First up, the Top 5 Albums for this week thus far. D-Mode-D, also known as Renard Queenston is killing it on the charts, with both his “For Crossdressing” EP and his “Just Love” single! Also, a nice surprise, Breakmaster Cylinder’s classic EP “Remix One” is getting some traffic, alongside the latest releases from last week, like Mason James’s “Parade”. Congratulations to all the artists in the charts!

1. D-Mode-D – For Crossdressing
2. D-Mode-D – Just Love
3. RookieTheCook – Progressive Acid Jazz
4. Breakmaster Cylinder – Remix One
5. Mason James – Parade

This week, we introduced RookieTheCook to the Breakbit family! Rookie’s an instrumental hiphop artist, bringing smooth jams and downtempo goodness with his debut album, “Progressive Acid Jazz”. If you like artists like Max Gall, Billinski and Metrosound, you’re bound to love what Rookie brings to the table! Check out his album by clicking the album art!

BitMania 2 is just around the corner! The most ambitious event that Breakbit Music has ever put on is happening this June! Two exciting nights, the 15th and 16th of June, full of live video content and mystery surprises! If you have even the slightest interest in Breakbit, you’ll be a fool to miss this event! We just started an Facebook event about BitMania 2, so if you wish to follow the latest about the event please click the banner and follow it!

But now, an announcement. We would like to announce that Poopooface’s much awaited album, “Super Kawaii~“, is coming out the 8th of May. Yes, that’s right, this tuesday!

Poopooface, also known as Kurkop, released “Tinto5 EP” last year to much acclaim for its very experimental IDM sound, and this new album doesn’t disappoint! Fans of artists like DR777, glue70, Orangy and Breakmaster Cylinder are in for a treat with “Super Kawaii~”!

So that’s it for this week! Please, post a comment if have anything on your mind!

]]> http://www.breakbitmusic.com/news/05/06/newsletter-6th-may-2012/feed/ 0 http://www.breakbitmusic.com/news/04/27/newsletter-27th-april-2012/ http://www.breakbitmusic.com/news/04/27/newsletter-27th-april-2012/#comments Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:30:39 +0000 Anders Moberg http://www.breakbitmusic.com/?p=5199 Good-day, dear visitors!

I’m Anders, commonly referred to Ben Laserlove on the internet, and I’ve joined the team at Breakbit to help out with diverse smaller tasks, things like this here blogpost! Glad to be here!

First, thanks for the continued support of Breakbit Music. We’ve been around for such a long time by now, and even through some of our dark times you’ve decided to still come to us, and we’re grateful for that support! We have stuff in the works that won’t let you guys down!

Recently, we’ve felt an small uneasiness in the community around Breakbit, and we would just like to say that we’re listening to what our fans are saying, both the negative and positive. We’re listening to what you guys are saying publicly and taking all of it into consideration. Breakbit’s all about being a good place for both our talented artists and our fans, and we’re continuing our evolution to become the best place it can be.

But today! We have a new album from Mason James, called Parade!

More cool beats from our very talented Mason James! It’s pretty hot stuff, and if this artwork doesn’t get you interested I don’t know what will. Get it here!

In addition, the 48h collaboration with our affilatate GrappaFrisbee Records is out right now! This first challenge didn’t get as big as we expected, so the team at Breakbit is discussing ideas for our next challenge and how to make it bigger, please share your ideas in the comments! Get it here!

That’s it for this newspost. Thanks for taking time to read it, and please post in the comments about any questions in regards to anything Breakbit!

We have another label that we’ve affiliated with: Travelling Sound, which is run by the one and only P.SUS, who has been a fan of the label for quite a long time now. Their material consists of lovely hip-hop, ambient and experimental music, and it’s such a pleasure to have them on board with us.

Their first release was an album from our very own artist – Billinski, who released “Desperate Smile” back in the February of 2011. You can check it out by clicking on the image above! You can also also check out the teaser for the new EP by Mr.Troy, which is called “T.A.P.E” by clicking here: http://soundcloud.com/traveling-sound/mr-troy-t

 - ReeceA

He has voluntarily decided to leave the net-label.

After dealing with increasingly difficult personal issues over time, he no longer feels that Breakbit is the place for him, and has chosen to voluntarily leave.

DM DOKURO, Blood Drive From Hell and Pocket Dokuro’s body of work currently remains on the site for archival access.

EDIT: The Breakbit staff have decided to remove DM DOKURO’s complete body of work from the catalog.

http://mrsimonlive.tumblr.com/

I’ve already got hours and hours of content, from some of my infamous 3-5 hour jams, to my live performances for friends!

If you follow the page, over the course of this year, you’ll get instant access to over 6 days of jams from the past few years! You can expect anything new to appear there too.

If you’re in need of a jam replay, while you work, or make sex or whatever, check it out!

but what IS it?

and what will it mean for the future of this site?

We have indeed started expanding based upon our musical genres.We started the year with Gringle and his release: “Not With You”. But that doesn’t end there. Breakbit’s musical style will become more varied and more unique than ever. That is why we decided that Zelmershead’s release – “WhiteSideBlack” – could signify the extent of how far we are trying to push the envelope with new genre’s and production styles. Recently, certain people have understandably been concerned about “losing the old Breakbit”, but we are not prepared to jeopardize the loyalty of the fans who have been with us since day one.

All of the pre-committee artists are still a massive asset to this community, because they represent where this label originally came from. This label will continue to be an “Alternative Label” with artists, who in there rightful genres, do not totally conform to the norms. Even some of our newer more streamline sounding artists are still experimental in their own ways. With regards to artists, we are hoping to expand the audience and expand the range of our “sound vocabulary” so there’s pretty much a genre for everybody. Which brings me to the main purpose of this new venture:

Promotion.

It came from a conversation I had with ReeceA when I was shocked to find that his release –  ”In Voids” – which i know he’d put a lot of effort into, didn’t seem to have a lot of recognition on the site. I expected to see 50 comments on there. It didn’t phase Reece at all, but it really woke me up to the fact that although Breakbit has some extremlyunique and talented artists (not just in music but also in all areas such as web design, video producing, graphic design). And even though I can give a ‘shout out’ to the committee, I look at most of these releases and it’s the same thing. Even with 20 or 30 comments you start to realise that this is nothing.

One of our affiliates “Sirona Records” can get up to 100,000 Downloads. This is NOT an over-exaggeration. Looking through the roster ALL of our artists old and new could so easily now move on to bigger and better ventures with an independent label. The quality of our artists and the hard work put into their own material is outstanding. The quality of this site, thanks to the ever evolving brain of mrSimon, is without question. So here all are, passionately working with an infectious drive, a friendly community but I feel as if that that not enough people can hear us. A question I can pose is this:

“If Breakbit Music has a new release and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?“

Well yes it does. And that’s to our loyal community of fans. If they did not exist, we would not have lasted this long. But me and the committee have started to come to the understanding that our artists and this site deserves a lot more coverage we want to start getting Breakbit really out there.

But How?

The internet is a great place to promote yourself you can indeed send releases for review and tell people about the site but it’s a spin on the roulette wheel and it actually can feel rather stale to some. Internet Radio stations and podcasts are a slightly better way to promote one’s material too.   But we’re going through a more practical approach. I live close to a city called Manchester: a place full of clubs, pubs, art houses, alternertave clubs, alternative and art cafes, etc.

There’s a whole section of the city for unique creativity. I also live close to another city called Liverpool: A ridiculously artistic place and it is entirely based on art movements and unique creativity.   As bizarre is it may sound, you could easily make Lucky Oddy, BMC, Orangy, DR777 and those type of artists major hits in some of these places even our more streamline sounding artists have equally enough potential to be major hits in these places. You could host Breakbit nights and really start to push the name of this site.

You could start contacting DJs and start bringing out compilations specifically for this kind of leap. With ReeceA residing in the middle of London, the possibilities start to scare me of what could happen in the next few months, could you imagine what would happen if Breakbit started getting noticed in England’s 3 major cities? Maybe it’s a pipe dream. Maybe it won’t even get off the ground, but with new content and the volume of talent we now have, we might as well give it a shot.

It’s time to take a leap of faith. The worst that could happen is that we could just stay in the same place we are now but we are no stranger to that. It is an exciting time to be part of Breakbit Music and we hope that you, reading this now, will watch us in this process of growth and expansion and wish us good luck!

- George

(click the image)

Current Tracklist

1. String
2. Avoid (Single Mix)
3. Næss

also, remixes for Avoid are still open. if you do a remix and finish it, DM it to my Twitter or throw it in my DropBox.

thanks for reading! :>

I’m believed to have “Generalised Anxiety Disorder” and for the moment I’m struggling. Some of you may have noticed my absence from the Internet. I’m planning to lay low from the Internet and start thinking about recovery.

With regards to Breakbit Music and all of it’s affiliates.. the artists have been some of the greatest influences in my life. I’ve made it quite public how I feel about the great talented artists and friends that I have across this community. I hope I’ve done what I set out to do originally,  which was to bring Breakbit to a  point where it could have longevity and continue to entertain it’s fans.

As of next week, I will be planning to making sure that there will be new and exciting releases and events on Breakbit between March and April. When March comes, I’ll go into a personal hiatus from both Breakbit and almost all other creative responsibilities I have, until May.

It saddens me to say that can’t get myself to make films, music or any other creative endeavour at this current time. I will still try to film my Doctor Who fan-film project in March, but because of my condition I now fear for the quality of the project, but that might just be my anxiety talking. My other main project, “Dayvan” may also suffer from this, which I’ve been trying to get off the ground for a really long time now.

I do intend to make a significant improvement,  if not a full recovery until May or June. At that time the sequel to BitMania will become my main priority.

Please don’t despair for my sake.. this community is often in my thoughts and keeps me positive through this difficult time. Sometimes the sheer thought of all the friends I have in the Breakbit  community and the fun that we’ve had together is enough to help. Thank you all for your support.
I wish all the artists and fans good luck and hopefully speak to you all soon!

Much love, George

P.S. I’ve left certain new artists slightly in limbo. I will be attempting to resolve throughout next week.

We’d like to welcome you our new affiliates - Grappa-Frisbee Records! A label which started in 2010 all the way in the US of A, and is now full of fantastic and creative artists and has also developed a rather large audience since then. Here are some releases that I highly recommend:

Choongum – “Timefog”
Californian experimental/ambient artist Choongum has recently just produced this gem. It includes abstract beats, field recordings at the beach and beautiful chords which makes you feel like as if you’re there. It can also be bought on cassette with a mini-poster for $5 on the link above.

AiS – “Songs That Aren’t On the Radio”

I’ve been listening to this EP for quite a long time now, and it never gets old. AiS has produced something special. With vinyl-distorted samples and with a soulful sound to it, I don’t think you can go wrong. My faves on here have to be “The Devil’s In Florida” and “My Girlfriend’s A Hipster”.

Old Gold – “Comosus”

Another great album to recommend is this one from Conneticut producer – Old Gold. For its beautiful abstractions and the creativity that has been put into it, this one is definitely recommended to those who like ambient/experimental music.

You can check out more material on their website which is now in Breakbit’s “Affiliates” tab. You can also expect a release from me and another fellow Breakbit artist (Who I won’t name) on there in the summertime.

Peace out – ReeceA

Just to give you a quick update of  the situation with demos and seeking new talent, there’s going to be a change soon and it’s best that you all know.

As of the 1st of Feburary, the “Send Your Demo” function will be taken down and Breakbit Music will be no longer interested in seeking new talent until further notice. This is for a multitude of reasons:

1. Our new scouting team has already found a variety of new artists already, and we want these new artists to be able to settle in.

