72 replies to this topic

[shiggityshwo]

 

Did the single get released for this?  Saw it was supposed to come out on streaming platforms yesterday but I can't find it anywhere.  

 

I PM'd you the whole record. 

 

 

oh damn, sorry to hear about the family stuff, hope it all goes well

[shiggityshwo]

Guys this thing's incredible, legitimately, feel pretty safe in saying the majority of people on this board will enjoy it

 

Just to get this out of the way, yes you can definitely hear some early Volta influence in the guitar tones/manipulation, but in no way is this album a Volta imitation.  

 

Not sure I can genuinely paint a picture of this thing after one digital spin, so I'll just put down some thoughts that came to mind while listening.  For starters, I thought it was funny how the vocalist sounds like what people were clamoring for on the latest ORL releases, she's got an obviously great voice but what really stands out is her interesting and captivating delivery.  The instrumentals in a nutshell I'd describe as tastefully experimental, ranging from these explosive and chaotic moments to beautifully chill grooves.  The guitar provides a lot of the experimental/progressive sound, backed by some warm, prominent keys, and an extremely in the pocket Thomas.  Speaking of Thomas, I was shocked about midway through when I noticed I'd been paying more attention to the other instruments/vocals, but he was unsurprisingly phenomenal once I started keying in on him more, had this incredible groove messing with the hi-hat on one of the later tracks.  Adrian's cameos throughout were solid. 

 

Anyway, thanks again Omar for sharing this, hope the family issues get sorted out and you're able to reap the benefits of your efforts here.

[Phantasm]

 

Dealing with some relatively serious family shit and the PR stuff is such an expensive headache that it had to be put off. 

Going through the same thing right now, glad I'm not the only one. Releasing music in 2020 is a hellish proposition.

 

 

 

Yeah frankly it's stupid and annoying. Agencies want to charge you $6K to put you on some social media page with 50k fake followers. 

[Phantasm]

Guys this thing's incredible, legitimately, feel pretty safe in saying the majority of people on this board will enjoy it

 

Just to get this out of the way, yes you can definitely hear some early Volta influence in the guitar tones/manipulation, but in no way is this album a Volta imitation.  

 

Not sure I can genuinely paint a picture of this thing after one digital spin, so I'll just put down some thoughts that came to mind while listening.  For starters, I thought it was funny how the vocalist sounds like what people were clamoring for on the latest ORL releases, she's got an obviously great voice but what really stands out is her interesting and captivating delivery.  The instrumentals in a nutshell I'd describe as tastefully experimental, ranging from these explosive and chaotic moments to beautifully chill grooves.  The guitar provides a lot of the experimental/progressive sound, backed by some warm, prominent keys, and an extremely in the pocket Thomas.  Speaking of Thomas, I was shocked about midway through when I noticed I'd been paying more attention to the other instruments/vocals, but he was unsurprisingly phenomenal once I started keying in on him more, had this incredible groove messing with the hi-hat on one of the later tracks.  Adrian's cameos throughout were solid. 

 

Anyway, thanks again Omar for sharing this, hope the family issues get sorted out and you're able to reap the benefits of your efforts here.

 

 

Thank you for giving it a meaningful listen. I'm glad again that the art was able to resonate with you. 

[SnkZato1 Ph.D.]

Dealing with some relatively serious family shit and the PR stuff is such an expensive headache that it had to be put off. 

 

If anyone wants to hear the album in full, message me here or go follow @themaskofthephantasm on Instagram and DM me and I'll send it to you. 

Shit that sucks.  Hope things get better for you.  Hope to listen to the album one day.  

[shiggityshwo]

Gave it a second listen, still won't try to tell you what it is because I don't want to misrepresent the album HypeMasterShig style, but there were a couple of notes on the instrumentals I wanted to make

 

My opinion in general was unchanged, still very much enjoyed it.  I'll say that the keys aren't as prevalent throughout as I first thought (but they still have a great, full sound, as does the rest of the instrumentation really), and Adrian actually plays a bigger role than I initially realized, his parts really take the music to another level.  Paid more attention to Thomas this go around too and he absolutely kills it, it's unmistakably Thomas Pridgen on the kit, and he does a wonderful job of being textured and nuanced to accentuate the rest of the music.  

 

That's probably all I'm gonna say about it until everyone else gets a chance to hear it for themselves 

[Phantasm]

Gave it a second listen, still won't try to tell you what it is because I don't want to misrepresent the album HypeMasterShig style, but there were a couple of notes on the instrumentals I wanted to make

 

My opinion in general was unchanged, still very much enjoyed it.  I'll say that the keys aren't as prevalent throughout as I first thought (but they still have a great, full sound, as does the rest of the instrumentation really), and Adrian actually plays a bigger role than I initially realized, his parts really take the music to another level.  Paid more attention to Thomas this go around too and he absolutely kills it, it's unmistakably Thomas Pridgen on the kit, and he does a wonderful job of being textured and nuanced to accentuate the rest of the music.  

 

That's probably all I'm gonna say about it until everyone else gets a chance to hear it for themselves 

 

 

Thanks again for taking the time out to listen to it so carefully, and again I'm grateful it had a strong impact on you as a listener. 

 

Just as a note, there aren't keys/organ on every track and some deliberately have a lot more piano in the front of the mix than others. Caught in a Trap has synths, and 

 

Also Rachel Furher was the drummer on Dreams Dying on a Dance floor. She played drums for Ben Kweller & a band here in Austin called Ume, and she and I originally tracked the drums that were on the demos of the songs before Thomas stepped in. 

 

The main thing was, I didn't want the guitars to be on top of the mix at every part of every song. I did write the bones for everything myself, but my ego isn't big enough to pretend like I wrote all of Thomas's parts, or anyone else's for that matter. A lot of it was just simply direction + long hours fine tuning every detail to make sure everything was as balanced as possible, and that the sum of everything was greater than the parts. 

 

Overall, the thing I loved the most about Deloused & Frances as a kid was that you could go back and find something new almost every time that you didn't catch before. The overall goal was to tip a hat to that aspect of the artwork without ripping it off. 

 

Beyond that, it was made to help anyone dealing with something hard in life. I lost a lot of friends in strange circumstances when I was younger which was why Volta's music resonated so hard with me through the years, so my goal with this record and the future ones is to try and keep that flame alive. 

 

Thanks to all who have listened and messaged me with so much positive feedback, it truly does mean more than I can explain. 

[auxfnx]

this sounds really cool. let me know if you would sell me a digital copy directly even - would love to hear

[shiggityshwo]

 

Also Rachel Furher was the drummer on Dreams Dying on a Dance floor. She played drums for Ben Kweller & a band here in Austin called Ume, and she and I originally tracked the drums that were on the demos of the songs before Thomas stepped in. 

 

 

Ahhhh, yeah this was the track I was thinking of when I mentioned the hi-hat groove in one of my earlier posts, she was wonderful on it, very cool song btw 

[issordni]

Listened twice on my stereo and enjoyed it, but I think I'm going to spend some time with it on headphones getting intimate now :)

[Ghost Of Shark Horse]

Not trying to Hypemastermatt either but I enjoyed the fuck out of this record. The music, the production, the singer... all gold. Thanks for sharing - will definitely be looking forward to purchasing a vinyl copy once its available to buy! 

[Phantasm]

Not trying to Hypemastermatt either but I enjoyed the fuck out of this record. The music, the production, the singer... all gold. Thanks for sharing - will definitely be looking forward to purchasing a vinyl copy once its available to buy! 

 

 

Again, can't give enough thanks to everyone for taking the time out to listen, let alone appreciating the work. I'm guessing Hypemastermatt is an inside forum joke going over my head but I'll take it as a compliment. 

 

I'm trying to work out the logistics on vinyl and a video but having paid for all of the production myself up to this point the cost on all of this stuff adds up really fast. 

 

The easiest way to keep up with everything would just be following the project instagram page, @themaskofthephantasm or mine @omar_ghaznavi

 

On that note, this is something I believe at my core, and will fundamentally never agree with - 

 

Art has inherently been co-opted by tech & social media companies... the system is designed to favor pages that are posting all of the time for a reason. More user interaction means more data to collect, which equates to more digital real estate these companies can run ad revenue on with one simple goal in mind which is to sell you more bullshit you don't need. 

 

That said, updates will be posted there and on my personal page, but I fundamentally don't agree with posting all the time to try and be or stay relevant or whatever the fuck. 

 

Thanks again, 

 

Omar

[issordni]

Yeah. It's like you can't be a band these days without running a million different social media pages or having a logo. A logo ffs. The internet is a joke.

[Phantasm]

Yeah. It's like you can't be a band these days without running a million different social media pages or having a logo. A logo ffs. The internet is a joke.

 

Yeah we straight up just tried to focus on the music and not the auxiliary bullshit that surrounds it.  

[shiggityshwo]

 

Not trying to Hypemastermatt either but I enjoyed the fuck out of this record. The music, the production, the singer... all gold. Thanks for sharing - will definitely be looking forward to purchasing a vinyl copy once its available to buy! 

 

 

Again, can't give enough thanks to everyone for taking the time out to listen, let alone appreciating the work. I'm guessing Hypemastermatt is an inside forum joke going over my head but I'll take it as a compliment. 

 

 

 

Yep, it's a callback to when the guy who mixed the Antemasque album posted here and hyped it up to an unreachable standard, and yes you should take it as a compliment because it means we've genuinely enjoyed your work but don't want to turn people off who haven't listened to it yet by seeming over the top with our praise

[hui43210]

I'm about to check out the music, but is the name of the band a batman reference? 

 

Edit: Missed the part where the single release is delayed. Either way, very interested in hearing it. 

[Phantasm]

Yes it’s a reference to the Animated Batman film. I saw it when I was 3 or 4 and it was my first inspiration to do something creative in life.

And thanks, sincerely flattered that you guys would use that un-ironically hah.

[sa007ak]

Yes it’s a reference to the Animated Batman film. I saw it when I was 3 or 4 and it was my first inspiration to do something creative in life.

And thanks, sincerely flattered that you guys would use that un-ironically hah.

 

Been wondering this for a little while now!

Thank you so much both for sharing AND creating such an awesome record. I've shared this with the friends of mine that I know will truly appreciate it. 

[Phantasm]

Much appreciated again. Hopefully if I break even on this one we can make another soon.

Also thanks to Issordni and a few of the others who gave me opinions on mixes back when we were in post.

[pehjott]

Where can I get flacs of this?
Is there a bandcamp?

Or even better,if it is a different master,vinyl?