Steal the regular version.

Coming soon, get the regular version on a plastic disk, get the fancy version as audio files free!

It’s done. It’s apparently somewhere between 1000 and over 9000 tracks depending on whose twitter you follow. I really hope people enjoy it. I mean, I’d like people to buy it too, but frankly, I’ll be happy with as many people as possible embracing the album. I hope it connects with people. It’s all the stuff I love and think about, and it’s all wrapped into what I think is pretty catchy and fun package, even when I’m being more serious.

But, like I say right at the start of the album’s first first, “Sixth’s time the charm, but even I am skeptical.”

If this convention-loaded weekend goes swimmingly, I can only assume I’m going to be completely gutted by my finals, or my fans decide my new album is a national tragedy and generally awful.

Though, I am having a lot of trouble writing my final paper.

The re-order part comes in regards to Rai’s album, which we’re pushing back from her severe bronchitis. How severe was said bronchitis, you may ask? If she waited another day or two for treatment, we’d be using the word “pneumonia” instead. Probably also with the words “hospital stay.” However, this is not going to be time wasted – she can’t record vocals right as is recovering for the next few weeks (doctor’s orders,) but there are other aspects of her new album and the related materials she’s working on.

Frankly though, I’m just glad she isn’t in the hospital. Rai’s not just a great musician to work with, but more importantly she’s a good friend. Sure, I want just as badly as she does to get this record done, but her health comes first.

To end on a positive note, Nursehella and I will hit the studio again in the next couple weeks for atleast two sessions. Given the rate at which she’s been knocking down vocals, that means we’ll have the principal vocal recording done in those two sessions. That means in the next couple weeks, the vocal recording part of the long anticipated (even by me,) debut of Nursehella shall occur. Then we start working on some sort of Kickstarter equivalent for her. It should be a blast, and I already know the incentives for said donation campaign should be awesome.

Things may still not happen in the order now anticipated, but so I long as I live, they’re gonna happen.

Key Information:

• This is for the US only, unless you know me in real life.
• If enough people internationally want this, I’ll stumble through and workout just how much more international shipping will cost. Just remember, shipping a CD internationally is around 8 dollars when you’re an independent like me.
• I’m cutting off the preorders on March 21st. This is so I can place orders for the items in time for the ship date of April 9th or earlier.
• I’m doing only one run of the shirts for the pre-orders. I might do a few more Norwescon, but I doubt it.
• If you’re attending SakuraCon or Norwescon, I may be able to deliver your order directly to you at the con. Email me after your pre-order if you’d like me to do that.
• All preordered CDs will be autographed.
• The standard edition download will be pay what you want the first week of release, so no preorders will be offered for it.

However, that’s a petty nitpick compared to the big ticket problem: I can’t update the iLife suite. It came free with the computer, but I even after logging in, clicking to accept the apps does nothing. Clicking update brings up a ‘NULL’ error. This is comically bad. After all, I was able to pull an update for the OS itself directly from Apple, so I don’t get why this is such a chase for the apps. I’ve sent off a support email, but for now, I feel unimpressed. Windows may lack a store entirely, but what’s included with the OS updates almost too easily, and I can easily get what’s not included through great sites like Ninite.

I am corresponding with Apple support right now, and I hope I get to follow this up with a retraction, but I hate that it came to this in the first place. Considering I managed to build a Windows 7 box from parts and get everything running and lovely on it in about a day last weekend, sitting around fighting for an app update is annoying at a minimum.

I mean, this is the kind of goofy trouble Apple made fun of Windows for, and in fact, I haven’t even had this kind of trouble with Linux since I started to used it on the original eeePC in 2007. That’s problematic.

On one hand, I not only have praise for my personal musical output, but for my creative work for other prominent individuals. To be blunt, I’m doing some production work for MC Lars, and he digs it. That’s praise is getting other parties interested in what I do as a musician. That’s good too, because I could use some pocket money and general attention. Doing production for other artists provides both.

At the same time though, I’m still enjoying fumbling my way around Racket for my AI class, while learning C# for a couple problems in my Multimedia class. I’m not a bad programmer, but I am a notorious procrastinator, and nothing gets me distracted like music. Add to that the general malaise that comes with recovering from a cold and a solid fall, and I’m surprised I’m on task at all. That likely speaks to how interesting I fine the programming work too; even the relatively dry AI class is pretty cool as the problems are quite thought provoking. Once I dig in, any track of time is lost. I become entranced by pondering how to attack and conquer the problem.

The multimedia class provides some excuse to fuse the two passions, but at the moment, I am balancing that fantastic Heinlein quote in the title again another very valid quote:

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” – Abraham Lincoln.

I can’t wait to get these bigger projects off my mind. I can dilettante about with collabs here and there during university, but doing that, plus 3 good albums, plus homework, is tricky. Though, I probably spend too much time on the internet no matter how you cut it, and that’s the lamb most worth sacrificing. Though, it’s hyper-distracting nature makes the internet hardest to shut off.

I should stop trying to make a delicate mousse, and just make a good steak. Then pray that a restaurant critic walks in unprompted.

This is a bad plan, but only partially. I need to shoot music videos, even if that is just strings of images that relate to the lyrics. It’s clear that helps get my music out there in a multimedia age, and while I don’t to write for other people’s expectations, and I want those who can relate to my music to be able to find it and embrace it.

