Showing posts with label Utech Records. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Utech Records. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Utech Sold Out of Locrian & Mamiffer 2xLP
Act fast at Sige records if you want a copy of the Locrian & Mamiffer 2xLP.
Utech Records has sold out of it already.
We're still waiting for our copies in Chicago....
Utech Records has sold out of it already.
We're still waiting for our copies in Chicago....
Monday, January 9, 2012
Information on Locrian & Mamiffer "Bless Them That Curse You Release"
Here's some information about the album. Keep your eyes peeled for the Land of Decay tape version!
Be sure to check out the first track from the album here.
Another track from the album will be debuted at cvltnation.com very soon!
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CATALOG NUMBER: SIGE 013/UTECH 069
RELEASE DATE: Feb 21, 2012
FORMAT: 2xLP
PRICE: This item is non-returnable
GENRE: Rock/Metal/Experimental
FILE UNDER: Locrian, Mamiffer
TRACK LISTING:
1. In Fulminic Blaze
2. Bless Them That Curse You
3. Corpus Luteum
4. Second Burial
5. Lechatelierite
6. Metis/Amaranthine/The Emperor
ABOUT THE ALBUM:
Bless Them That Curse You captures an unprecedented balance of claustrophobia and solace. It’s a strange alchemy to render something both inviting and alienating; it requires a special kind of skill to create music that sounds like it’s rattling apart at its seams, unraveling in a torturous but compelling fashion. It demands an acknowledgement of the fine line between noise and racket, between tension and tedium. Finding an interpersonal chemistry to pull it off can take years of searching and refinement. Initiated by a history of record swapping and mutual admiration, Chicago’s Locrian and Seattle’s Mamiffer managed to accomplish such a feat.
Since their inception in 2005, Locrian’s sound has thrived on harnessing emotional resonance through texture and space. Highlighting a specific melody or beat in their music is unnecessary; their ability to trigger unease, fear, despair, and paranoia by playing with dynamics in timbre and timing is the central fixture in their work. While the Chicago-based trio’s approach is certainly unorthodox, they are not without sonic peers. Seattle-based duo Mamiffer similarly explores new territories in sound by marrying fragmented elements of neoclassical, drone, and proto-industrial dirge into compositions that are beguiling, haunting, and occasionally violent. Originating as a solo project for pianist Faith Coloccia in 2007, the project grew to encompass husband Aaron Turner and a rotating cast of guest musicians. Coloccia’s work, by nature, is malleable and suited towards the collaborative process.
The collaboration between the two groups yielded some of the most beautiful material Locrian has ever recorded, and inversely pushed Mamiffer into the most caustic of new territories. Composed and recorded in Chicago at the renowned Electrical Audio studio, the album is the result of two disparate approaches arriving at one cohesive voice. It’s at turns contemplative and reserved, unnerving and unsettling, thunderous and feral. Aided by the engineering prowess of Greg Norman, the mixing skill of Randall Dunn, and the auxiliary instrumentation of Alex Barnett (Oakeater) and Brian Cook (Russian Circles), Bless Them That Curse You is a richly textured study in an unconventional creative process, blending fine-tuned synchronicity with spontaneous brute force.
NOTES:
• Limited to 550 copies, packaged in deluxe LP fold out designed by Faith Coloccia with hand stamped labels .
• A studio collaboration between Mamiffer and Locrian, recorded by Greg Norman at Electrical Audio in Chicago, and mixed by Randall Dunn (Earth, Jesse Sykes, Wolves In The Throne Room, etc.).
• A co-release between SIGE and Utech Records. CD version being released by Profound Lore, cassette version by SIGE/Land of Decay.
• Locrian and Mamiffer have released previous recordings with labels such as Small Doses, Utech, Hydra Head, Conspiracy, Land of Decay, etc.
• Mamiffer and Locrian have and are collaborating with artists such as Horseback, Merzbow, Daniel Menche, Chistoph Heemann, Eyvind Kang, etc.
Be sure to check out the first track from the album here.
Another track from the album will be debuted at cvltnation.com very soon!
---------------------------------------
CATALOG NUMBER: SIGE 013/UTECH 069
RELEASE DATE: Feb 21, 2012
FORMAT: 2xLP
PRICE: This item is non-returnable
GENRE: Rock/Metal/Experimental
FILE UNDER: Locrian, Mamiffer
TRACK LISTING:
1. In Fulminic Blaze
2. Bless Them That Curse You
3. Corpus Luteum
4. Second Burial
5. Lechatelierite
6. Metis/Amaranthine/The Emperor
ABOUT THE ALBUM:
Bless Them That Curse You captures an unprecedented balance of claustrophobia and solace. It’s a strange alchemy to render something both inviting and alienating; it requires a special kind of skill to create music that sounds like it’s rattling apart at its seams, unraveling in a torturous but compelling fashion. It demands an acknowledgement of the fine line between noise and racket, between tension and tedium. Finding an interpersonal chemistry to pull it off can take years of searching and refinement. Initiated by a history of record swapping and mutual admiration, Chicago’s Locrian and Seattle’s Mamiffer managed to accomplish such a feat.
Since their inception in 2005, Locrian’s sound has thrived on harnessing emotional resonance through texture and space. Highlighting a specific melody or beat in their music is unnecessary; their ability to trigger unease, fear, despair, and paranoia by playing with dynamics in timbre and timing is the central fixture in their work. While the Chicago-based trio’s approach is certainly unorthodox, they are not without sonic peers. Seattle-based duo Mamiffer similarly explores new territories in sound by marrying fragmented elements of neoclassical, drone, and proto-industrial dirge into compositions that are beguiling, haunting, and occasionally violent. Originating as a solo project for pianist Faith Coloccia in 2007, the project grew to encompass husband Aaron Turner and a rotating cast of guest musicians. Coloccia’s work, by nature, is malleable and suited towards the collaborative process.
The collaboration between the two groups yielded some of the most beautiful material Locrian has ever recorded, and inversely pushed Mamiffer into the most caustic of new territories. Composed and recorded in Chicago at the renowned Electrical Audio studio, the album is the result of two disparate approaches arriving at one cohesive voice. It’s at turns contemplative and reserved, unnerving and unsettling, thunderous and feral. Aided by the engineering prowess of Greg Norman, the mixing skill of Randall Dunn, and the auxiliary instrumentation of Alex Barnett (Oakeater) and Brian Cook (Russian Circles), Bless Them That Curse You is a richly textured study in an unconventional creative process, blending fine-tuned synchronicity with spontaneous brute force.
NOTES:
• Limited to 550 copies, packaged in deluxe LP fold out designed by Faith Coloccia with hand stamped labels .
• A studio collaboration between Mamiffer and Locrian, recorded by Greg Norman at Electrical Audio in Chicago, and mixed by Randall Dunn (Earth, Jesse Sykes, Wolves In The Throne Room, etc.).
• A co-release between SIGE and Utech Records. CD version being released by Profound Lore, cassette version by SIGE/Land of Decay.
• Locrian and Mamiffer have released previous recordings with labels such as Small Doses, Utech, Hydra Head, Conspiracy, Land of Decay, etc.
• Mamiffer and Locrian have and are collaborating with artists such as Horseback, Merzbow, Daniel Menche, Chistoph Heemann, Eyvind Kang, etc.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Fracture Compound on "New Dominions"
Link here.
---------------------------------
Horseback and Locrian’s unsettling LP lets you fall prey to your own demons
24 Jun
Horseback/Locrian – New Dominions (Utech Records)
I’ve been glibly going about my social media saying that New Dominions, the fantastic, dread-inducing new collaboration between heavy music boundary pushers Horseback and Locrain, is the perfect soundtrack for a haunted house. But there’s a lot more going on here than that, compositions that explore space and create tension in a way few other artists can even approach. But as I lay here in my dimly lit bedroom, allowing their unsettling sounds to wash over me, I can feel the fear welling up in the bottom of my stomach. There’s something genuinely terrifying about what these collaborators have created here, and it’s the record’s greatest strength.
It’s an asset that floored me on my first listen through the record, mainly because I didn’t see it coming. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but for the first minute or so, I was a little disappointed. There was nothing much happening. “The Gift,” the first of two tracks on this one-side LP, starts with lazy static blowing about and a drawn out ringing, like dragging a hammer on the outside of a bell, cutting through the background in regular intervals. There’s menace in the ringing and in the static too, but it pales in comparison to the more arresting moments in each band’s catalog.
From the lumbering monstrosities of The Invisible Mountain to the sci-fi rage of this year’s Forbidden Planet (re-released as part of The Gorgon Tongue), Jenks Miller’s Horseback project has managed to be imposing in a variety of ways. Locrian’s two 2010 LPs, Archetypes and The Crystal World, dished out all-consuming apocalypses, the former creating a cruel techno-future out of harsh electronics, the latter creating a chilly wasteland from strung-out guitar and the occasional hissing vocal. The two have been so good at invoking hopelessness and despair, I must have subconsciously expected for them to come out guns blazing, firing for the heavens.
But that has never been the M.O. for either outfit. They build elements slowly, patiently manipulating your senses until you’re ready to go wherever they want to take you. New Dominions takes this disarming subtlety farther than either group has done on their own. “The Gift” doesn’t change much over its duration, but that’s the source of its impact. Its formula evolves just enough to build bone-rattling anticipation. The static ratchets up slightly, the metallic scrapes are joined by sly prickles of sound, some steely, some electronic. You know there’s something coming around the corner, but you don’t know what. After a while Miller’s rasping vocals reveal themselves quietly, croaking and gasping like a corpse clawing his way out of the crypt. His groans take on the fears your mind builds up over the course of the song, bolstering it into something truly chilling.
The second track, “Our Epitaph,” operates similarly, though its longer running time allows to build even more nerviness. Slowly throbbing bass dominates the track, wispy feedback whirring in the background. Piercing guitar rings through as do distorted, far-off voices. Further on, a voice that’s just too quiet to make out takes hold. His foreboding tone suggests a warning, and the fact that you can’t quite make him out makes it all the more unwitting. Even if you could hear him, what he says wouldn’t make it any better. “In the atmosphere/Looming overhead/Contaminated blazes,” he says in a monologue that paints the world at its end. The words would be scary enough, but instead the artists allow the listener’s mind to do the damage on its own.
It’s for this reason that I stand by my claim that this could be the soundtrack for the greatest ever haunted house. Locrian and Horseback allow the haunting recesses inside their sound to set the mood, forcing the listener’s mind to contemplate the petrifying uncertainty within. Turn off the lights, throw this record on and your home or apartment will instantly become a gripping house of horrors. Go ahead, try it for yourself. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.
---------------------------------
Horseback and Locrian’s unsettling LP lets you fall prey to your own demons
24 Jun
Horseback/Locrian – New Dominions (Utech Records)
I’ve been glibly going about my social media saying that New Dominions, the fantastic, dread-inducing new collaboration between heavy music boundary pushers Horseback and Locrain, is the perfect soundtrack for a haunted house. But there’s a lot more going on here than that, compositions that explore space and create tension in a way few other artists can even approach. But as I lay here in my dimly lit bedroom, allowing their unsettling sounds to wash over me, I can feel the fear welling up in the bottom of my stomach. There’s something genuinely terrifying about what these collaborators have created here, and it’s the record’s greatest strength.
It’s an asset that floored me on my first listen through the record, mainly because I didn’t see it coming. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but for the first minute or so, I was a little disappointed. There was nothing much happening. “The Gift,” the first of two tracks on this one-side LP, starts with lazy static blowing about and a drawn out ringing, like dragging a hammer on the outside of a bell, cutting through the background in regular intervals. There’s menace in the ringing and in the static too, but it pales in comparison to the more arresting moments in each band’s catalog.
From the lumbering monstrosities of The Invisible Mountain to the sci-fi rage of this year’s Forbidden Planet (re-released as part of The Gorgon Tongue), Jenks Miller’s Horseback project has managed to be imposing in a variety of ways. Locrian’s two 2010 LPs, Archetypes and The Crystal World, dished out all-consuming apocalypses, the former creating a cruel techno-future out of harsh electronics, the latter creating a chilly wasteland from strung-out guitar and the occasional hissing vocal. The two have been so good at invoking hopelessness and despair, I must have subconsciously expected for them to come out guns blazing, firing for the heavens.
But that has never been the M.O. for either outfit. They build elements slowly, patiently manipulating your senses until you’re ready to go wherever they want to take you. New Dominions takes this disarming subtlety farther than either group has done on their own. “The Gift” doesn’t change much over its duration, but that’s the source of its impact. Its formula evolves just enough to build bone-rattling anticipation. The static ratchets up slightly, the metallic scrapes are joined by sly prickles of sound, some steely, some electronic. You know there’s something coming around the corner, but you don’t know what. After a while Miller’s rasping vocals reveal themselves quietly, croaking and gasping like a corpse clawing his way out of the crypt. His groans take on the fears your mind builds up over the course of the song, bolstering it into something truly chilling.
The second track, “Our Epitaph,” operates similarly, though its longer running time allows to build even more nerviness. Slowly throbbing bass dominates the track, wispy feedback whirring in the background. Piercing guitar rings through as do distorted, far-off voices. Further on, a voice that’s just too quiet to make out takes hold. His foreboding tone suggests a warning, and the fact that you can’t quite make him out makes it all the more unwitting. Even if you could hear him, what he says wouldn’t make it any better. “In the atmosphere/Looming overhead/Contaminated blazes,” he says in a monologue that paints the world at its end. The words would be scary enough, but instead the artists allow the listener’s mind to do the damage on its own.
It’s for this reason that I stand by my claim that this could be the soundtrack for the greatest ever haunted house. Locrian and Horseback allow the haunting recesses inside their sound to set the mood, forcing the listener’s mind to contemplate the petrifying uncertainty within. Turn off the lights, throw this record on and your home or apartment will instantly become a gripping house of horrors. Go ahead, try it for yourself. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
The Sleeping Shaman on Locrian/Horseback: "New Dominions"
Link here.
-------------------------------
-------------------------------
I'm always personally excited to hear anything new from Locrian OR Horseback, so you can imagine how much I was looking forward to THIS. The avant-drone equivalent of a particularly stellar issue of 'Marvel Team-Up' from heavy hitters Locrian and one-man stealth unit Horseback - two collaborative tracks on one of those pesky one-sided 12"s. However, in THIS instance the blank space on the B-side is given over to an etching by the ever-wondrous Denis Forkas Kostromitin, who also provides the beautiful cover, so I really can't complain about the space being wasted.
Both tracks contained herein were written by Horseback mainman Jenks Miller and the titanic Locrian trio of Terence Hannum, Steven Hess and Andre Foisy in full collaboration, and it really is a match made in drone-heaven.
First track, 'The Gift', is a hazy miasma of bad intentions and encroaching dread, the soundtrack to a particularly harrowing scene in a particularly creepy movie. Echoing footsteps, deep-sea ambience and the far-off sound of bowed metal give the track it's spine, a distant tolling, slowly rolling drums and an inhuman croak of a vocal provide the icing on this poisonous cake. Short and not at all sweet.
Second track, 'Our Epitaph', amps up the creep factor and slathers on the dread. A slowly see-sawing bassline, brushed hi-hat and a treated vocal that sounds like a priest giving mass from inside a deep well are to the forefront here, and just on the edge of hearing, a droning violin-like sound that makes the hairs on the back of the neck stand up. The more the track plays, the more the dread rises. More edge-of-hearing sounds creep in, a roaring as of voices howling on the wind and an electronic feedbacking tone that almost sounds like a trumpet or clarinet foremost among them. If you haven't looked over your shoulder at least once during the thirteen minutes of 'Our Epitaph' then you may well already be dead.
As I stated earlier, this is very much a dream-team for lovers of avant-drone/experimental music, and the four musicians involved mesh together as though they have been doing this their whole lives. Mysterious and creepy, altogether ooky, buy this and FEAR.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Hammer Smashed Sound on Locrian/Horseback: "New Dominions" EP
A very kind and well written review of the upcoming Locrian/Horseback release here.
----------------
Great things were happening in New York in the eighties. Avant-garde composers players like Glenn Branca were paving the way for a new generation of rock bands to incorporate weird tunings and all sorts of other dissonant, droning noise into their music. Sonic Youth, fronted by Branca's student Thurston Moore, is perhaps the most well known band to come out of this "scene." They've been playing for decades and are still finding inventive and creative ways to manipulate sound, often to eargasmic results.
When I listen to this collaboration between Chicago's Locrian and Chapel Hill, North Carolina's Horseback, I am immediately reminded of Sonic Youth's seminal album from 1983, Confusion is Sex. I understand that many of the readers won't have any clue what I'm talking about, so I won't stretch the comparison, but as that Sonic Youth album opened up about a thousand different doors for me, as far as appreciating different styles of music is concerned, I can't help but mention it.
What Locrian and Horseback have created on this album, though reminiscent of that era, is entirely its own monster. The sonic palate may be the same, but the strokes and colors employed are without question darker, deeper, and more chaotic. The two are separated as well by the feeling that New Dominions (due out June 11th on Utech Records) is more about the journey than the destination. While Confusion is Sex felt a bit calculated and contrived, New Dominions gives off the vibe that while it is certainly taking us somewhere, neither the driver nor the passenger have any clue where that may be. The guitars test the very limits of what sounds they are capable of producing. The vocals are chaotic, fierce, and ambiguous on the first track, "The Gift", while they're much more controlled and certain on the near-14 minute "Our Epitaph." These two tracks tell the same tale, but in many ways feel like polar opposites of one another. The slow rhythm of "The Gift" allows the track to wander, while "Our Epitaph" has found at least some semblance of its way. Two sides of the same coin, if you will.
The journey is short, taking up one side of an LP (the flipside will feature a decorative etching), but that doesn't detract from the droned-out, disorienting vibe of this record; if you let it, New Dominions will get you lost; you will be in a world without order, without rules, and indeed without norms. And the best part of it is that you may not want to come back.
Keep your eyes on the Utech website; it should be available to order very soon. And if you feel so inclined, grab the old Sonic Youth album Confusion is Sex and listen to it back-to-back with New Dominions, and let me know what you think. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
----------------
Great things were happening in New York in the eighties. Avant-garde composers players like Glenn Branca were paving the way for a new generation of rock bands to incorporate weird tunings and all sorts of other dissonant, droning noise into their music. Sonic Youth, fronted by Branca's student Thurston Moore, is perhaps the most well known band to come out of this "scene." They've been playing for decades and are still finding inventive and creative ways to manipulate sound, often to eargasmic results.
When I listen to this collaboration between Chicago's Locrian and Chapel Hill, North Carolina's Horseback, I am immediately reminded of Sonic Youth's seminal album from 1983, Confusion is Sex. I understand that many of the readers won't have any clue what I'm talking about, so I won't stretch the comparison, but as that Sonic Youth album opened up about a thousand different doors for me, as far as appreciating different styles of music is concerned, I can't help but mention it.
What Locrian and Horseback have created on this album, though reminiscent of that era, is entirely its own monster. The sonic palate may be the same, but the strokes and colors employed are without question darker, deeper, and more chaotic. The two are separated as well by the feeling that New Dominions (due out June 11th on Utech Records) is more about the journey than the destination. While Confusion is Sex felt a bit calculated and contrived, New Dominions gives off the vibe that while it is certainly taking us somewhere, neither the driver nor the passenger have any clue where that may be. The guitars test the very limits of what sounds they are capable of producing. The vocals are chaotic, fierce, and ambiguous on the first track, "The Gift", while they're much more controlled and certain on the near-14 minute "Our Epitaph." These two tracks tell the same tale, but in many ways feel like polar opposites of one another. The slow rhythm of "The Gift" allows the track to wander, while "Our Epitaph" has found at least some semblance of its way. Two sides of the same coin, if you will.
The journey is short, taking up one side of an LP (the flipside will feature a decorative etching), but that doesn't detract from the droned-out, disorienting vibe of this record; if you let it, New Dominions will get you lost; you will be in a world without order, without rules, and indeed without norms. And the best part of it is that you may not want to come back.
Keep your eyes on the Utech website; it should be available to order very soon. And if you feel so inclined, grab the old Sonic Youth album Confusion is Sex and listen to it back-to-back with New Dominions, and let me know what you think. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Invisible Oranges on Utech Records Fest
Link here.
----------
. . .
Utech Records is hosting its first ever Music Festival a month from today, June 11, in Milwaukee, WI. You can see details and download a free sampler of the fest’s artists here. The lineup includes heavyweights in the world of drone; we’ve written about some of them here (see links below). Keith Utech is a great graphic designer and has impeccable taste in curating his label. I would go to this in a heartbeat if I lived nearby.
Look out for an upcoming Horseback/Locrian split on Utech. What a pairing! I’m glad this music can have life, not only on wax, but also on stage. If any readers are going, I’d love to get a show report.
— Cosmo Lee
. . .
UTECH RECORDS MUSIC FESTIVAL 2011
Lineup
HORSEBACK (review)
LOCRIAN (review, review)
MAMIFFER (review, feature)
HOUSE OF LOW CULTURE
JAMES PLOTKIN (Atomsmasher review)
JON MUELLER
GOG (review)
WILLIAM FOWLER COLLINS
URAL UMBO
RM74
ITHI
----------
. . .
Utech Records is hosting its first ever Music Festival a month from today, June 11, in Milwaukee, WI. You can see details and download a free sampler of the fest’s artists here. The lineup includes heavyweights in the world of drone; we’ve written about some of them here (see links below). Keith Utech is a great graphic designer and has impeccable taste in curating his label. I would go to this in a heartbeat if I lived nearby.
Look out for an upcoming Horseback/Locrian split on Utech. What a pairing! I’m glad this music can have life, not only on wax, but also on stage. If any readers are going, I’d love to get a show report.
— Cosmo Lee
. . .
UTECH RECORDS MUSIC FESTIVAL 2011
Lineup
HORSEBACK (review)
LOCRIAN (review, review)
MAMIFFER (review, feature)
HOUSE OF LOW CULTURE
JAMES PLOTKIN (Atomsmasher review)
JON MUELLER
GOG (review)
WILLIAM FOWLER COLLINS
URAL UMBO
RM74
ITHI
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Inarguable on Locrian/Horseback "New Dominions"
Link here.
When I first heard about this collaboration from one Jenks Miller (sole member of Horseback), I about crapped my pants. I had been a fan of Locrian for a few years (check out my review of their last album here and a video interview here), and Horseback's "The Invisible Mountain" LP reissue was a fresh memory, so young, excitable me was overcome with joy and a newfound impatience...and it's finally here!
This collaboration is a complete goldmine of textures, ranging from the to the harsh, desolate, and creepy sounds of "The Gift" to the lush, pretty, and awe-inspiring drones of "Epitaph." Ever the experimenters, this four-part collaborating team effectively demonstrates each band's duality through these two songs. We all know Locrian are no strangers to the dark and noisy (especially those of us who saw them open for Agalloch in Chicago), but for those of you who haven't heard Horseback's material outside of the two full-lengths, this is a great jumping off point for Mr. Miller's back-catalog.
Interestingly enough, the making of this post is the first time I've ever seen the artwork for this fantastic one-sided 12" (the other side is an etching!). The fantastic Denis Forkas Kostromitin's hazy, uneasy style fits this collaboration perfectly; it is intriguing and perhaps even comforting, but there is a lingering feeling that you just can't take. A bad taste in your mouth, if you will; growing, menacing.
Turn off the lights and let this envelop you.
This release, and many others, will be available at Utech Records Music Festival in Milwaukee this coming June 11th!
-Jon
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Denis Kostromitin on "New Dominions" (Horseback/Locrian Collab EP) Artwork
"The Wooden Word", pastels on paper, 72x69cm, 2010Horseback/Locrian collaborative EP "New Dominions" that will be released on Utech Records in June.
You can read his thoughts here: http://www.denisforkas.com/home.html
Monday, April 4, 2011
URMF - June 2011
You can check out the Utech Records Festival website here.
There's a sampler on the site that has a preview of one of the tracks that will be on the Horseback/Locrian one-sided LP later this year.
There's a sampler on the site that has a preview of one of the tracks that will be on the Horseback/Locrian one-sided LP later this year.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
"The Crystal World" LP Out Today @ Utech Records
You can now hear the album in the proper format-LP pressed on 150 gram vinyl via Utech Records.
Awesome!
We also have some rarer Locrian stuff in the shop.
Thanks!
Awesome!
We also have some rarer Locrian stuff in the shop.
Thanks!
