12 Followers/Meteo Xavier

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. It's been a while again since I posted, but I wanted to share the reviews ESPERS has been getting so far. It's been a slow run, but very worthwhile all the same!

Here are some reasons why you should check out ESPERS:

* ALBUM OF THE WEEK at College Info Geek.
"Espers is an ambient album that needs to be listened to with a good pair of headphones. Utilizing layer upon layer of varying instruments and samples, 12F/MX creates an immersive soundscape that makes you feel as if you’re in a different world. [...] In particular, the last track, “Sagetellah – The One Who Waits for the Life to Come” is extremely enjoyable and demands repeated listens. [...] All in all, Espers is an extremely well-produced and enjoyable album, especially since it’s an independent project made by one person (I believe)."

* ALBUM OF THE WEEK at Indie Music Digest - 8/10
"Espers by 12 Followers/Meteo Xavier is a compelling musical journey. Its strong suit it’s amazing sonic ambience the song for song musical flow. 12 Followers/Meteo Xavier gets high marks for his brilliant musical transitions and connecting passages - nice touch. This CD will be a real joy for those listeners out there who want flowing theatrical ambience to fill their sonic space peacefully snd unobtrusively."

* CATCH OF THE MONTH at Indie Shark - 5/5
"Espers by 12 Followers/Meteo Xavier is a rock solid release. The songwriting is clearly above average. The production gets it’s point across well. Again the most amazing thing about this CD is the composition genius of 12 Followers/Meteo Xavier. He’s clearly a premier talent. Fans of all things ambient will love this CD no doubt."

* RANDOM.ACCESS - 9.3/10
"Espers provides a generally relaxing experience similar to that of famed new age artists such as Enigma and Mike Oldfield. in his own heyday. [...] Espers is a novel way to chill out from the many unnecessary stresses of life. Every song has character. It is a highly-recommended work of art and indeed a solid addition to any aficionado's music library."

* Music Skope - 3.5/5
"“Espers” by 12 Followers/Meteo Xavier is clearly a solid release with many feel grooves with a pleasant atmospheric quality to it. It’s a record that gives us a fresh glimpse at an amazing artist and takes us back a few years – before everything started sounding like – well Nikelback."

* Music Emissions - 7/10
" 12FMX is a fascinating artist. Like I said most famous artists out there have 'it' I'm not so sure what it but 12 Follwers/Meteo Xavier clearly has whatever 'it' may be."

And of course there will be more to come. If you think I'm just blowing smoke here, take a listen for yourself:

Been a while since I made a post, so I'm going to post the ESPERS videos that are on Youtube. I've been using them as a means to really learn how Youtube marketing works and to experiment with the views and demographics in particular because it always seems like it gives different numbers, and freezes them if you put your own in after 300.

I'm still learning that aspect of it, but in the meantime, here are the videos for ESPERS. my Sonic 4 and my Super Metroid/Metroid Prime remix. Enjoy!

And now I have a way where you can listen to it straight from my website here. Priced $5.99 just like CDbaby and I believe you get your choice of 320KBs MP3s, FLAC, WAV or other versions of it.Enjoy!

Visit Lightfall Records at Reverbnation

This was a pretty good surprise to me and one I had secretly hoped for since its creation, but Espers is now available on physical CD from Lightfall Records!

It took some time and a lot of patience, but all things considered, I'm pretty satisfied with this outcome. Now begins the process of promoting it beyond this blog post. Podcasts, reviews, advertising, link exchanging, physical distribution, begging. All the things the independent artist must do to build a presence these days.

Main reason to mention that is I hope to use what experience I gain from that into a page on this site here to offer real world, practical and useful advice to others beginning that journey. I could probably start it now from what I know already, but I'll wait until I see some figures before I do that for real.

So look forward to that - in the meantime, enjoy Espers now available at ($7.99 CD, $5.99 digital download) through Lightfall/Aardvark Records and help support this artist so that he may afford give you music and useful things on your own musical journey. That came off a lot more desperate than I wanted to - oh well. Enjoy!

Good morning, afternoon or evening, ladies and gentlemen. It is my proud honor to offer, on behalf of Wardriver, this free collection of assorted tunes and tracks I have worked on over the past few years in my bold and delusional pursuits to become a video game composer - re-mixed (not remixed, sadly) and remastered by bLiNd and then as a whole by Daniel Lippert (Usabellchan).

Meteocrity Vol. 1 by 12 Followers/Meteo Xavier is a very sharp contrast to my previous album, ESPERS. Very little ambiance and new age here, this is instead 18 tracks of SNES-PS1 style mid-to-fast tempo, melodically based tracks that were all done on commission or request in previous projects that, for one reason or another, never came to fruition or have yet to be published in any game form.

Why should they sit on my hard drive unused?

While I won't claim this album will blow your balls off or anything like that (it is free after all), I would hope fans of the 16-32bit sampled era of videogame music would find stuff to like here. Most, if not all, of these were done 2-7 years ago and done to strict employer demands (for better or worse), so if you don't like the music, you know what to kiss and where to find it. :)

Track Listing is as follows:

1. Tempest Rush - Mastered by bLiNd during production
2. Caveat Emptor
3. Bitter End To a Thatched Ray of Light - Mastered by bLiNd
4. Five is Average - chiptune work by an anonymous artist
5. Bright Dreams From Empty Vessels
6. Wealth of Knowledge
7. Asymmetrical Conflict
8. Lofty Goals From a Forest Epitath - Mastered by bLiNd
9. Colossus of Egypt
10. Need Insurance? Get a Bullet
11. Red Dim Lights and Old Stories
12. Lunar Eclipse Millennium
13. Isolate the Variable
14. Vestigial Dance of Blades - Mastered by bLiNd
15. Exploring the Temporal Lobe with a Bomb in My Mouth
16. It Was Written on Your Tombstone - Mastered by bLiNd
17. The Heavenly Integer
18. Starry Knights

All tracks except #9 and #18 loop twice and fade out. #18 is a full song and #9 loops four times by accident, but considering what my then-employer asked me to do with it, it seems fitting.

Not sure what else to tell you about it except I hope you enjoy it and I hope you spread it throughout the internet so I can grow and improve as an artist.

Now to give credit where credit is due:

Composition/Arrangement/Mixing: Meteo Xavier
Album Art: Meteo Xavier
Mastering: bLiNd for Tracks 1, 3, 8, 14, 16.
UsabellChan for Album mastering
Posted to Wardriver and assistance in release by: Suzumbachi, Fusion2004 and Ramaniscence from thasauce.net

If I've left anyone out, please contact me and let me know so I can credit properly.


Finally, reposted links for convenience.

* Meteocrity Vol. 1 by 12 Followers/Meteo Xavier
* Facebook Page for these tracks and more!
* Wardriver's Main Page featuring other releases by Bustatunez, JMR, Overcoat and others
* Thasauce.net - Thank you once again guys!