Magic Cassette

MMTT1 / TURQUOISE TURTLES & MILIEU

(Dense ambient split between myself and Cole Montgomery)

SOLD OUT!

MML074 / BIKE / LEAFMAN EFFECT

(Second release from the new Bike moniker! Loud breakbeats and drones!)

TMA3.1 / TMA3 / AUTOGENESIS

(First album from a new three-album concept project. LONG drones!)

BUY CD-R

TMA3.2 / TMA3 / SINGULARITY

(The second of three TMA3 albums)

BUY CD-R

TMA3.3 / TMA3 / RECURSION

(The final TMA3 album)

BUY CD-R (SOON - Look for this in a few weeks)

BRIAN GRAINGER / WORKINGMAN'S DRONE SERIES

(This monthly series is now complete! Here are the links for #9-12. Also, boxset forthcoming!)

WD9 / IN RUST

WD10 / SMOKE FARM

WD11 / DUAL VESSELS [APPROACHING CLIFFS]

WD12 / MOUNTAIN'S GREEN MAJESTIES

BUY 3" CD-R (SOON - Look for this in a few weeks)

http://tapes.milieu-music.com/ceps1.html

The reason that TMA3.3 and WD12 are digital only items right now is because I am currently in the throes of moving from one house to another, and while my office/studio remains in relative limbo, I'm simply postponing the hardcopy release of these two titles until the new office has been set up. Thanks to everyone for their patience!

Also, look forward to a Workingman's Drone box set in the very near future! The boxes will be available empty (if you've collected all 12 EPs individually) or filled, and both versions come with a bonus 13th EP! Stay tuned!

1983 [Expanded Reissue]

2010-08-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

In 2006, I started the first official Milieu side-project, Coppice Halifax, with a conceptual ambient techno album called 1983. Now, four years later, I've given this album a definitive release after being out of print for so long. Themes of wet lakeside humidity and deep forest green drones, caked in tape hiss and over-compression still sound remarkably fresh today, despite the many changes Coppice Halifax as a project has gone through. Packed to the brim on a 120(!) minute cassette tape, this compendium includes all four original tracks, two bonus tracks from the EED promo CD-R, five previously unreleased tracks from the sessions and a live version of "Lake Busbee" from an ambient house party I did in 2006. All tracks were retrieved and remastered from the original cassettes, which is why I chose to keep the cassette format for this music. Available digitally as well as on 30 hand-numbered cassettes. Don't miss out!

STREAM THE FULL RELEASE HERE: CLICK

The Deep Tapes / Depth Analysis

2010-08-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

Appropriately coinciding with the dense, crusty foliage of 1983 is a new split between Coppice Halifax and The House In The Woods. The House In The Woods is my friend Martin from the UK, and he makes some of the most incredible ambient techno ever. Imagine a house party inside a submarine, going through icy black waters, miles below the sea's surface, and you're halfway there. Traces of the usual influences like Gas, Yagya or early Aphex Twin are present, but Martin and I are really having our own little party. Each of us donated 40 minutes to the project so what you end up with is a very lengthy trip that takes its time getting through the night. Available for a "name your own price" digital release, and also on a super-limited edition of 30 CD-R copies, for those of you who need to hold it in your hands like we do.

FOR PREVIEWS, PHOTOS AND ORDER INFO: CLICK

A sister-EP to MML072, and a single for the Coppice Halifax track "Water Column". Depth Analysis contains two alternate versions of tracks from MML072, one being more melodic with a cleaner mix and the other being incredibly dense, stretched out ambient techno droning. Recommended for those of you who wanted MML072 to keep going and going like I did. Limited to 50 copies.

FOR PREVIEWS, PHOTOS AND ORDER INFO: CLICK

Workingman's Drone #7 and #8

2010-08-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

A reprisal of a track from the 2006 EP Clover Farm on Attacknine comes in the form of July's contribution to the Workingman's Drone series. One of the more melodic and accessible pieces in the WD series, Calico II bears some resemblance to Leaves Painted Purple or even David Tagg's EP Skin Diagram. Warbly loops fluttering in and out of audibility with comfortable room noise pops and clicks and whirrs in the background. Limited to 50.

FOR PREVIEWS, PHOTOS AND ORDER INFO: CLICK

August's piece for Workingman's Drone is a thick columnesque drone bearing the title Headwound Garland. Recorded while I was recovering from dental surgery a few weeks ago, this peice carries with it a heavy fog and a mean low end. Microtonal shifts subtly waver the drone into several pleasant cyclical phrases, and the humming monochromatic gloss on the track sounds even better at high decibel levels. Limited to 50.

FOR PREVIEWS, PHOTOS AND ORDER INFO: CLICK

THE ENTIRE WORKINGMAN'S DRONE SERIES (SO FAR) IS ALSO AVAILABLE DIGITALLY HERE: CLICK

FLAC Store Updated

2010-07-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

Several new things have recently been added to the digital storefront at Milieu Music. In addition to being available in FLAC, they are available in any format you choose upon downloading. Single tracks, or entire albums, the whole thing is cheap. Here is a concise list of what's been added:

MILIEU FLAC STORE
Aurora Borealis
Bent Appletrees 2
Bent Appletrees 3
Bent Appletrees 4
Bent Appletrees 5
Bent Appletrees 6
Bell'n Dither
Eufloria
Colortone
Swaying Palms
Echo Spectrum
Brittle Paper Cathedrals

COPPICE HALIFAX FLAC STORE
Ocean Lion [MMD002]
Ocean Lion [MMD007]
Bedroom Carpet
Singles
The Analog Botany Series: #1-12 ($3 each!)

BRIAN GRAINGER FLAC STORE
Nine Billion Names
The Workingman's Drone Series: #1-6

More titles are being added on a daily basis, so if there's a release you'd like to see in the store, email me and ask!

Milieu - A Blanket Of Infinite Repetitions

2010-06-19T13:39:00.001-07:00

Pulling one from the vaults this month, simply because the weather feels right. Milieu Music HQ has been assaulted by an overabundance of storms and humidity this summer, and this album crept up on its wobbly legs and comforted me in the last couple of weeks. Recorded at the same time as the INSTALL LP Phosphene Weather, Blanket sounds much more corporeal and abstracted. Flutters of watery half-melodies echo around the stereo field, while a warm aching drone slowly unfolds itself, like yellow sun on your face. Chirruping beneath everything is a delicate palette of disembodied room sounds, crunchy textures and moody backdrops. Limited to 50 copies and packaged in translucent "sunspot" paper. Bliss out.

FOR MP3 CLIPS PHOTOS AND ORDER INFO: CLICK

Coppice Halifax - Cmx II

2010-06-19T13:36:00.001-07:00

Following 2008's collection of Coppice Halifax remixes comes the second volume of analog-botanical versions. An assemblage of a few out of print tracks along with some brand new unreleased remixes for The Qualia and RxGibbs (the latter is a 20+ minute Ocean Lion styled jam called Powdered Construct). Altogether, like its predecessor, Cmx II is an unlikely album with a definite flow and groove, but also a look back at the Coppice Halifax ouevre. Limited to 50 copies in clear plastic sleeves with inserts.

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Vhom - Firmamvnt

2010-06-19T13:33:00.001-07:00

The first new Vhom full-length since 2008's epic Borley Rectory double-album is Firmamvnt. More guitar-heavy and accessible, despite its tendencies toward the blacker end of the sound spectrum, Firmamvnt is a bold set of guitar improvisations, laid to tape and hung on the castle wall like a looming Carpathian tapestry. Heavy drones mingle with alien languages and the marching of soldiers from a Barlowe-esque version of Hell. This album could ALMOST pass for a VCV record at times, so those of you who enjoyed that side of my guitar work will certainly love this. Limited to 50 copies in black paper sleeves with dark-on-dark cardstock inserts.

FOR MP3 CLIPS PHOTOS AND ORDER INFO: CLICK

Workingman's Drone #6

2010-06-19T13:30:00.000-07:00

Sixth in this year's Workingman's Drone series is a dense piece titled Black Oak Fires. Swells of smoky grey and red archs make their way through the haze, and at about 15 minutes in you start to realize your atoms are dispersing and you're becoming the cloud...but it feels all right. Majestic and linear drone just the way you like to feel it. Limited to 50 copies!

FOR MP3 CLIPS PHOTOS AND ORDER INFO: CLICK

In Heaven, Everything Is Fine

2010-05-29T12:26:00.000-07:00

1936-2010

Milieu - Sadhills

2010-05-19T09:35:00.001-07:00

Closely following up April's release of Bell'n Dither is an album called Sadhills. Sadhills compiles and collects several other tracks from the Bell'n Dither recording sessions that did not make the album cut, for various reasons. The concensus here at Milieu Music seems to be that these songs were much more angular in their drum programming, and catered to different moods than those on the album. What it all adds up to is a solid album of melancholic Milieu-melodies over super intricate drumlines, with emphasis on texture and crisp, clean production. Limited to 50 copies!

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Milieu - Reverb Microcoma Pt. 3

2010-05-19T09:32:00.001-07:00

The third and final EP in the Reverb Microcoma set, numero tres could very well be the strongest of the trio. Breaking out with big funky beats and slow-motion danceclub basslines, and at times reminiscent of things like Our Blue Rainbow or even New Drugs, RM3 is more "classic" Milieu for your summer soundtrack. Notably, the track "Naptime Singalong" is a very intentional nod to Mrs Jynx and her way with pretty melodies though the entire four-track affair should satisfy those who have heard parts 1 and 2. Limited to 50!

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Workingman's Drone #4 and #5

2010-05-19T09:26:00.001-07:00

Number four in the ongoing Workingman's Drone series is a smooth, airy meditation on the notion of sitting still after a lengthy day of traveling. Best enjoyed with a relaxing couch, bed or chair, preferably with a cool drink in hand and the windows open. "The Aching Legs Of Weary Travelers" is sublime aural sedation, limited to 50 copies.

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The fifth disc in the Workingman's Drone series (closing the gap since March's EP wasn't released until April) is an alien drone trip titled "Raise Dead On Planet Jupiter". Composed entirely with a resonating metal bowl and various bits of hardware to ensure a seamless production, "Raise Dead" is about as minimal as it gets. Bringing to mind a more subtle and muted take on the atmospheres of Autumn Soil Feedback, only more submerged and quiet. Limited to 50 copies.

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2010-04-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

Needing something soft, moody and bittersweet for those humid Summer nights on the way? Look no further. Bell'n Dither is a spiritual follow-up to 2006's dusky electronic effort Night Currents, and probably the most electronic Milieu album yet. Dither is overloaded with skittering, microscopically manipulated beats and spacious pools of warm chords. Droplets of sad, rainy melodies cover a hulking rusted sub-bass contraption while you roll the windows down in your car just so you can smell the air before a thunderstorm. Dither could be considered both a return to form as well as exploratory and new for Milieu, and should satisfy even the most discriminating of Milieu listeners. Limited to 100 copies packaged in a lovely design by David Tagg, who also makes a guest appearance on one of the album's tracks.

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Milieu - Reverb Microcoma (Part Two)

2010-04-08T19:36:00.001-07:00

Following the previous part one of this Milieu EP miniseries, Reverb Microcoma returns with even more "classic" Milieu sounds, ready to go in your Spring travels. While the first EP was set more in the Colortone universe, this one could fit squarely into the realm of Swaying Palms. Tracks like "Archipelagos" and "Blue Breeze" are total tropical Milieu, while "Melted Radio Tape" spits back a fuzzy space transmission, straight from Jupiter's moon Europa to your stereo. Five solid Milieu jams to rock your block with! Limited to 50.

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Brian Grainger - Sunburnt Under The Eyes

2010-04-08T19:29:00.000-07:00

Being a little late on the Workingman's Drone series this time around, "Sunburnt" should satisfy all of your needs for dense suburban drones. Probably the prettiest one in the series thus far, with a swelling guitar chord reminiscent of Ballasted-era SOTL set over a bubbling field recording that wouldn't be out of place on an early Coppice Halifax record. Warm and drifting, and limited to 50.

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Coppice Halifax - Halifaxian

2010-02-25T19:58:00.000-08:00

Bringing you quite a different record this month with Halifaxian. 100% Coppice Halifax beats! Meant as both a DJ tool, to be used for seamlessly tying last year's Analog Botany series together in a live set, and also as an experiment in minimal electronics, following in the vein of things like Studio 1, Plastikman and Maurizio, but with a Halifaxian twist! You may recognize some of the breaks here from prior Halifax releases, which is intended, and it's the kind of record that a drum-machine nerd like myself might really appreciate. Loaded with groove and ready for the dancefloor, limited to 50!

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Milieu - Reverb Microcoma (Part One)

2010-02-25T19:54:00.000-08:00

From similar pastures as Bent Appletrees comes Reverb Microcoma, a solid little EP containing five new Milieu tracks that stroll down memory lane a little bit. Ever find yourself thinking "Man, Slow Lid Close is still fresh!" or "I wish there were more Milieu like this one from 2006"? Well wish no more! One could say that Reverb Microcoma is Milieu playing his hits, in that it could have easily come from 2006-2007. Also a fun time to pick out the very obvious influences here, with Mike & Rich all over "Appletree Beats" and Bochum Welt's basslines on "Sunlighter". Even the track "Coming Home" is probably the best fake Casino Vs. Japan track you'll ever find! Not without humor and limited to 50!

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Brian Grainger - Entasis

2010-02-25T19:50:00.000-08:00

Number two in the brand new Workingman's Drone series is Entasis, a thick and coagulating drone statement recorded using a similar approach to White Kingdoms. Wide open white-noise spaces with slowly pooling masses
of a rugged chord. Limited to 50!

CLICK

Official Milieu Groop On Facebook

2010-02-15T00:41:00.000-08:00

For those of you inhabiting the Facebook world who would like to stay in tune with Milieu projects, news, updates, releases and so on, I encourage you to join the official Milieu Facebook group. The group is open to the public, meaning anyone can join, and it will likely be updated pretty often due to me being on Facebook a lot.

Join in the fun!

MILIEU ON FACEBOOK

Teenager - Smiling Faces/Beautiful Places

2010-01-18T12:44:00.001-08:00

Just a small update here to announce one very special new thing: the Childhood's End Preservation Society, or CEPS. This "don't call-it-a-label" imprint now coexists alongside Milieu Music specifically for the purpose of releasing selected works from a gigantic archive of cassette-tape recordings, originating from 1983 to the present. Literally a few hundred tapes...recordings my father made when I was a child, band rehearsals, demos, weird experiments, field recordings, everything. Since I was 14 I obsessively taped everything and CEPS is an effort to preserve that material digitally, before the tapes themselves fall apart.

http://tapes.milieu-music.com/

So where is this massive archive of tapes, you ask? Well, for the moment, while it is still being digitized and cultivated, it is private. However there will be a "storefront" aspect to CEPS as well, which will offer selections from the archives in super-special limited edition packages, as time goes on. Eventually the archive will be a public deal, and I have not quite sorted out how to handle that yet, but for the time being, here is all you really need to know:

TEENAGER
SMILING FACES/BEAUTIFUL PLACES
CEPS1
Lathe-cut 8" EP
Limited edition of 40 copies

$11 POST PAID WORLDWIDE

The first CEPS release, from the session tapes for my Nine Billion Names album, is a super-limited affair pressed to a lathe hand-cut in New Zealand. Two acoustic songs, each with little codas, that literally and figuratively connect the Nine Billion Names album with my upcoming Summer's Parting Ways release at Attacknine. Payment and shipping of this item is handled by Plastic Log in New Zealand and does NOT go to me, so don't freak out when your money isn't going to the Milieu Music address. Due to the nature of the lathe-cut vinyl, there are really only 40 copies of this EP in existence so if you're keen on getting one, quickness is advised.

FOR MP3 CLIPS PHOTOS AND ORDER INFO:

Coppice Halifax - Ocean Lion (II)

2010-01-08T16:25:00.000-08:00

Not to be confused with the first Ocean Lion album (MMD002), this is the second album of the Ocean Lion set. Tropically oceanic, sunny and psychedelic as ever, this album is probably one of the best things I think I've done under the Coppice Halifax name. Where the first Ocean Lion was full of muted, elongated tones, this one brings more melody to the forefront, while still filled to the brim with a curtain of dense atmospherics. Loads of bass and deep repetitive grooves, covered in field recordings of the beach. Limited to 50!

FOR MP3 CLIPS PHOTOS AND ORDER INFO: CLICK

As with the first Ocean Lion album, the second one also comes with an EP companion. Two tracks on the more ambient side of the Ocean Lion spectrum, one with twinkling drips of starlike notes over a longing pedalbass, and the other a disembodied still-life depicting a weary traveler, lost at sea. Limited to 50.

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Brian Grainger - Asleep In A Desert

2010-01-08T16:22:00.000-08:00

Opening a new monthly series for 2010 is Asleep In The Desert. A huge, evolving drone improvisation that brings to mind some of the more melodic moments of Porous Variations. This series, aptly titled Workingman's Drone, will deliver an EP each month. Each EP will be a drone improvisation done on a specific instrument, and each month's source instrument will vary. For WD1, the piece was built using controlled feedback, but recorded in such a way that what you get is a warm, humming drone that is easy on the ears and easy on the mind.

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Pink Space & Facebiscuit - Frootkake & Smeggnog

2009-12-25T13:03:00.000-08:00

MERRY XMAS FROM PINK SPACE, FACEBISCUIT, MILIEU MUSIC AND THE BUCKHORN KRU!

Brian Grainger - Live On Phoning It In

2009-12-15T12:54:00.000-08:00

There's this really unique radio show out of Davis, CA called Phoning It In, where they call an artist up, talk to them for a couple minutes, and then have them play live over the phone. Being as into the lo-fi as I am, I couldn't say no when they asked me to come on the show. The whole drunken conversation and live piece were caught on tape and uploaded to the Phoning It In website, so if you like some heavy midrange in your stereo from time to time, this would be for you. Here's what they had to say about it:

Brian Grainger phones it in from Columbia, SC. Ridiculously prolific doesn't even begin to describe Brian's work ethic, with almost two hundred releases under at least eight different names (Milieu, Coppice Halifax, Teenager, Vhom, Pink Space, etc.); to top it off he also has a hand in three labels and a mailorder distro. But that's all beside the point: what's on the phone? Dense, beautiful drone that resolves satisfyingly into emotive, detuned guitar. Noise devolving into song, instead of the other way around. So good!

STREAM OR DOWNLOAD THE SHOW HERE: CLICK

The End Of 2009 / The End Of AB

2009-12-15T12:24:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official: The Analog Botany series has ended. I might be tempted to pick it up again sometime in the future, but for now I'm leaving you with over four hours of material to digest. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I have!

AB11 / COPPICE HALIFAX / DRY SEASONS

The eleventh EP in the AB series. Two long tracks of super-warbly dub chords, soaked in the usual mile-long reverb and phased out to infinity. These two tracks show a marked slowdown from the pace of the previous EPs, sticking more to deep atmospherics and repetition to the point of near-hypnosis. Intended to be released in November, but pushed up a month. Better late than never, and limited to 50 copies.

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AB12 / COPPICE HALIFAX / ENDLESS DUSK

The last chapter of the Analog Botany excursion, bringing the total runtime of the 12-part series to a staggering 4 hours! It's been a really fun and enlightening project, one that has yielded music I never thought I'd make. In a stately fashion I'm ending the series on a beatless note, providing some finality and contrast to the previous EPs. Think Rod Modell meets those Torsten Profrock releases on Chain Reaction, and you're probably fairly close. Intensely washed-out synths bouncing softly and slowly off one another to create a swirling opium fog. Limited to 50.

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ABX3 / COPPICE HALIFAX / MILK & QUAALUDES

To cap off the AB series right, this disc is the REAL sendoff. An hour of botanical bliss, featuring eight songs from throughout the year that, for one reason or another, were left off of the EPs proper. Three dub-rebuilds based off of source from my good friend Pat Benolkin (aka Eluder/Electricwest), alternate versions of "Luxury", "Forest" and "Dusk II" and finally two early tracks conceived for an upcoming album (Halifaxian) that were also omitted. What you get is a very tight hour of melodic ambient dub music, done exactly in the fashion of the AB series, and probably what I'd consider as some of my personal favorite material from 2009. Limited to
50 copies in stamped paper sleeves.

FOR MP3 CLIPS PHOTOS AND ORDER INFO: CLICK

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ABX4 / CH/CN / CN/CH

Also grown in the AB pastures this year was a split with Norwegian melodic genius EOD, appearing here as CN. I've opted to summarize my moniker to CH for a super-confusing tracklisting, and what you get is 5 tracks (two originals, three remixes) of raw, melodic braindance. Acid lines abound and collide with classic 707s, 808s, 909s and thick 101 bass. Add to the mix my own flavor of dubby chord stabs, CN's sine tone lead melodies and you end up with a whole lot of funky electronic grooving for just half an hour. Definitely one to take to your next house party. Limited to 50!

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Milieu - Phosphene Weather 12" LP

2009-11-08T11:25:00.001-08:00

After much deliberation and work, Install is proud to unveil its first vinyl release: Milieu's Phosphene Weather LP. Notable for also being the first time Milieu's work has appeared on the vinyl format, Phosphene is a special affair, limited to 150 copies on randomly colored vinyl inside custom silk screened sleeves with hand-numbered inserts, sporting a modern design by David Tagg. Musically, Phosphene Weather inhabits a similar universe as previous Milieu ambient output, such as A Warm Wooden Hollow, Of The Apple or Brittle Paper Cathedrals. The record's three songs walk slowly through an Autumnal landscape that is as colorful as it is eroded, and over the course of 40 minutes the listener is treated to liquid sunset immersion, surrounded on all sides by soft wind sweeping red leaves over orange fields and cloudlike formations of chords that arrive right on time with the warm hum of a pedal bass. Swells of log cabin isolation, woodwind and guitar drones and pure sleepy thought filter through the horizon line. Phosphene Weather is total night music, and quite possibly the pinnacle of Milieu's ambient output to date.

This is now available for pre-order, Install states it will ship the week of November 23rd. Don't miss out!

LISTEN TO CLIPS

ORDER THIS RELEASE ($16 + SHIPPING)

Halloween

2009-10-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

For everyone's drawn-n-quartered All Hallow's Eve enjoyment, myself and three friends of mine have banded together to release a four-way split of what we imagine is the perfect music for the night of the 31st.

German Shepherd kicks things off right with a 15 minute doom-dirge cover of Samhain's "Human Pony Girl" (with special guest BOG MAN)...then I'm up to bat with three black-sludge-noize-walls, summoned from the grave and assembled from Bach's "Toccata & Fugue In D-Minor", Jandek's "Down In A Mirror" and Bauhaus' classic "Bela Lugosi's Dead"...axe-strangler Millipede, hailing from Chattanooga TN, shoots fake blood from his guitar via the tracks "October" (first Millipede with vox!) and "A Forest" (originally birthed by The Cure)...to close up our little shop of horrorz, MOTH (that's Meditations On The Holy for ye late folk) lights a kerosene pentagram on fire while singing a spooky rendition of Sabbath's "Dirty Women" and finally burying the trick-er-treaters alive with "A Room".

If all that slaughter isn't enough for you, we're bringing it to your door for FREE. GO AND DOWNLOAD IT! SCARE KIDS ON YOUR STREET. FREAK OUT YOUR PARENTS. OR JUST SMOKE SOME WEED AND HAVE A GOOD TIME. IT'S ON US!

Made possible by Sunrise Acoustics, ignoring fidelity since 1991:
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Milieu - Eufloria

2009-10-21T13:17:00.000-07:00

After a year and a half of work, the fruits of my first real soundtracking job have now arrived. Being the project that essentially reinvigorated my interest in making ambient music as Milieu, this commission is very significant for me. Initially named "Dyson" when it was first created, Eufloria is an ambient strategy game that has gone through a number of changes and has been nominated for several awards as well as winning some. I signed on to design sound effects and compose unique music for the game's modern and surreal atmosphere. This album, containing 2 and a half hours of new music spread over two discs, is the result. Lovingly packaged in full-color artwork from the game itself, and limited to 100 copies. This disc is sure to please longtime listeners as well as newcomers to the Milieu sound.

FOR MP3 CLIPS PHOTOS AND ORDER INFO: CLICK

Additionally, any of you reading this who are gamers should definitely check out the final released version of the game! It is currently available from a number of places, including Steam, Direct2Drive and also the Eufloria developers themselves. I cannot stress enough how unique the game really is, and it really makes the music I did come to life!

CHECK OUT EUFLORIA: CLICK

Milieu - Translucent Forestation

2009-10-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

A new 3" CD-R EP containing one long track from the recording sessions for to-be-released Milieu album. Recorded in spring, left to settle on a cassette, then fixed up in summertime. Musically similar to something like Of The Apple or the upcoming Phosphene Weather LP, this piece has lots of deep humming bass, raindrop-organ lines and sweeping dusky chords. Perfect for a cool night with the windows open and a cat napping on your lap.

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Coppice Halifax & Radere - ABX2

2009-10-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

A double-dose of Analog Botany this month with special guest Radere (known elsewhere to some as Carl Ritger, hailing from camp Wood-Land in PA). Mr. Radere stepped in to do two exquisite and long remixes of the unreleased Coppice Halifax track "Inlets" and I constructed two rebuilds of his track "The Sunrise Ruby" to even it out. Carl's tracks are deep and foresty, but cleaner and opened up, almost like a cross between Intrusion and On Land-era Eno. My pieces pick up where you'd expect them to, one being more in the vein of the AB series and the other inhabiting circa-2008 Halifaxland (see: EEDCD08).

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Coppice Halifax - Beach Glass

2009-10-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

Number 10 in the ongoing AB series here. Named after a sound that David Tagg christened in 2006, AB10 brings more of the deep dubby minimal techno that the AB series has come to embody. Followers of the imprint may recognize some new elements introduced on this EP, such as Rhodes pianos, making it a truly "beachy" and "glassy" experience.

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Milieu - Shade Versions EP

2009-10-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

I've updated the digital shop with another release: the Milieu EP Shade Versions, which was previously only available with the first 25 copies of Swaying Palms. Now available in high-quality MP3 format with high-res artwork, those of you who couldn't get in on the first copies of Swaying Palms can now check out this EP of alternate "ambient" versions of songs from the sessions for only $5!

