Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Birth Certificate


The hip newborns over at the I, Absentee label have just released their Birth Certificate compilation - limited to 250 copies and containing some really rad stuff, including a totally exclusive "yearbook version" of my Autumn Fog Lifts track (original version appears on Slow Lid Close). Other folks appearing for the occasion include Tobacco, Powerpill Fist (both from the Black Moth Super Rainbow camp), Ambidextrous (anyone remember his awesome release on Shaped Harmonics?), and the label's very own Dorosoto, Mall Security and several others. Personal highlights for me include the track by Slap [Unmodified] which reminds me alot of oldschool Visage, and the Dorosoto-side-project The Red Falcon Projects, which could easily stand alongside Obfusc or Cheju over at Boltfish!

If you're interested in picking up a copy and supporting a label that's just getting into the swing of things, visit their website here:

CLICK!

(And for some track-by-track insights on the artists and songs involved in this comp, click this!)

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Wedding Day In NY


Today my friend/collaborator/label-co-op David Tagg married Melissa Yardeni. Pictured above are the two of them digging into some biscuits and jelly in May of 2007. They're two of the most rad people I know and I hope you'll all join me in wishing them nothing but the best! Three cheers for the new Mr. and Mrs. Tagg!

Friday, April 18, 2008

3 New Milieu Releases


MILIEU
JACKET HOLOGRAPH
MML018
3" CD-R Single / $5.00

The second single from the forthcoming Colortone LP, this 3" packs in 7 woozy tracks that all wobble along as if they are slightly under the influence. Ten And Tracer pops in to do a really amazing remix of the title track too, so check it out!

FOR MP3 CLIPS AND ORDERING INFO:
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MILIEU
BENT APPLETREES 3 & 4
MML019 / MML020
CD-R / $5.00

Always finding tapes and CD-Rs full of forgotten tracks from years past, I've finally cleaned up and assembled two more volumes of the ongoing Bent Appletrees memoir. BA3 is a bit more pretty and happy while BA4 is mostly darker. Material from just about every album session I've had, going all the way back to 2004. I have to admit I'm pretty surprised by how fond I am of songs that apparently didn't make the cut back in the day, for whatever reason. Only $5 as usual!

BENT APPLETREES 3 - MP3 CLIPS AND ORDER INFO:
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BENT APPLETREES 4 - MP3 CLIPS AND ORDER INFO:
CLICK

And also of note: the first 3" single for Colortone, CROPDUSTER, is now back in stock again. Anyone who hasn't already picked one up can check it out here:

CROPDUSTER

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Sawdust Aromatics

Recorded last Autumn, the Sawdust Aromatics split between myself and David Tagg has finally been released at Rope Swing Cities! With yet another rad photo by Luke Hazard, both David and I did two pieces to make up between 20-30 minutes of music for the album. David's pieces are a rare treat - he actually did some overdubbing, which he never does, and my pieces are both very melodic and full of guitars and organ-bass. In fact, my track "Summer's Parting Ways" is actually a different/longer version of a song called "Library Books" which will appear on my next Attacknine album.

1. Brian Grainger - Summer's Parting Ways (15:22)
2. David Tagg - Autumn Harmonic Mirage (8:25)
3. Brian Grainger - Brittle Harvest Memory (6:02)
4. David Tagg - A Vision Through Cloth (21:04)

Get it for free!
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Monday, April 14, 2008

Coppice Halifax Remixes Loafeye


I am quite pleased to announce that Loafeye's newest record, A Valid Life, has been released for free at the Rope Swing Cities label, and as if the news of a new Loafeye album wasn't good enough - I was given the honor to remix Loafeye on this album as well! As far as I know, this is the very first instance of Loafeye allowing others to remix his work, and only myself and Ten and Tracer were given the offer. I've long been a fan of his music and so I almost freaked out when he specifically asked for a Milieu remix!

Anyway, I didn't end up turning out a Milieu mix, just because the record is already largely ambient and full of slower tempos, so in my head I didn't want to come off as completely redundant with a groovy downtempo Milieu version. Usually when I listen to Loafeye, it's late at night/early in the morning, after I've stayed up until 5 or 6 AM working on new recordings. By this time, my brain is absolute mush and I am in a solid-humming-daze from staring at a computer screen for too long, and it is at that precise moment that Loafeye washes over me and everything feels good and makes sense. So, with that experience in mind, I turned out a droney 10-minute Coppice Halifax remix, which is somewhere along the lines of stuff like Motor or Fluxion. Lots of short and quick repetitions, big bass, and very subtle evolutions of sounds.

Hopefully you will dig it as much as I do, so go check it out along with some beautiful new Loafeye music (and don't forget about Ten and Tracer's remix too).

CLICK

Sunday, April 13, 2008

A Warm Wooden Hollow


After much waiting, second thoughts and more waiting, A Warm Wooden Hollow is finally here. Pressed up at Infraction Records on 300 digipaks proudly wearing Luke Hazard's warped psychedelic photography, this is the official-canon-follow up to my first Infraction release (Beyond The Sea Lies The Stars). On Beyond The Sea, I used loops I harvested from orchestral vinyl I own to build massive, eroded drone-suites with, but on Hollow, I have taken that process a step further. The loops are still there, as is the degradation of sounds, but this time I've used them as a basic "skeleton" to write my own melodies around.

The sound palate is also much different this time around...instead of strings and horns, Hollow uses pianos, harps and organs. There are also a number of pieces done with respect to earlier ambient Milieu releases such as Brother, Gunkajima, A Dusty Box Of Old Memories and Giants In The Desert, including synths and basses and field recordings. Finally to complete the whole equation, a couple select songs on Hollow are very much in the vein of guitar-based ambient work I've done, such as Sun White Sun, Milieu or Of The Apple. Basically there is something here for everyone who has ever liked any of my beatless excursions.

To add to the celebration, I was extremely flattered and excited to find out that Norman Records in the UK picked A Warm Wooden Hollow as their album of the week! They also had this to say about it:

We've had a lot of records in by Milieu this year. Some we've reviewed and the majority we've not reviewed. Mainly cos there's been so many we'd have to employ someone especially to do that and that, put simply, would be nuts. So here we are with another Milieu album and this time it's a proper release album on the Infraction label rather than one of the many CDR's which have arrived. The packaging is all lovely and pastoral which gives you a clue of what you're getting on the inside. The 12 tracks of 'A Warm Wooden Hollow' are quite a change in direction for Milieu as there's much more piano being used. Yes it's still pretty much ambience but the piano adds a different feeling to the music. It's much more spooky and eerie sounding than the usual lush warmth you get from his ambient albums. Float off and tune in for the duration of the album and you'll be sucked into a world of total beauty though. This guy makes some of the best ambient music money can buy and here's another fine example of his work. I'm totally loving the piano on this. I guess it's somewhere between Yellow 6 and William Basinski if you must know (or like a decaying Harold Budd - Ant x) Worra fantastic album!! Ltd to 300 copies in digipack... be quick!!
Also, there is (or was) a bonus 3" CD-R included with the first 50 copies of Hollow titled Smokebuilder's Woodshop. This 3" has sadly sold out long before I even heard it was up for preorder at Infraction. If it makes it any better, David and I have been throwing around plans to reissue this EP on an undetermined format at SSR sometime in the future. I'm very fond of this EP and I assure you, you'll see it come out again.

So, to those of you who are keen to hear A Warm Wooden Hollow, over half the pressing of 300 is already gone however you should be able to buy it not only from Infraction themselves, but also Norman Records, Forced Exposure, Soleilmoon, Ear/Rational and probably several others soon enough. Here are some links:

Hollow @ Infraction Records USA

Hollow @ Norman Records UK
Hollow @ Ear/Rational USA
Hollow @ Soleilmoon USA (Soon)
Hollow @ Forced Exposure USA (Soon)

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Ha Ha

sinicalypse (12:41:38 AM): i just wanted to confirm for the record that, indeed, you are an idiot. have a nice life
the august idiot (12:41:48 AM): haha what the hell
the august idiot (12:41:54 AM): don't you have anything better to do?
sinicalypse (12:42:13 AM): ok i was gonna block you and go
sinicalypse (12:42:29 AM): man
sinicalypse (12:42:29 AM): YOURE THE FUCKER WHO MESSAGED ME TO DEFEND YOUR HONOR
sinicalypse (12:42:29 AM): and you aint want none of this asshole
the august idiot (12:42:38 AM): oh pssh
sinicalypse (12:42:40 AM): i'm the reincarnate of aphex twin squarepusher and 10 rappers you've never heard of
sinicalypse (12:42:50 AM): you're some wanker who massproduces ambient and shoves it on people who go "uh its good" so you leave them alone
sinicalypse (12:43:01 AM): i'm the musical genius here, dinglebait
sinicalypse (12:43:01 AM): i can outthink you
sinicalypse (12:43:01 AM): outwrtite you
sinicalypse (12:43:12 AM): outproduce you
sinicalypse (12:43:12 AM): and i will
sinicalypse (12:43:12 AM): so fuck off
sinicalypse (12:43:12 AM): i stand behind everything is aid
sinicalypse (12:43:12 AM): erm said
sinicalypse (12:43:23 AM): scoff as you must
sinicalypse (12:43:23 AM): it's a badge of victory on my sleeve
sinicalypse (12:43:23 AM): you look for vadge
the august idiot (12:43:25 AM): hahaha oh man
sinicalypse (12:43:33 AM): difference between you and me
sinicalypse (12:43:33 AM): look at my fucking name, dipshit
sinicalypse (12:43:33 AM): august idiot vs sinicalypse
the august idiot (12:43:37 AM): you must really have no one else online right now
sinicalypse (12:43:43 AM): you aint even on my level
sinicalypse (12:43:43 AM): grab some flagpole
sinicalypse (12:43:47 AM): realize the bitch is in another castle
sinicalypse (12:43:47 AM): and fuck off and die
sinicalypse signed off at 12:43:56 AM.
sinicalypse is offline and will receive your IMs when signing back in.


***For those who need some backstory on this: this guy is some dude from the WATMM forum who, after I posted a new release topic for the Coppice Halifax self-titled, decided to rant about how much of a BoC ripoff I was for having a name like Coppice Halifax and how all I did was "supersaturate the market" with my boring music. So I messaged him on AIM a day or so later, drunk, simply to tell him that the meaning behind the name was just the literal representation of two themes in the music - green foliage (coppice) and seashores (Halifax is a seaside town) - very obviously nothing to do with the Boards...unless of course you think anyone who references Canada is referencing them too, in which case I cannot help you. So what you see here is what he just sent me back after I hadn't heard from him again in weeks and weeks. Was the Coppice Halifax album really THAT bad?

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Exercises In Obscurism

I'm pleased to announce the release of SSR's first compilation album, Exercises In Obscurism. Sporting tracks from myself, David Tagg, Adam Pacione, The Caretaker, Ourson, Heptangular, Ophibre, Eluder (aka Electricwest), Dan Crall, Seht and VCV, it's a total experimental freakout of field recordings, ambient droning, brutal noise and evocative photography. Basically the best stuff ever. Limited to a small batch of 100 copies, get one before you can't!

$11 for orders within the US
$14 for orders outside the US
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