Wow, what a crazy year... At least some artists took advantage of the situation and got creative or even released stuff... Here are my music recommendations for this year, compiled to a Spotify playlist that fits on 2 sides of vinyl: TOP5 ALBUMS OF 2020
NEWS
STRANGERS (OFFICIAL ALBUM TRAILER)
Here's a fun little sneak preview of our upcoming Radio Haze album 'Strangers' recorded @Slash Zero Studio...
RADIO HAZE NEED YOUR HELP
Some of you might know that Air and myself are in a band called Radio Haze and like almost all independent artists, we had to compensate for the cancelled shows this year and thus locked ourselves up at Slash Zero Studio and recorded a new album:
available as 40-page-hardcover-photobook in vinyl format (ca. 30x30cm)
incl. photography by analog-street-photographer: Ludwig Van Borkum
incl. 180g Vinyl
incl. CD
incl. HQ 24bit WAV Download
Audiophile Quality Dynamic Anti-Loudness-War Mastering
STRICTLY LIMITED TO 300 COPIES
100 in eco-color (your name in the book, hand-numbered, and signed)
200 in black
Unfortunately the corona-year ate up all our reserves (in true sense of the word), and without trabajo, no dinero... To help fund this just click here and pre-order the new album! (For an alternate 'old-school' way of ordering, please contact Slash Zero Records!)
Thank you for your support of independent artists and music culture!
10th ANNIVERSARY: OHRANGE ALBUM
Ohrange's 1st magnum opus - the eponymous "Ohrange Album" - has its 10th birthday today... The CDs are loooong gone, but you can grab their Greatest Hits CD or stream the album...
10th ANNIVERSARY: THE GROWTH
10 years ago Radio Haze released their 2nd album "The Growth"... By now the album has been remastered and is available on all streaming platforms, but there are still a few CDs left that contain the original master - if you subscribe to the newsletter till Dec 17, you'll get a CD for free (while supplies last)...
IN PRESENCE OF PAGES
After their main band The Prosecution announced their hiatus, my friends Simon & Dennis started their side-project Landslide Diary - today their debut album "In Presence Of Pages" is released!
I was in charge of producing and I know that countless hours were put into this LP - songwriting sessions, pre-production, recording drums (Moe Damjantschitsch from Corinore) at Studio Suiseidl, recording bass (Alexander Schott from AntiPeeWee) and guitars at their home studios, kempering guitars, recording vocals, mixing and mastering here @Slash Zero Studio, finding the right label (Fond Of Life Records), filming 3 awesome music videos (Tom Eberl), photographic documentation (NorthBear), conception and realization of the linocut artwork (Ronja Bernhardt), approving test pressings, waiting for the final pressing while making up a promotion plan and marketing strategy, crafting of the limited tapes (Halli Doe), pre-order kick-off (100 limited edition copies sold out in 2 days!), and finally the long-awaited release!!! Only the tour is kinda missing due to obvious reasons...
Do I still have to tell you that if you haven't ordered your copy by now, you'll have to act quickly?! Now go stream the album, for those 2 years full of hard work are worth 40min of your precious time, right?
COMING OVER
As I said earlier this year, 2020's gonna be a 'singles' year' - today I surprisingly noticed that Paul McIntyre released his single "Coming Over" (which I had the honor to master and play bass on)... Check it out!
DON'T THINK TWICE, IT'S ALL BLIGHT
If you're into Post-Rock stuff like Mogwai, you should definitely check out Possumwulf's debut EP "Don't Think Twice, It's All Blight" (which I mastered recently) and give it a stream or two and watch the awesome video!
MORBID TALES OF TERROR
After lots of uncertainties and troubles (like almost every GumoManiacs album?), it is finally released: "Morbid Tales Of Terror" - produced here @Slash Zero Studio over the last 2 years. As always, it's Air & Hubi on Drums 'N' Bass and Gumo on Vocal & Guitar duties... More than worth a mention is the magnificent artwork of the great Andreas Marschall (who's famous for his work with Sodom, Kreator, or Blind Guardian, among loads of others). Get your CD copy now, as we don't know if there's a vinyl version in the nearest future...