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White Kingdoms / White Dust

2009-10-21T12:16:00.001-07:00

The stellar experimental Australian label Sound & Fury have given me the honor of releasing something with them! Limited to a scarce 75 copies in their trademark wax-stamped letter sleeves, White Kingdoms is some of the most monolithic, massive drone I've ever laid to tape. Born from thick slabs of sawtooth waves, organ pedalbass and a healthy dose of glimmering reverbs and washed out flangers, the album contains three giant tracks that are best enjoyed at either very loud or very soft volume levels. I really worked hard to venture outside of some of the sounds I normally work with for drone music, and I think the White Kingdoms sessions opened up a lot of new terrain for my music. Go grab this release before it disappears!

$10 POSTPAID FROM SOUND & FURY
CLICK

From the same sessions as White Kingdoms, I'm releasing this EP in tandem with the album's arrival, intended as a companion piece. White Dust contains two tracks, both more on the more ambient side, but still really thick and droned out. I really like these two pieces but their more atmospheric and bodiless nature seemed a bit out of place alongside the very statuesque pieces on the album proper. This EP is also a "first" for Milieu Music in this detail: I'm releasing it both as a hard-copy 3" CD-R as well as a digital download, so you can take your pick between the two formats. Check it out!

FOR THE 3" CD-R VERSION:
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FOR THE DIGITAL DOWNLOAD VERSION:
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New Mixset Online For Free

2009-10-02T18:50:00.000-07:00

The electronic music blog A Strangely Isolated Place kindly approached me about a month ago to assemble a mix for them to post (They previously posted a pretty stellar mix by Ulrich Schnauss as well).

Opting for a selection of songs both new and old, but altogether something that would take me down 'memory lane', I put together One Last Push On The Swing - nearly 80 minutes of some of the best electronic music ever!

So, for those of you in the mood to hear some of my personal favorites, which have in effect gone on to influence and inspire my own work, mosey on over to the blog and check it out!

CLICK HERE

David Tagg - Established Trees

2009-09-15T03:19:00.001-07:00

I've recently been given the happy privilege of introducing David Tagg's music to the cassette format for the first time ever! Out now at the super-DIY cassette-only imprint CO_RD Tapes...

Containing what I'd consider to be some of David's finest work to date, Established Trees is thick, organic guitar overload. The A side is a towering piece with long sweeping chords covered in a dusky reverb, while the B side sounds as if it were dug up in a swamp somewhere deep in the southeastern US. Loaded with hidden melodies and rich texture, this tape is sure to be a real treat for anyone who enjoys abstracted guitar music. For David Tagg fans - there are only 25 copies so act fast!

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(ONLY ONE COPY PER ORDER PLEASE)

CO_RD 03 / Rainbow Lake / Plume Clouds

2009-09-15T03:06:00.000-07:00

CO_RD 03 is now available. Blue C30 with color photo insert and hand-labeling, limited to 25 copies. Features the sidelong songs "Rainbow Lake" and "Plume Clouds".

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Coppice Halifax Vs. Dorosoto

2009-09-12T03:11:00.000-07:00

It seems that the good folks at I, Absentee just couldn't get enough of me! I was recently asked by Mr. Dorosoto himself to not only do a remix for his upcoming remix album, but also to master it! I obliged, and so the resulting effort, titled Embryonic Audio Restoration, is now available at I, Absentee for preorder.

In addition to what is one of my personal favorite Coppice Halifax remixes ever, the disc also includes the talents of Tobacco, Lunar Testing Lab, Anders Ilar, Jack Marchment and several others! My personal favorites are the Cru Jonez and Lunar Testing Lab remixes.

Go support these wonderful midwesterners and tell them Milieu sent you!

Milieu - Tidewater Petrol

2009-09-03T15:16:00.000-07:00

A brand new Milieu EP, hot on the heels of the Swaying Palms album. Picking up the dancefloor-friendly hints from Palms, this tight little three-tracker shows Milieu in prime four-to-the-floor mode. Possibly more danceable than just about anything else in the catalog, with bouncing uptempo grooves, mental change-ups and planetarium-sized pad swells. Psychedelic club music to liven up the typically bittersweet downtempo party here at Milieu Music. Limited to 50 copies on mini-CD-R.

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Vhom - Blackener

2009-09-03T15:12:00.001-07:00

A digital-only EP full of abrasive and mental analog drum experimentation. Vhom returns from the brutality of Faalopian Tils with an industrial-strength dancefloor stomper and two weird-out drum jams. For fans of previous output by Vhom as well as complex and gritty dark IDM. Download comes with a free bonus: the Test.Vmx EP (MML017).

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Brian Grainger - Noxious Variations

2009-09-03T15:09:00.000-07:00

On the beatless side of things this month is a companion piece to thirty catalog numbers back (Porous Variations). Initially intended to come out alongside PV, Noxious was shelved due to PV's length getting absurdly long (3 discs). It has since aged in the blackness, and with a little work to bring it up to date, sounds all the more earthy because of the wait. Recorded in an entirely different process that included distance-microphone setups, guitar playing with two (or no) strings, dying batteries in chained pedals and looping room noises. Crumbled, dark and yet somehow warm and surreal. The deeper end of experimental drones for this month's update. Limited to 50.

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Pink Space - Let Me Show You Them

2009-09-03T15:05:00.001-07:00

After five webreleases spread out since 2005, Pink Space has finally landed in the shop on a hard-copy release. Sporting a wild 45 track/40 minute runtime, Pink Space plays through dozens of moods and styles in a collection of colorful and playful electronic music. Much more lighthearted than Milieu, but with elements of things that I've not done under any other alias...drum'n'bass, acid, jungle, electro, it's all here. Roll down your windows, turn up your woofer in your trunk and drive down your street blaring some hot pink nonsense. Limited to 50 copies.

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Coppice Halifax - Blackforest Dirt

2009-09-03T14:56:00.001-07:00

We're now up to number nine in the Analog Botany series, and this time around things get a little more gritty and a little more melodic than usual. Going back to the sound of earlier Coppice Halifax (see: EEDCD-08) texturally, Blackforest Dirt brings a high level of sonic debris into the otherwise clean white audio space. The second track, "Forest" drifts off on a blissful melodic tangent that could nearly be a Milieu moment. Limited to 50.

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New Drugs [Luxurious Expanded Reissue]

2009-08-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

So the lovely folks at I, Absentee have reissued my 2007 album New Drugs For Nuclear Families Of The Seventies, with 8 bonus tracks (3 previously unreleased), all remastered from the original tapes and packaged up in kinky new artwork (with naked 70's women!). I only pressed 100 copies of this album back in 2007 and it's always been one of my personal favorites, so I'm quite happy to see it back again.

If anyone missed out on this before, or is new to the album, the sound could be described as melodic psychedelic bedroom electronic music with jazz and funk breaks from the 60s-70s and big humming basslines, tied together with some live instrumentation. Two tracks even feature the world-famous Luke Hazard! Here's what I, Absentee had to say about the release:

After appearing on no less than five releases with us already, Milieu had pretty much become an honorary member of the roster. So it seemed a natural leap for him to finally have his own release with us. The 2007 album,New Drugs For Nuclear Families Of The Seventies, seemed like the perfect place to start.

The album, considered by Milieu one of his personal favorite works amongst his vast catalog, has long been out of print and sold out. It showcases Milieu at his most beat-oriented and melodic, with twenty tracks of hazy, nostalgic rhythms clocking in at over seventy-nine minutes. We barely managed to keep it a single disc release.

New Drugs has been freshly remastered, with all new artwork. Eight bonus tracks have been added, including Milieu's complete half of The Tandem Series 5 disc for the excellent Boltfish label. The album is capped off with three previously unreleased tracks from the era.

Anyone who's followed the label should be quite familiar with Milieu at this point. New Drugs is truly one of the standout discs of his prolific body of work and we are excited to bring it back into circulation. Check out thecatalog page for several sound clips and a free download of the track 'Echo Spectrum'. The album should also be available through Norman Records, n5md, Smallfish and, for the first time in Japan at Linus Records.

Milieu - Swaying Palms

2009-08-30T19:31:00.000-07:00

Long rumored, delayed, picked up, canceled and revised – Swaying Palms, for better or worse, has arrived! This is the album I labored so hard over in the Spring-Summer of 2008 that was originally slated to be released at Consumers Research & Development before they (sadly) closed their doors.

Containing some of the freshest Milieu ever recorded, Swaying Palms is a tropical trip through bright rainbow melodies, tight clean drum breaks and bass grooves that sound like an Ibiza party slowed down to half speed. Super equatorial music here, virtually dripping with humidity, psychedelic sunsets and exotic locales filled with blue water, mixed drinks, hammocks and free love. Definitely the Milieu record to have for the Summer!

I've only made 100 copies of these, and the first 25 came with a special surprise (which is already gone at the moment I type this), so get in fast if you don't want to miss out! Each copy has been assembled with different designs (following in the Milieu Music tradition of vintage wallpaper) so no two copies are alike.

For MP3 clips and ordering info:

Brian Grainger - Tortoiseshell & Other Improvisations

2009-08-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

With this new cassette, I'm introducing the second leg of the CO_RD Tapes imprint - a catalog set called BLUE. Why blue? Well, because it's one of my favorite colors, and so each tape will have blue somewhere on the packaging. These releases will be for named artists, and will likely be splits, collaborations or simply music that is meant for the tape format above any other.

BLUE01 is such a release, compiling 10 improvisations recorded from 2006 to 2007 that were collecting dust on old four track tapes and hard drives. Some songs were recorded during the Eight Thousander sessions and others were simply live experimentations or sketches. Two tracks, "Light Trails 1 & 2" feature the talents of Acreil and David Tagg. The title track previously appeared digitally as part of Attacknine Records' 13 Weeks Of Summer compilation.

There is much more to come in the BLUE catalog, including David Tagg's first ever cassette release, two tapes by The Blue Spaces, a very heavy Brian Grainger tape and a few splits, so stay sharp! Everything is limited to only 25 copies.

Coppice Halifax - Submarine Green

2009-08-30T18:55:00.000-07:00

Number eight in the ongoing Analog Botany series that continues to flourish. Complete with radar scanning sounds, bodyboard beats and dub chords filtered through reverbs deeper than the Sea of Green...

As always, limited to 50 copies and $6 in the shop!

Lush Q Trax 3 + 3.1

2009-07-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

I swear, if nostalgia was a topical anesthetic, it would be called Foamek. This guy stuns me again with his half of our third split together, which could quite possibly be his finest work to date. Incredibly bouncy, warm and beautiful ambient techno on his end, reminiscent of some of my favorite records from the 90's in that vein. Think Voodoo Child's "The End Of Everything" or Twin's "SAW 85-92" and you're close. My half is a bit more updated, with more of the lively yet spacious listening techno I've done on earlier Lush Q releases. For those of you who bought the first two volumes, I promise you volume three will NOT disappoint. Limited edition of only FIFTY copies, half of which are already GONE!

FOR MP3 CLIPS PHOTOS AND ORDER INFO: CLICK

As a small, quaint companion piece to the Lush Q Trax III album, Foamek and I have assembled a five track mini-split containing outtakes from the LQ3 sessions. Available only as a digital download EP for a mere five bucks! Comes with hi-res printable artwork and MP3s encoded at 320 KBPS. All material here is exclusive to this EP!

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Brian Grainger - Black Curtain Warmth

2009-07-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

Black Curtain Warmth is a hazy, hour long trip through warm drone, minimal guitar work and crumbling textures. Somewhere between Autumn Soil Feedback and Yellowed, and definitely perfect for the hot summer nights. Available now at Milieu Music Digital for a mere five dollars!

FOR MP3 CLIP PHOTOS AND ORDERING INFO: CLICK

Milieu - Bent Appletrees 5 & 6!

2009-07-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

Available now for download in the digital shop are the fifth and sixth installments to the ever-eclectic Bent Appletrees series. Containing forgotten tracks from 2004-2008, these records are chock full of outtakes, demos, live and alternate versions. For those of you wanting more stuff from the earlier Milieu days (Night Currents, Our Blue Rainbow) these two volumes are ripe with material from those sessions especially. Tracks like "Treebark Honey" and "Red Balloons Over A Blue Shore" are real gems that I'm almost mad at myself for leaving off of proper albums!

FOR MP3 CLIPS PHOTOS AND ORDER INFO: CLICK

R.I.P. EED - 2004-2009

2009-07-17T13:34:00.000-07:00

The time has come to end the Expanding Electronic Diversity label that I've helped founder & friend David Tagg maintain since late 2006. The label started five years ago out of David's parallel interests in music and modern graphic design, and we've decided that its time has come to an end. Many of you have supported our fine label through the years and are no doubt familiar with the output and image that EED retained. I can assure you that both David and myself will continue to bring you the same level of artistic and musical expression through Install, Second Sun Recordings and of course Milieu Music, for what we hope will be years to come. David had some closing words on the subject:

"After 5 years, countless hours of hard work and dedication I have decided to cease all operations at Expanding Electric Diversity and dissolve the name into the ether. It has been an amazing ride, one that I would not trade for anything. I have met so many amazing people and created friendships that will last a lifetime. To the fans. Thank you for being so supportive. You have been there every step of the way for every release, always gushing with excitement and support. I have always strived to bring you a product that you were proud to present and give a home on your record shelves. I thank you for your steadfast dedication and honor.

It is important to me that I thank in specific my friend Brian Grainger. He always respected what I was doing and really made EED what it is today. Brian and I's successful partnership continues at both INSTALL and SSR. We will continue to bring you only the best experimental music and design."

With that said, don't be sad! Onward! There's simply too much awesome new stuff that David and I have in store for Install and SSR. This isn't so much an ending as it is a continuation into the second phase.

***ALL REMAINING EED STOCK HAS BEEN LISTED FOR SALE AT MILIEU MUSIC***

That's right. Everything we have left is now up at Milieu Music, and when those are gone, they're gone forever. Thankfully, for sake of simplicity, all we have left are about 30 copies of the SEAS 12" LP and about 40 copies of the EED's Summer Vacation compilation disc. For those unfamiliar with these items, I strongly urge you to check them out! The compilation is the perfect summer companion, with loads of beats and melodies in crisp high-fidelity. The 12" LP is our first ever vinyl pressing and contains some of the deepest minimal dub-techno you'll ever feast your ears on!

V/A - EED'S SUMMER VACATION '08 (Featuring exclusive songs by Milieu/Coppice Halifax/Am-Boy/
Mrs Jynx/EOD/Yimino/Ten And Tracer/Electricwest/others!)

FOR MP3 CLIPS PHOTOS AND ORDER INFO: CLICK

SEAS - SEAS 12" LP (Deep techno project by myself & David, reminiscent of Coppice Halifax
and influenced by Rod Modell, Yagya and Basic Channel)

FOR MP3 CLIPS PHOTOS AND ORDER INFO: CLICK

First Post In Forever

2009-06-05T23:59:00.000-07:00

So I have seriously neglected to update this space since returning from San Francisco. The trip was certainly exhausting but not THAT exhausting! Needless to say a lot has transpired since then so I think the best way to get everything caught up at once is a bulleted list!

EEDCD-09 / SEAS / SEAS CD-R in swivel-case released at EED (Already Sold Out!)
EEDLP-01 / SEAS / SEAS 12" Vinyl LP released at EED
MU01 / Brian Grainger & Ophibre / #3 (Split 40m Cassette) released at Mirror Universe
MMD005 / Milieu / Brittle Paper Cathedrals CD-R
MML056 / Brian Grainger / A White Light In The Woods 3" CD-R
AB4 / Coppice Halifax / Falling Ovals 3" CD-R
ABX1 / Coppice Halifax / Scarlet Cmx 3" CD-R
GS6.5 / Brian Grainger/German Shepherd/MOTH/Millipede / Traveling CD-R released at Sunrise Acoustics
CO_RD 02 / Silverhome / Wendesel (30m Cassette) released at CO_RD Tapes
AB5 / Coppice Halifax / Southland Mirror 3" CD-R
MML057 / Milieu / Dialogue Five 3" CD-R
MML058 / Milieu / Live At 114RKD CD-R
AB6 / Coppice Halifax / Cinnamon Smoke 3" CD-R
AB7 / Coppice Halifax / Pine Yellow 3" CD-R
MML059 / Milieu / Leaves Painted Purple CD-R
MML059B / Milieu / Leaves Painted Purple (Limited Edition Cassette)
PILL-N2 / Brian Grainger / Winter Triptych 3" CD-R released at SSR
PILL-O2 / Brian Grainger / Sunken Swamp Wisdoms 3" CD-R released at SSR
SSRO-13 / Brian Grainger / Naked Sound Seven (Free Download) released at SSR

Last but not least is the massive announcement of MILIEU MUSIC DIGITAL! You read that right! Milieu Music has finally gone digital. Starting now, you will be able to purchase both new and out-of-print releases in high-quality 320 KBPS MP3 file format for a low price. Each purchase comes with high-resolution printable album artwork and you can rest assured that 100% of your purchase goes straight to Milieu Music. No middlemen taking an enormous cut, no big companies, no adverts, no spam. Support the music you love the independent way!

All music is of course DRM-free, and what would a launch announcement be without NEW EXCLUSIVE STUFF? In addition to over 30 titles from the MM catalog now being available digitally, there are also THREE brand-new titles: an epic 2CD set of reconstructions from Brian Grainger & John-Paul Kramer, a brutal new Brian Grainger EP called "Oubliette" and a beautiful VCV live set from the SSR archives. Check it out!

SF Blog #4

2009-03-27T00:34:00.000-07:00

Finally, a lazy day, much needed after the exhausting day we had before. Woke up late, Soph took a long bath and caught up with Angie on the phone, and we got to the GDC about an hour and a half before it closed up.

While there, I made the rounds and asked nearly every booth on the expo floor if they were hiring any audio designers or composers. Handed out lots of business cards and CD-Rs, shook a lot of hands, got some prospects and some "check the website for open positions". Hopefully something pans out and I get called by a few of these places!

Picked up as much swag as we could, including a rad rubber bracelet that is actually a 1GB USB thumbdrive with royalty-free audio samples on it, some buttons and stickers, and a couple t-shirts too. Caught up with Rudolf and Alex, gave them the rest of my sampler discs to give out at the booth, and asked everyone how they recovered from the night before. Good thing we ducked out when we did, as everyone went to a third bar after we left and Alex supposedly had to be manually steered across the street so as not to walk into traffic!

Things on that end were going well, with the guys working all sorts of rad Dyson magic on everyone who came by. Soph and I had the munchies and nothing to do for an hour or so, so we went back up to the Samovar tea lounge for something real light and snacky. I got a really great grilled cheese sandwich on ciabatta with sundried tomatoes and pesto and a chilled masala chai, and Sophia got a curried egg salad and apple sandwich with a red tea. We traded sammich halves and it was very nice. Rudolf and Alex joined us for some tea and from there we all shared a cab back to our hotel, where we had made plans to meet for dinner in our hotel's restaurant with the crew from the night before.

Had an awesome dinner with everyone. We ordered two sampler plates of appetizery stuff like baba, hummus, olives and so on, and then I picked up a really cool seafood twist on kibbeh (with crab meat inside instead of beef!) and a tapas sized dish of kofta with spicy salsa. Fantastic all around. Sophia got a really tasty lamb dish as well, which came with a little tub of creamy hot stuff that was sorta like shuta with goat cheese mixed into it, and I had a ball dipping all my kofta into that. Signed off with everyone after a long meal, and ate a really fantastic dessert of of filo dough layers and cheese all covered in honey.

Hoping to get together with everyone tomorrow afternoon for some thrift shopping, food, pictures and hugs goodbye. Ready to go home!!!

SF Blog #3

2009-03-26T00:52:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, the big day. I've got a bit of blood in my alcohol as I type this so please bear with me. It was a huge huge day...which started with us at the teency tiny Dyson booth on the expo floor.

Rudolf and Alex were already there, completely overwhelmed by people coming over and asking about Dyson every 2 seconds. I stacked up a modest pile of my sampler discs and business cards there for them to dole out as needed, and Sophia and I decided to start around the expo on our own after sitting next to them for a while, feeling sort of like a third and fourth wheel (we didn't actually make the game so we were just kinda caught staring off when someone had a question). Unfortunately for me, there weren't many audio people on the floor today - mostly programming-type stuff, and so it became a bit redundant to stay there and hand the occasional card out to anyone who spoke to me, especially as insincere as that comes off. It sorta bothered me after I did it a few times. Sarah later told me a good rule of thumb is to not try to hand anyone a card unless they've had a discussion with you for ten minutes.

We took a break and Soph discovered she had really horrible blisters on her feet from all the walking we had done, and that even worse, they were bleeding. We decided it was best to split from the scene and head back to the hotel to regroup until the awards ceremony at 5:30. Upon arriving, we almost immediately passed out, including myself in my dress pants, dress shirt and tie, which if you have never done this it is not recommended for being extremely uncomfortable. I managed to set my cell phone alarm for an hour before the ceremony just to be sure, and thankfully we got up and out in perfect time. We walked halfway there in search of some food, gave up on that and grabbed a taxi to the center where we caught Rudolf and Alex on their way out. They had not yet changed into their formalwear for the ceremony and we were already sorted on that end, so they went back to their hotel while we anxiously shoved down some low-grade turkey sandwiches and bottled water at the expo stand (ridiculously overpriced, but when you're starving and only have 15 minutes, that's what you do!).

Upon arriving at the entrance for the ceremony, there was a reception hall of sorts with a red carpet down the middle and a desk of people with an RSVP list sort of eyeing everyone. No sooner than 3 minutes after setting foot in the place do they announce "Everyone who is a finalist please line up on the red carpet, everyone else please form a line to the side"...the funny part is we were two of about five people in the entire room who stayed on the carpet. We felt so leet. Haha. Struck up a conversation with the lad behind us who asked what game we were a part of, and when we said it was Dyson, he immediately complimented us with "Fucking awesome game!". We said our names and our game, and were promptly escorted to table 12, which was right next to a table marked "Valve", and seeing this gave me some chills. Then, turning to see how close to the stage we were gave me even more chills, as I knew Tim Schaefer and Hideo Kojima were going to take the stage tonight.

So for a good while there was just a lot of oohing and aahing at all the people who we knew were going to be in the same 20 feet as us, and I grabbed a mini-quiche lorraine and a glass of cab before things got too hectic - had to stay mellow. I started to freak out a little when I realized the OTHER table right next to us was for Little Big Planet. Finally Rudolf and Alex arrived and we all got settled in for what was sure to be an exciting night.

After this, it was a blur of very interesting commentaries and introductions, some really funny moments involving people's award speeches and a cropping error on one of the big screens (which made every clip they showed of a figure speaking in a game look like they were zooming in on their chests). It doesn't even need to be said how rad the little vignettes Mega64 did were, including one music video for "If You're Not Indie Fuck You" which was totally brilliant, and their final vignette which involved them spoofing MGS4 a la their normal antics, only to run into Hideo Kojima on the street, with him shaking his head in disgust for a minute, calling his agent to cancel all his appointments, then lurking around the streets with the Mega64 guys imitating Solid Snake. Genius! Beyond this, Tim Schaefer's entrance was insane - they ran a short 8bit video game mockup of Tim in the back room behind the stage, out of jokes to tell to the audience. So he had to search the room to find some, and ended up leaving with one joke out of a "potential 22" he could've found. On stage, the man could work a crowd more than just about anyone I've seen, totally unassuming and really genuinely hilarious. My kinda guy to be sure, as if I didn't already respect him enough! Kojima kept his spot very short and sweet, and promised to make video games until the day he dies, which is reassuring to lots of us who were aware of him not wanting to do any more titles in the Metal Gear series, and pretty sad about it.

I know, I know, what all of you who even read this want to know is - did Dyson win? Well, I'm sorry to say no, we didn't win any of the three awards we were nominated for. To be honest though, as sad as that seems on paper to say right here, you can't possibly believe how positive all of us are about everything. We are having a blast, we've all made friends with so many really great talented people, and we're getting offers and publicity just the same. Besides, like I wrote before, just being considered as one of the FIVE games out of over TWO HUNDRED for the grand prize was surreal enough. The voice over lady for all the nominee bits before they announced who won even said my name, which was kinda funny. I've been telling every I speak to that I'm just shocked still that this was my very first video game ever and to have it even get this far is crazy.

The good news (or part of it at least) is that Valve has picked up Dyson to sell via their online distribution company Steam, which is a giant step forward for us. The game has already been announced on the Steam site if you'd like to check it out, and we're all collectively hoping to have the game completed and fully released by the end of Summer. In addition to this, I'll be working very closely with Alex and Rudolf to make possible a hardcopy proper release of the music I've done for the game, for those of you who are into it. It may turn out to be a bigger deal than some of my other records, considering the publicity Dyson has received, even now!

Anyway, after the awards show, we banded together with the super-awesome Cletus Clay crew, of Alex, Alex and Sarah along with our own Alex, Rudolf and myself and Sophia, as well as two other folks from Cletus Clay from New Zealand (I actually did not get their names) who were equally rad and are going thrift shopping with us tomorrow! We all ended up in a Jillians, buying each other round after round and having a fantastic time. We decided to break it off to another bar called XYZ and upon arriving realized how insane it really was. Sophia and I were pretty beat, so I downed a shot of tequila with Alex and Sarah and said goodnight. Gave everyone a big hug as we made our way to the cab back to the hotel, where I sit now typing with heavy fingers and a fried brain, ready to shower, have some water, play some Warcraft, and sleep...

SF Blog #2

2009-03-25T00:30:00.000-07:00

Second day in San Francisco was very tiring but loads of fun! Rudolf and Alex were attending seminars at the GDC most of the day so we ventured out on our own. First stop was to get our passes sorted so we could actually go check everything out, and that went well enough. Initially there was some resistance because Sophia's name had been registered wrong and so I showed them my business card (which mentions my work on Dyson) to prove that we were indeed part of the development team. One of the ladies sorting us out was really impressed by my "ambient Shakespeare" t-shirt and wanted to know how she could get one. They misspelled my name as "Brain" on my pass but we all laughed about it and decided to keep it that way since it's sorta funny.

From there we went up a level to this really neat tea lounge called Samovar. We hadn't eaten yet but wanted something lighter so it was perfect. Sophia got a small pitcher of mint tea with a big salad spread, and I went for some tofu in curry with basmati rice (with peppercorns and golden raisins in it) and a hot chai. Quite nice.

