Ahhh, sweet summertime! Hope your summer has been as much fun as mine. Haha. SFW Records is excited to present our 5th official release. Hallucinated is the first album from the Gridcrawler project. The tracks are a bombastic combination of minimal techno and electro-house with the same dark undercurrent that marks all the Subvert From Within releases. Download it. Blast it. Make it the soundtrack to your summer. -Y'er pal, Jabbo
It's summer and I'm on vacation! I finally have some time to devote to my personal projects now that I'm done working for the man for a while. I've been spending most of my free time with my various visual arts projects, and frankly, had kinda lost interest in my musical pursuits. However, in the last year or so, I've started to get a lot of online interest in my Eula Mae acoustic project, so I'm gonna release the thing, warts and all... Maybe someone, somewhere, will get some joy out of my weird little guitar songs. More to come soon... Big thanks to all the folks who have made contact, especially all my new friends in the Philippines who have been so supportive. It is appreciated!!! Y'er pal, Jabbo.
Politics got ya down? Sitting around wondering which of these two maniacs will eventually become our newest overlord? A cruel summer, indeed! Anyway, here's some tunes to help numb the anxiety of choosing your world leaders. Updated links for all the Subvert From Within releases. Some new things coming out shortly, as well. And I'm writing a book! And I'm creating a web-comic! Might even learn to be a blacksmith or something. I wish I could live to be three or four hundred years old, so I could do all the things I want to do and learn all that I can learn. Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. Here's some free music:
I know it's been a while. I'm not dead. I've just had a really insane year. My last live performance as Gridcrawler was just over a year ago. It did not go terribly well. I was swamped by technical glitches all night and ended up having to cut my set short. It was a really humbling experience. In fact, the only saving grace was that there were only about six or seven people in the place when I played. Haha. I decided that night that I needed to step up my game a bit. For the last year, I've been learning as much as I can about production techniques and composition, and basically trying to elevate the level of what I'm doing. I'm currently in the process of mixing and mastering the long-delayed Gridcrawler record. The learning curve associated with that has been pretty painful, but I'm getting it done. Look for new music SOON! reverbnation.com/gridcrawler
Around the same time, I decided to shelve that weird, acoustic Eula Mae record I did, Centaur Songs. As it was, the production was just too damn lo-fi (even by my standards) and my guitar playing was pretty horrendous. I have considered maybe re-recording some of it with decent equipment and an extra guitar player, because I'm really proud of some of the songs on there, but for now, that project is pretty much dead in the water.
Anyway, the real reason for this blog entry, is that I recently received an email from Wallace Jones, the lead singer for the legendary Society's Burden. They were a great metal band from the area who were active in the 90's. They have been disbanded for a number of years, but all the members of SB are still good friends of mine. I spent many drunken evenings going to see them play in some of the craziest little dives in the state. Those were great times and it's awesome to hear any new music from those guys. Wallace sent me an MP3 of a new Society's Burden song that he put together called "The Crucifix." You can download that for FREE from Mediafire at this link: Society's Burden - The Crucifix Enjoy!!!
As always, thanks for checking in and be on the lookout for new music from Subvert From Within Records in the coming weeks. 2014 is gonna be a better year. I can already feel it!
The August 3rd show was a lot of fun. I love Somewhere Else Tavern and it was a great place to try pullin' my shit off live for the first time. Not that there weren't a few issues, mind ya... We ran into an insane rain storm on the way to the club and when I got there, I discovered that another band had been added to the bill and I was supposed to have gone on stage 45 minutes earlier. Burley took pity on me though, and let me play anyway. (I had to squeeze my equipment into a corner of the stage, because the other band was already set up!) Also, the sound wasn't nearly loud enough, but I learned a valuable lesson. Never trust the sound guy to give you more volume. I'll crank it on my end next time. Believe that! Haha. I didn't get to give away promo cd's or even hang my fancy banner. Oh well... Next time. Still putting some finishing touches on the first Gridcrawler record. I really want the material to be songs, not just "tracks," so I'm taking my time with this one. In the meantime, here are a few clips from the August 3rd show. Thanks for checkin' em out and for just bein' you!
-Y'er pal, Jabbo
Lots going on with my new Gridcrawler project. I have a Reverbnation page where you can stream a few of the new songs. And I'm performing some of the material live on Friday, August 3rd at the Somewhere Else Tavern in Greensboro. It will be my first time on stage in about 8 years, and my first time ever as a solo artist. Crazy nervous, but hella psyched about the new songs, so I'm looking forward to gettin' it on! I'm opening for my buddies in Archimedes' Revenge. They're a great progressive-metal group also from the Greensboro area. There will be other metal/punk bands on the bill and I am the only electronic musician, so I'm really gonna have to bring it. I don't wanna get tomatoes (or beer bottles) thrown at me. Haha.
I am putting the finishing touches on the first Gridcrawler record as well. It will be called Larvae and consists of a strange brew of electro, dubstep, witch-house, glitch, and noise. Sort of an electronic music pot-luck. Haha. I'll be giving away a few copies of a sampler cd with about half the songs from the new record on it at the show. Come on out if you're in the area!
I'll be posting the full Larvae record to my Mediafire account in August. It will be free for people who read this blog or like the Facebook page, etc. Ultimately, it will be posted on BandCamp and I might actually try to charge a buck or two for the record there. It would be a nice change to make a little loot off the music for once! At least enough for some tacos or somethin'... Anyway, thanks for checking out the blog. The support is appreciated. Y'er pal, Jabbo.
Here's a video I put together for "Let's Play Silly You," from the Cannibal Hours album. Cannibal Hours is the second album released by The Paranoia Room, my experimental electronic-noise project. You can still download a copy of the album free from the Mediafire link: The Paranoia Room - Cannibal Hours The album is the 4th official release from the Subvert From Within label and mixes big beats, circuit-bent toys, bass, and abrasive electronic noise with lots of weird samples. You should download it NOW. Did I mention it's FREE? :-)
In other SFW news, I am finishing up work on the Eula Mae acoustic record, Centaur Songs, that I recorded last summer. It is unlike anything I have ever recorded and is a real labor of love. It basically started as a challenge to leave all my electronic tomfoolery aside and write "real" songs. I'm not sure if they can be considered real songs or not, but it is an interesting little listen that I hope someone out there will enjoy. There is also a good deal of material by The Paranoia Room laying around that I want to release this summer as well. The tentative title of that record is The Capitalists.
But, I am the most excited about the Gridcrawler project. I am working steadily on tracks for that record and am hoping to perform some of it live soon. Gridcrawler represents my immersion into EDM and laptop music. I love the energy of the new electronic music scene - dubstep, electro, witch-house, glitch, drum and bass...I'm lovin' it all. Gridcrawler is a combination of the elements from all those differing forms that appeal to me. The commonalities between the different forms, if you will. It is more structured and more well-produced than any of my past work, but it still bears the anarchic spirit that Subvert From Within Records is based around. I cannot wait to play the shit live!!!
As always, thanks to everyone who reads my corny little blog or downloads my weird little records. It is genuinely appreciated. I'll leave ya with this quote I found from Alan Moore (who I think is a genius!): "I don’t distinguish between magic and art. When I got into magic, I realised I had been doing it all along, ever since I wrote my first pathetic story or poem when I was twelve or whatever. This has all been my magic, my way of dealing with it."
