ENANTIODROMIA (/əˌnan(t)ēəˈdrōmēə/): the tendency of things to change into their opposites, especially as a supposed governing principle of natural cycles and of psychological development. Similar to the principle of equilibrium in the natural world, in that any extreme is opposed by the system in order to restore balance.
There is a constant drift in all things, a tendency for polarities to switch — that which is solid melts into air, and over time the intangible solidifies into matter. This drift is everywhere and exists at all scales, from the cosmic to the microscopic. In most things, it isn't just a curiosity: it's essential for existence. The drift is the stability.
There is another kind of drift that happens in all of us as, but that drift is not inevitable. It happens in the mind and heart, turning us from what we know ourselves to be into what we hoped we’d never become.
You’ve seen it happen so many times: the punk friends you grew up with turn into conservative reactionaries. Friendships drift from trust to suspicion. Confidants become enemies, loathing turns into love and back again. The compassion in yr heart hardens and you calcify, only to be softened once again by events you didn’t expect would bring you back to openness and vulnerability.
A big struggle for a lot of us is to not become the very things that we push against — this is particularly difficult because the process of pushing against something means that we come into very close contact with it. To really push against something means we have to put our hands on it, to lean our muscles into it, and to try to understand it. In the process of getting so close to The Problem, it seems inevitable that we’ll get some of The Problem on us, too.
But is it inevitable?
A giant star slowly drifts into becoming a black hole. Life becomes death and death becomes life in a relentless cycle. We drift from shining brightly and taking no shit to joining the Grey Forces if they cut us a big enough cheque.
ENANTIODROMIA is the name of my new record, and it sits right in the midst of these drifts, watching them go by.
I realize this description is abstract, even vague. Don’t worry, the record is not. In this case, there are about 3,050 pointed, specific words that will help you to understand the title and the themes.
On a musical note (ha), I think this is the best self-produced work I’ve ever done. This record features way more live playing than I’ve ever done before, everything from tambourines and percussion to synths to guitars to keys. I played all all of the instruments and did all of the programming, sampling, and composition. I spent way longer on the details. The record was mixed professionally by my homie Tyler Martin here in Peterborough. It was mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market mastering in Montreal. I put my whole ass into this record, and I hope you can hear it (lol).
thanks for listening, garbageface.
as my next record, ENANTIODROMIA, sits at the pressing plant waiting to be birthed, i was doing some cataloguing and came up with a sort of "master list" of all of the garbageface releases thus far. this list stretches all the way back to 2005 when the project was conceived, and when i never considered it would actually be a thing. in 2009, i started touring in earnest and this became Very Much A Thing, the Main Thing i work on, really.
below is a chronology of GF releases, including a note of any physical components and whether they are still available or not. some of the releases (even the ones with official catalog numbers) have been taken out of public circulation, and are available only to bandcamp subscribers. you can always check out bandcamp for the complete list of what's currently on offer — many releases will never be posted to streaming services, ever.
this list only includes musical releases, and doesn't include shows (360+ to date), installations, workshops, etc. this also doesn't include output from any projects that were not strictly under the GARBAGEFACE INDUSTRIES / RAP WILL EAT ITSELF umbrella, including EPs by STAKES, Dead Pope Society, EXE, ALTARUS, Hush Money, and Unexplained Bacon.
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RAP WILL EAT ITSELF RELEASES
RWEI-01 — CIRCLECITYSQUARE (2005) (50 CDRs, sold out)
RWEI-02 — WHEN YR YOUNG AND PRETTY (2008) (digital only)
RWEI-03 — TENTATIVE TITLE (2010) (50 sets of 5 pins, sold out)
RWEI-04 — DEFCON (2011) (50 cassettes, sold out) - erroneously listed on J-card as RWEI-001
RWEI-05 — BARRAGE OF CERTAINTY (2013) (digital only)
RWEI-06 — OBDURACY (2014) (100 cassettes, sold out) - erroneously listed on J-card as RWEI-003
RWEI-07 — NØ FUTUR(E) (2016) (100 clairvoyant clear 7” vinyl, sold out, 200 black 7” vinyl, a few dozen remaining)
RWEI-08 — APOSTASY (2017) (200 black 12” vinyl, a couple dozen remaining)
RWEI-09 — 7HR33 51X M1X74P3 (2017) (36 cassettes, given away in treat bags at my 36th birthday party show) - intentionally listed on J-card as RWEI-0.36
RWEI-10 — PELAGIC (2018) (30 photo books, sold out) - erroneously listed on jacket as RWEI-007
RWEI-11 — TREPANATION I (2018) (40 t-shirts, sold out)
RWEI-12 — PLAGUE MECHANIC (2019) (66 jigsaw puzzles, sold out)
RWEI-13 — EIGHTEEN TRUMPETS (2019) (digital only)
RWEI-14 — LEARNING TO SWIM WITH LEVIATHAN (2019) (77 books, sold out)
RWEI-15 — DEFENESTRATION (2020) (50 cassettes, some remaining)
RWEI-16 — DYMAXION (2021) (100 black 12” vinyl, sold out)
RWEI-17 — BEHIND EVERY GATE, A SERPENT (2021) (3-song EP and 33 split shirts with cold eye, sold out)
RWEI-18 — PENUMBRA // ANTUMBRA (2022) (100 gold splatter 12” vinyl, sold out)
RWEI-19 — ENANTIODROMIA (2023) (100 red & black marble 12” vinyl, 100 black 12” vinyl, coming Fall 2023)
RWEI-20 — GNOSTIC FRONT - ALL WAR IS SPIRITUAL WAR (2023) (still unsure whether this will have a physical component or not)
in addition to the releases above, there have been a handful of things that i've done over the years that don't quite belong in the official catalog with a number, but are important nonetheless. some of these are available only to bandcamp subscribers and will likely stay that way indefinitely. others have, for all intents and purposes, disappeared. if you have the files, hold onto them, cause they ain't coming back.
