A Netlabel offering experimental and/or electronic music
 
August 2011:
 Mental Health Consumer - "Ithaca"   Limited Edition CD via Secret Station Records!
 
 
New from Mental Health Consumer, a musical lovel letter to Ithaca, NY, a place often called "10 square miles surrounded by reality".  In the artist's words: "I have been gripped by nostalgia since leaving Ithaca, warmed by familiarity when visiting, always filled with wonder when exploring.  Others may associate the town with different genres or tunes, but hopefully if you've been thre, these offerings will ring true.  Even if you haven't been, i hope these tracks recall your favorite, indescribable place!"
 
This collection, written in 2009 and released 30 August 2011 by Secret Station Records as a Limited Edition CD and mp3 package, is a set of 15 warm electronic soundscapes.  In the labels' words:
 
"This beautiful ode to Ithaca NY is the third Secret Station release from Mental Health Consumer, and is some of his best work. Guitars drenched in delay and reverb mix with electronics and samples, with an occasional beat dropped in. A very nice virtual trip to Ithaca. "
 
 
June 2011:  Catalog!
  The nearly complete Believe in Billy Records catalog is now available:  Gives direct links to all the releases by Believe in Billy artists, on this netlabel and others around the globe!  Happy listening!  Also stay tuned for upcoming releases by Mental Health Consumer on Secret Station and Test Tube labels.
 
 
 
May 2011:  Down Team Up double record release: "Most of This is True/Live and Learn"
 
   The mysterious personas behind Down Team Up are back with a double album probably unlike anything you've heard before:
 "Most of This is True"/ "Live and Learn"  (Click title links to listen/download). "Most of This is True" allows the group the space and introspection needed to craft truly original music, while "Live and Learn" showcases the rougher, grittier, more dance-oriented side of the band.
 
The first part, "Most of This is True" is a new studio recording that further evolves Down Team Up's eclectic sound that has been picking up steam and merging influences by way of their debut EP and last summer's ambitious "Give and Take" record.  This new album showcases 8 tracks of accessible, but slightly unsettling electronic music.  Layers of instruments, some recognizeable, others heavily disguised, play and counterplay, weaving in and out over fractured beats.  Elements of lo-fi emotive rock, found sounds, IDM and aggro/acid/big-beat/breaks crop up, impact, then retreat in deference to what comes next.
 
 "Live and Learn" is a collection of 5 new Down Team Up tracks mixed and performed live. With the help of an enthusiastic audience, the Down Team Up crew power through an improvised set of highly danceable laptop electronic music.  In the tradition of Daft Punk's "Alive 1997" and legendary Detroit techno, sounds and beats are heavily tweaked and oscillated, control knobs twisted, the energy occasionally ebbing but mostly always flowing throughout the long set. 
 
 
February 2011: If I Keep Up This Way-
    New album by Advances in Obsolete Technology is out now!
This new LP, the first since 2008's acclaimed "Promises and Regrets", is a wintry, yet heartfelt mix of electronic experiments. Split between atmospheric soundscapes with a beat and adrenaline-overloaded dancefloor fillers with an emotive core, "If I Keep Up This Way" showcases the genre-bending tendencies and the familiar production style of Advances in Obsolete Technology. The first 13 tracks ar a cohesive suite that ebbs and flows with melancholy and urgency, while the final two bonus or "hidden" tracks, (if such a thing exists in the digital era) end the record with a bit of lighthearted kidding.
 
 
 
December 2010:  Quietly Violent-
 

Back once again with a staggering display of ground-breaking electronic experimentation, Dirty Compilation 2010: Quietly Violent is yet another powerhouse of stunning, high quality electronic music. Passionately written, produced and recorded by the members of the Dirty Forums on www.borndirty.org this unique compilation boasts some of the freshest sounds available for free on the internet today. Get ready for a dynamic journey through the ever expanding electronic soundscape with everything from synth-pop and dubstep to minimal electronica and electro-house. Each track takes you deeper inside the complex psyche of the dirty community.

