Starclimber has also been known by the names Picture of the Day and Bill Kipper, Digital Warrior. He has sites on ACIDplanet.com and ZeD which have some of the material he has produced. I have gathered the songs and song descriptions from those sites and listed them on this web page, along with other material that I have in my collection. This page contains the complete collection of audio files that I have of the musician. There are 40 downloadable links provided on this page: 39 mp3 audio files and one wmv video file. You can also download the files directly from the folder here.
MUSIC VIDEOS
PODCASTS
REGULAR SONGS
- A Far Away Place... (7:05) 128 kbps 6,814,590 bytes
Description:
Remixed with vocals by Ginette Genereux, lyrics by Starclimber. Thanks to Delvecchio!!!!!!!!!!Added slightly refurbished mp3 at 128k. Oh, yeah, and upgraded wma to 48, slightly different mix....
Lyrics:
A Far Away Place
Verse 1
My heart, my empty vessel filled
My dream, my cargo passion spilled
Your eyes, my tropical desire
Your lips, my nakedness inspire
Chorus 1
Kissing me to a far away place
Melting into your time warp embrace
Stars flowing by as they fall from the chase
My heart spinning faster as you touch my face
Verse 2
Alone, the growing shadows start
To creep into my head and heart
What lurks within them? all I fear
Your dying words I cannot hear
The icy walls too high to scale
Your trembling frozen fingers fail
Or stumbling blindly in the mists
Battered down by rocky fists
Chorus 2
Cursing me to a far away place
Lost in a world without your embrace
Cold as the black stars that soak up the light
Crushing my heart into eternal night
Verse 3
My tears fall sadly, frozen ground
Turns them to icy crystal down
Yet dawning now a distant glow
My fears receding as it grows
An amber circles bobbing trace
The lamplight hides it’s bearers face
Approaching footfalls easy grace
You’re smile lifts me to a far away place
Chorus
Kissing me to a far away place
Flooding relief drowns my sorrier space
Clouds part the stars gleam like gems in black lace
We fly to join them a far away place
©2003 Bill Kipper
Genre:
Electronica - Dance - Club
Comment:
Hey, we're artists, not bureaucrats..
- Bipolar Bears (3:38) 192 kbps 5,245,723 bytes
Description:
Two loops. A short vocal sample, and a short drum snip. Lots of layers. How to make this song sound better: Step A) Turn on your loudness. Probably my job in the mastering lab from some points of view, but I like to leave that part to the listener. Step B) Blast it. Step C) If you have it, add some reverb. NEW!!! Step D) Download the 192k mp3 and ignore steps A through C.
Genre:
Other...
Comment:
Afterdeath dance track for suicide bombers.
- Black Cynicle (6:43) 192 kbps 9,679,933 bytes
*Steve Tibbetts Contest Entry
Description:
A remark, a comment, an observation, a disparagement, a summary: an execution.
Genre:
Experimental
Comment:
The type that make the lab explode
- Black Temple (Tibbettan Mix) (4:29) 128 kbps 4,304,460 bytes
*Steve Tibbetts Contest Entry
Description:
In keeping with my tendency to hear things that aren't there, I discovered this potential song in the Black Temple loops. As per my Disturban March, the sounds present are strictly derived from the original loops. These loops weren't tortured for as long as poor Meredith's were. Something recognizable may have survived the process(es).
Genre:
Electronica - Ambient
Comment:
...leaning towards Pastoral/Industrial/Psychedelic
- Black Temple-Tibb-Fibb Breaks Mix (3:59) 128 kbps 3,829,240 bytes
*Steve Tibbetts Contest Entry
Description:
I simply couldn't upload the 48k version. This mix deserves better. Download the mp3 for semi-maximum effect; I may yet upgrade that to 160kbps, again for 'ear-testing reasons'. Original loops only, as usual, but the original tempo was left WAY BEHIND...Any distortion you hear was intentional, by the way. Not that there is much present.
Genre:
Electronica - Experimental
Comment:
Breaks/Minimalist/Ambient/Industrial Strength
- Breathin In-I Have To Be Somewhere (4:08) 128 kbps 3,983,049 bytes
*Frou Frou Contest Entry
Description:
Last gasp effort. Never quite got there in the end. Alternate title: Run frou frou run. 2003 Update: In response to those observant souls who have mentioned incompleteness of this song, well, yeah, absolutely true. I was too busy finishing other projects, and barely got acquainted with the possibilities of this one. Regrettably. My original concept was to turn this into a September 11th focussed piece, so perhaps listen to it in that light. This isn't happening.....Even worse, the day after I uploaded this, my boss tells me his sister has been diagnosed with LUNG CANCER....and here I've released this celebration of breathlessness....Life is too damn eerie for words, sometimes. Update: Gloria died April 20th, 2003.
Genre:
Experimental
Comment:
As Usual
- Cling Reaches, Creepy Edition (2:38) 128 kbps 2,529,805 bytes
*electronoel3 Contest Entry
Description:
Once advertised as 'The Worst Poem Ever Written', this piece has survived the test of time, and is presented in it's entirety at ACIDplanet to raise a few eyebrows, and perhaps generate the odd chuckle. Keys by Mike Damgaard, voice by........well, not the keyboardist. A bad day in the mountains, immortalized.
Genre:
Comedy
Comment:
Poetry in rapidly downwards motion
Cling Reaches
A climbing party, bold, intrepid
'neath their climb so cold had sleppid
Poorly, ere the coming dawn
Should be the last to hear their yawn
They filled their sacks and ate their gruel
And glanced a glimpse the summit cruel
Where men once strong and proud and free
Had plunged headlong, and plowed the scree
And left their guts upon the rocks
Which stuffed their legs into their socks
And left survivors, mad and raving...
Cheeks rubbed raw from over-shaving
Off they strode across the talus
Glaring at the peak with malice
Singing songs that brace the heart
Of sinking thongs that lace the fart
Carried they the ropes and clankings
That belayed their hopes and thankings
Soon to echo cross the granite
Leaping skyward from the planet
Drawing straws, they chose their leader
For the first pitch, lucky bleeder
Though you could not tell as much
Judging by his vibrous thrutch
That had his ropemate also quaking
Feeding out the rope a-snaking
Slow and stealthy progress made
Like a cobra in the shade...
Never finding spots to resteth
Nor protection was he blessed with
So that drilled at last he fell
With his head...a modest well
Where future parties slaked their thirst
and marvelled at he who went first
©2000 By Bill Kipper
- Complex Enigma (5:00) 128 kbps 4,811,862 bytes
Piano, multi-tracked, accessible yet elusive.
Genre:
Classical
Comment:
Bach meets Mandelbrot
- Disturban March (Merry Death Monks) (10:12) 128 kbps 9,804,616 bytes
*Meredith Monk Contest Entry
Description:
A journey of sorts; a parable perhaps. Every sound was created from the original loops: I added nothing but digital manipulation and a LOT of time...sigh. Hope you enjoy it. Many thanks to Meredith and Acid Planet for the opportunity to collaborate creatively.
Genre:
Experimental
Comment:
Part ambient, part IDM, part nightmare.
- Electrified Erica (2:02) 192 kbps 2,936,083 bytes
Description:
It's back! Take one acoustic guitar, add some heartfelt if subdued vocals, and then allow a maniac (me) to run with it where he will. Darren Elliott's tune Darren Elliott:Song About Erica was run through the electronic blender and veg-o-matic, processed, reassembled, and revivified. The monster stands before you...
Genre:
Electronica - IDM
Comment:
Ambient confection with IDM filling.
- Electronic Spiritual Gospel Hour (10:28) 192 kbps 15,084,774 bytes
Description:
A straight-laced piano, a profligate soprano sax, a very upright bass, an altruistic alto sax, and finally a bawdy baritone sax all find God in a virtual music setting. Services at midnight only. Please contribute generously.
Genre:
Other...
Comment:
Perhaps it's Jazzical, maybe it's Minimyzztical...
