Archive for the ‘Blog from Sam’ Category
Jul 07
The Projekt List, get inside Sam’s head. All new content format! With some music, too!
Hello….. This ProjektList was sent at 11:05 this morning. If you are not on the ProjektList, sign-up with the sign-up form on the right side of the page. This is the short-link, if you want to share: https://www.projekt.com/store/?p=5436
Sam writes: Some of you have been receiving the Projekt list for years, if not decades! Do you remember back in the late 90s, when the ProjektList was filled with my thoughts, and ramblings on things that interested me, plus political perspective (oh those days of discussing why Al Gore would be better for the country than George Bush. Yall were so young and naive back then!!!). Some of you loved my thoughts and comments mixed with the music, some of you hated my thoughts and comments mixed with the music. When Facebook came along, it seemed like that would be a place to post the non-music-related stuff, to get it off the ProjektList. But I have found that we have reached a two-fold dead-end with that. (1) Facebook sucks these days, nobody sees posts anymore (more about that below) and (2) when I look at the data about which parts of the ProjektList you are interested in (’cause dude! I see the data of which link-y are getting the most click-y) I notice you are clicking over to the dumb videos, and what I bought my son for his birthday, and non-music-stuff. Oh? Not a lot of people are following through to the music that we’re selling in the webstore.
What?
The ProjektList is serving as a filter for fun stuff to distract you from your day?!?
Ok. I can do that. Perhaps the solution to this problem is to return the elist to where it began: something more like a blog with bits of entertainment, stuff that is catching my eye, with just the right mix of music and internet-based-dumbness.
You know: the stuff that we all use to make our days a little less tedious.
For example, last week, I went to Movie Madness, a DVD store here in Portland OR. Yep! A real-life rent-a-DVD store. I discovered that there are more CLASH DVDs than I can count on two hands, and I’ve only seen two of the last 30 Best Foreign Film Oscar winners.
I also saw “Rosebud,” the sled from Citizen Kane. Who knew it was green with yellow text? Here’s a pix of me with the lion statue from the Kane Xanadu set.
Oh my! The real world. It’s out there.
Why have I been spending my time on youTube, watching videos of cats knocking other cats down stairs!
I want to live!
That said, we all love cats… but maybe goats are the future! Shea hit upon this trend a while back, sending me this video. And now Slate confirms what Shea has known: Goats are the new Cats.
Speaking of Goats, the Belmont Goats are moving. Apparently their two block-long / one block-wide field has gotten too valuable. They are being shipped off to the suburbs (well, 92nd Ave); I bet somebody will build another 5 story condo on their spot. Sounds like what happened to 4th Avenue in Brooklyn. Well, minus the goats.
The days of thriving Facebook pages are coming to an end quicklyWhy does Facebook suck? Let me count the ways! We were discussing this on my FB page this weekend. If you are an artist, band or small business, and have been wondering what the heck is wrong with your page these days, the two videos on this link are essential viewing to understand why Facebook has become useless.
“Facebook has this ongoing incentive to restrict more and more the organic reach of posts, in order to force people to pay to promote them. And I think that really changes the ethos of the site.”
What I have heard is that only 3% of the people who like the Projekt Records FB page see my posts. This means all those bands and labels you “liked?” Well, you’re no longer seeing their updates in your feed! Facebook is rigged to keep you from seeing the posts you wanted to see. Why? They want us to pay… for every post. And we’re not talking something reasonable like $10 a month. We’re talking between $30 and $150…. a POST!!! I’m so fed up with Facebook.
As an experiment, I tried doing a paid post on my personal page (where it’s cheaper than a business page). It cost $7. You know what happened? My post got 8 likes. Back in the day (ie: two months ago), most posts got 30 – 100 likes. Not anymore. It’s pay-to-play at Facebook now.< Those videos also explain all the fake profiles making friend requests. I was talking about this last month; I knew it was some sort of scam. Facebook is jamming us with fakes, to water down our reach even more. Did you know that Facebook has more than 83 million fake profiles!?!?
