Mishkin the Misanthropic Cat

New maxisingle release and Don't Buy From Napster

2010-08-17T23:58:00.000-07:00

The time has come to release the second Mishkin CD, a Maxisingle entitled "All Rights Reserved".

Tracks:
Oh No, I don't Believe it (2 versions)
Wonderwoman, can you dance to this (Previously unreleased version)
Pucks Pulka IV (Previously unreleased version)
Behaviorism
Don't kill the poodle Larry

Total playing time: Approximately 30 minutes

Later this autumn I'm planning on releasing a full lengther with tracks from the first mishkin singles "One" and "All Rights Reserved" alongside a few as of yet unreleased tracks .

Working title for this full-length release so far is "Mishkin the misanthropic cat says go fuck yourself" :P

Things ARE happening :D

I checked my track sales today, and i'd lie if I said they where impressive, but it's still more than I would have thought. 20 somthing Mp3 downloads sold over the last coupple of months. However, since they where mostly sold on Napster, I could have given them away instead.

I make a staggering $0.70 for a track sales on I-tunes, (I hope you noticed me being ironic just now?) but only $0.02 on Napster. Even more of the revenues would reach me if people where to buy my tracks straight from my Reverbnation store .. so plz ppl, if you're going to support my music, please do it there :)

Napster comes along with a distro package on reverbnation, so I can't get rid of this service without simultaneously loosing access to other distributors :(

Thanks to the talented fractal artist Golubaja for letting me use her fractal "Ripping from inside" in the back sleeve design.

Summer's end

2010-07-27T05:52:00.000-07:00

Well, that might be a premature statement, but in a way it is. I'm going back to Stockholm tomorrow, and that leaves me with a bit of mixed feelings. I've enjoyed my visit in Skåne this time.

Random Occurrences

Today I'm tired as hell. I didn't get proper sleep for two nights in a row, and tomorrow I'll have to get up at six in the morning at the latest if I want to catch my flight. I'm grumpy.

Rocks

I went for a last photoshoot in Båstad today, but didn't feel very inspired. Nothing looked photo-worthy and at the end I started photographing ugly things instead. Picking the uglyest of uglys as subjects and trying to find an interesting angle actually improved my mood for a little while.

The pictures above are from the 14th when I visited Hovs Hallar. (Sweden, Skåne, Bjäre). The picture below is from right outside of Torekov. (Swe, Skå, Bj)

The good old days

I think I'll take a nap now.

Jobsearch and a new camera

2010-07-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

The Nikon D80 I've been using lately wasn't mine, I got my hands on it through the time-limited job I had here, which ended yesterday. After the past month, being without a systematic doesn't sit good with me at all, I'm addicted!

The D80 is a bit expensive for my wallet, so after lots of research I've decided on a D3000. I know, it's a coupple of steps down from the D80, but I'm hoping I'll be satisfied with it anyhow... Will I?

A cure for cancer

My reasons for choosing the D3000 are as follows;

* It's in my pricerange

* It's a Nikon, and I'm expecting it to be quite similar in handling to the D80.

* It's 10mpx, has image-stabilization for when you use it in-hand and can take photos in RAW (NEF) format. (+ 11 point AF, not to be frowned upon!)

* I like the fact that I'll be able to buy old nikkor/vivitar/etc lenses and use them with the D3000. As I've found out during my research, nikkon didn't change their lense mounting system since 1959 - I've already found myself a Vivitar Series1 35-200mm lens - Reverse Lens Macro Photography Here I come!

What do you guys think, Will I be satisfied with my buy?
Share your opinions, comments and experiences with the D3000!

Dude, Where's my car V1/2

Today I've been jobhunting, mailed out a couple of applications and read a ton of ads. Not the most exciting way to spend a day, but I'll be happy I did it once I find me a new job a little down the road.

Besides; it's pretty grey outside today, and I don't have my camera yet. Perhaps it will arrive tomorrow.

Night Tree

Bicycle rides all over the place

2010-07-14T01:22:00.000-07:00

Today I thought I'd UL a coupple of pics from my trip to Burens Cove, you'll have to wait until later to see pictures that are actually from there. ;-)

Water

I’ve been riding my bike a lot lately! The day after the trip to Burens Cove I took a ride to Ängalag on behalf of my current employers, but had the time to take some pictures of my own at the same time. Then yesterday I went for a ride past Broddarp through some scenic areas and in a wide circle returned home again.

