Arkive track playlist started..

A selection of tracks from the arkive will be uploaded to our youtube channel playlist here:

Lost Ark - Arkive

The very first Lost Ark recording has been uploaded, from 1999 - along with an early remix of this project too.  More to come and a lot of it too (much of it thought previously lost for good). 

I've been having a break from The Primus Impunctus, whilst I have been sorting through very old files.  That said the bare bones of about half of the associated tracks are in place.  Lots of work to do still so no news on when any new material will appear just yet.


Yours


CQ.

FORWARD AND BACK

Along with continuing production on The Primus Impunctus album (which is going well), I will be uploading some tunes from the Lost Ark vault (ie. prior to World Beneath the Decks) to my YouTube channel.

This can be found here:

MUSIC THAT TRIGGERS SOME KIND OF RESPONSE


CQ.

The Primus Impunctus

It's always fun to be working on brand new material.  The Primus Impunctus is coming along nicely.  It's far too early to think about when a release might be likely - certainly nothing before the end of the year.

Tracks that may make the final cut are:

1) Hey Baby, You're Gonna Make it!
2). Set in Stone
3). Lost in the Snow
4). Prime
5). Feathers
6). Everything Came to Nothing
7). Blood Trail
8). Who Lives at the Top of the Bright Tower?
9). A Fallen Angel, Weeping
10) The Downside
11). A Rose in Winter
12). Rue the Day
13). The Other Warlock
14). Endurance
15). Terror
16). Ascension
17). The Jump
18). Indeterminate
19). They Say Welcome Aboard & Then Make You Walk the Plank!
20). Unexpected Exit
21).  Oh, It's Just Another Day
22) Clear Your Mind
23). Civilization woz 'ere
24) The Walkthrough


More news and perhaps demo clips later this year.

Album 4

Work has commenced on the next Lost Ark album, which will be called The Primus Impunctus. 

It's very early days so no release date in sight for now.  It is not likely to be this year but I do hope to release something before the year is out - perhaps a single or two from the album, if ready. 

The new album will be a follow on to Flight from Erebus and function as a soundtrack to the other side of that world.  So expect something a bit different.

I'm also hoping to work with past collaborators too, so hopefully there'll be a few returning crew too.

Time permitting, I also realise it's high time album 1 aka Territorial got an overhaul and proper release.  It's been something I have wanted to revisit for a while but have not been able to commit the time to so far. 

Anyway, happy new decade folks and more news to come in due course. 


CQ.

Five Rivers (Cooke Q's Plutonic Floatation remix) OUT 17th NOV.

The fifth and final extension of Flight from Erebus is out 17th Nov.  Many thanks go to Si Rollinson for the excellent guitar riffage and L.D.Roberts for the voice of Charon.

Si Rollinson (guitars)

Charon will not answer your questions, mortal.

Work will begin on Lost Ark phase 4 in the new year.  More news on that then. 

Yours eternally,

Cooke Q

Five Rivers and beyond!

The final extension and the way out of Erebus is coming soon.

After this, it will finally be time to flip to the other side and see what lays beyond.


Your Captain

CQ

The Discovery Parts 1 & 2 out now!

Part 1 can be heard in full here (via Spotify) -The Discovery Part 1

Part 2 can be heard in full here - The Discovery Part 2

The Discovery Parts 1 & 2 - release date

The Discovery Parts 1 & 2 (FFE extension #4a & b) are finished at last.

We have a tentative release date of 12th May or soon thereafter.

Parts 1 & 2 feature two very talented vocalists, Corinna Jane (part 1) and Elina Tikkanen (part 2).

Other artists featured on the release are:

Angela Cassidy (narrator - part 1)
Anna Wraith (The Voice of Progress - part 2)
Chris Aldridge (guitars - part 1)
Brittany Draper (Battle MkII - part 1)
Laurence Roberts (The Angel - part 1)

Special thanks go to Chris Aldridge (photography) and Debbie & Jade Lashley for invaluable assistance with photography and flag making.

Corinna Jane

Elina Tikkanen

More news to come on FFE extensions 4a & b soon

New Images in the Gallery

Three new images have been uploaded to the gallery.  More news on Discovery parts 1 & 2 soon.


Your Captain


CQ

Discovery Parts 1 & 2 update

The Discovery parts 1 & 2 are almost finished.  The release (as always) has taken a little longer to get together than planned.

Rest assured, it should be out in the next couple of months. 

The final FFE extension will be a remix of Five Rivers (more about that in due course).

Things have been a little busy lately to find additional time to continue the FFE story.  I shall try and update this whenever I can.  A concerted effort to progress this will be made, once all the FFE extensions are finished and release.

Hopefully some new Discovery related images will be ready soon too. 



CQ

Discovery Parts 1 & 2 update

Hello fellow Arkadians.

The next release is taking longer than expected to complete, as I want to get this next release spot on for my esteemed collaborators.  We also have the main release images to sort too.  I was hoping to have it all wrapped up for the end of the year but these things nearly always take longer than expected.  Sadly I also have a day job too, which does tend to get in the way of musical things a tad.

I will just say for now that The Discovery parts 1 & 2 will be released eventually.  Following that will be the final extension of our Flight From Erebus odyssey, which will be a brand new mix of Five Rivers.  It was a toss up between that track or Last Scene, for the final extension.  We will be revisiting the runner up on a future Lost Ark release, I expect.

Now that Christmas and New Year are out of the way, I shall also endeavour to continue the FFE story, on a weekly basis and get caught up to where it should be (in preparation for album four).

Here's wishing you all a very happy New Year!

Hopefully the political class won't wipe us all out before I get to finish all this work.


