News
New Old Releases
Jay Blanch of Limnus and I just finished mastering an EP of old ambient instrumentals from early 2009. I'll be releasing it digitally here on Tuesday, December 21st!
We're also reworking an old song, and pressing some new posters, to commemorate Memorial's one year anniversary. They're a little delayed, but expect those to show up here within the next couple weeks as well.
- J
[12.19.10]
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December, Again
It's the one year anniversary of Memorial today...weird to think about. It's been a long, weird year; one that wasn't nearly as productive or adventerous for this band as I'd hoped. The new year will bring new things though, with many changes. In the meantime,I'm working on three supplemental projects right now, all of which are nearing completion and will be released on this site over the course of December.
Thanks everyone for sticking around so far. Stay tuned for more updates very soon. I'm attending another Limnus show in Santa Cruz at the 418 Project on December 11th. If your in the area, come by and pay us a visit!
- J
[11.29.10]
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Moving on...
These have been really tough times lately. All my old files--the original Memorial recording tracks, unreleased abrasions songs, hours upon hours of ambiences and song demos I've made/collected over the years, even most of the old picture files--have been lost in a harddrive failure I should have foreseen. It's all gone.
Nowhere to go but forward now, I guess.
I've been going to college for the past couple weeks, largely to keep me on my toes, since I've been pretty aimless of late. A few classes directly pertain to music recording and web design, so it's still all for the sake of abrasions in the end. There were a lot of lost opportunities this year, and I won't let that happen again this next year. I'm still looking for live members so if you're interested and living in the bay area, please drop me an email.
I've been writing new lyrics again too, and developing some basic ideas for the next album. I'd like to have another album out, or at least in the making, sometime next year. We'll see. I do plan on doing something a bit sparse but special this November for Memorial's one year anniversary too, so stay tuned for that.
- J
[10.08.10]
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Live Members Wanted
Been rehearsing a lot, switching off instruments with my friend Ryan Perez. We've got a long way to go but I'd love to start doing shows this fall/winter. It's not very practical trying to pull that off with just the two of us though, so we're looking for more bandmembers. Guitarists, Keyboardists, and Drummers are particularly needed, and people who can switch off instruments. Should be interesting. Practice will be bi-weekly, based in Castro Valley, California, though that might change in the future.
I made some flyers and will be posting them around the bay. If you want any flyers, or know any people/places I should contact, please let me know. Thanks!
- J
[08.04.10]
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The Waiting Wall
abrasions - The Waiting Wall from J Ericson on Vimeo.
Recorded totally DIY in an abandoned house over an intense week. Special thanks to Jacob Helton of Nazarene Media for recording and helping me edit, and Andrew Becker for providing some props and the HD camera. Share with your friends!
It's also available on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D02ilnlDlwQ
- J
[06.13.10]
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The Waiting Wall Photos
Posted some pictures from The Waiting Wall recordings in the image section. All photos by Jacob Helton of Nazarene Media.
- J
[06.13.10]
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"The Waiting Wall" to be released on June 13th
Finally finished "The Waiting Wall" music video. Scheduled for release on Vimeo and Youtube on June 13th. Stay tuned! :)
- J
[updated 06.09.10]
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Music Video
Been hard at work all week, setting up and recording the first abrasions music video with my friend Jake Helton of Nazarene Media. There's an abandoned house not far from where I live which we've been using as our set, and it looks surrealistically awesome so far. Still in the process of recording, but I hope to have it out within the next couple weeks.
- J
[04.18.10]
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Mirror
God, the months have flown by. Not much has been going on here, has it. I'm preparing for a special project this weekend. Does anyone have a full length mirror handy that they'd be willing to give up? It's okay if it's cracked or whatever, in fact it's all the better.
- J
[04.07.10]
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Nearly Lovers Back In Stock
Remember Nearly Lovers? I've had a box of these CD singles sitting in my room haunting me for years now. At the recommendation of a friend I put them back up in the webstore.
[03.28.10]
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Memorial Reviews
It's been about 4 months since Memorial's release, how's it been holding up for you so far? It's been a slow couple of weeks lately, but I know people are listening out there. I mailed it off a bunch of copies to a few professional reviewers and record labels, but I don't think they're willing to take a completely obscure solo artist with no background seriously. So it'd be really helpful if people would blog about it, write reviews on iTunes, etc.. Not only that, but I'd really just like to know what people think of it so far, other than "It's cool that it exists."
