House of The Threshold People

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

Anniversary, and an announcement

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

Website Down; Don't Panic

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:

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!

Coming Soon: New Music from Goghst

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

This is Rumor Control.

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

Heads Up

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

Hiatus

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

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.

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ALSO
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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.

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?

Accolades

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!

All Caught Up, and Other Tales

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

General news and whatnot

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

Another Milestone

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

Thank you, once again, loyal plaguedreamers.

Milestone - First PlagueDream release to reach 1000 downloads!

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

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

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

Thank you, once again, loyal plaguedreamers.

Announcement:

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:

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.)

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.