2. To also let older artists be able to shine and highlight their new work.

3. Letting the Breakbit Committee and community focus on other current features and planned features (Eg. BitMania II)

4. Finally to let the site breathe and develop for a while without any major updates.

What this means is that if you have wanted to submit a demo to Breakbit, NOW is the time to do so. You have until the 1st of Febuary. The scouting team in the last few days have indeed found some promising new potential artists for this site but we don’t want to go overboard on new talent. If you have been contacted exclusively by one of our scouting team you are still applicable to the offer. However, when the deadline comes, no further scouting will take place or any activities involving finding new talent will commence until further notice.

Even so, we have a multitude of new releases coming up such as Metrosound’s “Rhodes” LP and Orkid’s “Dream On”. And believe me when I say that we have much MUCH more!

Also if you still need to contact us for any other reason or have any questions or quires, you can contact us via the Breakbit Music forum ,or simply emailing us: admin@breakbitmusic.com

Thanks, George and the BB Committee!

The Breakbit catalog ID’s have been in long need of revision, and today, we’ve decided to implement these tweaks.

Our catalog management has recently been all over the place, since firstly we switched from ROFLtrax to Breakbit, and secondly, when we started giving work in progress albums and projects an ID. Today’s update finally settles the mess once and for all.

It’s important that we stick to ID’s which will last, as quickly as possible, which is why this has happened today. We have some features planned in the future which require the catalog ID to be consistent and immediately understandable. For you purists out there, this will probably be the most annoying news you could hear, and we apologise; but for most of you, this won’t make a bit of difference!

ID’s have been allocated, in ordered of their publication date, and then by their record creation date for releases published at the same time. There are four core changes which alter every release’s catalog ID

1. The two discontinued 2008 “mrSimon’s Wonderful Jam” mixtapes no longer increment ID’s. These mixtapes were permanently discontinued in early 2009, and are not acknoledged as part of Breakbit’s established release catalogue.
2. We are abandoning our previous prefix, “RTRX” (ROFLtrax), used for ROFLtrax releases. These now count as our earliest releases. “BKBT” (Breakbit) ID’s now continue after the intial “RTRX” collection.
3. We are also abandoning “BKBT” (Breakbit) and instead using “BKBM” (Breakbit Music). This is to minimize confusion, that visitors from external sites may have.
4. Work in progress albums from here onwards have the temporary ID, “BKBM0000″ when they are added to the coming soon section. They will then later be given an ID.

Now we have established IDs in our catalog, here are our OFFICIAL milestones!

• Our first release was “ROFL/ONE”
• Our 20th release was “mrSimon – Your Mums Fat: Volume One”
• Our 50th release was “mrSimon – Rainbows End”
• “Breakbit Volume 1″, previously Breakbit’s first release, is now Breakbit Music’s 85th release.
• Our 100th release was “DM DOKURO – The Birthday Bash EP”
• Our 150th release was “The Brothers In Shit – Soaked in Win”
• Our next release, “Polysonic – Low Tide EP” will be Breakbit Music’s 188th release.

I’ve returned to the North, and something’s clicked. Call it going crazy, maturing, finding perspective or whatever, but it’s very very clear to me now that I really don’t care that much for the internet as much as I used to, in particular, web communities.

It’s been a growing feeling that I’ve had throughout the last year or two, but it’s something I can’t ignore anymore.

While maintaining a widespread web presence was a fun challenge which began for me nearly 10 years ago on Newgrounds, then onto Sheezyart, Youtube, Twitter, etc, it’s something that for me today is no longer worth the effort. For me now, the real challenge is maintaining a decent social presence, and finding people to invest time I’d all too often reserve for the publishing of old content, and unnecessary website maintenance. It’s a social longing which I’ve fought for too long, and with time, you’ll also come to understand.

With this personal shift of mind, I’ve also come to greater appreciate my job in the media industry. It’s a much sought after position in a field that’s increasingly more difficult to make an impact in. I have a fantastic role at TT Fusion which I must continue to appreciate.

With all these revelations in mind, I’ve decided to avoid as many things on the internet that I can, anything that’s a distraction, anything that demands time with little personal reward. This includes steering myself away from debates and drama on Twitter, closing various online publishing accounts and reserving my IM’s only for my closest of friends and family.