In the meantime I'm looking for a small label to distribute my album, and practicing for live performances by myself. It's still only available in like 3 record stores, and no one really knows about it. I think I've made the best, most honest album I could, and now's the time to just get it noticed. I'm determined to make this something real.
- J
[03.23.10]
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Shirts on Sale Now!
I finally picked up the new abrasions shirts today, and they look great! :)
I'm so happy with how they came out! They're available for $15 at the new abrasions physical merch store, which is now active here: store.abrasivemusik.net. I'm using CCNow to transfer orders, so you can buy it with a credit card or paypal, or send money directly to my mailbox. Now'd be a good time to buy the Memorial CD there too, if you were planning on it, since I can combine the package. :) Any orders from here on out also will come with two sets of free stickers.
- J
[03.02.10]
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My Bloody Valentine's Day
In a rather spur of the moment idea, I hosted a sort of Anti-Valentine's Day party at my house on the 14th, which included a very special live performance by my friend's band Limnus. We took all the furniture out of my living room, set up the drumset and everything. Amazingly, the cops weren't called on us, and Limnus put on a hell of a show. It was completely crazy, but a great successful night nonetheless. A lot of people had a good time and felt a lot better than if they just stayed around at home. Some problems arose, but overall I think it was a very positive experience, and a good precedent for if I want to do some abrasions live shows in the near future. My house makes a strangely good venue it seems, something I'm definitely going to keep in mind.
- J
[02.23.10]
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Shirt
Shirt concept, using art from the "Some Days" pages of the Memorial lyric booklet. What do you think?
Pressing the shirts myself has proven too inaccurate and tedius, so I'm going to have them pressed at WeNeedMerch in Walnut Creek. Unfortunately due to them being super busy the shirts won't be available til early March, but they should come out looking really good. Once they're available I'll be redoing the abrasions store to be more based around physical merch, and have the digital store be a seperate entity. :)
Any other abrasions merch you'd like to see? Drop me a line via my email , or comment me on my Facebook or Myspace.
[02.11.10]
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Photoshoot 02.10.10
Had another photoshoot with my friend Jake Helton today, for those of you who've been dying to see more pictures of me brooding in forests. :P Check 'em out in the Image section.
- J
[updated 02.10.10]
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Designing Some Shirts
Been designing some abrasions shirts over the past couple of days! I'm pushing the roadtrip back a bit. I really want to leave something solid and new behind for abrasions before I go, so I'm working on some nice DIY screenprinted shirts now. I have a design finished and will be test pressing it with my friend Kasi this weekend. If that works out fine, I hope to have a couple dozen of various sizes available for sale on this site by next weekend. :)
Been trying to change things recently. January really dragged me back to a dark, lonely place. I was slowly starting to remind myself of the person I was throughout 2008, and I never want to go back to that again. I want to be a positive independent part of this world, someone who creates more or at least equal to as much as he destroys. Trying to live better, even if it's in very small ways.
- J
[updated 02.05.10]
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Traveler
I'll soon be embarking on a spiritual journey of sorts. It's been a terribly dead month, and it's become increasingly apparent that my way of life here in Castro Valley has run its course. I need to go on some sort of adventure, to leave this place, at least for a short while. Over the course of February a friend and I will be taking a road trip to New Orleans, and a few other ridiculous places. Along the way I am going to do some small acoustic shows--in record stores, Hot Topics, street corners, whatever works--so you can kind of call this a tour. This week I'm trying to figure out how things will work, tying up some loose ends.
If any of you have been interested in buying a copy of my CD, now would be a really helpful time to do it, since I'm going to need as much money as I can get. I'll send all orders out by Friday the 5th, the day I leave.
- J
[updated 01.30.10]
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All Ashes, Stores, Other Sites
It's been a beautiful rainy week here in Castro Valley. Last night I uploaded the song "All Ashes" to the myspace page. Probably one of the most pivotal songs to the album's structure and theme, and seems to be a fan favorite. I was in a very dark place when I wrote it... Please add it to your myspace page, tell people about it, stuff like that. You can, of course, listen to it in much higher quality, along with the rest of my album, for free at this website's digital store too.
