KILL A DJ

Soul Killing Female hits the road this weekend for the Of Human Bondage Tour. The band will be heading to Montreal and then making their way back via Calgary. Joining them on the road will be Cloudfight, who will be playing on off-days during the tour. For specific dates, check the 'Live' section.

On March 5th, Soul Killing Female released their latest single, "Of Human Bondage", from the forthcoming Kind of Red. Check out it by clicking the 'Soul Killing Female' tab. Response so far has been unanimously positive, and we're excited to be able to share it with you both online and on stage.

Cloudfight has been invited as specials guests at this year's Electronika Vol. 4, in Thunder Bay, and at Continuum in Saskatoon. More as-yet-unplayed music from Kill All Humans will be making its way into the sets.

We're gone from March 16th till March 31st. KEep up on all info here, or on the Soul Killing Female facebook page and Cloudfight facebook page

If we survive, we might just do this again in the fall.

Myke

Well, the world ends tomorrow, but the workload doesn't. Here's the latest:

Soul Killing Female's Kind of Red is on hold till January when we'll track the vocals. We discovered black mould behind our wall in the bathroom, and apparently I've been breathing that shit in for more than 6 months, which would explain why I've had bronchitis twice in that time. Needless to say, I haven't been in top form singing-wise. Hopefully by January, things will be sorted in that department. In the meantime, I'm tweaking some of the keyboard parts, adding some solos, and getting things cleaned up to send to Joe Silva for the mixing stage (which will hopefully be in April, 2013).
Also, I'm in rehearsals with my new live band for the tour in March. The line-up is as follows:

James Jansen - keys, backing vocals, visuals
Myke Lewis - bass, keys, vocals
Rob Pelc - guitar
Matt Penner - drums
Matt Wersch - guitar

It's sounding huge and angry so far. We break everything in in January with a show in Brandon, so check the 'shows' tab for more info.


In Cloudfight's world, we had a mini-tour a few weeks ago that went very well. We played Regina and Saskatoon. The setlists were:

Regina -
There Are Wires Where My Heart Should Be
Quorra
Connected
And the City Shall Burn
Subject Delta
Blacken the Sky

Saskatoon -
There Are Wires Where My Heart Should Be
Quorra
Atmospheric Battle Pack
And the City Shall Burn
Subject Delta
Blacken the Sky

The Saskatoon show was insanely loud, and a lot of fun! People were up dancing and really getting into it, which always makes James and I feel really good! Chronobot joined us for both shows. Silly guys. Great, but totally silly. :)


In the Landsraad department, I'm starting to assemble material for the third Demon EP. I want to have it done my New Year's, but life has a way of getting in the way.

Anyway, have a good set of holidays, and for anyone reading this, be sure to check the bandcamp sites for each band, as the albums will be free on Christmas day only.

Later,

Myke

Here's the latest:

Cloudfight's Kill All Humans record will be officially released to the world with a short tour in Regina and Saskatchewan (more dates to follow). Check the 'Shows' tab for specifics.
The video for "Quorra" is currently being edited, and will be available online by the end of the month.
Cloudfight also opened for Crystal Castles at their stop in Winnipeg last week. It was a hell of a way to spend Halloween, and Jaymez and I are extremely grateful to the 400+ people that showed up early and were so enthusiastic about what we do. It was an incredible night and we thank you!

In honour of Soul Killing Female's 8th anniversary, which realize is a silly thing to celebrate, I'm giving away the b-side to Utopia Mine, "Antagonist", featuring the wondrously talented Helen White on vocals. It can be downloaded for free HERE

The latest:

Studio dates are booked for December to finish the vocals on Kind of Red. Tentative release date will be September 2013.

The video for "Quorra" from Cloudfight's Kill All Humans starts shooting next week. Set to premiere November 30th. Details to follow.

Landsraad is currently in the studio building the Demon 3 EP.

I am still buried in keyboard sounds as I continue working with Hoarfrost on their debut.

Progress.

Michael

The latest:

Soul Killing Female was on tour for most of June and August, going from Montreal to Vancouver and back, with a couple of high-profile shows opening for Ninjaspy and Jucifer along the way.
Now back home, work resumes on Kind of Red. Vocals are being tracked in December, and the record will be mixed/mastered in February/March.
SKF will also be on tour across Canada in March, so stay tuned for tour dates.

Cloudfight is gearing up to formally release Kill All Humans this fall. Several tour dates are coming together, so check the 'shows' page for info.
We're also working on a video, but it's a secret. Shuuuuuuut uuuuuuuuuuuup......

Landsraad is currently in the studio working on Demon 3.

I'm also busy doing pre-production and keyboards for a local black metal band, so that's taking up a fair chunk of time, but it's going pretty well so far. Sounding epic!

Michael

The Skinny:

I've officially given birth to another music endeavour - Landsraad

The Demon EP that was initially released under the Cloudfight moniker has been given its own identity. This seemed necessary given that Cloudfight has a new record coming out this year, and there's a second Demon EP being released next month. Gotta keep this shit sorted.

Enjoy,

Michael

Holy fuck.
Farewell to Light is now commercially available. It's also stocked at your local college radio stations, so request the hell out of it!
The mini-tour back in March went alright. The show in Thunder Bay w/ Grand Master and Dead Romantic was easily the best of the four dates.

In Soul Killing Female world:

Work on Kind of Red proceeds. I'm going to be re-recording the album. I'm not sure when, but it'll happen this year. I'm just not happy with my performances. It's probably things that would only be noticeable to me, but it'll bug me forever if I don't fix it now.
I'm feeling a lot of pressure to get this album right. The response to the songs played live, and to the studio recordings have been unanimous in their approval. So, we'll see when/where the re-recording takes place.

In Cloudfight world:

The artwork for Kill All Humans is being worked on. Still shopping it around to labels. That's about it.

I'm currently booking tours for both bands; east in June and west in August.

That's about it.

Stay soft, pink and oily,

Michael

Here's the latest:

Farewell to Light, the new acoustic EP from Soul Killing Female, hits the streets on March 3rd, 2012. Available through our bandcamp site, we're making one new track available for your listening pleasure each week until the release date, after which the entire album will be for sale. Currently, "Saigon, track one from the EP can be heard here.
Physical copies (which look amazing by the way) will be available on the Farewell to Light tour, happening in March/April. Click the "Shows" tab to find out when/where we're playing.
After the tour, the recording of Kind of Red will resume in earnest, with vocals and a little bit of programming being all that remains between you and an 80 minute descent into hell.

The new Cloudfight record, Kill All Humans, will tentatively hit the streets on May 26th, 2012. Details on the release show will arrive soon. Artwork is being finalized, the album is being sent out for review. Thus far, the response has been unanimously positive. Hopefully that continues! A tour of eastern Canada will take place in late June/early July.

As always, thank you for listening/reading,

Michael

The latest:

Soul Killing Female's Farewell to Light EP is hitting the streets (and online stores) on March 3rd, 2012.
The tracklist:

Saigon (5:20)
Tiny Graves (6:00)
Girls (7:20)
Farewell to Light (22:00)

A short tour to promote the EP will take place in March, dates and info to follow soon (most are confirmed but I'm gonna wait till I get all the info before I start posting them).

Michael

The latest:

Soul Killing Female

I've been tracking vocals for the Farewell to Light EP. I should be done next week. The EP is slated for release in early March, 2012. An EP release show is being booked right now; details will follow as soon as I have them. It will be available in digital format, as well as cd.

Vocals for Kind of Red will begin next week. I'm hoping to complete all the vocal tracks before the end of the year. We'll see how that goes.
Also, Kind of Red will be a double record. Not sure if I've said that yet. I probably have. I'm old, and I tend to repeat myself because I'm old, so I repeat myself. They mostly come at night. Mostly.
Also, I'm not sure yet if both parts will be released together or a few months apart.

The tentative tracklisting is:

Disc 1:

And Ode to Napalm
Kill This Melody
Of Human Bondage
Herd Killing
Rorschach
House of Leaves

Disc 2:

God of War
Isolationism
Dis
Coming Right Along
Napalm (Reprise)
Maximizing Survival Time Inside the Event Horizon of a Black Hole

Cloudfight

The Demon 1 EP is completed and now on sale online here. It's 35 minutes of melodic ambient drones and soundscapes.

Michael

The latest:

Soul Killing Female is playing New Year's Eve Apocalypse 2012 at Ozzy's! First ever NYE gig, and I'm more than a little stoked about it.

Kind of Red is a double album. I'm still refining the running order, but it's sounding awesome.

Farewell to Light only has 2 more vocal tracks needed to be complete.

In Cloudfight news, the Demon 1 EP is done. Artwork is being done this week, and the EP will be available via the bandcamp site next week.
The Demon 2 EP will begin recording in the next couple of weeks.

Kill All Humans is still looking for a home.

That's it for now, check the 'blog' section for more details.

Michael

Here's the latest:

Stand Alone Complex has become Cloudfight. With a new album coming, it seemed the proper time to make the change. There are just too many other entities out there with the name Stand Alone Complex, and so the change became necessary.
Speaking of the new album, Kill All Humans is officially done.
9 songs.
Co-produced by myself and Joe Silva (who also mixed and mastered), the record is a huge leap forward. More bombastic than Music for Suicides, Kill All Humans has more depth, more groove, and more drums.
A limited preview has yielded unanimously positive reviews.
Cover art is complete and I hope to make it available to the world soon.

