Sure, self-promotion might be kinda lame, but I’m excited that I finally got around to releasing this EP. And since I’m giving my jam hive away for free, don’t be hateful.
Meridian Signals is my personal music project that I work on at various intervals – whenever I have some free time and feel productive. Meridian Signals combines three musical ideas I really like – lots of reverb, subtle melodic qualities under thick textures, and odd radio recordings.
The instruments used to create Meridian Signals include my Epiphone electric guitar, a Boss SP-303 sampler, a Digitech RP150 multi-effect guitar processor, a Casio keyboard, and a variety of unusual radios, including a shortwave, a police scanner, and a weather band – all thrown together in an overloud, underproduced, psych shoegaze burgoo. Other than for the expressed purposed of featuring bizarre broadcast clips (all recorded by holding the radio speaker against the guitar’s pickups, except on “Mountain Propagation” wherein I use a couple of clips from The Conet Project), the music is instrumental not so much out of an artistic statement, but rather due to a lack of confidence in my vocal abilities. That, I believe, will change on future recordings, however.
Four of the six tracks on Escape Route were recorded in our shitty Wicker Park apartment in Chicago during a particularly foul winter circa early 2008 (in the title track, you can hear the semi-apocalyptic NOAA weather advisory for the Chicago area). “Consumer Confidence in Christ is Down” was recorded later that spring in a different and more comfortable apartment in Lakeview/Boystown, and “Mountain Propagation” was recorded just a couple of months ago at the current Bloggins Base Camp here in Louisville’s Highlands after coming home from the bars late one night and feeling inspired (oddly enough).
The vast majority of the guitar arrangements were laid to tape in one take, though some parts were rearranged in production. I don’t currently play live since I’m uncertain how to reproduce most of this on cue as just one person. However, I’ve been chatting with a couple of guys about playing around, so that may happen in the not so distant future. I consider Escape Route to be sketches of songs rather than, like, a magnum opus or somethin’. As such, I’m giving it away for free for you to enjoy and tell me what you think. Right now, it’s just a hobby and a time passer, but who knows where this will go.
The .ZIP package below contains the six songs (all iTunes ready) and the printer-friendly cover art, designed by me. Just burn the disc, print out the cover, fold it in half, and you have a free disc to hit the bong to!
For fans of: Boards of Canada, My Bloody Valentine, Odd Nosdam, Mogwai, Belong
ZIP :::
Meridian Signals – Escape Route EP (approx. 63 MB)
MP3 :::
Meridian Signals – Mountain Propagation
