shanesemler

Originally published at shanesemler.com. You can comment here or there.

Me and my brother did an interview for Mercury Wire relating to our music (Shadowjack and The Dark Aeons) and Second Life in general. Check it out here.

Originally published at shanesemler.com. You can comment here or there.

“I’m a Man (On the Moon) demo” available here: MySpace.com and DMusic.com.

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I’ve been thinking for many years that Weird Al is an unacknowledged genius and it seems I’m not alone. Check out this article from The Village Voice. Al’s music transcends the songs it parodies. I’ve always felt “Another One Rides the Bus” stands on it’s on as a brilliant recording, apart from the original Queen tune. Weird Al is great, I loved his stuff in the 80’s, 90’s and i love his stuff even more now. The guy is brilliant as he is funny!

Originally published at shanesemler.com. You can comment here or there.

If you consider yourself any kind of metalhead, you need to pick up a Candlemass album! I first heard them on Tales of Creation back in 1989 and was hooked. I didn’t have access to the album for years, finally I went looking for it a couple years back and fell in love with it all over again. Along with Celtic Frost, these guys are one of the really heavy Metal bands from the 80’s. In fact, their sound is crushingly heavy - no, not fast, not screamy - just really fucking HEAVY! Messiah Marcolin (the lead singer) is one of the few operatic-style Metal singers that doesn’t annoy the shit out of me. They carried on the spirit of Black Sabbath when Black Sabbath was a joke (remember Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi?) Candlemass is the best!

Originally published at shanesemler.com. You can comment here or there.

I got Last.fm working again so now anyone who wishes can spy on what music I’m listening to at any given moment.

Originally published at shanesemler.com. You can comment here or there.

I love them! I have a couple of (legal) mp3s of songs off of A Radical Recital and I want the rest of the album bad! No, I need it!

In other news, it appears I can cross-post to LiveJournal once again. Cool!

Originally published at shanesemler.com. You can comment here or there.

I’ll be streaming live at the Sunset Paradise Music Shell June 25th 11:00 AM SLT, 2:00 PM EDT. Second Life is free so I hope everyone downloads it and comes to the show. My avatar is known as Ehdward Spengler so please IM me if you need any help finding the place or have any general SL questions. However, I will be busy the day of the show so I may not be able to return messages very quickly.

Originally published at shanesemler.com. You can comment here or there.

I’m going to release an “EP” with the following tracks:

1. Insect Boy
2. Broken World
3. Keep It Together
4. You Can’t Hide From The Sky

I’m going to call it the “Insect Boy EP.” I’m doing this because my music is moving in a different direction and these songs don’t fit in with the new sound I’m developing. I’ve been fighting with myself over the direction of my music for too long and have finally decided to cut these tracks loose for good. I’ve remixed and remasterd them and I’m FINALLY satisfied with the sound. I’ll be making mp3, wavs and artwork so you can make a DIY CD if you want it. It’ll all be released under a Creative Commons license.

Originally published at shanesemler.com. You can comment here or there.

The following is my response to a message I got asking about progress on my album:

Hi! It’s good to hear from you. Atm, it’s not going at all. I’m sort of fighting with myself on the direction of the music. I don’t want it to be an Industrial album. I don’t think most the tracks I have fit into that genre anyway. The two big influences I have are 90’s-Industrial/Coldwave and Stoner/Doom/70’s Metal and I’m attempting to combine them. A couple of the tracks sort of get there. The thing is, they don’t fit into any genre. I’ve found that many people, especially those into a “scene” or specific genre are more close-minded than those who are not about things that don’t fit neatly into the sound they like. Everything is about fitting in somewhere. When someone tells me my music or art is unique, I tend to be skeptical of it being a compliment. Other than myself, I have serious doubts anyone will like it much.

I lose interest in Gothic/Industrial people with their twisted obsesesions with BDSM, blood and nihilistic attitudes more and more. I think it’s quite disgusting to be honest. Maybe I’m getting conservative in my old age or maybe just more sensible. I don’t mind a little twist of darkness but to obsess over it, that’s not healthy. I like the best of the music but the people and the most excessive of it’s related imagry doesn’t interest me. I just don’t see how me or my music fits in. I guess the bit of Romanticism that makes it way into Goth is appeals to me, that and the anachronistic pieces that make it’s way into the fashions. The aural experiance (not the attitude) of Industrial appeals to me. The best of Industrial is an amazing sonic feast. Romance and the immersive experience - that is what I like about Goth and Industrial. I can do without the rest.

I’d love to share my music with people, I just don’t think it’s what anyone wants. And I don’t know if I want anything to do with people who might want it. You might take this as a personal attack because of the nature of your art and your interests - it’s not. This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while now. I don’t know what to do now. I guess the only thing I can do is to make the album I want to hear and try not to think about the rest.

Also available on shanesemler.com.

Also available on shanesemler.com.

Also available on shanesemler.com.

Also available on shanesemler.com.

Also available on shanesemler.com.

Also available on shanesemler.com.

Originally published at shanesemler.com. You can comment here or there.

I might as well face the reality that I’m never going to make any money with my music. I can’t make CDs, I have no band and no label. So I’m giving it away for free. I’ll release the songs as I get them done. You can download the first one here. It’s under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 license, like the rest of my songs. That means you can’t use it for any commercial purpose or sample it.

I don’t have a name for the album yet. I don’t know if I should even bother naming it since it’s a download. It’s not advertised in Industrial Nation (does that rag even still exist?) or any other magazine or website. It’s not on iTunes, it doesn’t have a fancy Flash website to promote it and I don’t have any photos of me wrapped in vinyl and white makeup trying to look cool. Listen to it or don’t. I suspect most people won’t even hear of it so by default, no one will listen.

There was a part of the interview with Jon I wish he had left in. I said, “the internet offers more opportunities for artist to be ignored by even more people.” So here is yet more of my music to be ignored. But at least maybe one of two people will get some sort of enjoyment out of it, instead of it just sitting on my harddrive.

Originally published at shanesemler.com. You can comment here or there.

I actually do have some real news. I’m working on some music for my brother Todd. A few years ago we recorded a couple of really excellent songs. I was never happy with the drum mix but I never had much of a reason to go back and rework them. Now I finally have a reason to do right by the material - he’s decided to move forward with his music and he wants to record more stuff! I think this is a great thing for him. He’s a talented songwriter, he simply needs the help and support to move his music forward. He was recently arrested on bullshit charges (is there any other kind?) for possession of ol’ mary jane so he’s going to be selling CDR’s on ebay to help pay for legal bills. If you want to hear some good music and help someone out please consider buying one. I’ll post the info in my journal when they are available.

Also available on shanesemler.com.

Originally published at shanesemler.com. You can comment here or there.

I just finished up the first of what (hopefully) will be a new Shadowjack album. It’s a slow process. I can average about a song a week if I really push myself and not do much else. I don’t know how Cat (of magicinkwell.com) manages to churn out so much high quality stuff. He’s recorded what, a 10 albums in the last two years or so? How does he do it? I’ve been curious about what software and hardware he has. And where the heck he finds the time!

Anyway, I’ve recorded two other songs this year so I’ll probably add those to the album. If you’re interested you can hear the songs “You Can’t Hide from the Sky” and “Keep It Together” here.

Also available on shanesemler.com.