Kraak Records - God Damn, I Hate The Blues

Kraak have just released the latest entry in the label's ongoing split double 7" single series titled God Damn, I Hate The Blues featuring Amen Dunes, Ignatz, Marissa Nadler, Nathan Bowles, Warm Climate, & Bridget Hayden. It's easy to take the name of this compilation at face value as the haunting specter of the blues tradition continues to filter into alternative and popular musics. The handful of musicians included in this release have been chosen wisely though and their musics seem to offer winks towards the past as well as opening up the genre's particularly downbeat notions.

Amen Dunes - Ethio song by KRAAK_records

Amen Dunes contribution is a take on a traditional Ethiopique song that has been taken for a strange ride. The track assumes the particular guitar styling that Damon McMahon has become known for over the past few years while his vocals quiver and wail above following the loping guitar lines. This may be one of the most satisfying Amen Dunes recordings I've heard to date actually and will become a refreshing musical moment for the winter days ahead.

Ignatz - She gets all she wants by KRAAK_records

Ignatz mellow country-folk groove "She Gets All She Wants" comes off as a lost John Phillips classic. I say this because the track's distinctly lo-fi sonic characteristics, complete with enough crackling hiss and tape warbling to make someone believe this could be a Phillips bootleg taken from the odd home recordings. Luckily Ignatz quickly bypasses the lingering feeling of anothers work and establishes his own voice and emotional structure that the song unfolds into.

God Damn, I Hate The Blues is available now via Kraak records.

Tashi Wada - "Duet"

Tashi Wada "Duet" by destijlrecs
Tashi Wada and his newest composition "Duet" exist at once as homage and a refinement of Minimalist music composition of the past. As the name implies this is indeed a duet between two violin's in their unison, and almost monumental, descent in pitch. At any moment giving way to slight drones of intonation and interacting harmonics, always returning and continuing with their downward trajectory.

Today contemporary indie and experimental musics have almost consumed the avant garde moves & form of minimalist composition. As electronic artists have come to commonly sight composers such as Terry Riley, La Monte Young, or Steve Reich as often as less academic and institutional musicians such as Kraftwerk, Cluster, or Brian Eno. I don't think very many people can say this isn't a great thing though, as the emergence of a younger and enthusiastic audience has taken on the task of rediscovering and reissuing some fantastic composers and musical works.

To make an exact reference point Tony Conrad's Fantastic Glissando matches similar aesthetic and conceptual moves. This may be an easy comparison due to both pieces utilizing the distinct sound of the violin, but beyond mere instrumentation each hold at their core slowly gliding pitch's and perceptional experiments. But unlike Conrad's abrasive pre-noise take Wada brings a more accessible and dare I say engaging take to such concepts.

Tashi Wada's "Duet" will be available via De Stijl records.

Ensemble Economique - "Everything I Have, I Give To You" video

ENSEMBLE ECONOMIQUE - Everything I Have, I Give To You from kohnkepik

Ensemble Economique is the alias of busy North California stalwart Brian Pyle, who some may know as a member of recently mentioned Starving Weirdos. As Ensemble Economique he has been quite busy the past year or two in particular with releases on label's Not Not Fun and Amish to name a few. The sound of Pyle's solo compositions follows a similar trajection to his main project and others coming out of the north-west underground, such as Pete Swanson's recent solo work.

In "Everything I Have, I Give To You" and the accompanying artist made video the sound and vision of Ensemble Economique is laid bare; haunting rhythmic loops, hovering atmospheric synths, and a vintage horror film aesthetics are combined to great affect. The video is created by way of borrowed footage from Nicolas Roeg's 1973 film , making a rather perfect fit for the vibe present in the music itself.

Ensemble Economique's newest album Crossing The Path, By Torchlight is available now from Dekorder.

Sean McCann & Matthew Sullivan - "Vanity Fair"

Sean McCann & Matthew Sullivan - "Vanity Fair" by Recital

Sean McCann & Matthew Sullivan are two busy men in the post-noise underground right these days. Sullivan's project Earn was recently discussed on this site and while he was on tour from Los Angeles made a stop in Brooklyn to play at a Last Nights show blowing myself and I believe the rest of the audience away with slowly unfolding compositions filled to the brim with white-noise and meditative structures. While Sean McCann has been at it on the west coast for a while now and has been slowly building a reputation as meticulous composer working in a world filled with many unmemorable improv bands trying to make a name for themselves.
It's not surprising to see these two west coast drone heavy weights coming together for a collaboration. Sullivan has released McCann's music via his Ekhein imprint more than once over the years and the two seem to have a natural affinity for similar sonic aesthetics. The track "Vanity Fair" taken from their upcoming album on McCann's Recital label incorporates varied elements found in each's work while also extending beyond the reach of either individuals solo work.
The Sean McCann & Matthew Sullivan LP will be released via McCann's new imprint Recital

Starving Weirdos - "In Our Way" video & Land Lines album

Amish records has announced the release of the next Starving Weirdos album titled Land Lines. The album sees the long running north west experimental group make some of their first forays into a more structured songwriting process. This is explained by Amish as a result of the album being a couple years in the making, though recordings were first initiated around September 2010. They go as far as to incorporate some haunting vocals as demonstrated in the lead album track "In Our Way."

The band created video for "In Our Way" takes on a quasi-religious status as a result of the slowed down some synced dance moves taken from what appears to be footage of contemporary african dance moves. Something that when combined with Starving Weirdos own almost horror film score leaves a creepy yet intriguing lasting impression on the viewer.

Starving Weirdos' Land Lines is available January 24th via Amish Records

Chelsea Wolfe - "Sunstorm" video

If I may forego all the usual trappings seemingly embedded into conversations pertaining to Chelsea Wolfe... At least that the sentence I anticipated starting with and then I realized I couldn't. Wolfe's persona is built upon combined elements of the gothic, greek, and occult imagery and vibe. I want to liken it to Nico once she got over being a pop star and became addicted to heroin. That is a totally update to date version who to my knowledge is NOT a drug addict which is generally great news.

The song "Sunstorm" maintains stark elegance, which is perfectly matched in this Sean Stout directed the video. Even some of the song's most far reaching moments, such some questionable lyric choices & dance moves, come off as forgettable & endearing. It's that much more then that the "Sunstorm" & Wolfe are able to withstand under such intense emotional, while still retaining a catchy enjoyable song. Despair has rarely sounded so good.

Last Nights: Woodsman / Images / Alan Watts / Scott and Charlenes Wedding Friday Dec. 9th

Come join Last Nights tomorrow night (Friday Dec. 9th) at Big Snow in Brooklyn, NY. It will be a great night of filled with spacey jams and psychedelic pop concoctions. With music by:

Woodsman

Images

Alan Watts

Scott & Charlene's Wedding (mem Family Portrait)

Friday December 9th

Big Snow

89 Varet St. Brooklyn NY

8pm | $7 | All Ages

RSVP on Facebook here

Last Nights Presents: New Monuments / United Waters / Zaimph / Decimus

The New Monuments (C. Spencer Yeh, Don Dietrich, Ben Hall)

United Waters

Zaimph

Decimus

Thursday December 8th

Shea Stadium 20 Meadow St. Brooklyn NY

8pm | $8 | All Ages

RVSP on Facebook here

Images - "Where You Are Now"

We're happy to announce "Where You Are Now" the lead track from Images forthcoming album titled Know What I Mean. The group recorded/mixed the album late this past spring after a busy 2011 filled with shows that saw the duo share stages with MV & EE, Soft Circle, & Spectre Folk to name a few. "Where You Are Now" sees them operating at surprising levels of clarity and accessibility for the cloudy headed psychedelic concoctions offered up in the past. As this lead track demonstrates Images aren't afraid of stepping into the light, sounding almost indie-rock while they're at it. The cleanliness of the sound itself is attributed to the live nature of the recordings, in which few overdubs were undertaken in order leaving the raw live band sound in tact. The bounce of it all makes it perfect to add some energy in the bleak days of winter ahead.

"Where You Are Now" is available now straight from the band's bandcamp site as a free download. Be sure to look out for more info on Images and the upcoming full-length Know What I Mean this January here via the Last Nights Records imprint & AMDISCS.

Images will also playing Last Nights upcoming show this Friday Dec. 9th at Big Snow w/ Woodsman & Alan Watts.

Pinch & Shackleton

Possibly one of the first forays around here into the more electronic and techno end of the musical spectrum. Pinch & Shackleton have been at it for a while now each helping define a new era of bass music with their individual compositions. Looking back to the origins of dubstep it is easy to point towards Pinch's debut Underwater Dancehall & Shackleton's former label Skull Disco as some of the finest examples of the genre.

This self-titled collection, their first collaborative outing, sees the pair operating at the same level of quality which initially propelled them into the music public's eye. Shackleton's unique This is not to say that it is a neutral meeting ground between the two. Contrary to such a thought, the seemingly simple feet of combining the hallmark aesthetics of the two artists is a rather difficult feet that is achieved with grace.

Pinch & Shackleton is available now from Honest Jon's.

Last Nights Presents: Woodsman / Images / Alan Watts

Woodsman

Images

Alan Watts

Friday December 9th

Big Snow

89 Varet St. Brooklyn NY

8pm | $7 | All Ages

RSVP on Facebook here

Pete Swanson - Streaming Man With Potential

Pete Swanson - Man With Potential by _type

A little bit back I posted a video for Pete Swanson's track "Remote View" taken from newest album Man With Potential. Since then the album has been released by Type records who are also streaming it in it's entirety. The release comes after a steady stream of Swanson's solo work in the last two years as he has put out two albums on Thee Lobed and Root Strata respectfully, along with a good handful of quietly self-released recordings.

The stream of Man With Potential provides a glimpse into the new almost techno-oriented direction Swanson's work has taken. The results are not one oriented towards getting people onto the dance floor. As the press release states "This is Birmingham techno filtered through the mists of the Pacific Northwest, and is all the better for it. Elsewhere ‘Remote View’ explores a more downtempo sound; coming across like post apocalyptic house music as heard from a club bathroom." Such a description and sound places the music firmly within the realm of what Sonic Boom's Experimental Audio Research was after on The Köner Experiment album.

Man With Potential is out now on Type records.