Listening to: A Unicorn Masquerade

"There is a cacophony of birds overhead, and the crisp wind they surf on bites through you as October dies and November rises in its place..."

Self-titled debut experimental electronic EP from A Unicorn Masquerade. 

Of the three songs, track 1, "It lingers," is my favorite.

Click below to listen on Bandcamp.

Click here to watch/listen on YouTube (total length: 11:08)

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 _=/    _./-\/  

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New Original Song: “The Deer Know What You Did To Me”

The deer know what you did to me. 

I told them everything.

I'd stay out of the woods if I were you.

Click above to stream free on Bandcamp

I'm releasing a new song to mark the beginning of November!  "The Deer Know What You Did To Me" is a drone-y ambient piece intercut with some resampled Native American Flute (played by me).  

This piece is meant to instill different emotions depending on the listener, and is intended to be considered within the context of past wrongdoings.  The song can either be a comfort or a warning:

• If a listener equates themselves with the titular "Me," (i.e. a victim of mistreatment in the particular relationship they have in mind) they may feel encouraged (if with some trepidation) knowing they can always find sanctuary in the woods, where the deer sympathize with their plight.
• But, if the listener finds themselves as the titular "You," (i.e. the perpetrator of abuse against the previous listener) the listener may feel uneasy.  In this case, the song evokes an unsettling feeling, as though walking through the woods at night -- knowing the deer are watching, and that they do not want you here...

I hope you enjoy this track.  Right now, it's free to stream and download on Bandcamp.  If you like it, let me know what you think!

Listening to: Halloween at High Noon: KULT FM

The newest album from Halloween at High Noon!  

I look forward to their annual releases every year

Click below to listen on their Bandcamp:

Click here to view all streaming options

Listening to: Stumbling Home

By Lunng Fern & Marta Gynku, from the instrumental acoustic guitar and flute album Zwischenraum.  This album is beautiful and melancholic.  "Zwischenraum" translates to English as "gap, the space between two objects".

Stumbling Home is pensive and heartfelt.  When listening, one can't help but imagine walking a dark street, homebound, drunkenly remembering.

To listen to Stumbling Home, click the image below for links to all streaming/purchase platforms:

CLICK HERE to stream the entire Zwischenraum album.

Listening to: Sti.ll

New release from Taylor Deupree.   

Click below for all listening platforms:

More information, from Deupree's Instagram:

    An elaborate, authoritative acoustic re-imagining of Taylor Deupree’s seminal electronic album Stil. (2002), Sti.ll is the result of a multi-year collaboration between Deupree and arranger/producer Joseph Branciforte to bring Deupree’s explorations of extreme repetition and stillness into the world of notated chamber music. 

    Clarinet, vibraphone, cello, double bass, flute, and percussion stand in for the digital loops and granular processing of Deupree’s original, with meticulously notated arrangements preserving the all rhythmic, formal, and textural complexity of these compositions. 

    Transcribed and arranged by Greyfade’s Joseph Branciforte and performed by an ensemble of notable New York creative musicians — Madison Greenstone, Ben Monder, Laura Cocks, Christopher Gross, and Sam Minaie, alongside Branciforte and Deupree themselves — Sti.ll is a landmark recording situated between the electronic and acoustic worlds.

I have been a longtime fan of Deupree and the 12k label as a whole.  As the above description states, Deupree's work often involves the modulation of acoustic loops. One of my favorite 12k albums is Twine, a collaboration between Deupree and Marcus Fischer.  Fischer also created the cover art for Sti.ll.

The album is also available for purchase as a Double 12" LP / Orange Vinyl, which can be purchased on Bandcamp by clicking the image below:

Listening to: “The Last Ride”

Soundtrack by Dave Roland

Click below to listen on Bandcamp

Afternoon Tea with Tinnitus Rex

Storytime!

Back in January, on our first-ever date, my now-girlfriend (henceforth referred to as "The Ghoulfriend") suggested a spontaneous stop-in at Stardust Video and Coffee.  I'd never been, and she'd been wanting to take me for a while (when we were just friends).  I absolutely ate it up.  It was the most hipster establishment I have ever set foot in: Coffee, food, old bookshelves, a cocktail bar, an analog photo booth, eclectic décor, wall graffiti... But it was the live music that really did it for me.

Unbeknownst to either of us, Stardust was hosting a live performance featuring Daniel Fuller (aka Daniel Fuzztone), Billy Davis, and Jeff Matz. We entered the building to the most brain-buzzing distorted drones I've ever experienced live.  It was magnificent.

It's hard to place a genre on the music played that night, but "Improv post-rock shoegaze noise" would get you close enough I think. Here's a snippet from that night: 

When I spoke with Daniel after the show, I learned that Billy and Jeff are members of the local band Tinnitus Rex, a self-described "improv noise band".

Fast-forward almost two months, and I caught wind of an upcoming event: "Afternoon Tea with Tinnitus Rex"

(Source: Orlando Weekly)

The event was taking place tomorrow! I pitched the idea to the ghoulfriend, and she was all for it.  So, just like our first date, we headed to Ten10 Brewing Company for an impromptu date of listening to some of Orlando's finest noise-makers.

A video clip doesn't quite portray the sheer volume and intensity of their music, but here's a couple anyways:

We both had a wonderful time drinking tea and beer, spacing-out to music, and reflecting on the past two and a half months together.  Her and I agreed: we want to go on many more eardrum-destroying Tinnitus Rex dates!

Click here for the Tinnitus Rex website

Listening to: Spooky Love

do you want me still?
spooky love that kills

start this heart again
lay me down to rest
you bring me flowers still
spooky love is real

By vhs ghost

This song fits in to a very specific subgenre that is not fully recognized yet. I think it could be categorized as "lo-fi folk"

Click below to listen:

Listening to: “Candyman” Theme

A wicked cover of the Candyman theme by the electronic music trio Magic Sword

Click below to listen on YouTube:

Listening to: Christmas Ambient

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas! If not, then rejoice in the fact that this stressful holiday season is finally behind us.

Today I enjoyed listening to this ambient electronic album by Ken Elkinson. It features ethereal covers of famous Christmas songs, perfect for that post-Christmas-dinner nap. 

Merry Christmas folks!

Click below to listen to the album

Listening to: Nautical Nights

by Stevan Pasero/Michael Becker

More relaxing music to help me stay sane throughout the week. This song is flowing and drone-y but has a definite melodic structure that implies an amount of mystery that is oddly comforting. It makes me want to go night crawling and discover parts of the city I've never seen before (as was the case when I took this photo)

Click below to listen

Listening to: Twine

The wonderful ambient album Twine by Taylor Dupree and Marcus Fischer. Some much-needed relaxing music after a hectic week of work (and another one ahead).

From their Bandcamp:

"Two artists, two mono tape loops and four acoustic instruments, nothing more. Creating one loop each of different lengths and recording the outputs of the reel-to-reel machines’ built-in speakers with microphones in the room, Deupree and Fischer started to craft their most restrained work yet, focusing on the raw beauty of such a limited system of creation.

The title Twine comes from the idea of the two tape loops as knots, as physical media, combining to form a single, more complex, piece. The seven tracks on the album are highly repetitive yet constantly shifting due to the asynchrony of the loops. All of the warm, tactile and dusty quality of the tape and vintage players is captured in the recordings and the listener can easily get lost in the slow, enveloping cycles."

Click below to listen

Listening to: OUTPOST 31: Night Station

Ambient synthesizer music with the soothing sounds of heavy machinery and Antarctic wind.

Listen below on YouTube

Listening to: you're in an empty place for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

A round-the-clock music livestream of ambient music; a mix of dark, hopeful, melancholic, and relaxing tracks. I'm currently listening to this while writing up a very long haunt theory post, which I hope to share soon!

Listen below:

Listening to: Swinging Wake

From The Haunted Mansion ride.  A short little instrumental motif to the tune of Grim Grinning Ghosts. YouTube incorrectly credits Xavier Atencio as the artist, but he was the lyricist to G.G.G.  Buddy Baker was the composer for the ride's score (this song included).

Listen below

New Original Song: Mile-long Reminder

For best listening experience:  Get drunk. Real drunk. 

Put on your coat and stumble out of your house at dusk.  Look up at the darkening sky, and start walking.  Let your inebriated mind guide your thoughts (and your feet).  Think about the past, even though you know you shouldn't.  Walk until you don't recognize the houses, and then walk a little more. Realize it's getting late, and you should probably head back. Stumble inside and head to the kitchen.  Pour yourself one more drink.  Whiskey, most likely.  Sip and remember, then sip until you forget...

At 20 minutes, it's a much longer track than I normally make, but I wanted to make something pensive and melancholic that you can get lost in.  I think I achieved that effect just fine.

Click below to listen on YouTube:

Listening to: The Facility

By Simon Stålenhag. Music for his art book The Labyrinth.

Click below to listen - (Fixed the link!)

Art by Simon Stålenhag

Listening to: Viral Incubation

New album by Void Stasis, published by Cryo Chamber (a great ambient music label). From their Instagram:

Void Stasis returns with the sequel to their debut album Ruins. A dark gritty and industrial sci-fi album that tells a story of an alien planet expedition gone wrong. Void Stasis is a collaboration from Kristof Bathory of Dawn of Ashes, Scott Denman of Die Sektor and Marie Ann Hedonia.

Recommended for fans of Xenomorphic soundscapes, Sci-Fi horror and gritty alien atmospheres. CD and Digital version comes with a 16 page booklet with logbook excerpts written by Void Stasis.

Love the idea of the logbook.  I'm a big fan of found-artifact horror-mysteries, and the pairing of ambient tracks with readable writings creates an engaging multi-media experience.

Click below to listen and purchase:

New Original Song: Introduction to The City

This track starts slow and dark, eventually building into something a little more heroic.  Trying to capture the feeling of taking a night drive through a new city for the very first time.

Click the image below to take a listen!

Haunt Theory: What's He Building In There?

What's he building in there?

What the hell is he building in there?

He has subscriptions to those magazines

He never waves when he goes by

He's hiding something from the rest of us

He's all to himself

I think I know why

He took down the tire swing from the pepper tree

He has no children of his own, you see

He has no dog

And he has no friends

And his lawn is dying

And what about all those packages he sends?

What's he building in there?

With that hook light on the stairs

What's he building in there?

I'll tell you one thing

He's not building a playhouse for the children

What's he building in there?

Now what's that sound from under the door?

He's pounding nails into a hardwood floor

And I swear to god I heard someone moaning low

And I keep seeing the blue light of a T.V. show

He has a router and a table saw

And you won't believe what Mr. Sticha saw

There's poison underneath the sink of course

But there's also enough formaldehyde to choke a horse

What's he building in there?

What the hell is he building in there?

I heard he has an ex-wife

In some place called Mayors Income, Tennessee

And he used to have a consulting business in Indonesia

But what is he building in there?

What the hell is building in there?

He has no friends

But he gets a lot of mail

I'll bet he spent a little time in jail

I heard he was up on the roof last night

Signaling with a flashlight

And what's that tune he's always whistling

What's he building in there?

What's he building in there?

We have a right to know...

Photo taken while visiting some family outside Louisville.
Original song by Tom Waits