Check Out This Huge Tape Package

This tape package is super impressive, and yes, it has been talked about quite a bit; but I waited until after announcing the first tape from FERMENTÆ (Kevin Gan Yuen of Sutekh Hexen and others) before hitting on this set.

Here is the 6 tapes included:


Fermentæ (Kevin Yuen of Sutekh Hexen) - Allusions CS
Terence Hannum (of Locrian) - Crown of Immortality CS
Demian Johnston (of Great Falls) - Untitled CS
Cetacea (Bryan Bray of Gates) - Glyphs CS
Reuben Sawyer (of Rainbath Visual) - Untitled CS
Njiqahdda - To Escape the Tide CS

This is an impressive list and all the tapes are limited to just 50 copies and there are not many left. There might be a few of them available individually, but who knows.

Kwaidan's First Release

Here is a new tape from Accidental Guest Recordings from a group called Kwaidan which rumor has it is made up of members of Locrian, Catherine, and Zelienople

There's something unsettling about this live recording from Chicago trio Kwaidan, that few bands can put to tape. This recording pushes and pulls the listener, builds up tension and breaks it over and over again. The backbone of this work is not consistency of sound, rather, it is the attack of cymbals and drums that explode to the forefront, only to disappear, bringing to mind the beauty that would take place if Loren Connors played in Taj Mahal Travellers. While it's easy for a work like this to leave too much aural space to the listener, Kwaidan breathtakingly uses each second of these 36 minutes to fill every possible gap without overcrowding any sound. Some toil for years to create a work as consistent as this recording, but Kwaidan does it effortlessly. That in itself makes this cassette uncanny, ethereal, and a true experimental rarity.

RIYL: Taj Mahal Travellers, Loren Connors, Celer, Svarte Greiner, Elegi

Order here

Locrian & Mammifer Blesses Those...

... of us who follow them with the vinyl version of Bless Them That Curse You. Several different versions of the release are available though, not just on LP.

The LP version is limited to 500 copies: one version on clear and one on Brown and Grey. Order the LP version here

The cassette version of the collaboration is limited to 200 and looks sharp. If you were lucky to grab the Mamiffer / Demian Johnston split, then you have an idea of what the packaging looks like as it seems similar.  Order the cassette tape version here

Do You Enjoy Locrian? How About Mamiffer?

...well, these two outfits have a collaborative release coming in early 2012 (awesome), and it is sure to be breathtaking considering their respective discographies to this point.


Here are some particulars:

Recorded in Chicago IL by Greg Norman. Mixed by Randall Dunn in Seattle WA.

CD on Profound Lore, limited CD release (with a bonus track) on Daymare records in Japan, 2xLP on Utech/SIGE, and cassette release on SIGE/Land of Decay.

Track titles:

1. In Fulminic Blaze
2. Bless Them That Curse You
3. Corpus Luteum
4. Second Burial
5. Lechatelierite
6. Metis/Amaranthine/The Emperor

This is going to be exciting for sure.

Utech Festival Live

For those of us that missed the Utech Music festival earlier this year comes this 2xCD of goodness.

Live compilation for KFJC fall fund drive. Art and design by Keith Utech, Aaron Turner and Viral Graphics.
Double digipak printed with black and metallic silver ink. Booklet and replica of show poster included.

A
Ithi "Go Forth and Die"
RM74 "Followed by a Swirling Cloud of Smoke"
Ural Umbo "Telescoped"
William Fowler Collins "Walk Calmly in the Outer Darkness"
Gog "Labyrinth in Perfect Black"
James Plotkin/Jon Mueller TBA
B
House of Low Culture "Perverted Scripture"
Mamiffer "Cloey/DeadSettlers"
Locrian "The Crystal World" "Elevations and Depths"
Horseback "The Invisible Mountain"


This was from the live broadcast on June 11, 2011 from Milwaukee, WI. Check out http://www.utechrecords.com. We have documented some of the highlights on an amazing double CD compilation. A must have!

It's a bit pricey, but it's a benefit for a radio station... don't be stingy.

Order here

New Locrian... The Clearing

Locrian now has a new LP, The Clearing, coming out November 1st. I was not expecting this, but am definitely psyched.

Pre-order here

This from the label:

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)

And a few notes from Land Of Decay:

• 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.

New Locrian 7"...

...is available for pre-order now. Get it here


This and the soundbites from the label Flingco Sound

Locrian took up the challenge of releasing their first 7 inch single on FSS, recording at Minbal in Chicago and mixing with Jeremy Lemos in April 2011. They hammer the sing-song of Popol Vuh's Der Ist Der Weg into a blackened alloy of their own invention on the A-side. On the flip, trebly blurs open Frozen in Ash, which then feints at expansive melody amidst screams, keyboard squalls and bludgeoning drums.

Available as a 7 inch single in a limited edition of 500, in letter-pressed sleeves by Dexterity Press and as a digital single.

These recordings were mastered and the single was cut to lacquer by Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering Service.

Track Listing
A) Dort Ist Der Weg
B) Frozen In Ash

Locrian's take on Popol Vuh's classic Dort Ist Der Weg is an outstanding testament to a band possessed. Instead of producing some rehashed, dormant clone copy of this almost inimitable track,
Locrian serve up a ritually hypnotic and powerful piece of music that will floor you... Locrian will never belong. Their refusal to stagnate and regurgitate frail musical formula allows the band to constantly reinvent and re-envisage their art.
Lurker's Path July 20, 2011

To me, this is Locrian at their finest. They've taken a song that would not seem to lend itself to interpretation by a by a drone/noise/metal band
and turned it into something ritualistic, fierce, vivid and distinctly their own. Quite stunning.
Hammer Smashed Sound July 19, 2011

Locrian keep outdoing themselves.
Anti-Gravity Bunny

Locrian does not limited their sonic palette to fit into any particular genre or specific sound, and the result is that this music often penetrates much deeper...
Musical Warfare

Quite Possibly This...

...Is one of the best things I have ever seen on the internet. Here is proof of the upcoming Locrian and Mamiffer collaborative record that was recorded recently at Electrical Audio in Chicago. Certainly, these images are also an interesting look into the recording process for the record as well.

Call me excited.

Locrian and Horseback New Dominions LP

Locrian and Horseback team up to collaborate on this one sided LP (note, this is different from the recent split 7" between these two artists. This LP will also be limited to just 300 copies from Utech on June 18th. So grab it from them when it comes out here

New Dominions is an epitaph to an era and a rebirth of another. Inspired by Alan Weisman’s book The World Without Us, it is the profound religious feel of the takeover events that stand out in Weisman's detailed narration. While quite a bleak read, it successfully conveys an image of unstoppable sermon, a service of Life that would continue no matter if humanity or any other species cares to attend it. This collaborative release brings together two of the most exciting artists operating at the forefront of the underground. The groups’ willingness to explore new sounds, textures, and moods sets them apart from other artists operating in heavy music. New Dominions may be the most intense and brooding releases by either group.

The album consists of two extended tracks. “The Gift” begins the record with slowly building layers of bowed and looped percussion, harsh vocals, glistening tremolo guitars, and eerie piano played from the inside. The track ends with sparse, trance inducing, rolling, primordial percussion and mellifluously leads into the next.
The repetitive piano, bass, and percussion of "Our Epitaph" usher in dreamy, chanted, vocals. The instruments become locked in a slowly burning, hypnotic groove as layers of tape loops, guitars, and feedback gradually build and build. New Dominions is an extremely heavy record, but has few of the typical characteristics of a heavy album. The repetition and the subtle changes throughout the album make it all the more bleak and unsettling.

The artwork for the release was done by frequent Horseback collaborator and Russian occultist Denis Forkas Kostromitin. Side A of the LP consists of the album. Side B has an etching of Kostromitin’s “Omega Auroch” drawing. The last few aurochs exist in only one part of the world — the Bialowieza forest, one of the last remaining primeval forests in Europe, which straddles the border between Poland and Balarus. The auroch convey many messages: man’s domination over nature — a fragile natural order, the futility of man’s ambitions (the extinguished candles), the bestial origin of all human religions and spiritual practices (the candelabrum coming out of the bull’s head), and the end of days represented by the inverted omega of the composition itself. The image on the album cover “The Wooden Word” is composed of seven aurochs forming the living basis for the church in the painting. The inspiration for the structure was the elaborate and ancient wooden churches — one of the sacred buildings built without a single nail — which even today stand tall in a few small Russian towns and villages. It is the eternal church of Evolution, the true house of tempest, the Devil’s seat. The church and auroch pieces echo each other, raise the liturgical feel and close the omega.

This collaborating represent the future of heavy music and the material on the release is in a category of its own next to Locrian’s The Crystal World and Horseback’s The Invisible Mountain

Check out The Gift and Our Epitaph by clicking on them.

Locrian and Horseback Split...

...finally seeing the light of day, this split 7" is finally available in a small edition of just 300 copies. Two currently essential outfits together on the same record. You know what will happen if you wait on it; go grab it now while supplies last from

Land of Decay in the US

Turgid Animal in the UK and Europe


While you are there, look around and pick up other things from these fine labels.

The Crystal World On LP!

Locrian's The Crystal World is finally seeing a vinyl release via an LP package in Stoughton sleeve from the always quality establishment that is Utech (it is also limited to 500).

This album is my #2 record from all of last year and you can be damn sure that I will be purchasing this album as soon as it goes up for sale. Which is now