In the world of Soul Killing Female, the Farewell to Light EP is nearing completion. Vocals are being tracked this week, then it's mixing/mastering time. Artwork is currently being constructed by Kami Goertz. Planned release date is late-January.
The Kind of Red LP is also nearing completion. All instruments are tracked. Vocals will follow soon. The album won't see release until summer 2012, but till then, more and more songs from the record will be played live.

Speaking of live, both Cloudfight and Soul Killing Female have been confirmed for some big shows in the near future. More news on that soon.

As always, for more details, check the blog section. I have more videos, pictures and blog posts coming soon.

Michael

The song "Antagonist", b-side from the album Utopia Mine, is now available as a digital single in the store.

The remix of "Last of the Long-term Friendships" by Joe Silva is now available as a digital single in the store.

Go forth and enjoy.

Stand Alone Complex's Music for Suicides got reviewed here.
It's too early in the morning to feel this good! :)

Soul Killing Female's Landmines album got reviewed here.

Soul Killing Female got interviewed by Behind the Veil (all the way over in Greece).
You can read it, and review of Utopia Mine, here.

Note - the review is under New Albums, and then click on February. I'm under "S".

Utopia Mine got a glowing review at Behind the Veil here.

Stand Alone Complex's Music for Suicides got reviewed again. Read all about it here.

The track "Neurosis" from Utopia Mine can be had for free here:

http://puregrainaudio.com/audio/soul-killing-female-neurosis.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
Drunk.
is the way to be.
people only seem to like me that way.
or, rather, i should say, like me better that way.
malleable.
or less interested.
maybe both?
it's all who you know, i suppose.
I read a word tonight:
saudade.
it's Portuguese.
it means 'the feeling of longing for someone you love and is lost'.
basically.
fuck.
i dunno.
maybe.
basically.
i'm not a nice person.
you know that, right?

Myke

I'm watching the Lethal Weapon series, pretty much in one sitting. I don't know why. Christmas depression, maybe? Brain damage from an earlier head injury? Self-loathing? Well, I've attempted to make it fun by creating a drinking game based on the first two movies. I'm just starting number 3, so I may update this list soon. Or, I may be dead. Who knows? The Shadow knows. But I don't know why he knows.

Every time Riggs or Murtaugh are at a firing range - 1 drink (2 drinks if it's both of them)
Every time Riggs runs after a speeding car - 1 drink (2 drinks if he somehow bends space and time and catches it)
Every time Mel Gibson acts like a crazy person - 1 drink (this includes regular life too)
Every time the saxophone plays 3 descending notes after Murtaugh seems despondent - 1 drink
Every time the guitar plays a single bent note after Riggs reveals that his character has backstory, or feelings, or is suicidal - 1 drink
Every time somebody rolls on the ground but doesn't succeed in accomplishing his goal of actually getting out of the way - 1 drink (so, basically, every time someone rolls anything, anywhere, for any reason)
Every time the 3 Stooges are mentioned - 1 drink
Every time the 3 Stooges are poorly impersonated - 2 drinks
Every time Murtaugh says "I'm too old for this shit" - 2 drinks
Every time Riggs empties an entire clip into a guy - 1 drink
Every time the irony behind Mel Gibson deriding the "master race" becomes overwhelming - 3 drinks
Every time Leo says "okay" - 1 drink (prepare to die)
Every time someone is tied/cuffed/taped to a chair - 1 drink
Every time you roll your eyes..... you know what? I'm not going to do that to you. Just roll your eyes and keep watching.
Every time you wish you had a trailer-home on the beach - 1 drink (admit it, it's pretty awesome)
Every time Riggs and Murtaugh allow a pointless couple fight to interfere with professional police work - 1 drink
Every time Riggs decides to get into a fist fight rather than simply arrest an already subdued prisoner - 1 drink
Every time Riggs kills a guy with his legs - 2 drinks (1 for each leg)
Every time subtlety is used in place of brute force - don't even bother, it doesn't happen
Every time foreshadowing punches you in the face - 1 drink
Every time Riggs dislocates his shoulder only to do a Braveheart-esque job of acting it back into place - 1 drink
Every time the police chief allows Riggs and Murtaugh to continue their reign of terror on the streets of L.A. unabated - 1 drink
Every time you miss Rika van den Haas breasts after she dies - 2 drinks (1 for each succulent breast)
Every time Murtaugh's house is attacked - 1 drink for each neighbour that you figure wishes the Murtaigh family hadn't moved into their neighbourhood (and you've got to figure there's at least 5)
Every time you're completely blown away by the fact that Patsy Kensit married the lead singer from Simple Minds, and that they really only had one hit ever and you wonder what they're up to now - 7 drinks (I'm probably the only one)
Every time the irony of Mel Gibson saying he doesn't drink hits you in the brain - 1 rant against the Jews, and as many drinks as you want (hey, it's a party, right?)
Every time you wish you'd watched the Die Hard movies instead - 1 drink (2 drinks if you get the irony in that  - Bruce Willis was supposed to play Riggs)
Every time you personally think that you've gotten too old for this shit - 10 drinks

Your death will amount to a celebration of flies and gossip among half-known strangers.
Graveyards and parking lots will accumulate the dead.
Fields of burning soil will alleviate the need to reciprocate the hatred once grown among the weeds.
A raw nerve wrapped around an atom bomb.
You need to remember that I'm alive.

