Tags:
Post Image
FeaturedNew artist

The Nightwalker – Nobody Can’t Escape From Karma

Finnish artist The Nightwalker comes to WEATNU Records with his debut release (Nobody Can’t Escape From Karma)
Le Clotêt Avec Garcés hails from homeland of Catalonia, originally releasing under a folk-grunge album in 2015 and moving this year to an electro sound. Producing music in the cold north under the land of lights. The Nightwalker brings influences from GusGus and classic electro. His music has been heard worldwide.
Hearing the melody that penetrates the heart and soul, you’re soon not to forget this tune.

“Nobody Can’t Escape From Karma” by The Nightwalker
Read More
Post Image
Articles

Awaiting a new dawn

Looking back in retrospect to a time where it was hard to be seen or discovered, we have a lot that we have accomplished as artists. But now music is being discovered, and the system by which its being found, allows artists to take charge in where their music goes. without labels and without the middleman. We’ve come a long way as musicians and composers in the independent world. Instead of using our platform as a way to force the industry, we’ve become a part of the music scene itself, a part of music history. #WEATNU is at the sunset of its former days, as ideals and motivations change, and this idea we have has helped the many.

An artist dreams of being heard, at least for the mere sake that you “climbed that mountain” and it feels good to accomplish a goal. To make a notch in the music scene with others, to make a change to help the niche artist and their fans. After 8 years We are the New Underground has been doing the same thing, but we are looking at the sunset of those 8 years and looking forward to the sunrise of the next era in a future not yet known.

What worked then, no longer works now, what was needed then is no longer needed. If the artist now has complete control over their music, their entire catalog and their fan base (which they should) then what about labels and free communities that help artists? Those places are still just as relevant, as they allow the artist to seek out new listeners and fans. Not just radio and streaming, or even Bandcamp but the indie label itself still matters. The artist may feel proud that they climbed to the top on their own, but none of us really make it there by ourselves.

Our efforts are not alone, as #WEATNU has loyal followers, some seen and some unseen, who help the new artist while they themselves benefit from the scene itself. The element to making music is greater than the career that comes from it. Art and music are the beating heart of what it means to be human, and the greater care taken to ensure that survives is above all. WEATNU isn’t a label, it’s a movement, of musicians, artists, poets and dreamers, all of which long for others to simply enjoy the work they have left behind.

We can’t all be David Bowie but there are others who are just as talented yet unseen, even underappreciated. This article should go to the labels, their indie artists and the fans that keep them going.

Most of us don’t make a dime from our work, but at the end of the day, that music you create is being heard by someone. Those people who take the time and put together large radio shows, for the artist, without payment, for the mere pleasure of getting the music heard, we salute you here at #WEATNU.

We’re all working together in some way to strike the balance for the artist. And there will always be artists who think they can do it all on their own, but adding their work to other places actually brings them newer connections and helps build a foundation, and new friends. No artist ever made it to the top alone, someone somewhere helped them see the peak that was hiding over the next cliff side. WEATNU continues to move with the DIY scene, and that means we move with your music.

#WEATNU Digital Magazine Almark
July 2023

Read More
Post Image
Featured

Synthesis Noir (EBM/Industrial) sub-label

A new generation of Industrial, Darkwave, Coldwave and EBM artists – take flight, as we start to build up our artist list for 2023. Another welcome addition to the already existing list of labels that are provided here.

One of (6) internet radios that #WEATNU had during 2015 has just been born.

Having our 3rd sub-label set for Industrial and dark electro type genres, just seemed like the right timing.
As the label continues to create more options for the listener, allowing in the known and unknown artist who poses “great talent.” Synthesis Noir promises to be something new.

While during the beginning of the movement of We are the New Underground, our roots were Industrial, IDM, Ambient, Dark ambient, and from that day forward the digital underground scene continues to morph and evolve and we release what is sent our way. One more label added to the landscape, one more option for the artist. These labels of #WEATNU help to target various scenes of the music landscape.

If you’re into classic Industrial, Electro, and EBM, then Synthesis Noir will be a place to keep an eye on.
Our sub-label may include some goth-crossovers from Transmission Nova label as well.
A newer audience will find this great music and the #WEATNU machine will continue to grow.
Free to join, and great benefits allotted to the artist.
Other genres may include Futurepop, witchhouse, and many sub-genres that come to us.
If Transmission Nova is to guitar post-punk, then Synthesis Noir is to Coldwave and digital wires.

#WEATNU Digital Magazine Almark
June 2023

Follow our Bandcamp: https://synthesisnoir.bandcamp.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SynthesisNoir
Post your music direct to our network to be considered, or
https://network.weatnurecords.com/public/d/12-synthesis-noir-industrialdarkwave-and-ebm-sub-label/14

Contact direct below

https://weatnurecords.com/contact/

Read More
Post Image
ArticlesFeatured+1

Beyond the algorithm

In a music scene that is nearly impossible to be heard, yet alone be noticed, #WEATNU has been fighting for experimental music since the summer of 2014. Starting by forming the group We the New Underground, on Soundcloud that summer, but that was just the beginning of an idea that became a movement and finally a label that artists could stand behind

In this world we have formed, the musician is appreciated, not underrated. It is a city all its own, a hub for artists who long to be found, found by anyone they can. The seeker who wishes for something more than top 40 finds it here. Along with the many artists who release to us, with other sub-labels connected, forming a network, a machine for the avant-garde, a world that is so well hidden, few know about it, yet alone care to seek it out, but it’s there, and it’s been building for these 8 years. That machine is a self-running creation, that is helping the indie artist.