Metaphors and idle plans aside, I have a lot to clear off the plate before break is over. Well, really I only have to get an assignment done for my Artificial Intelligence class, but I’m still feeling out Racket. It’s a weird language. To make matters more interesting, I’m also going to be picking up C# for Multimedia class. Granted, that’s a pair project, and my fellow team member is so rad he has a game up on the XBox Live store. I hope I can keep up with him.

I also have some production work to take on. I have materials sitting from Rai Kamishiro and Death*Star, and my ears and sinuses are finally calm enough to take on a pair of headphones for a few hours. I may also being doing some production for some people other than myself, Rai and Nursehella, but it’s a test run thing. Hopefully, I hit the mark.

Grades come first, of course… (glances shiftily)

My father drove me to the venue, and for the first time ever, he saw me perform live at an actual venue. I think the volume of the soundsystem was off putting for him, but it was cool that he saw how people had come to see me. One person even researched me having seen the flyer, and another had remembered me from the frontalot forum, and remarked that my performance reminded him of Andy Kaufman. That’s pretty high praise, and a sign that turning my stage-presence-ruining pain into a joke worked. A promoter with the venue even said I should come to said venue’s (much busier) hiphop night, and that I should get in on its end of show freestyle. I’m glad my dad was their to see those interactions. There is something reassuring about being praised by fans in front of family members.

That said, it’s after Valentine’s Day, and I’m still a bit sore. Time for a couple of Advil, and some rest with a heating pad.

Either way, I hope my fans will turn out and have a fun time as they watch me confuse and bewilder anyone who was just their to tap that deck. I’m still a bit under the weather, so I may sound more like DMX than my usual self. Maybe that’s a bonus?

Meanwhile, a devoted fan decided to cook up a fan video for one of my recent song releases. It has cleared over 600 views in 3 days. I’m pretty pleased about that.

Hmm, that’s three sentences. I wonder if my prof appreciates the explicitly meta writing style that I’m employing, or whether he finds cliche and overdone.

Anyway, I wrote some music, and yes, it is about the same stuff I’ve been blogging about for the last week. (I bet that is even more annoying to the professor.)

Ultraklystron vs. Juno – Focus (Remix-Cover)

Ultraklystron – Katawa Shoujo

What does this “influx” of activity mean? As I’ve said previously, 3 (or 4) albums I am involved with in varying degrees are nearing completion. However, what’s become obvious to me now is just how close all of these releases might be. My own album, Animatic, is almost done as there are only a few outstanding collaborative elements to be sent to me, and even the bonus/remix disc is fairly well appointed and effectively complete. Neither Rai’s nor Nursehella’s albums will be as lengthy as mine, so while they each have more work do on them, I don’t doubt that they’ll be wrapped up sooner rather than later. Once the vocals are recorded, it should be an manageable, almost mechanical process. Therefore, it’s a safe bet to say this Spring should bring a unplanned deluge of music from myself and my associates.

Of course, with university soaking up the majority of my time, I won’t be touring. Gigging regularly in Seattle? Sure, as often as Death*Star, Klopfenpop and other artists in the Emerald Empire crew and overall Seattle Area will have me. I’d do shows up here in Vancouver if the opportunity could be seized (actually much easier said than done since I need some Seattlites to drive up to fill the bill.) However, I wouldn’t rule out some touring for Rai and Nursehella, albeit separately and in radically different venues probably. Still, both have pitched some very interesting plans. Should said plans come together, I hope my (largely overlapping) fanbase gets out to support them because it does directly support me.

Or to summarize, let’s put it in the words of rapper T.I.:

“Big things poppin’ [...] failure’s not an option.”

I’m not particularly sure how many of my instrumentals will underpin her album. That fact hinges a lot on her tastes, and how many other producers we can wrangle into working with us. She made a lot of good connections in the past year though, and perhaps it’s time to see how just how good they are.

In regards to my own album, I’m essentially just waiting on material from some of my collaborators now. Everything else has been locked down though perhaps once I have the collaborative elements in, I might tweak my vocals in a few spots. I could also draw the album out to 22 original tracks, plus 9 or more remixes. However, I think I’ll wait to see how long the collaborative tracks run. The final version of those songs could eat up the spare space.

Lastly, readers should expect more updates like this as I am obligated to blog an average of twice a week for a writing class. Not every update will be this extensive, but I figure that I ought to be forward about why I’m using my blog heavily.

Watch and skip around my mixtape. Or just download it from one of these places:
Bandcamp
Multiupload
Google Music

After all, Hipster Please! liked it, and that blog is the Pitchfork of Nerdcore (or so I’ll claim.)

The Mixtape:
Ultraklystron – Storyboard [The Animatic Mixtape]

Also on Bandcamp and coming soon to Google Music.

Enjoy.

Meanwhile, I should be more of a narcissist and google myself regularly, so I find sick fan videos when they come up:

Ladies and gentlemen, ZOIDBAHTON.

Also, I now have a tumblr that will have all the content from this blog on it. Like the LJ I still auto-crosspost to, I expect it’s relevance to be fleeting at best.

News in the video.

But here is the leak anyway. Might still need some vocal work.