Wish Upon a Blackstar
Encyclopedia
Wish Upon a Blackstar is the second album from American electronic rock project Celldweller
. Wish Upon a Blackstar has been a work in progress since 2005; originally scheduled for release in 2006, finalized songs from the album were not released until mid-2009. The full album will be released on March 27, 2012. Grant Mohrman, producer of the debut Celldweller album
, returned to co-produce the album with Klayton
.
Chapters are released in two ways, a standard version (includes the songs and a PDF booklet with lyrics, art, and user submitted art) and a deluxe edition (includes songs and their instrumental versions, PDF booklet, and Beta Cessions demo clips of each song through various stages of production). Klayton has said on his Twitter
page that "Eon" & "I Can't Wait" are the heavy tracks.
Originally, there were to be 10 songs on the album, but Klayton has decided to add 5 more songs to the final CD, namely "Gift For You", "The Seven Sisters", "Memories of a Girl I Haven't Met", "It Makes No Difference Who We Are" which will be the intro track of the album and an another song which he mentioned in his album release date announcement newsletter.
In an interview with SphereMag, Klayton stated that he will be recruiting remixers to remix tracks from Wish Upon a Blackstar and making a separate remix album titled Remixed Upon a Blackstar. So far, Klayton has confirmed that BT will be remixing the song "Louder Than Words", Toksin will be remixing "So Long Sentiment" and J. Scott G. will be remixing "The Best It's Gonna Get" with Imprintz & Kloe.
On June 4, 2009, Klayton released the official lyrics to Chapter 01 ("Louder Than Words" & "So Long Sentiment") of Wish Upon a Blackstar along with a fifty second preview of "So Long Sentiment".
On July 13, Klayton posted a video from his iPhone
showing the synth bridge from an unreleased demo of "Louder Than Words". The synth shown did not make it to the final cut of the song.
On August 4, Klayton officially announced that Chapter 01 of Wish Upon a Blackstar would go live on August 25, 2009.
Klayton also announced that he would show a preview of "Louder Than Words" and the official cover for Wish Upon a Blackstar on August 10. Pre-orders of Chapter 01 began on August 20, 2009.
Chapter 01 featuring "Louder Than Words" and "So Long Sentiment" was released on August 25, 2009.
Chapter 02 featuring "Eon" and "The Best It's Gonna Get" was released on December 8, 2009.
On July 25, the preview of "The Lucky One" was posted on FiXT Store.
On July 26, Chapter 03 featuring "The Lucky One
" and "Tainted" was released 2 hours early.
profile at 8PM EST. After the broadcast, Chapter 04 featuring "I Can't Wait" and "Gift For You" was released on FiXT Store, about 3 hours earlier than the originally announced release date.
Klayton has stated that many of these songs that did not end up on the album proper will make up the bulk of a second official Beta Cessions collection. During the writing and demoing process, titles of the following songs were mentioned in interviews and newspostings:
"Uncrowned" is actually an outtake from the debut Celldweller album that Klayton has claimed would appear on or with the second album; its status is currently unknown. Two singles released in anticipation of Wish Upon a Blackstar, "Shapeshifter
" and "Tragedy", will not appear on the album and it is unknown if they will be released on a Beta Cessions volume.
On May 4, 2011 Atmospheric Light was released in a 72 hour exclusive sale on Groupees after reaching the goal of $6,000 and on October 26, 2011 Klayton released it as a free download for reaching 100,000 likes on his Facebook profile. On October 26, 2011 it was announced that a demo
of "IRIA" would be released if the Groupees Halloween
Trick or Treat
charity event earned over $5000. If it earned more than $10,000, then an acoustic version of "It Makes No Difference Who We Are" would also be released. In the end it reached the $5000 goal and "IRIA" was released on November 1, 2011.
Celldweller
Celldweller is a Detroit, Michigan-based Electronic Rock project that was created by multi-instrumentalist Klayton, former frontman and songwriter of the bands Circle of Dust, Argyle Park, Angeldust . Celldweller's music is multi-faceted, often labeled electronic rock and more commonly being...
. Wish Upon a Blackstar has been a work in progress since 2005; originally scheduled for release in 2006, finalized songs from the album were not released until mid-2009. The full album will be released on March 27, 2012. Grant Mohrman, producer of the debut Celldweller album
Celldweller (album)
Celldweller is the 2003 self-titled debut album by American Electronic Rock band, Celldweller. The album spent one week on the Billboard Top Internet Albums chart, at number 17, and the song "I Believe You" reached number 11 on the R&R Alternative Specialty Show Chart. Celldweller was awarded Album...
