“Finish what you start.” is a good saying. I agree with it. Last year when I released the album Joyless Pleasure I promised to go song by song and tell you the backstory and technical details. Honestly, I got cold feet realizing I would have to reveal more of myself than I may want to. This blog is useless if I don’t add a personal touch and although it’s 80% music tech it’s music itself that’s important right? In addition I’ve had more than a few readers ask I continue explaining each song. I’m already 6 songs into my next album and want to preview some of it soon. Therefore it’s now or never to get into the details of the remaining 8 songs on Joyless Pleasure. The first two songs are covered here: Modern and We Will Get Wicked.

Darkling Lullaby. If I could have written a song like this when I was 17 years old I would have. I didn’t have the skill or wisdom at that time so I wrote it now. It a lullaby to a beutifull young girl who is on top of the world. She breaks hearts. The song is from the scorned and obsessed. One day the girl will be old and struggle like everyone else. When I listen to the song sometimes I picture a father singing it to a daughter in her bedroom. It’s February so maybe this is fine for a Valentine’s day playlist. Especially if you’re single.

The vocals were written in one take but I changed the last verse a few days later. The main synth is a layer of Fairlight CMI choral samples and a Korg Poly 800 arpeggiated. There’s lots of Altiverb reverb washing over the entire track. The kick is a Jomox Mbase 01. The song took about a week to finish. Be sure to check out the Dom Dumoulin remix on the Joyless Pleasure Remixed album (link). The photos used for the Youtube video still (above) are indeed yours truly. I used to climb the slanted tree to the right of me in the photo almost everyday. Behind me you can see the stream that ran through my front yard.

“I am sorry for what the world will do to you. Darkling I am sad to tell you the truth. Love is a lie like a butterfly. Dear I wish it was different for you. You will cry like everyone cries. I am sorry it’s the truth. Darkling I am sad for for you. My sweet Darkling you will cry. You will cry and cry.” – The Horrorist

Buy the song: iTunes, Amazon or Beatport

I’ve been creating some music with Tom Carpenter. He’s the man behind the wonderful Analogue Solutions synths and modules. He did an unexpected “nice” for me and printed my alias The Horrorist on his upcoming Spring Reverb modules. So I guess I broke some new here… yeah AS has a new Spring Reverb module coming up. If you follow Tom on Facebook you can also see his new very nice looking Telemark Keyboard. The first song we recorded is called “Forever for You” although we could change it to Cold Wave.. what do you think Tom? My friend Gabri is also doing a mix and there will be some other tracks. Samples coming soon…

“Your name is imortalised on the new spring reverb circuit board. hopefully it will be released in a few months!” – Tom Carpenter

For more info: thehorrorist.com and analoguesolutions.org.uk/v2/

The video for my song One Night in NYC has now over 1,000,000 views on Youtube. It’s a true story. I recorded it in my mother’s basement. I did the song live in just a couple of takes. I used a Roland TR-909 drum machine, Akai S950 sampler, Yamaha TX81z synthesizer, Mackie 1604 mixer, Shure SM58 microphone and Cubase on an Atari 1040ST. I simply muted/unmuted channels on the Mackie with one hand and the microphone in the other telling the story. I never thought much of the song and was embarrassed to play it for people I knew because it was so freaky. In 1996 I offered it to a bunch of labels at the time who all turned the song down (sorry Lenny). I started my own label (Things to Come Records) and released it. In 2001 Chris Liebing flew to New York and convinced me to let him do a remix. He gathered many other remixers and the track went to #1 on the German charts for many weeks. Warner Brothers picked it up and shot the video above at The Limelight. Live life, be inspirired… it’s the only way to make songs that will connect with a lot of people.

“Hello, my name is Oliver and I’m going to tell you a story. It’s about a young girl… She’s only fifteen years old and has blonde hair and blue eyes.” – The Horrorist

For more info: thehorrorist.com

I was interviewed for Industrial/EBM web portal Side-Line. If your into this type of music the forums are a great place to hang out.

“Chesler, who lives in New York, released a new album this year, “Joyless Pleasure”. You may expect the remixed version of it to be soon out as well. In between recording sessions we asked him a couple of questions…” – side-line.com

Read the full interview: side-line.com/id=47205_0_2_0_C

I am very proud to announce the release of Joyless Pleasure Remixed. Haujobb, Frank Kvitta, Phil J, Tomas Tulpe, Millimetric, Cute Heels, Acrosome, Rumpelfilter, Steinkind, Miss Duckin, Miro Pajic, Humandroid, Raytrace, Mac Vaughn, People Theatre, Johann Afterglow, Dom Dumoulin, Angst and Stamba have all created remixes. Everyone did a fantastic job. It’s available today on iTunes, Amazon and the Andtroid Marketplace. Next week it will be available on Beatport. So do tell me which mixes you like the best. The best way to support Wire to the Ear is to buy some of my music and/or click over to the places this release is for sale and give it a nice review and rating. I wish I could still fit into that grey suit and orange turtleneck.

