KatzKab 10" Vinyl PRE-ORDER
Beware! From the ashes of Katzenjammer Kabarett, a new exciting 4-piece is born. Join Klischee, Mr Guillotine, Vik B and Mr Monsterhead for a quirky posh & drunk experimental journey! You might recall Katzenjammer Kabarett with their wonderful "Gemini Girly Song" (MP3) on Projekt's 2005 A Dark Cabaret compilation! Projekt released two of their albums. Recently, they underwent a metamorphosis like a dark mutant chrysalis, to re-emerge as KatzKab. Part Batcave, part punk, part Euro-electronic, they're back and better than ever. Just like before!
French Import White 10" Vinyl | The EP is a limited edition (300 copies hand numbered), white 10" vinyl. It comes with a personal code to download the 4 songs on the format you want (mp3, flac, and much more).
Pre-order today for $13.98. Make sure you get a copy!
Listen: Twenty Three MP3 | Sinking MP3 | The Baron Samedi's End MP3 | Join Us MP3
Katzenjammer Kabarett are a bit of an oddity! Their 2006 debut keeps on selling! I say that with excitement because most bands are lucky to sell their initial pressing, and Projekt recently had to repress this album to keep up with demand! Fantastic! I really hope the connection is made to the band's new incarnation...
Here's what Liar Society said about their debut:
Katzenjammer Kabarett doesn't transcend genres so much as explode them wholesale. Musically, the group mixes cabaret, deathrock, synthpunk, and goth conventions with cockeyed abandon?post-punk guitar tones, Weimar-inspired piano, and Euro-electro sythesizers all manage to find a place in the sonic palette. Ideologically, Katzenjammer Kabarett borrows their aesthetic ideas from a similarly diverse body of artistic thought?Dadaism, fin de siecle Decadence, Futurism, Symbolism, and post-modernism all seem to have left their mark on the band's two albums. On their self-titled debut and the recently released Grand Guignol & Varietes, the group picks up the wild brand of dark experimentalism initiated by Andi Sexgang and runs wild with it, bending that particular avenue of rhizomatic freakishness to the beat of their own (prefab) drummer. Of the many new acts who are picking up on the old-school Bat Cave tricks of the past, Katzenjammer Kabarett are one of the few bands that move beyond homage or pastiche?everything old is new again with these Katzenjammer Kids. Arty, weird, and brilliant.
Pre-order the KatzKab 10" today for $13.98. Shea & I need to know how many copies to order!
Please spread the word on Facebook! Link to: http://projekt.com/projekt/product.asp?sku=KAT00001
Voltaire, in the land(s) down under
VOLTAIRE GOES DOWN! ...ahem....UNDER! Voltaire returns to the land down under this February for another tour. This time around he will visit Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne in Australia; as well as Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand. Full Details
Projekt's digital-only collection
Now Available for Pre-Order
ROME Die Aesthetik der Herrschaftsfreiheit 3-PACK Trisol Records Pre-order today for $58.98 Expected arrival date: Late January Rome's Die Aesthetik der Herrschaftsfreiheit limited box quickly sold out. In late January, the three CDs will be available separately. As I suspect many of you will want to purchase all three, we've made it easy for you. We created an item in our store for all three discs.
Listen to some great ROME music from Disc One: To Teach Obedience | MP3 Clip In Cruel Fire | MP3 Clip A Pact of Blood | MP3 Clip
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Facebook, Projekt thread
My Facebook page has been really active the last few days. Lots and lots of great discussions (and a few annoying trolls) about Megaupload, an Artist's desire to get paid for what they create, pirates, and the fact that inflation has gone up 81.4% since Projekt released it's first CD in 1989, yet I'm still charging the same price. People say "music is too expensive" yet it's one of the few things that cost less in non-inflated dollars than it used to.
A popular post yesterday was my recent supermarket receipt ("This is why I appreciate your support. When you buy music, I get paid. And then my son gets Chick'n Nuggets for dinner. Yay! Win-Win.")
Voltaire added, "I was JUST NOW telling my students that when I sell three songs on iTunes, I can buy my son a slice of pizza. I wish more people understood the direct impact their buying/downloading choices have on the artists they love."
