My name is Clara Warnaar – I write ambient and experimental music – and also play drums in the band Infinity Shred and play percussion in “the new music community of NYC.” I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with new age culture, and in having similar conversations with friends, decided to make this compilation series.
It’s a new age for New Age music. This album is a compilation of new, new age songs and compositions by a group of really talented and creative musical artists.
Not only are we releasing an album, but we’re starting a volume series. Volume 1 is complete and ready for release, and new artists are already contributing to future compilations (Volume 2 is almost ready to go).
The contributing artists to Volume 1 are George Cory Todd, Ary Warnaar (Anamanaguchi), Maral, Pascal Le Boeuf, Tristan Kasten-Krause, Jeremy Malvin (Chrome Sparks), Infinity Shred, Bragglights, Ben Seretan and Nathan Ritholz.
~*~*~*~*~*~* IT’S SO GOOD, SERIOUSLLLLLYYYYYY ~*~*~*~*~*~
When I made an open call for artists to submit, I asked them to submit a new age song- whatever that meant to them. Anything goes-style. That could mean doing a classic New Age song, a metal band doing an Enya cover, something deconstructing the genre, rejecting it… anything, really. I wanted to see what happens when you give someone free reins with a genre that many people dismiss completely nowadays. Part of what’s fun about this genre is that it’s naturally extremely open-ended: submissions range from 15 minute long drone pieces to lounge music for an ice cave, to spoken word and spacemusic.
Turns out MANY artists have a ~secret~ new age/ambient folder on their computer. The goal is to unearth every artist’s secret box of experimental new age tracks and release them with them. ?
••• If you or someone you know is interested in submitting to future volumes, or if you’d like to make recommendations for artists to reach out to, let us know •••
NA4NA Vol. 1 will be coming out December 6 on digital streaming platforms. The rollout of this volume will inform whether we do CDs, cassettes or LPs in the future. Let us know what format you’d be most excited to buy.
The artwork is SO GOOD- we were lucky to have Alex Tatusian on the project to design something that’s not only gorgeous, but a design that can last “through the volumes”. The design will stay the same as the color schemes change from volume to volume, à la “Now That’s What I Call Music”.
When you contribute to this project, you’re not only helping to pay the artists, but you’re supporting a future community. Down the road there are more volumes to be made with an even wider scope of artists. More people can find out about this project and submit. Hopefully this series will come to life through live shows and events, which would be a very cool way to bring the community together.
Not only do I believe artist should be paid for their work, but ideally they are paid an initial fee prior to the release. Since this compilation is self-released, and compilations are hard to release in the days of Spotify playlists, it’s crucial that we get outside support! Playlists are algorithmic. This compilation series is the start of a fresh creative community.
Going to start with the less fun part first. We could REALLY use your support with the purchase of a digital download, even if you know you know you can stream it later. It’s this kind of listener to artist support that can really lift this off the ground.
That being said, if you’re down to chip in a bit more, you will get PHYSICAL OBJECTS for your contribution. Rewards range from the pretty obvious to the more creative:
Poster and Stickers: you can have Alex’s slick design on you all the time with a 3×3 matte sticker of the art. Or if you want to add some new age aesthetic to your office or studio or home or whatever, get the poster (11×11, matte print)
Baseball Cap: cap with the acronym “NA4NA” on the front. Two options: black with white text, and white with orange text.
Meditation track: OK, this one is not so physical, but it’s huge. I (Clara) use this app Calm for meditation stuff, and (I’m sorry) I haaaaate the voice of the main narrator. It harshes my vibe. So imagine if you could customize your own: fast, slow, choice of pacing, topics… Or you don’t want spoken stuff at all? No prob, you can have a transcendant chill ambient track. Raaaare.
Music Box: This one is special and limited (only making 10). Choose a track from the compilation and it will be turned into a (small) speaker powered music box, with new age flair. Keep by your bedside and press the button when you need to relax.
<3
While the compilation will be released regardless of the success of this campaign, we’re really relying on it in order for this to be a smooth financial process. We’ll try our best to complete all of the rewards in time. For now shipping is limited to US and Canada, but feel free to reach out if you’re in neither of these countries and interested in a reward.