Archive for November 2014 | Monthly archive page

Nov 30
2-day $2-download celebration from Black Tape For A Blue Girl
Whew, finally! I’ve concluded my task of uploading all our releases to Black Tape For A Blue Girl’s Bandcamp store! And to celebrate, I’ve switched all the prices to $2. Yes! Just $2 a download — of course, you can give more if you think the album is worth it, they are all set to name-your-price. It’s our 2-day $2 download celebration. Many of the albums are deluxe, with extra material (for example, Halo Star includes a second disc of live tracks). This price includes all albums (plus my solo work and most collaborations). The celebration runs through midnight-ish, Tuesday December 2nd.
Bandcamp allows you to gift albums to your friends. Instructions here.
Thanks for your interest! Sam
Please share this on your Facebook & Twitter: https://www.projekt.com/store/?p=7050

Nov 23
Cyber Monday Sale : 20% off physical CDs
Physical CDs: 20% off
20% Off purchases at Projekt’s webstore. Use discount code 20%holiday during checkout (sale excludes items in the PRE-ORDERS and NEW categories). Sale ends 11:59pm EST tonight, Monday Dec 1, 2014.
A free CD with your $20 purchaseWhile supplies last, get A Dark Noel free with your $20 (before postage) order. Add the CD to your cart to get your copy. Because of the way our webstore is coded, the CD counts as one item towards your postage total.
Top-10 November webstore titles:1 Unto Ashes: Ghosts Captured (with bonus CD) 2 Mirabilis: Here and the Hereafter (with 2 bonus CDs) 3 Steve Roach & Jorge Reyes: The Ancestor Circle 4 Various Artists: 10 Projekt CDs for $30 (Ambient/Electronic Clearance Box) 5 Weep: Weep (2014) 6 Dirk Serries: The Origin Reversal 7 Chandeen: Forever And Ever CD (pre-order, due in December) 8 Mercury’s Antennae: A Waking Ghost Inside 9 Klaus Schulze & Lisa Gerrard: Big in Europe Vol.2: Amsterdam (2 CD + 2 DVD) 10 The Birthday Massacre: Violet Vinyl LP
Digital Downloads: 50% offTake 50% Off your purchase at Projekt’s Bandcamp store. Use discount code november at http://www.projektrecords.bandcamp.com and http://www.blacktapeforabluegirl.bandcamp.com This sale ends tonight, 11:59pm UTC, Friday Nov 28, 2014.
Share on your Facebook & Twitter: https://www.projekt.com/store/20and50/

Nov 20
50% Off at Bandcamp
50% Off at Projekt’s Bandcamp store. Use discount code “november” at http://www.projektrecords.bandcamp.com and http://www.blacktapeforabluegirl.bandcamp.com — Sale ends 11:59pm UTC, Friday Nov 28, 2014.

Nov 10
Everybody loves the old days
From Projekt Records’ Sam Rosenthal.
People love the old days.Ok, I get it. There was that certain point in time when that certain song just hit you. Or the first time you discovered an artist. Or maybe it’s a special somebody, and the music they always use to listen to, which still brings back great memories. There’s all sorts of good reasons.
And sometimes it’s because, “Music was just better back then,” or, “All new bands suck.”
Yes, there are many reasons why the 90s were a high point in music.
I get Facebook messages from people along the lines of, “I just discovered your page. I didn’t know Projekt was still around.” I ask a few questions and discover the last album they purchased from Projekt was something like PRO51, Love Spirals Downwards’ 2nd album Ardor. And, oh boy! Projekt has released 259 albums since then! (They’re reminiscing about a very thin sliver of a pretty lengthy Projekt history.)
And hey, I appreciate those memories! I appreciate that Projekt was there for you at a certain point in your high school or college years. But artists keep making art; and times change. Love Spirals Downwards and Lycia aren’t even on the label anymore, they haven’t been for years. Time keeps on slippin’ slippin’ slippin’…
Swag, merchandise, stuff! I was wondering a few days ago: What do people our age want? I know that the majority of my readers are not millennials. My estimate is the average age is 45, with most of you falling into the 35 – 55 range. What do we want? I recently received a care package from the Treehouse, a no-kill shelter in Chicago that I’ve donated to since the late 90s when I released A cat-shaped hole in my heart (a benefit CD, where all royalties went to the Treehouse). The care package contained a metal water bottle, a t-shirt (Ewww, white!!! Who’s gonna wear that?), a reuseable supermarket bag, and a set of writing cards. I guess this is the sort of stuff that people like me want? Actually, the water bottle and supermarket bag were immediately useful to me. And a black American Apparel Medium shirt would have made it 3 out of 4!
Cards? Do you write a lot of cards these days? Would you like a set of 5 cards with images from Projekt albums from the 90s? That’s something I could put together!
Water bottle? Yep. We already have that, in fact two: 24 oz and 32 oz. We also have an 18 oz corn travel mug and a nice cobalt blue coffee mug.
Maybe we need something new? A new thingie with the Projekt logo on it. Do you have suggestions? Post them in the comment area below.
Back on topic… People love the old days. I admit it: I listen to a lot of old music as well. I guess I don’t hear that many new bands that excite me. Is it because I’ve listened to a thousand bands, I am too picky, or what? I try. I try to listen to new things, but I do keep finding myself drifting back to music I already know I love.
Robert S wrote: “By the way, your music (Black Tape…) and the music that you recommend has been a part of my life going back to the late 80’s when I first started working for Parks and Recreation. I loved the manual stuffing of the packages when you mailed out everything by hand, especially the post cards. Would you believe it, I am now officially retired and I still follow your music endeavors although on a pretty fixed income; I cannot buy as much as I used to. I hope you keep up the interest in creating music and ensuring that the younger generation has the opportunity to listen to, enjoy and even learn from quality music. I may be old fashioned to a point but the current “pulp music” really has nothing to offer and makes no significant statement that has any kind of meaning. Thanks for what you do.”
My reply: Well, the orders are still stuffed by hand; just that it is Joe doing the stuffing these days. And it’s interesting what you said about a fixed income. More than one person replied that they don’t buy as much music as they used to, because of the economy. That sort of gets to the heart of last week’s rant. But ok, wait. Not ranting today….
What about Black tape for a blue girl?With my own music, I’ve tried new things. In the 2000s, I released three albums, the latter two approach a “pop” territory, perhaps fully realized on 10 Neurotics. I’ve heard from people who love it, and also people who don’t love it so much. Ha! Taste is such a fickle mistress. I think artists have to follow their muse. I love when bands release another album that I love; but I also respect them for trying something different. Doing what strikes their fancy at that moment.
For me, I’ve been thinking about the stylistic elements that make up the sound of Black Tape For A Blue Girl. What are the elements and genres that are primary to my music? I find that I’m making Ambient tracks at the moment. Lots of Ambient! I guess that’s part of the process to get to the ethereal / song-like tracks that I know are coming…
I planned to tell you about my idea for Black Tape For A Blue Girl… but I was introduced to a website that seems to provide the service I thought I’d have to code and build myself! I need to do some more investigating to see if it fits the bill. I might be able to realize my idea more fluidly than I previously imagined.
Polyphasic sleepI posted this blog about the polyphasic sleep I have been doing for the past 300 days.
What’s new at Projekt?We have November releases from Unto Ashes and Roach/Reyes (read about them below). Both are amazing & wonderful albums! There are two January 20th releases going in to the pressing plant, and an early February release I am about to guide into production. I am out of town again most of this week, and THEN I will start nailing down the plan for my new Blacktape thingie-doodle.
