Category: Music Release

HUMAN DINOSAUR!

On July 22nd, Human Dinosaur met up for a recording session in Cottage Grove, Oregon, so that we could get started on the follow-up to our first release, which you can find below.

Every time I turn around, I have a new band. I’m not sure what I can say… except that I like to play music?

(This project was formerly called “XANDAR,” and a track was even played on an episode of The Watt From Pedro show before we realized that there are a lot of other bands called “XANDAR.” So… we went with something better.)

We have CDs… and a digital release. And… a lot more to come!

Calendar Boy

Are you ready to enjoy the new Calendar Boy? It’s arrived, just in time for Summer. 

A New Collection of 13 Tunes, by the various projects that have one thing in common: you can count on them, rain or shine, every month, to deliver new music, the entire Calendar Year.

Rock, Punk, Space Grunge, Electronic, Experimental, Free-Improv, and Noise. It’s all here, when you get to know Austin Rich, your new favorite Calendar Boy. Physical Copies are currently only available for pre-order, but you can enjoy the digital collection right now, on Bandcamp. 

Joined by Colin Hix, Mike Capps, Moth Hunter, Chris Gerig, Scott Eave & Jerry Soga, this album presents the highs of a creative year that was mostly difficult for everyone. As we all sit and watch the days pass us by, at least we have some music we can enjoy. 

Collecting all the material recorded in 2021 for Austin’s “Musical Postcards,” this contains Five 1/2 Hours of New Music that was recorded last year. Originally only available to those on the mailing list, these tunes are now available for anyone to enjoy. Not only are all of the postcards available as they were originally designed with fully functional QR codes, they are photographed too, giving you a sense of what they were like in the mail. You can download a folder of all 31 pieces that were recorded for this project as they were originally heard and mixed for the postcards. 

Not only that, but Lemonade Stand Supporters (Patreon Fans) received four hours of bonus mixes, extra songs, and in some cases, instrumental versions of tracks, plus an advance link to a podcast episode that, at the time, was not released. This material was only available to those supporters, and has not been heard elsewhere since. All of this material is available as part of the extra material you get when you purchase this album. 

But the album itself is something you don’t want to miss out on. From those 31 pieces that were made in 2021, 13 were selected to be re-mixed, re-vamped, re-presented, and in the case of The Short Pockets, our engineer provided a new mix that was different from the one you heard on the postcard. New elements were added, each track was re-considered, re-amped, trimmed and edited, and in some cases, completely overhauled, to improve each song, from the drums up. Additionally, everything was re-sequenced, and then re-mastered just for this collection. Some of you might have heard these in some form before. But this version is completely new.

The first 20 minutes of the album presents rock and punk songs in a much more traditional vein, sequenced to provide maximum entertainment. But the last hour distills the electronic and experimental work that’s been going on in a more or less continuous presentation, hopefully offering a chance to enjoy these performances in a new way. These new mixes have been painstakingly tested to ensure that they work in a number of contexts, and we all agree that this collection is, as they used to say, “All Killer / No Filler.”  

While we could certainly go on, what’s important to know is that you can sit back and relive 2021, with your favorite Calendar Boy, and enjoy the sounds that made last year so memorable. 

Do you have your Calendar Boy? 

https://wtbc.bandcamp.com/album/calendar-boy

Never Mind Mini-Mutations, It’s The Eleven-SixtyFours!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation.

Now available digitally, on CD, and in a comprehensive “Discography” pack, it’s time you caught up with The Eleven-SixtyFours! Two EPs! Two Singles! 16 new punk rock blasts of middle-aged DIY, at the intersection of fury and nostalgia. If a 46 year old man can sit down in four different sessions to record this music, writing all the songs on the spot, then just imagine what you could do?

WTBC 0031: The Eleven-SixtyFours – Sack The Sacklers EP. (Available Digitally, or on CD)

Six new songs about getting revenge on the 1%, how the cyberpunk future seems to match pandemic life, the consequences of ignoring the moment, and a dance craze that is sweeps the right wing that needs to be obliterated from the clubs, post haste. Get to know The Eleven-SixtyFours, with 13 minutes of three-chord manifestos that should make you want to quit your job before your job quits you. Sack The Sacklers. It’s for your own good.

