With the coming of Winter, I am whole again

Med den Kommande vintern, ar jag hel igen. (With the coming of winter, I am whole)

I have just returned from the mountains of Colorado renewed and refreshed. The next Jabladav release will be ambient/drone as seems to follow the full on black metal releases. As of today there will be four tracks:
1. Kan 12:15(May)
2. Hvor de ligger vi snart vil folge 27:30( Where they are,we will soon follow)
3.  Med Den Kommande vintern,ar jag hel igen (still mixing) 19-31 mins( see above)
4. Jeg onsker Velkommen Kulden 9:16 ( I welcome the cold)

Colorado gave me the inspiration for the title. Hoping the art will follow. The included picture is jabladav with a group of chairs listening to playback of the upcoming release.

"Ayr" has shipped!

Finally. 

This might of been the most exhaustive release to date. This release took two years to complete.

 After finally sitting here with the physical copy in my hands, it was worth it. Hours and hours of mixing. 

Different takes on classical guitars. USING different classical guitars. Did I mention that there is classical guitar on this release? 

The idea of "Ayr" started with a trip in Boone,NC. There is a point where NC and Tennessee meet and the cd cover is the view. I was so taken back of how open and unpopulated it is. Not to sound too misanthropic, but this was a nice reminder of why city life does not sit well with me.  So after processing this picture I took from 6800 ft, where I could almost touch the clouds as they came over-head that I knew this would be the inspiration . "Atta Vinter" was so brutal and fast that I wanted the next Jabladav release to be nothing like that. I assure you, It is NOTHING like "Atta Vinter"! This release will not show itself to you in the first listen. Part of that is in the element of using the classical guitar more so on this release than any other to date. The reason for this is I decided I was going to invest more time in studying classical guitar. I had an amazing teacher while growing up. I was actually studying college courses while in high school at private school in Virginia. Well, not to name names, the teacher that I picked was the opposite of my younger experience. Jaded is the best I could describe it. The first piece we worked on was " Venezuelan Waltz" by Valse Criollo. Amazing piece and very,VERY fast! This did not go well. I was about 70% on my technique and he did not have the temperament to deal with that.

So I tabled the idea of having a mentor for classical guitar and invested in a classical guitar made by Jesus Diaz Reyes. If you don't know that name, take the time to investigate. 

This is where I actually start taking about "Ayr".

 The first track is a classical guitar piece using this guitar. I love intros to LP or cds. I have never done a proper one. I have now. The Cd starts off with 

1."Harlow's Eng". A very dark classical guitar piece to set the mode.

                        2 .Sorg Bringer pa Hosten. Sorrow would be the best word used here for this track. 

                           3. Tronen Falle. Clean vocals mixed with growls. Ulver influenced for sure.

   4.Oktober. Blast beats. 

                             5.Vinter Drept Varen. More blast beats with some odd times at the end of the track.

                            6. Fall Bringer Vintre Omfavnelse . More sorrow. 

                        7. Ayr. Longest track on the cd and will take some listens to understand. 

                        8. Ekte Kjaerlightet. Very mournful. The idea was to make a "classic" recording. I worked very hard on this release. I hope you enjoy. 

This will be release at www.aquariusrecords.org first! Support! 

-jabladav

AQ has THEE last copies of these!

JABLADAV The Cold Warmth (self-released) cd-r 9.98  
We've been sitting on a handful of these, the most recent release by Weakling worshippers Jabaladav, a ridiculously limited edition of just 50 copies, with the intention of eventually getting a bunch more to list and review. Well, we were informed recently by the man himself that The Cold Warmth was out of print, and thus we have the last handful of copies. And while there is a new full length on the horizon, this is most likely your last chance to get your grubby mitts on a copy of this, a collection of tracks recorded at the same time as Atta Vinter, but that were left off the final version. So Jabladav fans, if you dig AV, this is almost like a part two, all the usual Jabladav-isms are present, gnarled black blasts, mathy rhythms, killer riffing, the songs soaring and majestic one second, murky and dirge-y the next, the arrangements complex and almost proggy, with the sound switching from grim black, to grinding distorted churn, from strange processed vox flecked clean guitar moodiness to hazy, minor key almost post rock ambience, it's all good stuff, heavy and twisted, dark and tripped out. Apparently, according to the liner notes, Atta Vinter was meant to be 'to the point' and not at all epic, which is why these tracks were left off, but now with Atta Vinter AND The Cold Warmth in your clutches, the potential for grim black epicness is endless. 
As with all Jabladav releases, the packaging is pretty deluxe, housed in a dvd case, with a cool color cover, signed by the band, there's a xeroxed insert, also signed by the band and numbered, as well as a smaller color insert, which is numbered, as is the disc. And again, this is out of print, and these are THEE last copies we will ever be able to get. 
MPEG Stream: "The Cold Warmth" 
MPEG Stream: "Paysage" 
MPEG Stream: "Black Snow Reprise" www.aquariusrecords.org

Jabladav "Ayr" update

"Ayr" is off to the mastering process in AZ. Look for the release around September. The main delay was that I ended up going with a 6-panel digi-pak so you get the panoramic view of the NC mountains. The cover  picture was taken about 4800 ft up in Boone NC.

I never tyre of marvel of my state's surroundings. 

This is my best release to date. I worked very hard to give you a classic black metal album. It was done in the true fashion of a album where this is no filler. Clocks in just under 40 minutes but never repeats itself. It's not a listen where everything will be revealed in one listening. i hope you enjoy the journey. 

Check www.aquariusrecords.org or www.jabladav.com to purchase. 

Regards-Jabladav

Jabladav 1993

 

Bloody white out in NC

Can you believe that there is an abandoned castle in Asheville NC?!? If you want to see it, you have to go the the Grove Park Resort. Reminds me of the Borley Rectory, at least in my mind. I took this picture the other day. I should of waited till dusk to REALLY capture the vibe this castle gives off. All the stone came from Ireland. Check it out if you are ever in the area.

Some Jabladav updates: "The Cold Warmth" will be hitting the stores(Static Age,Aquarius,TheEnd etc, This month. Tracks that didn't fit the vibe of "Atta Vinter".

The follow up to "Atta Vinter" will be titled "Ayr". I just listened to the record from start to finish and didn't realize that there is more classical guitar in the mixes than I have ever used. The vibe is also more down-beats. The blast beats are still there, just a darker record mood wise.

I have a few copies of "Communion with Mother and Machine".

contact at jabladav@gmail.com

     

WHY NO POSTS?!

I owe all a huge apology for  the lack of updates and uploads. My brotha at Cosmic Hearse makes it look so easy and I have no idea how he fits what he does in a single day. Allot is happening in the Jabladav recordings. "The Cold Warmth" is set to hit the stores. The release is tracks that didn't make the cut on "Atta Vinter". The goal was to make "Atta Vinter" a classic album. No fat and no filler. I think I have come close. There are some great tracks on "The Cold Warmth" that just didn't fit the vibe of "Atta Vinter". 

There will also be a split 7" with Shadow of the Destroyer that will come out in late fall with exclusive tracks that will only be released on the 7". 

I am also working on a 30 minute drone for WFMU that will be recorded for the station. Steve Wilson inspired drone. 

Other than that I'm doing nothing. 

Thanks for checking in. I promise I will make this site worth checking into soon. 

Hails-Jabladav     

Punch Comics #12. Finally found a copy at a good price. Best cover ever? Cole would be proud of that one!

Hope you know about this!

" Therion? Who the fuck listens to Therion?"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko_svYKVg94

"Communion with Mother and Machine" is on the shelves!

This release took the LONGEST to get released! Here we are in March and this release has been in the can since Jan! 


Well, I think it was worth it, the 6 panel digipak looks amazing and it very VERY black in the posting! 


Please support Aquarius Records and buy through them if you can. 


www.aquariusrecords.org


Their post on "Communion" 

JABLADAV Communion With Mother & Machine (self released) cd-r 8.98 
Latest from our favorite one man, Weakling by way of Black Flag styled black metal band, but don't be expecting any gnarled black blasts or pounding frenzied freakouts, Communion With Mother & Machine falls more in line with any of the various Jabaldav ambient records, but is notable for being created using mostly Buddha Machines and Black Boxes. A slow burning sonic collage, a blackened sprawling composition, that takes those prerecorded loops, as well as the process of switching from loop to loop (including any clicks or buzzes), and weaves them into a lush, densely layered dronescape, along with samples of other Jabladav recordings, field recordings of nature at night, Mellotrons, as well as some effects and feedback, the process is detailed in the liner notes, a simple technique of setting up the boxes in a circle around the microphone, with a particular box manually moved closer to increase its volume / presence, the colors of the Buddha Machines used are detailed as well (1 red, 1 orange, 1 white and 2 blue), as is the recording gear used, and various other steps of the process. And while that stuff is definitely interesting, it's the finished recording that matters, and it's incredible, a swirling, smoldering loopscape, crickets chirping over distant whirs, slowly shifting layered melodies, the glitch and grit of the tiny speakers adding more buzz and blur to the proceedings, deep melodic swells pulsing and shimmering, the loops slipping from organic and amorphous to machinelike and repetitive and back again, creaks and groans, disembodied voices, everything building to lush heaving slabs of layered density, laced with tinkling melodies, all set amidst thick clouds of muted crunch, smoothed into gorgeous expanses of blissed out lustrous mesmer. So great.
Total nirvana for dronelords, and as with all Jabalav stuff, WAY recommended, whether buzzy or beautiful, or both.
Packaged in super swank 6 panel digipaks, each one signed and hand numbered, and limited to ONLY 100 COPIES!!!
MPEG Stream: "Communion With Mother & Machine (Excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Communion With Mother & Machine (Excerpt 2)" 

