Blue Stahli

This article is about an American musical group. For the album, see Blue Stahli (album).

Blue Stahli is an American electronic rock music project by Bret Autrey. Blue Stahli has released 10 studio albums and his music has appeared in a number of movie trailers, shows and games.^[2][3] Additionally, he composes music for video games.^[4]

Blue Stahli
Autrey performing at a Celldweller show in 2010
Background information
Also known as	The Insignificant Others Lucid Hardware (1997) VOXiS:MACHINA (1997–2000)^[1] VOXiS (2000–2006) The Gimp Smackin' Love Truckers (2000–2004) Remorse Code (2006–2007) Sunset Neon (2017–present)
Origin	Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Genres	Industrial rock industrial metal alternative metal electro-industrial electronic
Years active	1996–present
Labels	Ballistic Test Flaming Fish Position FiXT
Members	Bret Autrey
Website	bluestahlimusic.com

History

Musical beginnings and VOXiS (1997–2006)

Autrey started music at a young age, learning through the use of an old beat up piano he had rescued from a dump. He worked through 3 years of piano lessons, by mimicking his neighbor and playing the melodies by ear. During this same time, he had become interested in sampling and programming music using Impulse Tracker for DOS. Later he received lessons from a friend for guitar, and would play along to music such as Queen's soundtrack to Flash Gordon. He has played in a band as the guitarist, fronted by drag queens; as well as joining a burlesque troupe as a DJ to their shows.^[5]

Self-taught in music,^[6] Autrey and Collin Landis entered a demo-tape titled Mainframe into Flaming Fish Music. Once on the label, the duo, aided by brother of Collin, Shawn Lanis (Virocity) produced (under VOXiS:MACHINA, and later VOXiS) Lullabies in 1998. Later in 2006, released as VOXiS, was the debut album Darkeworld: Project One. The release was aimed for summer 2001,^[7] but complications pushed the album back 5 years. Darkeworld features various collections of songs, demos, and experiments through the years 2000 to 2006, being re-released through FiXT in 2007 prior to his signing on as Blue Stahli.^[8][5]

Klayton (of Celldweller; co-founder of the FiXT Music label) discovered Blue Stahli in 2007 through a remix contest for "Own Little World", titled as the "Remorse Code remix". After he was signed he relocated to Detroit, the residence of the FiXT Music label and its studios.^[8]

Signing with FiXT Music and album releases (2008–2013)

Main article: Blue Stahli (album)

 

Blue Stahli logo between 2011 and 2016

The name orignates as a mix between the painting "untitled blue" and its painter Susanne Stahli.^[9] The following year Blue Stahli debuted with his first single, "Kill Me Every Time"^[10] then later releasing his first instrumental based album Antisleep Vol. 01.^[11] Blue Stahli released additional singles which led up to the release of his first vocal album (with FiXT) Blue Stahli in 2011.^[12] He also released two more instrumental albums as sequels to Antisleep Vol. 01 in 2012 and 2013.^[13]

On May 20, 2013, Blue Stahli released a stand-alone single titled "Never Dance Again", which featured elements of 80s Dance music, followed by a remix by labelmate Josh Money.^[14] In July the same year, Stahli started a YouTube series titled Ask Blue Stahli, a vlogging series where fans can ask him questions on his social sites using the hashtag #askbluestahli for him to answer.^[15]

The first song ever officially recorded for Blue Stahli was This Will Make You Love Again, a cover of IAMX. Of the song, Autrey tells that it was recorded "in a closet in a family home."^[16] It was recorded the night before he left Phoenix, Arizona, to Detroit, Michigan, to begin the Blue Stahli project.^[17] Autrey also states that it was singing along to early IAMX records that taught him how to sing.^[18]

The Devil and Antisleep Vol. 4 (2013–2015)

Main articles: The Devil (album) and Antisleep Vol. 04

In 2013, Blue Stahli premiered two new songs, titled "The Fall" and "Down In Flames", both of which were released on December 17, 2013, on the first "chapter" for the second upcoming vocal album, The Devil. This album had received wide coverage from popular online magazines such as Loudwire,^[19] Revolver^[20] and Bloody Disgusting.^[21] In an interview, Autrey stated that he aimed to finish and release the album in late 2014, however, this was later pushed back to 2015.^[22][23]

In May 2015, Autrey announced the completion of Antisleep Vol. 04 (Chapter 01),^[24] it was later released, without warning, on June 5, 2015.

The Devil was released on October 2, 2015.

Sunset Neon and Obsidian (2017–2020)

Since April 2017, Blue Stahli has been working under the alias Sunset Neon, a predominantly synthwave solo project. He released his debut album Starlight on December 1, 2017.^[25] On September 13, 2018, the single "Lakes of Flame" was released for the would-be seventh album, Obsidian.^[26] Obsidian was originally slated for a 2019 release with "Lakes of Flame" as the lead single, but due to legality issues with FiXT Music, it was later moved to 2021, with "Lakes of Flame" becoming a non-album single.

