Michael Harren Archives — bd-studios.com

Articles Tagged with: Michael Harren

A strange world of my own (looking back to move forward)

I love crossmyheart. Like, really really love it.

I feel like I always say whatever I’ve made most recently is one of my favorite things I’ve ever made. But usually after some distance, I tend to feel otherwise; I can only see the flaws in what I did, the little things I hoped to accomplish that only I know but that I somehow feel everyone looking at or listening to the work notices instantly as a flaw.

But this time it’s different. I’m not sure if that means the work is actually stronger, or I’ve been doing this long enough that my relationship to artmaking has evolved, or maybe I’ve actually—gasp—learned to let go of expectations. But whatever’s going on: I’m here for it.

Sometimes when I go to bed, I put on my AirPods, queue up this album, and fall asleep listening to it. Not because it’s boring, but because it soothes me. If you’ve actually listened to it, that might sound bizarre. But for me it’s comforting, like a warm hug. I know I’m safe when I spin this record (right ‘round). That’s probably because it’s such a fully formed world entirely of my own making. It might be dark and strange and intense—but it’s mine.

From when horses tread water (float wiTch) by luke kurtis

The rumors are true (or, how one thing becomes another)

I’ve seen the headlines. The rumors are true—or so it seems.

For the past few years, I’ve been working inside the strange world of a harras—a cycle of surreal and absurd poems that slowly expanded into a book, an album, and a short film. The project has always been about change, so in some ways it feels inevitable that the music itself would eventually transform as well.

Today I’m releasing crossmyheart (a harras reworks), a remix album built from the original vocal recordings but radically reimagined musically. The result moves through ambient atmosphere, industrial textures, ceremonial rhythms, and flashes of pop energy—what I’ve started to think of as something like synth-pop poetry.

Michael Harren on animals, grief, and his multimedia marvels 🐓😭🎹

Both of our bellies full of watermelon, I sat down with Michael Harren to talk about The Animal Book, the book that archives The Animal Show, which in turn archives Michael’s multimedia artistic stylings, animal activism, and the culmination of the two: his vibrant, evoking artivism. I was eager to hear about the melding of such diverse methods, but also what lies behind them—the man, the emotion, the existential uncertainty. Michael shared his grief and joys with me in a humorous, self-effacing way.

Cover of The Animal Book by Michael Harren. The cover features a photo of a chicken perched on a person's arm in front of a wire fence. The title and author's name are written in white text at the bottom right corner. — *The Animal Book* by Michael Harren

We are masked artists and poets in quarantine and solidarity

I reached out to the artists and poets I’ve published to see how everybody is doing during the pandemic. Some of us are creating, some of us are crying, and some of us (most of us?) are somewhere in between, depending on the day. The state of the world is a lot to process. But we are here. We are well. We are wearing masks. We are hunkering down and taking the situation seriously. I thought it would be fun to share photos of us all masked-up, socially distanced, and going about our days. Here we are, the masked artists & poets of bd-studios.com

What people are saying about The Animal Book by Michael Harren 🐮🐔🐷

Cover of The Animal Book by Michael Harren. The cover features a photo of a chicken perched on a person's arm in front of a wire fence. The title and author's name are written in white text at the bottom right corner.

Our latest book, The Animal Book by Michael Harren, has been getting a lot of attention in the vegan press! I rounded up a few excerpts to show you just how much people are digging Michael’s book (and album, too).

2017 is almost over! We can hardly believe it. It was a busy year for bd-studios.com, and we accomplished a lot. Below are the highlights from our most significant projects!

“Invocation” music video

Premiered yesterday on The Justin Wayne Show, my video for Michael Harren‘s Invocation (the second single from #TentativeArmor) features my “journey” meditation walk. I documented this performance art piece during my trip to Iceland last year, which is also when I created all the other footage that appears in the video. For me, Michael’s music and the visuals I paired with it are all meditative in nature and reflect the spiritual elements of the Tentative Armor project as a whole.

I’d love to hear what you think! Leave a comment on the video or drop both me and Michael Harren a line on Twitter (@lukekurtis and @MichaelHarren).