WTBC 0032: The Eleven-SixtyFours – Smothered, Covered, Chunked & Capped EP. (Available Digitally, or on CD)

The Eleven-SixtyFours wear their influences on their sleeves, and now, you can hear them in this collection of six cover tunes, clocking in at just under 11 Minutes. Recorded over the span of a day, with the songs picked based on which ones came to mind the quickest when the question was posed, “What songs do The Eleven-SixtyFours cover?” The answer: this half-dozen pop-culture tunes, modified to fit the new sound from The Lava Lamp Lounge. Get it before one of these bands gets mad.

WTBC 0033: The Eleven-SixtyFours – DIY OR DIE Single. (Available Digitally, or on CD)

The debut single from The Eleven-SixtyFours, so controversial that people on my mailing list requested they be removed when they heard about the anti-cop sentiments and “Max Headroom” references in this single. These two songs were spawned from an actual argument I had with a fellow musician. The following day, I wrote and recorded these two songs, which began the entire journey of The Eleven-SixtyFours. Two blasts of anti-authoritarian punk that suggests that, perhaps, the old systems should be dead?

The Eleven-SixtyFours – WAKE UP! Single (Available Digitally, or as a Postcard.)

Our second single is another dose of un-refined, shot-from-the-hip punk music by someone who doesn’t really know what they’re doing. This time, a dance number dominates the single, sending kids to cut a rug late into the night so they can feel some semblance of order. But that’s only because the alarm goes off early in The Eleven-SixtyFours house, as we try to remind you that the fight is on-going, and will probably never stop.

* * * * * *

Meet The Eleven-SixtyFours.

I think everyone’s first band is a punk band, either by choice or through limitations. You’re not that great at playing yet, you have borrowed (or broken) gear, and as a young person, punk speaks so loudly to all the ailments of youth without having to be polished to do it. The Bullshit that Authority puts us through. The Brokenness of The System. How TV and Movies are pandering to some idea of how we should all behave that has no connection to real life, or how any of us want to live. When you are 15, all of that sounds like it was chiseled in stone. Wise words, handed down from a punk elder only a few years your senior, who makes it sound like a six pack and a basement show will cure you of any notion that the rest of the world has it’s shit together.

And, the problem is: Punk Rock is onto something. But the interests of an aging person sometimes veer away from the interests of Punk. And, as we get older, there is an element to Punk that becomes more obvious, that isn’t as so when you’re a kid: the rigidity of the scene, the patriarchal structure that often gets overlaid onto everything, and the narrowness of the musical form… it all eventually causes some of us to age out of Punk, as scenes like Experimental Music start to actually encompass the things you wish Punk Rock did. Punk is often a young person’s game, as the lifestyle becomes harder and harder to embrace as we all get older.

 

A Riot of My Own

But certainly, some conversations I’ve been having with people in the last several years seem to evoke the need for someone to reduce an idea to a short punk song so you can scream it at them, in the hope that they can then understand it. A refrain I kept hearing was that when the environment and the politics get bad enough, “good Punk Rock” would make a big comeback. But where was this comeback? And while it did seem to produce occasional acts that I really enjoyed, on the whole, it didn’t feel like there was a movement happening anywhere like folks had predicted.

Perhaps it is both nostalgia and a less than 20/20 hindsight informing this thought, but I think we caught the last wave of the Mainstream Punk Movement in the 90’s, where the influence of Grunge Bands cast a light on the remnants of the ’80’s punk scene. This all breathed new life into bands like Bad Religion, and catapulted Green Day and Rancid to the top of the charts, and caused long-standing labels like Lookout! and Fat Wreck Chord to suddenly have some amount of pull in the major music industrial complex.

But quickly, what seemed like the beginning of a new national craze, where Punk would help foster more activism, and possibly move to make big changes, it was immediately subsumed into the dying music industry that was taking everyone down with them. Hot Topic and the rise of modern Emo started to dismantle any steps forward Punk seemed to have made, and the last 20 years has underlined the fact that punk has returned to the status of “just another genre,” with about as much cachet as Country Music, Hip-Hop, KPop… or Experimental Music, for that matter.

In fact, it’s probably fair to say that memes on Tik Tok have more political power than Punk Rock ever did. But some of those memes are pretty powerful.

 

Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want The Truth?

As a fan of earnestness in music, Punk Rock is one of those genres where screaming the things you feel at the top of your lungs doesn’t seem at all out of place, and is encouraged. It’s certainly one of the last places where sloppiness and lack-of-skill are not deterrents. (Almost every other genre still seems to care about production and quality.) In fact, being able to write, record, and release music quickly is one of the backbones of Punk, and DIY Releases will always say everything you are saying in your music through the packaging, too. There seems to be a mode of songwriting where you can let go of the conventions that are usually expected, where you can just spew out a bunch of stuff that you want to get out of your head. In a way, it’s the music equivalent of a free-write: make all the mistakes and be as sloppy as you want, because there’s another kind of writing later where those other rules will be back in place.

