mara's torment podcast

Just a reminder about tonight's show...

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:37:00 +0000

Just a reminder that Kalte will be performing live tonight as part of the Monsters in Your Head event at Gallery 1313 in Toronto (1313 Queen Street West). I look forward to seeing you there!

Kalte and the House of Pomegranates proudly present:

MONSTERS IN YOUR HEAD
An immersive Headphone Music Event at Gallery 1313

with Live performances by:

+ L'OMBRE +
downtempo :: ant-zen (germany)
http://www.lombre.ca

+ NICK STORRING +
cello + electronics :: picastro, polyvinyl
http://www.myspace.com/nickstorring

+ KALTE +
deep, chilly ambient :: stasisfield, dark winter
http://www.kaltemusic.com

THURSDAY OCT 15th * $9
8PM to 11PM (Early show!)
19+ Licensed Event

@ GALLERY 1313 ART SPACE
1313 Queen Street West of Dufferin
http://www.g1313.org

Part of the 2 Week "Scary Monster Beautiful" Art Exhibit presented by the House of Pomegranates
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=168953116100

Headphones will be provided, or bring your own (1/4" jack)

Questions? Advance Tickets? info@kaltemusic.com

-----------

Set times*:
8:00 Doors Open
8:30 Kalte
9:15 Nick Storring
10:15 L'Ombre

* This is a gallery show and we will be following these times as accurately as possible. Come early!!

-----------

New Kalte Show, New CD, New Review and New Twitter Account!

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:43:00 +0000

Oh dear. It's been some time since I've last posted here, and I imagine that you've all been missing me fiercely. My sincerest apologies, I'm afraid that sometimes life and music making have a habit of getting in the way of my e-communications, but know that I've been thinking about all of you fondly during my absence.

So, thank you to those of you that made it out to one or both of the Kalte shows in August, it was great to see so many of you and we had a wonderful time playing our songs live, so much so that we'll be doing it again on Thursday October 15th! We'll be playing as part of the Monsters in Your Head Headphone music event at Gallery 1313 (1313 Queen Street West in Toronto, just west of Dufferin) along with Nick Storring and L'Ombre.
Cover is $9 at the door (bring your own headphones or borrow a pair at the door), and it's a 19+ event. We're on first, about 8pm, so please do make sure you arrive early. It promises to be quite an exciting evening and I look forward to seeing all of you there! For more information, please be sure to visit the Monsters in Your Head Event page on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=155460272440&index=1

In addition to the Kalte live show, I wanted to let you know that I have a new EP called Dexterity coming out on AtmoWorks on November 13. It's five tracks long, about forty minutes of music, and it addresses conceptual issues of loss and deterioration. It's a bit uneasy to listen to, but I'm hoping you'll enjoy it. Samples will be posted on the mara's torment myspace page shortly for you to check out. If you're not already familiar with the wonderful music that comes from AtmoWorks, then by all means please check out their website!

I also wanted to mention that "across for show..." received a wonderful review from Morpheus Music. Thanks very much to them for their kind support!

Last, but certainly not least, I thought you should know that I now have a mara's torment Twitter account. Everything you could possibly hope to know about me, all in 140 characters or less. Feel free to add me by visiting http://twitter.com/marastorment

So that's about it for now, but don't worry, I'll be back again soon with some new information and maybe even some more new music!

See you then!

rik
mara's torment
http://www.marastorment.com

Kalte live shows, new review and a sale at Atmoworks!

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 03:35:00 +0000

Just a few things of note that you should know about...

First off, I'll be playing two shows this week as part of Kalte, my collaborative project with Deane Hughes of Akumu. What's that? You haven't heard me mention Kalte yet? How foolish of me! Go visit http://www.kaltemusic.com to find out more information...

Anyway, about those shows...

1) August 18th at THE AMBiENT PiNG 10th Anniversary (at The Supermarket . 268 Augusta Ave. Kensington Market in Toronto) along with dreamSTATE, Wally Jericho and General Chaos Visuals (door is PWYC and this is a legal event).

2) August 21st at The Akin Collective(444 Dufferin Street, Unit E, just north of the Gladstone in Toronto) along with The Flashbulb, Wisp, Bartel, and DJ Submental (door is $8 and this is a legal event).

Come out to either, come out to both, either way it would be lovely to see you!

Speaking of lovely things, I received a very lovely review of the remastered "across for show..." disc from John Shanahan of the Hypnagogue website. Not only was it noted as a Hypnagogue Highly Recommended CD, it was also noted as having a "languid beauty and lyrical imagery and needed to be heard". Thanks for such high praise John! You can read the rest of the review at the Hypnagogue site at http://hypnagogue.netfirms.com/index.htm, and be sure to check out the Hypnagogue podcast at http://hypnagoguepodcast.blogspot.com/ while you're at it...

Speaking of "across for show...", Atmoworks is having a $4.98 download sale on a number of releases for the month of August including "across for show..."! Visit http://store.atmoworks.com/ to buy great music from Exuviae, Pixyblink, Disturbed Earth and more!

I think that just about covers it for now. I look forward to seeing some of you at the Kalte shows this week!

Cheers,

rik
mara's torment
http://www.marastorment.com

and

Kalte
http://www.kaltemusic.com

Hypnagogue Podcast and Star's End

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:34:00 +0000

I am very flattered to discover that mara's torment has been included in the third installment of John Shanahan's Hypnagogue Podcast (aka Hypnagogue Podcast 3). I'm in excellent company with a lot of really excellent artists and I encourage you to check it out at http://hypnagoguepodcast.blogspot.com/ not just because you love me, but also because it's a great podcast that I'm really enjoying. Thanks very much to John for his support!

I am also very pleased to let you know that the AtmoWorks re-release of "across for show..." has been noted as one of the top 20 releases for June on Chuck Van Zyl's very cool radio show Star's End. Broadcast on 88.5 WXPN in Philadelphia every Saturday night from 1-6AM, Star's End has been playing great music since 1976 which makes it one of the longest running ambient electronic radio shows in the world. Needless to say it's very cool to have their support and I'm most grateful to Chuck for promoting my stuff on his show!

While I have your attention, I also wanted to let you know that Kalte (my project with the very brilliant and talented Deane Hughes) will be making its live debut on Tuesday August 18th as part of the AMBiENT PiNG's 10th Anniversary Show at Supermarket (268 Augusta Ave, just south of College) in Toronto. We'll be playing as part of a bill featuring Wally Jericho and dreamSTATE and I'll have more details as we get closer to the date. You might also be interested to know that we have a new Kalte track called "Offworld" available exclusively from our website at http://www.kaltemusic.com/. By all means feel free to give it a listen and feel free to drop us an email to let us know what you think...

Cheers,

rik
mara's torment
http://www.marastorment.com

and

Kalte
http://www.kaltemusic.com

"Glaciations" by Kalte

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Sun, 17 May 2009 11:56:00 +0000

The latest release by Kalte (featuring Deane Hughes of Akumu and rik maclean of mara's torment) is now available for free download from the Dark Winter net label. "Glaciations" can be downloaded at http://www.darkwinter.com/dw056.html

Inspired by the isolation and emptiness inherent in the Polar Night, "Glaciations" is a series of five sound environments made up of cold elements and deep darkness. Drawing from a range of organic sound sources which have been altered and reassembled, "Glaciations" immerses the listener in a space that evokes the feeling of solitude and glacial winds, where dark tones drift through the soundscape, shifting in subtle ways.

With their work in zero-bpm, music concréte and deep ambient, Deane Hughes and Rik MacLean produce eerie and expansive soundscapes by combining natural and electronic elements. "Glaciations" is the duo's latest release, building and expanding on ideas explored on their debut, “The Lanthanide Series” (Stasisfield, 2008). Hughes and MacLean are currently working on their debut full-length CD.

"across for show..." available now through AtmoWorks

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:53:00 +0000

I'm very pleased to announce that "across for show..." has been re-issued through AtmoWorks. Described as "a beautiful blend of electronic soundscapes" by Michael Kidd of Dark Velvet, "across for show..." was the second CD release by mara's torment, but until now it's never been released in it's originally recorded form. The AtmoWorks release of "across for show..." (coincidentally timed to mark the tenth anniversary of its initial release) presents the disc the way it was meant to be heard, a dark journey through ambient spaces and secret locations.

"across for show..." is available in both mp3 and CD format through AtmoWorks, and if you aren't already familiar with their store, I strongly recommend that you visit them and check out some of the beautiful work that they've released over the last few years. Truly a wonderful label run by some very wonderful people.

I would especially like to take this opportunity to thank John Koch-Northrup for his help and support in making this happen.

Download "fluctuations" by mara's torment for free!

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 19:17:00 +0000

I'm happy to inform you that a new release by mara's torment is the latest release from the ping things net label. "fluctuations" is a four track collection of music, exploring and expanding upon work from previous live performances resulting in new textures, new sounds, and new environments.

"fluctuations" is available for free download as an 65Mb Zip file containing the full release in high quality 256kbps mp3 format along with artwork suitable for printing. The music on this release is copyright rik maclean 2009 and may not be used or reproduced without the artist's express permission.

Two new free downloadable releases

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 11:49:00 +0000

I just wanted to let you know that I have two new releases that you may be interested in. And they're both free!!!

I have a release through the ping things net label called "tactile". It's a long form piece taken from a show I did and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. You can download it for free from the ping things net label site as a zip file which contains a 256kbps mp3 of the piece, along with front and back cover art suitable for printing. If you aren't already familiar with the ping things net label, I strongly suggest that you check it out at www.pingthings.com/PTlabel.htm. There are some great releases available there (all for free) by artists like Spatial Correlation, Nunc Stans, Phil Ogison and more. Each month offers a new release so be sure to subscribe to the blog to keep up with future releases.

In other news, I have a collaborative release with Deane Hughes of Akumu which has just been released through the Stasisfield net label. You can download "The Lanthanide Series" by Kalte for free and I would strongly suggest that you do, because it's really good if I say so myself. Described by Netfilter as "an excellent dark and brooding piece of sonic art", we're quite pleased by how it turned out. We're currently working on our next release scheduled for 2009 with a very well respected net label, so rest assured that I'll let you know about that as well.

So there you have it. I feel badly that updates haven't been as frequent of late, but I hope that will improve in the coming months. Keep your fingers crossed that there'll be more new music coming soon...

Cheers,

rik
mara's torment
http://www.marastorment.com

mara's torment live on August 20th

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:09:00 +0000

Those of you in the Toronto area might be interested to know that I'm doing a show on August 20th as part of the AMBiENT PiNG'S NiNTH ANNiVERSARY celebration.

Check it out if you have the chance!

THE AMBiENT PiNG's
NiNTH ANNiVERSARY with mara's torment,
Pholde, Whisper Room & General Chaos Visuals
Wed. August 20th 2008 @ The Central . 603 Markham St. Toronto, Ontario (1 block west of Bathurst subway)

PiNG doors open at 8pm . 1st set at 8:30 . $6 / PayWhatYouCan

Visit the AMBiENT PiNG Website for more information.

"everything old is new again"

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 03:47:00 +0000

Listen to "everything old is new again" by mara's torment

You thought I forgot about you, didn't you? Nuh uh, I haven't. It's just taken a little longer to get something done than I thought it would. But it's done now, and I'm happy to say that I have a brand new podcast for your listening pleasure. "everything old is new again" was just finished yesterday and I hope you'll enjoy it.

I'm hoping to have more new material for you sooner rather than later, so keep your eyes peeled and make sure you're subscribed to this podcast, 'cause it'll more than likely be posted here first.

BTW, just to be clear, "everything old is new again" is copyright rik maclean 2008

In other news, I'd like to upgrade some of my software so I can create more and better music, but of course that costs money. So I'm appealing to the idea that if you enjoy the music you hear on this podcast (which I'm happy to continue to deliver to you free of charge), please think about making a donation to me to help with some of my costs. And to make it worth your while, if you make a donation of $20 or more before July 15th, I'll write a song exclusively for you. Seriously, a brand new mara's torment track just for you! Give it some thought, it might be worth your while...

Help me buy software, make a donation to mara's torment!

reckless verbiage

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Fri, 09 May 2008 03:11:00 +0000

Listen to "Reckless Verbiage" by mara's torment

Okay, so I have a bit of a good news/bad news situation here. The good news is, I've updated the podcast after over a month of inactivity (on the podcast, life has actually been very busy). So that's good news. Yay!

But the bad news is, it's previously released material (not on the podcast, but in terms of music that has already been released to the world previously). Which is kind of bad news because I had hoped to have brand new stuff for you all to hear. Unfortunately, the aforementioned very busy life got in the way of making music, and, well, there you go...

But I am working on new material, and if all goes well, you'll be able to hear some of it in June. No promises, I learned long ago not to do that, 'cause promises attached to creative output aren't always fulfilled, but I'm certainly going to try.

