[Indiegogo Crowdfund] to score back 145 Lackluster/Esa Ruoho records from U-Cover Records, Belgium.

[esaruoho]

I think it's safe to say that a lot of us from the late 90s/early 00s were young twats.

 

Little more than half way there! :) I went for the $50 perk, but if the $76 perk was there before I probably would have went with that instead!

 

Some of us continued the trend! (I'm only referring to me).

 

I think it's possible to switch perks, if you like, at least someone claimed they were going to. On the other hand, depending on how this campaign goes (if we get to stretch-goals (it'll cost me $154 to list 3 albums up on CDBaby, for instance - and one would definitely need to be Slice (since if this campaign succeeds, I'll be able to send physical copies to CDBaby) and one really needs to be Wrapping, since "Gid" on Spotify has digital clicks in it and "Close Enough" on Spotify actually skips..) 3rd album I wouldn't know which one to pick, probably either Lexicon of Goods or Container..), I might just wind up doing a free-for-all week for the Merck + deFocus MP3/FLAC packages.. if i get the artwork sorted out.

[esaruoho]

Does R U Oho? exist digitally as flac/wav in a context that I can purchase (though strapped I'd forgo a meal to have that one)?

 

Hi Goiter Sanchez - I'm actually meeting a friend tomorrow to lend him a few copies of Merck Squadron Sampler 12", Merck R U Oho? 12", Merck Showcase Sampler 12" and Squadron CDs so he can take photos of the records closeup and work his magic to make the Merck Package (bandcamp release) a reality.

 

Will keep WATMM posted.

[Goiter Sanchez]

 

Does R U Oho? exist digitally as flac/wav in a context that I can purchase (though strapped I'd forgo a meal to have that one)?

 

Hi Goiter Sanchez - I'm actually meeting a friend tomorrow to lend him a few copies of Merck Squadron Sampler 12", Merck R U Oho? 12", Merck Showcase Sampler 12" and Squadron CDs so he can take photos of the records closeup and work his magic to make the Merck Package (bandcamp release) a reality.

 

Will keep WATMM posted.

 

:D

[esaruoho]

 

 

Does R U Oho? exist digitally as flac/wav in a context that I can purchase (though strapped I'd forgo a meal to have that one)?

 

Hi Goiter Sanchez - I'm actually meeting a friend tomorrow to lend him a few copies of Merck Squadron Sampler 12", Merck R U Oho? 12", Merck Showcase Sampler 12" and Squadron CDs so he can take photos of the records closeup and work his magic to make the Merck Package (bandcamp release) a reality.

Will keep WATMM posted.

:D

Working on a stretch-goal to try and reach $1111. will post about it tomorrow via mailinglist etc.

 

[esaruoho]

Ok, here we go.

 

Reached $600. To celebrate, posted an addition to the tons of music on YouTube in HD quality (I'm talkin about 11 hours of music in total on the LacklusterOfficial YouTube Channel).

 

And now, the stretch goals.

 

$1111 - Everyone who took part in the campaign gets two previously unreleased Lackluster EPs, exclusive to the campaign - won't be released anywhere else, and a Bandcamp download of Slice & Spaces -albums.

 

$1354 - Everyone gets Merck Package and Lexicon of Goods, in addition to Slice, Spaces & the exclusive EPs.

 

And yes, Merck Package is now up for pre-order.

 

Goitar Sanchez & many others, you've got yourselves to blame for this.

 

Now at $866 and rising. Still 30 days to go. Woo!

 

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/to-purchase-145-lackluster-cds-to-re-sell-them/x/373141

[esaruoho]

Ok, we've reached $999. I've also enabled PayPal . I can't believe I started the campaign 30 days ago and didn't enable PayPal.

[esaruoho]

 

:D

 

Things are amazing! Check this out.

Yep, I've taken $80 out of the crowdfunding campaign to score back a hundred or so Merck Records CDs including 20 Lackluster: Showcase CDs! Once these arrive, I'll add them as perks. Awesome!

[Guest chunky]

watmm

do a merck group interview please

[Goiter Sanchez]

 

 

:D

 

Things are amazing! Check this out.

Yep, I've taken $80 out of the crowdfunding campaign to score back a hundred or so Merck Records CDs including 20 Lackluster: Showcase CDs! Once these arrive, I'll add them as perks. Awesome!

