Oh, in case you haven’t heard. I’ve been twittering for a while now. I’ve been a Twitter user for ages, but I just recently started a dedicated account for Miniature Airlines-related posting. So you can follow that account if you want to know what I’m doing with my plugins, but not what I had for breakfast.
Cheers!
Friday night was pretty insane. I’d never been to the Lo-Fi Lounge before, but I see myself coming back soon. It’s a great setup, with two rooms; one large performance space in the back, and one swank lounge in the front. Hjalti and I were set up in the DJ booth in the front lounge, which was a lot of fun. Andrew Luck opened the show, with some guest spots by a live MC, then Hjalti played. His set was unfortunately cut short by some technical difficulties (seemingly caused by excessive heat and an old laptop). What he did play sounded fantastic, especially the heavier elements he’s been incorporating lately. The material he played is part of a new album in-progress, so hopefully we’ll be hearing some of it soon.
I played afterwards, and I was pretty thrilled with how the set went. It was about a 45 minute set, and I got a decent recording of it, which I’m planning on releasing as a Live EP after I have a chance to clean it up a little. Two nights before, I started writing a last minute addition to my set, using a glockenspiel sample kit I’d picked up. It came out so well, that I’ll probably expand it and turn it into an official song on my next release. I ended with the loud, feedback-drenched ending of “Survive To See Tomorrow”, which sounded great over a decent sized PA. I pushed my laptop a little harder than I normally would at the end, at one point dragging it into stutter land by using 120% of my available CPU power for effects processing. Also, just to give any Buzz users out there a panic attack, I was playing with Burst Protection turned off. I live dangerously, what can I say.
Erictronic from Team Bonkers picked up where I left off, and got the little lounge moving, and then Travis Baron closed out the night by playing a few records for all the kids who stayed out late. It was completely drunk and debaucherous by that point, and we dragged our gear up Denny Hill to crash for the evening.
Many thanks to Timm, Travis, Grindle, Donna, both Andrews (Luck and Droomstyyg), Erictronic, and everyone else who made this night worth coming out for. Hope to see you again soon!
Quick note, to let you all know that I’ll be a live on-air gues of KBCS 91.3 FM tonight, from 11pm until 12pm. Hjalti will be with me, debuting a new track, and we’ll be chatting it up, playing some tunes, and promoting the show at the Lofi next Friday. Tune in, loyal followers. See you at the show!
Quick update: I’ll be playing live here in Seattle on Februray 20th, at the LoFi Gallery on Eastlake. It’s a two room show: the main room lineup is Restiform Bodies, n1nth Cloud, and Egadz, and the side room will be me, Hjalti, xBen, and a DJ set by Travis Baron and M’Chateau. Should be a good night with a lot of variety, so please do come out. I’m going to be playing a fast-ish, breakbeat-y set, if all goes as planned. I’ll post some more details soon.
XOXO
So this single thing took on a life of it’s own, and became a 6 track mini EP of sorts. Two original tracks plus four remixes rounding it out to a nice, comfortable 27-ish minutes. I guess I have a thing for 6 track releases. I wonder if I’ll keep it up for the next one, or break the mold a little. Time will tell.
The A-side of this single, First Snows of Summer, was originally released as a very rough work in progress at Em411 almost exactly two years ago. It’s come a long way since then, as I think you’ll hear if you compare the two versions. Last Leaves of Spring is much newer, and sprang almost full formed from my brain one day while testing some new plugins. I think it actually took about 3 days overall, but the bulk of it was created right off the bat.
As for the remixes, they’re all stupendous, in completely different ways. I love hearing remixes of my own work, because they always surprise me, digging unheard possibilities out of things I’ve already created. So extra special thanks to: Hjalti (as always); The Quarry Stone; The Celibacy Club (who we should be hearing more from); and Utofbu (whose new Realise EP on Sofarock is quite fantastic indeed).
Cover photography is by the supremely talented Serene Careaga, who is kind enough to let me use her gorgeous imagery. I knew this shot was an album cover the second I saw it. I’m glad it could be mine.
So please! Download and enjoy. There’s more coming, I promise.
Miniature Airlines returns, and this time he’s brought friends. First Snows & Last Leaves finds him exploring the seasonal moodiness of the Northwest, with two tracks of lush electronic pop. Also along for the ride are fellow Northwesterners the Celibacy Club, with a deeper, darker version; The Quarry Stone gives us a harmonically twisted yet uplifting IDM revision; D.iscontent comrade Hjalti smashes the track to splinters, then using those splinters as a framework for something entirely different; and finally Utofbu, with a hard swing reworking of the B-side.
Two pieces of Miniature Airlines news.
First! I’m featured on the Submersible Hamster podcast this week, along with Trash80, Ernesto Aeroflot, Disasterradio, and others. Props to the Hamster Alliance for the inclusion! Go have a listen, and subscribe for a regular dose of great tunes.
Second! First Snows & Last Leaves is in its final stages. Release date? I’m thinking Monday, December 1st. Putting the finishing touches on the two original tracks and three remixes, plus hoping for one last mix to show up. There’s some good shit on here, and I can only take credit for roughly a third of it!
That’s all for now…
The set went well. It was early in the evening, and it was a pretty thin crowd, but still good. I breezed through a few sections of the set to keep it short, and ended up playing for 30 minutes and 51 seconds. Again, I have to apologize for a lack of documentary evidence. No recording, maybe a couple photos taken by others. We’ll see. I need to do better about that. Maybe I should just play through my set at home and post it as a “live album”. We’ll see.
Anyways…One more show under my belt. I’ll probably play this set, or slight variations of it, for my next shows, whenever they happen to be. There’s some talk of something early next year, but it would be nice to have something lined up beforehand as well. And of course, I”m still eyeing the other big West Coast locations…Portland? Vancouver? San Francisco? I’m looking your way…
Next project: well under way. I’m thinking the new single will be out by the end of the month, and I’m going to try to get a remix or two lined up for it, making it more of a short EP. No promises on that front though. But it will be at least two tracks. I’ll be finalizing them and beginning the mixdowns this weekend, as well as getting artwork sorted. If you’re interested in remixing, e-mail me. dylan@miniatureairlines.com. I’m down to trade remix work, too…
Nectar & The Divison List Present our Official
5 PM – 2AM / 21+
FREE!!
*Celebrate or Drown your Sorrows w/ Happy Hour Drink Specials ALL NIGHT LONG w/ proof that you voted!!
*Take out your aggressions w/ our Obama & McCain Dartboard Tournament of Champions!!
As a Canadian citizen with no voting rights, I find it amusing to be playing an election night show. But I am just as excited as the rest of you to see the end of the Bush Era, and (hopefully) the dawning of the Obama Era. I’m Miniature Airlines, and I approve this message.
I’ve been feeling pretty inspired by what I’m working on lately, and I’m starting to think ambitious thoughts about putting out a new release. Things always take longer than I think they will though, so we’ll see how that shapes up. New single soon! Promise! “First Snows of Summer” has changed a lot since it debuted as a work in progress ages ago, and I’m excited about letting that shit drop.
New track up at em411: “In Girlsh Curiosity“. Continuing the proud tradition of song titles stolen from Pynchon.
Possibly also another show coming up. I don’t have time to make a new set from scratch, but I think I’ll be playing a modified, rearranged, and updated version of my Baltic Room set, featuring alternate versions of “Survive to See Tomorrow” and “Horses Never Know The Odds”, as well as a bunch of exclusive pieces of music that don’t have proper studio versions. I will also possibly be using an exciting new piece of hardware/software that I’ve recently “invested” in. If I can get it work the way I want. More news about this as it become official.