NOT A SINGLE SECOND
My friends from Landslide Diary released "Not A Single Second" (their 3rd video directed by Eberl) off their upcoming album "In Presence Of Pages" (produced here @Slash Zero Studio)... In the video there's some old skate footage of Simon that I shot about 15 years ago ;)
REALITY 2020
Another interesting project I recently worked on: Upiór - and their new single is more than just "Reality 2020"... Give it a listen if you're into old school Death Metal... Here's the cast:
Tomasz Jaskula - guitars, music
Chris Bone - vocals, lyrics
Sebastian Stachowiak - keyboards
Hubi Hofmann - bass, mix/mastering
David Superior - drums
SONGBOOK
Finally "Songbook" by my Ohrange bros is released! We produced that beauty right before the big Corona bang in February @Slash Zero Studio. Unfortunately they cannot play a lot of shows this year, so please support them by purchasing their 180g limited purple vinyl as it is their 1st time on wax. After that go give 'em a stream while waiting for personal delivery!
LAST CHOPPER OUT OF SALINE COUNTY
Here's another single that I mastered recently: "Last Chopper Out Of Saline County" - it's by the talented Possumwulf from Little Rock, Arkansas - so if you're into Post-Rock stuff like Mogwai mixed with At The Drive-In influences, then give this one a listen!
PANIC
Landslide Diary release their 2nd video (directed by Tom '3 Voddi' Eberl) to their latest chart-smashing uber-single "Panic" (from their upcoming album "In Presence Of Pages" - which you can pre-order NOW at Fond Of Life Records and which was produced here @Slash Zero Studio). So quickly get your limited purple vinyl and then binge-watch/stream the song!
RAGING WAVES
My friends Simon & Dennis from The Prosecution started their own Punk band called Landslide Diary... They're online NOW, so give them a digital hug and watch the video (again filmed by the amazing Tom Eberl) to their debut single "Raging Waves" (produced @Slash Zero Studio). You'll also see some well known faces from AntiPeeWee and Corinore :)
BACK TO THE OCEAN / FIRE
My friend Andy Kneitinger from Illegal I releases his new single "Back To The Ocean" today - check out the video and stream the hell out of it!
In addition to that the fabulous Lady Jay chose me to mix/master her latest single "Fire" - stream it here if you're into Afrobeat / R&B!
STREICHHOLZ
Because of the current situation my Ohrange bros can't play their regular 100 shows a year, so they decided to release 100 videos instead. Here's #42 for this year: "Streichholz" (from their album "Songbook", produced @Slash Zero Studio) - again filmed by the fabulous Tom Eberl, and if you look closely, you can catch a glimpse of Slash Zero Studio in the video [unfortunately one of my monitors crashed during the filming...]
AFRAID OF THE DARK
Being not only a record producer, but also a freelancer offering mixing and mastering services, the 'single hype' finally also arrived at Slash Zero Records...
I was recently given the honor to mix and master "Afraid Of The Dark" by GodSpeed2 and Frank Bell. You better check it out on Spotify, YouTube, or your streaming service of choice, as there probably won't be a physical copy... (of course I've also contributed some instruments and vocals to the song, as on most productions - sometimes credited, sometimes not...)
LEGIONS OF DEATH
bloodshed revolution is the name of the game
a path that's older than its breath
this world's out of disorder but the rules they stay the same
so join our legions of death
With those kind words about today's situation GumoManiacs release their new video "Legions Of Death" (filmed/cut by Hubi Hofmann, with a little help from Tom Eberl) from their upcoming album "Morbid Tales Of Terror" (which was, you guessed it, produced here @Slash Zero Studio). Watch the video, stream the Spotify, and then tell your friends...
VOICE OF RESISTANCE
Illegal I made their statement against racism, discrimination, hate, and violence - here's our "Voice Of Resistance" (directed by Thomas Eberl and produced/mixed/mastered @Slash Zero Studio). Watch the video and stream on Spotify to spread the word!