One of our artist friends is in need of help, so we are reaching out to I, Absentee fans. Our friend behind the Truth Serum artwork (which she painted and commissioned to us without taking a fee) is in need of money to help her ill cat. Repeated veterinarian trips and potential surgery looming over her head have proven too heavy a financial burden to incur alone.

We are reaching out to you, that those able might help someone who has given back to us in the past. Any donation you can spare helps. As a special thank you to all who donate, we are offering a one-time download of what was (possibly) the final I, Absentee show, performed secretly in the back of George's Video, an obscure VHS video store in Canton, OH on July 2, 2010. The show featured performances from Tobacco, Moustache Mountain, 21 Jumpsuit, D.D. NewMole and The Red Falcon Projects.

Donations are being accepted via this ChipIn page through February 13th. We ask that you please donate as much as you can spare, to potentially help save a cat's life, while getting over two hours of music as well. Please also share the link for others. We'll e-mail those who donate with the download link at some point in the near future. Your help is much appreciated!

Year five at I, Absentee begins with a back-to-basics approach, with one of our original signings, Boozhownd Doggonit. After a four year sabbatical, Boozhownd returns with a new full-length, bearing little resemblance to his 2008, self-titled debut. Gone are the off-time, hip hop beats, replaced with bluesy harmonicas and sprawling ambient soundscapes, bringing recollections of his collaborative efforts in 2009 with Forrest on the Night Creature EP.

Blues Hownd is available for download at a "name your price" rate, up to and including free. We continue to experiment with release and price formats, as 2011 taught us that the CD format is dead, or perhaps just dormant. We're really winging it from release to release at the moment, as there's no clear answer at this time on how best to approach release platforms for a little label such as us.

We have completed our year long campaign of donating profits on all 2011 releases to causes and charities we support. A huge thanks to all of the artists who participated, as well as everyone who contributed even a dollar to any of our releases last year. We would like to do more in the future, but for now, we're just setting aside all aspects of the label except the music. Our next release(s) remain a mystery, but we'll have more new audio sooner than later.

We have a surprise release today from Rumorse. Halogen[r]Eve is the first in a planned series of remix EPs, highlighting last year's full-length Halogen Eve. Future editions of the series will likely either come from other labels or direct from Rumorse. We'll pass along the details once they're determined. This premiere installment comes as our first ever digital-only release, free for download. We may do more digital releases in the future, it's up in the air right now.

For Halogen[r]Eve, Rumorse assembled a group which should be familiar to anyone who follows the label, as all have appeared on prior releases with us. The EP kicks off with Biotron Shelf (Boltfish, U-Cover, Smallfish), which is the duo of Mint and Cheju. That's followed by another remix alumni, The Dandelion Council (vu-us, Awkward Silence). The EP is capped off with a pair of remixes from our own roster, with Dorosoto and Mall Security. The EP can be streamed or downloaded in it's entirety at our bandcamp page. Seeing as this one's a freebie, obviously there is no charity this time around.

In other Dorosoto / Mall Security news, the duo as RFP are now selling copies of their newest DVD, "Falcon Visions", directly through their Facebook page. Just post a message there requesting a copy, if you're interested. The DVD features mostly new music, as well as all new videos. Copies are extremely limited.

Vizion Centaur is the duo of Warren Kroll and Chris Dutrieux of South Bend, Indiana. Warren Kroll should be well-familiar to those who follow the label, with his solo output as Dorosoto and Forrest, as well as his joint efforts in RFP, Alpha Aesar and the upcoming Ian Hawgood collaboration, lantscap. Chris Dutrieux is new to our shores, a guitarist for the past fifteen years, working in the experimental scene and releasing numerous self-made cassette tapes.

Together they form Vizion Centaur, an exploration of guitar and effect-based ambient music. Earlier this year, they released their debut, "Space", through Install. Their follow-up, "Epochalypse", marks their debut for I, Absentee. It closes a lengthy hiatus at the label, in which we've drastically reduced our output, spending more time on fewer releases.

The album was studio mastered by TW Walsh (Pedro The Lion, Headphones), who is soon to release an album via our friends at Graveface. The artwork was maticulously hand-drawn by Akron, OH artist Matt Horak, The CD pressing is limited to 100 copies, pressed on UV-coated, gatefold digipak.

As we've been doing all year, all profits from the album will be donated to a cause or charity. For "Epochalypse," profits will be going to the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Fund, which provides sanctuary for animals in need of protection, by establishing conservation for more than thirty endangered species worldwide.

The album is divided into two near-thirty minute pieces. Extended clips, artwork and purchase options are available on the release page. The album will also be available shortly through some shops/friends of ours. Please check our facebook page for regular updates on that.

RFP are on the eve of touring with longtime friends Black Moth Super Rainbow, who themselves are returning from a two-year hiatus. They will have a new DVD available at the shows, as well as copies of our long-deleted Ice Warz '85 EP. It's been newly repressed and we'll try to have some copies available through the site here soon. You can catch The Red Falcon Projects live as special guest openers on the following dates:

Congratulations to longtime I, Absentee regular Mall Security, who just signed for his first 12" release with a notable, as yet unannounced label. Follow him on facebook for all of the forthcoming details.

I, Absentee will soon be relocating to Los Angeles. While this shouldn't cause any notable disruption on orders, it will likely be awhile before we return with our next release, as we settle out west. Rest assured, we will be back with plenty more in due time. As always, our deepest thanks for your support.

Today we release our new album with Joseph Auer, hereby known for this project as Electric Mandala. You may recall him from our 2009 Dorosoto remix album, Embryonic Audio Restoration. He's also worked with a variety of notable labels, including U-Cover, October Man, Symbolic Interaction, Boltfish and more. Musically, Electric Mandala takes on a more bit more ambient direction from Auer's past work, but still maintains his signature Detroit techno / electronica production styles. Infinite Dharma marks his debut effort under the alias, a full-length exploration of neon melodies and pulsating sonic horizons.

The album is factory pressed on CDr in a UV coated cardboard, gatefold sleeve. Due to the added budget we put into the release, we had to reduce the size of the pressing to keep within our ability. "Infinite Dharma" is limited to just fifty copies on physical format. We wanted to reward those of you still supporting the physical format with an upgraded presentation. Digitally, the album is available via our bandcamp page at reduced purchase price or streaming in it's entirety.

All profits from this album are donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society to aid the population directly affected by the 2011 earthquakes and tsunami in Japan. We wanted to act sooner, but were tied up in so many non-profit projects already, we could only now turn our attention toward this important cause. As Electric Mandala is an artist based in Japan, it was a perfect project to focus on these efforts. For direct purchase on physical format, a closer look at the artwork and a free download of the track "Anubuius", visit our catalog page.

RFP have a brand new album, self-released on cassette tape today. "Microtonal Acid Dub" is a mild departure from their previous work to date, yet still definitively RFP. Recorded in a single, extended recording session, the Falcons decided to offer it in limited edition tape via their newly launched bandcamp page. You can stream the album in full or purchase one of the tapes direct from RFP, which is limited to fifty copies.

Vizion Centaur, a new project from Warren Kroll (Dorosoto, Forrest) and Chris Dutrieux, have recently joined I, Absentee. Their debut album, however, is available now. Install (run by David Tagg and Brian Grainger) has just issued "Space" as part of their "Installation Series", also limited to just fifty copies. Their follow-up will be out through us this summer.

I, Absentee has created and produced a new video for legendary Wax Trax! recording artist PIG. This was filmed in 2006 by the head of the label (me) and pre-dates the proper inception of I, Absentee. However, after a year and a half of editing, it was completed and produced under our name. This was referred to privately in our catalog as "IAOOO" and given to the crew and friends. We opted never to mention it on the site, due to the fact it was never publicly available. Five years after the filming, PIG are officially self-releasing the DVD, with our full co-operation and blessing. You may recall PIG / Raymond Watts from our SOW album last year, which was a project born out of this original collaboration. It's taken an extremely long time to see the light of day, but we're happy to say it's now available for pre-order, in extremely limited copies. The first wave is limited to 100 copies, signed by PIG in limited edition packaging. Last we heard, twelve pre-order slots remained. However, a repress (minus the autographs and special packaging) is due to follow, albeit also in limited quantities. It's called an "official bootleg" by us and PIG, for the reason that the project was plagued by technical difficulties (the tour it chronicled was cancelled mid-way through production), so it's not quite what we intended. The end result is a salvage job, intended for hardcore fans of PIG, who've been requesting the DVD for years. To be clear, it's not a proper I, Absentee release. We're the producers in the credits, as the video was created, filmed and financed by us. However, PIG is handing the DVD production and release, which is why it's available directly through them. Visit the official PIG page for ordering info. It might not be something our usual fanbase will be interested in, as it's a full on rock performance documentary. However, it's in many ways a pivotal chapter of our history and I spent many tireless nights creating it.

As you've probably noticed, we have a new website up. The basic layout and structure remains the same. However, much of the coding is being updated for better display on various browsers, mobile devices, etc. It should have better functionality than the old version. It's still a work in progress. Lost of pages around the site haven't been upgraded yet. You might spot some glitches here and there. We'll be working on it further over the upcoming weeks. For now, the main pages are updated for the most part, as we work toward a full conversion.

"Infinite Dharma" is our final release for awhile, until sometime this summer. Our plan is to spend more time developing releases and trying to make the packages special, albeit less frequent, as we've begun with this album. Our next release will be the aforementioned second Vizion Centaur album, entitled "Epochalypse". Thanks for the support and we'll see you in a couple months. (You can always follow us on facebook for updates between now and then as well.)