FREE DOWNLOAD: Neptune Balance: "Midnight Interlude"

We here at the Central Target Recording Label wing of the Research Labs pride ourselves on the fact that our very creed is not to pester our artists or give them deadlines. The idea is for people to make music as they want, not as they need. So imagine our surprise when we took the elevator down to the comm center (it's right past the hovercraft dock) and checked our e-mail to find a message from Neptune Balance. No note, just an attachment called "[TBA]". Then also imagine our surprise when it turned out to be a slice of ambient acid techno that sounds like the music at your town's chic-est bar in 2039. It's robot soul with a little dusting of metal-on-metal. Touches of classic Detroit techno like Carl Craig, with something a little skewed to a halfway point between Aphex Twin's earliest material and the insistency of dance music like Daft Punk. That's not to say it sounds like any of those acts... it's just too damn irresistably slippery to put our finger on. We don't know what it means, if more is forthcoming (as in "To Be Announced"), or if it's something else altogether. We thought we'd share. Not only is it worth your time, but it's worth us thinking about changing that "don't push the artists for more tunes" rule.

GET IT. HERE. NOW.

Here's her blog. Pictures of her in the shower. No kidding.
nep-bal.tumblr.com

FREE DOWNLOAD: The Spirit Three: Complete Discography

There are some major changes coming to Central Target, including a flood of new (free!) music from The Spirit Three as well as several new artists, including Neptune Balance, ofthemetro, Midway, Lazer Mouse, and several others. We promise, things are percolating, but until then, help yourself to what you might've missed, by checking out the complete discography of The Spirit Three, including the Spirit Three Live EP series, one-offs, and other fuzzed-out guitaradelicism. And as always here at the Central Target Research Labs, it's free as can be. Enjoy catching up!

Central Target Now Mobile Device Friendly... Happy Early America Day!

Thanks to our friendly host's new mobile device translation capabilities, our mobile site, centraltargetmobile.blogspot.com will no longer continue to be updated. it will remain available, but since becoming irrelevant, why do the work?

now, even customized for your mobile device viewing: centraltarget.blogspot.com

Go on, click it. You know you want to see what happens.

BREAKING NEWS: MF DOOM LUNCHBOXES SEIZED BY CUSTOMS OFFICIALS

Border patrol agents in Boston have seized 183 copies of MF DOOM's deluxe "Operation: Doomsday" lunchbox sets for copyright violations. From the CBP news release:

BOSTON—Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in the port of Boston identified and seized a shipment of counterfeit Music CD’s for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) violations. The Manufacture’s Suggested Retail Price of the pirated CD’s bearing images of the Marvel Entertainment character is estimated to be $87,664.

On May 23, CBP officers targeted a shipment containing 2,925 sets of music CD’s packaged in lunch-boxes at the Container Examination Station for an enforcement examination. During the examination, CBP officers observed the boxes bearing the image of what appeared to be Marvel Entertainment’s “Dr. Doom” character, which is a trademark recorded with CBP. Further inspections reveled the image was deemed to be possibly piratical and the goods were detained for a through investigation. When CBP sought a letter of authorization for use of the CD trademark from the importing party, the importer signed and submitted a CBP Form 4607, Notice of Abandonment. Subsequently, all counterfeit lunch-box sets, 183 boxes, was seized for IPR violations on June 20.

You heard it here first, kids!

Neptune Balance: "Caution"

Presenting "Caution", the debut track by Neptune Balance -- a beloved member of the Central Target family. An EP is in the works, but until then, listen to this until your ears start to bleep.

Find it here:
http://nep-bal.tumblr.com

Get some. You'll like it.

Keeping The Urge Alive: Dive, Captain, Dive!

It's 2011. And I just purchased a newly-recorded Urge Overkill album. On vinyl. When are we?

At 16, an older friend tipped me off to the joys of Urge's masterpiece - Saturation. I call it their masterpiece because to my mind, it's where their (too early for irony) '70s rock-god image-mongering met the effortless hooks of savvy ex-punks. They were loud, hooky, and catchy as the flu. Over the years, I've eventually come to the conclusion that I prefer the previous album The Supersonic Storybookfor it's alternative guitars and Exit The Dragon for its beautifully ragged Exile On Main Street "everything's-faling-apart" atmosphere.

As good as each of those are, Storybook is too ragged, and Dragon is too wiped-out to really register as "the one". No, for sheer summertime adrenaline, Saturation is the one to go with -- glossy and shiny as a new pair of sunglasses, and stomping like a mammoth. Riff after riff, thundering drums, and enough "whoo hoo hoo"s to get anyone smiling.

Transmission Intercept: Neptune Balance/CTRL

[begin transmission]

[static]

-- begin tracking: Central Target, remote login--
-- LOCATION: appx. 42.362603,-71.062274 --
-- trace source: [begin trace] --

[begin message]

FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION.
NEPTUNE BALANCE IS REAL.
BEGIN PREPARATIONS.

[end message]

-- track source: Boston, MA --
-- track sender: CTRL, Neptune Balance --
-- monitor radio waves, track financial input --

[directive: maintain current status. Re-assess on Friday.]

[static]

[end transmission]