- Erakis (3:23) 160 kbps 4,116,483 bytes
A vaguely Gamelanish piece for celesta and a few strings. 'Erakis' is the non-technical name for Mu Cephei, a giant star in the constellation Cepheus. Erakis radiates 264 MILLION times more energy than the sun, and is easily visible to the naked eye from a distance of over 5,000 light years.
- Fanfare For The Common Elf (1:20) 128 kbps 1,294,736 bytes
*electronoel3 Contest Entry
Description:
In celebration of their inestimable contribution to Christmas, I humbly submit this homage.
Genre:
Classical
Comment:
As Played By The Icicle String Orchestra
- Flight of the Black Parrot (8:34) 160 kbps 10,297,469 bytes
Description:
A desperate circling, a search for safe haven, a hunt for branches not yet harvested for the fire.
Lyrics:
This is the tale of a parrot, a black parrot: observe,another black parrot. There was a black parrot, who was not yet black, a parrot of many colours, a parrot of splendid plumage and many voices, who undertook a voyage. To discover blackness, was the project of this bird. This was a bird of thought, of determination, of enquiry.This parrot future black of many colours swore off fruit and ate only nuts, to gather strength to fly a huge distance unbroken; unbidden, unwanted; a reporter, this parrot, this… stoolparrot.
A flight this parrot undertook, with success, yet celebrated not this parrot; spoils spoiled untouched by parrot black, skies dead hope weighed unmeasured.
Observed this parrot the cars stuffed full of hope, shot dead. Observed this parrot the fiery storm, the oily days blackened with despair, soiled by hopeless pride and vengeance. Observed this parrot the sickening display of dreams rendered stiff and stenched with dead clawed hands of newborn abortia, eyes privy to, unshielded. Observed this parrot the burnt out shapes of lusts rich abandonment, still smoking and consumed. Observed this parrot the frenzied retreat of decency, and it’s hopeless flaw: weakness in the face of the implacable greed of the insatiable.
A parrot blackened wings a flight beyond surrender. A parrot blackened surveys landings once unsullied, now unfamiliar. A parrot blackened selects the spot most familiar, most violated, and chooses to die...exactly there.
Genre:
Cinematic/Soundtrack
Comment:
Soundtrack to the firestorm at your front door...
- For Cricket (4:09) 192 kbps 5,998,050 bytes
Description:
Grossly improved version of the original piano improvisation...kudos to Mr Midi and his impeccable note shifting and time compression. I rarely hit all the right notes, and I can't play this fast, but ultimately I was happy with the results. Something I improvised this morning over top of something else (coming soon to an Acid Planet near you)....seemed to sound rather good by itself, after a little editing, so here it stands on its own merits. Dedication removed due to egocentrism. May be re-dedicated in the future. 64k wma, 192k mp3.
Genre:
Classical
Comment:
Piano, at any rate.
- Fractillian Splinters (16:44) 128 kbps 16,074,608 bytes
Description:
Inspired by terrorism in general, and suicide bombings in particular. Like the perpetrators of these acts, this piano music has an internal logic which is bewildering, to say the least. Somewhat challenging piano piece. I could have worked on this for another year, but 'perfection' may have already been staring me in the eye...depending on how you define 'perfect'. For now, here it is: Perfectly flawed. Thanks to Absinthe and Orange for the push to post something. 48k wma, 128 mp3. As usual, if you find yourself enjoying the wma, download the hugely superior mp3.
Genre:
Classical
Comment:
Well, no, not really
- Lawn Horsdoeuvre Theme (0:53) 192 kbps 1,285,123 bytes
This is what I came up with in response to Shane Fage's challenge to create a 'Law and Order' type theme song.
- Music For The Seven Handed Pianist (21:48) 160 kbps 26,169,469 bytes
Description:
Seeing as how this is almost 22 minutes of piano music, it is not recommended for the attention span challenged. Headphones, on the other hand, are recommended. Put on your slippers, light up your pipe, watch the snow fall outside the window. Mp3 now available, VBR, under 18 megs....recommended for those who care.
Genre:
Classical
Comment:
Trending towards experimental
- Oh Yeah (4:13) 160 kbps 5,078,332 bytes
Description:
DJ Fresh has a problem with co-workers who quit when the going gets tough, and has a few words for them to chew on.