Volvo BM

A veteran, atleast 40 y.o. Many farmers here still use them alongside newer models

I still only went though 1/5 of all the pictures from Burens Cove, and though many of them are dupes and will be scrapped, it will still take some time to develop and post-process them all. Friday is my last day of work, so I guess I'll have to make the best out of the few days I have left with their camera, then I'll have to buy one of my own :P

Cobweb & Metal Wire

A session at Burens Cove

2010-07-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

Today I rode my bike to Burensvik (Burens Cove) in search of "le photogenique".

Burens Cove is a beautiful nature reserve and I hadn't been down there for a long time - I believe it must be a decade at least - so the ride was a pleasant opportunity to reminisce.

I had taken a good 50 photos before I even got down there, and I arrived at my destination around half past five. Though I didn’t choose Burens Cove at random, I must say that it exceeded my expectations by a long stretch! The photogenique was everywhere I looked, and I just couldn’t stop shooting.

While transferring the first 112 photos onto my laptop, I wished I had someone there with me who could take a photo of me, as I was sitting in the grass out in the middle of nowhere with my high-tech equipment, surrounded by cattle. It felt kinda special.

I continued the session until 8:30 pm, by which time I had taken 538 photos. Then I left for home as I was starving, and ignored most photo opportunities on the way. All I could think of was the leftovers from my Beuf Bourgogne.

Now awaits picking and choosing, discarding, developing from Raw, post-rendering and uploading onto dA, after which it will become available in portions here on the blog.

Keep watching. This will take some time.

A dream

Random pictures and math

2010-07-06T15:25:00.000-07:00

Today has been pretty intense for me. I took work with me home and spent a good fourteen hours of my day just working, working working, it's fun to get caught up in something, especially when it's a bit challenging.

Normally, I both hate and fear maths, but under the right circumstances, I can forget about the actual math and see it more as a riddle of sorts. Then it's irresistable to me.

Anyways. I had problems deciding on what pictures to upload today, so finally I decided not to choose.

Winter 14

Taken with my cellphone last winter outside of Jordbro

Overlay Mania

This pic was also taken with my cell (all of the pictures in this post are) Not only did I layer it several times, I did a whole lof of other stuff too.. Don't even remember what anymore. :)

Lars Lejonborg

I had the good fortune of running into Swedish politician Lars Lejonborg earlier this spring, he kindly gave me directions and let me snap a photo of him with my cell.. As if it knew who it was taking a picture of, it delivered better quality than it ever have before or since.. Or is it just Lars' charisma?

Goodnight ppl, sleep tight!

This Evening's pictures

2010-07-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd UL some old ones this time.. From before I had access to a proper camera.

So we call him two sheds

Is there anybody out there?

Titles derived from Monty Python and Pink Floyd respectively. Both pics where taken on the same day during a walk outside of Jordbro, one of Stockholm's suburbs. Camera: my 3Mpx Sony-Ericsson Cellphone.

Sleep tight everyone!

Good morning!

2010-07-05T01:26:00.000-07:00

Fractalized

Good morning, I've had the time to clean a little and take care of the laundry, it feels grrrrrrrrrr-eAt!

The piece above was created by putting random dots and lines on the screen, and then doing quite a bit of digital processing. Let's settle to say that I did quite a lot with it, and that I finished it all of by applying some mandelbrot parameters to it, i.e. I fractalized it. Other pieces from the same series are available here.

Funki Boythorpe

Ending the post with something a little bit more accessible.. I love the name of this silo. Genious! Single-layer cellphone shot then desaturated and layered with a color filter.

Latest news from the world of music

2010-07-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

Ecstasy

Two different photos layered on top of eachother + postrender

Since I started working with graphics I've been completely inactive in the audio dept. Despite having a good five or ten tracks awaiting completion, none of them will be meeting the public eye (ear?) anytime soon.

With this in mind, it feels kinda nice to be able to announce that I undertook a serious Ubetoo-update this evening and uploaded a dozen old tracks. Theese are the tracks that was uploaded:

By Notre Voyage
Grotesquely Beautiful
Piracy

By The Rayman Band
All the things
New Shoes
Floating
Winter Winds
Defiant Song
The Skies

By Rayman Solo (=Me)
Treasure It Always
Madam I
Mauvaise-Foi Male
Slightly Spotted, Strangely Square (classical piece)
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Perhaps I forgot a track or two, if so, I ask for your understanding.

Klara Kyrka

Photo taken w. my cell. Colorfilter applied @ postprocess to enhance saturation..

Wildflowers

2010-07-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

Wildflowers

This was taken a short walk from where I live right now. I don't remember exactly how I rendered it, but by the looks of it, this is yet another multiple-exposure pic... (That's how I work most of the time.) After that, I probably fiddled around with the saturation a bit, cropped it, and added a frame.

A cure for cancer

2010-07-03T23:50:00.000-07:00

A Cure for Cancer

Lately I've been taking a lot of pictures (yeah, it's a photo, or actually, three of them.) And I can even pride myself with doing some graphical work professionally. I thought I should start uploading some of my works that aren't comissioned onto the blog.

This pic was created by layering three different exposures of the same shot, then rendering it and playing around a bit with hue/saturation. It was taken in Glimminge, southern Sweden. You'll find more photos, fractals and renderings on my dA-page

Peace y'all

What's been going on lately?

2010-05-15T02:28:00.000-07:00

Mishkin-Rayman is in rotation at IM Radio's webradiostation with a couple of tunes, go have a listen :)
Yet another record was put out for sale in the Mishkin-Rayman webshop, and we are now also present at soundcloud

Sleeves from the latest record, containing the tracks "Drunkard Girl", "Mauvaise-Foi Male" and "To Hermeto";

I'm currently learning to use Jeskola Buzz, an old tracker-sort of program a friend suggested I should try.

Today a few new excerpts will be uploaded onto Reverbnation!

Have a great day ppl :-)

Old men with candy

2010-04-06T17:16:00.000-07:00

Three short anouncements:

* It seems as though the track Wonderwoman - can you dance to this? will be incorporated into a dance show by Swedish dancer/coreographer Sofie "Zelda" Hofvendahl.

* All songs on Reverbnation has been replaced by excerpts. The myspace pages will go through a similar update soon. Henceforth
streaming of full tracks will be available through Ubetoo.com only.

* The newly opened Mishkin-Rayman webshop has a new addition to it's catalogue - Notre Voyage's "L'universe est presque grand" 3-track single.

Enjoy!

Who gives a shit?

2010-03-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

The release "Rayman" (Selftitled) has been available for purchase at Amazon Mp3 since almost a month now, and today it also became available through my reverbnation-store, that will soon be embedded at several sites, amongst others Facebook.

Rayman - Selftitled (Maxisingle)

The shop already contains three records; "Rayman" (Selftitled, maxisingle "Pedestrians/Pedophiles" (Maxisingle) and "Save the Brainforest" (one hour full-length album)

Rayman - Pedestrians / Pedophiles (Maxisingle)

Upcomming releases are Notre Voyage - L'universe est presque grand (single), Notre Voyage - We're a duo, not a band! (aka the early recordings) Mishkin - All Rights Reserved (Full length album) and atleast two more mishkin maxisingles, currently nameless...

Save the Brainforest!

I've acquired a motto for the store from a professional motto salesman who, after lots of consideration, gave me two options to choose between.

At first, I was very attracted by motto no. 1; "Hurry up, you wackjob, I hate my job and wanna go for an early lunch." but it was too long, so atlast I decided to go with motto no. 2; a short and simple "Buy something or die!"

Back sleeve drawing by Anders Skoglund. For full track info, go to the shop

Conceptual Continuity

2010-02-25T10:00:00.000-08:00

Here's some posts of mine I felt like saving. They're from the Ubetoo.com forumsection where people can post when they got new songs online and crave some attention.

A tune I uploaded
by Alex Rayman on Tue, Feb 23 2010 4:29 PM

A few days ago, after contemplating the pros and cons of suicide, I decided to sign up for an account and upload a tune onto Ubetoo instead. What do you guys think, is it any good, or should I have gone with the other option?

PLEASE BE HONEST....

Here's the link: http://www.ubetoo.com/player.aspx?mediaid=27495
-----

Drill n´ base-like song uploaded
by Alex Rayman on Tue, Feb 23 2010 4:36 PM

Today after forcefeeding myself an entire roast beef accompanied by excessive amounts of mayonaise, I wrote a song that could possibly be labeled Drill n´ base and then I vomited all over my keyboard.

Does roast beef and creativity seem to go hand in hand, or should I look for another approach?

Here's the link: Pucks Pulka II
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I killed a swan (with my bare hands!)
by Alex Rayman on Tue, Feb 23 2010 7:04 PM

Hey guys, I'm back again :D
Today I killed a swan for giving my GF the eye... Perhaps that sounds a bit strange, but for you guys living in Stockholm, it probably makes more sense when I tell you that I'm currently dating that old woman who has a swan-fetish. You probably read about her in the papers a while back?

After slaughtering this not-so-defenceless critter with my bare hands, my woman was a sobbing mess, so I went home to UL yet another two songs, and now it´s time to shamelessly advertise them!

Here´s the links: Som en krokus Birds
Do you think that killing the swan was wrong?
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Dear diary!
by Alex Rayman on Wed, Feb 24 2010 11:42 PM

Dear diary!
Today after spanking my monkey senseless I still felt strangely empty and unfulfilled, but at first I really didn't have a clue as to what was bringing me down. After dismissing that it could have anything to do with my neglecting the dishes for so long, aswell as the incident the other day, where I killed a swan and cruelly left my retiree of a girlfriend in the middle of nowhere (oh well, a park near central stockholm), I realized that I hadn't uploaded a song onto Ubetoo for several hours.

Suddenly life was slightly less devoid of meaning!

What do you guys think, does the track Wonderous have any merits, or is it just about as stupid as expecting a reply in this forum? :P

Cheers everyone!
/Mishkin the Misanthropic Cat
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Dear Diary#2
by Alex Rayman on Thu, Feb 25 2010 1:46 AM

Dear Diary,
Today before going to sleep I uploaded yet another song, and in light of recent events I decided to dedicate it to my patient and loving girlfriend, the crazy lady with a swan fetish. She ain't much of a girlfriend, but she's the only one I've got, and as my friend Yasmine often points out, beggars can't be choosers.

So here it is, a tribute to my beloved, suitingly entitled "wonderwoman (can you dance to this?)"

Ofcourse she can't, she's got arthritis.

So how about it ppl, would you consider this latest track of mine an asset on your Ipods, or is it just about as indulgent and self-absorbed as my forumposts?

Cheers!
/Mishkin the Misanthropic Cat, AKA Rayman
-----

More conceptual continuity may be posted shortly... Peace out ppl!

2010-02-25T02:51:00.000-08:00

Hey people. 2010 has been a rather intense year so far, believe it or not. Studies, a premature move to a new, more central apartement, work of different kinds, and it looks as though I'll be writing music for a movie short, allthough that's still in what I'd consider it's initial stages.

A few weeks ago I uploaded an technotune of sorts, "Puck Pulka II", and now I'm slowly migrating from Reverbnation to Ubetoo with all my material. I intend to keep the reverbnation account, but with only excerpts available and it won't be my primary showcase anymore.

What Ubetoo has to offer is simply superior atm.

The records I announced in my first or so post will probably be delayed, atleast some of them.

Lately I've uploaded some new (and some old) tracks. Above all I'd like to mention "Drunkard" and "Oh No! (Emone Mix)" - The former previously unreleased, the latter hietherto available only as a preview. Last in this post, I should mention that I signed up for a "Summer hit" competition with "To hermeto", though i renamed it "Love summer, hate hits" to fit the occasion.

Dig iT!

Song: Wonderwoman (penultimate) Online!

2010-01-25T10:50:00.000-08:00

Today Mishkin put "Wonderwoman - Penultimate" online. Remixes / alternate versions may be released later on, as of yet it's still a bit uncertain.

One expects almost everyone to be dumbfounded and amazed by a feeline not only capable of writing music, but also of surfing the internet. So how is it that Mishkin still remains an obscurity in the world of experimental music?

Well, mishkin has no idea about good/bad PR, and so he unwittingly sticks to the old feeline-approach of showin people his anus. Now everyone knows that he ain't Sasha Baron Cohen, allthough they might've been fooled if it wasn't for all the furr.

Thus the strategy has so far been almost completely unsuccesful.

Next month Mishkin moves from the suburbs to the heart of Stockholm. Wish him luck, and remind him to stay away from roads with heavy traffic!

New Samplers

2010-01-06T00:54:00.000-08:00

Mishkin has put two new excerpts online;

"Medevial Courtship" (raw beta) & part of "Oh No, I don't believe it" (emmoneMix).

I've decided to only release Oh No! (emmone) as a sampler at reverbnation, so if you like it and wish to hear the whole song, buy it through one of my digital distro sites later this year, or as a physical CD (more info will be posted later)

As usual available at reverbnation.com/rayman & Facebook

Take care ppl!

Happy new year in a multitude of languages!

2009-12-31T11:26:00.000-08:00

I'm staying home tonight, But tomorrow I'll celebrate kareokestyle!
Here's how to say Happy New Year in maany languages:

Afrikaans - Voorspoedige nuwe jaar
Arabic - Kul 'am wa antum bikhair
Basque - Urte Berri on
Bengali - Shuvo noboborsho
Chinese (Cantonese) - Sun nien fai lok
Chinese (Mandarin) - Xin nian yu kuai
Czech - Stastny Novy Rok
Danish - Godt Nyt År
Dutch - Gelukkig nieuwjaar
Esperanto - Bonan Novjaron
Finnish - Onnellista uutta vuotta
French - Bonne année (OR?) Nouvelle année heureuse
German - Ein glückliches neues Jahr
Greek - Καλή χρονιά (OR POSSIBLY) Eutychismenos o kainourgios chronos
Hawaiian - Hauoli Makahiki hou
Hebrew - Shana Tova
Hungarian - Boldog uj evet
Indonesian (Bahasa) - Selamat Tahun Baru
Italian - Felice Anno Nuovo or Buon anno
Japanese - Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu
Korean - Sehe Bokmanee Bateuseyo
Laotian - (Hmong) Nyob Zoo Xyoo Tshiab
Latin - Felix sit annus novus
Nigerian (Hausa) - Barka da sabuwar shekara
Norwegian - Godt Nytt År
Philippines (Tagalog) - Manigong Bagong Taon
Polish - Szczesliwego Nowego Roku
Romanian - La Multi Ani si Un An Nou Fericit
Russian - С новым годом
Samoan - Ia manuia le Tausaga Fou
Spanish - Feliz año nuevo
Swahili - Heri za Mwaka Mpya
Thai - Sawatdee Pi Mai
Vietnamese - Chuc mung nam moi
Welsh - Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

(Translations Courtesy of factmonster.com & Yahoo Babelfish)

Mishky Misdemeanor Entrecote

2009-12-29T18:19:00.000-08:00

Mishkin the Misanthropic Cat has little to say but a lot of sounds to make. Will you listen?

This is the blog you should add to your RSS feeds in order to remain updated on Miskin/Rayman releases, news, and sillynesss in general.

To recap what happened during december -09
*Mishkin signed on for digital distribution through Reverbnation, IE, Mishkin/Rayman music will be available through iTunes, AmazonMp3, Rhapsody, Napster & Emusic.

*Mishkin released Rayman - Selftitled (MaxiSingles, 6 tracks) through Reverbnation Digital distribution. The album will be available for purchase through any of the vendors above mid- to late february 2010.

*Mishkin created a MyBand profile @ Facebook.com.

*Mishkin created a blog (Yep, you're here aren't you?) @ blogger.com

Song Releases of december -09
*Mishkin released the track "To Hermeto" for live streaming @ Reverbnation.com

*Mishkin released the track "Mauvaise-Foi Male" for live streaming @ Reverbnation.com

*Mishkin released the track "Oh No, I don't believe it!" (BruteMix) for live streaming @ Reverbnation.com & Myspace.com

*Mishkin released Excerpts from the tracks "Wonderwoman (can you dance to this?)", "Don´t kill the poodle Larry (It's not your dog!)" and "Behaviourism" (Remix) @ reverbnation.com

*Miskin released the song "Hope For Hippieness" for live streaming @ Reverbnation.com Hope for Hippieness was written by Petrus Fredestad (guitars, keys, vocals) and produced by Mishkin (base, drums, backingvocals, misc. tech.)

UPCOMING:
*Online Streaming Releases of the tracks "Sleepy Shallow", "Drunkard Girl", "Don't kill the poodle Larry" (full version), "Oh No, I don't believe it!" (EmmoneMix), "Wonderwoman (can you dance to this?), "Behaviourism" & "Medevial Courtship" planned for winter/spring/summer of -2010

*Release of Mishkin/Rayman MaxiSingle "Pedestrians/Pedophiles" planned for spring -2010

*Release of Rayman full-length album "Save The Brainforest" planned for Summer -2010

*Release of Mishkin MaxiSingles "Mishkin the Misanthropic Cat (says go fuck yourself) planned for late summer -2010

All releases will be available for purchase as physical CD's by mid 2010, or upon digital release!