Friday, February 28, 2014

Cool Video Funtime #425 - New Nostalgia (+ Bonus Video)


+ Bonus Video;) ..because Jerry Paper.

Good (FREE) music laying around the interwebs.. Pt. 1

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~njoy.

Good (FREE) music laying around the interwebs.. Pt. 2

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~njoy.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Quality mixtape find..


Tracklisting:
Lali Puna – Faking The Books
Flying Saucer Attack – Respect
Bowery Electric – Empty Words
Boards Of Canada – In The Annexe
Pluramon (with Julee Cruise) – Have You Seen Jill?
Machinefabriek – Somerset
Cornelius – Star Fruits Surf Rider
Pedro The Lion – The Bells
The For Carnation – Being Held
Fennesz – Caecilia
The Drums – Days
Sun Kil Moon – Moorestown
Sigur Ros – Við Spilum Endalaust
Mogwai – Hunted By A Freak
Labradford – E Luxo So (5)
David Darling – No Place Nowhere
Palace – Disorder
Slint – Washer
Nils Frahm – Says
 

I'll take anything Slowdive wants to share..especially when I'm already obsessed with half the artists involved.. Gotta be a new Slowdive on the way, right? Please??

EIC Premiere: Textbeak - "..Textbeak Dead House Bootleg Edit"


The above track is an amalgam of all the artists mentioned in the full title of the track ..which is [officialy] "Jarboe X Afraid X Boys Noize X Royksopp X Swans X Morbid Angel X John Lord Fonda (Textbeak Dead HØuse Bootleg Edit)". You may recognize a few of those names;];] Perhaps a couple of them from HERE? 

Immerse yourself in an intense Industrial accident [on loop].. 
Thanks for mixin' Mike;]

Monday, February 24, 2014

REVIEW: Elise Mélinand - Gray Hoodie

8.5 out of 10
Find it here. 

One of my favorite newsletters I receive is from n5md, they tend to always manufacture some of the best ear candy. Their latest (one of many anyways); Elise Mélinand's [debut] 'Gray Hoodie', is no exception to this lasting trend. Fans of Múm and/or child-like-whimsical/cutesy Dream Pop blissed out with graceful Ambiance will adore this release.

'Gray Hoodie' is pure cinematic-audial delirium. Bells, strings, horns, haunting & playful/faded Electronic samples, and heavenly vocals battle it out for being "the most possible beautiful" they can be in their own perspective categories. Basically; every layer is a strong focal point when listening to 'Gray Hoodie', all of them very tight and conceptual. The mood swings from light & airy (most of the time) to sometimes intense/possibly darker, but the tone remains unified. Actually one of my favorite things about this release is the fluidity of the tracks, a really flawless layout I think. But the best part of this release.. it was all just to say "Thanks for letting me borrow your gray hoodie.." ..I think we can all speak for her friend when we say you're more than welcome. Oh, and if you need any other favors let us know, I/we could use another awesome soundtracked thank you.." ;]

One of the 2014's best..it'd be a shame if you didn't dive headphone first into this beauty right now.

Standout Tracks: Indonesia Baby, Prélude En Louise, Rue Des Abbesses (∞n repeat), Eliot, Dried Leaves, La Pluie (La Plus Belle) (swn)

EIC's 10Q's w/ Elise Mélinand

"..blissed out with graceful Ambiance.."

(Photo credit : Pauline Well) 