Friday, March 11, 2011
LOD 15: Gog: Noriah Mills/Past the Deepest Gate/The Fruition of the Occult (Re-issue)
RELEASE DATE: Friday, March 18, 2011
Pre-order at: http://www.landofdecay.bigcartel.com
Artist: Gog
Title: Noriah Mills/Past the Deepest Gate/The Fruition of the Occult
Artwork/design: Terence Hannum
Format: 2xCassette
Catalog Number: LOD 015
Edition Size: 100 Copies
Price: $10 see our bigcartel.com shop for shipping rates.
Track Titles:
TAPE 1
Side A: Past the Deepest Gate
A1: Invaders Have a Search Beam
A2: The View From Under a Rock
A3: Past the Deepest Gate
A4: The Biggest Thing Ever
Side B: Unreleased
B1: Untitled
TAPE 2
Side A: Noriah Mills
A1: Hovering Lake
A2: Noriah Mills
Side B: Fruition of the Occult
B1: Fruition of the Occult
B2: Canopy of Skins
Description:
We are once again very excited to reissue some long out-of-print material from another project that we respect and highly regard. This double cassette consists of over one hundreds minutes of droned-out doomy black ambient psych riffage and rumbling. Many listeners (including us) became familiar with this Arizona project led by Michael Bjella through his two most recent releases which were released on Utech Records--MFTRM (Mist From The Random More) and Heavy Fierce Brightness. Unfortunately many of us missed out on the project's earliest releases which were released in ultra-limited quantities by the Sounds of Battle and Souvenir Collecting label. We are really happy to re-release (for a short time) these early releases on high bias chrome tape and as part of one definitive statement.
This release also consists of bonus material from the same time period that wasn't included on any of the original releases. The music on this release is ultimately dynamic, ranging from moments that remind us of the synth black dreamscapes of Envenomist, to other heavier, sludgier, overdriven bleak moments, sometimes propelled forward by primordial drumming. We’ve created some samples of the music for you to hear for yourself. We highly recommend that you pick this release up while you have the chance.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Velnias CS Sold-Oout
Please feel free to check Permanent Records for copies. Small Doses and Utech Records will have copies soon.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Skeletons and Candy Blog on "The Crystal World"
Link here.
-----------------
Locrian's "The Crystal World" starts out deep inside of the earth in an endless cave that seems like an abyss. Stalagmites twinkle just enough to create a partial circle of light, but beyond the radius of visibility, things slither and crawl on the walls and floor. Then you hear it. Somewhere deeper down in the cave is a monster, something that speaks, screams and wails in desperation and anger, something that you know will kill you if it finds you. It sounds closer and closer as the earth around you hums with increasing intensity. It's as if death is coming to meet you instead of waiting for you to stumble upon it. This is what it is to enter Locrian's "The Crystal World."
The Chicago trio of André Foisy, Terence Hannum and Steven Hess craft their nightmarish sound world out of remnants of krautrock, drone, post-rock and black metal creating their own unique brand of experimental terror. The album was inspired by J.G. Ballard's novel "The Crystal World," wherein the earth's vegetation succumbs to an apocalyptic crystallization. The world that Ballard creates sparkles even as it devastates, and Locrian have captured perfectly that quality of glimmering beauty amidst inevitable destruction.
The record follows a narrative arch with one song bleeding into the next to make for an audial journey into the heart of darkness. The impending doom that informs opener "Triumph of Elimination" quietly pervades "At Night's End," which follows. The track eventually explodes with pounding percussion, epic guitar squalls and a voice that has turned from hateful to haunted. One can imagine anguished flight from the terror in the darkness as the song plays out. The band ups the ante on the phenomenal title track which mixes minimalist repeating guitar patterns against varying drones of ascending madness and doom while Hess' drums stumble around the piece like a battered and exhausted victim of unfathomable horrors.
"Pathogens" begins the record's second half with drones that resemble distant emergency sirens, rising and falling in intensity. Inevitably the horror creeps back into the immediate as squelching electronics and guitar approach closer and closer to the foreground until they eventually overtake it along with with Hess' rattling tom beats.
With "Obsidian Facades" that desperate hate-filled voice returns, screaming out from the depths. A steady dark guitar drone underlies the piece, while haunted atmospherics swirl over the surface calling to mind Paysage d'Hiver's "Kerker," Sunn 0)))'s "Black One" and Nortt to some degree. The track ends with a shimmering guitar refrain reminiscent of Labradford that offers a tiny fragment of hope. "Elevations and Depths" brings the album to a close in a manner that is powerful, beautiful and deeply moving, even as it snuffs out that tiny fragment of hope. Acoustic guitars and harmoniums mix with all of the elements the band have mined thus far to make for an intense swelling finale that is tragic in tone. The horror wins at the end of "The Crystal World," but not without a good fight, making the denouement that much more heartbreaking.
The effect of "Elevations" belies the grimness of "The Crystal World," and exposes a deeper humanity that runs throughout the record. There is warm beating heart at the center of the album that elevates it far beyond simple atmospheric dark ambient or doom, and makes for a deeply effecting musical experience. As I shape up my "best of" list for 2010, Locrian's "The Crystal World" looks to be a shoe-in for both its unique musical vision, and it's gut-wrenching emotionality. Highly recommended.
