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Based in Montreal, Kyle Bobby Dunn has been producing elegant and refined works of ambient minimalism for the better part of a decade. His two lengthy and critically lauded collections for the Low Point label, A Young Person’s Guide… and Bring Me the Head of…, established him as a force to be reckoned with in the current epoch of drone/ambient music. Indeed, he is a rare artist whose compositions offer listeners wonder, sadness and pathos in equal measure, and are executed with a precision and effortlessness that eludes most musicians working in the genre.
With Kyle Bobby Dunn and the Infinite Sadness, he has produced what is undoubtedly his most focused and emotionally charged work thus far, a rich, expansive collection of slowly unfurling beauty that stretches out over the course of more than two hours. Dunn's trademark guitar swells and slow-moving loops are present here, but feel clearer and with a renewed sense of purpose and poise. He recorded source material for the album in various Canadian towns, including Belleville and Dorset, and processed and arranged the recordings at L'auberge de Dunn Studios in Montreal while, in his own words, "reflecting heavily on the gorgeous feet of a certain French woman and binging on strong beers and cheese."
From the opening salvo, "Ouverture de Peter Hodge Transport," Dunn establishes a haunting, lovelorn trajectory that is developed through pieces such as the strikingly beautiful "Boring Foothills of Foot Fetishville" and the poignant closer "And the Day is Dunn and I Can Only Think of You," titles which exhibit well his trademark sense of (black) humor. A powerful statement and what is at once the artist's most complex, complete and accessible album to date, we’re pleased and honored to present "Kyle Bobby Dunn and the Infinite Sadness."
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Young God Records is delighted to announce the release of a new album, To Be Kind, out on May 13, 2014. The album will be released on Young God Records (North America) and Mute in the rest of the world.
A NOTE FROM MICHAEL GIRA:
Hello There,
We (Swans) have recently completed our new album. It is called To Be Kind. The release date is set for May 13, 2014. It will be available as a triple vinyl album, a double CD, and a 2XCD Deluxe Edition that will include a live DVD. It will also be available digitally.
The album was produced by me, and it was recorded by the venerable John Congleton at Sonic Ranch, outside El Paso Texas, and further recordings and mixing were accomplished at John's studio in Dallas, Texas. We commenced rehearsals as Sonic Ranch in early October 2013, began recording soon thereafter, then completed the process of mixing with John in Dallas by mid December 2013.
A good portion of the material for this album was developed live during the Swans tours of 2012/13. Much of the music was otherwise conjured in the studio environment.
The recordings and entire process of this album were generously and perhaps vaingloriously funded by Swans supporters through our auspices at younggodrecords.com via the release of a special, handmade 2xCD live album entitled Not Here / Not Now.
The Swans are: Michael Gira, Norman Westberg, Christoph Hahn, Phil Puleo, Thor Harris, Christopher Pravdica.
Special Guests for this record include: Little Annie (Annie sang a duet with me on the song "Some Things We Do," the strings for which were ecstatically arranged and played by Julia Kent); St. Vincent (Annie Clark sang numerous, multi-tracked vocals throughout the record); Cold Specks (Al contributed numerous multi-tracked vocals to the song "Bring the Sun"); Bill Rieflin (honorary Swan Bill played instruments ranging from additional drums, to synthesizers, to piano, to electric guitar and so on. He has been a frequent contributor to Swans and Angels of Light and is currently playing with King Crimson).
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Mute is delighted to announce the release of Ben Frost’s next record A U R O R A, out on May 26, 2014. This is Frost's highly anticipated fifth solo release, his first since the widely acclaimed BY THE THROAT from 2009.
These lean, athletic visions seem to stand testament to a kind of survival – a proof of life. Muscular shapes maintained only to a level of functioning physical survival, of necessity, and no further; filthy, uncivilized, caked in sweat, and battery acid.
Starved of all the adornments of its predecessor; wholly absent of guitar, of piano, of string instruments and natural wooden intimacy, A U R O R A offers a defiant new world of fiercely synthetic shapes and galactic interference, pummeling skins and pure metals.
Performed by Ben Frost with Greg Fox (ex-Liturgy), Shahzad Ismaily and Thor Harris (SWANS) and largely written in Eastern DR Congo, A U R O R A aims directly, through its monolithic construction, at blinding luminescent alchemy; not with benign heavenly beauty but through decimating magnetic force.
