News & Notes

Illusion of Joy’s third full-length album The Forever Syndrome is available for purchase today. It likely won’t be in stores, unless one chooses to special order it, however web-savvy types (such as yourself, as you must be, what with viewing this website and all) can click to CD Baby or the home-grown Store@illusionofjoy.net.

As for special-ordering the CD so that your local brick and mortar, Mom & Pop record shop has a copy for you to buy ask the proprietors to visit Super D for ordering information. Honestly, however, one is likely better off simply ordering online – it’s less of a hassle.

The Forever Syndrome is a fourteen-song, album over seventy minutes in length consisting of various odds and ends from the styles of new wave, Goth, post-punk and synthpop. Yes, it does sound like it should have come out twenty years ago, instead of in 2006. Quoth the blurb on the one-sheet sent with promos:

The third LP from Seth Warren’s musical project, The Forever Syndrome follows-up 2004’s Division with a cohesiveness over its 14 tracks, where the previous album scattered stories to the wind, in deference to its title. Over more than 70 minutes, The Forever Syndrome leads one through tales of naïve certainty in the face of the ephemeral and the consequences of thinking that aspects life are anything but transient. Opener “Michelle” tells of a young woman convinced that her life will be made perfect by saying, “I do” while “Soap Opera Villain” is quite possibly the campiest and strangest kiss-off ever given to a toxic personality. “A Place Outside” is a cautionary tale and “Oblivion” is a lament for things that could have been, but never were and never will be. “Shameful Ground” spits in the face of nepotism, daring those engorged on their own self-importance to swallow just a little more without sicking it all up again. These are stories – character-driven narratives – that ask the listener to examine the world around them. Some are perfectly happy to delude themselves. This is not the record for such individuals.

Speaking of promos, there were some (not many) who got free copies of The Forever Syndrome before it was released (and some who, sadly, are still waiting for their copies to arrive in the mail). Feel free to politely request Illusion of Joy songs from TFS from the DJs at your local Goth night, or from your local college radio station (if you live in Pittsburgh, PA or Cleveland, OH you’ll have better luck with the radio requests).

In the near future, there may be reviews for The Forever Syndrome (there’s technically one already – they really didn’t like the album), which, as always, will be linked to from illusionofjoy.net’s Reviews section, regardless of how the publication favoured the release.

Finally, those interested in buying the release but worried about potential record label shenanigans can put their minds at ease. Every Illusion of Joy album can be placed in a computer without the user being forced to download special software or “protected” MP3s. Like all prior releases, The Forever Syndrome can be ripped to one’s computer and converted into MP3s to be enjoyed on an iPod, shuffled into a mix CD or any other manner of fun things one who purchases hard media has a right to do. As long as you aren’t setting up a pressing plant in your bedroom, all is cool.

One can now hear The Forever Syndrome in it’s entirety on Last.fm. While the official release date isn’t until the end of the month all of the songs from The Forever Syndrome have been uploaded to Last.fm and have just been approved for streaming from the site. This means that if one is a member of Last.fm using their streaming radio service, depending on one’s genre preferences, it is entirely possible that songs from Illusion of Joy’s latest album will show up in the rotation.

So, to wrap things up: there are plenty of song samples on other sites scattered across the world wide web, however the truly discerning music consumer will want to stream The Forever Syndrome from Last.fm to know what kind of product he or she is getting.

Also, remember that the actual CD itself will be out September 26^th. Online purchasing will be available via the usual locations (i.e.: Store@illusionofjoy.net and CD Baby). As of now, it is not yet determined whether or not the purchase of individual songs via digital download will be available. It’s best to have the physical copy for the awesome artwork anyhow – you can always rip the tracks if you want MP3s. Us independent musicians don’t install root kits and shady DRM schemes on your computers like some people do.