from the upcoming album 'aSpiritual' by offthesky & Rin Howell... out august 8th, 2021

Music: offthesky & Rin Howell
Mastering: offthesky / Ian Hawgood
Print design: Craig Tattersall
Packaging design: Daniel Crossley
Label: Fluid Audio

offthesky & Rin Howell - Suspension

A remix done for the artist pawn with his 'the land of' label release - above the winter oaks.  it's a beautiful record so definitely check it out!

winter came again

"sunder" a musical conversation with esteemed folk ambient Benoît Pioulard

https://offthesky.bandcamp.com/album/sunder

Offthesky &  Benoît Pioulard - Fed On Lilies

a musical conversation with artist "the humble bee"

https://iikki.bandcamp.com/album/here-in-absence

featuring the voice of rin howell (psychic secretary), and the flute of shilpi gupta (silverness)

Offthesky & The Humble Bee - Senses

Tepid Sill

a track composed for the "a winter's gift" hibernate winter comp.
harp samples by: jacqueline sophia cordova

khione cast the child

from the eilean records winter 2016 compilation
https://eileanrec.bandcamp.com/

composition by jason corder.  
vocals by tiffany kaneda folk. 
https://soundcloud.com/tiffkanedafolk

solitude by vision

a piece made for the dronarivm compilation "illuminations"
https://dronarivm.bandcamp.com/

okay aloft

this is an excerpt of the live recording made for the data.wave offthesky interview.  listen to the full version here:
https://soundcloud.com/datawv/datawave-14-offthesky-live-performance

read the interview here:
https://datawv.blogspot.com/2017/08/interview-jason-corder-offthesky_61.html

......................................................................................................

offthesky - liveblur

liveblur consists of field recordings run through effects layered beneath smeared versions of the following offthesky pieces (in order):

01. offthesky - solitude by vision
02. offthesky - symbols of their secret lives
03. offthesky - see through and through
04. offthesky - valdi's theme
05. Tobias Hellkvist ‎– Kaskelot(offthesky Remix)
06. offthesky - morning thaw
07. offthesky - coffins full of life
08. Pleq - good night (offthesky Remix)
09. offthesky - one blood poem
10. offthesky - forward the past
11. Monolyth Cobalt - Orm.e (offthesky Remix)
12. 82 devil's highway
13. khione cast the child

offthesky - live blur (excerpt)

this started out as a performance test using an old 2nd gen ipod touch as a portable tracking/composing device (with the "multitrack DAW" app) and an iRig input device.  i initially wanted to find out if the antique ipod could handle playback of 24 simultaneous stereo tracks of 16min+ recordings(i had to record in mono, then convert to stereo within the app).  the app performed amazingly sans glitches or crashes once i had all 24 tracks going (i ran out of disk space in the middle of doing this test and had to delete some apps!).  the original version of this piece is about 16.5 minutes and is a very 'indulgent drone' so i figured i'd spare you with this short version...

for the sonic content of this sketch, i mainly used the amazing "animoog" and "moog filatron" apps on the ipad for some nice old-school analog-ish synth melodies and effects. not my usual taste in sound sources but those apps just sound 'so analog' i couldn't help but indulge for a bit with them.  btw, i think the ipad makes a much more 'playable' instrument than the ipod touch due to it's size and cpu(and some of the most amazing audio apps are ipad only).  i also used the keyboard sampler module within "beatmaker" 2 and "sunvox" apps run through various distortion patches on my korg px5d effects box.  finally, i used a granular-esqe effects patch i made in the jasuto pro ipad app - running my acoustic piano through a stereo mic and into jasuto then out the ipad and through the px5d for added texture and reverb (this processed piano sound is most obvious at the end of the song).

the vinyl sample is the only outside sample i imported - surfing the web using the "goodreader" app,  i downloaded the free sample from http://www.freesound.org/ and imported it into multitrack DAW directly from goodreader...

