➤ Support on Bandcamp: http://music.colortheory.com/album/rent-ft-faded-paper-figures
➤ Support on iTunes: http://apple.co/1VbR35z
➤ Support on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/1N0bfEc

“Rent” is my all-time favorite Pet Shop Boys song, so when Matt Mancid asked me about covering an 80’s song in a current style together, it was the first thing that popped into my head. Turns out it’s one of Matt’s favorites too, so we were off to the races! One full year later (it’s hard to believe, but I dug up our old email thread), our collaboration is ready for release. On my birthday, because nothing makes you feel young quite like realizing your favorite songs are a quarter-century old!

Not content with just one version, Matt produced five different mixes based on three different interpretations of the song. I figured the Club Mix would be the same as the Original Mix with a different beat. The Acoustic version would just be my vocal over piano, right? Nope. All new arrangements!

In case the name doesn’t ring a bell, you’ve heard Matt’s work before. His remixes of “What You Said” and “Pins and Needles” are two of the best in the Color Theory discography.

As for the division of labor, all I did was sing. But the track demanded more than just my voice, so I recruited Heather Alden of Faded Paper Figures to sing along with me, and the result is stunning. It’s not the first time I’ve been upstaged by Faded Paper Figures! ?

We were both nominated for Best Electronic in the Orange County Music Awards a couple of years ago, and they scored a well-deserved win. I shook their hands to congratulate them (it was a fancy televised awards ceremony, so we were all there in person) and I’ve followed their work ever since.

Tracklisting:
1. Rent (Radio Edit)
2. Rent (Club Mix)
3. Rent (Acoustic)
4. Rent (Original Mix)
5. Rent (Club Edit)

Matt Mancid
@matt-mancid
Official - www.mattmancid.com
Beatport - pro.beatport.com/artist/matt-mancid/116710
Twitter - www.twitter.com/mattmancid
Facebook - www.facebook.com/mancid
YouTube - www.youtube.com/mattmancid

Color Theory
@colortheory
Official - www.colortheory.com
Twitter - www.twitter.com/colortheory
Facebook - www.facebook.com/colortheory
YouTube - www.youtube.com/colortheory
Instagram - www.instagram.com/colortheory

Mastered by Resonance Mastering
www.resonancemastering.com

Rent (Radio Edit)

Leaving Eden

Out of the void rises “Thirst Beneath the Brazen Sky,” the latest dispatch from Solarno, rogue celestial wanderer and scavenger of lost legends across space and time.

Drifting through a furnace-white rift of forgotten suns, he glimpsed the blistering agony of Robert E. Howard’s “A Witch Shall Be Born”, where Conan stands crucified beneath a sky like molten brass, thirst cutting deeper than steel.

Solarno dragged that scorched fragment back to the flickering lights and ancient synths of Robot Junkyard Studios and forged it into a slow-burning ritual: mournful cello leads, tuned percussion chanting ancient Orphic cadences, deep pulsing bass drones, and a distant Nordic choir rising like heat haze. The slow march of quasi-religious dread, lush pads stretching like endless desert horizons, and a melody that aches like sun-blistered flesh.

Channeling Tangerine Dream’s cosmic throb and Jean-Michel Jarre’s laser-honed melancholy, another lost Hyborian signal is rescued from oblivion and reborn in analog glow.

From the forthcoming album Sagas from a Mythic Age - fired into the cosmos on Solarno’s battered Chronovox transmitter.

Turn it up loud, fellow travelers - the wanderer’s beacon is burning bright.

Credits:
Composed, performed, mixed, and mastered by Solarno at Robot Junkyard Studios.

My current music pulls stong inspiration from 70s and 80s era Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, and OMD.  With that, I’ve tried to use emulations of the instruments and gear those artists might have likely used. With a few modern bits when necessary.  Below is the primary kit I used for this song.  All work is done in Logic Pro.
Instruments (original synth :: plugin):
•	Oberheim SEM :: GForce SEM-1
•	Oberheim OB-1 :: GForce OB-1
•	Yamaha GX-1 :: Cherry Audio GX-80
•	Oxford Synthesizer Company OSCar :: GForce impOSCar 3
•	Yamaha DX7 :: Arturia DX7 V
•	Korg MS-20 :: Cherry Audio PS-20
•	Jen SX100 :: Audiothing SX1000
•	Mellotron Mellotron MkIV :: GForce Mellotron IV
•	Eminent Solina Mk I :: Artura Solina V
•	Cinesamples Apocalyptica Dark Cellos :: Musio
•	Cinesamples Cinestrings Pro - Celli :: Musio
•	Cinesamples Cinebrass - Descant Horn :: Musio
•	Cinesamples Women of the North - Nordic Voices :: Musio
•	Cinesamples Men of the North - Nordic Voices :: Musio

Selected Mixing Gear (original gear :: plugin):
•	Ampex ATR-102 :: UAD ATR-102 Tape
•	Binson Echorec 2 :: Pulsar Echorec
•	Quantec Yardstick :: Apple Quantec Yardstick
•	Telefunken V76 Preamp :: Arturia Pre V76
•	George Massenberg Labs 8200 EQ :: AMEK EQ 200
•	NEOLD Oldtimer Delay

Mastering Chain (original gear :: plugin):
•	AMEK/Neve 9098i Console :: Brainworx Console AMEK 9099
•	TBTech Kirchhoff EQ
•	SSL 4000G Bus Comp :: Apple Classic VCA Comp
•	Black Box Analog Design HG-2 :: Brainworx Black Box HG-2MS
•	Ampex ATR-102 :: UAD Ampex ATR-102 Tape
•	TBTech Spec Craft
•	Aphex C2-104 Aural Exciter :: Arturia BUS Exciter-104
•	Teletronix LA-2A Silver :: UAD LA-2A Silver
•	Ozone Advanced 12 :: Clarity
•	Ozone Advanced 12 :: Imager
•	Ozone Advanced 12 :: Stabilizer
•	Ozone Advanced 12 :: Vintage Limiter (Tube)
•	Ozone Advanced 12 :: Maximizer (IRC 5)

Artwork: Jim Furey
Label: Chronovox Records

Buy on Bandcamp

Thirst Beneath the Brazen Sky

Buy and download the full MIAMI CONNECTION Soundtrack as part of a fan package: http://drafthousefilms.com/film/miami-connection#oh-my-god

"OUR NEW, CRAZY MOVIE OBSESSION!" —Clark Collis, Entertainment Weekly

"AWESOME & PROOF GOD EXISTS...A Psychotronic Masterpiece!" —Mr. Beaks, Ain't It Cool News

"Hilarious Yet Oddly Touching, Goofy, Yet Totally Sincere, This Is One Of The Most Entertainingly Bizarre Movies I've Ever Seen." —Matt Singer, Screencrush

The year is 1987. Motorcycle ninjas tighten their grip on Florida’s narcotics trade, viciously annihilating anyone who dares move in on their turf. Multi-national martial arts rock band Dragon Sound have had enough, and embark on a roundhouse wreck-wave of crime-crushing justice. When not chasing beach bunnies or performing their hit song “Against the Ninja,” Mark (Tae Kwon Do master/inspirational speaker Y.K. Kim) and the boys are kicking and chopping at the drug world’s smelliest underbelly. It’ll take every ounce of their blood and courage, but Dragon Sound can’t stop until they’ve completely destroyed the dealers, the drunk bikers, the kill-crazy ninjas, the middle-aged thugs, the “stupid cocaine”...and the entire MIAMI CONNECTION!!!

Directed by 9th degree black belt philosopher/author/inspirational speaker Grandmaster Y.K. Kim, the film tells the story of fearless synth rock band Dragon Sound as they embark on a roundhouse wreck-wave of crime-crushing justice in the streets of Orlando. Now in HD from elements sourced by the America Genre Film Archive (AGFA), Miami Connection will return to cinemas November 2nd and home video/digital platforms in December 12th.