Me no good at word things.
fuckshitpissballgagsackmayonaise.
I suppose that was pretty good.
I dunno.
I've been experiencing a grinding depression these last couple months the likes of I have not felt in a long time. It's not a 'gee, I sure am sad' kind of thing. More like, I am on fire and I couldn't be bothered to put it out because I can't stop thinking about putting a gun to my head and blowing my brains out. But then we'd have a smoking pile of failure, and that shit doesn't come out, not with steel wool, not with nothin'.
I've been getting things done, but I have no idea how. I'm not even aware I'm doing them most times. I used to have a great memory. Steel-trap great. Now, it's not even a sieve, more like an open window. Birds fly in sometimes and I have to chase them out with a broom, which is a total bitch because toast.
I am acutely aware of my tenuous grasp on the english language.
Tenuous.
Tedious.
Either way.
It's been a strange time. Things are happening, which is good, I suppose, but things are heading in directions that have dark horizons and I'm not sure what lay beyond. Maybe a Taco Bell and taco-flavored kisses. Maybe it's a task force of penguin warriors bent on colonizing the moon. Maybe it's nothing.
Probably it's nothing.
Soon though.
When the music's over.

Michael

I have no one to talk to.
So I'll talk to you.
I hate music.
I hate hearing it.
I hate making it.
I hate playing it.
I hate that I've poured my entire life, every single goddam day of it, into music and no one gives a fuck.
I can't say that to anyone because all I'll get'll be smart-ass remarks from people not interested enough to care that I'm serious.
I'd quit music altogether, but, I honestly don't know what else I'd do with my life.
I haven't slept in days now.
I've been laying awake at night trying to determine what I could do with my life if I dropped music, and I can't think of anything.
Not a single fucking thing.
I'm only good at making and playing music and I'm clearly not good enough to make anyone give a shit.
Suicide is the only real option left at this point.
I just need a garage and 8 hours or so.
I make music. I'm fucking good at it.
I make music that is actually original, genre-defying, and fucking good.
I know very, very, very few people that can say that.
Sounds arrogant, fuck you, it's fucking true.
I am an original.
And there is absolutely no place in this world for an original, and I'm sick to death of that.
I want out.
I'll leave my music online until the domain name runs out, and after that it can disappear forever like me.
I know there's going to be a fucking line-up of clever assholes who'll read this and run as fast as they fucking can to type in their precious comments, but I don't care anymore.
I'm miserable.
I'm disappointed in all of you.
I'm unhappy with my life.
I simply can't do this anymore.
Fuck you.

Great.
Something else to think about.
It's like digging up a forgotten grave in the backyard.
You forgot about it, but it never left.
The act of digging made it part of you.
You are different, but you're still you.
You run from that, head start and everything, but it runs faster.
It becomes you.
It means more than you.
It fills the spaces between who you were and who you are.
Flood.
Brain collapses in hasty conversation, evacuation taking up the entire stage.
Anonymity is better, far better than having to dig graves in the first place.
Because they're never deep enough to drown them out.
And they flood.
And the blood fills the spaces in between who you were and who you are.

Michael

Sometimes I think about killing my dad, but most times I don't think of him at all.

Goddam.
I would give just about anything to live in Tokyo circa 2030.

I think I finally understand what love is.
I don't think it's happiness, or peace, or tranquility or long lives holding hands, smelling roses and smiling at grandchildren.
There's no calm.
There's no joy.
It's being able to share misery.
Amidst the gunfire and guilt, it's being able to fight and scream at each other and survive.
Wars are started for less than the words we drop on each other and yet, breathless, we still remain, stripping monuments of their power and pride and meaning and we outshine because we are in pain and we can be in pain together.
Being in pain together.
That is love.
And when the world stops, and everyone is dead, our pain will still exist and that is what makes us great.
Our pain will outlast time and will outlast us, and so our love will outlast us.
And that is what makes us beautiful.
Blood, faith, pride, integrity and self-righteousness be damned; all of it. We are together because we hurt ourselves and each other in the exact same way and we are perfect in that.
Perfect in our misery.
Our misery is ours and nobody else's.
They can't get in.
They'll try, but they'll fail.
We will survive in spite of ourselves because we can be miserable together.
That is love.