Last night’s Madison Area Music Awards was excellent. Rick and the MAMAs crew put on a fantastic show and we were lucky to be a part of it this year. We ended up doing pretty well with awards too. Three MAMAs were awarded to us in the Electronic category:

• Electronic Album of the Year for The Projection People
• Electronic Song of the Year for “Headlights”
• Electronic Performer of the Year

We must apologize to the other nominees in the category simply because we felt we may have inadvertently pulled a Lieberman. While we do use synthesizers, limited sequencing, and guitar pedals, we feel we’re really a rock band at the core. We absolutely appreciate the awards and we’re even more honored to be nominated with the artists in those categories. So we’d like to take a moment to recognize some of the songs we liked from the other nominees.

As a bit of a bonus we’re reducing the price of our album on Bandcamp to $5 and also marking “Headlights” as a free download. Enjoy!!
Also, since we like to keep acceptance speeches short we thought this would be a good venue to thank all of the people we didn’t mention last night. Many, many thanks to Joe Ramos at JoeGuerilla.com for helping write “Headlights” and singing on the tune, to Victor Johnson Jr. for composing and recording “Sunset”, to Naomi Hasan for playing the violin on “Etienne”, to Mark Whitcomb at DNA Studios for mastering the record, to Darwin Sampson at The Frequency for always lending a hand to us and every artist in this town, to Chris Shepard at CRC for engineering some fantastic drums on this record, to everyone that lent out their gear for the recording, to Anna Page Photography for the amazing artwork photos, to Jonathan Wheeler for being the face of the album, to Mike Zirkel at Smart for making an alternate mix of “Headlights” (we’ll be posting it soon), to all the MAMA voters for getting us the awards, to all the people whose patience we’ve tested over and over again throughout the course of making the record for understanding how important music is to us. You are all appreciated more than you know.

So now, we turn the page on what was a great experience. For some of us, the next page has a different story then it does for the rest of us. No matter though. One way or another, you’ll be hearing from all of us again very soon.

Love,
Marc, Kevin, Brad, Tyler, Scott and Ryan

MadTracks — ‘All The Fevered Colours’ by The Projection People

Jessica Steinhoff on Thursday 02/19/2009 11:00 am

The five members of The Projection People haven’t just jumped on board the online-promotion bandwagon, they’re greasing its axles. Since last spring, the local rock outfit has been recording its debut album and giving fans a glimpse of the process with a blog full of studio photos, song lyrics and videos.

It’s also given the bandmates a way to share some the things that inspire them, from the change of seasons to The Simpsons, and talk about the evolution of their sound. It makes sense considering that the band was formed as a way for its members to experiment musically.

Coming together from a handful of different local music projects — Middleworld, Dafino and Revolving Doors — The Projection People formed in November 2006 as an outlet for all of the music that didn’t fit the sound and image of the musicians’ other bands.

“Forming The Projection People allowed us to write any song we wanted, regardless of the genre or style, and just have fun,” says Tyler Commo, who does vocals, keyboards and guitar for the group. “We started out as a studio group so we’d write, record and just get music out there. The live shows came later.”

The band’s newest recording, a track called “All The Fevered Colours,” is one example of a sound that didn’t fit the constraints of the bandmates’ other groups. Middleworld’s sound is tinged with prog, Dafino’s is a bit psychedelic, and Revolving Doors’ is 100% instrumental. This new tune, on the other hand, starts out as a pop song laced with vocal harmonies, then turns the chorus on its head with a treatment that’s a bit punk, a bit emo and even a bit metal for an instant. In other words, it shows how something pretty mild can become pretty rocking in a matter of seconds.

Though the song is slated to appear on the band’s yet-to-be-titled debut album, due out later this spring, curious listeners can get it now on a new compilation album by the new local label Analogy Records.

An MP3 of “All The Fevered Colours” is available in the related downloads section at right. More songs by the band can be listened to on its MySpace page. Analogy is hosting a live showcase featuring The Projection People and labelmates Revolving Doors, Butt Funnel and The Cemetery Improvement Society — plus a free copy of its compilation CD — at The Frequency this Saturday, February 21.

Huge thanks for Jessica Steinhoff and The Daily Page

The Projection People caps off a great year with a free EP

The Blast House Sessions EP serves as a nice companion to the recently released self-titled album.

By Ben Munson December 8, 2010

No one would have faulted The Projection People for just wanting to take the rest of the year off after releasing one of Madison’s most inventive pop rock records of 2010. But the boys have struck again with a free EP called Blast House Sessions, currently available on its Bandcamp site. The three-song release features two new originals (“Ordinary Lines” and “An Image To Ignore”) as well as a remix of “Headlights” by drummer Brad Hawes’ side project, Black Jack Red Queen. The clean guitars and spaced-out atmospherics on both densely produced tracks sound right in line with the material off the self-titled album, with Tyler Commo’s stately voice hovering over head. Commo said in an e-mail that the EP “serves as a thank you to [Blast House owner] Mike Olson,” but it’s also a nice bonus for the rest of us, from a band that’s already had a pretty stellar year.

Many thanks to Ben Munson & The Madison A.V. Club

The folks at the Isthmus have selected The Projection People LP as the #1 Madison album of 2010.  We’re pleased to even be included in this list of great music and extremely happy that the record was given the number 1 spot.  Many thanks to Rich at the Isthmus for the kind words and especially for listening to the album and giving  it a chance. 

This is a nice bookend for the process of the record.  All of us worked very hard for several years on it to make it what it is.

The Best Madison Albums of 2010 article can be found in this week’s issue and online via their website. 

Thanks again!  Here’s to an even better 2011! 

-TPP