We decided to head toward Union Square as there were a few places we wanted to go shop at there, and along the way we found some really cool photograph opportunities, including a really oddly shaped building that ended up being a Jewish museum. Walking further, we arrived at Rasputin Records, an epic 5-story mammoth of a media store, and went straight to level 3 - you guessed it - the vinyl level. We found a remarkable amount of used and cheaply priced wax from all across the spectrum - from an early Bowery Electric EP to Adam Ant's "Friend Or Foe". I even managed to pick up Falco's single for "Der Kommissar", Yello's "Oh Yeah" and the classic "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" by Boys Don't Cry for dirt cheap.

From there it was off to one of Sophia's favorite cosmetic carriers Sephora, and I won't really go into great detail about that since it was all makeup and fragrances and not really anything else! From Sephora we went to Lush, which I enjoyed quite a bit. Lush is a sort of all-purpose bath and body place only all their products are totally organic and unique. I actually feel a bit girly for liking it but they make some really nifty stuff to be sure. We stocked up on some Lush stuff to take home, and started making our way back to the north hall lobby of the Moscone center.

Once there, we sat down (at long last!) and ran into Andrew from Cletus Clay again. It seemed neither of us could get in touch with Rudolf or Alex yet so we hung out for a bit and split since Andrew was way hungry. By this time, we were starving too but we wanted to wait until Rudolf and Alex met up with us to eat. After a little bit, the two joined forces with us and showed us to where our booth will be on the exhibition floor tomorrow.

We headed out to Office Depot and Radio Shack so the guys could get some supplies needed for the Dyson booth, and I made some copies of the inserts for my GDC sampler discs, and bought more blank CD-Rs and sleeves for them too. I get the feeling 50 discs aren't going to last as long as I thought, especially after seeing just how many people are here.

Finally, we ended up in a waiting line at the Cheesecake Factory, which is the first chain restaurant we'd eaten at since arriving, but it never fails to satisfy, with its novel-thick menu and huge portions. Plus, Rudolf and Alex had been after something uniquely American, food-wise, and had already been suggested the place.

We were seated outdoors and since the restaurant was 7 stories up it was a beautiful view. I ordered the first fried food of the week (a buffalo chicken sandwich and some french fries) and Sophia went with a massive chicken salad. I sipped on a coke until I realized it was actually diet coke and that sorta shocked me. We discussed lots of Dyson related ideas, specifically what we'd like to do regarding more detailed sound effects, for the final build of the game. I also explained that I'd like to record possibly even another hour of music and then shape it up with some edits of only the best material.

We split off after the meal, and Sophia and I grabbed a taxi back to the hotel. We were invited to a cocktail party at a bar down the street called Cellar that I really wanted to go to, but we ended up passing on it out of exhaustion. Better to party TOMORROW night, depending on what happens in the awards ceremony. You heard right - tomorrow night is the awards ceremony, so we'll see how well we're going to really do! I'm trying not to let myself obsess on it. Wish us luck!

SF Blog #1

2009-03-24T00:04:00.000-07:00

So...after a long and tiring day...MILIEU HAS ARRIVED! Finally good to say it. For those of you who were afraid I'd die in a plane crash - fear not! I am alive and well.

The trip started on a chaotic foot though - first, we stayed up ALL NIGHT the night before our flight, packing and worried that we'd forget something important. After finally sitting down to sleep for 30 minutes, my cell phone rings: it's Sophia's mother telling us our dog Morgan (who had just boarded at the kennel the day before) had been sent to the emergency vet after having three seizures! We immediately went to the vet to see what was up, and apparently, between the ages of 2 and 5, a dog who has epilepsy can do what's called "unmasking" with their first seizure via any triggered event (in our case it must've been the stress of us leaving town) that will then make her full-on epileptic for the rest of her doggie days. Thankfully, she's been in the vet's care since then and has shown no signs of any other problems and the epilepsy is under control. Beyond that, the treatment is a simple inexpensive prescription that she'll need to take daily from now on. Phew!

So from there we ate some food and I didn't even bother trying to sleep any more considering we had to leave in 2 hours to drive to the Charlotte airport and fly out. Once we got through the airport security and all that, the flight turned out to be one of the worst I've had! Despite being a bearable 5 hour trip, these three catty girls in front of us cocked their seats back as far as they could go, wreaking absolute hell on my claustrophobia and rendering me nearly unable to move for the entire ride. There were also horrible pressure issues and for the last hour of the flight it felt like someone was grinding forks into my eardrums. Not cool!

Finally upon landing and shuttling from the airport to our super hotel, we unwound a bit, ordered some FANTASTIC pizza from a place called Napoli's (we ordered "The San Francisco" which comes with pepperoni, ham, beef, green olives and feta cheese on it) and promptly passed out.

So today we slept off our jetlag and tried to get in touch with Rudolf and Alex (the masterminds behind Dyson) to see how and where we could meet up, which proved harder than we expected! They were already at the GDC and we had a good deal of trouble working out how exactly we had to add their numbers in our cell phones so we could text or call them. Finally we met up and decided to find a place to eat, which ended up being a fantastic restaurant called King Of Thai. I ordered a sea bass in green curry and Sophia got a really interesting pumpkin curry, and we all had a great time. From there we went across town and ended up at a bar called Brick which is conveniently right next door to our hotel. At Brick we met a very nice couple from England who are also in the running at the IGF for a different award than Dyson is. Had a BLAST just talking and laughing with everyone and all in all, just a wonderful time in this new huge city.

Rudolf and Alex, it must be said, are really fantastic guys who I am even more proud to know now that we've met in person. It will be a really great week to hang out with people this rad! I also have a bit of good news regarding Dyson which I'll withhold until I can clear it for public posting by Rudolf...but things are happening!!!

Dyson At The Independent Gaming Festival

2009-03-16T00:19:00.000-07:00

So I'm leaving town again! This time, I will be in San Francisco, California for a week to attend the Game Developers Conference. As unbelievable as it sounds, Dyson, the video game I did music and sound work for, has been nominated as one of the five games up for winning the coveted Seumas McNally grand prize at the festival! This could be a huge break for me as a musician looking for a job in the gaming industry, and so even if Dyson doesn't win, there's too many opportunities and too much information at the GDC to pass up.

If you haven't played Dyson yet - you should! It's a totally free downloadable game and there are builds for PC and Linux, with a Mac build on the way. Go to the official site to download the newest build here. Additionally, if you have played Dyson and you like it, please please PLEASE vote for us! Yes, you! You can vote for Dyson online in the competition for the audience award at the IGF by clicking here. Every vote counts and so if you liked the game or the music or both, give us a nudge!

Much like my trip to Germany in 2007, Sophia and I have been able to cover most of our travel expenses for things like flight and hotel, however all the little things still remain, like food money, parking fees at the airport, and boarding my dog Morgan for the week we're gone. The support you give Milieu Music never goes unappreciated, ever, and that's why I am offering anyone who donates $8 USD or more to my little fund will get a TOTALLY EXCLUSIVE MILIEU ALBUM! That's right, this is the very first ambient Milieu record since A Warm Wooden Hollow and the donation drive is the only way you can get it! For more information about donating and the Milieu album I'm offering in return, please click the link below this message.

A pre-emptive THANKS goes out to all of you, whether you donate or not, for supporting my work - it means way more than you know! Also, if any of you reading this would like to meet up with your neighborhood friendly Milieu while I'm in your state, just drop me an email and we'll work it all out.

Three New Coppice Halifax Releases

2009-03-16T00:06:00.000-07:00

COPPICE HALIFAX
BEDROOM CARPET
**PREORDER**
MMD004
LIMITED EDITION OF 100

A very special album, hinted at since Summer of 2008, has finally arrived for preordering. The first Coppice Halifax full-length recording since 2008's tropical-overdose Ocean Lion, Bedroom Carpet brings a much different vibe to the table. Largely ambient but not without some very beat-based tracks, Bedroom Carpet is very warm and humid with lots of sleepy-eyed melodies blipping across a thin line of tape hiss. Written and recorded using only two drum machines, an old Casio keyboard and a four-track tape deck, this is some of my most cozy, playful and analogue music ever made. Very heavily influenced by records like Cylob's "Cylobian Sunset", Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Works II" and the "Melodies From Mars" album, as well as things like Kinesthesia, Bochum Welt and even friends of mine Thisket and EOD. This record is currently at press, and will be released on no more than 100 copies in a jewel case with full-color printed artwork (much like Colortone was). ALL ORDERS SHIP ON OR BEFORE APRIL 20.

FOR MP3 CLIPS PHOTO/VIDEO AND ORDERING INFO: CLICK

COPPICE HALIFAX
MOSS AND GREEN
MML055 / 3" CD-R EP
LIMITED EDITION OF 50

To hold you over until Bedroom Carpet arrives in your mailbox, this 3" CD-R EP should do the trick! Recorded during the Bedroom Carpet sessions using the exact same equipment, the Moss And Green EP delivers more tape-drenched low-key ambient goodness. Three tracks that get a little more drum-heavy than the album itself does, but still packed to the brim with fuzzed textures and sunny melodies. Music for sitting under a tree in a park while you read a book. Something you might want to bring along for the Summer months this year! Inspired more by things like Mike & Rich, Freescha and Polygon Window, and limited to 50.

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COPPICE HALIFAX
RED VALERIAN
AB3 / 3" CD-R EP
LIMITED EDITION OF 50

The third installment of the new and ongoing AB series, Red Valerian brings you two deep deep tracks of dubby hi-fi ambience. "Red" is quite possibly the most reggae-dub sounding track I've ever done, complete with delayed piccolo snares and thicker-than-honey atmospherics. An elastic bassline rumbles around and textures dress the mix up, making you feel like you're walking through a smoggy city after dark. "Valerian" completes the EP with an almost polar opposite shift in dynamics. Clocking in at almost 14 minutes long, this track bounces along building and building with inviting colorful pads and watery synth stabs, painting a more tropical setting. Limited to 50 copies.

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February's New Releases

2009-02-24T00:26:00.000-08:00

MILIEU / WAVERIDER
3" CD-R EP
MML054 / EDITION OF 50

The second single from the forthcoming Swaying Palms album, Waverider presents seven starry-eyed feelgood Milieu tracks full of funky basslines, sex-on-the-beach synths, big breaks and melodies sweeter than a Capri Sun on LSD. Some crusty tropical crunk for those of you who can remember those family vacations in the 80's, building sandcastles, getting pulled down the shore in the tide, baking in the sun. Put on your shades and grab your board - it's time to go! Think "Theme From A Nude Beach" meets Casino Versus Japan meets Henry Mancini at 16 RPM. Limited to 50 copies.

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COPPICE HALIFAX / GANYMEDE ICECAPS
3" CD-R EP
AB1 / EDITION OF 50

Kicking off a brand new catalog set (which you can read more about here) is something of a new "era" of the Coppice Halifax sound. Entering for the first time into truly deep and dubby territory, this three track EP is the beginning of what will be the charted course for Coppice Halifax in the 2009 year. Taking heavy influence from pioneers like Basic Channel, Wolfgang Voigt, Monolake and Pole, as well as newer favorites such as Rod Modell, Yagya and Anders Ilar...these three tracks are bouncy, minimal and clean, yet not without a very notable texture and atmosphere. Roomy reverbs phase in and out over the mix while skittering delays dance all over a punctuated drum sequence. Sometimes subdued, other times four-to-the-floor, but all around deep and minimal. Expect this series of EPs to grow throughout 2009 in a hopefully new and interesting way.

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COPPICE HALIFAX / PORCELAIN SURFACES
3" CD-R EP
AB2 / EDITION OF 50

The second EP in the AB series, and even more minimal than Ganymede Icecaps. Pristine open spaces are filled with intricately placed rhythms and micro-melodies. Off-white, clean and full of reflected fluorescent light. "Porcelain" is the closest to the Berlin techno sound Coppice Halifax has come so far, while parts one and two of "Icecaps" bring a little more familiar funk into the picture. Simple music for those who like it that way.

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New Sublabel - CO_RD Tapes

2009-02-24T00:22:00.000-08:00

You read it correctly - I've started the first proper "sublabel" of Milieu Music: CO_RD Tapes! This label will be cassette-only releases of ambient/guitar-based music with a very cozy home-time aesthetic. Think lots of pastoral field recordings under sometimes-pretty, sometimes-sad, sometimes-droney guitar playing, soaked in 10-acre reverbs and bundled up in a warm analog format with some colorful photographs to get your listening mind in the right place. These tapes will be STRICTLY limited runs of 25 blue tapes each, and the music is totally new and exclusive. For people who enjoyed things like Sun White Sun, Eight Thousander or Of The Apple, these tapes are a must-listen! The first cassette, Appalachian/White Deer, is already out, so check it out!

January Shop Updates!

2009-02-23T23:57:00.000-08:00

MILIEU / PINWHEEL CAROUSELS
FOUR YEARS OF MILIEU MUSIC
MML050
EDITION OF 50

Can you believe it's been four years already, since I started this whole thing up with a small mailing list and no website? It seems to have gone by so quickly, and it's pretty much a perfect coincidence that with the start of 2009, we've landed right on catalog number 50! I can imagine how daunting this catalog must really look to a newcomer, so for that reason (among others) I've
decided to commemorate #50 with Milieu Music's first ever compilation. This disc is a look back all the way to the very beginning of Milieu Music, with me hand-picking some of my favorite tunes and including two brand new unreleased ones as well. Packaged in the "old school" format of a blue papersleeve with inkstamped cardstock inserts, and bargain priced at only eight dollars. A perfect introduction to Milieu Music for the uninitiated, as well as a worthy collection of Milieu tunes for the collectors out there.

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MILIEU / AZURINE DRONED
3" CD-R EP
MML051 / EDITION OF 50

You may have caught me hinting on the mailers about 2009 seeing the release of lots of new Milieu, and so appropriately with the new year starting, here is the first. A three track 3" CD-R containing some of the bounciest tropical punch Milieu sounds ever laid to tape. This single serves as a precursor to the forthcoming album (no definitive date yet) Swaying Palms, which will be equally tropical. The title track may make some listeners recall the dubby tropical atmosphere of "Sway Leaf" (from the In Hills Made Of Clouds 3" at Earstroke) only this time it has been seriously expanded upon and drawn out to a lazy 10-minute affair. Limited to 50 copies.

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BRIAN GRAINGER & DAVID TAGG / VARIANTS
MML052 / EDITION OF 50

Three extended live improvisations that I did in late 2007, using David Tagg's then-unreleased album Dulcimer Studies as a principal sound source, buried under a setup including a twelve-string acoustic guitar and several effects. The result is bright and slightly dissonant at times, but altogether pretty much a straight drone album. For those of you who enjoyed Porous Variations, this will be quite to your liking. A bit dark at times, a little pretty even, but very monochromatic and hazy. Limited to 50 copies in white papersleeves with patterned sepia-paper inserts.

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COPPICE HALIFAX / LUXURY DANCEHALL
3" CD-R EP
MML053 / EDITION OF 50

The first Coppice Halifax release of 2009, which, like the Milieu EP, will preface a handful of new releases under that moniker as well. This 3" single sees some really psychedelic ambient techno happening, somewhere between the tropical-clouds of Ocean Lion and the crackly wash of the self-titled EEDCD-08. "Luxury" samples Delius and builds a smoky dubby limo-drive through the boulevard at night...you can even roll the window down and see everything moving in super-slow-mo. Two versions of "Dancehall" follow, the first sounding like an ocean-faring cousin of "Nettles" with bouncy house beats and crackly seafoam melodies, and the second bringing to mind influences of Gas or Basic Channel with some liquefied drum sounds pooling around a rich symphonic drone and a huge sub-bassline. Limited to 50 copies in clear plastic sleeves with rad lazer-80's paper inserts.

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Milieu - Colortone

2009-01-04T02:36:00.001-08:00

This was quietly announced for a preorder a month ago, and now this long-awaited Milieu CD-R is officially released and shipping! For those of you who dig the flavor of Milieu records like Our Blue Rainbow or New Drugs - get this one! Loads of psychedelic grooves over a 10 track/forty minute disc. Think absolute LSD melody overload! Only $12.50, housed in a snazzy jewel case with full-color photos taken over Spring/Summer 2008, and available in a quite limited quantity directly from me!

On a side note, there are those of you out there probably wondering what happened to the vinyl release of this album that was supposed to happen earlier in 08...well sadly it just didn't work out and we didn't really want to sit on the album any longer as it is now already a full year old! There are only 100 of these in existence and more than half of those are already gone, so this announcement may actually be the last you see of this album...

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P.S. - This is just the beginning of what is shaping up to be a big year for Milieu again! Another album already completed (Swaying Palms) will be released at EED by Summer or so, and there are TWO more in the process of being completed now. Stay tuned!

Milieu - Blue White Nights (Free Xmas EP)

2008-12-24T11:45:00.000-08:00

MILIEU
BLUE WHITE NIGHTS
MMC001 / 2008

Here comes a funky melodic six-tracker of Milieu doing (that’s right) Christmas songs! Don’t worry, no sign of the tunes you’re scratching your eyeballs out over here, all of the tunes are totally original except “Frostee” which is a funky rework of “Frosty The Snowman”. This EP is A FREE DOWNLOAD, as my personal gift to everyone who has put up with reading these incessant emails all year long. See? I told you there would be surprises! So go grab the EP, have some eggnog, and don’t stay up too late…or else you-know-who might not show up to fill those stockings! He doesn’t like being seen from what I hear…kinda like Jandek! Only…bearded and jolly and full of fun gifts instead of dissonant chords. Right. Don’t know where I was trying to go with that.

ANYWAY, as you can tell I am certifiably insane this time of year, so please put me out of my so-called misery and enjoy this EP. You can get it here:

The zipfile contains 192 KBPS MP3 files and a hi-res version of the album art, for printing if you like. Of course, I am aware a lot of you here absolutely hate MP3s (or at least have little to no use for them) and so if any one of you must have a hard-copy version of this for your collection, or if you want it for the lossless sound quality, or if you just want to buy one to have for next year’s festivities, just drop me a reply to this message. I do not intend on making any hard copies available on a public scale, so rest assured if anyone wants a copy, these will be the pinnacle of handmade homemade goodness, made to order just the way you like.

Cheers!

Round The Bend: VCV Plays Jandek

2008-12-04T02:18:00.000-08:00

Some of you reading my blogs here may be interested to know that my band with David Tagg (VCV) has just released a new album of nine instrumental Jandek covers. The album is called ROUND THE BEND and has been officially approved by Corwood Industries themselves. This is VCV's first factory-pressed CD, lovingly done up in an eco-wallet style printed cardstock sleeve with black and white Corwood-style photography and a deep blue CD.

Musically, this record covers a lot of territory that some of you may be surprised to hear me involved in - 20 minute free-jazz jaunts on electric guitars, fretless bass and african harp...handclapping gospel acoustic blues...vocal drones...molten-heavy face ripping doom metal...but, there is also something here for those of you who prefer the more melodic side of things. Some beautiful guitar harmonies and luscious garage reverbs, all that rad stuff. Those of you who require convincing of such a project should head over to the VCV myspace page to listen to "I'm Ready", which is quite possibly a pinnacle of my entire time served in this band with David.

VCV MYSPACE

Of course, for you rabid obsessed Jandek fans (I know you're out there) you can just go straight to the source, and check this record out at our cozy monochrome label INSTALL, because, as Jandek says, "the future's not so bright, but oh, it's the only way you can go..."

ORDER INFO AT INSTALL

Cheers

Lunar Testing Lab Remix

2008-11-21T00:23:00.001-08:00

I was asked recently to do a remix for Lunar Testing Lab, and I'm happy to say that he kindly included my remix on his new record! You can check out the album at the fast-growing I, Absentee label, which is also home to several other notable releases. This album really impressed me...lots of super funked out psychedelic beat-trips a la Odd Nosdam, with all sorts of cool pretty ambient in-between tracks to tie the whole experience together. Tons of cool space titles and space sounds and space everything...if you're a space cadet like me, you can't go wrong with this album!

CHECK IT OUT

November's Shop Releases

2008-11-21T00:09:00.000-08:00

BRIAN GRAINGER
A GIANT HAND
MML046 / CD-R

Here's one I've been saving and savoring since Spring. Six massive, vulgar and megalithic pieces that would appeal to folks who enjoyed Porch, Porous Variations or the recent Borley Rectory set. Very heavy and untamed at times, but also very diverse and hopefully well-rounded in terms of textures and general moods. A lot of experimentation happening on this record, using synths, drum machines, feedback, AM radio signals and turntables to achieve tonalities, then augmented with deep sub-basslines or guitars. The material is still totally beatless, however through the use of various tremolos and delays, some tracks become quite rhythmic in their own way. A very obtuse and different album, but a very fun one that will likely lead to bigger and better ideas. Limited edition of 50 copies in a jewel case with cardstock inserts.

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BRIAN GRAINGER
OLYMPUS MONS
MML045 / 3" CD-R EP

A three-inch EP contaning three dense guitar/bass drone pieces, recorded between 2006 and 2008. "Moth Cancer" is an outtake from the Porous Variations album, "Roche Moutonnee" was created during the sessions for Nine Billion Names and the title piece is a recorded improvisation from 2006, right around the time David Tagg and I were organizing our recording of The Star Of The King Of The Dead. Very droney and slightly doomy, while still retaining clear melodic elements and tonalities. Limited to 36 copies with corkboard covers.

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BRIAN GRAINGER
BLACK ANTHELION
MML042 / 3" CD-R EP

Continued experiments with the "Anthelion" concept have yielded yet another EP of moody night-time listening. The previous Anthelions aimed to unify the musicality of field recordings with minimal musical embellishment, creating a sound environment that was an both aural and physical art piece. This time, twenty minutes of dark skies, cold wind and planes surround the stereo field, while guitar and bass parts have been added in, tonally working with the slow hum of the aircraft sounds, making it hard to isolate either sound from one another. Altogether a very deep piece of music, packaged in clear plastic sleeves with swirled black and white patterns on the inserts and the disc.

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Happy Halloween

2008-10-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

VHOM
BORLEY RECTORY
MML044 / 2xCD-R
LIMITED EDITION OF 38 COPIES

Conceived in 2004, worked on, abandoned, reignited, trashed, reconstructed, abandoned again, regurgitated...and now, complete. A record that, musically, would've been a Brian Grainger album, but arrived at a time when I wasn't quite ready to release works under my own name yet. Having been a work in progress for so long, the amount of material I was faced with shaping into this final product was overwhelming! So, having a fondness for the long-form, I opted to do a double CD set with this. Yes, I know, right on the heels of my collaborative double-album with Jhonn-Paul, but the fact is that this record has been in the waiting line for a lot longer, and my collaborative release was a totally improvised, spur-of-the-moment beast. If I haven't scared you away with this daunting set yet, it might come with some surprise that this project is and has been the pinnacle of my fascination with all manner of dark and occult things. EVPs, videogames like Silent Hill, old library books about haunted houses, getting scared and hearing things at my Dad's house in the country, Stephen King, "Tales From The Darkside", the original 60's run of "The Outer Limits", Murnau's 1922 silent-film "Nosferatu"...all thrown together with musical reference points like Aube, Merzbow, Masonna, Lustmord, Pocahaunted and that creep-out middle part of Pink Floyd's "Echoes". In short, I wanted to create the creepiest, most convincing haunted atmosphere I could, without seeming dated or contrived. Hopefully, it worked, or at least I feel like it might have for me. Even after making this album myself, it still gives me shivers to listen to late at night, alone, reading "The Road Virus Heads North", hearing EVERY SOUND in my house, and being so scared that I have to pull the sheets over my head to sleep! Delivered (hopefully) to you on the best possible night of the year for that, Borley Rectory is a spooky ghost story from me to all of you this Halloween! Limited to only 38 copies, which is a very short run, so they may be gone within the week, but I want to keep this album's appearance short and sweet.

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BRIAN GRAINGER
LATENT CLOAK
MML041 / 3" CD-R
LIMITED EDITION OF 50 COPIES

A pagan wedding song for all of you harvest celebrators here...dressed in pumpkin orange and as loud as a Scotsman who is burning alive in the bowels of a giant wicker man (ha ha), this is something that'll carve itself into your head, Jack-O-Lantern style. And, if you listen carefully enough, under the torrential waves of sound-destruction, you can scratch out the raw sound of Autumn, melted down and flattened into 50 three-inch discs.

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P.S - I also made a minimal promo video for the track "Baseroom" from Borley Rectory. Check it out!

October Shop Releases

2008-10-22T22:06:00.000-07:00

MML034 / COPPICE HALIFAX & FOAMEK / LUSH Q TRAX II

Held up via several delayed processes in the last 2-3 months, this little sequel EP is finally here! For those of you who liked the first split with Foamek I did, here's another 21 minutes of funky ambient techno bliss. This time it's slightly more influenced by minimal and dub techno, with the exception of "Marsh Acid", which is probably the most dancefloor-friendly Coppice Halifax track ever recorded. Packaged up in cute soft-plastic mini-cases with pastel colored card inserts and a big blue Q stamped in ink! The first Lush Q release flew off the shelves so don't wait around too long if you want this, it's bound to disappear pretty fast!

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MML039 / BRIAN GRAINGER & JOHN-PAUL KRAMER

A massive slab of bleak drone improvisations stretched across desolate landscapes, recorded almost completely live in the space of one exhausting week at Milieu Music HQ. Four extended pieces on two economically-friendly discs inside a stylish plastic-wallet case, this record is definitely going to appeal to fans of VCV, or albums like "Autumn Soil Feedback", "Porch" or "Porous Variations". Heavy, soft, near and distant all at once. Dense decaying music for nighttime headphone listening! Limited to 100 copies.

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MML042 / BRIAN GRAINGER / RED ANTHELION

Imagine yourself walking blindfolded through a grove filled with cherry trees. It's a windy night, and the more you walk the closer you get to a calm, open clearing where muted bell-tones waft through the air, and the coolness of the temperature is just enough to be pleasant. Somewhere off in the distance, you can hear scrambled radio signals...maybe other people elsewhere in this cherry grove with you...you decide that it's not important, lay down in the tall grass and doze off listening to the sounds around you.

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Milieu Stash Liquidation Week

2008-10-09T00:32:00.000-07:00

So I'm going through my super-cluttered music room, which, in addition to being my creative studio space, it is also my makeshift office for label-related stuff. As you might imagine, I lose and find things all the time, and it's ALWAYS a mess. Given that, I've decided to lighten the load a little bit, and so I've dug out some old gems from my own personal stash to sell on Ebay. All items I'm listing are totally out of print and pretty scarce, so if any of you out there reading this would like to pick up some older records you may have missed out on, now is your chance! The titles I have listed so far are:

MILIEU / NIGHT CURRENTS / ORIGINAL U-COVER EDITION

MILIEU / A WARM WOODEN HOLLOW / INCLUDES BONUS 3"

COPPICE HALIFAX / 1983 / EED PROMO DISC

COPPICE HALIFAX / COPPICE HALIFAX / EED SWIVEL CASE

All of these items have been listed at or around the original price you would've paid for them if you bought them when they came out. They're all up for a weeklong auction and I will ship anywhere in the world. More items will probably be added in the next couple days so when that happens I'll update the list of available titles here.

