DIAMOND AGE SHARES "THE SHORELINE" VIA HYPETRAK

"The Shoreline" is a head nodding jam from electronic guru, Diamond Age, a Dallas musician who has played in countless bands for over a decade. His new double EP "Broken World" is out in March on limited edition cassette via Pour le Corps Records, label home to Xander Harris and Tassels.

Diamond Age is M. Leer. For nearly a decade, Leer played as a member of Mandarin (Bella Union), Baptist Generals (Sub Pop), History at Our Disposal (Creative Capitalism), Paul Duncan (Home Tapes), as well as the short lived bands Universal Rundle and Hallelujah. Diamond Age started as a "project" creating a track-for-track reinterpretation of Gareth Williams (This Heat) and Mary Currie's 1985 ultra rare cassette-only release Flaming Tunes. The album was recorded on 4-track and old laptop with limitations and mistakes as the rules for creating a genuine tribute to the record.

Upon completion, Leer came into contact with and sent copies to This Heat's Charles Hayward, who forwarded copies to Marie Currie, Charles Bullen and Mick Hobbs (The Work / Family Fodder / Jad Fair collaborator). Hobbs was subsequently working on a reissue of the nearly forgotten release.

The response was far beyond what was intended. Hobbs offered to release the cover version in conjunction to the Flaming Tunes reissue. Life and Living Records (UK) released Beguiling the Hours in late January of 2009. Conceived as a recording project with no regard for how the album could be performed live, there were early attempts at getting Denton musician friends to perform the album as a one-off show. This never came to fruition. The logistics of getting people to learn the material, schedule practices, get a rehearsal space, etc. for a one-off show was too reminiscent of the old days.

Shortly after Beguiling the Hours was released, Leer helped produce the Lobisomem album Onze Pedras adding guitar, synths, beats and additional editing and arranging as well as contributing a track to the remix album Onze Pedras Atiradas. Through some heavy coercing by New Fumes' Daniel Huffman, and some new gear acquisition to pull off all the parts by one person, 2010 marked a return to live performing, playing new material and selections from Beguiling the Hours.

This started a steady string of live performance, writing and recording. By the end of 2012, Diamond Age had played nearly 100 shows and completed Broken World to be released on Pour le Corps Records. The 60-minute, 13-track limited cassette and digital release, conceived as a "Double EP," with each 30-minute side of the cassette a separate EP for the shortened attention spans of todays fast-paced world.