This is very exciting: I wrote a short scene in the style of Rye. I went to a coffee shop and wrote, without distractions. That is a preview of my personal plan for 2015: focus on priorities. More time to work on my art. More great scenes to write. More lyrics and music to create.
Thanks for your support in that.
Projekt’s two November releasesUnto Ashes: Ghosts Captured Ghosts Captured is extremely limited; 200-unit edition in ProCDr 4-panel ecoWallet. While supplies last, your CD purchase of Ghost Captured includes a free copy of Unto Ashes’ Burials Foretold.
For fifteen years, acclaimed darkwave ensemble Unto Ashes have been unrepentant and uncompromising purveyors of apocalyptic folk, neo-Medieval, gothic, neoclassical, and ethereal music. Their newest release, Ghosts Captured contains a total of 25 cover songs (18 on the physical CD and an additional 7 available for free download at Bandcamp), breathing “blood-lit” life into an incredibly broad array of songs from some of the most improbable bands on record.
Facebook-fan William K writes, “I purchased this the day it was released. I’ve been looking forward to it for so long. A very diverse mix of covers. Amazing album. It is truly like hearing these songs for the first time.”
Read the full the description at Projekt.com
Steve Roach & Jorge Reyes: The Ancestor Circle
Conjuring images of a primal futurism, this alchemical blending-of-sound is a ceremonial offering to the forgotten gods. The Ancestor Circle is a new tribal-ambient-electronic collaboration, steeped in a frothy mind-altering blend, waiting for years as the potency increased. Like the audio artifacts of a lost tribe, the studio source recordings that form this album’s foundation were uncovered in 2013 on a cryptically-marked set of tapes. Created the week before Roach & Reyes’ May 2000 concert at Tucson’s Temple of Music and Art, this is their last joint studio project as Reyes passed on to The Ancestor Circle in 2009.
Joe T wrote on Steve’s Facebook page: “Just received my copy today! Totally excellent and evocative of all that is Jorge Reyes (of which I have all his music) and the perfect ambiance of Steve Roach who I’ve followed since Structures from Silence premiered.”
Paul O: “This is a important part of musical history. A gathering of great musicians, such as Steve, who are taking us on a spiritual journey via music of the spheres. This is some of the best music happening now and hopefully for some time to come.”
Chris R: “This album is spellbinding, that calls from that deep well of magic and mystery. The circle will never be unbroken, Jorge lives and breaths in this release his presence is felt throughout the whole album. A fitting bookend to the Roach / Reyes collaboration. Farewell Jorge…”
Read the full description at Projekt.com
Link-a-doodle-dooNot One Artist’s Album Has Gone Platinum In 2014 Ouch!!! Read at Forbes Magazine.
Steve Roach is included in this Oberheim DMX feature Read at TheVinylFactory.com.
Voltaire: The Legend of Candy Claws Pre-order yours at Voltaire’s website.
Mapanare.Us Miami Art Show Thanatos’s Patrick Ogl is crowd-funding an art show at Kickstarter.
NYC pastor: Starbucks is flavoured with the semen of sodomites Oh shit, I just thought the problem was that Starbucks was burning their roast…. : ) Read more at pinknews. This guy is kookoobirds! Funny comments from my facebook friends.
My son likes to remind me that you’re more likely to die from a soda machine falling on you, than a shark bite. This is another good statistic: In the average year, you’re around 10x more likely to be bitten by an inhabitant of New York City than you are to be bitten by a shark. Read more at Shark.ch. And then all this, from my friends on Facebook: Julie B: With the Ebola fears, I’ve cut way down on biting strangers. Susan R: And during the zombie apocalypse, this number will go up significantly. Steve M: “New Yorker injured by falling soda machine after being bitten by a shark.” Susan R: Shark, attempting to bite face off man exiting subway, crushed by mysterious soda machine falling from 11th floor of near-by building. Susan R: OR, band of zombies throws soda machine onto shark. Steve M: OR, sharks attack zombie with soda machine during New York “Hug a shark for Christmas” Susan R: ^win Sam Rosenthal: I assume the soda machines are falling onto people who are shaking them, trying to steal soda. The machines take revenge! Susan R: Clearly then, the sharks need to be shrewd and seize this opportunity, by hiding IN the soda machines and biting the hands of people as they reach in to retrieve their sodas.
A fan alerted us to another wonderful review of Steve Roach’s Structures from Silence, which was reissued earlier this year on Projekt (Records). Read the review at hypnagogue.net. Purchase the 3-CD set or download at Bandcamp.
Here’s how you can hear more Projekt music before you buyIn an email message, David B wrote: “The musician-artist has a power that one can’t put a price on. I will gladly pay the money if the artist touched a nerve with me, and gosh, I would hope there are many others out there like me. The problem for me is justifying the cost if after listening the music doesn’t connect with me. A physical artist’s offering is viewed and you either connect or not, then purchase based upon that. With the musical artist, I struggle with music reviews and the 30 second sound-bite to make a decision – do I buy it or do I not.”
About 18 months ago, I heard that fans wanted to preview more than 30 seconds, and I think Projekt’s Bandcamp page provides a great solution for this request. Stream full tracks from Projekt albums; sometimes, you can stream the whole album!

Nov 03
New: Unto Ashes. Roach / Reyes. Plus: Political Rant returns!
From Projekt Records’ Sam Rosenthal.
Hi, I want to thank you for your enthusiastic responses to for my recent series of blogs on Projekt and the music industry. I’ve been told that it’s risky to talk about money and units, and what is happening behind the scenes. It pops the bubble, perhaps. But I think the reality of what it’s like to be an artist in 2014 is a story that needs to be told,. So thanks for supporting that “risk taking.” I’m sorry I haven’t had an update on that…. I’ve been in and out of town the last week, and haven’t had a moment to write the next installment. No excuse, I know. I’ll get back on it!
Unto Ashes: Ghosts Captured Ghosts Captured is extremely limited; 200-unit edition in ProCDr 4-panel ecoWallet. While supplies last, your CD purchase of Ghost Captured includes a free copy of Unto Ashes’ Burials Foretold.For fifteen years, acclaimed darkwave ensemble Unto Ashes have been unrepentant and uncompromising purveyors of apocalyptic folk, neo-Medieval, gothic, neoclassical, and ethereal music; during that time they have released seven full-length albums and a number of singles and compilation tracks. Their newest release, Ghosts Captured, is easily their most ambitious effort to date. The album contains a total of 25 cover songs (18 on the physical CD and an additional 7 available for free download at Bandcamp), breathing “blood-lit” life into an incredibly broad array of songs from some of the most improbable bands on record.
Ghosts Captured‘s reinterpretations comprise more than 90 minutes of exceptional voice arrangements atop Medieval & Renaissance instruments, acoustic guitar, keyboards, and electronics. With considerable panache, imagination, self-assurance, and verve, Unto Ashes have certainly captured the ghosts of some of their favorite piece
According to Unto Ashes mastermind Michael Laird, the album is entitled Ghosts Captured because, “These songs have been haunting our minds, in various ways and to varying degrees, for years. We’ve always enjoyed the challenge of making covers, but obviously it can be very risky, even to try, because in so many instances the originals can never be surpassed. However, our only intention has been to pay homage to the original creation, to show our respect and admiration. For us, the process of arranging and recording a cover version can take ages, but we do it to exorcise the ghost of that which has continued to possess us. To be obsessed with a song, to listen to it over and over and over, and study it; to break it down and destroy it; to rebuild it and ultimately to make it our own… This is the only way for us to free ourselves from the obsession. Someone said that the only way out is to go further in. That’s what we’ve had to do. The new album presents the vehicles of our release from songs that have been echoing relentlessly through our minds for so long. They are all ghosts, captured.”
Read the full the description at Projekt.com
Steve Roach & Jorge Reyes: The Ancestor CircleThrough the end of today (Monday), try before you buy. Stream the whole album (and then purchase for $10) at Bandcamp
Conjuring images of a primal futurism, this alchemical blending-of-sound is a ceremonial offering to the forgotten gods. The Ancestor Circle is a new tribal-ambient-electronic collaboration, the first recording from Roach & Reyes since Vine ~ Bark & Spore (Timeroom 2000). This is the lost chapter of a long soulful journey that has taken twists and turns in its unfoldment. The music feels steeped in a frothy mind-altering blend, waiting for years as the potency increased. Roach & Reyes combined their instinctual nature — developed over almost a decade of worldwide live and studio adventures — leading up to the core of what became The Ancestor Circle. It is in this circle that their sound is unearthed from deep within their primordial soundworld, where prehistory meets future-tech creating a sound impossible to carbon date. Like the audio artifacts of a lost tribe, the studio source recordings that form this album’s foundation were uncovered in 2013 on a cryptically-marked set of tapes. Created the week before Roach & Reyes’ May 2000 concert at Tucson’s Temple of Music and Art, this is their last joint studio project as Reyes passed on to The Ancestor Circle in 2009.
Roach comments, “Jorge is still very much alive here in the circle where we always met with an unspoken language of sound constantly moving through us. As I completed this music now, adding new elements and evolving the arrangement, I could feel Jorge’s spirit listening and interacting with me in the studio, offering feedback or sometimes making his guttural sounds of agreement like he would do in the past when we were deep in the process of carving on a mix. Just as in previous magical studio and stage experiences, we are in the circle once again.”
Read the full description at Projekt.com
Impressive Jack Pumpkin from Projekt fan E Rachel Gilley ! Liberal Political Rant.If this will offend you, please feel free to skip this section.
A few people mentioned that they miss my political rants. It is true that I’ve stripped these opinions out of the eList for quite a long time. Prior to George Bush stealing the 2000 election, I put a lot of energy into why I thought Al Gore would be better for America (maybe we’d be doing something about Climate Change by now, yeah?). But instead, we got what the Supreme Court wanted us to have. Ok, blame the judiciary. But this time, we have nobody to blame but ourselves. The party that has said “No” every step of the way for the last six years, the party that has no ideas, the party that wants to make life better for their corporate overlords (while worse for you and me) is about to be given full control of Congress. Do you hear the calls for impeachment yet? You will, my friend, you will.
Well… what can you do?
You can vote! Are you going to the polls, to make a difference?
We get the democracy that we desire.
I cannot believe that the Congress is about to have a Republican majority in both houses. It will be the result of the non-stop campaign of lies coming from the G.O.P. They know the more they lie, the more they encourage hate for the government, the more opportunity they have for their true agenda. Screwing all of us!
From every indicator, the country is better off than when Obama took office, and yet the majority of Americans believe things are worse than 6 years ago. Why? Faux Lies. “Here’s another irony: With the annual budget deficit down two-thirds from what it was when President Bush left it, people think it’s worse. … That last one is not a poll of opinion, that’s a poll of people’s understanding of basic facts. The deficit is way, way, way, way down, but people think it’s up.” From Esquire.com
And what’s even worse, people think the Republicans are more likely to have our best interests at heart, and will work to make our lives better. Hold on, let me catch my breath from the laughing. While it is true that both parties are ultimately beholden to big business, at least the Democrats are more likely to try to make our lives better. The Dems have a few good ones in there, such as Elizabeth Warren (who should be the next president!) and Al Franken.
I’d also like to point out (as Warren would) that while the G.O.P. blames Obama for the loss of good jobs in America, the true culprit is the corporations and their rich stockholders. There is no longer any incentive to keep jobs in America. They want to outsource so they can pay less, while hiding their profits overseas. And screw all of you! Where are all the good jobs? They’ve all been shipped to China, man. Why? So Mr. 1% can make more in his portfolio. Screw the people, it’s the Rich that must be kept happy.
