Bandcamp - 5.1 surround music releases

[JulesRules]

My concern for any setup for musicians that was started for the love of music and the artists that make it is that eventually, if you’re really successful, there comes a decision to sell it to someone with deep pockets who doesn’t have the same passion, but is looking for another asset that serves a different purpose and strips away what made the site great.

...which wouldn't really be possible if you owned the infrastructure yourself (or together with a few other artists). But after reading that discussion, it's clear that payment is the Fediverse's biggest Achilles heel.

 

[humprof]

Just discovered a couple of 2022 Atmos releases available via Bandcamp. They both involve Jonathan Kawchuk and Justin Gray, who together created the Atmos mix of Anna B Savage's in|FLUX, one of the more notable mixes of 2023, IMO. New Horizons I'd call Indo-Jazz fusion; Everywhen is more ambient, mixing voice, nature sounds, and electronics.


(The backstory of the latter album is pretty fascinating.)

Here's an Apple Music playlist--separate version for Tidal--sampling Gray's mixing work (note that it includes Kawchuk's Everywhen but not Gray's own New Horizons):

And here's Gray website, and an hourlong video outlining his approach to Atmos:

Just received my copy of New Horizons and am quite liking it. Gray's mix is wonderful: beautifully balanced, and on any given track you'll hear tabla or some stringed instrument or other (whose name I probably don't know) in the heights. I like the music, too: it's not just some casual, run-of-the-mill "world fusion"; Gray legitimately knows all the musical threads that he's woven together here. (He's also a member of a band called Avataar, which won Jazz Group Album of the Year in the 2022 Juno Awards; they cite Shakti, Jarrett, Oregon, Jan Garbarek, Jobim, Glasper, Snarky Puppy, Kenny Garrett and Ornette Coleman as influences; I think you can also hear some of those artists in "Synthesis," too--especially Shakti and Oregon.)

Here's what Gray says about the sound design of New Horizons: "From the album’s inception, it was the aspiration of Justin Gray and immersive producer Jonathan Kawchuk to release New Horizons in an immersive audio format. This Dolby Atmos production combines both multi-channel sources, with mono/stereo object placement, in order to synthesize a unique hybrid of natural space, with hyper-real spatial object placement. Each part of this recording was captured meticulously, using a combination of stereo and multi-channel recording techniques, in order to best support the production in the Dolby Atmos format."

https://greatdarkwonder.com/interview-justin-gray-synthesis-new-horizons/

 

[humprof]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/27/epic-games-bandcamp-acquired-sondtradr
Also: if this piece's reporting is accurate, then the layoffs happened with the full collusion of Epic Games. (Songtradr only acquired parts of Bandcamp. Epic laid off 100% of Bandcamp's employees, including its union bargaining team, first, and then about half of the employees accepted "offers" to get their old jobs back under Songtradr.)
https://www.404media.co/bandcamp-editorial-director-fuuuuuck-bandcamp-united/

An update: Bandcamp United has made some progress with Epic Games, at least. The rest is still up in the air.

(Note: If mods feel that posting a story from a lefty magazine advocating for labor against management crosses the "politics" line, then I guess I'll understand if you delete.)
https://jacobin.com/2023/12/bandcamp-music-streaming-sale-tech-workers-union-layoffs-organizing/

 

[~dave~~wave~]

An update: Bandcamp United has made some progress with Epic Games, at least. The rest is still up in the air.

(Note: If mods feel that posting a story from a lefty magazine advocating for labor against management crosses the "politics" line, then I guess I'll understand if you delete.)
https://jacobin.com/2023/12/bandcamp-music-streaming-sale-tech-workers-union-layoffs-organizing/

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Dave Kerzner - Heart Land Mines Vol. 1 Deluxe Edition (3 Disc - 2CD + BR)
DTS HD Master Audio 5.1

TEASER

 

[Clement]

Just received my copy of New Horizons and am quite liking it. Gray's mix is wonderful: beautifully balanced, and on any given track you'll hear tabla or some stringed instrument or other (whose name I probably don't know) in the heights. I like the music, too: it's not just some casual, run-of-the-mill "world fusion"; Gray legitimately knows all the musical threads that he's woven together here. (He's also a member of a band called Avataar, which won Jazz Group Album of the Year in the 2022 Juno Awards; they cite Shakti, Jarrett, Oregon, Jan Garbarek, Jobim, Glasper, Snarky Puppy, Kenny Garrett and Ornette Coleman as influences; I think you can also hear some of those artists in "Synthesis," too--especially Shakti and Oregon.)

Here's what Gray says about the sound design of New Horizons: "From the album’s inception, it was the aspiration of Justin Gray and immersive producer Jonathan Kawchuk to release New Horizons in an immersive audio format. This Dolby Atmos production combines both multi-channel sources, with mono/stereo object placement, in order to synthesize a unique hybrid of natural space, with hyper-real spatial object placement. Each part of this recording was captured meticulously, using a combination of stereo and multi-channel recording techniques, in order to best support the production in the Dolby Atmos format."

https://greatdarkwonder.com/interview-justin-gray-synthesis-new-horizons/

Thanks for posting this (and ALL you post!). Intriguing read that prompted me to purchase the release–really looking forward to hearing it! Stay Surrounded, Comrade!

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Just received my copy of New Horizons and am quite liking it. Gray's mix is wonderful: beautifully balanced, and on any given track you'll hear tabla or some stringed instrument or other (whose name I probably don't know) in the heights. I like the music, too: it's not just some casual, run-of-the-mill "world fusion"; Gray legitimately knows all the musical threads that he's woven together here. (He's also a member of a band called Avataar, which won Jazz Group Album of the Year in the 2022 Juno Awards; they cite Shakti, Jarrett, Oregon, Jan Garbarek, Jobim, Glasper, Snarky Puppy, Kenny Garrett and Ornette Coleman as influences; I think you can also hear some of those artists in "Synthesis," too--especially Shakti and Oregon.)

Here's what Gray says about the sound design of New Horizons: "From the album’s inception, it was the aspiration of Justin Gray and immersive producer Jonathan Kawchuk to release New Horizons in an immersive audio format. This Dolby Atmos production combines both multi-channel sources, with mono/stereo object placement, in order to synthesize a unique hybrid of natural space, with hyper-real spatial object placement. Each part of this recording was captured meticulously, using a combination of stereo and multi-channel recording techniques, in order to best support the production in the Dolby Atmos format."

https://greatdarkwonder.com/interview-justin-gray-synthesis-new-horizons/

Snarky P. & Kenny G., I’m in!

Nice to have this style in surround. I always liked the guys (below) from the 90’s (this reminds me of them.)
https://www.discogs.com/master/839409-Ancient-Future-Asian-Fusion

 

[Clement]

Snarky P. & Kenny G., I’m in!

Nice to have this style in surround. I always liked the guys (below) from the 90’s (this reminds me of them.)
https://www.discogs.com/master/839409-Ancient-Future-Asian-Fusion

Jan G. and Ornette C. did it for me!

 

[timbre4]

(Note: If mods feel that posting a story from a lefty magazine advocating for labor against management crosses the "politics" line, then I guess I'll understand if you delete.)

As admin/mod, I believe this sub-topic is about an artist/music platform we love and not overtly politics for politics sake. I think it's fine.
Should these posts be pulled into a new thread?

Sorry I was not following this sooner. I'm going to review my purchases for downloading and make more purchases for artists I love.

 

[humprof]

As admin/mod, I believe this sub-topic is about an artist/music platform we love and not overtly politics for politics sake. I think it's fine.
Should these posts be pulled into a new thread?

Sorry I was not following this sooner. I'm going to review my purchases for downloading and make more purchases for artists I love.

I donno--as you say: people who care about Bandcamp may be interested in following and discussing what's happening to the service behind the scenes. I suppose these posts could fit into the "Political Economy/Ecology of Streaming" thread, but Bandcamp devotees might have a harder time finding them there.

 

[timbre4]

I donno--as you say: people who care about Bandcamp may be interested in following and discussing what's happening to the service behind the scenes. I suppose these posts could fit into the "Political Economy/Ecology of Streaming" thread, but Bandcamp devotees might have a harder time finding them there.

Good point; no complaints so far so leaving this as is.

I'd never heard of SongTradr before today; was the Bandcamp framework bought to save them or extend their footprint into the states?

 

[humprof]

Good point; no complaints so far so leaving this as is.

I'd never heard of SongTradr before today; was the Bandcamp framework bought to save them or extend their footprint into the states?

I think the latter. They seem to be trying to expand their rights management/licensing empire. In the download/streaming world, they'd previously acquired 7Digital.

 

[JulesRules]

7Digital

That site could do with some maintaining... their New Albums page is stuck at 2018!

 

[humprof]

Some good news on the Bandcamp front: they're not calling a whole lot of attention to it, but the new owners have decided, at least for now, to continue the tradition of Bandcamp Fridays. Today, Friday, 2 February 2024, Bandcamp turns over its share of the purchase price to the artists and (mostly) small indie labels who sell on the platform. An especially good day to pull the trigger on a few of those items in your queue....
https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/bandcamp-fridays-update

 

[timbre4]

Exactly right! Leonardo even started it early last evening, so time to support those artists and save some money.

 

[humprof]

The last Bandcamp Friday of 2024! (That would be Friday, December 6th.)

I'm finally picking up the CD/5.1 Blu-Ray of Look to Windward's The Last Scattering Surface, among other things.


Also still available: the Atmos Blu-Ray of Justin Gray's New Horizons:


And the Atmos Blu-Ray of Tony Levin's Bringing It Down to the Bass: