Archive for the ‘Noiseweek’ Category

Noiseweek: ATDI, Primavera, Iggy post-Pop and more

Sunday, January 24th, 2016

The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.
As the northern hemisphere festival season gears up, so too do the reunions, with At The Drive-In now joining LCD Soundsystem in the quest for festival payola. ATDI’s anticipated comeback will see them embark on a huge tour of North America and Europe and release new material.

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Meanwhile Radiohead, the aformentioned LCD Soundsystem and Sigur Rós head up an enormous Primavera Sound line-up, with Shellac, Boredoms, Venom, Destroyer, Tortoise, Goat and about a hundred others also making the trip to Barcelona in June.

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If you had any doubt about the huge changes the music industry faces, mull this over for a moment: In 2015, ‘catalogue’ sales (i.e. releases more than 18 months old) outsold ‘current’ releases for the first time ever. Yet more copies of Dark Side of the Moon have been pressed and inflicted upon the world, with only Adele and Taylor Swift outselling Pink Floyd’s 1973 sharehouse must-have on vinyl last year. The times they are a-changin’. Or not.

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Iggy Pop and Josh Homme Team Up for Secret Album | New York Times
“The collaboration started with a text message from Mr. Pop to Mr. Homme, who recalled, “It basically said, ‘Hey, it would be great if we got together and maybe write something sometime — Iggy.’”

Heathcliff Berru and Other Missing Stairs | Impose
“We owe it to ourselves, to our work, and to the listeners and readers who are interested in what we do, to fix the missing stairs instead of leaping over them, to truly address these issues when they are raised, to listen to these allegations with fair and open minds and take them seriously.”

Why Are the Eagles So Hated? An Explainer on the Immensely Popular Yet Divisive Rock Band | Billboard
“Some Generation X-ers and other post-boomers have begun examining exactly why they were expected from puberty to reject the Eagles. In his 1972 Newsday essay, Robert Christgau praised the band’s musical prowess, then famously shifted gears with the line, ‘Another thing that interests me about the Eagles is that I hate them.’”

LISTEN

Naðra — Allir Vegir Til Glötunar
Unpronounceable Icelandic black metal. Good.

Hopefully the first of many in the trove of Bowie rarities and outtakes to surface after his death — in which he impersonates Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, and Tom Waits.

Fatima Al Qadiri — ‘Battery’

Wonky bass-driven electronica from the Kuwaiti producer, taken from forthcoming LP Brute.

WATCH

PJ Harvey teases new album The Hope Six Demolition Project with features lead single ‘The Wheel’ and album opener ‘The Community of Hope’. Out April 15.

Ty Segall and The Muggers — Live at KEXP
The garage god inaugurates the Seattle public radio station’s new studios with a half-hour set of material from new LP Emotional Mugger, released last week.

Noiseweek: RIP David Bowie

Sunday, January 17th, 2016

The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.

Perhaps the only good that comes out of losing an icon like David Bowie is that it gives us an opportunity to reflect on and revel in his genius. That his death came as such a shock and was felt so keenly by so many, should be no surprise given his unparalleled impact on music, flim, art, fashion and popular culture. The eeriness of final album Blackstar and the accompanying videos for the title track and ‘Lazarus’ with hindsight, quite obviously a ‘parting gift’ or goodbye letter to the world he dramatically helped shape. Noiseweek this week presents a collection of the best stories, tributes, and playlists honouring his life and work.

Sales of Blackstar have soared in the days since Bowie’s death, with Spotify streams of the icon’s back catalogue also experiencing a jump of more than 2800% in the past week, The Guardian reports. Unsurprisingly, this puts Blackstar at the top of the UK charts (his 10th No. 1 there), whileBillboard reports the album is expected be Bowie’s first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Will we ever here the demos for the reported follow-up album to Blackstar he was working on? Let’s hope so.

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SXSW founder Roland Swenson has fessed up to changing the Bowie Street sign to David Bowie St in downtown Austin. Read a collection of other, more conventional tributes on social media over at Pitchfork and great obituaries at the New York Times and Wire.

