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.

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.