Week in Review #38
#1 – 9/20/2014 – Ron Morelli of L.I.E.S. sat down for a tongue wagging with Eric Copeland over at FACT Magazine about the latter’s new album for the label, Logo My Ego, their respective pasts, and the exigencies of an album release (something L.I.E.S. does well I’d hazard). Stream a track from the album and click through to FACTMag for the interview. -DP
#2 – 9/20/2014 – It was reported that Carnatic composer Uppalapu Shrinivas died in the midst of a long-term liver ailment at the age of only 45. Shrinivas, often known as Mandolin Shrinivas, popularized the instrument substantially in Indian music-making and gained extensive international renown for his abilities otherwise. Check out an excellent recollection just published yesterday, 9/26, by NPR’s Anastasia Tsioulcas. –DP
#3 – 9/21/2014 – French imprint Carpi issued a batch of exploratory cassettes, including new tapes by Demonstration Synthesis and Hollow Gem along with a tape + 7″ combo by Strange Mountain. Head over the Carpi’s Bandcamp now to scope the sounds, and pick up the entire batch while you’re at it. – BP
#4 – 9/21/2014 – Just two days before sharing a snippet of the sheet music for Nommos, Craig Leon also shared via social media a link to Paul Morley’s latest column for The Guardian — in which he argues that classical music is more relevant to the future than pop, fortunately without alluding to anything that the resulting pop-classical music might then entail. Morley writes, “…because it is now technologically possible to get to music that once seemed the other side of the universe, and gain unfiltered understanding, I can enjoy Mozart in much the same way as I enjoy Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman – as a great, powerfully active mind moving across the uncanny, insanely absurd vastness of the cosmos, revealing and inventing itself and, therefore, reality around it, through the uncompromising, ongoing strangeness of music.” That juxtaposition says a lot about the nature of authorship and almost justifies the effort here on its own. Learn the opening lines of “One Hundred Steps” below and check out Morley’s entire essay at The Guardian. -DP
#5 – 9/22/2014 – Adam Harper wrote an extensive essay for Resident Advisor that may be the definitive likening of the “online underground,” etc, to punk; particularly their similar dependency on new visions of performance and composition. Harper concludes, “…if the online underground is a new kind of punk, it presents some incredible opportunities and, ultimately, no less than a reboot of underground music. Or even beyond that, a reboot of independent music, or of popular music (music made by the people) at large. After decades, punk has become the establishment — so many levels of pop-musical culture are shot through with the realism and hand-made feel it struggled for towards the end of last century, and yet it is sold and mediated as if it was still the place and hallmark of true spontaneous creativity. It isn’t any more. ” Read the entire essay at RA. -DP
#6 – 9/22/2014 – Andy Stott, one of Modern Love’s leading perpetrators of haunted low-ends and grimly dour techno, dropped “Violence,” the first track from his upcoming Faith in Strangers LP, due out mid-November on Modern Love. The track expands on Stott’s recent foray into vocal-driven, atmospheric techno, sounding at once touching and beautiful with a sense of inescapable tragedy. -BP
#7 – 9/22/2014 – Beau Devereaux (Samantha Glass, Roan Linden, Golden Cloud Tapes) added another chapter to his Victor Portsmouth guise with Beyond Duty & Sympathy, a C35 issued by Brave Mysteries. The deep vibes on the tape hilight project’s eagerness to delve into darker, more abstract areas than Devereaux’s other work, a sentiment that’s hard to believe without hearing it for yourself. Head over to Brave Mysteries’ site for samples and purchase info. -BP
#8 – 9/23/2014 – Ryan Hemsworth’s free digital imprint Secret Songs released a new compilation of tracks inspired by #ffb6c1; that is, light pink. The outcome runs across the whole spectrum of multimedia inspired production from eccentric beats and novel vocal treatments, as well everything in between, like brother and sister duo Late Ride and London’s GFOTY. Though it may be too bright for some palettes, the range and originality spread across the collection should make it an interesting listen regardless. -DP
#9 – 9/23/2014 – Cam Curran launched Memory Foam, a new cassette imprint associated with Styles Upon Styles focusing on edition-of-50 cassettes “each with some really nice, hand-assembled artwork, with each release touching on a tangible & specific experience an artist had growing up that helped to shape their personality.” The inaugural cassette features sounds by Zach Cooper (kuxxan SUUM/King Garbage) dedicated to and originally co-produced by a recently departed friend of Cooper’s. Stream the set below and head over to SUS’ site for more information. -BP
#10 – 9/23/2014 – Joel Ford’s Driftless Recordings imprint issued a snazzy new compilation featuring a bevy of hypnotic, slightly rhythmic sounds by CFCF, Hiro Kone, Megafortress, and Ford himself, alongside a few choice others. Ford envisions the compilation as the inauguration of an ongoing series, so let’s all keep our eyes peeled for more soon, with hopes of another reliable series of comp’s a la Pop Ambient, Air Texture, and SMM. -BP
#11 – 9/26/2014 – Sonic Cathedral announced a second edition of its popular Psych For Sore Eyes compilation; this year’s double 7-inch wonder features new tracks from Morgan Delt, White Fence, Psychic Ills, Damaged Bug, Prayer Meeting, and Hills. Released to coincide with this weekend’s Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia 2014, the compilation will be available to purchase there, and then (if there are any left) online Monday from Sonic Cathedral’s site. Check out the amazing packaging below, designed by London printmakers Heretic, and stroll over to The Quietus to check out Hills’ track. -LP
