Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Creation >

Barbelith Netlabels

Page: (1)2

18:32 / 28.09.05

[mods, if this is somehow inappropriate, just kill it.]

I have just started a new netlabel at archive.org. Our (content-pending) website is here, and our media page is here. I only have one release up so far - a single from To Repel Ghosts, but more music is on the way.

Anyway, the reason I'm posting this here is because This Plague of Dreaming is looking for artists!

TPoD is intended to feature obscure, esoteric, or just plain odd music - dreamy media mangling, b-movie horrorbeat, glitch-opera, noise-poetry, and anything else that fits our emerging aesthetic. We want laptop mad science and FXed field recordings, obscure reworkings of forgotten classics and hastily coded fragment memories upon awakening. What we want, in other words, is what you got (assuming you have one or more of these things). If you're not sure if your stuff fits, ask--it might not, but then again it might.

This netlabel is a strictly non-commercial endeavor, and our artists are strongly encouraged to publish under Creative Commons license - no one gets rich, but we do have a chance to get our music heard.

Please PM me if you are interested! We'll talk, we'll take a meeting.

02:29 / 02.10.05

Just *bumping* this up to say that we've just released Enter Horus, the new four-song E.P. from Sypha Nadon.

Check it out here.

Meanwhile, we're still looking for artists!

12:04 / 02.12.05

Once again, I'm bumping this thread to announce a new release from This Plague of Dreaming:

To Repel Ghosts - All Is Calm Four old Christmas chestnuts thawed out and refrozen in new and interesting shapes.

Stop by and check us out. (And if you like what you hear and think your own music might work with what we're doing, drop me a PM and we'll talk.)

13:06 / 05.12.05

And again, to announce the new Sypha Nadon album: 11 Chants for Russolo! Take a listen here.

I think I should broaden the topic now and ask: anyone else on Barbelith run or contribute to a netlabel? Post your link!

Withiel: DALI'S ROTTWEILER

21:48 / 05.12.05

My artistic collective runs a sort of netlabel thingummy, tentatively entitled [rhexisMUSIC], mostly producing attempts at agit-prog-rock. You can download everything here and a sample track here.

On the discussion side, what's the best way to promote a netlabel once the tracks are there? Is it a good idea to include "cover art", or does this seem a bit artificial (as it does to me)?

Also, I'm really enjoying the Plague of Dreaming music, (especially The Twilight People), and I'm currently in the process of downloading Syph's downright _odd_ LP for later perusal-with-my-ears.

--

04:28 / 06.12.05

I'm all in favor of cover art... I can't think of how many CDs I've purchased on the merits of their cover art alone. Some may think that the visuals distract from the music but I'm in the belief that it can compliment it.

I think liner notes can be very effective at "selling" the album also. When I sit down to write the liner notes for my releases I put a lot of effort into creating a certain sort of atmosphere or mystique that sets the tone for the listener even before they've heard the music. Of course, someone may read the liner notes and think, "H'mm, that sounds really cool", then give it a listen and think "What is this crap?" but the point is you got them to listen, and who knows? Sooner or later they may end up warming to it.

12:55 / 06.12.05

Is it a good idea to include "cover art", or does this seem a bit artificial (as it does to me)?

Personally, as a consumer, I rather like it - if I particularly like a downloaded album, I burn it to play in the car and take to parties and the like, and the cover art makes it feel more like a 'proper' CD and not just something I burned on the quick.

As an artist, well, it's an opportunity to add a visual dimension to the music. Since I first started making cassette, then CD mixes in highschool and college, I always did cover art, and it seems a natural extension of that to produce art for the label.

An important dimension of the question, I think, is how one views the music as a unit. I think in albums, so that each collection of songs has form, and (hopefully) coheres as a single structure. From this perspective, it makes sense to further define and differentiate the album with cover art, liner notes, and (at least in my own head) its own associations and pseudo-mythology. If, on the other hand, one thinks on the level of individual songs/pieces, then cover art and the other elements that help define a group of songs as an album-as-such may feel simply arbitrary.

When I sit down to write the liner notes for my releases I put a lot of effort into creating a certain sort of atmosphere or mystique that sets the tone for the listener even before they've heard the music.

Again, as a consumer I really appreciate when an artist does that: it primes the listener for the music in a way that can really make a difference (case in point, Sypha Nadon's album struck me quite differently after the addition of the dedication to Russolo - it put it in context, and gave it a sense of continuity with its sonic heritage) - and the same is true of cover art, I think. It's something I need to do more of with To Repel Ghosts.

Withiel, The Threshold People thank you.

I'm checking out The Rhexis right now.