-----------------
Locrian's "The Crystal World" starts out deep inside of the earth in an endless cave that seems like an abyss. Stalagmites twinkle just enough to create a partial circle of light, but beyond the radius of visibility, things slither and crawl on the walls and floor. Then you hear it. Somewhere deeper down in the cave is a monster, something that speaks, screams and wails in desperation and anger, something that you know will kill you if it finds you. It sounds closer and closer as the earth around you hums with increasing intensity. It's as if death is coming to meet you instead of waiting for you to stumble upon it. This is what it is to enter Locrian's "The Crystal World."
The Chicago trio of André Foisy, Terence Hannum and Steven Hess craft their nightmarish sound world out of remnants of krautrock, drone, post-rock and black metal creating their own unique brand of experimental terror. The album was inspired by J.G. Ballard's novel "The Crystal World," wherein the earth's vegetation succumbs to an apocalyptic crystallization. The world that Ballard creates sparkles even as it devastates, and Locrian have captured perfectly that quality of glimmering beauty amidst inevitable destruction.
The record follows a narrative arch with one song bleeding into the next to make for an audial journey into the heart of darkness. The impending doom that informs opener "Triumph of Elimination" quietly pervades "At Night's End," which follows. The track eventually explodes with pounding percussion, epic guitar squalls and a voice that has turned from hateful to haunted. One can imagine anguished flight from the terror in the darkness as the song plays out. The band ups the ante on the phenomenal title track which mixes minimalist repeating guitar patterns against varying drones of ascending madness and doom while Hess' drums stumble around the piece like a battered and exhausted victim of unfathomable horrors.
"Pathogens" begins the record's second half with drones that resemble distant emergency sirens, rising and falling in intensity. Inevitably the horror creeps back into the immediate as squelching electronics and guitar approach closer and closer to the foreground until they eventually overtake it along with with Hess' rattling tom beats.
With "Obsidian Facades" that desperate hate-filled voice returns, screaming out from the depths. A steady dark guitar drone underlies the piece, while haunted atmospherics swirl over the surface calling to mind Paysage d'Hiver's "Kerker," Sunn 0)))'s "Black One" and Nortt to some degree. The track ends with a shimmering guitar refrain reminiscent of Labradford that offers a tiny fragment of hope. "Elevations and Depths" brings the album to a close in a manner that is powerful, beautiful and deeply moving, even as it snuffs out that tiny fragment of hope. Acoustic guitars and harmoniums mix with all of the elements the band have mined thus far to make for an intense swelling finale that is tragic in tone. The horror wins at the end of "The Crystal World," but not without a good fight, making the denouement that much more heartbreaking.
The effect of "Elevations" belies the grimness of "The Crystal World," and exposes a deeper humanity that runs throughout the record. There is warm beating heart at the center of the album that elevates it far beyond simple atmospheric dark ambient or doom, and makes for a deeply effecting musical experience. As I shape up my "best of" list for 2010, Locrian's "The Crystal World" looks to be a shoe-in for both its unique musical vision, and it's gut-wrenching emotionality. Highly recommended.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Norman Records on "The Crystal World"
Link here.
Brett gave this 5/5.
I’m loving the feel of this fucker – lovely thick gatefold sleeves like this are almost enough to break the twelve-inch fetish of a vinyl hound. I’m also loving that this is named after (and the amazing artwork seemingly inspired by) the early JG Ballard book. The first disc here paints the picture of that titular crystal world assimilating everything in sight via doomy dark ambience, black metal soundscapes, heavy industrial drone and frequent electronic supplementation. It’s a seriously bleak scene in a lot of ways, but there’s definitely more than a touch of beauty to be found in it, particularly in ‘Elevations’ which ends the disc. The second half of this opus is taken up by just the one fifty-three minute track which goes by the name of ‘Extinction’ and can probably best be summed up by some combination of the phrase ‘more please’ with the words ‘whoa’, ‘drone’, ‘fuck’, ‘ouch’, ‘devastating’, ‘noise’ and ‘holy’. Probably with some other words between the! m. Singular and stunning – they’ve totally created a world here!
Brett gave this 5/5.
I’m loving the feel of this fucker – lovely thick gatefold sleeves like this are almost enough to break the twelve-inch fetish of a vinyl hound. I’m also loving that this is named after (and the amazing artwork seemingly inspired by) the early JG Ballard book. The first disc here paints the picture of that titular crystal world assimilating everything in sight via doomy dark ambience, black metal soundscapes, heavy industrial drone and frequent electronic supplementation. It’s a seriously bleak scene in a lot of ways, but there’s definitely more than a touch of beauty to be found in it, particularly in ‘Elevations’ which ends the disc. The second half of this opus is taken up by just the one fifty-three minute track which goes by the name of ‘Extinction’ and can probably best be summed up by some combination of the phrase ‘more please’ with the words ‘whoa’, ‘drone’, ‘fuck’, ‘ouch’, ‘devastating’, ‘noise’ and ‘holy’. Probably with some other words between the! m. Singular and stunning – they’ve totally created a world here!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Locrian "The Crystal World" Back Patch
Utech Records will have these on sale in a few days. They look awesome!