That's been my mission, lately. To remind people that we're just people trying to get by over here. 90% of Projekt artists aren't making a living off their music. We create because we have a passion for it. And it's not some rock star mentality when we say, "Hey, if you're going to listen to our music, we respectfully ask that we get paid for it." People argue that illegally downloading music has no negative impact. But let me tell you, it does. My rent still needs to be paid. My son still needs to eat. When you buy music, those things are able to happen. So I really appreciate all of you who buy music (in physical or digital form).
Pop over and add your voice to the discussion. Sam Nicki Jaine Of Pigeons and Other Curiosities $9.99 iTunes or Projekt Sound clips: sound of girls MP3 | pretty faces MP3 | untitled MP3
Spotify (and the other streaming sites) claim they are legal alternatives to piracy. If you ask me, Spotify is just a few steps above illegal downloads.
They operate with a flawed business model; they have no pathway towards compensating artists respectfully. Music is the chum, for Spotify to line their pockets.
Those CEOs and "fans" who live by this meme are really saying, "I want to listen to your music, but I don't want to pay for it. I am going to pass the responsibility for compensation down the road to some other customer. You need to find some new way to make a living off THAT person's enjoyment of your art. Oh, but keep making music, because I want it for free."
Happy Holidays, Sam
Top-5 Sellers in our webstore:
Subscribe to A Darker Shade of Pagan at iTunes.
#1 Soriah with Ashkelon Sain: Eztica | Order today for $13.98 Soriah with Ashkelon Sain, a duo whose album Atlan made my A Darker Shade of Pagan top-ten for 2009, returns in 2011 with Eztica. Described as ?a neo-tribal, mystically ethereal, paranormally enrapturing musical experience? this mix of throat singing (what Soriah calls ?an offering to nature in her own tongue?), atmospherics, and ritual, is truly captivating. While something of a companion to Atlan, I think Eztica is the stronger album, one that sees more complex arrangements, and a sound that can be driving as well as atmospheric. This is a shamanistic ritual art experience, one that documents Soriah?s explorations into his own ethnicity and heritage, amplified by the amazing soundscapes of former Trance to the Sun guitarist Ashkelon Sain. This is the kind of musical spiritual journey that most others simply aspire to.
#2 Atrium Animae: Dies Irae | Order today for $13.98 The Italian band Atrium Animae was formed in 2007, their name is ?considered as a symbolic representation of the passage from physical world toward an immaterial world.? The heavenly soprano of Alessia Cicala, a member of the band Chirleison, partnered with the compositions of Massimiliano Picconi, together create music on their debut Dies Irae that is stately in its atmosphere, a sacred enveloping that is almost funerial in outlook. Or as the band?s promotional material puts it: ?A symbolic voyage in a silent wasteland made of treachery, defeat and spiritual hunger. A world where the locked embrace of loss and despair are represented through a reinterpretation of passages taken from religious and pagan texts.? Sublime, and an excellent addition to the genre of neoclassical darkwave.
Here are a couple more great podcasts for you
Spacemusic.nl | Nice Erik Wollo block on the just posted episode 7.2, sound of silence | website or subscribe at iTunes
The Projekt Podcast | Podcast #2 | website or subscribe at iTunes.
Wow, Seems Ek lifted my language, nearly verbatim, to try to make it sound like Spotify is paying fair rates!
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek: "I don't think we see ourselves as the savior of the music industry," Ek noted. "We are passionate about making it so that users enjoy the music that they want to enjoy but at the same time fairly compensates artists. That's not the same as saving the music industry."
Ek must have studied his Orwell. Say the opposite of what is true, so people will think it's true.
Hi...... More Than Nine Lives is a new compilation with royalties going to a no-kill center. I gave them an exclusive remix. Below that is a link to the kitty benefit CD I released on Projekt in 1999, A Cat-Shaped Hole in my Heart. That CD has an exclusive track not been released elsewhere. Stay Well, Sam.
It's here! It's here! On Saturday, we're heading to Boston for Projektfest'11. The festival is a pick in this week's issue of The Boston Phoenix! Tickets are still available at The Middle East box office. Projektfest'11. Saturday, November 12 at 7:00pm. The Middle East - Downstairs. 472 Massachusetts Ave; Cambridge, MA. Voltaire, Black Tape For A Blue Girl and Weep (featuring Doc Hammer of The Venture Bros). Spread the word !