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A huge tribute show fronted by long-time collaborator and producer Tony Visconti is being planned for NYC’s Carnegie Hall, featuring The Roots, The Mountain Goats, Cyndi Lauper, Perry Farrell, Michael Stipe, Laurie Anderson, Cat Power and The Polyphonic Spree over two nights on March 31 and April 1.

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Fittingly, the Starman will be forever immortalised with a constellation named in his honour.

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Iggy Pop on David Bowie: ‘He Resurrected Me’ | New York Times
“A lot of people were curious about me, but only he was the one who had enough truly in common with me, and who actually really liked what I did and could get on board with it, and who also had decent enough intentions to help me out. He did a good thing.”

Henry Rollins: Bowie’s Blackstar Is On The Level Of Low and Heroes | LA Weekly
“The album is agile and nervy, challenging and masterful. It is unreal the poise and guts he displays in this collection of seven songs. Hopefully, he was able to get some feedback from fans all over the world.”

What It’s Like to Play Guitar With David Bowie | Pitchfork
“He created this atmosphere for me where I walked into the studio thinking the old way, and walked out with a set of tools that I didn’t even know what to do with. This goes to the core of things I did with Bowie that changed me forever.”

‘That was David: life and death were art for him’ – Bowie’s pianist remembers his friend | The Guardian
“Mortality wasn’t something David discussed, but he sang about it a lot. I think he saw the pain and felt the suffering in life more than most. Many of us put up filters and go into denial. I don’t think he ever did that, and that came out in his music.”

On David Bowie And Mortality | Stereogum
“We’re going to spend years figuring out what Bowie was telling us with this album. But certain things about Blackstar already seem stark and obvious in the wake of his passing. For one thing, the album’s catchiest song is named after Lazarus, the Biblical figure who rose from his grave. How could we not have seen that.”

LISTEN

The Quietus goes deep into Bowie’s discography in their ‘Beyond the Hits’ playlist.

Not sure how KEXP left The Melvins’ version of ‘Station to Station’ off their list of best Bowie covers, so here it is.

WATCH

David Bowie’s Effect on Music Videos – New York Times

Noiseweek: New Releases for 2016, Kev Carmody, Church of Misery and more

Sunday, January 10th, 2016

The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.

It’s a quiet time for new releases and tour announcements, but that’s all set to change in the next few weeks, with new records from Witchcraft, Tortoise, Abbath, Ty Segall, and Savages all coming before January is done.

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Oh that’s right — Bowie’s new album ? is already out. His late-career purple patch continues. Five ?s.

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Panasonic executives have made the sensible decision to cash in on the vinyl revival, with the return of the legendary Technics 1200 turntable announced at CES in Las Vegas this week. The almost-indestructible turntables were discontinued a few years back, but much like in the case of LCD Soundsystem the time (and the money) were right for a return, so here they are again. Anyone asking where the sync button is needs to get in the sea.

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Municipal Waste have made a strong start to 2016, with this excellent piece of anti-Trump merch.

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Discogs Turns Record Collectors’ Obsessions Into Big Business | New York Times
“The site, once run from a computer in Mr. Lewandowski’s closet and originally restricted to electronic music, has grown rapidly. It now has 37 employees around the world, 20 million online visitors a month and three million registered users. It eventually opened to all genres of music and has a mission of cataloging every record in existence.”

‘Bloody oath’: Kev Carmody on politics, Paul Kelly and music industry battles | Guardian Australia
“Carmody first picked up a guitar in the late 1960s, teaching himself to play with the aid of a book he found at a local dump. ‘They were just open-air supermarkets. I found a wet bloody book that said Teach Yourself Guitar, so I brought the thing back to the camp, dried her out over the flamin’ fire, and started to work through it.’”

LISTEN

Church of Misery – ‘Confessions of an Embittered Soul’
The Japanese doom veterans tease their forthcoming sixth record as part of Decibel’s flexi series, with vocals from Repulsion’s Scott Carlson.

White Spot – I Had The Best For A little While
Like a lot of acts from Louisiana, you can almost hear the oppressive humidity of the bayou on this solo project for Marcus Lemoine.

Pig Destroyer – ‘Prowler In The Yard’
Remastered and reissued, the Virginia grind legends’ 2001 LP sounds just as vital as ever.

WATCH

Guy Ben-Ary – ‘cellF’
Watch the Perth premiere of this mind-bending contraption, fusing synthesis, performance and neuroscience.

Electric Wizard — ‘Sadiowitch’
We somehow missed this among the madness at the end of 2015.

David Bowie — ‘Lazarus’
The videos accompanying ? are as creepy as all hell.

Noiseweek: RIP Lemmy, Xmas Freebies and more

Sunday, January 3rd, 2016

The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.

Vale Lemmy. A great tribute from The Nation Blue/High Tension’s Matt Weston over at Noisey and a fantastic insight into his last days up at Rolling Stone. Fittingly, a memorial service has just been announced for the rock god at his favourite boozer, The Rainbow Bar and Grill on January 9.

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Turns out Deafheaven pretty much owned 2015, if the critics are to be believed. The divisive ‘blackgaze’ band might be false metal to some, but not the boffins at Pitchfork, who rated the band’s most recent full length New Bermuda as the best metal album of the year, and 26th in its overall poll. Meanwhile, Spin named the LA five-piece as their band of the year. Haters be damned.

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Punk’s not dead, it just deserves to be: With news that legendary NYC venue CBGB has been revived as an airport restaurant at New Jersey’s Newark terminal. As if the terrible film retelling the CBGB story wasn’t tarnish enough on the legacy of the once-great venue.

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Closet Metalheads: Neko Case | Decibel
“One thing about metal that people often don’t talk about but I’m always curious: How was there so much crazy sexism and homophobia in metal in the 80s and 90s yet people just refuse to believe that Freddie Mercury and Rob Halford were gay?”

LISTEN

AFX – ‘T17 Phase Out’
Richard D. James has too much eggnog, posts another AFX rarity to his ‘User18081971’ Soundcloud account.

Radiohead– ‘Spectre’
Not good enough for the latest Bond film apparently, but good enough to give away as free download.

DJ Shadow – ‘Swerve’
And another Festivus miracle. DJ Shadow treats the world to a bass-heavy ‘battle weapon’.

WATCH

Seven Sisters of Sleep – ‘War Master’

Lemmy’s last interview
In which Mr Kilmister speaks with trademark candour about terrorism, religion, 40 years of Motörhead, drugs, punk and all else. RIP.

Noiseweek: Neurosis, Baroness, Chelsea Wolfe, Primitive Calculators + More

Friday, December 18th, 2015

The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.

Neurosis have announced a return to Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio Studio to record their eleventh full length, and added more dates to their US and Europe tour schedule for 2016. Founding member Scott Kelly is also setting out on a string of solo dates with Colin H. van Eeckhout of Amenra in Europe in January.

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Speaking of Steve Albini – listen to the man himself in a wide-ranging conversation with Woody McDonald at Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre last week. Great stuff.

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File under: quirky xmas presents for the hirsute metalhead in your life (see also last week’s Weedian figurines) – Norway’s Borknagar have launched their own line of beard oil. Made up of “a blend of 100% natural and highest quality jojoba, sweet almond, hazelnut, castor and hemp seed oils” Borknagar’s beard oil will be no doubt be filling stockings all over old Norse territory.

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Sub Pop’s Best of 2015 lists are pretty hilarious too.

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Stage fright hasn’t sidelined singer Chelsea Wolfe | CNN
“Performing was something that I had to learn. I could barely handle being onstage for the first few years, and it’s the reason it took me so long to start my career as a musician,” she said. “I started writing songs when I was 9 years old but didn’t release an album or do a tour until I was 25.”

Streaming War Pigs: Apple, Tidal, Spotify, & The Year In Music Services | Stereogum
“And with that, you’ve got the story of streaming in 2015: artist as product or artist as propaganda. Like Zuckerman’s Famous Pig in Charlotte’s Web, musicians today are being fattened either for slaughter or for show, but make no mistake: The beneficiary of all this shiny pink flesh is Zuckerman.”

The Near-Death Of Raves: The Fate Of Independent Music Venues In 2015 | The Quietus
“The pressures on independent musical and cultural spaces are also symptomatic of more fundamental threats to under-represented and marginalised groups within society. There’s the soft bigotry of rhetoric around “British Values” and the like, implying that cultural worth is singularly-defined and divergence fundamentally suspect.”

LISTEN

Baroness – Purple
Out today, making a late entry on a bunch of end-of-year lists, and streaming in full for you here.

Primitive Calculators – ‘I’m Fucked’
More snarling synth-punk from one of the originators of the genre – their trademark misanthropy and willingness to tell it like it is on display once again.

Black Tusk – ‘God’s On Vacation’

The seasonally appropriate first taste of the Georgian trio’s final release recorded with founding bassist/vocalist Jonathan Athon, who died in a motorbike accident last year. Equal parts stoner sludge and hardcore crossover.

WATCH

Deaf Wish – Live on KEXP
Melbourne’s Deaf Wish making an unholy racket on the Seattle public radio station on their recent US tour.

Baroness – Making Purple

A 11-part making-of video series in case you want a bit more release-day hype.

Noiseweek: Weedians, List-o-mania, Sunn O))), Oneohtrix Point Never + More

Sunday, December 13th, 2015

The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.

Wondering what to get for the Sleep fan who has everything this Christ-myth? How about one of these incredibly detailed Weedian figurines? Dopesmoker cover artist Arik Roper worked with Unbox Industries to get every last detail right, down to the vape tanks. They might not ship until January, but who actually cares about christmas anyway? Meanwhile, Sleep keep adding dates to a Summer 2016 Europe tour which now includes Roskilde, ATP Iceland and Les Eurockeennes Festival in Paris in July.

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Speaking of the European Summer (almost), the mind-boggling Roadburn line-up just got a little more insane with the announcement that Converge will perform their 2001 masterwork Jane Doe in full at the 2016 festival, “for the first and last time”, as well as a special collaborative set Blood Moon “focusing on the band’s slower, more ambitious work”. They join Neurosis, Paradise Lost, Cult of Luna, Black Mountain, G.I.S.M., Full of Hell and a ton more at the festival in April.

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It’s that time of year – the lists keep coming. Spoiler alert: Windhand taking top spot on Consequence of Sound’s Top 25 Metal Albums of 2015 list; LA’s Volahn getting top spot on LA Weekly’s Top Ten and you should probably just read The Quietus’ 100-strong best of 2015 list. We’ll be rolling out our own lists from Thursday.

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Enduring Love: Why Swans Are More Vital Now Than Ever | The Guardian
“Speaking as a journalist, it is difficult to ignore the amazing stories that have built up round the band over the years. Once, for example, an unfortunate sound guy made the mistake of asking the singer what he wanted the band to sound like. He replied: “Like this” and punched the hapless engineer in the chest.”

Phil Anselmo And The Business Of Heavy Metal Horror | Forbes
“A revered figure in metal who continues to draw live audiences, Anselmo gladly leverages his own brand to promote his Housecore artists by having them open for headlining tours with his own bands like Down and The Illegals. Fully aware of the effect his name has on his business, he actively strategizes how to use it to serve the label’s agenda.”

A Crushing Embrace With The Earth: Ecological Sound In 2015 | The Quietus
Sound and music also have key roles to play in this process, through highlighting the complexity, intimacy and emotional texture of the relations between ourselves and the rest of nature. In her 2015 paper Geopolitics And The Anthropocene: Five Propositions For Sound, political geographer Anja Kanngieser argues that sound makes visceral, even comprehensible, aspects of the world that normally lie beyond our perception.

LISTEN

Sunn O))) – Kannon
It’s here. And it’s immense, as you’d expect.

Extreme Misanthropy Crew – Revelations One
Featuring members of Sydney’s Making and Tanned Christ – nasty, noisy improvised post-drone.

Florian Schneider – ‘Stop Plastic Pollution’
The Kraftwerk co-founder samples a dripping tap as part of his bit to stop the Great Pacific garbage patch as part of the Parley for the Oceans campaign.


WATCH

Dinosaur Jr. – ‘Forget the Swan’
As part of a seven-night stand at NYC’s Bowery Ballroom to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut LP Dinosaur. Guests each night have included Kevin Shields, Jeff Tweedy, Mike Watt, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo and Kurt Vile among others. Can we have a Deep Wound reunion next please?

Oneohtrix Point Never – ‘Sticky Drama’
All the end-of-year lists can be overwhelming, then you catch something you somehow slept on. Daniel Lopatin’s ‘Come to Daddy’ comes with its own prologue video.

Prologue

Video

Noiseweek: Tours and Reunions, Le Guess Who?, Miles Brown, Iommi and More

Friday, December 4th, 2015

The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.

NEWS

It’s one of those so-crazy-it-has-to-work ideas: British grind legends Napalm Death, Washington sludge pioneers The Melvins and Japanese noise weirdos Melt-Banana teaming up for a six-week, 35-date North America tour, fittingly named the Savage Imperial Death March. The latest iteration of The Melvins will feature Steven McDonald (Redd Kross, OFF!) on bass, with a planned 10? War Pussy in the works ahead of the tour. King Buzzo and Napalm Death’s Shane Embury and Danny Herrera have previously collaborated as Venomous Concept – who’ve just released a new single from forthcoming LP Kick Me Silly; VC3, though without Buzz in the band this time around. Got all that? Good.

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With the trademark dysfunction for which they were often known, Texas post-hardcore giants At The Drive In are reportedly reforming for Rock On The Range festival in Columbus, Ohio in May 2016, though original member Jim Ward claims the line-up announcement is the first he’s heard of it. He ran a similar line prior to ATDI’s previous reunion for Coachella in 2012, so there’s hope yet.

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A cavalcade of punk icons have pledged support of US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, with Jello Biafra, Wayne Kramer and Mike Watt all endorsing the the self-proclaimed socialist candidate. A lengthy list of ‘artists and cultural leaders’ have come out in support of the plain-speaking Vermont senator, whose policy platform includes an end to the federal prohibition of marijuana, fairer income distribution and a less-trigger happy US foreign policy agenda. With policies like that, it’s clear the Democrats and US media will never let him get elected, but it’s a nice idea.

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Finally, Radio Adelaide – Australia’s oldest community radio station – is seeking support in the form of a petition, after news that licensee the University of Adelaide is considering selling or closing the station. The decision comes after the university sold the CBD property that houses Radio Adelaide’s studios. Show your support by heading to www.saveradioadelaide.org. #SaveRadAd

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Le Guess Who? Proves That Experimental Music Doesn’t Have To Be Lofty And Joyless | Fact Mag

“The most refreshing thing about Le Guess Who? is how it gives a platform to more experimental strains of music without any of the associated loftiness. Faust were first to marry a challenging approach with humour. Sure, their sound was a heavy, delirious mix of magnificent acoustics punctured by industrial crashes, gas canisters and hurdy-gurdies, but Jean-Hervé Peron was yelling, “Pinochet! Stalin! Kartoffelsalat!” and three women were seated front-and-centre stage, nonchalantly knitting for the entire set.”

The Essence And The Purity: Rob Halford Of Judas Priest’s Favourite LPs | The Quietus

“For over 40 years, Rob Halford has been one of the most singular figures to emerge from the metal scene, and while some of his contemporaries have struggled to age gracefully, Halford is still out-performing many singers a quarter of his age, and his recorded output is as vital now as it has ever been.”

The Sober Proprietor Of A Bar On Avenue B | New York Times
“He started out as a roadie, which eventually turned into a job singing for the Dictators, in 1975. After the band disbanded in the early ’80s, Mr. Manitoba was part of various groups that included various iterations of The Dictators. In the early ’90s, he found himself driving a cab, addicted to heroin. He attended meetings, got clean and ripped up the hack license.”

LISTEN

Miles Brown – ‘Space Cadet’

The first taste of The Night Terrors’ theremin genius Brown’s forthcoming solo debut LP Séance Fiction blends Carpenter-esque gloom with 80s synth-pop sensibilities.

The Rival Mob – ‘Speak With Power’

Boston’s The Rival Mob carrying the mantle of classic Clevo/NYHC on this tape release being put out by Adelaide’s Nopatience Records.


WATCH

Tommy Iommi talks about his origins as a guitarist and what keeps him on stage after taking out the Q/Gibson Les Paul Guitar Award back a little while ago.

Peaches – ‘Rub’

Probably the most NSFW video since Rammstein’s ‘Pussy’. Enter at your own risk.

Peaches — Rub (Uncensored) from Peaches on Vimeo.

Noiseweek: EOY Lists, A Love Supreme, Arca, Fourteen Nights at Sea, Sunn O))) and more

Friday, November 27th, 2015

The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.

NEWS


The inevitable torrent of end-of-year lists begins in earnest, with Rough Trade first out of the blocks with their 100 best LPs of 2015. Bjork’s epic Blood on the Tracks break-up album Vulnicura took out the top spot, with Australian acts Courtney Barnett and Royal Headache both in the top ten at #3 and #8 respectively. British/German composer Max Richter’s eight-hour-long classical lullaby suite SLEEP surprisingly taking out fifth place, alongside more predictable fare like Father John Misty’s I Love You, Honeybear, Kamasi Washington’s The Epic and Jamie xx’s solo debut In Colour all among the top ten. Keep a look out for LIFE IS NOISE’s end of year lists in the next few weeks.

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Good news for a number of Melbourne’s favourite venues this week with the state government giving out $250,000 in soundproofing grants, with Cherry, Ding Dong, 1000 Pound Bend, Revolver, Bakehouse Studios and the Bendigo Hotel all sharing the spoils for soundproofing works undertaken between 2010 and 2014, The Age reports. The grants are being welcomed as another step in protecting and nurturing the city’s vibrant live music scene after the enactment of last year’s ‘Agent of Change’ principle in planning regulations, which shifts the expense of soundproofing works on to new developments where a dispute arises, rather than existing venues. In other words: we were here first, you deal with it.

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Synth nerds frothing over the collection of vintage analogue gear amassed by the newly established Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio (M.E.S.S.) will soon get their chance to tinker with one of the largest and most comprehensive catalogues of modular synths, drum machines, samplers and other rare and obscure instruments, with M.E.S.S. opening to subscribers in early 2016. Established by local sound artists Robin Fox and Byron J Scullin, M.E.S.S. will offer 500 spots in its inaugural annual subscription program, with plans for training courses, workshops and live performances later in the year.

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Arca’s Warped Beauty | Pitchfork

“Even more than Xen, which Ghersi now calls a “fragile” album, Mutant is made up of great extremes—the crushing bass of “Mutant” versus the viscous bliss of “Vanity”, or the metal chug of “Anger” versus the neo-classical strings of “Extent”. And one of the things that is so exhilarating about the record is how it’s constantly negotiating between two opposing poles. Tension is the air that Mutant breathes, and that is because Ghersi himself thrives on what he calls “those in-between states where you can talk to people about things that maybe aren’t OK to talk about otherwise—things that are taboo or repressed within us, things that we would never admit to ourselves.””

Seeing Through “A Love Supreme” to Find John Coltrane | New Yorker

“In the studio, there’s an undertone of serenity and also of composition that emphasizes the movement’s themes, of compression that builds the climaxes of a solo into repeated motto-like phrases or quick outbursts that soon resolve into calmer and more songful perorations. By contrast, the 1965 concert performance from France is full-throated, uninhibited, frighteningly wild and frenzied. It leaves a listener thrilled, shaken, drained; it’s a holy terror and a holy wonder.”

A Rational Conversation: How Do You Convince Kids To Listen To Vinyl? | NPR: The Record

“Our commitment or continued long-term participation to putting out vinyl records is largely based on our own emotional connection. Many of us who have been here for a while came of age listening to records even before the resurgence of vinyl that has happened over the course of the past five or six years. I talk to a lot of people I work with about this, but vinyl is freighted with this memory of the way you would listen to music. It’s less about what people talk about with the warmth or audio qualities of vinyl. It’s just about attention. If you can only fit 22 minutes of music of a side of vinyl, you’re doing little else during that time, and that’s kind of nice. So it’s definitely an emotional connection.”

