Video from send+receive

Happy Halloween folks.

First off, the release show for Cold Wires is tomorrow night, Nov. 1, at Frame Gallery. Kvik and Solar Coffin are playing - and releasing albums - too. It's going to be a fun night. Come out and support Prairie Fire Tapes before they cease operations for the next little bit. Show starts at 10pm.

 Second, here's an excerpt from my set at send+receive a few weeks ago. Video courtesy of the talented Robert Szkolnicki. I think some weird compression happened when I uploaded it to Vimeo, which is why things look a bit jerky. Maybe I actually look that way, I don't know. Anyways, it was such an honour to play at this festival. I opened for Sons of God and Tony Conrad, and they were both totally incredible. After this weekend I'll have some cassette copies of Cold Wires, and they'll be available from the label too, so you know, get in touch if you want one. Thanks for listening.
Greenhouse - Live at send+receive 2013 pt.2 from bandc on Vimeo.

Stylus Interview, updates

I'm still vibrating from send+receive. An absolutely stunning festival, with some unforgettable performances (here's looking at Le Revelateur, Tony Conrad and Charlemagne Palestine).

Stylus Magazine did an interview with my about my work and the festival. You can read it here.

Up next: Cold Wires release show at Frame here in Winnipeg with Solar Coffin, Kvik and Crabskull (DJ Set). It's going to be a great night. Don't miss.

Also: my fucking amp is broken.

Current Listening: Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement - The Plant With Two Faces; Julianna Barwick - Nepenthe; James Blackshaw and Lubomyr Melnyk - The Watchers; Huerco S. - Colonial Patterns

Cold Wires - Album Release Info

My latest album, Cold Wires, is available for streaming and download purchase now via Prairie Fire Tapes. The physical release is a few weeks away, but it will be a limited edition cassette version of 40 copies. If you're interested, get in touch with me here, or keep an eye open on the Prairie Fire website.

If you're interested in reviewing a copy, please send me an email.

I'll be playing a release show on Nov. 1 at Frame here in Winnipeg, more details when I have them.

I'll also be playing at send+receive festival on Friday here in Winnipeg, with Sons of God and Tony Conrad (!!!) at the Atomik Arts Centre. This festival is absolutely incredible, so if you're in Winnipeg do not miss out. View the full program here.

send+receive

I am incredibly honoured to be playing this year's send+receive festival here in Winnipeg. Send+receive is a festival dedicated to sound art and experimental music, and 2013 marks it's 15th anniversary. No small feat in Winnipeg, let me tell you. This festival is truly one-of-a-kind, and the artists they bring in are jaw-dropping. This year is no exception: Charlemagne Palestine and Tony Conrad, among many, many others. I really can't believe I'm playing this.

Full details over at www.sendandreceive.org

In other news, "Cold Wires" will be released on cassette by the fine folks at Prairie Fire Tapes this fall.

Until then, I'll be rehearsing as much as physically possible.

Current listening: nin - hesitation marks; Neko Case - The Worse Things Get... - Mike Shiflet - The Choir, The Army

Review: Stave - Reform

Courtesy of the Flinco Sound System imprint, who are responsible for great releases from Locrian, Wrnlrd and Haptic, comes Stave. Stave is the solo project of Jonathan Krohn, who's previous projects I'm unfamiliar with, but I am really enjoying this release.

Sonically, Stave deals in dark, cold, industrial-infused techno. Highly repetitious, Stave's drum patterns clatter like pieces of rebar dropped through the steel girders of some half-abandoned skyscraper. Kick drums echo through concrete basements, and synths coat everything in gradient of ever-darkening grays. Everything is gritty, soaked in reverb and delay, and is sounds like Krohn set up his gear in an abandoned construction site at midnight, cranked the volume and hit record.

"Tower9," one of the more aggressive tracks here, employs a sinister drum beat amidst some highly distorted blasts of bass, before Krohn masterfully drops everything, leaving the listener with only a ghostly synth line.

At only 7 tracks, the tracks of Reform cover a fair bit of ground. The shimmering, channel-jumping hi-hats and concussive kicks on "Stave" are nearly dubby, while the glacial "Disc1" nearly forgoes rhythm, save for some minimal clicks, for gorgeous, forboding, droning synths. Though even at it's most serene, tension is never far away. Krohn's skill as a producer and attention as a sound designer is something he's clearly been sharpening for quite a while, but his ability to ratchet up the tension and shroud everything in a bleak, dead-of-night industrial landscape is what I find most engrossing. Perfect for making your walk home tonight infinitely more harrowing and snapping the summer humidity.

Stave is released by Flingco Sound System, though it appears they have already sold out. Perhaps keep your eyes peeled on Experimedia for some copies to show up. I know I will.

Summer update

I don't have a ton to report on, other than it's summer so there is always a hundred different things going on.

"Cold Wires" is slotted for a fall release on cassette. More details when I have them.

I've also been recording more material, with the intention of having another release ready to go as well. I've been trying out some new gear configurations and so far I'm pleased with the results. We'll see how it goes, though.

Currently enjoying: "Dhalgren" by Samuel Delaney; Locrian - Return To Annihilation 2xLP; Savages; Miles 2xLP; Deafheaven - Sunbather 2xLP; Angel Olsen - Half Way Home

Review - Billy Gomberg "False Heat"

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best ideas: an acoustic guitar and vocalist, a verse-chorus-verse pop song — this isn't to say that incredibly complex concept albums, highly technical death metal, prog rock, mad-scientist modular synths or heady experimental albums are not good ideas. Often they are, and I usually enjoy listening to them. And this isn't to say that there isn't some painfully bad and contrived folk and pop music out there, because there is.

"Simple" is often synonymous with "boring" or "bad" when it comes to music, and while I completely agree that this can be true in a lot of cases, there are bands, albums and artists that are simple and are far from boring or bad. But simple idea, song or album certainly does not occur at the expense of practice and mastery, and this is an important distinction to make, and it is certainly a distinction evinced by Billy Gomberg's "False Heat."

The two tracks on "False Heat" are side-long improvisations utilizing synthesizers, "a temporarily empty room with a guitar amplifer, and open window and no live computer treatment." The idea is so simple and the results are impossible beautiful. Side one begins with some barely audible, but very heavy, bass frequencies, room noise and analog hiss. Gomberg's synths gradually climb into higher registers, slowly shifting like the sun moving across the empty room they occupied.

Side two has a bit more motion, with shuddering tones dropping amidst Gomberg's glass-like bed of sustained, though subtly changing, notes. While very minimal and slow-moving, Gomberg is adept at introducing new notes and textures, making these tracks quite engaging and dynamic; he's equally skilled at taking them away. To passersby, "False Heat" may indeed sound boring and one-dimensional, but it takes real skill and patience to create sound that is this minimal and restrained on one hand and dynamic and interesting on the other.

I am unfamiliar with Gomberg's previous work, but the patience and restraint on display here indicate his mastery of his craft. "False Heat" may be a simple idea, but the results for the listener are incredibly complex, and in lesser hands, such an idea would indeed be boring and bad. An incredibly rewarding and beautiful record. Highly recommended.

This release is incredibly limited. Available now from Experimedia.