Facebook Event Page.
click for larger image:
These two actually make the perfect pairing. The Rope is the album that began Black Tape For A Blue Girl's career in the ethereal/goth/darkwave world.... yet you might not know that nearly half of the album is my ambient instrumental music. To celebrate 25 years, I remastered the album and put together a 2nd disc - The Rope 25 - with other Projekt artists performing cover versions of the songs. Included are great ethereal, neofolk, ambient and heavenly voices tracks from Erik Wollo, Lux Interna, Attrition, Forrest Fang, All My Faith Lost.... and more.
I even got into the act! The 2011 band re-recorded the first track from The Rope, "Memory, Uncaring Friend."
The Passage contains a 44 minute re-imagining of the final track on 1999's As One Aflame Laid Bare By Desire. It languidly progresses with ranular processing and time shifting. The final track on the CD, "Rae," reprocesses a lovely violin melody from my friend, long-time Blacktape collaborator Vicki Richards. I am really pleased to have a "solo" ambient album out, after all these years.
<--- Stream it here! You can check out "Memory, Uncaring Friend (2011)" with free streaming and free download at The New Record! This is a great new site Projekt is part of. The idea is a whole bunch of indie labels got together to collaborate on promoting great music to the fans. If you are not a member, and don't want to join, you can log in with your Facebooks. If you join, The New Record will send you a message when I add new tracks. It's kinda like having your own personal clerk recommending music to you. I get to play the part of the clerk! : ) Check it out. It's still in Beta, and only works for USA customers; I plan to use it a lot to get the music out there....
When ordering these CDs from Projekt, note that the webstore says "PRE-ORDER" -- but we are shipping now!
Thanks for your order. It really helps support the music. - Sam
Episode 2 of RADIO PROJEKT is now available.Also at iTunes.
A big hug goodbye to Steve Jobs. He really changed the way we interact with technology.
Listen to Radio Projekt - The Projekt Podcast.
30 minutes with Projekt artists: Adrian H and the Wounds, Atrium Animae, Soriah (with Ashkelon Sain), Erik Wollo, Mark A. Michaels & Patricia Johnson and Steve Roach.
Saturday, November 12 The Middle East, Cambridge, MA.
Voltaire, Black Tape For A Blue Girl, Weep, Do Not Foresake Me Oh My Darling, Sugar Snow & DJ Mätthew Griffin.
Visit the website for info. Confirm attendance on our Facebook Event page.
Steve Roach article at The Morton Report
A great article about Steve's career is on-line at The Morton Report to coincide with the release of Quiet Music (The Original 3-Hour Collection) 3-CD. Check out the music: listen to a portion of "Something in Tears" at this YouTube video, or "A Few More Moments" on the Projekt Podcast. Buy the CD at Projekt for $18.98 | Purchase at iTunes for $17.99
Here are links to their sites:
This is going to be an amazing night of music, hope to see you at Projektfest'11 !
Back in the day, I used to use the email list as my spot to blog and rant. Lots and lots of ranting! :) Do you remember those long emails before the 2000 election, saying why Al Gore was the guy we needed in the White House? I have toned it down over the years; I would love to get an email from you, if you think I should be putting more of a personal touch on these lists. Do you want me to include more of my reflections, thoughts, random nonsense? Let me know.
Today, I will to post a few things from my Facebook page. If you enjoy these tidbits, friend me there. AND let me know (by email) if you'd like more of these here....
Two hours ago:
I like it when a meeting is postponed, and I have an extra hour to.... work! : )
Last night, right before bed:
It is so sweet to have amazing people in my life; people that cause me to smile when I think about the fact that they exist.
Yesterday, around 8 pm:
I just recorded guitars with Valerie Gentile on the track "Memory, Uncaring Friend" for THE ROPE 25 -- the upcoming 25th anniversary edition of Black Tape For A Blue Girl's THE ROPE. Disc 2 contains cover versions of the songs! Black Tape For A Blue Girl gets to cover a song by Black Tape for a Blue Girl. Exciting!
Yesterday, around 4 pm:
I just got a call from MUZAK. They want to program Projekt material. Sure, why the heck not!!! : )
Yesterday around 3 pm:
I just did a phone interview with Diane Ray DePasquale for Hay House Radio. For a new show about music. We discussed the ANANDA NIDRA meditation CD from Mark A. Michaels & Patricia Johnson. As well as creativity and Dr. Wayne W. Dyer and Carlos Castaneda. Fun stuff! I will let you know when it airs.
Earlier Yesterday:
?Brian Viglione has a new project -- Gentlemen & Assassins --- they are raising money to record at Kickstarter.... good stuff!!!
I guess what I am asking is: What do YOU want this email list to be? How could this email list be more exciting for you?
available for pre-order: ? Rome: Die Aesthetik Der Herrschaftsfreiheit (Box Set of 3 books + 3 CDs) | $129.98 VNV Nation: Automatic | $21.98 Angelspit: Hello My Name Is | $13.98 Various Artists: Gothic Compilation 52 2-CD | $16.98
| June 21 2011 from Sam Rosenthal |
Dies Irae, the debut CD from Atrium Animae, receives amazing reviews:
"The group's name is loosely translated from Latin as 'The Gate of the Soul' ? lining up perfectly with their sound, which calls to mind mystic rituals conducted by moonlight. The team of Massimiliano Picconi (instruments) and Alessia Cicala (vocals) draw heavily on elements of Renaissance-era spiritual music and both modern & classical composers, tying the elements together with cinematic sound design and production. I'd say it falls within the same genre lines of legendary exotic-music artists Dead Can Dance, and the awesome Swedish group Arcana." - fearnet "If you have had a love affair with Dead Can Dance (and who wouldn?t have a satisfying one with DCD, at that), the new release from Atrium Animae could help you in your withdrawal pains." - musictap "All of this to create an high rate mystic - religious music, an ideal soundtrack to be enjoyed during a stay in a monastery or convent in search of the own (lost) spirituality." - spectraweb
"If you have had a love affair with Dead Can Dance (and who wouldn?t have a satisfying one with DCD, at that), the new release from Atrium Animae could help you in your withdrawal pains." - musictap
"All of this to create an high rate mystic - religious music, an ideal soundtrack to be enjoyed during a stay in a monastery or convent in search of the own (lost) spirituality." - spectraweb
Purchase the Physical CD for $13.98 at Projekt or the Digital Album for $6.93 at iTunes
Listen: Lacrimosa Dies | MP3 Excerpt Sigillum Septimum | MP3 Excerpt
Watch a video trailer:
Atrium Animae is an Italian duo, formed to express the kind of music that early-era Dead Can Dance embraced. The male component of Atrium Animae, Massimmiliano Picconi, is the keyboardist and master of the programming aspects supplied to the album. The stunning, layered female vocal work is the work of Alessia Cicala. Alessia Cicala was vocally trained in Conservatoire, and brings her haunting operatic soprano to the newly released Dies Irae. Dies Irae contains seven tracks of intensity, musically characterized by ancient Catholic religious rites often heard in films depicting such rites. The music explores authenticity in every corner of its dark and apocalyptic airs of foreboding wrath. The lyrics, drawn from antiquity, add an otherworldly quality. There is little to compare the grand content of Dies Irae to other than the potential comparison of Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun (1987) from Dead Can Dance, as well as choice selections of other tunes from various early DCD albums. Suffice it to say that Dies Irae is a meticulous exercise in a world completely unlike our present one. The goal here is to put up a new signpost leading to a new discovery for you. Hopefully, you'll be intrigued. - The Morton Report
- The Morton Report
For Father's Day, I put together this 2 minute video about being a Father and running Projekt.
"Being a dad really shows you that there's more than just running a business, there's things more important than making money."
I created the video for my internet provider's Father's Day contest. The theme is, "tell us your story of being a Father and a small business owner capturing some of the daily challenges you face in your life running a business and managing a family." This is a great a chance to talk about my band, my label, raising my son, and my philosophy on living a full life.
The video is just 2 minutes long, give it a look and share with your friends..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLpuxBsOV94
Share your thoughts on my Facebook page.
Sam