Against The Ninja

This is my Ad Astra Version using only the Synthsample Pack of The Unfinished

Ad Astra (Unfinished Version)

This is my entry for the Synthmob & The Unfinished competition. To enter the competition yourself click here - See more at: http://synthmob.com/presets/misc/unfinished-contest#sthash.A9Xea34g.dpuf


Uses sounds from the competition package only, no additional synths or samples
Lots of EQ and layering , some compression and reverb, that's about it

U-he Tyrell x2 (Bergelmir, Pan)
NI Absynth x11 (Sea Legs, Sicolorum, Moonbase Alpha, Absent Smiles, Kephalonia, Mongolian Sky, Dengfeng, Conception, Eight Hundred, Entropikal, Mr Newman)
NI Massive x10 (Nimbus, Sijlent Nijt, Omniclub, Pad Three, Pad Five, Expander, The World, Ukrainian, The Package, Uyuni)
Cinematic Drum Loop - Umebayashi

Valley of the Lotus Dragon

This is my entry for the <a href="http://synthmob.com">Synthmob</a> & <a href="http://www.theunfinished.co.uk/">The Unfinished</a> competition. To enter the competition yourself <a href="http://synthmob.com/presets/misc/unfinished-contest">click here</a>
- See more at: http://synthmob.com/presets/misc/unfinished-contest#sthash.DYlQBO9l.dpuf

SMTUC4 Magma

This is my entry for the <a href="http://synthmob.com">Synthmob</a> & <a href="http://www.theunfinished.co.uk/">The Unfinished</a> competition. To enter the competition yourself <a href="http://synthmob.com/presets/misc/unfinished-contest">click here</a>
- See more at: http://synthmob.com/presets/misc/unfinished-contest#sthash.iNo4Rswb.dpuf

Bloom

From the forthcoming album "On The Horizon."

Release Date: 07-24-2013
Label: Cold Busted

Mojo Rising - Watcha Doin (From forthcoming album "On The Horizon" - Busted 81)

The Solarno music project from Jim Furey explores ideas of science, technology, and history through the medium of electronic music and digital production to achieve his vision of “creating aural beauty one byte at a time.”

Fusing the simplistic nature of early 8-bit music, today’s powerhouse digital synth wonders, and a background in classical and jazz performance, Solarno, a Los Angeles based producer, conjures up the joy of danceable electronica with the depth and richness of a Hollywood movie score.  Every song by Solarno has a story behind it, and the goal is to create an experience and atmosphere of exploration, not just of the music itself, but also the inspiration behind it. 

Solarno started like so many with a Commodore-64 in 1986 in the sleepy Los Angeles suburb of Simi Valley.  He spent countless hours writing both original pieces and covers in an attempt to replicate the songs he loved as a teenager.  Genesis, Pet Shop Boys, Michael Jackson, and many others all received the 8-bit treatment during the late 80’s.  The early 90’s saw Solarno further expand his style as he incorporated the disparate influences of the Madchester sound of England, the techno styles of Detroit, and the rave scene of Los Angeles.  By this time Solarno was fully engulfed in the computer as a musical instrument and samples and emulated synths were his axes of choice.  The 2000’s were a time of refinement for what would become the signature Solarno sound, that of simple, accessible electronic melodies over alternating dance hooks and rich cinematic textures.  Orbital, The Shamen, and Kraftwerk all rank high on the list of influences that went into the development of his style.  

Fall 2008 saw Solarno’s first commercial release Remotely Programmed Moonshot, an album influenced by the US/Soviet space race of the 1960’s.

Fall 2010 saw the release of Robot Junkyard, and experiment in simplicity where Solarno limited himself to just one synth for the entire album.  This was followed in the summer of 2011 with the bombastic Robot Junkyard - Derivative, and dance inspired re-imagining of Robot Junkyard where the gloves were removed and anything went.  The results are a varied tapestry of sound with each track a powerful reinterpretation of the original.

Currently Solarno is working on a multi release project that explores the nature, science, and history of color.  The first two EPs, Kyanos and Rauthaz were released in October 2011 and February 2012 respectively.

Thirst Beneath the Brazen Sky

solarno

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