Archives

2019 (23 posts)

Sketch#18 (Alpha Mound – “Symmetry” State Charger edit)

November 9, 2019collaboration, live sketch, state charger2019, video

Alpha Mound and I first collaborated on his Tide As Currency remix EP earlier this year. I was inspired and definitely wanted to try my hand at reworking some of his material. Upon re-visiting his …

Sketch#17 (Decide one way or the other)

November 3, 2019live sketch, state charger2019, video

I’m about 25 years late as Slabco isn’t accepting demos any longer! But I’ll tell you what, I would love to do an entire project based on weirdo samples, old drum machines and …

Sketch#16 (Tough Solar – “Heavy Skeleton” State Charger edit)

November 2, 2019collaboration, live sketch, state charger2019, video

I’m working on a EP of Tough Solar edits; this being a live work in progress of “Heavy Skeleton”. I’ll save all of the history and factoids for the release but you should …

Sketch#15 (Hawk Excuse)

October 3, 2019live sketch, state charger2019, video

There’s no time like the present to connect a bunch of hardware together and make some lazy, hazy music! Hot off the heels of my sketch last week, this one puts me a step closer to the sounds …

Sketch#14 (Too Much Moves)

September 28, 2019live sketch, state charger2019, video

After a long summer break from making music, I’ve relocated my gear back to my basement lair. There’s an Ikea dining room table down there fully extended with the optional leaves; it …

Crete scenes

June 26, 2019photography2019, image

So I’ve been in Greece on the island of Crete; a beautifully sun-kissed fantasy land with a slowed-down, loose culture that made me smile. There was this sort of open-ended “If you like …

Sketch#13 (Tape loop and Digitakt)

June 2, 2019live sketch, state charger2019, video

I’ve had the project of making longer tape loops on the backburner for a while now. I was stuck, confined to thinking I needed to figure out how to spool the loop within the cassette’s …

Kick Plate and The Corner Guards

May 14, 2019mike downey (solo 2005-2010)2019, audio

In line with my habits of clean housekeeping comes Kick Plate and The Corner Guards. This is a collection of compilation appearances and EPs I released solo between 2006 and 2010. I tied up the …

Sketch#12 (Digitakt 1)

May 5, 2019live sketch, state charger2019, video

There’s this ever-changing question about what tools do I need to do the job I’m here to do. I’d been going back and forth with myself about just how many effect pedals I needed …

State Charger: Painted Kites release notes

April 24, 2019state charger2019, audio

July of 2018: I’m upper deck on a charter bus between Linköping and Gothenburg. My family and I comfortably winding our way to Sweden’s best amusement park. I have the, what I thought …

Sketch#11 (Carbon Twos)

April 5, 2019live sketch, state charger2019, video

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 …

Tide As Currency (Alpha Mound remix)

March 28, 2019collaboration, state charger2019, audio

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 …

There’s only so much time we can kill here

March 16, 2019site news2019, text

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 …

Tapes & Tubes – Cemetery 7″

March 9, 2019collaboration, state charger2019, audio

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 featuring …

Sketch#10 (Trapdoors Everywhere)

March 7, 2019live sketch, state charger2019, video

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 …

Sketch#9 (Matrix Blaster)

March 2, 2019live sketch, state charger2019, video

Live State Charger ambient piece (2019.03.01) featuring a tape loop, Korg Volca fm and Moog Mother 32. …

Sketch#8 (AutoFill Measure)

February 21, 2019live sketch, state charger2019, video

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 …

Sketch#7 (Perris)

February 13, 2019live sketch, state charger2019, video

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 …

Tapes & Tubes – “Lazy Again”

February 6, 2019collaboration, state charger2019, audio

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 …

Sketch#6 (Highest Low Command)

January 26, 2019live sketch, state charger2019, video

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 …

Space Peaced

January 24, 2019photography2019, image

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 …

Sketch#5 (Concorde Spies) – Alpha Mound remix

January 19, 2019collaboration, state charger2019, video

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 with. …

Sketch#5 (Concorde Spies)

January 17, 2019live sketch, state charger2019, video

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. …

2018 (6 posts)

Sketch#4 (Wave Valleys)

December 27, 2018Mikelive sketch, state charger2018, video

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 …

Sketch#3 (Tape and Tensor)

December 13, 2018Mikelive sketch, state charger2018, video

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 …

Sketch#2 (Swing Low, My Sweet)

December 10, 2018Mikelive sketch, state charger2018, video

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’ …

Sketch#1 (Source Materials)

December 4, 2018Mikelive sketch, state charger2018, video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZVZgzzRgRk 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 …

Motorpranks

April 30, 2018Mikemike downey tape2018, audio

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 …

Mike Downey Tape: Open World Avalanche

January 18, 2018Mikemike downey tape2018, audio

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 …

2017 (12 posts)

Today’s collage: Limit on Magnets

July 29, 2017collage2017, image

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. …

Mathlete “Teleport” first generation dub

July 21, 2017mathlete2017, audio

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 …

Audio Graves 3, Vol. 12

July 18, 2017audio graves comps2017, audio

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 …

Collages, 2015-2016

July 16, 2017collage2017, image

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 …

Audio Graves 3, Vol. 11

June 25, 2017audio graves comps2017, audio

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; …

Audio Graves 3, Vol. 10

June 17, 2017audio graves comps2017, audio

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, …

Audio Graves 3, Vol. 9

June 10, 2017audio graves comps2017, audio

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 …

The New Constitution demos & live ’01-’04

April 16, 2017the new constitution2017, audio

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. …

Post-Chicago

March 4, 2017the new constitution2017, image

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 …

The New Constitution: limited edition poster

February 9, 2017the new constitution2017, image

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 & …

Mike Downey Tape: Courts Were on the Roof

February 2, 2017mike downey tape2017, audio

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 …

Announcing: The New Constitution reunion, Chicago

January 4, 2017the new constitution2017, image

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 …

2016 (6 posts)