Alright friends, the time for Electric Purgatory Part Two is here.  The official release party will be on Saturday July 24 in Columbus Ohio @ Skullys.  If somehow you missed part one, download the promo-version here or order a physical copy w/ poster & instrumentals here.  Here are the details for the electric purgatory part two CD release party:

• Sat July 24th @ Skullys
• Performing at the release party are Greenhouse (Blueprint +Illogic), Toki Wright (rhymesayers), Zero Star (Weightless), & Stonecraft, & DJ Rare Groove
• 18+ to enter, 9pm doors
• CD Version will come w/ free poster + instrumentals like part one and swill ship to arrive by Saturday July 24th
• Part Two features guest appearances from Toki Wright and Aesop Rock
• Promo version will be released on Tuesday July 20th

Thanks for the support!

This show was added last minute, with just over a week to promote it, so please please please help us spread the word.  We’ve never been to Palm Springs before but i think this one will be fun as hell. If you’re in the area come celebrate Spring Break with Weightless.

Word!

So last week i turned in the CD master of the Columbus or Bust album to this pressing plant that we take a lot of CD duplication jobs too.  They start processing the order and then the sales rep calls me and is like “i have a question about this master”

I say “sure, what is it?”, and she says “are all the samples on this cleared and do you have permission to use everything on this record”.  I say “nah, not really, but what are you referring to”, and she says “i think i heard a vocal sample from an Officer and A Gentlemen on there”.  I’m kind of off guard but I’m like “hmmm, well there are samples but that’s not what its from”, and she says that she thinks there’s going to be a problem with their “licensing department” with the samples and they might not be able to press the record.  I basically say hey whatever y’all decide to do just let me know.  I didn’t tell her any of the samples because really its none of her business and also if somebody is gonna catch me then they’re gonna have to do their homework. I’m not gonna do their job for them and narc on myself.

So a day or two later, she forwards me an e-mail from their “licensing department” that basically identifies a couple vocal samples on there correctly and says i need permission to use them or they cant press it.  Wow.

This is just a very small example of everything that is wrong with the industry right now.  This is not a label, or an artist, or a publishing company doing this–this is a pressing plant; scared that they will get sued because they print a cd with an uncleared sample on it, when the truth is there is no precedent for it.  It makes me feel like everybody has been in the pocket of the record industry (that exploits every artists it has ever known) for far too long, to the point where they feel like they have to protect their interests. Its wild to think about, but its a very real situation.

But basically if you’ve ever wondered why you listen to the radio and there’s nothing but keyboard sounding beats there, or artists like DJ Shadow who pioneered sampling on their first album are all the sudden unable to sample anymore and their albums don’t sound the same.  Obviously I’m biased here but the sound of hip-hop as we know or have known it is largely based around sampling, but sometimes i feel like its demise (particularly of the east coast sound) is rooted in the inability of its artists to sample anymore.

And the truth is that as artists sell less and less records the sample police will become more and more diligent because major labels are badly in need of revenue.

And you would be surprised to know that even independent artists who sell a fraction of what major label artists sell are being sued right and left.  They’ll come and get you for something you sampled 10 years ago as if it was brand new.

Its cold out here.

Just thought I would share that with y’all.

Word is blog.

p.s. don’t worry I’m just gonna take the Columbus or Bust album to a different pressing plant that doesn’t give a fuck.

http://www.columbusalive.com/live/content/features/stories/2009/11/26/ca_m_greenhouse.html?sid=108

In the decade-plus since Weightless Recordings began as a street-level hip-hop enterprise, Greenhouse (formerly Greenhouse Effect) has been the label’s flagship group, comprising label head/rapper/producer Blueprint and various other rappers. For Blueprint, aka Al Shepard, it was often an exhausting ordeal.

“Creatively, I had to drive so much of the Greenhouse thing, whereas I think a lot of people just sat back,” Blueprint said. “I couldn’t get dudes to do anything.”

Last winter, after a falling out with last remaining group member Manifest, Blueprint took a step he’d been eyeing for some time, bringing longtime collaborator Illogic into the Greenhouse fold.

Though they had never recorded together as Greenhouse, the pair has a long history. Blueprint produced Illogic’s first two albums, and the rappers have guested on some of each other’s best tracks. It only seemed natural to establish a more permanent partnership.

