... though it's probably news I've already shared and just forgot about it. I'm too lazy to re-read the blog, too much pain as well.

Still, it's worth sharing once again: we're going to start releasing CD-Rs, in limited runs of about 50 copies per release (they'll be rare treasures worth seeking out, like warped teapots made by poor artisans in the 19th century). We'll have a new Noise-Joy CD-R coming out either late this month or early February.

I finally got a job, it seems somewhat stable and the pay is, well, better than I'd anticipated. Movin' on up! I'm funding these CD-Rs out of pocket, not expecting MASSIVE returns on my investment, but for the love of the art, I'm doing it - so needless to say I'm going to end up being a bit picky and choosy about who gets released and when. It's difficult because there was such an abundance of talent and excellence pouring our way from so many artists, I'm having to cut just a few heart-strings and become more analytical about who to put CD-Rs out for in the coming months/years/decades/lifetime that I'm able to do this.

I'm sorry to many of you who've been waiting so long for a net-release, but the net-label has died and I am unable to resurrect it. Even if I wanted to, I could not, because time has become far too scarce. I've seen too many net-labels die because of stupid time management issues, and mine was no different. Of course, we had a lot of other bullshit thwarting us on the path, but in the end it was time that slayed us. I think Dadaist Audio has ceased functioning now as well, and I suspect it is probably for similar reasons. Once you're forced into the daily grind of work, you just can't run a net-label, it's too much.

I couldn't let this project truly die off because it means a lot to me, it maybe means something to a few others too. I think that releasing CD-Rs, even if there is a bit of a stretch of time in between each new release, is the way I've been wanting to go. So, I gave the myspace a facelift (it's now our sole online presence), I'm devoting a Xanga blog to discussions of Noise-Joy CD-Rs as they come out (possibly with interviews and other shit thrown in about the artists) and we're going to start putting some $$$ into this.

I'll be making contact with artists about releases as I'm able to afford to release their work, soon I'll be reposting paypal shit for people to click to buy the CD-Rs, I still haven't worked out a strategy to get the albums to those of you without credit/debit cards (I wouldn't know what to do if I received any Euros in the mail), and I hope that I'll soon be able to start replying to messages again. I've been lax in that, since I get so many of them, usually asking me where the site went and if I could release someone's mp3s.

Until next time, I hope you sorry lot will keep meaningful art ALIVE in this post-millenial dystopia. ;-)

Thanks for the support everyone and thanks to all of the new artists who've contacted us in an effort to have us release something, it really shows how far we've come and it means a lot... which is why I'm sad to say that the net-label is dying and will be unceremoniously terminated sometime in October despite all efforts to keep it alive. This is not to say we will cease to function completely, or even to develop a presence on the web once again at some point, but there will have to be changes made in the now for anything to come in the future. In a primary sense, I'd like to begin to focus exclusively on physical products. I'm hoping that at least for a time these products will continue to be free to all listeners.

In order to do this, I've decided the time is upon me to really take one for the team and get some kind of shitty job - this will mean that I can begin to throw money into this project and maybe get us all somewhere where we can do more interesting things. I'll get into some of my ideas on that in a moment.

I've also decided it would be most prudent to cut our roster of artists down to a large extent, only because doing so will allow us to better hone our creative presence in a post-industrial world. I know what some of you are thinking, I've thought it myself, and it's with a great measure of reluctance that I've come to accept this as necessary. On the other hand, a lot of you who might be expecting I'll cut you off should not be worried, I still love the harsh noise, ambient, hardcore stuff a lot of you are putting out and I will continue to do so for as long as I'm able. It's simply that our massive output has had the adverse effect of dampening a lot of interest in projects that truly deserved more attention, and this is the only way I can figure to counteract the saturation we all sense is taking place.

Onto my ideas for the future. I think it would be highly interesting from a creative standpoint to begin to put money into releasing large, collaborative media products combining extreme music with visual arts, putting together weird interactive media, putting together weird exhibitions, maybe eventually throwing a convention or festival of some kind. Anything is possible/probable, once money and time cease to be such an issue (and at present, both are very big on the list of issues).

I don't know for sure what might be on the horizon, but if our accomplishments up to this point are accounted for, it's sure to be something brilliant. I'll try and keep everyone informed as new developments occur and, once again, I apologize for my inability to speak one-on-one with most or all of you over the last year. In the last week or so in particular I've been on kind of a medical drug adventure. :)

Cheers!

I should probably begin with some news you're not going to want to hear: Noise-Joy is on a temporary hiatus. Many of you have probably noticed that the process of re-uploading lost files had halted awhile back; this happened because I bought an external hard-drive and moved everything onto it, N-J files, my backed-up album collection, html, etc., and the hard-drive failed on me. It no longer allows me access and insists I format the disc (i.e. delete fucking everything). I'm not going to play it's games and have been trying to move files from it to somewhere else, the problem being that I don't have anywhere else to move them and access is limited at best (the HD was from Western Digital in case you were wondering, a total piece of shit in my opinion). Suffice it to say, that if this shitty HD decides to purge itself of the data, everything is gone. This is a matter of life and death!!!11!

So... N-J is on break. I have no intentions of breaking up the label, we will be back as soon as we can be. We seem to be cursed in a way, betrayed by the technology we depend on. It is depressing to me, because so much of our catalog was so good, I feel as though art itself is clinging by it's one finger to the edge of a deep ravine, threatening to fall, to plummet to it's final resting place... the universe is unraveling before me and there is little I can do to slow or to halt it's march towards annihilation.

This site will still be operated in a limited function to help all of you get the word out about each of your projects, shows you're doing, etc. in the comments portion of the site, so I hope none of you have jumped ship entirely. There are still so many great acts that I am very excited about, many of whom never got a chance to have their music hosted on our label, so you'll be keeping it all alive by visiting whenever you can and connecting. In the meantime, there are many other excellent net-labels out there, all of which should be cool with releasing your music, so here's a list of a few off the top of my head (hopefully all of these are still running error free!):

Dadaist Audio
TrashFuck.Net
Dustin Must Die
Smell The Stench
Chaoz Records
NORTHAMERICANHARDCORE

Once the label is absolutely back on track, expect to hear from me again. Until then keep making new sounds and let me know about it.

I'm working on uploading the first couple new releases we've had in about 2 months. Unfortunately, these 2 releases will probably be the only new releases we'll have for awhile yet, since it's that time again: Noise-Joy compilation time.

I've already started work on figuring out what's going on it, but since I'm also working on getting the MP3s back up on the site, it might take a long time.

But, here's a list that I'll progressively update as the MP3s are restored, much as I did in the last blog.

0499 - 0490: Fixed
0489 - 0480: Fixed
0479 - 0470: Fixed
0469 - 0460: Fixed
0459 - 0450: Fixed
0449 - 0440:
0439 - 0430:
0429 - 0420:
0419 - 0410:
0409 - 0400:

0399 - 0390:
0389 - 0380:
0379 - 0370:
0369 - 0360:
0359 - 0350:
0349 - 0340:
0339 - 0330:
0329 - 0320:
0319 - 0310:
0309 - 0300:

0299 - 0290:
0289 - 0280:
0279 - 0270:
0269 - 0260:
0259 - 0250:
0249 - 0240:
0239 - 0230:
0229 - 0220:
0219 - 0210:
0209 - 0200:

0199 - 0190:
0189 - 0180:
0179 - 0170:
0169 - 0160:
0159 - 0150:
0149 - 0140:
0139 - 0130:
0129 - 0120:
0119 - 0110:
0109 - 0100:

0099 - 0090:
0089 - 0080:
0079 - 0070:
0069 - 0060:
0059 - 0050:
0049 - 0040:
0039 - 0030:
0029 - 0020:
0019 - 0010:
0009 - 0000:

Just to put an expected time-frame on all of this, 0499 - 0490 are going to take me anywhere from about 5:00 - 7:00 AM to finish, depending on the overall size of each, and I got started at about 10:30 PM. lol.

The releases with unique cats are now all up and working again, or will be by the time most of you read this, I'm actually still uploading them right now. After they're up, I'm going to make a backup that can be uploaded instantaneously in the event that such a wide-spread destruction of everything occurs again.

Once they're up, it will be time to change gears. For the MP3s I've decided the only decent thing I can do is start with the newest releases and work backwards, and on top of that, I'll maybe be able to squeeze in a few new releases before I have the next major task of compiling the fifth Noise-Joy compilation.

There are some confusing issues at present with some of the releases shown to have been released just before the crash, which aren't reflected elsewhere on the site (on artist pages) or on Discogs, which is leading me to believe I was drunk maybe the last time I seriously updated the site. Or maybe distraught with the losses, I don't know, perhaps both. So, most of those might be new to all of you and some are up now, the rest will be up soon.

I've got some excellent music in the queue, some of which I'm going to have to sit on until after N-J comp V. It's been a long enough wait already for new material, so I'm sorry to the artists who've been waiting.

I hope we'll be able to bounce back now, I'm almost certain we lost some people through this mess, including some artists I was really excited about.

Also, my current mood is fermented, which I didn't previously know made sense within the context of mood or demeanor. I'll take a stab at defining it, as maybe ill-feeling? Bacterial? Yeasty?

*Edit: Ok, now I'm seeing an angry emoticon, so it's sort of like a seething animosity boiling over, fermented by thought? That's totally not my current mood.