Gaping Hole stream of JAKE VIDA “Of Heart’s Desire” out of print tape.

Pat of SNSE has started offering some out of print tapes from the GAPING HOLE series for free stream from his site. One of them is my single sided c40 from 2007, “Of Heart’s Desire”. There doesn’t seem to be an index of the other releases yet but he sent me the link to my page. Enjoy.

http://www.gapinghole.snse.net/jakevida.html

EDIT: There’s an index up now with all 37 tapes, available for stream http://www.gapinghole.snse.net

Flesh Coffin and Jake Vida shirts now available

Been sitting on these for a while now. Limited amount available, email first for size. Printed on Gildan Heavy Cotton. First come first served. Played around with different ways to cut the cost on these as many complained that the last batch of Rita shirts cost too much, and I agree. These will all ship via surface mail as opposed to air mail as in the past. $19 ppd NA, $23 ppd WORLD. Add $8 to order for The Rita Retrospective DVD if you want. Email: pointlessblankrec at gmail dot com

New Jake Vida album “Paths Untrodden” out now on CONTROL VALVE

“Recorded live in studio March 11th & 12th 2012. No edits or overdubs”

- 2 tracks of dynamic harsh noise
- as always…..
THANK YOU FOR DOWNLOADING!!!!!!!!!
http://www.controlvalve.net/

Grip Of Inertia reviewed by Virtual Ritual

This album is Canadian Jake Vida’s first recorded material in over four and a half years. Merzbow is sited as a heavy influence and harsh noise seems to be the genre that Vida has placed his work in. “Habitual 1” is certainly harsh and blistering in distortion. It sounds quite free form and improvisatory as well, as the bed of sound shifts in texture and at times oscillates in a fixed rhythm, if only for a short while. “Metal Lord” is another good display of smooth manipulation, which requires deep listening from the audience, if they want to notice the subtle changes that occur throughout the song. “Habitual 2” incorporates a similar approach aesthetically, whereas in the beginning of “Grip of Inertia” there is a tape loop of a man and a woman talking about headlights (it becomes more and more strange after listening to it repeat throughout the song) mixed with a spastic analog synth wooshing and blipping all over the place.

http://virtual-ritual.blogspot.ca/2012/04/jake-vida-grip-of-inertia-pointless.html

Distribution for digital releases + Metal Pupil EP

Digital distribution I am finding is a hard nut to crack (as I did distribution of my physical releases). What I am finding is that the standard roles of such things as reviews, facebook, forums, and  blogs play the role as distributor whereas with physical releases they played the role as advertisers. Which makes them so much more important.

I closely monitor traffic sources and their patterns and can clearly see the worth of pimping and whoring the blog online, but what tends to bring in much more traffic (and in result, downloads, which are equivalent to physical sales in my new outlook and model) is when people discuss, repost, and review the release on their own without me starting it.

Posts on forums are great only when people interact with them. As I mentioned in a previous post, the memory of the noise scene only reaches as far back as the first page of the forum. Without others discussing the release in the topic, it gets pushed to page 2 and then forgotten. This only leaves one option, to bump the topic yourself. This can look bad and like bulk email, can spoil your reputation and come off as desperate.

Bulk emails through my google group I’ve found is completely useless, no one pays any attention to spam emails, after sending a bulk email out, traffic has small peak, but nothing huge. If anything, it probably has a damaging effect on any sort of reputation I or the blog may have.

The conundrum is than this, if fan generated discussion helps, and self generated discussion hurts, how can one generate and encourage buzz and talk without blatantly spamming and hustling to get heard? Or maybe that is what it takes.

Reviews help a little, though not as much as I’d like them too, again I think this is an issue with the size of our scene. On top of this, many noise review sites in our tiny scene wont review a digital release. Which cuts the available outlets to  an even smaller amount. Making things tougher than they need to be.

Whats worked best for me are the things I have had no part in. Other blogs posting about a release and people posting about it on their facebook status. Imagine on average a person has 300 friends on facebook, two friends give the status update a thumbs up or even better repost it. That’s potentially an additional 600 people who are now exposed to your update. Not all are clicks or downloads, but this kind of exposure is great and helps build a buzz without coming across as a pushy salesman. Other blogs reposting your release info also helps in very much the same way, it reaches people who would not know your release existed otherwise. And maybe their blogs are set up like mine is, to automatically repost blog posts on facebook and twitter. Reaching their fans, facebook friends, followers, and so on.

