Revelry Stream Dreams

A Miter EP release and a review from an intergalactic archivist

May 05, 2023

We made it.

We made it halfway through this project and I think that is a feat worthy of commemoration. We’ve delivered half of the promise that was promised: 12 songs and accompanying essays for 2023. That is an average of 1 song/essay per month. And we are in early May, which, if my math is correct…is the fifth month of the year. What are you trying to pull on us now, Miter?

I’ve been putting a lot of effort into this project and I hope that is reflected in the quality of the writing and the music. Let’s give me some credit here:

I’ve written, recorded, produced, mixed, mastered, distributed and published 6 complete singles, produced a video, started a label, and published fiction and nonfiction related to each track over the course of roughly four months. That is an entire industry unto itself. Is that music history? Without doing any research, I say yes. Prove me wrong!
I’ve taken DIY to the next level. This is DIA. Do It Alone. Do every single aspect of every part of the industry as a solo artist. Trust no one. Look behind you. RUN!

There are some things that I prefer not to do alone, such as, writing reviews of my own music. Thus, I am submitting the first half of this project as an EP for review.

My dear music writers, I’ve made your jobs incredibly easy—you don’t even have to use a robot. I’ve written extensively about each track. You are welcome to cut, paste and quote any of my writing in your reviews. I am sincerely asking for you to review the following 6 songs, taken as an EP, in the order presented in this playlist.

I appreciate your work, so please don’t take the following farcical/fictional review of my own music as a dismissal of music criticism. I’ll write a dismissal of music criticism after the first bad review.

On the other hand, do I really need music writers to write about my work? That isn’t the DIA/MiterCO way. I’ll write the review myself, but I’ll make it a bit more interesting by writing from the perspective of an intergalactic archivist.

Report on the First Six Tracks of Washed Memoir in Real Time

Submitted to Entity Prime Via Entity Sig299Er

Rating: 47 Spacefrogs

In our most recent long-range scan of Galaxy 78999-UUT7 (commonly as the “Milky Sway”) our sensors collected the requisite data that—when combined with auto-modeling techniques—allows for a 99.3% accurate reconstruction of the galaxy up to the currently aligned time sequencing event. From these projections, we’ve created a fully navigable and interactive version of the galaxy—now stored at the core archives on Bolanthos. Intergalactic Alliance intelligences are currently researching the Milky Sway and are scheduled to produce approximately 345 trillion reports on all aspects of its existence and history. As a cultural research entity assigned to the division of second transversal Earth culture, I am submitting my 233rd of an expected 435,717 reports. This report will cover the first six tracks off of Miter’s 2023 album packaged as an Extended Play (EP) recording.

The accomplishments of the artist known as Miter are well known throughout the Milky Sway but there is less focus on the first six tracks that were released as part of Washed Memoir in Real Time. This body of work accounts for the first time Miter garnered critical acclaim from the Earth’s press as a solo artist. There will be plenty of intergalactic archive reports on Miter’s influence across various planetary systems as we compile our study of the galaxy, but as an intelligence with a keen ear for influential work, I wanted to spend a full report on these particular songs. Ironically, there were entities on Earth that fancied themselves tastemakers (much like me). They fell out of favor, but there’s never been a galactic shortage of those with opinions about music, food and art. As we say, opinions are like S4-circuit adherents, everybody’s got one.

We’ve yet to recover the title of the EP. The real title is behind a paywall and we are having trouble procuring enough of the intergalactic currency (Ethereum) to purchase a subscription to Washed Memoir in Real Time. The original Substack publication is still in circulation, but better known as the Intergalactic Times-Forward, the only news source in the galaxy. Our meager research budget does not cover a subscription to such an exceptional end-to-end encrypted publication. All of our info comes from Birdbutt.com. If only I could have purchased a subscription to Washed Memoir in Real Time back in its early Substack days. The early paid subscribers went on to become the wealthiest dynasties in the galaxy. If only…if only…

At the time of release, Miter had already produced 2 full-length Long Play (LP) albums to little fanfare. Regardless of the lack of commercial success and notoriety, Miter—stubbornly, continued to write and record music. The Miter 2023 Project included 6 tracks released between January and May, 2023 (Earth, pre-crominous time). Not only were these tracks released within this time period; they were written, recorded, produced, distributed, and published. Miter’s future Singularity Works are commonly known, but these lesser-known early pieces are academically significant to auto-scholars looking for cross-coaxial glitches.

The EP opens with “Revelry”, a fast-paced foray into indie/rock/folk/electronica. The guitar and vocal introduction creates an atmosphere before the heavy beat sets the song off on a Bob Pollard style melodic joyride. [Pollard Reference Files accessible only to level 48 entities]. Moving to the choruses, Miter, pleads/shouts “I want a revelry” before grunting out the “uh huh huh” which echoes like a desperate howl at the end of the final line of each chorus. Lastly, for the outro, Miter cuts the guitar for a club-ready synth, drum and fuzzy-bass-driven-dance-floor-bonanza. Suffice to say, it would be difficult for even the most intractable Plutonians to refrain their outer nebuloids from grooving to this beat. Miter’s clear intent is to start the record with a catchy-banger to which resistance is futile. [This is a reference to an Earth program called “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, the subject of 34% of all galactic reports in this sector].

Subsequently, the EP transitions to a trilogy of songs as annotated within the Washed Memoir texts. The trilogy begins with the EP’s only instrumental, “Warm Sunrise”, a reprieve from the sonic angularity of the previous track. With a repetitive melody and progression, Miter builds layers of synthesized strings and organ sounds—reaching an apex and then quickly fading near the end of the enjoyable three-minute composition. While the track may linger longer than needed given its simplicity, the inclusion of this piece on an otherwise pop-oriented release adds depth to the work as a whole. Next comes the EP’s greatest pay-off—the classic/rock/pop/synth sensation “Absolute Hit”. Washed Memoir in Real Time frames this song as an ode to creators continuing their artistic endeavors regardless of notoriety. Ironically, the song went on to become, arguably, the most well-known and, inarguably, the most streamed song during the Milky Ripple Pre-Crominous Phase. The popularity of “Absolute Hit” made Miter a household name, however, Miter connoisseurs prefer the next track; “New Wave”. This post-punk-guitar-mess manipulated through an ARP2600 synthesizer with a steadfast semi-polyrhythmic beat provides the necessary platform for Miter’s biting spoken word lyricism. Here, the proclamation that “it’s dust and maybe it keeps circling around us” reimagines Kansas through the filter of Bill and Ted translating Socrates, telling San Dimas High School that “all we are is dust in the wind, dude”. [Reference Earth Files 2,700-56,000].

Next, “Riding a Solid Line”, is revered by many Miterheads (also known as Stubbalos) as one of the most powerful and darkest in this collection of work. The heavily distorted bass creates a thick tone that breaks apart in sections where the rhythm and melodies are set free from their moorings with lyrics referring to heartfelt calls for submission. The EP concludes with the first track released for Washed Memoir, “Bird Lore”. It is an ode to the ancient Bird Goddess of the West, a special collaborator to which Miter expressed eternal gratitude and love through this song.

In conclusion, Miter’s first 6 songs of 2023 and its contemporaneous writings and reviews (including this one) were the launching point for the first harmonious unison of Earth. The rest is future history.

Note: This summary is intended for ease of digestion, but of course, the Entity Prime has access to the full data archives of Mitorial history and myth.

Post Script

I’m ahead of the aforementioned 1 complete song per month pace so that I can take time off from writing and production in May. My time is pretty limited to do this work, so don’t worry, I won’t be bored. I do plan on sending one other communication in May if I can package this EP in a unique way, but expect the start of the 2023 Side B in June 2023. I need some space to compose, play around with some set-ups, play a video game, maybe read a book. But no, the sad part is that I am going to be obsessing over the NBA playoffs and the Denver Nuggets. Go Nuggets, and I’ll be in touch soon, my precious ones.