Our Machine: Remix Collection sees light of day after braving an uncertain decade in digital underground...
After almost 10 years, I'm happy to announce the official release of the Our Machine: Remix Collection album via Facebook and Bandcamp. This release is available for free (just enter $0.00 in the "Pay what you want" window) and includes the stem tracks for "My Machine" so you can make your own remix! This project started back in 2006 on the heels of Mose Giganticus' seminal release The Invisible Hand, but hit a major road block along the way.
Back in 2006, I wanted to start a collaborative project with the friends, fans, and contemporaries that I had built relationships with on the road and around Philadelphia, so I packaged up the source tracks from the recording session of My Machine and offered them up as remix fodder.
Part of the initial message I sent out to potential participants said...
“I want you to really work this track over. My ideal remix would be an almost complete divergence from the original song with a few elements that draw parallels to the original.
I want to hand you the building blocks and let you reconstruct your vision from them without being confined by what the original song is “supposed” to sound like.
”
The response to this open call for participation was amazing. Before long, remixes began trickling in and after a few months we had enough for a full CD release. However, I didn't want the collaboration to stop there. I also planned to include a data disc with all the files necessary for fans to make their own remixes and if they'd like, submit them to be included in a Remix Collection online. I had the support of a small independent label who was on-board with the project and agreed to have the CDs pressed for this release.
About a week before I arranged to pick up the box of Remix Collection CDs, I stopped hearing back from the label that was backing the release. Upon further investigation, I found out the label had suddenly folded and disappeared, seemingly overnight. That was hard to swallow. And that was where the Remix Collection died - a week before the release date.
Fast forward to 2016... I was clearing off some old hard drives when I came across the "Our Machine: Remix Collection" folder that I thought was long gone. Everything was still there!!
So today, the long lost Our Machine: Remix Collection album is finally being released... 10 years late.
