// 909: This Is The End

And so it is. Today we reach the end of the line for Aphasein Records and bring this experiment in structured chaos to a close. 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days producing 50 videos and 50 audio releases (45 catalog releases and 5 unnumbered). 45 is an appropriate number for completion and another bit of structure - the '45' record single representing the creation and explosion of music as an industry and commodity (and also a classic gun/bullet caliber).

There are a lot of numerological, structural and symmetrical constructs running through the Aphasein Records catalog - many have been touched on during their release and many others still remain. It's been a fun and interesting challenge building these and fitting them together, and collaborating with life as it built in and provided its own as things unfolded. And context and structure can really help highlight art, give it sharper relief and broader meaning, but really, all that's mainly been hoped for with our music is that it was fun and moved you - to dance or rock out or bust a gut laughing or see something in a different light. Everything else is bonus.

This final batch of releases is mainly comprised of solo work. Schwärzer Vögel returns with 'Ivanhoe Row Sleep Lab', another full album of cracked garageband dance hits, many newly discovered. Jeremy McNeil has a final emotional single, 'Staring Back at Me', recorded shortly after his other e.p. The final catalog release is the haunting self-titled e.p. and only release by Coastal Exchange, with its minimal Leo Kottke meets Radiohead treated atmospherics. The very last release, 'Brake Out', is appropriately enough a final single by aphasein and is composed entirely from samples on an "office sound effects" CD.

Other than the first aphasein album 'Catalyst' (which is designed after the 'A Hundred Days Off' album by Underworld for the trainspotters), none of the releases have had the traditional thank you credits. And not because it hasn't been important - there have been many great musicians, collaborators, participants, critics, fans, and friends over the past 12 years that helped make this crazy journey possible, including but not limited to:

* Original Titusville crew, esp. Wolford for being there before the start and dropping by occasionally to add some flavor, and Nate-Dog for hooking up again later with us on SGE * original Orlando clubs crew for the early support, through mixtapes and shows, esp. Andy (Electron-C), Rob O. (Isotope) and Eichner (#1 Superfan) * Plantation Posse, esp. Ian and Chris for being strong fans from Day 1 and sticking through the years as amazing friends (and also to Dot and Dauray) * Anti-babe for bringing us all together and letting us write the first several aphasein songs in your living room * New College '96-'98 crew, esp. Joe Good and Colonel Heighfeitz, for hosting our best live gig * John Wagner and Morgan Freeman, for all the studio help and advice and friendship from '99 all the way through * Danica and Danette for hanging out during and being a catalyst and putting up with all our early sessions * Johnny Leach, John France, Christine and many others for playing with us momentarily over the years and being supportive * Knoxville boys, Kirk, Ira, Sloan, and Nate, for throwing down and joining in, but esp. Samuel, mountain-brother, for all the musical love * Sean O'Harra, soul-brother, for joining our little trip right at the peak and creating some amazing music and memories before you caught the next wave * Comics crew, Nick, Nathan, David, J.P. and Jim for being guinea pigs for new releases every Xmas before the label even started, and esp. to Steve Mangold for extreme support, friendship and being a soundingboard * Jonathan Pratchios for inspiration and universe-consulting, and all Park Ave CD's and Stardust crew over the years * Shaun Cricks and David Bucina for support and taste-testing * Amy and Jenners for loving what we do and encouraging all the madness * Foot for being a B.O.B. and jumping in our songs whenever you could (love you face) * Jeremy, Brandon, and Josh for being the most ridiculously amazing and illest musicians, improvisers, comedians, brothers-in-arms, and friends on this winding twisted path. Also to our anonymous web fans and anyone who has enjoyed or appreciated our music. Thank you. Good bye.

And Fade.

Aphasein Digital Releases:
All releases are Free.

adr-001: evix / 'rock' e.p.
adr-002: The Dogwood Forest / 'Through the Valley' e.p.
adr-003: evix / 'cold' e.p.
adr-004: aphasein / 'second hand smoke' B-single
adr-005: aphasein / 'Catalyst' A-album
adr-006: evix / 'heat' e.p
adr-007: Repeating Frank / 'The March of Time' A-album
adr-008: Repeating Frank / 'April Reigns Down' B-album
adr-009: Pete and Frank / 'Marches On' A-album
adr-010: Pete and Frank / 'Kwality Kuts' B-album
adr-011: Summer Gets Electric / 'Cold Roads (Sun is Still)' A-album
adr-012: Summer Gets Electric / 'Dark Ends (Blacktop Burn)' B-album
adr-013: aphasein / 'Abiogenesis' A-album
adr-014: aphasein / 'Burning in Reverse' B-album
adr-015: Repeating Frank / 'Come What May' A-album
adr-016: Repeating Frank / 'June Bug Blue' B-album
adr-017: aphasein / 'sechs_shift' A-album
adr-018: aphasein / 'spring imagination' B-single
adr-019: Pete and Frank / 'Til It Bleeds' A-album
adr-020: Pete and Frank / 'Confirmed Bachelors' B-album
adr-021: aphasein / 'phace-maker' A-album
adr-022: aphasein / 'Selected Oddities Volume 1' B-album
adr-023: SGE / 'Hard Paths (Sun Is Still 2)' A-album
adr-024: SGE / 'Last Days (Death of Spring)' B-album
adr-025: aphasein / 'ist ein schone nacht, nein?' A-album
adr-026: aphasein / 'World View' B-single
adr-027: Repeating Frank / 'Augustine Depths' A-album
adr-028: Repeating Frank / 'Lone July Skies' B-album
adr-029: Pete and Frank / 'On A Dime' A-album
adr-030: Pete and Frank / 'I Am Nemo' B-album
adr-031: SGE / 'Fuzzy Golden Waves' A-album
adr-032: SGE / 'Ultra Violet Haze' A-album
adr-033: aphasein / 'Bohr' album A-album
adr-034: aphasein / 'Bohm' album A-album
adr-035: Schwarzer Vogel / 'Willful Life Suit' album
adr-036: Jeremy McNeil / 'Waiting to Dream' e.p.
adr-037: aphasein / 'rebuilt'x' B-album
adr-038: aphasein / 'Death Game'n' B-album
adr-039: Pete and Frank / 'Cult Classics' C-album
adr-040: Pete and Frank / 'Vintage Digs' D-album
adr-041: evix / 'kaos' album
adr-042: evix / 'void' album
adr-043: Schwarzer Vogel / 'Ivanhoe Row Sleep Lab' album
adr-044: Jeremy McNeil / 'Staring Back at Me' single
adr-045: Coastal Exchange e.p.


Unnumbered White/Gray/Black Labels:

Summer Gets Electronic / 'Euro Disco Blaze' single
evix / 'Lite' e.p.
Junebugg / 'Chaos is Beauty' mega-album
evix / 'OWAE' album
aphasein / 'Brake Out' single

// 808: evix, Pete and Frank Vaults

Back on a mission: 'From the Vaults', a miscellany of Pete and Frank diamonds in the rough from our massive tub of cassette tapes (seriously, over 200 of them in there). Recorded during the early days of 1997 through 2004 straight to cassette, before we started up all our laptop-based sessions at the end of 2004. Not that we didn't have computers around the whole time, but they were mainly for programming aphasein songs or playing samples (as you'll hear briefly on a few tracks here), and didn't lend themselves to improvised and often confusing recording sessions. Tapes, on the other hand, were the perfect medium for this.

Vol. 1, Cult Classics, represents the early years of 1997 -1998, which were filled with weekly constant recording and lots of experimentation. Basically any chance was taken to record or try something new. Roughly half of the tub o' tapes was produced during these 2 years. The recording levels and quality varied wildly, and songs fell apart and turned into new ones (though really that's always somewhat the case), but a few interesting gems have been found after skimming the top layer of the tub (who knows what exists in the depths). Highlights include early classic 'The Guilt' and the 34-minute 'Petey McFrank' which is a mega-mix taken straight from our 'Best of Pete and Frank' tape complied in 1998. The years 1999 to 2002 were mainly spent in separate cities working on solo stuff, very rarely all getting together to jam.

Vol. 2, Vintage Digs, represents the new-found cohesion and style after we all joined up again and moved into a house together in 2003. There was another explosion of recording then, aided by our Music Den room, photos of which grace the album cover sleeves (early setup on Vol. 1, later setup on Vol.2 - only real pictures of the early 1997 place are tacked to the walls on the inner covers). Another catalyst was the two Zoom SampleTrak units that had been used for solo creations in the intervening years. The effects units from these can be heard all over the tracks on this album. Our long-running affection for Ween can be heard distinctly here in some of Pete's vocal stylings and our unusual cover of 'The Blarney Stone'. This album also ends with a 34-minute exactly mega-mix from one straight tape featuring the hilarious 'Senor Chaos' song (and yes, I did find it odd and, um, interesting when both of these segments that I thought would be good bonus stuff to throw on at the end and weren't worth cutting up, turned out to both be just a few seconds from 34 minutes even, and even more so when I added them to the finished tracks for each album and both albums just barely came in under the 80-minute limit. I really did.)

Also released is OWAE, the last evix album, a four song ambient excursion and another one from the vaults, made on the Korg M1 keyboard back in 1997 just before it was sold. Standing for the "Overall Way of Anything and Everything", the letters also stand for what they represent: O for particles, W for waves, A for the arrow of time, E for the 3 joined dimensions of space. It completes the abstract minor tour of the universe represented by the evix releases and is a nice relaxing come-down, at least until 'matter' kicks in (but isn't that always the case).

One more drop to go before we get out of the game for good. Thanks for playing. Your results may vary. Stay tuned.

// 707: Junebugg, SGE & Anniversary

So we're back, briefly, before we disappear completely...

Today is our 2-year anniversary (though we've been making the music now for 12), and to celebrate we're offering up our last 2 videos and a colossal mega-album. These final videos are also mega-mixes containing 4+ songs each of Summer Gets Electric during the 'Cold Roads/Hard Paths' session. This is the best of the only footage from the earlier days, presented as it was caught on tape. They are a little over twenty minutes each, so they've been put up on Vimeo (embedded below - full credits at Vimeo). This brings our video total to 50, which is an appropriate place to stop.

And so the mega-album: in the vein and spirit and influence of all the best long-form works, including Aphex Twin's 'Drukqs' and 'Analord', NIN's 'Ghosts', and FSOL's 'Lifeforms', we've crafted a 48-track 210-minute epic of Brandon's early solo work as Junebugg. Culled from several cassette tapes recorded during 1999 - 2001, these tracks were the foundation leading in many ways to Schwärzer Vögel and his other later work, but also represent a unique style and form all their own.

The first half pulls from several sources and features many great vocal tracks, while the second half is from 2 tapes presented straight through. Even though there's a lot of variety (like the albums mentioned above), the methods, equipment, and time period give it a consistent texture and feel that bring it all together (but feel free to mix and match your own). Important points of reference include early DJ Spooky and FSOL's 'ISDN', especially in composition methods - sampling, looping, and effects work, live keyboards, live scratching and vinyl atmospherics (although this was with a Zoom Sampletrak, broken Technics table, and low-budget old Casio). Other notables are the experimentation of Underworld's 'Riverrun' series and the dirty low-fi funk-pop of Cody Chestnut's 'Headphone Masterpiece'.

Get the entire experience as 4 zip bundles or individual tracks from the Records Downloads page. More goodness on the way next month - 2 more drops to go. Dig in. Keep up.

SGE_A Stranger At Sea (Inside) from Aphasein Records on Vimeo.

SGE_Tell Me I'm Wrong (Outside) from Aphasein Records on Vimeo.

// 404: Free Debut Albums

Time to float in the abyss for awhile. This will be the last post until/if/when we create more material or dig deep into the vaults. It's been an amazing run: 42 releases (32 albums, 10 singles/eps) and 48 videos.

As you may have noticed, our online stores have been closed since early this year. As a parting gift, all of our releases are now FREE - specifically the four main debut albums which were previously only available for sale. Get them now as high-quality zip bundles through their download pages: aphasein, Pete and Frank, Repeating Frank, and Summer Gets Electric. We'll also be rolling out high-quality zip bundles for all our other releases over the next couple months, so now's a good time to pick up the whole catalog if you haven't already.

Thanks for your time and interest, and for checking our output. We hope some portion of the musical fun and love we've put into it has gotten to you. peace.

// Evix: Lite + Zips

One more release before we wind this thing down - a little 4 song white label from evix. The 'Lite' EP is comprised of 2 leftover songs from the 'cold' session and 2 from the 'void' sessions - a funny bit of light before we go.

There's also zip file bundles of all the evix releases, which include updated tags for the Mp3s and updated album artwork. We'll be expanding this packaging to all the other groups as well in the coming months. Thanks. Enjoy.

// Pete and Frank: On a Dime

So here it is - our final 2 albums (at least for a while). Don't miss out on the Pete and Frank album pair of 'On A Dime' and 'I Am Nemo'. Featuring the most recent material, from October 2008, 'On A Dime' is a widely varying album, as the title implies, reflecting both the quick changes in style and the low-budget nature (among other meanings). It also features 2 instrumentals, a rarity for Pete and Frank.

'I Am Nemo', on the other hand, has a strong nautical theme, not only lyrically, but also in the feel of the recording. The majority of the album was recorded in November 2007 solely through a camera microphone, giving the songs an echoey, distanced, underwater feel. The videos for these 8 songs are now on the Pete and Frank YouTube channel (below), with Pete giving some of his best understated performances. The album's final songs are some past Pete and Frank favorites, and finish out the last of the computer-based sessions - everything else that remains now is from the huge pile of 4-track and cassette tape recordings.

This completes the major run of our best group recordings: 6 Pete and Frank albums, 6 Repeating Frank albums, and 6 Summer Gets Electric albums. It's been a strange and interesting (and fun) ride... who knows what the future will hold. There's still 5 or so more releases we'd like to create someday, and in the meantime, there's some more surprises on the way, starting next month. Dig in, and stay tuned...

// evix: void + kaos

January brings a new beginning and a close to what has come before. Just a few more releases to go and the label will be on indefinite hiatus for a while. The bulk of our best material and recent spurt of music the past 3 years has finished and been released. There's still tapes 'n tapes from the previous 10 years before this to wade through and possibly release as podcasts or such. And there's still the potential for a couple more aphasein and Pete and Frank releases, but we'll see where that goes...

This all makes the new evix releases pretty topical subject wise: the instrumental double album pair of 'void' and 'kaos'. Both were composed four songs at a time (just like all the other releases) and improvised live in one take. The instrument this time was the ridiculously fun and inspiring Korg Kaossilator. 'void' explores sounds one minimal track at a time, while 'kaos' (as the name suggests) uses the loop record function to build up mountains of funked out sound. Also updated all the early evix album covers. Enjoy this prelude to the end...