Withiel: DALI'S ROTTWEILER

15:03 / 07.12.05

*ducks for cover.*

On cover art, I can see exactly what you're both saying - but in the case of the archive.org setup that TPoD has, you have to go out of your way to view the art in a web browser, hence the "artificial" comment. It strikes me that there isn't really a way to present music and art together fluidly in a netlabel type situation without using some kind of custom streaming setup. However, as Lepidopteran was saying, it's always somehow a _fuller_ experience when there are art and prose pieces to accompany the album.

16:30 / 07.12.05

That's true about the archive.org setup - the art is there to be printed, pretty much, instead of viewed alongside the music. It's not the most elegant site, is it? The release pages at thisplagueofdreaming.net (in progress) will actually have the artwork right on the page with the tracks (along with thematically-linked background images, etc.).

Something some artists at archive.org have done is to use the "cover art" file space to post promotional desktop wallpaper (in various sizes) for their releases, and there's been some discussion of posting other promotions like ringtones and such, though I haven't seen it done. Some bands post their cover art as .pdf's, so there's nothing that should prevent literary-minded artists from posting an mp3-and-ebook set (not so classy as the CD-and-hardcover, but essentially free to produce). There's room to play with it.

I'm looking now at ways to promote netlabels, and I've found a few places like noiseloop.com and electrobong, where people can post their own music/netlabel news. Any other suggestions? Any bloggers reading this feel like linking us? Please?

18:13 / 13.12.05

Acting on advice from the force behind the successful Webbed Hand netlabel, I just put up a Myspace.com page to promote TPoD, and I'm looking at some music-oriented LJ communities as well (like microsound art). I'll report back if it has any dramatic effect on our hits/downloads.

Anyone else on the netlabel scene?

18:45 / 13.12.05

Oh, Withiel: RIOT POP INJEKTION is a hot track - everyone everywhere should download it right the hell now.

Darumesten's second variety

11:17 / 14.12.05

I have released some stuff on netlabels under the name Tesla Ghost :

* an EP on Openlab Records

* and a netmusic dj set at netlabel op3n :

Got to give a listen to your netlabel releases, seems interesting !

13:32 / 14.12.05

Darumesten, I'm grooving to Tesla Ghost - especially Eye Pattern. Nice blend of the vintage organ sound with more techy synths.

Darumesten's second variety

16:03 / 14.12.05

Glad you like it ! Thank you !

Withiel: DALI'S ROTTWEILER

12:12 / 17.12.05

Darumestan: That is FUCKING SHINY, both in the Firefly sense and an attempt at a description of that bizarre polished sounds you've got there. Somewhere between techno-funk and old sci-fi themes. There are some really lovely harmonies hidden away in the mix as well...

[rhexisMUSIC] releases a DOUBLE A-SIDE EXCLUSIVE DOUBLE YES SPECIAL E-RECORD: "The City (by night)" and "When I'm Dead". One of which is noodly ambient/jazz with intercut noise. The other one of which is meant to be an experiment in combining happy predictable chord sequences with lyrics undercut with despair and viciousness. And celt-punk vocal harmonies. Because I can.

(Any feedback much appreciated)

Darumesten's second variety

12:01 / 19.12.05

Thank you for your feedback Withiel ! I quite like "When I'm Dead", could you post the lyrics for the non-english-natives round here ??

13:11 / 20.12.05

Nicely done, Withiel - I still love your vocals.

Do you perform live, at all? I suspect it would go over well (assuming you can find someone to harmonize with you as well as you do yourself).

Withiel: DALI'S ROTTWEILER

19:48 / 20.12.05

I'm in a number of musical projects which play some of the songs I've written, yes. Which is _tremendous_ fun. Although we need a decent synth-wizard to get the full effect - we make do with a concert pianist and a keyboard that makes very strange sounds when pushed.

Lyrics to "When I'm Dead": to appropriate a quote, you can sing this shit but you sure as hell can't read it (without laughing). Because I Have No Shame, here we go:

Life is short and time is brief,
And autumn takes every leaf,
Except that of the conifer,
So choose another metaphor
Veni, vidi vici (Caesar said)
You'll be glad when I'm dead.

I fear this verse is getting worse,
I fear this verse is getting worse,

You said that I was a useless drunk,
Now I've burned your boats; Your ship's been sunk.
Your heart's a broken war machine,
Your tears are positively crystalline,
And on your dreams I've dared to tread,
You'll be glad when I'm dead.

I fear this verse is getting worse,
I fear this verse is getting worse,

I see your face on the television screen,
Your white teeth make me want to scream,
The success of your right wing politics,
Have made me consider dirty tricks,
I can count on one hand all the books you've read,
I'll be glad when you're dead

I fear this verse is getting worse,
I fear this verse is getting worse,

There's a world that knows nothing of me or mine,
There's a world where love is not a crime,
Where hope and peace entwine,
Where you and I have time
TO...!

