It's that time of year when our social media feeds are absolutely flooded with stats. 📊
My numbers are up about 50% compared to last year! Huge thanks to everyone who streamed the new album and my collabs with Second Complex, UAP, and &Tilly.
🏆 Top track: “I Cannot Rain” with &Tilly (209K streams!) 🤯 Favorite stat: 284 of you played my music more than any other artist.
Spotify gets all the love this week, but I actually switched back to Apple Music in October for better audio quality while running.
Because of that (and my playlist curation), my personal Wrapped is a bit broken. My top albums were likely the new ones from Baths and The Midnight.
If you prefer to actually own your music, today is Bandcamp Friday, meaning artists keep 100% of sales. You'll find me at colortheory.bandcamp.com.
Regardless of how you listen, thank you for making 2025 the best year yet for Color Theory! 🙏🏻🖤
Brian
p.s. Who were your top artists, Spotify or otherwise? Let me know in the comments!
Mages, my twelfth full-length album, turns 4 today!
“The Limit,” “The Outset,” “Juggernaut,” and “This Whole Nothing” are still some of my most listened to tracks on Spotify.
Last night for kicks, I opened up “This Whole Nothing” in Ableton and realized I could do a better job mixing it. After spending an hour with it, I'm convinced I did.
My distributor, DistroKid, recently launched a feature called Audio Swap that allows me to... well, swap out the audio on a per-track basis. Should I do it?
If time permits, “The Outset” is next on my list. There are things I wish I'd known! ⛸️
Album 14, otherwise known as This Bright Circumstance, has been out for a little over a month now.
But this busy bee never stops buzzing, mostly because I'm committed to sharing two new tracks every month on Patreon.
I'm currently working on my fifth demo, tentatively titled “Influence,” for album 15 (patrons, you'll get it next month).
I haven't really settled on a sound yet, but so far the tracks are a bit lighter and less intense. And the piano is back!
I've been experimenting with a cover art aesthetic to match that sound, and I've mostly settled on a grainy, somewhat Nagel-inspired look.
I shared potential cover art to my email list (subscribe at colortheory.com), but I don’t want it on social media yet, hence the blur. Sorry!
Given that the holidays are nearly upon us, you may be expecting some sort of Black Friday offer from me. But you'll be waiting in vain, because despite having a few CDs left, I'm mostly out of the e-commerce business!
But elasticStage, who sells This Bright Circumstance on vinyl and CD, isn't. Get 15% off with promo code BLACKFRIDAY15 here:
Another way to spread the Color Theory gospel is to gift a Patreon membership, for as little as one month. The recipient will get instant access to dozens of member-exclusive tracks.
17 years ago today I released The Thought Chapter, my 7th full-length album which shares a name with the band I formed with my best friend and his brother in high school.
The backbone of the album is a virtual drum machine called Limelite, part of a ”build-a-synth” software suite called Reaktor. There was a preset called “Music” that formed the backbone of the most popular track, “We're Not Getting Any Younger.”
What I didn't realize at the time was that the preset title was a reference to Madonna's song by the same name, which I unknowingly stole the groove from.
Thousands of gamers discovered my music when “If Not Now When” was featured in the Rock Band video game, which was huge for me.
One other standout is “If It's My Time to Go” which was a Grand Prize winner in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. I received $8K in cash and gear, including a CD manufacturing package and Ableton Live, the DAW I still use to this day.
Color Theory
Color Theory
Happy Almost Christmas!
Radio Wigwam bills itself as the UK's top grassroots radio station. They've been championing unsigned and emerging artists globally since 2016.
This year, it seems they've nominated me for an award!
As part of their decision-making process, they invite fans to vote for their favorite artist in each category.
To vote, you have to first create an account. Then you're able to place one vote per day through December 31.
I realize that's a hassle, so no pressure at all, but if you'd like to vote for me, you'll find me in the fourth set of acts here:
radiowigwam.co.uk/awards_voting/
And I suppose if you're going to go through the trouble of creating an account, you might as well come back the next day and do it again!
The awards ceremony will be held in London on January 22. I won't be able to attend, but it will be broadcast live, so I'll certainly be tuning in.
Win or lose, it's always nice to be recognized!
Brian
4 days ago | [YT] | 21
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Color Theory
Remember when I collaborated with A Days Wait on “New Souls” last year?
No? Well, I did. And now we've got a new one!
You can pre-save “Empty Promises” on Spotify, Apple Music, or Deezer, and even opt to have all my future releases automatically added to your library.
ffm.colortheory.com/emptypromises
1 week ago | [YT] | 25
View 0 replies
Color Theory
It's that time of year when our social media feeds are absolutely flooded with stats. 📊
My numbers are up about 50% compared to last year! Huge thanks to everyone who streamed the new album and my collabs with Second Complex, UAP, and &Tilly.
🏆 Top track: “I Cannot Rain” with &Tilly (209K streams!)
🤯 Favorite stat: 284 of you played my music more than any other artist.
Spotify gets all the love this week, but I actually switched back to Apple Music in October for better audio quality while running.
Because of that (and my playlist curation), my personal Wrapped is a bit broken. My top albums were likely the new ones from Baths and The Midnight.
If you prefer to actually own your music, today is Bandcamp Friday, meaning artists keep 100% of sales. You'll find me at colortheory.bandcamp.com.
Regardless of how you listen, thank you for making 2025 the best year yet for Color Theory! 🙏🏻🖤
Brian
p.s. Who were your top artists, Spotify or otherwise? Let me know in the comments!
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 20
View 0 replies
Color Theory
Despite not releasing an episode since July of 2023, my Synthwave Top 10 podcast is still getting some love. Thank you!
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 22
View 1 reply
Color Theory
Mages, my twelfth full-length album, turns 4 today!
“The Limit,” “The Outset,” “Juggernaut,” and “This Whole Nothing” are still some of my most listened to tracks on Spotify.
Last night for kicks, I opened up “This Whole Nothing” in Ableton and realized I could do a better job mixing it. After spending an hour with it, I'm convinced I did.
My distributor, DistroKid, recently launched a feature called Audio Swap that allows me to... well, swap out the audio on a per-track basis. Should I do it?
If time permits, “The Outset” is next on my list. There are things I wish I'd known! ⛸️
to.colortheory.com/mages
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 46
View 4 replies
Color Theory
Album 14, otherwise known as This Bright Circumstance, has been out for a little over a month now.
But this busy bee never stops buzzing, mostly because I'm committed to sharing two new tracks every month on Patreon.
I'm currently working on my fifth demo, tentatively titled “Influence,” for album 15 (patrons, you'll get it next month).
I haven't really settled on a sound yet, but so far the tracks are a bit lighter and less intense. And the piano is back!
I've been experimenting with a cover art aesthetic to match that sound, and I've mostly settled on a grainy, somewhat Nagel-inspired look.
I shared potential cover art to my email list (subscribe at colortheory.com), but I don’t want it on social media yet, hence the blur. Sorry!
Given that the holidays are nearly upon us, you may be expecting some sort of Black Friday offer from me. But you'll be waiting in vain, because despite having a few CDs left, I'm mostly out of the e-commerce business!
But elasticStage, who sells This Bright Circumstance on vinyl and CD, isn't. Get 15% off with promo code BLACKFRIDAY15 here:
elasticstage.com/colortheory/releases/this-bright-…
Another way to spread the Color Theory gospel is to gift a Patreon membership, for as little as one month. The recipient will get instant access to dozens of member-exclusive tracks.
www.patreon.com/colortheory/gift
If you celebrate, Happy Thanksgiving! And if you've read this far, I'm truly thankful to be able to share my music and thoughts with you. 🙏🏻
Brian
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 32
View 2 replies
Color Theory
patreon.com/colortheory
1 month ago | [YT] | 35
View 0 replies
Color Theory
17 years ago today I released The Thought Chapter, my 7th full-length album which shares a name with the band I formed with my best friend and his brother in high school.
The backbone of the album is a virtual drum machine called Limelite, part of a ”build-a-synth” software suite called Reaktor. There was a preset called “Music” that formed the backbone of the most popular track, “We're Not Getting Any Younger.”
What I didn't realize at the time was that the preset title was a reference to Madonna's song by the same name, which I unknowingly stole the groove from.
Thousands of gamers discovered my music when “If Not Now When” was featured in the Rock Band video game, which was huge for me.
One other standout is “If It's My Time to Go” which was a Grand Prize winner in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. I received $8K in cash and gear, including a CD manufacturing package and Ableton Live, the DAW I still use to this day.
to.colortheory.com/thethoughtchapter
1 month ago | [YT] | 29
View 3 replies
Color Theory
My friendship and creative partnership with Matt Mancid spans more than a decade.
Way back in 2012, his remix of “What You Said” appeared on the Trance Emotions, Vol. 5 compilation album.
Since then he’s remixed more than a dozen Color Theory tracks, and we released an album of 80s covers together in 2021 called Peripheral.
The three remixes presented here explore trance, house, and Music-for-the-Masses-era synthpop.
ffm.colortheory.com/mattmancid
1 month ago | [YT] | 30
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Color Theory
Just a quick reminder that Friday is the last day to pick up the instrumental version of This Bright Circumstance:
colortheory.bandcamp.com/album/this-bright-circums…
And while they last, you can get 10% off the CD and/or vinyl with code colortheory10 here:
elasticstage.com/colortheory/releases/this-bright-…
Hope you're enjoying the calm before the holiday storm!
Brian
1 month ago | [YT] | 27
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