Astral Ra: August 2010

MOTHS HAVE EATEN THE CORE

The wait is finally over. This album has been in gestation for almost two years now.

GATES
Moths Have Eaten the Core
-a precessional winter in III movements-

tracklisting:
Outer Labyrinth
Inner Labyrinth
Dust of Absence

edition of 100 CDs
6" x 6" 3 panel folio style jacket w/ Obi
design by Kevin Yuen at Viraloptic
photography by Bryan W Bray
printing and construction by Scott Sokoloski at Firebrand Inc

Gates began as a sonic experiment turned into a ritualistic cathartic process. As a way to further cleanse the mental palette in a continuing ritual that took place after practices and shows with ORCA and always initially beginning with simple multi-tracked ideas. The music spans the worlds of doom, psychedelic drone, ambient, experimental field recordings & intense audio processing all filtered through the bleak aesthetics and sonic darkness of black metal. Recording began in the fall of 2008 and finished January 2009 in the depths of winter. The music ventures into themes of claustrophobia, nothingness, the unconscious passageways of the mind and the transcendence of the self.

Package design was executed by the talented Kevin Yuen (Fermentæ, Circle of Eyes), using photos of caves and statues accentuating the immersive sonic environment. Printing of the packaging was of the utmost quality, 167lbs coated cover stock with wax polymer printing (sleeve & obi) and pro-duplicated/printed cds attached with foam hub all housed in a resealable poly-bag.

(above art is slightly different than the final version)

Listen to 'Inner Labyrinth' here http://gatesritual.bandcamp.com

Contact for copies, (mailorder etc)
gravitationaldoom at g mail dot com
$10 each. Please get in touch for exact shipping costs.
Mailorder copies (or purchase at a show) will include a sticker and 1" pin
Also available at Soundscapes & Sonic Boom in Toronto.

Available as a digital download via Bandcamp at the the link above.

Huge, infinite thanks to Kevin Yuen & Scott Sokoloski for enabling this project to come to light(dark).

Through the howling infinite.....

GARDENIA - OCEAN BASIN

Gardenia w/ Nick Storring - 'Ocean Basin'
edition of 100 CDR's
mylar sleeves overlayed on various different magazine pages & photos

Live recording of a performance on a cold December night at The Tranzac club in Toronto. This one is a long slow-burner of psychedelic drone. Deep reverberating guitar, pulsating electronics, cello punctuating throughout; all drenched in a deep fuzzy haze. This was our second performance together and truely captured the essence of Gardenia live. The show was put together by Tad Michalak's Burn Down the Capital & we shared the night with the always immersive and incredible Nadja and Ottawa's Adam Saikaley

This is going to be a special release in regards to not only it's packaging but the audio as well. 'Ocean Basin' is going to be produced in smaller runs, about 15-20 copies at a time, up to 100. Each copy will feature different artwork within the mylar liner notes. Right now the 'raw unedited audio version' is out there which is the live recording direct from the HD recorder. A single 38min track. Future editions may feature this split into tracks with various treatments to accentuate different elements of this piece.

listen to a excerpt from the recording here 'Ocean Basin' bandcamp

Below are some examples of the visual themes of this release as well as some packaging shots. See the post below for more photos of the first run.

various Gardenia releases

Some shots of the first run of new Gardenia release, 'Gardenia w/Nick Storring - Ocean Basin' (info in previous post) & the revamped 'Untitled' release (minus obi's in these shots) and the finished merch pile prepared before leaving for the Electric Eclectics festival this past weekend.

ELECTRIC ECLECTICS 5 photos

I took over 200 photos with a somewhat decent digital camera over the course of the Electic Eclectics weekend. Here's a selection of those. Not really any from the first night though due to a combination of wine and general overwhelming stimulation. Thanks to all at the Funny Farm and Chris Worden for putting this crazy thing together.

http://www.electric-eclectics.com/