Don Falcone | |
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Background information | |
Also known as | Don Marino Falcone, Spaceship Eyes |
Born | November 5, 1958 |
Origin | Pennsylvania, USA |
Genres | Rock, Progressive rock, Psychedelic rock, Space rock, Ambient |
Occupation(s) | Keyboardist, Composer, Bandleader, Record producer |
Instruments | Keyboard, Synthesizer, Bass Guitar |
Years active | 1980 - present |
Labels | Noh Poetry Records, Gonzo Multimedia, Voiceprint Records, Black Widow Records, Musea Records, Cleopatra Records, Silent Records |
Associated acts | Spirits Burning, Spaceship Eyes, Astralfish, Grindlestone |
Website | Official website |
Don Falcone (born November 5, 1958) is an American musician and producer. Originally a poet-performer in Pennsylvania, he relocated to San Francisco at the beginning of the 1980s. He was a member of Thessalonians and the original Melting Euphoria, had a solo project called Spaceship Eyes, and since 1996 has led the Spirits Burning space rock collective. Various cable and TV network programs have also used Falcone's music.
During the early 1990s, as electronica and ambient were coming to prominence, Silent Records founder Kim Cascone included Falcone on the first Heavenly Music Corporation album. Falcone was subsequently asked to join Cascone in Thessalonians. Along with fellow Thessalonians Paul Neyrinck, Falcone and Cascone recorded as a trio under various project names, debuting as Satellite IV on the Fifty Years of Sunshine CD. The majority of the trio's material was released under the name Spice Barons; they recorded two full-length albums and also contributed to the John C. Lilly E.C.C.O. album.
In 1994, Falcone formed Melting Euphoria with Mychael Merrill and Anthony Who. Focusing on space rock, their debut recording was "Through the Strands of Time"; Falcone left the group soon after its release.
In 1995, Falcone started a solo project in San Francisco called Spaceship Eyes. The project was included on several drum and bass compilations. The band released the single "Cheebahcabra" on Hypnotic Records in 1997, followed by the LPs "Truth in the Eyes of a Spaceship" in 1998 and "Of Cosmic Repercussions" in 2000. Three of Falcone's Spaceship Eyes pieces appeared in the 1999 cult rave film Better Living Through Circuitry. Most notably, Mind The Alien from Truth In The Eyes Of A Spaceship was used as the film's opening track.
In 1996, Falcone resurrected Spirits Burning. Spirits Burning was one of his first San Francisco bands, for which Falcone played bass and keyboards. Falcone set Spirits Burning on their continuing mission just as the internet began to open up an index of collaborative possibilities that studio recordings and logistics previously precluded: the chance for content-creators to recruit musicians on an ad hoc basis across the ether; musicians they’d have scant hope of playing with face-to-face. In the space-rock community, Falcone has done particularly well out of this approach. A survey of his first 10 years under the Spirits Burning banner throws up some surprising contributors (including Daevid Allen, Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson, and High Tide’s Simon House).