[note: holding the mouse pointer over any of the upper-right pictures expands them in the frame to the left of this message]

.. .

In his own words, typed up on October 22nd of 2005...

I produce "electronic" music, spanning various genres, from drum and bass to trance, glitch/IDM, gabber, and trip-hop....I stated 8 years ago, mainly performing and producing "big-beat" tracks, which I had some success with two tracks that I released over in Germany, "With Regards, Leland", and "Freezerburn", both of which were picked up by Raw 42 Music UK for TV/Film licensing. From that point on I started producing under the name "Epileptik Cerebral Reaktor", concentrating on "industrial/ambient/gabber".... The majority of tracks that I produced under Epileptik Cerebral Reaktor were never released or even previewed by anyone for that matter, and not due to "embarrassment" but due to other situations that caused life to go into left-field.... While in left-field, production came to a halt, and had to mainly focus on real-life (career, health, relationships, criminal endeavors, drug experimentation, rehab, blah,blah,blah....) A 3 year hiatus ensued, not much memory of that time period, and then experienced what most near-death survivors would call a "moment of clarity".... Back to earth, somewhat..... 2004. I resumed producing tracks under Mushuto, and have since released 10 tracks through Karma Download, a digital music downloading service, based out of the UK.... July of 2004 I was nominated and won "Artist of the Month" and was described as "a D&B wiz from stateside" from the staff of Karma Download.... Future. I am in the process of completing my first release, and starting a label, based solely from Austin, Texas.... Only time will tell what will happen, but for the most part it's all about keepin' positive....

.. .

Since the time of this "moment of clarity," up until he left this world, Jared would produce (at least) nine albums, and four collections of singles. In order to maintain consistency with listeners for what they would expect from an album, he created seven different artist names--or, in his words and my own: "entities"--by which each album was released under. These are, in order of creation: Epileptik Cerebral Reaktor, Mushuto, Schema, Symbis, Lysin, Monkee Monsta' and Ambitekture Recordings. Epileptik Cerebral Reaktor was his preferred entity, and thru which he created most of his works.

In addition, the graphical artistry of Jared was expressed thru a division of Trochlear he dubbed Trochlear Studios [ATX]. His works ranged from the elegant and simple, to the humorous and/or odd, to intricate designs and photo-reworking. As with his two associates in Trochlear, Jared designed his own album covers just as with the music they signified.

What followed after these writings I (Kan, or "San Jaya Prime") can piece together only from my own experience, and thru what Jared left as legacy. Nine days after he left these words online, I would give him a copy of a mixed album I created in request that I be allowed to use his music in my mixes. Later that day, on Halloween of '05, he wrote...

"There is so much "information" that resides within this DJ mix compilation, that each time I listen to it, there's something new. A great mixture of ambient, drum and bass, breaks, IDM, well I guess I should just say that all bases are completely covered with this mix. Perfect."
-Jared Newby aka Mushuto

On November 4th, taking stock of what he'd created already in his new life, he counted thirty-seven production level tracks. On that same day, he asked me if I would be interested in producing my own music as a part of his label--Trochlear Recordings Limited--instead of mixing the works of others. I agreed, and found my official "welcome aboard" had been typed up online for me by the end of the day.

On Saturday, the 12th of November, Jared and I had our first official meeting. We met just after seven in the morning, and didn't part until after dark. Jared and I both shared talents in the arts of music and graphics, and he had already built a reputation as well as set up one source thru which he could sell music. I brought my art of webpage design, as well as my skills in promotions. By the day's end, we'd set down on paper the designs for pages to entail each Trochlear entity on MySpace in a unifying theme, and he had asked that I focus on music creation as well. It was a good day.

Three days later, I completed my first original track. That night, Jared not only cleared it, but stated that he'd not expected such quality, nor to enjoy it so much. The email I received back from him went into the three albums he was preparing himself, and the songs included in the email made me realize quickly at what level we were working.

November 18th was an important day, as it is what truly defined the musical focus for Jared and would bring us together. It started off with a very simple entry he had typed up and posted online:

"The Design of a Masterpiece"
One word, "Casshern".

This entry is in reference to a Japanese movie that I had also seen, which had moved me (and everyone I'd share it with) to tears. When I brought this up, Jared shared with me how he had almost died, and believed that he should have died. This was the "moment of clarity" he speaks of. I shared my own, from the summer of '99, and found out that Jared had, before this experience, believed there to be either no god at all, or that he was damned but wanted no part with a god who allowed such terrible things to happen. After the experience, he believed, and believed even that there was salvation for the damned, which he considered himself a part of. This theme of salvation, especially for the damned, is easily the primary theme found in most his works. Second is another shared theme, that of the ascension of the species thru technology. It was a conversation where we found many shared experiences and beliefs between us.

