For Immediate Release: Locrian to Release "The Crystal World" a 2x Disc Album on Utech Records: November 27, 2010

Artist: Locrian
Album: "The Crystal World"
Label: Utech Records
Catalog Number: URCD 56/57
Format: 2xCD/LP
Art: Justin Bartlett
Release Date: November 27, 2010

Release Description:

'The Crystal World', the third studio album from Locrian, is an epic journey. Titled after JG Ballard’s 1964 novel that tells the story of a physician who specializes in leprosy sent to a remote African outpost to discover a jungle that is slowly crystallizing and encroaching upon everything it touches. Disc one comprises six tracks while disc two consists of one extended piece, 'Extinction', that picks up on the intensity of disc one and sustains it for close to an hour. On 'The Crystal World', Terence Hannum, and André Foisy, are joined by Steven Hess (On, Pan American, Ural Umbo) on percussion and electronics.

Hess’ contribution pushes Locrian deeper into the abyss of despair rendering a sound that is darker, bleaker, and engulfing than any of the group’s previous releases. Locrian continue the conceptual trajectory of blackened drone that the group initially embarked on during their first studio album 'Drenched Lands' (2009). Masters of layering, 'The Crystal World' finds the group manipulating tones and textures that transport the listener to an apocalyptic wasteland. At times, the layers are serene and somber, at other times they are chaotic.

Of Locrian’s three studio albums, 'The Crystal World' is the essential release, finding the band creating a sound all of their own. A sound that evades simplistic analogies to black metal, power-electronics, noise, or other categories. This is the album that will stun fans of the bands previous works with how far the group has come from their early releases. Vinyl edition out on Utech Records in 2011.

The group will be debuting material from this album at the Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh, NC on Thursday, Septebmer 9th. The group will share a stage with Burning Star Core and The Ocean.

More information about this release will follow.

Hopscotch Music Festival- Locrian Bio

Link here.



The links between heavy metal, harsh noise and dark electronic drone should come as no surprise. Some of the best black metal records, after all, feel like half-still sonic smears, and the control of or chaos in feedback has inspired legions in every form. Even if the means are distinct, each of those genres revels in musical viscosity—who can be the heaviest, the meanest, the most exhausting with their sound? But few artists have exploited those intersections as vividly and explicitly as the aggressive, interstitial Chicago duo Locrian.

As Locrian, André Foisy and Terrence Hannum—and a constant flux of peers and friends—have been prolific for about four years, releasing a deluge of proper albums, CD-Rs, 7” records, cassettes and even an 8-track. But Locrian’s two 2010 LPs—Territories, a split release by four different labels, and The Crystal World, due in November on Utech Records—have pushed the band from the upstart experimental fringes into the domain of must-hears. Alternately eerie and irascible, Territories gets didactic in its exploration of those divides. On an 11-minute storm with the appropriately daunting name “Procession of Ancestral Brutalism,” Locrian gathers black metal ringleader Blake Judd of Nachtmystium, heavy metal saxophonist Bruce Lamont and power electronics legend Bruce Solotroff for one destructive trip. An exploration of clashing tones and structures, it’s one of the year’s most vivid, ponderous pieces of music, proclaiming possibilities for exploration rather than suggesting them. The Crystal World softens the focus a bit, scattering ghastly howls and relentless drums beneath walls of sound that seem to suffocate and swirl without ever really doing either. During closer “Elevators and Depths,” Locrian even adds circular acoustic guitar and violin. They wrap those layers around howls and noise that suggest an exorcism. It’s the sound of suspect redemption.

Locrian will share the stage at Hopscotch with Chapel Hill’s Horseback; after their Thursday night show, the bands will head into the studio together to record a forthcoming collaborative 7”. —Grayson Currin

Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words "No Words" LOD 009: SOLD OUT

We're all out of the DLSODW tape. Thanks for your support on this release.

In Chicago This Week: Neon Marshmallow Fest

If you're in or around Chicago then be sure to check out the Neon Mashmallow Fest happening at the Viaduct Theater.

They've got some pretty great musicians playing at this, so if you're around, then be sure to check it out.

Link here.

Tickets are still available, but apparently they are almost sold out so get one while you can. Here's the schedule:

Thursday - August 19, 2010 - 7 p.m.

ACID STAGE

* 1:30a Government Alpha/Skin Graft/Jason Soliday trio (Japan/Ohio/Chicago)
* 12:45 Ben Billington / Ryan Jewell (Chicago/Ohio)
* 12:00 Greg Kelley (Massachusetts)
* 11:15 Caboladies (Chicago)
* 10:35 Keith Fullerton Whitman (Massachusetts)
* 9:55 Dave Phillips (Switzerland)
* 9:10 Fossils (Canada)
* 8:30 work/death (Rhode Island)
* 7:40 Battleship (Chicago)
* 7:00p Pusdrainer (Ohio)


— DJ Blast'N'Smash

BLOSSOM STAGE

* 1:10a Cowards (New York)
* 12:25 Nyodene D (Ohio)
* 11:40 Slither (Michigan)
* 10:55 Miami Beach (New York)
* 10:10 Shattered Hymen (Chicago)
* 9:30 CLVIII (Ohio)
* 8:45 Arcanode (New York)
* 8:05 Sigulda (Missouri)
* 7:20p Aaron Zarzutzki (Chicago)

Friday - August 20, 2010 - 7 p.m.

ACID STAGE

* 1:30a R. Jencks aka Sixes (California)
* 12:45 Cornucopia (Puerto Rico)
* 12:00 Keith Fullerton Whitman (Massachusetts)
* 11:15 The Haters (California)
* 10:35 Raglani (Missouri)
* 9:55 Dave Phillips (Switzerland
* 9:10 Astral Social Club (United Kingdom)
* 8:30 Bhob Rainey (Lousiana)
* 7:40 Expo '70 (Missouri)
* 7:00p Flower Man (Chicago)

— DJ War Bride (Blake Edwards of Vertonen)


BLOSSOM STAGE

* 1:10a Disgust (New York)
* 12:25 Sunglasses (Chicago)
* 11:40 Pete Fosco (Ohio)
* 10:55 Leticia Castaneda (California)
* 10:10 Illusion of Safety (Chicago)
* 9:30 Plastic Crimewave Solo (Chicago)
* 8:45 EID (New York)
* 8:05 Skin Graft (Ohio)
* 7:20p Rust Worship (New York)

Saturday - August 21, 2010 - Noon

ACID STAGE

* 5:10p Burning Star Core (New York)
* 4:20 Astral Social Club & Carlos Giffoni (United Kingdom/New York)
* 3:20 Nmperign & Lescalleet (Louisiana/Maine/Massachusetts)
* 2:30 U.S. Girls (Pennsylvania)
* 1:40 Fragments (Ohio)
* 12:50 Carter/Clixby/Yeh (NY, NY, NY)
* 12:00p The Family Chapter (Ohio)


— Southbridge Slow Electronics

BLOSSOM STAGE

* 4:40p Regression (Nate from Wolf Eyes) (Michigan)
* 3:50 Cornucopia & Telecult Powers (Puerto Rico/New York)
* 2:55 Preyers (California)
* 2:05 Early Tunnels (Ohio)
* 1:15 Girly Temple (New York)
* 12:25p Sean McCann (California)

Saturday - August 21, 2010 - 7 p.m.

ACID STAGE

* 1:30a Excepter (New York)
* 12:45 Telecult Powers (New York)
* 12:00 unFACT (David Sims of The Jesus Lizard) (Chicago)
* 11:15 Emeralds (Ohio)
* 10:35 Noveller (New York)
* 9:55 Dead Machines (Michigan)
* 9:10 Dolphins Into The Future (Belgium)
* 8:30 Carlos Giffoni (New York)
* 7:40 Sunken Landscapes (California)
* 7:00p Mike Forbes & Andrew Young (Chicago)

— Southbridge Slow Electronics

BLOSSOM STAGE

* 1:10a Pedestrian Deposit (California)
* 12:25 Tom Carter (of Charalambides) (New York)
* 11:40 Derek Rogers (Texas)
* 10:55 Social Junk (Pennsylvania)
* 10:10 Red Electric Rainbow (Chicago)
* 9:30 Wasteland Jazz Unit (Ohio)
* 8:45 White Leopards (California)
* 8:05 Dog Lady (Michigan)
* 7:20p Grasshopper (New York)

Sunday - August 22, 2010 - 3 p.m.

ACID STAGE

* 12:40a Tiger Hatchery (Chicago)
* 12:00 Government Alpha (Japan)
* 11:00 Julian Lynch (Wisconsin)
* 10:05 Jason Lescalleet (Maine)
* 9:10 Music of the Sky Islands (New Jersey/Belgium)
* 8:30 Justice Yeldham (Australia)
* 7:40 TV Pow w/ Keith Fullerton Whitman (Chicago/Massachusetts)
* 7:00 Ducktails (New Jersey)
* 6:25 Burial Hex (Wisconsin)
* 5:45 Hex Breaker Quintet (New York)
* 5:00 Medicine Rocks (Canada/Ohio)
* 4:15 Fatale (Chicago)
* 3:25p Drainolith (Canada)

— DJ C. Spencer Yeh

BLOSSOM STAGE

* 11:20p Lechuguillas (Chicago)
* 10:40 Kevin Shields (Oregon)
* 9:55 Brett Naucke (Chicago)
* 8:55 Noveller & unFACT (New York/Chicago)
* 8:10 Pod Blotz (California)
* 7:20 Ryan Jewell (Ohio)
* 6:45 Piss Piss Piss Moan Moan Moan (Chicago)
* 6:00 Jason Crumer (Oakland)
* 5:25 Jason Soliday (Chicago)
* 4:35 Family Treasures (Connecticut)
* 3:45 Peter J. Woods (Wisconsin)
* 3:00p Instinct Control (Chicago)

Terence Hannum Illustration on New Rahmane Tape from Utech Records

As of September 4th, you'll be able to pick up some great new releases from Utech Records including a Rahmane tape Illustrated by Terence Hannum and designed by Keith Utech.

One of the releases in the new Utech batch is something we've been waiting a long time for: the new album from The Human Quena Orchestra. We haven't heard this one yet, but we're sure it's going to make our "Best of 2010" list. If you haven't picked up the last release from The Human Quena Orchestra, then do yourself a favor and go to the Crucial Blast website and buy it!

Oh, and the Utech description for the release fails to mention some of the collaborators on the release, people like Jason Zeh and Brandon Nickell, so you know it's going to be good.

---------------



Here's the release description from Utech Records:

Rahmane > Islands of Pathos > Utech Records > C40 > URCS052
AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 4
New Zealand free noise/drone figure Duncan Bruce offers an album several years in the making. Alto sax, synthesizer, percussion and field recordings are only a handful of the ingredients that make up these strange and wonderful recordings. Part edge-of-the-world noise and part multicolored island narrative. A haunting document front to back.
Olive cassette. Illustration by Terence Hannum. Edition of 100.

Locrian "Rain of Ashes" and "Territories" Review from Womblife

Thanks again to Lee!

Link here.

The CD digipak for the "Territories" CD is currently underway. The labels will hopefully get that to the plant soon.

-------------

Locrian Rain of Ashes (Basses Frequencies) / Territories (At War With False Noise/Basses Frequencies/Bloodlust!/Small Doses) CD / LP - Two more doses of dismal metallic drone from Chicago's mighty Locrian, a band that possibly takes its cues from the bad boys mentioned above, Wolf Eyes, early Swans, black metal and even Fripp/Eno. Rain of Ashes offers an hour of live delirium captured for a radio broadcast. It opens on a sedated repetitive note with distant minor keys crawling up the spine like tiny black spiders before immersing the listener in an enveloping cacophony of tortured howls and feedback blizzards designed to disorient and overpower at extreme volumes. It's not a bad soundtrack for trailing off into a nightmare slumber if you can pass out before the screams come in.

Even more satisfying is the newer Territories, a Locrian big band affair that features members of Bloodyminded, Nachtmystium, Velnias and Yoakuza along with the core of Andre Foisy and Terrance Hannum. As a result things definitely get opened up in terms of dynamics and diversity. "Inverted Ruins" offers a lurching funeral march of murky electronics and feedback beneath vocal howls that grow more intense and pissed off with each cycle across its 8 plus minutes. "Procession of Ancestral Brutalism," with Blake Judd on guitar and vocals, is a straight up black metal howler the likes of which his own band (Nachtmystium) has never conjured before -- atonal, screeching, howling at the bottomless black void metal -- designed to make your head explode before your soul crumbles into a ball of ash. How fun! Combine this with the more spectral hypnotic vibe of earlier Locrian disks, and you have something that's hard to ignore in the experimental drone metal realm. Territories comes in an edition of 500 on black vinyl, so don't dilly dally, you doom fixated dregs.

Locrian "Territories" Review from Chain D.L.K.

Artist: Locrian
Title: Territories
Format: 12"
Label: At War With False Noise
Rated:

They say it takes a village to raise a child, but in this case it took a village to release this album. This album seems to have been released by four different labels: At War With False Noise, Basses Frequences, BloodLust!, and Small Doses. Evidently this is an LP, but I got a CDR version of it, so I can say little about the packaging for the vinyl fetishists out there. I think that I have become the resident Locrian expert, having reviewed several of their releases for ChainDLK at this point. Overall, I think that this is the best album Locrian has put out so far. Where some of the others have been too minimalist for my taste, this one has a lot more variety. For example, the disc opens with 'Inverted Ruins,' which is everything that you would expect from this band'guitar noise and feedback. But then it shifts into 'Between Barrows,' which is a droning, atmospheric piece that features organ. However, I have to admit that 'Procession of Ancestral Brutalism' sounded too much like a metal band trying to be experimental. But 'Ring Road' brings us back into the realm of brooding, ominous atmosphere and the rest of the album continues this trajectory, although 'The Columnless Arcade' briefly slips into metal mode. Even so, the second half of the disc is Locrian at their best'dark, atmospheric, and heavy. This album is limited to 500 copies, so you will probably want to get it while you can. The album weighs in at around 48 minutes.

"Territories" Review at Evening of Light

The CD version of "Territories" is currently in the planning stages. This will be released on Small Doses & Bloodlust!


Link here.

-----------
artist: Locrian
release: Territories
format: LP
year of release: 2010
label: At War With False Noise, Basses Frequences, BloodLust!, Small Doses
duration: 47:47

detailed info: discogs.com

Locrian‘s discography keeps growing at a steady pace, and with releases like this year’s Territories filling up the ranks, that is nothing to be ashamed of. The solid base of tearing guitars, drones, subtle synths and screeching noise is still here, but this time around, Andre Foisy and Terrence Hannum are joined by a variety of guest musicians, adding drums and other elements into the dystopian music.

“Inverted Ruins” starts off slow, with plodding drums and ear-piercing high frequencies accompanying slowly descending chords and raw, dirty vocals. “Between Barrows” is a subtle layered ambient piece with organs and cymbal swells. The A-side closes with a short noisy guitar soundscape that morphs into a raw black metal track, opening new vistas for the band.

The second half of the album has a similar curve, with “Ring Road” and “Antediluvian Territory” exploring melodies and drones, and the excellent final track, bringing more black metal after an otherworldly dual-guitar intro, and ending with some great melodic guitar leads over slower drums.

This Territories LP is yet another example of the fascinating music of Locrian. It’s not quite metal, not quite ambient, but something in its own right: urban, industrial, raw, visionary, and dystopian. Genre-crossing music for the 21st century.

Reviewed by O.S.

Tracklist:

I. Inverted Ruins (8:35)
II. Between Barrows (5:54)
III. Procession Of Ancestral Brutalism (10:48)

IV. Ring Road (9:41)
V. Antediluvian Territory (4:02)
VI. The Columnless Arcade (8:50)

LOD 011: Terence Hannum "Summoning" / Zine + 3"CDR

For those in this congregation interested in printed matter, and this time some audio material, Locrian's Terence Hannum has issued his eigth zine in his monthly series for 2010, Summoning, for the month of August. If you've been keeping score with the past seven; Call & Response (w/ Scott Treleaven), False Bloods, Temple of the Immortals, Cataract of Fire and Blood (w/ Elijah Burgher), Profaned Missive (for Fan Death), Black Arts and our own New Rites (LOD 007) - again you will not be dissapointed.
















A continuation of Locrian member Terence Hannum's monthly series of publications for 2010, "Summoning" combines drawings of candelabras, bonfires and stage lights copied on black paper with textural studies of analog tape, surrounding a core of pages documenting an analog tape sculpture installed at Peregrine Program in July 2010.














This monthly project sees each zine change in format, here "Summoning" introduces a deluxe package of a jewelry box adorned with drawings and sealed by a black obi band to house both the zine AND the addition of a 3" audio CD. The CD contains a the tape loop from the original installation with its brief vocal composition looping for over 20 minutes in a single track also titled "Summoning". Part document and part art object "Summoning" attempts a meditative position while examining the role of the rite and music.



Edition of 45

- 3" CDR (22min. piece)
- 3.5" × 4.5" zine / Black & Black / Black & Gray / Black & White xeroxes | 24 pages
In White Jewelry Box, sealed with a black printed obi band.

Cost: $10ppd (US) / $15ppd (World)
PayPal: landofdecay (at) gmail (dot) com
SPECIAL: Get Summoning and the past issue Call & Response with Scott Treleaven for $22ppd (US) or $25ppd (World) - while supplies last.

(Terence's work will be in an exhibition titled Who's Yr Shaman in Chicago that runs Agust 13th - September 3rd at Johalla Projects - Opening Fri. Aug. 13th 7-11pm.)

Just Announed: Locrian & Pussygutt: Sunday, October 3rd @ Enemy

Locrian and Pussygutt

Date: Sunday, October 3rd
Location: Enemy, 1550 N. Milwaukee Ave 3rd Fl.
Cost: TBD
Time: TBD

All Ages

Facebook invite here.

ANDRÈ FOISY – Seven thrones Review at Cracked

link here.

CDR still available here.

----------------------------

ANDRÈ FOISY – Seven thrones

(CD/download, twilight luggage)

Immersion in sound, pure and simple and at the same time so complex and fascinating. Guitar drones vibrate something very deep inside the listeners system and resonate through his or her whole life, even if only for the hour or so they take. The humming of the amplifier, the warm yet fuzzy and distorted sound of the guitar, and the echoing boom of what they signify. While the rest of the world seems to freeze in its stasis of re-run poses and endless repetition of the same elements over and over again, within the static, glacially moving pace of a well executed guitar drone there is a multitude of dynamics and movement. You just have to open your ears to hear it.

André Foisy is one part of heavy masters of dystopian soundscapes and screaming apocalypse Locrian. At the same time last year as Locrian went off to strengthen its fundament by employing a full scale band for the first time, for their latest album “Territories”, Foisy went back to his roots, stripped bare everything else and took up his guitar set and left everything else. “Seven thrones” contains two long pieces of droning, rumbling and lifting guitar layers and sets him up right there with Fear Falls Burning, though his works are less refined and focusing on microscopic changes than those of Dirk Serries aka Fear Falls Burning. He seems to be more concentrating on long lines of sounds, evolving melodies and the overall big sound of echoing guitar chords.

Maybe the right connotation then should be Neil Young’s work for the soundtrack of “Dead Man”. After all the first track is called “Like light over the plain” and it is almost impossible not to have a cinemascopically big landscape in your mind with the sun just coming up while listening to it. I can see Foisy standing there in the plains with nothing but his guitar equipment, greeting the newborn sun in his own special, booming way. The second track is called “All through eternity” and that is much harder to imagine as “eternity” is a pretty long time and I am quite reluctant to get myself in a state of seeing universe imagery because that is too much of a hippie cliché to me. In comparison to the first track there seems to be less dynamics and more gentle waves and small movements within this track.

Foisy has a knack of making the two pieces evolve organically. Sometimes they seem to sway freely in the air, are subtle and soft. And then some time later you find yourself confronted with big waves of crashing chords, screaming strings and heavy distortion and it is all quite naturally so.

The CD is very much limited on twilight luggage, but I guess you can download it as well from their website. Interestingly, the label has taken the pains of sewing the CD into nice little black envelope with seven bars stamp-printed on them, signifying of course the seven thrones from the cover, but to get to the CD I had to take up my old, trustful knife and do a little destruction to the packaging. Twilight Luggage has really evolved into a main centrepoint for all sorts of very fringe music and each and everyone of their releases are highly recommended. Despite their small print runs. From the free improve jazz to the pure brutal noise madness, their releases are always as enjoyable as they are challenging.




www.twilightluggage.com

07/2010

Neil Jendon "Male Fantasies" Audiodrome.it Review

Link here.

Siccome ho indagato sul personaggio, appare scontato che non conviene iniziare a parlar di lui con questa cassetta in edizione limitata, nella quale si trovano due pezzi da venti minuti ciascuno.

Neil Jendon, infatti, è passato per gli Zelienople e molti altri gruppi, inoltre ha di recente pubblicato un cd per la Bloodlust!, non in mio possesso. Insomma, meriterebbe ben altro approfondimento. Queste cento cassette escono per l’etichetta della band Locrian, quindi, più che essere il modo esaustivo per capire Jendon, rivelano in primis come il duo chicagoano si interessi a suoni vintage di synth, ampiamente presenti anche nei suoi dischi. Qui, per l’appunto, Neil – a giudicare dalle foto in giro per la rete – si impiglia in una miriade di cavi e gira un po’ di manopole per poter stratificare una serie di drone che fanno sembrare Male Fantasy – a seconda dei momenti – una nastro new age deteriorato, un disco di musica cosmica perduto o un Tim Hecker apocrifo. È evidente che chi si sta appassionando al recupero di certe sonorità (sono anni di revival kraut) debba segnarsi il nome di Neil, specie se curioso di questo approccio passatista all’elettronica da parte di gente con un piede o due nel “rumore”.

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and a bad translation here:

As I investigated the character, it goes without saying that should not begin to speak of him with this limited edition box in which there are two pieces of twenty minutes each.

Neil Jendon, infatti, è passato per gli Zelienople e molti altri gruppi, inoltre ha di recente pubblicato un cd per la Bloodlust!, non in mio possesso. Neil Jendon, in fact, went to Zelienople and many other groups also recently published a CD on Bloodlust! Not in my possession. Insomma, meriterebbe ben altro approfondimento. In short, deserves much more study. Queste cento cassette escono per l'etichetta della band Locrian, quindi, più che essere il modo esaustivo per capire Jendon, rivelano in primis come il duo chicagoano si interessi a suoni vintage di synth, ampiamente presenti anche nei suoi dischi. These one hundred boxes of the band leaving the label, Locrian, then, rather than being a comprehensive way to understand Jendon reveal primarily as the duo Chicago interests in vintage synth sounds, also widely present in his records. Qui, per l'appunto, Neil – a giudicare dalle foto in giro per la rete – si impiglia in una miriade di cavi e gira un po' di manopole per poter stratificare una serie di drone che fanno sembrare Male Fantasy – a seconda dei momenti – una nastro new age deteriorato, un disco di musica cosmica perduto o un Tim Hecker apocrifo. È evidente che chi si sta appassionando al recupero di certe sonorità (sono anni di revival kraut) debba segnarsi il nome di Neil, specie se curioso di questo approccio passatista all'elettronica da parte di gente con un piede o due nel “rumore”. Here, precisely, Neil - judging by the photos around the net - gets entangled in a myriad of cables and turn a bit 'of knobs to settle a series of drone that makes it look bad Fantasy - depending on the moments - a New Age tape deteriorated, a disk of cosmic music lost or Tim Hecker apocryphal. It is clear that whoever is taking the recovery of certain sounds (for years of revival kraut) should write down the name of Neil, especially curious about this traditionalist approach to electronics from people with a foot or two in the "noise".