Genre:
Hip-Hop/Rap
Comment:
For lack of a better genre....
- Production Examples (2:36) 2,500,966 bytes
For Emily Weedon's 'Open Stage', I spliced together some examples of what can be done with digital sound processing. One drum loop, many different sounds.
1)Drumloop raw
2)Drumloop with rhythmic delay
3)Gated 1
4)Gated 2
5)Gated 3 with slight room reverb
6)Gated 4 loop reversed, gated with slower release, then re-reversed to play 'normally'
7)Gated with 'pre-delay'
8)Filtered and chorused 'squirmy'
9)4 progressively heavily chorused single bars, essentially processed repeatedly with heavy chorusing
10)Back to the beat, band reject filtered to reduce midrange and accentuate lows and highs, acoustic mirrored, wave hammered (compressed/volume maximized)
11)Noise added and filtered
12)Noisy version gated and reverbed
13)Noisy, dynamic filter
14)Noisy, multiple chorus synthy
15)Multi-process oddness
16)Changed rhythm by moving a beat in audio editor
17)Changed rhythm pitchshifted down 2 octaves, then
reverbed with acoustic mirror...
- Samurai Smellicatessen-Battle Mix#1 (1:58) 192 kbps 2,838,905 bytes
*Jackyl Contest Entry
Description:
From the land of Geishas and bean curd...Two noble warriors mix it up in a unique contest of bravado and cunning. My respect for the authors of the original loops is obvious. Now available as 192k mp3.
Genre:
World/Folk - World Beat
Comment:
World Beat From Long Ago...And Far Away
- Sea Music (Sirens in the Mist Remix) (2:55) 192 kbps 4,216,688 bytes
Michelle Emmanuel's song, remixed by permission.
my spent pens and dull pencils, a guitar with no strings, misplaced anger and a certain regret, and a distant radio sings. records remind me i'm lonely, of a piano that won't play with me. so we'll slow dance to the sound of your ship run aground in my reservoir now empty. cuz tuesday night will break my heart as sadder days become every day. you cry every time thinking your tide might pull me away. cuz tuesday night will break my heart as sadder days become every day. i cry every time thinking your tide might pull me in.
©2004 Michelle Emmanuel, ©2005 Bill Kipper
- Seven Memories (5:16) 160 kbps 6,338,479 bytes
Description:
Original loops from Something in Seven, by gomi worked over a bit by Starclimber. I was inspired to complete this remix by the tape Nasa released of the shuttle crew's last minutes. I wrote some words to accompany the music, but for now I find them too bleak to post. I think the music has a beauty the words lack. Many thanks to gomi for the use of his loops. 48k wma; 160k mp3 I allowed to have more dynamics. Addendum: Bleak 'lyrics' added June 8, 2003.
Lyrics:
Something in Seven
The flames that wreath the sky with
Bits of metal flake and tassel
Tossed
From orbit
A dawn so quickly brightened ashes linger
Glitter tinseled billion dollar
Fireworks display
Bones awhirl in blowtorch blazing
Fragment blading spectral
Holiday
Of horrors
Home, to a hero’s welcome
A parade
Picked up from the parking lot
Parcels reeking of re-entry
Not for sale
Scraps attract the sniffing hounds
Collectors scour the hillsides
Clues to hide
Locked in basement safes
Smoky morsels
Gifts from heaven
Aphoristic astrocide
©2003 Starclimber
Genre:
Electronica - Ambient - Dark Ambient
Comment:
Well, it's kind of haunting...
- Snoopyar (5:16) 256 kbps 10,133,435 bytes Snoopyar remix (5:54) 256 kbps 11,350,030 bytes
The afterdeath started off well enough for snoopyar. First there was the standard sinking feeling, followed by the blaming of everyone else, followed by the famous last thoughts "Woulda fuckin' made it out CLEAN if I hadn't gone back in for the fuckin' tv, not even fuckin' NEW!" before snoopyar's 'mind' became totally captivated by his new environment.
