The build-up to Sylvester Anfang II – from the band of the same name, formerly just Sylvester Anfang — has been ridiculous. I saw it in a record store about 6 months ago and became obsessed with obtaining it once it absconded from said record store upon my next trip.

Now that I have it in my hands I must admit, the art is better than I imagined, a cross between Earthless‘ album covers, Cypress Hill’s Temple of Boom and some cutting-room-floor scene from Wonderwall. In other words, it’s brilliant.

The music? Some thoughts:

• Without the additional effects that flap in the breeze like clothes hanging on a line during a storm, S. Anfang are relying on a lot of Guru Guru-/Amon Duul II-style repetitive bass lines; not a deal-breaker, but once you notice it you won’t be able to ignore it;
• Flanging, pitch-shifting, looping, lazer-pointing/shooting, phasing, wah-wah-ing, megaphone-ing, overdriving — it’s all going down here folks, often simultaneously;
• The vocals, fed through an echobox and a few miles of tubing, are a huge plus; they’re one of the “additional effects” mentioned above that separates this music from the herd;
• Of all their influences, Sylvester Anfang II fall back most on Ghost and Acid Mothers Temple;
• When the percussion doubles up it sounds like there’s a ghostly hand drummer in the room — this freaks me out;
• You couldn’t ask for better production, clear enough to relay all the wrinkles and fuzzy enough to retain that “indie” aesthetic;
• Eclipse Records is a great place to stock up on psych (no I’m not getting paid for this link)
• Sylvester Anfang are like No-Neck Blues Band if they played live from a slaughterhouse in Germany;
• There are a lot of cheap gimmicks to be had, psych signifiers are all over the place;
• If you want to sit down with a post-rock/psych 2XLP that fills each of its sides to the edges, you definitely, definitely want SA II …

Hell, guess I got carried away with the bullet points! That’s OK because it’s been a long day — let’s just say I’ve spent time in the ER today — and I’m ready to tuck myself in. Hopefully I won’t dream about those pig fuckers in Sylvester Anfang, whether it be I or II …

This month Capsule reach double figures and to celebrate they have a month of treats. Here is the full list below:

Tuesday 1st December
Opening Party
Monotonix + Beestung Lips
Esquilax + Cum Dogs
@ VIVID . Heath Mill Lane . Birmingham
Doors 8.00pm
Advanced Tickets: http://www.theticketsellers.co.uk

Wednesday 2nd December 2009
Tunng + Six Organs Of Admittance
Lightning Dust + Bela Emerson
@ Town Hall Birmingham
Doors 7.00pm
Advanced Tickets https://tickets.thsh.co.uk/ or phone – 0121 780 3333

Tuesday 8th December 2009
Lightning Bolt + Tweak Bird +Pete Prescription
@ VIVID . Heath Mill Lane . Birmingham
SOLD OUT

Thursday 10th December
Sunn 0))) + Om
The Asylum, Hockley, Birmingham B19 3LS
Advanced Tickets: http://www.theticketsellers.co.uk

Friday 11th December
Pram with Visuals by Film Ficciones + Light Trap
VIVID, 140 Heath Mill Lane, Birmingham B9 4AR
Doors 8.00pm
Advanced Tickets: http://www.theticketsellers.co.uk

Sunday 13th December
Capsule and 7inch Cinema present:
Afternoon Tea – a light buffet with a healthy serving of films
VIVID, 140 Heath Mill Lane, Birmingham B9 4AR
FREE Event 2pm – 6pm

Wednesday 16th December
Beak> (Geoff Barrow – PORTISHEAD)
Einstellung + Thought Forms
VIVID, 140 Heath Mill Lane, Birmingham B9 4AR
Advanced Tickets: http://www.theticketsellers.co.uk

Thursday 17th December
Capsule & Created In Birmingham present:
Knowing Me Knowing You
FREE EVENT
6.30pm – 9.00pm
VIVID, 140 Heath Mill Lane, Birmingham B9 4AR

Saturday 19th December
Capsule 10th Birthday Closing Party
Modified Toy Orchestra
PCM + Calvados Beam Trio
Una Corda + Stinky Wizzleteat
Films by KIPPLE
Plus a selection of special guests DJs + special gifts
Doors 6pm – till late
VIVID, 140 Heath Mill Lane, Birmingham B9 4AR
Advanced Tickets: http://www.theticketsellers.co.uk

Zagrebački koncert njujorških ultimativnih mračnjaka Sunn o))) održan 28.10.2009. s pravom je bio najočekivaniji koncertni događaj godine.
Od 2006. godine, kad su zajedno s istomišljenicima Earth nastupili u Pauku, Sunn o))) su postali vrhunski hype, a mnogi fanovi upravo njih ističu da tako treba zvučati metal / hardcore / rock’n'roll za 21. stoljeće.
S ovime se ne bi složili „obični“ ljubitelji navedenih žanrova, no masa koja se natiskala u &TD-u uoči giga ovdje sigurno nije došla niti zbog hypea, a niti slušati «standardne» verzije metala i svih podžanrova. Sunn definitivno nisu bend za široke narodne mase i svekoliko ljubitelje pop-kulture.

Koliko god se danas pričalo o tim stjegonošama dronea nastup kakav smo mogli vidjeti i ovom prilikom u Zagreb definitivno je PREekstreman za prosječnog pop-konzumenta, pa makar imao iskustvo i s rubnim glazbenim područjima.

Kao predgrupa nastupio je dvojac Eagle Twin. Radi se o bučnom dvojcu koji kombinira stonerski zvuk s blues rifovima što na stajđu izgleda i zvuči znatno zanimljivije nego na CD-u. Bend je prije dvije godine osnovao Gentry Densley kome se na bubnjevima pridružio brat Tyler, a ove godine izdali su i debut album na Southern Lord Recordings.

Na stagu izgledaju baš kao dva simpatična dworfa koji se ne trebaju naljutiti da bijes, gnjev i tugu iskale na svoim retro-instrumentima. Kao i suborci im Sunn o))) Eagle Twin koriste nisko naštimane insturumente, lampaška Sunn pojačala i ljube teške rifove što je po mnogima izazvalo i veću buku od glavnih „zvijezdi“ večeri.

Sam početak nastupa njujorških dronera bio je „baš zvjezdan“: bend se pojavio na stejđu tek kad su moćne dim-mašine doslovno napunile zamračeni prostor &TD teatra.

Bend je od samog početka uspostavio toliko očekivani wall of sound iskorištavajaći do krajnjih granica velik broj antiknih Sunn i Orange pojačala kao i dodatne razglasne kutije postavljene publici iza leđa.

Prava crna misa počinje s izlaskom Attile Csihara na stage koji na mađarskom izvodi mantru s posljednjeg Monolith&Dimensions albuma pa je zato dio publike i ostao zatečen, osobito oni koji su uživali uz Void, Flight of the Behemoth, Black One i ostale starije uradke. Kako god bilo, zvuk koji je doslovce tekao iz „bogom danih lampaša“ stvarao je, zajedno s dimnom zavjesom, gotovo opipljivu melasu u kojoj su se prisutni lagano utapali. Zvuk Sunna na trenutke trese vidno polje, ježi kožu, tjera na povraćanje, a zajedno s Attilinom pojavom i glasom oživljava dobre priče majstora H.P. Lovecrafta i stvara tu klaustofobičnu atmosferu potpunog beznađa.

Metallica je nekad svirala Call of Cthulhu, da bi dvadesetak godina kasnije i prizvala vrhovne svećenike Arkham University predvođene O’Malleyem i Andersonom.

Kako je koncert išao prema kraju osjećaj vremena polako je nestajao pa da nema preciznih mjernih uređaja teško bi se moglo reći koliko je koncert trajao no završni performance koji je započeo Attilinom krunidbom a završio laser-claw najavio je završetak koncerta.

Da se pod kukuljicama ipak kriju naši frendovi pokazalo se ipak na kraju ove mračne predstave kad se ekipa iskreno zahvalila vjernoj, izdržljivoj i strpljivoj publici koja je uspjela istrpiti sve što su pripremili za svoj drugi dolazak na predziđe kršćanstva. •

Paid a visit to two of Austin’s best record stores today, Waterloo and End of an Ear.

I must say, I made some pretty great purchases today.

Loot:

The Almighty Defenders – s/t


Sunn O))) & Boris – Altar

Fun Fun Fun Fest tomorrow. Chances are there will be more merch to come.

fot. Agnieszka Zwara/handoneye.com

(2009, Southern Lord)

Che il nostro O’Malley sia in forma smagliante lo si può riscontrare nella qualità delle ultime uscite dei suoi numerosi progetti (KTL e Æthenor sugli scudi). Non mancava che la ciliegina sulla torta, un nuovo album dei Sunn O))). L’ultimo full-length “Black One” e il successivo EP “Oracle” sembravano un punto di non ritorno per il suono dei sacerdoti del rumore, un pur ottimo insistere nelle solite soluzioni a base di drones massacranti che sguazzavano in un mare di inquietudine. Album strepitosi, ma i nostri potevano e dovevano fare meglio, pretendevamo un’evoluzione. La nuova linfa per O’Malley e soci arriva con “Dømkirke”: un passaggio fondamentale, un’esperienza che ha ispirato loro almeno quanto ha emozionato noi, anticamera del capolavoro che è “Monoliths & Dimensions”. Mai titolo fu più azzeccato. Il monolite sonoro striscia solennemente in svariate dimensioni, moltiplicandosi, scomponendosi e ricomponendosi. Ti travolge, ti risolleva, ti trascina nel baratro e ti riporta alla luce.

Oltre alle collaborazioni “in famiglia” di Dylan Carlson e Oren Ambarchi, la lista degli ospiti in questo disco è particolarmente lunga, stavolta serviva di più: archi, fiati, elettronica, forse anche semplicemente idee, opinioni,  influenze, percorsi. Jazz? Anche, ma non solo; andiamo per ordine.

Si parte con “Aghartha”, ideale per ripassare il suono delle ultime due uscite in studio dei Sunn O))) e come mezzo di trasporto per sbatterci nelle successive dimensioni. Le invocations (come le chiamano loro) del sempre più insostituibile Attila fanno accapponare la pelle, le frequenze del massacro di chitarre e bassi irrompono prepotentemente nelle nostre impotenti casse toraciche. Sfuriate di piano e archi si incuneano, liquide e sfuggevoli, andando inevitabilmente ad erodere il blocco che inizia a scricchiolare, nelle crepe si inseriscono i fiati, Attila proclama, tutto si frantuma, tutto diventa liquido e scorre, scorre, finché non si dissolve evaporando dopo diciassette intensi minuti.    Un suggestivo e diabolico coro femminile viene spezzato da un tuono di chitarra. “Big Church [megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért]” è iniziata, la ricomposizione del monolite è in atto in un’altra dimensione. Il suddetto coro ne scandisce la rinascita, le campane la acclamano, Attila la narra. Un crescendo travolgente, inquietante, solenne, la grande chiesa si riempie di cupa venerazione. Ma il ringenerato monolite fugge, alle sue spalle si chiude pesantemente l’enorme portale, soffia la polvere. Il suo viaggio inizia con “Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia)”. Torna alle sue origini, come a voler essere sicuro di lasciarle. Saluta “White two”, “Black one” e “Dømkirke”, ma li abbandona, la sua destinazione è “Alice”.

La calma iniziale è effimera. Il percorso verso “Alice” è pieno di ostacoli. Vigono inquietudine, fastidio, paura, ansia, ma si può e si deve raggiungere il traguardo. Il cammino pessimista e opprimente di chitarre e bassi procede parallelo a quello di archi e fiati, che incalzano sempre più ottimisti e speranzosi.  Pian piano vi è consapevolezza del fatto che “Alice” è vicina, che arrivarci è possibile, e soprattutto che esiste. Gli amplificatori gradualmente si spengono, il tratto finale è percorso quasi silenziosamente, il monolite si scompone per l’ultima volta ma diventa un’accecante luce. Una speranza c’è.

Tracklist:

1. Aghartha
2. Big Church (Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért)
3. Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia)
4. Alice

]]> http://randomsongs.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/sunn-o-monolith-and-dimensions/ Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:00:57 +0000 mathieugandin http://randomsongs.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/sunn-o-monolith-and-dimensions/

Au début je me sentais comme compressé, entre le nombre incalculable de disques que je devais chroniquer, et le temps que réclame le dernier album de Sunn O))), “Monolith And Dimensions”. Car ce disque n’est pas un de ceux qui s’aborde avec facilité, où l’absence de mélodie pop  fait perdre tout sentiment de confort et de luxe acquis, parfois bien utile pour se faire une opinion. Pour ce “Monolith And Dimensions” j’ai donc pris le temps d’abandonner quelques repères afin de rentrer dedans, cette musique répétitive et ambiante s’apprécie plus par l’expérience de son écoute que par la commodité de sa composition.

A la manière de certains exégètes de la musique expérimentale, Greg Anderson et Stephen O’Malley de Sunn O))) joue du drone. A savoir des notes répétitives, des micro-tonalités, dont les enchainements se révèlent hypnotiques et ambiants. Si on écoute sans trop y faire attention, on a l’impression d’entendre la même note pendant vingt minutes, ce qui déclenche naturellement un état d’obnubilation dans notre cerveau, et si on s’attarde sur les détails, on y entend tout un tas de petites variations qui sonnent comme des incantations envoutantes. Pharoah Sanders avait introduit ces éléments là dans le jazz avec son saxophone, Terry Riley faisait du drone avec un synthétiseur Yamaha, Sunn O))) poursuit ces expériences avec des guitares électriques noisy jouées sur un mur d’amplis.