Elise Mélinand
Euphoric Benediction

Elise Mélinand Bio:
Elise Mélinand is a singer-songwriter / composer from Paris, France. The combination of her soft, childlike vocals provide a stark juxtaposition to her sometimes frenetic yet widescreen vignettes.  Mélinand originally studied cello at the conservatory until she realized that she much preferred working on more personal musical ideas. Quitting her studies she immediately starts to experiment, via a tape recorder, with any instruments or household implements she could get her hands on.  At 19, Mélinand travels through Eastern and Northern Europe. These travels prove to be intensely inspirational. Shortly after, she relocates to Berlin, and purchases her first guitar and begins to write songs. There she meets Florian Frenzel, a post-pop-punk musician with whom she records her debut EP 'Le voyage' utilizing a collection of old analogue equipment, including an old reel-to-reel from the former East Berlin radio Rundfunk der DDR.  In 2012, Mélinand ends up meeting artist/composer Christina Vantzou (Kranky / The Dead Texan) who recruits her to play in her (The) Little Prism Ensemble from whom they share bills with Nils Frahm, Johan Johansson & Max Richter. This whole new world of music gives her such deep inspiration that she starts working on sketches that will later become her debut album.  Mélinand then heads back to France and purchases herself the equipment to write music in the comfort of her home. This period is also where she transitioned from her day to day composition tool of guitar to a computer. She eventually meets the electronic musician Franck Zaragoza (Ocoeur, n5MD) who then becomes a strong musical influence.  In March 2013, Mélinand sets out to record her debut album 'Gray Hoodie'. The album being recorded mostly at her parents' house, utilizing each room as a unique recording space. Mixed and mastered by her old friend Florian Frenzel in Berlin.


Hello, how are you?
Hi 'EverythingIsChemical'. I'm doing very well, thank you. Hope you are too!;D

What are you currently listening to?
I have been listening to 'We Were Young Boys' by Sin Fang, 'Fuel To Fire' by Agnès Obel and 'Remembering' by Avishai Cohen quite a lot lately. They are very inspiring artists.

What or whom inspired you to pick up an instrument?
I was 7 years old. I went to a birthday party with my parents where an old man's gift  was to play cello. I was so moved by the sound of the instrument, I fell in love with it straight away. I got the chance to study it at the Conservatory for some time then. I also play piano probably because I've been watching my mom and grandma playing it for many years. It made me want to try it as well!

Was there a specific sound you were going for when you began your writing your solo material?
I wrote 'Gray Hoodie' in Berlin where I got to meet artists such as Christina Vantzou, Nils Frahm, Franck Zaragoza, Florian Frenzel & Will Samson who are passionate about the different ways of recording sounds. I learned a lot from them. It actually gave me quite a lot of ideas on what I wanted to try out musically. I also remember listening to James Blake's debut album almost every morning before setting-up my recording studio. I found a lot of inspiration in his music.

Care to shed some info on your latest release; theme, favorite track(s), etc?
'Gray Hoodie' was made with love and a lot of good vibes. I wrote it for a friend who I care a lot about.. It is kind of a way to thank him for everything he gave me. The songs are all related to each other. One learns more about the Gray Hoodie story through the whole record. I also unfortunately lost my beloved great-aunt while recording the album. I have dedicated her one song..

Will you be touring extensively for said release?
Yes, I'm looking forward to playing the songs live! The tour dates will be available soon on my tumblr & facebook.

Got any other projects we should know about?
Well, I am glad to announce that I am going to work with Franck Zaragoza aka Ocoeur again! He kindly asked me to feature a track of his new record. I'm excited about the collaboration, I feel like we understand each other very well.

What movie would work best on mute while listening to you music?
I'm thinking of 'Me And You And Everyone We Know'. Do you believe it would work too?;]

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
I think I would pick up Ocoeur's. Not because he's a friend a of mine, but because his debut album 'Light As A Feather' was a big revelation to me and it'll always be.

Are you living your dream?
More every minute!

Thanx Elise (and Mike too!)

Elise Mélinand recently released 'Gray Hoodie', get that HERE...

Sunday, February 23, 2014

EICV7" No. 64 - CFM ..coming soon!

EverythingIsChemical Virtual 7" No. 64 - CFM comes out March 2nd!
  
"The years go by and everything and everyone gets replaced.." ~CFMeister?
 
(hopefully you checked out the last v7"?)
 

Saturday, February 22, 2014

[[EIC Mixtape: № 22 - March '14]]

[[EIC Mixtape: № 22 - March '14]]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
1. X.Y.R. - On The Beach (Daydream)
2. Great White - Hert
3. Bryant Dope - Real Is All I Know
4. 18 Carat Affair - Great Angles (Picture Luck)
FIND IT HERE.
5. K-Murdock - Coin Toss 
FIND IT HERE. 
6. Gravious - Crystal Shore
FIND IT HERE. 
7. Drip-133 - Water Curtain
FIND IT HERE. 
8. Flying Lotus - Puppet Talk
FIND IT HERE.
9. Tom Encore - The Roach
FIND IT HERE. 
10. Bobmo - Sonic Soul
FIND IT HERE. 
11. The Tleilaxu Music Machine - Be Renewed
FIND IT HERE. 
12. In Death It Ends - Ghosts I
FIND IT HERE. 
13. Fax - Raymond
FIND IT HERE.
14. Black Chamber - While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Cover)
FIND IT HERE. 
15. Corea Blue - There Was A Time
FIND IT HERE.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Thanx for listenin';]

Friday, February 21, 2014

Cool Video Funtime #424 - Hail To Thee, Everlasting Pain

Good (FREE) music laying around the interwebs.. Pt. 2

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~njoy.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Good (FREE) music laying around the interwebs.. Pt. 1

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~njoy.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

(SURPRISE!:) EICV7" No. 63 - Fil Ok b/w Stubborn Heart


Next #EICV7inch comes out March 2nd
 

Monday, February 17, 2014

EIC's 10Q's w/ Juche

"..untold textures interlacing our brains with our bodys.."

(Image credit: Meredith Waddell)

Juche
Recycled Audio Antics

Juche Bio:
 Juche is Jon Martin, Jack Boyle, and Andrew Bankson, three friends living in different cities; Cincinnati, Youngstown, and Pittsburgh. The three have spent the last few years piecing musical ideas together, collecting old tape cassettes, working on samples, and going on aimless road trips. Their first album ('Self-Titled') is a result of this collaboration, melodic experimental electronic music drawn from the sonic textures of number stations, radio transmissions, and old forgotten tape cassettes. Though they haven't played live yet (they're working on it!) they received some attention on 4chan - which usually is not a good sign - meaning that their music could be heard for the first time by people who weren't their parents or girlfriends. They are currently working on a second album, which is highly anticipated by 10s of people.


Hello, how are you?
Jon: Hi, I'm doing great. I just got back from visiting my family in Pittsburgh for the holidays. I also got to see these dudes (we live in three different cities, unfortunately) and work on some new stuff that I'm really excited about.
Andrew: Hey, I am also doing well. Living the dream.
Jack: Afternoon. Everyone looks well. I too am well. I think I’m going to buy a motorcycle. An orange one.

  What are you currently listening to?
Jon: In terms of Electronic/Electronic-y-Hip-Hop type stuff, I've been listening to Iamamiwhoami, XXYYXX, Clams Casino, and Prefuse 73 lately. Finishing our first album, I finally began to feel confident in Juche's “sound,” resulting in my listening less to past or potential musical influences and more to a broad hodgepodge of awesomeness. Recently, this has been early B-52's, Tears for Fears, Thelonious Monk, and Ke$ha (obvies).  Andrew just turned me onto Danny Brown. The new Kanye is pretty great.
Andrew: Is this the Temptations? Lately I have been listening to: Danny Brown, Ghostface Killah, Purity Ring, Burial, and neat beats… When Wrecking Ball isn’t on repeat.
Jack: This guy gave me this ipod he thought was broken on a bus. It wasn’t broken. He just didn’t plug it in for long enough. Anyway, it had a bunch of Jay-Z and Kanye, and, well, I’ll stop there because that was the only stuff on there worth listening to. But, it turns out I like it a lot. I also like what Girl Talk does. I like Beirut. Classical music. I listen to the Bower Birds a lot. I love Otis Redding.  Also, there’s an American Samoan duo called Poopy Box which everybody should check out on MySpace.

