Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
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Cassette + Digital Album
*limited edition of 50 copies
*artwork from Kerrie Wallis
Includes unlimited streaming of Whale of a Sale
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 4 days
edition of 50
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Purchasable with gift card
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Book/Magazine + Digital Album
**2nd run of HYPE books are in!
HYPE is self-empowerment on unapologetic blast. It’s recognizing that repping our full self is how we’ll be at our best for the crew—the collective whole, our community doing the important work of creating joy and change.
Alongside inspiring quotes from folks like ODB, Quelle Chris, Octavia Butler, Thích Nhất Hạnh, and Maya Angelou, HYPE takes a mini dive into 4 spaces we can "honor what's possible"—whatever that looks like for us as artists, community, and crew.
*Do you for the crew
*Ditch the inner-hater
*Just make stuff
*Love
I hope this lil book helps you embrace your path, continue beyond inevitable challenges, and remember (again and again) doing you for the crew is the ultimate gift to moving forward.
Includes unlimited streaming of Whale of a Sale
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
...more
ships out within 3 days
edition of 30
Purchasable with gift card
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
*limited edition of 5 copies
*artwork from Kerrie Wallis
Thanks to my good bud Christian for asking for a disc, which ultimately led me down a rabbit hole to find some really nice folks on Fiverr (who still have a CD burner).
Includes all tracks + bonus track YA!
Includes unlimited streaming of Whale of a Sale
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Dedicated to repping for our inner Manimal, my prolific bud who hosted a series of yard sales re-using the same whale-shaped sign and incredible pun: WHALE OF A SALE. I wanted this to feel like something you might find at a thrift, yard sale, or swap meet. Something that gives you just enough vibes to take it home, and it actually kinda bumps!
It started taking shape after Manimal left his human form. He was there reminding me to make beats. To Steal Sound. It became how I would grieve and honor him. It took me from a space in between creative waves to a spot where I could see the horizon.
It was one of the ways I got by during the height of the pandemic, feeling isolated from family and crew. I remember the day B dropped the [(((VIBRATE HIGH)))] HIT+RUN compilation. He wrote, "Hopefully you're remaining focused, courageous and optimistic, finding clarity, spending quality time with loved ones, appreciating the slowness... staying active, eating right & harmonizing with your inner being." I immediately made the beat for what would later become the first version of SKY.
This music continues to help me cope with my wife's journey beyond breast cancer. A way to help me show up every day to support my favorite person. LOVE YOU!
Working on these tracks reminded me (again and again) that this is my healing and path—one of the things I can do during this tiny bit of existence that can help spread joy. That I will legit dissolve without these efforts.
It taught me to take hold of my work. To finish and share it. To stop creating excuses. After waiting on someone else to mix the record, I took a weekend to mix it myself. Maxing out my sound nerdom to run it from computer to cassette through a series of mixers and pedals creating a live 4-track mix from digital to analog. It was so revitalizing to the project and myself. To realize I wasn't waiting for anything. That I had everything I needed to finish it right here in the shedio. It was on me the entire time.
Soon after mixdown, I had a quick chat with one of my music mentors Jon AD. I asked him for advice on mastering and he came through so hard with an intro to Alter Echo, a Pacific NW underground electronic and dub legend who's been putting out wax since the 90s. He immediately understood the sound I was looking for. So grateful to both of yall!
As the mixes were taking shape, I got a massage from my friend Kerrie. She had all of these beautiful, trippy collages in her studio, many with underwater vibes. And they were all her work!! When a friend is like, "Yeah, I mess around with that too..." So dope, so humble. A few days later I asked if she might be up for creating a whale collage for the record. So f'n happy for how it turned out and honored to rep this art!
I added a few shoutouts to the tape and inevitably forgot so many people. If you're not listed and are a part of my creative journey, THANK YOU! All my GC & W creW, THANK YOU! This amazing Tucson hip-hop community, THANK YOU! A couple of folks I wanted to name here are B & Nisey and Willie and Joe. I mean damn y'all. Thank you. CREW.
And thank YOU for hearing this art. I hope you're digging what YOU'RE up to right now. That you're doing you today and as many other days as it feels possible in these times.
It doesn't have to be perfect.
If it did all we'd ever do is stay nervous.
Instead we get to do our fucking selves on purpose.
LOVE!
credits
released June 24, 2022
Gear: Ensoniq EPS 16-Plus, Electro-Harmonix 45000, TAPCO 6001R, Moog MF Delay, Electro-Harmonix The Worm, Numark DXM06, Technics RS-T55R (thx STLB!), and an Alesis SR-16 named Dr. Pizza
Artwork by Kerrie Wallis
Produced, recorded, and mixed by Illslur
Mastered by Alter Echo
supported by 5 fans who also own “Whale of a Sale”
This album time traveled from the best of the 90's hip hop and female vocal-laboration era into my headphones and stayed there for months! I just revisited it again after a couple years and am still juiced about it! Bump this proud in Portland! Ryan Smith