CQ.

Flight from Erebus - the story continues..

Part XXVI has now been added to the Flight From Erebus story.

A new part should be released every Sunday.


CQ

Two more releases on the way..

This descent into the darkness of Erebus has been a great deal of fun to work on and I have been very fortunate to have had some very talented crew members on board, for the ride.

Two more extensions are coming and the Erebus phase of our journey will be complete.  The title of the next Lost Ark album is not decided on yet but musically you can expect another shift in our sonic palette. You can expect further updated tracks from FFE on the extensions for that album.  It seems a shame not to revisit the other tracks at some point.  If I had more time, they'd have all had their own dedicated extensions but sadly the end of this phase is nigh.

Next up will be The Discovery parts 1 & 2.  Part 1 is an update on the mix from the FFE album and will lead you into the darkness, part 2 will lead you out.  The release will feature two very talented vocalists.  More will be revealed closer to the release date.  Production on both tracks is going very well but we are admittedly a little behind schedule for the release, so expect these two to drop before the year is out or at worst early in the new year.

After that, the final extension will be a remix of Five Rivers, which should ensure the FFE phase goes out with a suitably large bang.  Expect Five Rivers around February time.

I will also be writing the long overdue next section of the Flight From Erebus story soon too, expect updates to this to be posted every Sunday from here on until the end.



CQ v2.

Flight from Erebus (the unfinished story)

A long time ago, I started the story to go alongside the Flight from Erebus album.  Needless to say time has been very short to even think of completing it.  I am however determined to do so and have started to reread everything in preparation to plunge back into that dark underworld again.  I shall not consider this phase of the Lost Ark complete until the final two musical extensions - namely "The Discovery (parts 1 & 2)"; "Five Rivers (redux)" - AND the story are completed.

I cannot say exactly when the story will continue on the blog, but expect there to be new entries in the saga before the year is out.

Along with that, I am also co-authoring on a different story which I very much hope will be finished sometime next year.  Much of the planning and outline is done for this already, so I expect more news of that will follow at some point.

CQ.

Candles EP out now

The Candles EP is out now (iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and CDbaby...among others).

Candles EP on CDBaby

on Amazon

on Spotify

The EP includes collaborations with Kate Rogers, Colin Jones and Anna Wraith.

Thanks go to all collaborators above and also to Chris Aldridge and Debbie Lashley for much appreciated help with the photography.

Next release (due sometime in November) will be The Discovery parts 1 & 2. 

CQ.

Lighting Candles

The new version of Lighting Candles in the Church of the Damned can be heard on the link below, ahead of the forthcoming release of the Candles EP.

Cooke Q's Trinity of Discord and Tribulation remix

CANDLES EP - update

Firstly, apologies for the lack of updates.  I have been particularly busy of late. 

The Candles EP is coming along nicely, though after some unexpected problems one of the tracks is proving a little tricky to finish off.  I had hoped to release the EP this coming weekend but it looks like it will probably have to be pushed back a few weeks, for release in September.  Many thanks go to Chris Aldridge and Debbie Lashley for their invaluable assistance with EP images (again). 

Tracks and featured artists are confirmed as follows:

1. Lighting Candles in the Church of the Damned (with Kate Rogers)

(Cooke Q's Trinity of Discord & Tribulation mix)

2. A Poison Chalice (with Colin Jones and Anna Wraith)

3. Mind Over Matter 

The EP is the third extension to the Flight from Erebus album.  A couple of further extensions are planned this year (namely The Discovery parts 1 & 2 & a new version of Five Rivers).

After that Lost Ark will be taking a well earned minibreak before venturing out of the darkness to whatever lies on the other side. 

Flowers video - Nicci Marbles.

Here is the fab new "Flowers" video from one of Lost Ark's finest collaborators,  Nicci Marbles.

Candles EP & others update

It's been a while since I gave an update, which rest assured is only because I have been exceptionally busy working on the forthcoming Candles EP (which may become The Damned EP, dependent on how I feel about it once it is done I guess).  I can shed further light on the release.

The EP will feature three tracks, which are confirmed as:

1. Lighting Candles in the Church of the Damned (with Kate Rogers) - a new mix of the track, specially for this release.

2. A Poisoned Chalice - a previously unreleased track - expect some brassy elements on this one - courtesy of a very talented guest.

3. Mind Over Matter - a remix of an older track - featuring the mesmerising voice of another very talented guest.


After the Candles / Damned EP, The Lost Ark has a couple of other dark harbours to dock at, before we leave Erebus.  These will be:

The penultimate stop:  The Discovery parts 1 & 2 - including a new version of part 1, I expect.

& finally:  Five Rivers - most definitely a new version of this one.

Echoes of Erebus may still haunt future releases from time to time too, given that tracks like The Sentinel, Demos Oneroi and Last Scene could also easily have headlined releases.  It does however feel like time for this old Ark to move on from the darkness and onto the next phase - which may or may not be the final Lost Ark album - again dependent on how I feel about it at the time.  I can absolutely say for certain that as long as I am still drawing breath, I fully intend to complete one more album at the very least.  The story would not be finished without it and indeed the long overdue continuation of the Flight from Erebus story must also be resumed too.

So lots more exciting / downright odd musical shenanigans to come, basically!


Your Captain



Cooke Q.

Another image for the Lost Ark gallery...

                                                NICCI MARBLES (Nickesha G) - vocalist on the Ouija EP.

            Work continues on the Lost Ark remix of Nicci Marble's "Flowers" - a sneak preview of the
             almost finished track can be found on this link - Nicci Marbles - Flowers (Cooke Q's Gathering the Asphodels remix)