In a digital realm that is vast, a small drop of water that is made creates quiet ripples across the digital ocean. The original logo becomes those quiet ripples moving across the music scene.

The mainstream is this imaginary wall that we all fighting. #WEATNU didn’t climb that wall, we tunneled under it, forming our own underground. Using the internet as that underground, an underground that long existed, before this movement was made, even before the internet itself was conceived.

The mainstream is this imaginary wall that we all fighting. #WEATNU didn’t climb that wall, we tunneled under it, forming our own underground. Using the internet as that underground, an underground that long existed, before this movement was made, even before the internet itself was conceived.

We are the New Underground –

The Underground scene

The underground has always been the hidden driving force behind the music. When mainstream was releasing Disco in the 70’s, people in their own world were creating punk and later Joy Division starting the post-punk movement. Then the 80’s, while New wave was jamming and pop radio was pushing synth-pop. Industrial began to surface with groups like Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, Skinny Puppy, NIN, Ministry and Severed Heads then from Belgium, EBM came forth, with Front242 and UK, Nitzer Ebb. When dance was huge, Richie Hawtin in a club in the Detroit scene was spinning techno, then later DnB, Jungle, Electronica in the UK, and Vaperwave, Lo-fi, Synthwave, Retrowave, Dream pop on the internet. And concluding, one scene building off another, connecting them somewhat with each other.

The experimental end of this spectrum began with early hits from Coldcut, Ninja Tune, WARP Records Aphex Twin, Autechre, Squarepusher thus the IDM scene. Then trickling down to, Underworld, Boards of Canada, Tycho, Tosca, GusGus, and Röyksopp showing us the downtempo and chillout field of things. Each scene is born direct from the underground. A small niche of people find the music, and it drives straight to the heart of what they are longing to hear.

WEATNU encompasses all of these sub-genres in (4) labels.

A free existence to a musician is key to survival in a corp music world, and everything we do is free to the artist.

#WEATNU 2023

WEATNU Records

Housing all forms of electronic music, avant-garde, experimental and ever-evolving underground styles we are the bleeding edge of the DIY scene.

WEATNU Records – Founded 2014

IFMACA Productions

Our cinematic/chillout label and company for royalty free stock media, formed in 2021, and slowly rising to help composers who make film-related music, that you can listen to and enjoy.

IFMACA Productions – founded Summer 2021
Our library of composers continues to build

Transmission Nova

The post-punk/shoegaze of Transmission Nova, alongside goth and alt-rock of the 90’s.

Opened in 2022
Transmission Nova – Founded Nov 2021, launched 2022.

Synthesis Noir

And this year Synthesis Noir, our latest sub-label will house, EBM/Industrial, Darkwave, and Coldwave music.

Synthesis Noir – Founded 2023 (opens Summer)


Internet radio

WEATNU [OUR] Online Underground Radio, playing 24/7 on rotation all music that is uploaded to us.
Freely send music to us.

WEATNU [OUR] playing the best of the underground, 24/7 Electronic, Avant-garde and beyond.

Alongside our sister station, Transmission Nova – WEATNU [OUR], which also plays Indie rock and shoegaze, goth, etc. Transmission Nova radio was the first before its label came years later.

Transmission Nova – WEATNU [OUR] 24/7 | Indie Rock/Post-punk/Shoegaze and Alternative. Internet radio: Playing the best of the Underground 24/7

Our movement hones in on “The Underground” of this modern era, where people are making music directly from their small bedrooms, tiny studio in their apt/flat. That obscure musician on YouTube you’ve never heard of, or the lonely talented musician that wants to be heard.

Along the way #WEATNU has formed Radio | Label | Magazine | and in 2023 formed its net-label to help the artist, who may not wish to sell their work, but instead be appreciated for it, under creative-commons licensing through archive.org.

#WEATNU – Net-label

WEATNU Records – net-label on archive.org – under creative-commons licensing. (opened 2023)

WEATNU continues to influence the indie scene

The image of #WEATNU – becomes invisible radio waves moving across the music scene, beyond web apps, beyond software barriers, and beyond the algorithm of social media, resisting restraint from the corp world. An idea is carried across the ocean, and around the world.

mind map of #WEATNU (c) 2023

Artists from different parts of the world

Artists from many places around the globe join us, we are a world-wide event. It started in the UK and spread to Australia, and now Russia where The Underground still thrives, thanks to the pioneers who keep it going; those early 80’s artists.

Artists and fans are given new options also in 2023, now that we have our network website.

Forum and social gathering

WEATNU Network – social network + forum, opened 2023

A free to join forum / social gathering for people to come together and share music, and to join #WEATNU, where one simply becomes part of the community, sharing each others music on the internet.