In other news, I restocked the Rasputin Music in San Lorenzo with a few more copies of Memorial. You should find it in the Goth/Industrial section. Very surreal for me, but it's nice to know some people are buying it and it's allowed to stay there. Thanks to everyone who's bought a copy so far, either directly from me or through some other channels. The feedback has been small but tremendously positive all around, I appreciate it.
Still assembling a live band, doing rehearsals, etc., though I've been working on some personal things lately that have put that aside for now. I'm also looking into making some shirts and other such merch, since I've gotten quite a few requests, but it's gonna take some more money and that'll take some more time.
Lastly I'd like to invite everyone to join the abrasions Facebook and Twitter pages, or sign up for my mailing list, so I can keep all of you updated on abrasions related stuff in the coming future.
Happy new year everyone, we're still here.
- J
[updated 01.23.10]
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The reality of touring
Interesting and frank article on the reality of touring:
www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=418739645104
I remember back in highschool trying to argue with people that they should support bands, buy CDs, etc.etc., and people would always respond: "Well bands can just make hell of money off of touring, so why should I?" Contrary to popular belief, bands rarely make any money when touring, especially now that less and less people are going to shows these days. This is particularly weighing heavy on me now since I know I want to start doing shows soon too. The music industry is a mess, hell, industry period is a mess, right now. If I give up though, then I can't expect anyone else to do any better. Please support the music you love, in any way you can.
[updated 01.04.10]
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Guitar/Keyboardist and Bassist Wanted
I think it's time for abrasions to man up and start acting like a real band. I want to do some shows, or at least have the capability to, but they won't be very good or interesting unless I have actual people playing actual instruments. I would like to use as few backing tracks as possible. The songs are all pretty simple instrumentally, they just require a lot of effects and tricky instrument swapping, so it'll be interesting. What I mainly need are:
- A guitarist who can double as a keyboardist. (simple notes on the latter, don't worry)
- A bassist
- And perhaps a full-time keyboardist.
Might ask any one of them to do some backup vox for some songs. I think I'm covered on drums, but a new guitar/keyboardist in particular is vital. If you have your own guitar/bass and especially a good synth, that'd certainly be helpful. I live in Castro Valley, of the San Francisco bay area, so it's preferable if you live in the east bay or have some sort of ride. No official plan on how practices will work out, but let's assume it's at least once a week. Being open minded, having a lot of free time, and being into weird dark experimental stuff, helps. Hit me up if your interested. :)
- J
[updated 12.21.09]
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Memorial now in stores...
Memorial is now available at Rasputin Music [Berkeley, San Lorenzo], Amoeba Music [Berkeley], and ABC Music [Castro Valley]. Very surreal, I'm pretty stoked. Only a few copies at each store, but if they sell within the next 3 months, they'll let me put more copies up and it'll be secured there. Woo! :)
- J
[updated 12.17.09]
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Support/Any Ideas?
I've been distributing my CD around, sending it to friends, former teachers, people who bought it, etc.etc. It is now available digitally iTunes and eMusic, and the physical CD will soon be available in several other places. Still, the best place to get it in either format is straight from from me on this site. :)
I really want people to review the album. I still don't quite know how to describe it myself, so it'd be interesting to hear other voices. Not to mention it'd probably help get peoples attention so they'll give it a chance in the first place. It'd be super helpful if you submitted your reviews to iTunes, Amazon.com , eMusic, etc.etc. Also if you know of any good review sites or places I should look into, please let me know.
You can also tag the album at the Memorial page on last.fm. For those that don't know how that works, on last.fm you can tag music with words and phrases that it makes you think of. "dark, heavy, atmospheric, solo artists, music to play on a rainy day, banana," whaever. You can do it for the band/album as a whole or for individual songs. Very cool. The more tags the music gets the more likely other people will find it and give it a listen. I really like that site.