This is not just another collection of music. Quietly Violent is another installment in a full and varied series of compilations that have featured every possible electronic genre you could think of. The Dirty Compilations bring together different artists from all around the globe to express themselves with a common theme in mind – the results are always astounding. So rarely do you find a compilation of such quality and with such a rich history available for free online.

The cover art was designed by Brian Ruskin, and the compilation will include a version of the "Scary Tale" track by Advances in Obsolete Technology...somewhat different from the versions on the Scary Tale EP . 
 
Tracklisting:
01. Advances in Obsolete Technology – Scary Tale
02. The Explorers – Triangle
03. Liquid Green – Late at Night
04. Tin Foil Hats – Quietly Violent
05. LX Nen – Chiral
06. Second Thought – Ice Haven
07. Sputnikk – Open Up
08. Liquid Green – Desperated
09. Tin Foil Hats – Hast du Angst (Are You Afraid)
10. In The Black Box – Radio Dynamic Twenty-Two
 
 
October 2010:  Scary Tale EP by Advances in Obsolete Technology
 
 
Just in time for Halloween, Advances in Obsolete Technology are back with an 8 track Ep of wildly different mixes of a tune called "Scary Tale".  Originally composed in 2002, the updating and remixing of "Scary Tale" has resulted in versions both heavy and melodic, aggressive and laid back, electronic and acoustic. In the mid-1990's tradition of the likes of Orbital, Underworld and Future Sound of London, the different versions of the title track share some elements, but are also individually unique.
 
 
August 2010:  Down Team Up: "Give and Take"   (updated version 8/9/10)
 
 
We give.  You take.  That's how it works in netlabel-land. 
 
 Down Team Up are back with a summer record, that we think is well worth the taking. 
 
     "Give and Take" opens and closes with breezy, atmospheric keys and nostalgic soundscapes, but is overstuffed with energetic sounds over the course of 12 tracks spanning 52 minutes.  As with their debut EP, the tunes on "Give and Take" each have a distinctive personality and share traits with many styles of electronic music, but are seamlessly mixed together.  Take the time to listen to the entire record as a whole and you'll be treated to a soundtrack for moments both magical and ominous, as well as a few self-depracating sonic winks.
 
   Listen and Freely Download here!
 
Note:  On August 9, 2010, a slightly reworked version with some sound/dialog samples and a bit of remixing was uploaded.  Still free, still at the link above.
 
Nice plug/review from an art/design/music weblog here
 
 
 
June 2010:
 
AViD|Advances in Obsolete Technology:
"Nightly Conversations with Former Versions of Me" 
 
Something very different from the back catalog of previously unreleased AViD recordings - a short album comprised entirely of guitar, recorded live with a 4-track recorder in a Houston hotel room during the Summer of 2004.
 
A stylistic departure from the electronic music AViD usually creates, but also a harbinger of the atmospheric "Promises" & "Regrets" double LP of 2008, these sparse but melodic and atmospheric songs were built layer by layer without any computers or subsequent editing.
 
Says AViD: "A few technological steps and 5 years back in how I approached making music.  I needed creative outlet, but could only fit my guitar, recorder and effects box into my car for a summer in Houston.  The possibilities and tensions were enticing - once the notes hit the metal oxide, I had decisions to make -let it lay or take it back forever by erasing and re-recording the whole track.  So, while there's an immediacy to playing live and settling into a groove or atmosphere, each song really took quite a while to finish. I spent countless late-night hours listening to playback, re-recording, staring at the little LED monitors and pan pots on my 4-track machine, coming to terms with what I was trying to say when jamming along with three earlier versions of me, each with their rough edges and moments of avid earnestness."
 
 
  
  May 2010 -  Mental Health Consumer: "Far Above the World Tonight"
 
 
“Far Above the World Tonight” tells the tale of a forgotten satellite, frantically transmitting and circling the earth in ever narrowing orbits.  Eight distinct tracks in a continuous mix linked by themes, the myriad sounds include live guitar, keyboards, and manipulated digital recordings, effects both terrestrial and celestial, moods both uneasy and uplifting.  A couple of the tracks feature guitar-work from my fellow Abscrap Peter Nester.  Released by the excellent independent label Secret Station Records.
 
 
April 2010:
   First up this month is the debut release from the newest artist  on Believe in Billy Records,  Down Team Up.
 
This very eclectic release contains seven distinct tracks, their styles hard to categorize but owing to lo-fi and shoegaze electronic.  Somehow, the Down Team Up mix these tracks into a 24 minute slab of inspiring and driving sounds.  You'll hear techno squelches and overdriven guitars alongside some natural field recordings and heavily treated sounds of origin unknown. Ok, pencils down, heads up - the Down Team Up (personas Jet Carlo and Billy Andes, producer Brian Ruskin) may seem calm and contained at times, but give them a moment and they'll surprise you with aural assertion...
 
 
 More Recent Releases:
 
 Mental Health Consumer: Backyard Mysteries
 
Mental Health Consumer's first release of 2010 is a freely downloadable record on the excellent Test Tube netlabel.
 
 Here's the press release quote for Backyard Mysteries from Test Tube founder and curator Pedro Leitao:
"...an extremely interesting and uncompromising collection of tracks with a full range of soft pads, techno inspired beats and soothing soundscapes, but also retaining a very curious experimental ambient side, which will keep you interested all through the end."
 
Very kind words.  We're very pleased to be partnered with Test Tube, a very eclectic label with a wonderful catalog of music.    Backyard Mysteries, written in Spring 2009, furthers Mental Health Consumer's interest in integrating field recordings and live instruments in increasingly ambient electronic productions.  And to think, the first MHC records in 2006 were rather hard techno.  The experimentation keeps evolving.
 
 
Nice review of the album and its sound layers from The Stranger (Seattle, WA)

The Abscraps EP
 
At long last, the debut EP of musical collaborations by Peter Nester and Brian Ruskin.
Six songs of angular, melodic guitar lines meshed with electro production. From the heavily layered atmospheres of the opener "Be Home By Dark", to the emotive folk of Peter Nester's live favorite "Bender" to more experimental, minimal jams, Abstract sounds plus scraps of various genres equals the Abscraps debut EP on Believe in Billy Records.
 Skinny Knockdown - Masti Huba: The EP
 
  Listening to this 5-track EP brings to mind Pearl Jam, Dinosaur Jr., The Pixies, fIREHOSE, The Rolling Stones and other practitioners of no-nonsense rock and roll. And yet, these songs have their own identity altogether. What does unify Skinny Knockdown with their influences is their straight forward, lo-fi approach to the music, with a propulsive beat and sturdy blues backbone. Recorded with minimal overdubs, these 5 songs were laid down in one take back in 1995, but still resonate 15 years later. Consider this your doggie bag from a greasy burger joint that was steamrolled and turned into a parking lot more than a decade ago. You shoulda been there.
 
 
   Individual track mp3s (Right Click/Save As):
 

    We're excited to announce that the latest Mental Health Consumer LP, Interpreting the Hidden is now released as a Limited Edition CD by Secret Station Records.  Secret Station is rapidly building a reputation for curating unique, eclectic music, and we're happy to be working with them. 

 Interpreting the Hidden is a journey through hidden sonic layers and ambient atmospheres. The keystone track is a 22-minute soundscape journey entitled "Traversing Through the Walls, To The Sea, And Back Home". Elsewhere, glitchy beats meet live guitars, toy keyboards mesh with field recordings and found sounds.

CD ordering info here
 
 Track samples:
   Please check out our Artists' pages (links at upper left) to find more music!
 

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