By Michael Guy Bowman bowman Bandcamp YouTube YouTube mguybowman Twitter michaelguybowman.com Other mguybowman Instagram ← Hush Previous album by this artist → Electric Daydreams Next album by this artist.
Cover art by Hadron hadronus SoundCloud YouTube YouTube hadronus Tumblr Hadronus Twitter hadronus.com Other → cool and new volume II Next cover art by this artist.
Wallpaper art by Hadron hadronus SoundCloud YouTube YouTube hadronus Tumblr Hadronus Twitter hadronus.com Other → Cool and New Homestuck Next wallpaper art by this artist.
Banner art by Hadron hadronus SoundCloud YouTube YouTube hadronus Tumblr Hadronus Twitter hadronus.com Other → BOWMANIA Next banner art by this artist.
Released 7/19/2016.
Duration: ~1:11:31.

Listen on Bandcamp, YouTube (playlist), Spotify, or Apple Music.

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Read crediting sources.

1. (4:00) Jungle Boogie
2. (0:57) Crimesters Theme
3. (1:24) Crimesters Credits
4. (1:30) Just Destroy It
5. (2:52) Got It?
6. (3:28) Awake (2013 Version)
7. (3:56) Polyominoes
8. (3:02) Airwaves
9. (2:36) Gondwanaland
10. (2:41) Slow Bay
11. (2:26) The New Window
12. (2:38) Electroverture
13. (1:27) Aba Daba Honeymoon
14. (2:12) Valentine To Sarah From Julian
15. (1:47) Make It Bounce
16. (1:56) Diamonds and Diamonds and Diamonds
17. (3:32) Awake (2012 Version)
18. (3:14) Mad Science
19. (3:20) This Sunset
20. (3:33) Millennium Bug
21. (1:58) Know That You're Mine
22. (0:53) Far Away
23. (0:52) Ismelda The Bearded Mermaid
24. (0:46) Bandages
25. (1:48) Get Start! by Michael Guy Bowman and Riki Tsuji
26. (0:26) You Are The Birthday Girl
27. (0:26) You Are The Birthday Boy
28. (1:00) In The Marching Band
29. (1:57) Explosion Force (They Do It Right)
30. (0:36) Conro Corp Anthem
31. (4:04) Old Buggy Now (Solatrus remix) by Solatrus
32. (4:14) Ithaca (hrmnzr remix) by Jamie Paige

View or download additional files:

• Bandcamp Banner and Background

  • From the original 2016 release.
  • banner.png (99.2 kB)
  • bg.jpg (435.2 kB)

Artist commentary:

Michael Guy Bowman: (Bandcamp about blurb) 10/11/2024

Extraneous tracks from 2012-2016 presented in reverse chronological order. Tracks 1-4, 12-13 are commissions from various projects, including "Jungle Boogie", an outtake from Homestuck Vol. 10. Tracks 5-11 are single tracks off of Soundcloud selected from 2013. Tracks 14-30 were created by request as rewards for my Kickstarter from 2012. Tracks 31 and 32 are remixes by a couple of friends of tracks off of Ithaca.

Quasar Nebula: (wiki editor)

Archive was originally released on Bandcamp on 7/19/2016. Due to a copyright claim on the stock cloud photo in its cover artwork, that release was taken offline in July 2018. After workshopping a new cover made from original assets, Bowman worked with Hadron to create the final artwork for a rerelease on or around 9/24/2018.

Although all 32 tracks remained present, the 2018 track order was quite different.

2018 track list details

The first 22 tracks were public on Bandcamp and also listenable on streaming platforms:

1. Awake (2012 Version)
2. Got It?
3. Airwaves
4. Mad Science
5. Millennium Bug
6. Far Away
7. Gondwanaland
8. Diamonds and Diamonds and Diamonds
9. Bandages
10. Electroverture
11. Emery's Theme (née "Crimesters Credits")
12. Know That You're Mine
13. Just Destroy It
14. In The Marching Band
15. Make It Bounce
16. Explosion Force (They Do It Right)
17. The New Window
18. Polyominoes
19. Slow Bay
20. This Sunset
21. Jungle Boogie
22. Awake (2013 Version) (née "Awake")

The remaining 10 were exclusively available as bonus tracks from Bandcamp:

23. Aba Daba Honeymoon
24. Valentine To Sarah From Julian
25. Ismelda The Bearded Mermaid
26. Emery's Theme (Fast Version) (née "Crimsters Theme")
27. Conro Corp Anthem
28. Get Start!
29. You Are The Birthday Boy
30. You Are The Birthday Girl
31. Old Buggy Now (Solatrus remix)
32. Ithaca (hrmnzr remix)

In October 2024, Bowman restored the track list of Archive to its original 2016 order - making all 32 tracks public on Bandcamp and available on streaming. Retained from the 2018 release, Awake (2013 Version) remains named so, rather than just "Awake" as it was originally called. The 2018 release's cover artwork was also kept.

Bowman shared some background for the album, and the motivation for these changes, in the Bowmantown Discord server:

Michael Guy Bowman: (Bowmantown Discord, excerpt) 10/7/2024

I'd like to talk about something I'm mulling over which is restoring Archive back to its original track listing.

When I originally put out the album I was making up for the fact that so much material had been shuffled off to random corners of the Internet with no real plan for a formal release. I'd held onto that stuff for so long because it didn't really form a coherent album and I think I was being fairly protective of there being some image involved here.

