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 sleep

I 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 releases

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. 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-doo

Not 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 buy

In 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!