Hey, folken! As you may have read in the previous article, The Lady is participating in the Starlight Music Chronicles Artist of the Month competition for the month of February! Normally, I'm not much for competition, or asking people to Like, Share, or vote, especially in my favor. This is kind of new territory for me. What I'm going to ask is this: if you enjoy my music, why not go ahead and vote for me? And if you're going to take the time to vote, do you perhaps also have time to check out these other fine artists in the competition? This whole thing, after all, is simply an exercise in independent artists doing what it's most difficult to do, which is getting our music heard and spreading the word. That's how I see this, at any rate. So, if you do take a moment to vote, please keep these other artists in mind and give them a chance when you have a moment. Thank you, dear folken. Good luck to us all!
Well, here it is folken, the first EP of Phase IV as well as 2016.
As Selenophilia with Occultation, this EP serves to start making tracks previously only available on Jaded freely available to the public, so we have the latest rendition of "Jade's Theme" making an appearance, as well as "The Seventh Swan," "Dorian," and "Cold Sunlight." Patron, Leaguers, and blog readers should already be familiar with "A Good Mourning."
New to everyone, however, are "Solace" and "Sublimate." The choosing of these songs is in keeping with a lighter tone for this record - or at least, not so darkwave, goth, or metal-influenced as most of the previous Phase. I'm saving that for the next release, which will be coming very soon. Much sooner than usual.
With so much new material that I've been sitting on while holding off on publishing, and then promoting, Jaded, there's been a lot of backup, and therefore there's also been a lot to choose from. Rather than publishing everything in the order it's been written - as my patrons will no doubt observe - I've decided to do a back-to-back release of two EPs that are sort of a yin and yang to each other, and somewhat ripping off System of a Down while doing so. As that band did with their Hypnotize and Mesmerize records, I will be publishing Obfuscate and Sublimate back to back (well, a week apart). Also, as System of a Down did, the title tracks for these records will be on their "opposite," meaning the song "Obfuscate" will be included on next week's release.
The week-long gap will give me time to promote the seven songs at the usual song-a-day rate, while letting Sublimate's songs sit on my head, giving me an opportunity to tweak them and put in some finishing touches, should inspiration occur (as it no doubt will).
This back-up of material also means that already have enough songs written, recorded, and mostly ready for a new compilation album already, which is not-so-tentatively titled Radiate. I'll be holding off on publishing that until sometime next month though, while I continue to write and prepare for the follow-up to Jaded. In the meantime, leading up to the one-year anniversary of the debut EP Progress Report on February 19th, I have a few more tricks up my sleeve, which I think I'll exercise some of my new-found skills for patience and surprise and not disclose here.
I will announce, however, that in a couple days time, the open-to-the-public voting will begin for the Starlight Music Chronicles Artist of the Month for February, and I'll be running. Please vote! I won't directly say "vote for me," but...you know who I want you to vote for. So keep your eyes open for the link, which I'll be posting here on the blog when the polls open! Wish me luck, folken. I have another Starlight Music-themed surprise for y'all to help sway your vote in my favor, so keep your eyes open for that as well!
I really don't have that much else to say right now, which makes for an exceedingly brief release article for this record, but I guess if I think of anything else, I can always blog about it later. Until then, may your inner snails be resilient and determined, and please, enjoy the new record!
Something you should understand is that I'm experiencing an extended New Year this year. Not one for observing the traditional Gregorian New Year as something other than an excuse to drink champagne (because any excuse to drink bubbly wine is a good one), the passage of years is usually marked for me by my birthday, as well as the passage of seasons. New Year's has always seemed like an excuse to let Christmas linger, and why not? It seems to me that the clusterfuck of winter holidays is more of a coping mechanism to stave off seasonal depression than anything else, so let it serve its purpose.
But this winter has been an anniversary for me of my first year composing music as The Lady, December 29th being the closest I can pinpoint through an old Facebook share. And in less than two months will be the anniversary of the debut EP, Progress Report. Therefore, my musical New Year has the effect of stretching to a length of almost two months. It seems silly to separate the dates when they're so close together and are celebrating much the same thing. And I feel as though I'm going to be riding the high of I've been doing this for a fucking year now! for about that length. So, bear with me y'all. I'll do my best not to be insufferable.
So, to begin the celebration, I began thinking of a Year One creation. A boxed set of some sort? How could I create a boxed set when my music doesn't come in physical form? Same with double-disc album options. So, the best I could think of was a lengthy digital download. Something that has essentially replaced A New Era almost three months after that record's release. Right about the right time, actually...
Okay, that's essentially what this has turned out to be. The successor to A New Era; a compilation album for Patrons that's becoming part of my new pattern. A compilation special per phase, as it were, although this usually happens after the first EP of the phase. I guess the first EP would have come sooner if I hadn't held out on releasing Jaded for so long... As things are, my scheduling of releases is a bit out of sync with my work output because of Jaded. I already have enough new material written and recorded to put out the Phase Four compilation album, and I have yet to even release the first Phase Four EP. This has me questioning whether or not there will be the usual three EPs per phase or what... Whatever, this phase is probably going to fly by and culminate with an album of some sort (Phase Four compilation or something else? I don't know) on February 19th, the one-year anniversary of Progress Report.