So uh...I have a question for everyone listening. What would you want from abrasions at this point? Now that the CD's release has passed, I'm honestly kind of at a loss as to what I should do. What should the next step be? Should I make merch? Shirts? Stickers? Should I do a music video? A live show? Any ideas or suggestions would be taken seriously. My budget is really tight now so I need to put a lot of thought into my next move. Let me know what you think. My email is J@abrasivemusik.net.
Anyway, more updates coming soon.
- J
[updated 12.13.09]
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Some new pics uploaded.
Did a photoshoot with my old friend Jake Helton of Nazarene Media today. It's nice having a consistent sequence of pictures that fit abrasions pretty well for a change. Posted the pics in the Image section. More to come soon probably. Thanks Jake.
- J
[updated 12.01.09]
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New album released today!
I'm happy to announce that Memorial is out now! You can stream and download the whole album, right now, at the new digital store!
You can also download it there at a price you choose (minimum $8) or buy the deluxe CD ($10). All money goes straight to me. I personally recommend the CD though, I put a lot into it and it came out beautifully. It comes in a premium, matte-finish digipak with a 12-page lyric booklet.
It's also available at Amazon.com as a download, and should be up on CDBaby, iTunes, etc.etc. soon as well. Best deal is getting it straight from me though.
To be honest, it's a really cohesive, emotionally heavy album. I wrote it at a very dark period of my life, so it's that kind of album. Recommend listening to it when you're in the mood for something dark and atmospheric that you can just get lost in. This is my heart and soul.
Anyway, tell everyone you know, spread the word, etc.etc. I'm very happy. Two years and it's finally here! :) If there are any questions/concerns/comments, hit me up at my new email, J@abrasivemusik.net.
- J
[updated 11.29.09]
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Memorial coming out November 29th!
Been uploading my album to various online retailers all day. Once processing is done it'll be available on iTunes, Amazon MP3, Limewire, Napster, you name it. Also setting up the digital store that'll be embedded on this site so people can buy it directly from me, via download or CD. Speaking of which, the deluxe CDs should be arriving by next Friday. Aiming for November 29th as the release date. :)
I've been updating this site a lot this week, trying to make it more efficient as a standalone center for everything related to the project. If anyone has any suggestions, advice, whatev, let me know - I run the site myself with my frail grasp on html so it gets pretty tricky.
Now's the time to really start promoting the band, so please, add songs to your page, post banners, tell your friends! Memorial is nearly here.
[updated 11.20.09]
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Memorial being pressed now!
I just mailed off Memorial's artwork and master disc to get pressed at A to Z Media. Production of the CDs is beginning on monday, and it should be out before November's end! Super stoked.
The album is presented in a beautiful digipak with a 12 page lyric booklet. All album photography is by Jared and myself. If anyone wants a copy, it'd be extremely helpful if you guys would preorder it. To be honest I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to afford this, especially in light of losing my job. Please spread the word on the record's iminant release - and if you want a copy mailed to you on the release day you can preorder it in the Musik section of this site. It's only $10 and shipping is free. :)
If you don't have paypal, feel free to mail order it to my address. Hopefully some day it'll be available in a few California record stores too.
I've got some other cool ideas up my sleeve, so stay tuned for more updates very soon! Happy Halloween!
[updated 10.30.09]
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abrasivemusik back online, Limnus, Memorial, etc.
The site's been down for a couple weeks due to a spam threat, but I've fixed it. It's good to be back.
Lots of exciting stuff going on. Spent the past couple of weeks working on the art & design of Limnus's new Nether EP, which is finally being released on CD tomorrow. The CDs came in earlier this week and they look beautiful, complimenting the music perfectly. It's all the more inspiring for the process of to making the Memorial artwork something really special.
Speaking of which, Jared Warren and I finally finished photography for Memorial last week, and now it's just a matter of completing the design and sending it off to AtoZ Media. I completely redesigned the cover art to something much more fitting.
What do you think?
I'm losing my job for good tomorrow, but I have nearly enough money to press the record. Gonna do some ebaying I guess and finish it once and for all. I'd still like to have it out on both CD and digital download before the end of November.
Anyway, back to Limnus. They have their first big show tomorrow at the Oakland Metro. I'm very proud of them and excited to see them shine before the big crowd. I'm looking forward to joining them. Their next show is at Dreamland in Hayward on November 7th. Don't miss it!
