Moonside in the New Age

Just a couple quick announcements:  First off, I've given Moonside a dedicated blog under Moonside Productions, so that'll be the end of most of my posts regarding music production on this particular blog.  This comes alongside the inauguration of the aforementioned Moonside Productions and some broad site redesign for that.  Also, the remasters are still chugging along, and while I will update the new blog as that progresses check the g+ page for the latest.




On a slightly unrelated note, I've crafted a new playlist for the Moonside Illuminatus series.  This is the second volume of In the New Age and as a near-perfect companion piece, this may be the last volume, though hopefully not the last addition to the 'Illuminatus' series in this vein:

The Re-mastering of Moonside

On the road to the full-fledged Moonside Productions, it's becoming rapidly clear to me that the old "quick and dirty" approach--while an integral element of Moonside's methods--require a bit of refining for any semblance success and my own satisfaction.  As far as the sound goes, we've come quite a ways, from just shy of decent with a portable mini disc recorder or cassette deck and improvised mics and condensers--usually worsened in post-production--to some fairly unique four-track gems--often with a mix of professional and improvised mics--to our currently most common VHS recordings in which we now reserve the lo-fi for our continuing four-track work and prefer the hi-fi of the VHS for our atmospherically charged improv sessions (typically Tribes).  The techniques and talents we employ have also evolved, and in my case at least, this can be tracked as an organic process through our body of work, as I may have mentioned in the past, this sort of transparency is deliberate and as much a part of the work as the music itself; however, post-production and presentation have suffered and practically buried some wonderful material which otherwise withstands the test of time to my ears.  And so I've kicked off a series of re-mastered works alongside the emergence of a perhaps more cognisant aesthetic identity for the soon-to-be inaugurated Moonside Productions.

First up for re-master was a fresh album for our bandcamp presence, while a fairly old album for the Tribes.  Fog Crossing was definitely a favorite in its time and never quite got the post-production treatment it deserved.  It's graced with a bit of female vocal work as well as some uncharacteristically learned piano playing in parts.  This was recorded in the way of our early second generation works, so while this treatment certainly did it some favors, the potential was somewhat constrained.



Next up was a previously unreleased album from the first generation, Live by the Stars, Dream by the Sea.  Normally I wouldn't bother releasing something that I allowed to go unreleased (as rare as that is, frankly) so long ago, but I couldn't bear to sit on this lovely synth work any longer and had to let it breath.



The last re-master to date, Zombi Progeny, was a milestone for Tribes as well as Moonside at large that would be immediately followed by a plethora of top-notch sessions that we would hardly outdo until about a year later.



This is just the beginning, there'll be a whole lot of re-masters of current bandcamp releases as well as some fresh releases of some rather old material over the coming months.  Most, if not all of this material shares a common bond in that it's either Tribes sessions or early enough to bear little distinction, which means that it's all improvised, almost totally on the fly in a manner that would translate almost directly to live performance.  Consider this to be a proof of concept in how I'll essentially be laying out the history and development of a consistent methodology spanning several years and including probably dozens of performers of broad caliber with at least a few sticking out the bulk of Moonside's lifespan--the methodology essentially serving as a wellspring of creative expression and development.  So what's at the end of this?  I'm not certain...maybe tapes...probably new releases by spring...hopefully the full realization of Moonside Productions...who knows!

Moonside Illuminatus

As previously mentioned, I've been putting together another series of playlists.  This series began as a collection of inspirational material to hammer out a specific sound and spirit for the then rather young project, Moonside, but generally came about seasonally, just as my other main series of playlists.  Since the archiving of these playlist, I've dubbed the series Moonside Illuminatus, illuminatus being my chosen term for all philosophical and experiential endeavors--very much central to Moonside's purpose.

My most recent addition to the series (found directly below) is a bit unique from the usual bohemian cosmopolitan flair in its darkly aggressive character, though it takes its blissed out plunge toward the middle, it generally imbues a character of intensity, strife, and sometimes solemn anguish, always with a tinge of futurist fatality.

