The LA Time published a funny article on the 31, http://ping.fm/oBve9

C/Fe Records MusiMenagerie Vol. 1 – Dirt Hero #10

This is a hard song to write about.  This is primarily because its literally a good 6 years old now.  I wrote this song during the summer before I became very sick.  Things were very dramatic for me back then and little events seemed like the end of the world.  I wouldn’t be surprised to find out I was certifiably crazy during that summer.

Dirt Hero #10 was one of the first songs I wrote that I was proud of after Sub Ojec.  Oddly enough the song has never really found a home on an album or anywhere else which is why I’m so happy to see it have a home on the C/Fe compliation.

Some of my songs start out as a name or a riff.  Dirt Hero #10 started out as a file named dn10 and a beat.  Actually quite a few beats.  See I had probably four or five songs that were under 3 minutes long that I didn’t like but I liked the beats to.  And at the time I was coming off a benge of being into tech step drum ‘n’ bass artists such as Cause 4 Concern and Bad Company (aka EIB), so I was really wanting to do some industrial drum ‘n’ bass.  The Gridlock side project Dryft also very much had some inspiration in this.   And thus came the creation of the opening beat which I beat mixed with itself.  The song really wrote itself after that and I did the EQ work.

The name changed a few times.  Part of me almost wishes I had changed the name to dna#10 but Dirt Hero #10 has actual meaning.  The idea behind the name is Dirt Hero brings to mind the Anti-Hero.  The Anti-Hero has surged in popularity over the decades to the extent that story telling has become a bit predictable.  And real life imitating art produces a lot of people who want to be seen as dark and animalistic and unpredictable thus emulating their favored Anti-Hero.  But in all the fake ones there has to be a real one, one who isn’t devoted to image but is thrown into those extrordinary circumstances to change their persona and life.  So the title makes the reference to the tenth one who might be the real deal.

I also want to share the first time I knew that other people would enjoy the song as much as I have.  My best friend at the time and I were driving out of town while I was sick to visit a couple of our ex’s oddly enough.  I didn’t realize how sick the medication I had that afternoon would make me that evening.  I was in the process of involuntarily passing out when I pulled out a mix CD I had done with the track on it and put it in the player.  I apologized to my friend and told him that I wanted to listen to this track I wrote.  Evidently this apology came out as something like “Hm frmmm ugmm emmm negmmm fargle.”  See a few minutes later he was telling me how badass it was and asking me what band it was taking the shot in the dark guess of Converter.  Although I was out of it, his reaction was definitely sincere and to this day the best compliment I have received on the song.

Anyway there you have it, my synopsis and thoughts on Dirt Hero #10.  I’m actually a little sad this will be the last of these posts but everything has to end.

Audiophiles of the world

You may now download our album as 320 mp3, AAC, ALAC, Ogg Vorbis, or FLAC. The files are fully tagged and ready for iTunes or any other player and the album download includes a printable pdf file. Please visit: http://carbonironrecords.bandcamp.com/

Plus, you can always buy the CD through CD Baby:https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/CFeRecords

C/Fe Menagerie now on Last.fm

You can now check out the compilation on Last.fm.

You can also go to the iTunes site.

However, it is cheaper for you to buy it through CD Baby.

AllThisIsMeaningless Single, Gate 36

AllThisIsMeaningless has released its first single, Gate 36. It will be available on internet radio, college radio, etc. Please request it. Also, please check out the Jango Radio page at http://www.jango.com/music/AllThisIsMeaningless

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS – EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE.

Happy 2010 to all!!!
We’ve been hard at working planning the full length releases from all four bands–deciBel, The Still Lifes, MusiM, and AllThisIsMeaningless. Each album will feature the best the four acts have to offer. A couple of videos are also in the works to coincide with the releases.

Also, Side-Line, a Belgian industrial webzine, has just posted a very brief review of our compilation, C/Fe Menagerie Vol. 1. Check it out:http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44018_0_17_0_C

MusiMenagerie Vol. 1 – Paths (Lost)

I have run into a little bit of a hitch in thinking of how to write the information for Paths (lost).  See Paths (lost) is a re-envisioning of Paths from Stories.  So to tell you about Paths (lost), first I have to tell you about Paths which I swore not to do.  Well it appears its time to break that vow and tell you a little bit about Stories.

Stories started out as a single track, the instrumental of Sub Ojec.  From there I wrote out a horror story outline, with characters and all, and then I wrote the album.  The track before Paths is Gunjazz, which is essentially about trying your hardest to save someone and failing miserably.  Paths is the escape that happens afterwards.  And Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” very much was part of the inspiration for the title.

The inspiration for the music in Paths came from an Adult Swim commercial for the Escaflowne movie that was running back in 2004 or 2005.  I’ve never found out who wrote that particular piece of music.  It was primarily a string affair and really invoked this great feeling in me.  So I found a few programs with some below average string samples and went to work.   I also really wanted to implement a key change in one of my songs since I had so little pieces that would accommodate something like that.  I also wanted a bit of a noise hip hop vibe in parts.  There is a lot more I can say about the original version but I need to move on to the new version.

It took me about two years to finish Paths (lost).  Its hard for me to tell you where the remix began, as it did start as a remix.  Part of me wanted to make something a little dancey but not an outright dance track.  I also really wanted a lot of beats that would start and stop.  And I wanted to incorporate some self made chaotic background noise.  Trent Reznor used to have a habit of having these great noises in the backgrounds of his songs (Downward Spiral era) and while Reznor very much looped these noises I really wanted something that evolved quite a bit more.  I probably spent more time manicuring the noises you hear in the background more than anything else on the track.  A musician I used to work with used to make fun of me for my use of static asking why I’d bother changing an existing musical sound or drum into static.  It really quite surprised me.  It all has different textures and movements to it.  And a melodic static can be very deceiving which I enjoy.  Play it with a minimal beat and you’ll hear something completely different when it backs a melody.

The cello and harpsichord are really the only sounds I added for Paths (lost).  A friend told me that the harpsichord reminded him of Castlevania.  I’m pretty sure he didn’t expect me to take that as a complement.  It was actually what I was going for , playing on that dark sophisticated mood you get from old horror stories that involve Victorian nobility.  The point is its a sophisticated darkness.  I don’t think a lot people see dark and evil as different things but I most certainly do.  Evil has a habit of being rather obvious.  But the dark has no real allegiance to good or evil which I immensely enjoy putting in music.  But again, all my songs have multiple reasons and meanings and emotions.  And I’ve always been more interested in hearing what it means to the listener than telling about what it means to me.