Moon landing poll :-)))

Darkpsy meets Twitter

Happy New Year, Everyone. My new year's resolution: to post frequently. Contact is the hallmark of relationships. Interaction. Energyflow.

So, to start things off right, I wanna talk about the ultimate realtime in virtual conversations, Twitter.

"What!" you exclaim.

Patiently, I explain that Twitter is not just a stupid tool for telling the world you just brushed your teeth. Twitter is a very useful way of filtering through interesting web content: half the content is people posting personally and the rest is sharing interesting articles, links, photos, videos.

As Twitter gained traction, we started to actively use our account, and very recently, lots of other interesting name in the scene have joined the service, too. As I said, Twitter is a cool way to monitor topics that interest you in a realtime feed, which you subscribe to using Google Reader or another service. You can follow people (whose profiles resonate with you through shared interests), or lists, like ours for darkpsy, visible in widget form in the upper left of our blog.

Like all technology, the tool is only as good as the hand.mind that wields it, but I believe that in the age of information overflow, it's going to be necessary to get a grip on tools like this, or drown in a sea of unsurfable nodes.

This picture was taken this evening: no, this is not a WITCHES BREW...German speakers among you will probably recognize the characteristic profile of a burning Koelner Zuckerhut, well-laced with high proof rum!

This was hands down the best Feurzangenbowle I ever sampled, due certainly to its overnight incubation. We prepared the wine yesterday at our friends' house, then did not "do the burn" because Mama Lycan fell sound asleep whilst putting young Solaris "dodo" (hiya, night night...you know). So, the wine, orange and lemon concoction was heated with cinnamon, allspice and cardamon, then cooled and left sitting overnight. The flavor today was simply divine!

Better yet, after heating issues since moving into the new house, we splurged and started a fire with the stove in our new house. Talk about efficient - we are roasting in here, and only added 1 log since starting the fire 8 hours ago...the coals are red hot and the stove is still blasting heat.

So, just a quick note to wish you (yes, YOU!) all the best for the holiday season and every day. We are really excited about this upcoming year: Nelson will continue to focus on his music and Lycantrop. I will continue to help with the "marketing" side of Lycantrop, and will also focus on my passion: sustainable business. As some of you know, my background is in technology sales and business development: my goal now is to assist companies in re-tooling their strategies for maximum sustainability. In Jan/Feb, I'll be taking a course in Triple Bottom Line Accounting (People/Planet/Profit). Anyone interested in this stuff, get in touch and let's share information!

Hi Friends, little update..

First, we are NOT stopping Lycantrop Records! Not sure where these rumors started. Maybe because I blogged that we move to a new location? Yes, we are moving and the studio may be down for 1 month, but our release schedule will not be affected.

We will have 2 to 3 releases next year. Nelson is almost done compiling HYBRIDES EVOLUTION, which will be 100% collaboration (2 or more projects) tracks. A challenge to compile a good story with such diverse input, but the finished result will deliver a highly concentrated smorgasbord of sound.
Expected Release date: March or April

After that: Lycantrop DJs Iguana and Corious are compiling something nice and hot to go along with the summer sunshine.

For autumn, we have TIGHT SHIP, all tracks custom-produced around one common theme. Since "loose lips sink tight ships", I won't say more about this one so early on, but stay tuned.

ps - We are thrilled to be syncing up with DIST ELECTRONIC for our digital distribution: Distorted Shire is the first release they will manage, release date is 8 December

pps - just a few Lycantrop Records "v 1.0" tshirts left! A perfect holiday gift - see our special package deals: http://www.lycantrop-rec.com/shop.html (click on the TSHIRT symbol)

Permatrance Culture (Will we Figure it Out?)

Okay, this is a bit of a rant - yes, I'm grumpy! It has occurred to me...the global psytrance scene must have the highest concentration of sustainability phreaks of any group on the planet. Why, then, are so few of our artists sustainable in their music-creation lifestyles? There are very few artists making a living from their music - most either have other jobs or other sources of incomes. The night psychedelic scene, in particular, is the least commercial and the most poverty stricken!

The global economy is 10 times the size of the global money supply. So, everything runs on credit, except The Underground. In our world, cash is king. So, if you are going to make a party, have someone who understands finances make the budget. Charge the cover price you need to charge so that everyone gets taken care of. Don't compete with other events. Remember that the music-makers are our technoshamans, they modulate the trance energy, they must be supported, for without them, the beating pulse of trance is nought.