/instrumental

Get out of my way, you walking tumour,
You know I'm prone to lose my sense of humour,
Anti-social behaviour order,
I'm moving south of the border,
I'll stab you in the eyes and then fuck your head,
You'll all be glad when I'm dead,
YOU'LL ALL BE GLAD,
WHEN I'M DEAD.

The idea being that the song is from the perspective of a rather unpleasant individual. Hence the Ellis-isms in the last verse.

Honest.

And I've just realised what Tesla Ghost reminds me of - it's Amon Tobin's game music. I think he composed one of the Rainbow Six game soundtracks, and he makes these rapidly-changing, highly-polished soundscapes with a lot of drive and energy...I think there's an mp3 online somewhere. (Try this)

Darumesten's second variety

22:00 / 20.12.05

Yep, I'm a huge Amon Tobin fan and of course he's been an influence too me .. I feel Tesla Ghost is different from Amon Tobin's stuff which is usually darker, weirder, pretty more fucked up and honestly, far better ! Also, If i'm right the Tesla Ghost Takeoff EP was released before I listened to Amon Tobin Splinter Cell OST - but of course I had listened all his other stuff at that time

Withiel: DALI'S ROTTWEILER

12:23 / 08.01.06

Hurray! I thought I could detect the influence in there somewhere. I'm still really impressed with the dark, glossy sound you've managed to apply to each track - unified but somehow subtly different.

In other news, I've finally completed my ongoing musical project, which has turned into a sort of album, and I've started on the next one, which is intended to be a lot more coherent as a narrative, and quite possibly set in an alternate present where everyone lives on frozen gods, floating in space. Due to the Cold War ending badly. Yes. (Preview track available here)

15:04 / 10.01.06

Withiel, sign me up for a preorder on the next one! Beautiful preview.

Hearing Goblin Logic all put together makes me want to chuck work and live by my wits on the streets of post-War London (I don't know where this Borribles link is coming from, but it's the immediate association I made) - the release, as a whole, has a compulsive power I didn't feel with the individual tracks. I don't know if this actually says anything about the relative importance of albums, as such, but it certainly confirms my own album-orientation.

Current favorite track: Introduction (Sonic Generator Initialisation)

I'm also more confident than ever that TPoD wasn't the appropriate venue for your work - we're going about it differently, and TPoD wouldn't have done you justice. I love it, though, and I'd love to put up a "Friends of TPoD" link to you - do you have a frontpage for the release at The Rhexis? I've already linked my LJ to the Barbelith thread in the meantime. (Also, does The Rhexis have a banner or anything?)

13:36 / 11.01.06

Returning to an earlier topic:

It strikes me that there isn't really a way to present music and art together fluidly in a netlabel type situation without using some kind of custom streaming setup.

I just thought of something that may work... I'll see about working up a model and post back later. In the meantime, the artist pages at This Plague of Dreaming dot net do display front cover art above the individual song links. I don't really like the page layout at the moment, but I'm considering some other options. *digs out HTML manual*

22:34 / 11.01.06

could you outline to me the benefits of a netlabel, mr L?
i have had alook around, but i dont really get the concept.

why is it better to use them than to make your own website your base of operations? is it like using myspace for the 'press' it generates?

or am i missing something important?

03:12 / 12.01.06

why is it better to use them than to make your own website your base of operations?

"Netlabel" is a just broad term for any web-based, usually free-to-download label. There are plenty of labels that run from their own websites. The benefit of someplace like archive.org though, at least for me, is the free hosting. I do have my own website, but I can't afford sufficient storage or bandwidth for multimedia downloads, so I store and link my files at my archive.org collection. Unlimited storage and, for practical purposes, unlimited bandwidth. There's a ton of great music at archive.org, and also a strong core of listeners who check in regularly for new music.

Or I may be misconstruing your question - are you asking instead about the benefits of retaining the "label" model, since distribution and studio support are no longer major factors? Well, some label benefits (from the consumer's perspective) are discussed in this thread. From the artist's perspective the label can be, in part, an additional level of promotion - and some labels (as discussed in that thread) have a core audience that will check out anything new they put out. That can be a good kickstart for an unknown artist just getting off the ground.

There's more, but I just noticed what time it is. Sleep now, post later.

03:20 / 12.01.06

you have answered my question, but i would still be interested to hear more.
i am wondering primarily because a friend and i are setting something up at the moment that would benefit greatly from knowing more.

01:06 / 16.01.06

i am bumping this
in an effort to get that
advice i still seek.

02:33 / 16.01.06

Well whaddya wanna know, specifically? I'm no expert, but I am in the mix.