What or whom inspired you the most to begin this project?
Jon: As for what inspired us, we pretty much make the music that we want to listen to.  A lot of the timbre on our first album was inspired by the eerie, sonorousness quality of recordings of clandestine short-wave radio transmissions (like numbers stations) as well as a general affinity for the aesthetic of telecommunications: radio towers, satellites, telegraphy and the like. This provided an overarching theme, but the project can also be traced back to a interest we had in making music with sounds that did not evoke imagery of particular musical instruments; focusing the music on the sound abstracted from a particular physical source. That sounds so pretentious, but it was a constraint that we really embraced. We bent that rule a bit on our first album (I'll call it “Self-titled”), but I think the overall effect came across pretty successfully. Incidentally, it has also made live performance a puzzle, but we're working on it. As for who inspired me, I mean...Björk is freaking awesome.
Andrew: I think Jon put it well. I think we share an interest in the way that radio enables sounds/music to sort of get thrown into the ether. It can be accessed by anyone and collected, but it is impermanent. When I first heard of number-stations, I became fascinated with the idea. They have an otherworldly sound with a sort of sinister undertone. They take something that is broadcast to the world and make it into a personal message that an outsider will never understand.
Jack: Jon did. I mean the music he was making in college, some of which appears in some version on the album, really interested me, especially in terms of how he was producing the effects. We traded knowledge on some of the technical aspects of sampling and instrumentation. And we traded a couple of ideas for songs to collaborate. Trading ideas with these guys really inspires and motivates me.

Is there a story behind the name?
Jon: Juche is the political ideology attributed to Kim Il-Sung, which North Korea (DPRK) adopted after abandoning Marxist-Leninism in the 1970s. I've always been interested in mysterious places and, given their hermetic isolation, there are few societies that people know less about. If I remember correctly, Andrew and I were playing around with some samples from the DPRK once and joked that “juche” sounds like a band name.  The name just needed a band. We were working on our music already, so it kind of happened naturally.
Andrew: Interesting side note: "juche" roughly translates to self-reliance. I think we were watching some sort of documentary in which an old North Korean soldier was explaining it as, to paraphrase: if the state could not provide its citizens with plowshares, they would build their own in order to make their country work. I remember we had a discussion about how seemingly strange and dichotomous it sounded at the time (especially compared to the image of the DPRK we are usually presented with). It was also a cool name that needed a band.
Jack: Yes.

Care to shed some light on your EICV7"; theme, favorite track(s), etc?
Jon: I'd say “The Whale,” is my favorite. It definitely sounds like us, but it indicates a bit of how our music is developing as we are working on the second album. It's going to be a bit more beat-driven and hook-structured than the self-titled release was. Theme-wise, though, the song's name is a bit of a preview of things-to-come as well; we're heading in a maritime-themed direction, which is totally sea-punk of us (JK). “In Lincolns” was the result of a collaboration with David Tarbell of the band Saw Fist Tree, who wrote the song and sings on the track. Their stuff is great, and it's totally different than the kind of tunes we write. We wanted to work on some stuff together, so Jack and I did the instrumentation, primarily from samples of me singing, with the beats consisting of samples from the same vocal samples.
Andrew: My favorite is also "The Whale,".

Speaking of new music.. is there a new LP on the horizon for Juche?
Jon: There is, and I'm really happy with what we have so far. It's coming along at a good clip, despite our geographic separation (I live in Cincinnati, Jack's in Youngstown, and Andrew's in Pittsburgh, where he and I grew up). There's no official title for it yet, but think of something at the intersection of “Call Me Ishmael”, "Battleship Potemkin", and Rihanna's performance of “Diamonds” on SNL, but nothing like that.

Got any other projects we should know about?
Jon: Two things come to mind. Our first album will be receiving a limited physical release in the UK sometime in January through Drone Warfare Tapes, whereas it was previously only available in digital form on our bandcamp page. The other project is that we are in the early stages of translating our music into something that we can perform live.
Jack: I also play in a jangly Indie Pop band called Third Class.

What movie would work best on mute while listening to you music?
Jon: There's an instructional film from the fifties called 'A Communications Primer' that is absolutely perfect on mute with the self-titled release (I've tried it) and is totally thematically in-line with the album. It's available for free online and I highly recommend it. If you're thinking feature films though...THX 1138, maybe. Tarkovsky's Stalker?  It's not a movie but Serial Experiments Lain comes to mind.
Andrew: Metropolis, but I don’t know why anyone would put it on mute. Maybe Solaris (not the George Clooney one).
Jon: Nice. Two Tarkovsky movies.

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
Jon: Probably My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless'.
Andrew: Boards Of Canada’s 'Geogaddi'
Jack:  Our next album.