Dès l’inaugural Aghartha (en référence à Miles Davis), on sent physiquement s’abattre sur nos oreilles cette grosse chape de plomb noisy, où des guitares gavées de feedback commencent à nous étouffer par leur noirceur. Mais le minimalisme répétitif et abrasif de Sunn O))) laisse progressivement place à quelques cordes de violon inquiétantes, des grincements qui font peur, la voix d’Attila Csihar semblant vouloir invoquer on ne sait quelle force obscure, pour finir sur des clapotis ambiants. Cette musique donne l’impression d’avoir été lavé, comme “nettoyé de l’intérieur“. Voilà dix-sept minutes de pure beauté en terme de musique incantatoire. Big Church et Hunting & Gathering prolonge l’expérience dans un format plus compressé – 10 minutes par morceau quand même !! … – mais c’est avec Alice que Sunn O))) se révèlent d’excellents monteurs en son. Ce titre instrumental de seize minutes, composé en hommage à Alice Coltrane, progresse lentement du drone-metal vers une sorte de musique plus classique, laissant la place à des arrangements à corde, et quelques trompettes, naviguant entre BO Lynchienne et free-jazz. L’effet est saisissant et nous laisse de marbre devant tant de beauté sombre.

Voilà donc un disque qui se mérite un peu, où on doit prévoir du temps pour rentrer dans ces longues pièces musicales, mais qui se révèle fascinant de bout en bout, au fur et à mesure des nouvelles écoutes. Clairement le disque à ne pas écouter comme le dernier M.Ward , que j’ai beaucoup aimé aussi ceci dit…

Par Mathieu

Chronique publié de façon légèrement différente sur Indiepoprock.net

Anyone who knows me knows I like my music on the independent side and with the rise of the internet, there is no shortage of independent music. There is, however, a shortage of really good independent labels.

One of my favorite labels is Southern Lord. It was founded 1998 by Greg Anderson of the drone metal band Sunn O))). The label specializes in drone, doom and black metal and has released albums by Earth, Sunn O))), Wino, Wolves in the Throne Room, Boris, as well has some reissues of classic doom and experimental metal albums.

They release music on both CD and Vinyl, and typically issue packages that include the album and a shirt. They also sell albums from other labels in their online store.

What really sets Southern Lord apart from other labels is the effort they put into their releases. While the CDs always have great packaging and designs, it’s the vinyl releases that really stand out.

These LPs always have exclusive artwork and typically use colored vinyl. Many come with bonus tracks. All are 180g Vinyl and are mastered especially for vinyl, so the quality sound is there.

Here are a few of the releases I own:

Earth – The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull:

“These 180 gram gold vinyl lps come housed in a over the top bible-esque triple gatefold jacket. Outside is faux leatherette with gold embossing. Think CSNY “Deja Vu” lp meets the Holy Bible!. Inside is the amazing artwork and photography from Arik Roper.”

Wino – Punctuated Equilibrium:

180 gram green marble vinyl in gatefold jacket. Came with a bonus 10”, also on 180 gram green marble vinyl

Sunn O))) & Boris – Altar:

180 gram baby blue vinyl. Double LP in gatefold jacket with full color photo booklet and liner notes by Kim Thayle.

If you’re a fan of quality, extreme music and prefer to listen to it on vinyl, you should check out Southern Lord today.

(Southern Lord, 2009)

MAXIMAL SUNN

On a parfaitement le droit de ne pas aimer Sunn O))), on a parfaitement le droit de trouver ça chiant, vous savez, les goûts et les couleurs… On a le droit sauf quand la seule justification du contradicteur relève de la posture facile, de la pure paresse intellectuelle (Combien de « c’est pas de la musique ! » ou de « moi et mon gosse de quatre ans aussi on peut le faire » a-t-on pu entendre dans les conversations d’initiés ?), ou encore du paradoxe le plus ridicule et le plus vaseux de ces dernière années : « le refus de la hype » brandit comme le valeureux slogan d’un nouvel esprit critique, comme si refuser la hype (?) valait acte de résistance. On en rirait presque. Oh et puis Sunn O))) n’est certainement pas non plus le meilleur groupe du monde mais il n’empêche que depuis dix ans, Greg Anderson et Stephen O’Malley ont le mérite d’être toujours restés fidèles dans leur quête du bourdonnant. Sunn O))) est donc avant tout un groupe qui cherche et qui, à force de chercher, de tâtonner, de se tromper et de persévérer, a parfois trouvé. Trouvé la passerelle qui reliait le sacré au profane, la tradition à l’expérimentation, l’abstraction au sensible, le populaire à l’underground et à l’avant-garde ou bien encore la beauté à la hideur. Et pour la première fois, Monoliths & Dimensions réconcilie aussi l’ombre et la lumière. Oui, ce septième album de Sunn est assurément le plus lumineux, le moins linéaire, le plus audacieux et comme si ça ne suffisait pas, le plus abouti de tous. Curieusement, à l’heure où les deux architectes de la machine Sunn se produisent sur scène en formation originelle (et donc minimaliste) pour jouer leur œuvre fondatrice, les GrimmRobe Demos, Monoliths & Dimensions est au contraire le plus maximaliste des disques du groupe (« Maximum volume yields maximum results »).

Pour cette nouvelle entreprise discographique singulière, O’Malley et Anderson ont donc convoqué l’artillerie lourde. On retrouve, dans les premiers rôles, les collaborateurs désormais consacrés du duo : la voix légendaire du black metal Attila Csihar et le guitariste australien Oren Ambarchi qui ont tous deux contribué activement à la construction de ce gigantesque édifice sonore et puis Dylan Carslon et Steve Moore de Earth ou bien encore le claviériste Rex Ritter. À leurs côtés, une trentaine d’invités plus inattendus (on ne les citera pas tous) participe également à cet effort de guerre et de paix. Outre l’intervention des trombonistes Stuart Dempster et Julian Priester (le premier vient de la musique contemporaine, le second a fait ses classes aux côtés de Bo Diddley, Sun Ra, Max Roach, McCoy Tyner, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock ou Charlie Hadden), de la chanteuse Jessica Kinney (Asva, Gamelan Pacifica) ici promue en chef de chœur et de Randall Dunn aux manettes, il faut souligner le travail d’arrangement absolument remarquable d’Eyvind Kang, altiste et violoniste qu’on a notamment vu à l’œuvre avec Secret Chiefs 3, John Zorn, Mark Ribot ou Mike Patton, travail d’autant plus remarquable que ces arrangements traitent avec des timbres qui se distinguent largement du tout-venant de l’instrumentarium rock et metal. Dung Chen (longue trompe utilisée dans les rituels tibétains), conques, chœurs féminins et masculins, harpe, hydrophone, violon, alto, contrebasse, clarinettes, flûtes, cor anglais et cor d’harmonie, cymbale à moteur, piano, trompette, timbale d’orchestre, hautbois, orgues ou cloches tubulaires, autant de textures, de tessitures, de jeux de couleurs qui, associés au vrombissement des guitares désormais familier, viennent brouiller les pistes et étendre encore plus loin le champs d’expérimentation, ouvrant sur des territoires (souvent cosmiques, parfois cinématographiques) qui jusque-là, n’avaient pas encore été foulés au pied par les encapuchonnés.