“Joyless Pleasure is like a jewelry piece but in electronic music.” – morganistik.com

Available now: iTunes, Amazon, Android Market

I’m back from Malta and I had a superb time! For some reason the long travel didn’t phase me. I read a couple hundred pages of the Steve Jobs bio and watched some movies. Here’s my quick movie reviews… Contagion: I thought it would be better but still entertaining. A Better Life: Pretty good and makes you have a warm heart for Mexcian and S. American workers in the USA. Crazy, Stupid Love: Ryan Gosling is good inspiration for the gym and there’s a good enough romantic scene if your into that kind of thing (I am). Limitless: A strange pro-drug movie which is not all that great yet it’s stuck in my mind.

Now to the live show report. The club Tattingers was crowded and the stage area was very tight. You don’t need security in Malta with respect to violence however some crowd control would have been helpful. About half way through the set when I started to throw out some of the new stickers from the stage kids rushed up and knocked the table hard enough that my new Macbook Pro went flying down about 20 feet. The music went off and nicely the kids started chanting Horrorist over and over very loudly. When I am on stage I’m locked in the zone so once the computer was handed to me I just restarted and and the show went on. My Apple fanboyism is stronger than ever because there’s only a very small mark on the corner where it must have hit the floor. I do have an SSD in the thing which may have saved the night. In fact the chanting really pumped me up so much that the rest of the show was so energetic I was completely sweat wet when it was all over. If you make music you have to get out an play live there’s nothing in the world like it.

Pet Duo had a mountain of computers, Ableton Launchpad controllers, CDJs, etc… and held the club in a hard techno daze for hours. I always love performing in Malta and the promoter has promised me the next gig will be in the peak summer season and I get to take his water scooter out for a ride!

To see the full set of photos from the show: click here

For more info: thehorrorist.com and petduo.com

I’m off this weekend to perform in Malta. I’ve played there numerous times before and this weekend I am upping the “military music” with 3 new fairly agressive techno tracks (with vocals). One of the songs called Take this Step has become one of my new favorites and is sort of a successor to Flesh is the Fever or Hard Step Future Force (for those who follow my tunes). Pet Duo are a couple from Brazil who live in Berlin. I’ve met them enough times in hotels, airports and show to call them good friends. They are crazy (in a good way) and militant vegetarians. Speaking of hotels they don’t mess around over there. I will be spending time in the indoor pool for sure and will certainly sit by the Mediterranean. If your Maltese or on vacation there I hope you come out and do say hello in person!

“Tickets are out at €20 from PCWise, Royal Impact, Fact and selected runners. Infoline – 99909808″

For more info: shiftmalta.com/pet-duo-the-horrorist

The new stickers for “The Horrorist” have arrived. They were designed by Maurice Roy and printed at uprinting.com. Maurice created 3 color versions based upon red, white and black. They turned out quite beautiful. The first people to get some of these will be in Malta this weekend!

“Shift & Cubik are proud to be able to bring over the PETs and The Horrorist for a night of bone crunching bass and in your face vocals. Supported by: Faddy, Punisher, Jefaz & The Volt Tickets are out at €20 from PCWise, Royal Impact, Fact and selected runners. Infoline – 99909808″

For more info: facebook.com/events/260324614002446

Above is the trailer for the upcoming Morbid Angel remix album. I’m pleased to be on the same release as Laibach, Skinny Puppy and many other great artists. Morbid Angel is causing a lot of controversy within its own fanbase by jumping genres. Usually artists need to change to grow so I respect what they are doing.

“39 artists from the electro / indus / dub scene, each remix a song from Morbid Angel’s latest offering “Illud Divinum Insanus”. Featuring Laibach, Combichrist, The Horrorist, Punish Yourself, Micropoint, Treponem Pal and many others!”

For more info: stormingthebase.com/morbid-angel-announces-remix-album…

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I have a mountain to be thankful for. I’m healthy, working and making music often. It’s only 1:30 but so far I demoed some software synthesizers I had my eye for a while. I tried the Madrona Labs Aalto, UH-E ACE and the XILS-3. They were all interesting and if your a soft synth person I could recommend them all. I did the the XILS-3 the best though. That said, they don’t compare to my new AS Telemark so I zapped them from my hard drive. I uploaded an “old” demo to Soundcloud as an apple pie was being created in my kitchen. I’m off to my mother’s house soon for the big eating. I really do appreciate everyone who visits Wire to the Ear so that’s one more thing I am thankful for in 2011.

“I celebrate Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land.” – John Stewart

For more info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving