Hello,
I hope all is well. I haven’t reached out in a while with the newsletter. I hope you are safe. It’s been a weird few months. A lot happening doing the renovations for the future Silber artistic home The Eyelight. Did you know after a day of installing sheetrock when you stop by the grocery store they act like your a crazy homeless person? Then again I’m only a home away from being a crazy homeless person. Of course the pandemic is still here with an overwhelming sense of dread & depression & my family decided it was in the dronecub’s best interest to send her back to physical school, which has been super scary, but getting a five year old back to happy instead of dwelling on existential dread is good for the household. The school she’s in never closed & has had zero cases so it feels safe. Anyway, on with the music news from the past three months & there has been a lot.
In September we released “September Stories”, a collection of spoken word, love stories, poetry, & audio books. The inspiration was the same as most things around here, “What am I personally interested in?” I’ve found myself listening to more & more audiobooks & podcasts than music lately, so it made sense to ask my pals to help explore the genre.
A couple hours & you’ll probably find some of it interesting. https://silbermedia.bandcamp.com/album/september-stories Oh, & it’s free & currently a Bandcamp exclusive.
Jamie Barnes has a new album. It’s been ten years since his last album & while Jamie’s polished singer-songwriter accessible sound has often stood out as different than the majority of the Silber catalog, we’re pleased to help you hear some of his new work. Check it out on Bandcamp, Spotify, or pretty much anywhere.
https://silbermedia.bandcamp.com/album/ex-voto
https://open.spotify.com/album/2RJHCadU8MzvPeSAC0ESYo
For Christmas this year we did another compilation of people doing the same song, this time “Jingle Bells”. Small Life Form, Martin Newman, Ocean in a Bottle, Heavy for the Vintage, Remora, Philip Polk Palmer, Sans Fixer, & fornever offer takes from ambient soundscapes to darkwave to guitar aggression to something close to a straight cover. It’s fun, it’s free.
https://silbermedia.bandcamp.com/album/jingle-bells
Yellow6 of course comes in with his end of the year collection of orphaned songs, “merry6mas2020″. Ambient guitarscapes, you know the drill. Jon’s ability to keep up such a high level of productivity & quality over decades is inspiring.
https://silbermedia.bandcamp.com/album/days-merry6mas-2020
Eletric Bird Noise also has an annual Christmas offering. This time out it’s based around percussion & reverb instead of guitar. Free download.
https://silbermedia.bandcamp.com/album/ruof-evif-ni-susej-ybab-rof-staeb
https://open.spotify.com/album/6IkqKHctx3wDvNyV6D7uKO
Zach Corsa continues his winter EP series with Nonconnah. Ambient guitar walls, tapes glitching, cool soundscapes. Free download
https://silbermedia.bandcamp.com/album/winter-ep-iv
Small Life Form’s winter/Christmas release this year celebrates the discovery that was integral to the project back in the 1990s, taking sounds & slowing them down massively. If 5 seconds of feedback slowed to 26 minutes sounds like a good idea, this is definitely for you! Free download.
https://silbermedia.bandcamp.com/album/slow-season
Phil Dole (X-Bax, Grand Kali Ma, Chord) is back with us under his own name. If you’ve never checked out his guitar ambient, this is as good a place to start as any. Free download.
https://silbermedia.bandcamp.com/album/please-come-home
Speaking of Phil Dole & Small Life Form, Phil put out a Small Life Form seven inch which it looks like somehow sold out! But you can still check out the sounds & maybe contact Phil through his bandcamp if you want a copy.
https://secularpineapple.bandcamp.com/album/darkness-light-hope-is-here
It seems like everyone I know is doing those Instagram live things. Even I did one of a session with Martin Newman. Ambient guitar & Stoogian riffage.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CI9ntLBJX5p/?igshid=17ye2wfdte0xy&fbclid=IwAR2GCOLYRRWoKVtwpg-mFb3apr3YZult7XPr6TocCQOLR76vrKSnhJItk0Q
Coming soon is new music from Vlor, The Undermasks, Grand Kali Ma, Small Life Form, & Day2Alliance & the return of Droneuary. Also hopefully I will get all the interviews I have for QRD proofed & finally get the new issue out (as promised for a year now). Also I have not been updating the Silber website at all in the past several months & I’ve just been using Bandcamp to post new music & hopefully I will get that updated soon. I’ve also not been sending out newsletters as much as I once did because of problems with my main email being blacklisted as spam, so the best way to keep up is following on Bandcamp, Twitter, or Facebook. Stay safe & thanks for your continued interest & support. If you want off the newsletter mailing list, just let me know.
Hrt
Brian John Mitchell
www.silbermedia.com