The therapeutic element of Punk Rock seems to work on a number of levels. Listening is great, writing and performing it is great. But as someone who writes and makes other kinds of music, Punk Rock is a great way to get some of your interests sated, so you can put your mind into other kinds of art.

 

It’s Not Hard, Not Far To Reach

A large part of my interest in getting back into making and performing music again came directly out of feeling like I needed to do more than just talk on the radio about bands that were making a difference. As the Trump Presidency wound down, and as it seemed clearer and clearer that there would be no consequences for anyone involved – and more pointedly, a lot of people seemed to be okay with that – a kind of anger welled up in me that I hadn’t felt since I was in Cathead, 100 years ago. While I had set out to write the follow-up album to the Shot Reverse Shot record that I recorded in 2020, each time I sat down to record stuff this year, very different songs were coming out.

I have never tried to write Punk Rock songs on my own like this, but I immediately felt like I had to for this particular project. I programmed the simplest drums I could in a way that seemed appropriate, and cut a lot of corners to make it seem like there was a full song where it was just me in my office. Even still, I could usually fill the entire day with work to do even as I tried to DIY-it, even when I sat down to record just two songs. (That’s how each of the singles was recorded.) The EPs were two days for each one, over a single week. None of these songs were written before; I had no idea what I wanted to say until I sat down to write. And I should repeat: I’ve never tried to record music like this before.

Mixing / etc took longer. I would tinker with the songs all the time, trying to figure out how to improve them and make sure you could hear it all. I did one session of re-takes for other parts that I missed. Then I sent them to press. Stop fuckin’ with them and just move on. I feel like I waited too long already.

And, astonishingly: I think they’re okay.

I don’t want to suggest that this is great music, or that I’m writing at the same level as my influences. (There’s a reason that covers disc sounds a little better than the other stuff.) I don’t anticipate this will supplant all your favorite punk records. I might be fortunate enough for you to actually still keep the CD in a few years from now.

But in a way, that’s not the point. I had a great time writing and recording this stuff, and I think that comes through.

And: I mean every single word of it. And that feels important.

Enjoy!

It’s That Time of Year! The Holidays Are Upon Us…

Usually I try to make a bit of a production about the holiday season, doing weeks and weeks of Holiday Broadcasts, and producing some killer radio content… for those who enjoy this time of year. So when I realized that it is already over HALFWAY through October when I had a chance to sit down and think about the Holiday Season, I realized that this year was not going to get the same kind of treatment that I try to offer most years.

However, as it happened, I managed to produce a fair amount of musical content, all centered around the holiday. Namely: three of the projects I’m involved with actually produced holiday items this year. And there’s plenty of other items to choose from, too, if you want to enjoy material from over the years, too. So this card is a little shortcut to all of that stuff. Here’s a little more detail, for those who are interested:

* * * * *

1.) The Eleven-SixtyFours new HOLIDAY VIDEO, “An Open Grave”!

The Eleven-SixtyFours are brand new this year, and have already released to singles. This track is from their forthcoming EP, “Sack The Sacklers,” and this is the first video from that EP. Perfect for Halloween, this is our theme song this year, helping get us in the mood when we’re just not feeling it.

* * * * *

2.) DEATH MUTATIONS – THE RITUAL EP (Postcard)

October’s postcard this year is a new release by DEATH MUTATIONS, with a new EP of Experimental Horror atmospheres. This is perfect for putting on the porch, and letting it play for anyone who passes by the house. It also works magnificently on it’s own, in your home or on the bus, commuting to work. Not for the faint of heart.

* * * * *

3.) IVO – Salientia Cassette

At least a couple years in the making, this new project is the collected effort between Le Petit Sac and Mini-Mutations, and offers an experimental horror release that is a frantic and chaotic as one would expect, with long passages of eerie, spooky sounds that are perfect for setting the mood.

* * * * *

4.) Mini-Mutations – May The Circle Be Unbroken Split CD w/ Michael Cosma.

