Lost Hills Album Release: Depressing Music You Can Dance To

SAN DIEGO - Aug. 11, 2015 - PRLog -- It started with a haunting, recurring dream. State Shirt explored the underlying meaning of this dream while writing the lyrics and music for Lost Hills. With State Shirt’s alluring, atmospheric synths, seductive harmonies, a decisively 80s air, and warm, inviting production style, ArtisTech Media is ecstatic to release Lost Hills as a TuneTrack-LP today.

“I started writing music for Lost Hills as a way to set free this illusion of past and future, to let go of the nostalgia of my childhood and release the persistent, crippling anxiety over what is to come,” shares State Shirt. “It’s a record inspired by the synthpop of the past, and a sentimental dream of synthpop from the future. Lost Hills is depressing music you can dance to.”

State Shirt is the alias of Ethan Tufts, born and raised in a small Massachusetts town and currently working out of a bedroom studio in a suburb of Los Angeles. All of his songs are released with Creative Commons licenses, providing raw materials for remix artists to create new songs based on his source tracks. As a member of the ccMixter.org community, his music has been remixed hundreds of times. State Shirt’s songs have appeared in numerous commercials, television shows, movies, and thousands of non-commercial and non-profit video projects.

Ethan Tufts explains the production aesthetic behind Lost Hills, “Lured back to the memories of my 1980s youth, Lost Hills is a collection of weird, slow-motion future-retro synthpop saturated with Betamax-modulated, reverb-drenched synths, delay-soaked staccato guitars, obsolete nu-disco grooves, ice particles floating above peaceful harmonies, along with intimate stories of loss, unmanageable fear, and paralyzing regret.”

The album offers memorable, danceable songs that can be compared to great artists like The Cure, Duran Duran, Roxy Music, and Radiohead. It starts with the catchy, synth-heavy love song “Stars Fall.” The album drives forward with upbeat tracks leading into the mellow “You Are a Child,” which features backup vocals by Snowflake and layers of ethereal harmonies. The tenth song is a powerful cover of New Order’s “The Him.” The final track, “Flight 17,” is a distinctly dreamy conclusion.

“Lost Hills is an ethereally compelling listen from start to finish,” commented Emily Richards, CEO of ArtisTech Media. “State Shirt takes the meaning of one-man-band to an entirely higher level. His vocal range is mind-bending, his lyrics pierce the soul, his musicianship spans a wide range of instruments, and his production skills rival Brian Eno. It is an honor to release his album on TuneTrack.”

ArtisTech Media, the company that operates ccMixter.org, is creating partnerships with artists, signing non-exclusive contracts, and releasing site content under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons licenses, thereby allowing listeners to share the gift of music – without being criminalized. Creative Commons licenses give musicians freedom to collaborate with other artists, and give fans the opportunity to interact with the music.

“TuneTrack listeners and supporters enjoy an experience beyond the music,” explained Alex Goodwin, co-founder of ArtisTech Media. “Members of State Shirt’s Green Room on TuneTrack have the opportunity to support his music and hear it as soon as it’s released.”

To listen to Lost Hills visit: http://tunetrack.net/stateshirt/releases/lost-hills/

To support State Shirt’s music, join his Green Room at: http://tunetrack.net/stateshirt/join/ Members receive immediate CD-quality download of Lost Hills with high-resolution cover art.

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ArtisTech Media is a next generation music label that pairs music with technology in the best quality ways - in order to create a richer musical experience for both creator and listener. ArtisTech Media operates the sites ccMixter.org and TuneTrack.net.