Also of interest, the Facebook “transmission of anger” mood manipulation experiment. They skewed what some people saw in their feeds, to see how they reacted. Thank you, big brother. Hmmmm? Let me think about this for a minute. Do I want my social networking site messing with my head?
No.
And let’s ask the question, Is Facebook breeding loneliness?
” The problem is multi-fold. The time we spend socializing online not only discourages face-to-face communication, but it also undermines our confidence at engaging in real conversations with real people about the real problems and issues that thread through our lives. Indeed, social networking provides a means of escape, an easy out on having to confront those parts of our lives we wish were different; more glamorous, and less mundane. “
Supreme Court Rules JCPenney Allowed to Sacrifice Employees to Appease Cthulhu
Read all about it here
More comments and thoughts after this commercial break…
Pre-order these great releases from across the darkwave genre. More titles here.
Raison D’etre: Requiem for Abandoned Souls Expanded 2-CD Re-issue | $25 Expected Mid July. Contains the original disc with a bonus track and a second disc with material from various live performances from 2003 and 2004. The music becomes a pulsating, throbbing entity that comes sobbing out of your speakers only to lament the crumbling states of whatever you are stressed about at that moment. Tanzwut: Eselsmesse Limited Edition 2-CD | $25 Expected Late July. Hailed as a cult band and innovators of the genre, Tanzwut is one of the exceptional bands of the gothic/medieval scene; their outstanding skills allow them to compose and perform both as rock act and medieval band.Titles available for pre-order:
Agonoize: Apokalypse Limited 2-CD Berlin-based inferno of hard beats, brutal shouts and thudding bass. $23 Android Lust: The Dividing 10th Anniversary 2-LP Features brand new remixes from Collide, Gregory Stewart (Z Marr/Combichrist), I, Parasite, Inertial and R010R. $25 Black Lung: The Great Golden Goal Motivational pieces specifically designed for workspace and gym. $15 Cocksure: TVMALSV Bridging the gap between waxtrax! era industrial and future sounds of mass corruption. $14 Deine Lakaien: Acoustic II $25 Deine Lakaien: Farewell/Where the Winds Don’t Blow CDS First taster for the new album Crystal Palace. $11 Deine Lakaien: Crystal Palace Limited Box A return to the sonic atmospheres of the early days (1986-1990). $49 Deine Lakaien: Crystal Palace Limited Digipak +3 Bonus Tracks $25 Die Form: Rayon X Limited 2-CD New album from cult French multimedia-fetish-art-project. $27 Die Form: Rayon X Limited 2-CD + Large Shirt $110 Die Form: Rayon X Limited 2-CD + XL Shirt $110 Die Form: Rayon X $19 Die Form: Rayon X LP $22 Funker Vogt: Survivor 3-CD Box Collector’s Edition with bonus material and rare, unreleased tracks. $26 Grendel: Soilbleed Redux V.2 Remastered re-issue with bonus tracks. $12 Hexperos: Lost in the Great Sea The sound of ancient instruments played by brilliant musicians. $20 In Slaughter Natives: Cannula Coma Legio The band delves into more obscure ambient territories. $14 In Strict Confidence: Lifelines Vol. 1 (91-98) – The Extended Versions Extended versions of the original tracks. $16 In Strict Confidence: Lifelines Vol. 2 (98-04) – The Extended Versions $16 KMFDM: We Are Live album features favorites new and old. $14 Lacrimosa: Live in Mexico City Live album with bonus DVD. $30 Lustmord: Beyond Re-issue One full hour of frightening and addictive darkest ambient. $15 Lustmord: Kraków October 22 2010 Live limited edition. $24 Lustmord: The Dark Places of the Earth Re-issue The pinnacle of dark ambient. $15 Noisuf-X: Invasion Limited 2-CD NOISUF-X dominates the dancefloors of the global club scene. $24 Pride and Fall: Turn the Lights On EP Remix contest EP with exclusive b-side. $15 Prude: The Dark Age of Consent Wild mix of 70’s NYC punk/glam with a harsh, damaged electronic edge. $14 Rome: A Passage to Rhodesia Limited Edition DVD/2-CD/Book Unites instant dark folk classics with ambient collages in the best industrial and experimental traditions. $165 Sequential Access: Sex Addict Anonymous 13 tracks of pure golden era electro-industrial. $14 Sopor Aeternus: Mitternacht CD/Book All-new album with 36-page book. $55 Sopor Aeternus: Mitternacht 2-LP $90 Staubkind: Alles Was Ich Bin Limited 4-CD Box Berlin-based group walks the tightrope between cinematic rock anthems and fragile ballads. $53 Staubkind: Alles Was Ich Bin Limited 2-CD $23 The Birthday Massacre: Violet LP Limited Ediition purple vinyl. $19 The Klinik: 1984-1991 8-CD Box The most comprehensive anthology of the band’s music ever released. $90 The Lonely Soul Experience: Path of Blood Blutengel’s Chris Pohl takes us into opulent fantasy-worlds. $19 Various Artists: Amphi Festival 2014 Who’s who of the electro and gothic scene. $15 Various Artists: History of NDW A MUST-HAVE for all fans of German electro hits of the 80s. $22