It took snoopyar considerably longer than most to fully appreciate his situation, his 'position' in the afterdeath. There was no hiding behind a screen, no mask of anonymity. No laughter. The sounds, smell and sights of the afterdeath overwhelmed him.
And the temperature!!!! Snoopyar almost had time to think "Fuckin' too fuckin' hot!" when he was suddenly confronted by a terrifying, large manlike creature. Snoopyar's first demon. The demon's chest and groin area caught Snoopyar's eye first, as it was festooned with dozens of flaccid, metallic looking spiked penises. Then their eyes met. It was one way love at first sight. Without hesitation, or even foreplay, the demon's penises grew to full erection, and he began to pant and vibrate with lust and desire. His arms snatched snoopyar into a crushing embrace and the penises tore into snoopyar's flesh. He opened his mouth to scream out the agony but the demons mouth clapped against his and he felt it's cauterizingly hot tongue push into his mouth and begin to blisteringly tickle the roof of his mouth and the back of his scorching throat. The demon rapidly thrusted his barbed tools into snoopyar's new orifices until he came explosively, filling his love toy with his afterdeathly sperm. His paroxysmic ejaculation had resulted in multiple crushed bones, and when he finally withdrew snoopyar's violated body crumpled to the smoking, vermin infested ground.
Snoopyar had not managed to think a single thought during this awful greeting. He was still stunned when his wounds began to close, and it wasn't until they began to swell that he began to be himself enough to start hating again. Most of the demons left him alone during the incubation period, although some would point him out to their buddies, and they would shriek out their menacing laugh,"hahaha", like a tornado of hot stinking wind.
The swellings grew larger and began to hurt more than the violation had. Snoopyar began to notice movement in the gross protuberances. When the little demon fetuses began to chew their way deeper, his constant begging and mournful howling brought a watchful crowd.
It could only get worse.
AH-POOK HAS SPOKEN! LET IT BE LAW!
- Soprano Trio With Baritone (9:07) 192 kbps 13,150,039 bytes
Description:
Three soprano saxes, one baritone sax, and some virtual wizardry. The 40k wma sounds surprisingly good, although the baritone suffers some odd metallicities. The 192k mp3 sounds very fine indeed. This piece was largely composed on the fly, believe it or not. I find it hard to believe, and I know it's true!
Genre:
Jazz
Comment:
Jazzy Minimalism
- Star Stabbed Night (33:49) 80 kbps 20,294,048 bytes
Description:
A song about the realization of the scale of things, of the implacable force of whirling galaxies, of geo-non-centricity. A celebration of sobriety, a glimpse at the inner workings of the machine. 33:49. Be prepared, unhurried, undistracted...Headphones in the dark. Cold beer in hand. Inspired in part by Nicolas of Cusa...As Ted mentioned, the piece is repetitive, but I needed the repetition to get the 'brilliant' parts to happen: I merely guided the processes necessary. And I wanted the music to overpower, like a too long acid trip...
Genre:
Classical
Comment:
Post-Minimal Hypnotic Dirge
- Stricken (8:57) 192 kbps 12,901,900 bytes
Description:
A bleak journey deep into the heart of grief. Intense. A song about a night where all your dreams turn into nightmares. 48k wma, 192 mp3.
Genre:
Electronica - Ambient - Dark Ambient
Comment:
Very Dark Nightmarish Ambient Soundscape
- Subversion (4:18) 160 kbps 5,179,666 bytes
Electroacoustic work, inspired by a search for the definition of 'acousmatic'.
Genre:
Experimental - Experimental
Comment:
Acousmatic, apparently.
- The Birds (8:12) 192 kbps 11,822,161 bytes
Dark ambient microtonal drones derived from birdsong. Patience is its own reward. Wma 64 k, mp3 192 k.
Genre:
Electronica
Comment:
Look at them, gathered on the wires above...
- The Extinction Of The Dream (4:54) 192 kbps 7,073,250 bytes
Description:
Swirling streams of stricken crickets
swept aside by swelling tides
of deep
clear
thought.
Wma 96k, mp3 192k. See lyrics for a glimpse of my depravity, the lengths that I will go to in search of salvation.