The deadchannel_Trilogy (2020–present)

By the end of September, Blue Stahli posted three teasers for a trilogy of albums called the Dead Channel Trilogy (stylized as deadchannel_Trilogy). The first two were revealed to be titled Quartz and Copper while also confirming Obsidian to be the final album of the trilogy.^[27][28][29] The albums were released on October 2, November 13, 2020, and January 15, 2021, respectively; the first independent releases in Blue Stahli's history.^[30][31][32]

Discography

Main article: Blue Stahli discography

Studio albums

• Antisleep Vol. 01 (2008)
• Blue Stahli (2011)
• Antisleep Vol. 02 (2011)
• Antisleep Vol. 03 (2012)
• The Devil (2015)
• Premonitions (2016)
• Antisleep Vol. 04 (2017)
• Quartz (2020)
• Copper (2020)
• Obsidian (2021)

References

1. . Flaming Fish Music. 1998. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
2. Autrey, Bret. "Bret Autrey – IMDb". IMDb. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
3. Autrey, Bret. . FiXT. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
4. Karakolis, Konstantinos (October 25, 2023). "Electronic-Rock Artist Blue Stahli Composes Original Soundtrack for Ubisoft's "The Crew: Motorfest"". EDM.com - The Latest Electronic Dance Music News, Reviews & Artists. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
5. Brenton, Ryan (March 8, 2011). . Fixtstore.com. FiXT. Archived from the original (Interview) on January 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
6. Autrey, Bret. "Ask Blue Stahli – Naked Elvis Kung Fu". YouTube. Blue Stahli. from the original on May 12, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
7. "Facebook Group". Facebook. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
8. . FiXT Music. 2007. Archived from the original (Online store) on January 16, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014. The material on this disc is a non-chronological collection of songs, demos, experiments and crimes against the listening populace I committed between the years 2000 and 2006.
9. Islander (January 27, 2012). "NOT A METAL INTERVIEW: BLUE STAHLI". NO CLEAN SINGING. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
10. "Blue Stahli Kill Me Every Time" (Database). Allmusic.com. AllMusic. 2008. from the original on December 23, 2016. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
11. "Blue Stahli Antisleep, Vol. 1" (Database). Allmusic.com. AllMusic. 2008. from the original on July 29, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
12. "Blue Stahli – Blue Stahli" (Database). Allmusic.com. AllMusic. 2011. from the original on July 29, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
13. "Blue Stahli discography" (Database). Allmusic.com. AllMusic. 2014. from the original on July 28, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
14. Maguire, Chris (May 20, 2013). . Altsounds.com. AltSounds. Archived from the original (News post) on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
15. "Ask Blue Stahli – Clownhorning" (YouTube video). YouTube.com. Blue Stahli. July 10, 2013. from the original on June 26, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
16. Stahli, Blue (June 22, 2019). "So glad you enjoy it! That cover was done ages ago, and recorded in a closet in a family home that is unfortunately not in the family anymore, so it holds a special place besides just loving @IAMX". @bluestahli. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
17. This Will Make You Love Again (SAB D1T20), archived from the original on December 20, 2021, retrieved November 25, 2019
18. "YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2021. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
19. Kaufman, Spencer (December 16, 2013). "Blue Stahli, 'The Fall' – Exclusive Song Premiere" (News post). Loudwire.com. Loudwire. from the original on January 21, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014. Detroit multi-instrumentalist Blue Stahli is unleashing his new album, 'The Devil,' via a series of chapters, the first of which drops Dec. 17...
20. Chichester, Sammi (December 17, 2013). . Revolvermag.com. Revolver. Archived from the original (News post) on February 9, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
21. Jonathan, Barkan (December 19, 2013). "Blue Stahli Releases "Down In Flames" Lyric Video" (News post). Bloody-disgusting.com. Bloody Disgusting. from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
22. "Interview with ChaosControl.com". Facebook.com. Blue Stahli. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
23. "Blue Stahli interview". ChaosControl.com. Chaos Control. February 23, 2014. from the original on March 1, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
24. "Blue Stahli – Be sure to lay down an excitement tarp, art for..." Facebook. May 22, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
25. "Starlight, by Sunset Neon".
26. Zukowski, Zenae (September 13, 2018). "Blue Stahli premiere new song "Lakes of Flame"". Metal Insider.
27. "deadchannel_01". YouTube. September 15, 2020. Archived from the original on December 20, 2021.
28. "deadchannel_02". YouTube. September 22, 2020. Archived from the original on December 20, 2021.
29. "deadchannel_03". YouTube. September 29, 2020. Archived from the original on December 20, 2021.
30. Parsons, Luke (October 11, 2020). "Blue Stahli – Quartz (Album Review)". Abrasive Noise. from the original on January 17, 2021. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
31. Parsons, Luke (November 18, 2020). "Blue Stahli – Copper (Album Review)". Abrasive Noise. from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
32. Parsons, Luke (January 20, 2021). "Blue Stahli – Obsidian (Album Review) + dead_Channel trilogy round-up". Abrasive Noise. from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved January 24, 2021.

External links

• Official website
• Blue Stahli discography at Discogs