We are the New Underground seems to be influencing the music scene, in some way, by the people who hear the music we release to the internet. Those unknown musicians suddenly find a niche audience.
There are micro communities across the world and have been for years, and WEATNU is here as the lighthouse for all to see from endless miles on that digital ocean we are traveling over.

Some artists who have come through our doors went on to become semi-famous, even successful and some were already this way before they arrived, only needing a boost for their self-esteem or finding a new audience, even enjoying the community we have here.
For every person who can be helped here, they find their niche audience, and this continues to happen, due to the power of the internet.

What we offer is freedom to the artist and fans who alike wish to find music that isn’t mainstream, but has true, raw talent. Both the unknown and the known are welcome to join our movement. We need you all, now more than ever.

May we continue to grow in this hard music industry, but with your help, we will succeed.

We are the New Underground – We are all one.

Almark – #WEATNU Digital Magazine – June 2023

Join our network and get to know the community.
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WeatnuRecords
Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/weatnurecords
WEATNU Records on Bandcamp – https://weatnu.bandcamp.com
Transmission Nova on Bandcamp – https://transmissionnova.bandcamp.com
IFMACA Productions on Bandcamp – https://ifmacaproductions.bandcamp.com/artists
Discord chatroom: https://discord.com/invite/4jy5wBR

Website: https://weatnurecords.com



Read More
Post Image
New Musicreviews

The New Pollution – Live at Creative Corner

Wham, Bam, Thank you Ma’am – With a hint of Stones, Blondie, late 70’s Punk coupled with Elvis Costello, and 90’s pavement, you get a hit straight out of NYC itself.’

I’ve been listening to music most of my life, starting with a journey of 70’s rock during the early 80’s, and well into my teen years, with bands such as R.E.M. – and various Alternative rock groups. The super-group The New Pollution finds our ears this month, formed not from NYC but outside their state of residence, put together as High School friends. There are hints of John Spencer’s Blues Explosion, and our ears go wandering via this avant-garde rock anomaly. This is clearly an 80’s recreation by influence. Since the album is one continuous long-play, ones ears just need to take them in the direction they wish to go. Before the album is complete, past the warm up, then you really get to hear the genius of The New Pollution, when the organ comes in on Sad Pricks, coupled with, jazz-related tones, saxophone infused melodies, noise, wonky off-beat intervals and even a tambourine. On the final song, basslines that take you back to songs from The Talking Heads, and big city club music, in dark setting. It’s much like those hip cats during the days of the beat generation, just doing their thing. Influenced by the likes of David Bowie, on the first track and throughout, taken from each member’s influence, (Joy Division, The Fall, Pere Ubu) – as related from their leader, even early synth-pop. It’s an acid-jazz, snappy drum beat, punk rock, ska, session, that reminds me of the type of music I get to listen to at the local coffee shop I frequent, playing on the flat-top disc machine, “they have an actual turn-table there, behind the counter you know, classic, ya dig?”

Almark#WEATNU Digital Magazine
December 2019

Pick up the CD on WEATNU Records.
Read More
Post Image
FeaturedHistory

The Story of #WEATNU

“It takes years for an idea to culminate and become something more than mindless thinking. Every diamond is created due to a great amount of pressure. I’m a musician, I write Electronic / Avant-garde, Left-field music. It is certainly in its own category.”

Coming from the roots of Industrial / Experimental and EBM, Ambient, Dub, and eventually those roots became an urge to write my own music, and I didn’t know what I was doing or how to go about doing it electronically.

I had been writing guitar music prior to that from 1992–1998, then getting into writing Electronic music that summer. Music has been with me since 1983, when my Mother first put on, Wham or Hall & Oats, H2O record, or when I heard the album, The Ghostbusters on tape, and being captivated by The Thompson Twins — In the Name of Love. When the Internet had its start in 1997 for me, I found myself seeking out music that moved me differently than terrestrial radio, as during this time, radio was dying out and becoming something of a mainstream money maker. MTV was still going strong in its post-grunge era.

One night, I started looking on Yahoo for internet radio stations, Realplayer had its share of the obscure, even at its low bitrate quality, but I didn’t care, the music is what moved me. It wasn’t long until I found a website called Radio Free Underground, they shut down in 2000, sadly. They played many genres I’d not heard, other than the experimental stuff I discovered through MTV’s The AMP. Goth being one of them, including PsyTrance, Techno, Electro, Electronica, Industrial, Darkwave, and more. The days when true discovery felt like you found something, and it was yours, it felt personal.

I remember first hearing Industrial from a NIN tape a friend gave me during school in 1992, then he gave me a recording of Ministry’s Psalm 69. By the time 1997 rolled around, I was hooked on darker underground music. After being subjected to the more obscure underground, including the MOD scene of 1995, given to me through floppy discs from friends, AMIGA-like computer music, Trackers, Fasttracker, iPlay, S3M, FT2 and so forth.

From the collection of all this, I started developing a great love for “The Underground”, and noticed from my experimenting with Electronic music, deeply in 2000 that Electronic wasn’t that huge yet, though, radio and modern music was still very pop-driven, and rock based. It wasn’t until 2003 and 2005 where I started really hearing the Electronic influence in artists, such as Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Underworld, The Orb and Orbital.

The Severed Heads years…

I was actually heavily influenced from my early days of electronic music writing from Severed Heads, an Aussie artist, named Tom Ellard. For years after 1998 I didn’t have the Internet, I had to go to local university computer labs to use the Internet, usually every night for months on end. During the time of my depth into making electronic in 2000 through tracker software, Fasttracker II, I found myself looking up Severed Heads, who I was introduced to from a boss at my job Eureka Pizza in Springdale, AR.

I no longer felt like mainstream music was important as it once was, I had a drive to do different things. In that computer lab, I came across a website called groovetech.com, and this was my introduction into DnB, Dub, Experimental, Techno, Sampling, from some of the greatest DJs to ever be broadcast through camera, across the world.

Each night I was engrossed in watching these DJs spin for hours. The music was catchy, bouncy and addictive. Even to this day if you look up those podcasts on YouTube, you hear something special just starting to happen. The beginning of what electronic music was, and why it’s so important today.

Years pass…

My love of electronic music continued, in writing it alone, allowing only my family and at the time, during my marriage, my wife and her friends. Also in 2001 I didn’t have the Internet, but I still continued when I could, go to the local library to use it. By the time I got the Internet again, it was around 2010, and I began to think, “what if I upload this music I’ve been doing all these years, and let others listen?” It was through Soundcloud then Bandcamp, and YouTube, I started doing this. Friends on Facebook would tell me I should let others listen, I was reluctant of course, because it was so personal to me.

From venturing forth into various groups online, uploading music and speaking and promoting on twitter, I came to realize that unknown artists were being ignored, or even unheard. That it took a great deal of effort to even get people to listen. Of course during the early days of SoundCloud, people would listen to you more, due to the lack of algorithms.

The power of Social Media.

From the urge to get my own music heard and having a hard time doing it, it started building up in me by 2012–2013 that something needed to be done, something big, a huge idea, and since social media was just getting popular, I thought, “Why not, I want to make waves and create a storm even if I fail doing so. People on social media are making things happen, so why can’t I?” I thought.

During those days, it was hard to find any kind of help to get your music heard. Net-labels were elite and only allowed a certain type of music in, EDM was so big that people were making 200 grand per night when they played; completely ignoring The Underground scene. I wondered, why The Underground and experimental music was no longer around? What happened to it, was it hidden, did it die out? No… From meeting people on Twitter and other places, SoundCloud, YouTube and forums I found it was very much alive.

Great music is hidden.

There were others doing this, there were people like myself with the drive to be heard. Help groups, and Internet radio started popping up, like Bluetown Electronica on Facebook, Revival Synth, one guy who has been running his group well before #WEATNU started. Tracy Perry (Expansion of Presence) who has helped many indie artists for years and years, and continues to do so. Dr. Bones, an avid lover of The Underground scene from Canada, and so and so on. This was during 2013–2014.

I started thinking, “why is it so hard just to belong to a simple label, one without the rules many other mainstream ones cause to you endure? One that we all needed.” I said in my heart, “I will create an organization that will allow others to go up the ladder with me for free, and all of us will be helped.” I wanted to hold everyone on my shoulders; ALL of the indie scene on my back. I must have been crazy for thinking it. Something was burning deep inside of my soul, something I couldn’t stand any longer. I thought, “what if I create a SoundCloud group like others were doing?”, so one day out of the blue I made one called “We are the New Underground“, after having an in-depth conversation with a friend of mine through Facebook, namely, Nessi Holt who writes for a blog called Carpe Carmina. I remember telling her, “you know what! We are the New Underground“, and she said, “Yes!! We are.” Nessi Holt, did an extensive interview with me in 2015 on #WEATNU, she’s helped countless indie artists for many years, including working with RKC Radio.

The start of a new era…

After making the group, 100s poured in, during the first two weeks, it was so hard to help them all that I had to get others to help filter artists into the group. It was a phenomenon, I was hooked from the rush of helping these artists be heard. Starting to post each one who got in, onto Twitter, with their twitter @names attached so others could find that artist, making sure the legwork had been done. The platform and machine of #WEATNU had begun.

It came to me that we needed more than just a group on SoundCloud and during this time, summer of 2014, We are the New Underground was just a name. Before long, the acronym #WEATNU was born. I noticed that a lot of hash tags brought attention to a brand or groups. December of that year, WEATNU Records was born, where the artists who found us were offered a means to be part of a label, where their music mattered, and where people would appreciate them with good results.

People felt the need to be heard.

Most of all, they would at least be heard. Sometime around Summer of 2014 WEATNU [OUR] Online Underground Radio was born, and a machine was created to help the underground. People started contacting me, wanting to make a difference. Soon DJCJ of RadioCoolio, an Internet radio personality in Canada, who also helps indie artists be heard, contacted my E-mail and Facebook, and wanted to promo and spread the word.

