Over 5 years in the making, "Deathconsciousness" is the debut double album by the band HAVE A NICE LIFE. Dense and impenetrable, it's unique mix of shoegaze, new wave, industrial and noise has drawn comparisons to the likes of JOY DIVISION, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, and SUNN0)). It comes with a 75-page booklet, written by a Massachusetts history professor, examining the deep religious symbology the record is built upon, and presents, for the first time, an exploration of the dark and mysterious cult of the Antiocheans.
Few albums represent an individual and genre defining milestone as does the self titled debut from Justin Broadrick's Jesu. Combining the considerable sonic weight of Godflesh with brittle melancholy melodies in hypnotic long-form structures, it provided ample evidence of Broadrick's myriad capabilities as a song writer and ceaselessly creative musical innovator. While the eight tracks that comprise the album truly sound like no one else, they also hinted at previously unexplored areas of tenderness and subtlety. Though Jesu went on to mine those more harmonious aspects of its sound on subsequent releases to great effect, none rivaled the debut in its perfectly crafted mixture of beauty, heaviness, hope and despair. Much has happened since the arrival of this album, both for Broadrick as well as the musical world(s) he inhabits, but nothing has diminished the gleaming radiance of this darkened gem.
Track Listing:
Your Path To Divinity (9:14)
Friends Are Evil (9:43)
Tired Of Me (9:31)
We All Faulter (6:56)
Walk On Water (11:23)
Sun Day (10:03)
Man / Woman (9:29)
Guardian Angel (8:06)
Label: Fan Death Records
Artist: Locrian
Release number: FDR-028 -
Release: The Clearing LP w/ download
Street date: November 1, 2011
Label description:
Coming up from the basements of experimental black metal, Locrian quickly made a name for themselves, laying the cobblestones for their own unique world. Through three LPs and a small stash of other releases, the group have floated ever towards a mesmerizing sound that defies classification. Dark, brooding, complex, and lush, with each release Locrian have raised the bar for their own grey sky heightened standards.
This fall, Fan Death Records sees Locrian give birth to their magnum opus. The Clearing breaks free of the “must own” list for the group itself, and transcends into a “must own” list for general fans of everything from Loveless to Goo to Black One, Touched, Through Silver and Blood, and beyond. Not quite ambient, certainly not black metal, The Clearing takes a diversity of sounds, combined with a hushed aesthetic, and folds them into a mature record that demands attention from the first second to the last. This may be the closest the group will ever come to capturing the holy communion of their live performances.
The ominous sounds that escape cognitive identity clatter through the intro of “Chalk Point” before falling into the gulf of layers that comprise the majority of The Clearing. Pushing the organic and the electronic in and out, with Augury in an Evaporating Tower and Corpolite, Locrian adds a mastery of everything from hushed acoustic guitar to near power electronics to synths that break through from a world of giallo soundtracks, penning a near symphony while never faltering from a solid path. The beacon atop this secret pyramid is “The Clearing” itself. Here you find a staggering arc of sound that may be the group’s finest hour. At nearly 20 minutes, a slowly building rite pulls the listener into a place and time that they will compulsively visit over and over again to better understand. For every person any of the above strikes a chord with, Locrian is a must-know band, and The Clearing is a must-own album.
Recommended if you like:
Yes - Relayer LP, Throbbing Gristle, La Monte Young, Hive Mind, Burzum - Aske LP
Track Listing
Side A:
1. Chalk Point (8:14)
2. Augury in an Evaporating Tower (6:39)
3. Coprolite (6:39)
Side B:
1. The Clearing (17:26)
• The follow-up to their critically acclaimed The Crystal World LP.
• The Clearing was recorded by Jeremy Lemos, who has worked with notables such as Stereolab, John Fahey, Jim O’Rourke, and Wilco, amongst others.
Closing out the 2011 release schedule, Southern Lord will proudly reissue SUNN 0)))’s long out-of-print sophomore album ØØ Void, finally finding its proper resting place. Following the duo’s Grimmrobe Demos debut, ØØ Void was initially released in 2000 via HydraHead in North America and Rise Above in Europe, with only a limited reissue via Daymare Records in Japan in 2008, making these hymns virtually out of print for some eight years. Not only featuring the core guitarists Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson, ØØ Void features bass by Stuart Dahlquist (Burning Witch, Goatsnake), as well as guest contributions from Petra Haden (QOTSA, Foo Fighters, The Decemberists) on violins and vocals, as well as Pete Stahl (Scream, Wool, Goatsnake, QOTSA) contributing vocals, and was recorded on 2″ tape by Scott Reeder (The Obsessed, Kyuss, Goatsnake). This 2011 reissue features revamped artwork by Stephen Kasner and a layout by Stephen O’Malley. Now this highly sought-after catalog piece for worshippers of the pulverizing SUNN 0))) drone style will be available again via a proper Southern Lord reissue. The reissue of ØØ Void will hit North American streets on November 22nd via CD, with an LP pressing at a later date to be announced soon.
Originally released on vinyl by Southern Lord, Summit is finally available again on vinyl, repressed by the band themselves. 180 gram clear w/white smoke vinyl with heavy-duty tip-on jacket, printed inner sleeve on thick 14pt stock (w/updated and corrected text), pressed from new plates w/matrix etchings, and no sticker on the jacket! Huzzah!
Denton, TX’s True Widow continues their pursuit of the expansive, gravitationally dense rock meditations on their new EP, I.N.O.
Even when stepping away from their electric monolith sounds, as on opening acoustic track “For Grace,” True Widow displays an innate understanding of the space between the notes, and the stormy tensions that can arise from them. Under cover of a bluegrass motif, guitarist D.H. introduces a new chapter of their story, one which brings about feelings of decay and returning to the earth in its wavering, finger-picked threnody.
The title track follows, fourteen and a half minutes of sonorous dirge, relies on single-chord riffing and minor-key derivations, as opposed to the cyclical compositions found on their last full-length As High as the Highest Heavens and From the Center to the Circumference of the Earth. This brooding leads “I.N.O.” to more abstract directions than any other True Widow offering thus far, experimenting with percussion-free drone elements, surprise surges in tempo and intensity, and at the ten-minute mark, a drop-in to silence, fading down into the depths and return changed and surreal.
The EP closes with three more brand new songs, clued in to what True Widow does best: creating a large, heavy space that eschews the trappings of what we know “large” and “heavy” to mean in the context of modern rock music; songs with drive but not necessarily aggression, volume but not overload, a peaceful protest against garish imagery and attention-breaking riff-fests. These three tracks – “Bathyscaphe,” “S.Y.B.” and “S.F.H.D.” – rank among the moodiest offerings True Widow has created to date, approximating a fuzzed-out desert blues that’s being drained of heat and light.
With I.N.O., True Widow solidifies its position as masters of a form they inherited, and continues to hone its craft as one of America’s most unique heavy rock bands.
This is what I am always on the lookout for. Dark, bleak and hopeless... It's that sounds that feels like you are trapped in the belly of a hulking freighter as it slowly rumbles towards oblivion and all you can here are the distant sounds of the engine, crew and whatever hellish flotsam is smashing against the thick hull.
Every day blurs the same. The lines under your eyes are a map of your mistakes. The day you die, nothing changes.
It is best taken at maximum possible volume. Various journies into the minds of the dying and the dead alive.
Track List:
1. GOWN OF FLOWERS
2. RETURN TO THE EARTH
3. THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION
4. MORNING
5. THANK GOD
6. THE COMING FLOOD
7. UNDEAD '89
8. TWILIGHT
9. DEATH CONVERSATIONS
10. REIGN
11. IRON VOID
Limited to 100 Hand Numbered Copies. Comes in Jewel Case.
debut of european lo-fi industrial. ambient noise, pulsing electronics, rhythm + other foreign sounds seep through the cavern wall. trance induction.
RULE-007.
19 copies.
raw electronics, industrial noise, claustrophobic voice, decaying analog rhythm. lo-fi solace. single cassette version of previously sold out 3xcs.
RULE-006.
19 copies.
Every day blurs the same. The lines under your eyes are a map of your mistakes. The day you die, nothing changes.
It is best taken at maximum possible volume. Various journies into the minds of the dying and the dead alive.
Track List:
1. GOWN OF FLOWERS
2. RETURN TO THE EARTH
3. THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION
4. MORNING
5. THANK GOD
6. THE COMING FLOOD
7. UNDEAD '89
8. TWILIGHT
9. DEATH CONVERSATIONS
10. REIGN
11. IRON VOID
Limited to 100 Hand Numbered Copies. Comes in Jewel Case.
Four new songs from this great project! Vinyl has heavy covers, black inner sleeves, comes with a free mp3 download code. 100 pieces on clear vinyl w/ grey haze, 200 pieces on black vinyl.
After a collaboration record with FRAGMENT. from France and the S/T debut full
length, THE END OF AN ERA constitutes the third release of IROHA – the new
project consisting of Andy Swan (FINAL), Diarmuid Dalton (GODFLESH, JESU) and
Dominic Crane (THE BOATY MAN, RUMBLE FISH). The 4 tracks (with a total playing
time of 25 minutes) express their love to shoegaze just as much as their
interest in the sound of new wave acts like NEW ORDER – all this mixed with a
metal orientated sound basis and little ambient influences. Iroha have a great
feeling for melodies and know how to combine them with powerful sound elements
to create a fuzzy warm mood in every new track.
::: dose - 103 small doses presents the ekca liena/ a death cinematic split, PRETERNATURAL. this split release brings together two of the more underrated names working in drone. UK artist, ekca liena creates a dark, slowly unfolding, ambient landscapes that build in intensity over the three tracks on this disc. a death cinematic take a different approach, the layerered guitars swirl around each other like a hypnotic, slow-motion whirlwind. the two styles complement each other quite well. edition of 96. printed discs lavishly packaged in die cut sleeves with two inserts. preview the a death cinematic portion here.
::: the cover consists of a basic slipcase with double sided card to show through cut cover made by acdsleeve. layout, design and inner photo by daniel w j mackenzie. title photo and guillotine scratchboard drawing by simple box construction/ a death cinematic. for reviews of this release please go here. my sincerest thanks to dan from ekca liena and joe from small doses for working with me on this album. packaging photos courtesy of acdsleeve.
TMA2: REMNANTS- SUSPENSION
C-28 Limited to 100 Hand Numbered Copies
SUSPENSION from REMNANTS is an amazing set of atmospheres that ratchet the tension and despair all while remaining completely hypnotic and spellbinding. REMNANTS has gone above and beyond delivering an impressive droning tour de force.
Four new tracks from this Brooklyn resident grafted onto a C-28 Cassette Tape.
Orders are now shipping. Non-US Residents please contact the label directly prior to ordering for an accurate shipping cost.
Check out the Tape below