this experiment was made half in my bed and half in my living room.  it took about 8 hours total to make, and was made all with batteries.  using less than one charge for the ipad and 2 charges for the old ipod touch.  a little post-mastering production was performed on the song in ableton live.  the overall idea is to take this rig outside and enjoy the nice weather while subtly making music inspired by the various natural spaces.

gear used: ipad 2, ipod 2nd gen, iRig(for the ipod), iMic stereo soundcard (with a camera connection kit, for the ipad 2), korg px5d battery effects, a mini stereo microphone, a buttload of little adapters (thanx radioschlack!)
mobile apps used: multitrack daw, animoog, filtatron, jasuto pro, sunvox, beatmaker 2, hokusai, goodreader

RGB waster (abridged)

an offthesky remix of a ten and tracer track

Ten and Tracer - The Colorblind Colortalk (offthesky remix)

woops!  the main image of the offtheskynew19 accidentally points to this page.  buuut... the new ENFOLDING album is available here - https://hiddenvibes.bandcamp.com/album/enfolding

also i'm excited to announce 'offthesky - coma communion'. 
side a : passunder
side b: the last upper

 -this will be a VERY limited edition ep: lathe cut 8" coming out on rural colours.   made to order! the pre pre order is open: please private message me here or send a message through any of the follow sites: 
https://hibernate.bandcamp.com/
https://ruralcolours.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/hibernaterecs/
https://www.facebook.com/Rural-Colours-132311296786757/

notes from the rural colours newsletter about this release:

"These will be made available to order for 7 days only and they will never be released on this format again. There will only be as many copies as there are pre-ordered plus a few additional copies for the artist. Each release will come in a hand printed sleeve on recycled card with original artwork by Katie English who has been doing all the recent Rural Colours sleeve. The cost for each EP is £20 including shipping.  The cost is that way since we are doing an extremely special,  limited run."

coma communion [excerpts from side A and B]

for my participation in this week's junto debacle, i decided to go all modern and use the ipad as instrument/recording device of choice.  for the instrument part, i used a generative-ish sine player patch i built in an app called "jasuto pro" - i let the app play (while feeding it a few root notes on the virtual keyboard in jasuto).  the ipad's signal then ran through an analog fm radio channel (87.5) using a short range fm transmitter.  the receiver for the fm signal was my father's old beat up 40 year old stereo amp(something i used to record old hip-hop shows with when i was a kid).  the knobs on the amp are incredibly dirty so i fiddled with them subtly while doing the initial recordings of the generative sine patch.  the dirt in these pots provided a ton of gorgeous grit and crackle.  for the second take, i ran the original recording along with a new generative 'seed' from the patch back through my analog mixer, then through the tape player on the old amp(using a generic 1/8" - tape adapter) - pushing the eq high on the mixer, creating a lil feedback here, a lil distortion there via the tape head.  i also used an old dod dfx94 delay pedal to get a little feedback action with the mixer.  after a couple takes of this nonsense i finally landed on something that sounded decent.  the final mix was posted a bit using an ipad app called "hokusai".

damn seed [disquiet022-sonicdecay]

a remix of tobias hellkvist's song kaselot.  full album here:
https://tobiashellkvist.bandcamp.com/album/kaskelot-reissue-remixes

"Tobias Hellkvist is a Swedish composer and sound artist, working mainly in the field of ambient, drone and electroacoustic music. Currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark."

released by home normal records in january, 2017:
https://www.homenormal.com/

kaskelot - offthesky remix

a song created for the IRMxTP Part XV - Nobody Loved Laura But Us (Time Heals All Wounds) - twin peaks 2017 compilation series.
https://indierockmag.bandcamp.com/album/irmxtp-part-xv-nobody-loved-laura-but-us-time-heals-all-wounds

symbol of their secret lives

i wanted to explore a slightly alternative approach to this concept of making a palindrome drone sketch. thus i decided to make the arrangement of the sounds and notes within the song's composition a palindrome. see attached thumbnail to get my drift.  

level aibohphobia - [disquiet0023-palindrone]

this is the single pre release track from my upcoming lp "enfolding", on hidden vibes. presales start next week.

www.hiddenvibes.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/hidevibes

all the songs for enfolding were composed in 2016 and used during the 'cele pt. doze' sleep concert in jan 2017, and later refined in 2018.
https://www.facebook.com/events/673139922848256/

special thanks to kirah perle for the lovely vocals+harp on this, and also to matt yarrington for some of the brass bits.

note: this song is, in part, an homage to and also dedicated to the late susumu yokota, who inspired me greatly along the way.

longior aura (obeisance i)

this is my piece for the junto disquet concept project series(more info about that here: http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/info).  the 28'th junto edition's theme surrounds the idea and awareness of the modern netlabel(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netlabel).  i've been a huge proponent of the netlabel scene since it's burgeoning period in the early 00's.  and in fact predating my initial netlabel releases (via the now defunct "autoplate" and "subsource" netlabels), i had  a small foot within the BB music demoscene(that later morphed into the netlabel scene) during the mid 90's - creating chip tunes via "screamtracker" and the 4 track amiga-based "modtracker".  

this sketch/remix of the song "tanku" by Xesús Valle off his free netlabel album "gently annoying" (via the audiotalaia netlabel - http://audiotalaia.net/catalogue/at053-xesus-valle/)  features the more dubby, processed, spacey production style i explored heavily during that period of my career about 10 years ago. i unpacked and reinstalled several old vst plugin packs i used frequently then (like ultrafunk and some buzz effects via the uber buggy buzz wrapper) to help recreate the timbers and textures i often produced during that early period of my career.

i'm still a huge proponent of the netlabel community and work to support it with at least one netlabel release a year.

tanku sketch (disquiet0028-netlabel)

i decided to go a more minimal route, production-wise, for this sketch and focus mainly on the concept and fiction surrounding it.  since this week's edition of junto is inspired by cyberpunk author william gibson's book "count zero", i specifically geared this sketch to encompass the following line that was provided as part of the dogma or inspiration for this 29th edition of disquiet junto:

"The plane had gone to ground near the sound of running water. Turner could hear it, turning in the g-web in his fever or sleep, water down stone, one of the oldest songs." 
~asside from the opening of chapter 17

a few years ago, i actually recorded the stream sample(used throughout this sketch), made a long loop out of it and put it on my mp3 player and used it at night to help me fall asleep during periods of lite insomnia.  the sketch starts with the natural unedited water sample and slowly fades into a more fictional or synthetic version of water that i created via reaktor - a cybernetic, tonal water-like texture.  i also, throughout the course of the sketch, lightly panned the real water recording to the left to occupy the analytical left-side portion of the brain and panned the synthetic water sounds to the right to be apart of the right brain processing plant.  and at the end the two are smeared a bit on fade out - indicating that a sleep state has been induced.  the sketch could be thought of as what the character "turner" from the line above is hearing or perceiving as he drifts near the river into a cybernetic fever sleep.

fever of liquid prosthesis [disquiet0029-countzero]

produced by jason corder for the "salaam for yemen" compilation. rin howell on vocals.  

https://hibernate.bandcamp.com/album/salaam-for-yemen
https://dronarivm.bandcamp.com/album/salaam-for-yemen

salaam for yemen, compiled by hibernate and dronarivm. 100% of profits raised from this album will be donated to the charity war child. children and young people have the right to grow up free from fear and violence, to develop to their full potential and contribute to a peaceful future – for themselves and for their communities.
credits
released December 21, 2018

https://hibernate.bandcamp.com/album/salaam-for-yemen
https://dronarivm.bandcamp.com/album/salaam-for-yemen

Salaam for Yemen

deliquesce (feat rin howell)

a preview snippet from the full 22 minute upcoming offthesky release on handstitched titled: "to break is something sacred"

pre orders available here:
https://handstitched.bandcamp.com/album/to-break-is-something-sacred

beautiful words from tim diagram himself:

Handstitched* update: Limited to 60 copies, offthesky is the latest artist to join the Handstitched* label with his new long-form piece entitled "to break is something sacred". It covers a twenty-two minute expedition, and is an interpretation of life, struggle, enlightenment, disintegration of the "being" (to break) and the quiet, calm spaces that we all experience in one way or another through life (the spiritual existence) [HS29]

to break is something sacred (previewcut)

for this week's 33rd junto edition, based around the manipulation of any and all sounds derived from a turntable(sans vynil), i decided what better way to glorify this great age old device than to create the sketch using one of the most modern music playback/recording devices, the ipad.  

i've recently taken a break from intense music production and, while waiting for that steam to return, i decided to purchase/study a few new music making programs - one of which is called 'auria', a more robust daw for the ipad.  so i created this piece using recordings from one of my cheap turntables, which lent some really lovely ugly dc hum, pops, and scrapey textures as i ravaged the needle through hell and back.  

auria comes with a nice convolution plugin that allows you to add your own impulse responses via simply mixing down a section of your song(all done within the app, neato).  so i decided to turn some noises i recorded coming off the needle through a custom ir and process another stylus needle recording through that. i did this several times over to get some most industrial sounding washes.  i also recorded the more tonal turntable hum into another app called 'beat maker 2'(a silly name, but actually has some very powerful effects, sampling, and sequencing abilities) to compose the more atonal and bass elements i used in the piece.  the 4/4 pulse that occurs is actually the hum sample pitched way down (while playing two similar notes); some nice, unplanned, heterodyning action.

the mix on this excerpt is a slight mess, due to the fact that i'm not 100% familiar with auria's mixing capabilities.  but this is the first piece that i've challenged myself to produce from start to finish all within the ipad(no laptops were harmed during the making of this). it's allot darker and atonal than i'm used to producing, a bit in line with my old 'shelter's end' project: http://noise.offthesky.com/album/excerpt-from-extract-redux . anyway, my plan is to eventually extend this short sketch into a full 10-15 minute excursion one day.

tectonic lisp (excerpt) [disquiet0033-turntable]

this song is in two parts - "the door in the wall" and the second part, "the moth".  both are short stories that h.g. wells wrote and my assignment for this release was to interpret his stories into some form of music.  both stories featured a psychological degradation of the main character with and eerie sort of mood to boot - this is ultimately why i combined the two stories into one song, as i felt they were related in many ways.

this is the original, title piece of the album.  here's the bandcamp page for this release:  http://offthesky.bandcamp.com/album/the-door-in-the-wall

the door in the wall & the moth - h.g. wells book report series (wist rec, 2011)

one of 3 remixes i was inspired to create for artist melodium's track pistoruis.  the official release, in conjunction with abandon building records, is here on bad panda records: http://badpandarecords.wordpress.com/2012/10/28/badpanda159/

this particular remix features sarah chung's vocals, my vibraphone, piano, and bells - mixed and layered on top of snippets taken directly from the pistoruis master .wav file(didn't have stems for these remixes).  was interesting to see what i could do with a flattened .wav file of a song - typically a much higher challenge than creating a remix having the stems to work with.

some tools i used in the process: speakerphone, ktgranulator, masterverb, sir2, some max4live patches and of course ableton 8.

pistoruis - recomposition

offthesky (a morpheme of 'off the sky') - is an experimental ambient electronic musician / video artist from denver.  this soundcloud page serves as the dwelling spot for offthesky's comp pieces, b-sides, sketches, album previews or otherwise unreleased sonic studies.  you can peruse(and even buy) offthesky's full discography(including past side projects) here: noise.offthesky.com

jason corder is also involved in the following side projects: color cassette, muridae, social system, aeris ash, shelters end, and pillow garden.

cover photo credit: sarah miller

offthesky

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