Welcome to Dino's Blog! Project 5 Coffee Cups Now Available!

Welcome to my blog page!

(If you would like to find the best possible source for my entire musical catalogue, please visit https://dinodimuro1.bandcamp.com)

NEW THIS WEEK! PROJECT 5 COFFEE CUPS!

Be the first in basically the entire world to own this unique coffee cup featuring Greg Gierowski's cover design for the Project 5 CD!

$12.50 from Ebay (copy and paste): https://www.ebay.com/itm/175161734874

Dino DiMuro is an independent musician and sound designer based in Los Angeles.

Dino has been self-producing CDs and cassettes since the mid-80’s. On many of these releases he plays most everything except the drums, and on recent albums has taken on percussionist duties as well.

Dino DiMuro was born in Los Angeles just above the Hollywood freeway in 1957. After a short career as a rock guitarist in a band for hire (once opening for Van Halen), he became a motion picture sound effects editor, winning an Emmy, a British Academy Award, and several Golden Reels. Among his films are features by Ridley Scott, Cameron Crowe, and Oliver Stone; the Bourne Series; Revenant; and the sound design for the Netflix series NARCOS.

Dino released a series of albums in the 80’s and 90’s, while also reviewing for Option magazine. He has been profiled in Keyboard, Alternative Press, and BAM, among other publications and blogs. Finished with sound design, he is now on an aggressive release schedule of two to three CDs a year.

Dino’s music has been described as “Walt Disney on Acid” and is most often compared to Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and They Might Be Giants. He also shows heavy classical, classic rock, country and folk influences. He has recently been investigating the inclusion of quirky, unexpected cover tunes like the organ theme from “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” or the Narcorrido “Ballad of Heisenberg” From Breaking Bad.

Dino also has a Kindle novel ELMWOOD and an article about sound effects editing that can found on Cracked.com.

Please scroll down for reviews of Dino's most recent CD PROJECT 5.

The PROJECT 5 Home Page!

 

Welcome to the PROJECT 5 Home Page!!

Yes, I know, this is actually my blog, but I don't think it will mind if I use it to promote my new CD for a while.

I just finished recording and mixing the album this morning, and posted the first track "Single Guy With A High Income" on Soundcloud and Bandcamp. I'll be meeting with cover artist Greg Gierowski next week and hope he'll do another fine job improving my temporary work, above.

Right now I have no idea how the album will be received, but watch this space for any and all updates!

August 1 - Indie Criolo and Rock Era Magazine have approved "Single Guy With A High Income" for blog placement within a week!

From Valie at CiTR 101.9 FM: "I did enjoy the song! The guitar at around 2 minutes is great."

August 2 - ingrown radio approved "Single Guy" for airplay on Mixcloud! "Really enjoying this. Great stuff! Thanks for the submission."

Roadie Music has promised a posting and possibly a review within the week.

Though declining, ALT77 said: 

"Thanks so much for sharing! It did remind me of Zappa. I liked the humor and the complex instrumental. I dug this a lot. I think you're really on to something. Hoping you'll make more, and share some with us. Best!"

Indie Criolo's main page:

“Single Guy with a High Income has this syncopated rhythm that can generate a special resource of passion and good moments to enjoy our rock intensity at all high and positive levels to destroy everything. The happiness of this song is mounted in a very intense intentional disorder, which accumulates any level of power for Dino DiMuro, who created sonic madness to unleash the imagination of those who listen to this work of art.”

August 3rd saw a front page from Roadie Music!

>>With such a great admiration for Rock'n'Roll art, Dino DiMuro is an independent artist from the United States, who has an admirable talent without a use of Rock instruments, along with lyrics from exciting stories. "Single Guy with a High Income" is about his last release, premiered at the end of July, a song has a characteristic appearance of Rock. Giving at the same time a perfect sound for the artist to present his true lyrics.<<

August 4th brings a front page link from Underground 'n Proud!

This is also the day I finally was able to upload to Spotify, iTunes, and many other platforms thanks to joining DistroKid. "Single Guy" was immediately added so that I could submit my songs to Spotify Playlisters. Most of my other recent albums (Dunning-Kruger, I Don't Know Tomorrow, etc.) were also added.

From The Strait Playlist shoutout:

August 5...

Rock Fuego said:  "I like the spoken vibe and the Zappa influence!"

Common Sense blog says: "Strong! This song is definitely rebellious with an excellent gritty vibe. The main issue I have is the melodies could be a tad bit more pronounced at times for me. But I love the strong beats and gritty intensity here!"

UNXINED said: "Like the inventive, quirky, and imaginative musical character on this piece. The track is brimming with lo-fi-rock elements blended with mathy alt-rock nuances that make for an unexpected rhythmic groove. Appreciate the playful transitions as well as the beefy guitar riffages through the flow. It gives off this classic rock touch. Observably though for curation purposes we feel it comes off as rather eclectic and experimental appeal-wise. Nonetheless we hope the new release does well and wish the project the best moving forward!"

Grotesquilizer: "Original sound vision, we like the drum sound. Atmospheric trippy post-prog fusion."

Roadie Metal's Spotify Playlist! #518 with a bullet!

MCCFUNK: "Ambitious arrangement and lyrical content here."

August 6 from MP3hugger: "What an unusual construct we have here, the kind of thing I'd have expected from Captain Beefheart, with a hint of grunge, if I'd ever given his Trout movements any degree of times. There is no denying the experimental aspects of this track and it does take an open mind to untangle its rapidly changing tempo but it is imminently interesting in its approach. One never quite knows what is coming around the corner and while that is not enough to seal our affections it sure makes for a rockin' few minutes."

Headbangerz Club: "I thought the instrumental was pretty interesting and experimental. Several interesting moments. Vocals were solid but lacked moments that I truly fell in love with or that felt memorable to me. Keep up the good work."

Dogukan Ozturk: "Really interesting track in a very very good way! I enjoyed it. Great work!"

Unique Playlists: "Hey and thanks for sending this song! i listened to the song and i think the song is great, especially love the nice guitar sound! but unfortunately I think the song a bit too experimental / jammy for our playlists. i hope you understand. maybe next time! :) much success!"

August 6 on the Rock Era site...

August 12 for Rock Era Magazine...

On the same day: Last Day Deaf!

August 14: Big interview with Rock Era Magazine!

August 21... Blog posting and Spotify share from welovelo-fi!

August 27... New Cover demo by Greg Gierowski!

SEPTEMBER 16... PROJECT 5 released!!

Hard copies began mailing September 17.

"South Bay Wine Bar" is the second single and was released on Soundcloud on September 20.

Indiecriollo had this to say, in a rough translation: 

"Dino presents a song with the perfect freedom to understand everything this artist is. The sound experience is very great with restless disorderly rhythms but with intense magic of desire & emotion which can only express a favorable wind of fury & desire."

We Love Lo-Fi Music put us on their Eclectic Blends Playlist!

On September 24, the "copyright safe" version of Project 5 (missing Lovely and Heisenberg, but adding "Expansion") dropped on Spotify, iTunes and Apple Music!

On September 25 my old pals Roadie Metal came through with this awesome mention!

My long-awaited review on Divide and Conquer on October 6, the 10 Year Anniversary of my family moving back into my childhood home on Gower street!

February 22, 2022

There's been a small uptick in activity since Project 5 was released. On this date I surpassed 100 listeners on Spotify, mostly due to the first track on Project 5! I also hired ArtistPR to help promote Project 5 on blogs and playlists and to create a press release, which I am waiting to approve within a week.

UPCOMING PROJECTS 

I just happened to be looking for images to illustrate a planned album called BROWN ALERT. Surprise! Somebody already released an album under that name! (Available on Amazon Music.) So now I'm temporarily calling that project HEATSTROKE ALLEY.

Then I figured: while I'm at it, I may as well lay out my future projects on this page, just so I have a record of what I tried to do when it all falls apart! So here they are, in order of possible release:

1. PROJECT 5

This one's very close to being finished. Just need vocals, some keyboards, acoustic guitars and final drums, then editing and mixing. Projected release date is mid-July 2021.

UPDATE: July 29 - just another day or two until PROJECT 5 is completed. So happy to be finishing! I haven't started the final cover yet so there will be a little delay before the whole thing is ready to ship and upload, but I'm thrilled nonetheless. Before moving over to HEATSTROKE ALLEY I have a lot of Stein and Illes tapes to copy, and old music demo cassettes to go through.

2. ELMWOOD - The Album

A wild card. Stuck for over a decade at 65% completion, this is an album I could finish in about three months if I were inspired, but the project is so old that it's hard to keep my enthusiasm going at full speed. However, even incomplete, it's one of my favorite projects and is a true concept album. October-November 2021?

UPDATE July 29: the plan now is take two songs from ELMWOOD and put them on HEATSTROKE ALLEY. That still leaves me the option to finish at some future date.

3. HEATSTROKE ALLEY

An album with songs similar to PROJECT 5, but with possibly more involved keyboard instrumentals and longer guitar-centric tracks. Could even be a double album. In this order of release, completion of this album might go right up against my family's projected move to Oregon around May 2022. Hoping for painted artwork by my wife Sharon.