Back to the release at hand: after a failed attempt to assemble a Year One: Part I playlist, I had the random inspiration to look up the word "annual" in other languages and chose Albanian just because it looks cool (and I'm pretentious enough to go with that even though I don't know how to pronounce it) - Vjetor. Somehow, the name, and putting together a cover using "Emerging Ballad" by my Tsu-friend Tyrone Webb (of the Occultation cover), made the track list come together almost effortlessly. In fact, I only switched the ordering of two songs during the first listen. Otherwise, it's as I assembled it on a random whim:
01. "They Delving 3.33"
02. "The Seventh Swan"
03. "Dusk Devils"
04. "Jade's Theme"
05. "Sublime Like Swine"
06. "Slowly Scooting Closer"
07. "A Most Resilient Snail"
08. "Jaded (Alternate Spin)"
09. "Waltz with Lilith"
10. "Passage Through The Veil"
11. "Simplify"
12. "No Introduction Needed"
13. "The Tranquil Isles"
14. "The Nocturnal Dervish"
15. "The Cloud Walkers (Selenophilia)"
16. "A Good Mourning"
17. "Cold Sunlight"
18. "Mr. Douter"
19. "A Not-So-Minor Distraction"
20. "Wrong Pocket Kinda Day"
21. "Winter's Salve (Alternate Spin)"
22. "The Ground Up (Rebuild)"
23. "Overdrive"
24. "A Different Story"
I'd like to go on about the pains of having to choose "essentials" from such a lengthy discography and lament particular song that were left out, but it cane together so quickly and organically that that would be a load of BS. It's a very satisfactory, very enjoyable, well-rounded playlist, and I'm proud of it coming together so easily, and there were no painful decisions. I love it the way it is and haven't second-guessed it once since my first listen.
Some noteworthy things about these songs: Most should be familiar. "The Seventh Swan," "Sublime Like Swine," "Cold Sunlight," and "Mr. Douter" are all original to Jaded, while "Jaded (Alternate Spin)" and "The Ground Up (Rebuild)" are both on that album, but are the latest renditions of songs from previous releases. On that note: so many of the songs from Phase One (maybe all of them?) have had newer incarnations that very few original versions made it onto this record. The Alternate Spin of "Winter's Salve" might as well be the original version of that song, and "Dusk Devils" has lately had a lot of appeal for me, though it seemed sacrilegious to not include "The Nocturnal Dervish" as well.
"Devils" and "Dervish" are the only songs that share the same source material. Perhaps the most difficult thing when choosing songs for this track list was choosing from the various versions of some of the songs. Of the ten versions of "Giger's Lullaby," the original "Waltz with Lilith" seemed the best compromise. It's smack dab in between "The Last Waltz" and the original demo, in terms of variations. For pretty much all the other songs that have more than one version, I simply went with the most recent, as I'm generally most satisfied with the most recent renditions.
Because this is meant to be representative of my entire discography without being over three hours long, there's not as many unreleased tracks as there might have been. For Patrons pledging $10 or more, only "They Delving 3.33," "A Good Mourning," and "A Different Story" haven't been made available before. "Passage Through The Veil" and "Overdrive" were previously made available on Erised, but can be counted as unreleased tracks as well. "They Delving 3.33" is - you guessed it - the latest version of "They Delving"; in fact, it is the final version, which "They Delving 3.0" (on the limited Yule Tide Carols release) was the instrumental version of, this version having altered instrumentation (most notably, additional synths and a lot of electric guitar work). Because I have so much unreleased material floating around me right now, I'm not exactly sure what's going to make it onto which releases. The track listing for the next EP, Obfuscate, has changed radically recently, as I've been trying to make sure that there will be tracks new to Patrons on each release as well.
However, I'd like to share "A Good Mourning" with you now, my dear readers, as a sample of the unreleased material on Vjetor. It's a song that - though it wasn't on my mind at the time - has become a sort of belated farewell to my previous life, in Portland, OR, hence the image of the St. John's Bridge with Forest Park beyond, Forest Park being a place I particularly mourn, and I also have many fond memories in Cathedral Park underneath the Bridge.
With the release of Jaded and the addition of Vjetor, many changes have been made to the rewards available to supporters through Patreon. The League will soon be adjusted as well, and I'll be updating this post with those changes soon.
Most significant is a new five-track EP being made available to Patrons pledging $5 or more, titled A Different Story after the song of the same name, being a song that is highly experimental for me, and that I am particularly proud of. Story includes "They Delving 3.33," "A Good Mourning," "Dorian" (from Jaded), "Mr. Douter," and the titular track. It's a beautiful little EP, with a gorgeously framed piece ("The Reader's Path") by Jeremiah Morelli for the cover, and a solid musical theme.
With Vjetor and the Artist's Edition of Jaded now dominating the $10+ tier of rewards, A New Era and the Artist's Edition of Occultation now join A Different Story, Erised, and Jade & Co. in the $5+ tier, making this a prime time to pledge in that middle range. Meanwhile, the Artist's Edition of Instrumentality now joins The Occultation Sessions and A Waltz for Giger - The Completed Collection in the $1+ tier with single downloads of: "The Seventh Swan," "Overdrive," "Sublime Like Swine," "The Between (Sin Palabras)," "They Delving 3.0," "Lily White (Sin Palabras)," "The Ground Up,"and I'm about to head over there to make an instrumental version of "Mr. Douter" available as well.
That pretty much sums up all the rewards changes and covers everything on Vjetor I wanted to get to...I think. I don't know. I've had too much coffee, it's almost 6am, my brain's scrambled, and my hands hurt... Let our inner snails remain resilient and determined!!!
ADDENDUM: Okay, so the current Leaguer rewards are as follows: Currently, when you sign up for the League, you instantly have access to unlimited streaming of the back-catalog items Instrumental, Nefelibata, and Wisps of Reason on the free Bandcamp app, plus the League specials A Different Story, Erised, Jade & Co, An Abbreviated Era, The Occultation Sessions, and A Waltz for Giger - The Completed Collection, along with singles for "Sublime Like Swine," "Mr. Douter (Sin Palabras)," "The Between (Sin Palabras)," and "Lily White (Sin Palabras)." High-quality, DMR-free downloads are also instantly available to you of all items.
and the third commercial release by The Lady anoNYMous:
Wow. Just fucking wow, y'all. It's almost year's end, and in the past ten months (since February 19th) I've released nineteen (gods, there's that number again... Fuck you, Stephen King!) Bandcamp records to the public - including three compilation albums - and now, three sixteen-track commercial releases, making for forty-eight of my songs bearing my soul and infecting the ears of people all over the world. And they are all over the world! According to SoundCloud, people in 116 countries have accessed my music... I'm not even sure I can name 116 countries. Personally, I have made online friends of folks all over Europe because of my music, including one super-fan in the Russian Federation, and I have regular (roughly translated) correspondence with fans in Asia. I don't know of a single fan in Missouri, aside from my mom...but then, folks in Missouri haven't really impressed me with their taste in music, with the exception of one Facebook friend who recently got a meet-and-greet with Tool. So fucking jealous...
My (half-hearted) apologies for all the f-bombs, but this is just so fucking wild! I'm not a big rock star; I'm still broke as hell (actually, I think I'm more broke than people in Hell); I'm not wildly popular on the charts of any country's music; but my music is out there and it's being heard. And with each album, both commercial and non-commercial, the number of people it's being heard by seems to be increasing exponentially. There may yet be a way to make money doing this, while also staying true to my belief in making art accessible. If only artists were important enough to society that they were considered public servants and paid as such...because it certainly feels like we are to me! But hey, I've always lived to serve, and that's no joke! From being a cook to being a janitor to being an artist, to my personal life, I feel as though I've always been (sometimes even proudly) providing people with a needed service.
For this latest album, that has meant opening some old wounds to create art that appeals to and is best related to by people who have had brushes with the crueler side of humanity and had to continue on, hardened by the experience. Jaded not only refers to my fictional alter ego, Jade (see "A Jaded Beltaine" in the Snail Tales section of this blog), but to my current disposition as a person who's been used up, spit out, and shat upon by selfish bastards, many of whom I've forgiven and have continued (though distanced) relationships with and that I have witnessed having similar experiences since. If karma is coming around to give these people what they deserve, I can only wonder what the fuck I could have possibly done to deserve some of the treatment I've experienced over the years. The last thing I want is a pity party, but fucking hell (sorry, I can't seem to stop), it seems as though my entire life has been spent being used as an emotional punching bag or being taken advantage of by people, and now I'm in therapy and on psychiatric medication after purposely trying to drink myself to death. People can be such godsdamned evil shits, sometimes.
So (heh) this album is kind of about that. From the mournful melody of "Jade's Theme" that I've been carrying around with me since composing it to introduce (the debut EP) ProgressReport; to the angry spoken-word piece accompanying "Mr. Douter" about those who would try to extinguish the spark of another human being; to "The Manic Widow's" new dance mix; to the weak and the meek who end up preying on the good intentions of another in "Sublime Like Swine;" to rebuilding from the aftermath of the destructiveness of the using and the losing in "The Ground Up (Rebuild);"...the theme runs through the album until some sense of serenity is found in the keeping on to keep on of the moon ("every night she drowns / every night she'll rise") in "Lily White," is embraced like "Cold Sunlight," and solace is found among "The Tranquil Isles."
It's tempting to use this opportunity to rant about individual personal experiences, to tell you all exactly what evil shit my ex-husband did after our break-up to earn him the alter ego of Mr. Douter after six years of marriage during which I supported him financially and emotionally, shit that's I can't imagine anyone (not even him) deserving of, but part of the purpose of these songs is re-attempting to exorcise those demons. To try - yet again - to let this shit go. But any of y'all who can relate know that it can be so hard. That you can feel as though it's over and done with, as though you've moved on, only to have those feelings of hurt and betrayal bitch-slap you when you unexpectedly see the perpetrator's face or hear their name. You can feel as though you've honestly forgiven someone who's stolen from you, then read a Facebook rant by them of going through a similar experience to what they put you through, and you can't help but feel grim satisfaction and the urge to comment, "So now you know how it feels, eh, motherfucker?" You want to be a bigger person than that. You don't want to admit that you can be that callous and shallow, and yet these are the feelings that rear their ugly heads as a direct result of the sins committed against you. Not only have these people hurt and betrayed you, but they've made you (me) an uglier person on the inside. And it pisses me off all the more.
When writing the release article for Wisps of Reason, I honestly felt it would be pushing it to come up with enough post-Occultation material to fill another album, but with these experiences to draw on, and with the insane pace at which I've been working to sublimate Holiday Season-related issues (work which will also be filling a new Snail Tunes EP entitled Sublimate, following the release of the next EP, Obfuscate) it was actually more difficult not to release this album sooner than I have. I very well could have, but it was actually nice to have the extra time to let the songs breathe as I fine-tuned them and re-ordered the track listing about a million times. As I mentioned in previous posts, I put off this release to give Alejandro (Saldarriaga Calle of The Arcane Insignia) and Matt (of iamwarface) some time to work on some contributions/collaborations I requested of them. Unfortunately, Alejandro has been experiencing some ongoing health issues while also working on his own band's material while Matt has had renovations, the holidays, and the new Star Wars movie (yes, I'll actually let him use that) to draw on for excuses. For those who were looking forward to these contributions: if I have my way, Alejandro will still get around to substituting for my vocals on the more melodic parts of "The Between" (which I did re-record for this release, and I think there's been an improvement since the version released on Wisps) and Matt and I have been talking about a more equal collaborative effort (talking him recording a new drum track and a vocal track to duet with mine) for "Sublime Like Swine." I'm not as ashamed of my vocals on "Sublime Like Swine," though, and I hope y'all enjoy it. I prefer it to "Darkest Dreams." It's my feeling that the rasping, scratchy, screaming quality of my attempt to "belt it out" matches the nu-metal quality of the song, and it now feels naked to me when I listen to it without vocals. I feel as though that song came together beautifully in the end.
And speaking of songs that came together beautifully with vocals, I'm really excited for y'all to finally hear "Cold Sunlight," which is all-around a very different song for me. More in the acid-jazz vein of trip-hop, this is the result of finishing a song I started long ago when trying to come up with a more jazzy piano number, inspired at the time by Tori's "In the Springtime of his Voodoo." I halted work on it and shelved it in favor of other songs I-can't-remember-how-long-ago, and was randomly inspired to add a little bit of instrumentation while combing through the Archives of the Shelved, I do every now and again during the rare occurrence that I'm working on nothing else. And that little bit of instrumentation inspired a little more...and a little more...and I was also in the midst of practicing leaving "spaces" for vocals, and so inserted a few rhythm-section-only lengths here and there. And it just so happened that on a cold, sunny winter's day, I was sitting outside and enjoying the feel of the sun on my face while listening to what I had so far, and I started to croon random poetry to it. Then I started to write down bits of random poetry that might fit, and before long I had a song with music, lyrics, and vocals. It really came together quite smoothly and beautifully, and I'm particularly proud of this tune. I even think the vocals turned out quite well. For this release, it's a slightly different recording and edit than what I released on Erised. I think it's been improved further still. I hope those who managed to get their hands on Erised feel the same.
It is very healing to be making this music and to have it out there, if for nothing more than to have a reason to put one foot in front of the other and to have something to look forward to. Who would I be shitting if I were to say that I don't care if I never make it big? I want my music to be heard by as many people as possible and I want to be able to make a comfortable living (any kind of living at all would be nice, really) from my art, but I honestly don't care about the lifestyle of the rich and famous or the adulation that comes with (some forms of) celebrity. And that I am doing this is such a fucking rush in and of itself. It makes me want to take the many people I know who have massive amounts of unexplored talent by the shoulders, shake them, and scream in their faces, "Just fucking do it for the sake of it doing it and stop being afraid of how much you suck!" My music's not for everyone, and I admit it stung when I saw that someone had rated it only one star on Google Play (it felt so godsdamned personal, and for all I know it was!), and I know my voice isn't even close to what it used to be and I probably shouldn't be recording myself singing at all these days (after tweeting "The Between" in promotion for Wisps of Reason, a website for vocal lessons started following me in response), but I love my music, and I love to make it, and I know of at least a handful of people who are devoted to following my art because they love the art (it's kind of refreshing when it isn't about me at all!). So far, no one has come right out and screamed, "You suck, just stop it already!" (which has happened to me when I was on stage doing spoken-word long ago) but there's a strong possibility that it might. I promise myself I won't listen to them. I know y'all see a successful band like Tool or Muse and think to yourself, "There's no way they're afraid of sucking," but do you really think that, at the beginning at least, that fear wasn't there? I know this is encouraging potential competition in an already overcrowded playing field, but if you're creative and you feel as though your creativity is untapped, just do it for the sake of doing it, people. I don't regret starting on this journey one fucking iota.
There are so many ways that life is going to get you down, and if you live long enough, you're going to experience just about every kind of cruelty the world has to offer. I've experienced more than many do in an entire lifetime in thirty-three years, and I don't even have any enemies that I know of. That's a big part of what makes my hurts so fucking painful. They were caused by friends and family, by people I loved and that I was the most vulnerable to. There's a big possibility that some of those people are reading this, and I don't necessarily aim to make them feel guilty or as though they deserve every ounce of pain coming to them, but my heart has been hardened, and a big part of what I had always felt made me who I was used to be my willingness to trust and to extend a helping hand no matter how many times I was knocked down...but not so much anymore. My spark flickers feebly on most days. I'm not so willing to love or let myself be loved. I'm not much of a romantic anymore, and I used to be a high-flying hopeless romantic. I miss these aspects of who I used to be. I think what makes me most angry at the people who have hurt me is that they've changed me, and I get angry at myself for having let them. But I can say this much for being Jaded: I feel as though I could stare into the eyes of just about anyone seeking to harm me and rip out their soul with nothing but a steady gaze. Is that something to take pride in, I wonder? Or is there truly no benefit, to anyone whatsoever, of becoming what life would make of you?
I'm going to say, to myself as much as anyone else, do your godsdamned best to fly high and never let anyone get you down! Nobody wins from the cruelties we have to offer each other. And don't let fear or feelings of inadequacy or ineptitude keep you from giving the world what you may have to offer. Just fucking do it for the sake of doing it! Let your inner snails be RESILIENT AND DETERMINED!
No, I'm not done yet. The Snail just had to make its appropriate appearance a little early. I still want to tell y'all more about what this new album has to offer. First off, let me present you with the track listing:
01. Jade's Theme (Van Gogh Reprise)
02. Mr. Douter
03. The Manic Widow (Feral Bitch Mix)
04. Simplify
05. Dorian
06. The Between
07. Jaded (Alternate Spin)
08. Sublime Like Swine
09. Nyctality
10. Umbra (Alternate Spin)
11. The Ground Up (Rebuild)
12. Jade's Theme (A Dirge)
13. Lily White
14. The Seventh Swan
15. Cold Sunlight
16. The Tranquil Isles
There, that lets me reference what songs I have yet to touch upon. Such as "Dorian," where, in all seriousness, it felt like some sort of ghost-boy tapped me on the shoulder and whispered his name before disappearing on me when it came to naming this song. I've decided that Dorian is the mysterious Arcane Son, and that this song was his way of letting me channel his name. I know how that sounds, but part of not succumbing to being a jaded bitch is letting your imagination run wild and free. So there.
I'd also like to point out that this Alternate Spin of "Umbra" is slightly different than that released on Wisps of Reason, in that it's been remastered and has a "hidden" synth, as in, you'll feel as though you have a finely tuned instrument for an ear if you catch it. Or you'll feel as though you're overly familiar with this song.
The Alternate Spin of "Jaded" contained herein is a fix on how the flamboyant guitar at the beginning always struck me as a little too over-the-top, that the immediately following piano section felt a little naked, and that the piano section following the first industrial-metal interlude always felt a little off to me. I've corrected these by replacing the opening guitar with my theremin-mimicking synth, while the rest has been solved with additional industrial effects or electric guitar.
This recording of "The Ground Up" is different than that contained on A New Era and its spin-offs, hence the subtitle to differentiate the two. It also seeks some fixes to minor things that had been bothering me with the addition of a new synth to balance out the noise-levels in places while also helping some of the additional guitar-work feel less raw and abrupt.
Lastly, I've remastered Alejandro's vocals on "Lily White" for this release, most notably removing the vocal distortion from the harmonizing, falsetto secondary vocal track. At this point, I'm not quite sure why I added the distortion in the first place. I think it sounds better without it. All I can is shrug and say vaguely, "Just one of those things, I guess..."
And that about wraps it up for the songs. Now, as you probably know, there is an alternate Artist's Edition available to Patreon patrons. Unlike the other Artist's Editions, this one has two additional songs on it, which are inserted among the other tracks rather than being tacked onto the end as "bonus tracks," making it more of an "extended director's cut" than a "bonus track edition." I prefer the Artist's Edition and think the additional songs and resulting change in the song ordering enhance the overall flow of the record. If you're wondering why the hell I didn't include these songs on the commercial release, it is expressly for the purpose of treating my Patrons as more special than those who would buy the commercial release from a store. I value the personal connection that Patreon facilitates and that these people - my Patrons - place value on supporting me directly. And these tracks are also on this Edition to encourage others to join in the Patreon system and find out exactly how much more of a rewarding and personal experience it is than just streaming an album or purchasing it from a store. Now, one of these tracks can already be heard on a previous blog post and on my SoundCloud page, that track being "Overdrive." Consider that but a teaser to when it is joined with "Passage Through The Veil," an epic post-metal song that rivals "The Cloud Walkers" and also paves the way for "Overdrive" with its closing piano riff.