Roofy, another artist, who spent an entire year spreading the word about #WEATNU caused others to find us as well. Including Ivan of AMNIOTIC — By 2015, in the same year, Brian Diamond who at the time was just starting Shadows & Mirrors, and is now a label owner of Electric Dream Records, also came our way to help spread the word, as he and AMNIOTIC both wanted to help the community find our artists. During this era, UK artist Craig Manga, of Manga Bros, who later went on to form (Black Box Recordings) befriended our movement and spoke highly to many of those whom he followed, which helped further our cause. His friend, Mark Forster, was a force unmatched, as he loved the underground and its artists and #WEATNU, by helping them on ArtistSignal, he will be greatly missed as he passed away some years ago.

A publication was created.

Our magazine was helping artists be heard, shows on Mixcloud were uploaded from interviews I conducted with new artists weekly, live radio with artists and new songs, showcasing them weekly as well. Special shows on our Internet radio and many other things would happen to become what #WEATNU was developing into. A driving force, a movement that was needed, that wouldn’t stop. By 2016, over 400 artists from all over the world had graced their presence with us.

A new chapter begins

The rush was intense, and it was exhausting. It was time to stop working so hard, but I still had the drive. Our magazine went away that year, radio shut down in the Summer, but the label continued pumping out new music, but slowly. It wasn’t until 2018 where I had a conversation with a new friend, who joined us that year, and she told me “you get what you put in.” So taking that advice, I ran with it, pushing hard once again but, using what I learned before and pushed the label to become what I had envisioned years ago.

2018 – 2019

Our label started releasing finally to streaming platforms, including our already releasing music through Bandcamp since 2014. WEANTU Records was being noticed, once again, restored and still a great passion of mine, even after all these challenges. The radio also returned in November of 2018. Streaming of course helped greatly, but newer artists by 2018 started finding us, and The Underground was still being served. With a dream, a vision and a little fire, anything can be accomplished. Artists who have been helped and brought to the light from this effort , are as follows, and these are just a handful – AMNIOTIC, Bleepeater, Whettman Chelmets, Adryelle, Lie Craze, Dead Scrimshaw, Amattik, AR89, Belial Pelegrim, Bufinjer, Jazzykat, DigitalSlumberParty, Jessica Grant, Fluffytails, B. Hasemeyer, Bedtime for Robots, Lemonade Kid, Meter Bridge, Nurse Predator, The Aircrash Bureau!, Sound Engraver.

The magazine returns

One night, as I was going through old site snapshots on waybackmachine, I looked up our old magazine, which use to be at weatnu-magazine.com and a flood of nostalgia filled me. Reading the articles, reviews, and interviews that many people had written, including myself, I thought it was time to bring the magazine back. I started working on a new magazine website, the one you are reading now. The artist needed a voice, not just their music to be heard, but why they do what they do. Publications are important to fans as well as artists. I was pleased to have this final part of the #WEATNU machine return, and this time, it would remain, just like its radio. With all parts together once more, Radio, label and magazine, things felt complete and it is my hope they all further the cause of the Independent artist.

The label itself has signed over 100 artists since 2014, many of which are still with us. With the radio returning, WEATNU [OUR] continues to help artists outside the label as well, be heard. With its 24/7 streaming radio, 365 days a year, and free to join. Showcasing many of these types of genres, while encompassing the electronic array.

The dream continues

WEATNU Records has taken in numerous genres and sub-genres over the years, such as Electronic, Electronica, Experimental, Industrial, Indiepop, Indie rock, Electro-pop, Synth-pop, Vaporwave, Trip-hop, Lo-fi, Instrumental Hip-hop, Synthwave, Darkwave, Ambient, Dark Ambient, Alt-rock, post-rock and so on, and we continue to allow The Underground artist to join. With the driving force of the unknown artist, we still have many people who support us behind the scenes. Many of whom are unnamed, but are greatly appreciated for letting others know what we do.

#WEATNU continues to help artists yearly, and that passion never dies. From 2014 and beyond, We are the New Underground is the heart of The Digital Underground, a beacon of hope for the artist who just wants to be noticed, without needing to sacrifice their hopes and dreams. We continue to help them. I hope this story of how we started influences you, and gives you hope that if you dream it, it will happen. We are the New Underground 10.10.2019 (originally published through Medium.com)

Almark – #WEATNU Digital Magazine – November 2019

Read More
Post Image
Archivesreviews

Jazzykat – Action Reaction (A-B Side Single)

