Antisleep: Undercover (5-29-09)

Thanks to Yahya for the font action/color shift. Check the Deviant page here.
Original image by UVprod and Doseprod.

As promised, a new version of Antisleep (that you'll see popping up a lot more) kicks off today. "Antisleep: Undercover" will be an exercise in bad ideas executed in poor taste because it will be me covering songs that probably don't deserve a fate such as this. The first installment is pretty apt since it's literally the last thing i recorded back home. i did the guitars in my apartment just before i moved out. The vocals and additional music were done in a night, in the closet of family i was crashing with for a few days before heading out on the crazy road trip that lead up here.





Leaving behind everything i knew and loved and taking that risk was a bit frightening, especially since i fully and wholly despise the state i was moving to. So to try and maintain some semblance of sanity, i would give all the fear, loss, hurt and anxiety a release valve by singing along with music that meant something to me (In this case, the absolutely amazing IAMX, whom Klay introduced me to). Didn't say it was good or on key, i just kinda belted it out, but it was very much an escape. i wanted to have a gift for friends and people who mean something to me (so they either had something to connect with and wrap themselves in, remember me by if i was involved in a horrible firey accident involving pixie sticks, inappropriate props, hair color and a weird culture of people with an unhealthy predilection for car crashes . . . or just something to throw to hardcopy and burn in effigy. Whichever). So this little cover was made to be that gift.



All of you who follow this Blue Stahli action and support it by listening, spreading it around, snagging the singles, writing in on the blog, myspace, facebook and twitter ...you bunch of crazies and lunatics mean the world to me, so here ya go:




Download MP3


And if you'd like to hear the song actually done *correctly* in it's original form. Check out IAMX. Phenominal songwriting and one of the best live shows i've ever seen. He's got a brand spankin' new album out that if you don't own, you really should.

Un-Broke! Blue Stahli + Rosario Dawson + Samuel L. Jackson = Eff Yes.

i just got word that my song "High Roller Mojo" (from the album Antisleep Vol. 01) will be the theme song to the Prime-Time special "Un-Broke" airing on ABC this Friday, May 29th at 9/8c (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET)!!! Keep listening throughout the whole damn thing because i've also been told that the special will be featuring even *more* auditory assault from me (though i have no clue which songs). The website for the show (which is HERE) describes it as an "unconventional look at the fundamentals of everyday finance with all the facts about credit cards, mortgages, stocks and bonds, investing and 401(k)'s, in a fresh new format combining information and humor." The special features the lovely Rosario Dawson, Samuel L. Jackson, Will Smith, Seth Green and more.

And if, by chance, Rosario Dawson happens to be reading this little entry after being overtaken with the sheer sensual ass-shaking beat heavy power of Blue Stahli . . .

Yes, Rosario, i am all kinds of single.

It's coming...and i'm clearly not X

That's right, i'm looking around your room right now. i don't even care that you're not wearing pants (i welcome it, actually). Just wanted to drop a line to let you guys know that next week (or as it's past midnight, i guess it's technically "this week") i'll be posting a free goodie for you all to snag and make your ipods hate you (or at least, it'll make an impassioned buzzing sound as a cry for liberation). In a post that Klay made a while back on the Celldweller blog he mentioned that i did a cover of an IAMX tune some time ago. Caught me. So not only will that be chucked up here for the 2 people who want it, but i also recorded a little acoustic set i performed last week. As those songs happen to all be covers as well (and i *absolutely* love doing them), this seems like a good time to give a segment like this an official name (plus it'll keep me from being an ass in the mp3 tags). This will all fall under the area of Antisleep, since it's not straight up album material (for those that don't know, i did Antisleep Vol. 01 as material for film and tv and that's why you're spared from hearing my voice in those tracks). Since i'm a fan of both film noir AND things that are even remotely suggestive...



this week will be the first installment of "Antisleep: Undercover" (i don't care if you think it's lame . . . i already bought the fedora and "Harry's House Of Hopped Up Haberdashery" does NOT do refunds).



If you read through that entire block of text, you deserve a reward, so here's something amazing. i am totally in lust with the visuals and atmosphere.




bret

Artist Spotlight a-go-go

First off, thank you HUGE to *everyone* who snagged ULTRAnumb on the first release day! i would totally erect a shrine in your honor and sacrifice virgins (if i could find any around here...seriously, they live in the trees right?). And a big thank you/muchas grassy-ass to everybody who commented here on the blog, at the myspace, facebook and my-spot-for-making-an-ass-out-of-myself-in-less-than-140-characters.



Jimmy Rhodes at FiXT just posted an "Artist Spotlight" feature on me right HERE (in case you were curious as to influences, gear, discography, what music i'm currently singing along horribly with in the car). Go check it out and laugh at my near inability to answer a simple question!

Also (since i forgot to link to it yesterday), jump over to celldweller.com and snag the free Klash Up track (there was a contest running that has since ended, but grab the freaking track! It's free and all kinds of worth it.

More goodies on the way for you soon!

bret

ULTRAnumb

Blue Stahli says: "Holy piss! ULTRAnumb! Finally!"

3, 2, 1...

You can get this sucker right here from FiXT.


Hope you guys dig it. i'm pretty proud of this one right now (though give it a week and i'll hate it). A lot went into throwing this mofo together and no one was spared (baby seals, children, the elderly, memorial pictures of Bob Ross, assholes that talk to the screen during a movie). At any rate, i'm hoping that when you play this *really* freaking loud, it will either keep you from slamming your car into a few pedestrians, or just inspire a lot of spontaneous hip gyrations (NSFW) while wearing . . . not a lot (go ahead and keep a camera nearby, just in case).

bret

Getting closer...getting closer (thanks Mr. Ebb)

Just 3 more days and ULTRAnumb will be unleashed on the world like a 'roided-up, shaved lemur after downing a pack of pixie sticks and losing a bet in Vegas. But before my new single comes for your daughters, there's 2 things i wanted to mention:

(1). We're doing something a bit more fun with this release... Sure, there's the content you're used to, you can grab either just the main vocal single or just the instrumental (and no one would blame you if you only wanted that version, i sing like a cat going through a wood chipper with Steve Buscemi). The cool thing is actually an idea that Jimmy Rhodes at FiXT had. There's a *deluxe* edition of the single which will have the main version, instrumental AND the original demo that i wrote for this song (when i was supposed to be working on Scrape) plus a pdf booklet with pics, lyrics and a little "Behind The Music" type write up where i talk about just how in the holy merciful hell this track went from the demo [which borrows heavily from Balkan folk music, Norwegian death metal, and inuit throat singing] to the lovely little bit of middle-finger-filled-funkiness that you'll have blasting out of your stereo. Klay talks a bit about the mixing process over at his blog, right here, where these hyperlinks point to.


(2). i started working on something ULTRAnumb related last night, purely to give out as a free goodie for everybody. It's not ready quite yet, but in a little while you'll have a bit of audio radness to torture friends and family with. i'll be working on not only getting the rest of my album underway so you guys will always have new singles coming down the pipe leading up the release of the full album, but also extra FREE stuff thrown around just for sticking with this Blue Stahli action and actually listening to noise i make (because free time and sleep are to be feared and executed without mercy).



bret