quête:tremor

Círculo Radiante, das fünfte Studioalbum der argentinischen Folkkünstlerin Soema Montenegro, ist eine klangliche Ode an lateinamerikanische Klänge, Landschaften und Menschen und eine bemerkenswerte Weiterentwicklung ihres Werkes, die die Modernität der Elektroinstrumentalisierung mit ihrem eigenen rohen, uralten Kompositionsansatz verbindet. Zusammen mit dem Produzenten Leo Martinelli (Tremor), der ebenfalls Latin-Folk und moderne elektronische Musik auf geniale Weise zueinander fügt, eröffnet Círculo Radiante ein neues Kapitel in Montenegros schriftstellerischen Fähigkeiten und stimmlichen Meisterschaften, ohne dabei ihre angeborene Verbindung zu Land, Ort und Menschen zu verraten.

Having been deck slaying as near their London headquarters as Germany and as far as Canada, goth techno prodigy Lesser Of is steadily approaching double digit release count. With an established residence at queer x trans focused, revolutionary event series Subverted, their efforts have been welcomed to a formidable list of industrial electronic labels and remixed by a tidy sum of high profile scene icons.

Here at Depth.Request our sonars are attuned to emanant potential, and so we conscript Lesser Of to hammer out our fourth acetate offering to date. To this, harsh noise and drone music inspirations are declared, alongside an artistic secret of the trade: lights-off sessions in live room of a recording studio vibrating with the pulse of a bass guitar ran through a freeze pedal were what begot the tracks, and they are well intent on assaulting your headphones with noise. Reeko on the remix - yes, this record fucks.

Prolonged, ominous intro? Nah. Have a face full of Crude Manifestation Of Power instead, as an insatiable, 10-minute long opener braces your ears for a week of ringing with a sonic equivalent of metallic thrashing one could expect from being a sinful, rave-lusting scoundrel. On title-diverting continuation Within My Fragility the words "strength in fragility" are truly alliterated as the pace, abrasiveness and intensity of pummelling are all ramped up fiercely, with linear open hats thrown against them from time to time for good measure. Having reached 140 BPM and concrete mean, Masked proceeds in a well anticipated ra(n)ge: infernal atmosphere, sandy hats and layered tectonic tremors achieved with increasingly undefined low end consisting of a rumble line and rolling kick morphing into abrasive haze. Winding the tempo back a notch, a halftimearranged contemplation Our Descent grows in direct, hyperborean vector: glassy drones and sharp syncopulsation first - atonal reverberations, distorted arpeggios and punchy stabs endwise. Reeko's analog reinvention of Masked convolves the drum structure by borrowing from breakbeat narratives and authorizes the dystopian ambiance to rise and fall on more gradual, panning, confined terms; adding, however, more disorder to the mix with spectrum slicing, high-range chaos.

As you would have learned to expect from Depth.Request, Within My Fragility EP is not an easy listening five-tracker. If by the end of it you find yourself feeling as if you just stepped out of a pounding warehouse at 3AM and you don't know what day it is, you wouldn't have been experiencing this mindspace alone.

Currents kamen mit einem brutal beeindruckenden Debütalbum voller Riffs heraus,vollgepackt mit außergewöhnlicher Musikalität.
Jetzt als limitierte 2LP in klarem Vinyl mit Silver Black Splatter erhältlich.

The iconic voice of Luzmila Carpio rings out from the Andes, spreading messages of indigenous struggle, female empowerment and unceasing love for both the people and planet around us. An undeniable icon of Bolivian Andean culture whose career spans multiple decades, Luzmila has released more than 25 albums (there’s a reason that Rolling Stone described her as”one of the most prolific indigenous singers of South America”), inspiring millions while singing in both her native Aymara-Quechua language and Spanish. Yet Luzmila Carpio isn’t someone who’s content to simply rest on her laurels; she continues to take risks and push her music into vibrant new soundworlds. On new album Inti Watana: El Retorno del Sol (her first LP in a decade), she’s teamed up with Argentinian producer Leonardo Martinelli (a.k.a. Tremor), a ZZK veteran who’s spent the bulk of his career finding the common ground between Latin American folk rhythms and modern electronics. Building off the momentum created by 2015’s Luzmila Carpio Meets ZZK collection in which her music was reworked by not only Tremor, but standout electronic artists like Nicola Cruz, Chancha Vía Circuito and El Búho this new album is meant to stretch across genres, generations and continents, with Luzmila’s sonorous, occasionally birdsong-inspired vocalizations gracefully gliding amongst ambient textures, programmed beats and (of course) a bevy of traditional instrumentation from around the globe. Over the course of the LP, Bolivian charangos and quenas sit comfortably alongside the sounds of harmonium, violin, acoustic and electric guitar, Argentinian bombo leguero and sacha guitar, Armenian duduk and a litany of Asian percussion. Inti Watana: El Retorno del Sol which will be accompanied by a full length documentary might not sound like previous Luzmila Carpio releases, but on a spiritual, political and lyrical level, her core values remain unchanged. A native of Bolivia’s Potosí region, she’s long been a beacon for indigenous communities in not just her home country, but throughout Latin America, her voice inspiring joy and pride amongst ancient peoples whose culture and inherent beauty are often overlooked. Her pursuit of music a field traditionally dominated by men in Andean communities long ago made her a pillar of women’s empowerment, but Carpio has also been a vocal proponent for social change, using her influence to advocate not just for the rights of women, but for the protection and increased visibility of all indigenous people. Yet it’s the planet itself that Carpio is most passionate about, and she’s devoted much of her new album to conversations with Mother Earth and Father Sun

Rapid electro funk for your ears. Includes a banging remix from Mathis Ruffing of an old Tremors classic. Also includes three of our most popular tracks previously only available as digital download.

Athens, Georgia's Telemarket emerges with force and finesse on its debut full length, Ad Nauseum, due out August 25th on Elephant 6 label affiliate Cloud Recordings and Science Project Records. The record by tums navigates loops of existential quandary, heartache, and hilarity in a world gone awry. Running at 34 minutes and 34 seconds, this thirteen track odyssey discovers itself through bouts of exuberant feedback and snappy hooks, and ultimately finds resolution surrounded by good friends in its musical home of Athens. Among these friends is John Fernandes of Cloud Recordings, a former member of projects Olivia Tremor Control and Circulatory System and longtime Elephant 6 collaborator, who teamed up with Telemarket to release and distribute the group's LP. Ad Nauseum features artwork from late Georgia artist Patrick Dean, to whom the record is dedicated. Dean’s piece ‘Welcome to Athens, Y'all” was featured on Athens GA publication Flagpoles cover in August of 1999, and now adjourns the Telemarket cover reflecting the themes of repetition, redundancy, and relief. Telemarket provides a distorted vessel for the shape-shifting songeraft of vocalist / guitarist Adam Wayton, and features collaborations with many of his talented Athens friends. Wayton together with guitarist and engineer Will Wise hunkered down in their Odd Street home studio (originally built by a former Widespread Panic fiddle player) for much of 2021-2022 a piece of time many would just as soon forget and managed to create something memorable together in Ad Nauseum

Coke Bottle Clear Vinyl. High Vis were formed in 2016 from the ashes of some of the UK's best hardcore bands. Gild-toothed frontman Graham Sayle's anguished lyrics about life in working class Britain were familiar to fans of Tremors' full-throttle thrash, but alongside his former bandmate Edward `Ski' Harper and veterans of Dirty Money, DiE and The Smear, High Vis sought to transform that energy and intensity into something entirely new.Like scene-mates Chubby and the Gang did by pulling in unlikely source material from classic doo-wop or Micromoon have by combining everything from psychedelia and metal into their high potency mix, High Vis' 2019 debut album, No Sense No Feeling showed the band were never going to be constrained by any sense of genre rules or regulations. Its claustrophobic rattle bore traces of Joy Division, Bauhaus, Crisis, The Cure and Gang Of Four lurking in the shadows. 2020's synth-driven EP, Society Exists, was further evidence of the band's restless creative MO.High Vis' second album Blending sees them open their viewfinder wider than ever before. Alongside longstanding favourites such as Fugazi and Echo and The Bunnymen; Ride and even Flock Of Seagulls were shared reference points as the band worked on the album together.From the anthemic sweep of opener "Talk For Hours", through the title track's psychedelic swirl and "Fever Dream"'s baggy groove, it sees High Vis' sound blossoming into something with an unlimited richness. The hazy drift of "Shame" or the melodic jangle of "Trauma Bonds" may take them until uncharted waters, but they still have all the power and bite that made No Sense No Feeling so remarkable.Lyrically, the album represents another leap forward too. Talking frankly about poverty, class politics, and the challenges of everyday life, Sayle's lyrics have always addressed the downtrodden and discarded communities across Britain slipping below the waterline. This time around, Sayle's lost not of that social consciousness, but he's looked at himself and his own emotional landscape, and in the process created something that feels more universal, that reaches a hand-out to people and ultimately gives a message of hope."To me, the lyrics are less selfish," reflects Sayle. "In the past, I couldn't see past whatever was going on with me. It's about accepting things and being open to conversations and learning to talk to people rather than just thinking that we're all doomed."The song "Talk for Hours" is a prime example of that. Born out of an afternoon meeting up with an old group of mates "repeating the same thing and not actually learning anything about each other" it offers to actually break the cycle and to listen and speak frankly about shared feelings and experiences. "Trauma Bonds", meanwhile, traces the broken lines of those living in lost communities, but ultimately realises that despite our shared scars, there's still hope to move on to a better future."The message of the album is you're not who you're told you are," Sayle summarises. "You're not your class background. Whatever it is, you're not that. Don't resign yourself to thinking you can't be this and you can't be that."It's a vitally important message right now, and one that could be the motto for not only Blending, but for High Vis themselves.

Catorce reflexiones sobre el fin (Fourteen Reflections on the End) originated from an installation exhibited at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca, Mexico, in 2019. Fourteen magnetic bodies of tape that dialogued with the fourteen pieces of electroacoustic music now contained in this album composed from the sound anthology of Angélica Castelló. Thus, Catorce reflexiones sobre el fin is a complex piece consisting of multiple parts that, although articulated with each other, hold a life of their own.

Like every body, these have a unique history made up of mixed fragments spun by Angélica, ranging from field recordings, references, and self-references to previous pieces, experiences, and voice recordings made specifically for these compositions re-recorded in various formats, from lo to high fidelity, analog and digital, composed, decomposed and recomposed (Castelló, A., 2019). Likewise, as any body, they also reflect on their end, whether absolute or temporal, of the many ways of being finite and of saying goodbye.

During the Catorce reflexiones sobre el fin, Castelló takes you on a journey that is difficult to locate. An ethereal space between shattered glass, stridulation of cicadas, war drums, murmurs in French, Italian maledictions, and soft recitations in Spanish. From uproar to solace, all wrapped in a soft abstraction that only allows access to the subtle whisper of these expressions. A gesture between invitation and sharing because who does not recognize oneself in this emotional storm?

First, the approach of the winds, the first breeze that caresses the body. Then the bewilderment announced by the scent of uncertainty condensed in the air’s humidity. The prelude to the storm, to something that will shake you from head to toe, something from which there will be no return.

To the acceleration of the winds comes the percussions, the tremor of the storm with its lightning. la Ira (1). A vibration running through the whole body, unstoppable. This reverberating sound, resulting from its re-percussion with our body acoustics, owes its tones and echoes to the cavities and organs of different masses. From what is hollow and what is full; what is void and what is matter. There is no turning back. It is a dive into the void; to fight and resist because there is no other way to go. It is a matter of survival.

Ma fin est mon commencement Et mon commencement ma fin (2)

After this, the cicada resumes at the crack of dawn, a gentle breeze, and solitude, that temporarily musical silence of embraces (3) with hints of harpsichord and bells.

The breaking of the waves in Sicily is accompanied by the antenna that picks up radio transmissions that already invite other tastes. The Mediterranean and its currents mingle and divide tense routes of escape, exchange, and struggle between Blutorangen, tides, and birdsongs.

An immersion into deep waters.

And in the end, we all commit sins! Queste maledette! (4)

Lorena Moreno Vera, 2023

More recently best regarded as soundtrack composer, Ben Frost here follows work with interdisciplinary sound artist Francesco Fabris on the »Dark« OST with a plunge into purest rock music, as in the actual sound of molten material rising to the surface and solidifying. With an impressionistic-artistic license also found in work by Chris Watson, Jana Winderen or Giuseppe Ielasi, the duo uncompromisingly revel in the sounds of nature’s biting point, using various production methods to make audible the sound of the earth beneath our feet in the process of creation, on location at Fagradalsfjall, Reykjanes Peninsula Iceland.

»As stable as we might choose to think it is, this planet is anything but that. A paper thin crust, the zone in which we find ourselves, and mostly concern ourselves with, exists as a modest veil cloaking a dynamic seismic turbulence that is as powerful as it is unknowable. There are moments though where ruptures occur. The pressure from within carves its way to, and through, the surface of the planet simultaneously delivering destruction and virgin landscapes, as primordial as any we might care to imagine. It is here, in these places, where we can literally see the living planet, that geologic time is condensed and world building is made visible, and audible to us, in an unrestrained and provocative detail.

These volcanic ruptures, such as those captured on Vakning by Francesco Fabris and Ben Frost, speak to the very living geology of Earth. These recordings, captured at close range, exist at a nexus where liquid rock becomes solid. They capture moments of transformation, of obliteration and of creation, often all at once. These are recordings of a living, material planet, dynamic and unrestrained«. (Lawrence English)

When David Drucker of Painted Faces begins to write and record, every dumb sign, bad horror movie, seemingly innocuous turn of phrase, petty embarrassment, transcendent joke, and musical
influence are drawn together like iron filings to a magnet.
What results is a document of a particular point in time for the artist. There are infectiously haunting hooks and raw atonal passages, cheap synths (and as time goes on less cheap ones), simple but effective chords, ramshackle percussion (a plastic toy maraca passed among audience members that refuses to die), and a host of other elements that all add up to something very special and deeply personal.

It’s a portrait of the artist as a freak.
On his latest album, Normal Street, the story continues. The title track opens with a nebulous cloud of beeps and squeals which slowly give way to more solid melodic form. Drucker, always searching for ever
freakier and liberated pastures, walks a particularly unique line between unpredictably risky experimentation and skillful songcraft. It’s this interplay hat makes Painted Faces truly original and exciting.
What “works” is totally relative, and through his long honed practice of trying things, he has created his own sonic vocabulary.

Normal Street is a fractured collection of songs, sounds, ideas, sometimes brief and other times delicately sustained; its stream of consciousness mischievousness bringing to mind Zappa and the
Mothers filtered through the angst of bedroom pop and tape label minimalism.

lack Marble Vinyl! High Vis were formed in 2016 from the ashes of some of the UK's best hardcore bands. Gild-toothed frontman Graham Sayle's anguished lyrics about life in working class Britain were familiar to fans of Tremors' full-throttle thrash, but alongside his former bandmate Edward `Ski' Harper and veterans of Dirty Money, DiE and The Smear, High Vis sought to transform that energy and intensity into something entirely new.Like scene-mates Chubby and the Gang did by pulling in unlikely source material from classic doo-wop or Micromoon have by combining everything from psychedelia and metal into their high potency mix, High Vis' 2019 debut album, No Sense No Feeling showed the band were never going to be constrained by any sense of genre rules or regulations. Its claustrophobic rattle bore traces of Joy Division, Bauhaus, Crisis, The Cure and Gang Of Four lurking in the shadows. 2020's synth-driven EP, Society Exists, was further evidence of the band's restless creative MO.High Vis' second album Blending sees them open their viewfinder wider than ever before.

Alongside longstanding favourites such as Fugazi and Echo and The Bunnymen; Ride and even Flock Of Seagulls were shared reference points as the band worked on the album together.From the anthemic sweep of opener "Talk For Hours", through the title track's psychedelic swirl and "Fever Dream"'s baggy groove, it sees High Vis' sound blossoming into something with an unlimited richness. The hazy drift of "Shame" or the melodic jangle of "Trauma Bonds" may take them until uncharted waters, but they still have all the power and bite that made No Sense No Feeling so remarkable.Lyrically, the album represents another leap forward too. Talking frankly about poverty, class politics, and the challenges of everyday life, Sayle's lyrics have always addressed the downtrodden and discarded communities across Britain slipping below the waterline. This time around, Sayle's lost not of that social consciousness, but he's looked at himself and his own emotional landscape, and in the process created something that feels more universal, that reaches a hand-out to people and ultimately gives a message of hope."To me, the lyrics are less selfish," reflects Sayle. "In the past, I couldn't see past whatever was going on with me.

It's about accepting things and being open to conversations and learning to talk to people rather than just thinking that we're all doomed."The song "Talk for Hours" is a prime example of that. Born out of an afternoon meeting up with an old group of mates "repeating the same thing and not actually learning anything about each other" it offers to actually break the cycle and to listen and speak frankly about shared feelings and experiences. "Trauma Bonds", meanwhile, traces the broken lines of those living in lost communities, but ultimately realises that despite our shared scars, there's still hope to move on to a better future."The message of the album is you're not who you're told you are," Sayle summarises. "You're not your class background. Whatever it is, you're not that. Don't resign yourself to thinking you can't be this and you can't be that."It's a vitally important message right now, and one that could be the motto for not only Blending, but for High Vis themselves.

Back in print after a decade, bringing with it covers of The Lemonheads,
Carole King, Olivia Tremor Control, and Tom Waits! Cut by Kevin Gray and
spread over two LPs to give it the sonic awe it deserves! Packaged in a
gatefold jacket chock-full of new liners from Jim Allen in conversation
with Eef Barzelay (Clem Snide)

Red Vinyl

Das erste Album des britischen Produzenten und Songwriters seit "Rennen" von 2017 wird am 4. November 2022 auf Vinyl und CD veröffentlicht. Nachdem er zuvor längere Zeit in Wien und Los Angeles gelebt hat, wohnt der in London geborene SOHN nun in den Pinienwäldern von Katalonien, Spanien, und es ist diese neue Umgebung, die ihn zur aktuellen Single "Segre" inspiriert hat. "Trust" markiert für den Solokünstler eine seismische Verschiebung in der Wahrnehmung und Ausrichtung und spiegelt SOHNs neue Verantwortung als Vater von drei Kindern wider. Der Umzug von Los Angeles in die Ruhe Kataloniens und die Erfahrung der Elternschaft veränderten seine Einstellung und auch seine Arbeitsweise: "Ich spürte eine Offenheit, die ich vorher nicht kannte, und mir wurde klar, dass ich es nicht mehr allein schaffen konnte - mir fehlten Gemeinschaft und Freundschaft im Leben und im kreativen Prozess", sagt SOHN. Zum ersten Mal in seiner jahrzehntelangen Karriere lud der Produzent andere ein, ihm bei der Verwirklichung eines neuen Albums zu helfen, und kehrte nach LA zurück (wo er "Rennen" aufgenommen hatte), um mit Yakob, Mike Sonier, Chris Tabron, Jesse Boykins III, Ryan Linvill, Noah Le Gros und Emile Mosseri zu arbeiten. Gemeinschaft, Intimität, Familie und Offenheit sind die Schlüsselthemen auf "Trust", wenn der britische Produzent über sein vergangenes Leben (Wien in 'Figureskating, Neusiedlersee') und seine gegenwärtige Realität ('Montardit', 'Segre') reflektiert. Indem er seinen kreativen Prozess für andere öffnet, lädt Toph Taylor den Hörer dazu ein, sein bisher intimstes und persönlichstes Werk zu erleben. "Auf dem Debütalbum "Tremors" war es so, als wäre ich hinter Glas, aber auf "Trust" fühlt es sich an, als könnte man in diesem Raum sitzen, und nicht nur alleine, man sitzt mit mir, einigen Musikern, einigen Freunden in einem Zimmer."

Bassist and composer Milo Fitzpatrick (Portico Quartet) launches new collaborative project with saxophonist Jordan Smart (Mammal Hands)

Vega Trails is a new project from double-bassist and composer Milo Fitzpatrick, a founder member of Portico Quartet, who has also performed with the likes of Nick Mulvey and Jono McCleary and features saxophonist Jordan Smart (Mammal Hands, Sunda Arc) in a richly powerful duo bringing together two powerfully charismatic musicians. The project which takes its name from Carl Sagan's science fiction novel 'Contact' (a book about signals of new life detected from the Vega system) andwas born out of a desire to bring the elements of bass and melody to the foreground in their rawest form and Fitzpatrick explains that he deliberatelychose the stripped back approach.

"There is so much in just one musician's sound; the emotional, the intellectual, the vulnerability and power of their character. But often these delicate nuances can be submerged in the quest for a group sound. In Vega Trails I wanted to grant the musicians space to breathe and be heard and for the listener to witness the intimacy and depth of a conversation between two voices, bass and melody. I was also interested in how the limitations would guide both the composition and performance and to push us both to places close to the limits of what we could play, and it is in this place where I believe the character of a musician blossoms and comes forward".

Tremors in the Static was composed during Lockdown as Fitzpatrick immersed himself in music that had space and sparseness such as Swedish fiddle music and Indian Classical music. Jan Johansson's legendary 'Jazz på Svenska' (jazz versions of Swedish folk songs) was another influence, as was a collection of ancient lullabies by Spanish soprano singer Montserrat Figueras. Through exploring the harmonic and textural possibilities on the bass, Fitzpatrick would cycle riffs and motifs whilst singing melodies, and he began to create the music debuted here. However, it was only after listening to Charlie Haden's album of duets, 'Closeness', that the project would come into focus as a duo, and Fitzpatrick immediately knew that the second musician had to be Jordan Smart.

"I saw Jordan play at two Gondwana Records events – in Berlin and Tokyo. Both times I was mesmerised by the intensity and conviction of his playing. His commitment to the cause of transcending himself and the listener made a lasting impression on me. When I began writing this record, I knew I needed a strong player who had equal conviction in their playing as me, but also someone who understood the importance of melody"

It was an inspired idea as Smart brought an openness and positivity which allowed the music to be both experimental and bold. Smart's ability to play tenor and soprano saxophone with equal command, as well as bass clarinet and Ney flute, allowed them to open up the pallet of sound and pull the melodies into varying emotional landscapes.The final piece of the puzzle was the performance space. Fitzpatrick knew that he wanted the two players to react off of a third element. The music was written for an ambient space which interacted with the notes: decaying and disintegrating them into silence. They found the perfect space in a church in Fitzpatrick's local neighbourhood of Stamford Hill.

"The recording space is the canvas on which the sound interacts and flows, it is the frame in which notes can live, breathe and die and is as important as the other elements. A resonant recording space, like a church, allows this stripped back sound to resonate, echo and linger, enough to create images and landscapes in which stories can play out".

This then is Vega Trails, a project that brings together two open-mined and communicative musicians for the first time, to tell beautiful winding stories together and to create something soulful and new.Something bigger than both of them and something that leaves us all richer for hearing it. Enjoy!

Long before Lina Seybold became a geologist, the singer and guitarist was already writing songs and making a name for herself far beyond the city limits of Munich with her Steve Albini-trained (and produced) quartet candelilla, before the band dispersed into new projects. During her studies, she met Moritz Gamperl and the two realised that what they learned in rock research could also play a role in rock music. Thus, the material history of the planet became both a source of existential reflections for the two and the impetus for a highly accomplished and often graceful sound, which has been expressed in the band pirx together with drummer Sascha Saygin since 2019: Technically sovereign, obstinate songs that - with Seybold now on bass and vocals - create subtle dramaturgies, cinematic aesthetics, far-reaching arcs of tension.

With Lamina, the trio now presents an excellent debut album, recorded by Martin M. Hermann, which shoots out of the earth with explosive force as hot lava, only to flow into the valley in glowing beauty the next moment, changing the earth's surface, telling of elemental forces - until it finally evaporates the water in the sea and lays a comatose fog over all existence. Or in other words: pirx make creation music, in all directions of time!

: Thou have a bit of a reputation for doing Nirvana covers, even releasing of a full album of them titled Blessings of the Highest Order during the height of quarantine. The infamously ravenous Thou fans were stuck in their rooms, drinking every drop and begging for more and just their luck the band decided to release a full-length compilation of their non-Nirvana covers they recorded and released from 2009-2022.

All of the songs on A Primer of Holy Words appeared on limited pressings of various split EPs and benefit compilations. The range of bands being covered is wide: Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains from abandoned tribute projects; Born Against from a small press

: Thou have a bit of a reputation for doing Nirvana covers, even releasing of a full album of them titled Blessings of the Highest Order during the height of quarantine. The infamously ravenous Thou fans were stuck in their rooms, drinking every drop and begging for more and just their luck the band decided to release a full-length compilation of their non-Nirvana covers they recorded and released from 2009-2022.

All of the songs on A Primer of Holy Words appeared on limited pressings of various split EPs and benefit compilations. The range of bands being covered is wide: Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains from abandoned tribute projects; Born Against from a small press

When we can no longer move forward or look outward, some reflect and seek truth in themselves – some sharing, through the language of music, what might be impossible to say through words.

Amidst the budding tempest of 2020, Jeremiah Carter, hailing originally from Tennessee, found himself embroiled in a near suffocating air of uncertainty and anxious tension, mainly brought upon by the first spikes in a soon-to-be worldwide pandemic.

Only having recently relocated to the bustling city of New York, an unprecedented series of events took shape over the following months, isolating and dismaying the citizens around the globe in the process. It was during this time that Jeremiah turned his attention to music, discharging the emotional turmoil surrounding him, into a substantial wealth of newly composed work.

Beginning with the album »Rejoice«, which was completed in the wake of 2020 and released on A Sunken Mall that same year, two more albums took shape in a quasi-self-induced creative tremor, one that soon materialized a wealth of work, forming a triptych of three unique albums, produced within the span of only 6 months.

Finally, presented here is the second stage of the final triptych; »Speak, You Also«, dedicated to Paul Celan and giving us further insight into the heart of a beloved southerner, who amidst being tangled in the mesh of crisis, passion and communication, gave rise to a momentous yet equally timeless neoclassical body of work.

Artificial Countrysides is Athens, Ga - based Elf Power's 14th album and
first for Yep Roc Records
The band expand their sound on this record to glorious effect, adding marimba,
harpsichord, synth bass, distorted drum machine loops, and mellotron to their
time tested mix of fuzz guitars, moog keyboards, pummeling drums, and layered
acoustic guitars, achieving a satisfying and unique synthesis of traditional and
futuristic sounds. Lyrically the album mirrors this approach by discussing the
difficulties and advantages of dealing with modern life's digital and artificial
landscape, balanced with the natural world. Elf Power formed in Athens, GA in
1994 and have released 14 albums, two eps, and a handful of singles, while
touring North America, Europe, and Japan many times playing alongside acts like
R.E.M., Flaming Lips, Dinosaur Jr., Neutral Milk Hotel, Guided by Voices, Arcade
Fire and many more. Albums such as 1998's Dave Fridmann-produced "A Dream
In Sound" and 2008's collaboration with the late folk rock icon Vic Chesnutt, "Dark
Developments", have cemented the bands' reputation as the finest purveyors of
modern melodic psychedelic folk rock around. The band became known as a
member of the much heralded Elephant 6 Collective, which includes their friends
and collaborators Neutral Milk Hotel, Apples in Stereo, Olivia Tremor Control, Of
Montreal, and many more.