Miniature Airlines is a Seattle based producer of melodic yet experimental electronic music, with influences ranging from new wave, hip hop, IDM, glitch, and pop styles. Armed with a laptop and some MIDI controllers, he's released several free EPs, and plays the occasional live PA set in the Pacific Northwest.
You may have heard already, but you may not have, so I’ll tell you here: my new album is out. It’s called And Everything Collapsed, it’s a joint release from <a href=”http://d.iscontent.com”>d.iscontent</a> and <a href=”http://pleasureboatrecords.bandcamp.com”>Pleasure Boat Records</a>, and you can get it right now on <a href=”http://miniatureairlines.bandcamp.com”>Bandcamp</a> for free (or a donation of your choosing). Also, make sure to pick up the 1985 EP as well. The EP contains a track from the album, plus remixes by Specta Ciera, Crown Hill Repeater, Hjalti, and myself.
Well hello. It’s been a while. Long enough, that it’s time for a quick update.
So I’ve been laying low for a while, not producing a whole lot, but definitely laying some groundwork. I’m currently working on a couple of releases, that will hopefully see light of day this year. The first, main release, is going to be an EP of new material (well, mostly new…you may have heard some of it in my live sets over the last year). At around the same time, I plan to release a companion EP of older tracks that have never been released, or were released in limited ways, along with a few remixes that many of you probably haven’t heard. I’m pretty excited about both of these projects, as I’ll finally get a chance to clear out the archives and get a clean start afterwards.
Speaking of clean starts, I’ve finally upgraded to the new version of Jeskola Buzz, the quirky tracker software I’ve been using for the last 10 years or so. The new version is just as obtuse and just as powerful, with a few handy interface updates that make it a joy to work with. If you’re into tracker-style sequencing and hexadecimal code, that is. It feels like a new beginning, and I’ve been working much faster using the updated version.
I’m also working on integrating a custom MIDI-fighter controller into my workflow. If you haven’t seen one of these before, they’re awesome. My girlfriend built one for me for my birthday, and I’ve got some great ideas for it. I can’t wait to unleash it in a live show!
Oh yes, and I have a DJ set coming up soon. Details forthcoming. No live shows planned as of now, but that’s OK because I want to massively revamp my live setup, to be ready to play new material when the new EPs are released. Not to say I won’t play before then, of course…
So that’s what’s up. Expect more updates, and audiovisual goodies as work progresses. Like this recent track!
Hey all! I’ve been taking it easy since the release of the LP and remix album earlier this year (not to mention playing more shows in one year than I ever have before). But that doesn’t mean I’m rasting on my laurels for 2010. In fact, here’ a couple of bits of news:
First! On Saturday, December 4th, I’ll be playing a split set with Hjalti at the Emerald City Supporters year end part, Let’s Go Mental!. We’ll both be playing new material, some written specifically for this event and possibly never to be heard again.
Then, on Saturday, Decmeber 11th, I’ll be returning to the ring for this year’s Laptop Battle at Chop Suey. After getting eliminated last year’s champion Vincent Parker, I plan to step it up a bit for this year’s brawl. Make sure to come out on cheer me on against the Icarus Kid, The Googly, Potatofinger, Tron Sister, and more. I might even have some physical copies of Arrivals & Departures available.
And finally, for those of you who will still be kicking around town the night before Thanksgiving – make sure to stop by the Living Room. It’s usually Show & Tell night on the 4th Wednesday of the month, but since everyone will likely be out of town, we’ll be having an all-vinyl DJ party for as long as they will let us play. Come on down and drink, dance, and be merry with the rest of us nerds.
Last Wednesday’s installment of Show and Tell at the Living Room has to be one of my favorite shows I’ve played so far. I mean that both from the perspective of the quality of the set I played, and the atmosphere and reaction of the crowd. I felt really good about how I played, and got to debut some newer material to a room full of smiling friends. You can’t ask for anything better than that. Hjalti also threw down a brilliant set of entirely new material (including a cover of Poison!!!), some of which you should be hearing on d.iscontent later this year. Heartfelt thanks to Verse for putting this night together, and the Living Room for being great hosts.
Quick tracklist for my set:
Last Leaves of Spring (live debut) The Distant You Untitled (w/ glockenspiel) Our Hope Is Limitless Horses Never Know The Odds Skirt (live debut) Cankles (Slender Wrists remix written about one week ago, live debut) Unmoved by Jazz (live debut) Survive to See Tomorrow (excerpt) Untitled (w/vocals – brand new track written about one week ago, live debut)
I neglected to record te set, but I may do a “live in the studio” version, and throw it online. Unless someone would like to invite me to play their house party or something, and I’ll record that (nudge nudge, wink wink).
I may have another show lined up soon, but I’ll wait for confirmation to tell you those details.
