I write about non-binary gender identities and music. I'm a synth musician and netlabel owner at Vulpiano Records. AA grad in LGBT Studies and Library Technology as of this spring. I am an avid reader, post-punk enthusiast, and new aesthetic curator.
GENERAL TAGS
ACTOR ALBUM ART ANIMAL ANIME ART ASK ASTRONOMY AUTHOR BOOKS ESOTERIC FASHION FILM FOOD GENDER GIF GLITTER INTERIOR DESIGN LIBRARY MANGA MODEL MUSIC NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY PLANT QUOTE SCENERY SCANS SEXUALITY TEXT TOYS TYPOGRAPHY VIDEO VIDEO GAMES
SPECIFIC TAGS
FARIS BADWAN CARL BARAT BLUR BLYTHE DENNIS COOPER DANIELLE DAX FINAL FANTASY FOX ADAM GREEN THE HORRORS THE LIBERTINES MANIC STREET PREACHERS NICO PICTUREPLANE POKEMON SAILOR MOON SAN FRANCISCO OSCAR WILDE
Download Midnight Glass (10 song LP)
Download Wet Static (1 song from the Voidism Comp.)
Download Nature Nosebleed (3 song split)
Download End Vibes (4 song EP)
We have been a “band” for 1 year. Feels weird. This is everything we’ve done so far except for A Loose Portrait of Body. It’s not that our music isn’t worth ninety-nine cents per song, it’s just that we want you to be able to listen to us, or see if you want to listen to us, without having to pay ninety-nine cents per song. Our songs in the future will most likely be ninety-nine cents per song so enjoy this opportunity. Thank you for listening to us.
Is “free” a price or does it mean that it’s “priceless”? Should self-expression have a price? Should bands just make their money of vinyl/shirts/miscellaneous merch? Is all your passion, creativity and hard-work worth ninety nine cents per song? Does Dead Times release their stuff for free because no one likes it enough to pay for it? What is happening to the music industry? Are bands “DIY” only because no one else will do it for them? Is “DIY” the future of music? Of art? Of business? Of success?
This is relevant to an earlier post - very highly recommended!
I’ve just posted an interview I did with Calvin Markus (Dead Times - one of my favorite recent bands) at A Future in Noise!
See also: Dead Times on Tumblr / Voidism
—-Excerpt—-
Calvin Markus, from Dead Times (a band which has been previously featured here, and one of my favorites of the 2000s - see also the reviews on Midnight Glass and Voidism, Vol. 1 + Graves House split cassette), took the time to answer some interview questions for A Future in Noise. I think that Dead Times is making some of the most cool and important music (as well as art works, literature, and film!) of any band around right now, independent and otherwise, so I would strongly put forth to the reader that this is a band to keep an eye and ear out for now and the future. On to the interview!:
A Future in Noise: When and how was Dead Times formed?
Calvin Markus (Dead Times): Dead Times was formed sometime in 2008. I was walking home from somewhere and Travis called me and asked if I wanted to start a project. We both came from radically different bands, genre wise. He played drums in an indie/folk band. I played guitar and sang in a metal/rock/punk/odd-time/I don’t know band. We started this project knowing we didn’t want it to be like anything we had done before, we really didn’t want to become “just another band” or even worse “just another local band”. So we became an on-going project, not necessarily a band. I’m hesitant to call us band because a band sounds so official, so relationship based, so planned and structured. We want to be free and loose, natural and comfortable.
AFIN: When did “voidism” become integrated into your work? What are the concept’s origins and principles?
CM: Well, the initial creation of Voidism came at the early stages of A Loose Portrait of Body, which was a book of experimental poetry, illustrations and music that we released ourselves. The book covered, very subjectively, the collapse of the ego, of form, of structure and the pervasion of emptiness. Writing it was one of those times where I felt incredibly connected to an obscure source of creativity, like I was tuning into some cosmic frequency. Voidism’s principles and origins, on the surface level, are something close to that. Tuning into that stillness and transferring it into art. Defining the movement concretely isn’t simple. A set definition would be to put Voidism in a cage, it would tie it down, there would be no room for growth. Outside of it’s philosophical atmosphere, Voidism is simply about bringing important artists and musicians together to try and create refreshing, intriguing and powerful work. Dead Times and Voidism are both important artistic outlets in my life, both projects flow throughout one another.
—read more—-
Got some lovely stuff from Calvin from Dead Times as well (framed pic + fabric + flyer on my bulletin board) - they’re making some of my favorite music of independent bands in the 2000s - go check them out!:
http://myspace.com/deadtimesvibes