DAWN OF MIDI - 'DYSNOMIA'

Formats

• ERATP068CD - CD

  4050486110409

• ERATP068LP - LP

  4050486110416

• ERATP068LE - LP

  4050486110430

Details

***REPRESS CLEAR VINYL - SUPPORTING RADIOHEAD '16 DATES*** Channelled madness – the sound Dawn of Midi spent years shaping is culminating into their most mesmerising work yet. With Dysnomia, the Brooklyn-based group Dawn of Midi abandons improvisation in favour of composition, utilising sophisticated rhythmic structures from North and West African folk traditions to weave a sonic tapestry of trance-inducing grooves. From close up one may see only dots, but when stepping back an undulating image reveals itself. “We didn’t want to create anything cerebral,” says Belyamani, “we wanted something visceral, something that would awaken our instinctive dance impulses.” Having met at California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles in 2006, bassist Aakaash Israni, pianist Amino Belyamani and drummer Qasim Naqvi found their original rapport through late night tennis matches on the campus court. The chemistry they founded there eventually led them back indoors to improvise together; something they did in total darkness to deprive themselves of all their senses except the crucial one – their hearing. The manner, by which a trio of solely acoustic instruments ends up sounding like electronic music, has to do with the unconventional ways the group play their instruments on Dysnomia. The record comes to life in the trio’s critically acclaimed live shows, a test of endurance and trust that involves performing their hand-looped acoustic minimalism note for note, just as the compositions were recorded. Dawn of Midi’s sets are as energetic and rhythmic as a seamlessly mixed DJ-set, mesmerising fans in the same way the group’s favourite experimental and electronic acts have for decades. The album was recorded to 2-inch tape at Waterfront Studios in Hudson, New York - a former church that was purchased and transformed into an analogue recording playground by the great engineer Henry Hirsch. Once the band visited the studio and met Henry, an expert in analogue recording equipped with a vintage Helios console, 16 and 24-track tape machines and a superb collection of microphones, it was obvious they had to record there; it was miles ahead of anywhere else they had visited. Rusty Santos then mixed the album to make sure it would hit as hard as the group’s favourite electronic albums do in spite of it being entirely acoustic. “We wanted to make a record that sounded both musically futuristic and sonically vintage,” explains Israni, “and since the album never saw a proper international release, it is very exciting to see what might happen when more people are exposed to it. And to be aligned with Erased Tapes, whose enthusiasm for the music they release has done a lot for exposing unique instrumental and electronic music, makes it that much more interesting.” Swiss artist Fabian Oefner created the cover image by placing paint on a spinning drill bit and firing it at a canvas, then capturing it with high-speed photography. Formed in 2007, the band name was happened upon after Naqvi casually uttered the phrase by chance as a non sequitur for the improvised music the trio was making at the time, they had no idea that years later they would make an album like Dysnomia that would make their name appear fateful. Having supported Nils Frahm on his sold-out North American tour in 2014, Dawn of Midi will be joining their fellow label artist throughout Europe from April 25–May 25 including two nights at the Roundhouse in London.

Tracks

1. Io
2. Sinope
3. Atlas
4. Nix
5. Moon
6. Ymir
7. Ijiraq
8. Algol
9. Dysnomia

Press

'Stellar' at a loss for words - Spin

'Something totally unprecedented' - Pitchfork

?Perverse in a good way? ? The New York Times

'Brain-bending, seemingly impossible' ? Rolling Stone

?Moving and addictive...a feat of innovation - Interview Magazine

'A mysterious, vital sound with a pull all its own' - L.A. Times

Audio & Video

CCR HEADCLEANER - 'TEAR DOWN THE WALL'

Formats

• ITR291 - LP

  759718529111

• ITR291CD - CD

  759718529128

Details

“I’d seen CCR Headcleaner several times before, usually an entertaining mess of fucked-up rock racket that emerged from the ashes of a Georgia band I liked called Long Legged Woman. But at their Hemlock show opening for Human Eye back in September, CCR somehow transmuted themselves from an unevenly good local band into a marauding gang of Scanners-style head-exploder telepaths and delivered a defining, transcendent, next-level performance. CCR’s hypnotic and malevolent psychedelia wasn’t faux-fun party-psych or disingenuously mellow Zen Center nature psych—it was more of a Jim Thompson’s Killer Inside Me psych with elective self-surgery K-hole romps and post-hate-fuck cuddle balladry. The band was possessed, the room was juiced, the audience transfixed. At points, CCR’s set was suffused with a prosaic evil vibe that reminded me of the Rembrandt Pussyhorse / Locust Abortion-era Butthole Surfers live shows. Musically, CCR are way different than the Buttholes—I’m referring more to the air of all-pervading cathartic menace. Shortly afterward, CCR went with Fuzz on a national tour (huge props to Fuzz for that act of public service) and I caught them a month later at Death By Audio in Brooklyn. They were in top road shape, which only underscored how special that show with Human Eye had been.” —Anthony Bedard, Bay Bridged

Tracks

1. Peace Dub
2. I?m Alive
3. Moonsnow
4. Dream Sweeper
5. Eat This Riff
6. Curl or Pearl
7. Tear Down the Wall
8. Brown Acid

Press

Audio & Video

THE DOUBLE - 'DAWN OF THE DOUBLE'

Formats

• ITR295 - LP

Details

**BACK IN STOCK**Can you dance and meditate at the same time? Talking to one of The Double before a Brooklyn gig in the summer of 2014, I was told they were going to play a “dance piece.” I wasn’t sure how to take that, but it slowly began to make sense as I watched their stunning set. The music struck an odd balance between perpetual motion and perpetual stasis: the drummer, Jim White (Dirty Three, Venom P Stinger), maintained a modified Bo Diddley beat, switching between the snare and the toms after long stretches on each, while the guitarist, Emmett Kelly (Cairo Gang, Ty Segall & the Muggers), stuck steadfastly to an E chord. They took the underpinning of countless rock ’n’ roll songs—the rhythm section—and decisively moved it to the foreground. It soon became clear that this wasn’t going to be the average concert of discrete songs or pieces—so the question then became how long they would sustain the groove for. The answer turned out to be 45 entrancing minutes. Maybe it could be likened to Rhys Chatham’s “Guitar Trio,” which also puts a rock ’n’ roll backbeat to a droning, solitary chord, but The Double’s vision of rock minimalism is more tied to both rock rhythm guitar and the drum’s more traditional role in rock’s invitation to dance. And unlike “Guitar Trio” (or the ’90s techno genre Trance, for that matter), The Double didn’t build up notes and rhythms until a breakdown section where the process started all over again; they went into it full bore and never let up. Many moons later I heard the studio recording of the same piece, i.e. this album. This time I knew what to expect from The Double, but naturally a recording has a different effect. The quasi-mono mix draws the guitar and drums together into one sonic forcefield. The open high E and B strings on the guitar ring out virtually the entire time, generating harmonics that fill out the sound and sometimes almost indicate another instrument (there are a couple of instances where the guitar sounds like both the organ and the rhythm guitar on the Velvet Underground’s “Sister Ray”). The piece doesn’t end so much as just stop; a final revelation comes in the last few seconds with the sound of the guitar amp’s reverb unit—which hadn’t been noticeable up until then—settling down with a shudder after they finish. The Double’s music is surely not cerebral, but with only two instruments, no vocals, no real modulations, and no production tricks, the mind does tend to wander if you’re sitting and listening to it. What happens if you dance to it? Then the beat is winding you up, and it clears your head—much like meditating, ironically, which is also associated with being seated and physically still. Maybe you have to see The Double live to fully appreciate what they do, maybe you have to dance to their music in order to fulfill its true intent… or maybe this album is a definitive statement of what they’re all about. The Double’s music is both mesmerizing and propelling, allowing for potential mental and physical stimulation. These guys eradicate the proverbial mindbody split with little more than strings, sticks and skins. —Alan Licht

Tracks

1. Dawn of the Double Pt. 1
2. Dawn of the Double Pt. 2

Press

Audio & Video

LARAAJI & SUN ARAW - 'PROFESSIONAL SUNFLOW'

Formats

• W25-01 - LP

  855985006871

Details

Professional Sunflow is the first-time collaboration between Laraaji and Sun Araw, two colossal forces in contemporary electronic music. Laraaji’s musical radiance has continued to shine brightly over four decades since being discovered by Brian Eno in New York’s Washington Square Park in 1979. Sun Araw emerged out of Los Angeles’ experimental scene in 2008 with transformative releases on a variety of trend-setting labels (Not Not Fun, Drag City and more). The live performances on this double LP—recorded in Germany and Switzerland—combine prewritten elements and improvisation. Laraaji’s soulful vocals and signature instrument, zither, blend beautifully with the free-floating rhythms of Sun Araw’s Cameron Stallones (guitar / keyboards) and Alex Gray (computer synthesis) to shape Professional Sunflow’s unique sound: dreamy layers of percussion, ambient textures and vibrant melodies. W.25TH is proud to present Professional Sunflow as their inaugural release. As a sub-label of Superior Viaduct, W.25TH will focus on inventive sounds from current artists. Forthcoming releases include Nazoranai (Keiji Haino, Stephen O’Malley and Oren Ambarchi) and the (as yet unnamed) collaboration between Richard Pinhas, William Winant, and Comets On Fire’s Noel Von Harmonson and Utrillo Kushner.

Tracks

1. Leipzig (Part 1)
2. Leipzig (Part 2)
3. Lausanne (Part 1)
4. Lausanne (Part 2)

Press

Audio & Video

SLEEPING BEAUTIES - 'S/T'

Formats

• ITR292 - LP

  759718529210

• ITR292CD - CD

  759718529227

Details

Spawned in the same creepy corner of the Pacific Northwest, from the remains of the fantastically under-appreciated The Hunches, Eat Skull and The Hospitals, are the Sleeping Beauties. Big basement rock opens up “Bobby and Suzie” with its gluey, flypaper tempo changes bringing to mind Alex Chilton’s “Like Flies on Sherbert” and the Electric Eels mashed into a ball. Rhythm piano played with an icepick is next on “Meth” and though it may be a tale of warning, the track adds allure to having “got a weekend sack and it’s Saturday / Sunday my life is crumbling.” Under the moss-covered tremolo glam of “Wheeler” is a map to one of the catchiest choruses of the record. The smell of bleach in the bathroom leads to “Potter’s Daughter” with an invitation to relax and go “swimming in tampons” but in the last minute Rod Meyer’s and Rob Enbom’s scraping guitars peel back the skull again. Sounding poppy, primal and carsick at once, drug mules and biblical references tiptoe sweetly onto the bus on “Merchants of Glue.” The windows steam up in the Rocket from the Tombs-eque “Slumber Party” as the garbage boogie slides into an early Butthole-Surfers-like stream of unconsciousness. “Hands Across America” continues to showcase singer Hart Gledhill as one of the most distressing throats since Captain Beefheart while competing with guitar solos louder than Teengenerate. These burns are soothed on “Southie,” evoking some kind of 13th Floor Elevators groove followed by the sad, warped, almost country-tinged “Addicted to Drugs.” This respite is short lived, however; the terrific push-pull / future-primitive rhythm section kicks in on “50’s Haircut / Gold Shoes.” After a while, the gutter puzzles start to make sense, like a schizophrenic does if you actually sit down and listen. When the last sands gently, mercifully slide through the hourglass on “South Eugene,” it’s over too soon. It is exciting to see a new band in 2016 sing about their unique pain and pleasure, not hidden by delay pedals and not seeming to care if you like it or not. This record probably makes you smarter for listening to it, and the only problem is it erases your mind as well. —Lars Finberg, 2016

Tracks

1. Bobby & Suzie
2. Meth
3. Wheeler
4. Potter?s Daughter
5. Merchants of Glue
6. Slumber Party
7. Hands Across America
8. Southie
9. Addicted to Drugs
10. 50?s Haircut / Gold Shoes
11. South Eugene

Press

Audio & Video

SMALL WORLD EXPERIENCE - 'SHELF-LIFE'

Formats

• SB179 - LP

  655030117916

Details

Originally seeing the light of day as a CD-only release in 1994, Shelf-Life was the debut long-player from the excellent Small World Experience, a Brisbane outfit virtually unknown north of the equator. Of course, a bevy of fans prevailed and while the band released a small brace of releases throughout the ’90s, Shelf-Life seemed the most unobtainable. Formed in 1987 by DIY enthusiasts Pat Ridgewell (songwriting / guitar / singing, plus often bass on recordings) and Ian Wadley (drums and sometimes bass, guitar), Small World Experience exudes wry, post-pop charms, very much in the spirit of once-upon-a-time Brisbane acts such as Go Betweens, Four Gods and even The Saints. Throw in an affinity for Jimmy Webb, the Monkees’ Headquarters album and Ridgewell’s own, languid slant on things, and buster, you got yourself one helluva record! Siltbreeze is honored to be able to offer up, for the first time ever, Shelf- Life on the vinyl format it has so long and richly deserved. Limited, one-time pressing of 500 copies.

Tracks

1. S.W.E.
2. Get Lost
3. Patience
4. Shelf-Life
5. Vow of Silence
6. Dregsy
7. Overexposure
8. Rounding the Bend
9. Losing It
10. Plagiarism
11. Leave
12. Procrastination

Press

Audio & Video