That said, it looked like the culture of the Internet had gotten so oriented toward just churning out and dumping content that I felt like maybe I was being too precious by not putting it all out there. Considering things like C148's mega-long albums of just random scraps or people like Andrew Huang and Jonathan Coulton I felt weirdly like the dark horse trying to do the classic album cycle recording process.

So I went ahead and just compiled all that stuff from 2012 to 2016 that had been finished to some degree and released it as one album.

Looking back I think it was basically the best solution to the problem of having "unreleased" material that people were already semi-attached to. But I think the neurotic feeling that it was somehow a botched release got to me and rearranging it was meant to make it more programatic.

But creating a situation where 10 tracks were completely behind a paywall never to be streamable on so many different platforms, especially now that streaming is basically the main way people listen to music, seems incredibly short-sighted.

Also seeing the confusion it's created for the homestuck music wiki really gets me!

So here's I'm considering doing ASAP

1. The album will go back to its original running order with no bonus tracks - Bandcamp customers will be able to download the album in its restored format as soon as it's available if they so choose.
2. The new album art will remain in place due to the copyright claim on my original art, personally I think it's superior work anyway and I'm satisfied with what Hadron was able to cook up for me.
3. "Crimesters Theme" and "Crimesters Credits" will have their titles restored.
4. "Awake (2013 Version)" and "Awake (2012 Version)" will remain labeled as such, I think choosing one version over the other to not have a dated version behind it would overemphasize one or the other which doesn't really make sense.
5. It will be re-distributed to platforms, replacing the currently uploaded version. This may create some issues with playlists, but I'd rather have one single complete edition of the album available rather than competing versions.

Quasar Nebula: (wiki editor)

From when Bowman's discography was first added to the wiki (February 2021), the sole album entry for Archive had been based on the 2018 release. Later on (around April 2024), we learned about the original 2016 release. Because of the differences in track order and cover artwork, we decided to represent both versions of Archive on the wiki - but practically speaking, this made Archive look like as though it was two albums.

From later 2024 on - following discussion in Bowmantown about the presentation of Archive, and various wiki concepts - these two entries are consolidated as a single album on the wiki. We reflect the track list from 2024, with tracks Crimesters Theme, Crimesters Credits, and Awake (2013 Version) getting their earlier-release names as "additional names". Commentary from the various releases and platforms is all here, too.

Michael Guy Bowman: (original artwork)

Michael Guy Bowman: (Bowmantown Discord re: artwork for 2018 release, excerpts) 9/4/2018

I've been playing with some ideas for a new version of the cover, I wanted to see what you thought.

Here's a really rough one I put together a few days ago:

Unfinished "Archive" 2nd edition cover.

oh wow that’s really cool too
that could be pretty sick
although I don’t know how well it fits the calmer songs like awake

Interesting, is the EYE too abrasive?

I've considered versions with an all-seeing Illuminati-esque eye on the screen.

What do you think of using a laptop

It's the actual one I used until 2012 so it has special significance.

It's been shopped a little to make it more symmetrical, just like the old picture.

Michael Guy Bowman: (Bowmantown Discord, excerpts) 9/24/2018

@Hadronus did great work on the new art and gave me way more than I expected from the new computer he rendered

The hand was his idea
The clouds are not mine but are purchased with a royalty-free license
I added the same gradient map as before

It should be on Spotify soon and I’ll make a new “best of” playlist

This has been hanging over me for a while so I’m glad to get this done

Quasar Nebula: (wiki editor)

2024's Bandcamp about and credits blurbs are mostly based on the 2016 release's, although there are slight differences. The 2018 release had only a short about blurb.

Michael Guy Bowman: (Bandcamp about blurb) 7/19/2016captured 8/2/2016

A compilation of non-album tracks going back a few years presented in reverse chronological order. Tracks 1-4, 12-13 are commissions from various projects, including "Jungle Boogie", an outtake from Homestuck Vol. 10. Tracks 5-11 are single tracks off of Soundcloud selected from 2013. Tracks 14-30 were created by request as rewards for my Kickstarter from 2012. Tracks 31 and 32 are remixes by a couple of friends of tracks off of Ithaca.

There's a lot of jingle length stuff on here, so individual tracks less than a minute long are pay-what-you-want. Enjoy!

Michael Guy Bowman: (Bandcamp about blurb) 9/24/2018

Commissions, novelty tracks, experiments in electronica from 2012-2016. Download features 10 bonus tracks.

Crediting sources:

Michael Guy Bowman: (Bandcamp credits blurb, excerpt) 7/19/2016captured 8/2/2016

Written and produced by Michael Guy Bowman. "Aba Daba Honeymoon" written by Arthur Fields and Walter Donovan. Featuring Clark Powell (cello; track 17), Erik Scheele (piano; track 23), and Riki Tsuji (additional synths, vocals, arrangement; track 25). "Old Buggy Now" remixed by Jeremy Iamurri (track 31). "Ithaca" remixed by Jamie Paige (track 32).

Michael Guy Bowman: (Bandcamp credits blurb, excerpt) 10/11/2024

Music by Michael Guy Bowman. "Aba Daba Honeymoon" written by Arthur Fields and Walter Donovan. Featuring Clark Powell (cello; track 17), Erik Scheele (piano; track 23), Riki Tsuji (additional synths, vocals, arrangement; track 25), Jeremy Iamurri (remix; track 31), and Jamie Paige (remix; track 32).

Cover art by Hadron.