It's not right and it is not fair and it is not sustainable when people get something without reciprocating. Long term, it does not add up: pain and hardship hit the very shamans we are honor-bound to protect. We see this problem on a global scale (I sometimes think I hear Gaia weeping), but we don't fix it in our own scene. And if we can't get sustainable in a cash economy, how on earth (pardon the pun) will we unwind all that global credit and balance things out on a global scale?

We are the canaries in the coal mine, friends. Credit is dried up. Now it gets ugly. Or beautiful. (Anyone else read Jared Diamond's "Collapse"?)

Lycantrop Celebrates Birthday with YOU ( + Godzilla friend!)

Note: Double-click images for larger size

Wow, many thanks to all for your birthday greetings - yes, Lycantrop turns 1 year old today, this being the one year anniversary of our flagship release: Lycans' Meeting! A special thanks to people who have bought CDs from us - your support really and truly is keeping this label alive, Lycan friends like T in Japan and J in South Korea (J, hope the tshirt fits PERFECT), Belinda, Jose, Vincent...EVERYONE: massive gratitude: obrigado, thank you, danke schoen, dank je wel, grazie, arigato, merci, gracias!

As a special thank you to online-connected friends, we will sell Lycans' Meeting for 7 Euros for the rest of the month of November. Even better, you can purchase Lycans' Meeting + Distorted Shire (including access codes for 2 free downloads) - 2CDs - for just 12 € (Currency Converter here on our main blog page). Shipping costs additional (much less expensive if we remove from the plastic jewel cases, but you can choose: packaged or not).

To order, contact us on Facebook, Ning, MySpace or directly by email at LycantropRecordsAdmin@gmail.com

Now is probably a good moment to remind you that the first 10 Lycantrop CDs will form a VISUAL BOXED SSETt, with a special image visible when you place the 10 CDs sequentially.

Look at the picture: can you already guess what the image will be?

• A few tshirts and tanktops are still available – ask for your size and save BIG on shipping costs when you place a CD+shirt order!

Must run, time to put Solaris to bed. Then back to packing and organizing for our upcoming move to new Lycantrop digs. Overijse experiment drawing to a close, time for the next phase!

Auuwooooohhhhm!

Auuwooooohhhhm! Do you like my new word? It is a combination of wolf's howl and AUM.

Over here at Lycantrop headquarters, we are just starting to get back to a normal pattern, after a summer of travel, followed by our son being too sick to go to daycare for over a month. That set us back a bit, especially with our website, which still needs a lot of work - but only Mrs Lycan can do it, and only when she has some time. Musically, we are pushing ahead: Hybrides Evolution is very very close to being compiled. Expect a March release date. The concept is 100% collaboration (2 or more projects) tracks. A challenge to build a good story, but Nelson is feeling good about the flow so far! So, stay tuned.

Local parties are back now that summer is over: I had a great time and made a little money doing a shop for the last Lost Theory party: highlights were Neil Gibson deco (and hanging a biwith Neil: a most considerate, interesting and fun dooooooood - tks again for the Js!), hanging a bit with Gus Till and the DJ set from top Belgian DJ Entre Nous (formerly Makkura). Standout tracks in his set: Encephalopaticys (don't know what track it was) and Megalopsy's new track "Derrames" from Lost Theory's Forest Frequencies release. How could I forget: also had mucho funno with Mike and Pieter - Repsycled all the way. In fact, the strangest thing about this party in a boy scout building somewhere in Belgium, was the fact that we had 4 native English speakers just chillin and all of us are so used to our odd lives, that it didn't seem strange. Then, we were like, "How did we all get here?" ;-)))))))))))

Just 2 days until Solaris turns 2 and we will celebrate with our extended trance family (our own families are farther afield) this Saturday. Serendipitously enough, our friends Ryko and Pedro make a free "Elektro Shankar" party in Brussels that night and Nelson is going to DJ (get your asses down there, Mario aka DJ Device is playing, too - and Ryko and Mozkatt and and and!!!)...and Luis has agreed (THANK YOU!) to stay home with Little One so that I can enjoy. That will be a real celebration: I love being a mom, but it has been a while since I saw Nelson play, so this will be a day to enjoy both of my guys. :-)))

Okay, gotta run, just wanted to say HELLO, thanks for staying tuned. We are alive and kicking (and bass-ing, too) !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Boooooooom and Auuwooooohhhhm!!! K Lycan

ps- for realtime miniupdates, follow us on Twitter: LycantropRecord ;-))