And in the meantime, here's something that's previously released, but who knows? Maybe it's new to you...

Listen to "Reckless Verbiage" by mara's torment

other people's lies

missed communications

deep longing

loungetude

phat with a capital ph

reckless genre experiment

instant club hit

cerebral cortex

all tracks copyright rik maclean 2003

chill

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:48:00 +0000

Listen to "chill" by mara's torment.

I've updated the mt podcast with another live set, this time taken from my performance at Darkrave in Toronto in 2003. It's a laid back set for chillaxin', hence the name "chill".

In other news, it occurs to me that this would be a wonderful forum to present new material. Food for thought...

See you on the 15th!

rik
mara's torment
www.marastorment.com

Listen to "chill" by mara's torment

nostalgia (the future)

something important?

hope springs eternal

any other context

say goodbye now, I'm done

nostalgia (the past)

all tracks copyright rik maclean 2003

body music

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:13:00 +0000

Click here to download "body music" by mara's torment.

Last month I posted "secret music", so it seems appropriate that this month I would post "body music", a slightly more beat driven remix version of the aforementioned "secret music". There are also a few non-remix tracks on this release as well, a few things that I returned to a couple of times afterwards. To be honest, it's a bit of a hodgepodge, but it still seems to work. Not sure why, but it still seems alright...

"body music" by mara's torment

nothing ever happens here

i'll never be warm again

your journey ends (version)

charmed

breathe (version)

invitations and seductions (ver4rev2)

l'kechala (version)

secret music (remix)

swing (version)

voyage (version)

all tracks copyright rik maclean 2003

the calender project: march 2007

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:28:00 +0000

I've posted the March 2007 offering from the calender project for this latest installment of the mara's torment podcast. It features two long form tracks and I hope that you'll enjoy it. As always, please feel free to leave comments or send me an email to let me know what you think.

Download the calender project: march 2007 by mara's torment

assessment 2007

invitations 2007

all songs copyright rik maclean 2007

If you're interested in what you hear you might also like to know that I still have a few CDs available at CDbaby. Quantities are very limited and once these are sold there are no plans to reissue them as physical media, so if you're interested act fast. And to give an incentive to more digitally minded folks, all my discs available at CDbaby are also available as mp3 downloads priced at only $5.99 each!

Truly there has never been a better time to buy music from mara's torment...

See you in two weeks!

rik
mara's torment
http://www.marastorment.com

secret music

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:17:00 +0000

Download "secret music" by mara's torment

For the latest edition of the mt podcast I thought I'd post a disc I did in 2003 (it seems so long ago...)

"secret music" was originally released as a nine track disc and was my first foray into a more beat driven sound. Some people liked it a lot, some people thought it was a bit too different from my previous discs for their tastes. I'll let you be the judge this time around and if you have any comments, by all means feel free to contact me.

"secret music" by mara's torment

your journey begins

ride the long train

nostalgia

loss

voyage

breathe

swing

secret music

your journey ends

all songs copyright rik maclean 2003

Cheers,

rik
mara's torment
http://www.marastorment.com

the calender project: feb 2007

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:01:00 +0000

For the latest update of the mara's torment podcast I've posted the February 2007 edition of the calender project which features two long form pieces that I hope you'll enjoy. Check it out and be sure to mail me to let me know what you think...

Listen to "the calender project: february 2007"

being

nothingness

all tracks copyright rik maclean 2007

If you like what you hear on the podcast, be sure to check out these CDs by mara's torment...

secrets + lies

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 03:40:00 +0000

For the Jan 15th edition of the mara's torment podcast I thought I'd post a collection of tracks I released in 2003 called "secrets + lies". Basically it's made up of songs that I had released as an EP to correspond with my appearance at Convergence in Montreal in 2002, paired with a few live tracks I prepared for the Fetish Cares event in 2003. Included here is the original version of Invitations and Seductions which I'd later go on to re-record like eighty bazillion times.

flow

seductions from across a crowded room

nusong 1

ride the long train (alt)

invitations and seductions

hope springs eternal (short)

charmed (hydraulic)

topol

nusong 2

soleta

invitations and seductions (fetish)

good night

all tracks copyright rik maclean 2003

Enjoy!

rik
mara's torment
http://www.marastorment.com

If you like this podcast, feel free to subscribe! And if you really like this podcast, feel free to send me an email care of rik@pingthings.com

the calender project: january 2007

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 12:21:00 +0000

Happy New Year! I hope that 2008 brings happiness and success to all of you in everything you do!

