alternating.bit
Not many can make what sounds like freeform / experimental analog music sound so controlled and deliberate. As if unhinged pulses of energy confined within barriers of a small maze still find space to explore, play and improvise under control of an omniscient master. That master has boxed a second year of dark minimal ambience in this luscious set. Year two sounds a bit cleaner and more sparse, with tight percussion and effects used sparingly yet always sounding in the right place and time.
Packaged in a sturdy lidded clear 5x5" plastic box (made of acid free polypropylene), with sixteen white cardboard jackets, each with custom sticker work, sixteen black and white photographic print inserts and sixteen in-house duplicated/printed white discs. The box itself is also decorated with two custom printed large stickers. 20 hours, 34 minutes and 58 seconds of exploratory electronic music.
NOTE: Pre-purchase streaming for only the 12 "public" Deep Earth : Year Two releases is included - the subscriber-only content and the previously unreleased 5 hours of new content are digital download/CD-R only, and fully streamable after purchase. Also, production of this box set will take extra time and care, so please be patient when ordering one.
Includes unlimited streaming of Deep Earth : Year Two Compleat
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Deep Earth is a project that began in May 2015, with the initial recordings happening a few months before. It was conceived as a monthly series that would yield a minimum of 20 minutes of sound per installment, plus peripheral installments of discarded material (or forĵetitaj). The series was set up as a subscription service, wherein supporters would exclusively receive the "forĵetitaj" recordings, in addition to the main run of releases. By May 2016, the project held enough support to be considered a success, and was subsequently reinstated for a second year, and again for a third (currently in progress).
Musically, Deep Earth sounds like almost nothing else in the entire Milieu Music catalog. It is almost entirely recorded live, in a dark bedroom studio, using old amps for monitors (no headphones), tape machines, archaic laboratory equipment, vintage rhythm boxes, analog and digital synthesizers and a wide array of traditional and unorthodox FX units. It is the closest I've ever come to achieving a kind of total sonic isolationism, the aural equivalent of a long-lost military bunker beneath the polar ice, whose tunnels lead downward into a hidden underworld of unmapped hollow earth. Exploration as performance, improvisation in lieu of composition.
As with the first year, Year Two of the series has yielded massive amounts of material - 20 hours, 48 minutes and 23 seconds - no small effort, considering that I relocated from the subtropics to a midwestern valley almost 600 miles away, in the middle of the series. The new studio, White Pillar Workshop, immediately afforded more possibility than Botany Bay did, so it is interesting to see the pivot points between the two studios during Year Two's trajectory. Somewhat coincidentally (because as the runtimes on DE tracks should tell you, none of these recordings are "planned" like regular albums are) we have ended up yet again with 16 CD-Rs of music, filled out with almost five hours of previously unissued recordings.
All twelve of the public catalog releases, all twelve of the private subscriber-only Forĵetitaj releases, audio versions of both of Year Two's video singles, plus a beautiful array of extras. Outtakes and alternative versions from throughout the series, a truly comprehensive tableaux of the continually mutant and alien project - arranged carefully across sixteen discs, with custom stickers, 16 photographic print inserts, hidden messages and a sturdy lidded plastic box. A monolith of greyscale electronic music, with equal parts throbbing techno, dusky ambient, minimalistic drones and texture-thickened experimentalism.
NOTE: Out of respect to the Deep Earth subscribers and their incredible support of this project, I've turned off streaming for the Forĵetitaj material, as well as the five hours of new unreleased material. Basically, since the subscribers paid for this content, it is packaged only in the downloadable and physical editions of this release. Subscribers to the series receive all of the previously unreleased material for free, in addition to the entire series up to this point.
credits
released March 8, 2018
W/P by Brian Grainger. Recorded at Botany Bay, May-October 2016 and White Pillar Workshop, October 2016-May 2017. Mastered by The Analog Botanist. This is Milieu Music number [DE-C2]. Photography by Brian at White Pillar Workshop, 2016. Many humble thanks to the members of the Deep Earth community - without them, this music might not exist.
A spacious 2.5 hour soundtrack for Eufloria, an ambient strategy game currently available on Steam, Nintendo Switch and the Playstation Network. Coppice Halifax
A triple-album "beginner's guide" with 50 tracks selected from the first 10 years of Milieu releases. As apt a starting point as you're likely to find. Coppice Halifax
supported by 13 fans who also own “Deep Earth : Year Two Compleat”
Excellent long form dronescapes from Brian! My favorite release in the CH catalog. It is is a lot of music to digest, but well worth the time it will take to listen to the whole album. It is the biggest box set I have ever bought, with 24 discs! They come in a binder with 24 photos, one for each disc. This physical release is stunning! I highly recommend this release despite the the price tag. I also love the cover photo of the flowers!! Kris Knab
A longform drone piece from New Zealand sound sculptor Mo H. Zareel plays subtly with listeners' perceptions as its layers unfold. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 21, 2020