Produced and released last year, this split CD contains 30 minutes each from both Mini-Mutations and Michael Cosma, exploring some of the more eerie sides of experimental music. For the Mini-Mutations side, you are treated to an immersive audio narrative, with music, that takes you to some terrifying locations. This release now comes with a download code that offers an EXTENDED version of the story, and instrumental versions of the primary tracks. This is an excellent release that you can’t get anywhere else.

* * * * *

5.) Austin Rich Reads “The Ways of Ghosts” by Ambrose Bierce

One of the earliest attempts I made at spoken word, this collects all the pieces that I aired on the radio, plus some bonus bits that hadn’t been released yet, to create this holiday offering. The CD and the digital release each contain slightly different bonus tracks, making your preference determine what sort of extras you’re likely to hear.

* * * * *

6.) Mini-Mutations – Hallotide Harmonies (Live Digital Album)

Recorded during the first Mini-Mutations tour, opening for Mark Hosler in 2018, this digital album collects all the spooky and scary material that I performed. Two and a half hours of live, mutated and creepy performances, guaranteed to put you in the mood for an All Hallow’s Celebration!

* * * * *

7.) Austin’s Annual Halloween Spook-tacular Podcast!

For the past 18 years, I’ve been collecting and presenting Halloween Radio, every year around this time. Now, you can listen to all of those broadcasts, covering a number of shows with over 100 hours of programming. Music, Old Time Radio, listeners calling in with scary ghost stories, live performances, experimental radio, and plenty of vintage audio fun, as we mine all of recorded history for anything scary, spooky, sinister, or just plain full of Halloween Fun. It’s all right here, for you to enjoy!

Complexity Is Here!

File this one under the, “It got shoved in the back and was lost for a little while,” heading, as it was certainly overlooked.

Just before the end of the year, Lob Instagon released the most recent installment of their COMPLEXITY compilation series, something that was very long overdue, and which, as of this writing, is accepting submissions for the SIXTH volume. This is a series not bound by genre, but does try to keep submissions in the “eight minutes or less” category of music. As the saying goes, “Life is Complexity – Complexity is NOW.”

This isn’t the first time I’ve been on one of these compilations. For this particular series, I’ve been working on a very long Mini-Mutations piece, that is all about Complex Numbers. I recorded the bulk of the piece way back when I first submitted to this comp, so I actually haven’t revisited any of this material in quite some time. It is sort of foreign to me, in that way, and I’m pleasantly surprised at the results.

These comps are all fantastic, and are a good overview of some excellent artists working in experimental music right now. Plus, I like the mission statement: as long as there are new submissions, and as long as everyone is still interested, this series will keep going. And, they are free! What better price for you to enjoy some excellent new music.

Thanks again for your support, and thanks again to Lob, for making such excellent music for the work to enjoy.

New Digital Compilation with a Mini-Mutations Collaboration released TODAY!

{AN} Eel, out of Toronto, Canada, is one of those tireless artists who is constantly working on new projects, in a way that keeps Mini-Mutations on track. (If I want to feel motivated, I just think about Chris Phinney or Dylan Houser or {AN} Eel, and I realize how lazy I truly am. You should check out their work. They are very impressive.

Anyway, this particular compilation series is a stellar run of collaborations, where all eight volumes include collaborative work by two different artists. I’ve been on one of these comps before, and it is a great change of pace to work with someone you have never worked with before. (And, remotely, even.)

This time, I worked with an artist who goes by the name BB, and I actually did a very atypical bass performance on this particular track. But, really, our track is only one part of this comp. There are 34 other artists on this comp, collaborating on 18 tracks. It’s pretty epic. And, now, you can enjoy it, here. Thanks again, {AN} Eel! You are a powerhouse in the world of experimental music.

Buy Two CDs, Save Money On Your Purchase!

$18. Both the new Mini-Mutations and Shot Reverse Shot albums in one set. 

Save four dollars when you buy both the new Mini-Mutations and the new Shot Reverse Shot albums together, at once! These both came out in January or 2021, and offer two different takes on the kinds of music that we like to make.

 

Reading Nancy Comics And Listening To Irv Teibel (Experimental). 

The new album by Mini-Mutations! Professionally duplicated CDs provided by kunaki.com, these discs contain new music and live performances not available elsewhere, and now you can get it on this continuous audio presentation that deals with some of the thorniest issues in our world. Home-made packaging contains your own mutated money, a chance to join Professor Schwartzwelder’s “Mini-Mutations Civil Disobedience 101” Club, and a card that proves your disc was inspected by #34, the most well-regarded inspector money can buy. Limited quantities, not available digitally. Get yours today!