By Michael O’Morah 

For over 4 years Jazzykat has been an Electronic Musician and when I listen to her Music, I can definitely feel the Deep House, Chill-out Vibe that beats in her Heart. I took the time to truly appreciate some of Jazzykat’s earlier Releases and enjoyed listening to them greatly; but her latest, ‘Action Reaction’ (A-B Side Single) gets even better and these tracks are smooth as a dish of soft-serve Ice Cream!
This new Weatnu Records release, by Jazzykat, is fully instrumental and from my listening experience, the music speaks very well for itself. She is masterful in evoking musical imagery through her expression and to my ears, any vocals here would be extraneous.
Firstly, The A-Side, part of the single is, ‘Action Reaction,’ which appealed to me immediately as something I’d want to hear when I’m just warming up or just winding down. While ‘Action Reaction’ may make the moment mellow it certainly won’t put you to sleep! Driven by a subdued beat, Jazzykat hits you with an outstanding, (whether by accident or design), NuDisco Lead Guitar Homage to the early 80’s Disco and Michael Jackson “Thriller” Era!
Accompanying the Lead Guitar Riff on Track 1 is one unabashedly, phatty Synth Oscillator that sounds a little like a Tuba Player intermittently pumping in bright kinetic energy relentlessly pushing the music forward. Which not only reinforces the beat, but I also perceived how this Brassy Oscillator counterpoised the Keyboards. While by no means the equivalent of a Brass Band, I have to say it seriously reminded me of what a killer horn section can do for any song. Jazzykat’s Bass Guitar is steeped in soulful Tremolos which gently soothed the energy of Side – A: Action Reaction creating a regulated temperature and mood. What really made side-a gel is the Artist’s drawn out Synth Pads whereby she calls forth ’80’s memories and Mr. Fingers’ Feel for Deep House!
Flipping over to ‘Action Reaction’s B-Side, is Track 2, ‘Bad Dreams’. Here, Jazzykat lays down a bold Bass and Congas beat, while Doppler-like Synths zip, like traffic rushing by. Just when you’d think this makes for some grinding House. Jazzykat cleverly experiments with the Pregnant Pause to suspend the Listener and delve into Dark Ambiance! She then playfully tickles the Ivories for good measure before reengaging the rhythm. ‘Bad Dreams’ uses those previously mentioned auditory traffic cues to segue as the Listener floats through the ether from one sonic scene of a dream to another, randomly throughout the song.
The Atmosphere created by ‘Action Reaction’ becomes the perfect Climate of Grooves and Beats with some cool Drift. Further, Action Reaction, by Jazzkat, can tune you into a vibrant ambiance for your kicked-back hideaway. Need a moment to break away from the pulsating whirligig and pounding madness of Work and Night-life? Seize that moment where you can be laid-back and Chill with, ‘Action Reaction’ (A-B Side Single) by Jazzykat only on Weatnu Records.

Follow Jazzykat on Twitter

#WEATNU Digital Magazine – Oct 26, 2015

Read More
Post Image
Archivesreviews

SlowBurnBlue – Mangabros

By JC Luff

Throughout the composition process of this review, I have been listening to the work I have set out to describe with a pocket recorder (or unplugged electric bass guitar) clenched tightly in my office recliner, putting together scraps of thought that will attempt to provide for an account of my listening experience, one of such fragments being :

A dangerous and opaque celebration of an obligatory departure from communicable reality through the walls of self conception and into the outskirts of mind, on the wings of an electrical socket and some furniture.

I have spent a couple days listening to the Mangabros, and their creations have consumed my intersection of space in time most efficaciously, providing for a change in pace to my weekend that has inspired some useful scribbles . The Mangabros do not produce ambient music to play over a cup of tea and some baked goods with company on a summer afternoon, they produce an architecture of sounds to convey a poetry that will surely inspire one to go forth and create, leaving weird splatters of ectoplasm on the walls of what used to be the daily state of affairs.

“SlowBurnBlue” from the Mangabros (hailing from the UK) is an experience that (in my experience with the album) will leave a different impression after each listening session as the atmospheres are elaborated. I am almost tempted to set up ultra-violet lights and radio equipment to measure the electromagnetic ambiance of the environment where I have been listening to the Mangabros, but it is probably best for my psychiatric health that I leave some things unexplained.

It is not usually my policy to make mention of intoxicants in my compositions, however (as an exception), I feel that I should advise the first time listener to the Mangabros that operating a motor vehicle, or otherwise traveling out and about, through traffic and such is to be avoided…

“A short while Later” :

After a few sessions of listening, I now find myself in the process of calibrating my sound system to reproduce the sounds of “Test one” as best I can, so as to enjoy the full scope of the production work I am about to soak my weekend psyche through. I have never before listened to an album that begins with a sound-check… The game has now changed

The evening activity sets in to brace my silence for a rearrangement of this mortal conception of the local scenery… and all I can scratch down on my notebook is that listening to the Mangabros is one hell of an activity.

As I proofread my final draft of this review for the Mangabros,

I “follow the signal into these late hours through a gripping submersion into a deep pool of sonic flash lights, leaving only brilliantly processed shadows to retrace my steps back to waking mind, keeping a pocket recorder providing more questions than answers beside me, to at some point find myself before a frothy mug of rich and hypnotic bass in the corner of a downtown hotel room, chain-smoking and trying not to allow my mind to cave in on itself”.

I can say with the utmost of certainty, that (outside of jam sessions) it has been over ten years since a work of music has (by a mechanism beyond the grasps of my descriptive ability) has forced me into a recliner, scaling up and down an unplugged instrument while my office takes on the ambiance of what I can only describe as being a jilted gray-scale parallel to Andy Warhol’s notorious “Factory” of the nineteen sixties on a Sunday afternoon in the vinyl siding fields of North-American suburbia.

