devblog / friday 231222 (Patreon)

Well, we made it, friends. Another year closer to the heat death of the sun, and/or the dawning of utopia, tumbling into yet another Chaos Winter. A time to take stock and reflect on the year. A time to stare deeply into the eyes of nostalgia and tradition and growl “we do not trust you”.

So. Befitting the season, for this final Wreckage Systems devblog of the year here is an overview of various 65 activities throughout the year.

WRECKAGE SYSTEMS

If you’re a Wreckage Systems Completist, you'll already know that the output of 65LABS throughout 2022 on a graph looks something like this:

We hurtled full tilt into 2022 full of code and noise and bugs and software and infinite streams of stumbling beats and guitars. In spring, after almost a year of development, we launched the Wreckage Systems V2 stream into the world. After that, brains fully melted, we tidied up some loose ends and then temporarily shut down the lab for some recalibration.

Here’s a few links to the good stuff that came out of all that. Note: a couple of these links are for subscribers-only. This is a good time to remind you that since subscriptions for our Patreon are currently on pause, if you’d like to sign up now, you will only be charged for a single month, and still get access to all the archive material.

• The Wreckage System V2 Stream. Live now.
• Debris. An album-length, subscriber-only collection of Wreckage Systems material that is not even available on our Bandcamp.
• The Wreckage Systems Technical Overview Documentary A high watermark for technical videos about infinite music.
• An accommpanying written technical overview that has less jokes (still some jokes) and more actual detail about how we built what we built.
• Wreckage Systems V1 Archive. We didn't shout about this loudly enough outside of the confines of this Patreon, but we literally released an actual, fully-fledged piece of generative audio software. The V1-Archive allows you to run your own instance of the original Wreckage Systems stream, for fun and (unlikely) profit. This software is free to download for subscribers. Not available more widely, mostly because once it was finished we couldn't work out how much to charge for it to non-subscribers and then got distracted by other things.
• Made this ever-green gif:

There’s so much other stuff to be found in the archive too. If you’re a new subscriber, you should definitely have a dig. In fact, last year's end-of-year post contains a great collection of links to many Wreckage Systems treasures.

65DAYSOFSTATIC ACTUAL

In late spring/early summer there was an abortive attempt to get stuck into the next 65daysofstatic record. It threw up some interesting ideas, but after a flurry of activity and a little reflection it seemed we were in danger of falling into one of the top three classic Band Traps™ that can forever destroy a band’s credibility. We realised that what we were doing was writing music to make a record, because we are a band and that is what bands do. But this is wrong. We should be writing music because we have an overwhelming need to express some otherwise-inexpressible desire. We should definitely not be churning out another record just so we can go on tour or get invited onto Top of the Pops.

So. 65daysofstatic is biding its time. Waiting for the right moment to return, daring people to remember that we exist by the time we finally get round to it. BUT! There will be actual 65 news next year. For real. And you won’t even have to wait that long to hear it. So that's something to look forward to, eh?

FYI, the other two of the top three band-credibility-breakers are:

1. Voting Tory
2. Being Bono

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

As detailed in previous updates, Rob from 65daysofstatic has a new band: Haus Horo. They put out their debut EP earlier this year and have been playing some shows. Their music is streaming in the usual places and also available on their Bandcamp. Check their socials for forthcoming shows. Si also dropped a new NVLL track out of the blue.

After finally getting enough enthusiasm together to re-engage with what’s left of the music industry, Paul has finished his new Polinski record and figured out how to release it into the world. It has not been officially announced yet, but will be early in the new year. It is really real now. Look: here’s him teasing a test pressing of the vinyl version.

This will be getting released by Data Airlines, a record label dedicated to weird computer noises and lovingly-crafted physical editions of said noise. A good fit. Here’s a little bit stolen from the forthcoming press release about what Paul thinks of the record:

“The late, great anthropologist David Graeber said ‘the ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.’ And so that's what this record is. Not sci-fi escapism or nostalgia for a world that used to be, but an imagining of this world we are in right now, just done differently. I wanted to re-appropriate old technologies — MIDI, 90s IDM beats, 80s synths... — reclaim them from desperate nostalgia and point them toward a future that isn't in front of us, but rather blooms out of us in some better, non-linear way. Or at least demonstrates that there is no future in the way that we are told that there is. And that this can be a hopeful thing.”

So there you go. The Polinski project is clearly being tossed around in the same seas of atemporality, historical materialism, and non-linear futures that the Wreckage Systems project dived headfirst into. OR is this explanation just an overly-serious, wordy excuse to be able to use lots of 80s synth arpeggios and sampled breakbeats on a record without worrying that it’s all been done before? Who can say!? You’ll just have to listen when it comes out. Follow him on twitter or  insta to stay informed.

And that is basically the year.

INTO 2023

Wreckage Systems development currently remains on hiatus. This means that the Patreon subscription remains paused - nobody will be getting charged in January, so please stick around.

We're beginning to realise that it cannot stay this way indefinitely, as the running costs of the various Wreckage Systems servers that keep the live stream going are slowly starting to add up.

That being said, we have yet to figure out a compelling way to attack Wreckage Systems Season Two. We are also increasingly aware that we also need to portion off some creative energy for various other projects (including 65daysofstatic Actual), that don’t lend themselves quite so well to a Patreon-model of content generation.

But that's all to throw on the pile of next year's worries. If we can throw that high.

For now: Full solidarity with all the strikers up and down the country, fuck the tories, take care out there, and watch out for that pandemic that definitely doesn't exist any more. Just in case, y'know, it still actually totally exists.

See you on the other side. 

65s.x