The Artist's Edition also has the qualities the other Artist's Editions have that separate them from their commercial counterparts. You see, my distributor only allows me to send the tracks and the album cover far and wide, while the Artist's Editions have everything that makes a Bandcamp release superior. There's individualized, unique artwork associated with each track, and there's a PDF booklet of artwork and liner notes that accompanies the downloads. I've discovered that, on appropriate songs, you can also display lyrics on capable devices. Seriously, I wasn't aware of that before until I tapped my phone screen during "Sublime Like Swine," and up popped the lyrics! I was the one who input them into Bandcamp, but I didn't know that this was a resulting feature!
So, while I will be - as per usual - promoting and listing all of the ways you can stream and download the commercial version of this release, remember that the Artist's Edition provides a superior experience and that you really can't do better to support an artist and their work than by making a pledge (even if it's only a one-time thing!) through Patreon.
And that, I do believe, is all, folken! Enjoy the album! I will be posting links here at the end of the article to the stores at which this release is available as it goes live.
So, y'all should know by now that I'm pretty impatient when it comes to sharing my music, though I've gotten a lot better! Still, holding off on releasing Jaded is fucking killing me, yo! However, I do have an outlet for my impatience in the form of Patreon and The League of Extraordinary Snails, masked as a way for me to reward my financial supporters, when in actuality they are my guinea pigs that I unleash songs on when I just can't hold out anymore. Cue sinister laughter.
And so it is that I've created Erised, shamelessly named after the mirror in Harry Potter to proudly display just how much of a geek I am. If there were a shorter name for the Mirror of Galadriel, that would have been the title, just so you know. I would've gone for a Lord of the Rings reference first. Why I've named this three-track mini-EP after a mirror - why a mirror reference in general seemed of import - escapes me, so feel free to psychoanalyze it and get back to me with whatever you come up with. But the title goes wonderfully with the cover, and the cover is a beautiful manipulation of the base image for much of my poster art and for the cover of Jaded (which I call "Nym, the Great and Powerful") and the photograph by Robert Zuchowski (titled "Up in the Air") that was used for the cover of Wisps of Reason.
Little trade secret: I'm showing the cover image with this background and this size because it will conveniently appear perfectly-sized for links posted on social media. Just sharing in case you ever noticed a pattern and wondered about it.
Anyway, as far as Patreon goes, Erised joins Jade & Co. in the tier of rewards for pledges of $5 or more. If you're thinking that these two combined will give away all the new material to be found on Jaded, you'd be wrong. I've been working so much on new material while fine-tuning Jaded and waiting to see what Alejandro and Matt might come up with that I actually already have a title, cover, and track listing for the first seven-track Snail Tunes EP to be released in 2016! So there is one song from Jaded included on this new teaser, but the other two songs (titled "Passage Through The Veil" and "Overdrive") are from the next Snail Tunes release. I've decided to share "Overdrive" here for you, my dear readers.
This bit of orchestral dance rock with darkwave, industrial-metal undertones is actually a sequel of sorts to the other song, "Passage Through The Veil," which is an orchestral post-metal epic that threatens to replace "The Cloud Walkers" as my magnum opus... Well, maybe not. There are similarities, but is there really any replacing "The Cloud Walkers?" Only my audience will be able to tell me when "Passage Through The Veil" is released in 2016.
The song from Jaded joining these two on Erised is very, very dear to me and I'm very proud of it, but also very nervous to release it. It's a haunting, bluesy, mellow little piece of trip-hop in the acid jazz sort of vein of that sub-genre, called "Cold Sunlight," and I sing on it. This isn't me screaming, or trying to imitate Maynard, nor is it chanting or wordless wailing. This is the gentle crooning of genuine lyrics. Okay, I go a little loud and grungy for one verse, but the rest is me just letting these verses be pulled out of me by the music. I'm not going to try and get anyone else to sing this one for me, so this is what you get, and I really hope you like it. I love this song, and I hope I'm doing it justice. Even today I've been working hard at fine-tuning it. Luckily, I still have a few weeks to continue to do so if the need should come upon me before I release it to the public at large.
Well, that's all about Erised. And so y'all know, "Overdrive" is also available as a single-song download for all Patrons, and Erised is available to Leaguers as well. Now, I've been working all day just to get these rewards ready and posted, and I'm cracked out on coffee and my stomach is rumbling and it's three in the morning. I'd say it's about time to have some desert and watch The Vampire Diaries, wouldn't you?
UPDATE: A newly remastered edit of "Sublime Like Swine," featuring myself for vocals, is now available in tier of rewards for pledges of $1 or more at Patreon.
Man, I haven't felt this grateful to be working as a musician in a while now. What has changed, you may ask? Absolutely nothing. I'm still piss poor and facing all the usual discouraging factors, but I've felt a resurgence in inspiration hitting me out of nowhere that has me excited to be working again - and yes, it is work, and it's like any other job where you have days where you feel like you just can't face it - and I've been having moments are I appreciate the enormity of the little things. Like earlier today, I came into the house after freezing my ass off to smoke a cigarette, then poured a fresh cup of coffee and returned to my little work set-up on the couch...and it smacked me hard in the face that, while this may not last and this adventure might not be successful, right then I was going to settle onto that couch with a hot beverage, cozy up under a blanket that's been in my life as long as I can remember, and work from home doing something that I wanted to be doing then and there. And if that can't provide a little extra motivation to get my ass in gear and work as hard as I can to be successful at what I'm doing, I don't know what can.