Here's a crummy picture of it.
Here's a crummy picture of it.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Locrian Release Show on Monday, November 29th, 2010 @ Empty Bottle Chicago
Monday November 29, 2010 The Empty Bottle
1035 N. Western Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60622
773.276.3600
http://www.emptybottle.com/
9:00 PM
FREE
21+
with:
Anatomy of Habit
http://www.myspace.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/
Helen Money
http://www.helenmoney.com/
http://www.myspace.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/
Locrian
http://www.facebook.com/pages/
+ Locrian's "The Crystal World" video presentation
Event links:
Monday, November 22, 2010
Ear Bleed on "The Crystal World"
Link here.
I’ve been pretty jaded/burned out from new underground music lately, and it seems like pretty much everyone else is too. Been talking to people about the negative creativity spawned by fame, as it seems like any underground musician who gets recognized lately and is thrust into blogger superstardom immediately stops growing as an artist and just churns out more and more of the same half-assed tropical/beach-pop/hypnogogic pop/shit-wave/cold-wave/chill-wave/whatever other stupid ghettoized genre music. Never been too interested in genres myself, as I’ve always felt like genrefication takes away from the music; Once it’s been stuck in a niche you have things that are expected of you and expectations of what you should sound like. And unfortunately it seems like lots of folks these days are more than happy to please the expectations of bloggers and other folks that don’t know anything about music.
Luckily none of this has anything to do with the new Locrian album “The Crystal World” on Utech. Having already neatly smashed out the walls of death metal, noise & power electronics on their previous albums, they wisely decide to keep smashing outward and take over whatever spectrums of music they end up in. Now a three piece, Locrian branch out into heavy psychedelic stoner rock (“At Night’s End”), kosmische synth jams (the instrumental title track), and strange as it may seem, psychedelic folk (“Elevation and Depths” towards the end sounds disturbingly like one of Bröselmachine’s better songs), with all 6 feet still formly rooted in the darkness and anguished screaming we know so well. Locrian’s music always has an unsettling presence lurking in the background, slowly spreading post-industrial pagan gloom over everything they touch, much like the Ballard novel the album is named after, and “The Crystal World” shows them seeping into new avenues of music and making them their own.
This is definitely the most musical thing I’ve heard from them yet, a nice change of pace in an era that doesn’t place much value on well-crafted music. Each track is a carefully-sculpted journey through Locrian’s signature sound that slowly unfolds to find something completly new hiding inside. It took me forever to review their last album, mostly because every review of it I saw was gushing praise out of every pore, and this one will probably get the same; but since they seem pretty immune to it so far I’ll go ahead and say that Locrian has once again raised the bar for themselves and suceeded in creating another incredible album that stays true to their aesthetic while still challenging themselves to make something different.
I’ve been pretty jaded/burned out from new underground music lately, and it seems like pretty much everyone else is too. Been talking to people about the negative creativity spawned by fame, as it seems like any underground musician who gets recognized lately and is thrust into blogger superstardom immediately stops growing as an artist and just churns out more and more of the same half-assed tropical/beach-pop/hypnogogic pop/shit-wave/cold-wave/chill-wave/whatever other stupid ghettoized genre music. Never been too interested in genres myself, as I’ve always felt like genrefication takes away from the music; Once it’s been stuck in a niche you have things that are expected of you and expectations of what you should sound like. And unfortunately it seems like lots of folks these days are more than happy to please the expectations of bloggers and other folks that don’t know anything about music.
Luckily none of this has anything to do with the new Locrian album “The Crystal World” on Utech. Having already neatly smashed out the walls of death metal, noise & power electronics on their previous albums, they wisely decide to keep smashing outward and take over whatever spectrums of music they end up in. Now a three piece, Locrian branch out into heavy psychedelic stoner rock (“At Night’s End”), kosmische synth jams (the instrumental title track), and strange as it may seem, psychedelic folk (“Elevation and Depths” towards the end sounds disturbingly like one of Bröselmachine’s better songs), with all 6 feet still formly rooted in the darkness and anguished screaming we know so well. Locrian’s music always has an unsettling presence lurking in the background, slowly spreading post-industrial pagan gloom over everything they touch, much like the Ballard novel the album is named after, and “The Crystal World” shows them seeping into new avenues of music and making them their own.
This is definitely the most musical thing I’ve heard from them yet, a nice change of pace in an era that doesn’t place much value on well-crafted music. Each track is a carefully-sculpted journey through Locrian’s signature sound that slowly unfolds to find something completly new hiding inside. It took me forever to review their last album, mostly because every review of it I saw was gushing praise out of every pore, and this one will probably get the same; but since they seem pretty immune to it so far I’ll go ahead and say that Locrian has once again raised the bar for themselves and suceeded in creating another incredible album that stays true to their aesthetic while still challenging themselves to make something different.
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