I've included the progenitor of this series (also found directly below) for contrast. You'll notice that it doesn't fit the series itself, but it was created as more of an inauguration for the Moonside project than anything. You'll find the rest of the series after the break.

Archiving my old seasonal playlists

I finally got started on archiving my beloved seasonal playlists. I'm employing a trifecta of 8tracks, last.fm, and toma.hk to accomplish this in the right way. You'll notice for a little while that not all the latter ones contain the links found in the earlier ones, but they'll be updated in time. I've got more from other series of playlists already up on 8tracks as well as more on the way with two new ones in the works. This used to be a hobby of mine (clearly) and a great way to keep track of which songs best characterized particular segments of my life, which usually tended to be the significant songs that I discovered around that time with how they shaped me.  These can be a bit personal, but I think there's universal appeal in their usually cohesive nature--being intended for enjoying rather than mere collections--and the value of the individual selections to the particular time and in terms of uniqueness and sometimes rarity.

I'll be keeping my tumblr up to date as best I can as I progress in this.  Perhaps I've finally found a decent use for it.

You'll find the rest of the playlists after the break.

Astroneer devLog0

It seems I'm finally on my way to making some headway with my game development projects.  Currently I'm working on a game I'm calling Astroneer.  While this is mostly a means of getting my feet wet and a lead-in to my more ambitious narrative-driven game projects (the first of which I'll refer to as MotMH from here on out), I have long-term plans and goals for this title.

The concept began as a simple means of playing around with a flight mechanic similar to that of Luftrauser (and soon Luftrausers)--or its ancestor, Gravitar (not to mention, XPilot, Thrust and the like)--opting for this over a Defender-esque SHMUP with some resemblance to Area 88 as was originally planned.  The reason for considering these styles of flight, in particular, is due to MoTMH's focus as platformer style shooter (run-n-gun 2d sidescroller) with flight integrated into many of the same combat stages built for platforming--slightly limited in length and plenty of ground targets.  Next, I started imagining that due to Luftrauser's similarity to Asteroids, I could use its mechanic to to hash out a game similar to Escape Velocity but that would allow seamless traversing between a planet's surface and its orbit or beyond.  This would require what I would consider the ultimate in "gravity game" innovation, a space shooter that requires you achieve orbital velocity in order enter into and remain in space.  Already, this has required a great deal of research into not only examples of similar qualities in different games' physics, but research into the actual physics of planetary orbit.

Mooonside II

We've taken a new home in recent months.  This new home will house the next evolutionary stage of Moonside, dubbed Moonside Productions.  Finally, we have a dedicated work and studio space suitable for all aspects of production (perhaps even small basement performances at some point in the future).  Getting situated in our new abode is certainly not a quick process, but our new situation affords us a level of stability and room to stretch our legs.

The established levels of Moonside's manifestations have thus-far taken rather chaotic forms.  The Magic Theater has served a core and fairly discreet outlet while Tribes has come under more public radar from time to time, but the fact of the matter is that each has established its own unique methodology inextricably tied to a certain spontaneous and improvisational impulse--perhaps not the most conducive mode for any serious manner of production which could bring the project to light in the public eye.  While graphic and literary art may become a part of the sessions in the foreseeable future (plans on the matter are taking shape), Moonside needs a more structured task-oriented mode in which collaboration toward release distribution.  This is why "Moonside II" must foster Moonside Productions.

One of the last hurrahs of Moonside I

With weedtemple's generous plug of one of our last albums to date, we've had a taste of what sort of interest and audience may be out there; while this has us hopeful, our followup has been less than satisfactory, I feel.  Moonside is the sort of project that will proceed regardless, however, as a platform for developing upon creative interests.  The philosophy of Moonside is very much in line with that of the hacker/maker movement as a sort of opensource DIY initiative tied to co-working or collaborative space, a point I hope to better emphasize in the advent Moonside Productions.  While these ties certainly aren't exclusive to our project, I've hope establish a more comprehensive and transparent approach to it than I've seen from comparable efforts.  I've only recently discovered a vital central resource to aid me in building upon this notion with the discovery of the Fangs & Arrows forum through the postings of a most excellent label called Brave Mysteries.

I've nearly completed work on our next release which has been a bit delayed, but expect to see this upcoming release and some more modest releases coming out through third-parties (if all pans out) before seeing some of our overdue releases available.  In any case, stick around.  We're in this for the long-haul.

[mp3] Pocahaunted - Mother Looms (clean version) from Moccasinging

The Tribes of Moonside

Thus-far I've largely neglected a detailed explanation of what the concept behind Tribes of Moonside actually is.  So far this year, I haven't actually hosted any sessions and have rather opted to focus on less broad projects--some new, some backlogged.  This has given me time to re-evaluate the potential role and goals of 'Tribes'.





Tribes began around a time when the tempo of Moonside sessions was exceeding my ability to (honestly) concoct a theme or direction for those sessions--at least something to easily distinguish them from each other.  While the project has since mostly outgrown this initial quirk, from it was born a greater sense of openness and free-form, distinguishing it somewhat from prior projects.  I soon realized that if any part of Moonside beyond RMBLRX would go live for public performance at any point, Tribes would be it, so I deemed it necessary to establish the criteria that the manner in which we perform should be as though playing for an audience, i.e. no headphones or multi-tracking--favoring acoustic and amped instrumentation.  Aside from this criteria, its on-the-fly, committed improvisational nature would allow it to be sustainably reproducible while its tribal sort of simplicity would keep it open to a steady fluctuation of new contributors of varying skill and experience.

Enraptured

EARTHDATA rattles off another dischordian venture into the heart of darkness with sessions spanning a over four hundred and fifty miles and the course of a year's time. Just in time to sample for the immanent rapture!


C30MNSD007 coming soon!

Tapes, tapes, tapes....  Yeah, I'll get all that sorted out sooner or later.  It'll be extremely limited run 'til I get the hang of it.  Keep in mind that although this was only just released, the material is quite old, as with much of the prior release.  I think it marks some great progress, but I ache with anticipation of what's to come this season.

credits

Cassette Tape Renaissance

As I've previously made mention of, Moonside got its most considerable start with the advent of its employment of cassette recording, so I'd like to elaborate on the why's and what-for's...what does it all mean?  Cassettes are a cheap, affordable and durable format, but it's accessibility is key to the movement surrounding the format.  There was a point in history when audio cassettes were top of the line, but anymore, equipment and bulk tapes can be purchased on the thrift, whether on the amateur end of the culture (mix tape aficionados or bedroom musicians) or the professional end (notably far removed from the "industry," per se, limited-release labels and the like), and the gap between the two narrows as the format ages and proliferates across the memesphere.

The audio cassette has revolutionized music distribution time and time again, entrenching itself more and more firmly within independent and underground music, obviously aided by the rapidity of information exchange in this day and age.  Cassettes are often married to openly distributed bootlegs or otherwise digital releases, formerly and currently via third-partly file-sharing, but since Radiohead's criterion independent release, services like bandcamp have taken up the torch of facilitating versatilely coinciding digital and physical distribution by the artists themselves.

Moonside will eventually see its own rash of cassette releases in the near-future once enough blanks are acquired.  After that, I'll be considering the acquisition of a tape duplicator for producing our own tapes, as well those of other interested artists or labels we may be in contact with.

Be sure to keep an eye on all the various up-and-comers being listed here and check to my playlist for any new documentary material I dig up on the phenomenon.

Bolt Action

So here's a project that I've given much lip-service, plenty of private and public samplings, and an unfortunately extensive delay.  It's an album I'm working on under the RMBLRX moniker called, Bolt Action.  For my own motivation and self-indulgence, I'll attempt to pool all public resources and make candid some of the meta-narrative behind this project as well as some sense of its status and history.

some samplings:

PHALCENT/ WEAPONIZ live

SHKTRP (WIP)