I don’t play guitar but i’m always eyeing the Orange amps, they catch my eye every time. Recently I saw someone post that Disco setup with the turntables and I had to dig up more, here’s some of the best images I found.
Its hard, i’m not a Kings Of Convenience bandwagon fan, i’m a true Erlend fan and this just throws a few things off but not in a bad way. For the record, I enjoy how everything else meshes, that synth is actually refreshing, the flute with the bassline nails some classy early light disco that i’m a fan of. But the ukelele sounding thing when its up front, i’m just not feeling. What are your thoughts? and don’t say “why those shoes?” because I already said it.
Artwork by Langdon Graves
Thomas Mullarney and Jacob Gossett, aka Brooklyn duo Beacon, introduced themselves to the world with the No Body and For Now EPs, both released last year on Ghostly International. The EPs were united by minimalist, R&B-influenced instrumentation, and also by a lyrical theme, with both serving as meditations on the darkness that underpins the most intense of human emotions: love.
The duo’s debut album The Ways We Separate both consolidates and develops these ideas. The album focuses, as the title suggests, on the idea of separation — both within the context of relationships and in a more intimate, psychological sense. As Mullarney explains, “The narrative contained inside The Ways We Separate deals with two kinds of separation: one where two entities grow apart, and the other where we grow apart from ourselves. Over the course of a relationship, the two sometimes happen together, one being the result of the other.”
Desires, passions and regrets are central to the songs on The Ways We Separate, which take a variety of perspectives to construct a nuanced reflection on the album’s central theme. ‘Between the Waves’ draws a clever analogy between relationships and soundwaves falling out of phase: “I know all the ways we separate/ Where we start to fade at different frequencies.” ‘Overseer’ catalogues a parting of the ways with discomfiting clarity: “Isn’t it fine?/ Taking it slow?/ Watching you watch me walk out your door.” And album closer ‘Split in Two’ explores how the extremes of love and loss can take you far away from being the person you thought you were, making explicit the connection between the two ideas of separation: “What I’d do for you?”, sings Thomas Mullarney, “Split myself in half/ Divided into two.”
Musically, The Ways We Separate finds Beacon working with a richer sonic palette than ever before —as Gossett says, “The production on this album is much more expansive than anything we’ve done thus far. We spent a lot of time exploring new gear and experimenting with how to pull a wide range of sound out of various instruments. Some of the key sonics that shaped this LP are analogue synthesis, lots of heavily processed guitar work, and vocal layering/processing.” While the abiding mood remains that of late-night introspection, the production draws from elements of hip hop and a wide gamut of electronic music, marrying intricate beats and subtle textures to honeyed pop melodies that belie the album’s conceptual depth. Rarely has bleakness sounded so pretty — this is a record that’s deceptively, compellingly beautiful, an exploration of a place both discomfiting and darkly seductive.
– Ghostly International
By National Geographic
Dave DK name has popped up more than a few times, I believe this is the first time i’ve heard any of his reworks. If you get the nod from Future Classics then you must be doing something right.
No Body is Sean Lynch from 800Beloved, to me it sounds like he set the guitars, band business into the closet and gave a machine production and simplicity a chance, he has always had the voice
I can always rely on the label Innervisions to fill my DJ bag, always melodic and easy to dance to and probably the most cinematic tech-house catalog because of that moody/chase scene vibe they seem to sign.
I just settled back in Brooklyn and have a small setup to get back into making music, this is just some warming up to get my ear back to find that balance in distortion and melody for the Heathered Pearls project.
We are really proud to be sharing such a lush album with you guys this weekend from Billow Observatory. I finally was able to sit all the way thru it today and it really came together as one of the most cohesive albums of the year. The sound is submerged in Loscil like drones but every so often you feel like everything comes up for air.
Time. It all comes back to time.
The self-titled debut album from Billow Observatory — the duo comprising Danish producer Jonas Munk, aka Manual, and Auburn Lull guitarist Jason Kolb — is a record that has been nearly a decade in the making, and a record that unfolds at a stately, unhurried pace, its subtleties revealing themselves with repeated listening. Its sound reflects its creators’ diverse backgrounds — Kolb’s ambient guitar work, along with Munk’s experience in film music and the minutiae of sound engineering — as well as their patience and devotion to their craft.
The genesis of Billow Observatory came in summer 2004, when Munk was first introduced to Kolb’s work with Auburn Lull. A split EP between Manual and Auburn Lull was mooted, and although this didn’t materialize, the duo began exchanging ideas and audio files, finally meeting in person during 2007 when they played a show together in Michigan.
As time passed, their work began to coalesce into what would become Billow Observatory — as Munk says, “We never expected to be working on material for six years, but something very exciting took shape as soon as we started working together and we had to follow that idea to the end.” The process of following that idea was slow and deliberate, one that required meticulous attention to detail and nuance. The resultant album is the work of two musicians at the top of their game, pouring years of experience and expertise into the creation of a record where every sound is there for a reason.
Munk adds, “The basis for most of this material comes from guitars and effects devices but every bit has been processed and treated with software… I didn’t use a lot of different effects – the focus on my part has been on shaping each bit of sound to perfection, still maintaining the character of a guitar but turning it into something that doesn’t sound ‘played’. I think of a lot of this material as sounding as if it comes from surroundings rather than from hands touching instruments.”
The music the duo have created is immersive and somehow timeless, evoking places and ambiences as exotic as some of those that give the songs their names. “I remember we would sometimes ask each other questions about random places with interesting names that we thought the other person would know something interesting about,” Kolb explains. “I would ask Jonas about the Baltic Sea, Scandinavia, or something in that general area of the world and he would ask something similar about Michigan or the Great Lakes. I think we were influenced by the idea of creating music that told vague, semi-fictitious histories of places we knew very little about.”
In an age where we race from one instant to the next, never stopping to think about the moment we’re inhabiting, Billow Observatory is a record that rewards patience and, yes, time. “[The album] is dense with emotion and meticulously crafted,” says Munk, “while feeling light and airy when listening to the song as a whole. I have had this album for over a year and it still withstands the test of time.”
Prefuse 73 and Teebs team up as Sons of the Morning, sounds very much like early Prefuse, thank god!
The sex appeal / heartbreak is harder to grasp more than ever for any Cold Wave musician in the US and it has almost become too available so its even more difficult for a new act like Dream Affair to get the recognition they deserve. An amazing effort though, I hope to see them live and feel the authenticity because thats the best way to survive in this genre.
Memory Tapes could have made 3 songs from this 8+ minute jam, just the keys in the intro could be a AM Gold classic then there’s a mellowed Weird Tapes sounding portion that flutters around in and out. Then some sort of Dan Deacon epic mountain climbing guitar attack making this song just the most dynamic thing i’ve heard in years but I don’t know if it translate as the best decision making.
I rarely lead off with something at this tempo but its Friday and Devonwho is SF based so it felt right and not only that this a easy jam to settle into, expect more from Devonwho soon on the blog.
The TRUST album(came out in Feb.) is the most underrated record of the year, its locked into my top 5 albums of the year. This remix comes as no surprise as being magnificent, the vocals fit perfectly with Robert Alfons production.
XXYYXX is 16 or maybe even 17 by now and has caught peoples ears, this track is one of his more slower edits(i’m saying edits because i’m putting my money on him not having a guitar, violins or drums in his studio). Definitely a fan, I just always think about the musician that have made a name for themselves at 16 and thinking what they think of their old music when they turn 30? it worked well for rock bands but this wave of electronic artists will be interesting.
Kruisemode was a hard choice to pick up and put on here because 1. the gun sound used as a transition is the most uncreative sound i’ve heard all year and thats a fact. 2. the name is a bit late to the game but thats not stopping me because after you throw those ideas to the side this track really enjoyable, i’d edit it and be really happy with it.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: This is just the beginning of what i’ll share of the Loscil album, maybe we can get an exclusive preview of the whole album on the blog? look for pre-orders here.
This is pretty beatless spaced out guitar version of “Snooze 4 Love” by Todd Terje, its always a fine time to put this on.
Avey Tare of Animal Collective uploaded 3 tracks new songs today possibly for an upcoming release which makes this post all together maybe the most relaxing collection of track’s i’ve ever posted.