This is no pristine vision of digital music; but an offering of interrupted future time, where emergency flares illuminate ruined nightclubs and the faith of the dancefloor rests in a diesel-powered generator spewing forth its own extinction, eating rancid fuel so loudly it threatens to overrun the very music it is powering.
And so, is the ongoing evolution of Frost's music, conceived as equally the observer, as the catalyst in this music, and harbinger of the idea that so often we think of beauty when in fact we should be thinking of destruction. The result, mixed in Reykjavík with Bedroom Community head Valgeir Sigurðsson, is a machined musical surface, evolved and refined, yet irrevocably damaged.
Curiously, darkness is expelled to the muddy sedge and a confusing irradiant glow permeates A U R O R A, where everything once wounded, remains fiercely animate and luminescent with charged destruction.
More information is available here.
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Glenn Jones has emerged as a clear leader in the new wave of American Primitive music for solo acoustic guitar. Many have mentioned his friendship with the late John Fahey, the genre's progenitor and demigod, but Glenn's music is truly all his own. His pensive sentimentality and playful spirit, not to mention his innovative technique, have become just as ingrained into the style’s DNA as any hallmarks of the original Takoma school. Welcomed Wherever I Go is a collection of live numbers, one featuring fellow guitarist Cian Nugent, and one forgotten tune recorded, speculatively, during the 2007 sessions for Jack Rose's Dr. Ragtime and His Pals.
"Island III" and "Against My Ruin" were both originally recorded for Glenn's 2007 album Against Which the Sea Continually Beats, and were subsequently played live as a medley. The recording that appears on Welcomed Wherever I Go was recorded in December of 2011 at the well-loved and now shuttered Brooklyn club Zebulon. "From A Lost Session" was a recording lost to time until Glenn discovered an unmarked CD-R in his archives, presumably during that classic session with Jack Rose. It is a particularly meditative track for Glenn, in a minor key with an incessant pedal tone not unlike Rose's pieces of the same era. The entire b-side of the release is occupied by a live take of "The Orca Grande Cement Factory at Victorville," a duet with similarly innovative guitarist Cian Nugent. Glenn will only play the song live in duet settings where the second musician has little to no preparation or coaching, letting them add to his instrumental musings, ignore them, or destroy them completely. Nugent's interpretation leans more toward the former.
Welcomed Wherever I Go is being released in a limited edition, vinyl-only format for Record Store Day 2014. Glenn will be doing limited touring in 2014, mostly in support of a new biography on John Fahey by Steve Lowenthal.
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In typically cryptic fashion, no information is provided about any of them...but here they are!
Alley Catss & S Olbricht
Ford Foster & William Watts
James Place
KETEV
Austin Cesear & Stefen Jós
Samples and (somewhat) more information can be found here.
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Psychic 9-5 Club marks the beginning of a new chapter for HTRK. It's an album that looks back on a time of sadness and struggle, and within that struggle they find hope and humour and love. It's Jonnine Standish and Nigel Yang's first album recorded entirely as a duo—former band member Sean Stewart died halfway through the recording of their last LP, 2011's Work (Work Work).
Though the record is instantly recognisable as HTRK—Standish's vocal delivery remains central to the band's sound, while the productions are typically lean and dubby—they've found ample room for exploration within this framework. Gone are the reverb-soaked guitar explorations of 2009's Marry Me Tonight and the fuzzy growls that ran through Work (Work Work). They've been replaced with something tender, velvety and polished. This is HTRK, but the flesh has been stripped from their sound, throwing the focus on naked arrangements and minimalist sound design.
The album was recorded at Blazer Sound Studios in New Mexico with Excepter's Nathan Corbin, who had previously directed the video clip for Work (Work, Work) cut "Bendin." Inviting a third party into their world was no easy decision, but in Corbin they found a kindred spirit. The LP was then refined and reworked in Australia at the turn of 2013, before the finishing touches were applied in New York during the summer.
Of all the themes that run through Psychic 9-5 Club, love is the most central. The word is laced throughout the album in lyrics and titles—love as a distraction, loving yourself, loving others. Standish's lyrics explore the complexities of sexuality and the body's reaction to personal loss, though there's room for wry humour—a constant through much of the best experimental Australian music of the past few decades.
Standish explores her vocal range fully—her husky spoken-word drawl remains, but we also hear her laugh and sing. Equally, Yang's exploratory production techniques—particularly his well-documented love of dub—are given room to shine. They dip headlong into some of the things that make humans tick—love, loss and desire—with the kind of integrity that has marked the band out from day one. Psychic 9-5 Club is truly an album for the body and for the soul.
Tracklist
01. Give it Up
02. Blue Sunshine
03. Feels like Love
04. Soul Sleep
05. Wet Dream
06. Love is Distraction
07. Chinatown Style
08. The Body You Deserve
Pre-order Psychic 9-5 Club here.
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April 8, 2014
When the Skull Defekts entered the studio in the Spring of 2013 with nothing more than a collection of loosely organized riffs, they set out to record their most extreme, challenging rock record. Much to the band’s surprise, what emerged were their most incessantly listenable, approachable songs to date. The Defekts merge the coarse vitality of punk with the ritualism of folk dances to create music that is addictive, wondrously discordant, and rooted in a belief in the overwhelming power of pure sound. Dances in Dreams of the Known Unknown is the Swedish group’s third release as a quintet, with the legendary Daniel Higgs joining Joachim Nordwall and Daniel Fagerstroem on vocal duties and acting as the group’s spiritual ringleader. The Defekts have long acted as the backbone of the Swedish experimental underground, but since their 2011 breakthrough Peer Amid, the group has emerged at the vanguard of a new wave of radical Scandinavian rock music alongside Iceage and the Posh Isolation label.
From the opening patter of “Pattern of Thoughts” to the propulsive chants of “Cyborganization,” Dances in Dreams of the Known Unknown feeds on the tension between lean and bright song production and the hefty, sometimes surreal sounds produced by Nordwall and Fagerstroem’s guitars. Daniel Higgs’ spontaneous, metaphoric poetry is as perplexing as ever, but it is delivered with a clarity not heard since his days fronting Lungfish. Album centerpiece “The Known Unknown” is centered around a driving riff, with Nordwall turning the song’s title into a mantra as intense as it is transcendent. Throughout, the group anchors their riffs with exotic sustained chords, adding a distinctly Carnatic flavor.
Nordwall’s long history in the European experimental music community serves to reinforce the group’s place as one of the most forward-thinking rock bands working in the continent today. In addition to running iDEAL Recordings since 1998, Nordwall has released collaborative recordings with Mika Vainio of Pan Sonic, Kevin Drumm, and Mats Gustafsson, whose FIRE! Orchestra he recently joined. Although the Skull Defekts have ceased to perform or record noise music, that adventurous spirit is still a dominant part of their music.
The Skull Defekts will tour Europe and the US as a quintet.
CD version comes in a 4 panel mini-LP style gatefold package with spot UV gloss printing.
LP version includes an artworked inner sleeve and free download card. High gloss UV printing on LP jacket. EXCLUSIVE LP MAILORDER EDITION AVAILALBE : 500 copies are pressed on gold vinyl and will only be sold on Thrill Jockey's website and the band's merch table.
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Without a doubt, the fact that Klara Lewis is the daughter of Graham Lewis (Wire, Dome, He Said) is going to garner a significant amount of attention for Ett. While hopefully it helps to spread awareness of its release, by no means does she need to rely on her father’s reputation to garner acclaim for this album. Her penchant for deconstructing dance music into something completely different may be genetically inherited, but this is entirely Klara's show, and a brilliant show it is.
The songs that make up Ett either emphasize fragmented, perceptible rhythmic structures or more open ended, found sound and texture collages of various noises.The two styles sit alongside each other quite well, and they share a similar sensibility of exploration rather than darkness, the latter often being a constant characteristic of similar artists.Rather than focusing on bleak moods, Lewis's sound is one of experimentation, but in an inquisitive, enjoyable manner.
I am hesitant to use the phrase beat oriented to describe these pieces, but it is the best descriptor, even if the term beat is being used in the loosest of senses."c a t t" has Lewis molding crunchy processed sounds into a rudimentary structure with deep bass hits and sampled piano.Even with its distended, abstract feel, it comes across as a unique take on house music.Low end pulses mimic kick drums throughout "Untitled" and, with its complex build and cut up voices, rivals the best work on the Raster-Noton label.
The rhythms on "Shine" are at first insinuated through looped fragments and mixed with lush, melodic passages before coming together into a more conventional structure.The long "Altered" is similar, with Lewis using its 12-plus minute duration to drift between wet, percussive textures and light ambient synth passages, scattering bits of what sounds like conventional techno in here and there to mix things up.Even amidst these changes and variations, however, it stays together nicely as a fully realized composition.