It’s finally here. My debut full-length album, Arrivals & Departures, is now available as a free download. It’s been a long time in progress; some of these songs have been around for years, and the vague blueprint for the album itself has been evolving ever since my previous release, First Snows & Last Leaves. Eleven tracks, clocking in at about 57 minutes from start to finish. How to describe it? Good question. I feel like I’m so close to these songs that I can’t say anything objective about them, but some of the adjectives that have been tossed out so far: blissful, nostalgic, melancholy. I think those are all pretty fair.
So please, go download the album now and give it a spin. Spread the link, share it with your friends, post it wherever you’re inspired to post it. I hope you enjoy. And if you do, be sure to stay tuned for the forthcoming remix EP. I’ve got some really great artists reinterpreting these songs as we speak, and I can’t wait to hear what they come up with.
And finally, I’ll be playing live at the Living Room Bar in Seattle’s Capitol Hill on June 16th, and some of these new songs are sure to show up in my set. See you there…
I guess now is a good a time as any to announce the (still a little tentative) plans for my upcoming album. I’m in the home stretch of this thing – the first round of rough mixes is complete, and while there are definitely issues to address and another round of mixing to do, it’s basically all downhill from here.
So here it is – my new 11-track album will be entitled Arrivals & Departures, and it will be released in Mid-May, with a remix EP to follow in June. As always, this will be a digital only release, freely available to all.
Speaking of remixes, I’m preparing remix kits for upload this weekend, and I still have some slots available if you’re interested. You can leave a comment here, e-mail me (dylan at miniatureairlines dot com), or send me a reply or DM on twitter (@miniair) for more details.
So yes, please spread the word, and give my old EPs another listen while you’re waiting for the new record to drop. Oh, and stay tuned for details about an upcoming show this summer as well, hopefully the first of many.
So there’s a new folder on my external hard drive, and it contains about 18GB of 24-bit wave files. These wave files are the rendered tracks for 10 of the 12 songs that are making the final cut for my new (and much-delayed) full-length album. The last two tracks will be bounced down soon as well.
I’ll be starting mixing sessions shortly, with Hjalti assissting, and hopefully get this album cranked out in short order. I could’ve spent ages making minor edits, tweaking drum sounds, and fiddling around the edges, but at some point, you have to just move forward, so that’s what I’m doing. I’ve got all the tracks into a state that I’m really happy with, and they’ll only be improved by some detailed mixing and mastering.
Other than that, I need to name 4 of these tracks still. And work on artwork. No small tasks, but it feels good to be drawing closer to the finish line on this set of songs. Some of them are over 5 years old at this point.
If you’re interested in remixing any of these tracks, please let me know. The plan for now is to release a short companion EP of remixes after the album is released. I already have 2 or 3 lined up, and the more the merrier. Drop me a line.
Once upon a time, approximately 5 years ago, I hand-coded a static, one-page website in Notepad as a place to host my music, and updates about events, etc. Back in those days, I was hand-editing an RSS feed for the site, and keeping everything as minimalist as possible. Time went by, and I never got around to redesigning, but kept cobbling bits together on this basic little page. 5 years is a long time on the internet, and this site got to look pretty dated pretty quickly.
So here we are, with a brand new design! I’ve ported everything over to WordPress, and slightly modified the Transport theme, so my web presence is much tidier and easier to work with. I’ve been planning on creating my own design for ages and ages, but I got sick of the current site, and this took a single evening to put together. So I think I’ll stick with it for now, and see if I can settle in, make a few tweaks here and there. Let me know if you run into any issues with the new site…
I just realized I never posted a follow-up to the Laptop Battle. End result: Vincent Parker (Van) won the evening, after a tie-breaking round with Graintable (PDX). I was elminated in the last battle of the first round, by the soon-to-be-champion vincent Parker. A good time was had by all.
I’ll be playing again on Feb. 12th, at Re-Bar, with a great lineup (Relcad, Skoi Sirius, Potatofinger, and DJ Travis Baron). More info soon!
So, the 6th Annual Seattle Laptop Battle is officially a week away, and I’m both excited and intimidated. Excited, because it’s going to be a big show, with an engaged audience, and a hell of a good time. Intimidated, because the competition is stiff, I still need to do a lot of work on my battle tracks, and because I have a lot of little odds and ends to finish up before next Friday.
The biggest odd and/or end is the promo CD I’ll be bringing with me. I’ll have a limited amount of free CD-R promo CDs to hand out at the event, so if you’re interested, ask me about them at the show. It’ll be a 3-track EP showcasing some songs from the new album. Rough versions of these songs have been around for a while, but the versions on the CD will be closer to their final form.
Hope to see you all out at Chop Suey next Friday! Here’s some extra informtion to help you all remember:
