
On June 1st 2010 RJ Valeo will release his follow-up album to his highly acclaimed Type Records release ‘September’, entitled ‘Atman’. Drawing inspiration from his recent study of Buddhism, coupled with his love of modern classical composers, Valeo creates a sonic universe that is meditative, serene, familiar yet entirely new and unique all at the same time.
Scheduled for release digitally on June 1st 2010, followed by the physical release in August, the project is a multi-disciplinary endeavor, encompassing the visual arts as well as video and sonic landscapes.
Valeo, always working with the cutting edge of technology and leveraging it for the advancements of artistic expression and dissemination has linked up with Kickstarter.com to fund the initial round of vinyl production for the release. In addition Kickstarter.com, Valeo is utilizing Bandcamp.com to sell the ‘Limited Edition Digital Version’ of the release, which will have artwork per track, alternate versions of compositions and other ‘exclusive’ material not available anywhere else. More into to come shortly.
Below you will find the initial press release for Valeo’s Atman, followed by some examples of the additional artwork that will be available in the limited edition digital version of the release.
Official Atman Press Release
Atman by RJ Valeo
Release Date: June 1st 2010
Format: CD, LP, Media Card, and Digital download
Imprint: Io Records
With a work such as RJ Valeo’s Atman there are many things we could call to your attention. We could call out the fact that the title, Atman, has two very different meanings depending on if you choose the Hindu or the Buddhist translation. We could talk about how Atman’s compositions have been inspired by modern art movements and minimalist composers such as the Bauhaus movement and Steve Reich, and has been informed by modern electronic artists such as The Orb and SND. We could also note that Valeo creates and maintains his own unique musical voice throughout the entire release drawing ideas from but never copying his influences. We could comment on the lack of obvious musical references to techno on this release. Quite surprising given Valeo’s
releases as Isomer Transition which have made their way on to two separate Fabric mix CDs in 2009.
We could eloquently point out that the compositions on this album have sounds that were sourced from field recordings, hardware synths, software processing, were sampled from old vinyl records, and are from recording sessions with musicians Trevor Sias and Justin Michael Miller. We could proudly tell you that it took over a year and a half to compose and record, and made extensive use of a compositional technique Valeo has developed, a technique he calls ‘live performance capture’. We could say all of these things.
We could put forth the fact that RJ’s label, Io Records, is a one man shop. And without sounding too pompous we could mention that he produced and record the album himself, mastered the album himself, did all the artwork for it himself, hand-made all the packaging for the release himself, and views the entire process and product as art. We could talk about all of these things in great detail and to great length. We could do all of this, but we won’t.
What we will do is ask that you allow yourself the luxury of time to experience Atman as a complete work.
Atman will be released on Io Records on June 1st 2010 physically and digitally in a variety of formats and distribution methods.
We humbly thank you, and are grateful for your attention in these matters.
Available June 1st 2010 on Boomkat.com, Beatport.com, iTunes, Amazon and most other digital retailers.
Track Listing
01 – Chasm
02 – Safe harbor
03 – Through the noise
04 – The whole truth
05 – Richter scale 6
06 – Saturday morning
07 – The world of tomorrow
08 – Late night hours
09 – The other one
10 – When things weren’t so complicated

Physical Formats: CD, Vinyl, and Media Storage Devices
Digital downloads will be available via Bandcamp, Boomkat, Beatport, iTunes, Amazon,
eMusic and other fine digital retailers.
The vinyl will be funded via Kickstarter.com, a DIY crowd-sourced approach for VC for artists and micro-entrepreneurs. All physical goods are limited editions are hand-made in Brooklyn, NY.
For more information about this release, its various formats and associated art products
please visit http://io-records.com/atman after May 31st 2010.