09/23/2009

To whom it may concern,
This collection, affectionately labeled Beat Eaters, is based on an exercise whereby I distributed nearly two hours of instrumentals/beats I composed with my wife’s help (Paige Holland Harrington). I was lucky enough to get at least a portion of that material back, to compile this half hour of listening. All of our free downloads (this being our third) are around a half an hour, and come with desktop wallpaper designs. This length was chosen to simulate the length of one side of a cassette, or two sides of a record, debatably the most appropriate set length for any unknown artists, to embrace the MP3 format (which music collectors like myself have come to resent), and just for the general ADD type motherfucker like me.
Did I mention that this download should have a parental advisory sticker? Nope, I didn’t, because I don’t have to, and I don’t have to file copyrights or clear samples. This shit we are doing is a revolution at a moment in time that is critical to notice. All the artists featured in this work bring together a broad palette of age, race, experience, gender, and so many characteristics being manipulated in the media right now to divide us all. All of us are horribly divided from each other, and yet at the same time desperate to connect with like-minded appearances. If you are black, white, Latin, man, woman, 40+, teenage, Catholic, Lutheran, or agnostic, you are represented on this mix as not a divided target consumer group, but a united front up against insurmountable odds. These odds are telling us all to resent our differences and remain in a rut of narrow-mindedness and inconsideration of the context of everything that exists in each individual who contrasts you. I am dead fucking serious right now. Some of you will listen to this and think a few of these artists are too “unusual,” while others will find some artists too “normal.” So, if you are somebody who found yourself open to everything on this mix (even to varying degrees), congratulations because you have achieved the impossible.
I think all of this is valuable to mention, so that everyone reading this understands that what you are listening to now is like a cup of ice water extracted from a raging ocean of music. I would encourage all of you who are musicians or artists to allow the soul-power in you to pour out in every artistic direction possible, and to attempt as best as you can to collect and archive endless vaults of your work and the work of those around you. However, for those of you who do not see yourselves as artists, but more so humble appreciative fans, you are the ones who have the privilege of listening to these morsels without the competitive burden that many of us carry. It is what it is.
I wanted to include this special statement in this special download, my third web-only EP, with hopes that it might aid in some people’s understanding and appreciation. These EP are being released on behalf of Rip Shop Records, the flag under which my wife and I have been placing our recordings since the release of Crumbling City (despite numerous recordings prior to that). Rip Shop Records sole mission is to preserve the stream of output flowing from myself, and those I have worked most closely with. Many recordings prior to Crumbling City lie deep in our archives, ranging from unmastered cassettes and CDs burned from equipment we no longer own, minidisks that only play on contraptions we can hardly charge with power, recordings from other studios and bands we have been in that broke up, as well as a deep selection of unused beats and sounds sequenced on our current Logic software as well as older software we no longer own. But, honestly most of that stuff sucked unless you had the personal connection, but a few albums back I officially stopped making music that sucks (though it’s debatable exactly which album was the last one to suck).
So, in line with efforts not to suck, Rip Shop Records would like to share with you our third blended mix and our first true compilation. Consistent with our two previous downloads: 1.) www.ripshoprecords.com/Filthy Cuts.Zip and 2.) www.ripshoprecords.com/Beets.zip , we are once again including desktop wallpaper designs, but this time a big shit-load of wild ones. Basically though, this mix is focused on Zombietruck beats under a broad range of vocalists. There are, however, two bonus tracks at the end that are non-vocal collaborations.
Sincerely yours, Mad Trucker: www.myspace.com/ZombieTruck