This month's installment of the mara's torment podcast has been updated with the January 2007 edition of the calender project. Check it out...

spring

summer

fall

winter

a new season

See you in two weeks!

rik
mara's torment

mara's torment live at Darkrave Sept 2003

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:52:00 +0000

I'm not sure where you are, so I can't speak for the weather there, but here in Toronto we had a crazy blizzard today, the first of the year, dropping something like 25cms of snow or something like that. Crazy.

So in keeping with that idea, this installment of the mara's torment podcast features a chilled live set taken from a performance at Darkrave in Toronto in September 2003.

Enjoy!

nostalgia (the future)

something important?

hope springs eternal

any other context

say goodbye now, I'm done

nostalgia (the past)

All tracks copyright rik maclean 2003. For more information please visit http://www.marastorment.com

the calender project: december 2006

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:33:00 +0000

So it's December and it's getting rather cold here in Toronto. Strange how I've lived here all of my life and every year I forget how cold it gets...

Anyway, here is the latest update to the mara's torment podcast, this time it's the December 2006 installment of the calender project. Enjoy!

a dull shine

all the stars in the sky

day...and night

a pair of unconnected moments

the relentless burn of the strobe light

you left without saying goodbye

live at the AMBiENT PiNG 030205

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:11:00 +0000

Hello;

A new update to the podcast, this time it's a show I did at the AMBiENT PiNG in February of 2005. It was a cold winter night and only a few people were able to make it out, so if you missed it then, you've got a chance to hear it now...

mara's torment live at the PiNG 030205

BTW if you like the music you hear on my podcast by all means feel free to leave a donation to help support my musical habits...

the calender project: november 2006

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 11:19:00 +0000

Sigh. The worst thing about November 1st is that it's the farthest day away from next Hallowe'en...

Oh well.

Anyway, I've posted a new update to the mara's torment podcast for November. This time it's the November 2006 edition of the Calender Project.

the pull of the tide

the brightest day

the draw of the lights

the heat of the stars

Enjoy!

rik
mara's torment
mara's torment

The Penny Collector

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:49:00 +0000

Hello;

For October's second installment of the mt podcast I thought I'd dig into the archives for some of my older work as some of you have been asking about it. I decided to go with "The Penny Collector", my second cassette release. While some of the songs were reworked and eventually ended up on my first CD, many of them have never been released on disc, so I guess that would give these tracks some element of interest. Part of me cringes listening to it, but part of me is also very proud that I was able to do it. So, presented for the sake of posterity, here is "The Penny Collector" by mara's torment

elvis

flange

greys

how it begins

moody

musing

ozzy

sweep

upbeat

visitor

wasted

womb

On the subject of nostalgia, my compilation disc "mt96061" is now available at iTunes. 23 tracks, new, old, and everything in between. Check it out if you're interested...

Cheers,

rik
mara's torment
http://www.marastorment.com

the calender project: october 2006

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:05:00 +0000

Hello;

The mara's torment podcast has been updated for october with the october 2006 installment of the calender project. Check it out and let me know what you think...

drop everything

there it is

tread softly here

revisiting your charms

one last night with you

And just a reminder that my latest disc "mt96061", a collection of mara's torment music spanning the last ten years, has just been released digitally. Even more interesting is the fact that the digital release features ten additional tracks not available on the CD version, including three exclusive tracks you won't find anywhere else. Check it out at iTunes or if you'd prefer unprotected mp3s visit Payplay.fm

Cheers,

rik
mara's torment
www.marastorment.com

live at Darkrave july 2007 part 2

rik@marastorment.com (mara's torment) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 01:42:00 +0000

I've updated the podcast with the second part of my Darkrave set from July 2007.

live at Darkrave july 2007 part 2

In addition, some of you may be interested to know that my latest disc mt96061, a collection of mara's torment music spanning the last ten years, has just been released digitally. Even more interesting is the fact that the digital release features ten additional tracks not available on the CD version, including three exclusive tracks you won't find anywhere else. Check it out at iTunes or if you'd prefer unprotected mp3s visit
Payplay.fm

Cheers,

rik
mara's torment
www.marastorment.com