The synthesized melodies are interwoven into a smoky fabric assembled in multitudinous nerve blurring structures of a trip through a concise poetry that has brought me to the ledge of a day unknown in the life of a future.

The soulful melodies and potent vocal stylings entrance my fleeting attention to the point that I am in fact having difficulty proofreading. I am experiencing something similar to a disassociative effect, but the narratives re-assure me that all is not well in this world, so I have somehow been allowed to continue.

“The eerie siren song of a post apocalyptic rain fall”

Is one of the many descriptions brought into the light of my participation in the work of the Mangabros between listening sessions, and it seems to be that each time I listen to “SlowBurnBlue” , new shapes of poetry sprout up between the floor boards of the listening mind, keeping me on the ledge of the beyond. Harmoniously disintegrating the furniture behind the eyes and between the ears.

I am not going to suggest to people that they go out and seek to be resuscitated, but (speaking for myself), if I were to be artificially resuscitated, I would require a sound track from the Mangabros to do justice to the morning after.

Enjoy the experience.

Also on Bandcamp

Follow Manga Bros on Twitter.

Read More
Post Image
ArchivesInterviews

Almark: A Conversation on the Creative Process

Interviewed by Belial Pelegrim

Follow Almark on Twitter

Date on Oct 8 2015

BP: So I really enjoyed your work on the last Abstract Alpha show.

Almark: Thank you. Did you know “Return to Planet Zamede” was written 2013 or was it 2012.
It’s a rare track that no one ever listens to.

BP: No, I wasn’t sure how old it was, but it certainly fits the format to a tee!

<iframe style=”border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;” src=”https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3217943495/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=0f91ff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/” seamless><a href=”https://synthoelectro.bandcamp.com/track/return-to-planet-zamede”>Return to Planet Zamede by Almark</a></iframe>

Almark: I’m about to release my first single in a long time. A new single to “The Scheme of Things.” I’m excited about the production of it all. It just feels right, the timing to release.

BP: When are you planning to release the album?

Almark: Probably April. Like I did with -ATD- in 2014. It’s hard to say…I need to get in gear. When I set a deadline, I push myself hard to make it. Last time I pushed too hard

<iframe style=”border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;” src=”https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=1216565382/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=0f91ff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/” seamless><a href=”https://synthoelectro.bandcamp.com/track/a-test-single”>A-Test (single) by Almark</a></iframe>

BP: That can happen. Do you have everything written song-wise and you’re just mixing and mastering now?

Almark: Most thoughts and ideas are in pieces…that’s how it is when I write an album. There is no % to tell you.
A-Test, U-235 and Oracle are all going to be on the album, so I had a head start earlier this year. Once again I want to write a full album…12 songs, prob 14 including special versions like I did with -ATD-. I’ve been meaning to release A-Test video for months. Now I have a reason to complete it.

<iframe style=”border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;” src=”https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2643682240/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=0f91ff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/” seamless><a href=”https://synthoelectro.bandcamp.com/album/songs-from-the-scheme-of-things-singles”>Songs from &#39;The Scheme of Things&#39; (singles) by Almark</a></iframe>

BP: Very cool, man. I look forward to it. It’s interesting to hear how other musicians work…everybody has their own individualized process.

Almark: Glad to hear that. With me I have to create something, then jump to another to get it all done because I get new ideas and instead of stopping, I save the song, go to the next project and begin using what I was just messing with. Helps me to always flow forward. Reminds me of how torrents download…you know the bits of files. That’s how it is. It’s a weird process but when you have another idea you must get it out, you must tape it or it’s too late, thankfully Ableton allows me to do this. Then I might say, well 3 hours of this thing isn’t working, get a new idea and move forward. Coming back to the last song idea later and seeing if I can add more to it.

BP: I often work like that as well, at least to a certain extent. I rarely sit down and work on one project from beginning to end. I like to have several ideas going at once.

Almark: Exactly. I remember one song on -ATD- took forever to write in that process. Forever, because I couldn’t figure out what to do at the middle, how can I end this, that kind of thing.

<iframe style=”border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;” src=”https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2548950552/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=0f91ff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=814005402/transparent=true/” seamless><a href=”https://synthoelectro.bandcamp.com/album/atd-4″>-ATD- by Almark</a></iframe>

BP: There are times I work on something for a while, then realize it’s never going to work, and trash the whole thing.

Almark: Personally it would be hard for me to trash anything I work on, I’m a digital pack-rat you know. It’s hard to work on just one project when the demand to do more than one song must be met. When I’m on a deadline, I just keep pushing, trying to outwit myself. I have songs that are not complete from 2014 for this new album. So I can work on them as well. It’s all like torrents, in pieces but each are projects to be loaded and worked on. Though I have so many musicians I hear daily, their music doesn’t upset the flow of with my thinking. I have the natural ability to block out everything when I’m writing music.

BP: I think because it’s electronic music, you’re able to work in this manner.

Almark: It’s your own world you, do you see? I know for certain that one of these ideas is about to become a full single. It’s because of ‘Live’ which imo is best DAW ever created for my own needs, that is. Keep your racks loaded from the last idea and move forward, brilliant stuff..

