Dense novitá 075. Click For Infos.
ALEXANDER TUCKER – Furrowed Brow CD/LP ATP/R
ERIK FRIEDLANDER & TEHO TEARDO – Giorni Rubati CD Bip-Hop
FLIM – Ohne Titel, 1916 CD Plinkity Plonk
FREIBAND – Leise CD Cronica
JAB MICA OCH EL – ABC Hej I’m Cola CD/LP Ache
KTL (REHBERG & O’MALLEY) – KTL CD Editions Mego
LUKAS SIMONIS – Stots CD Z6
MAX TURNER – The Purple Pro CD Metabooty
MIDORI HIRANO – LushRush CD Noble
PETER REHBERG – Kapotte Muziek by… miniCD Korm Plastics
STEPHAN MATHIEU & JANEK SCHAEFER – Hidden Name CD Cronica
TAKAGI MASAKATSU – World Is So Beautiful DVD Carpark
THE DRONES – Gala Mill CD/LP ATP/R
+ + +
ALEXANDER TUCKER – Furrowed Brow
CD/LP ATP/R ATPRLP23
Streetdate: October 2
http://www.atpfestival.com/atp-recordings/alexander-tucker
Alexander Tucker began as the vocalist in post-rock hardcore 5-piece Unhome who
released one album “A Short History of Houses” (Unlabel) and a split single with
Papa M. Unhome split in late 1999 and Tucker went on to tour with Detroit
space-rockers Fuxa. Simultaneously, Tucker had been developing his interest in
improvisation using detuned guitars, tape loops, mini disc player and fx pedals.
In early 2000 Tucker recorded a solo self-titled album of acoustic
finger-picking, experimental electronics, field recordings and spooked vocals,
which was picked up by Tom Greenwood of Jackie-O-Motherfucker and released under
his U-Sound Archives label.
Tucker’s ability to combine compositional song structures, drones, layered
vocals and improvisations culminated on his 2005 album “Old Fog” (ATP/R), a
collection of spectral moods, eerie landscapes and fragile emotions.
His commanding live performance has led to collaborations which include working
with Stephen O’Malley (SunnO))), Khanate) on his Ginnungagap side project
(Southern Records limited Latitudes series), providing the soundtrack to Lali
Chetwynd’s performance piece at Tate Britain and playing as a part of JOMF, Duke
Garwood, and Little Wet Horse.
Tucker has recently completed a new studio album “Furrowed Brow” (ATP/R)
recorded in his home county of deepest darkest Kent. For this new recording
Tucker has combined harmonised vocal patterns, layered instrumentation and heavy
sonic bliss riffs to create a cross-between David Crosby, doom metal and Terry
Riley to be released in Autumn 2006.
Alexander Tucker is also a visual artist, creating artworkn for all of his album
covers and side projects, including ongoing drawings and comic artwork for
‘Sturgeon White Moss’ (White Moss Press) and the new cover for Nordic
doom-master Wolfmangler (Aurora Borealis).
+ + +
ERIK FRIEDLANDER & TEHO TEARDO – Giorni Rubati
CD Bip-Hop bleep34
http://www.bip-hop.com
http://www.erikfriedlander.com
http://www.tehoteardo.com
In 2004 Italian electronics composer Teho Teardo and New York cellist Erik
Friedlander began a trans- Atlantic collaboration, exchanging ideas, creating
and remixing each other’s contributions. They discovered a rapport that
superseded their different backgrounds. The classically trained cellist now
Downtown improviser and former electro punk now cutting edge film composer found
they shared a drive to create emotionally charged, passionate music. Their first
efforts, Munifried, was integral in Teardo’s soundtrack for “Lavorare Con
Lentezza”, a film by Guido Chiesa who loved the track and purchased the rights
for his film. Then, in the summer of 2005, Teho visited New York City and
brought with him 2 bottles of red wine and an idea for a project: a book of
poems by Pier Paolo Pasolini, the Italian director and writer who was murdered
in 1975. Friedlander recorded 8 responses to the poems: some were single track
cello improvisations, others were more complicated, multi-tracked productions
which he sent to Teho in Italy. Teardo recomposed the tracks by mixing layers of
elegant electronica, piano, and guitar with the stark acoustic cello. In between
scoring projects, touring, and making CD’s the two musicians found time to work
together on their collaboration. They completed Giorni Rubati in early 2006 and,
as a special addition included two live tracks, one from The Knitting Factory in
New York, and the other from Prodenone, Italy–taken from a concert celebrating
the 30 year anniversary of Pasolini’s death.
TEHO TEARDO is an electronic composer and a sound designer. In 2004 he composed
the soundtrack for Guido Chiesa’s “Lavorare con lentezza” that premiered at the
Venice Film Festival and created a sound installation for Hic et Nunc, the
contemporary art festival in Pordenone, Italy. He has remixed tracks for
Placebo, Girls Against Boys, Cop Shoot Cop, Lydia Lunch, Rothko and curated the
12″ serial named Domestic Landscapes for Nail Records. His elegant style and
savvy use of earthy analogue electronics is mixed with a sure knowledge of
acoustic instruments. In addition to creating the soundtrack for A Page of
Madness a Japanese silent film that debuted at “Le Giornate del Cinema Muto”
festival in 2001; and Il Fuggiasco, a 2003 movie by Andrea Manni. Teho has
started the bands Meathead, MATERA (with Mick Harris), HERE (with Jim Filer
Coleman), OPERATOR (with Scott Mccloud/GVSB) and MODERN INSTITUTE whose debut
album has just been released by the English label Expanding Records. Teho has
realized several soundtracks, the last one for the new movie by Paolo Sorrentino
premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
“ERIK FRIEDLANDER can do things with a cello that should have a reasonable
listener fearing for her life,” says PitchforkMedia.com, “Rostropovich one
second and Rottweiler the next.” A virtuosic veteran of NYC’s downtown scene,
Friedlander has backed John Zorn, Laurie Anderson and Courtney Love. New York’s
Erik Friedlander is a unique cellist whose work blurs genre borders. He is a
composer and an improviser, a classical musician and a jazzbo. The LA Times put
it best when they wrote, “Friedlander’s performance clearly positions him as the
first potential star performer on his instrument.” Erik grew up in a home filled
with art and music. He is the son of Lee Friedlander, an art photographer known
by musicians and jazz aficionados for the cover photographs he took for Atlantic
Records. His passion for r&b and jazz greatly influenced Erik, whose earliest
memories are of a household filled with the sounds of his father’s subjects–Ray
Charles, Aretha Franklin, McCoy Tyner, Ornette Coleman, and John Coltrane. Erik
started playing guitar at age 6 and added cello two years later.
+ + +
FLIM – Ohne Titel, 1916
CD Plinkity Plonk plink020
http://www.kormplastics.nl
Following the widely acclaimed ‘Holiday Diary’ (2003) on Plinkity Plonk, we are
now proud to release ‘Ohne Titel, 1916’, the second release by ENRICO WUTTKE,
aka Flim for Plinkity Plonk. It’s an album of sadness, as outlined on the cover:
“There are times in life when words cannot account for our losses and we look
comfort elsewhere. We may find, outside or deep within ourselves, sounds and
images so powerful that they can help us transcend death and despair. How could
one attempt to cope with the unspeakable pain of losing a child, through music?
To find meaning in the wake of such tragedy, one would have to approach the
composition with calrity and simplicity appealing to both the angelic and the
inevitable. To avoid being pathetic, one has to find a balance between hope and
frustration. The feeling of distress, though dominant, must not stifle the
longing for salvation. To make a believable statement on loss and consolation,
we must face both the desperate and the serene – zoid.”
Flim aka ENRICO WUTTKE was born in 1971 in Muhlhausen, Germany and has played
the piano since the age of 7. He studied fine arts and made his recording debut
in 1993 with the release of some private cassettes. In 2002 he recorded highly
acclaimed albums (“Given You Nothing” and “Helio”) for the Tomlab label.
Mastering of ‘Ohne Titel, 1916’ was done by Greg Davis, cover design by Christos
Lialios. It’s the first release in a new Plinkity Plonk design – plastic wallets
at last. Strictly limited to 500 copies.
+ + +
FREIBAND – Leise
CD Cronica 026
http://www.cronicaelectronica.org
For his third full length CD ‘Leise’, FRANS DE WAARD recorded his daughter Elise
(note the anagram in the title), who, when three years old, asked is she could
play the instruments that he has for Kapotte Muziek: sheets of metal, paper,
sticks, plastic and other junk. All of these sessions were recorded by De Waard
and in 2003, while it snowed in Boston (USA), the transformation of these
recordings started and presented during an impromptu concert also in Boston a
few days later. From then on the work expanded into an electro-acoustic work, in
which computer processing plays an important role. Using a fine blend of
software, the warmth of the original playing of objects in combination with a
wild bunch of software. This work has been presented on a number of concerts,
such as at VPRO radio and the EME festival in Setúbal, Portugal, but reaches its
final shape with this CD release.
+ + +
JAB MICA OCH EL – ABC Hej I’m Cola
CD/LP Ache Records ACHE026
http://www.acherecords.com
Modern electronic manipulation coalesces with robust and celebratory cartoon
melodies on this, the debut full length release by the Danish duo, Jab Mica Och
El.
After a 7″ released on their own label, Champion Robot, and a beautifully
crafted addition to Ache’s own Project Bicycle compilation, Jacob and Michael
meticulously set forth on the construction of new expression, new ideas, and new
instrumentation. Ten tracks where created with the help of many friends,
including close friend to both Jab Mica and Ache, Sun Ok Papi K.O.
(Sonig/Scratch Pet Land). It is evident when listening to this album the
abundance of pleasure experienced during these collaborations and ultimately its
creation. The finished product feels like a document of backyard gatherings of
close friends armed with cold drinks, lighthearted grins, and their instruments
of choice, executed with a naïve charm only the most eager of artists obtain.
Ultimately an organic outing, ABC Hej I’m Cola harvests such familiar and
traditional sounds as banjo, flute and tuba, and manipulates them into a dense
parade of slapstick caricatures. The digital element is subtle enough to keep
things recognizable, yet biting enough to create an other-worldly effect.
The outcome is a thick, playful and joyous mess of elastic brass, stuttering
woodwind, and squelch percussion, evoking a childhood innocence, which will
leech the cynicism from every listener, inevitably conjuring smiles he or she
had long forgotten.
+ + +
KTL – KTL
CD Editions Mego emego084
Streetdate: October 6
http://www.editionsmego.com
http://www.ideologic.org
http://www.peterrehberg.com
STEPHEN O’MALLEY: strings, fx, amps
PETER REHBERG: oscs, apps, drives
Threatening new collaboration taking in parallel worlds of Extreme Computer
Music and Black Metal. KTL is Stephen O’Malley (SUNNO))), Khanate) and Peter
Rehberg (PITA). A six part collision amongst the increasingly fading presences
between the light and the dark, with some pieces recorded during a thunderstorm
at night in a castle as well in glorious sunshine in a wintergarden.
The collaboration came about as the two were working on a theatre production by
Gisèle Vienne and Dennis Cooper, entitled ‘Kindertotenlieder’.
It must be stated that this CD is NOT the soundtrack to said piece, but a
separate project. However, elements may appear in the finished piece which is to
be premiered in Brest, France, March 2007.
Written, recorded & mixed by Stephen O’Malley & Peter Rehberg at Fort du Murier
& Vienne Wintergarden, Grenoble July 2006
Mastered at Piethopraxis, Köln, August 2006
File under: Digital Analogue Black Metal
+ + +
LUKAS SIMONIS – Stots
CD Z6
http://www.xs4all.nl/~lukas/english/lukas.html
Lukas Simonis; guitarist, composer, lives in Rotterdam (Netherlands) and
co-founded and works for WORM (a centre for experimental arts). For most of his
musical career, he has played in bands and projects that seldom managed to play
‘straight’ music, despite moving within the field of ‘rock’ (e.g. Dull
Schicksal, Trespassers W, Morzelpronk, Liana Flu Winks, AA Kismet, Vril and
Coolhaven).
His interests also lie in the direction of more abstract ‘sound’; using
electronics, improvisation, voice, field recordings and objects. He has played
gigs/improvised with people like Eugene Chadbourne, Eddie Prevost, Richard
Barret, Jon Rose, Anne Wellmer, Trevor Wishart, Greg Malcolm and many more, and
has groups with Ann la Berge, The Bohman Brothers (Apricot My Lady) and Henk
Bakker (Static Tics).
‘Stots’ has a bit of both worlds; the structure is like a rock album, with 16
tracks, the longest being 4 minutes. The music is an outsider’s version of
electro-acoustic composition, using improvisation & field recordings as the main
material to build the pieces with. The point of departure for making the whole
song cycle was the conscious misunderstanding of language; coming from the idea
that you can never say exactly the same thing in a different language (so ‘i
love you’ means something else then ‘je t’aime’).
‘Stots’ and all the song titles are in a secret language as an expression for
the receiver to use only their senses for perception; not the banal knowledge of
dogmatic and misunderstood information.
22/09 DE – Halle, RadioRevolten w/ Static Tics
23/09 DE – Berlin, Ausland w/ Static Tics
27/10 DE – Bremen, Zakk
28/10 DE – Hamburg, Hörbar
29/10 DE – Berlin, Ausland
+ + +
MAX TURNER – The Purple Pro
CD Metabooty 001
Streetdate: October 6
http://www.metabooty.com
“People say the purple-pro tells colorful lies, what people say and what they
know is like a colorful sky, what they don´t know is that truth lies in my eyes:
one red, one blue – purple’s just the disguise!”
With the above quote in-scripted on the cd Max Turner’s solo debut is bound to
be drenched in mystified humor and luscious word-smithery. Once named “maverick
poet”, Turner has been chanting his chants in the rhythmic swamps of europe ever
since “matchbox jumpin`jeepbeats” bubbled out on Felix Kubin’s GAGARIN records
in 2001. Being raised bilingually, in Germany, left the lyrical vehicle open to
either language for this half Scottsman, but Deutsch never really inspired Max
to sing or rap in, although “the purple pro” is undeniably Kraut, musically
speaking. Having played something stupid like 150 shows, in the past 1 and half
years, this gypsie-cat is currently based on planet earth, somewhere in the
vicinity of Barcelona.
Now to bizzness:
The album is stacked with highly detail-some electronic/acoustic jams that bob
about under the weight of Turner´s spiterature. Another quote states ” I´m like
moondog and sun-ra breaking into twilight, discovering proportions on an
infinitely fine-night” on “Chief coo (coo)” – a grimy voodoo number that feeds
on native-american rhythms and prayrie flutes. “War of the words” – a killer
state of the arts sixties hiphop jam which sounds like a mainstream rap hommage
to Can and Funkadelic, reads: “just like orson wells was ahead of his time, i
got this awsome well in the realms of my rhyme, im raiding radio waves –
broadcasting my slime: all you spielbergs´ should quit before i blow up yours
minds!!!”
If you were to categorize this colorful melange of 60’s sound aesthetics, lo-fi
drum jumbles and psychedelic chants it would have to be “KRAUTHOP”, if anything,
especially on “ethnoplasm” and “awa´with the birds” the albums only two
instrumental tracks, that reek of sci-fi folk.
For those who know Turner they might think back his work with Marcus Rossknecht
as METEORITES which spawned “dub the mighty dragon” (released on Cristian
Vogel´s RISEROBOTSRISE records in 2003), the seemingly endless array of
collaborations (with friends like schneidertm, dj rupture or matias aguayo, most
recently) or his suspected involvement in all-star rap-ensemble PUPPETMASTAZ
from berlin. But this record is the first to see him have a go at handling
instrumentals on top of spitting rhymes and shows off a lot more sound-fuckery
than prior works. The whole thing seeming more like a lone venture through word,
sound and song-writing with the outcome always hinting towards a rugged acoustic
dimension rather than a digital universe.
The record features SCHNEIDERTM dropping a cachon-jam on “phantompower” and
DWAYNE SODAHBERK who plays a role in the nebulous guise of the title theme
aswell as the prior. Otherwise this very personal album shows off no well known
guests and there’s no sign of other vocalists what so ever. All released on
Turner’s newly born brainchild METABOOTY this thing is bound to make sense to
the kids in 2067. “meta” meaning above or beyond in greek, and “booty” as in
treasure (original meaning!) or ass (depending on whether you perceive asses as
treasurable) – but what METABOOTY really stands for is the musical knowledge
that accumulates over the years that makes one the musical pirate one is – here
goes for last years meta-crop!
+ + +
MIDORI HIRANO – LushRush
CD Noble Records CXCA-1197
Streetdate: September 25
http://www.noble-label.net
We are happy to announce that our new artist Midori Hirano has released her
memorable debut album “LushRush” as Noble’s 13th release. This spirited newcomer
started playing piano at an early age. Majoring in classical piano at
university, in 2003 she started composing with computers and samplers. She
controls all aspects of her productions, from composing and recording to
sampling and mixing.
Her first work was released by a label in Luxemburg and was accompanied by live
performances in Europe in 2004. Residing in Kyoto, her music has reached outside
of Japan, appearing on compilations for labels in France, the US and Canada.
Taking over two years to develop, “LushRush” includes collaborations with
musicians such as Toshiko Kageyama (tico moon), acoustic guitar, and Atsuko
Hatano, cello and violin. This work represents the first collaborations of
Midori Hirano’s career.
In “LushRush”, her piano and string melodies are deeply influenced by classical
and chamber music from her academic music background. Electronic effects, noise
and field recording sounds and her own whispering ephemeral vocals create a
cinematic world which gives you a feeling of floating and mystery, as if you
were moving between the real and the imaginary.
Enjoy her unique and mysterious world in which subtlety and verve, feminine
fullness and dignified valiance, yin and yang, sanity and insanity coexist. This
is certainly her signature aesthetic.
+ + +
PETER REHBERG – Kapotte Muziek by…
miniCD Korm Plastics kp3022
http://www.kormplastics.nl
The fourteenth installment in this series is a mini CD by Peter Rehberg. For his
rework, Rehberg used the recordings of the very first Kapotte Muziek workshop
(and concert) held in september 1997, as part of Staalplaat’s ‘Masterclass’
event at the Korzo Theatre, in Den Haag. Rehberg moved away from the digital
computer noise recently and for this work crafted together a beautiful soft but
outspoken piece of music. The piece lasts 17:30.
Peter Rehberg (a.k.a. Pita) (b. 1968, London) is an Author and Performer of
electronic audio works. Rehberg has given live performances throughout Europe,
North & South America, Japan and Australasia.
Selected festival appearances: Sonar, Barcelona; Ars Electronica, Linz; All
Tommorows Parties, UK & USA; Avanto, Helsinki; ICMC, Berlin; What Is Music,
Sydney & Melbourne; Taktlos, Bern; FIB, Benicassim; FIMAV, Victoriaville; Route
du Rock, St. Malo; MUTEK, Montreal; Articulating Space, Melbourne; NowNow,
Sydney.
He has collaborated with: General Magic, Jim O’Rourke, Christian Fennesz, Tina
Frank, Tujiko Noriko, Kevin Drumm, Stephen O’Malley, Marcus Schmickler, Michaela
Schwentner (aka Jade), Russell Haswell, Florian Hecker, Carlos Giffoni, Gert-Jan
Prins, Mika Vainio, Zbigniew Karkowski, Z’ev, Rosy Parlane, Keith Rowe, Dennis
Cooper, Gisele Vienne, SUNNO))) as well as being a member of MIMEO.
Collaborated with choreographers Gisele Vienne (DACM), Meg Stuart, Gyula Berger,
Chris Haring. Took part in the 2nd Göteborg Art Biennale (Against All Evens)
curated by CM von Hausswolff. Has contributed commissioned works for Austrian
Broadcasting Corporation and Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation.
Received 1999 Prix Ars Electronica Distinction Award for Digital Musics,
alongside Christian Fennesz.
