Blog Report: "Just Like the Diamond Cutter, You Never Saw It Coming!"

Howdy everyone,

So this will be a nice long and elaborate blog post. Grab a chair and sit down.

First off, there's been another delay for N0_HER0ES that has changed what was supposed to be an early 2014 release into something that may take a month or more to come out. This one is no small delay, rather it's huge and could take awhile to get past.

One of the songs set for the mixtape, may have to be rewritten or replaced entirely, due to the unexpected and unforeseen news that the guest for that song dropped out of the project. As such, I won't go into details, because I still respect the art of privacy (it's not something bad, rather it was a personal decision) and thus, it's a bitter pill to swallow, mainly due to the importance of how the song would affect the mixtape and the narrative planned for the middle chapters, and also puts a yoke around my neck for getting this project done timely.

Also, attempts to start a band have failed spectacularly. Either the people I want to work with are on the other end of MA, work 2 jobs and have no time, are perpetually unavailable, or some other reason I can't think of at the moment.

So the options left now are to keep on trying (the obvious one), or talk to another band and ask if they would consider playing the role of backing band for one night (i.e. The Roots), or swallow my pride, and stick to PA beats (the nuclear option). I'm not looking to compromise my intentions, my goals, just for a quick minute, rather, I'm trying to get the right setting to let these songs shine like they should.

In regards to the collaboration, well, I have a plethora of options, one of them is rewriting the song's 3rd verse, another is recruiting someone else to do the part, and either releasing it on the mixtape or as a remix later down the line. Scrapping it is not an option. Like I said before, no compromising.

This is a tough one. If nothing works, who knows, open it up to the public and find someone that way, I dunno. Like I've believed all my life...it's always the stuff you don't see coming that hurts the most. Sigh.

In other news, next week, we launch "Please Hold: 2014 Sampler" on bandcamp and noisetrade. Be on the lookout.

PN Evolution - coming 1.1.14



See you all later.

-MC Larny

Blog Report: N0_HER0ES, Starting a Band Again, and What Does the Future Hold

Two-for-one this week.

So with N0_HER0ES now having a tracklist and a more solid outlook going forward, time to look back at how exactly this project came to be.

Blog Report: Everything Must Coincide

Hello and welcome!

I am MC Larny, and this is the Blog Report. Normally this is posted at the start of the week, but not this time.

For all intents and purposes, this is a special edition, so read up and grab a chair.

N0_HER0ES: Well, I've been telling myself I'm going to record this week, and the next, and the next. But I haven't, which is weird, because this has been the only thing going on in my mind and yet, something always pops up.

I want to get this done, and move on to the EP (which will have some sort of preview Nov. 1st) and then onto album #4.

It's never easy, somedays it's just a wake up and a "do it now" mindstate. But that's why they play the game or something like that.

I'm looking at a few options here and there in terms of distribution. Either throwing it onto the compost heap of mixtapes and hoping to get noticed, or staying with my guns and putting it on Bandcamp (like I usually do)...and of course, the possible CD release too.

And at this point I would like to unveil the tracklisting for N0_HER0ES.

And now on to some other things:

OCTOBER SURPRISE: Halloween. Be ready.

EP #2: It's ready to go. Recording alongside the mixtape.

So the story behind it is this. It's a continuation of Confessions After Dark, and it's examining the dreams of someone after they experience a breakup, and how somewhere, deep in their memories, the person they love is still there, and this is the last shot to find them.

Again, the first leak will be on 11/1 via First of the Month. So do stay tuned.

PROJECT NIGHTMARE 6: MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT COMING IN NOVEMBER.

Other projects: Stay tuned (as always)

-MC Larny

Blog Report: All A Matter of Time...And Space

Hello true believers,

So there are a few updates on a couple projects coming up.

1. N0_HER0ES: Heading back into the lab to record a big chunk of the mixtape. Still need to get collabs done between a few other people, and there's also the matter of getting a live band together (or a reduced lineup) for shows upcoming. Release date timeframe: Could be early 2014, late 2013.
2. Good Coffee Inc. : on the backburner for a few months. Once N0_HER0ES and EP #2 get out of the way, I plan to get really heavy into this project. 
3. EP #2: First single coming next month. Release date timeframe: End of the year.
4. Project Nightmare 6 (tentative title) : still on track for winter 2014.
5. LP # 4: There's been a lot of songs and ideas thrown around for it. It started out as the Insomniac's Dialog (I still have the bootleg photo of the album art and most of the demos), and then became Backwards/Forwards, and now it has no title. I think the final product will be a marriage of all those concepts. Who knows, if there are a few shows I may play some of these unfinished songs live.
   
   I know that I want to at least get the main production underway around the same time I try and piece together EP #3.
6. Project Nightmare: Days of Future Links - Entering production in 2014.
7. Live shows are coming. Hold tight!

peace.

Here's a Brief Preview Into N0_HER0ES

amazing what a close encounter with death does to your psyche. there's a lot to learn from what I've experienced this weekend...
— MC Larny (@mclarny_acsdwn) April 30, 2012

crucial thing to know is this: don't drive drowsy.it's bad, and it can kill. i almost crashed my car this weekend because of my drowsiness
— MC Larny (@mclarny_acsdwn) April 30, 2012

and i'm still scared. dunno when i'll get over it, but it's a process. this had me a lot more appreciative of life as a whole though...
— MC Larny (@mclarny_acsdwn) April 30, 2012

and the people in my life. bandmates, friends, musicians, neighbors, family... all of them. thanks for being you.
— MC Larny (@mclarny_acsdwn) April 30, 2012

Those 4 tweets were from what I like to call a harrowing experience. Near-death while driving. Something that to this day has faded into the mix I like to call my life, but every now and then, the engineer raises the level and brings it up to an audible level.

When I originally delayed #N0_HER0ES last spring, I didn't expect to add this experience into the mix, but I wound up writing lyrics about it and then weaving a connective thread that took those events, the moments leading up to them and the moments after, and crafted a 4 song sequence around it.

I have a preview of the interlude that will lead you into it. Enjoy.

Blog Report: collaborator #2

OK, so last month I unveiled the first collaborator for N0_HER0ES. It's been a few so I'll give you the details on the next collab for the project.

This starts way back in 2002. Different times, different lives, different paths. So as everyone moves on and grows up and interests change, years later, paths coincide.

Introducing, SamIAM!

So here's the story: Sam and I went to middle school together, and I was at the time slowly getting into rapping, going full blown with the advent of high school. Sam goes to another high school and we barely see each other, probably at least once between then and now.

Flash forward to 2011. Sam's back, with a new rap name and style. I'm pleasantly surprised, because finally my home town has someone who's legit about this rap stuff and not because of Eminem and 8 Mile but because they love it. We re-connect via Facebook and we stay in touch every so often.

During the construction of the mixtape, I came up with the idea of opening this thing up to other people, guests if you will. Sam was on the top of the list of people to ask. He's going to be doing his thing on a track called "Chatterboxes on Mute" which I'm really excited for.

It's funny, you see people from years ago come back into the picture and next thing you know, you connect on the basis of one goal, one passion. I love moments like that.

The mixtape is shaping up to be something special, and I can't wait to share it...but at the same time I can wait because I'm going to make sure this mixtape is launched right. It's my baby and I'm not showing it off until I know it reaches my insane level of quality. So expect it...when it's done (which will be this fall)

-MC Larny saying "P ositive E lectrons A lways C ause E xplosions"

PS. SamIAM is doing his thing live Thursday night. Peep this: https://www.facebook.com/events/155131591353832/?ref=br_tf and come thru!

Project Nightmare - A Journey

The year was 2009. It was anything but a good year for me, in terms of life and activities. I started the year by saying goodbye to a bandmate heading to Italy for the semester. Granted we all knew she was leaving, but it didn't make it easier to take. Eventually, the band I was in fell into chaos and disorder, and within a month, I was cast out of my own band.

Slowly, the bricks were being laid down for something. But I didn't know what.

Blog Report: announcing collaborator #1

So here we are.  The mixtape has started recording (finally) and we got some friends coming along for the ride. Yes, the guy who famously was "anti-collab" has had a change of heart. Blame being in bands and side-projects and seeing how much different and better stuff sounds with others involved, but this mixtape will have a selection of collaborators join in on the synth-heavy activities.

So without further ado, here's a special look at one of the guests on #N0_HER0ES (coming this fall)!

Blog Report 7/29: no heroes is...

it's getting there.

after what has been about a full 6-7 month process (if you want to add the SOF 2 production time, it's just over 1 year), the pieces are coming together for no heroes.

first recording started last thursday night. recording a collab with a friend of mine who you may remember from a while back. also trying to piece together at least 2 more collabs on this mixtape as well.

yeah, collabs. shocker.

but after being in 4 bands in 3 years, working with people seems more...rewarding. time-consuming, but rewarding.

writing is wrapping up this week. I got one more all-nighter session and the fact I may have some quiet time makes recording more attractive.

and then there's a few other things here and there that I'm working on as well.

the second EP will be done probably in the same sessions of no heroes. sounds crazy. but I know crazy.

aces down 2.0 is stalled. but I'm working on it. no singer yet, but odds are I'm probably going to be holding the bag this time. I even gave some thought to bringing back an old friend to do it but...well, I'd rather not get into it.

project nightmare x2 is up next after the recording is done.

the third EP will probably be happening in the end of the year. going to bring in some friends and guests to flesh out the all unplugged songs. yes, all unplugged. but the challenge will be keeping hip-hop traits in a live music situation.

the next full-length will probably start in 2014. and it will probably be a mix of the EPs, the mixtapes, the bands i've been in and project nightmare.

and there's movement on the trip-hop project too. could be a bigger part of Retroflux. will update on the story as time goes on.

now on the live performance front:

• reworking the show to work around the no heroes material. so this means, synths everywhere. glitch everywhere. dubstep nowhere to be found (GTFO)
• there may be a minimal band lineup. 50% pre-rendered, 50% live. yeah like I'm going to run 10 different synths live. you nuts.
• Fall 2013 sound good? OK, how about next month?

So stay tuned. Collabs will be revealed soon. Get ready.

-mc larny

EXPOSE DAY 3: The Cards Are Wild Again

So here's the story.

About 6 months ago, I started writing a bunch of songs. Only thing about it was, it was different. The songs took on a nature of their own. The nature was that, the songs couldn't be done using pre-programmed beats...they had to be made live, with real people, real instruments.

In that breath, the decision was made to reform/restart Aces Down, or at least try to.

I've been working with Andrew Warnock  (ex-Mojo Kick) for the past couple of months to reconfigure the sound. It's been a creative crash-course in what does and does not work. And now the rest of the pieces of this project are filling out, gradually. Still a lot of work to be done. Specifically the search for a lead singer (I'm not doing that..can't sing and unless we want to play hardcore punk, I'm really limited) and probably a bassist.

But I'm excited for it, because I've wanted to do it for years now. It's going to happen. The rest of the pieces will be unveiled soon enough. Really really soon...we're trying to get everyone in the same room to jam....

Not easy. But it never was....

EXPOSE DAY 2: There Are No Heroes

Synthesizers are underrated. Often viewed in hip-hop as the instrument used by everyone to replace the sounds they wish they had, it's time to do something a little more...out there with it. An orchestra of synths? Sure, why not.

No Heroes was built on two foundations. The disgust with popular people and the fancy fashion of them being exposed for who they really are was the first foundation. The second was the sound, the idea behind it. It's a good enough idea for a mixtape. And it will be some of the most on-point material I pen in...forever.

It's not going to sound like NIN in hip-hop form, it's going to sound like a new idea. Listen for yourself.

I would never imagine that it would be such an edge-pusher. And somehow it still is, in light of Mr. West's new release. I'm hoping to finish the production by the end of the month and record in July...for a guy who never does mixtapes, this is taking so long.

I originally intended to go solo entirely with this one...but as of now, the goal is to get at LEAST 2 cameos on there. Could happen, could not, we'll see. It may have crossed into "free album" territory with all the work being done for it.

Enjoy a sample. COMING THIS AUGUST.

EXPOSE DAY 1: How's Your Coffee

Retroflux project 001

MC Larny x Nice Day present: Good Coffee Inc.

Twin Peaks hip-hop. It's as crazy as it sounds.

COMING SOON

Blog Report: Restarting an Old Car

Howdy,

OK, so the radio silence has been for a good reason. The building of Retroflux for one, the work on N0_HER0ES and the planning for a couple of side-projects have made this blog a silent place.

But that's over. Here's a little story about a project on my docket since 2010.

Ever since I planned this EP series out, I always intended for the last EP to be a stripped down, unplugged effort, taking me into really unfamiliar territory that I have merely hinted at previously.

So with that said, this idea has been off and on, mostly because a). Writing a conceptual trilogy is tough, b). This needs real instruments and people, and c). Bad luck.

The furthest I got on this was back in 2010, when I ran through about 5 rough songs with a friend, planning it all out (at the time, I had no confidence with actually directing a song's creation) and with a different idea of who would be a part of it.

3 years later, and the project still lives but the cast has changed. People have moved, or fallen out with me, or whathaveyou.... I did come up with 4 good ideas for songs recently. One of them has the working title "Winter" and if I can get it to be 6 minutes, or close, then it works.

The challenge is to capture emotions after the story arcs towards the ending. And also to not sound whiny. In a way, it's creating a rap hip-hop album, with the limitations of nothing plugged in, no computers, turntables, sampling, etc. Somehow there's a way to retain the DNA of hip-hop production (patterns, 4/4 drumming, chopped up keys, etc) and bring it over to the MTV Unplugged world.

Once the mixtape is out, the real fun begins. Hoping to get it out in the winter months...writing as many sequences for a full story as possible to hopefully start playing around with later on.

We'll see what happens, but it WILL happen.

-mc larny

The Collective Lives: Enter RETROFLUX

A while ago, I pondered this idea of a collective, back in the summer. After being involved in a flurry of projects in that year (4 different ones) and making a fair amount of connections, something clicked in my head.

What if you started a collective?

I rebuffed that initially, thinking "who would want to join up for something like this?" Then I thought it over, looked at other collectives and saw serious potential among the friends and experiences I had in the past year.

Also, I felt that it would be nice to have a creative umbrella for all the upcoming projects I have, and a way to keep an association to those I want to work with/those who want to work with me. It didn't make sense to have 5 different projects or more going without some unifying method, something that could house the different ideas and projects. Sort of like a museum, it has different artists, but all under one place. Sure, they reside in different halls, different wings, but it's all in one place.

So after debating it, I discussed with friends about the idea, and it took me awhile to nail down some details, no thanks to a severe set of distractions early in the year 2013.

But with my mind clear, and my vision clear, now is the time. I'm proud to announce the formation of...

More information, including social media accounts in the coming weeks. Keep your eyes to the skies.

The Clip Show Season 2 Episode 4: Sick of Running

This was the second try to make a song with that title, first time fell flat because I couldn't develop after the piano riff and the drums didn't help with matters either.

Second time though...oh it worked. It worked.

No Heroes Clip Show: Zero Status

Here's a little explaination. No Heroes is an idea I came up with last December.

At the time, there were a few things in my life that I was certain were going to happen. Those things didn't happen. Plans changed.

So here we are right now. No Heroes puts me in a new role, the role of musician experimenting with technology. I'll make no bones about it, in 2008, when I resumed making beats, I was pushing to make things more "real", avoiding software instruments that sounded too fake. Mostly because of Soulja Boy blowing up, and because everyone else with FL Studio was doing it too.

As my music has evolved, I've found synths to be interesting, a reminder of an era long gone. And a chance to craft a soundscape without a full ensemble of instruments. So with that noted, I took an idea...what if you had 4-5 synthesizers playing like an orchestra? A digital orchestration of synths making distorted noise.

This is a rough example of what No Heroes will sound like. Come back for more.

-mc larny

Blog Report: When Larny Wanted to Rock Out (for real this time)

Howdy friends,

I gave myself a few months to think this over. And I think now is the right time to say it.

I know full well that it's prime time to start a collective. But more specifically, I want to get a live backing band going. I've got my reasons for it too:

1. Almost every show has been with live instruments so far
2. I enjoy working with people in music
3. Just rapping over a beat is a cop-out
4. A live band gives more flexibility to arrangements. Songs can be expanded, truncated, re-imagined, etc.
5. The last show was a big reason to get the ball rolling. I was the only guy without an instrument. It was awkward. Good show, but it was off-setting.

However, reality is a bit of a downer in this situation. The problem is that right now, many of the people I want to play with are in a stage where no one's in a centralized location, making coordination of practice and other things, hard, if not impossible.

So in a simple way of saying it, the next generation of the live band (working title is Aces Down 2.0) will not have a static lineup, rather, it will be dynamic and changing. Instead of going through the process of losing someone then blowing it up, it will hopefully work in the fact that people come and go, and pieces will be added and subtracted as the moment calls for it. And before anyone asks, this is a bit different from the untitled project I was working on last year. Not the exact same, but unique enough to avoid confusion.

Another reason why I want to work with a band is because I have a plethora of songs written that quite frankly, would be wasted on the computerized beats method. Not saying beats are bad, but in these cases, live instrumentation gives better energy to the music that's trying to be made. There's a certain anger, a darkness to these songs that I don't think MIDI programming could totally make sense of.

Here's what I'm looking for:

• Guitar: Lead and Bass. 
• Vocalist: Hooks/Choruses and Harmonic Verses.
• Drummer: Able to play mid-tempo jams, can keep a steady beat

So yes, the next wave is going to happen. Hoping this summer or late spring but I have my doubts. Mum's the word.

-mc larny

Winter War Micro-Tour Recap (And More)

Coming off a week where everything happened, the Winter War Micro-Tour was perhaps the most physically exhausting yet rewarding set of shows I've been a part of.

I guess it was an experiment, if I could actually create a show that was reliant on one person, rather than a group of people, and do it over and over again. A sampler of a future life, I guess.

Show #1 at Patrick's in Malden was a warm up, a chance to tweak some things, soundwise and manipulation wise as well. Also, working on stage presence and just focus trying to incorporate the elements of my skill set was a focus. I would say the appreciation I received was great and encouraging. Mainly because I changed my approach.

I stopped trying to be the perfect guy, and instead just went out and existed.

Show #2 at the All Asia was rough to start with. Hoping that a chunk of my friends would be there as moral support kinda didn't happen...so I took the stage, a little nervous, a little afraid.

And what happened was magical. Just entering a zone that for so many nights, I had dreamed about, planned out and mentally prepared myself to step into.

I went for nearly 30 minutes, all rapping. Which scares me, because I think my max was probably 20 minutes, but 30, without a drink next to me, was wild. 

Getting props from the bartender was a huge boost in my confidence as well.

This was fun, very much so. Thanks to everyone who came out to see me, it was great.