Animal Magnetism: Tigers Roam Wild on Dating Sites. Hoping for Roaring Success, Singles Post Photos With Big Cats Read the article at the Wall Street Journal
I really want to make “poorly photoshopped photo with tiger in foreground” into a succesful internet meme. Who will help me go there? Change your profile photo to include the wikipedia tiger and message me with your link. And use #tigerselfie
Projekt Records Music tidbitsDownload free music from Black Tape For A Blue Girl at Bandcamp. Italian coverage at Ondarock.
Textura listens to Metcalf/Seelig’s Intention & Nerell/Seelig’s Tree of Life. Read the review. Buy both CDs for $23 at Projekt.
Fantastic Aurelio Voltaire interview in the new issue of Gothic Beauty Magazine. Download your copy today.
Lovesliescrushing’s 1993 debut Bloweyelashwish added to Bandcamp. A brilliant slice of 90s shoegaze music. For sale for $7. And don’t forget the sale code below.
Steve Roach & Erik Wollo are both in Echoes’ the Best of 2014, so far.
And here it is, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…. The King of Goth, Peter Murphy, said in Rolling Stone Magazine: “I keep asking, ‘My God, how did I get that high? How do I get that high again, and how do I sustain it for an hour?'”
After his meth bust, should Peter Murphy really be talking about getting “high” ?
derp.
Too soon?
You can stream the whole Lion album at the RS link above.
Where’s that Bagel recipe? Sorry. Ran out of time & room…. next Monday.
The new Projekt eList needs your help!Sam and Shea really love snark! The Projekt virtual office is full of snide remarks on all sorts of topics; nothing is off-limits and yes, that includes some snarky things about the music industry and even the music we sell. But we need your help! We don’t produce nearly enough snark. Do you have some sarcastic comment about music? Send it our way via Twitter (use hashtag #ProjektRecords so we can find your tweet). If we use it, you’ll get a free download code for a Projekt album!
You can also give us a heads up on the latest distracting goat/cat/tiger profile pic trend, videos we have to see, articles we have to read, and unmentionable things we won’t be able to print because of the draconian hand of our email service provider. If your link is exciting and gets used, we’ll reward that with a free download code, too.
And please message me directly with questions, complaints, thoughts on the new format, and anything else you think would make the elist more exciting for everyone.
Sam
Jun 23
Get studio access with black tape for a blue girl
On Studio Access June ’14, ethereal/darkwave act Black Tape for a Blue Girl offers a new track-in-progress plus four hours of soundscapes. It’s available at Bandcamp for free, or name-your-price. Share the video link and/or Bandcamp link.
black tape for a blue girl grants studio accessLegendary America darkwave act Black tape for a blue girl has been releasing albums since 1986: 10 studio discs of their original take on ethereal, minimalism, goth rock, darkwave, and neoclassical. Today, founder, songwriter and keyboardist Sam Rosenthal announces the band is providing free digital studio access to new songs in progress.
“My friend was over a few days ago,” Sam comments, “and she asked me what music I’d been working on. I played her a new track and she said she wanted a copy so she could listen to it while she was programming. I was wondering to myself if I should share it, because it’s still a work in progress. And yet, I kind of want to share it so fans can hear where I’m at, as I work on new material. I find the stages along the way to be quite interesting! You can listen to my music like you’re in the studio while I’m creating it.”