One last thing, abrasions now has a facebook. Unfortunately facebook doesn't give bands custom urls until they have 1000 fans, because they hate small bands, but feel free to search & add us there. :) See ya 'round.
- J
[updated 10.22.09]
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Ascenscion
I uploaded Memorial's fourth song to the myspace page today, "Year". I'm only leaving it up for a day so check it out before it disappears again. This one's very close to my heart, though I guess they all are, heh. The live drums and rhythm guitar were performed by my good friend J of the band Limnus, making this the most collaborative abrasions song so far.
Anyway, I have some strange but good news. Rather miraculously I managed to get my job back (!!!)...kind of. The company is trying to rebuild itself and hired me back part time to keep the workflow going. Very surreal. The schedule is very rocky but hey, I'm happy to be working again! :) Been selling lots of stuff on ebay and whatnot too to help build up money to press the album. I can do this. Things are looking up, though I still don't think the album will be released until November.
I have a few cool ideas that'll help pass this transitionary time over the next two months, but I'll reveal that once it becomes a reality. In the meantime, I'm going to disappear from California for awhile. I've been needing to visit my family in New York City/New Jersey for awhile now. Now seems like the best time to visit.
Thanks to everyone for their kind words so far. I'm sorry I couldn't release it sooner, but such is life. Once I think about it I don't really know any bands who say an album will be released on a certain date and then actually did it, heh. You can still preorder or donate if you want to help out, but the best thing to do is just spread the word on the project/new record. =) I'm leaving for New York City and northern New Jersey next week. I'll be there for about two weeks. If anyone around there wants to hang out, I'd so be down.
- J
[09.01.09]
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Complication
No matter how I try to word this it sounds wrong so I'll just be straightforward. Today the company I work for folded, laying off me and the rest of it's workforce immediately. I'm out of the job.
I'm filing for unemployment and going to be looking for a new job soon. I don't care how I'll be in the end, but this is bad news in the context of the abrasions project. All this time it's been paid for straight out of my pocket. I don't sell any of my music or do shows (yet). I've recorded, mixed and mastered the album, Memorial, at a pro studio, which has cost thousands and thousands of dollars I've saved up over the past eternity. I'm flat broke now and have been scraping by for weeks now to try to get the CDs pressed and to prepare to do some live performances this fall. Without this consistent job I've had, abrasions will stop dead in it's tracks.
I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do, but I'm not going to give up. My main priority is to get this record out. Nothing else really matters to me anymore.
If worse comes to worse and the concept of pressing it the way it's been intended is truly impossible, I'll just have to release it as a digital download, which I was going to do in addition to the CDs anyway. Even so, these now particularly aggravated financial troubles are certainly going to push the release date back beyond September - who knows how far. Hopefully I can somehow release it by Halloween.
In the meantime, I'm truly going to need all the support I can get now. I set up a pre-order account for Memorial at just $8. You can preorder it in the "musik" section of this site. Likewise there's now also a "donate" button you can click on if you just want to help out. Both require paypal, but if you don't have that and still want to help you can just mail me money directly.
I'd like to thank everyone for their support and feedback so far. I know that this world is fucked and this economy is fucked and this music industry is reaaally fucked, so I don't really expect much support to come my way. Still, if anyone wants to lend a hand it'd be greatly appreciated. This project feels sooo close to getting up off the ground and I think it just needs one more big push to get the ball rolling. The silence will end in due time.
- J
[08.13.09]
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Some Site Updates and a New Song
Finally updated the site a bit - more recent pictures, less annoying bio, and an mp3 of the new songs "Angel" and "Dreamer" can now be streamed as mp3s in the Musik section! They're also available on the band's myspace. "Dreamer" was a particularly painful and cathartic one to write and record so it's liberating to finally release it to the world.
I guess I'm gonna start branching out abrasions online and sign up to other sites - facebook, vampirefreaks, etc. More importantly, I really need this site to be revamped. I want it to be legit, not this basic HTML crap. If you or anyone you know is particularly good at web design (and I mean the real deal, look at www.androidlust.com as an example), please get me connected. We can work out a deal.
