I know what you are thinking. My opinion is not to be trusted because I am Mrs. AllThisIsMeaningless. And while I won’t deny my love for them, I have to admit that my feelings about his music are more complicated. I like to claim that I own the first mixtape that he named an “allthisismeaningless production.”  Many nights in college were spent listening to him play guitar and later spent listening to him manipulate sounds on his synths. I knew then that he had talent, but more than that he had a passion for making music. I was not on the decade-plus long journey of making the album, but I am glad to say that I was around for the last year that it was being completed. I got to be part of conversations about how terrible it all was and how it was going nowhere. I listened and nodded and then asked to hear the album. I got to hear the tracks that were finished and then I got to hear the opening bars of the next few tracks. I got to hear four different versions of the album, I listened while I spent hours driving for work. I got to hear calming melodies and beats that made me turn the music up and roll with windows down and eagerly await what lyrics might be coming. I gave my general impressions, but knew that it was a work in progress and wanted to see his completed vision.
Around version two or three of the album I grew more and more fond of the opening track. I grew attached and invested. I worried about what changes would be made and if I would like it less when the lyrics were added. I loved hearing it all come together, even if he complained that it wasn’t quite right. And occasionally he would admit to being proud of what he had done. I listened to the album on repeat. Waiting for the latest version of “Voices.” Then the day came and I finally heard the words “The voice you’re hearing,” and the song carried me away, leading me through this new and final version of the album. An album that I saw passion poured into. An album that I carried with me in my own way, I took a kind of ownership of. I listened to it while I drove and one night while I was on-call I listened to “Voices” five times in a row and it kept me going. You know what it is like when music hsd that effect on you. He was always surprised when I told him how much I listened to the album, especially “Voices.”

How do you explain the way a song touches you? Is it the opening notes? The chorus? The synth solo?
It is everything. It is the music. And the journey that music takes you on. It is true for “Voices” and it is true for the rest of Hijacking Your Fiction.
I can’t wait to hear more.

It has been a long road.  My first full-length album is official.  Check the widget on the right, or visit http://allthisismeaningless.bandcamp.com.  There is more to come soon, including a long list of acknowledgments.

The lyrics page has been updated. You may notice that not all the lyrics have been posted.  This is intentional (except in the case of Electricity, which will be updated later). Certain homonyms and punctuation can potentially change the meaning of some of these lyrics. I do not wish to interpret them for you. You, the listener, are the final part to the whole that is any art, thus giving meaning if indeed any is to be found.

…is up.  See right widget.

As previously stated, I have neither the motivation or the narcissism required for self-marketing.  Nonetheless, I am trying to post more often and get a few other things going that might help more people be aware of the existence of AllThisIsMeaningless.

In this vein, I have opened a Twitter account.  Ya.  Twitter.  I Tweet now.  This is particularly odd to me as I had declared it dead more than once, but the media seems to be keeping it alive.  There is not much to be seen yet, not even a photo, but you can follow me @ATIM_music.  This is not the name I wanted, but I tried a few others that didn’t quite work.

And speaking of narcissism, my favorite rejected user name?  AllThisIsMe.  Damned limitations.  I also considered AlThIM, which I may still do.  Would anyone care vote?

I have also started a couple accounts on other social media, not so much that I plan to use them, but that they will be there if I decide to.

Further publicity to happen soon:  an interview about AllThisIsMeaningless and Hijacking Your Fiction and an album preview on SoundCloud.  If all goes well the latter will get done tomorrow.

Coming updates:  Album release details (mastering is getting done as I type this), a contest idea I’ve been kicking around for a while now, a long list of thank-yous, a call for remixes, and the future of AllThisIsMeaningless.

Blog reboot.

AllThisIsMeaningless is not idle.

I won’t detail the struggle to finish this album (I will save it for another time, perhaps) as there is much to be said about a five-year process. Countless album ideas begun and scrapped when, in 2010, everything came together.  It has not been easy and there have been long periods of nothing done.  And now, Hijacking Your Fiction will see the light of day at last.

The mix phase of the album is complete thanks in large part to my new producer, Scott Coward.  We have pushed hard these last six months to get it done.  The next step will be to send the tracks for mastering, which I will be doing this week.

As of now, only four people (including myself) have heard the album in its entirety.  Two more will be added to the list: mastering engineer Zachary Annett, and artist Jennifer Kover, who will also be doing some video.  If, however, you managed to get the C/Fe Menagerie Vol. 1, you will recognize three of the songs, though two of them have gone through some rather dramatic changes.

That is all for now.  There will be much more in the coming days.

Some of you may know that I have released quite a few songs for Christmas over the years, but few of these have made it any further than into the hands of close friends and family.  This year I’m working on one that I quite like thus far, an interpretation of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”  This will be available for download on my Soundcloud page.

But surely, you say, there is more?  Indeed.

I will also make the entirety of my Christmas catalogue available to all who wish to have it, beginning with “Carol of the Electrodrum Furniture,” which I made with a Juno 106, a Quasimidi 309, and a Roland DJ-70 sampler.  I layered sounds by overdubbing on a dual tape deck, so it is quite noisy, poorly mixed and leveled, and tremendous copyright-infringing fun.

Look for it soon.

Just as the title says.  Go here.  Press the Like button.  I will send you one of the eight remaining codes for free music.

Edit:  I am down to five.

1.  My remix of MusiM’s “Missing Dead” is complete.  It should be available by the first of September, along with other fine remixes, on Bandcamp for a buck.  You’ve probably got that in an old pair of jeans you haven’t worn in a while.  Get a dollar, get the remixes.

2.  My insane work schedule has two weeks left, and then it will change to something much more reasonable, but quite contrary to my nature in that I’ll be waking up at five every morning.  However, I’ll be done by one most days.

3.  My gayageum is not getting enough use.  I found a teacher, and next month I should be able to start again.

4.  My AN1x purchase was worth it.  I’ll post my initial impressions soon.

5.  My night was a strange one, indeed.  Good, but strange.