Other pieces on Ett are less rhythmic and instead utilize what sounds like found samples and field recordings, processed and treated to be completely unidentifiable.Islamic calls to prayer and chirping birds make for some of the few discernible elements on "Muezzin," but with the slightly off kilter interlocking loops, I could not help but be reminded of Cabaret Voltaire's "Eastern Mantra" in spirit.
A descending bass melody may hide amongst the static and noise puffs on "49th Hour," but as a whole the mix stays open and spacious, introducing unique treated bits of sound that move dynamically throughout the work.Similarly, there may be a loose semblance of rhythm within "Surfaced," but it is mostly obscured by collaged sounds and destroyed samples to make it all but invisible.
Ett is an astoundingly developed and mature debut record for a new artist working in any genre, but it is especially striking in this more experimental style.There are simply so many pitfalls possible when a new artist works in these abstract realms, and Lewis manages to avoid them all.With its compelling, understated rhythms and captivating mangled samples and recordings, the whole album exceeded my highest expectations.
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As synthpop begat EBM and industrial 2.0 some three decades ago, the recent minimal wave scene has given birth to its own dance music with a distortion pedal offspring, and I for one have been very happy about it. It was this sort of music that started me down the road to unconventional and experimental music as a teenager, so I have a special affinity for it. Youth Code might be getting all of the media accolades, but this debut from High-Functioning Flesh shows they are just as deserving, and I would give them the edge as far as memorable songwriting goes.
It was a record club copy of Skinny Puppy's Last Rights, which started the ball rolling for me, and it was not long before I was exploring associated bands such as Front Line Assembly, KMFDM, and the ilk.My love affair was short lived though, because within a few years, I lost interest in even what my favorite artists were doing, choosing to pass on their new releases in lieu of the albums I already had.
Looking back, there were two main reasons for this, both of which do not apply to HFF.First, the sound simply got too polished.Sampling became the norm, as did complex multitrack digital recordings and software instruments, so the jagged synthesizers and inhuman sounding drum machines fell by the wayside.Second, I realized that it was such an insular, closed off scene that I wanted nothing to do with.A Unity of Miseries keeps its layering sparse without being unnecessarily minimalist, focusing more on catchy basslines and memorable melodies but with a nice dirty edge.As far as scene cred goes, one look at the video for "Self-Management" and seeing vocalist Susan Subtract’s bolo tie and the paisley button down shirt that keyboardist Greg Vand is sporting proves how far removed they are from the PVC pants and gas mask world.
Of the seven songs that make up A Unity of Miseries, four are polished versions of ones that appeared on their online demo tape last year, but stronger and more realized."Rigid Embrace" has the duo embracing electro the most, pairing a brittle bass sequence and sharp, inhuman drums."Touch Oblivion Icon" is perhaps the most laconic song on here, shuffling along at a moderate tempo amongst sparse synths and some of Subtract's more detached vocals, here more Jean-Luc De Meyer than Douglas McCarthy.
HFF might not be secretive about their influences, but "Glowing Dripping" makes for the only moment that feels like an emulation of another artist. With Subtract's manic screams, metallic rhythms and tight bassline, I could have easily been deceived into believing it was a lost That Total Age era Nitzer Ebb song, at least until the synth pad accents come in and add a bit too much complexity to sound like that legendary duo.If they were going to ape a band’s sound, for me they picked the right one, and the right album.
The strongest assets are the songs appearing for the first time, and they demonstrate how much the band has evolved within a single year.The aforementioned "Self-Management" makes for the perfect single with its anthematic stomp.It might take a fair amount of time to fully open up, letting the synths layer together tastefully for the first two minutes, but when it does, the result is an uptempo aggro song that stands tall even amongst the best work of the classic artists.
"Flash Memory" might start with chintzy digital synth pads and bitcrushed voices, but soon launches head on into a rapid fire bass line and snappy drums.Paired with the yelled, yet focused vocals it results for a spirited, hardcore punk sensibility to it.Closer "The Deal" also just manages to hit all of the right notes for an album's conclusion.Subtract's call and response style vocals alternating between his flat Eurotrash disconnect and snarling scream as Vand builds up a strong, but slightly melancholy rhythm and melody.By no means is it a down beat song, but manages to channel just the right amount of emotion and energy to make a dramatic, memorable conclusion.