Lyrics:
September 4th, 2002
cricket says:
I feel guilty alot, cause you have done more for me in the past few days than what my ex has done in two years. I wish I could do something for you....
Starclimber says:
coming from you, love you that is, feels like a gift instead...
Starclimber says:
you are already doing something for me
cricket says:
I'm not doing enough though...I feel bad all the time....I wish I could do more.
Starclimber says:
there is a big difference between a gift and a reward, eh....Please don't feel bad, you have been wonderful to me....JUST DON'T STOP!!!Ok?
cricket says:
But I do love you!
cricket says:
I love your music! Speaking of which, shan wants more music that she can learn.
Starclimber says:
no sweat...I hope...I'll see what I can come up with ...something she won't need to rewrite for 3 days
Starclimber says:
hemmmmmmmmm
cricket says:
No, make sure it is something that will take her a week to rewrite!
Starclimber says:
must remember to save these conversations
Starclimber says:
souvenirs of falling in love
Starclimber says:
and good ideas that spring from good feelings
cricket says:
I have to ask....You get a look in your face sometimes that registers shock...why is that?
Starclimber says:
I have all of this residual sadness from my life slipping away , and it sometimes hurts, but you make me feel positive about life again, and I know that I love you, and want you, to share myself with you, to hold you, to enjoy your presence
cricket says:
I feel the same way too....
Starclimber says:
shock...well, perhaps there is a smidgen of amazement that you have fallen for me, where so many haven't,,,,it is a rare thing for me to be loved so obviously without reservation
cricket says:
Rare my foot! you are good looking, smart, have a sense of humor and drive...what more could one want?
Genre:
Experimental - Experimental
Comment:
Reflections on a failed real life experiment
- The Ice Storm (3:06) 128 kbps 2,981,619 bytes
*electronoel3 Contest Entry
Description:
The musical equivalent of tobogganing down a wooded mountainside immediately after the freezing rain stops. Thump's Audio Encoding For The Web posting was invaluable for rendering this tune. Many thanks for the excellent advice. Addendum: Eclectica knows me too well....the original title was in fact "My Favourite Twins"....
Genre:
Other...
Comment:
I think it's too 'normal' to be experimental...
- The Last Word (3:32) 192 kbps 5,090,718 bytes
*Toxic Grind Contest Entry
Description:
I tried to give this that toxic mud sound of middle period Black Sabbath, sans vocals of course, but including some fuzzy bass and the obligatory uptempo section. To say that the 48k wma leaves everything to be desired is unfortunate but true. Grab the 192k mp3 for a far richer thrashing. Update: New less reverby versions. Still not satisfied with the sound of that wma. Oh well.
Genre:
Rock - Metal
Comment:
With just a hint of world beat....
- The Storm (3:47) 128 kbps 3,638,233 bytes
Church organ, violin, 'cello, contrabass. Sort of in the style of Philip Glass, as some may note. Song was formerly named "Reichian Glass".
- They Can't Let Me Die Here (2:32) 192 kbps 3,662,076 bytes
Description:
No escape from the 110th floor. A WTC observation. Last in a series of jarring reality checks. This track is a musical depiction of coming to grips with an unavoidable finality, and was originally inspired by the last cell phone calls made from the World Trade Center. Fun stuff coming soon, I promise. wma is 96k (sorry dial-uppers, but it IS short), mp3 clocks in at 192k.
Genre:
Experimental
Comment:
Noisy, but not true noise....
- Tranquility Bass (17:00) 128 kbps 16,321,433 bytes
Description:
17 minutes of peace. Absolutely not what I was aiming for today, but one thing led to another... This track is covered by the Starclimber 'Deep Space' Guarantee: Contains 100% Original Ambient Minimalia ONLY! No loops, drums, voices, guitars, or screeching cats were used in the manufacture of this tune. They're all in an upcoming song. 48k wma, 128k mp3.
Genre:
Electronica - Ambient - Ambient
Comment:
About as ambient as it gets.
- Undercurrents (10:03) 160 kbps 12,073,882 bytes
- Unrequited Love (4:37) 192 kbps 6,651,489 bytes
updated 2006-07-27