sci-fi author, beatmaker

Tag: ambient

Kleidosty – Strange Skin (and choosing the creative life)

LQ-1189_800I was up at the Echo Lake Berkeley Family Camp with my family and Jason Kleidosty’s family. Jason had brought his laptop and headphones and worked on his ambient music in the evenings, drinking a beer and watching the post-sunset glow from a cliff-top bench. I left my computer at home but did my fiction scribblings each morning in my notebook, drinking high-octane coffee from the bottomless cafeteria urns. Early mornings and late evenings were the quiet times of the day — family waking hours were filled with the sounds of screaming children (some joyful, some tantrums). Children love to scream.

Nobody was making us work. The rewards? Who knows. Is anyone besides Boards of Canada making a living from ambient music? Some science fiction writers I idolize, and who have tens of thousands of fans (or at least Twitter followers) toil away at day jobs. Creative efforts, even from the most talented and hardworking, don’t always make ends meet. I make most of my money solving database problems. Sometimes I fantasize about alternatives. I suppose I could write and sell a hair-regrowth eBook, but I can’t bring myself to do it. I’d rather write a long treatise on medieval polearms and sell it on dmsguild.com. I’ll bet I could make dozens of dollars. But I need an illustrator.

The reason we create, and keep creating, is because the reward is immediate. The process is the payoff. If it isn’t, find something else to do. If you succeed at the activity, the reward is doing more of that activity. Are you okay with that? Spend time doing things you enjoy, period.

Why would someone write a sixteen minute instrumental track with no hummable melody? Well, I’m glad he did. I get lost in the track. I can’t stop listening to And/Or. Just pop off the top of my skull and wire up my brain with the intergalactic quantum orchestral strings.

Which is to say, Strange Skin, the new album from Kleidosty, is out today. Please rate if you purchase, and leave a review if you like.

Limited time offer — free download of Kleidosty's ambient album "Edifice of Artifice"

Kleidosty's debut album Edifice of Artifice

Kleidosty’s debut album Edifice of Artifice

For a limited time Loöq Records is giving away a high-quality mp3 download of Kleidosty’s brilliant, ground-breaking, drone-tastic ambient album “Edifice of Artifice” to new and existing list members. Click on this link, enter your email in the widget, and receive a free download link.

The offer will probably end with the release of Kleidosty’s new album “Hydras at the Helm” (July 3rd). If you missed the offer you can buy the album on iTunes.

A Personal Request

I’d like to briefly interrupt the “systems for living well” theme of this blog with a personal request.

Today Loöq Records (the music label I run with DJ Spesh) has released an ambient/downtempo compilation entitled “From There To Here.”

I think it’s one of the strongest collections of music we’ve ever assembled. It also includes a few compositions I helped write — it’s work I’m proud of.

Not everyone loves electronic music, but this release is deep, beautiful, ethereal, emotional stuff. I’m hoping it will appeal to many of you.

Here’s my request — can you please click on the image above and give some of the tracks a listen on iTunes? If you like the release, buy it.

Just as helpful would be letting some friends know, clicking the “Like” button, clicking on the stars to rate the release, or giving the release a quick review.

Thank you! I hope you enjoy “From There To Here.”

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