Are you living your dream?
Jon: I never thought that anyone aside from a few friends would listen to our music, so the response that we've received from our first album really is a kind of dream come true. The idea that anyone would really enjoy and want to own our music is more than I would have ever thought it reasonable to ask for. It means a lot to me.
Andrew: See answer to question #1.
Jack: Once I get that motorcycle.

Thanx Jon, Jack, & Andrew (Juche)!

Juche just released EICV7" No. 62..which you can get for FREE right here..;]

Sunday, February 16, 2014

EICV7" No. 62 - Juche


Next #EICV7inch comes out March 2nd
(or does it?)
 

Saturday, February 15, 2014

REVIEW: Nils Frahm - Spaces

 9 out of 10

In the past few years, I've made no secret of my unwavering admiration with anything and anyone that Erased Tapes gets their hands on. Lately, labels like Erased Tapes and Frahm's own Durton Studio seem to have cornered the Neo Classical market. Nils Frahm is arguably one of the hardest working people in this realm. He's been touring non-stop with his Erased Tapes brethren, Peter Broderick and Ólafur Arnalds. When he's not touring, he constantly seems to be recording. Even while recovering from a broken thumb last year, he recorded an album and gave it away for free as a reverse-birthday gift to his fans. This year, Nils is back with an album concept that sets out to "truly reflect what [his fans] have witnessed during his concerts".

The main idea of 'Spaces' is to capture Nils' love of experimentation during his live shows that he normally doesn't shoot for in the studio, so it only makes sense that every track here is an actual live recording from one of his shows. Six out of the eleven tracks are previously unreleased adventures that have somewhat become popular and often requested staples in his setlists. The other five tracks are longer, "grown-up" versions of songs from previous albums. Not only is this a new album, but it's also sort of a live/best of, that quite accurately showcases basically everything Nils has previously offered in one album as opposed to his other albums that pretty much stick to one type of sound. While the main motif remains the almighty piano, Frahm dips his toes into the electronic pool from time to time. But anyone who has been to his shows can tell you, he doesn't hesitate to jump in head first during his live shows. The track entitled "Says" is a self-proclaimed "meditation of repeating synthesizers, which peaks in a multitasking exercise including all instruments on stage". This track emulates the likes of French Electronic pioneer Jean Michel Jarre. On the other side of the spectrum is simply just him and his piano, of which there is no shortage. But on this album, even that is never just that simple, he really goes above and beyond in concert. If it isn't backed by synth, it's often a quasi-improvisational medely consisting of several tracks.

When introducing a musician to someone for the first time, 99% of the time I recommend that they start at the beginning to fully grasp the artist's roots and maturity. For Nils Frahm however, this album perfectly sums up in one masterpiece all that hes as offered and would be an extremely adequate starting point. For old or new fans alike, 'Space's (#19) will arguably be praised as Nils' best work yet.

Standout Tracks: Says, Over There It's Raining, & Unter-Tristana-Ambre

Friday, February 14, 2014

Cool Video Funtime #423 - Get It?!


Good (FREE) music laying around the interwebs.. Pt. 1


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Good (FREE) music laying around the interwebs.. Pt. 2


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Good (FREE) music laying around the interwebs.. Pt. 3

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~njoy.

Monday, February 10, 2014

EIC's 10Q's w/ Solvent

"..creating kitschy Electro Space Pop with an engaging twist.."


Solvent
Automaton Output

Solvent Bio:
 For over a decade, Jason Amm’s work as Solvent has neatly defied categorization. His music is too sweetly melodic for Techno or Acid, his compositions too fiendishly detailed for Synth-[op. He was too steeped in the sounds of the ‘80s to participate in the incipient IDM scene; he was briefly lumped in with the short-lived Electroclash movement, only to outlive it; he’s played “Minimal Wave” parties and Goth clubs, Indie-Rock shows and Techno all-nighters. But even as words fail in the face of Solvent’s music, its pleasures are anything but elusive. Today, Zimbabwe-born Jason Amm lives in Toronto, ON, where he spends his time obsessively grappling with an outsized collection of vintage analog synthesizers, samplers, and sequencers. Solvent first materialized in 1997 with a string of singles and full-lengths (1998’s Solvent, 1999’s Solvently One Listens) on Amm’s own Suction Records, the Toronto-based  label he founded with Lowfish’s Gregory DeRocher. The watershed release Solvent City (2001) on Berlin-based Morr Music introduced Amm’s sound to a wider audience, and Apples & Synthesizers (2004) marked Solvent’s move to Ghostly International. Along with notable remixes of artists including Soft Cell, Alter Ego, and Adult., Solvent tracks have appeared on high-profile DJ mixes and seminal compilations.  Solvent’s most recent record on Ghostly International, 2010?s Subject to Shift, marks a turn for the darker as Amm embraces his love of the abrasive sounds of acid and industrial. And while a sinister tone or two now dances among Solvent’s sparkling hooks and bright streaks of synthesizer, and while Amm’s music drifts even further from accepted genre-specific reference points, Solvent’s sound has only deepened. After more than ten years of composing love songs for robots, Amm sounds like nothing more than himself.