Thine Vinter,Lodona is Mine

 We are having a glorious winter here in North Carolina. 98" inches of white inspiration has fallen in my mountains. The inspiration of this winter has yielded much productivity musically . I have a ton of music to offer and will upload soon. Thank you for your understanding.

UPDATE

I hope you have checked out the wonderful first release by SOTD. If not, please do so. I will post some new music soon.  

Shadow of the Destroyer's "Harbingers of the Dark Truth"

Jabladav- Ben, Thanks for letting me post your first release, I couldn't think of a better release to start this blog off. Give us a little history of SOTD...

It started off with just Nate (our first drummer) and myself around November 2006. It took us a long time to get the line up we have now but we are all very happy with it. Guitars, bass, and vocals have been the same since we became a full band but we have been through a lot of drummers in the past three years. After we lost our second drummer Justin, we started having practice with his drum tracks from our first demo played through an ipod into our PA. It was almost impossible to hear the drums clearly which really crushed our motivation for a while. None of us ever want to have to do that again. Justin moved back after being gone a year and took back his position in the band which had recently become open again. We are back to our original complete line up and moving forward once again so be ready for more releases in the near future.

Jabladav-Can't help to hear some Weakling influenced guitar tones, is this a fair comment? What are the bands influences and what are you currently listening to?

  We are all big fans of Weakling for sure so having a similar tone is definitely not a bad thing.  I think at least for me my sound was less intended and more of result of the equipment I played, and still play through.  I bought a tube head for our band and I just play on the high gain channel with everything cranked except for my tone knobs.  I like to keep my set up simple, I don't need a pedal board with 20 different effects to get a sound I like.  As far as influences go theres a lot.  Some of my influences are musical, some stem from my own inner darkness, others come from nature and its own dark powers, and definitelty my disgust for religion and the small minded sheep that follow it.
Right now I'm listening to Urgehal  "Through Thick Fog Till Death", lately I have been listening to a heavy rotation of Urgehal, Funeral Mist, Dagon, Glorior Belli, Watain, and Mutilation.

Jabladav- For the gear heads out there, what are you currently using?  


I play a Gibson Explorer with the 500T bridge pick up, a 5150 head, Digitech Digiverb pedal that I don't like run into a Marshall 1960A 4x12 cabinet. Joey plays a Jackson guitar, a Chameleon effects processor, JCM 800 head into a Marshall 1960A 4x12 cabinet.

Jabladav- Tell us about the upcoming release and its direction?

  The new release is much darker and more brutal than the first.  Harbinger's of a Dark truth is two years old so we have progressed a lot as a band since then.  I think our new material is the embodiment of the darkness that we posess, we want our music to make you feel like you're watching the death of humankind through a swirling cloud of blackened fog that chokes you're every breath.  This is the direction of this release and future ones as well,which is pure vengeance, disgust, and hatred.

Jabladav- How can people buy your music?  

  You can get it through us at our shows and at a few local record stores, but as far as distros goes we don't have that worked out yet.


buy here: www.staticagerecords.com 

Jabladav- Final comments? 

  I just want to let everyone know that our upcoming release should be out before the end of January and will post the actual date on our myspace page as soon as its available. 

 Thanks for the interview and putting us up on your blogspot. Hails

                                             Shadow of the Destroyer
                             see them here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZxnu6D8L2U

Carolina Paysage D'Hiver

The snow is beginning to fall. Inspiration to follow. 


I will also get this blog back on track hopefully this weekend. Thank you for your understanding. 

Mini Tour of Jabladav Studio

Welcome to a mini-tour of Jabladav Studio. To your left is a Line 6 Flextone HD Head. I use this for both guitar and bass parts in the studio. The rack underneath it is my old road gear: ADA MP-1 pre-amp (Mesa-Boogie/Groove Tube tubes)with a  MosValve Power amp. Not sure of year of the Mesa-Boogie 4x12.I bought it used in 95. My guess is it is a 1990 model. It is a mono cabinet and will knock your socks off. On the floor is a Rockman Midi pedal for the ADA and a Line 6 foot board. I have about 20 custom tones I have crafted on the Line 6. On the desk you see a Axiom 25 Midi-key/2 M-Audio BX-8 monitors/Samsung 20" /M-Box for Pro-Tools/Behringer 16 channel mixer. Mac G5 with 550 G loaded. The rack to the right houses a Sony TC-WE475 cassette deck/Onkyo TX-8211 Power Amp( kinda lame I know) Philips CDR778 cd-burner. I used this before I stepped up to Protools/Reason for recording. Great piece of equipment but it will only play cds now. Sony RCD-W500C 5 cd changer/burner. I used this for the master mix of "Communion with Mother and Machine". On top is my turntable that I bought at a yard sale for 10 bucks with a crate loaded of Zepplin/Floyd! I put a new stylus and belt and bought thousands of dollars in rare vinyl,What a deal huh?!!  Finally, to your right of the picture is my old keyboard that has seen better days. Three of the keys are broken from the blast-beats that was recorded on "Black as Pitch". In the future I will show you the rest. Hope you enjoyed your tour. Please exit to the left.  

Limited 7" is now out at Aquarius Records

www.aquariusrecords.org




JABLADAV  "Cold"  (self released)  7"  9.98
      Three new songs from one man black metal band Jabladav, limited to only 100 copies, so grab one while you can.
      Jabladav explores some different sounds on Cold, the opener "Coldest Last Winter" begins with just keyboards, and clean guitar before the distortion kicks in, but instead of exploding into a frenzy of black buzz, the song lopes drearily, the keyboard remaining, plinking out a sorrowful minor key melody, while the drums pound out a doomic tempo, and the guitar buzz all washed out and Striborg like. It's heavy but more sort of dreamy and ethereal, near the end things get a little more mathy and convoluted with some cool stop starts, but for the most part it's all drift and haunting and doomy.
      The second track is another keyboards and guitar jam, the guitars tangled and folky, intricate and lush, the keyboards set on some strangehuman voice setting, so it sounds like a stuttering choir, and again, the 'band' kicks in, a trudging plod, harsh vokills over angular distorted chug, before things build to a full on black blast, the keyboards drifting creepily below the surface the whole time.
      The final track is way more classic Jabladav, the guitars sharp and jagged and buzzy, the drums frenetic and blasting, the melody epic and haunting, with some cool stumbling, lurching gnarled arrangements and a cool black ambient outro. Rad stuff as always. A bit different, but still shot through with that same twisted Jabladav vibe.
      Comes in a printed color sleeve, the 7"s are each numbered, there's an insert too, also numbered and signed and each with a little drawing, ALSO comes with a cd-r featuring the tracks from the 7", that too is hand numbered. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, we got a bunch. but Jabladav stuff always blows out of here...






Always great to have the people at AQ care about pushing new music. I thank them as always. 

Communion with Mother and Machine

"Communion with Mother and Machine" is a Jabladav release that will come out in January of 2010. This recording was done using the following:

One Fostex X-12 4 track using a TDK CDPower 110 High Bias cassette
One Shure 57 that was placed outside and recorded the sounds of the night.
Five FM3 Buddha boxes red/orange/white and two blue
Two FM3 Buddha II boxes purple/brown
Two "Black Boxes" These are ok. I think the "White Boxes" will be better. Still cool.
Two "Ami Tuofo" boxes.
One "Ami Tuofo" box that has a pitch control
One Gold "Ami Tuofo" box that has different prayers on this box.
Reason samples(mellotrons/Jabladav samples) that were recorded live/miked to the M-Audio speakers into the Fostex X-12.

As far as the recording of the Buddha boxes, the boxes were placed in a circle with the 4-Track and the Shure 57 in the center of the circle. When you hear the recording,if you listen close you can hear me "clicking" the boxes to get the desired sample. I would then take the box that I wanted to have the most voice at that given moment and put it closer to the mike and I would also subtract boxes as well.

I am rather pleased with the end result and I hope you will check it out. It will be self-released and this one will come in a 6 card Digi-pak with pictures my wife took of the recording session. Limited to 100 copies and the Total run time is right at 45 minutes. One track of drone bliss.

This is my first post outside my blog that I never update on myspace. Hope I didn't waste your time and let me know if you like what you see.

I hope in the near future to upload some amazing OOP metal from the early 90's of North Carolina.