So whats to do? Release music and hope people dig it enough to talk about it.

I hope my recent transparency helps and encourages others with their projects, whatever they may be. I have a couple more ideas for topics in the coming months that I hope to cover, so stay tuned for more ramblings.

That being said, here’s a new EP called Metal Pupil. From the same sessions that birthed Grip Of Inertia. This track being the precursor that brought on the Metal Lord track from that album. Decided not to include it on the album as I thought it didn’t differ much from what was already on there, but as a stand alone track, it presents well.

Grip Of Inertia Reviewed

The fine folks at The Esoterrorist have given a review of the latest Jake Vida release, grip of inertia.

Here’ the LINK.

Canadian noise artist Jake Vida has returned from a 4.5-year stint with a new brutal onslaught of harsh, intense noise à la mid-90′s Merzbow in his digital release Grip of Inertia (Pointless Blank Records).  The last we’d heard from the Ontario artist was in 2007 on a couple of CD-r’s and a cassette compilation, and while the break in output hasn’t really been explained, Inertia definitely proves itself worth the wait by the first track alone.  Vida wastes no time in getting straight to business in the first hyperactive track “Habitual 1,” which churns and grinds metallic blasts reminiscent of rubbing sandpaper on a microphone ran through 4 different distortions (which I am certain has been done).  The assault is constant with no room for breathers and successfully remains active and elaborate, rather than repetitious or tedious.

Inertia was recorded live in the studio by Vida and plays through in a raw, straight-forward approach, not unlike in the origins of harsh noise composition and improvisation, giving this a truly “noise roots” feel.  The simplicity to such a gigantic explosion of acerbity is definitely a refreshing treat that brings a smile to the face.  The (non-)music’s dynamism isn’t lost in the attack, either.  There are plenty of recognizable details and samples that heighten these pieces above their influences to which they respectfully pay their homage.

The record so far is being exclusively released via Bandcamp, with the price for download optional to the consumer.  Recommended!

New Jake Vida album – Grip Of Inertia (A2I 11)

New album is finished, trying out bandcamp for this release. It’s pay what you want for the download. I’ve set it up so it will also accept a zero amount, so you can still get it for free.

http://artasintent.bandcamp.com/album/grip-of-inertia

The return of Jake Vida, first new recorded material in over 4 1/2 years. Heavily influenced by 90s era Merzbow, Jake Vida sets out to find what made him fall in love with noise in the first place. Recorded live in studio September 18 to December 12 2011. Cover art by Jake Vida.

-

 

A2I #8 REMLAP-ARCANE PATHS OF AVERSION

Released back in 2007 on PBR, was a reworking of the “Love Is Always Love” material. Was into this concept of using the output of one recording session as the source material for the next and was also in a weird place in my head at the time, overly turned inward. The density, stark artwork, and ambiguous title, all a result of both these factors. Both the sound and mind in a degrading loop inward. Oddly enough, the setup used for this recording was the same set up used for all the Ten Arrows era material. Released side by side with the Fossils/Sleeping Police/Jake Vida split, the JV track on that being titled optimistically as “Turning Points” (available in JV collections 1) in stark opposition to APoA.

Free download mp3 vbr:
http://www.mediafire.com/?u3o444yhhqw6x8n

 

A2I #7 JAKE VIDA-COLLECTIONS 1

A2I #7 JAKE VIDA-COLLECTIONS 1
Collecting the JV track from the split tape with Love Letters on Loveless Tapes from 2006. The Terror Stricken EP on Cloud Valley from 2007, with remix track by Scott Johnson of Fossils fame. And lastly the JV track from the 3 way split with Sleeping Police and Fossils, which was originally released in three different versions, one version each from Pointless Blank, Knife in the Toaster, and Middle James Co.
http://www.mediafire.com/?eza71ax7eep3k5z

More of these soon.

 

A2I #6 Jake Vida-Drowning in Thought

A2I #6 JAKE VIDA-DROWNING IN THOUGHT
This release was originally planned to be the final Jake Vida release after the Ten Arrows reissue. Most of it being recorded after Ten Arrows and documenting some of the final recording sessions from that project’s era. The label that originally was going to put it out has since packed up shop. So, after almost 4 years being in limbo, I’ve decided to offer it up for free download. 320kbps MP3.
http://www.mediafire.com/?61aa3c160t6uhh4