 

Dimension X… Minus One! by Shot Reverse Shot (Not Experimental) 

The debut album by Shot Reverse Shot! Professionally duplicated CDs provided by kunaki.com, these discs contain new music by the interstellar collection of cyborgs, clones and androids, who perform new tunes written by the Master Control Unit, and produced by Austin Rich! Old Time Radio On Your 21st Century Stereo! This music is not available digitally, so if you want to hear these songs, you’ll have to get the disc! Limited quantities, so you should get yours today!

I’m quite proud of these releases, and I can’t wait for you to hear them. Hopefully you enjoy these as much as we do.

New Release from Sweatband Records & ChefSac! The Remixes!

$5. Limited Quantities! INTRODUCING CHEFSAC… with REMIXES! 

In February of 2020, the excellent release by Chefkirk and Le Petit Sac – INTRODUCING CHEFSAC – landed, just before the pandemic really took hold of our everyday lives. This was a pretty excellent gift to receive just before everything went sideways.

Then, a number of artists were secretly contacted by CHEFSAC to provide them with remixes of this material, for a series of releases that have been coming out on the cassette imprint of Sweatband Records.

I am happy to announce that a remix Mini-Mutations is among the many remixes that are available as a part of this series of cassette releases. And we are in pretty good company, too. There’s a pretty excellent group of folks on the Sweatband Records roster, and I do like the idea of a humble remix titled “What You CHEFSAC” making an appearance on one of these tapes.

I’ve largely self-released my own material, and I’ve enjoyed the flexibility and the freedom to do exactly what I want, the way I want to. But I’ve also been lucky enough to get on compilations for the NorCal NoiseFest every year, and both Arvo Zylo and Hal McGee have been kind enough to include stuff I made on their releases, too. Sometimes it seems improbable that anyone would like this stuff enough to release, but I guess the fact that I have faith in this project at all has helping make it a reality in the world at large.

Anyway, there are a very limited number of these tapes, and I don’t think there’s plans to do more than one run, so if you want the tape, contact me directly. First come, first served; these won’t be on the Merch Page just yet, but I will certainly sell one to you. $5. Limited Quantities! 

Once we are sold out, I will make the track available somewhere else, so it doesn’t fade into obscurity.

Thanks again, Chefkirk and Le Petit Sac! Always fun

 

Promotional Radio Copies Are Now Available For Radio DJs & Staff!

If You Host A Radio Show, WTBC Has Got You Covered.

Promotional copies of our newest releases are available now for radio personnel and podcasters to obtain, for use on your programs.

As a current DJ, and someone who has built their show largely on the kindness of other artists, I have often depended on promotional materials to help flesh out the program. Knowing that DJs can often have a deficit of money to spend on producing their shows, WTBC is offering their newest releases, or any old releases, to DJs and radio staff.

Here’s how it works: send an email to austinrich@gmail.com with information about your show or podcast. WTBC has a secret stash of promotional materials that we can e-mail or send to you, physically, so you can play them on your shows. It’s pretty simple, really, and hopefully it will help get the word out about our new endeavors.

Radio and Podcasts are the cornerstone of how we spend our time in the 21st Century, and it is important to know that our DJs and podcasters have the best possible tools to present the bests possible shows to their listeners. Just know that, in this effort, WTBC has your back.

The New Mini-Mutations Record Is Now Available For You To Enjoy!

You Can Meme Like This. Or You Can Meme Like That.

$10 From WTBC Records. Not Available Digitally! Limited Quantities On Physical Media Items! Act Fast! 

There is so much in this world this is constantly vying for our attention. New TV shows. Social Media. That person in the street yelling about the Venusians who are about to invade our planet. And let’s not forget that string of local pets and animals that all want you to rescue some kid who is stuck in a rusting tractor out in Old Man Thornton’s corn field. Are you really the only one home at this hour of the day? Isn’t there a volunteer fireman nearby, somewhere?

With all of that going on, sometimes you just want to get away from it all. Maybe, for example, you want to disappear with that book of Nancy comics that you enjoy so much, and sit in a graveyard for while to read it, without the prying eyes of your neighbors trying to figure our which of the two of you prints their own money. But even in the most remote graveyards, with the world sufficiently blotted out by the sounds of nature, it would be wonderful if someone made the perfect soundtrack that you could listen to. Not too loud, of course. But just loud enough to really make the cops wonder what you’re up to.

Now, of course, there are many albums that would be perfect for this kind of listening experience, and Columbia House now has a section for this genre in their 12-CDs-For-A-Penny club this year. But, while it might not be a new, or even unique, idea to make an album meant for just such listening condition, Mini-Mutations might as well throw their hat into the ring, with their newest musical offering on CD, and not available in other formats! (Yet!)

 

“Reading Nancy Comics & Listening To Irv Teibel” is the CD you need To Guide You On The Best Possible Path During Your Journey Into the 21st Century.

While some albums offer only one use in your daily life, this collection of live performances and unique-to-this-disc recordings will actually serve many functions for you, and is the perfect multi-tool for these troubled times. The circular nature of the disc allows for replacement in any circumstance where a coaster, frisbee or improvised wheel is needed. In conjunction with the cover, it can also act as a windshield scraper, or as a visor in particularly sunny conditions. There are ample blank white spaces on the cover and interior, which enables you to use those surfaces for taking quick notes if you write very, very small. Fortunately, the cover is recyclable, too.

The entertainment within, however, can be used in a multitude of ways, too. Either as a guided meditation, or turn by turn instructions for that trip to visit your relatives, this disc can fulfill the essential functions of any listened audio that you might find you need to hear out in the built world. Weather it is the audio descriptions of the art at a local museum, the commentary track by a director that you know and love, or even as a new soundtrack to accompany a viewing of The Wizard of Oz, you will find that our new album can meet almost any need that you might have in this modern, bustling world.

Certainly, we also recommend that you consume the media in a traditional manner at some point, too, but when it comes to the value proposition of this material item, it is important to note that we have designed it with flexibility in mind, even if the disc itself is not actually so.

 

Critics Might, Someday, Consider Raving About Some Project Tangental To This One, So You Get In On The Ground Floor, While You Still Can.

Your average album might come with some digital files that are easily lost or misplaced in the flotsam and jetsam that is the average computer interface. And, knowing you, you have a very particular way you like your meta-data to be encoded, anyway. This is why this album is not available digitally, to prevent this kind of problem. When you rip this disc in the comfort of your own home, you will know that we had nothing to do with the way you choose to misplace your files afterwards. And that’s a promise you can count on!

Instead of those hopelessly old-fashioned files, as if you are an .mp3 hoarder from the late 20th century, your purchase includes the following 21st Century items that you can keep as long as you remember that they are important in this fast-paced world of one century later:

YOUR PURCHASE INCLUDES:

An audio Compact Disc, which contains the audio of the brand new album by Mini-Mutations, for you to play at your neighbors when they are fighting or making love!

One New Composition, Unique To This Disc, Never Before Heard by Mortal Humans! Plus four live performances, not available to enjoy elsewhere anymore! This music is not for download. To get it, you need to own this disc!

One Black And White Cover, containing images and information that DIRECTLY RELATE to the audio on the disc!*

An information card that you can fill out, so you can join Professor Schwartzwelder’s “Mini-Mutations Civil Disobedience 101” Club!

One piece of Mutated Money, which is not legal or valid tender in the United States, but apes some of the elements thereof, including unique serial numbers so I can track your international movements at airport checkpoints!

Each album is numbered, and was Inspected by #34, the most trustworthy inspector that money can buy, ensuring the the product you have just purchased is of the highest possible quality, when it comes to experimental music from Salem, Oregon.

 

* We actually coordinated those elements together, in some fashion, if you can believe it.

 

Supplies Are Limited! Offer Void In Wisconsin & South Carolina!

On average, Mini-Mutations puts out no less than 12 releases a year, which makes the first one of 2021 to be an absolutely essential part of any respectable person’s record collection, if they like being respectable, that is. So why not avoid the rush after everyone has read about this on vice.com, and order your copy of this album today, before the sands of time disappear like the days of our lives…

Reading Nancy Comics & Listening To Irv Teibel.

Can you think of a better way to spend the afternoon?

An Interview With LEZET mentions… Mini-Mutations?

This is something very pleasant, and unexpected, that I only just heard about, and that I find very exciting.

I was recently name checked in an interview by Cian Orbe Netlabel (a Netlabel from Rancagua, Chile), with Serbian experimental artist LEZET. What a wonderfully strange, international confluence of events. And, fortunately, you can read the entire interview, in English, here: Interview with LEZET (6 December 2020).

So, dig this big crux: one of the strange up-shots of the pandemic has been the simultaneous isolation of a number of artists, all over the world. So through mutual friends we each have in Hal McGee (and his “Electronic Cottage” group online), we were both recruited to work on a compilation produced by {AN} EeL, which featured a wide range of artists being paired off to create work together. The results are “Two Halves Vol. 7,” which features 18 tracks by 36 different artists, all producing collaborative tracks. For this project, {AN} EeL paired myself and LEZET, who I was unfamiliar with at the time. But, in working on this track, and then through being more aware of their work through {AN} EeL and Hal, I’ve become quite fond of LEZET’s work.

The track we produced together is called, “Riverside Hop Scotch Game,” and you can hear it here:

It was incredibly easy working with LEZET. They mailed me some recordings, without much conversation about what to do with them, or how we wanted to work. We had initially discussed the possibility of LEZET following the muse, and having me coming in to flesh out the track afterwards, but it’s hard to recall that conversation exactly. What I do remember is that when I received the tracks, I immediately heard where my accompaniment would fit in, and very quickly we had a finished tune.

We submitted the track, and I didn’t think much more about that specific song until the comp came out. And it was very cool, not only to find that our track was very early in the running order, but that the entire collection was very, very cool. (I’ve included the entire thing below.

I would have thought that would be the end of it. We both had other projects, and while I was following LEZET’s work with interest, I didn’t imagine I’d get mentioned in an interview like this.

In the question, “Which are your favorite music projects who inspire your work?” Mini-Mutations gets a mention, along with a whole mess of other great artists, too. I feel like I’m in very good company on that list, and I’m sort of nervous about having to live up to the quality of the other artists on this list.

I did a lot of collaborations this year, and in a way, the album I did sort of got lots in the shuffle, as it was packaged with a zine. Between that and other non-musical projects, this has been a very a-typical year for both myself and Mini-Mutations. But it is very inspiring to know that people like LEZET are enjoying the journey, as we both feel out what to do in the coming year.

2020 has been wild, yo.

Halloween Spook-tacular, Twenty Twenty!

A Roundup Of Halloween-y Things You Might Enjoy!

I started getting serious about Halloween radio in 2003, and since then, I’ve done my best to offer some very cool sounds that complement this time of year. With that in mind, I have a few Halloween themed audio albums that you can enjoy, and a Halloween podcast that you’ll want to subscribe to! We had a lot of fun this year, and I’m pretty proud of what it out there. So, maybe you can add these to your holiday playlists?

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HORRIFYING HARMONIES!

The Cosma-Mutations Split CD.

Part of Hal McGee’s Electronic Cottage Splits series of releases, which has paired 40 artists in a number of complementary and impressive ways, and created an excellent body of work that displays a great cross-section of experimental artists working today. Michael Cosma & I cooked up a little Halloween release, with eerie tunes and a spooky original story set to music. An hour of experimental Halloween sounds that will complete any home. You can pick up a digital or CD version from the EC Bandcamp Page, or get a CD version from the WTBC Store.

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The Ways of Ghosts by Ambrose Bierce (Read by Austin Rich)

Now five years old, this release compiles some recordings made for Halloween Radio, with some new recordings and other bits and bobs, to present our first Spoken Word release. The centerpiece is a reading of an Ambrose Bierce collection of stories, with music and SFX that highlight the supernatural eeriness of these creepy tales. You can pick up a digital copy form the WTBC Store.

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Hallowtide Harmonies by Mini-Mutations

Recorded live, while on tour with Mark Hosler during the first Mini-Mutations tour, the shows were building up to a big Halloween performance at the Re-Bar. This digital album collects almost two and a half hours of halloween atmospheres, creepy cut-ups, collage stories about trains & haunted houses, with lots of ghosts flitting about the entire time. While this only captures the “spooky” parts of that tour, those were some of the most fun, and they’re all here, for you to enjoy. You can pick up a digital version form the WTBC Store.

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BONE-CHILLING BROADCASTS!

Somewhere In-Between: A Radio Zine

This program launched in 2020, and it’s a collection of all sorts of stories about life in these modern times. For October, I read stories and poems that help put listeners in the holiday spirit, with selections from Richard Brautigan, Ambrose Bierce, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Mark Twain, Robert Frost and O. Henry, some classic tales that are perfect for those late-night flights of fancy. The last installment of this four episode series airs tomorrow on KMUZ at 10:30 AM, but you can also catch all the shows by Subscribing To The Podcast.

