New Musical Journey – Part 03

Well, in the previous article I was defending my own stupidity and as you may have noticed it is generally quite extensive. Indeed, sometimes I don’t go deep enough into things (the case of the SUNO FAQ and the loss of 57 songs is typically because I wasn’t curious enough about the product) and other times I don’t understand very well and I interpret what is said. This is particularly the case with the position of SACEM which on the one hand places an opt-out on AI but says it does not want to slow down its use…

Afterwards, when you read the articles, find out intelligently and cross-reference the information it becomes a little clearer and much more nuanced but you have to make the effort to go and look. In my defense, I would simply say that yes, ok, I accept the fact of not always finding out thoroughly on all the subjects but at the same time I already have a limited amount of time to devote to it that I try to optimize as best I can. If I had nothing else to do, it’s clear that I would have no excuse but that is definitely not the case so there is no point in selling bags of small stones with a view to a future stoning, thank you.

That being said, in the previous article I had the idea of ​​recreating an album collection called “PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd” based on a version of SUNO that evolved a lot between the end of May and the beginning of June, offering new capabilities and drastically simplifying what I intended to do in terms of the project itself… Of course, everything is not perfect but it is moving in the right direction. On the other hand, there is something that is quite disturbing and that I forgot to address, it is the concept according to which the page dedicated to the collection only appears when the collection starts… Except that before it starts, I should perhaps talk about it and present the project before otherwise it will be a bit complicated to convince your neighbor to go and participate in the collection.

Let’s start with some general information before going into detail: https://fr.ulule.com/previously-unreleased-la-collection-inedite/coming-soon/

The albums in the “PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd” collection

Here are the covers that will be used for each album in the “PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd” collection. Starting from the top left to the bottom right, here are the album titles as they were imagined from the beginning of the project:

• PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 01 – Anvil(ic) Music (Metal Acid Era)
• PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 02 – The Darkest Doorways (The Darkers Era);
• PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 03 – Drowned in Pakor D-Pression (Neo Generis / Lain Era);
• PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 04 – The Reminder (Lain Rebirth Era);
• PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 05 – Bites & Claws;
• PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 06 – ?
• PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 07 – R.E.P.L.I.C.A.T.O.R.S (Pentastar Era);
• PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 08 – Regenerated From Darkness (A&TDR songs);
• PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 09 – Pulled From Limbo;
• PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 10 – Mirrored Dissimilarity;
• PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 11 – Astral Shackles Anchors;
• PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 12 – ?

Currently, the content of albums 6 and 12 as well as their title have not been determined and remain subject to change.

You now know what is planned in terms of album for the “PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd” collection… For albums 6 and 12, I left myself an area of ​​creative freedom and freedom of choice regarding the content. As much as I could include unreleased songs and make a completely WTF album in French, I could also make a best-of of previous albums or even why not release “gems” from the generation. “Gems” are versions that are interesting, sometimes even very good, but that have not necessarily been highlighted for various reasons. I could even release original demos made without the help of AI (an “Origin” album with a period sound) and which served as a basis for the generations… Or why not an album that includes the compositions of the different groups who have left me their musical heritage? Everything is open at this level and I am leaving myself two albums free to consider one or the other possibility. That said, before talking about what I could do, what if we saw what has already been done?

Cover of the album “PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 01 – Anvil(ic) Music”

Let’s take the case of the first album of the collection and see what it contains. To start, a cover whose design is quite extraordinary and which is very much in line with the content of the album that I am going to detail. Simply before I will allow myself to make a little history in relation to the name of this first “album”. First of all, the notion of album only really appears from the 5th iteration of PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd. The four previous opuses are more to be considered as compilations of various and varied demos that form a disparate collection of songs that have little to do with each other. This will be more or less the case with the first albums of this new collection which actually takes up the original PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd collection put together between 1998 and 2008.

Of course, it is not about publishing the original incomplete or hastily recorded demos with a disgusting sound but rather a work of reconstruction or even recreation in some cases. Indeed, I will use here the full potential of artificial intelligence to start from an original demo and make it generate a version that will be much more accomplished but which more or less respects the original material or which comes as close as possible to it if said original material turns out to be unusable. Besides, I will give you a concrete example as soon as we have discussed the content of the album in question.

