Sketch#11 (Carbon Twos)
Lead vocals by me via a tape loop. I missed my chance to fade the vocal out and expand on the instrumental but when I was recording this (all live, don’t forget, no edits) I was only interested …
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Tide As Currency (Alpha Mound remix)
Back in January I met fellow Swedish artist Alpha Mound via Instagram. He was quick to produce a short, but sweet, remix and video of one of my latest live sketches. I’m impressed by people …
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There’s only so much time we can kill here
There’s that feeling of lack of maturity that flows over me when I realize I’m not using something I’ve paid good money for. I was taught well, to spend wisely because “money …
Read MoreTapes & Tubes – Cemetery 7″
Last month I posted about a collaboration project I (as State Charger) was involved in with Philadelphia’s Tapes & Tubes. The result was “Lazy Again”, a track …
Read MoreSketch#10 (Trapdoors Everywhere)
This is about as experimental as I want to get. Lacking a melody and leaning heavily on the effects. Everything underlying. The Red Panda Tensor is becoming a very close friend. My trusty Sony …
Read MoreSketch#9 (Matrix Blaster)
Live State Charger ambient piece (2019.03.01) featuring a tape loop, Korg Volca fm and Moog Mother 32.
Read MoreSketch#8 (AutoFill Measure)
The Korg Volca fm is filling a huge role. I’m limited to only a few voices for my tabletop set up and the Moog Mother 32 has been holding down any sort of bassline sequence I might need. That …
Read MoreSketch#7 (Perris)
This one’s exclusively about the sound of the hi-hat through the Red Panda Particle. It’s sort of magic. I wish I had time to refine this and add another dimension like a loop or varying …
Read MoreTapes & Tubes – “Lazy Again”
Oh Instagram, you matchmaker. Really, the community formed around musicians, gear and live jams on Instagram has proven to be super positive for me. It’s the perfect place get super into your …
Read MoreSketch#6 (Highest Low Command)
Well, a mostly live jam. The drone was pre-recorded and played back in Live during the session. I’m not sure if that’s allowed or not; I’m making up the rules as I go! I’m …
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Space Peaced
When digging your camera out of its weatherproof cocoon and telling yourself you are going to finally become a better photographer and not just use your phone because it’s easiest and actually …
Read MoreSketch#5 (Concorde Spies) – Alpha Mound remix
Now here’s something I’ve missed over the past years: collaboration! This is a short remix of one of my recent live sketches by Alpha Mound and I am really happy with what he did …
Read MoreSketch#5 (Concorde Spies)
I took a couple weeks off from firing up my equipment to clear my head. I worked on a website redesign and got plenty of rest and relaxation over the holidays. Feels like my batteries are …
Read MoreSketch#4 (Wave Valleys)
I’d been wanting to add a second voice to my tabeltop set up in the form of a synth that could cover a lot of different jobs. The Korg Volca FM seemed like a no-brainer: polyphonic, built in …
Read moreSketch#3 (Tape and Tensor)
Starting with a 5 second cassette tape loop recorded into the Red Panda Tensor. Pitching down the Tensor’s sample made for the soundbed. The TR-08 bopping a beat and sending a trigger out to the …
Read moreSketch#2 (Swing Low, My Sweet)
I’ve got the EHX 8-Step controlling the Count to Five on some of the Mother 32 notes which is making for an unpredictable delay. The more things I can automate in the background the better. No, I …
Read moreSketch#1 (Source Materials)
This is sort of an everything at once jam. For better or worse it’s busy and a bit all over the map. I am considering this as Source Materials; a learning experience. State Charger live jam …
Read moreMotorpranks
Between 2012-2016 I recorded a batch of Guided By Voices covers. A lot of these were done as a tool to teach myself how to play drums, and doing covers is a great way to take a break from the usual …
Read moreMike Downey Tape: Open World Avalanche
Finally. I have been pysching myself out on this thing. I battled through some bouts of uncertainty but when I felt inspiration it was intense and plentiful. Here’s the result of a real up and …
Read moreToday’s collage: Limit on Magnets
I can feel the need to make collages coming back. I really enjoy doing these. I finally got around to getting my supplies out and making some cuts. This is the result from today’s work.
Read moreMathlete “Teleport” first generation dub
Teleport was originally released on cassette by In a Lighthouse in 1998 in an edition of 200 copies (ILC-5). A majority of these songs ended up on the Lincolnwood Tech CD on Blackbean and Placenta …
Read moreAudio Graves 3, Vol. 12
Ok, finally Audio Graves 3 is out in its entirety. This last one spans 2010-2015 and dips in and out the fidelity spectrum. There are some hints of more polished songs from my Shy Mirrors project to …
Read moreCollages, 2015-2016
For documentation’s sake, here’s a group of collages I’ve done in the past couple years. A couple of these were used as album artwork for my recent releases. I’d like to do …
Read moreAudio Graves 3, Vol. 11
Audio Graves 3, Vol. 11 is out now. Next week I’ll round this up with the final installment, then it’s on to releasing new music! This volume is all fairly new stuff from the past 3 …
Read moreAudio Graves 3, Vol. 10
Audio Graves 3, Vol. 10 is out now. This one is a time machine back to the late ’90s. 4-tracked tape saturation from small rooms in Central Illinois. Fueled by Rolling Rock. Mathlete outtakes, …
Read moreAudio Graves 3, Vol. 9
So I’ve been hinting at putting together another Audio Graves collection for a couple of years now. Man, these things take some time to figure out. As with the previous ones this will be a 100 …
Read moreThe New Constitution demos & live ’01-’04
While I was back in Chicago a couple months ago I got the chance to dig back into my archives again and ended up finding a few New Constitution recordings I thought were worth putting up on the site. …
Read morePost-Chicago
I’m back home and settled in after a great 10 days in Chicago for The New Constitution reunion shows. What a blast! We are working on editing a live recording of the Chicago show. We had …
Read moreThe New Constitution: limited edition poster
Limited edition (of 50) reunion show posters designed by The New Constitution’s own Dan Brown. Black uncoated paper silk-screened in two colors. 18″ x 24″. For sale at the show …
Read moreMike Downey Tape: Courts Were on the Roof
Mike Downey Tape Courts Were on the Roof is out today. I know it has only been 3 months since the last one, but I have been on a roll this winter and this is the result. I think I figured out how to …
Read moreAnnouncing: The New Constitution reunion, Chicago
I’m very excited to announce that The New Constitution will be reuniting for a show in Chicago this February 25th. We will be joined by special guests Forgotten Species, The Bon Mots and Thomas …
Read moreMike Downey Tape: Shaker Routes
Mike Downey Tape : Shaker Routes full length is now available for free/pay what you want download and on Spotify. This is the 2nd proper full length for the project, coming just 10 months after All …
Read moreArchival update: Mathlete / Wolfie videos ’99
I knew these videos existed; I just didn’t think I’d ever see them. Turns out all 3 of these were sitting on a harddrive in NYC at my old friend Lance Walker’s place. Lance played …
Read moreNew Constitution & Mathlete live recordings
As I mentioned when I launched the site, there were a few known articacts from way back that I hadn’t had a chance to get to. I have tracked down a couple more live recordings that are …
Read moreShy Mirrors: When Nothing is Next
Straight to the point here: There’s a new Shy Mirrors tape out on Hope for the Tape Deck. It’s called When Nothing is Next and, as usual, I played all of the instruments on it.If you …
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We can look at this 2 ways
Welcome to mikedowney.org! We can look at this 2 ways: I’ve been working on this site for the past 4 months or, I’ve been working on this site for the past 20 years. What is this? This is …
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