LISTEN

Fourteen Nights at Sea — Minor Light

Get acquainted with the Melbourne post-rock mainstays’ latest release ahead of their shows supporting MONO in Melbourne and Sydney next week.

Roundtable — Dread Marches Under Bloodied Regalia

Yet another solid release recorded and mixed by Jason Fuller at Melbourne’s Goatsound studios, the trio’s debut full-length mines doom, stoner and classic prog and offers a contemporary take on the lost art of the narrative concept album.


WATCH

Sunn O))) — Boiler Room

Club kids the world over are scratching their heads as to what the fuck just happened, with last week’s Berlin set from Sunn O))) featuring on the hugely popular Boiler Room channel. There’s form there – they’ve featured Earth and Boris previously, though for the most part it’s about pretty young things dancing behind (read: annoying the crap out of) superstar DJs.

David Bowie — Blackstar

For those who’ve been in a coma for the last week: The first single and title track from the ageing iconoclast’s forthcoming LP shows he’s still capable of the reinvention that’s defined his long and storied career. Apparently he’s been listening to lots of Kendrick Lamar and Death Grips, though long-time collaborator/producer Tony Visconti says it’s not going to be a hip hop record (in case you were worried).

Noiseweek: David Bowie, The Saints, My Disco and David Lynch

Sunday, October 25th, 2015

The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.

NEWS

Word is there’s a new David Bowie record coming out on January 8. The Times of London is reporting that there’s a seven-track LP due from the Thin White Duke, who’s been in the news recently for his work on the Last Panthers soundtrack and his compositions for an upcoming Off-Broadway show. The Times of London is the first outlet to report this news and there’s been no official confirmation, but at this point any Bowie news is good new.

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Full-time internet shit-fighters and occasional shoegaze band Whirr taught a masterclass in bridge-burning this past week. It began with a random shot at Washington punk band G.L.O.S.S. (Girls Living Outside Society’s Shit). It devolved into a series of transphobic comments, and after a torrent of negative feedback, Whirr’s label, Run for Cover Records, severed ties with the band. The band penned an apology, putting the blame on “a good friend” who the band let “have free reign of the Twitter account along with ourselves”. Head over to Noisey for a full blow-by-blow of what went down.

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Noiseweek: Hüsker Dü, MONO, Space Bong, Gold Class, Porches

Sunday, October 18th, 2015

The sights, sounds and words of the week in noise.

NEWS

Hüsker Dü might be reuniting. Then again, Hüsker Dü might not be reuniting. The long-defunct trio have opened up an official merchandise page and hired former Meat Puppets manager Dennis Pelowski to get their affairs in order. In any case, it’s the first time anyone’s talked to each other in a long while. More at The Minneapolis Star Tribune.

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John Murphy passed away last week. A percussionist who began his musical career in Melbourne in the late 70s, Murphy had tenures in a number of influential post-punk, industrial and neo-folk outfits here and abroad, including SPK, Current 93, Shriekback, Whitehouse and most recently, Death in June. Photography and collaborator Zeena Schreck has written a lovely tribute to Murphy on her website.

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Mega-publisher Condé Nast has acquired Pitchfork, bringing the site’s “very passionate audience of millennial males into our roster” to an editorial stable that includes Vanity Fair, Wired and The New Yorker. On another, potentially unrelated note, Pitchfork has deleted the contributions of one of its early writers (and former Senior Editor to boot), Chris Ott, who’s since become a long-time aggravator and critic of the brand. In light of the acquisition, Ott was raising questions about Pitchfork’s ownership of old published material, which reviews of Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief and Pavement’s Slanted and Enchanted. More on this story from Jason Sargent over at Gawker’s media news outlet, TKTK.

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David Bowie is never touring again. That’s not exactly news — Bowie hasn’t been on the road since the Reality Tour in 2014, which was cut short when he underwent heart surgery in Germany in June of that year. Now, former booking agent John Giddings has confirmed that Bowie’s road days are behind him, though he’s still keeping plenty busy, writing new material for the Off Broadway musical Lazarus and penning the theme for forthcoming British crime drama The Last Panthers.

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