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Mid-Valley Mutations

Keeping in-step with our annual tradition (going back to 2003), we offer four new radio broadcasts, with live music, a returning a guest, and a long trip to the movies… in an at-home, safely quarantined kind of way. It all begins with a live Mini-Mutations / forest journey into an ancient place I’ve never been to before, so I can catch a performance by Daona in a clearing. Then, I get lost on my way home, wind up in a House on Haunted Hill, then get stranded on Horror Island, and finally, get to the radio station where I get to hang out with DJ Victrola, who is more than game to talk Horror Movies with me. It’s a little MST3k, a little “live music overdrive,” a little “podcast hang with a friend you care about,” and all of it is very, very “in the mood.” The best way to stay in touch with this show is to subscribe to the podcast, here on iTunes, which includes roughly the last year or so of podcasts. But you can always visit midvalleymutations.com, to find all the back-episodes.

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Austin’s Annual Halloween Spook-tacular! 

If you want immediate access to hundreds of hours of free Halloween radio, then this is your one-stop shopping for all the fun. We have done it all over the years. Phone calls from people who had ghostly or supernatural experiences? Check. Recordings of Old Time Radio Horror broadcasts? Absolutely! 60’s monster songs and spooky frankenstein dance numbers? Undoubtedly. Trips through the Punk-In-Patch? In a Misfits shirt and everything! I even get guests to come and read scary stories on the radio, use Ouija boards, play live, or just enjoy the ambiance. I re-run all the old Closet Radio Halloween programs, and feature my annual sister-in-radio, DJ Victrola! This feed offers all the episodes, from all the shows, and give you the chance to enjoy some one-stop shopping for everything Halloween Radio. You will most definitely want to subscribe to this iTunes Feed so your party will have the right vibe! Can you dig it?

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Be Seeing You!

This has been an excellent season, and I look forward to it every year. Hopefully this brought a little joy to your ears, and helps set the tone for a fun a excellent season. This year has been hard. Maybe some fun music and radio will soothe you, for a little while, anyway.

Take care.

Another New Release! A Brand New Act! Our First 7”!

 

Half Eye is Seattle artist that began in the early 90’s, combining home recordings, indie rock riffs, and odes to Udo Kier, issuing a number of albums that are dark, murky explorations of longing and loss, with a sense of humor that is as much a puzzle as it evokes a guffaw. Over the last 30 years, Half Eye has cultivated a unique sonic pallet that is immediately recognizaable, and yet only implies influences without directly pointing fingers. 

Shot Reverse Shot materialized in the summer of 2020, when a sufficiently futuristic-sounding date had finally been achieved. This quintet of rock & roll androids, clones and cyborgs, have been locked in the server room this year, plugging into the Master Control Unit, so they can lock down the algorithms that will render their first tunes into sound recordings, in an audio range that you can hear! The first of these songs have been pushed to the server, and with Austin Rich producing these tracks, they are sounding pretty excellent. 

WTBC is very excited to be releasing their first 7”, and with the help of these two artists, we think this record, made by Gorbie Lathe Cuts, will be something very special. These songs are not available online, and comes with beautiful covers and a collaborative mini-zine, all designed by Half Eye & Shot Reverse Shot. Bonus digital materials will give you plenty to enjoy while you spin this 45, and people who purchase this record will get a special discount when purchasing the forthcoming Shot Reverse Shot album coming in December. 

Limited Quantities, on White, Lathe Cut Discs.

This is Rock Music! Not exactly an “experimental” release! 

Available in November. Pre-Order NOW!

$12 includes shipping. (A little more for outside the US.) 

WE NOW LIVE IN THE FUTRE. 

Formaldehydra Split w/ Mini-Mutations

Over a year in the planning, this new split record was made by Gorbie Lathe Cuts, and is available for pre-order, as we speak. The record itself won’t ship until November*.

New material by Florida artist Formaldehydra & Oregon artist Mini-Mutations, recorded during the recent fires we suffered from in September. This music isn’t online, and while sold through Bandcamp, cannot be streamed there. If you want to hear these songs, they only exist on these discs.

These records are hand-made in every way; the covers / inserts were printed on free paper with used ink cartridges, cut by Austin in The Lava Lamp Lounge. QR Codes activate unique bonus materials not available elsewhere. And, only available in limited quantities. Once they are gone, they are gone. Just like our dwindling forests.

$12 includes shipping. (More outside the US… Let’s talk.)

The forests need our help. Maybe this will be The Summoning Call?

* Possibly sooner, but hope for the best / expect the worst, yes?