EAR042 - released: 5-25-2020
Meadows & Labyrinths
My Mixed Up Self & Friends Mix
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This is a mix of old tracks I've put together in an effort to explore some of the lore behind the artists, aliases, and music from a recently passed era responsible for a wealth of amazing music. the tracks in this mix are all projects I'm involved with in some way; remixes of my tracks, remixes I did, and direct collaborations from over a decade ago. I've been thinking a lot about this era of music, so I put together this mix to celebrate that. since these are older tracks, I wasn't able to consistently round up lossless versions of each song, so I decided to make it an old school mp3 release, like we used to do "back in the day", as they say. I named it "My Mixed Up Self & Friends Mix" as sort of a nod to my changing artist names over the span of time this music was made, and thought it was appropriate to resurface the Meadows & Labyrinths alias, although it could also be seen as a 'Various Artists' compilation. most of these files are readily available on the net, aside from the Dead Eros remix, which I'm don't think ever saw the light of day until now.

In 2005 my first piece of published music was an EP by Plantre and somewhere around then or shortly after, I recorded two ambient albums back to back and the "side project" Ourson was born. For the next 15 years, I continued to publish ambient as Ourson, occasionally working on more traditional beat-based electronic tracks but almost never sharing them. I suppose I was living vicariously through the artists I admired who were contributing to Earstroke and other labels at the time, and perhaps wanting to do something different... but the beats are in my blood, and part of this mix is not only a showcase of excellence or a reminder of the past, but a setting of the bar; for me, artistically, aspiring to live up to these talented artists. And, hopefully, giving them the praise they deserve.

While curating this mix, I noticed I had unwittingly began the first half with the lighter tracks, which I thought could be taken as a side A to represent "Meadows" and side B representing "Labyrinths" with the darker tracks. the name "Meadows & Labyrinths" was born from a dream of mine from before Earstroke and before I'd ever published any music. the name was used for two tracks that eventually appeared on one of my first albums "Oth", and afterwards, the name was more or less shelved. until now~! anyway, for lack of shedding any more light on these mixed up monikers, here is 50 minutes of some old school electronic music. much appreciation to the artists who I've had the pleasure of working with over the past 15+ years. here's hoping the next 15 is just as memorable~! thanks for listening~!


  tracks:
download:  
  1.  
Meadows & Labyrinths - Flatland (remix by Dead Eros) / unreleased
I asked Dorian to do a remix for a project back in 2006, and he gave me this beautiful mp3 that I've had ever since. half the reason I put this mix together was to show off this awesome piece of work. I don't recall what happened to whatever bigger picture this piece was intended to be a part of, but it's here now, in the only format i have available. much better than just sitting on my hard drive. I couldn't find much on Dead Eros other than his youtube channel, which features most of, if not all the tracks from another unreleased gem "Life In The World Of Existence Is Done". worth checking out if you haven't heard it.
256kbps mp3
  2.  
Milieu & Plantre - 120free / unreleased (?)
back to back unreleased gems from an elapsed era~! I'm not sure where this may have surfaced on Brian's end other than his soundcloud, but this track has again just been sitting around on both of our computers for a decade and a half. I don't remember much about the collab other than some random file exchange back in 2006. It's more or less his production using some of my sounds, if I remember correctly. always loved this one. more about Milieu at milieu-music.com
128kbps mp3
  3.  
Mrs Jynx - Labyrinths (remix of Ourson) / Planet Mu, 2008
this track came as quite a surprise when Mrs Jynx published her hard hitting take on Labyrinths with the esteemed Planet Mu label back in 2008. I don't think there's much of an origin story for this one other than just feeling a sense of nostalgia for how much connection and collaboration was taking place online, especially in electronic music. and for as vast a community it is, it felt small, like everyone knew everyone somehow. very happy to have crossed path with Jynx, among others~! This incredible rework can be found on Mrs Jynx's debut album The Standoffish Cat.
256kbps mp3
  4.  
Plantre - Atmos Wurm (Multilane Pier remix by Milieu) / Milieu Music, 2007
Brian made two excellent remixes for my first ever Plantre EP debuting on Experimedia in 2007. I wasn't sure which direction I wanted to go artistically at the time and I was trying a lot of different things. somewhere before I had ever published anything of my own, I ended up putting together a few strange, kinda sci fi sounding, kinda dark ambient tracks accompanied with 3 remixes for Experimedia, which I later asked to be taken down in some kind of silly artistic hesitation... of course, the tracks are still available on archive.org and I don't mind one bit as these remixes deserve to stay posted for good. Thank you, Jeremy Bible for putting up with me and well done on the great run with Experimedia.
130kbps mp3
  5.  
Afternoon Vellocet - Kings Of The Impossible / Sagmo B, 2007
I remember hanging out with AV and BRTLMN and Wordsalad sometime in 2006 or so and AV had a project open on the computer and invited all of us to take turns adding or modifying parts of the track. it was very much the style of how we hung out: sketch pads all over the coffee table with drawings from everyone in them. no signatures on them as we all knew who drew what. all intimately familiar with one anothers styles. this track and many other awesome and highly experimental works are available on Earstroke's dark side of the moon; Sagmo B
192kbps mp3
  6.  
Plantre - Grubwurm (Laceration Street remix by Asymmetrical Head) / Experimedia, 2005
another remix from the Plantre EP, this time by Asymmetrical Head, who somehow turned one of my hardest hitting tracks into an even harder hitting one. I appreciate how cold and desolate this one feels. it's a perfect "Labyrinth" track. more about Asymmetrical Head can be found on his bandcamp
256kbps mp3
  7.  
Plantre - Cave Loot / self released, 2020
This is the only track that isn't over a decade old. I included it to show what Plantre has become since 2005, as that is still a very recent development. I also wanted to shed some light on an alias that has largely remained unpublished with the exeption of the EP I abandoned and a handful of remixes by other more talented artists than myself. I often talk about having hard drives full of ages-old music that needs to see the light of day, and this is a part of that process. I'm learning that sharing can sometimes be a brave act and often being brave is reward all in itself. also, thought "Cave Loot" had a very Labyrinthian connection, so it all makes sense in the swirling sands of my mind. track taken from The Greenway EP
256kbps mp3
  8.  
A/D - Last Night I Dreamt I Had (Cylinder Abrasion remix by Plantre) / Experimedia, 2005
I was living in a studio apartment in Manhattan in 2005 when I made the music for this remix on a turntable and a Korg Triton. I believe I was recording to a digital multitrack. I remember the vinyl skipping perfectly, cosmically, to the beat during one of my takes while recording. I was really happy with it then, and I'm still happy with it now. There's next to nothing on A/D on the net as far as I could scrounge up. but I remember Abraham (the vocalist) being a really nice dude. track from Redos Vol. 1
256kbps mp3
  9.  
Meadows & Labyrinths - Meadows (Cloudburst remix by Milieu) / Archaic Horizon, 2007
And finally, we end the mix with yet another Milieu remix track~! this one was from a remix album Wasted Magic In The Sound released on Archaic Horizon in 2007, and still available~! Thank you archive.org~! This track was the ender back in '07, and it's the ender now. but this isn't the end of Earstroke~! in many ways, I feels like I'm just getting started. thanks for listening~!
192kbps mp3