DS-Alpha 12389-22

Travelers!

Today I bring to you a very special blog post about the events of Kardashev in Kanada for a music video Extravaganza Part 1: Electric bagelbun

Update Overview

Mark and I spent 6 days in Canada and only the first 2 were for the music video. The rest were for relaxation and collaboration with some of Mark’s buddies, but we made sure to focus on the music video first while we were there. We made some great contacts, took tons of pictures and videos that you’ll get to see today!

Void Merchants (Band Member)

Before we get into the deets, here’s a quick update for all of you regarding everyone in the band!

Mark is gonna be a dad! His baby boy is due in late September and he’s super excited to be a dad! He’s also working on promoting the new album and writing the finishing touches for Chapter of Atlas (lore book for the Kardashev mythos)

Alex is back from touring with Holy Fawn and he’s ready to get writing with me every week! We’ll have some new audio updates for you in the coming weeks!

Sean tells me he’s working on some playthrough videos for the upcoming album, but ultimately he’s a dad with a business and when I write a thing, he’ll be ready. haha

I, Nico, am finally back from Canada, Washington and Oregon! So, I’ve been editing videos, making merch, answering DMs, and being an all-around band manager. haha I’ve got a lot on the plate, but I’m always around on Discord if yall wanna chat! Side note, I got my Aristides setup yesterday and it’s fire. like… yall, I’mma be making some videos for you with this mommy.

Also, follow us on TikTok for some funny stuff!

@kardashevband

Audio Updates

In case you missed it, today Metal Blade released our single from the new album, Compost Grave-Song.

Here’s some words from Mark:

“Show me your face, my brother forgotten.

Let me go.

Let me recall.”

The slow unraveling of the mind is terror, but the curse of remembering is often more painful still. The Lost Man stands by the grave of his brother. The headstone has fallen and the ground is covered in weeds and decaying leaves. The Lost Man lets out a sound of disgust at how close his brother had been buried to their compost pile. Laying a child to rest so close to rotting food and unwanted plants brings up old ghosts of fury that he thought he had locked deeply away. The autumn air has chilled the stone and pressing his forehead against the cold surface seems to close the distance between him and his brother. Tears feed the thistles and Ivy as the past reaches up and pulls him toward the dirt. He threw the stone that killed his brother. He had only meant to scare him, but there was no way to rewrite the story. Death was on his hands. Death has stained his palms for over fifty years, and it continued to haunt him under the skeletal shade of his memory.

And here’s the behind the scenes!

Liminal Rite

The album you’ve all been listening to demos of for the past year is finally coming out!

The album is coming out June 10, 2022 and here’s some info about it thanks to a writer at metal blade:

Liminal Rite Track Listing:
1. The Approaching Of Atonement
2. Silvered Shadows
3. Apparitions In Candlelight
4. Dissever
5. Lavender Calligraphy
6. The Blinding Threshold
7. Compost Grave-Song
8. Cellar Of Ghosts
9. Glass Phantoms
10. A Vagabond’s Lament
11. Beyond The Passage Of Embers

Opening with the gorgeous drones of “The Approaching Of Atonement” before launching into the densely layered, surging “Silvered Shadows,” an air of tragedy looms over much of the record’s proceedings demanding an emotional response at every musical turn. Liminal Rite is lyrically deep and complex, focusing on mood above all else. Guitarist Nico Mirolla aptly describes the songs as musically bearing resemblance to freeform jazz or a progressive record, because, “The story is the focus. There is an overtly important narrative taking place that is facilitated by the sonic textures and qualities intentionally designed for it.”

The record follows a narrative laid out by drummer Sean Lang’s spoken word parts. Elaborates Mirolla, “Liminal Rite explores how the past can both wound and seduce, leading us down a path of self-destruction. It’s an anecdotal tale from a fictional man’s perspective late in life on how perception and reality do not always coalesce. His experience tells a larger message of how our minds often create a false view of the past. Sean’s narration is him expressing the man’s perception and recollection of life. The failure of his memory, the nature of dementia, and how it plays into his experience are all encapsulated by the narrative sections.”

While Lang simply speaks his parts, vocalist Mark Garrett possesses a phenomenal vocal range, branching from the heavenly and frail to multiple different extreme metal styles, and he follows his gut instincts when it comes to deciding which to employ. “Nico, [bassist] Alex [Reith], and Sean write music that is heavily focused on emotional storytelling, Garrett notes. Because of this, and since I write vocals once the rest of the song is complete, I find myself both swept away in the emotion of the song and wanting to help further the cathartic experience of the listener even more.”

In advance of the record’s release, today KARDASHEV unveils a vocal playthrough for the album’s first single, “Compost Grave-Song.” Notes Mirolla of the track, “‘Compost Grave-Song’ illuminates the point of no return in The Lost Man’s descent into regret, anger, and madness. He is lucid. He is awake. The Lost Man finds himself standing in the spot where his father knelt so many years ago. Guilt masked by anger grabs him by the chest and he curses the earth beneath him. The death of his brother rises to the surface of his mind as a cloud of locusts swarms a field, ripping and tearing until all hunger is satiated. He clutches a stone and sees the ghostly effigy of his father’s hand doing the same. Images of the tragedy that took his brother away flood The Lost Man, and he remembers the fury of his father as the truth was laid bare. But… what was it, that grave mistake that manifested by his own actions? The memory is too far in the ground, buried under broken glass and isolation. But this time will be different. This time he will not be cast aside. He is home, and he would rather die than suffer the loss of his past for a second time.”

We’ll have more updates in the future of course, but for now, DM me with any questions you might have!

Karda-da, Cana-dashev

Preparations

As you may know, Alex wasn’t able to make it to Canada for the video shoot, but he was with us in spirit! Holy Fawn had just returned from a 30 day tour only a few days before we left for Canada and sadly, Alex didn’t have the willpower to leave home again so soon. Although he regrets it now, we were very productive and thorough with our plans in his absence.

We asked Sean if he had a stand-in for the music video and if he knew anyone with enough gear to help us film the video since we’d be going to him in his land, the land of the Free and home of th…… wait… “From Sea to Sea”! That’s their slogan! Fortunately, Sean has been a pretty well connected musician in his area of Vancouver, so he knew just who to contact; Ryan!

Ryan wrote and played in First Reign with Sean for years before Sean joined Kardashev and he still has guitars, basses, PA systems and everything we’d need to jam in the barn. Furthermore, he is a skilled guitarist with the ability to learn quickly and rock out on camera! So Sean asked him to stand-in for Alex in our upcoming music video. Thanks to Ryan we had everything we needed and more! Thanks Ryan!

Arrival

This means that Mark and I were the only ones traveling up to Sean in Canada and so we booked our flights and headed out. Interestingly, this was the first Kardashev flight we didn’t take together. We took UK Techfest flights together in 2015 and Knoxville flights in 2021, but not this time. I still don’t know why. haha

I arrived around 2pm on Saturday and Mark’s flight didn’t arrive until 8pm, so I had to sit/sleep/brush my teeth/do my hair/play on my phone for 6 hours waiting for him to arrive so Sean didn’t have to drive more than necessary at the current gas prices. Fun Factoid: Gas in Canada is by the liter and is written like this 189.7/liter which translates to $1.897/liter. Kind of weird, but whatever. Also, that’s like $8/gallon, Americans. #OOF

Once Sean picked us up, we drove through Vancouver to a Wendy’s where we ate and then continued on to our BNB in the center of Mission, BC.

This place was pretty uhm…. nice. It had everything but a kitchen. 😊

We passed out pretty quickly and woke early to a full day of adventure and work!

Day 1

To begin the day, Mark and I brushed our teeth.

Sean picked us up at 9am and we headed out for coffee and breakfast before arriving to the barn we’d be filming in!

Upon arrival, we met Ryan and took a tour of the barn upstairs and down we decided on a primary location and began moving furniture and cleaning the space.

Ryan had loaded his Honda “Fit” with a PA system, Amp and cab, bass amp and cab and two guitars that we began unpacking and loading into the barn’s upstairs loft area.

The scenery out there was majestic. Massive mountains, abundant rivers, rolling plains and TREES EVERYWHERE!

Once the furniture was moved and the gear was moved in, Ryan had to take off, but for the first time in Kardashev history, I jammed with Sean!

On the next episode of ETP, I hope to share the video blog with you, but for now, take care!

Threads of the Traveler

I began working on some new designs with the new album artwork and I’d love your input!

Here’s two that I’m playing with:

Let me know if there’s something specific you’d like to see!

I’m still working on the wallets, passport books and dice sets. 🙂