Wednesday, March 30, 2011

transmission intercept: CTRL expanding/begin surveillance

[begin transmission]

[static]

-- begin tracking: Central Target Hub Ultra-Linear Unit (CTRL, C.T.H.U.L.U.) --
-- trace souce: Northeast United States, likely on land, Earth --

[begin message]

Hello out there.

Since our last announcement, things at Central Target have been heating up. More communication breakdowns, less all-night Zeppelin parties, and fewer lyrical drops into the communiques.

Fa fa fa... wait, never mind.

I've recently spoken to my trusty new business partner, who shall remain temporarily nameless, but is now 1/2 of the Central Target Recording Label. He's a master of music and a titan of industry. A gentleman AND a scholar. Please wish him welcome, everyone. He'll be operating out of a new secret lair we're opening in Cleveland. I've seen the video screen in the control room... like the bridge of the Enterprise. Secret rooms, parking structure, indoor roller rink... truly incredible. But you read right up there when I said Cleveland. No, we're not relocating -- we're EXPANDING. That's right... we're oozing west, kids.

Despite the best efforts of our helper monkeys, our communications center is not fully operational. But don't worry. Despite the fact that we here at CTRL are somewhat quiet, we're more than comfortable... spending our days in chic lounges and recording studios, making music. Some of it pounding, some of it haunting. In the immortal words of one Mr. Hammer, "It's all good." While we expect the release of significantly more music than has been previously offered, we're also expecting a bit of a quiet period on the release front for the next 4-6 weeks (although other content should still continue to be updated intermittently). But don't lose hope, true believers, not only will we continue to ape the style of beloved childhood narrators... we're also going to hit it hard and hit it good as soon as we regroup. Figuratively speaking, of course.

We're currently in the process of deputizing some collaborators... accomplices if you will. Much like television's "the A-Team", we've been keeping our eye on several potential staff members/contractors. It could even be you. Just know that we're watching, and that at any time you might be called into the most dangerous, fabulous, secretly powerful cabal of artists to which you've ever been privvy.

Hang tight, boys and girls... and just remember the slogan I heard from Kevin almost a decade ago. I'd paraphrase, but it would just lose something in the translation.

More soon, once we contact our girl in Dorchester, once we refuel the brain trust, and once we run the electric bill sky-high at 3:30 AM. Trust me, it will make sense later.

Gotta run.

Diabolically.
Mikey Shake

-- track source: Boston, MA... Cleveland, OH --
-- track sender: CTRL, Head Agent --
-- monitor radio waves, no hard line installed --

[directive: determine purpose of CTRL, halt world domination]

[static]

[end transmission]

Saturday, March 26, 2011

intercepted: transmission from CTRL remote location

-open transmission-
-static-
-receiving message-
-sent from: Central Target Research Labs, Northeast United States, Earth-
-subject: "This Year's (Business) Model"-
-NOTICE -- HIGH PRIORITY

-begin message-
The Central Target Recording Label -CTRL-, is not a record label. It's a label for a "collective" -- without the baggage that term now carries, thanks to some ill-advised misappropriations. It's a group of like-minded musicians who make unconventional music. Members of many of the groups have mixed and matched in various musical combinations over the past decade. The idea behind CTRL as a "recording label" is as an outlet for people to put music out into the world in a dedicated channel, acting as a brand, a flavor, a seal of approval. A stamp that the content of the music comes from a certain sensibility. Not a specific "artist/label" relationship. Not yet. The particular musical content isn't necessarily of a common theme, other than the fact that it's not interested in charts or trends, or even commercial domination.

There is no end goal to the content unified under the -CTRL Stamp Of Approval- -image quarantined: delete- umbrella, other than a drive to create music, regardless of audience. It's what makes a musician record a composition by themselves, for their own satisfaction. That drive is what fuels this group of artists. That's why we're going to begin by giving it away for free Central Target. There's no other motive behind the music to their creators felt the need to create it. In the spirit of Factory Records, "our bands have the freedom to fuck off" -check for DNA on statement-. For now, it's simply a way for a coterie of like-minded people to share what they make with other people who may like the same thing, As well as to provide greater visibility for each by the "strength in numbers" survival strategy. Seems simple. Sharing music online? What a concept...

But beyond rock-crit jargon and lofty philosophies and some silly posturing, really.. the point is that Central Target will now be providing the world with some more wonderful new music by several incredible artists. Three, in fact, for starters.

<1> Neptune Balance
close your eyes on a city street and just listen to the music that thousands of individual moments are making simultaneously all around you. it changes course at any given beat -- reflecting that gentle wash as you stop trying to hear something and just listen to it. love, hate, passion, reflection... laughing, screaming, or crying. it could be any of those moments you're overhearing at once - only stretched out long enough to swim in. electronic music that weaves in and out of the human condition.

<2> Lazer Mouse
It's the overloaded sugar rush of that big smear of icing on the corner of the cake. There's no better sound than the sound of cruising around town looking for a good time -- this is the soundtrack to that good time. Buzzing, crackling, infectious punk rock music... sweet with a serrated edge. Music to feel better to.

<3> The Spirit Three
Echoes without a source, it sounds like remembering too many things at the same time. Difficult to pinpoint, but layered textures that let just enough light through to spot half-forgotten melodies that dance around radio frequencies like ghosts.

Please welcome the new members to the family (and there may be more in the future), and we're looking forward to hearing wonderful things in the future.

Meanwhile, the communications center at the bunker is still inactive, which means this was snuck into a television news station in downtown Boston -locate^terminate source- so that we could transmit it worldwide. More analyitical pop culture editorials should soon be forthcoming, and if all goes well, we intend to bring you more music before the month is out.

-sender-Mikey Shake-x-
-title-President/Editor, CTRL-x-

-begin program: "track sender"-
-end message-
-static-
-end transmission-

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The Spirit Three - Meatland EP




Meatland: Secret Transmissions From CTRL

DOWNLOAD HERE

1, Control Codes
2, Bad Dollar
3, Today I'm Hiding Planes Behind A Telephone Line
4, Backdoor Wisconsin (Bavaria)



All tracks recorded live (one take)
Recorded March 6th-14th
at Central Target Research Labs, Boston, MA
Mikey Shake - all guitars, drum programming
no synthesizers were used on this EP.
Front Cover photo and layout by CTRL Design
special thanks to ofthemetro, Cliff at "effects", Mike Walsh, and Sweetcheeks

Part Six of the Spirit Three EP series