yeah, actually I've been listening to Merck Mix 4 all day so have reacquainted myself with some of those tracks. turns out most of them were on my weird hybrid Carrot CD-R so I don't think there's too much that fell through the cracks, thankfully. "505 Dossier," "Q/Peach," and "Porus Discoclash" are BIG highlights for me...but they're all pretty rad. I don't know why I love these tunes so much! he's so much different from mainline IDM, someone like a Proem or a Brothomstates who would just ride out a pretty melody for the duration of a track. Proswell had this odd sense of musicality that not many of his peers had (Ilkae did, though), using cool melodic modulations and weird chords almost like Bach or something. From: Ethan Tackett <thanea4@gmail.com>
To: Christopher Mauldin <kit.mauldin@yahoo.com>
Cc: IDM <IDM@hyperreal.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 6:44 PM
Subject: Re: Carrot Dossier by Proswell
If you still have any of those untitled tracks, you should send them my way. I'd be interested to hear some of the songs that fell between the cracks, so to speak.
Resent, I forgot to CC to IDM (not really sure if it actually matters).
On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 1:02 AM, Christopher Mauldin <kit.mauldin@yahoo.com> wrote:
I love Proswell. easily my favorite artist from ye olde golden age. to this day I find myself going back to each and every one of his releases when I need a blast misty-eyed nostalgia. which is often.
Carrot Dossier was the first album I heard, and I think that record was probably an entry point for a lot of other folks too. it was kind of that peak time for the Merck label, as well; I want to say there were quite a few other "high-profile" releases in those few years getting press of some sort (Machinedrum, obvi, but also Ilkae, Jimmy Edgar, Blamstrain, and whatever else I can't remember). I think you would have had to be pretty hip to have caught the first wave of Merck with Konami and Syndrone and all that. I scooped up everything I could from Merck off Soulseek and even managed to purchase a few originals from Forced Exposure. For many years I listened to the same cruddy CD-R of what I *thought* was Carrot Dossier but it was only much much later that I discovered it wasn't the full album that saw the official release.
many, many years later I finally picked up a copy of the real deal on CD. but it wasn't the Carrot Dossier I knew and loved. in a very distraught and panicked state lol, I tracked down Joe Misra's email and asked him what I had been listening to that whole time. he said he had released a couple of different versions of the album before it came out properly, passing tracks to a few friends in the (tracker?) scene. I guess I got some sort of assemblage of those early tracks, only a few of which were ever released (mostly on Merck Mix 4).
for my money, "Pane" is hands down one of the best IDM tracks ever recorded. as is "Hari" off Bruxist Frog and the countless other untitled jams off that shitty burned CD I kept in my car for eons. both Jimmy Edgar and Machinedrum would significantly polish up their sound and find a huge international audience but Misra was such a mercurial individual (who I think endured quite a few rough patches at certain points in his adult life), I don't think he had it in him to go all the way. he still releases old and new music on his Inpuj label but it's no Carrot...
On Dec 1, 2015, at 7:26 PM, Ethan Tackett <thanea4@gmail.com> wrote:
I can definitely see why one would like Konami better. In a lot of ways, his progress as an artist toward a more polished sound is kind of a net loss for the listener; some of his originality is indeed glossed over. However, I think it's interesting to listen to his albums in order and see how his sound has developed, and Proswell's an artist for whom I've generally found things to enjoy about his music in every stage of his career. I find that as you progress from oldest releases to newest his melodies become more approachable and enthralling, but his production loses some of its accidentally glitchy,experimental charm.
On Tue, Dec 1, 2015 at 9:57 PM, <phase@booyaka.com> wrote:
Funny seeing this. A couple nights ago I almost listened to _Konami_ for the first time in a several years. But something came up and I forgot about it (she wouldn't have appreciated anyway). You can bet I'm putting it on now. I don't remember liking _Carrot Dossier_ as much, but it seems worth another listen.
phase
On Tue, 1 Dec 2015, Ethan Tackett wrote:
This is the first real idm album I ever listened to, the one that got me into the genre in the first place. I gave it a listen the other night and remembered exactly
why I liked it so much, the reason that I wanted to find more music in the same genre and such. I thought I'd share.
https://proswell.bandcamp.com/album/carrot-dossier-2011-remaster
Has anyone heard of Proswell? It's kind of hard for me to tell which artists are pretty well known among IDM crowds (besides the obvious ones, like Aphex Twin,
Autechre, Plaid etc. etc.); my listening experience thus far has been mostly a solitary one, and I tend to find artists/albums/songs that are a little off the beaten
path anyway, regardless of genre.
Also, to aid discussion, feel free to mention the first IDM artist you listened to if you feel so inclined.