brain loot

Bongripper - Satan Worshiping Doom

2010-11-29T22:42:00.000-08:00

This album destroys

Earth - A Bureaucratic Desire For Extra-Capsular Extraction

2010-11-15T22:48:00.000-08:00

http://www.mediafire.com/?wgteya1y6rkr6he

We have been blessed with a massive offering from the gods! For the first time ever the debut recordings of Earth are available in one concise, beautifully documented capsule. " “A Beaurocratic Desire for Extra Capsular Extraction" contains the entire 1990 Smegma Studios sessions which are the debut recordings from Earth. Previously available scattered via the "Extra Capsular Extractions" EP and "Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitar" CD.

This essential collection contains every note from the infamous first Earth recording sessions. All 7 tracks have been carefully remastered by Mell Dettmer. It is actually questionable what mastering if any was done on the original tracks so we entrusted the task into the very capable hands of Mell who has mastered all the other Earth releases via Southern Lord.

The result is a more burly, mammoth and crushing audio experience that makes this collection a must have even for the die-hards that own previous versions of these recordings. Includes liner notes from Dylan Carlson with exclusive artwork by Simon Fowler and package design via Stephen O'Malley. - Via Southern Lord

One of my favorite albums this year. Yes, I may have heard these songs once before, but together and remastered they sound HUGE! Definitely check this out.

Steve Moore - The Henge

2010-06-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

This is the debut solo album from Zombi keyboardist/bassist Steve Moore. If you are a fan of Zombi or Majeure (which I posted about a few posts down) then you must snag this. Beautiful analog synths creating some amazing space-like music reminiscent of Tangerine Dream's earlier stuff and the Blade Runner soundtrack. If you like electronic music and if you like synths then you need to get this!

Download

Buy

Autechre - Move of Ten

2010-06-14T17:48:00.000-07:00

This is ANOTHER new album from Autechre. Two new Autechre albums this year? Fuck yes! And this isn't just some b-sides/outtakes compilation. In my opinion this album is better than their first 2010 release, Oversteps. You will surely be missing out if you don't give this album a listen. All the glitchy, electronic, ambient noises you would come to expect from Autechre. However, it never seems to get old and they only get better and better with each album release.

You can check out the song "y7" from this album at their website.

Buy this album!

Download it. (V0 quality).

2010-06-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

Here are a few new shots that I took the other day. I don't think I've ever been to the fields above my house during spring time considering I've never seen the foliage so green and full before.

As always you can check out my flickr page to view/download these and more of my pictures at their full resolution.

Edit: Man, blogspot really fucks up the image quality. I recommend viewing these at flickr.

2010-06-11T14:32:00.000-07:00

Three Frames is such a badass blog!

I don't think it needs much explaining.

John Dowland - In Darkness Let Me Dwell

2010-06-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

Classical/Renaissance. Dark, sad and beautiful. This is a great contemporary interpretation of John Dowland's, a 16th century English composer, singer and lutenist, best work.

JazzTimes Christopher Porter had this to say about it:

Lutist Stephen Stubbs, baroque violinist Maya Homburger and double-bassist Barry Guy join multireedist John Surman and tenor-vocalist/leader John Potter for 14 modern interpretations of Dowland's supremely sad ballads. You would usually find Dowland albums in the classical or early-music sections of the CD store, and despite the presence of Surman and Guy, that's almost certainly where In Darkness Let Me Dwell will be placed. While that's probably the best spot for it, there is improvisation on the album, specifically in the way the tunes are linked with free passages that allow the players using such relatively modern instruments as the double bass and the soprano saxophone, just enough space to make their own marks on centuries-old songs.

Potter has a gorgeous voice, and Surman is at his loveliest on the soprano sax and bass clarinet, but it's bassist Guy who steps out farthest on the improvisational ledge during segue ways. His playing bursts with the energy and extended techniques that have defined his playing for the last 30 years as Europe's most remarkable avant-garde bassist. While elements of In Darkness Let Me Dwell are radical relative to the compositions, the CD is one long ode to the joys of depression. Being blue has never sounded so appealing.

DL
Have a listen.
Buy it here.

Matmos and So Percussion - Treasure State

2010-06-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

Electronic/Experimental collaboration between Matmos and So Percussion.

Here is a discription from what.cd

Long in the making, Treasure State is a startling collaboration between two rogue American groups: Known for playing the music of Steve Reich, David Lang, and Paul Lansky, Brooklyn-based quartet So Percussion are acknowledged virtuoso performers of classical and avant-garde writing for percussion, and are increasingly recognized as composers in their own right. Musique-concrete oddballs brought into the mainstream by their collaboration with Bjork, Baltimorean electronic duo Matmos are infamous for turning bizarre sound sources (from plastic surgery to live snails) into shuffling rhythmic pop.

Bridging the gap from the conservatory to the laptop screen, these groups share a love of propulsive musical experiment. The resulting collaborative album is a checkerboard of Matmos and So Percussion compositions, but in each case these ensembles have reinforced each other's techniques and methodologies. The core of the record is a series of studies of the musical resources of everyday and not-so-everyday elemental materials: ceramic planters, pails of water, aluminum beer cans, cactus needles, cans of house paint. The result is a richly diverse yet highly listenable record that flows across a range of genres, sound sources, objects and styles to create an elemental American landscape.

Proudly polyglot, the hybrid songs on Treasure State differ from each other and from themselves. Starting as a gentle exercise in Martin Denny-esque Polynesian fantasy, Treasure erupts midway into a delirium of squealing animal noises, fuzzed out sitar and electric guitar from Mark Lightcap (of Acetone); after the squall, the song regains composure and returns gently to earth on a lush bed of grand piano and accordion from Zeena Parkins. Finding lyricism in the everyday, Water layers Dave Douglas' trumpet, crotales, glockenspiel and a ravishing steel drum performance from So's Joshua Quillen on top of bouncing electronic rhythms sampled from the sound of water filling a metal pail to glistening, swinging, gorgeous effect. In immediate counterpoint to the slapstick of Treasure, Water serves notice that this is an experimental record that is not afraid to be beautiful. An exercise in suitably prickly pointillism, Needles is made entirely out of the sounds of amplified cactus needles being fondled by the members of So Percussion, re-composed into a canon form by So's Jason Treuting, and then "chopped and screwed" by Matmos. As the record continues the stylistic pendulum between gritty and pretty continues to swing in wider arcs: the dirty, grinding groove of Cross and the near-industrial klangfarbenmelodie of Aluminum are complemented by So's melodic vibraphone playing and ear for minimalist melodic form on Shard.

Though space prohibits describing all of the songs, there are notable collaborations with some distinguished instrument-builders that extend the palette of objects and sounds available to these groups. Shard also features inventor/composer Dan Trueman (of PLorK, the Princeton Laptop Orchestra) manipulating ceramic sounds using his own Chuck software driven by customized Wii controllers; the outcome turns warm embers of scuttling and scraping into a kind of post-digital Harry Partch. The concluding Flame is built around samples of noted inventor/artist (and Macarthur "genius grant" recipient) Walter Kitundu's "phono-harp"; melancholic acoustic guitar and the harpsichord-like figures of the phono-harp are joined by cascades of glockenspiel and vibraphone, and their rippling patterns climb to a stomping, clattering techno/noise climax. The song's movement from beauty to noise models the arc of the album it concludes.

The record had a complex gestation period: at the invitation of Brett Allen, the members of Matmos and So Percussion went to the SnowGhost Studios in Whitefish, Montana-- the Treasure State which gives the album its title-- and collaboratively generated the bulk of the songs. San Francisco plunderphonicist Wobbly then chopped and edited the results on several tracks, and finally, with frequent interventions from Matmos' M. C. Schmidt, "fifth" So Percussion member and producer Lawson White overdubbed extra elements, processed, and mixed the results. The payoff of this nomadic pilgrimage is a diverse yet unified musical experience. From the desert hallucinations of Needles to the Hawaiian exotica kitsch of Treasure to the murky jazz noir of Swamp, it's a deeply American album in which musical idioms and landscapes keep arising and dissolving into each other. Call it instrumental pop music, call it 21st century electro-classical, call it a great new record.

Random

2010-06-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

These are just a few random pictures I have found over the years. Not sure who any of the artists are. If anyone knows then hit me up so I can give them some recognition.

Xela - The Divine

2010-06-09T22:04:00.000-07:00

"Now those that dwell in a corrupt body,
like those who sail in an old
ship, do not lie on their back, but are
ever praying, stretching their
hands to God."

I'll let Experimedia explain:

"Church bells chime and rattle through the record's first piece, echoing and distorting through a fog of chattering voices and prayers. Tape loops stumble over tape loops and the solemn, ecclesiastical drone slowly decomposes into thick, crackling noise. Through the mists choirs sing, heralding the introduction of the second side of "The Divine" which takes the human voice into cavernous and smudged, yet strangely alluring territories. There is almost a Basinski-like charm to this work as the choirs effortlessly degrade into an unrecognisable mud of harmony and abrasiveness. This is music informed by a religious world; Xela has edged from the scriptures of cults and secret societies to the spires of organisation and power. God is in the detail."

Highly recommend for anyone into noise/drone/ambient.

Listen to his stuff here.

Buy this album here.

This Mortal Coil - It'll End In Tears

2010-06-09T21:44:00.000-07:00

This Mortal Coil is an 80's goth dream-pop collective of members from the British record label 4AD. This album features contributions from Dead Can Dance, Howard Devoto, and Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins among others. This album is haunting, emotional and drenched in tons of echo and reverb. It has some great instrumental tracks that boarder on the line of ambient/experimental. Check this out!
DL
Listen to a sample here and here.

2010-06-09T02:18:00.000-07:00

Design by Non-Format.

Sputnik

2010-06-09T01:57:00.000-07:00

Sputnik from Weston Currie on Vimeo.

Music by Grouper

Majeure - Time Span

2010-06-09T01:42:00.000-07:00

Relentless, kraut-rock/minimal-ish electronic. If you ever thought it would be cool to go to a bar on Mars in the future or if you like the Blade Runner soundtrack...this is for you. Anthony Paterra's, of Zombi, solo album. Drums and synths like none other.
DL
Buy this album here.

Sander Meisner

2010-06-09T00:41:00.000-07:00

Sander Meisner. This dude is definitely one of my favorite photographers and probably one of my biggest influences. He specializes in long exposure photography usually of urban contemporary landscapes. All of his photos are stunning. You can check out his work here and here.

Some of my stuff

2010-06-09T00:16:00.000-07:00

Just a small sample of some of my work. If you are interested feel free to check out my flickr

Jenny Saville

2010-06-09T00:09:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd start it off by recognizing Jenny Saville, the artist whose pictures I borrowed for my blog layout. Her paintings are visceral, heavy, and sometimes gory but you can't look away. I highly recommend checking out the rest of her work.

Those blank stares...

Test

2010-06-08T21:49:00.000-07:00

Testing
TESTING
TESTING