On December 12th we released the latest Obliq Recordings record. This was the inaugural 7″ in a series of four celebrating the Earth’s wobble by my latest project, Chillout Enforcement Crew. We have been wanting to release a flexible record or lathe cut for a while, and so this idea hit me. Why not do another floppy diskette release?
For those not in the know, back in 2000 my other project Multicast released Sympathen, a limited edition of 300 7″ records in a retro floppy diskette–the single from our forthcoming LP Rural Sessions. That time was the height of electronic music distribution, and the unique packaging sold this release out immediately; mostly to Europe. We really had fun with the design of that release, so I decided to research to see if we could pull that off again, this time in a very limited run.
I looked around for the contact information from the manufacturer of the 8″ floppy diskettes (they were new from a firm still making them for mainframes, but they were trash from being tested for Quality Assurance, so I worked a discount!), but I couldn’t get a hold of that firm anymore. I ended up finding a vintage computer collector on Etsy that had some for sale. Luckily he was cool as I told him about our project and he sent me four different manufacturers in quantity of 25 each! Perfect for our “Earth’s Wobble” four seasons theme. They also came with cool original blank sleeves so I could print upon them!
For the design, I downloaded some free fonts with an arcade style vibe. I ordered some small labels and laser printed the design on them. I used one label for the diskette label (like old-school diskettes had) and then another for the back of the picture disk record. I used a rubber stamp that we made for the original floppy release so we could have some consistency between the 17 years between releases on our label. I decided to stamp on the sleeve and also on the back of the record. Finally I found a nice gold outlined sticker tab at a local craft shop for the write protection, which will seal the record inside the floppy and retain the 80s vibe I was looking for.
Looking forward to the next three releases, all earmarked for 2018!
Construction begins. Cutting out the download code coupons.
Started assembling, but haven’t stamped the sleeves.
Letting the stamp dry.
Closeup of the drying records
Stamping the sleeves!
Package with all the sides showing
The finished stack. Ultra limited to 25 copies!
New release limited to 333 vinyl copies. Replicast includes Multicast members Jeff Holland and Dave Alexander; with Eric Allen from Apples in Stereo; free-jazz sax player Zach Shaw. Replicast is a loose collective appling the techniques and technology that Multicast has used for years.
Released in 2002 in both compact disc format and limited edition vinyl box set. 300 CDs were available and 88 4x 7″ colored vinyl Box Sets with hand crafted artwork were available.
Since 1996, projects including Multicast, Ted Sturgeon and Freq Modif represented this perspective to the contemporary electronic ideology, but with a more psychedelic and improvisational twist. From tracks constructed with the basics of noise and rhythmic sequences to full on melodic washes, Obliq artists sculpt aural images aimed not at the dance floor but the armchair. These artists employ methodologies of sequencing not too familiar with modern technology, but rather more traditional and improvisational in approach. Multicast, for example, creates most of their tracks from live, late night sessions. Guitars, electric mandolins, kalimbas, modular synthesizers, analog sequencers & effects and digital synthesizers are all part of the Obliq arsenal located at the Larkspur, Wallsteet and Erie facilities. Think of Multicast as an ever-evolving music project. A revolving door of ideas. A meeting of the minds from various individuals involved with the other projects within Obliq. It’s the flagship and corner stone project and even further an ideal representation of the Obliq record label as a whole. If you listen closely to the Multicast material, you will notice a sort of mesh of musical influences and backgrounds from all individuals involved yet close attention is paid in how the various parts are combined. The physical landscape of rural Colorado surrounding members of Multicast play a big part in the environmental influences in the music itself. These are wide-open spaces with room enough for ideas to flourish away from the confines and distractions of an urban environment. This isn’t to say that Multicast lives in a music vacuum or an environment void of art and music culture. Rather, the geographic location gives the project an opportunity to observe the world of electronic music from the outside in and not consumed by a metropolitan music clique. Therefore, members of Multicast rely on each other to be energized and inspired to create and follow through with ideas and bring them into being. A lot of the popular software-based music making tools — the ones dominant in modern day electronic music — are put aside which allow Multicast to focus on improvisational and organic composition. All members of Multicast are DJs, but styles may be surprising as compared to their musical output.