Le principe du bourdon n’étant pas l’apanage de l’Occident, loin s’en faut, les références aux traditions bouddhiques de l’Asie Orientale sont finalement parmi les moins surprenantes de ce Monolith, des trompes et conques du morceau d’ouverture, « Aghartha » (un titre qui évoque le mythe du monde souterrain développé dans la littérature occidentale de la fin du XIXe siècle mais aussi et bien sûr le Agharta de Miles Davis), aux psalmodies gutturales incantatoires de « Big Church ». Et alors que ce « Aghartha », justement, s’achève sur les mots granuleux de Csihar pris entre l’eau et le vent, comme une macabre poésie sonore, « Big Church » s’ouvre sur la splendeur des chœurs féminins dirigés par Jessica Kinney, dans le sillage simplifié de certaines œuvres chorales stupéfiantes de Ligeti, et notamment de son Requiem ou de Lux Æterna que Kubrick utilisa dans 2001, L’Odyssée de l’Espace pour illustrer les diverses apparitions du monolithe noir. Tiens tiens… Et si l’on file la coïncidence 2001, la solennité des cuivres de « Hunting & Gathering » (sous-titré « Cydonia », soit le nom attribué à deux reliefs martiens) fait irrémédiablement écho au célèbre poème symphonique de Richard Strauss composé d’après Nietzsche Also Sprach Zarathustra, jusqu’à ce que des synthétiseurs que l’on croirait sortis d’une bande originale de Goblin ou de John Carpenter viennent renforcer encore la sensation d’impressionnisme et d’anachronisme musical, intentionnel et parfaitement cohérent. Enfin, l’album se clôture sur le colossal (et toujours très kubrickien) « Alice », peut-être celle de Lewis Carroll mais dont les dernières minutes (les harmonies se font de plus en plus lumineuses, les guitares se retirent peu à peu, laissant le mot de la fin aux cuivres et à la harpe) sont en tout cas un hommage explicite au jazz cosmique et rayonnant d’Alice Coltrane.

L’hommage justement… Sunn O))) a débuté en tant que groupe-hommage à Earth et dix ans plus tard, il n’est pas surprenant que l’hommage aux pairs soit plus que jamais au centre de sa musique. Les références ont changé, se sont multipliées, elles ont pris la tangente, elles puisent désormais dans la tradition aussi bien que dans la modernité et même dans des univers extra-musicaux, elles sont sous-entendues ou carrément explicites mais ce qui est certain, c’est que jamais le groupe ne les avait maniées avec autant d’habileté que sur ce très impressionnant Monoliths & Dimensions.

Francoise Massacre
Publié dans: NOISE MAG #11 (août/septembre 2009)

On Wednesday the 23rd of September 2009 I got off of work and met up with a friend of mine to head up to Baltimore to catch Sunn O))) at Sonar. They didn’t play the main stage, but the much smaller “club stage”, which was fine by me as it was much more up close and personal. Sunn O))) is a strange band, they rarely tour and when I heard they were coming to Baltimore, a city within driving distance, I had to get a ticket. People either love this band and think that what they are doing is really groundbreaking and genius, or they think it’s just boring ambient noise and a total waste of their time. I’m not a huge drone fan but these guys are one of the best at it, and when describing their music I often think of abstract art in music form. It’s hard to define “songs” of theirs, as it all sort of melts together and the songs don’t really have any structure, well not in the normal sense at least.

Before they even took the stage they ran a fog machine on high for about 20 minutes, with a low volume recording of some sort of chants. Then at about 10:30 pm Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley came out on stage in their monk/jedi robes and started playing what I think was the beginning to the song Aghartha. Usually I’m pretty good at knowing what songs are being played, but again, this band doesn’t make that easy. Then about 10 minutes later Attila Csihar came up on stage, wearing a similar robe. This is the same Attila of Mayhem fame, and I’d actually seen him play with them at this same venue back in May as part of Maryland Deathfest VII. His performance at this smaller show was pretty outstanding, though sometimes I got the feeling he was being a bit distracting from the music itself, it was a Sunn O))) show after all, not an Attila show. Overall it was a really excellent performance from him though and it really showcased his vocal talent quite well. I always liked him better in Mayhem than Maniac, but this Sunn O))) show really highlighted his vocal range, even if I don’t think he said one actual word the whole night.
 
The set seemed to be what I’d basically call “songs” from their latest album, Monoliths & Dimensions, but I could be mistaken I suppose. It was an unreal experience though, like no concert I’ve been to before. At times everything seemed to be in slow motion, the music, the band’s movements, almost as if time was stretching as you fell into the event horizon of a black hole. The fog and lighting added a sort of murky element, like trying to look at something through dirty water. It was a really overwhelming experience, and it was LOUD. I mean I just saw Motörhead a few weeks before and that was loud, but these guys really made you feel every slow plodding note vibrate through every bone in your body. Of course I was a lot closer to the stage for this show, right up front. Sunn O))) doesn’t have a drummer but they did have a guy doing some sort of programming in the back, and I know I saw a trombone poking out of the fog at some point. The bass was thick and heavy like the foggy air in the room throughout the performance, and the whole thing almost seemed like it was from outer space at times.

Attila added to the theatrics at about midway through the set when he put on some gloves that had laser pointers built into the fingers. The lasers really stood out in the fog and surprisingly the whole effect didn’t come off as a raver thing at all, maybe it was the oversized robe. At some point Attila wandered off the stage for a bit to put on his next costume, which I gotta say what a bit over the top. It was another robe, but this time it was covered in fragments of mirrors. It also had a head piece, something like a head band with big pointy mirror shards coming out of it, somewhat resembling the statue of liberty’s head piece. He kept the laser pointer gloves on with this and did some cool things with the lasers reflecting off the mirrors, especially off the ones on his head. It was certainly a bizarre costume, not sure I’d be caught dead in that, but then Attila has always had a thing for wearing costumes on stage. The two guitarists also had some interesting poses and lurched around on stage very slowly, giving the production a feeling of peeking in on a secret ritual of some Lovecraftian cult.

The music fit this all very well and with the slow build ups and pure raw sound had the audience hypnotized. The slow singular notes building up in intensity into something almost resembling a chord progression really worked well in this setting. There were no breaks between “songs”, it was just one big musical experience. In all the show ended around midnight to an ovation from a crowd that had just had their minds melted for about 90 minutes. As I walked to the car with my friend, we caught a glimpse of the Stratovarius show, which was on the main stage that night at the club, and I remember thinking how I’m so glad I got to see Sunn O))) instead of being into that power metal crap! Damn, they had the bigger audience but those people really had no idea what they just missed only a few feet away. I’ve always been a fan of some of the more strange, bizarre and out there metal bands, of which Sunn O))) definitely fits the category of, so maybe my views on the whole thing are a big biased, but still I highly recommend checking Sunn O))) out at least once, they definitely put on a show unlike any other band, metal or otherwise.

It is currently the opening hour of tomorrow by my reckoning.
As I type I feel somehow…washed. As though something happened to scour the detritus of lingering musical memory and rewrite vast swathes of it. Neurological defrag has run its course, and I am aware of a segment of time in which I was not directly conscious of my surroundings. I remember feeling a rhythmless, ordered caco/eu-phony…that being the Sunn O))) concert. There was a fire alarm, and the horn strobes that accompany said alarm, and the cherry-antiseptic smell of the fog, the copious fog, the billowing transcendental fog fog fog. There were robed figures, and a hoary faceless creature speakingchantingsermonizing from the fog’s thick pulpit. There was a bound burlap sackcloth creature, all antlers and sticks and was?that?blood? beside the bulbous hideobeautiful claw that clutched the microphone that shook and spit and wailed things heard not since before man and like-as-not after, and there was a curious harmony to the visions and scents and currents of rumble and buzz and rattle felt throughout the skin, a curious harmony not heard but felt in vibrations and less-than-semitone beat tones, a sub-bass choir, a primordial memory of things felt when creation had not quite come about, memories of a holy violence without beginning or clear delineation, memories universal.

As for the Decemberists, well, a different story altogether. The Hazards of Love being the first set, we (Neil and Rachel Calvin, the best of company) saw from near perfect vantage, first balcony and near to center-on. MSSR Meloy and company played masterfully throughout, particular highpoints being the eighth track on the album (The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid), the sixth (“The Queen’s Approach”), the tenth (“The Rake’s Song”), and the sixteenth and seventeenth (“The Wanting Comes In Waves (Reprise)” and “The Hazards of Love 4″, respectively. I am reminded of the modern invention of separating musical performance from movement and audience involvement- during the Hazards portion of the performance, there was certainly a social expectation to remain seated and for the most part still. I’m curious as to the birth of this notion- music is enjoyed only the more for responding physically to it, be it in the form of dancing or any other response. I’m not upset by any means, it seems the music was written for the concert hall-theatre setting as opposed to rock clubs, just a sidenote, I guess. The second half of the show, however, became far too exciting for myself and many others to remain still. “Billy Liar” incited a joyous mad singing dash down the balcony stairs past befuddled Classic Center personnel (NB: the young professionals on staff were visibly displeased, however, the older wiser lady nearest the smoking entrance smiled beatifically at the sight of us nigh-prancing to the music, truly, which is the youthful mind?) to the house-left aisles, wherein a dance party ensued. We all knew the words, we’d all sang them before, we’d all danced the same child’s dance of a culture somehow ignorant of dancepureblissful music+motion despite all of our “sophistications” THOUGH I DO DIGRESS, as soon the jackbooted guard stationed there soon bullied us back to a more dignified concertgoing manner. Not before the esteemed Mr. Meloy directed the entire crowd into a three part choir singing the bumpbumpbahdeedahs at the close of “Billy Liar”. We were treated to a grand reenactment of the birth of Colin’s worst-ever song, “Dracula’s Daughter”, and the subsequent birth of R.E.M. upon The Laird Hisself’s single majestic tear falling upon Peter Buck several years before the aforementioned song ever came about.

Afterwards there was a spot of drinking and a sprightly walk home, yes sprightly, yours truly, with all his mass, felt absolutely sprightly after the show, grinning broadbeam grins and feeling as refined asyouplease for having had the night’s entertainment.

As to the importance of aural stimulation? If you don’t know by now, you never will.

(not for the faint of heart or ear)

To quote the great David St. Hubbins, “it’s such a fine line between stupid, and clever.” It’s also, in American culture, a fine line between the established and the avant-garde. The paragon of this are Sun Ra’s singles, which combine a sincere, straight-faced take on pop music with the deep, but lightly held, eccentricities and naive weirdness of Sunny at his best. And how else to describe Sunn O))), makers of music that is simultaneously heavy metal – mainstream – and deeply experimental, who headed the bill of the Blackened Music Series at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple Tuesday night.

At the end of a long evening, Sunn O))) was alternately amazing and tiresome, with the amazement ultimately winning the balance and producing a rare experience. Part of the amazement is that Sunn O))) is actually doing what they do – they are essentially some of the foremost avant-garde musicians currently in America. They get there by being truly experimental, trying things and judging the results then exploring what they like. Where institutionalized avant-garde too often means drawing a limited and artificial boundary line and then ‘transgressing’ it with self-conscious dramatization, this intuitive and fruitful method requires patience, work and dedication to hone the ear and taste; it requires craft and artistry.

How they do it is clear, as their prepared material is formed through dedicated improvisation, but how they get away with it in front of an audience is a bit of a mystery, and fascinating. By this I mean how they gather a relatively mainstream audience, not the tiny segment of the population that seeks out and listens to avant-garde music in a more self-conscious and self-isolating way. The band is in the tradition of anti-Establishment American culture, where people go their own way and come up with their own, often extremely odd, autodidactic solutions. They are, thankfully, ignorant of or uninterested in the limited and circumscribed possibilities offered by the overly-professionalized conventional wisdom found in politics, business and the institutionalized arts. What university or granting organization would even imagine that music could be made that had no melody, harmony, tempo, beat, rhythm or even pulse? That is Sunn O))) at their best, which is at their most extreme, making music with pure sound.

They are not, however, always at their best. I would say that their not-best work is what helps them gain a relatively large audience (an enormous one vis-a-vis the avant-garde in music); you can listen to tracks that have a drum beat, that have a bit of a riff, and certainly that have lyrical content. The band, Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley, make use of the heavy metal performance cliches of hooded robes and smoke machines, all elements common enough to give a listener some familiar place to start. But while these elements are familiar, the application can be unique. They are ritualistic in fundamental and simple ways – at the Temple, they filled the entire auditorium with smoke and then waited an extra, wearying, twenty minutes, playing the multi-phonic chanting of monks over the PA before taking the stage. Once they did, however, they produced their massive slabs of sound completely shrouded in obscurity for most of the performance. This was amazing. The smoke had the effect of eliminating any distractions from pure listening, and with Sunn O))) one listens with the body. My iPhone decibel meter was pinned at 110, the level of a chain saw at close quarters, and the actual volume was appreciably higher (a momentary ear plug gap during Eagle Twin’s opening set revealed that they were casually exceeding the pain threshold 125 dbB).

It was a long set, divided roughly into two unequal parts. The first and longest part was exemplary; deeply pitched, enormous and enormously long chords and tones coming at intervals which, compared to common metal music, could be charted only on a geologic time scale. The sound, through amplification, has astonishing physical presence and fullness without being thick, it’s actual quite transparent and full of pleasantly gritty, crackling details. When it is complex enough to define a chord, it is mainly minor key and never dissonant, although Anderson and O’Malley push the sounds against each other and bend the tunings enough so that the gradual speeding and slowing of wave interference beats spin around the space. Sunn O))) understands how fascinating and beautiful the qualities of sound can be and they have the craft to convey that to the audience, placing musical events with confidence and care through passing time. Their ability to listen and wait patiently for the next musical moment is uncommon. The long, slow first part was so powerful and transformative, with a built-in natural ending, that it would have been completely satisfying all by itself. The second part was solid but inevitably less majestic and surprising and the slightly faster musical activity was unable to carry the same amount of sonic and expressive weight.

And there was heavy-duty expression happening. With each attack, the sound was immediately there, filling the entire auditorium and filling the body as well, and this is the key. As an email from the organizer warned “you will feel this show with you entire body. Please fortify yourselves accordingly.” Sound is a physical phenomenon, waves that reach out and touch the listener, connection the source and object across distance. Sunn O))) literally touches the audience, this is a goal, and they touch with profound power in that what they play doesn’t only reach the skin and the ear, it enters the body and vibrates it from the inside out. When they hit certain frequencies this vibration can produce a reactive sound that is heard from inside the body – there were moments when a distinct, buzzing hum was clearly audible to my inner ear and clearly coming from inside my body, with a quality not far from the sensation of chanting “om” during yoga practice. This was like magic in the sense of the primitive mind experiencing awe. Certainly, one must be sympathetic to the actual sounds Sunn O))) produces, and that response is going to be positive or negative in a fundamentally intuitive way, but for the sympathetic listener the experience of the band at their best, i.e. their most extreme, is like encountering two gods placing mountains on the earth, shaping the land across horizons we cannot perceive. After all, before the first light there was first the sound.

The group was joined on stage by singer Atilla Csihar, with mixed results. With him they were both at their best and at their most ordinary, which is not their strength. Csihar is an astonishing singer and a charismatic performer, appearing first in a scalloped, metallic robe with laser pointers on his fingers, and then in a primitive costume of burlap and wood, he seemed to be a visitor from an alien planet and then a creature from mythology. He has tremendous command of multi-phonic singing and produced impossibly long, sustained tones that were as mesmerizing as the two guitars. He also sang lyrics, some in English and some in Hungarian, and this dispelled the magic. When Sunn O))) is free from the common and confining elements of beats and words, they are marvelous. When they use these elements they are only a little interesting; they circumscribed by a genre they inherently surpass. The lyrics, a rambling mishmash of vaguely pagan incantation seem meant to be unsettling in a standard way, vis-a-vis contemporary Western religion and society, and they are unsettling but in that sense that one is unsettled by an adolescent boy’s misanthropic, anti-social proselytizing and looks forward to the day when he grows out of it. This is an aspect of normal metal music, infantilism, that is a feature, not a bug, and sorely limits its possibilities.

The other aspect is the beat, and Sunn O))) performed without percussion which, considering their basic heaviness, has the paradoxical effect of maintaining a certain lightness in their sound. The other bands, Eagle Twin, Pelican and Earth, all had drummers, and this put a limit on their own qualities. Metal drumming is the weakest musical part of the genre, a stiff, un-syncopated bashing which adds weight and force but also tends to hold the music making in place in the vertical sense, when it could be flowing along. John Bonham wasn’t the greatest drummer, but he could still convey a sense of rhythm and funkiness in a heavy music, and it’s odd that there is so little of his legacy extant. Eagle Twin’s Gentry Densley is a powerful, fluid guitarist, able to solo forcefully while accompanying himself and they are at their best when he’s ripping through the music, but the singing and drum bashing are again ordinary. Pelican and Earth are purely instrumental. The former is a powerhouse group, playing songs that combine familiar seeming riffs with interesting orchestrations and excellent ensemble playing, their set offered the suggestion that they could be truly astonishing if they could only free their beat a little. Earth is a veteran band playing a spellbinding, lyrical and truly minimal metal; sparse, slow, graceful lines placed amidst a great deal of silence. Again, their beat is stolid rather than propulsive, but they have the unique ability to create the sensation that time is standing still, followed by the feeling that only a few minutes have flown by once their set ends. They left the crowd wanting much more, and set the stage for Sunn O))).

BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY
BROADCAST #1

Suicide – Ghost Rider
These guys have influenced numerous genres throughout the years and many bands have covered their songs.  Hell, even Bruce Springsteen is a fan, often covering their material live.  This might have been a no-brainer pick, but hey, it’s a great song to introduce people to the band.

Sunn O))) & Pan Sonic – Che
Very good, yet faithful Suicide cover.  A little too faithful to be honest, but a great song nonetheless.  Was not expecting Sunn O))) to play as fast as they did on this track.  Joe Preston (Earth, Melvins, High on Fire, Sunn O))), solo work, etc (THIS GUY IS ALL OVER THE PLACE)) provides some grave and haunting vocals.  Pan Sonic provides all the miscellaneous, yet vital sound effects.

The EP that this track came on also included a crushing live song by Alan Vega (one-half of Suicide) and an acoustic track by a man by the name of Stephen Burroughs.  Don’t know much about Mr. Burroughs other than he fronted an industrial band called Head of David with a pre-Godflesh Justin Broadrick back in the 80s and hasn’t done much since.  Save It For Your Kids Dept.: I’m incredibly glad I grabbed this 10″ EP when I did as it was limited to 3000 copies.  Prices on eBay are sure to skyrocket in the next few months.

Boris – Rattlesnake
Off of their must-have, yet out-of-print (what a combination, am I right?) Heavy Rocks album.  I cannot talk enough good things about this band.  Musically, they are all over the place, and that’s not a bad thing in the least.  Their catalogue features spastic psychedelic rock, dreamy ambient music, in-your-face crust punk, meandering post rock, and some of the heaviest drone doom the genre has to offer.  You can’t go wrong with any of their releases.  Start out with Heavy Rocks or Pink and work your way from there.

Fatso Jetson – Light Yourself on Fire
Fatso Jetson is a fine blend of Canned Heat, the lonely desert, and a dash of cannabis.  Most of their discography is scattered and about half of their stuff is out of print, but it is all good.  The album that contains this song, Cruel & Delicious, was put out by Josh Homme’s (of Queens of the Stone Age) label Rekords Rekords and has let it go out of print for one reason or another.  SHAME ON YOU MR. HOMME.

Yawning Man – Perpetual Oyster
Rock Formations is such a solid album.  After forming in the mid-80s and recording two demos, not much was heard from this instrumental trio until the release of their LP and Pot Head EP, both in 2005.  Since then, the members have contributed to several other Yawning Man-like projects, all of them solid, but they only make me crave another Yawning Man recording more.

The United States of America – Hard Coming Love
Don’t know much about this band other than they practically pioneered the use of electronics in psychedelic rock and rock in general to some extent, which is kind of a big deal I guess.  I always love it when a rock band kicks it without the use of an electric guitar; shit like that always catches my attention.

The Wellwater Conspiracy – The Ending
Don’t even get me started on these guys; I’ll never stop.  This song was on their solid, if not criminally ignored debut Declaration of Conformity back in 1997.  Production is minimal, which only complements their psychedelic throw-back sound.  At this point, the line up consisted of Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden on vox, Matt Cameron of Soundgarden on drums and vox, and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar and bass.  By the time DoC was released, Shepherd had left the band, but Cameron and McBain went on without him, releasing three more amazing albums.

Wellwater Conspiracy – In Pursuit of Gingerbread Man
Back again, minus the “The”!  This instrumental track was the b-side to the Compellor 7″ single back in 1997 with Josh Homme of the Queens of the Stone Age fame on bass.  This track was touched-up and reused on Wellwater Conspiracy’s second album, this time with Homme on vocals as well, and was retitled “Ladder to the Moon”.  Still, quite cool to hear the original.

Blue Cheer – Summertime Blues
What can I say that hasn’t already been said?  These guys were heavy like the great Black Sabbath before Black Sabbath even existed.  Every stoner rock band owes their sound to their debut album Vincebus Eruptum.  NEEL DOWN AND BOW BEFORE THE MIGHTY BLUE CHEER!

Nebula – Sonic Titan
This rockin’ power trio is a kickback to the greats such as Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath, and The Stooges.  Their handful of early EPs and first two albums are golden and should not be looked over.  You Lazy Bastards Dept.: Nebula’s latest album, Heavy Psych, is not bad in the least bit, but is nothing more than an EP of the same name (and cover art!) released back in 2008 plus three more tracks.  I’m glad I bought this album, but damn, the people who bought the EP must feel a tad ripped off.

Minutemen – Viet Nam / My Heart and the Real World/ The Roar of the Masses Could Be Farts
D. Boon, you were taken from us far too early.  There’s no telling what else these guys could have accomplished if it wasn’t for D. Boon’s untimely death.  This is another trio, featuring one of the strongest rhythm sections in punk rock.  All three of these tracks come from the seminal Double Nickels on the Dime album.  If you have yet to hear this one, run, do not walk, to the record sto…wait, what is a record store again?  What I meant to say is buy it online because Walmart is too full of Nickelback CDs to stock anything else.

Goatsnake – Slippin the Stealth
Love the crushing, slow sounds of doom metal but can’t take the silly, over-exaggerated vocals?  You’ve come to the right place.  Pete Stahl, another vocalist who’s all over the place, takes up the mic in Goatsnake and does a damn good job.  Also featured is Sunn O)))’s Greg Anderson, playing the fastest he’ll ever play in his life.  I know it sounds like I’m ripping on the guy, but I’m not.  Once out of print, Goatsnake’s debut album has been rereleased by Southern Lord with bonus tracks.  Muy bueno.

Queens of the Stone Age – Better Living Through Chemistry
Named the show after this track, so you know it’s good stuff.  You’d be hard pressed to find a better QOTSA track than this one.  It just all comes together so well.  Hell, I’ll go so far as to say QOTSA will never make an album better than this one.  Rated R is just tops in my book.  Close Your Eyes, Kids! Dept.: Here’s a fun fact.  While the album was called Rated R on CD, the LP version was named Rated X.  It was the same album save for a bonus track; however, inside the gatefold was pornography.  Good thing kids don’t buy records these days.

This is a non-math post with a math title! So today I started to slam into the metaphorical wall of studying. This week has been setting my alarm to get up and start doing old problem sets for as many hours as a human can do that for. My prelim exams are in one week. Unfortunately, this routine has gotten old fast and so I think I need to take tonight off if I’m going to do it again next week.

In any case, there are a few music review type posts I’ve been meaning to make, and here is my chance. The focus I guess will be on Imogen Heap’s Ellipse.

Typically I like Imogen Heap. I think I’m more fascinated with the strangeness that surrounds her than her actual music. The usual album of her’s has a few songs I love, and I kind of just skip through the rest. If you’ll recall my mid-year review, the first 9 months of this year have had a hands down best album for me. The Antlers Hospice is untouchable, which is surprising for something I’ve had for this long.

Well. Imogen Heap has really surprised me. This album rivals The Antlers for best. It will probably lose (for reasons we’ll get to), but at least it is on the same level.

First off, the variety on this album is amazing. It goes from electronic pop and dance to improvised solo piano to a song that is completely a capella. Secondly, the song construction is perfection on this album. If I were teaching music composition, I would use this album as a teaching reference. There are incredible subtleties throughout each song that keep the momentum and interest. Exactly when a section starts to get old, it will change. Heap’s ear for this is impeccable. The ability to alter phrase lengths and overlap ideas from earlier in the song to create suspension and resolution is amazing. She is able to take a 4 minute song through more ups and downs than one would think possible and still have a very natural flow.

Next, she has a song in every single key! This is a very interesting artistic choice. Unlike lot’s of album that only have a few key signatures, this album has the tone of every song distinct. As for time signatures, she also hits all the main ones and a few not so common ones. There are some very intense mixed meter songs on here.

Next, she probably plays hundreds of “instruments” on this album. I quote “instrument,” because lots of things are just hitting random things around her house. But it gives the overall feel of the album a very complex and mature sound that there is such a variety. (I’m pretty sure at one point she uses an ondes martenot?!)

Most of this probably is missed by the average listener (and by that I mean some of the reviews I’ve read that downplay the complexity). On the first couple of listens it sounds like a typical electro-pop album. I think this is another thing that makes it great. It is very subtle about its complexity. Someone who listens to lots of avant-garde and complex music can get a lot out of this as well as someone that just wants to dance to it.

Now on to why I think it isn’t the best. Note that I’ve missed talking about the lyrics. There are two (possibly three) songs that I just can’t fathom why they are on there other than just filler. The lyrics are just not about anything and have all sorts of cliche. The weird thing is that I can’t make myself skip those songs, because musically they are still really great.

I guess I have to be brief on my other reviews. A band I’d never heard of, but were on many other people’s top lists that were similar to mine was Sunn O))). So I got their new album without knowing at all what style it was or what to expect. Well, let’s just say it is probably the only time I’ve actually been scared by music. I was afraid of having nightmares that night. It was the darned scariest thing ever.

I have a rule where I can’t discard something as awful until I’ve listened to it all the way through 5 times, just in case it grows on me. But I was seriously going to just pretend I had never heard it all and forget the rule. Not even rank it. A few days later, I was curious to try again. Sort of a challenge to myself to not be scared. After the second time, I convinced myself that I could at least make it through the 5 rule.

I made it, and good thing for that rule. I would be surprised if this ends up making my top 5 or 10 of the year. It is sort of beautiful in its own way. I think the really interesting thing about it is that it is only four tracks long. But this makes it like a traditional symphony. I think this is on purpose. In fact, their use of brass instruments strongly reminds me of John Corigliano’s 1st Symphony (and now that I think of it, that symphony may have also scared me on the first listen). It sort of got me excited about how people are reinterpreting very old forms of music into their own style.

I was going to do one more, but I’m closing in on 1000 words, so I’ll end.