Content of the album “PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 01 – Anvil(ic) Music” in Deluxe version

Let’s not beat around the bush: the collection at least up to number 6 includes albums whose structure is rigorously identical. Each album exists in 3 versions:

• The “Classic” version includes 12 tracks on a single CD;
• The “Deluxe” version includes in addition to these 12 tracks an additional CD with 5 bonus tracks;
• The “Ultimate” version includes the 12 original tracks + the 5 bonus tracks + the unreleased tracks on the Singles and the Maxi Single and a rare song;

But be careful: if the classic version, the singles and the maxi single will probably be published on digital platforms in the coming days, the “Deluxe” and “Ultimate” versions remain definitively reserved for sale on the Ulule crowdfunding platform. The “Deluxe” version is 17 tracks instead of 12 and the “Ultimate” version is 25 tracks instead of 12.

Basically, what I’m saying is that in the “Ultimate” version it’s almost a double album that is offered for the first 5 albums. And it’s only on Ulule and not elsewhere.

Covers of the Singles from the album “PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 01 – Anvil(ic) Music”

At the level of each album, I decided to systematically produce 3 singles with for each of them a very precise identity linked to the title highlighted. From left to right, the singles of “Truth”, “Crucify” and “Everyday & Forever”. Most of the time the titles that are highlighted are those that have a particular story or that are close to my heart:

• “Truth” for example is one of the very first demos that already established the “particular” style of my demos;
• “Crucify” was considered both a recurring joke and a song impossible to integrate into a repertoire other than experimental or even impossible to listen to in its original version;
• “Everyday & Forever” is a composition even before the first compilation PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd which remained for a very long time in my list of personal songs;

Content of the Singles from the album “PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd – 01 – Anvil(ic) Music”

Regarding the content of the singles, each single contains 3 tracks with the following distribution:

• First Single: 1 song from the album + 1 alternative version of the same song + 1 unreleased song;
• Second Single: 1 song from the album + 1 alternative version of the same song + 1 alternative version of another song from the album;
• Third Single: 2 songs from the album + 1 unreleased song;

The alternative versions are completely different generations that are sometimes part of the “gems” I was talking about earlier. A new version in a totally different style or with a re-orchestration or even from time to time changes in the structures of the song itself. In the end, whatever the Single, you always have at least 1 unreleased content.

Covers of the Maxi Single “Forged with Shards of Dark Metal”

Regarding the Maxi Single, I decided to give them their own identity… After all, they are like mini-albums that represent a third of the original album with new content. Technically, the Maxi Single “Forged with Shards of Dark Metal” allows you to have a preview of the content of the album and at the same time serves as a collector’s item because of its new content. Regarding the releases, the first singles of the album will be available at a rate of one per week and then the maxi will be released the following week before the album itself is available in its “classic” version.

Content of the Maxi Single “Forged with Shards of Dark Metal”

The content of each Maxi Single will be the same for each album at least until the 6th. Each Maxi Single contains:

• 4 tracks from the album;
• 2 unreleased tracks;
• 1 track featured in the “bonus tracks” of the “Deluxe” or “Ultimate” versions;

Concerning the unreleased tracks, they will be specific to the Maxi Single and will only be available for a limited time on the “Ultimate” version of the album.

So for the first 5 iterations of “PrEvIoUsLy UnReLeAsEd” there is exactly the same distribution as what was presented on this page. If you paid attention, there is almost always a double album if we consider the “Ultimate” version and its 13 additional tracks. Afterwards, as we said, you are not obliged to adhere to the concept but you will not be able to say that there is not an effort made to offer a varied and rich offer.

From its initial launch on the Ulule platform, the album release schedule will be quarterly. This means an operation lasting almost 3 years, but that is exactly the time it will take to create the albums, have them recorded and protected before distributing them on different networks in digital format and then in physical format on the Ulule platform in exclusive limited versions.

This is a long-term project that has been carefully considered in its various aspects and it has the advantage of being led by someone used to long and complex projects. Indeed, being an IT project manager helps enormously to plan the project in its entirety and to consider all its aspects. Afterwards, no one is infallible, but here the project leader has the advantage of having already managed several types of projects with diverse and varied issues and of having led all those who have been able to be towards success and achievement.

Afterwards, nothing obliges you to believe me but you already know that the project is followed, tracked and that it is regularly updated. We even keep track of the project’s history through articles. So yes, we remain on a personal project but I would have an unfortunate tendency to consider it as a professional project and to give it the same level of attention. So unless the conditions of the project were to change or be the subject of an unforeseen transformation (new regulations, problem with the generation tool, AI rebellion and eradication of Humanity, etc.), in principle the project will go to its conclusion according to the initially planned rhythm, i.e. one album per quarter.