I still intend to use the internet as a place to share my creative works, though I’m focusing less on getting my stuff out to as many platforms as possible, and more on embracing the fans I’ve already gained. From here onwards, I plan to release almost all my content on Twitter and Youtube, with infrequent publications on Bandcamp and Breakbit. Site’s like Soundcloud, Last.FM, Facebook, Google+ and others have ended up making the whole thing too complex and time-consuming.

For me however, I’ve found that my greatest distraction has been Breakbit’s operation.

I’ve previously discussed how I lost touch with the site community over the years, but with our recent revisions, it’s clear that the site’s incomparably better than ever now, in both design and management.. But still, my responsibilities eat too much of my personal time, and continues to meddle with my wellbeing.

From today, I’ll only be responsible for uploading files to Breakbit’s webspace, tweaking the database which powers release and artist listings; and dishing out admin rights. The Breakbit Committee (headed by George Atkinson of ‘The Brothers in Shit’) have been making some great decisions so far, and I trust that they’ll manage Breakbit well.

These decisions are all personal, and are simply about getting rid of any sense of ‘commitment’ in relation to the internet, as well as generally finding a freer state of mind.

I want to make the most of social opportunities in life now. Whenever I do find myself with free time, at a computer, then I intend to simply get straight to producing content immediately. Producing music, developing performance skills, recording Vlogs, anything with immediate results. If I have no energy, then (free of commitments) I’m simply going to relax, something I’m told I don’t do enough.

I apologise to anybody I’ve disappointed, but this is the most important thing I’ve got to address in my life.

BBL, going to live a bit.

Haktrak

After their initial six month probation period, the newly appointed Breakbit committee have decided not to extend their place on the label.

You can stay up to date with Haktrak’s productions by subscribing to their Youtube channel.

Stay tuned for upcoming and exciting news regarding our artist roster!

I’m here, just to let you guys know that an EP from me will be coming out on the 21st. It will include “Extras”, which will have remixes from Qually from MrHappyFace Records, abstract artist and experimental musician – Archan Nair, 2nnt‘s other alias – Glasscarpenter, French IDM artist – Pollux & British Dubstep artist – PaceMatic, so far.

It’s getting pretty big. Plus, it will be my last release as “ReeceA” for a pretty long time. Just need to focus on recreating myself, while focusing on “Red Wine Riots“, which is an electronic duo where I’ve  teamed up with George from “The Brothers in Shit”.

I’ve also made a mix the other day, which is full of chilled-out dubstep tracks (None of that UKF bullshit). If you’re interested, you can get it here:

ReeceA – “London Sound” (Mix) (AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD) by ReeceA’s Mixes

That’s all for now. Peace!

As most of my Summers, things in my life have been changing almost every week. After hosting parties in July and August, I feel ill and was out of action for over a fortnight. I got back to work in September on stuff, before hosting another party, and going on holiday in October. I hope that now things have settled again, I’ll be able to hone my focus back onto production.

So looking at my last update from June, here’s how things are looking.

Through July and August, I was able to work on Breakbit updates, and we managed to launch a revised look and updated player. In the heat of things though, I rushed the update out, overlooking some important under-the-hood updates, as well as totally screwing up the artist hub section, turning it into an incomprehensible mess. As I work on my own music, I’m also preparing a small update which I hope to debut before the end of the year. So far, this includes some of these important under the hood changes, but also tidies up the site appearance. Besides this, I plan to introduce a redesigned release and artist index, as well as a new artist hub and release template. The current site is now on lock-down until this new version is released.

Disruptor has been taking forever, and I’m afraid it’s still not in a state to be released. However, things have been moving quicker since I’ve gotten back as I’ve been finalizing various tracks. ‘Past the Bolted Door’, the album’s opening track was released in September as part of DQN ELECTRONICS QUADRX. Check it out above if you’ve not already heard it! Disruptor is now my highest priority. I want to get this killer album finalized as soon as possible, however I’m not going to settle unless I feel I’ve done a fantastic job. I want this one to stand the test of time! Estimated launch: December 2011 – January 2012

In my last blog post, I also promised a collection to mark my ten years of creating music. I’ve decided that I’ll reconsider this, sometime after Disruptor has been released. I’d like to make this something a little better than a re-release. I’ll start to think about that sometime next year.

