothing (11. On a Sea of Thought) to rhythmic and thought-provoking percussive storytelling. (4. Requiem for the Journey)

"Meditating with a Hammer has over 70 minutes of music, but that time flies by quickly as it dances through a broad range of musical styles, genres and rhythms," says ZenWest founder, Roland Klein, "and we've been getting some really great radio-play up in the U.S. The songs on the album are so varied that many of the stations play nearly all the songs on regular rotation."

A concept Album, the songs were inspired by the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche, and his progenitors, the Ionian philosophers of ancient Greece, and were written to invoke meditative thought. (3. Dawn of Reason; 5. The Same River Twice)

All this might sound pretty heady, but ZenWest maintains a sense-of-humor throughout. For instance, their song notes in the CD are labeled as One-Liner Notes ("It was Baroque, so I fixed it") and, "each song," as Klein says, half-jokingly, "besides being a musical masterpiece, is either an aural metaphor or auditory pun." (8. Original Sin, & 12. Zen vs. West)

Whether Electronica, Meditative, Ambient, or Percussive, ZenWest does indeed add its own twist and style to every song. For instance, their down-tempo, 12 minute 'transmogrification' of perennial Baroque favorites Vivaldi and Pachelbel, takes you on some surprising turns. (14. Trans-Alpian Baroque)

There's an organic feel to ZenWest's music and it lies in how it is recorded. The foundation of every song is done in one-take. Additional tracks and accompaniments are also done in single takes. This gives each piece a presence and immediacy. "Once the red recording light goes on that's it. You won't hear canned beats or loops. It has to flow in the moment. We then mix down the tracks. But, the original foundation is maintained throughout," Klein said.

Another clue to their sound is the percussion. It's a style Klein calls Inductive Drumming. A layering of rhythms all built from double-time, triple-time, and other quick-time taps, hits, and flourishes that play off each other to create a phrase.

In other words, where a phrase might be normally played in 12 notes, an Inductive phrase might be 24, 36, even 72, or more, notes in the same time frame. Klein sometimes jokingly refers to it as PolyPhonic Drumming. (10. Dancing the Equator)

"Of course, being in the tropics has had a major influence on my music," Klein says. "The lush green all around, the perpetually blooming and ever redolent flowers, the bananas, limons, oranges at arms reach, the life and lifestyle, here, internal and external, has combined to make this the perfect environment to work and create in."

"But, most of all," Klein concludes, "the most pleasant and inspiring motivation here, has been the ever-present smiles, genuine interest, and unsolicitated support of the people— the Ticos. They show me the true art of living every day. Tranquilo and Pura Vida."

Out from the jungle, accompanied by the lyrical music of singing birds, the omnipresent hum of insects, and the rolling chorus of bellowing frogs comes the clank of a hammer and the crack of whip; the somber chant of a Gregorian monk, and the hypnotic whistle of a Tuvan throat-singer.

ZenWest does indeed tell a story in every song and carries you with them on a journey through their unique and soulful Sounds from a unique and soulful Place .

ZenWest's Meditating with a Hammer. 1. Good Morning, Dr. Nietzsche, 2. Cosmic Gigolo, 3. Dawn of Reason, 4. Requiem for the Journey, 5. The Same River Twice, 6. TerrorTrain, 7. Thus Spake, 8. Original Sin (To be Continued), 9. Mindful Whirlwind, 10. Dancing the Equator, 11. On a Sea of Thought, 12. Zen vs. West, 13. Distant Horizon, 14. Trans-Alpian Baroque, 15. Explosion of the Now.

DOWNLOAD ZenWest Interview PDF (68k):
ZenWest: Interview (675 words)

DOWNLOAD ZenWest One-Liner Notes PDF (68k):
ZenWest: ZenWest: One-Liner Notes

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DOWNLOAD ENTIRE ALBUM
ZenWest MP3s:
Download Entire Album MP3s Zipped (99Mb)

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LISTEN TO ZenWest SONGS:
1. Good Morning, Dr. Nietzsche 1:36
2. Cosmic Gigolo 3:00
3. Dawn of Reason 3:25
4. Requiem for the Journey 8:20
5. The Same River Twice 5:59
6. TerrorTrain 3:39
7. Thus Spake 1:18
8. Original Sin (To be Continued) 6:12
9. Mindful Whirlwind 4:39
10. Dancing the Equator 11:28
11. On a Sea of Thought 3:56
12. Zen vs. West 6:54
13. Distant Horizon :26
14. Trans-Alpian Baroque 12:10
15. Explosion of the Now 1:40

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DOWNLOAD ZenWest MP3s:
1.Good Morning, Dr. Nietzsche 1:36 (2Mb)
2. Cosmic Gigolo 3:00 (4Mb)
3. Dawn of Reason 3:25 (4.5Mb)
4. Requiem for the Journey 8:20 (11.3Mb)
5. The Same River Twice 5:59 (7.8Mb)
6. TerrorTrain 3:39 (5Mb)
7. Thus Spake 1:18 (1.7Mb)
8. Original Sin (To be Continued) 6:12 (8.3Mb)
9. Mindful Whirlwind 4:39 (6Mb)
10. Dancing the Equator 11:28 (15.7Mb)
11. On a Sea of Thought 3:56 (5.1Mb)
12. Zen vs. West 6:54 (9.2Mb)
13. Distant Horizon :26 (1Mb)
14. Trans-Alpian Baroque 12:10 (15.9Mb)
15. Explosion of the Now 1:40 (2.1Mb)

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1. Good Morning, Dr. Nietzsche 1:36 (12.2Mb)
2. Cosmic Gigolo 3:00 (29.4Mb)
3. Dawn of Reason 3:25 28Mb
4. Requiem for the Journey 8:20 (80.5Mb)
5. The Same River Twice 5:59 (48Mb)
6. TerrorTrain 3:39 (35.5Mb)
7. Thus Spake 1:18 (12.9Mb)
8. Original Sin (To be Continued) 6:12 (57.8Mb)
9. Mindful Whirlwind 4:39 (31.3Mb)
10. Dancing the Equator 11:28 (110.6Mb)
11. On a Sea of Thought 3:56 25.1Mb
12. Zen vs. West 6:54 (63.6Mb)
13. Distant Horizon :26 (3.6Mb)
14. Trans-Alpian Baroque 12:10 (86.1Mb)
15. Explosion of the Now 1:40 (12.8Mb)

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Email: Roland@ZenWest.com

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Check out some of the fine Radio Stations that Play ZenWest:
FreekRadio.com (Austin, Texas); MountainChill.com (Ouray, Colorado); KVNF (Paonia, Colorado)…

PHONE:
In Costa Rica: 2416-0893
in US:1-607-241-5425 (Rings in Costa Rica)

All Music in Meditating with a Hammer Written, Arranged, Produced, and Perfomed by ZenWest

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ZenWest : 15 Song CD : Meditating with a Hammer
§1. Good Morning, Dr. Nietzsche §2. Cosmic Gigolo §3. Dawn of Reasons §4. Requiem for the Journey §5. The Same River Twice §6. TerrorTrain §7. Thus Spake…. §8. Original Sin §9. Mindful Whirlwind §10. Dancing the Equator §11. On a Sea of Thought §12. Zen vs. West §13. Distant Horizon §14. Trans-Alpian Baroque §15. Explosion of the Now § DOWNLOAD ENTIRE ALBUM (99Mb) §

©2010, 2011 ZenWest
Santiago de Puriscal, Costa Rica