Okay and here's part 2. If SMFTGP's first solo release didn't significantly melt your bowels, Eric Gallippo made a second one to finish the job, just in case. The shrill vociferation of the apocalyptic harbinger is drowned in the gelatinous mire of brown note explosions. A joyous synthesis of dooms. Get it here.
If he's not blowing your mind on guitar in either Man at Arms, Fields of Industry or A Paschal Circus; or doing any number of things in the Arts vs Entertainment Ensemble, Eric "Gallup Poll" Gallippo is probably literally going to make your brain explode into gory chunks all over your wood paneled room with his solo noise jams. Just a man, a mixer, and a stupid long string of effects pedals. Get it here.
Dual EP releases from the Arts vs Entertainment Ensemble kick off the suffocating, steam-breathing weeks of a midwestern August. AvEE gets (half) digital on Gig Guides Don't Grow on Trees pluggin' in plugins of disorientation. Of Chicago chronicles the analog sounds of slow motion violent electrocution on the streets of the jewel of Lake Michigan. Now download the soundtrack to your back to school shopping.
Cathartic Pipe's sophomore release. The boys are preaching the gospel of impending government-engendered doom and annihilation; a full fledged apocalypse of the bowels and neural network of every man, woman, boy and girl by compulsory consumption of atomic laxatives (of the brain). This is the end of all things, and the finale is hearkened by the bellow of a trombone, bowed electric bass, live electronic boxes with arms and legs, and a buzzsaw for a heart. This is the infernal vision of a single summer afternoon; school is out and the world is over. Download it here. Listen on last.fm
The latest from the AvE Ensemble sees the lineup and the sound coalesce around the core of Fields of Industry. Has a Keen Cultural Sense features selected recordings of what were essentially Fields of Industry experimental rehearsals meant to inform the band's live repertoire. But these and additional sessions have taken on lives of their own, to the extent that the band has lately been recording them for their own sake. The resulting improvisational pieces consist largely of manipulated guitars and function generators, live electronics, and live laptop performance with a tiny bit of acoustic instrumentation (e.g. penny whistle). The aesthetic of atmospheric and ambient noise of the first AvE self-titled release remains, but is supplemented here by an affinity for droning krautrock and a greater emphasis on electronics. Download it here. Listen on Last.fm
We played with no drummer on a Wednesday night in Ann Arbor, stuffed comfortably into Production Studio B of the defiantly obscure and vehemently varied WCBN, transmitting something much more somber than I think any of us expected. Eric tapped a floor tom with timpani mallets between guitar strums; Joel employed the function generators to fill some empty space. I like this set a lot.
Today is FoI's big day. Two Dogs, A Television is now available on everyone's favorite digital stores, AND the video for "Point of Contention" is finally available. This was filmed on a frigid February day in Grass Lake, MI at Joshua's house with lots and lots of friends. Graham Mason, Dax de la Monta and Yoni Goldstein all worked very hard on this for a very long time and we're all ecstatic to present it to you today.
Fields of Industry self-released the 3-song EP Dogs back in 2005 in a minuscule batch of 50 copies. These songs were the first to include someone other than Joshua Barton in the recording process in any substantial way; that someone was Eric Gallippo.
With Two Dogs, A Television being just over the horizon (or already here if you got it at a show) we decided to make Dogs available again in an unlimited pressing of infinity copies (thank you Internet).
Some things are bound to happen, like Long Whisker. The assemblage of Reagan Sova, Scott Hein and Jim Cherewick must be fated since it is so unlikely. All three members come from acts that have made their names in the burgeoning Ypsilanti scene or in the Detroit area to such a degree that they needn't have begun another project (granted, LW may not have happened had Sova's old project Bear Mountain Picnic stayed together). Yet Long Whisker is real and the quickly assembled debut EP is so well executed that it can't be anything but destiny.
Long Live Long Whisker is the proclamation made at the outset and the name of the band's first effort. Cherewick and Sova summon the plodding rhythm and indie sensibility of acts like Silver Jews and imply the nostalgic ethos of The Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society with their acoustic guitars and vocal tradeoffs. The interjecting harmony of Hein's various keys, especially the occasional Rhodes-like sound, is a perfect unifying element for the overall sound. Lyrically, Long Whisker are a synthesis of storytelling and peculiar observation ("astronauts are so expensive to insure because the darkness of space is so unforgiving"). Sova's direct, doubletracked delivery contrasts with the unique emotive croak of Cherewick.
In all their modesty and subtlety, Long Whisker appear to be a modern version of what any number of prestigious bands might have been in the seventies had they not slipped from country-fried to arena rock, or hated each other so much or been such broken, self-conscious rock gods. As grandiose as that may sound, all it really means is that modesty and sensitivity coupled with masterful execution makes really good music and Long Whisker have made a great start. Download it for free here.
Lucas Hollow left Bear Mountain Picnic behind in Ypsilanti, Michigan in late 2007. Having settled in Dayton, Ohio, Hollow has found a new cohort to launch the project Hospital Garden, which continues the loud, frayed-edged and earnest rock that came out of BMP. Hollow's latest self-recorded songs are now available via AvE as Mailbox Demos. These tracks were originally circulated among friends to allow a testing of the waters, now that Hollow is without his BMP songwriting partner, Reagan Sova. They will be the basis for full band recordings later on. Though all you get here is electric guitar and vocals, one can already tell that Hospital Garden is going to be an intensified continuation of the BMP experience (anyone who saw them live will wonder if further intensity is possible, but those that have already seen Hospital Garden might attest that it is). Think of a fierce crystallization of Dinosaur Jr., Pavement and The Pixies and then imagine it as lo-fi as it can get (almost). Mailbox Demos is available here for free. It's also up on last.fm.
It's taken a long time, but a release date for Two Dogs, A Television is finally set. The album will be digitally released May 20th by Cerberus Records via iTunes and other major digital outlets. The band is self-releasing the CD on Arts vs Entertainment. Copies of the disc are already available at shows. The album features art by Graham Mason.
Check out FoI's myspace for upcoming shows in and around Grand Rapids, Lansing and Ann Arbor.
Joel Schrauben, aka Gates McFadden, has wasted no time in filling out his compositional niche by releasing his second album for 2008 within three months of his first. Get Out The Tape re-emphasizes the G.McFad tendency towards patterned construction of songs, approaching a minimalist idm but not quite. If anything, Gates' voice is becoming more mature as Schrauben's techniques become more sophisticated. Get Out The Tape employs repetition and subtlety in variation to beautiful effect so that each moment is a pleasant stasis of sound without becoming disengaging. These eight new songs are written and performed on laptop with some sampling of Schrauben's old band Bear Mountain Picnic thrown in for good measure. Think of mashing Stars of the Lid's heavenly swells with the stylized electronic adolescence of Cornelius. It's up on last.fm now, or you can get it here.
Okay and here's part 2. If SMFTGP's first solo release didn't significantly melt your bowels, Eric Gallippo made a second one to finish the job, just in case. The shrill vociferation of the apocalyptic harbinger is drowned in the gelatinous mire of brown note explosions. A joyous synthesis of dooms.
If he's not blowing your mind on guitar in either Man at Arms, Fields of Industry or A Paschal Circus; or doing any number of things in the Arts vs Entertainment Ensemble, Eric "Gallup Poll" Gallippo is probably literally going to make your brain explode into gory chunks all over your wood paneled room with his solo noise jams. Just a man, a mixer, and a stupid long string of effects pedals.
Cathartic Pipe's sophomore release. The boys are preaching the gospel of impending government-engendered doom and annihilation; a full fledged apocalypse of the bowels and neural network of every man, woman, boy and girl by compulsory consumption of atomic laxatives (of the brain). This is the end of all things, and the finale is hearkened by the bellow of a trombone, bowed electric bass, live electronic boxes with arms and legs, and a buzzsaw for a heart. This is the infernal vision of a single summer afternoon; school is out and the world is over.
The latest from the AvE Ensemble sees the lineup and the sound coalesce around the core of Fields of Industry. Has a Keen Cultural Sense features selected recordings of what were essentially Fields of Industry experimental rehearsals meant to inform the band's live repertoire. But these and additional sessions have taken on lives of their own, to the extent that the band has lately been recording them for their own sake. The resulting improvisational pieces consist largely of manipulated guitars and function generators, live electronics, and live laptop performance with a tiny bit of acoustic instrumentation (e.g. penny whistle). The aesthetic of atmospheric and ambient noise of the first AvE self-titled release remains, but is supplemented here by an affinity for droning krautrock and a greater emphasis on electronics.
Fields of Industry self-released the 3-song EP Dogs back in 2005 in a minuscule batch of 50 copies. These songs were the first to include someone other than Joshua Barton in the recording process in any substantial way; that someone was Eric Gallippo.
Some things are bound to happen, like Long Whisker. The assemblage of Reagan Sova, Scott Hein and Jim Cherewick must be fated since it is so unlikely. All three members come from acts that have made their names in the burgeoning Ypsilanti scene or in the Detroit area to such a degree that they needn't have begun another project (granted, LW may not have happened had Sova's old project Bear Mountain Picnic stayed together). Yet Long Whisker is real and the quickly assembled debut EP is so well executed that it can't be anything but destiny.
It's taken a long time, but a release date for Two Dogs, A Television is finally set. The album will be digitally released May 20th by Cerberus Records via iTunes and other major digital outlets. The band is self-releasing the CD on Arts vs Entertainment. Copies of the disc are already available at shows. The album features art by Graham Mason.
Joel Schrauben, aka Gates McFadden, has wasted no time in filling out his compositional niche by releasing his second album for 2008 within three months of his first. Get Out The Tape re-emphasizes the G.McFad tendency towards patterned construction of songs, approaching a minimalist idm but not quite. If anything, Gates' voice is becoming more mature as Schrauben's techniques become more sophisticated. Get Out The Tape employs repetition and subtlety in variation to beautiful effect so that each moment is a pleasant stasis of sound without becoming disengaging. These eight new songs are written and performed on laptop with some sampling of Schrauben's old band Bear Mountain Picnic thrown in for good measure. Think of mashing Stars of the Lid's heavenly swells with the stylized electronic adolescence of Cornelius. It's up on last.fm now, or you can get it here.