Anyway, I went back to Popsmear Studios and we mixed the second half of the album. It's a lot darker and more cohesive than the first half so mixing was a lot more pre-planned this time around, getting the flow and ambience just right. I'm extremely happy with how it all turned out, to say the least. All my dreams are coming true.
However, I think I'm going to go back for one more mixing session in a few weeks to do some final tweaking. I'm doing all this paycheck to paycheck so I have no idea how I'm going to be able to afford to release this in September but if I have to push it back a month I will. I can honestly say I put my heart and soul into every single note on this record and it just needs one more push to become perfect. - J
[07.30.09]
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Memorial
abrasions - Memorial
[full length album]
tracklist:
1. Angel
2. Dreamer
3. Descent
4. Year
5. The Waiting Wall
6. Mother's Day
7. All Ashes
8. She was a Vessel
9. Some Days
It's nearly here. Two years of deep self examination, loss and realization all coalesce into a dark musical sequence I'm proud to finally release to the world. It's planned release date is this September, both as a deluxe CD and digital download. The opening track, which includes some guitarwork by my good friend J of the band Limnus, has just been posted on the myspace page. Go and check it out!
I'll be posting a new song roughly every 10 days over the next month, in addition to pressing a free sample CD of the album's first 3 songs. It's going to take a lot of work to be able to afford to press the CDs and to be honest I'll need all the help I can get. So if anyone wants to join in in promoting it and getting the name out there, I'd greatly appreciate it. Either way though it's going to happen - it's just a matter of how long it'll take. I'll set up a pre-sale page sometime soon too. In the meantime, if you live in the bay area and would like a free copy of the sample CD just hit me up and I'll get it to you one way or another.
[07.20.09]
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new album recording finished!
I just got back from a week long stay at Popsmear Studios, in which I finished off recording the new album and got down to mixing with Scott Llamas. We spent a whole day working on the mix of the first half of the album and it sounds fucking amazing so far. Way better than I imagined...it's really heavy and layered and accessable yet completely honest and weird. A mixing date in two weeks for the second side of the album is being scheduled, after which I'm gonna start distributing and releasing some singles/artwork/etc..
Expect to hear some new songs on the myspace (finally!) at the end of this month. Meanwhile I'm going to continue working my ass off to save up to try and get it released on CD and digital download as soon as possible, heh.
[07.18.09]
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limnus
I spent most of last week working with Limnus and recording/editing their first music video, "A Darkened Road". It turned out great - you can check it out on youtube and myspace.
Please spread the virus. Their "Nether EP", which I co-wrote/produced a song for, will be coming out within the next couple of months. I advise everyone to check out. It's an ultra fast chunk of death that'll leave you literally breathless.
The two songwriters in the band are good friends of mine who have a vital role in the recording/artwork of the upcoming abrasions record, not to mention they will be part of my live band, so get used to these pretty faces. =)
In other news, artwork for the new album is nearly finished and official recording dates at Popsmear Studios have been booked for July 13th-17th. Until then I'm continuing work and evaluation on the demos/backing tracks and rehearsing the new songs with J of Limnus. In light of recent events, the album's vibe is shaping itself into something bigger and better than I initially imagined it could be.
[06.17.09]
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new album
All the songs on the new abrasions album have been written, and are in various stages of recording. It sounds really great, blows everything I've previously done out of the water. Final demos and backing tracks are going to be rerecorded over the course of June, and in July a good friend of mine and I are going to a pro studio for week to record the most key instrumental tracks and vocals. The album sounds great; 10 uncompromising, emotionally-charged songs exploring whole new realms and genres.
At the end of June I'll be releasing a 3-track demo CD for promotion. After recording, August will be dedicated to mixing/mastering/pressing, and even maybe some shows if it works out. I'm aiming for a release on CD and digital download in September.
In the meantime, check out my friend's band Limnus, who have just recorded their Nether EP at the same studio I'll be recording my album. The guitarist/vocalist is a very talented friend of mine who'll be playing guitar and live drums tracks on the abrasions record. Likewise, I produced a part of their EP too, which should be released in a few weeks.
Sorry this all took so long, and I glorified all these previous false starts. I've been sorting through a lot of emotional bullshit this past year. Good news is it's fueling the music now, more than ever. Check back here and on the myspace in the near future.
- J
[05.28.09]
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Recent News