03:21 / 16.01.06

i dunno, some chat about what your experiencs have shown you?
some of the things you wish you'd been told before you started that you had to learn by painful experience?
basically i wanna learn from your mistakes and emulate your succeses in order to make my shit more awesome from the start.
that and i find this shit fascinating.

how useful would it be for DJs, do you reckon?
how budget does it make you appear, and does that matter?
hae you had interest that you wouldnt have otherwise recieved, and has that interest been from anyone useful or important to the development of your acts and your label?
have you changed your approach or your outlook since you started? why? do you reckon you would do anything differently if given your time over and, if so, why?

18:00 / 10.04.06

I'm bumping this thread again, because This Plague of Dreaming is still (as always) looking for new artists.

Check us out here, and drop me a PM if you're interested. We'll see if we can work something out.

Disclosure: our label does not have the broadest distribution or promotion - in truth, TPoD is more of an art project than a business. We do have a slow-but-steady trickle of downloads*, however, and it's a handy place to point people to if you want them to hear your music. Really, though, it's more about finding a place (however small or out-of-the-way) where your music belongs.

We want your secret music, your strange, late-night, between-the-cracks music; music with a head full of old movies and an itch it can't scratch; music too busy checking the exits to worry about making eye contact; music you have trouble talking about in concrete terms and finally just have to hand over the headphones. Music you have no idea what else you'd do with, but you can't just forget about.

Be in touch.

*for current download stats, check the individual release pages; the main page counter froze when archive.org changed servers (it's on the to-do list).

12:54 / 13.07.06

There's a new release from This Plague of Dreaming:

Harel Gal - the beginning the end [plague006]

from the site:

"For this, our sixth label release, the dream is taken up by Israeli songwriter and soundsmith Harel Gal. When Harel contacted the PlagueDream Institute, we were immediately struck by the intimacy and tenderness of his musical vision. His sonic palette is often melancholic, occasionally foreboding, but never bleak. In addition to playing guitar, flute, electronics, and many other instruments and non-musical objects, Harel also has the distinction of being the first singer on the label. His gentle voice graces two songs, 'away' and 'sounds of sorrow.'"

Go on, you'll like it.

[stream via M3U]

12:15 / 17.09.06

Quick PlagueDream update: we've just posted a recent interview with The Threshold People. Here's your chance to peek behind the shroud of mystery that surrounds the band. Who Are The THRESHOLD PEOPLE??

12:16 / 17.09.06

Oh, and I forgot to mention: watch for the new Threshold People EP, "7 Legs from an 8-Legged Beast," out this October!

03:03 / 18.11.06

The new Sypha Nadon album is out!

Sypha Nadon - Threnody for Zumb Zumb

To quote myself: "This, Sypha Nadon's second full-length release, marks a new phase in his musical development. The familiar elements are still here - the signature off-kilter melodies and savage noise breaks - but the album is more unified than previous efforts. Threnody is also SN's most minimalistic work thus far, allowing simple patterns and complex textures to unravel over time, revealing their inner richness."

If you've liked Sypha's earlier work, you'll almost certainly like this. Also recommended for fans of Nurse With Wound and Coil, and maybe Dissecting Table.

12:30 / 06.03.07

Why, it's another new release on This Plague of Dreaming! A "guest artist" this time, featured by special arrangement with German arts collective [Esc.] Laboratory.

[interrupt:Jumper] - "music for unfinished movies"

From the release notes:

"Making music means to us to free our hearts from agony, frustration, lust and the eternal sin. It`s a way of cleansing the soul. As we get deeper into the grains of sound we touch the intelligence of chaos." - [Esc.] Laboratory

Germany's [Esc.] Laboratory are veteran sonic ritualists, and explorers of a liminal territory that will be familiar to our loyal plaguedreamers. The sound is industrial-dub, thrumming bass and echoic beats offering a pulsing glimpse of deep time traveling down the spine, the soundtrack to a lunar eclipse.

When [Esc.] Laboratory contacted the PlagueDream Institute in 2006, we were impressed by their dedication and craft, and affected by their trance-inducing sound. After intense negotiations, we entered into a mutually-beneficial strategic alliance. [interrupt:Jumper] is the first of several [Esc.] Lab projects that will be hosted by This Plague of Dreaming, according to the terms of that treaty.

15:59 / 11.05.07

The incomparable XK has already posted this in Barbe-plug, but it should probably go here as well.
= = = = = = =

Sublinear - Pinned Beneath the Boiling Sky

Music for the new Black Lodge.

This is Sublinear's first album with This Plague of Dreaming, but his experience as a score composer shows clearly in his disquieting, cinematic trip-hop arrangements.

Sublinear appeared alongside The Threshold People on Oddio Overplay's terrifying Halloween compilation Calling All Fiends.

= = = = = = = = = =

Also: thanks to Barbelith for a marvelous pre-release reception! Loved your review, MattShepherd!

Page: (1)2