We created this culture, you know?
If it were up to me, I’d ban all companies who don’t pay their taxes in the U.S. Who needs them? They love making money off Americans, but they hate paying their taxes and supporting the country that makes them rich. You call that ‘patriotism,’ my friend? I call that being a greedy ba$tard with nothing but self-interest as motivation. Corporations suck. They want to suck you dry. And then the Republicans will Ayn Rand you, and tell you to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. Nice little racket they got going there.
Wow, how short our memory is! It is hard to imagine this could be printed anywhere other than an ONION article: “Republicans said the onus would be on Mr. Obama, faulting him for being unwilling to accommodate the opposition.” From The New York Times. What? Obama is the problem? Lies! But reading the quote carefully, I think what the Republicans actually mean by “accommodate the opposition” is “do exactly what we want, our we’ll shut the government down.”
And THOSE are the people who are going to be running the Congress in a couple of days. Shouldn’t Republicans be punished for Ted Cruz’ antics just a year ago? Have people already forgotten the 2013 shutdown? The Republicans are going to be rewarded for this!?!?
On Facebook, a few people replied with the meme that it’s both parties fauly. It would be nice to spread the blame around, but it’s just not true (another Republican lie, imagine!). From Day 1, the Republican’s plan was purely: “Don’t let the Black guy get anything he wants.” It’s a surprise that Obama has achieved as much as he has. Biden: Mitch McConnell vowed no cooperation with the Obama administration from the get-go. From Daily Kos
BUT the fact is most Americans are sheep. They believe the Faux News, and are going to give the Republicans MORE POWER, rather than punish them for
Ok. Now that I’ve pissed off 50% of the people reading this list. I’ll shut up with the politics, and get on to two great new Projekt releases… : )
Link-a-doodle-dooThe Ultimate Halloween Darkwave mix. Tracks from Black Tape For A Blue Girl, Android Lust, Mirabilis, Mercury’s Antennae… http://www.mixcloud.com/synthpeej/samhain/
New video from Makaras Pen from the JOURNEYS TO THE END digital-only release. Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU0rHgCaXSY
Evaderon is a free iPhone game, and short soundtrack, from Shikhee of Android Lust. Download: from Android Lust
Bono apologizes: http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/15/tech/web/u2-bono-free-itunes/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
Four new releases from Spotted Peccary Music on pre-order, in stock early November:
Csillagköd: Silent World CD $14 Erik Wøllo: Traces (Remastered Re-issue) CD $14 Phillip Wilkerson & Chris Russell: Vague Traces CD $14 Shane Morris & Mystified: Evolution CD $14
Qntal: Qntal VII Limited Edition (Pre-Order, Expected Late November) CD $22 First limited edition in 6-panel Digipak with special cover-print in ‘glow in the dark’ ink, 2 exclusive bonus tracks and special 28-page booklet! With Sarah “Mariko” Newman (of Unto Ashes).<
25 Icons of EchoesCheers to Steve Roach for topping Echoes’ 25-Year Listener’s Poll. You guys helped out with that; cheers for your support, as well!
Movies In The Dark
Projekt presents a series of Gothy-films at Portland’s lovely & historic Hollywood Theatre. The first one is David Bowie’s THE HUNGER on Friday December 5. Facebook Event Page.
Personally, I don’t want to go out to a goth club at 1am for a drink. But I’d love to catch a film with all my darkwave friends! So let’s make it an event, with gift bags, raffles, and more…..!
Projekt is presenting a series of gothy-movies at Portland’s lovely & historic Hollywood Theatre. Catch Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon (and a brief live performance from Bauhaus) in Tony Scott’s 1983 film. THE HUNGER is the story of a love triangle between a doctor who specializes in sleep and aging research and a vampire couple.