Sam continues, “Tori, a fan of the band, emailed in response to this idea, ‘For me, hearing the underlying sounds that make up a Blacktape track is kind of like seeing brushstrokes in a painting.’ I would add, that you are seeing the brushstrokes before the painter adds the characters to the foreground.”
“Six: Thirteen” is available for free download through the Blacktape’s Bandcamp site, along with two half-hour “stretch” versions and two hour-and-a-half soundscape tracks titled “Isotope.” Fans can choose to pay for the tracks or acquire them free.
A fascinating chance to be in on the creative process with one of the scene’s original acts.
Watch the one-minute video at YouTube
Download 4+ hours of new soundscapes & the track in progress. It’s free at Bandcamp.
Jun 10
Can you imagine a shamanic world of tribal intensity?
In the studio with the artists. Join us for a studio tour with Byron Metcalf and Mark Seelig and Dashmesh Khalsa at YouTube.
Byron Metcalf & Mark Seelig: IntentionIntentionis a transcultural tour de force of multi-layered tribal-ambient rhythms, indigenous instruments, and mesmerizing soundscape. Byron’s spellbinding and laser-like drums and percussion merge with Mark’s haunting and beautiful bansuri flutes and Tuvan-style throat singing to create a bold, larger-than-life journey into infinite possibilities. Infused with steadfast power and authority, Intention is expertly crafted to induce and support expanded states of consciousness.
Many ways for you to get Intention: $14 CD at Projekt. 2-pack with Nerell/Seelig’s Tree of Life, $23 at Projekt.< $10 download at Bandcamp in FLAC, Apple lossless or MP3 $16.98 CD at Amazon $9.99 digital download at iTunes
Jun 04
Mercury’s Antennae in Concert, July 2014
Stream some Mercury’s Antennae music for free at Bandcamp Purchase their limited edition CD, A Waking Ghost Inside, for $14 at Projekt
Thursday July 3rd Portland, OR ~ Brickbat Mansion @ The Lovecraft Brickbat Mansion 5 Year Anniversary Free! 9pm 421 SE Grand Ave, Portland, Oregon 97214 | Facebook Event Page
**Bassist Cindy Coulter (this ascension, faith and the muse) will join the band. ** Ashkelon Sain::live sound engineer
Sunday July 6th San Francisco, CA ~ The Hotel Utah Saloon in support of Gipsy Moon w/special guest Emily Yates $10 8pm 500 4th Street & Bryant, San Francisco, CA 94107 | hotelutah.com ** semi ambient-acoustic set**
Sunday July 13th Santa Cruz, CA ~ The Box @ The Blue Lagoon 923 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 | The Box @ Facebook Last show of the year and our first time performing in Santa Cruz!
May 11
HALO STAR – 10th anniversary, free Black tape for a blue girl download
Sam writers:
HALO STAR
2014 is the 10th anniversary of Black Tape For A Blue Girl’s HALO STAR album. I put it up for you on Bandcamp at NAME YOUR PRICE; and I added 5 bonus tracks: 5 very different versions of the title cut.
Stream it / download it / donate if you feel charitable. Your support goes towards the gear I purchased for working on the next album: a brand new iMac for recording, new Soundcraft mixing board, new A–>D converter, plus repair on my Korg Poly-61, Moog Concertmate MG-1, and Eventide Harmonizer.
GRAVE CONCERNS WROTE: While it’s often a departure from the fairly consistent introspective, intimate side Rosenthal and company have explored throughout the last 15 or 20 years, HALO STAR showcases an interesting and ultimately successful sonic evolution. It’s an album that’s both more stylistically diverse and more accessible than much of their recent catalog but still retains enough “classic Black Tape” material to please fans of their more ethereal side. Whether you’re a long-time fan or a curious newcomer, you’ll find a solid album that is arguably one of the most interesting offerings the band has released to date.
Grab the “HALO STAR bonus disc” from the deluxe digital edition. Includes the tracks from the SCARECROW ep, plus live recordings from the 2004 tour. Stream, or download at Bandcamp, for just $5.
History: 15 years ago today, Black tape for a blue girl performed in Chicago! Show #64. Tues May 11 1999 | The Metro ~ Chicago IL. 3730 North Clark, Chicago, IL. With Lynn Canfield of the Moon 7 Times. If you have photos from ths show, please drop me a line. Full gigography.
Please share the HALO STAR download Bandcamp link, http://blacktapeforabluegirl.bandcamp.com/album/halo-star
Feb 24
Remnants of a deeper purity, Vinyl Kickstarter update
Hi everyone…. I’ve been meaning to start a video series of updates of what’s been going on with the Remnants of a deeper purity Kickstarter. I finally got the camera set up, and shot the first installment.
Watch the video at youTube Preorder the vinyl album at ProjektHere’s the text:
I’d say if all goes well, we’re six weeks out from having the finished vinyl in our hands and ready to send out to you. I’ve sent in all the audio files, the cover files, the label files, the stickers that go on the outside. And I already have back the CD that’s going inside it, which is the remastered version. So you can listen to the CD if you don’t have the ability to play the records.
I have back the booklets too. And here it is, the booklet that’s going inside the jacket. It’s massive. It’s really cool. Let me show you one page here. That’s the inside cover spread, you probably remember it from the CD, but now it’s eleven inches square. These are done and look really nice (sniff sniff), and they smell really good because they have a ton of ink on them because the coverage is really solid.
On the vinyl itself, I’ve received one set of test pressings, but they had some technical problems so they have to redo them. I’m getting another set next week and hopefully those will be cool so they can begin the actual pressing on the colored vinyl.
Then all the pieces come to me and I’m going to put them together and then we’re going to ship them out to you. And if it all goes well, like I said six weeks, that would be wonderful: to get this all to you.
There’s also this cool CD coming up, it’s Projekt’s three hundredth release, called redefine my pure faith, which is All my faith lost… doing covers of Black Tape For A Blue Girl’s songs. They’re an Italian band, sort of ethereal, heavenly voices; they’ve chosen six songs to cover, two of which are off Remnants of a deeper purity. And it’s going to be available at the same time (early Aprili-sh), so you’ll be hearing more about that really soon.
I guess that’s where we’re at right now, that’s a really quick update. I want to thank you all for having Kickstarted the release, for making it happen. And for keeping up on what’s going on. Thank you so much for your support in all of this. Bye Bye…
Sam
Feb 19
LYCIA CDs on sale for $7!
On sale for you while supplies last:
LYCIA Live LYCIA Compilation Appearances Vol 1 LYCIA Compilation Appearances Vol 2 LYCIA Tripping Back into the Broken Days LYCIA Estrella LYCIA Empty Spaces LYCIA / Estraya: The Time Has Come and Gone $5
Feb 10
Free Download Sampler + new releases @ Bandcamp + Erik Wollo is Echoes’ CD of the month
Various Artists: No41 | Winter 2014
An hour of music from Projekt’s latest releases (including new Archive digital editions). A nine track download album available at Bandcamp for “name your price” — it could be zero, or you could chip in a little something if you’re feeling it.
Check out the latest Projekt releases & discover something new that excites you.
Black Tape For A Blue Girl: the best of… (deluxe edition)Download 2-CDs worth of ‘Best of’ for $6 at Bandcamp Disc 1 was released as A RETROSPECTIVE in 2008 on Russia’s Shadowplay Records. Disc 2 was release as A TEARDROP LEFT BEHIND in 1991 on Germany’s Hyperium Records. That’s two CDs-worth of best-ofs for just six bucks! That’s a lot of best! : )
Try before you buy: Listen to a few tracks and see what you think!
Makaras Pen: Journeys to the End$4 at Bandcamp. For the next 4 days, use discount code “makaras” (without the quotes) to get 25% off
Makaras Pen’s indie rock, dreampop stylings create a wall of captivating sounds. The driving beat and cascading guitars are punctuated and accented by crashing percussion and Jenna Willis’ incredible soaring vocals. The tracks go from soft and simple, to strong, lush and distorted, following that shoegaze pattern of delicate and sweet at first rushing headlong to a powerful climax. Atop the ringing guitars (provided by Doug White and Jon Nemi), Jenna’s sensitive and heartfelt vocals sing sad yet hopeful lyrics. Doug says, “The guitars on this EP try to balance a very somber mood, keeping it epic to counter the new-found positive inspiration in Jenna’s lyrics.”
The Arms of Someone New: Every Seventh Wave EP (2014 Remaster)$2 at Bandcamp
The Arms of Someone New formed in 1983 when Mel Eberle and Steve Jones almost coincidentally began making music together. Steve managed and helped record Mel’s band The First Things; while in the studio to demo some of Mel’s songs, they started collaborating. Drawing inspiration from the Beatles, the Cure, the Teardrop Explodes and Jesus Couldn’t Drum (among others), as The Arms of Someone New they went on to release three full lengths, two eps, and numerous cassettes between 1984 and 1992.
Erik Wollo’s Timelines is Echoes Radio’s February CD of the month. Echoes is a nationally syndicated daily two-hour music radio program hosted by John Diliberto featuring a soundscape of ambient, space, electronica, and New Age music.
This is a big deal for us over here at Projekt! We like it when new fans are exposed to our artists’ great music.
Echoes writes, “Norwegian guitarist and synthesist Erik Wøllo returns with his< devastatingly beautiful CD of electro-orchestrated moods." $14 CD at Projekt | $10 Download at Bandcamp (FLAC, MP3s, etc) $10 Download at iTunes | $14.58 CD at Amazon
TRY BEFORE YOU BUY. Listen to a few tracks and see what you think!
Jan 29
Well of Souls at Bandcamp, save 30%
The 1995 2-CD tribal/ambient debut from Roach/Obmana, Well of Souls, has been added to the Projekt bandcamp page. Use the discount code “well_of_souls” to get 30% off (1 week only).
Jan 21
Three new Projekt releases for you. Dreampop, ambient & electronic
Our January 21st releases are now in stock at our webstore and available at Amazon and iTunes. Thanks for supporting art with your purchases. – Sam
Steve Roach / Kelly David: The Long Night
Projekt webstore CD • $14 Bandcamp Digital Download • $10 iTunes | Amazon
Atmospheres for the night journey. The Long Night is a deep-breathing sigh of the eternal nocturnal: gossamer atmospheres for the still hours of the night.
“From one who has used this type of music as accompaniment for meditation, slumber, and travels into deeper states of consciousness for at least two decades, it truly doesn’t get much better than this. This is not pretty new-age music, there is no form, rhythm or melodic color here, no sequences or anything like that. This is a slow-evolving exploration of sonic textures in its purest form.”– Expose
Alio Die & Sylvi Alli: Amidst the Circling Spires Projekt webstore CD • $14 Bandcamp Digital Download • $9 iTunes | Amazon
A captivating electro-ambient journey into interior space, weaving visions of strong emotional impact. Sylvi’s heavenly voice drifts within the highly processed acoustic sounds created by Alio Die: a hybrid between – sonorous soundscapes and acoustic mysticism.
“Trance-like atmospheres that a listener can easily get lost within. This is one of those discs you’ll want to set on endless repeat and listen to over and over until the first light of day arrives.” – Expose
Paulina Cassidy: Sugar Wingshiver
Projekt webstore CD • $14 Bandcamp Digital Download • $9 iTunes | Amazon
* The first 25 copies include a signed card from Paulina * Whimsical, quirky dreampop. Paulina uses her sultry, rich voice as a potent ethereal instrument in combination with her fluidly-layered compositions, drawing the listener into her fascinating world. “Cassidy’s half-whispered dreamscapes don’t need a lot of time to work their way into your mind and soul… she’s rapidly becoming one of my preferred artists.” – Hypnagogue
We’ve just added a free bonus track to Sugar Wingshiver. Get the mostly instrumental, “the mesmerist” at Bandcamp. If you own the album, if you’re considering buying the album, or if you just like free stuff, it’s yours!
Thanks for your support of these artists’ creative explorations.
