GROUP RHODA - 'OUT OF TIME - OUT OF TOUCH'

Formats

• LSSN012 - LP

  N/A

• LSSN012CD - CD

  5060174954214

Details

Group Rhoda is a solo project based in San Francisco. The fruits of a five year journey into self-discipline and personal discovery, Mara Barenbaum's Group Rhoda uses stark musical practices and analogue electronics to evoke imagery and rhythms both atavistic and futuristic. Using the tools of musical simplification - synthesisers, analogue effects and drum machines - Group Rhoda's aim is to build a pop music that reaches freedom through discipline. All instrumentation, whether in the studio or on stage, is played live and with no sampling; a completely organic language formed from the roots of synthesis. 'Out Of Time, Out of Touch' is Group Rhoda's debut recording. It is the culmination of a process which began with a self-taught keyboard technique and a desire to learn about the machinations of the tools of pop music and, in turn, the environment in which it is produced. While many of GR's choices are implicitly political - from a strict methodology to a strong commitment to DIY ethics and community - the outcome is also easily approachable as sublime pop music in the best sense. With a grounding in minimal wave and the post-industrial landscape, GR takes surprising detours into tropical rhythm patterns, dubbed-out bass throbs, hypnotic Wurlitzer flourishes and, above all, GR's distinctive, plaintive vocal. The alluring contradiction at the heart of 'Out Of Time, Out Of Touch' is the push of the psychedelic, the hyper-real, the overtly physical and the pull of the artificial, the synthesised, the stark. This contradiction is brought to light continually through-out 'Out Of Time, Out Of Touch' - whether in the classic west coast psychedelic melodic sense played with Suicide's mechanical simplicity, or the industrial rhythms of Throbbing Gristle drenched in a technicolour, sun-blanched imagination. The songs on 'Out Of Time, Out Of Touch' seem to be plucked from a continuum - the throb of the bass and splashing of the drum machines are ongoing in the universe - with GR forming the songs with precision. Her voice intones themes of dislocation from reality, loneliness and the conundrum of ultimate freedom. 'Virtual Dancer' rides a bass-heavy wave to comment on the fleeting nature of human contact in the modern age, while 'At The Dark' is a deep-listening experience steeped in hypnotic psychedelia. 'Hi Rise' continues the theme of isolation, a reference to the eponymous JG Ballard novel, on the back of metallic tropical rhythm pattern. 'Fire' closes the album and is a pulsing, linear song which recalls 'Autobahn' era Kraftwerk, a single riff repeating and modulating around Barenbaum's freedom dilemma. 'Out Of Time, Out Of Touch' presents a surge forward in the ongoing critique and participation of pop music that is Group Rhoda.

Tracks

N/A

Press

http://www.20jazzfunkgreats.co.uk/wordpress/2011/03/20-dark-pop-greats/

http://alteredzones.com/posts/1136/group-rhoda-concrete-jungle/

http://www.localsuicide.com/stream-group-rhoda-concrete-jungle/

http://spirit-of-eden.com/news/group-rhoda/

Audio & Video

MARK FEEHAN - 'MF'

Formats

• SB147 - LP

  655030114717

Details

While our erstwhile maestro is likely to point out personal involvement in Miami's Broken Talent or Trash Monkeys as the apex of his twisted musical endeavors, the fact remains that Mark Feehan is most likely best remembered as the "other" cold-blooded string-mangler that shredded synapses through the Siltbreeze era of Harry Pussy two decades ago. While recent years have seen former bandmate Bill Orcutt reinvent the essence of gut-bucket blues, Feehan whiled away the time building an exact replica of an infamous Confederate submarine (the H.L. Hunley) and traveling the world, submerged. During that tenure nestled in Neptune's realm, he created a masterful album of his own-this very collection bearing his humble monogram. MF is a lively mix of guitar-based compositions steeped in modal harmonics that explode into miasmic, aural waves, transporting emanations of Phil Yost, Magical Power Mako, Michael Chapman and Hans Reichel into the mind stream. Swirling, spacey eddies will open like maelstroms and flood your subconscious, but do not be afraid. That much time under water changes a man. But sometimes it's for the best. And MF is a case in point. Limited edition of 350 copies. Comes with MP3 DL card

Tracks

1. Salvete
2. Sonnabend
3. Sopio
4. Root ?Ro
5. Mash Electra
6. See You in Brundisium
7. Stoned Pilot B
8. Mister Catulle
9. Stumble Bum
10. Cano Virumque Arma
11. Coco the Magical Bird

Press

? Solo album from former Harry Pussy
guitarist!!!!

Audio & Video

SPECTRE FOLK - 'ANCIENT STORM'

Formats

• VB02 - LP

  655037000211

Details

Tireless Michigan-bred multi-instrumentalist (and parent) Pete Nolan runs the Arbitrary Signs imprint, drums for Magik Markers and has written a children's book and accompanying album-yet still has time and energy to lead Spectre Folk's doleful, spiraling psychedelic drones. With drummer Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), Aaron Mullan (Tall Firs) on bass and Peter Meehan on guitar, they churn out black seas of noise guitar, psych jams, no-fi experiments and other interplanetary gunk. The follow-up to their The Blackest Medicine, Vol. 2 EP (Woodsist), Ancient Storm opens with a slow-burning ballad whose vibe is right out of If I Could Only Remember My Name, and ends with creepy heaviness that wouldn't be out of place on a Jandek record. In between, layered, psychedelic guitar work and the occasional electrified vibraphone overlay a mix of beefed-up psych-rock muscle and a more stripped-down, guy-in-a-bedroom sound. Hard to believe a group this murky can swing this hard, but such is the nature of 21st Century astral projection.

Tracks

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Press

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Audio & Video

CHRIS LEE - 'BURY THE KINGS'

Formats

• VB03 - LP

  655037000310

Details

After an eight-year hiatus, Brooklyn-based, North Carolina-born singer and songwriter Chris Lee returns with his fourth LP. Produced by Steve Shelley and released on his new label Vampire Blues, Bury the Kings features Lee on guitar and vocals, Shelley on drums, David Nagler (Nova Social, John Wesley Harding and Jon Langford collaborator) on keyboards, and Texan brothers Aaron McClellan on bass and Joey McClellan on guitars. The album was recorded and mixed by Ted Young at Sonic Youth's Echo Canyon West studio in Hoboken, NJ.

Tracks

N/A

Press

?Lee?s lyricism is genuinely poetic in the old-fashioned sense, as opposed to the indie-pop diary scribblings sense....? ?Phoenix New Times

?... when he lifts into that liquid falsetto, he?s the most beautiful human in the room.? ?Chicago Reader

Audio & Video