On this same day, I found out many of the terrible things Jared had done himself. Also, where we differed, was that he had been unable to completely stop being "criminal" after having received clarity. He often referred to himself as "a bad person," and praised to no end every individual who forgave him his various misdeeds. What "misdeeds" he didn't offer to me I didn't ask about, as I found I preferred the musical entity he was over what were his weaknesses.

On November 22nd, Jared wrote about collaborating with another Austin artist named John Perez. They called their project Symbis. The two tracks he sent me--"Egypse" and "Tecknology"--were excellent. This came only days after he completed two of the three albums he'd been working on, and after having created the entity Schema, which was an incredible level of production all on its own.

Just a day later, Karma Music Group UK Limited sent back a contract accepting Trochlear Recordings Limited as a label they would support on their systems, thru which we could sell any release we chose. In celebration, he created the musical entity Lysin and produced three new tracks for this artist in a single night.

December saw the most musical work from both Jared and I in the history of the label. I completed the thirteen tracks for my own album, as well as the art, while Jared helped flush out Symbis, closed his third album and begun work on two more. We started exploring other possible sites to sell thru, finished the original MySpace sites for each artistic entity, and saw plenty of posting delays in the material Jared had uploaded for sale on KarmaDownload. I reviewed the information for him, and began teaching him about data and coding so that he could manage many of the files online without help. Then, on New Years, Jared disappeared.

After two-weeks without communication, I took over operations using the current plan we had worked out. In two days, on January 16th, Trochlear Recordings Ltd saw the release, for sale on KarmaDownload, of its first four albums:

Mushuto - Flex Louder
Epileptik Cerebral Reaktor - Fluxuati
Schema - Schema
San Jaya Prime - IO Limiters

In the third-week of January, I received an email from Jared stating that he was still alive, that he wasn't in prison, and that he'd love to get together. He said he could no longer go back to his place, and that his life was in turmoil, but that friend's had given him shelter. What he typed and posted to the world was...

I havent posted in a long time due to situations, which have since been resolved, at least for the moment. I have pretty much left everything up to Prime, and must say I am very impressed. The Karma content is completed, the blog has beeen updated on a daily basis, and all by Prime. So I want to give some mad prop's to him for keepin' things on the move, without him, Trochlear Recordings Limited would be nothing. Also, I need to wish him well on his trip into the unknown til' April.

We met that January 30th, to have a closing meeting before I left for Northern New Mexico. In this meeting, the bindings and future of Trochlear were set in place, to be built more upon later. I expressed my concerns for my own art, as my yearly travels place me at more risk, as well as for the label when placed relative to the instability that Jared's own life was fraught with. Again, we were on the same wave length, as he turned his laptop around to show me the changes he'd made to all his Trochlear pages. They now listed, next to my name, "Co-owner: San Jaya Prime." It wasn't what I'd expected, but we sent each other emails allowing each other to use any of the other's mixes for their own material. He said, also, that he would add my name when registering the label as a company later that year. It made leaving, with so much going on, all the more easy.

In this same meeting, we talked more about Supa, a fellow producer I introduced Jared to across the Internet. He had sent her some samples, and already like the early works she had sent back as demo-material. Jared wanted her on the label, and just wanted to verify it with me before I left, as John Perez had only worked on one more Symbis track and didn't seem to be producing anything more. I easily agreed, and we parted with plans to meet back up later that year. I would work promotions along my journey, and he would continue production work while tracking online sales. I left on February 12th.

I know only a little of what took place during my absence. The laptop Jared used in producing his music was retrieved in early March. He finished artwork on many releases when the music for them remained only concepts in his head. Jared also helped an Austin rap artist named Ghetto Breeze with designing his website, the art for his album and data disc design. Halfway thru March, he made changes that cost many losses on the online journal we used, which I was able to fix and improve even while away. In this email, he sent me some sample tracks from what would become my favorite album off of the label--"The Human Design." This album drew heavily from glitch elements, which were (at that time) highly new and experimental, but flowed beautifully. I want to note that, only years later, glitch would become mainstream and a dominant element in independent electronica labels.

In April, Jared finished "The Human Design." I am unsure why it was never uploaded to Karma, and no requests were made, as communications ended near the very same time I was passing out CDs in Taos. My last email before this silence was informing him of the success I found at the Taos Equinox Celebration. We were unable to connect while I was back in Austin, and I left for New Jersey on April 20th with my brother Tristan.

In May, Trochlear was back. Jared had finished a new Mushuto album of B-Side tracks, and begun work on a new album for Schema. Supa, using her first entity, was welcomed onto the label. Jared forwarded her bio, so that it was online with our own.

After this declaration, Jared disappeared from communication until August.

During this same time, Karma Download, thru which we sold our music, became inaccessible to all users online and a page stating that it was a temporary situation replaced it. This page didn't change, until the site disappeared completely at the end of July. With no promise that it would return, and the entire independent electronica market in upheaval, I began re-designing Trochlear on paper. On August 17th, I typed up and posted the strongest point I wanted to bring up--a contract for movie directors to use our music for free, with the rules written that we would be given credit within the film itself and given rights to use footage from the film in making music videos.