, returned to co-produce the album with Klayton
Klayton
Scott Albert, now known as Klayton, is a multi-instrumentalist musician formerly of New York City and currently of Detroit, Michigan who has led several cult status underground bands and has performed under a variety of stage names since the early 1990s...
.
Production
Rather than release a standard CD album after all production has wrapped, Klayton instead chose to break up the album into five chapters of two tracks on Chapters 01 - 04 and six tracks on Chapter 05. The first four chapters were released as digital downloads only, while "the fifth and final chapter will be reserved for the CD, so both the artwork and the remaining songs will be released for the first time on the physical CD".Chapters are released in two ways, a standard version (includes the songs and a PDF booklet with lyrics, art, and user submitted art) and a deluxe edition (includes songs and their instrumental versions, PDF booklet, and Beta Cessions demo clips of each song through various stages of production). Klayton has said on his Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
page that "Eon" & "I Can't Wait" are the heavy tracks.
Originally, there were to be 10 songs on the album, but Klayton has decided to add 5 more songs to the final CD, namely "Gift For You", "The Seven Sisters", "Memories of a Girl I Haven't Met", "It Makes No Difference Who We Are" which will be the intro track of the album and an another song which he mentioned in his album release date announcement newsletter.
In an interview with SphereMag, Klayton stated that he will be recruiting remixers to remix tracks from Wish Upon a Blackstar and making a separate remix album titled Remixed Upon a Blackstar. So far, Klayton has confirmed that BT will be remixing the song "Louder Than Words", Toksin will be remixing "So Long Sentiment" and J. Scott G. will be remixing "The Best It's Gonna Get" with Imprintz & Kloe.
Chapter 01
On April 20, 2009, Klayton revealed the tracklisting for Wish Upon a Blackstar on his official website.On June 4, 2009, Klayton released the official lyrics to Chapter 01 ("Louder Than Words" & "So Long Sentiment") of Wish Upon a Blackstar along with a fifty second preview of "So Long Sentiment".
On July 13, Klayton posted a video from his iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
showing the synth bridge from an unreleased demo of "Louder Than Words". The synth shown did not make it to the final cut of the song.
On August 4, Klayton officially announced that Chapter 01 of Wish Upon a Blackstar would go live on August 25, 2009.
Klayton also announced that he would show a preview of "Louder Than Words" and the official cover for Wish Upon a Blackstar on August 10. Pre-orders of Chapter 01 began on August 20, 2009.
Chapter 01 featuring "Louder Than Words" and "So Long Sentiment" was released on August 25, 2009.
Chapter 02
On November 10, Klayton announced that Chapter 02 would be released on December 8, 2009. On November 25, Klayton posted the cover art of Chapter 02 on his blog. The deadline for Chapter 02 fan art work was on December 4. Pre-oders of Chapter 02 began on December 1.Chapter 02 featuring "Eon" and "The Best It's Gonna Get" was released on December 8, 2009.
Chapter 03
On May 24, Klayton released a sample take of "The Lucky One" on his website, allowing fans to submit their vocals as part of a contest to be featured on the album. The deadline for Chapter 03 fan artwork was on June 27. On June 28, 2010, Klayton announced the July 27 release date of Chapter 03 on his website. On July 16, Klayton posted the cover art of Chapter 03 on his blog and pre-orders of Chapter 03 began on the same day. On July 21, Klayton posted the preview of "Tainted" on FiXT Store.On July 25, the preview of "The Lucky One" was posted on FiXT Store.
On July 26, Chapter 03 featuring "The Lucky One
The Lucky One (Celldweller)
"The Lucky One" is an industrial metal single by Celldweller from Wish Upon a Blackstar, and it will be accompanied by Celldweller's first music video since "Switchback".-Release:...
" and "Tainted" was released 2 hours early.
Chapter 04
On May 11, Klayton announced that Chapter 04 would be released on June 28, 2011. The art submission deadline was June 15, 2011. On May 31, a preview of the song "I Can't Wait" was posted via Celldweller's Facebook. On June 7 the preview of "Gift For You" was posted on Celldweller's Facebook. Pre-orders of Chapter 04 began on June 14. On June 27, Klayton showed the full length versions of the songs on his UstreamUstream
Ustream is a website which consists of a network of diverse channels providing a platform for lifecasting and live video streaming of events online. Established in March 2007, the site has over 2,000,000 registered users who generate 1,500,000+ hours of live streamed content per month with over ten...
profile at 8PM EST. After the broadcast, Chapter 04 featuring "I Can't Wait" and "Gift For You" was released on FiXT Store, about 3 hours earlier than the originally announced release date.
Chapter 05
Klayton tweeted early 2011 that "2011 is the year of the Blackstar" hinting that the rest of the album will be released by the end of the year, and is confirmed to be the last chapter of the album adding the last 6 tracks to the full-length CD. On July 17, Klayton posted the lyrics of "Memories of a Girl I Haven't Met" on his Facebook after reaching 85,000 likes on his profile. On September 8, Klayton posted the lyrics of the intro song on his Facebook and said that he wants the fans to entitle the song. The intro song was later announced to be titled as "It Makes No Difference Who We Are". On November 24, 2011, Klayton has announced that he is going to release the full album on March 27, 2012Track listing
Outtakes from the Wish Upon a Blackstar sessions
Between forty and fifty songs were demoed in the writing sessions for Wish Upon a Blackstar. Klayton explains:
"I approached the new Celldweller disc differently than any other album I’ve written. I just focused on writing songs I liked, and not so much on the ear candy and production as much – that would come later. So I ended up with almost twice as many songs that didn’t make the new CD than ones that actually did make it."
Klayton has stated that many of these songs that did not end up on the album proper will make up the bulk of a second official Beta Cessions collection. During the writing and demoing process, titles of the following songs were mentioned in interviews and newspostings:
"Uncrowned" is actually an outtake from the debut Celldweller album that Klayton has claimed would appear on or with the second album; its status is currently unknown. Two singles released in anticipation of Wish Upon a Blackstar, "Shapeshifter
Shapeshifter (song)
"Shapeshifter" is a single by Celldweller from the NFS: MW Soundtrack. It is one of three song to date that Celldweller has not included on to any of his albums, including his cover of "Tragedy", and "Kill The Sound" from the soundtrack for Dead Rising 2.The song appeared on the direct-to-dvd film...
" and "Tragedy", will not appear on the album and it is unknown if they will be released on a Beta Cessions volume.
On May 4, 2011 Atmospheric Light was released in a 72 hour exclusive sale on Groupees after reaching the goal of $6,000 and on October 26, 2011 Klayton released it as a free download for reaching 100,000 likes on his Facebook profile. On October 26, 2011 it was announced that a demo
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
of "IRIA" would be released if the Groupees Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
Trick or Treat
Trick or Treat
Trick or Treat is a 1952 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon, which takes place on Halloween night, follows a series of pranks between Donald Duck and his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie who are aided by Witch Hazel...
charity event earned over $5000. If it earned more than $10,000, then an acoustic version of "It Makes No Difference Who We Are" would also be released. In the end it reached the $5000 goal and "IRIA" was released on November 1, 2011.
Additional Personnel
- Grant Mohrman - Producer, engineer, mixing
- Blue StahliBlue StahliBlue Stahli is a Detroit, Michigan-based Electronic rock project that was created by multi-instrumentalist Bret Autrey.-Bio:After releasing material under the name Voxis, Autrey was approached by FiXT label head Klayton in 2007 to move to Detroit and record in residence at Celldweller Studios...
- Additional editing on "Louder Than Words", "Eon" and "The Lucky One", eastern melodies in "So Long Sentiment" - John London Whitney - Drums on "I Can't Wait", "Blackstar", "Birthright", "The Seven Sisters" and "Against the Tide"
- Sam Hayles (Dose Productions) - Artwork and merch design
- Christina Wheeler - Female vocals in "So Long Sentiment"
- John Pregler - Additional chorus guitar on "So Long Sentiment"
- Steve Dresser - Additional editing on "So Long Sentiment"
- Jason Waggoner - Additinal accoustic guitar on "The Best It's Gonna Get"
- Derek Steele - Additional editing on "The Best It's Gonna Get", "The Lucky One" and "Tainted"
- Ryan Boelster - Additional editing on "I Can't Wait"
- Josh Danforth - Additional editing on "I Can't Wait"
- Jenny Jackknife - Female vocals in "Gift For You"
- Terry Desperance - Provided the drum kit used in tracks 2-7
- Ken Capton - Provided the drum kit used in "I Can't Wait" and "Gift For You"
- Tom Baker - Mastering tracks 2-5
- Brian Gardner - Mastering tracks 6-8