This Plague of Dreaming

Withiel - Shut Up Dr. Strangelove! (Disc 1)

2011-06-30T12:37:00.005-04:00

It has been a long time since I last posted, and much has happened. My research duties have kept me too busy to make music of my own, but my ears are thankfully still wide open to new sounds made by others. And so I have the great pleasure of directing your attention to the new album by our friend and inspiration, Withiel:

Shut Up Dr. Strangelove!

01 Post-Human Terraforming Space-Elevator Blues
02 Me And My State
03 smashedchannelblues
04 Seventeen Tonnes of Motorised Steel
05 Confiscation Protocol
06 MARCH
07 Baby's On Fire (Eno cover)
08 Sleeping Gas (Cope cover)
09 The Queen Is Dead (Smiths cover)

"Everything's illegal and the world is on fire. The throats of power are ripe for a good punching. Doctor fucking Strangelove needs to shut up, and we need to stop listening to him. This is disc one of a psch-agit-punk album that addresses these issues via the medium of shouting and hate. The hate is free to listen and distribute, and is Creative Commons Licensed. The hate here enclosed was carefully stored and fermented over several years of poverty and unemployment, and can be streamed (without the covers) on Soundcloud, or downloaded as MP3 or RAR."

Massimo Ruberti - "The Sound Trafficker"

2010-12-09T10:00:00.010-05:00

Plaguedream artist and friend Massimo Ruberti has given an entertaining and informative interview to audiovoltaics about his recent album Autour de la Lune (Elpamusic).

If you enjoyed Ruberti's releases on This Plague of Dreaming*, take a look at the interview, and be sure to check out the new album**.

EDIT: For some reason, I get an error message every time I try to direct link to the interview from this post (even though it works in preview). If you have the same problem, copy and paste the url into your browser: http://www.audiovoltaics.cc/ Sorry for the inconvenience.

*Ruberti & Mangoni - Wandering In Milano; Disvega - Idrosfera

**Listen for a special appearance by another old friend, Fabrizio Torri!

Deliverance arrives, unlooked-for.

2010-08-02T11:10:00.007-04:00

Withiel is here, so dry your eyes. Withiel is here, never sleep again.

1st single from SHUT UP, DOCTOR STRANGELOVE.

SIDE A: POST-HUMAN TERRAFORMING SPACE-ELEVATOR BLUES
SIDE B: BABY'S ON FIRE (Eno/Fripp)
SIDE C: SMASHEDCHANNELBLUES

"Share, proliferate, enjoy, speak your brains. I hope you like them." -W.

Domain deleted, please update links

2010-06-04T12:16:00.005-04:00

Another round of departmental budget cuts, and thisplagueofdreaming.net is no more.

Please redirect your bookmarks and all future links to our page at the Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org/details/tpod), or to this blog.

Just to be clear: All of our music remains available at the Internet Archive.

It is only our (former) main website which is closed. Whatever the future brings to the department, and the Institute, I will continue to keep our catalog online.

=PD

Hiatus

2010-04-18T11:43:00.005-04:00

It is my sad duty to inform you that, until further notice, This Plague of Dreaming netlabel is on suspended status. We may return after some internal reorganization, but for the time being we are closed to submissions.

Our music will still be available for free download, and I will continue to maintain the blog and website. Watch for our return!

In the meantime, visit our brother netlabels:

ParaLucid

Mauve Zone Recordings

=PD

New Release: Meczûp - Hanging from the Purgatory's Pendulum

2010-03-02T22:44:00.003-05:00

Meczûp - Hanging from the Purgatory's Pendulum
[free mp3 download]

(solo theremin, instrumental)

"Theremin is the deepest of all mysteries. Reveal yourself in the depths of self-questioning. Time will collapse and you will fear no more"

01. A Tale for Lancinant Screws
02. Kwaidan
03. Garoun A
04. Puriest Morning of All Times
05. Blossoming in Cemetery
06. Shadow - A Parable
07. The Ribald Genie
08. The Bridge of Khazad-dûm

New Release: The Manipulated Living - Orchestra

2010-01-29T23:50:00.002-05:00

The Manipulated Living - Orchestra
[free mp3 download]

(instrumental, post-rock)

The Manipulated Living's music comes out of the sky, to crush you between the storm and the sea. Recorded live in Viborg, 19/06/09, and I wish I had been there.

1. Chasing Rabbits (11:32)
2. Storm of Will (5:57)
3. Ghosts (JWHF) (6:53)
4. Trophy Scars (19:24)

Harel Gal!

2010-01-11T09:02:00.003-05:00

Harel Gal has a new full-length album up on bandcamp.com!*

Harel Gal - OHEZ BAANANIM

Harel's sound has grown more elaborate since his previous EP, the beginning the end. The album is drenched in the same gentle sadness, but with more emphasis on Harel's vocals, and a stronger rock edge. A cast of talented guest musicians helps fill out the arrangements.

*This is not a This Plague of Dreaming release, but we really think you ought to hear it just the same.

New Release: Sublinear - Masque of the Red Death

2009-10-01T00:01:00.000-04:00

Sublinear - Masque of the Red Death
[free mp3 download]

(orchestral ambient, soundtrack)

"These compositions are expanded and restructured versions of the two dozen very short sound pieces I constructed for the Wandering Rom Players' stage production of "Masque of the Red Death" in 2005. It's best to listen to these by candlelight."

01 Here It Is Folly to Grieve or to Think
02 The Cracked Mirror You Were Made to Be
03 King Pest
04 Anon Strikes the Ebony Clock
05 Their Sad and Solemn Slumbers
06 Your Masks
07 Illimitable Dominion

"And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death."

New Release: Faustino Goyena - De Neatins

2009-09-24T21:23:00.006-04:00

Faustino Goyena - De Neatins
[free mp3 download]

(glitch, noise)

De Neatins is a musical tribute to legendary Argentine boxer Nicolino Locche, whose lightning-fast defensive reflexes earned him the name "The Untouchable."

1. Welter Junior
2. Tunuyán
3. Nationalen Kronen
4. kombëtare
5. Eso Duró Luis García
6. Adolph Pruitt boxejador
7. fetele ud
8. Las Heras

Faustino Goyena will be on tour in Europe in January 2010. For more information, visit the artist's MySpace page.

Cover art by Jonatan Flores.

New Release: 21 Gramms - Rain

2009-09-04T21:36:00.001-04:00

21 Gramms - Rain
[free mp3 download]

(darkambient, drone)

"Only rain..."

1. Prologue
2. Rain
3. Epilogue

New Release: Royce Icon - A Warm Summer's Day

2009-08-23T08:22:00.003-04:00

Royce Icon - A Warm Summer's Day
[free mp3 download]

(ambient, drone)

Cold ambient soundscapes recorded late one afternoon in July 09 using a Korg EA-1 electribe, guitar and voice.

01. A Warm Summer's Day (14:18)
02. A Cold Bitter Evening (16:18)

Bio: Royce Icon has been releasing experimental music for the past 7 years. So far he has released over 20 records, both online and through physical labels. aside from solo music he is also involved in the bands Gentle Beast, Starvation Ritual, Dracula Biscuits and Die Rote Form.

New Release: Astral Light - Orion

2009-06-25T12:53:00.005-04:00

Astral Light - Orion
[free mp3 download]

(darkambient, space)

A journey into deep space.

01. Pillars of Creation
02. Fading Light
03. Orion

House of The Threshold People

2009-06-03T14:17:00.001-04:00

The Threshold People have launched their new blog. There's not much there yet, but check back often for updates!

New Release: 21 Gramms - Complete Silence

2009-05-28T22:30:00.003-04:00

21 Gramms - Complete Silence
[free mp3 download]

(darkambient, drone)

"god is egoist."

1. Untitled #1
2. Untitled #2
3. Untitled #3
4. Untitled #4
5. I want to talk with God...
6. ...but...
7. ...i hear only silence.

New Release: 900piesek - Blinded .tale from the underworld

2009-05-18T20:59:00.003-04:00

900piesek - Blinded .tale from the underworld
[free mp3 download]

(darkambient, soundscape)

this story never happened. pictures,sounds,projections and words are slowly sinking in the golden rivers of oblivion. you are naked as a child, standing in front of the mirror. you are the mirror. this story is happening in you. you are the story. words are unimportant.

01.opening the gate
02.bended world of the parallel souls
03.invisible space of telekinesis
04.touch by a wing of Lilith
05.golden river of oblivion

Album includes photo gallery: projections 1-13

ParaLucid Netlabel

2009-05-03T10:10:00.002-04:00

Volador (Nagual Art) has just launched ParaLucid, a netlabel dedicated to "Dark Ambient, Ethereal, Drone, Folk, Neo-Classical or similar sounds." The website lists upcoming albums from L'Horrible Passion, Divine Crystal Dreams, Dopedrone, and of course Nagual Art. This is going to be one to watch, for sure!

Also, NA side-project Traumflug has just posted a demo track on MySpace. Take a listen!

www.paralucid.net
www.myspace.com/paralucid

Songs that change the weather

2009-04-24T12:40:00.007-04:00

Our dear friend and ally Withiel (of whom I have previously written) has self-released a new album of surpassing, and sometimes difficult, loveliness. While Withiel is not currently affiliated with This Plague of Dreaming, I think that the deep core he samples will taste familiar to you who have followed the plaguedream this far.

Withiel - King Zeppelin
[direct download, .RAR/~20Mb]

"KZ was originally meant to be a Brit-Steampunk-Emo album, and now I'm not sure what it is. It contains 8 original songs, 1 cover, and little hope indeed. I hope you get something out of it."

TRACKS:
1: All Our Lost Loves
2: Dreamers
3: Denial Song
4: Ashtray for your Memories
5: My Way In Time
6: Shackled To Change
7: Drillbit Lostlovesong
8: Dreaming of You (cover)
9: Tory of 0

[This work is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK:
England & Wales License.]

On a personal note, KZ hits me in right around the same emotional place as the Wicker Man soundtrack ("corn riggs," and all that, but with a bit more vacant car park and orange sodium glare). Whatever I am doing at the moment, Withiel speaks to the part of me that is quietly preparing to do something else, in a different place.

=PD

[To be clear, this is not a TPoD release, just a promotion of a favorite artist who deserves to be more widely heard.]

2009-04-20T16:07:00.002-04:00

What I Believe

I believe in the power of the imagination to remake the world, to release the truth within us, to hold back the night, to transcend death, to charm motorways, to ingratiate ourselves with birds, to enlist the confidences of madmen.