Supa was interested, and Jared contacted me, also in agreement. He said, also, that we had to discuss Symbis. Jared explained his absence, which was tied to John Perez and the falling out they'd had. As John had worked on three or four of the tracks for the Symbis entity, Jared was unsure whether or not to go ahead with any of that project, and apologized for being out of touch for so long. He was, however, excited to begin work on the re-birth of the label.

I left, soon after, for Black Rock City, Nevada. Two of the film directors, and the three producers I know, were all going to be there, and I wanted to begin networking as soon as possible. The outcome was that a CD Catalogue of Trochlear material, combined with an agreement stating the legal material, was what would be required for this. I sent the current form of the contract to Jared, as well as to the contract lawyer I know in Austin who was to review the agreement for any legal concerns, then headed to California with my sister (a director) to start work on the CD Catalogue.

September brought news both welcome and unwelcome. On the 8th, Jared finished "The Diatone Sessions" by Epileptik Cerebral Reaktor. He and Supa, in the meantime, were emailing me the current copies of their works so that I could format them, label them and compile them into the catalogue interface I was building.

On September 12th, my sister answered her phone, and I knew what she was going to say before she said it. Our blood-father, the Great Wolf Willie, had died of a heart attack. Wolf Willie was from where I drew my musical talents, primarily, and I'd just shared my new album with him that very summer when visiting. I was faced with making the decision of either going to his funeral, or making the meeting in Austin that both Supa and I were flying in for to meet with Jared. I knew what my father would say, and what he would do, and so the choice was easy: I would go to the meeting in Austin. She would carry the funeral on her own.

Supa, during her time in production, had finished one album for her artistic entity HALUSIN8, and enough singles in most of her other entities to form (at least) another album per entity. Beyond HALUSIN8, she had formed the entities S8pience, Pranakatana and D3viant Experiment (this last one quickly becoming my favorite source for her works). The majority of her selections, along with my own and Jareds, I included during the making of our first CD Catalogue to bring to our meeting.

Supa arrived a day after me in Austin, and she met Jared for the first time in person only days later. Supa and Jared were able to see the prototype-catalogue, and each were shown the final interface. The final contract was still pending, but we were able to cover the copyright information between us in order to register our works together. Jared, who had visibly lost much weight, explained the turmoil of his Summer and the loss of John. With Karma gone, and no other income source, he was considering job positions and placing his music on the side. I would have to do the same, and was considering positions in both California and Austin. Supa would continue work on graphics and music, with future interest laying with a move (or visit) to Asia. Our plan for the following year was laid, with Jared focusing on finding a new outlet for our music to be sold thru, and I to continue building our network of connections to deliver the catelogue to in the following year. The rebirth was seeded.

Communications slowed, afterwards, while each focused on music and on the aspects of life needed to support that music. I stayed in Austin, as my brother had me signed on to work for Apple and the iTunes Store, which was an immediate way in which to build a great amount of contacts for our label, and to observe the mechanics of the new age in music-beyond-discs.

Jared and I saw each other only once more in person. We got together one morning for coffee. He had emailed me about TuneTribe, and I wanted to go over my ideas for promoting our label in Europe during a nine-month trip I was organizing across seas. As most of our electronica sales had been coming from Europe, it was an idea he immediately became excited about. He said his music kept him going, but he couldn't seem to find stability in his life. He showed me the new website, which he and a friend had put together using many of the designs I'd put down on paper for him. We agreed to set up a system for direct sales, to catch any devout listeners and eliminate the middle-man for those sales. Near parting, I went over how the Uncanny Planet Records label in Norway designed their promotions, and the glad agreement was made to adopt their tactics. Free promotions thru Internet radio, with networking options and links to sale. It was a good move.

Communications ended after that meeting, and I heard nothing from Jared for months. He was in a hospital just South of downtown, but was getting better. I told him we should meet once he was out, as I had much information I wanted to leave with him as well as some video and music. There was no immediate answer. Over a month later, an email reached Supa and I, in which he stated that he was out of the hospital, was a hundred-percent, and that new material was on the way. I was already on the road, and didn't answer right away.

September 5th, 2007, the Austin American-Statesman published the Death Notice for Jared Newby. It was almost exactly a year since my blood-father had passed from this world. Neither Supa, nor myself, were contacted. When checking emails on September 19th, I read the email from Supa who had heard thru another person the news that Jared was gone. My spirit-sister and I canceled our plans the next day, as soon as a woman with the Statesman verified that the obituary came directly from the mortician who had attended his body.

Jared Newby died, in a hospital, with his mother and father looking over him. His works, however, live on, and both Supa and Kan (even now) attend to collecting those works so that they will live on in the memory of the world itself.

[note: the label plans, also, for a memorial page to be created in tandem with this one for fans, friends and family to visit on MySpace.]

./end:transmission