Because we love you fans so much, we’ve got a special gift for you all — free music! Once again, we are making our unreleased Excelsis song, “The Little Drummer Boy,” available to you as a free mp3 download. Just head on over to the band’s e-store to check it out. And be sure to check out our big closeout sale while you’re there, as well.
Category Archives: Band News
Ryan DJs at Dervish
I’ll be DJ’ing in Long Beach, California on Thursday September 16th from 9 to 10:30 pm at the mellow coffeehouse club, Dervish. Dervish runs 7 PM to midnight at Portfolio, 2300 E. 4th St., Long Beach, CA. 562-434-2486. Resident DJs Glenn Bach and Chowderhead, along with guest DJs and musicians, perform a wide variety of electronic and analog music, including ambient, dub, drone, downtempo, IDM, drum-and-bass, and free jazz. Visual artists provide a spatial environment of video, projections, and loops.
DJ set and dubplate
Saturday, August 12th: DJ Ryan Lum spins a late-night/early-morning set in the chillout room of the Family 6th Year Anniversary Party in Los Angeles. For more info, please call (213) 891-4756 or (818) 503-7535.
We just added another unreleased new track, called “Hand in Hand,” to our mp3.com page. This is the flip side of the “Ecstatic” dubplate that I’ve been including in my recent DJ sets. Once again, it features the sax of Doron and vocals of Anji, and is even more jazzy than “Ecstatic.” If you enjoyed “Misunderstood,” from Temporal, you’re bound to dig this track, too!
New song, new comp
We just launched a band page on MP3.com. Included is a new unreleased song, “Ecstatic,” which features recent collaborators Doron Orenstein (saxophone) and Anji Bee (vocals). Go to mp3.com/lovespirals to listen to our FREE streaming and downloadable MP3s.
In other news, Love Spirals Downwards have been included on another new compilation CD, the Side-Line Magazine presentation of Diva X Machina 3, on Cop International — along with Diamanda Galas, Danielle Dax, Gitane Demone and many other female fronted bands. The song included is my remix of “Alicia” from Temporal. Buy Diva X Machine 3 on Amazon.
Projekt 100: The Early Years Features LSD
Our 50 Years of Sunshine exclusive mix of “Kykeon” is featured on Projekt100, a new various artist compilation created to celebrats the early era of the label from 1985 to 1995.
Reaching the milestone of its 100th release, Projekt celebrated in a special way. Harkening back to the time when catalog number “PRO-100” seemed a hundred years away, Rosenthal explains his motivation for this compilation: “In planning Projekt100, I tried to recreate an era. A time gone by. A time when Projekt was young and our artists were widely unknown. Rather than put together a predictable ‘best of’ to commemorate Projekt’s 100th release, I created The Great Lost Projekt Compilation. A reflection upon an era gone by, for those fans who have been with Projekt since the early days . . . or an introduction to bands perhaps missed, if a new-comer.”
Included are never before heard tracks from Projekt’s first two acts: Lycia and black tape for a blue girl; as well as unreleased mixes from Attrition, Eden, Lovesliescrushing, and SoulWhirlingSomewhere; early mixes from Thanatos and Terrace of Memories; an unreleased track from O Yuki Conjugate; and a rare mix from Love Spirals Downwards.
— Projekt Records
Purchase a copy of this CD directly from Projekt.com
Interview and new comps
I will be interviewed live on Outsight Cyber Radio Sunday, June 25th, 8pm EST/5pm PST. Please tune in via the internet at his site. Tom will be archiving the interview as a RealAudio file, for those of you who can’t tune in live, so check his site for that!
We’ve been included on several compilation CDs recently released, including:
- Claire Voyant – Time Again (Accession Records): a remix project CD including Front 242, Haujobb, Trance to the Sun, VNV Nation and many others. Anji and I remixed their track “Bittersweet” in a jazzy, atmospheric drum ‘n’ bass style, featuring sax by our pal, Doron, of Toof. More details at Accession.
- Heartbeats (Mascara): this cool German comp focuses on electronica acts with “tender feelings” such as Moby, Sneaker Pimps, Smith & Mighty, Marc Almond, Nightmares on Wax and more. Flux’s “Psyche,” featuring Kristen Perry on vocals, is the chosen LSD cut.