I also mentioned Your Mum, a remastered collection of tracks I created in university. The album was ready to launch in it’s original form way back in May, before I turned my focus to making Constant as well as I could. Coming back to the project, I felt like attempting to beef up every track on it to the extent that it became a remix project rather than a remastering one. I’ve now decided to abandon this concept. It ended up delaying Disruptor way too much, to the point where I haven’t released anything in so long. While some tracks have had the remixing treatment, this is now primarily a remaster project again. Every track has had a top notch mastering pass, and will be available as lossless audio for the first time! Certainly a step above 128 MP3! (Eww). Estimated launch: Late November 2011

Since Your Mum is now a remaster project rather than something new, I won’t be taking this one to digital stores like iTunes, Spotify and Amazon… however, I’d still like to make a mark in these stores with some old my classic works. This is why I’ve decided to launch Life Begins alongside the album. The single will be avalible for purchase close to Your Mum’s release. Estimated launch: Late November 2011

Sometime after the launch of Disruptor and Your Mum, I’d like to have a shot at a fully remastered and remixed collection of university tracks. The album’s working title is currently Welcome to Nowhere, and it’s something that I’ve always intended to do since 2005. The album will take a bunch of my darker university tracks, like ‘Looking for Something’, ‘FND’, ‘capitals arn’t funny anymore’ and ‘HOW OFTEN DOES THIS HAPPEN’, and give them the full on treatment they’ve deserved. I started production earlier this year, but it’s been on hold since I started to focus on Disruptor. I intend to get back on this one as soon as my upcoming albums are out there, but there’s no way I can predict how I’ll feel next year, so we’ll see. Estimated launch: Summer – Winter 2012

Lastly over the past two years, I’ve been brainstorming various funky house tracks, in the spirit of stuff like ‘Diamond Dreams’ and ‘Cocktail Bar’ from my last album. I’ve been throwing these together as part of a project I’ve to date called Sex, Drugs, Rick and Roll, which has always been my intended follow up to Party in my head. However through it’s development, I’ve not really been able to make it all stick together, as I’ve been trying with most my projects in the past few years. In addition, I’m getting incredibly cautious over what material I stick to the name ‘mrSimon’. My funky house tracks are a fair departure from the kind of stuff you’d now associate with mrSimon, from ambient glitch like ‘Snow Village’ and ‘Constant’, to hardcore mayhem like ‘PLANETCORE’.

I’ve now decided to scrap the upcoming funky house album completely. This kind of stuff isn’t going to be bearable an hour on end, and releasing it all in a batch will only mean less attention is given to each track, which may eventually be overlooked anyway. Instead, I aim to release more singles and EP’s from here onwards. In addition, after observing various other netlabels and musicians, I’ve decided that I’m now going to be adapting a new alias in addition to mrSimon.

From today, I’ll be releasing my new house EP’s under the new alias ‘Cowboy Town’. Over the years I’ve been telling myself that the key to success in music is to build a single identity, where people can expect an ever increasing level of quality. As I’ve become more of a perfectionist over time however, it’s become clear that the real key is to just keep releasing music. As Cowboy Town, I intend to get more and more fresh tracks out more often. I hope to find a new frame of mind, which I hope will show in the music I produce.

I hope to release my first house EP, as Cowboy Town sometime very shortly after the release of Disruptor. I’m also considering an additional alias for my audio collage tracks, such as ‘Rainbows End’ and ‘The Stupidest Track I’ve Ever Made’, though I haven’t reached a conclusion yet.

So all in all, I’ve got to get cracking with Disruptor! Finger’s crossed it’ll be ready for Christmas!

Following mixed reception from the Breakbit community, he has voluntarily decided to leave.