ReGen Review...

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:17:42 -0700

Stephen Lussier writes a killer review of, strangely enough “The Worst That We’ve Become” EP, for Re:Gen Magazine. Here’s hoping he writes one for the record as well:

http://www.regenmag.com/Reviews-2087-Urceus-Exit-The-Worst-that-Weve-Become-.html

PlastikSickness Review...

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:16:50 -0700

Review of the new UE record on PlastikSickness:

http://www.plastiksickness.com/MusicReviews.aspx?ID=93

CFTSOS NOW OUT!

Tue, 1 Sep 2009 17:08:37 -0700

Compensation for the Sound of Silence is now available:
2CD: http://www.artoffact.com/releases.php - scroll down to Urceus Exit
DD: www.itunes.com/urceusexit/

FYI - The 2CD version has almost sold out through pre-sales alone, however we are doing a rush reprinting now and should have more available in the next couple weeks. There should still be a few left at this point though, so if you want one, get a move on!

/r.

ARTOFFACT PRESS RELEASE

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 08:47:39 -0700

Call us ambitious. Of all the sophomore releases we have heard through the years, nothing comes close to what Urceus Exit has conjured on Compensation For the Sound of Silence. As a pop album, the release is unforgettable. For synthpop, it is miles ahead of what is on the market today. Lyrically and musically, frontman Richard Duggan has over-reached and extended the possibilities of electronic pop beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. Compensation for the Sound of Silence is an epic album that will turn heads with tracks like “Drifting” and “The Worst that We’ve Become”. The listener is engaged and without a doubt every song is a sonic gem. In short, the album is brilliant and needs to be heard.

Compensation for the Sound of Silence will be released in three different editions on September 1st: first and most gloriously, there will be a 2CD limited edition, complete with alternate versions of every track on disc 2 that give the album a new freshness and a different spin. The limited edition comes in a beautifully designed ecopak double wallet and will include a double sided poster, two limited edition pins, and 320 kbps downloads while-you-wait for the CDs to arrive. These downloads will come complete with embedded track-art and smart-lyrics, recognizable in iTunes, Windows Media, and other popular players.

We are ambitious: this album needs to be heard. So the next edition will be a free download version available at www.artoffact.com. The files will be 128 kbps and freely distributable. If you like what you hear, you can purchase hi-res versions from iTunes or other retailers, or make a donation to our project. The iTunes version (version 3 for those keeping count) will include a PDF booklet available nowhere else. All of this available September 1st, 2009 exclusively from Artoffact Records.

Formats:
♫ 2CD limited edition: eco-pak, alt versions of all songs, double-side poster, 2 pins, 320 kbps download while you wait including embedded track-art and smart-lyrics.
♫ Free digital download version: 128 kbps.
♫ Digital download on iTunes: bonus PDF booklet included.

For more information and to order: http://www.artoffact.com/releases.php

the worst that this past week has become...

Thu, 6 Aug 2009 10:52:22 -0700

good GOD it has been a long week! [quick note: i don’t believe in god. and if i’m mistaken on that account, he clearly doesn’t believe in me]

without the need to go into too much detail... due to circumstances [that seemed] beyond our control, we almost had to cancel our tour. but thankfully, with some quick thinking and kindness of others, we have managed to salvage most of it.

FIRST: sadly, we have had to drop our winnipeg and saskatoon shows. much of the complications that arose involved crossing this great country of ours by vehicle. no one is more saddened by this turn of events than i, as i was SO looking forward to driving across canada for the first time. hopefully, we will have the opportunity to make a go of it in the new year.

SECOND: rather than driving across country to reach our toronto and area shows, we will by flying out to do them. it would have been even an greater heartbreak for all of us to cancel those shows, so we pulled together and found a way to make it happen. hopefully the airline will not lose or destroy all our gear.

THIRD: due to the changes outline above, THE RABID WHOLE will unfortunately not be joining us for our london and burlington performances. however, they WILL still be joining us in calgary and edmonton as planned. i am relieved about this, as they are a great band and group of people and i am really looking forward to sharing the stage with them. sad that there could not be more shows this time around.

FOURTH: the victoria and vancouver shows with LANDSCAPE BODY MACHINE and iVARDENSPHERE are a go as planned.

LASTLY: i would like to thank dave and the boys from LAST PLAGUE for kindly loaning us their new touring van so we could fulfill our calgary and edmonton shows later this month. these gigs would not have happened were it not for them so...

THANK YOU!

/r.

The Worst That We've Become now on iTunes...

Tue, 4 Aug 2009 08:30:37 -0700

“The Worst That We’ve Become”, is now available from the iTunes Music Store.

Link

/r.

"Compensation for the Sound of Silence" available Sept 1st...

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:19:00 -0700

Urceus Exit’s first full length album in 4 years, aptly titled “Compensation for the Sound of Silence”, will be available September 1st from the iTunes Music Store as well as from www.artoffact.com and www.stormingthebase.com.

Please note: The Double CD version of the album will ONLY be available on the deluxe physical release, available from www.artoffact.com and www.stormingthebase.com. The DD version will only contain disc 1.

/r.

“The Worst That We’ve Become” available August 4th...

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:56:12 -0700

Urceus Exit’s first single, entitled “The Worst That We’ve Become”, will be available August 4th from the iTunes Music Store as well as from www.artoffact.com and www.stormingthebase.com.

In addition to the single, it will include alternate versions of “Drifting” and “Pretend”, which will otherwise only be available on the Deluxe 2CD version of the album release.

/r.

two more video previews up...

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:13:20 -0700

check ‘em out on the PHOTOS + MEDIA BLOG

/r.

new media page...

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:30:12 -0700

just a quick mention that we added a PHOTOS + MEDIA BLOG to the site today, where you will find... well... photos and media?

/r.

IT IS DONE

Fri, 15 May 2009 09:50:14 -0700

well, after 20 months of work, i am very pleased to announce the record, entitled “Compensation for the Sound of Silence”, is finally done. and [HERE] it is.

i’m sure every artist touts their latest release as their ‘best work ever’ (and then in retrospect looks back and says, “oh, maybe that other one was...”). But this new record truly is, without any doubt in my mind...

MY BEST WORK EVER!

why? because i have pushed every personal envelope in the creation of it. the production is better, the song writing is better, the technical aspects are better, and my voice is the best it’s ever been. i’m not gloating, i’m honestly as shocked as you. will i produce something better in the future? possibly... i hope so. but for now, well... there it is.

so, what’s next... well, firstly, i am releasing the first single, “The Worst That We’ve Become” as a FREE download [HERE].

secondly, we have already begun booking an extensive canadian tour for late summer, including a performance at EBMFest in toronto on the labour day long weekend. i have never toured across canada [actually, i’ve never even been across canada - sad, isn’t it?], so i am very excited!

joining me on stage will be vancouver drummer extraordinaire, paul j hermann [www.pauljhermann.com], and long time vancouver/toronto dj & keyboardist, kyle workman [www.waxwork.ca]. rehearsals will begin next month.

lastly, believe it or not my plan is to start working on a new record almost immediately - NO SHIT! that is if the girl doesn’t divorce me.

that’s all i got for now. will be posting photos and possibly video of rehearsals in the coming weeks. and of course the second the album is available, you’ll hear about it.

peace!

/r.

control not control

Wed, 1 Apr 2009 17:29:16 -0700

when i was a child (7-8 years old), i had a reoccurring nightmare for little more than a few months. i would wake up from these nightmares in a sweat, my heart pounding, absolutely terrified - though i was never quite sure of what, at the time.

in the dream, i was in a large newspaper printing factory, on a walking tour with a group of other people. at some point i dragged behind and found myself frozen, staring at two massive rolling pins situated above me. they were spinning in opposite directions to one another, as if they should have been feeding large runs of paper through them, from the lower floor that i was on, to the second floor above me. shortly after i started staring at these pins, some unseen force picked me up off the ground and threw me up into these rolling pins, to which i was promptly squished through, expecting to end up on the second floor - except that the dream always ended, and i woke up before reaching it. that was it! the whole thing lasted maybe a few minutes (in dream land). it was exactly the same every time.

now, i’m certain most would think that there was nothing the least bit ‘scary’ about this dream (short of the obvious ‘getting squished’ thing). but that’s the thing, it wasn’t the visual aspect of the dream that terrified me. it was the ‘feeling’ of the dream. obviously, a feeling is not something easily described. the best way for me to describe it is, everything in my head was racing at furious speed, to the point of being completely debilitating. yet everything around me was creeping along at less than a turtle’s pace.