For more than 10 years, Sunn O))) have been providing those interested in the darker, heavier side of music with the darkest, heaviest sounds possible from measly human amplification. Pushing guitars and amplifiers to new lows (which is a very good thing) and creating a soundscape suitable for the end of the world or the furthest reaches of space, Sunn O)) peddles Drone Doom in the finest, most crushing way possible.

Monoliths & Dimensions is Sunn O)))’s 7th full-length and features four tracks, the shortest of which clocks in at just under ten minutes. The entire album lasts a little less than an hour, so brace yourself for some good, honest ear-canal abuse.
Opening the album is Aghartha, a typical example of a Sunn O))) track, yet different from their usual offerings through the addition of discernable, spoken-word vocals from long-time session vocalist, Attila Csihar (of Mayhem fame). The sense of dread and looming horror is made even worse through the sounds of thick, harbour ropes straining against some unknown force. This is most-certainly uneasy listening. The track finally fades with the sound of oars in water, a fitting end to a truly epic opener.
The following two tracks again conform to the Sunn O))) formula of positively demonic frequencies coupled with equally unnerving lyrical content. The chants in Big Church are positively chilling.

The closing track, Alice, feels like a nod to fellow doomsters Earth’s most recent effort, The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull, by going a far more subtle route in how they dispense their doom. A lone guitar meanders over orchestral chords and typical Sunn O))) axework and finally gives way to an (almost) Sigur Rós inspired horn and strings riff to wrap up the whole experience. Are Greg and Steve losing their mettle? Of course not, it is the perfect way to emerge from the hellish underworld of Monoliths & Dimensions.

• ISIS • PLACEBO • IAMX • SIEBEN • SINESSENCE •
• THE NEON JUDGEMENT • MARILYN MANSON • DIE FORM •
• AND ALSO THE TREES • OBJECT •  NOSFELL • THE HORRORS •
• SONIC YOUTH • VNV NATION • SUNN O • ZU • AVA INFERI •
• GENESIS P. ORRIGE • VILETTE SONIQUE • ANNI HOGAN •
• AUTUMNBLAZE • ARTIC PLATEAU • KID CONGO •

• KMYE CHAN • JUHA ARVID HELMINEN • LE CINEMA GOTHIQUE •
• MARTIAL LENOIR • JEAN PHILIPPE JAWORSKI • HMSLATEX •

This is my 200th post!! I now I’m not the greatest blogger in the world but I have a lot of fun here and appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this crap, and would like to once again thank Man & Mark (and everyone else) from 11after11 for giving me this platform.

On to the post! (I’m in Seattle trick, part 2)

The ceiling of Cha Cha’s in Seattle, good times, good times.

Sunn O))) live in Seattle…they are wearing cloaks for christ sakes, need I say more???…….. epic.

Pelican live in Seattle, These guys are the reigning kings of Instrumental….also epic.

A wall of magic at the Red Room recording studio in Seattle

Larry of Pelican/Tusk fame, laying down blast beats (jk, but he was laying down some heavy stuff)

Mark of Undertow/Shift fame doing his parts in 1 or 2 takes every time…the kid has chops.

Kim Kinakin from the mighty Sparkmarker also making it look easy, (also one of my fave guitarists) Chris Common form These Arms Are Snakes manning the controls in the background, dude is a wizard.

Stayed at the Marco Polo Motel for a few nights,  this place has some history.

Yesterday, I went up with some friends (including the featured artist) to see the opening of Mike Bragg’s Pulled from the Ground at OGLE in Portland.  Fun times, too much food, great art, and voodoo donuts were had by all.  If you’re up in Portland within the next two months, go check it out.  It is set up with a great view from the street, too…

MIKE BRAGG
Pulled from the Ground @ Ogle
August 6th to September 26th, 2009
http://www.mikebragg.com/
http://ogleinc.com/
310 NW Broadway
Portland, OR

The images & video below are the intellectual property of Mike Bragg
and are used with promotional intent only.

(click for larger)

The performance piece / video is located at:
Mike Bragg’s Video Archive

Pulled from the Ground is a series comprised of a multi-channel video installation, a single channel video, photographs, drawings and a sound collage. Its foundation imagery centers on a collection of roots and a man’s obsession with them. The symbolization of the roots is seen throughout: they are an anchor of stability, yet at the same time, a literal reminder of the tangling snare of obsessiveness. Pulled from the Ground documents a struggle for stability against the constant flux of existence. The perception of safety and comfort derived from man’s organization and compulsory system of stability are precarious when viewed from within an exaggerated environment.

The elements of this series are designed to operate both autonomously and in conjunction with one another. The main element of the installation is the substantial, obsessive collection of roots. Displayed within the existing space or within a constructed set, the jars of roots are combined with drawings, photographs, videos and sounds to create an overwhelming, claustrophobic effect. In addition to the installation videos, there is a single channel video providing an experimental narrative echoing the themes explored in the installation.

Pulled from the Ground is adaptable to a variety of spaces. The project can be assembled as a full installation, a site specific modified version or as a single channel projection. The full installation includes three monitors situated in a room cluttered with root filled jars. The monitors loop images of pulsating and turning roots synchronized to a cacophony of sounds ranging from deep breathing to frantic mumblings. Almost every space is covered with worn photographs, tattered drawings and jars filled with roots. Other items contribute to the obsessive collection, such as microphones positioned to “capture the sounds of the roots” and a reel-to-reel recorder. A fourth monitor is tethered to the space via an extension cord, distanced somewhat from the cluttered collection and displaying an experimental narrative that documents the themes’ progression.

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And unrelated, but also dark & arty (ok, maybe Anti-Sweden could use Mike Bragg’s accompanying music to sell jeans, too)… drone metal titans Sunn O))) are now being used to sell Anti-Sweden jeans in Norway:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxjGPRPODyc

Odd.  I doubt we’ll ever see Sunn O))) used for commercial purposes in the U.S.A.

~Dan – np: Bill Frisell – Disfarmer

Concerto da banda americana de drone/doom Sunn O))) gravado o 30 de febreiro de 2006 no Volksbühne de Berlín. Conta coa colaboración do vocalista Malefic da banda Xasthur .

So, Issue 4 hits the internet…Inside this one, an interview with John Russell, the continuing adventures of Braxton and Desmond, an overview of the Headphonica net label, and, among the usual reviews sections,  reports on Ornette Coleman’s Meltdown Festival and Jazz a Vienne 2009.

Also, there’s another MP3 compilation album, entitled ‘Second Journey’ and featuring performances from (among others) Lee Noyes, Parallax and Massimo Magee. Details and download links to be found here: http://eartripmagazine.wordpress.com/mp3-downloads/second-journey-eartrip-compilation-2/

The magazine itself awaits the collective clicks of your mice at the following locations:

• http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?52zzzmuxzzn
• http://sharebee.com/d9cedb36
• http://www.archive.org/details/eartrip_magazine

As ever, comments, criticism, enquiries and suggestions may be sent to dmgrundy@hotmail.co.uk, or to the snail-mail address given inside the magazine.