09/09 LV – Riga, Skanu Mezs
12/10 UK – London, State 51, Pita vs Z’ev
14/10 UK – Bristol, Arnolfini, Pita vs Z’ev
17/10 UK – Colchester, Arts Centre, Pita vs Z’ev
21/10 SE – Stockholm, ‘I Apologize’ (Gisele Vienne), Perfect Performance
Festival
31/10-01/11 IT – Bologna, ‘Une Belle Enfant Blonde’ (Gisele Vienne), Gender
Bender Festival
02/11 IT – Bologna, Pita Raum
10-11/11 ES – Barcelona, ‘I Apologize’ (Gisele Vienne), Internacional de Teatre
Visual i de Titelles
+ + +
STEPHAN MATHIEU & JANEK SCHAEFER – Hidden Name
CD Cronica 027
http://www.cronicaelectronica.org
Stephan and Janek met each other for the first time at MUTEK in 2002, where they
performed on the same night, and shared bills at several festivals around the
world in the following years. They discovered a mutual respect for each others
work, being interested in the opposite ways they both approach the manipulation
of sound, while sharing similar ambitions. Their first joint performance took
place at the Musica Genera Festival in Szczecin, Poland in Spring 2005 which led
to them wanting to produce a project together.
A little later that year, midsummer had arrived. They spent a week in the
beautifully calm, pastoral setting of Manor Farm House, the home of a classical
composer in a small village in the South of England. Stephan and Janek made
recordings using the large collection of classical and exotic instruments, a box
of records found in the attic, and made location recordings in and around the
house.
Finally, they took this material to the York Music Research Center, a building
specifically constructed for the presentation of loudspeaker music. It is
considered one of the best electronic music auditoriums in the UK. They spent a
week working there during the winter of 2005, composing and editing their
favourite moments which then became the album Hidden Name.
+ + +
TAKAGI MASAKATSU – World Is So Beautiful
DVD Carpark Records CAK36
Streetdate: November 14
http://www.carparkrecords.com
http://www.takagimasakatsu.com
http://www.apple.com/pro/profiles/takagi
“World Is So Beautiful” is Japanese multimedia artist Takagi Masakatsu’s
blessing to the world. Using his travels around the world (Turkey, Guatamala,
Cuba, Indonesia, Nepal, Germany, Japan and France) as source footage, Takagi has
documented young people and the beauty in everyday life that surrounds us all.
Takagi Masakatsu doesn’t create, as much as bring out what’s already right there
in front of us. The latent colors in a late afternoon day are enhanced and
saturated in Takagi’s digital palette. The sounds of laughter mixed with
Takagi’s gentle piano lines highlight the uniqueness of every moment creating a
sonic and visual kaleidoscope.
Takagi records what we take for granted and makes it special. His gift is
endowing humanity with beauty and hope when we need it most.
– Select US/European live dates in 2007
– Takagi Masakatsu was recently named by RES magazine as one of the 10
multimedia artists to watch
– A recent video profile of Takagi Masakatsu on the Apple website drove enough
traffic to Takagi’s personal site to shut it down!
– “World is So Beautiful” was originally released in 2002 only in Japan on
daisyworld discs, the label of Hosono from Yellow Magic Orchestra
– “World Is So Beautiful” was originally made as a collaboration between Takagi
Masakatsu and the French fashion designer Agnes b.
– These videos were shown in nine Agnes b. shops throughout Japan as well as the
Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo and the Singapore Art Museum
+ + +
THE DRONES – Gala Mill
CD/LP ATP/R ATPRLP22
Streetdate: October 9
http://www.atpfestival.com/atp-recordings/the-drones
http://www.thedrones.com.au
Having spent much of 2005 and 2006 touring the US and Europe, beating the likes
of Wolfmother for the Australian Music Prize for their acclaimed Wait Long by
the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By (ATP/R) album, The Drones
mark their return in 2006 with the release of their much-anticipated third
album, Gala Mill.
Recorded in a mill on an isolated 10,000 acre farm on Tasmania’s east coast,
Gala Mill is an album full of extremes – moments of stark, ghostly beauty set
against outbursts of the dark, intense noise for which the band is renowned. The
album’s sense of place is palpable – barking dogs and birdsong are heard between
tracks, and the island’s history and atmosphere resonate through the songs.
Singer Gareth Liddiard says, “We just wanted to go somewhere interesting, to
steer clear of the boring old studio. Studios can feel like hospitals for sick
bands. And acoustically, recording the album where we did played a huge part in
how it ended up sounding.” Bassist Fiona Kitschin explains, “The family who owns
the farm and the mill have been there since the 1840s. It’s beautiful. There are
all these orchards around it, a creek near there you can swim… and it’s meant
to be haunted. A woman apparently comes upstairs into the bedroom and cries.
Although,” she laughs, “We never saw anything. It’d probably be a better story
if we had.”
Gala Mill is as diverse and eclectic a collection of songs as The Drones have
recorded to date. It opens with Jezebel, nearly eight minutes of sound and fury
wound tightly around a complex lyric that encompasses subjects as diverse as
nuclear testing in Australia, the Beslan school massacre, a cow that glows in
the dark and the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl. Dog-Eared is a quietly
introspective ballad – “Sentimental,” chuckles Liddiard, “But in a nasty way.”
I’m Here Now chronicles watching friends slide into heroin addiction – “Watching
them do burglaries and armed robberies and killing themselves with trains and
all the other bullshit people do to themselves and each other”.
The haunting Words From the Executioner to Alexander Pearce tells the story of
the notorious convict Pearce who escaped twice from Macquarie Harbour, both
times cannibalising his fellow escapees, and was eventually executed for his
crimes. “Tasmania is such a beautiful place, but it has such an appalling
history”, says Liddiard. “History has practically cannonised the convicts,
saying that they were all innocent and sent here for stealing a loaf of bread or
whatever, and a lot of them weren’t like that at all. But even so… I mean,
Pearce was an asshole – he was a thief, I think eventually a rapist of other men
too – but he lived a life, and he went from being like anyone else in a bad
situation to being something so far from human… by the time they killed him,
he was totally alone. He was an animal, but he had survived.”
I Don’t Ever Want to Change is about depression and denial – “There’s a certain
something about holding onto your blues, a certain integrity, but you gotta
change and you often do whether you mean to or not. Your self looks after your
self.” Work for Me sees Kitschin’s debut on lead vocals, although as she
laughingly admits, pointing at Liddiard, “It’s only because he made me!” Gala
Mill also looks to other artists for inspiration – I Looked Down the Line and I
Wondered takes its title from a song by the 1930s gospel singer Sister Rosetta
Tharpe, while Are You Leaving For The Country is a breezy cover of a song made
famous (or obscure) by Karen Dalton.
It’s Gala Mill’s last track, though, that perhaps best exemplifies the ambition
and scope of this record. 16 Straws is a lyric ballad without precedent in The
Drones’ previous work, a song that draws on a rich tradition of Australian
storytelling. Taking his inspiration and a first verse from the old traditional
song Moreton Bay. Liddiard wrote some 30 further verses himself, weaving
imagination and recorded history into the forlorn tale of a group of convicts
who overcome the Catholic interdiction on suicide by drawing straws to decide
which of them will kill another and get them all sent to the gallows.
Infused with a rich sense of history and yet utterly modern, both
thought-provoking and viscerally compelling, Gala Mill marks the welcome return
of one of Australia’s most intelligent, innovative and important bands.
“comes running at the wall with an overwhelming ravaged tenderness in the heart
of the shambolic, raging maelstrom.” 4/5 All Music Guide
“The Drones’ music combines backwater tension with wildly careering guitars….
combined with the band’s knack for offsetting the most unrelenting noise with
wispy melodies – further elevate The Drones towards greatness.” 4/5 Uncut
“This is rock of an Old Testament vigour” Mojo
“The Drones are more than salvation for the waiting faithful” Rolling Stone
“Gareth Liddiard howls junkie-gospel blooze jive until ‘Shark Fin Blues’ and
‘You Really Don’t Care’ become big dirty hits of Iggy Pop electric destruction.”
8/10 NME
“Serious, give these fuckers time and they’ll rip out your eardrums, perhaps
even your heart.” 8.3 Pitchforkmedia
07/10 PT – Barreiro, Barreiro Rocks
08/10 ES – Vigo, La Fábrica De Chocolate
10/10 ES – Lierganes, Los Picos
13/10 ES – Bilbao, Kafe Antzokia
14/10 ES – Barcelona, Apolo [2]
18/10 NL – Utrecht, DBs
19/10 CH – Zurich, Ziegel Oh Lac
20/10 DE – Freiburg, Rattenspiegel
24/10 UK – London, Camden Barfly
+ + +
MORE ESSENTIAL LIVES
ASHIS MAHAPATRA [True-False] 28/09 DE – Berlin, Ausland w/ Eva Sjuve
BRANDON LABELLE [Errant Bodies]
27/09 DE – Berlin, Ausland
Sound Installation: ‘Duck Duck Goose’ (8 chairs & 8 speakers)
GAGARIN [Geo] supporting Pere Ubu
04/10 ES – Madrid, Experimenta Club / David Thomas vs. Gagarin
07/10 AT – Ebensee, Kino
08/10 IT – San Vito Di Leguzzano (Vicenza), Centro Stabile Cultura
09/10 CH – Basel, Das Schiff
10/10 DE – Munich, Kranhalle (Feierwerk)
11/10 DE – Darmstadt, Centralstation
15/10 DE – Dortmund, FZW
16/10 DE – Bremen, Junges Theater
17/10 DE – Berlin, Quasimodo
18/10 DE – Dresden, Star Club
19/10 DE – Hamburg, Fabrik
21/10 BE – Brussels, Beursschouwburg
22/10 NL – Utrecht, Tivoli De Helling
23/10 UK – Brighton, Komedia
HUMCRUSH [Rune Grammofon]
28/10 DE – Moers Festival
14/12 CH – Geneva, L´Usine
IAN BODDY [DiN]
30/09 UK – Leicester, National Space Centre
07/10 USA – Philadelphia, St. Mary’s Church
MOHA! [Rune Grammofon]
09/09 LV – Riga, Skanu Mezs Festival
09/11 NL – Utrecht, Theater Kikker
22/11 NL – Tilburg, Paradoxx
23/11 NL – Amsterdam, Bimhuis
POHLITZ/THOMAS STRØNEN [Rune Grammofon] 15/12 CH – Geneva, Ernest Ansertmet
RM74 [dOc/Hinterzimmer]
15/09 CH – Düdingen, Bad Bonn w/ Ephel Duath
30/09 CH – Solothurn, Rest. Kreuz w/ Herpes ö DeLuxe
21/10 CH – Aarau, Babydoll
SUSANNA AND THE MAGICAL ORCHESTRA [Rune Grammofon]
14/10 BE – Buda, Kortrijk (Budafest)
15/10 CH – Bern, B-Flat Club
TOUCH 25
17/10 UK – London, The Bedford Arms w/ Fennesz, Philip Jeck, Rosy Parlane, CM
von Hausswolff, DJ Jacob Kirkegaard
ATP – THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS curated by Thurston Moore
19-22/12 UK – IGGY & THE STOOGES, SONIC YOUTH, BARDO POND, SIX ORGANS OF
ADMITTANCE, JACKIE-O MOTHERFUCKER, CHARALAMBIDES, MY CAT IS AN ALIEN, THE
SKATERS, MELVINS, MAGIK MARKERS, ALEXANDER TUCKER, DEERHOOF, WOODEN WAND,
SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN, RICHARD YOUNGS, WOLF EYES, NEGATIVE APPROACH, DEAD C,
MONOTRACT, PRURIENT, AWESOME COLOR, DKT MC5 FEATURING MARK ARM, DINOSAUR JR,
GANG OF FOUR, BE YOUR OWN PET, NURSE WITH WOUND, AARON DILLOWAY, MAJOR STARS,
MOUTHUS, BLOOD STEREO, DOUBLE LEOPARDS, LAMBSBREAD, NO NECK BLUES BAND, HIVE
MIND, LESLIE KEFFER, NOTEKILLERS, DEAD MACHINES, FAMILY UNDERGROUND, FURSAXA,
WHITE OUT W/ NELS CLINE
+ + +
Dense Promotion
Reichenberger Str. 147
10999 Berlin
Germany