I can't really put my finger on where this post-Thanksgiving gratitude or fresh creativity has come from (it really might be Abilify - you've undoubtedly seen the commercials - and yes, I'm really on this anti-psychotic mood stabilizer now, and no, you won't ever hear it called that in the commercials, just the friggin' psychiatrist's office) but since releasing Wisps of Reason, I've been on a roll. Remember how I said (in the release article) that my goal of releasing the next commercial record by the end of the year might be pushing it? Well, if I let my impatience get the best of me, I could put it out now. I've been working nonstop, only taking a break to eat and catch a couple hours of sleep here and there, just like in the early days when I had myself working in feverish delirium all the time, except that I know better how to pace myself and care for myself now. There's just no dragging ass, which I had been admittedly prone to lately.
It's really kind of hard not to put the album out already. There's so much new music that I want to share! And I'm not even done promoting the new music from Wisps yet! So I guess it's kind of a good thing that I asked my rock star friends (yeah, I really call them that in my head) Matt Warface of (IAM)WARFACE and Alejandro Saldarriaga Calle of The Arcane Insignia to consider offering their vocal talents to a couple of my songs and told them they had until the end of the month before I move forward with the album. I already have vocals recorded for the specific songs I've asked for their assistance with, and they're not half-bad at all, but I think these songs could be considerably improved with their abilities. For example, "The Between" is already released on Wisps of Reason with my vocals, but I think the more melodic bits (but I'm keeping my screaming on there, dammit! I'm just too proud of it!) would suit Alejandro's beautifully clear warbling better. And I have a con palabras recording of "Darkest Dreams" retitled "Sublime Like Swine," but I think Matt would sound fantastic on it, and he's been offering for a while now.
So I'm being forced to spend more time with these songs, which really can't hurt, as I get the inspiration to tweak them every now and then. Even if Matt ends up not having time to record vocals for me before the end of the month, I've already gone and remastered the vocals on "Sublime Like Swine" with a different compressor, which has made a hell of a difference from the recording I sent off to him, which happens to be the same recording I've already released to Patrons and Leaguers on a new reward titled Jade and Co.
Jade and Co. is a new four-track mini-EP (I learned today that, according to Distrokid, it would technically be considered an EP because it's more than three tracks, while all of my seven-track "EPs" would be considered albums because they're over thirty minutes in length, but I make my own rules, so whatever) offering a preview of the new album, which I'm confirming is going to be called Jaded - there's already a cover, I've always wanted to name a record after her...yep, it's Jaded. And Jade will be arriving with some friends; new characters to add to the Snail Tunes/Tales mythology. But more on that later. The mini-EP offers two all-new original songs bookended by two new renditions of familiar tunes, all of which are exclusive to the new album, for a track list that looks like this:
1. The Ground Up (Rebuild)
2. Sublime Like Swine
3. The Seventh Swan
4. Jade's Theme (Van Gogh Reprise)
"The Seventh Swan" sounding like this:
There, that should help with my almost overpowering need to share my music! I hope y'all enjoy it. I love this song. It was almost effortless in the writing and recording process, and then it tapped me on the shoulder and said, "By the way, I'm the Seventh Swan." To which I replied, "What the fuck?" but it was gone on invisible wings before I could get any clarification on the matter. This song has been with me for a good while now, and I've listened to it more times than I can count and have already tweaked it quite a bit, so I can say with a fair amount of certainty that this song will appear on the album as it is now. Just so you know. And yes, that's a sample of the working cover for the album. It's simple, elegant, and I didn't have to pester an artist to donate their work because I can't pay them anything.
This leads me to touch on the taboo subject of reaching out for funds. You know that old adage "You have to spend money to make money?" Well, it happens to be true in the music industry. One problem I've encountered is that collecting royalties is not nearly as simple as it should be. Sure, Distrokid will collect royalties for me from sources they've distributed my music to...for as long as I pay them. Then there's royalties from sources they didn't distribute to. For example, I now have four songs playing on Darkwave Radio, earning me income, but the royalties just get set aside in some nether world that no one can really explain to me and if they're not collected within a certain amount of time that nobody will specify, then they just dissipate. Also, YouTube sets aside funds for royalties for music played in all monetized videos, but again, they have to be collected. Anyone can be using my music in YouTube videos without my even realizing it, and YouTube might have money waiting for me, but I have no easy way of knowing it's there and the task of collecting isn't an easy one. Turns out there's different kinds of royalties and you have to jump through all sorts of bureaucracy for all manner of types and different districts to collect, which is why companies exist that will deal with all that shit and collect your earnings for you...for a price. The best I've found is a one-time payment of $75 to a company called Symphonic Distribution. I don't have $75. Right now, my earnings (mainly through Patreon) pay for my music addiction with an Apple Music subscription and tipping hard-to-find artists who offer their music for pay-what-you-will on Bandcamp. I don't even pay rent, because I don't have my own place.