 

Very happy for you Esa! I'll be able to afford to buy things from you soon, maybe before this campaign ends!

[esaruoho]

Awesome news! We are most definitely traveling to London on the 8th of April till 15th of April, to pick up 73 vinyls from deFocus Records (Container LP, Wrapping LP, Foc349 12", Foc354 12"). We're gonna post some additional perks, if someone takes me up on it, I'll bring my laptop and play an hour or two of Lackluster (like a jam improv thing) in London. We're playing around with "UK only: Lackluster set in your livingroom" type of idea, to try and gauge if there's interest.

 

It's kinda scary, but let's see what might/could happen.

[esaruoho]

Phase#1 of the crowdfund campaign is over. Here's a video of the U-Cover unboxing. And Update#6:

 

 

Update#6: Today is the day we've all been waiting for. We have just unboxed 145 CDs from the Belgian U-Cover Records. Yes! They have actually arrived in great shape.

But that's not all the news we have for this update!

We have now doubled the initial goal of $600, reaching a total sum of $1226, with 12 days left of the campaign. A thousand thanks to all of you!

So, if the CDs from U-Cover Records are here, that's the end of the campaign, right?

Hogwash! We can accomplish more, and we already have.

After brief negotiations and a PayPal transfer, the ever-mercurial Merck Records hailing from the sunny Miami beaches down in Florida, has sent us 136 CDs via the ever-reliable USPS.

It has been ricocheting all over the place for the past 8 days, from Miami to Long Beach to Kentucky to Philadelphia - and is currently crossing the Atlantic Ocean, arriving hopefully right before the end of the campaign.

So, is that all? No. We've reached the first stretch goal of $1111. This means that each and every one of you has qualified for two previously unreleased Lackluster EPs, exclusive to this Indiegogo campaign, as well as Bandcamp download codes for Spaces & Slice.

But let us reach for new heights. You might remember that we mentioned about a hidden stash of an unquantified amount of deFocus vinyls. We've done some detective-work and have found out that there are exactly 73 vinyls located at an undisclosed private location in the UK. We're getting them back, with your kind assistance.

In light of the brilliant Merck & deFocus news, we've decided to add a few more perks and a final stretch goal. You can find the perks on the right side of the campaign page. These include a sweet Slice+Showcase+Merck bundle, a quadruple deFocus vinyl bundle (Container,FOC349,FOC354,Wrapping) and a triple deFocus vinyl bundle (Container,FOC349,FOC354). And now on to the stretch goals.

First, the second stretch goal. The low hanging fruit of $1354 is so close that we can almost taste it's moist, ripe flesh on our lips. That's when everyone who has so graciously supported the campaign gets Bandcamp download codes for Merck Package and Lexicon of Goods LPs (Read the glowing Igloomag review here) at the end of the campaign.

The third stretch goal of $1888 gets everyone a digital download of two exclusive live recordings created exclusively for this campaign, an hour each. The first will be a Esa Ruoho ambient drone set and the second one will be a Lackluster special. You can listen to excerpts of previous recordings here.

Enjoy, and most of all, have fun. And thank you all.

[esaruoho]

 

Here is the Merck unboxing. Only deFocus vinyl left to be rescued from the UK.

 

Everyone who pitches in to the crowdfund campaign ( at http://igg.me/at/LacklusterSlice ) gets these digital downloads (MP3/FLAC)

 

1x Lackluster: Lexicon of Goods Lp

1x Lackluster: Showcase Lp

1x Lackluster: Slice Lp

1x Esa Ruoho: Spaces Lp

1x Lackluster: Merck Package Lp

 

1x Lackluster previously unreleased EP #1 - exclusive to the campaign (MP3 Only)

1x Lackluster previously unreleased EP #2 - exclusive to the campaign (MP3 Only)

 

and if we reach 1888$ - everyone will also get a live gig of Esa Ruoho ambient drone material and a live gig of Lackluster material - performed and recorded in 2015 exclusive to the campaign

 

Still 4 days left.. Almost gone!

[esaruoho]

Thanks everyone! The campaign finished at 1950$, which was more than one could have ever expected. We reached 3 stretch goals which was amazing too. U-Cover CDs, Merck CDs and - it seems - deFocus vinyl are all safe & sound (well the deFocus vinyl I still need to pick up from the UK).

 

I left the campaign running in InDemand mode, so anyone can donate&request perks if they like. So it's like a zombiegogo.

 

http://igg.me/at/LacklusterSlice

 

Thanks heaps to Joyrex for making this happen, WATMM made $157 happen with the gracious help of 4 people!

 

[esaruoho]

nice man, lets try and get that to a nice round 2k gang

use the extra cash to pay for a watmm subscription for a few years

esa: i would like to know if you were starting new tracks every day? there seems to be a massive volume of work, i can't imagine how so many hours were spent so efficiently hah.

 

I was starting maybe 2-5 trax every day around 1995-2001 and 1-3 2002-2005..

[esaruoho]

thanks for the response!

i think most people would think even starting one a day would quickly become unmanagable. throw in pre-daw technology and that would be a real nightmare. i seriously don't know how people find the time to pay rent, study, deal with life shit and make tons of music. not just that but music that is actually finished enough to be released. i find if i start something it's at 80% very quickly but the last 20% is tough. you kind of have to have a taste for knowing when something sounds finished and i often completely lose that due to ear fatigue / overlistening and analysing a song.

It was actually way, way faster to do stuff with a tracker that has no VST/AU instruments or effects or Midi, than to do stuff on a modern full-fledged DAW complete with audio tracks, software instruments, outboard gear, etc.

 

You'd just hammer stuff out. Cos all you had was samples. Which is why I'm still lookin' to re-build a DOS capable machine and get back to Impulse Tracker. All you really need are a bunch of good samples, that specific workflow that you prefer (in my case, ScreamTracker3/ImpulseTracker2/SchismTracker work-flow) and no internet.

 

As regards "music that is actually finished enough to be released" - that's one thing I've learned to not think about. After having spent 2-3 weeks per track (numerous times) listening to it endlessly, so that when I go to an ATM machine, it's still playing in my head, because all the notes and beats are so ironed into my head, and realizing that the track wasn't really that awesome to begin with - I got to comprehend that sometimes that track you knocked up in 45 minutes to an hour is actually better than that track you've been fiddling around and adding miniscule edits to.

 

Hence why I can fully understand how Travis Machinedrum decided to just start doin tracks real fast and then spend a little bit longer on mixing them. Otherwise you fall asleep, and become one of those "let me just adjust this with microscopical precision, hmm, doesn't sound at all different to how it sounded 9 hours ago, but I sure put in the hours!" -type people, like I've run the risk of becoming.

 

Sometimes the 80% is enough and the 20% actually ruins it. I've heard this between "this version" and "finished version" from multiple artists, and on the demoscene too, the track/demo gets more complex, or has "more", but becomes less.. Like let's say you have a really simplistic melody that's really catchy. Then you go in and make it really subtle, because "that's what it should be like". the immediacy/visceral nature of it is lost. Can ruin a track by becoming so familiar with it that you start pulling it to pieces.

[Guest]

Got the CDs in my car now. Thanks again, Esa!

[Soloman Tump]

Yep received my pack of CDs and will start my downloads this evening.

 

Must be a real buzz getting all this off the ground!

[esaruoho]

Got the CDs in my car now. Thanks again, Esa!

 

Wow, so they arrived! Thanks for reporting back! :)

[esaruoho]

Yep received my pack of CDs and will start my downloads this evening.

 

Must be a real buzz getting all this off the ground!

 

Awesome!! It was real stressful sending the CDs and Vinyl out, but hearing back from 3 people (thus far) has been really helpful. I still have about 4 vinyl packages to send out after we return from the UK, picking up the deFocus vinyl.

 

Please do let me know how the downloads succeeded. There's been issues with the code-mailout having been sorted as spam, and other such stuff. so I'm definitely hoping that that won't be an issue. Still kind of amazed at the opening rate of the mailing-list mail-outs, as it's been opened by about 20 people max out of 60..

 

Gonna have to mail out the unused codes once more, in hopes that it will help.

P.S. The campaign is still going on in Zombiegogo mode ( http://igg.me/at/LacklusterSlice ) so if anyone missed out on the deFocus / Merck vinyl or Merck/U-Cover CDs, do let me know.

 

I'll be in the UK between 8th and 15th of April, picking up the deFocus vinyl, so if someone from around London has an urgent craving for Container/Wrapping/FOC354/FOC349 12"/LPs please mail me directly at esaruoho@gmail.com! :)