Hello, how are you?
Mr. Solvent forgot to answer this one, we'll assume he's doing great;]

What are you currently listening to?
At this moment I'm playing 'Black Mill Tapes Vol.1+2' by Pye Corner Audio.

Care to shed some info on your latest album/soundtrack for 'I Dream Of Wires'; favorite track(s), process of writing, etc?
I was asked to create the soundtrack music for the 'I Dream Of Wires' documentary, which was started by a director in Toronto named Robert Fantinatto, and within a few months I became so involved in all aspects of the project that we decided I should come on board as the film's producer. Since the film is about modular synthesizers, and because these instruments often get a bad rap for being unconducive to making anything other than meandering blips and bloops, I set myself the goal of creating the record with modular synthesizers exclusively. During the production of the film, I was going back and forth between working on the film itself and creating a body of work with modular synthesizers, which eventually became the soundtrack album. The two processes fed into each other; I started the project with just a little bit of modular synth knowledge and experience, and by the end I was totally immersed in them as both a documentarian and a user/musician.

When did your obsession with the synthesizers begin?
I became really obsessed by electronic music in my early teens, and I remember that when I discovered bands like The Normal and Fad Gadget, I immediately understood that they were using old synthesizers, and that I had to learn more about it. I did end up picking up a couple of pieces of gear early on, but then it was actually in my early-20s, having discovered Aphex Twin and the whole bedroom producer movement, when I started getting really serious about buying synths and producing my own music.

Will you be touring the US anytime in the near future?
I've got no plans to play live at the moment; I'll be concentrating on 'I Dream Of Wires' for a while.

Got any other projects we should know about?
I've been running my own label, Suction Records, since 1997, but we've had a very slow release schedule in recent years. After releasing my new album on Suction, I'm planning to really ramp it up this year with several new releases, including the first album by Skanfrom in over a decade.

Care to name a few of your current favorite synth artists?
In terms of active artists who I'm always looking forward to hearing new music from, I love just about everything that Roger Semsroth produces (Skanfrom, Television Set, Sleeparchive), Martial Canterel's music is always timeless and a real showcase of great synthesis techniques, and I absolutely love the Rephlex-style acid techno of MPIA3/Truss.

(Besides 'I Dream Of Wires') What movie would work best on mute while listening to you music?

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
My favourite album is 'Upstairs At Eric's" by Yazoo, but I don't think I'd want to be stuck listening to a record with lyrics for the rest of my life. So I'd probably pick one of my own albums to be honest - maybe 'Solvently One Listens'.

Are you living your dream?
I don't think any artist ever feels satisfied. Right now I feel like I spend way too much time pushing my art on social media, mailing out packages, answering emails, and not enough time making music. But if I had nothing but time on my hands to produce music, I'd probably complain about feeling directionless. I've always felt like if I were to achieve great success with my music it would be the answer to all of my problems, but then every artist I've known who's become successful finds plenty to complain about that too. I'm sure I'd find some reason to complain about success - this is just the way artists are, I'd say. I've definitely got some things going on these days to feel good about though, particularly the positive feedback and continuing success of 'I Dream Of Wires', which feels like a real accomplishment.

Thanx Jason (and George too)!

Solvent recently released the excellent soundtrack companion to this terrific (no seriously, REALLY terrific) DVD/documentary on synthesizers...