“He and I have a real similar work ethic in terms of our output,” Blueprint said. “I could sit around and do the production for a whole EP in a week or two. He could sit there and write all his rhymes in a week at work. When we come together, it’s really fast.”

The fruitful collaboration spun out into unforeseen directions last winter while the duo was working on forthcoming full-length Bend But Don’t Break.

“We were getting into the album heavily, and I think I just had a period where everything I was doing sounded really dark and wintry,” Blueprint said. “Usually when I get to that point, I won’t let anybody hear the beats because I’ll feel like, ‘Oh man, this weather’s affecting my sound too much.’ But this time around we just kind of embraced it.”

The artistic detour resulted in the first in a series of new EPs, Electric Purgatory, Vol. 1, to be released Saturday with a show at Skully’s.

They plan to crank out a second volume of seasonal-affective jams this winter and may drop more similar releases in the future rather than expand the concept into one self-contained album. They said they prefer to work in short, focused blasts.

“Most classic albums are short,” Illogic said. “You look at most of the classic albums and they have 12 songs max, usually. EPs are perfect for that. You don’t have time for filler.”

This six-song set is built on ominous strings, gnarly synth blurts and cold, heartless drum machine patterns, a foreboding musical climate that sent the MCs to some of the more shadowy corners of their brains. There’s a distinct feeling of unrest throughout these 28 minutes.

In particular, Electric Purgatory addresses a trusty meta-theme so prevalent in hip-hop: the artist’s struggle to endure and create in the face of hardship.

The Greenhouse guys wisely don’t beat the dead horse of me-versus-the-world martyrdom, but the EP is littered with references to the obstacles facing aspiring artists and the glories of going it alone – consider lyrics like “Waiting on a record deal is like waiting for FEMA,” track titles such as “Never Gonna Make It” and an interlude that declares “99.9 percent of bands never get paid.”

In light of their lyrical subject matter, the rappers had a laugh about how much the hip-hop landscape has changed since they started hawking self-released albums at a grassroots level in the late 1990s.

“When we first started selling tapes, people kind of looked down at us because you could still get signed in that era,” Blueprint said.

Illogic chimed in: “Now people looking at you crazy if you trying to get a deal.”

word is blog

Pick up the Felt record if you haven’t already:

Word is Blog

In light of it being thanksgiving and all that, I wanna say thanks to everybody who has checked out the Greenhouse EP, Electric Purgatory Part One. It’s been a while since Illogic and I have done anything together so we just want to get the music that we’ve been working on for the past year out there, but the response has been very good overall and very encouraging in terms of what we have planned in the future.

I also want to thank everybody that reposted it on their facebook or twitter pages and helped spread it out. That shit means a lot and you didn’t have to do it. A lot of times its easy to get overwhelmed by all this technology and social networking we’ve got at our fingertips, but I guess the good side is that it can be a good tool to bring people together and spread the word about things. I haven’t really blogged much this week because this week has been so damn busy, but i expect to be back on it next week in full force. Right now its all about filling these mail orders, rehearsing for the show on Saturday, and passing out flyers to hopefully get people out.

That’s about all i got.  Have a good weekend.

Word is Blog.

If the above player doesn’t work, use this direct link:

http://greenhousecrew.bandcamp.com/album/electric-purgatory-part-one-promo

As always, please use the share button to help us spread this out on twitter, myspace, facebook, etc.

Thanks for the support!

p.s. this saturday in Columbus.  If you like the EP and live in the Columbus area, we would love to see you out.

Ok.  Here is the latest leak off the upcoming Greenhouse EP, titled “Damn”. Futuristic, rugged hip-hop, brought to you by Blueprint & Illogic.

After you download, please, please, please help us spread the word about song by hitting the “share” button above. A drop-down menu will let you select where you want to share it (facebook, myspace, twitter, wordpress,etc.), you select the one you want, and bam! its done.    Any help you give us in spreading this music is greatly appreciated.  Even if it’s just one of your friends learning about us, that’s great.  The more the better.

The full free version of the EP will be available on Tuesday November 24th, and the delux-cd (with instrumentals & 11×17 poster) will Ship on nov 27th.  Please visit http://www.weightless.net to order the CD.

Word is blog

For those that have questions about the Greenhouse project that Illogic and I will be releasing on November 24th, peep the above video.  Enjoy and please help us spread the word!

Word is blog.