Hey kiddos,

Well, it’s finally done. My work on “Heaven’s Artifice,” my forthcoming instrumental album, is wrapped up like a holiday gift. 

About the album: 

“Heaven’s Artifice” was the result of several jam sessions with myself. Sessions 1 was just me playing around on the Moog Matriarch for about 45 minutes with a simple 4-on-the-floor beat going the whole time. Session 2 was me playing the guitar—yes, that lead sound is not a synth, it is a guitar running through a brassy synth pedal effect. From there, I took out a whole lot of the kicks to give some of the more atmospheric parts some breathing room. In Session 3, I went back over some of the lower notes I played with guitar with a bass synth to get some nicer low end in there. In Session 4, I built out drum parts using my drum machine, quickly building complimentary rhythms and moving on to next song/section. I was mostly satisfied by this point, but ultimately decided it was still missing something. With Session 5, I went through and improvised a bunch of parts on piano, most of which I ended up deleting; I found keeping the piano sparse allowed it to be more effective.

There is a loose storyline to this thing--at least, in my head--but I’m not really gonna detail that. My hope is your imagination conjures something in your mind that my explanations never could.

I am offering you all 10 tracks of “Heaven’s Artifice” for a Pay-What-You-Want sliding scale, almost a week before it’s available in streaming services or in digital music stores. Consider it my gift to you.

May your holidays be lovely. See y’all next year!

Love and cheer,

Rust

Hey kiddos!

I know it seems like nothing much has been going on since the release of Guillotine: Part IV and I started my summer vacation from school, but I assure you that's not the case. Several things are in the works right now, but nothing's quite ready to face the public yet.

Of note, we visited DTLA’s financial district the other night to get some essential filming done for my up and coming music video, “The Visionaries.” This one has a fairly straightforward concept, but one that has to be communicated effectively to really hit home. We have one more major and climactic shoot ahead of us, then we should more or less be wrapped.  Here are just a few of the awesome stills from the gorgeous footage L Faunt got of me. I'm very excited about the final video and I think you'll really love it!

Additionally, I've been putting some tweaks and polish to an instrumental album I've been kicking around since early this year. It's kinda Blade Runner-esque and much more soundtracky than anything I've made in a long time--maybe even moreso than the actual soundtrack I made for Dream State. It's called Heaven's Artifice, and I'm hoping to drop it sometime in the next couple months.

One more thing is brewing as well, but I'm not ready to talk about it yet.

Talk soon.

Love,
Rust

Buckle up, kiddos!
In this final Behind-The-Music interview, I talk about "Guillotine", the 4th EP, the concept album as a whole, happy accidents, French retirement riots, BLM, ex-LA Mayor Garcetti, eating the rich, ACAB, January 6th, the dramatic nature of guillotines, American complacency, Leftist in-fighting, the importance of symbols, the need for tearing down old top-down power paradigms, and the possibility of true equity through the compassionate and efficient distribution of resources.

Interviewed by L Faunt

Be sure to sign up for The Visionaries email list for more!

Love,
Rust

Hey kiddos! 

New interview about "The Visionaries", how hero-worship can go to your head, Kanye West, the absurdity of borders, top-down power structures, why you should DEFINITELY NOT overthrow our current corporate iteration of government, and other fun topics 😉

Interviewed by L Faunt.
Be sure to sign up for the Visionaries email list for more!

Love,
Rust

Hey kiddos!

GUILLOTINE, Pt. 3 has only been out about a week, but I feel like I have lots to say about these songs! Starting with one of my favorites (just because it's so weird), "The Culling." 

In this Behind The Music interview, I talk sound design, conspiracy fantasies, industrial reggae, and the elites who saw the pandemic as an opportunity to make themselves even wealthier. Which definitely serves as a catalyst for some righteous anger later on in GUILLOTINE.

Interviewed by L Faunt.

Be sure to Like & Subscribe for more!

Until next time!

xoxo
Rust

Hey Kiddos,

In today's Behind The Music interview, I spill the tea about "The Awakening," unplugging from the Matrix, and how this song relates to the rest of GUILLOTINE. Can you see the strings?

Don't forget to sign up for the email list for more!

Love,
ЯV

Hey kiddos! 

We've finally come to the final GUILLOTINE, Pt. 1 interview (with a few hints at what's to come in GUILLOTINE, Pt. 2), with L Faunt continuing to delve into my writing process and into the meaning of each song. Today's interview is probably my most spastic song ever, "Zero Fucks Given", the apathetic culmination and response to every song prior to this one on the EP. If you've ever felt frenetically antagonized by overwhelming amounts of apathy from people about the things you're passionate about, this song is for you. One of my personal favorites, as it just devolves into sheer chaos at the end.

If y'all enjoy this sort of thing, please Subscribe to my YouTube for more video updates, and to my Official Mailing List for other updates going forward! Thank you so much for all your love and support!

Love,
ЯV 

Hey kiddos! 

I'm very excited to bring you the next of GUILLOTINE interviews that will continue to come out over the next several weeks. L Faunt is digging deep into my writing process to expose some of the backstory of each song from GUILLOTINE, Pt. 1. Today's interview is on "Galaxies", the most synth-pop song I've ever made, but still with plenty of emo angst. If y'all enjoy this kind of thing, please Subscribe to my YouTube for more video updates! Thank you for all your support!

Love,
ЯV 

Hey kiddos,

Confession time: I don't have a proper recording studio.

I live on a main street and no matter which room was designated as workspace, it would be directly on the main street. The sounds of traffic are a constant here, and no amount of soundproofing or room treatment would ever cut them out completely. There were vocal takes on my album that I had to trash because of the sound of a motorcycle or semi truck going by. It's frustrating, but I work with what I have.

Yesterday, to harness some of that New Moon energy, I suggested a rearranging of the workspace that I share with L. Fortunately, they agreed to give it a try and it works so much better. The energy flow makes so much more sense this way. The window is reachable! I have more space! L doesn't have to walk around all my shit! I am *slightly* more isolated from the noise outside! I have all of my equipment set up simultaneously, ready to plug and play at a moment's notice! 

I know some of you probably either are or follow a lot of gear-heads who have oodles and buckets of modular synth racks stacked on top of each other in their studios, walls lined with guitars, that kind of thing. I'm not there yet. Maybe one day. But right now, I'm really pleased as punch that I have this set up in a way that makes a whole lot of sense to my neurospicy brain :)

Post links to pics of your studio/workspace in the comments below! I wanna see 'em!

ЯV