You see, I have this theory: when you offer a service or product on a "pay what you can, when you can" basis - offering to work for tips/donations - people will undoubtedly figure, "Well, I'm sure if they're doing that, then they must be able to afford to work for free" or they'll think, "I'm sure someone else is tipping them, and what good is $1 going to do them anyway" or they think (and this is the kind of person I don't even want listening to my music) "Well, I'm not made of money, why should they get to do something they love." That last is such a loveless attitude and doesn't recognize that I offer is a service and a product, and I've had a hard time coming round to this stance myself, but I do deserve to get paid for it, because I work damn hard at it.
But man, if you listen to someone's music and you pass up on an opportunity to make a donation to them because you figure they're getting paid by someone else...please don't. Because I'm being totally straightforward and honest with you here: I don't make shit and the only way I'm able to do this right now is because I've taught myself to use free resources and because I'm disabled from a failed suicide. I can never manage touring, much less even a live performance, because of my physical handicaps. If it weren't for modern tools, I wouldn't be able to make music. This isn't a pity party. This is to make you understand that I'm in a unique situation and I'm a unique person, to be able to do what I'm doing. Most musicians have day jobs and they absolutely have to demand recompense for the entertainment/mental health services they provide.
So I can be absolutely piss poor and make music. But what I'd like is to be able to afford to better my tools, resources, and living circumstances. I'd like to be able to afford to collect my own earnings. I'd like to be able to feature a real theremin on my recordings. I'd like to be able to get in some studio time for decent vocal recordings; to have my music professionally mastered; to pay contributing musicians and artists... I'd like to be able to afford to finally put together a real physical product - an album called Nothing Left To Lose - that I can share with those who have been supporting me.
And part of my job is working my ass off to reward those who do support me. Financially, I mean. I am incredibly grateful to all those who offer their support just by Liking and Sharing on social media, and to those who simply listen and/or read. I mean, let's just take a moment to appreciate that over 2,200 individuals have given this blog a +1 on Google. Not, this blog has been +1'd 2,200 times, but that's 2,200 individuals who gave the blog itself, not just one of the articles, a +1. Now, I don't know how many of those people are regular visitors. But if just seventy-five people decided to click the "Support Cyber-Busking" button on this blog and donated $1 and didn't just figure that someone else would donate, then I'd be able to collect royalties on my music from all sources that I can think of all over the world. But why just donate that $1 when you could click the Patreon button and pledge $1 and the reap all the rewards that come with such a pledge, such as The Occultation Sessions, A Waltz For Giger - The Completed Collection, and single downloads of "The Ground Up" and the sin palabras versions of "Lily White" and "The Between"? And if you have $5 to spare, you just opened up two more options. There's buying stock in either Occultation or Jade & Co. on MIME, or there's getting a month's subscription to The League of Extraordinary Snails. Feeling like getting a lot more than one album's worth for $10? Then you can choose from buying stock in both items on MIME, or getting a ton of rewards on Patreon.
See, I not only work hard at making the music itself, but on promoting the music and making it worthwhile in other ways for people to support my making the music. It's a very demanding job. It really sucks ass sometimes. It's only that I love making the music itself and that it's something I happen to think I'm good at that drives me. And I need your support. So I'll break down what you can get for it. This is currently what a subscription to the League has to offer:
All of that is yours, instantly available for DMR-free, high-quality download in a format of your choosing and available for unlimited streaming on the free Bandcamp app. Plus, if you don't have one already, you'll gain a Bandcamp member Feed that you can stream and explore music from, similar to the app.
Now on Patreon - The $1 and up pledges gain access to:
The Occultation Sessions; A Waltz For Giger - The Completed Collection; and the singles "The Between (Sin Palabras)," "The Seventh Swan," "The Ground Up," and "Lily White (Sin Palabras)."
The $5 and up pledges gain access to:
The above rewards, plus Jade & Co, An Abbreviated Era, and the Artist's Edition of Instrumentality.
The $10 and up pledges gain access to:
All the above rewards, plus the epic 21-track compilation A New Era, the Artist's Edition of Occultation, and - because it's the next release - an Artist's Edition of the new album, Jaded, on or before its release to the public.
Finally there's the MIME stock exchange, where you can buy stock in artists and get rewarded by the artists themselves, as well as gain interest in your stock, for which I'm offering Jade and Co. for $3 and Occultation for $5. So there's plenty of ways to offer financial support - and not for much money (even I pay a buck or two for music that's offered for free on Bandcamp much of the time) - and get a hell of a lot back for giving. Shit, I think that's called an exchange of goods and services, or something. The thing is, I'm an unconventional artist, and I offer a lot of unconventional ways to give your support when you can. Just please, don't always figure someone else is doing it, so why should you? That's the kind of thinking that leads to a whole lot of nothing going on.
As always, thanks for your support and your consideration. You guys do absolutely rock for even just reading all this nonsense. May your inner snails remain resilient and determined.
