| MEGA | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 10, 2016 | |||
| Recorded | 2014–2016 [1] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 32:39 | |||
| Label | Hologram Bay | |||
| Producer | Blank Banshee | |||
| Blank Banshee chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Mega | ||||
| ||||
| Alternate cover | ||||
 | ||||
Mega,(stylized MEGA) is the third studio album by Canadian musician and producer Blank Banshee. It was released via Bandcamp on October 10,2016.
In late 2014 a new project was announced by Blank Banshee via social media. [2] [3] Tracks from MEGA began appearing in live sets as early as July 2015. [4]
By late 2016 an untitled song (later Frozen Flame) had appeared on Blank Banshee's official website. A Twitter account associated with Blank Banshee initiated an ARG style promotional campaign involving an e-mail address that responded to fans via auto-reply with daily cryptic 'fragments' of a short story concluding on the eve of MEGA’s release. The story 'Zero-Day',makes reference to several song titles and themes presented on MEGA. [5] [6] [7]
MEGA was composed using an Akai MPD26 and live instrumentation. It has been described as a “balance of abstract ambience and dance-able trap”. A continuation and expansion of Blank Banshee's signature sound,it is considerably more experimental,relying less on samples than its precursors. [8] In a 2016 interview,Driscoll spoke of the link between his music and ‘virtual environments’,comparing his writing approach to that of 90's RPG music composers. [5]
The album artwork was designed by Blank Banshee and features a 3D model of a meteor layered over a fuchsia gradient background.
MEGA was produced,recorded and mastered in Vancouver,Canada. [9] [10]
In the spring of 2017,Blank Banshee embarked on The MEGA Tour,a 3 leg tour spanning Canada,Europe and America concluding in autumn of 2017. [11]
MEGA has been released on Cassette Tape,Compact Disc,Vinyl and USB Flash Drive independently through the online store Hologram Bay.
In an article posted after the release of MEGA,The Fader makes note of Blank Banshee's cult following. [2] [12] MEGA's “fragmented-yet-soulful vaportrap bridges the yawning chasm between itself and Blank Banshee 1 " notes Bandcamp daily. [5] Online publication Pigeons and Planes called the album Blank Banshee's “best project yet”,praising its inventive use of samples and distinct textures. [8]
Adapted from official liner notes. [9]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "BIOS" | 1:07 |
| 2. | "My Machine" | 2:10 |
| 3. | "Frozen Flame" | 2:38 |
| 4. | "Gunshots" | 2:24 |
| 5. | "Megaflora" | 2:14 |
| 6. | "Ecco Chamber" | 2:25 |
| 7. | "Holograffiti" | 2:01 |
| 8. | "XENOS" | 2:30 |
| 9. | "Sandclock" | 2:16 |
| 10. | "Hungry Ghost" | 2:21 |
| 11. | "Web Ring" | 2:33 |
| 12. | "Meteor Blade" | 2:33 |
| 13. | "JUNO" | 1:51 |
| 14. | "Cerulean" | 2:16 |
| 15. | "EXOS" | 1:25 |
| Total length: | 33:00 | |
Notes
Therion is a Swedish symphonic metal band founded by Christofer Johnsson in 1987. Its name was inspired by the Celtic Frost album To Mega Therion. "To Mega Therion" is Greek for "The Great Beast" and was a title used by occultist Aleister Crowley. Originally a death metal band, Therion adjusted its musical style by adding orchestral elements, including choirs, classical musicians, and even a full orchestra at their concert performances. As a result, they are considered pioneers of the symphonic metal genre.
Mezzanine is the third studio album by English electronic music group Massive Attack, released on 20 April 1998 by Circa and Virgin Records. For the album, the group began to explore a darker aesthetic, and focused on a more atmospheric style influenced by British post-punk, industrial music, hip hop and dub music.
Tinderbox is the seventh studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released on 21 April 1986 by Wonderland and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and by Geffen Records in the United States. It was the band's first full-length effort recorded with then-new guitarist John Valentine Carruthers; Carruthers had previously only added a few parts on the 1984 EP The Thorn. The first recording sessions for the album took place at Hansa by the Wall in Berlin in May 1985.
"The Message" is a song by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. It was released as a single by Sugar Hill Records on July 1, 1982, and was later featured on the group's debut studio album of the same name.
Timothy Christopher Ward is an American musician best known as the bassist and co-lead vocalist for the Mukilteo, Washington based prog-rock band The Fall of Troy and as a singer and guitarist for the band Trash Kids.
The Megas is a Los Angeles based independent video game cover band based on the Capcom franchise, Mega Man. They differentiate themselves from artists who have played Mega Man music in the past by adding original lyrics and composing new sections which blend seamlessly with the original compositions. Their lyrics expand on the simple story laid out in the games, giving each of the 8 Robot Masters a unique personality. Their debut album, Get Equipped, based on Mega Man 2, was released in January 2008.
Mortimer Nova was an experimental indie / anti-folk / indietronic group fronted by drummer/guitarist/vocalist Michael Vilches based out of the Tampa Bay area in Florida. Early Mortimer Nova began as a solo indie-folk project. Over the years, the band has acquired more musicians that have come and gone but Vilches has always remained in the band. Mortimer Nova uses an effected acoustic guitar, multi-vocal harmony, synthesized/sampled noise and a drum kit. Mortimer Nova was ranked No. 14 on Non-Hollywood's "25 Indie Music Artists Worth Paying For" poll in 2014. Michael has since donned the moniker of the band, and become a Twitch streamer. He is known well for his speedrun records, and his avid love for Scrooge McGoose.
There Is Always One More Time is an album by the American musician B.B. King, released in 1991. It is dedicated to Doc Pomus, who cowrote the title song. The first single was "Back in L.A."
Acoustic is an album by British rock band Love Amongst Ruin and features acoustic versions of eight tracks released on the band's debut album. It was released on 5 December 2011.
Jonathan Darbyshire, widely known by his stage name Mr Dibs or Dibs Hawkwinder, is a British musician, best known as a former member of the space rock group Hawkwind.
Charlie Yin, better known by his stage name Giraffage, is an American electronic music record producer. Of Taiwanese descent, Yin grew up in San Jose, California, and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in Political Economics. He subsequently pursued his musical career, regularly performing as Giraffage at San Francisco Bay Area venues and around the world, independently and with other artists. Yin has collaborated with other electronic music producers, including Porter Robinson.
SALES is an American guitar-based indie pop band from Orlando, Florida. The band's members are musicians Lauren Morgan and Jordan Shih. They are joined on tour by Malcolm Martin, who serves as the live drummer and percussionist.
Ryan DeRobertis is an American electronic musician and singer who grew up in Farmingville, New York and attended Boston College for two years studying music. His electronic music project SAINT PEPSI began in December 2012. After the release of his ninth studio album Hit Vibes in May 2013, he would retire the SAINT PEPSI name due to legal threats from the soft-drink company PepsiCo. He would adopt the name Skylar Spence in 2015, and release his debut record under that moniker, Prom King. In 2019, he would return under the name SAINT PEPSI with the release of Mannequin Challenge, and he currently uses that name for live performances and certain releases.
Suicide Society is the fifteenth album by the Canadian heavy metal band Annihilator. It was released on September 18, 2015 by UDR Music, and is the first album to feature guitarist and bandleader Jeff Waters performing lead vocals on all tracks since 1997's Remains, due to the departure of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Dave Padden in December 2014. It also marks the return of bassist Cam Dixon, who toured with the band from 1994 to 1995, as well as the addition of new guitarist Aaron Homma, both of whom are credited with providing backing vocals in the liner notes.
Morning/Evening is the eighth album by British electronic musician Kieran Hebden, released under his alias Four Tet in 2015 by Hebden's own Text Records and via the online music store Bandcamp. As a child, Hebden had inherited a collection of Hindu devotional music from his late grandfather but did not listen to it until his maternal grandmother died during the making of his 2013 album, Beautiful Rewind. After sampling the voice of Indian playback singer Lata Mangeshkar, Hebden was inspired to make a record with a similar structure to Indian music, particularly the raga mode and decided to break the album into a "Morning Side" and an "Evening Side". Alongside the sampled vocals, Morning/Evening contains complex drum programming, electronic sounds and manipulated found sounds.
Made in Japan is the seventeenth studio album by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki. It initially debuted on the streaming service AWA Japan on May 11, 2016, before receiving a physical and digital release on June 29, 2016. It is Hamasaki's seventeenth consecutive studio album, since her debut album A Song for ×× (1999), to be fully written by her and produced by Japanese musician Max Matsuura. Musically, the album encompasses a variety of genres including hard rock, ballad, and electronic dance music.
"Fuck Apologies", alternatively titled "No Apologies" for the radio edit, is a song by American singer JoJo featuring American rapper Wiz Khalifa from the former's third studio album, Mad Love (2016). It was released on July 28, 2016, by Atlantic Records as the album's lead single and impacted American contemporary hit radio on August 16, 2016. The song was written by the artists with Tayla Parx, Whiskey Water, and producers Oscar Holter and Matt Friedman.
Blank Banshee 0 is the debut studio album by Canadian artist and producer Blank Banshee. It was released for free via Bandcamp on September 1, 2012.
Blank Banshee 1 is the second studio album by Canadian musician and producer Blank Banshee. It was released as a free digital download via Bandcamp on October 20, 2013.
Patrick Driscoll, known professionally as Blank Banshee, is a Canadian artist, musician and producer from Saint John, New Brunswick. He rose to popularity in 2012 with his album Blank Banshee 0, which combined traditional elements of vaporwave with trap music, a style now known as vaportrap. Blank Banshee's music has been described as a "balance of abstract ambience and dance-able trap".
