Review: Kwaidan - Make All the Hell of Dark Metal Bright

 From time to time, I enjoy writing about records that excite me. Here's one of them.

Kwaidan - Make All the Hell of Dark Metal Bright (Bathetic Records)

Kwaidan is composed of three highly regarded experimental musicians in Chicago: Andre Foisy (Locrian), Mike Weis (Zelienople) and synth-wrangler Neil Jendon. With such a stellar lineup, it's hard not to be impressed with this LP, or to predict what it sounds like. Upon spinning this, I found I was correct in the former (this is indeed a great record) and wrong in the latter: Make All The Hell of Dark Metal Bright does not sound exactly like I thought it would — and in no way is that a bad thing.
 

The album begins with what I assume is one piece split into three movements: "Three Empty Rooms of Light and Space: Evening Bell, Gateless Gate, and Ostention." This is Kwaidan at their darkest, and listeners well-versed in Locrian's black-smoke sound will find bleak solace in the low, slithering synths, distant droning guitars and lumbering toms.

If this opening piece is the dark, the remaining three tracks are the subtly shifting greys just before dawn, with glimmers of daylight piercing through the gloom. Jendon's synths occupy the lows, allowing Foisy's remarkably clean guitars to float amongst ghostly piano melodies and restrained, yet propulsive, percussion.

The closing track, "The Sound of This Bell," burns the brightest here. Beginning with a fragile, delay-soaked guitar motif, Kwaidan masterfully add layers of hissing synths and shimmer cymbals until the track glows red-hot with searing distortion and feedback.

 But one Kwaidan's biggest strengths is that they've created an LP that is focused, but still manages to maintain that loose, experimental, improvisational feel that is impossible to fake. These are three musicians who know their craft and their instruments, and the chemistry at work between Foisy, Weis and Jendon is undeniable. The degree of restraint on display here is masterful, as Kwaidan slowly and surely ratchet up the tension and dread, and while they do allow a few faint slivers of light to pierce the murk, they offer the listener little, if no reprieve.

At once beautiful and ominous, Kwaidan's debut full-length encapsulates some of the best elements of drone, psych and post-rock but without any of the genre trappings: it's dark without being theatric, and meditative without relying on cheesy, over-played "new age" tropes. I find the music here extremely listenable, but by no means is this easy listening. Kwaidan walk on the edge of beauty and terror, tension and ease, and it is fascinating to hear them veer off in either direction.

This release is vinyl only, and quantities are limited. Go to Bathetic Records and get your copy.

Dreadful Beauty

Here's a track off "Cold Wires", just to give you a sense of the feel of this release. Certainly more minimal, textured and slow-moving than my past releases. I hope you like it.

New Album is Finished

Just a quick post.

The next Greenhouse recording is complete. It is called "Cold Wires." No details regarding release yet, but I hope to have those soon.

I'll also be posting a track soon as well.

If you're interested, get in touch.

Current Listening: Actuers - s/t; TM404; Vatican Shadow - It Stands to Conceal; Dead In The Dirt - Fear

Live on CKUW

Just a quick little note that I will be playing live on send+receive radio on CKUW here in Winnipeg on Sunday. 2-4 pm.

For those that don't know, send+receive is Winnipeg's (and Canada's) premier experimental music/sound art festival, but they also do a radio show every Sunday.

You can tune in here, or if you miss it, the episode should be backlogged and available for download after the fact.

This is part of CKUW's FunDrive, so if the mood strikes you, call in and donate.

Live at NGTVSPC, Feb. 1, 2013 - video

Here's a series of short clips from my most recent live performance at NGTVSPC. Massive thanks to Robert Szkolnicki for the footage.

Greenhouse Live at NGTVSPC 3/3 from bandc on Vimeo.

Greenhouse Live at NGTVSPC 2/3 from bandc on Vimeo.

Greenhouse Live at NGTVSPC 1/3 from bandc on Vimeo.

Live: NGTVSPC, Feb. 1, 2013

Here's a few photos from Friday night's show. Huge thanks to Robert Szolnicki for the terrific photos. Check out his work on his blog.

I was really happy with how this set turned out. It was my first live performance trying some new signal routing and processing approaches, and thankfully the results were what I hoped they would be. Video and audio coming soon.

Big thanks to NGTVSPC for being an amazing venue. Also, I'm still jazzed from Solar Coffin's debut performance. Unreal modular synth drone duo. Check them out over at Fletcher's Midori imprint.

Sunday afternoon listening: Solar Coffin - s/t cs; Ogham - "I" cs; Indicator, Indicator - "s/t" EP; My Bloody Valentine - misc. "mbv" tracks on their YouTube channel to make sure I like it before paying $16 goddamned dollars for mp3s.

Live from one year ago

I'm going to be posting some live video and photo courtesy of Robert Szolnicki from the Feb. 1, 2013, show, but before I do, here's some footage from almost a year ago, courtesy of Robert. Robert's the best.