I believe in my own obsessions, in the beauty of the car crash, in the peace of the submerged forest, in the excitements of the deserted holiday beach, in the elegance of automobile graveyards, in the mystery of multi-story car parks, in the poetry of abandoned hotels.

I believe in the forgotten runways of Wake Island, pointing towards the Pacifics of our imaginations.

I believe in the mysterious beauty of Margaret Thatcher, in the arch of her nostrils and the sheen on her lower lip; in the melancholy of wounded Argentine conscripts; in the haunted smiles of filling station personnel; in my dream of Margaret Thatcher caressed by that young Argentine soldier in a forgotten motel watched by a tubercular filling station attendant.

I believe in the beauty of all women, in the treachery of their imaginations, so close to my heart; in the junction of their disenchanted bodies with the enchanted chromium rails of supermarket counters; in their warm tolerance of my own perversions.

I believe in the death of tomorrow, in the exhaustion of time, in our search for a new time within the smiles of auto-route waitresses and the tired eyes of air-traffic controllers at out-of-season airports.

I believe in the genital organs of great men and women, in the body postures of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Princess Di, in the sweet odours emanating from their lips as they regard the cameras of the entire world.

I believe in madness, in the truth of the inexplicable, in the common sense of stones, in the lunacy of flowers, in the disease stored up for the human race by the Apollo astronauts.

I believe in nothing.

I believe in Max Ernst, Delvaux, Dali, Titian, Goya, Leonardo, Vermeer, Chirico, Magritte, Redon, Durer, Tanguy, the Facteur Cheval, the Watts Towers, Bocklin, Francis Bacon, and all the invisible artists within the psychiatric institutions of the planet.

I believe in Tokyo, Benidorm, La Grande Motte, Wake Island, Eniwetok, Dealey Plaza.

I believe in alcoholism, venereal disease, fever and exhaustion.

I believe in pain.

I believe in despair.

I believe in all children.

I believe in maps, diagrams, codes, chess-games, puzzles, airline time-tables, airport indicator signs.

I believe all excuses.

I believe all reasons.

I believe all hallucinations.

I believe all anger.

I believe all mythologies, memories, lies, fantasies, evasions.

I believe in the mystery and melancholy of a hand, in the kindness of trees, in the wisdom of light.

-J. G. Ballard, 1930--2009

New Release: Nagual Art - Seance 1931 | Tales from F.

2009-04-13T22:45:00.002-04:00

Nagual Art - Seance 1931 | Tales from F.
[free mp3 download]

(darkambient, soundtrack)

Mors Janua vitae?

A soundtrack to a seance: lost voices; a sudden chill; a cold, familiar touch in the dark.

01 A Song from F.
02 Seance 1931
03 S.H.J.
04 Der Wandernde Jude
05 Seemannslied
06 The 1631 Daemon

This audio drama was recorded 2009 at Paralyze Room Freiberg by Volador. Many thanks to the spirits! I know you are dreaming the art.
For more information please visit: http://www.nagualart.de

New Release: The Tales from the Dead Sun Remixes

2009-04-02T20:04:00.005-04:00

[I said I had good news for the fans, and here it is!]

[Esc.] Laboratory + The Threshold People - The Tales from the Dead Sun Remixes
[free mp3 download]

(horrorbeat, remixes)

Horrorbeat masters The Threshold People are probed, dissected, and re-stitched by the mad scientists at [Esc.] Laboratory's Department of RMX!

source:
The Threshold People – “The Pit” (from Night of the Threshold People)

destination:
01. The Pit (full of snakes pt. I_RMX) by [off:error]
02. The Pit (full of snakes pt. II_RMX) by [off:error]
03. The Pit (full of snakes pt. III_RMX) by [off:error]
04. The Pit (pendulum pt. I_RMX) by [interrupt:Jumper]
05. The Pit (pendulum pt. II_RMX) by [interrupt:Jumper]

source:
The Threshold People - "Deja Vu" (from Seven Legs from an Eight-Legged Beast)

destination:
01. Deja Vu (kHz Munster_RMX) by [G.umbatz M.onev`s G.reen E.lecktrode]
02. Deja Vu (caustic_RMX) by [ur:neon:ono]
03. Deja Vu (it rains on doomsday_RMX) by [revolting:Robotniks]
04. Deja Vu (last life got crushed_RMX) by [revolting:Robotniks]

source:
The Threshold People - "The Werewolf`s Cure" (from Seven Legs from an Eight-Legged Beast)

destination:
01. Werwolf`s Cure (better off dead_RMX) by [Yahuy-Che-Kabah]
02. Werwolf`s Cure (silver touched_RMX) by [Yahuy-Che-Kabah]
03. Werwolf`s Cure (the curse is better than the cure_RMX) by [Throatwobbler:Manegrove]
04. Werwolf`s Cure (cured by blood) by [revolting:Robotniks]
05. Werwolf`s Cure (cured by flesh) by [revolting:Robotniks]

= = = = =

I am also thrilled to announce upcoming releases from fan favorites Nagual Art and Sublinear, as well as the PlagueDream debuts of 900piesek and 21 Gramms!

Anniversary, and an announcement

2009-03-10T09:17:00.005-04:00

One year ago today, the airship Jane Guy disappeared without a trace. To date, neither the ship nor her crew have been found. If you feel so moved, we invite you to join us for a moment of silence at 7:14 pm (EST), the time of the Guy's final radio message to the Institute.

~

In less somber news, [Esc.] Laboratory has a new website: WWW.ESC-LABORATORY.COM

As of the end of March, this will be the group's only official presence on the web, so update your bookmarks!

I have another exciting piece of news for fans of [Esc.] Lab (and The Threshold People!) that I hope to be able to announce very soon. Stay tuned!

=PD

Palimpsest Now!

2009-02-25T13:47:00.003-05:00

"Palimpsest just knocks me flat with her use of language: rich, cool, opiated language, language for stories of strange love and hallucinated cities of the mind.”
— Warren Ellis

"It's never enough to merely read a book like the Palimpsest, it has to be imbibed, and its sensuality fully savoured."
--Nick Bantock, author of The Griffin and Sabine Trilogy

Just a reminder that Palimpsest is on the shelves as of yesterday. My own copy is in the post, and will hopefully arrive today. If you enjoyed the original short story (previously posted), maybe consider ordering the book, or pick it up at your local independent bookseller?

Palimpsest

2009-01-29T23:23:00.001-05:00

Between life and death, dreaming and waking, at the train stop beyond the end of the world is the city of Palimpsest. To get there is a miracle, a mystery, a gift, and a curse -- a voyage permitted only to those who’ve always believed there’s another world than the one that meets the eye. Those fated to make the passage are marked forever by a map of that wondrous city tattooed on their flesh after a single orgasmic night. To this kingdom of ghost trains, lion-priests, living kanji, and cream-filled canals come four travelers: Oleg, a New York locksmith; the beekeeper November; Ludovico, a binder of rare books; and a young Japanese woman named Sei. They’ve each lost something important -- a wife, a lover, a sister, a direction in life—and what they will find in Palimpsest is more than they could ever imagine.

The novel, by Catherynne M. Valente, comes out in February (you can preorder--I did), but in the meantime I strongly encourage you to stoke your senses with the original short story at Senses Five Press. The question I'm dying to see answered is: can she keep up this level of dream-drenched intensity over the length of a novel? Do I ever hope so.

=PD

2009-01-23T14:14:00.000-05:00

That could have gone better.

News? No News.

2009-01-22T19:08:00.000-05:00

This is not a post about the missing airship Jane Guy, I am sorry to say. Since I last wrote to you on the topic, leads have been followed and lost, sightings have been reported and debunked, and little if any actual progress has been made in the investigation. Some of these episodes might make interesting reading when the time comes to tell the full story, but they are not news.

The fact is, there is little enough news coming out of the Institute at all right now. Winter is the time when we settle down to the orderly, indoor task of transcribing and collating data accumulated in the more temperate seasons (for budgetary reasons, each department's yearly reports are due by the end of March). By Spring, some of this tedious industry will yield breakthroughs. Everything else will simply be absorbed into the cavernous Institute archives, to accumulate dust while it awaits the whims of a future researcher to bring it back into the light.

But a lack of anything interesting or relevant to write about has never yet been an impediment to blogging, so I shall forge ahead with this update undaunted.

Let's see, what's been happening... Well, my lab assistant-slash-webmaster (i.e. the Luddite) has been snatched away from me and reassigned to Central, after I let slip word of his coffee-making prowess. We have been forced to fall back on our own inferior brewing skills, which hurts, but on the plus side, the website might get updated a little more often. Oh, and speaking of the website, we are changing servers, so expect the site to be down for a while sometime in the next 24-48 (all music will still be available at archive.org).

I'll be honest, I'm making this post mostly because I'm bored and lonely. My staff has the afternoon off, and I'm just pottering around the lab tidying up loose ends on various projects and trying not to think too hard about tonight's presentation. Oh yeah, I'm speaking at a fundraising dinner tonight. I need to sell the idea of the Outreach program to some of our oldest and most secretive backers (it's a black mask affair, natch), and I don't expect to enjoy myself very much. These things are creepy enough when you're not the center of attention, and by now the prospective donors will have heard the tale of the Jane Guy. It's funny how some of the most eccentric and bizarre people can also be the most conservative and intolerant. Or maybe it's the money that does it. In any case, wish me luck.

=PD

New Release: Siegmar Fricke - Atemkalk

2008-12-19T20:19:00.000-05:00

Siegmar Fricke - Atemkalk
[free mp3 download]

(pharmakustik)

"Modulated absorptions, anesthetic ambiences and pulsating dissociative interferences for narcotic rebreathers. Cellular respiration through liquid programmings. Acoustic spaces of cardiopulmonary reanimation." (SF, November 2008)

01 Nebulizer
02 Sevofluran
03 Pulsoximed
04 Atemkalk

Siegmar Fricke has been continuously developing his pharmakustik concept since 2001 after his activities in the experimental, international tape-scene in the 80s and 90s. "Atemkalk" is his newest study in clinical ambiences, mindexpansion and electroorganic improvisation, developed in his pharmakustik-lab. The concept of constant modulation of all sound-particles during the simultaneous machine-interactions is an important factor in the pharmakustik approach.

Contact: www.myspace.com/siegmarfricke

New Release: Gabran - Nowhere Tales

2008-12-09T21:54:00.000-05:00

Gabran - Nowhere Tales
[free mp3 download]

(experimental, electroacoustic)

"Nowhere Tales is a story of stories. Horizons of sound, confused words that evoke other worlds, other joys, other pains..."

01 Exasperate Tale
02 Land n.2
03 If a system is only a system, it's an unjustified order
04 From Another World
05 Landscapes and Tales
06 September tale
07 On land
08 Der Wunsch des Matrosen
09 Nowhere Tales

Notes:
"Gabran (Gabriele Ranica) since the Seventies has played in groups of progressive music, jazz and of contemporary improvisation. The interest for electronic music on tape and for computer music was born toward the beginning of the Eighties. The search and the improvisation are at the base of its job."

Double Release: [amt_23] - between the surfaces / [off:Error] - caught in the gap

2008-12-01T22:42:00.001-05:00

Not one but two new albums from our German allies [Esc.] Laboratory!

= = = = =

[amt_23] - between the surfaces
[free mp3 download]

("urban-cyber-blues meets industrial ambient")

This album mirrors the intense and ritualistic character of atmosphere, [amt_23] celebrated at various art exhibitions and in chill-out areas between 2003 and 2006.

Played and recorded live--No Over Dubs were used--archaic archetypes of sound got mixed up with minimalistic electronic elements. The unusual ambient soundscapes of "between the surfaces" are a melange of African Drums, contemporary Electronic Instruments, Guitar, Effects and Location Recordings. The listener will trespass the rusty industrial ambiance, the mantric sweetness of the Fluxus and the Bits of Reality. Urban-Cyber-Blues meets Industrial-Ambient and gives a rebirth to Electronique-Avantgard.

01 isdate recorder
02 duskin
03 us like giants
04 bodyonesomeelse
05 sha thou
06 dance, urban ghosts pt I
07 illizer
08 preek
09 breedbar
10 pneon
11 thou narrow
12 equithium
13 dance, urban ghosts pt II

The original versions of the songs were performed by [analogwerk.com] between 2000 and 2002. Nearly one year after the band split up, Doc.AtmosfearCrush reanimated this Performance-Set and constantly evolved it under Live conditions. The album “between the surfaces” also marks the first project-album hosted by [Esc.]Laboratory / Art Factory Worms and is a mark in the consciousness of spacetime.

= = = = =

[off:Error] - caught in the gap
[free mp3 download]

("industrial ambient")

Industrial ambient music for the theatre of our retinas, uncomfortable sometimes and surely harvesting the mainstream.

This one comes for seduction first. As we get more comfortable dark and lunatic chantings hit our ears, just to scare the shit out of ourselves.

The sample source was a pool of vast stolen fragments, taken from the various project-albums by [Esc.]Laboratory. Mixed with noises of unusual origin, rhythmic loops of our urban hive – shredded, stretched, torn into little bits and grains. In various Dub–Sessions the songs had to destroy themselves and reassemble to an orgasmatic ejaculation of experimental substance.

Just these ruins of doomed music survived: “If the characters of David Lynch`s Lost Highway would meet to perform for an album it would sound naturaly like (caught in the gap)!”

01 call to arms
02 play cursed
03 revolution No. 2.0
04 full moon
05 guitar and handy
06 next is the grid
07 revolution No. 2.1
08 fourtyninecrushes

= = = = =
These albums are hosted at This Plague of Dreaming by special arrangement with [Esc.] Laboratory. For more information, visit the artists' website.

New Release: Goghst - Goghst

2008-11-20T21:53:00.000-05:00

Goghst
[free mp3 download]

("ambient indietronica")

"Goghst's second album is a sonic journey through the tired mind, the late at night mind when you think about the universe, and insomnia or fear of the dark or worse keeps you up. This is the soundtrack to the movie you see behind your tired eyes. This is the insomnia rising from the silent night to say "I am here! And I don't know why!" You can call this album experimental ambient indietronica through LSD headphones. If you still need a reason to listen, then maybe you're not even living."

01. Tired Eyes
02. Bodhicitta
03. Giving Up
04. Red Like A Marker
05. The Path of Enlightenment*
06. The Universe Loves You
07. Variations On A Bad Fall
08. The Universe Does Not Care
09. Post-Paranoid Depression (Instrumental Version)

*Lyrics to The Path of Enlightenment

So now we move onward to
The path to enlightenment
Now we move onward
Toward the path of enlightenment
Now onward toward the path of enlightenment
I have seen with these eyes
And I have kissed the sky
I've heard with these ears
And I've tasted the world's lies
I've used this brain
And I've wasted it too
I can't comprehend
This universe so big
Will I ever see the end?
So I move onward toward the path of enlightenment...

= = = = =

Also: watch for new music from Dikital, Gabran, Pharmakustik, Sublinear, To Repel Ghosts, and [Esc.] Laboratory artists [amt_23] and [off:error]--Coming Soon!

We Have a Special Plan for this World [Mauve Zone Recordings]

2008-10-18T17:51:00.000-04:00

[Posted on behalf of our mutated sibling-label Mauve Zone Recordings. The compilation features music by This Plague of Dreaming artists-in-residence To Repel Ghosts and Moya Sestra--remember the artists TRG announced that they would be bringing back with them? Watch for their debut album on This Plague of Dreaming sometime in the coming months.]

Everything you've heard about Mauve Zone Recordings is true.

We are operators at the highest level.

And now, dear listener, the Dark Tentacle is pointing at you.

Come, take your place for the Danse Macabre!

Here at MZR, we want to party like it's 1899.

Masked balls and opium orgies, green tea and the recital of Baudelaire poetry, seances and haunted ouija tables.

The Name of the Party: "A Dream as White as the Death of a Seagull"

Where: The Mauve Zone.

When: now, within the adumbration of some future nameless Aeon.

This season's theme: 19th-century style French Decadence.

Special guests in attendance:

J.K. Huysmans, Jean Lorrain, Remy de Gourmont, Rachilde, Octave Mirbeau, H.P. Lovecraft, the Abbe Boullan, Dr. Johannes, Canon Docre, Durtal, Maldoror, Antichrist, St. Moravagine, St. Teresa of Avila, The Black Glove, Dr. Simon Hurt, The Joker, Set, Kenneth Grant, Michael Bertiaux, LAM, William S. Burroughs, Jean Genet, Arthur Rimbaud, August Strindberg, Bruno Schulz, Leonora Carrington, Andy Warehol, Richard Marsh, Sax Rohmer, The Fabulous Mr. Meaningless, The Crying Spider, Lord Cthulhu, Patrick Bateman, Choronzon, The Kliphotic King of the Larvae of the Dead, and the Booda Carrot himself.

Portraits of guests being provided by Odilon Redon.

This event is being sponsored in collaboration with Mauve Zone Recordings, The Necronomicon Transhumanist Society, The Sodality of the Holy Shadow, The Ghooric Order of the Shoggothian Nuns, The Final Church of the Zumb Zumb Apocalypse, The Cultus of the Locusts, and, of course, The Dark Tentacle itself.

All guests will be receiving a special party favor, which is the soundtrack to this event:

This album, the very first compilation album from Mauve Zone Recordings, features tracks from every artist who has contributed to our label up to this point in space-time. It also features guest appearances from other interesting parties (such as To Repel Ghosts), to say nothing of artists whose work will be showcased in greater detail in the future (in particular, Serapeum and Orchestra 23). This album also marks the worldwide debut of Moya Sestra, who we are very happy to unleash on the populance. In addition to all of this, the album comes with a short story named Mauve Movies, a Neo-Goth Narrative that illustrates the sort of ultradimensional perichoresis we strive for. A big thank you to every artist who has contributed to not only this album but also to MZR thus far, and also we would like to thank those of you who have listened to our albums.

This album was channeled to Earth from a nameless Aeon of the future. To be more precise, March 15, 2337, a date highly significant in that it marks not only the 400 year anniversary of the death of H.P. Lovecraft, but also the discovery of the Ghooric Zone on one of the moons of Yuggoth by a group of space-traveling sex-crazed cyborgs.

Finally, we would like to dedicate this album to Fire Hydrant 451 and One Hundred Years of Salad Two.

Running time: 60 minutes

Track listing:

1. Orchestra 23: Intro (4:29)
2. The Cat Band: Goods in the Hood (3:12)
3. Sypha Nadon: The Wish Wish Song (4:22)
4. The People's Tongue: Staunch (2:14)
5. To Repel Ghosts: Blow (4:43)
6. Serapeum: Fansystem (4:39)
7. Zyklon Vagina: The Creeping Sickness (2:42)
8. Orchestra 23: Intermission (1:38)
9. Bryce Clayton Eiman: Sex in Heaven (4:22)
10. Thomas Moronic: Boulder Dash (5:12)
11. Moya Sestra: Spider Joe (5:40)
12. Boy Destroyer: Wild Boys Remix (3:20)
13. Sypha Nadon: The Mauve Zone (7:33)
14. Orchestra 23: Outro (2:56)
15. James Champagne: The Lord's Prayer (2:38)

album front cover artwork by Erik Visser.

You may download your party favor for free (as always) here:

http://www.archive.org/details/MZR014

Questions and concerns may be directed either to one of our gargoyle staff members or sent to mzr777@gmail.com.

New Release: Gabran - Harcana

2008-10-03T22:17:00.000-04:00

Gabran - Harcana
[free mp3 download]

(experimental, electroacoustic)

"The message of music is a message on the world of sounds, on a world that all know, but still explore to fund both from the composer and from that of the public that enjoys it.

"The composer is the explorer that, digging in himself, travels in this world bringing us the fabulous news that of time in time he succeeds in discovering.

"The true composer is one who opens new streets of access in the tangle of the forest of sound, and that doesn't stop for any obstacle or exploit other people's discoveries to make their career and to enter in a mass-market more and more and culturally directed by the musical industry.

"It is for this that we need to wander, often in the dark, in search of a new light able to illuminate a road that leads to a truth, even if provisional, because the composer, as every other artist, doesn't do anything else other than try to demolish the walls of his experience in the attempt to always give one new awareness to the human communication.

"The world of sounds is not a closed world, its essence is that to be open. A world without confinements, an apéiron: an endless indefinite.

"The sound is anywhere."

01. Theme of the Night
02. Orion dream
03. Tolls
04. Sentimental Synthesis
05. In the falling ruins
06. Cool morning
07. Bells with apparitions
08. Anxious and pacific Goods

New Release: Asgaya Gigagae - The Decline Before The Dream

2008-09-22T21:37:00.000-04:00

Asgaya Gigagae - The Decline Before The Dream
[free mp3 download]

(ritual ambient, drone)

"A difficult combination of ritual ambient, some doom aesthetics, heavy drone inspiration, slight percussion, slowly evolving sounds and so on are included in this piece of music. Field-recordings of a specific part of the ritual have also been used. The overall sound is natural - organic - acoustic being fused with acoustic instruments and electronics."

1. Night, The Prayer of Blind Asua (10:30)
2. Dawn, Opened Eyes of The Akashic Sloth (18:05)
3. Sunrise, Into The White Mouth of Sleep (30:29)
4. The Decline Before The Dream (4:34)
5. Untitled (11:07)

"The Decline Before The Dream is based on an older ritual that I created that deals with my symbolic deity, Blind Asua, and its place in existence. After much work the ritual has been much expanded both in activity and its literature, opening up doors that I hadn't imagined could be associated with the simple deity of Asua and creating an experience for myself that I've not had before - both spiritually and mentally exhausting. The Decline Before The Dream also deals with the existence of everyone that listens to it, building on a strong sense of self-evolving in a spiritual sense and also somewhat refreshing even. If I go on too much the box would be open too much...

"The Decline Before The Dream is broken up into 5 different parts of the day (Night - Dawn - Sunrise - Sunset - ???-) of Asua. The plan was to explain a different cycle of the flowing Ki but what ended up happening in this ritual brought forth another cycle and has shown me my own cycle of life in a new light...to listen is to understand."

New Release: Astral Light - Quintessence

2008-09-04T23:51:00.000-04:00

Astral Light - Quintessence
[free download, 256kpbs mp3]

(darkambient, industrial drone)

"The cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire;
And this ethereal quintessence of heav'n
Flew upward, spirited with various forms,
That roll'd orbicular, and turn'd to stars
Numberless."

-Milton. Paradise Lost. III. 715--719

1. Earth (8:02)
2. Air (6:47)
3. Water (7:25)
4. Fire (7:21)

Website Down; Don't Panic

2008-09-04T00:50:00.000-04:00

Our website, www.thisplagueofdreaming.net, is currently going through an existential crisis and is no longer sure it exists. We can't say how long it will take to bring it around this time, but in the meantime This Plague of Dreaming is still a fully operational netlabel, and we will have a new album ready for you sometime in the next 18 hours (give or take).

To be clear: we still exist, all the music is still available, and, well, we're on it.

UPDATE: We're back online and all is well.

Coming Soon:

2008-09-02T21:05:00.000-04:00

The end-of-Summer rush is upon us, and we are thrilled to announce a wave of new signings! In addition to our recent release by Goghst, you can look forward to new music from Astral Light (Croatia), Asgaya Gigagae (USA), and Dikital (Macedonia) to carry you into Autumn.

Check back in sometime in the next couple days for the next new album!

New Release: Goghst - You're A Little Paranormal

2008-08-19T23:22:00.000-04:00

Goghst - You're A Little Paranormal
[free download, 128kpbs mp3]

"You've just stumbled upon an alien radio signal, filled with ethereal, ambient soundscapes. Or maybe you're picking up on a telepathic radio station, run in someone's sleep. The sounds float in and out of your ears, and you wonder if this is the music that ghosts listen to. You wonder if, maybe, you are a little paranormal. This is a journey through an open mind. This is Goghst."

01. Out In The Ether
02. Welcome To My World
03. Psychic People
04. Alien Architecture
05. Doctor Can You Save Me
06. It's Lonely Out There
07. Henry, Drinking Rain
08. Still Out In The Ether
09. Pair of Normal
10. untitled
11. The System
12. I'm A Little Paranoid
13. Blue Lagoonies
14. Women Are Weird
15. Marie, I Really Can't Believe...

Coming Soon: New Music from Goghst

2008-08-17T22:48:00.000-04:00

Stay tuned for some experimental lo-fi space radio from Goghst!

This is Rumor Control.

2008-08-12T22:16:00.000-04:00

Sorry I've been out of touch for a while. A lot has happened, but contrary to popular rumor This Plague of Dreaming is still operational.

Here are the facts: There has been a serious shakeup at the Plaguedream Institute. In brief, the Dept. of Exploration tried to take advantage of the Jane Guy situation to get this blog gagged and the Outreach program shut down--and This Plague of Dreaming with it. There was the usual drama, the furniture got kicked over, and I had to call in some heavy favors from some very strange and difficult people, but finally Central got around to granting us a provisional license to operate (pending the results of the Guy inquiry).

To Repel Ghosts put in a timely and unexpected reappearance at the height of the interdepartmental dustup and spoke eloquently (if ironically) about the need for greater transparency, both within the Institute itself and in our relations with the public. I admit that I am not entirely sure of their motives, but I can't fault their results: TRG are known, insofar as they are known at all, for their adherence to a strict policy of reticence and subterfuge, so their sudden clarion call for openness seems to have made a strong impression on Central, and may have been the deciding blow in the skirmish. Under the circumstances, it should hardly be surprising that, immediately following the council decision, these champions of accessibility retired to a lengthy closed-door meeting with representatives of the D. of E. (details classified, naturally), which culminated in the typically abrupt departure of one of the group aboard the Anodos (destination--need I say it?--classified). The remaining members of To Repel Ghosts, meanwhile, refuse to speak about their extended absence, or their arrangements with Exploration, and have simply returned to work as if they had never left.

This is what I have to put up with.

Anyway, back to business: we are currently in contract talks with an exciting new musical artist. Watch for updates in the near future! In the meantime, we continue to appreciate your patience and support.

Don't get caught.

=PD

News Flash!

2008-06-11T12:28:00.000-04:00

Dear readers, the Plaguedream Institute has just received a radio transmission from the lost airship Jane Guy! The brief encrypted message cut unexpectedly into one of our regular communication channels shortly before 11pm last night, at the height of a powerful electrical storm, and was repeated at five-minute intervals until our antenna was damaged by the high winds. The auxiliary receiver was powered up as quickly as could be managed, but the signal could not be recovered.

The Dept. of Exploration, who continue to presume their sole authority in the case, have not yet released the decrypted message (to Institute-wide consternation), but new orders were immediately flashed to the Man-Cub, and the crew of the airship Anodos has been placed on alert (the D. of E. denies that there is any connection between these events, but you can guess what I think of that).

I will continue to report what I can, when I can.

=PD

New Release: Disvega - Idrosfera

2008-06-05T22:54:00.000-04:00

Disvega - Idrosfera
[free download, 320kpbs mp3]

"Idrosfera is a journey through the continuous, infinite water cycle: from the rain to the water-bearings, from the rivers to the sea, the cycle constantly repeats itself. The whole musical project was realized for the pictorial works of Riccardo Ruberti and it was presented in 2005 during the painter's exhibition at the Bottega del Caffè of Leghorn."

01. La pioggia
02. Le acque sotterranee
03. Il ruscello
04. Il mare

Heads Up

2008-06-04T09:05:00.000-04:00

Watch for the new album from Disvega, to be released very soon on this label!

Literature: A Buyer's Guide to Maps of Antarctica

2008-05-01T13:54:00.000-04:00

Clarkesworld Magazine presents, for your reading pleasure, a lovely short story by Catherynne M. Valente: A Buyer's Guide to Maps of Antarctica.

The title is entirely accurate as to the form of the piece, through which device gradually unfolds a history of great delicacy and beauty, which evokes an almost Dunsanian elegiac whimsy. I do not wish to spoil the story by offering specifics, but there are images which will stay with me.

This Plague of Dreaming is not affiliated with either Catherynne Valente or Clarkesworld Magazine, and offers this link simply as a free show of admiration for a wonderful story.

Little to report.

2008-04-22T15:00:00.000-04:00

My seasonal duties around the compound have required my full attention lately, and I have consequently been neglecting this blog - inadvertently leaving some of you, I am sure, hanging in suspense. I can reassure you that you haven't missed anything of substance, though the mystery continues to deepen merely as a function of passing time. The investigatory team on-board the air-clipper Man-Cub is pursuing some tentative leads, but it is too early for me to report on what they may have found, except to say that it was not the Jane Guy.

Spring is always a busy time at the Plaguedream Institute, even when we don't have a vanished airship not on our hands, as it were. Even with everything that's going on, I hope to be able to bring you some news more pertinent to our musical pursuits in the near future.

Lastly, I am relieved to say that we have received a message from To Repel Ghosts, informing us that they are well and will be returning to the compound as soon as they have completed their current activities (neither of which I doubted), and that they will be bringing with them a new musical artist for our roster (which is news to me, and remains to be seen).

Stay on the beam for news of upcoming releases!

=PD

when n. was in the army

2008-04-07T12:16:00.000-04:00

Of late, our friend and colleague Fabrizio Torri has been sharing in his blog the recollections of the soldier N., and his unusual experiences in the military. To the sort of reader who finds something of interest in this our own humble blog, I can suggest that you may take similar reward from a perusal of N.'s strange history.

If you are moved to follow my recommendation, please begin here, at the bottom of the page, and follow the chronological trail of posts upwards to the present day (and, perhaps, beyond). It is a strange narrative, yet perhaps not so very unfamiliar. Did fear or prudence not seal our lips, how many of us could unlock hidden chapters in our own biographies?

when n. was in the army
he discovered that he could materialize small animals,

Brief and Unilluminating Update

2008-03-26T09:14:00.000-04:00

In the early morning of the 22nd, after being delayed by heavy weather, the air-clipper Man-Cub reached the last logged position of the missing airship Jane Guy. There was no sign of the lost ship or its crew, nor any clear indication of what may have happened to them. Some scraps of metal were found on the ground nearby, but they were determined not to have come from the Guy. Weather reports from the time of the disappearance do not indicate any hazardous or unusual conditions, and discrete inquiries among the local residents have turned up nothing (though many of the people interviewed appeared red-eyed and haggard, and some complained of sleep disturbances, a frequent marker of PDI operations in the vicinity).

The last transmission from the Jane Guy has also been declassified, though it is not at all clear what we are meant to glean from it. I reproduce it here in its entirety (minus call signs and other radio arcana):

when shall the laurel and the vocal string resume their honours when shall we behold the tuneful tongue the promethean hand aspire to ancient praise alas how faint how slow the dawn of beauty and of truth breaks the reluc

Analysis quickly revealed that the text is taken from the opening of the Second Book of The Pleasures of Imagination, by 18th century poet Mark Akenside. The message was delivered in clean code with a steady and unhurried hand on the key, but was cut short mid-line and mid-word. Whether the poem was intended to convey specific information which they dared not transmit openly, even encrypted, or whether the Guy's radio operator was just being inscrutable (a propensity which I have been led to believe is endemic to the vocation), we do not yet know. Akenside's poetry is not unknown to our technicians, though it has not been found to be particularly active under laboratory conditions. Further experimentation and field testing is, no doubt, indicated.

Once again, if you have any information concerning the whereabouts or fate of the airship Jane Guy, I ask that you contact the Institute without delay. I will continue to post updates as they become available.

=PD

New Release: [Esc.] Laboratory - date of production V1.0

2008-03-22T17:34:00.000-04:00

[Esc.] Laboratory - date of production V1.0
[free download, 256kpbs mp3]

(studio-projects-compilation 2003-2007)

"We are very pleased to present you the ultimate collection of extravagant sound sourcery, emerged directly from the very deepest heart of our facility.

"Compiled by the hands of Doc. AtmosfearCrush comes a journey of abstract urban sound experiences, extracted with lust, oil, colour and blood. A melange of the different split personalities incorporated in the genetic manipulated organism known as [Esc.]Laboratory / Art Factory Worms. The brilliant synergy of unreleased songs and the beautiful 'errors' of already released projects`albums are the perfect mix to represent the 'what-happens-there?' mythology of modern urban ghost`s culture..." -[Esc.] Laboratory

= = = = =
01. [ur:neon:ono] - defragment
02. [revolting:Robotniks] - asylum sleepers
03. [Yahuy-Che-Kabah] - runtime error
04. [angström:institute] - cocktail dancing
05. [Throatwobbler:Manegrove] - one day left
06. [amt_23] - preek
07. [ur:neon:ono] - rowerz auto blah-blah
08. [Flux:Kompensator] - fromaghe
09. [amt_23] - isdate recorder
10. [phace/it!] - slow drain to gnawn
11. [off:error] - documentary
12. [bloodmakesnoise] - morningstar
13. [ur:neon:ono] - crack reprise
14. [off:error] - fourtyninecrushes
15. [off:error] - guitar and cellular
16. [amt_23] - bodyonesomeelse
17. [Yahuy-Che-Kabah] - irregular
18. [interrupt:Jumper] - rebuildings
19. [meta:Human] - construction END
= = = = =

This album is hosted at This Plague of Dreaming by special arrangement with [Esc.] Laboratory. For more information about the projects featured on this compilation, visit the [Esc.] Laboratory website.

Breaking News

2008-03-13T14:57:00.000-04:00

Four days ago, the Institute lost radio contact with the airship Jane Guy in the midst of a coded transmission. After repeated attempts to restore contact failed, the Dept. of Exploration dispatched the air-clipper Man-Cub to the Guy's last logged location (not without a certain smug air of step-aside-we'll-handle-this, if I may say so). It may just be a down transmitter. But if it's not, the Dept. assures us that crew of the Man-Cub is trained to handle "these kinds of situations." Updates will be made available as soon as they are declassified.

If you have any information pertaining to the whereabouts or fate of the Jane Guy, please contact the Plaguedream Institute immediately. Your prompt action may prevent disaster.

- - - - -

In other news, the members of To Repel Ghosts have been on unofficial (and unauthorized, dammit) leave since the completion of their recent album Partisan Songs. I apologize to any and all correspondents who have been awaiting responses to their queries while TRG are away. I have been trying to get them to forward me their login information so that I can take care of administrative tasks like approving MySpace Friend requests, but in the meantime I respectfully ask for your patience.

I suppose I can't blame them for cutting loose once in a while - they're unnaturally wed to their research, and I'm sure it takes its toll - but a little bit of notice (or a contact address, or something) would have been appreciated.

=PD

New Release: Fabrizio Torri - Funny Thoughts

2008-03-02T12:02:00.000-05:00

Fabrizio Torri - Funny Thoughts
[free download, 320kpbs mp3]

i like when the strings can be seen. (i believe it's called metafiction, a kind of metalanguage). when children play "let's pretend", using the past tense to speak of what they are still about to do. when a painter doesn't hide "pentimenti".

"Funny Thoughts" is a showcase of hypotheses for songs. in this six-packed collection you can find tunes that can be whistled, if one wishes to do so, together with thought-provoking chords progressions and interesting rhythmical parts. listen to them more than once, if you really want to catch them, because they'll try in every way to escape you. forewarned is forearmed.

01...The Livornine Laws
02...Wit (to M.)
03...Holocene
04...Tongue in Cheek
05...Why a Duck
06...Herbert H. Heebert

Funny Thoughts is presented at CD-quality 320kbps.

New Release: Stuzha - Through the Snowfield

2008-02-18T12:47:00.000-05:00

Stuzha - Through the Snowfield EP
[free download, 320kpbs mp3]

Four songs of frost, winds, snow and survival in the desolate Siberian winter.

1. Here is No Life Without a Fire 6:13
2. Lost in Catacombs 6:12
3. Through The Snowfield 6:13
4. Odinokaya Garmon' (Russian Folklore song) 2:13
Total: 20:51

Here is No Life Without a Fire was recorded in the taiga forest during the frosty winternight time, when temperature is below -25C. That piece shows that life of a man in the such a cold regions is absolutely depends from the fire. It gives to a man a hope & life, without it he's dead in few hours... It's a hymn to fire.

Lost in Catacombs was recorded during snowy december 2007. Most sounds are from enclosed big metallic tank which is used a long time ago for water keeping. This vessel is located pretty far away from civilization and in the nighttime an ambient atmosphere here is a magnificent!

Through The Snowfield is a track which is describing a blank feelings of a men, who is riding on a horse through endless snowy fields... The sound of the small bells is coming from a neck of a coachman's horse, and these bells are just like a lighthouse for a ship in the storm. They are only way to know where your horse are when a blizzard start to blow... That piece is about a solitude & loneliness of a soul. There is also a fragment of Russian folklore song in it.

Odinokaya Garmon' is a Russian folklore song.

_Algol_ - all instruments, field recordings, vocals.

Please check Stuzha's MySpace page and leave some comments, any feedback from YOU are very welcome!

[P.S. Stuzha is a brand new project of _Algol_, we are seeking a traditional label to release a full length album.]

New Release: Ruberti & Mangoni - Wandering In Milano

2008-02-08T18:04:00.000-05:00

Ruberti & Mangoni - Wandering In Milano
[free download, 256kpbs mp3]

“Wandering in Milano was composed at the end of 2006 for a documentary about the underground life of Milan, directed by Daniela Frassoni, with the collaboration of Roberto Mangoni, pianist and a friend of mine. This is an imaginary travel across the big town; we get lost in a cold December day, and we didn’t find the way back home...” -Massimo Ruberti

Massimo's wandering:
01. Wandering
02. Waiting
03. Traffic
04. Nebbia
05. Longnite
06. Live Impulse
07. Lei sa di essere
08. Insegne
09. Distanze
10. PS

Roberto's Wandering:
11. Wandering (acoustic piano)
12. Treni
13. Ripensamento
14. Morning
15. Cortili

Website update and Banner

2008-01-31T13:50:00.000-05:00

Only a minor update this time, but worth noting: the "About" link on the PlagueDream website now leads somewhere. It's not much at the moment, admittedly, but it does include an email link which you may find preferable to the more involved and obscure means some of our enterprising listeners have employed to communicate with us in the past (I'm looking at you, Mr. H___). As I am both the label director and the ersatz webmaster (and as my otherwise able assistant is a confirmed technophobe), all correspondence directed to that address will, in time, pass before my eyes.

The other item of importance on the page is our new banner:

If you are so kind as to wish to use this banner on your site, the necessary code is provided. Our own links page is not yet online, but when it is we will be happy to discuss banner exchanges, etc.

More content will be coming soon, both to our "About" page and to this blog, so stay on the beam!

=PD

3 Crows Redux

2008-01-28T12:57:00.000-05:00

I would like to remind anyone who undertook to download Glenn Brown's 3 Crows & The Moon during the dark days of server malfunction that the album is once more available, and should be downloaded and listened to without delay. The album's release coincided catastrophically with the Internet Archive's server crisis, and it remained unstable for almost two months, so that many people whose lives Glenn's music might have enriched were denied.

To refresh your memory: Glenn Brown creates luminously ambient sci-fi soundscapes using only his (heavily processed) electric guitar - but that description does no more than hint at the delicious weightlessness of the sound, and the mingled bliss and disquiet of dreaming in zero gravity.

So, once again: Glenn Brown - 3 Crows & The Moon

2008-01-13T12:27:00.000-05:00

To Repel Ghosts - Partisan Songs
[free download, 256kpbs mp3]

A barely audible song
Is heard from the fog,
It is the quiet song
Of the forest partisans.

- - - - -
01. Quiet Forest
02. In the Trees
03. Front Zone Reverie
04. Nightingales
05. Quiet Forest ii
- - - - -

[In response to questions raised in pre-release comments: These songs are the record of our speculative forays into the dreamspace which has grown up in the cracks between the social myth of the Heroic partisans and the ugly reality of the war; in mapping that territory, it was not our intention to pursue any specific political agenda or champion any particular group or concern. The history of the Soviet partisans in the Great Patriotic War, like most war stories, is complex and often contradictory. We believe that it is vitally important, at these intersections of heroism and atrocity, to retain that complexity and resist the reductive impulse which impoverishes our myths and denies the varied humanity of the men and women on all sides of the conflict. These songs seek neither to glorify nor to condemn, and while they do not have anything so crude as a "message," we hope that they do contain some echo of truth. -TRG]

- - - - -

As you can see, the hiatus didn't last long. Only a couple days after I posted about it, a lot of things suddenly started working again. There are still intermittent problems, but we decided to take our chances.

=PD

2008-01-12T02:52:00.001-05:00

R.I.P. Maila Nurmi, aka Vampira

-TTP

Hiatus

2007-12-29T22:27:00.000-05:00

Due to the ongoing technical difficulties of our file hosts, the Internet Archive, we have decided to hold off on further releases until the remaining problems are resolved (or we get tired of waiting and decide to take our chances, whichever happens first).

Many of our files are still only sporadically available, for which we can offer only a shrug and an impotent apology. Our frustration is tempered only by the knowledge that the Archive technical staff are busting their collective tail to overhaul what is, ultimately, a free service.

The situation is subject to rapid and unpredictable change, so it's worth checking back once in a while.

In the meantime, we're still knocking on hidden doors and developing new machines for dreaming. Stay on the beam for our Post-Repair season!

=PD

Nagual Art @ NTNS / To Repel Ghosts @ Dark Winter

2007-12-21T09:09:00.000-05:00

Nagual Art appears on Not The Normal Shit Radio's new compilation, The Best of NTNS Radio 2007.

The compilation is free to download, and features the Nagual Art track The Whisperbox, from their album A Landscape Built by Whispers.

- - - - -
ALSO
- - - -

To Repel Ghosts is featured on this year's ambient holiday compilation from the excellent netlabel Dark Winter, available now for free download!

Dark Winter Holiday Compilation - A Candle's Golden Glow

"When the sky is dark and the temperature is low, comfort can be found in a candle's golden glow..."

TRG offered their arrangement of Silent Night from their 2005 album All Is Calm. Also featured are Last Nights of Paris, Ambage, Datua 1.0, Bunk Data, Larry Johnson, Mystified, Gothick, Ka-baalim, Jeffery Letterly, Zenith, Samsa, Mikrodepresja, Ryu, and Gurdonark.

New Release: Nagual Art - Adoria

2007-12-14T09:09:00.000-05:00

Nagual Art - Adoria
[free download, 192kpbs mp3]

This is the Soundtrack of Adoria - the Lucid Winter Wonderland.

Winter reigns over the Northern Hemisphere, and Nagual Art celebrates in cold ambient beauty. Sound travels far in the frigid air, bringing wisps of voices and the woodsmoke scent of deep dreaming.

1. Fragments
2. Enter Adoria (I & II)
3. Leviath
4. Lisea
5. Mondwinter
6. Traumkristalle
7. Der freundliche Kleine
8. Schneezauber
9. Fatima
10. Theory of the Deep

Adoria - produced by Volador in 2006/07

Artwork by Dravidian A. Ageran (www.dasnachtmahrprojekt.de)

Guest: Hermann Voges, countertenor on "Schneezauber"

(Visit Nagual Art's MySpace page for an exclusive bonus track, Another Day in Adoria.)

- - - - -

To Repel Ghosts' previously-announced album has been delayed, owing to mastering problems. The album is being re-mixed, and will be released as soon as possible.

Work continues, as usual

2007-12-03T12:30:00.000-05:00

Winter - meteorologic, if not astronomic - has arrived at the Plaguedream compound, and most of us were relieved from our usual morning duties to chip ice off everything. The automatic de-icer on the auxiliary transmitter tower froze up (yeah...), so I spent the pre-dawn hours up in a lineman's harness with a blow-dryer and a really long extension cord, thawing out the delicate coils on low heat. Not how I planned to spend my Monday, but it did turn out, on balance, to be to our great benefit, since my unusual vantage point revealed a worn insulator that, left to itself, could have burned out the entire unit, at a cost far exceeding the minor annoyance and windburn it took to find it. That's how it goes around here (and good thing, too, despite any grumbling at the time).

(Apologies for the minutiae, but I still have my feet in a warm-water bath as I type, so it's on my mind.)

More relevant to you, dear reader, I am pleased to say that To Repel Ghosts are putting the finishing touches on Partisan Songs, to be released very soon (assuming that the server difficulties of our long-suffering file hosts, the Internet Archive, are resolved promptly - stay tuned). The engineering stage of the album proved trying for all of us at the Institute - TRG's methods are not without their hazards - but things have quieted down since they went to post-production, and what I've heard of the album sounds like it was worth the damage to the studio facilities (which was extensive but, fortunately, mostly cosmetic).

Lastly, I would like to reassure the many listeners who wrote to us concerning the Noel Towers album that what you are experiencing is perfectly natural, and that the psychosensory effects, though unsettling to some, are ultimately beneficial, and will become less noticeable over subsequent playings.

Watch for more news as the month progresses - we have some good things in store!

=PD

To Repel Ghosts on MySpace

2007-11-27T12:17:00.000-05:00

Founding Plaguedream artists To Repel Ghosts have a new MySpace page!

We're still waiting on Band and Bio information from this notoriously reticent crew, but they've agreed to post a demo track from their upcoming album - the long-awaited Partisan Songs - by way of appeasement. Watch for the full release in coming weeks!

While we're on the topic, if you're on MySpace and haven't yet Friended your favorite This Plague of Dreaming artists, now is your chance:

This Plague of Dreaming (label page)
Glenn Brown
Harel Gal
Nagual Art
Sublinear
Sypha Nadon
The Threshold People

and our Allies:
[Esc.] Laboratory

MySpace may be a disheartening quagmire, but it's also the place to hear demos and preview tracks, and to show your appreciation to the artists directly, if you like.

(Fabrizio Torri doesn't maintain a MySpace page, to our knowledge, but you can keep up with his doings at his blog, Jitterbug Poetry.)

Moving right along, I am pleased to announce that the Internet Archive has repaired many of the problems that have beset it of late, so that the recent albums from Glenn Brown and The Threshold People are once again available to stream or download. We apologize for any frustration the service interruption may have caused you.

EDIT: The Internet Archive situation is not yet entirely stable. Stay tuned, and once again we apologize.

New Release: Glenn Brown - 3 Crows & The Moon [EP]

2007-11-10T23:30:00.000-05:00

Glenn Brown - 3 Crows & The Moon [EP]
[free download, 192kpbs mp3]

An ambient excursion into outer...and inner...space. Ethereal, dark, and haunting soundscapes for a sci-fi movie yet to be made.

About the Artist:

I make ambient soundscapes w/ electric guitar only...no synths or keyboards are used. I started playing guitar and learning music 20 years ago, and focussed on rock, jazz, and fusion for most of that time. In the last few years I discovered both ambient and 20th century classical music, and since then have concentrated on making dark ambient / dark drone music. If it sounds good when driving through deserted industrial areas late at night, then I know I’m on the right track…

About the Recording:

All songs performed on a 2005 Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster with Kinman pickups. Processing was done via a POD XT, Digitech RP-12, Dunlop Wah, and various VST plugins. Recording was done direct to computer.

These songs were taken from the album 3 Crows & The Moon, a conceptual piece concerning a melodrama taking place in the future, and set in space.

All songs written, performed, recorded and mixed by Glenn Brown.

Mastered by Marco Oppedisano.

Cover art by Charles Kerins.

Track Listing:
1. The Hundred Year Rule
2. The Ones Left Behind
3. A Crystal Fascination III
4. A Crystal Fascination IV
5. Free From What You Need
6. 3 Crows & The Moon
7. The Tanks Are Empty
8. Panorama Without Panic

New Shocks! New Thrills! NEW ALBUM!

2007-10-27T22:17:00.000-04:00

The Threshold People - Seven Legs from an Eight-Legged Beast
[free download, 192kpbs mp3]

Skeletons! Monsters! Living Shadows that talk--and KILL!!

The Threshold People are back, complete with seven new slabs of throbbing horrorbeat to give you the wim-wams!

01. Trail of Bones (Lights Out) 1:57
02. Back to Darkness 3:12
03. Deja Vu (That Sound) 2:03
04. Undying Monster 5:17
05. The Blob 2:52
06. The Werewolf's Cure 3:32
07. We Didn't Have Much Time 2:52

Are you brave enough to follow the trail of bones into the lair of The Threshold People? Then turn up the volume and turn out the lights...

The most electrifying scare album of the year! Hear it now--but don't hear it alone!

[rhexisMUSIC] presents: St. Withiel Delivers From Evil

2007-10-19T09:47:00.000-04:00

Something you should all hear: a new album of (mostly) covers from future culture-hero Withiel

[rhexixMUSIC] presents: St. Withiel Delivers From Evil

"An album of covers and quasi-religiose music, produced over the last few months. Some of these are quite beautiful, others are very ugly. Most of them weren't written by me, although some were."

Listeners familiar with Withiel's earlier work will find this album more intimate, with a softer and closer sense of space. His signature labyrinthine production style has been toned down a little on most tracks, with fewer overdubs and more emphasis on the solo vocal. The album hangs together fairly well for a covers collection, and Withiel sings them like they're his own. The only exception would be L. Cohen's Democracy, which nonetheless sounds like a heartfelt homage.

[Withiel's previous releases, and other rhexisMUSIC artists, can be downloaded free from the rhexisMUSIC website.]

The world is a vale of tears, but then there's Withiel, so it's alright.

2007-09-28T10:47:00.000-04:00

Well, he's done it: Sublinear's album Pinned Beneath the Boiling Sky has reached the 2000 Downloads, a first for the label. Take a moment to congratulate him, won't you?

New Release: Noel Towers - To Jest Jądro Orzecha Włoskiego

2007-09-24T22:26:00.001-04:00

Noel Towers - To Jest Jądro Orzecha Włoskiego
[free download, 192kpbs mp3]

"This is the kernel of the walnut" - A welter of restless jazz textures and electroacoustic processing, liquid sax taken deep underground for a congress of ghosts.

1. unsheathed
2. pearl
3. hid
4. kernel

Noel Towers - saxophones
Fabrizio "Baka" Torri - guitars
Kowal "The Blacksmith" Wieże - everything else

Noel Towers is an anglo-brazilian musician. At present he lives in Cracow, Poland, where he and Kowal Wieże are students of ethnomusicology at the university. Fabrizzio Torri will be familiar to our listeners from his earlier This Plague of Dreaming release Terra Lucida. [Recorded in Szczecin, Poland.]

The Beginning The End V.2

2007-09-24T21:21:00.000-04:00

Harel Gal's album the beginning the end has been updated! At the request of the artist, the song away has been replaced with an updated version, and a new song, motoclick, has been added. If you have already downloaded the album, come get the additional tracks!

Accolades

2007-09-24T10:18:00.000-04:00

Sometime overnight, three of our albums have passed the 1000 Downloads mark:

Nagual Art - A Landscape Built By Whispers
[interrupt:Jumper] - "music for unfinished movies"
Sypha Nadon - 11 Chants for Russolo!

If you are one of the lucky souls to have already downloaded these fine albums, then our thanks go out to you. If you have not yet had the pleasure: pray, deny yourself no longer! Life is hard and the nights are cold - seek consolation and strength in music.

Also, at some point in the next 48 hours will burst upon you the new album from Noel Towers! This multinational collaboration marks the end of a busy Summer for This Plague of Dreaming. Once again we thank you, loyal plaguedreamers, for listening.

Keep on the beam!

Frightmare Forest, and meta:Human

2007-09-14T13:52:00.000-04:00

As the days grow short and the nights grow chill, we're pleased to bring you more Threshold People news!

Our resident ghouls have just licensed their song "The Pit" (again!) for use in the haunted attraction Frightmare Forest! If you're in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area during the month of October, stop in and get the pants scared off ya!

Also, our friends [Esc.] Laboratory have released a new album on the test tube netlabel:

"Meet meta:Human, a kind of an Industrial-Techno-Goth-IDM trio from Germany. The Dark Ages of Technology is their own post-apocalyptic manifest."

Monster By Mail

2007-09-04T14:17:00.000-04:00

Monster By Mail ("An original hand drawn monster sketch delivered to your doorstep!") recently featured The Threshold People song The Pit in one of their art-in-progress YouTube videos: Zombies vs The Anelian Race!

Enjoy the video, then go and get yourself a Monster By Mail!

(All proceeds from the MBM project go towards the artist's family medical expenses.)

New [Esc.] Laboratory Release:

2007-08-29T01:28:00.000-04:00

[insect:industries] - "post.larvae.state"
[free download, 192kpbs mp3]

"So befremdlich Insekten auf uns wirken, so befremdlich muss wohl die Welt der Menschen und ihrer Maschinen auf die Insekten wirken.

"Was könnte für uns befremdlicher sein, als ein Insekt zu sein?"

The songs from post.larvae.state were originally made for the group-exhibition Insekten Frei.

The concept behind the album was to recreate the strange landscape of concrete immensity that confronts the insects living in our habitat, the urban sprawl.

The songs were generated through the use of an extraordinary scientific sample library of sounds made by insects and by some nighttime field recordings in the city. They were all put together in a Dub-session - jamming, adding some delays, reverbs, and the only electronic sound device, a Clavia Micro Modular.

- - - - -
01. human resource
02. hive like city
03. brain bugged
04. resource
05. HIVE
06. bugg_ed
- - - - -

This album is hosted at This Plague of Dreaming by special arrangement with [Esc.] Laboratory. For more information, visit the artists' website.

All Caught Up, and Other Tales

2007-08-24T00:10:00.001-04:00

The long, dull transfer process is complete! Everything before this post has been copied over from the old plaguedream livejournal; this post and everything after is new and exciting!

Briefly, for those of you just joining us: This Plague of Dreaming is a nonprofit netlabel, and also forms the musical arm of the PlagueDream Institute. While much of our research is classified, that which has been cleared for public consumption can be downloaded free through our website or directly from the Internet Archive.

As those readers in New England can attest, we've lately had an early breath of Autumn. The nights have been cool, and the light has taken on that peculiar silver gleam. It won't last, our prognosticators assure us, but it has inspired a spike of (un)seasonal activity around the compound.

This past week was also the mugwort harvest at the Institute. We picked before flower, since it's not a propagation year, so the oil is stronger in the leaves (is it ever!). The first celebratory round of early brew is still reverberating, and many of us are still waking up each morning haggard and spent, days afterward. The fumes from the drying rack are causing the usual problems, but a favorable wind has so far kept most of it away from the village.

In label news, we will soon be hosting a new album from our German allies [Esc.] Laboratory, so watch for that in the next few days!

=PD

The Threshold People on Myspace

2007-08-19T03:36:00.000-04:00

For those of you who keep track of such things, The Threshold People now have their own Myspace page!

As an incentive to go take a look, the fiends have uploaded a demo from their forthcoming album, Seven Legs from an Eight-Legged Beast! Be one of the first to hear, etc.

New Release: Nagual Art - A Landscape Built By Whispers

2007-08-09T00:53:00.000-04:00

Nagual Art - A Landscape Built By Whispers
[free download, 192kpbs mp3]

"Nagual Art - the German Dark Ambient Soundtrack Project - was founded in 2005. Inspired by dreams and an abstract mindset, I try to render dreams audible and - the other way around - to provide a possible access to subconsciousness and dreams through music. Abstract-dark, confused-melancholic soundscapes with neo-classical influences emanate from this musical concept."

01. The Whisperbox
02. Bedroom Visitors
03. This Winternight Forever
04. Adoria
05. The Swan

"Stop your thoughts, start to dream, live!"

General news and whatnot

2007-08-04T00:19:00.000-04:00

Hello, friends! I'm writing this update from the bunkhouse, since maintenance is smudging my office following last night's "incident." The Threshold People have kindly allowed me to crash with them (I can't stand the smell of sage, and won't be returning until my office is well and truly aired out), so I'm looking forward to a very long, popcorn-fueled night. Anyway, to business...

In June, I announced that our tenth release would be our label compilation. As you have seen, of course, we decided to release Terra Lucida as plague010 instead. The compilation has been postponed for a short time while we release work from several artists who have been waiting for us to get our act together (to be painfully frank). Watch for it before too much longer!

Next up: Nagual Art - A Landscape Built By Whispers

In other news, I do finally have a new intern to help out with the website. Unfortunately, he's an anarcho-primitivist, so he really hasn't been an awful lot of help with the technical side of things, but he makes Turkish coffee like he was born to it, so he stays. I'm also pleased to announce that the sheep mutilations have ceased, and the perpetrator has been dealt with, which will hopefully put an end to the unwanted attention the Institute has been receiving from the local farming community.

Finally, the crew of the airship Jane Guy would like to apologize to the former residents of 114 Broad St. Medville, Arkansas, for the late-night emergency ballast drop. Our accounting department will be in touch.

=PD

New Release from Fabrizio Torri

2007-07-28T00:29:00.000-04:00

Fabrizio Torri - Terra Lucida
[free download, 192kpbs mp3]

Fabrizio Torri's first album for This Plague of Dreaming is a strange world of echoes, of memory, and of golden, shifting light. Torri's music is frequently retro in sound, but it has been filtered through the distortion of the intervening decades, rounding its sharp edges and blurring its outline in warmth and dust. This is music to listen to alone, with headphones and closed eyes and the sun on your face.

01. ambra baltica
02. gizmo
03. l'equilibrio
04. kid eternity
05. mago saverio
06. peg-leg pete
07. swedenborg
08. terra lucida

Another Milestone

2007-06-28T17:35:00.000-04:00

With unprecedented speed, Sublinear's debut album Pinned Beneath the Boiling Sky [plague009] has exceeded 1000 official downloads.

Thank you, once again, loyal plaguedreamers.

In response to a question, a clarification:

2007-06-21T19:42:00.000-04:00

An anonymous correspondent has questioned my recent report of Mr. _____'s unfortunate incarceration, wondering if I had mistakenly typed "15 years" when I meant "15 months," a more likely, though still somewhat immoderate, sentence for the crime of orchid smuggling.

Indeed I did not. Mr. ____'s sentence has been set at 15 years, and if I may say so frankly, he was lucky to get that. The orchids in question were more-than-commonly outre, as were his methods for obtaining them, and while I am not at liberty to elaborate, I might state euphemistically that the laws of Man were not the highest of those which were contravened in pursuit of his epiphytic prize, and this no doubt contributed directly to the unconventionally stiff penalty which he faces. Let us then consider "orchid smuggling" a convenient label under which to subsume a nested series of offenses the exact nature of which is unlikely to come to light, and allow the matter to rest. Further inquiry, my good Anonymous, will not profit you.

=PD

Milestone - First PlagueDream release to reach 1000 downloads!

2007-06-21T02:40:00.000-04:00

Another update already!

This Plague of Dreaming is proud to announce that Night of the Threshold People [plague003] has reached 1000 official* downloads, our first release to do so.

Thank you, loyal plaguedreamers, for helping us make it this far!

*that is, downloads recognized by the Internet Archive's official counter

The state of things at the Institute

2007-06-20T19:19:00.000-04:00

Summer is upon us here at the PlagueDream Institute, deep in the hoary hills of New England, bringing with it swarms of fireflies, the heady scent of night-blooming flowers, and an infusion of new talent: oneironauts Fabrizio Torri and Nagual Art have joined our ranks. Watch for new music from them in the coming months!

In the meantime, work is underway on This Plague of Dreaming's tenth album release, a compilation featuring label artists present and future, as well as featured guest artists.

In other news, the head of the Institute's Exploration unit was just sentenced to 15 years for orchid smuggling*, and in the resulting departmental chaos, our Outreach service was able to slyly requisition one of Exploration's much-coveted airships. Watch the sky over cornfields and lonely hilltops near you for the disco running-lights of the Jane Guy, and the throbbing sub bass which will announce another of their impromptu fly-over raves (for such lucky locals as awaken from their beds to follow the music into the night). I wish, sometimes, that I could fly out with them, but my work is here at the Institute.

Finally, I must apologize for the infrequent nature of updates both to this blog and to the main website - with new converts and wild-eyed pilgrims wandering into the compound every day, you'd think Personnel could spare me one to act as webmaster, but, alas, they retain them for their own darkly-hinted purposes. I suppose I shouldn't complain, as construction on our new subterranean facilities is progressing ahead of projections, but it still leaves me to maintain the department's web presence "in my spare time," when I'm not coordinating work in the lab. Grumbling aside, look for updated information (and a snazzy website redesign) in the near future.

Until the next update (whenever that may be), keep watching the skies, and don't get caught.

=PD

*the PlagueDream Institute categorically denies any knowledge of Mr. ____'s unlawful activities, and resents the implication.

Another Milestone

2007-06-08T17:35:00.000-04:00

With unprecedented speed, Sublinear's debut album Pinned Beneath the Boiling Sky [plague009] has exceeded 1000 official downloads.

Thank you, once again, loyal plaguedreamers.

New Release from Sublinear

2007-05-11T12:53:00.000-04:00

Sublinear - Pinned Beneath the Boiling Sky
[free download, 192kpbs mp3]

Music for a radiant abyss.

This is Sublinear's first album with This Plague of Dreaming, but his experience as a score composer shows clearly in his disquieting, cinematic trip-hop arrangements.

01. A Quiet Death
02. Night of the Reptiles
03. Shattered Light
04. Fragility
05. And the Wind In the Trees Is Like the Sound of Eternity
06. Breakdancing in the Rain
07. Bloodworms
08. Our Weapons Are Useless Against Them
09. Kill Us Before the Rains Come
10. Litany

Sublinear appeared alongside The Threshold People on Oddio Overplay's terrifying Halloween compilation Calling All Fiends.

MZR001: BOY DESTROYER: "RISE HORUS RISE"

2007-03-07T02:32:00.000-05:00

"Mauve Zone Recordings is pleased to announce the release of its first digital bullet, "Rise Horus Rise", which is in turn the grand debut of noise supergroup BOY DESTROYER."

Featuring This Plague of Dreaming recording artist Sypha Nadon!

If you need noise, this album will hurt you so good.

Get more information, including an interview HERE

Download your pitiful life away HERE

The roller-skate boys sweep down a hill in a shower of autumn leaves. They slice through a police patrol. Blood spatters dead leaves in air.

The screen is exploding in moon craters and boiling silver spots.

"Wild boys very close now."

Darkness falls on the ruined suburbs. A dog barks in the distance.

Dim jerky stars are blowing away across a gleaming empty sky, the wild boys smile.

-WSB

New Release: [interrupt:Jumper] - "music for unfinished movies"

2007-03-06T01:21:00.000-05:00

[Esc.] Laboratory:
[interrupt:Jumper] - "music for unfinished movies"
[free download, 192kpbs mp3]

"Making music means to us to free our hearts from agony, frustration, lust and the eternal sin. It`s a way of cleansing the soul. As we get deeper into the grains of sound we touch the intelligence of chaos." - [Esc.] Laboratory

01. replica (live)
02. endgame
03. refrigerator
04. story of Kain
05. move (live)
06. unknown applicant
07. Idoru
08. through closed doors

Germany's [Esc.] Laboratory are veteran sonic ritualists, and explorers of a liminal territory that will be familiar to our loyal plaguedreamers. The sound is industrial-dub, thrumming bass and echoic beats offering a pulsing glimpse of deep time traveling down the spine, the soundtrack to a lunar eclipse.

When [Esc.] Laboratory contacted the PlagueDream Institute in 2006, we were impressed by their dedication and craft, and affected by their trance-inducing sound. After intense negotiations, we entered into a mutually-beneficial strategic alliance. [interrupt:Jumper] is the first of several [Esc.] Lab projects that will be hosted by This Plague of Dreaming, according to the terms of that treaty.

New Release Addendum:

2006-11-20T14:54:00.000-05:00

As some of you probably noticed, several of the tracks from the recent Sypha Nadon release ended rather abruptly. This was not intentional. The damaged files were up for the first dozen or so downloads, but they have since been replaced. If you were one of the enterprising, though unfortunate, early downloaders, you might wish to return to the download page so you can hear the full release as it was meant to be heard. We apologize for the inconvenience.

New Release from SYPHA NADON:

2006-11-18T03:16:00.000-05:00

Sypha Nadon - Threnody for Zumb Zumb

This, Sypha Nadon's second full-length release, marks a new phase in his musical development. The familiar elements are still here - the signature off-kilter melodies and savage noise breaks - but the album is more unified than previous efforts. Threnody is also SN's most minimalistic work thus far, allowing simple patterns and complex textures to unravel over time, revealing their inner richness.

01. Sonic Lwa
02. Phil Collins finds the Godhead
03. Ginen
04. Barracuda Lullaby
05. The Sypha Nadon Factory Tour
06. Threnody for Zumb Zumb
07. Russolo for Dummies
08. The Meon
09. Kill the Violence
10. Kind Hands is the Cure

Oddio Overplay Compilation: Calling All Fiends

2006-10-25T12:19:00.000-04:00

Featuring This Plague of Dreaming artists The Threshold People!

"Halloween is meant to be scary, right? Year after year we dust off the old silly 1950s and 1960s novelty records. While they are fun, they not at all frightening. Oddio Overplay put the challenge to musical artists the world over to create Halloween music that is "frightening, damaging and disturbing." No 'Monster Mash,' instead creepy soundtracks to a fiendish Halloween. They succeeded with CALLING ALL FIENDS! Some of these pieces will creep you right out of your skin."

Featuring: 8m2stereo, [Not] Daniel Johnston, Brian and Harlan, Bureaucratica, Cauhaus, Click Click Click, Grant, Jeffrey Letterly, Lee Rosevere, Lenkei, Limonadiac, Mark Harvey, Mr. Fab and His Bag of Heads, Nigel Simmons, Pharmacom, Rain Station, Roymond, Shirley and Spinoza, Splogman, Stealing Orchestra, Sublinear*, The DVDs, The Threshold People, The Waiters, Ton Rückert, Urban Inbreed, Weirdomusic, X-Tokyo-River-God

*hint: one to watch for

Threshold People Interview:

2006-09-16T04:30:00.000-04:00

Clayton Cameron's exclusive interview with horrorbeat artists The Threshold People is now online.

New Release: Harel Gal - the beginning the end [plague006]

2006-07-13T02:19:00.000-04:00

For this, our sixth label release, the dream is taken up by Israeli songwriter and soundsmith Harel Gal. When Harel contacted the PlagueDream Institute, we were immediately struck by the intimacy and tenderness of his musical vision. His sonic palette is often melancholic, occasionally foreboding, but never bleak. In addition to playing guitar, flute, electronics, and many other instruments and non-musical objects, Harel also has the distinction of being the first singer on the label. His gentle voice graces two songs, away and sounds of sorrow.

[plague006] Harel Gal - the beginning the end

botelmania (4:58)
away (3:20)
sounds for nebula x (3:28)
weather (5:52)
sounds of sorrow (4:24)
dreaming circles (2:46)

[stream via M3U]

Announcement:

2006-05-25T01:12:00.000-04:00

This Plague of Dreaming is proud to announce that we have just signed a new artist to our roster:

Accomplished dreamsmith Harel Gal will soon make his Plaguedream debut - watch this space for updates!

Another Announcement:

2006-04-17T19:12:00.000-04:00

Sypha Nadon hit another milestone today, as his Enter Horus reaches 200 downloads!

(I don't suppose I'll keep making these announcements indefinitely - we're a young label, and we still get, perhaps, unreasonably excited about these sorts of things.)

2006-04-12T11:40:00.000-04:00

We were surprised and gratified this morning to find that This Plague of Dreaming is now listed at Mothers Against Noise (dot org). Unsolicited links feel good.

Nice site. Come for the outrage, leave with a compilation.

2006-04-03T01:27:00.000-04:00

I am Posting to Make An Announcement: Sypha Nadon's 11 Chants for Russolo has reached 100 downloads!

If you were among the lucky listeners who survived the album, why not leave a dazzling review?

And if you have not yet tested your mettle, why not give it a go? We'll be waiting.

2005-12-16T02:43:00.000-05:00

The main This Plague of Dreaming website is back up, and the links are fixed.

I also added a new artist page for The Threshold People, and links to cover art for all releases.

Instabilities in the Fabric

2005-12-15T15:56:00.000-05:00

The netlabels at archive.org are changing servers, and all is in disruption. Our address, for instance, is changing (adjust your bookmarks as appropriate). The changes will, for the most part, be good - it will be easier for artists to update or fix broken collections, and the URL's of the download pages will be considerably shorter - but it also means going back in and changing all the links at thisplagueofdreaming.net and our other promotional venues.

We do apologize for any difficulty you may have accessing the music in the meantime, and we'll let you know when it's straightened out.

[Update: it looks like the collection itself is back up and available for download. There are still some problems (e.g. download statistics not updated), and I still have some links to change tonight, but the music is there if you want it, and that's the important part.)

myspace.com

2005-12-13T16:19:00.000-05:00

The plaguedream has a new vector: Myspace.com.

If you're a card-carrying plaguedreamer, and you have a Myspace account, hie thee hence and Friend us, posthaste! Let's build that network!

website update

2005-12-11T07:23:00.000-05:00

My candle's burning low, but at last the website update is complete.

(Check out our new artist pages at www.thisplagueofdreaming.net.)

It's late, and the tech staff have long since retired to their dormitories, leaving me to finish the update alone, after hours. From my window in the PlagueDream Media Center I can see across the moonlit compound to the bunkhouse, where blue TV flickers light up The Threshold People's window. I Bury the Living? The Killer Shrews? They're probably asleep in front of it by now, the movie rewinding and repeating endlessly on their hulking old VCR and influencing their dreams.

The shades are down on the secretive To Repel Ghosts, but every now and again they light up with a bright spray of sparks, and I can hear the ancient oscillators warble and howl. (TRG find the privacy of their room more conducive to their arcane pursuits than the main laboratory, and they keep ungodly hours.)

Somewhere out there, perhaps, Sypha Nadon gazes with intricate apprehension at this same gibbous moon. His relentless and harrowing explorations, though of vital importance to us all, offer him little comfort in the small hours of the night. For some, sleep is not a refuge.

My work for the night is done, and my candle gutters in its own wax. I am about ready to expire, myself, so I'm off to my bunk.

Dream well, plaguedreamers, and don't get caught.

=PD

NEW RELEASE from Sypha Nadon!

2005-12-05T13:11:00.000-05:00

Sypha Nadon, the unstoppable force behind the successful Enter Horus E.P., is back with a full-length album:

Sypha Nadon - 11 Chants for Russolo [plague005]

"The search for extremes is nothing more then the search for Self. God can be found in feedback: Divinity can be extracted from oceans of chaos. The scryer of this album put himself at great mental and physical risk in his quest to earth these 11 transmissions and place them into a context relatable to mammalian senses.

"This album is dedicated to Luigi Russolo and all those who carry his flame. To read Russolo’s classic manifesto “The Art of Noises” (and to get a glimpse of his beloved Intonarumori devices), consult this link: http://www.unknown.nu/futurism/noises.html."

Album details:

01. Hyla (2:53)
02. Gnostic Circus (4:19)
03. Intonarumori (6:51)
04. Scapegoat (2:45)
05. Scab Eden (3:15)
06. Piranha Teeth (4:59)
07. Club Scarab (3:33)
08. The Fabulous Mr. Meaningless (8:09)
09. Decreator (5:21)
10. Yuggoth (6:07)
11. DNA Blood Madonna (17:27)
........i-The Tesseract (4:25)
.......ii-Insect Trust (2:40)
......iii-Choronzon Unit (5:33)
......iv-Gristle Pulsate (4:49)

NEW RELEASE from To Repel Ghosts!

2005-12-02T11:53:00.000-05:00

To Repel Ghosts - All Is Calm [plague004]

Four old Christmas chestnuts thawed out and slowly refrozen in new and interesting shapes. Featuring special guest appearances by Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby!

FYI:

2005-11-08T23:12:00.000-05:00

For forestall any confustion, I would like to point out that (as of sometime yesterday) there is another "Threshold People" at archive.org.

Their first release, that I am aware of, is a split single with White Ape, and can be found here at Leda Tape: White Ape/Threshold People - Split Single [leda027]

It's pretty good, I have to say - and very very different from what you're used to hearing at This Plague of Dreaming. Getting us mixed up should not be a problem. That said, give them a listen (and see my review at the download page for a brief and extremely subjective description).

2005-11-03T14:07:00.000-05:00

Night of the Threshold People has reached the 100 Downloads mark! Thank you, plaguedreamers!