You can visit my Ebay seller page by clicking HERE, and that should show you all the titles I am selling.

In closing, if anyone reading this is after any other older titles, please feel free to ask, because you never know what I might be able to find in my messy room here. Cheers!

Nine Billion Names

2008-09-13T01:42:00.000-07:00

The long-awaited Nine Billion Names album is finally here. The album Brian started recording as far back as the Eight Thousander sessions, and also the record he has always intended to be written especially for Second Sun. Musically it covers alot of guitar-heavy territories...an epic 70 minute record that cycles through somber drone-beds, backwoods acoustics, gigantic distorted slabs of doom and beautiful bent melodies looping forever. Occasionally through the haze you can make out organs, basslines and field recordings that echo the album's cozy home cover art. This is Brian's first full-length at SSR under his own name, and as such we'd like to consider it his first proper solo album here, with unified concepts of art, sound, memories, locations and numbers all planted firmly in place. It's a very sad record that sounds like it's trying to find its way home again, even though it already knows that place no longer exists. Perfect listening for the advent of Autumn.

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21MG Series Update

2008-09-13T01:33:00.000-07:00

It has just occurred to me that I haven't really posted about my last couple contributions to the 21MG Series at SSR! David and I are still extremely proud of this series and so here's the scoop on the last couple I did...

BRIAN GRAINGER / KERGUELEN PLATEAU
21MG SERIES / PILL-J2
Kerguelen Plateau, named for a continent-size landmass that remains completely underwater, embodies the perfect complement to David's Bathymetry piece. Melodic guitars weave in and out of a warm-water drone, and a bit of Roy Montgomery influence can be traced here. This piece is filled with bright blue and orange tones and accurately conveys the over-100-degree temperatures active in Brian's southern home this summer.
(LINK)

BRIAN GRAINGER / PAINTED GREEN
21MG SERIES / PILL-K2
We present a new 21MG Series installment from Brian in the form of Painted Green. This guitar piece coincidentally goes very hand-in-hand with Nine Billion Names, melodically and texturally, even though they were recorded separately. A sort of an ode to Summer, waving goodbye to the glowing heat and the wet urban lawns that overtook the last 4 months, while welcoming a new season of vibrant colors, festive smells and cooler weather.
(LINK)

September Shop Updates

2008-09-13T01:20:00.000-07:00

MML037 / BRIAN GRAINGER / HUMIDITY
3" CD-R Single
Something to herald the end of the Summer and the beginning of Autumn. A very melodic ambient piece called "Humidity" that sits very much in the same vein as records like Of The Apple or Eight Thousander. Lots of deep buried tonalities under cloudy chords and a really textural field recording of some of the rain that Brian's city has gotten along with the recent hurricanes. Guitars and organ pedalbass, limited to 100 copies!
(LINK)

MML038 / VHOM / FAALOPIAN TILS
CD-R Album
The very first hardcopy full-length Vhom album is finally here. Years in the making, Faalopian is not going to be something that appeals to everyone. Over an hour of 31 untitled tracks, all joined together in a seamless collage flow, and packaged in a jewel case with heavy duty corrugated cardboard for the inserts. Musically this record might resemble the sound of pouring boiling water in your ears, and I'm not quite sure why anyone (including me) would want to listen to that! For fans of things like BRTLMN/Wordsalad/Sagmo B, early Throbbing Gristle, Cylob's "Industrial Folk Songs" or Aphex Twin's "Classics". Heck, maybe even a little of Merzbow's "Pulse Demon" in there too. An absolute mindfuck of a record that is best enjoyed on a very loud stereo system. Putting the "concrete" back into musique concrete, 100 copies at a time.
(LINK)

MMX006 / MILIEU / DUSTYBOX TRACKS
3" CD-R EP
Already up to numero seis in the Dustybox Tracks series! This time it's more like the very first EP that started the series, in that it's a small collection of remixes I did as Milieu for Asymmetrical Head, Track53 and Phasen. Melodies and beats are all over the place on these tracks, and they'd definitely appeal to anyone who is after the "classic Milieu sound". As usual with the series, it's only a fiver to get some catchy tunes that can fit in your pocket.
(LINK)

**BACK IN STOCK**
MML015 / BRIAN GRAINGER / AUTUMN SOIL FEEDBACK (SECOND EDITION)
CD-R Album
Repackaged in a more standard shop look with the original decals and stamping, and this time it's only $5! For anyone who missed out on this run of 50 before, this second edition is another run of 50 and will probably go pretty fast! For those of you who like your drones buried under walls of radio static, vinyl surface-noise, tape hiss, VLF recordings and 16-RPM orchestras, this is just for you.
(LINK)

Keepers Of The Spice

2008-09-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

In four easy steps:

EED's Summer Vacation '08

2008-09-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

I've recently had the pleasure of banding together with a bunch of friends who happen to be brilliant musicians and assembling a really awesome compilation of Summer-toned electronic music. Some of my very favorite people contributed to this disc, so check it out! From EED:

Summer is ending, and here at EED we've had a really eventful season. Everyone is eager for Autumn to come, ready for the leaves to change color and for the air to get a little cooler. So before that happens, we'd like to offer you a family photo album of sorts, to look back on what all of us did this Summer: The EED Summer Vacation compilation album of 2008!

Everyone from the EED-family-and-friends makes an appearance here...playful sunny melodies and beats from Mrs Jynx, Am-Boy, Milieu, EOD and Obfusc play alongside cleancut and grassy-green organic techno from Electricwest, Yimino, Ten And Tracer and Thisket, with homegrown suntanned sleepy pieces from David Tagg, Canyon Country, Biathalon and Coppice Halifax closing the showcase. Lots of accessible feel-good music to go around for everyone, the end of Summer has never been so action-packed! So grab a copy, curl up with your loved one or go for a walk and enjoy the season change, EED style!

CLICK TO ORDER
All orders will start shipping the week of September 8th.

Milieu Meets Euki, The Psychedelic Eco Warrior

2008-09-06T14:13:00.000-07:00

Trailer For Euki

The good folks behind Isoceles have concocted yet another warped visual experience, and graciously included some of my music in their efforts. Some info from the creators:

"EuKi is a rebellious hyper-active teenage hacker living in the near future, where both the most positive possibilities, and the most negative, have become manifest in two separate competing worlds; Ecotopia and Dystopia. She uses a self-programmed PDA and her intellectual robo-cat SupaKitty to hack the dimensions of the world around her and fight to restore balance to Earth’s teetering eco-systems."

Additionally, they have also informed me that their previous installment "Zombie Dasein" has been updated as well. This short-film also features music of mine fleshed together in an interesting way, so for those who have not seen it, check it out here.

Out Of Print!

2008-09-06T14:07:00.000-07:00

Since the last update here, several shop items have sold out. If you're looking for the following items, I would suggest visiting Norman Records or contacting me personally if all else fails.

MML006 / MILIEU / DUB MMX
MML008 / MILIEU / THREE SPACE SONGS
MML011 / COPPICE HALIFAX / HONEYSOIL
MML015 / BRIAN GRAINGER / AUTUMN SOIL FEEDBACK
MMD001-B / MILIEU / NEW DRUGS (2ND EDITION)
MM013 / COPPICE HALIFAX / NETTLES

Alternatively, if you'd just like to hear the material from the Coppice Halifax and Milieu singles, those have been compiled on two CD-R issues in the shop (Paperbacks and Singles).

Almighty Shop Update - End Of Summer

2008-09-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

This space has sadly gone without updating for a while now...mostly due to me being busier than one man should ever be, but I suppose that was what Summer was all about...nonetheless, here are all the new shop releases since the last update. A few things have also gone out of print since I last posted here, but I'll outline those items in a different post.

ABOUT THE FOLLOWING TWO ITEMS:
Due to the manufacturer that supplies my 24-minute mini-CD-R's discontinuing them, many of the EPs in the Milieu Music catalog that utilize this format will no longer be available. I've "consolidated" 6 releases so far to accommodate this change, and they will now be available as full-length compilations on standard 5" CD-Rs at a lower price than what you'd pay for all of them separately. Anyone wishing to buy the original EPs should either contact me personally or check with my distributors, as they will probably have copies.

MML028 / MILIEU / PAPERBACKS
CD-R Compilation
Compiling songs from Three Space Songs, Dub Mmx and Muted Travels, this disc contains an hour of classic Milieu. Lots of bouncy beats covered in melodic loops, basslines, guitars and organs. The best kind of warped feelgood music for those of us who never want the Summer to end!
(LINK)

MML029 / COPPICE HALIFAX / SINGLES
CD-R Compilation
A second compilation disc, this time bringing together music from Nettles, Honeysoil and Cedarmill Dub. Musically this disc visits alot of terrain...from spacious ambient techno to dubby bass-and-breaks and crumbling drone-castles.
(LINK)

MML030 / PARALLAX / THE SOFT MACHINES
CD-R
Sitting quietly in a box since 2004, this Parallax album has been remastered and properly issued here for the first time ever. Packed to the brim with songs going as far back as 1999, The Soft Machines is a pleasant and simple look into what Brian was doing well before Milieu was ever a thought in his head. Lots of warm pads and pretty looped synth melodies over minimal drum accompaniment, as well as a couple (hopefully) forgivable moments that might date this music for some listeners. Cleaned up and affectionately packaged, this album is limited to 100 copies.
(LINK)

MML031 / PARALLAX / REVOLVING CLOUDS
3" CD-R EP
In locating and remastering The Soft Machines, a couple hours of unreleased Parallax material also surfaced. Of that, these six tracks caught Brian's ear somehow and so here they are, never before released and pressed up on a super-intimate run of 50 copies. A quaint little companion disc to The Soft Machines, complete with an alternate version of the TSM track "Palm To Fourhead Hex".
(LINK)

MML032 / OPHIBRE & BRIAN GRAINGER / MAINE/SANDER
CD-R Expanded Reissue
Housed in a really cool jewel case with doublesided pattern-card inserts, this CD-R is a filled to-the-brim 80 minute disc of drones. Technically a reissue of the first split I did with Ophibre, however that release was limited to a 50 copy run of cassettes, this version is now on a much more accessible format along with an extra track from each of us not previously released. As an extra bonus way to involve you, the listener, we've included a baggie of 12 small scrap pieces of paper, all with the same designs that the CDs themselves have. Anyone who assembles these 12 pieces into a collage of some kind and mails it back to Milieu Music HQ will be rewarded with a bonus MP3-release of around 40 minutes of music not included on the disc! That's right - we want you to be creative. Each "collage" should size up to be about as big as a jewel-case CD insert, and I'd love to have some cool stuff to hang on my walls in the studio here. Limited to 100 copies!
(LINK)

MML033 / BRIAN GRAINGER / POROUS VARIATIONS
3xCD-R Triple-Album Set
I know what a lot of you are thinking - THREE DISCS? You read correctly. This epic album contains FOUR HOURS of brand new music stretched across three discs in a unique jewel case with pattern-card inserts. No two copies look the same either. Since there's a lot more work and materials involved in making a triple-album, I am doing these in batches of 25. So any of you who get in on the "first edition", your copies will feature black and white artwork, keeping them distinct from later editions. Musically this record amounts to some of the thickest most rock-solid drone work I think I've ever done. Completely live and improvised on only guitar, organ and pedalbass, with some tracks clocking in at 46 and 76 minutes, surprisingly. I'm sure an album this big will keep you busy for a long time, as I know I certainly don't have four hours any day of the week to devote to music listening alone, but that's sort of the charm of this album I think. Not only is it something that you can go back to quite a bit, but it's also meant to be played at VERY high volumes, if at all possible. A lot of the low end and wobbly microtonal stuff happens
very deep in the mix, so at a high decibel level it's sure to be more entertaining. It was REALLY loud when I was recording it! Limited edition of 100.
(LINK)

MML035 / COPPICE HALIFAX / CMX
CD-R Compilation
Born out of necessity as well as accumulation and time passing, Cmx is a compilation of remixes done under the Coppice Halifax moniker that either are webrelease-only or are now out of print on whatever hardcopy issues they appeared on previously. A few remixes are also not yet released, making this compilation more exclusive and hopefully more complete for a longer period of time. Additionally, two versions of Coppice Halifax tracks appear here for the first time as well - the original more ambient version of "Dayglo Daze" and the original uncut version of "Canal". Altogether, this compilation flows more like an album than a collection of remixes, since the nature of my remixes usually allows for more unique material to surface over the original source sounds...making this a respectable Coppice Halifax release in its own right. This record comes lovingly packaged in a sleek jewel case with patterned/inkstamped cardstock inserts and blue discs, and limited to 100 copies.
(LINK)

MML036 / COPPICE HALIFAX / TREADER VERSIONS
3" CD-R EP
A small companion EP to the Cmx release, these four versions of the track "Treader" predate the self-titled Coppice Halifax album. In a similar process as "Nettles", several sketches and varying angles on the same idea were worked on until the final album-piece became apparent. In these early versions, it is possible to hear the electric piano, overcompressed field recordings of wind and water, bell melodies and muffled organ drones that all comprised the final version of "Treader", separated and displayed in four tracks that might as well be new songs altogether. Edition of 100 copies on 3" CD-R with inkstamped cardstock insert.
(LINK)

MMX004 / MILIEU / DUSTYBOX TRACKS
3" CD-R EP
The fourth volume of the Dustybox Tracks EP series, this time featuring three outstanding remixes by Lithium Enchantment, Lunar Testing Lab and the ever-impressive David Tagg! Lithium Enchantment turns in a stellar electro presentation of "Elep" (Remodelled version, not SWFITS), and Lunar Testing Lab phones-home with a slower hip-hop version of "Greenscreen Boredoms" from Sophiesongs that will make you swear you're in a gravity-free environment. Closing the disc is David Tagg's version of "Stone Chapel" from Of The Apple, which wouldn't be out of place on SSR somewhere, as it's very similar to his Waist Deep Seas Of Milk CD.
(LINK)

MMX005 / BRIAN GRAINGER / DUSTYBOX TRACKS
3" CD-R EP
Now for the fifth EP in the Dustybox Tracks series - this time two Brian Grainger mixes instead of Milieu. The first is an abrasive scatterbrained collage-assemblage of the "Porchsuite" material from my Porch split CD-R with Ophibre. Christopher Byler is the responsible party here, and he calls his work on the subject "domestic decompression". Secondly I weigh in with a 12+ minute drone version of one of Christopher's tracks, "Vengeance", which is very much in the vein of Autumn Soil Feedback or Porch and would definitely appeal to fans of either release!
(LINK)

Milieu - Beyond The Stars - Reissued

2008-06-26T10:35:00.000-07:00

Over 2 years since it was obscurely released as a bonus disc for the Beyond The Sea Lies The Stars album, Milieu's companion album Beyond The Stars Lies The Sea has been reissued, remastered and redecorated for SSR! An initial run of 150 copies went quickly out of print before the preorder for them was even finished in 2006, and until now the music was left completely unavailable outside of expensive collectors' circles and file sharing networks. This reissue of the album has been completely remastered from Brian's original session tapes, and two songs originally removed from the lineup appear here as well. The sequence is a bit different, and the CD sports all new photography by Brian himself. Altogether it feels more like its own album now rather than an extension of Beyond The Sea. The music has that same dusky nautical feel, however here things get a bit darker. Black monolithic space overtakes salt water and sails until all we're left with are pure colorful memories. The album begins with a ship leaving port and ends somewhere beyond the infinite, after space itself.

Available directly from Brian here:
CLICK

Shop Redesign & New Releases

2008-06-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

As you may have been able to tell, I recently redesigned the entire Milieu Music shop page, so now it functions alot better as a more "label looking" site complete with a catalog and pictures of my pets! And, as you might have expected, it's chock-full of new releases too, all affordably priced at $5-$8.

MML023 / BRIAN GRAINGER / YELLOWED
A warm hour of tonal feedback drones, completely improvised and lovingly laid to tape. Packaged in yellow paper sleeves with yellow stamped inserts and limited to 50 copies.
(LINK)

MML024 / WATERSTRIDER / KOJIRO
Four unearthed gems from 2005, and a proper introduction to the long unidentified collaboration between Milieu and Ten And Tracer: Waterstrider. Comprised of a single track the boys recorded three years ago and filed away, and three long sought-after Milieu remixes of the Ten And Tracer track "A Distant Monarch". All material has never before been released and appears here in the form of a 3" CD-R with a blue cardstock insert. Limited edition of 100 copies, in three shades of blue.
(LINK)

MML025 / COPPICE HALIFAX & CASIO COMMANDER / NEON NITES AND DAYGLO DAZE
Hot on the heels of the bouncy Lush Q Trax split with Foamek, Coppice Halifax returns once again for a split 3" CD-R with fellow ambient technologist Casio Commander. Two original tracks and two remixes paint a picture of a drugged out night in neon danceclubs and a slow comedown as the sun rises, maybe in Miami, maybe in the Summer. Probably in the 80's. Packaged with hot-pink inks on royal purple cardstock with a shiny ribbon insert, and a special first edition of 12 copies with steel-blue cardstock. Limited to 50.
(LINK)

MMX002 / MILIEU / DUSTYBOX TRACKS
The second part of the ongoing Dustybox Tracks series of 3" CD-Rs. This time around the dust in question has been cleaned off of five remixes of Milieu tracks, some done years ago and never released. Beautiful remixing work graciously done by Galerie Stratique, Pizgah, Scup Bucket, Fieldtriqp and Am-Boy.
(LINK)

MML026 / VHOM / SALT/DECAY
Recorded in 2006 and built using only drums as the sound source, this Vhom EP fills half an hour with the sounds of alien machinery in a damp dark room, sputtering in and out of operation, while dry gusts of sickly-sweet air form a droning purple fog. Very spooky dense music for nighttime headphone listening. Packaged in standard paper shop sleeves with a stamped clock insert, and limited to 50 copies.
(LINK)

MML027 / MILIEU / CALICO FOUNTAIN MELANGE
An "expanded single" of three tracks from the vaults! "Albatrosses" and "Counting Lights" were originally written to be included on Aurora Borealis and Night Currents, respectively, and then they were meant to be included on several other releases since then, but never quite made it. Still kicking today and frustrated at not being picked so many times, these tracks have grown together in a way, and now they appear together here complemented by an almost-70 minute (!!!) mixset of Milieu songs, seamlessly and masterfully woven together by Mr. Kernel32 in the UK. Packaged in a clear plastic sleeve with a colorful inkstamped rainbow card, limited to 50 copies.
(LINK)

MMX003 / MILIEU / DUSTYBOX TRACKS
The third installment of the ongoing Dustybox Tracks series. This time with three psychedelic mixes by Foamek, Am-Boy and Eric Poplin Spies. Very much in the vein of long hazy summer music, and definitely appealing to folks who liked this series so far. Packaged in the same layout as the first two in the series.
(LINK)

Milieu & The Dandelion Council - Awkward 27

2008-06-26T09:57:00.001-07:00

The super-awesome UK split-label Awkward Silence recently asked me to contribute 10 minutes of music to a split EP with The Dandelion Council. I turned out two very beachy pieces called "Coastline" and "Night Winds Detuned", both of which really remind me of walking on the shores back in Myrtle Beach and Pawley's Island where I grew up. The tunes by The Dandelion Council are more folky with guitars and such, so there's something here for everyone! This split is limited to 300 copies and is available directly from Awkward Silence for not even 5 pounds, and that's if you live outside of Europe! It's even cheaper if you live on that side of the pond...anyway, go check it out!

CLICK

Dyson

2008-06-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

Messrs. Alex May and Rudolf Kremers have taken part in an online competition to develop an original freeware video game, Dyson, and being fans of my work, asked me to contribute music and sound effects to their game. I'm a pretty avid gamer and I've never done anything like this before, so I gave it a shot! I think the result is pretty interesting, as the game looks very cleancut and futuristic, while still maintaining a nice organic feel. I remixed the track "Singsong Waters Of An Endless Sea" from the Beyond The Sea Lies The Stars album to work with this game, and also created a number of loops and sound events that are all in tune with the track, so as you play through the game, the music sort of "recomposes" itself as you trigger various notes and clips. Anyway, as I said before it's a free game so go check it out!

CLICK

Help Thisket!

2008-06-15T22:53:00.000-07:00

I have just found out that my musicmaking pal Thisket returned to his Louisiana home to find it had been broken into and completely raided, and to add insult to injury, the thieves left his water running so his entire house was flooded as well. This sadly includes all of his music equipment - synths, drum machines, the whole bit - GONE. Thankfully, they had insurance on the house and that *should* cover a number of things that *should* bring Mr. Williams' life back to normal (hopefully), but unfortunately most of you probably understand how little insurance companies really care and how little he'll probably get back for his equipment.

So with that said, I urge any and all of you to go visit Daniel's shop page, where you can buy really cool hand-decorated and lossless-master-sourced CD-Rs and cassettes of his releases. He's made alot of really top-notch music in my opinion and most of it has gone criminally underappreciated. All of his shop items are very cheap ($5 plus shipping) and you'd not only be directly supporting an artist, but also REALLY helping him get back on his feet after this awful disaster. You can check out his super-easy and reasonable shop page here:

http://thisket.com/4/444/buy.html

(I highly recommend "NMB")

And you can even download three of his albums for free here:

http://disco.thisket.com/

("The Golden Afternoon" and "Summer Revue" are simply two of the best webrelease albums ever made)

Anyway, please help Daniel out. He's a really awesome guy and a talented musician who really could better the world with more stunning bedroom techno!

This Might Be A Blog Post

2008-06-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

And so it came to pass that Sophia, Angie and I all attended the They Might Be Giants appearance in Charlotte at the Visulite Theatre on June 14th. Having seen them 5 or 6 times previously, Soph has entertained me with promises of a great show and a varied selection of songs from their *extensive* catalog. I went in prepared to be indoctrinated into the school of happy TMBG fans who all jump around, sing and clap their hands like ecstatic kids who have just found a radio station playing their favorite song.

The venue was nice, air conditioned and not at all cramped. We had a very easy time grabbing a couple beers and just setting up camp right on stage right, directly below John Linnell's keyboard rig. They came on at quarter to 10 and played for over 2 hours, with 2 encores. I began the night expecting three things: good entertainment from a band that's been around since 1982, a good live mix on the instrumentation, and maybe to hear a few songs I knew well enough to sing along to. I was more than satisfied as these guys made quick work of any naysayers, immediately ripping the stage wide open with "Doctor Worm" and "Why Does The Sun Shine?" (the latter of which contained some hilarious bits about Decepticons, and more Decepticons). It's hard to believe how old these guys are, and even harder to think about a band that made it through the eighties AND the nineties completely intact - untarnished by record industry pressures, production sounds, lineup changes, drugs/alcohol, anything you can think of actually. TMBG have always existed happily inside their own little musical universe where not much sounds like them except the bands that grew up listening to their records. In fact it's pretty amazing how sincere and genuine the whole show was - right down to John and John going back and forth about how to proceed with songs, as it was clear they didn't really rehearse *everything* and were totally comfortable just goofing off - especially since this is a band that has basically made rocking shows and writing pop songs their job, and they do that job perfectly.

The mixing on the band was extremely good. Tight and loud, but not like, ear-shattering. It made a really big difference in songs like "Ana Ng" and "Particle Man" to have a really prominent bass and drum sound. Plus their lead guitarist was a very proficient guy on his own, playing both electric and acoustic guitars, keyboard, synth and even doing some vocals. The high quality of the Johns' compositional talents was completely enhanced through the lens of this super-tight band. I mean can you even imagine how many songs this band has to know how to play at ALL TIMES? Not to mention they have to be good at improvising too. Kudos to them.

It's also worth noting that TMBG's catalog of mostly shorter (under 3 minute) tracks worked to their advantage as they just rip through song after song, hook after hook. It's hard to imagine ANYONE going to a show like this and getting bored or not having even a little fun. The crowd were all very nice people, from the couple I bumped into and spoke with. They all seemed varied in age as well as social-circle - everyone from preppy khaki-pant parents to tattooed shirtless punks to nerdy bearded guys with long hair (yours truly included) was bouncing around, and singing along with almost every line of every song! I should hope I end up so lucky, to be in my forties and have a clear connection with FOUR generations of people without any artistic compromise. These guys are one of the best bands I've ever seen live without a doubt and even if you're not as familiar or not really a fan, you're missing out if you don't go see them when they come around!

Finally, below is the ONE photo of the show I took - Mr. Linnell playing his keyboard and singing. Pictured above my blog post is the very nifty sheet printed and taped to their mixer which reads "This Might Be An Input List".

Electronic Explorations

2008-05-24T12:47:00.000-07:00

Mr. Rob Booth has just done a big podcast radio show with spotlight on my favorite electronic lady, Mrs. Jynx! He gave Jynx an opportunity to create her own mini-mixset as well. I was pretty flattered that she wanted to play the remix of Kites I did in her own mixset, and then Rob contacted me and asked for some more Milieu tunes to play! I gave him five different ones but he decided on Pinwheel Carousels from Echo Spectrum. It's way cool to be included in this podcast so go check it out!

CLICK!

Shop Updated

2008-05-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

MILIEU - DUSTYBOX TRACKS
MMX001 / 3" CD-R

$5.00 PLUS S&H

Presenting the first in a soon to be ongoing series of 3" EPs, all ambiguously titled Dustybox Tracks. This "series" will function as a sort of extension to what Wasted Magic In The Sound and Our Blue Remixes did, which was, for the newcomer to all this, give all the remixes done by me or for me a proper loving home. So this first installment yields 5 remixes I did for friends of mine that haven't been and probably won't be released anywhere else. The lineup includes Track53 (from Archaic Horizon), Like Birds (an amazing talent that I am surprised no one else knows yet), Thisket (from Custom Music Records.before they collapsed), The Artificial Sea (a boy-girl
duo from up north) and Mrs Jynx (the Lisa Frank of electronic music!). Packaged with several different colorful retro-styled patterns and only $5. Check it out if it sounds appealing to you!

FOR MP3 CLIPS PHOTOS AND ORDERING INFO: