Welcome!
Al right guys and girls, here we go.
As we are getting impatiently close to the release of our five-years-in-the-making third album, it's time to begin putting the pieces in place for it's arrival.
So, what is this blog?
This is the new Envinity blog, the first of several new additions and changes we have prepared. We're going to roll them out one at a time, as we begin the home stretch to the fast approaching release date.
This blog will be the main point of communication for us, from here on out, and overall it should translate into a much better experience for you as well.
Why this blog?
Well, since Myspace is cluttered with spam and advertising, and it has become harder and harder to keep up with those of you who we'd love to talk with. So we needed a much better, more direct and simpler solution to communicate with our fans and friends.
What's better about it?
Using this blog as our main source of information will streamline many things for you.
For one, you can subscribe to our RSS news feed in your favorite feed reader, and all of our updates will magically appear for you, just moments after they are published!
Or, if you prefer, simply put in your email address on the right, and every update, piece of news, and bonus content will come directly to your inbox.
You can also subscribe to the comments and stay on top of what people are saying on this blog. (Assuming anyone says anything)
Nice eh?
(Confused about RSS? Read my informative, yet sarcastic blog post about it)
Are you actually going to be communicating this time?
Sorry, you're right. We've done a piss-poor job of keeping in contact with you in the past.
We've been dicks, and we apologize.
But yes, we will be much more active this time. We already have a bunch of interesting content we are working on for this blog in the coming weeks. With luck it should be entertaining and mind-blowingly insightful. Stay tuned (or sub'ed).
What about the Envinity website?
Yes, that has been sitting dormant for quite some time hasn't it?
A brand new redesign has been in the works for a while now, and will be launched when the album is ready to go. The new design is pretty damn cool, if I'm allowed to comment on my own things (which I apparently just did).
Subscribe via email or RSS to find out when it's ready.
Where's the album?
It's almost ready. Want to know when you'll be able to experience it? Subscribe to the blog and be the first to know.
What's it called?
Wouldn't you like to know! I'll tell you, later. ;)
What does it sound like?
You'll find out...
Please subscribe to this blog, as we'll be back very soon (promise) with some more updates and some interesting insight into the journey that we've traveled to reach Envinity III.
Talk to you soon,
NIKO
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
ENVINITY BLOG FAQ
WHAT IS THIS?
It's the blog for all the news, updates, and philosophy of Envinity.
WHAT IS ENVINITY?
Envinity is a progressive musical art project.
WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?
How about this instead: Envinity is a band. Better?
DO YOU HAVE A MAILING LIST?
Mailing lists are so 2002.
Simply click 'subscribe' at the top right to access our RSS feed for both posts and comments and receive near-instant updates without having to visit this site over and over to see if there is anything new. You can also add your email to the box on the right, and have all of our updates magically come right to your inbox.
HOW DO I USE RSS?
For a humorous explanation of RSS, check out this blog from my King Of Deprecation blog called "How To Make The Internet Come to You, Sexually."
HOW DO I CONTACT YOU?
Once we get some new things in place, we'll be able to tell you. For now, we read all the comments on this blog.
More FAQ later...
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Envinity: Now With 20% More Cabbage!
Greetings light acquaintances,
I'm going to wager that some time has passed between my last update about the little premier party, and this. Do I win the wager? Damn right I do. Penny up!
I'm sure there are at least two to three of you out there that are still interested in what is going on with Envinity, yes? (Maybe that estimate was too high).
For those of you who are staying, first take off your shoes, and second, give me a back rub. Mmmmm.
There was a tear in the fabric of space time a few weeks back as Bryan, John, Eric and myself all managed to convene at the same time and place for a fairly involved photo shoot. I'm going to be purposely vague about the details of the shoot as they coincide strongly with the story and overall theme of the new album (and I still have to save something for later, or maybe all of it. Suckas.) Point is, things were surprisingly efficient and the graphics I've been concocting with the photos look absolutely bad ass (that is a hip slang term for 'neato').
I may or may not post some of the graphics sometime. Depends on my mood (which is pretty shitty these days).
Music wise, I'm being super anal with everything, and as a result, have started my millionth pass of mixing, since each time I do a new full mix (which takes a long time by the way, and is really exhausting work), I hear something else that I want to change or fix. I promise that this will be the last major pass, and, assuming I ever get time anymore, I'll move to getting the master all set up. I've already tested some recent mixes out with my mastering software configuration, and it sounds really amazing.
What then you ask? Well, I still need to get the new website up and running, since you may have noticed that I took the old one down about. . . . oh . . . two years ago? I've been really apathetic and did not want to update anything. So I guess I accomplished my goal in that respect eh?
The new site will be very involved and different from anything I've done so far, as it will tie in heavily to the story and environment of the album. Details once I actually get working on that.
Everyone has been really busy lately, including myself, making working on the things I do for myself out of love quite difficult. I have very little time, energy or even money at the moment, but I've been slowly progressing on this record and everything that it encompasses because I truly do believe in it. I know that's a biased statement coming from me, but who cares.
This year, sometime. Promise. Perhaps, if I'm not wallowing in cottage cheese, we may even get out there again and perform some of this ridiculously crazy new stuff.
Perhaps.
I hope you guys are doing better then I am, and I'm sorry to have kept you waiting five years for new music. I can only trust that what I will give you will be completely worth the wait.
Toodles,
NIKO
I'm going to wager that some time has passed between my last update about the little premier party, and this. Do I win the wager? Damn right I do. Penny up!
I'm sure there are at least two to three of you out there that are still interested in what is going on with Envinity, yes? (Maybe that estimate was too high).
For those of you who are staying, first take off your shoes, and second, give me a back rub. Mmmmm.
There was a tear in the fabric of space time a few weeks back as Bryan, John, Eric and myself all managed to convene at the same time and place for a fairly involved photo shoot. I'm going to be purposely vague about the details of the shoot as they coincide strongly with the story and overall theme of the new album (and I still have to save something for later, or maybe all of it. Suckas.) Point is, things were surprisingly efficient and the graphics I've been concocting with the photos look absolutely bad ass (that is a hip slang term for 'neato').
I may or may not post some of the graphics sometime. Depends on my mood (which is pretty shitty these days).
Music wise, I'm being super anal with everything, and as a result, have started my millionth pass of mixing, since each time I do a new full mix (which takes a long time by the way, and is really exhausting work), I hear something else that I want to change or fix. I promise that this will be the last major pass, and, assuming I ever get time anymore, I'll move to getting the master all set up. I've already tested some recent mixes out with my mastering software configuration, and it sounds really amazing.
What then you ask? Well, I still need to get the new website up and running, since you may have noticed that I took the old one down about. . . . oh . . . two years ago? I've been really apathetic and did not want to update anything. So I guess I accomplished my goal in that respect eh?
The new site will be very involved and different from anything I've done so far, as it will tie in heavily to the story and environment of the album. Details once I actually get working on that.
Everyone has been really busy lately, including myself, making working on the things I do for myself out of love quite difficult. I have very little time, energy or even money at the moment, but I've been slowly progressing on this record and everything that it encompasses because I truly do believe in it. I know that's a biased statement coming from me, but who cares.
This year, sometime. Promise. Perhaps, if I'm not wallowing in cottage cheese, we may even get out there again and perform some of this ridiculously crazy new stuff.
Perhaps.
I hope you guys are doing better then I am, and I'm sorry to have kept you waiting five years for new music. I can only trust that what I will give you will be completely worth the wait.
Toodles,
NIKO
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Envinity 3rd album listening party (with photos)
A few weeks ago I held a small get together for some close friends of the band to premier the long-in-the-works 3rd album.
In attendance were some old friends and former band mates who I'd known since I was 15, namely Michael (who also played guitar on Empyreal Progeny with John) and Jud (who used to play bass in bands with Michael and I when we were young and stupid). Also there were friends of the band like Josh Wombeck of the band Fell, and a group of musician housemates, who, obviously, live in the same building as me.
I can tell you that this was both an exciting and also quite nerve racking event, as no one besides the band members themselves had yet to hear the new monstrosity I had been concocting over the last several years, and I felt I needed to justify myself. I'm sure my so-far faithful musicians could use a pat on the back too after putting up with me and performing beyond their previous level.
I began the presentation with a short speech about the trials and tribulations it took to get to this point, about the new musical and stylistic approach of this album, about origin of the story, and some background on the premise, and underlying concepts of the narrative. With an album so focused on delivering a full, tangible experience, I had to do at least some preamble to put things in context.
Since the story and the music are so closely related, Bryan suggested the idea of printing out a short synopsis of each chapter, so that everyone could follow along with the main ideas of each song, as the events happen. In the end this proved to be a great strategy for bringing people into the complicated world of these fictional characters and events.
With synopses handed out and beer in hand, I nervously pressed play and stood back.
The first few minutes were quite hard to bare, as it was challenging to glean what people's early impressions were. But soon people began commenting to one another, and to myself about specific melodies, rhythms, vocal lines and moods. So far it seemed positive, but we had a long journey ahead of us.
A long time friend and supporter of mine, Jud, had pulled me aside several times during the course of the album to tell me that "This is really good, man". Later he would confess, "I honestly expected another Empyreal Progeny, but this is completely differnet." He meant this in a good way, even though he is still a fan of the last album.
One of my fellow housemates turned to Eric during a particularly strange odd time signature passage in one song and asked with wide eyes, "how long did it take you to learn that?" Eric's answer was, of course, "a long time".
Eric and John's parts are especially easy to call attention to, due to their very up-front musicianship and technicality in many of the parts, but Bryan also got his fair share of positive comments, including several "air bass shredding" parodies by Josh Wombeck after hearing certain stand out bass lines and runs. I am quite biased, but the bass lines on this album are pretty damn cool, and Bryan deserves all the air bass parodies he can get for his drastically improved performance.
The end reaction from everyone who attended was beyond what I had expected. Vadim, a friend of John's who had been a bit critical of my previous work, surprised me most with his comments. This is a gentlemen who is a musician himself (like most of the people there) and listens to quite a lot of metal. With this in mind I expected him to comment on some of the heavier or more complex moments of the record but instead the first thing out of his mouth was how much he could feel the story and the characters in the music, and how much the emotion and the events came through in each song. And this was from a metal guy! Wonderful!
And so went the theme of the rest of the comments that night. People telling me how they felt sucked right into the world we had created and were taken on a journey through the emotions of the characters. I have to say this was the most amazing thing I could have heard, as creating a tangible emotive landscape that could convey a full story was my ultimate goal. It sincerely blew me away, and I'm truly thankful for everyone's overwhelming support and positive reactions.
Vadim added, honestly, "I didn't think you guys were capable of something like this."
Below are a few photos from the event taken by John's girlfriend Bailey.
Waiting for everyone's arrival
Bryan and John discussing something using "evil" gestures. Probably ponies.
Myself, my sister and others talk in a jovial manner (as people do).
Making my speech before the premier.
Listening commences.
Eric plays air guitar, or banjo, or ukulele, or bag pipe, or a pair of glasses. Who knows.
"How long did it take you to learn that?"
Bryan, Michael and John listening, because I made them.
Eric playing the air zipper part note for note.
Josh whispering sweet nothings into John's ears.
Josh talking about how "jazzy-fraz" Bryan's bass parts are.
Pleased with the results, and mostly inebriated (John that is).
In attendance were some old friends and former band mates who I'd known since I was 15, namely Michael (who also played guitar on Empyreal Progeny with John) and Jud (who used to play bass in bands with Michael and I when we were young and stupid). Also there were friends of the band like Josh Wombeck of the band Fell, and a group of musician housemates, who, obviously, live in the same building as me.
I can tell you that this was both an exciting and also quite nerve racking event, as no one besides the band members themselves had yet to hear the new monstrosity I had been concocting over the last several years, and I felt I needed to justify myself. I'm sure my so-far faithful musicians could use a pat on the back too after putting up with me and performing beyond their previous level.
I began the presentation with a short speech about the trials and tribulations it took to get to this point, about the new musical and stylistic approach of this album, about origin of the story, and some background on the premise, and underlying concepts of the narrative. With an album so focused on delivering a full, tangible experience, I had to do at least some preamble to put things in context.
Since the story and the music are so closely related, Bryan suggested the idea of printing out a short synopsis of each chapter, so that everyone could follow along with the main ideas of each song, as the events happen. In the end this proved to be a great strategy for bringing people into the complicated world of these fictional characters and events.
With synopses handed out and beer in hand, I nervously pressed play and stood back.
The first few minutes were quite hard to bare, as it was challenging to glean what people's early impressions were. But soon people began commenting to one another, and to myself about specific melodies, rhythms, vocal lines and moods. So far it seemed positive, but we had a long journey ahead of us.
A long time friend and supporter of mine, Jud, had pulled me aside several times during the course of the album to tell me that "This is really good, man". Later he would confess, "I honestly expected another Empyreal Progeny, but this is completely differnet." He meant this in a good way, even though he is still a fan of the last album.
One of my fellow housemates turned to Eric during a particularly strange odd time signature passage in one song and asked with wide eyes, "how long did it take you to learn that?" Eric's answer was, of course, "a long time".
Eric and John's parts are especially easy to call attention to, due to their very up-front musicianship and technicality in many of the parts, but Bryan also got his fair share of positive comments, including several "air bass shredding" parodies by Josh Wombeck after hearing certain stand out bass lines and runs. I am quite biased, but the bass lines on this album are pretty damn cool, and Bryan deserves all the air bass parodies he can get for his drastically improved performance.
The end reaction from everyone who attended was beyond what I had expected. Vadim, a friend of John's who had been a bit critical of my previous work, surprised me most with his comments. This is a gentlemen who is a musician himself (like most of the people there) and listens to quite a lot of metal. With this in mind I expected him to comment on some of the heavier or more complex moments of the record but instead the first thing out of his mouth was how much he could feel the story and the characters in the music, and how much the emotion and the events came through in each song. And this was from a metal guy! Wonderful!
And so went the theme of the rest of the comments that night. People telling me how they felt sucked right into the world we had created and were taken on a journey through the emotions of the characters. I have to say this was the most amazing thing I could have heard, as creating a tangible emotive landscape that could convey a full story was my ultimate goal. It sincerely blew me away, and I'm truly thankful for everyone's overwhelming support and positive reactions.
Vadim added, honestly, "I didn't think you guys were capable of something like this."
Below are a few photos from the event taken by John's girlfriend Bailey.
Waiting for everyone's arrival
Bryan and John discussing something using "evil" gestures. Probably ponies.
Myself, my sister and others talk in a jovial manner (as people do).
Making my speech before the premier.
Listening commences.
Eric plays air guitar, or banjo, or ukulele, or bag pipe, or a pair of glasses. Who knows.
"How long did it take you to learn that?"
Bryan, Michael and John listening, because I made them.
Eric playing the air zipper part note for note.
Josh whispering sweet nothings into John's ears.
Josh talking about how "jazzy-fraz" Bryan's bass parts are.
Pleased with the results, and mostly inebriated (John that is).
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Profile updates (a right good spiffing)
Well looky here. Two updates in a day. It's like I actually do. . . things. . .
I went ahead and gussied-up our page a bit, since it had not been touched in a while. Obviously you see the new header photo, which was taken a while back, and some smaller updates to the way the page looks (nicer links to CdBaby.com, I know, not that interesting) and new blog color scheme.
Hopefully it looks a bit snazzier and more professional then before. But that's up to you.
Let me know what you think, comments or suggestions.
More interesting news later.
NIKO
I went ahead and gussied-up our page a bit, since it had not been touched in a while. Obviously you see the new header photo, which was taken a while back, and some smaller updates to the way the page looks (nicer links to CdBaby.com, I know, not that interesting) and new blog color scheme.
Hopefully it looks a bit snazzier and more professional then before. But that's up to you.
Let me know what you think, comments or suggestions.
More interesting news later.
NIKO
Monday, March 2, 2009
Finally fixed the broken songs on our profile
Hello friends,
I've finally re-uploaded the songs Divine Affinity and Endure to our main playlist, as I noticed they have been somehow non functioning for a while. My apologies for my laziness on getting that done.
MySpace somehow fucked them up, not sure how, but it's a shame since Divine Affinity had over 18,000 plays and Endure had 10,000. Not too shabby.
If you want to add one of those to your profile again, by all means. And thanks by the way!
Also, if you want another song from the last two albums uploaded, let me know, and if I get enough requests I'll put that up instead. Maybe New Light Of Ascendency? Spire? Raining Unlike Water?
Thats it for now. More news later.
NIKO
I've finally re-uploaded the songs Divine Affinity and Endure to our main playlist, as I noticed they have been somehow non functioning for a while. My apologies for my laziness on getting that done.
MySpace somehow fucked them up, not sure how, but it's a shame since Divine Affinity had over 18,000 plays and Endure had 10,000. Not too shabby.
If you want to add one of those to your profile again, by all means. And thanks by the way!
Also, if you want another song from the last two albums uploaded, let me know, and if I get enough requests I'll put that up instead. Maybe New Light Of Ascendency? Spire? Raining Unlike Water?
Thats it for now. More news later.
NIKO
Friday, January 2, 2009
ALL ALBUMS $5! SELLING ALL REMAINING MERCHANDISE!
In preparation for releasing a new album this year, I am selling through all the remaining stock of my two previous albums, "Empyreal Progeny", and "Sweet Painful Reality".
The prices for each album at CDBaby.com is now only $5 - thats a 50% discount my friends!
Why discount? As you've no doubt realized, we've changed the name for the project from 'Envy' to 'Envinity' for numerous reasons, and therefore I want to get rid of all of the merchandise that still uses our old name. Hence, $5 albums!
Remember: once we sell out, these versions will NEVER BE PRINTED AGAIN.
So, if you only have a few songs on your iPod, or you burned one of the records from a friend, please, take advantage of this sell-through and get yourself a shiny, physical album you can cuddle and make out with. Hell, maybe they could be worth something eventually.
Again. Once these are gone, they are GONE FOREVER!
To take advantage of this sell-though goto:
http://cdbaby.com/all/envinity
The prices for each album at CDBaby.com is now only $5 - thats a 50% discount my friends!
Why discount? As you've no doubt realized, we've changed the name for the project from 'Envy' to 'Envinity' for numerous reasons, and therefore I want to get rid of all of the merchandise that still uses our old name. Hence, $5 albums!
Remember: once we sell out, these versions will NEVER BE PRINTED AGAIN.
So, if you only have a few songs on your iPod, or you burned one of the records from a friend, please, take advantage of this sell-through and get yourself a shiny, physical album you can cuddle and make out with. Hell, maybe they could be worth something eventually.
Again. Once these are gone, they are GONE FOREVER!
To take advantage of this sell-though goto:
http://cdbaby.com/all/envinity
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