UNLISTED / NON-CATALOG RELEASES
OFFICIAL BOOTLEG #1 SLAMDOWN IN MONCTOWN (2009) (digital only)
APOCALYPSE, WOW! (2010) (digital only)
OFFICIAL BOOTLEG #2: LIVE FROM THE MEATCASE (2011) (digital only)
OFFICIAL BOOTLEG #3: #100SHOWSOFSOLITUDE (2013) (digital only)
ANTE MERIDIEM (2014) (digital only)
A FAIRLY COMPREHENSIVE COURSE IN BRAIN SURGERY(2015) (50 t-shirts with single download, sold out)
STEP TWO (CREEPING DOUBT) SINGLE w/ SHIRT (2015) (50 t-shirts with single download, sold out)
PYRE (split shirt with cold eye) (2017)
TENTATIVE TITLE (Live In An Empty Room) (2018) (digital only)
METAMORPHOSISYPHUS w/ JEREMIAH IX (2022) (digital only)
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so that's that on that (so far). i'm not sure if this will matter to anyone other than me... maybe someone out there collects this kind of info and will love it. i'm sure most won't care. but, looking at this list, the trajectory that i'm drawing makes a lot of sense to me, and i'm looking forward to the next things to come. ENANTIODROMIA soon.
no matter when you tuned in (or tuned out) of this path that i'm on, thank you for listening.
more soon, garbageface.
oh it's on. oh it's on motherfucker yeah it's on.
it's been a while since i've beaten this path with wheels and feet and words and beats and i'm really looking forward to it. i'll be joined by the homies PLURAL, who i used to play with regularly out in the eastern reaches back in the day. they are a most excellent math rock / loop duo that does some magical things with polyrhythms, and i'm all about that shit. they'll be accompanying me back to Quebec and Ontario, where they have never played before. i'm stoked to show them around a bit and help with their toe dipping.
in other news, mixes for ENANTIODROMIA are being finalized as i write this. it's a heavy record and i love it right now (plenty of time to change my mind). more on that soonish.
see you in the pits, garbageface.
YEAR IN REVIEW:
total shows played: 10 total garbageface shows to date: 350 things released / done: PENUMBRA // ANTUMBRA (vinyl released and sold out); PENUMBRA full length video; Metamorphosisyphus by JEREMIAH IX, raps by JERM, all beats by garbageface; Original Score for Enkidu; Singularity, Inc. collaborative performance with Bad Mayor other things: in addition to the above, i wrote and recorded the bulk of a new garbageface record, entitled ENANTIODROMIA. i also got heavily into hardware in 2022, experimented a lot, and began sketching the outlines for what is going to be a new project under the name GNOSTIC FRONT. i'm still not sure what the project will become, but it will be a sort of extension of the garbageface cinematic universe, if you please. whatever it becomes, this alternate path has become incredibly rewarding.
THE ALMANAC:
once again, i'm looking at the list of what happened last year with this weird and deep and demanding part of my life that i call garbageface, and i'm kind of surprised. it doesn't feel like i did very much at all, but as i look at it, i'm surprised and thankful that i was able to do what i did. weirdly, i'm especially proud of the stuff that was part of my extended body of work: doing the beats and production for the MetamorphoSisyphus record with JEREMIAH IX was a really intense process, and doing the musical score for Enkidu took me way out of my comfort zone. both felt great. diving into the world of analog synthesis was mind-bending too, a totally different way of working that has opened me up in some new and very good ways.
i played a couple of handfuls of shows in 2022, and got COVID from one of them. that was a fucking bummer. but, i also realized that there are some risks i need to be willing to take to keep this project going, and i must keep this project going. i don't know how to let it go, and i don't want to.
i plan to release a new record this year, called ENANTIODROMIA. it's a 6-track record that clocks in around 38mins and it contains more live instruments and live playing than anything i've done to date. my analog electronic side project, GNOSTIC FRONT, is being developed in earnest, and i'm planning to play a debut show soon. i'm not ready, but that feels very much in the spirit of this thing.
finally, i'm going to be getting back into touring. it's hard to believe, but it's been 5 years since my last long-ish tour... i know, i know, 3 of those years were pandemic times, something that i still need to consider as i get ready to book dates. the bottom line, though, is that it's been way too long since i've been out there, and i don't plan to let that much time pass again.
i hope that yr well and good wherever you are, and that the people you love are well taken-care of.
see you out there (for real), garbageface.