4. MACHINE

An album dedicated to songs with drum machines and drum samples. It's later on the list because I need to time to collect more drum loops and collate the songs. Might not start this one until after the big move.

5. Back-GROUND

No guitar solos or vocals, just Backgrounds. Sort of the opposite of Stopgap Sam. WAY in the distance!

 PROJECT 5 A-COMIN' DOWN THE ROAD

Now that Stopgap Sam's Last Stand has been out for a few months, it's almost time for the next installment titled PROJECT 5.

PROJECT 5 was originally meant to be my 5th release since restarting my catalogue with I Don't Know Tomorrow, but the long-delayed completion of ELMWOOD has been delayed even longer. By now, though, I like the name too much to change it!

After the expansive jams of Stopgap Sam and the lack of "extraneous" in-between material on The Dunning-Kruger Effect, PROJECT 5 is a return to the quick-cut style of I Don't Know Tomorrow, with the songs even shorter and faster (most under two minutes) and with lots of found sounds and voice snippets.

Above is the temporary cover that I'm hoping Greg Gierowski can Class Up once again.

Though I'm getting closer to finishing, there are a few major tracks to fill and lots of editing ahead. I'm hoping to have the CD available to buy or download by mid-July.

Stopgap Sam's Last Stand is on the way!

 My new double CD "Stopgap Sam's Last Stand" has been completed! 

Currently the highly talented Greg Gierowski is designing the cover. As I have once again worked on my music too close to the Christmas season, I'm hoping to have copies available for mailing by sometime around mid-January, followed two weeks later by a Bandcamp upload.

As soon as I have some "official" artwork, I'll be converting my "Dunning Kruger" blog into a "Stopgap Sam" one-stop shopping blog. Watch this space!

https://dunningkrugereffectdinodimuro.blogspot.com (copy and paste link)

Following is some boilerplate background to help reviewers:

Stopgap Sam’s Last Stand is a double CD (also available for download on Bandcamp) which is made up of new guitar instrumentals, a few cover tunes, and archival jams with my friends.

While not a sequel, Stopgap Sam’s Last Stand is a follow-up to a three-cassette album I released in 1994 (Stopgap Sam’s Steamin’ Stew), which served as a stopgap release between my last “official” cassette and my first manufactured CD. Those three tapes contained outtakes, jams, and new songs, though almost nothing was of good enough quality to include on an “official” release. 

Like many others, I began the Covid lockdown by recording new music. In my case, I bought a new Ibanez guitar and started recording solos using the whammy bar, something I have almost never done. After taping over six hours of solos over three weeks, I decided that with judicious editing, I could release these as another “Stopgap” collection, but this time making sure that all new songs and jams were of the same quality level as a regular release.

I want to stress that in no way do I consider myself a “guitar virtuoso” but I do have my own unique (if not terribly proficient) style. The inspiration to do this kind of album was the Frank Zappa “Shut Up and Play Your Guitar” series. Also, on every guitar song I’ve played all the other instruments as well, including drum kit. 

Normally my songs are very short, between one or two minutes. This double album gave me a chance to stretch out, though there are shorter songs as well.

A Whole Blog Devoted to The Dunning-Kruger Effect

 Just what are you WAITING for??

https://dunningkrugereffectdinodimuro.blogspot.com

Reviews, photos, links! See you there!

Dunning-Kruger CDs!

On Tuesday, August 11, my shipment of Dunning-Kruger CDs arrived! I was anxious to get them and start mailing. This project felt overdue: I'd finished all my own parts several weeks back, but was waiting on a guitar solo from Chris Assells and final artwork from Greg Gierowski before I could print. I'd always envisioned mid-August as my release date, though, so everything worked out fine.

For some reason, I'm really feeling a surge of postpartum depression on this project. The day the CDs were to arrive, all I could do was putter around the house, doing little chores here and there. When the box came at around 2:30, most of my mailers and letters were already printed, and I stuffed envelopes like crazy so I could get to the post office.

With the slowdown of mail - something I've already experienced as an Amazon reseller - even the excitement of finally shipping this album was tempered by fears that some of these packets would wind up in the trash. It's not impossible: a box with 15 copies of my previous CD which I handed to a postal clerk disappeared without a trace, even with tracking!

But ultimately it's hard for anything to rain too heavily on my parade. I'm overjoyed to have this album printed and out in the world, and can't wait to hear what people think. 

The next album - a double guitar instrumental CD - is already 70% complete (thanks, COVID!) so I'm taking a little breather and catching up on family pictures, letters, etc.