Critical objectivity aside, I simply love this fucking record.My first listen to it gave me twinges of what it was like around 20 years ago, listening to a band for the first time that I purchased blindly due to how I assumed they were going to sound, and being perfectly satisfied.A Unity of Miseries has that nostalgic edge to it, but for the most part it is entirely its own entity in 2014, bringing the best elements of a genre that is dear to me while ignoring all of its limitations.While I do not see myself shelving this album anytime soon, the jump between their demo and this makes me especially anxious to hear what their next evolutionary stage will bring.
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Kye is proud to present Much To My Demise, the brand new solo LP by Jason Lescalleet. Since establishing himself as a preeminent voice in contemporary electro-acoustic study, Jason Lescalleet has, through his solo work and in collaboration, exploded the notion of what is possible within the realm of tape-based music. His recorded catalog acknowledges a diversity of application, from lo-fi reel-to-reel soundscaping and work for hand-held cassette machines, on through to digital sampling and computer generated composition. Lescalleet's live actions further expand his ouevre to include work with video, dance, performance art and multi-media concerns.
In recent years Lescalleet's work has done much to explore the theme of loss and decay as sound - Another Example Of Parkinson's Law (2001), "Ineinandergreifen" and "Untitled (from 2002's Mattresslessness) and The Pilgrim (2006) all hold the concept of senescence at heart. Much To My Demise carries the motif of decomposition further still.
Recorded and constructed solely with analog sources, Much To My Demise showcases the result of a three-month process in which pre-recorded reels of tape were transported outdoors, buried in soil and encouraged to corrode. The reels were then excavated, and their resultant signals transferred and edited to form an apparitional triptych of faded gesture and mood. Much To My Demise shows Lescalleet at a new creative peak, crafting a music that is equal parts comforting and haunting, and allowing us access to secret world of sound hidden in plain sight.
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In many respects, July marks a huge leap forward for Nadler, as she moves from self-releasing her work to joining the very hip and influential Sacred Bones and Bella Union labels while enlisting some impressive and unexpected collaborators along the way in violist Eyvind Kang and Sunn O))) producer Randall Dunn.  Despite those seemingly major changes, however, July still sounds exactly like a Marissa Nadler album and continues her evolution into of the best songwriters around these days.  I am not necessarily sure that it is her best album ever, but it certainly comes very close if it is not.  At the very least, it boasts a couple of the most achingly beautiful songs that I will hear this year.
Sacred Bones (US) / Bella Union (UK)
Marissa does not waste any time in making an impression with this album, as July opens with one of its strongest pieces, "Drive."  There are a lot of wonderful things that I could say about the nuanced arrangements, warm sound, and vocal harmonies, but all of that is secondary to the song itself, as the sad and swooning chorus would probably still probably still sound heartbreaking in a poorly recorded a capella performance. Aside from being a great song, "Drive" also makes the overarching theme of July quite clear: this is most definitely a break-up album.
I suppose practically every Marissa Nadler album sounds like a break-up album, but this one is different.  Rather than wallowing in immediate post-break-up heartbreak, July seems to look back upon old wounds with a wistful mixture of tenderness, wisdom, and hope.  For example, the lines from "Drive" that stick in my mind are not the repeated "you're never coming back," but rather the refrain of "nothing like the way it feels...to drive."  The lingering pain is certainly still evident, but it is not the focus–Nadler proves herself to be uniquely adept at finding the poetry in a wake of broken relationships.
July's other immediately apparent highlights are the swaying, bittersweet "Firecrackers" and the haunting "Was it a Dream?"  Much like "Drive," both boast some absolutely lovely harmonies and unforgettable hooks, particularly the devastating final third of the latter (the final "it's the same world, but everything is new" completely kills me). The charms of "Firecracker" are slightly more subtle, but no less effective, offering up some of Nadler's best and most moving lyrics.  I was especially taken with the line "I know better now, I don't call you up at night 'cause baby you're a ghost and I have changed."
As for the rest of the songs...well, they are all quite good too.  None are as immediately striking as the aforementioned three, but they are certainly all enjoyable in their own ways.  In fact, some of them might even be slow-burning dark horse contenders for my future favorite, as I am constantly stuck by freshly moving turns of phrase almost every time I listen.  To my ears, Nadler does not make a single false or dubious move anywhere on July, avoiding both melodrama and any temptation to dilute her simple, direct songs with overly lush arrangements.  Also, Marissa seems to have mastered the perfect balance between melancholy, brightness, and warmth.  All of that cumulatively amounts to a very listenable, moving, and wonderful album that will be all over this year's "best of" lists come December.
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