Invisible Oranges Interview with Locrian

Here's the other half of the conversation (over beers) between Locrian and Jamie Ludwig at Invisible Oranges.com.


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"When two of the most innovative groups in heavy music today — Chicago-based avant-garde trio Locrian and Seattle art/drone duo Mamiffer — announced they were teaming up for a studio collaboration, the resulting album, Bless Them That Curse You (Profound Lore/SIGE/Utech), quickly became one of the earliest “most-anticipated” releases of 2012 among fans of experimental and extreme music.

Comprised of co-founders André Foisy and Terence Hannum, along with percussionist Steven Hess, Locrian has been challenging listeners with concoctions of ambient noise, black metal, extreme electronics, and free jazz (among other styles), since 2005. Locrian certainly don’t seem to lack either creativity or industriousness, having produced upwards of 25 releases, often packaged in limited editions and in a variety of formats. Their fourth and most recent full-length, The Clearing (Fan Death), was released last fall to critical acclaim.

Mamiffer is the project of husband-and-wife duo Aaron Turner (whom you may remember from such acts as Isis and House of Low Culture) and Faith Coloccia (former Everlovely Lightningheart). Mamiffer’s 2008 debut full-length, Hirror Enniffer (Hydra Head) was an otherworldly exploration marked with unfamiliar, often uncomfortable pairings, such as a simple, clean piano melody layered over a menacing cloud of grey fuzz.

Produced by Greg Norman at Electrical Audio Studios in Chicago, Bless Them That Curse You contains many harsh, noise-laden, epic moments, but its overall tone is one of beauty and grace, wrapped in a darkness that feels more questioning than foreboding, and more mysterious than dismal. Although the material was largely improvised in the studio, the album sounds as though its members had been crafting music as a single unit for years.

Just days before the album’s February 28 release date, I conducted a lengthy interview with members of Locrian. For the rest of the interview with Foisy and Hess about the making of the record and the unique experience of collaborating with relative strangers, visit my blog, Uneasy Listening.
— Jamie Ludwig"

Link here.

Locrian at Uneasy Listening: "I WANT TO BE SMEARED. I WANT TO BE NOT SO CLEAR"

Steven Hess and I recently spoke with Jamie Ludwig who started a great new website called Uneasy Listening. This turned out to be one of my favorite interviews that we've done. Here's an excerpt.

Link to the entire interview here.

"I’m hanging out with Locrian’s André Foisy at The Map Room in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood, waiting for drummer Steven Hess to arrive when he tells me that a recent night out with friends has left Wang Chung’s “Everybody Have Fun” stuck in his head for days. Rather than being frustrated, or even hateful of the mental loop, Foisy says he’s rather enjoying the 80s party hit and even sings the chorus for emphasis. This makes me laugh because a) it’s Wang Chung, and b) enthusiasm for this particular track is not what I expect to hear from a dedicated experimental musician who plays in a band more known for exploring the outer reaches of noise, drone, heavy metal, ambient, and avant-jazz than it is for new wave. At the same time, given its non-adherence to convention, and its knack for successfully blend seemingly incongruous elements together, if Locrian announced its next project was a collection of dance covers not only would I not be surprised, but I’d be eager to hear it too.

Foisy (guitars, Arp Avatar, electronics) co-founded Locrian with Terrence Hannum (vocals, synthesizers, piano, organ, Mellotron, and tapes) in 2005. Despite periodic collaborations with other musicians, the band remained a two-piece until recruiting Hess, an accomplished drummer who also performs with Haptic and Pan American, among others, just before recording its third studio album The Crystal World (Utech, 2010).

Each band mate has his hands full juggling musical projects, work, relationships, and in Foisy’s case, managing extreme music label Land of Decay, but as a group, they are especially prolific. In just over six years, Locrian has produced upwards of twenty releases that encompass varying musical textures, moods, and instrumentation, and are often delivered in limited editions or multiple formats.

Hannum relocated to Baltimore in 2011, a move which might seem disruptive to an outsider but which hasn’t slowed Locrian down a bit. Since the summer of 2011, the band has released three albums including New Dominions (Utech), an evocative split LP with psyche/drone metalist Horseback, a critically-acclaimed, genre-defying fourth full-length, The Clearing (Fan Death), and Bless Them That Curse You (Profound Lore/Utech/Sige/Land of Decay), a sparse, graceful collaboration with fellow experimentalists Mamiffer (Faith Coloccia and Aaron Turner).

What’s more, Foisy and Hess tell me over pints of exotic beers (Hannum, being across the country, was unable to join us), they’ve just been signed to Relapse Records and plan to record their next full length later this year. Relapse will also re-release The Clearing on CD and packaged with a bonus disc as The Clearing/The Final Epoch. Cheers to you, Locrian! Our interview follows."

Transmissions V

Italians! Go see Steven Hess play w/ Pan American. More information here.

Aidan Baker "The Spectrum of Distraction"

Steven Hess played on the new Aidan Baker album "The Spectrum of Distraction."

Other guests include: David Dunnett, Thor Harris, Rich Baker, Bruno Dorella, Victor Cirone, Jakob Thiesen, Ted Parsons, Kevin Emil Micka, Mac McNeilly, Simon Scott on drums (+ others). Artwork by Matt Smith.

Get it here.

The Making of "The Clearing": Bowed Cymbals

Steven Hess Playlist at Hammer Smashed Sound

Link here.

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Steven Hess is a musician who lives in Chicago. Currently, he is involved in a number of bands, including Cleared, Pan·American, Locrian, On, Haptic, and Ural Umbo. He has collaborated/recorded/performed with the likes of Stefan Németh (Radian), Robert Hampson (Godflesh, Main), Christian Fennesz, David Daniell, Sylvain Chauveau, Christopher McFall, and many others. For more information, please visit http://www.stevenrhess.com.

This isn’t necessarily a “Top 10, 15, 20…” list, but a list of records that I always fall back on, or are/have been on permanent rotation at home.

Descriptions are not needed.

[In no particular order]

William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops I-IV (2026), A Red Score In Tile (Three Poplars)
CAN*
The Necks – Hanging Garden (Fish of Milk)
Arvo Pärt*
Supersilent – 1-3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11 (Runegrammofon)
Painkiller – Execution Ground (Subharmonic)
Fennesz* (Touch/Mego)
Pole – 1-3 (Matador)
Æthenor*
Basic Channel/Chain Reaction*
Cluster – Sowiesoso (4 Men With Beards)
Labradford* (Kranky)
Pitch Shifter – Submit (Earache)
Radian – TG11 (Mego), Rec.Extern (Thrill Jockey)
This Heat*
Main – Motion Pool (Beggars Banquet)
Tord Gustavsen Trio – Changing Places (ECM)
Anouar Brahem – Le pas du chat noir (ECM)
Earth*
GAS – Nah und Fern box (Kompakt)
King Crimson – In The Court Of The Crimson King (EG/Virgin)
Leonard Cohen – Songs of Leonard Cohen, New Skin For The Old Ceremony (Columbia)
Brian Eno*
John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman*
and various 60's, 70’s & 80’s ECM LP’s, which I collect.

* = entire catalog.

Book:
Arthur C. Clark -2001: A Space Odyssey (Signet Books)

This Saturday: Radian, Cleared (Steven Hess), David Daniell @ The Hideout, Chicago, IL

Steven Hess (Locrian) will play with one of his other groups (Cleared) tomorrow at the Hideout.
You can get tickets at the Hideout's website.

Lineup:
Cleared, David Daniell, and Radian
Date: Sat. May 28 @ 9:00PM