anyway, like i said, i only had the dream for a few months, then it went away for several years. it wasn’t until i was a teenager that it happened again. but this time, i wasn’t asleep. this time i was wide awake when it happened, water skiing actually (i fell and passed out, and came to while someone was attempting to pull me out of the water). of course, i did not have the dream of being in the factory, i had the ‘feeling’ of being in that factory. from that point on i would have this waking dream every few weeks for the next several years, until about my mid-twenties. it didn’t matter where i was, in class, doing homework, eating, trying to fall asleep. it could hit me at any time and would usually last for 5-20 minutes. i actually came to enjoy it. it was a lot like being high, there was a physical sensation to it. the world actually looked, sounded, and felt different while i was going through it. i was always completely conscious during the episodes, but the weird thing was that i could never remember the details of what i had been doing after it passed. then, just as quickly as it had started, it stopped. i maybe had 2-3 more over the next several years and then it completely disappeared. until this morning.

after the break...

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:34:20 -0700

back on the vocals this morning. took a short break last week to maintain some sanity. had been recording vocals for several hours at a time at a temp studio across town on one day, then heading home to do non stop editing for days afterwards - was starting to lose focus. so far have managed to get 7 of the 11 tracks in the bank, just editing the last of those two right now.

extremely happy with the vocals, something i’m NEVER happy with. this is the first time i’ve setup a small studio elsewhere, specifically for vocal recording. being in a fresh environment seems to remove my inhibitions, which has always been a problem. i can honestly say this is the first record i’ve really been able to let loose on in the vocal department. should have done it years ago!

looks like we’ve got the single picked and pretty much ready to go. remixes (if any) still have to be done, so i still don’t have dates nailed for either release, but i’m hoping i’ll be able to put up some previews soon.

will be in touch.

/r.

the final stretch...

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:59:30 -0700

i hate this stage in making a record - recording vocals. and why you ask? because i can’t sing. yes, you heard me, the secret is out! not that i’m completely jilted with my singing abilities. it simply takes a great deal of time and patience (and effects) to get them to the point that i am comfortable having someone else hear them.

that being said, i’ve learned a few new tricks in recent days. some that have convinced me my voice is not quite as bad as i had previously thought (though still not great), and some that will allow me to hide the flaws with less of a chance of you knowing - heh.

i think i’m on track to have the record finished, mastered, and off to be pressed inside of a month - fingers crossed. as soon as i’m allowed, i’ll have some previews for you to hear.

/r.

leonard cohen

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:07:32 -0700

my time is running out
and still
i have not sung
the true song
the great song

i admit
that i seem
to have lost my courage

a glance at the mirror
a glimpse into my heart
makes me want
to shut up forever

so why do you lean over me here
lord of my life
lean me at this table
in the middle of the night
wondering
how to be beautiful

20/24

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:58:33 -0800

i can’t believe i haven’t made a post since october 30th!

been busy busy since then. out of 24 tracks i’m preparing for the upcoming album, 20 are complete (less vocals), and i’m hoping to begin recording vocals in a couple weeks.

like to stay and chat, but i’ve got to get back to work!

/r.

announcement!

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:09:32 -0700

i am very pleased to announce that urceus exit has signed a management and tour booking agreement with vancouver’s very own synthetic entertainment. what does this mean exactly? well, much less work for me for starters, so i can focus more on what really matters - the music. and much much more touring - which is what’s thrilling me the most.

we are currently planning for a three week, cross canada tour in the spring (which i have never done so i’m very excited), and then several weeks in either the u.s. of a. or europe in the summer / fall.

frackin’ rad!

/r.

just a quickie...

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 08:47:56 -0700

10 tracks done, but i still need more... MORE!!!

/r.

oh, i’m going to have some exciting performance news for you shortly.

ooops...

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 08:33:59 -0700

the other night i did a radio interview with my good friend craig from landscape body machine, who has a killer radio show on CHLY out of nanaimo,bc [it’s called nocturnal transmissions and runs every tuesday night from 9-11pm - check out the webstream after the jump above]

i intended to hi-jack the whole thing from their stream so i could post it here, only realizing after the show that i had forgotten to press record.

good thing i took all those audio engineering classes.

/r.

more for me, more for you...

Thu, 7 Aug 2008 09:57:47 -0700

i think my 4-6 weeks of (next to) no creative function has finally come to an end. i finished a track i’ve been working on (off and on) for more than 10 months now and am very pleased : ) i’ve got eight solid tracks in the fold now, two more on the go, and i’d like to have at least a couple more by the end. then it’s on to alternate versions (shhhhhhhh...), shooting some videos and visuals for the stage show, and finally touring.

i can’t wait to show you what i’ve been up to.

/r.