BP: I agree….Live is such an amazing tool. I love it

Almark: It might be I’m writing one melody and say ‘whoa, I like that but it doesn’t fit with this song’ so I save and move forward and write more to that melody, then another song is born. Then I have to cultivate it for a while and make it final. -ATD- is a very precise album. Took 9 months to develop fully, but I had to stop for 3 months because my old computer fried back in 2013, so the release date was changed to April 2014. WEATNU has kept me super busy this last year but that’s ok, its all coming to the end, an end meaning automated not so manual now. More time to work on music again. WEATNU is at a level where it takes care of itself. All I have to do is oil the machine, so to speak.

<iframe style=”border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;” src=”https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2548950552/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=e99708/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/” seamless><a href=”https://synthoelectro.bandcamp.com/album/atd-4″>-ATD- by Almark</a></iframe>

BP: That’s a good thing, because making new music is important for the soul, man.

Almark: Music is important.

BP: How do you develop your ideas for sound design? Do you work on sounds before or during the writing process?

Almark: Usually the music is created first, melodies, beats. Later I might transition into using special techniques and effects. Sometimes I might include creating strange EQ nuances. I did that on ‘High Bias’, this weird squeaking sound when the hi-hat would trigger. And coming up with a strange effect is always interesting, because you never know how it’s going to come about, usually by accident. I might start off with a drum beat created using MIDI controller, thumb and fingers, then work on that. Or a bass line synced to it to give it an edge. It’s always different. Or mysteriously I fall asleep from working for hours on a song and wake up with a weird melody, perhaps that’s called ‘Sleep writing’.

<iframe style=”border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;” src=”https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2548950552/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=e99708/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3050080476/transparent=true/” seamless><a href=”https://synthoelectro.bandcamp.com/album/atd-4″>-ATD- by Almark</a></iframe>

BP: [laughs]…yes even the sub-conscious comes into play.

Almark: The strangest of songs have been created from Sleep Writing’…it’s like zoning out, half awake and doodling at the keys until you get something interesting. I use to do that with guitar writing as well [laughs]

BP: And as far as automating effects and modulating over time…how much of that comes into play when you’re developing a piece?

Almark: I’m big on automation, as it’s the key to an interesting song. It comes into play after the structure is done. Most of the time I write a song with MIDI controller, get the idea done and work on it without the keyboard. Setting up automation on faders, adding stuff to return tracks do the mixing as I go. It’s kind of a process that has worked for me for 16 years, coming 2016. (Live) just makes it more unique, it lets me create little timing modules. One song might have different starts and stops for it’s reverb. Tape Head was like that. If you look at the automation happening on the front of the mixer, it’s very robotic, return volumes turning up and down in sync to the music [thought about a video to it one day] Tape Head needs a video, but I’m selective about what footage I use, still searching.

<iframe style=”border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;” src=”https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2548950552/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=e99708/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1541706820/transparent=true/” seamless><a href=”https://synthoelectro.bandcamp.com/album/atd-4″>-ATD- by Almark</a></iframe>

BP: It’s quite interesting to me how these techniques really enhance and creation of electronic music.

Almark: Building blocks of sound. When it comes to melodies ‘which are important to my process’ they are like swells of sound, when you add them together in melody forms (one on top of the other), it creates chords much like orchestrations. This is probably why I call my music abstract, as there is no form or genre to it. it’s just music that fills you with many emotions. Blown Glass is a good example of this process. The three note du du du continues many times but sounds different every time. When you add many complicated and long measures of melodies and combine them, something mysterious happens. That’s how Wow-and-Flutter was born. it’s 2 songs in one. Here you have this classic thing happening in the background, which is panned for different parts one one Left channel and the other on the right. Bass clef stuff on the left, higher parts on the right. Indecently I am not an expert at reading music, I only feel when I write it. Completely by ear.

BP: The fact that the technology allows for this kind of experimentation, wild things can happen.

Almark: It’s like having endless tape, where you can mangle and mess with the sound any way you like…Ableton is brilliant software.
BP: What about utilizing samples of organic instruments vs. synthetic sounds in the scheme of things?

Almark: When it comes to sampling, I will find sounds from anything I can, any movie, anything that suits what I’m looking for and change it where you can’t tell what it is. Being abstract allows for these kind of ideas. Good example to this is my album The Nineteen Eighty Four show, using only the sounds and music parts from the film. Then I add these swells of melodies, usually 3 seconds long to play all over the keyboard like instruments. Also synthesizers are all created from VST, like on -ATD-. I use to use more analog keyboards, but the transition to digital happened with me in 2009. I don’t use real instruments in my process, but it’s always been considered.. Perhaps in time. In fact I’ve been craving a new method, to form the sounds I’m after with a high quality condenser mic. Sampling is what makes music interesting, doing it right and making things your own. I don’t always sample, it’s just part of my unique process to the music. Sampling is otherworldly, if done right, organically. Thought Patterns in ‘Documentary’ Form is a good example of that idea, plenty of sampling happening on that album.

Read More