- Projekt 100: The Early Years, 1985 to 1995 (Projekt Records): this is a compilation of vintage Projekt band recordings, in celebration of their 100th release. The Love Spirals Downwards track is the 50 Years of Sunshine mix of “Kykeon.” More details are available from Projekt.
- Darkwave: Music of the Shadows v2 (K-Tel): Projekt Records founder, Sam Rosenthal, helped to compile this collection of darkwave-related bands such as: Cocteau Twins, Lycia, Miranda Sex Garden and more. “Forgo,” from Love Spirals Downwards’ debut album, Idylls, is the first track of the album. More details are available from Projekt.
Upcoming Ryan DJ sets
Still spinning on a regular basis, I have upcoming slots where you can catch me, dropping atmospheric drum ‘n’ bass and downtempo tunes…
- La Belle Epoque: May 13th, San Francisco at The Top DJ Bar, 424 Haight St. (between Webster and Fillmore, 21 and over, $5). I’ll be on from 10pm to midnight. This club is the West Coast mecca for atmospheric drum and bass. I had a most incredible time DJ’ing there last year, and this time will be even better as I look forward to playing some acetates of new unreleased Lovespirals material.
- Caffeinated: May 20th, Santa Barbara. Held by the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts forum, 653 Paseo Nuevo, Santa Barbara, CA. This multi-media party and art opening goes from 8pm – 2 am, is $10 admission, and open to all ages. Call (805) 966-5373 for more info or visit their site.
Ryan DJs Love Cat House
On Friday April 14, I’ll be spinning on the very unique “Dinner With a DJ” online music show, at the infamous Love Cat House. The show goes on at 9pm PST, and continues well into the early morning hours. I believe they archive their shows, so you might check for that later.
For those who’ve never caught one of my sets and are curious as to what they sound like, I’ve put up my mix set from last year, entitled “Atmopshere ’99,” on Live 365.com, under the Jungle and Dance categories. You’ll need a connection faster than a 56k modem to listen to it.
Launch.com just did a feature story, taken from an interview with Suzanne and I, at their site.
RadioSpy Interview Text
March 17, 2000 RadioSpy Interview by Sean Flinn:
Indie goths gone electronic, LSD’s sound now sketches its past while tracing its future.
“We’re the first and only for a lot of things on Projekt,” says Ryan Lum, the multi-instrumentalist and driving force behind Love Spirals Downwards, darkwave label Projekt Record’s top-selling act. Lum is sipping on a soda in a RadioSpy conference room and choosing his words carefully. He’s speaking of his band’s use of saxophone riffs on a song from its latest release, Temporal, a career retrospective that includes a number of unreleased tracks. Lum was concerned that Sam Rosenthal, Projekt Record’s sometimes finicky founder, might be less than enthusiastic about the sax track.
“[Rosenthal] actually made a positive comment about the saxophone. He said, ‘You know, it fits somehow,” recounts Anji Bee, Ryan’s self-described “partner-in-crime” and recent collaborator on everything from album art to vocals. Lum’s experimentation — with his sound and with the band’s direction — initially met with grudging acceptance from Rosenthal, who eventually warmed to the band’s new sound.
“It’s not his cup of tea,” Lum says of Rosenthal’s reaction to the band’s shift in sound from “shoegazer,” the ethereal style of feedback- and synth-drenched pop defined by British bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and the Cocteau Twins, to drum ‘n’ bass. “But we more or less have artistic freedom to do as we please. I guess being the top seller on the label doesn’t hurt us in that,” Lum says with a chuckle.
Continue reading RadioSpy Interview Text
Temporal promotions continue
Beginning Friday March 17, and continuing through the weekend, Radio Spy will run a Love Spirals Downwards feature interview and music broadcast. The program includes a number of songs I consider influential to our music, as well as a number of our songs selected by interviewer, Sean Flinn. After the weekend, the radio show/interview will go into their permanent archive, but try to catch the premier, as they’ll have a special flash animation on their main page. Radio Spy has also made my mix set, “Atmosphere 99” available for listening in their Jungle section, so check that out as well.
A very cool review and feature on the band just went up on a new website, The Stranger Next Door.
And for kicks, you might want to check out my guitar/music set up on the fanatical new site, Guitar Geek.
More articles in both web and print format are coming out soon, so check back here often!
Peace-
Ryan
UPDATE: You can now stream DJ Ryan Lum’s ‘Atmosphere 99 Mix Set via Mixcloud: