| ugh... |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|09:39 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Prometheus Burning - Beyond Repair CD | ] |
My body aches. Jennara and I moved into a really nice apartment on Van Ness at Ellis on Saturday. We have our own spot in the building's secure parking garage, and it's walking distance from the Great American Music Hall, Edinburgh Castle, Red Devil Lounge, Hemlock Tavern, Regency Ballroom, and many other places. The bus ride to work is only 10 minutes now, rather than 35-50 minutes. This place is a lot smaller than our old apartment, but we're going to have it laid out a lot nicer than we had the last one. |
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| sweet... |
[Jun. 3rd, 2009|02:40 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Alexander Hacke/Danielle de Picciotto - The Ship of Fools CD | ] |
15DBZ and Conure shows are being booked. More details will be posted as the shows come closer.
7/1- Conure, The Human Quena Orchestra -- TBA, Sacramento
7/23 - Forms of Things Unknown, Peter Kolovos, Conure, Hans Fjellestad, Thomas Dimuzio -- Outsound New Music Summit, San Francisco Community Music Center, SF
7/24 - Ashley Paul, Eli Keszler, Noisepsalm, 15 Degrees Below Zero, Big City Orchestra -- Terminal, Oakland
7/29 - Big City Orchestra and 15 Degrees Below Zero (collaboration) - ubRadio Salon, DFM Radio Television International (http://dfm.nu/)
7/29 - 15 Degrees Below Zero - Wednesday Night Live, KZSU, 90.1
11/12/09 - TBA, 15 Degrees Below Zero -- LSG New Music Series, Luggage Store Gallery, SF |
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| All About Jazz's review of 15DBZ's "Resting on A" CD |
[Jun. 1st, 2009|06:35 am] |
| [ | music |
| | H.N.A.S. - Im Schatten der Moehre CD | ] |
"This West Coast USA trio sparks slight remembrances of vintage Brian Eno ambient electronica, amid many nouveau uplifts and curiously interesting disparities. Mastered by electronics master Thomas Dimuzio, the artists create dark, streaming extended note sound-sculpting motifs via keys, samplers, loops, and other implements or facilitations.
Lucid similes of space travel combined with segments that are akin to unveiling a shrouded mystery come to fruition, as the band mimics an expanding universe during several passages. They produce eerie and brooding soundscapes on '2.5', where the music seems to traverse a vast frontier that defies any rigid semblances of time and space. In addition, the trio seemingly shreds through sweeping layers of multihued textures, awash with harrowing echoes, corpulent bass notes, and oscillating noise shaping articulations.
The music plays tricks with the psyche which, of course, delineate a desired effect accomplished through the power of shrewdly arranged patterns that intersect at various points. They render daunting sojourns and at times, perform as though they are conversing with a higher entity. In certain passages, either Michael Addison Mersereau[, Daniel Blomquist,] or Mark Wilson iterates a phased-out alien tongue amid modulating backdrops that perhaps mimic the solar winds. Hence, it's an artful and fascinating trek into the land of electronica that probes the boundaries of phantasmagorical imagery and sane reasoning."
-Glenn Astarita,
All About Jazz
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/ |
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| FON17: L'Echec de la Matiere released (with Conure remix) |
[May. 29th, 2009|12:52 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Isis - Wavering Radiant CD | ] |
FON is please to announce the release of FON17: L'Echec de la Matiere as a FREE internet download.
L'Echec de la Matiere is an eclectic compilation of remixes and re-interpretations of tracks originally found on FON10: Triomphe de la Matiere by Perfection Plastic. All tracks are 320k CBR mp3s and a PDF of the artwork is included.
Many thanks to all the bands and their labels for contributing to this release and allowing us to give it away for FREE. Many of these bands are very well known and established in their respective genres and they have graciously agreed to provide their work here at no charge. If you can show some financial appreciation for this work, please consider buying their music from one of the links noted in the tracklisting found on http://www.forceofnature.cc/releases/?rid=FON17.
Tracklisting
1. Bad Girls (remixed by Captive Six, featuring Ben from C/A/T)
2. La Réaction (Mordu par LAN Formatique)
3. Triomphe (remixed by The Vomit Arsonist)
4. Control (Decon remix by Pine Tree State Mind Control)
5. Bad Girls (remix by Aliceffekt)
6. Atomic Glory (remixed by The [law-rah] collective)
7. Intérieur (remixed by synnack)
8. Glow (Yes, We Still Make Music remix by GASR)
9. Atomic Glory (All of this has Happened Before remix by REPLOGEN)
10. Bad Girls (CATFIIIIIIIGHT Mix by Caustic)
11. Interieur (remixed by Conure)
12. Hard Times (remixed by Memmaker)
13. Mad (remixed by Prometheus Burning) |
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| Chain D.L.K.'s review of 15 Degrees Below Zero's "Resting on A" CD |
[May. 26th, 2009|12:31 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Black Ice - Myopia CD | ] |
15 Degrees Below Zero are Daniel Blomquist, Michael Addison Mersereau and Mark Wilson, their instrumentation comprising everything but the kitchen sink (laptop, samplers, keyboards, effects, mixing, processing, guitars, vocals, harmonica, pedals, contact microphones, etc.). Their latest album, Resting on A was mastered by Thomas Dimuzio, a fringe music artist/producer with a Bill Laswell-sized discography and a name well-known to those 'in the know' about ambient-industrial noise. If you like experimental ambient music, 15 Degrees Below Zero is a project well worth checking out.
Resting on A takes a very minimal approach, even with the track titles ('3.4.1', '3.4.4', '2.5', '3.12.2', '3.25', etc.). I’m guessing there might be some mathematical significance to that, but I flunk high school algebra, so how would I really know? The soundscapes on this work are somewhat more spacey and subdued than what I’ve heard on previous 15 Degrees' releases, nearly Eno-esque in some places. Multilayered, but still very minimal, where events blend and morph with each other in an often placid pastiche, a dichotomy of calm and tension, stillness and motion. This is best illustrated on the lengthy track '2.5', which runs about 24 ½ minutes. This is not drone music, but atmosphere music. In your mind, you may hear ghostly voices emerge, or you may get the impression of arctic isolation. The canvas on which 15 Degrees Below Zero paints is open to interpretation, often seemingly amorphous, yet with structure and balance. Even subdued melody can be extracted from certain passages.
The track following '2.5' has more experimental noise in the form of recurring looped pitched noise and static distortion that culminates seamlessly in wavering bellish bass tones on the next track. I’m guessing there is some heavy use of ring modulation here. There is much emphasis on the lower frequencies throughout the album, so you should prepare your listening system for that. Not to say that higher timbres have been neglected; they do appear transiently for affect now and then. I wonder how much of the music has been improvised and how much has been structured, as it seems to have a rather precise framework.
Track 6 ('3.12.1') features some spoken word over repeated electronic tones and noise rumblings. I’m not much of fan of spoken word samples in music except for short, appropriate interjections (that’s the old school industrial in me), but it’s a short track and not really obtrusive. Track 7 ('2.19.2') features old school electronics along the lines of Varèse, Stockhausen, etc., a sort of nod to musique concrete. On the final track, '3.12.4', heavy processed guitar takes over. All-in-all, Resting on A is a really good album with a high replayability factor. But there is more… a bonus video of 'December December' a track from their previous New Travel CD. It would not play without glitches for me no matter what program I used to play it on, but the surreal visuals were rather interesting."
rated: 4.5/5"
Steve Mecca,
Chain D.L.K.
http://www.chaindlk.com/ |
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| Conure in Hollywood on Thursday... |
[May. 18th, 2009|09:28 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Melvins - vs. Mpls 3CDset | ] |
I know most of you aren't in the area but here goes anyway...
Thursday, May 21st, 2009
Conure
Laetitia Sonami
Santiago Latorre
ResBox @ Steve Allen Theater at Center for Inquiry - West,
4773 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
8pm, all ages, $10 |
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| They Fell's review of Conure's "Stream" CD |
[May. 11th, 2009|12:52 pm] |
"You are either gonna get this or you are not. I for one was initiated into Conure a long time ago when I witnessed their visceral, albeit rather short set in the States. I have my momentary monkey on my shoulder that likes things experimental and noisy, and occasionally, it needs feeding; Conure fit the bill right here because it ain't quiet or pleasant at all. Good.
From the off, this is an organically noisy and sometimes necessarily messy gritty animal that is as filthy as it is precise. Layer upon layer of field recordings whir and hum in the background with crunching grinding electronics that squelch and hum, and to the untrained ear this would appear pointless; my ears are pretty much up to sketch on this approach.
Just when it all starts crashing, at the point where even I start to teeter off attention wise, Mark Wilson grabs my ears with ‘Sycan’ which throws in a warm ambient tone which fills out the blistering just where it’s needed the most, at its make or break stage where you just might have had enough.
This is pretty much the angriest I have heard Mark, and whilst I may have preferred his debut release from some time ago, there is a lot to be said for having those moments when you want to let it all go and see what it sounds like when you hit a wasps' nest with a baseball bat (with added screaming at the realisation at what you have just done), for the sheer fuck of it no less.
-Tony Young/Autoclav1.1,
They Fell
http://theyfell.com/ |
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| They Fell's review of 15DBZ's "Resting on A" CD |
[May. 11th, 2009|12:51 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Ulterior - Kempers Heads CD(ep) | ] |
"I have to say I was a massive fan of ‘Under a Morphine Sky’, which was beautifully bleak and attention grabbing, and it's quite nice to see how things have evolved from there to now with this trio’s latest release.
The best words I can use when listening to 15DBZ is ‘sound sculpture’, because that's exactly what this is -- taking the organic and electronic and evolving it into form, sometimes ambient, sometimes noisy, and for the some of the time, both.
There is an overlying hum to this album, a rich drone that seems to flow as the base to a lot of the tracks occasionally rising and lifting the ambient quality of this act to the maximum atmosphere, cold and warm in equal measure with the occasional momentary feeling of being lost at a crossroads not knowing which route to take with the feeling of desperation reaching a peak when you realise you have taken the wrong path and there is no going back.
Without doubt there is a lot about 15DBZ which will not appeal to just anyone, such is their eclectic nature; even for myself some of the tracks do appear a little over lengthy in part, and there was the odd occasion where I wanted them to hurry up the journey somewhat. Taking that into account, however, with a lot of patience there is a lot on this release to sink your teeth into for the discerning ambient and noise fan alike and is value for money in the process."
-Tony Young/Autoclav1.1,
They Fell
http://theyfell.com/ |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 27th, 2009|01:56 pm] |
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The next Conure CD (with a current working title of Strings) will be released on April 13, 2010. I hope to start work on it by the end of May. |
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| KFJC's review of Conure's "Stream" |
[Apr. 27th, 2009|12:51 pm] |
"A lush and intriguing release by Conure (Mark Wilson), from California. Two of my favorite things - dark rumbling electronics and field recordings (wind, ducks, crackling fire, random conversations…). Growling and boiling. If it were a color, it’d be blood purple. Sometimes chaotic mayhem, sometimes broken video game sounding. All tracks segue together, but each track takes on its own sound. A beautiful and unique noise release."
-Cinder, KFJC 89.7FM,
http://spidey.kfjc.org/ |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 3rd, 2009|11:07 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  excited | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Calexico - 9/11/08 live recording | ] |
The new 15 Degrees Below Zero CD has been delivered to the label! Now I just need to arrange to pick up my copies. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 30th, 2009|11:45 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Vromb - Le Pecheur de Noyes CD | ] |
Am I the only Bay Area resident that never notices earthquakes? |
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| Connexion Bizarre's review of Conure's "Stream" |
[Mar. 17th, 2009|07:05 am] |
"This new release from Californian musician Mark Wilson, aka Conure, is basically focused on his work with soundscapes and noise manipulation more than on any kind of musical composition work as one may understand it. So this five-track album is more ambient noise oriented and rougher than his previous works. Using his laptop and a large variety of effects devices, Wilson takes listeners on a journey through the sounds, which are actually sufficient to bring about immersion in his world, without the need for any kind of narration or explanation behind them to capture the attention. You just have to sit down and listen carefully, close your eyes and let the pictures flow in your mind. You will soon discover that if Conure's imaginary world is surely dark and raw, it also can be quite fascinating...
The sounds used here - coming mainly from field recordings (blasts of air, grinding, growling, and so on), but also from synth pads - are of course pretty harsh, though the atmospheres they generate are mesmerizing in a way, closer to the ambient noise genre than to harsh noise. The track structures include very few rhythms and consist more of drones stacked onto one another as the track goes on. The whole thing is quite well mixed and produced, and rarely hurts the ears, even when the sounds are very shrill, like they are in tracks such as 'Hobart' or 'Sycan'. Conure is indubitably one of the numerous projects that deserve some enthusiasm in a noise scene that becomes richer and richer these days."
rated: 8/10"
-Olivier Noel,
Connexion Bizarre,
http://www.connexionbizarre.net |
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| show update... |
[Mar. 10th, 2009|04:50 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Yellow Swans + Moth Drakula - They Do Not Always Remember CD(ep) | ] |
*have ticket
#am performing at
Mar 10*: Zornfest 2009: Secret Chiefs 3 @ Yoshi's, SF
Mar 11: Zornfest 2009: Masada String Trio @ Yoshi's, SF
Mar 12: Zornfest 2009: Masada Quintet @ Yoshi's, SF
Mar 13: Zornfest 2009: Bar Kokhba Sextet @ Yoshi's, SF
Mar 13: Lucabrazzi w/ MC Meathook, Vital Organs @ Death Rock Dive Bar, Stork Club, Oakland
Mar 14: Zornfest 2009: The Dreamers @ Yoshi's, SF
Mar 14: Djynnx, Nezzy Idy, Polar, Kanopic Descent, Seacrypt @ Orbis Nex, Oakland
Mar 15#: +DOG+ w/ Hypnotic Injection, Superzapper Recharge, Audioemetic, Conure @ Sacramento Audio Waffle, The Goobertarium, Sacramento (noon)
Mar 15: Zornfest 2009: Electric Masada @ Yoshi's, SF
Mar 15*: Tindersticks @ Great American Music Hall, SF
Mar 17*: The Good Life featuring Trevor Dunn, Ben Goldberg, Nels Cline, John Dietrich, Scott Amendola @ Cafe du Nord, SF
Mar 18: Pink Canoes w/ Cenk Ergun, NVH, Gerritt Wittmer @ Hemlock Tavern, SF
Mar 18: Fred Frith/Mattias Bossi @ 21Grand, Oakland
Mar 19*: Zu featuring Mike Patton @ Great American Music Hall, SF
Mar 21: Chick Corea/John McLaughlin/Christian McBride @ UC Berkeley, Berkeley
Mar 21: Carrion, Sixes, Scard, Soriah, Vines @ Orbix Nex, Oakland
Mar 21: Endif w/ Whormongr, Captive 6 (C/A/T side-project) @ Retox Lounge, SF (separate and collaborative sets)
Mar 22: Mute Socialite (featuring Moe! Staiano) w/ Wah Wah Exit Wounds, Wiener Kids @ Hemlock Tavern, SF
Mar 25*: Jason Kahn + Joe Colley w/ Scott Arford @ Swissnex, SF
Mar 26*: Nurse With Wound w/ Freida Abtan, Jim Haynes, irr. app. (ext.) @ Great American Music Hall, SF
Mar 26: Rasputina w/ Ruby Throat @ The Independent, SF
Mar 28: John Wiese @ Terminal, Oakland
Mar 28: Pelican w/ WOlves in the Throne Room, Tombs @ Slim's, SF
Mar 31: Kinski @ Hemlock Tavern, SF
Apr 3: Deadfly Ensemble w/ Black Bow, Swann Danger @ Hemlock Tavern, SF
Apr 4: Tony Conrad w/ Brendan Murray and Paul Clipson @ SF Art Institute, SF
Apr 4: Acid Mothers Temple w/ Kinski, Sonic Suicide Squad @ Bottom of the Hill, SF
Apr 5: Babyland w/ Felt Drawings, Veil Veil Vanish, Everything Goes Cold @ DNA Lounge, SF
Apr 7: Voltaire w/ Vernian Process @ Elbo Room, SF
Apr 10: Black Ice w/ The Tunnel, Radiostar SF @ Death Rock Dive Bar, Stork Club, Oakland
Apr 11: Mute Socialite (featuring Moe! Staiano) w/ Say Bok Gwai, Ninja Academy @ Club Alano, SF
Apr 14: Devendra Banhart @ The Independent, SF
Apr 28*: Ghost @ The Independent, SF
Apr 23: Throbbing Gristle w/ Erika M Anderson @ Grand Regency Ballroom, SF
May 8: The Sixteens w/ Swann Danger, Magick Daggers @ Death Rock Dive Bar, Oakland
May 10*: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum @ Great American Music Hall, SF
May 15: Amber Asylum w/ Skin Horse, Velnias @ Hemlock Tavern, SF
May 17* Mogwai @ Grand Regency Ballroom, SF
May 21#: Laetitia Sonami w/ Conure, Santiago Latorre @ ResBox, Steve Allen Theater, Hollywood
May 30: Black Ice w/ Grayceon @ El Rio, SF
Jun 4: Amy X Neuberg & the Cello Chixtet w/ Zoe Keating @ Great American Music Hall, SF
Jun 17*: Shellac @ Great American Music Hall, SF
Jun 18*: Shellac @ Great American Music Hall, SF
Jul 20: Blue Oyster Cult @ Slim's, SF
Jul 19 - Jul 25#: Edgetone New Music Summit - Conure (playing on the 23rd) and many others @ San Francisco Community Music Center, SF |
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| kind words from Emit re: "Stream" |
[Mar. 3rd, 2009|07:45 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Jennara ordering Japanese food | ] |
"Stream is beautiful. My favorite kind of noise is the kind that creates
environments that slowly unfold like these tracks do.
My least favorite kind of noise is the (unfortunately popular) kind that
aimlessly changes in fast bursts of ADHD.
I would like to capture some of these relentlessly impatient noisicians
and force them to listen to this CD."
Thanks, Emit! |
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| show update... |
[Mar. 2nd, 2009|09:44 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Maschinenfest 2008 2CDcomp | ] |
*have ticket
#am performing at
Mar 6*: Michael Gira w/ Larkin Grimm @ Swedish American Hall, SF
Mar 6: Lambchop @ Great American Music Hall, SF
Mar 6: Akron/Family w/ Avocet @ Hemlock Tavern, SF
Mar 7*: Kronos Quartet @ Herbst Theatre, SF
Mar 7: Akron/Family w/ Citay @ Hemlock Tavern, SF
Mar 8*: Akron/Family w/ Howlin Rain @ Hemlock Tavern, SF
Mar 8: Neil Halstead (of Slowdive and Mojave 3) @ Great American Music Hall, SF
Mar 10*: Zornfest 2009: Secret Chiefs 3 @ Yoshi's, SF
Mar 11: Zornfest 2009: Masada String Trio @ Yoshi's, SF
Mar 12: Zornfest 2009: Masada Quintet @ Yoshi's, SF
Mar 13: Zornfest 2009: Bar Kokhba Sextet @ Yoshi's, SF
Mar 14: Zornfest 2009: The Dreamers @ Yoshi's, SF
Mar 15#: +DOG+ w/ Hypnotic Injection, Superzapper Recharge, Audioemetic, Conure @ Sacramento Audio Waffle, The Goobertarium, Sacramento (noon)
Mar 15: Zornfest 2009: Electric Masada @ Yoshi's, SF
Mar 15*: Tindersticks @ Great American Music Hall, SF
Mar 18: Pink Canoes w/ Cenk Ergun, NVH, Gerritt Wittmer @ Hemlock Tavern, SF
Mar 19*: Zu featuring Mike Patton @ Great American Music Hall, SF
Mar 21: Chick Corea/John McLaughlin/Christian McBride @ UC Berkeley, Berkeley
Mar 21: Endif w/ Whormongr, Captive 6 (C/A/T side-project) @ Retox Lounge, SF (separate and collaborative sets)
Mar 22: Mute Socialite (featuring Moe! Staiano) w/ Wah Wah Exit Wounds, Wiener Kids @ Hemlock Tavern, SF
Mar 25*: Jason Kahn + Joe Colley w/ Scott Arford @ Swissnex, SF
Mar 26*: Nurse With Wound w/ Freida Abtan, Jim Haynes, irr. app. (ext.) @ Great American Music Hall, SF
Mar 26: Rasputina w/ Ruby Throat @ The Independent, SF
Mar 28: John Wiese @ Terminal, Oakland
Mar 28: Pelican w/ WOlves in the Throne Room, Tombs @ Slim's, SF
Mar 31: Kinski @ Hemlock Tavern, SF
Apr 3: Deadfly Ensemble w/ Black Bow, Swann Danger @ Hemlock Tavern, SF
Apr 4: Tony Conrad w/ Brendan Murray and Paul Clipson @ SF Art Institute, SF
Apr 4: Acid Mothers Temple w/ Kinski, Sonic Suicide Squad @ Bottom of the Hill, SF
Apr 7: Voltaire w/ Vernian Process @ Elbo Room, SF
Apr 28*: Ghost @ The Independent, SF
Apr 23: Throbbing Gristle w/ Erika M Anderson @ Grand Regency Ballroom, SF
May 10*: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum @ Great American Music Hall, SF
May 15: Amber Asylum w/ Skin Horse, Velnias @ Hemlock Tavern, SF
May 21#: Laetitia Sonami w/ Conure, Santiago Latorre @ ResBox, Steve Allen Theater, Hollywood
Jun 4: Amy X Neuberg & the Cello Chixtet w/ Zoe Keating @ Great American Music Hall, SF
Jul 20: Blue Oyster Cult @ Slim's, SF
Jul 19 - Jul 25#: Edgetone New Music Summit - Conure (playing on the 23rd) and many others @ San Francisco Community Music Center, SF |
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Today is the official release date for 15 Degrees Below Zero's Resting on A CD on Edgetone Records.