{"title":"Luminous","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"amirtha-kidambi-elder-ones-holy-science","title":"Amirtha Kidambi Elder Ones - Holy Science","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1632580698\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/amirthakidambi.bandcamp.com\/album\/holy-science\"\u003eHoly Science by Elder Ones\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs Ben Ratliff wrote in the New York Times, “the aggressive and sublime first album by the band Elder Ones, Holy Science, is a kind of gauge for how strong and flexible the scene of young musicians in New York’s improvised and experimental music world can be. At the center of it are drones and phonemes. The group’s leader, the 30-year-old composer and singer Amirtha Kidambi, holds forth behind a harmonium, the small keyboard instrument with hand-pumped bellows; it’s commonly used in bhajan, the Indian devotional-singing tradition that was central to her musical experience while growing up in a South Indian family.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKidambi formally trained in classical music, singing works by avant-gardists including Nono and Stockhausen, but the pull of free jazz and Alice Coltrane drew her toward a different path. The influence of both Alice and John Coltrane is especially apparent on the new album, as is her work with composer and saxophonist Darius Jones, and her study of Carnatic music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile in Darius Jones's a cappella group, Kidambi developed a language for wordless vocals, freeing her from being tied to syntax, a technique she uses through most of Holy Science. The music is anchored by bass-lines and drones on the harmonium, often doubled on the bass by Brandon Lopez. Matt Nelson on the soprano saxophone evokes the sound of the Indian double-reed nadhaswaram, and the playing of John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, blending with and harmonizing her voice and the reeds of the harmonium. Drummer Max Jaffe’s ability to seamlessly pivot between complex grooves and timbrally explorative free-playing, completes the equation. Each musician was chosen for their unique improvisatory language on their instrument, ultimately informing Kidambi’s compositional approach.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReflecting on her various influences, Kidambi explained, “I grew up Hindu, but with a pantheist universalist bent, the idea that all religions are different paths to the same God or Truth. Not only is the music of John and Alice Coltrane so influential, they both practiced universalism. Alice's primary guru was the same one that my family followed, and she participated in the bhajan singing tradition. I grew up singing with the harmonium, and I know all the tunes on her Huntington Ashram records. She looms large for me as a figure who blended so many different styles and traditions, uncompromising in her vision and authentic to herself. She was, in a way, a universalist in her music, blending her influences of Stravinsky, gospel, free jazz, the avant-garde, world music, and her spiritual practice into a totally individual sound. I really relate to that way of thinking about music and the universe.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first piece composed in the suite was \"Dvapara Yoga,\" which began as a meditation on the death of Eric Garner. The album title derives from a 19th century text written by Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, which scientifically explains the yugas, or eons of cosmic time in Hindu mythology. The four movements Sathya-Yuga, Treta-Yuga, Dvapara-Yuga and Kali-Yuga, explore themes of creation, destruction, and rebirth, with the final movement pivoting on the Vishnu Sahasranam Vedic chant, and ending with an apocalyptic reset of the time cycle.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667150762207,"sku":"CD-NS-085","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667150794975,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667150827743,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a3849590726_10.jpg?v=1703788592"},{"product_id":"cuddle-magic-ashesaxis","title":"Cuddle Magic - Ashes\/Axis","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1876571167\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cuddlemagic.bandcamp.com\/album\/ashes-axis\"\u003eAshes\/Axis by Cuddle Magic\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003ep\u0026gt;\n\u003cp\u003eCuddle Magic is Benjamin Lazar Davis, Christopher McDonald, Dave Flaherty, Alec Spiegelman, Kristin Slipp and Cole Kamen-Green–a six-piece avant-pop band located between Brooklyn and Philadelphia. All six musicians are in-demand collaborators in New York’s musical community and work with a wide array of artists, from pop superstars like Beyoncé to critically lauded independent musicians like Will Sheff (Okkervil River) and Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls), as well as with respected figures of the avant-garde like Fred Frith and Ran Blake.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt's been a few years since the New Yorker labeled Cuddle Magic’s music \"high concept chamber-pop.” At the time, that was a fair statement about a band known to utilize 12-tone rows, odd meters, and extended techniques; a band which had collaborated with new music pianist Phyllis Chen and Third Stream master Ran Blake. But with Ashes\/Axis, the band’s forthcoming new full-length record, listeners are less likely to hear echoes of the academy. All sorts of heady compositional devices, both musical and literary, are still present, but the members of Cuddle Magic have learned to bury those influences deeper in the substrate of the music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshes\/Axis features songs written by three of Cuddle Magic’s band members–Christopher McDonald, Benjamin Lazar Davis and Alec Spiegelman–all of whom take turns as lead vocalist. In addition, Kristin Slipp, whose voice is prominent from the very start of the album, takes the lead on “Slow Rider,” “The First Hippie on the Moon, Pt. II” and “Voicemail.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe album also features several co-writes: “The First Hippie on the Moon, Pt. II” was co-written by Lazar Davis and his brother Tim Davis; “The First Hippie on the Moon, Pt. I” was co-written by McDonald and Davis; “Voicemail” was co-written by Lazar Davis and Spiegelman; “Spinning” and “Round And Round” were co-written by Lazar Davis and Sarah K. Pedinotti of Lip Talk, and three of the songs on the album were co-written by Lazar Davis and longtime collaborator Bridget Kearney of Lake Street Dive. Those tracks, “Slow Rider,” “Trojan Horse,” and “Getaway,” are all pop songs hung over the frame of Bawa music from Northwestern Ghana. Parts of these songs were conceived just for the gyl, a type of wooden xylophone, and can be heard translated for this sort-of-rock band.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs with past Cuddle Magic records, the studio process for Ashes\/Axis began with live full-band arrangements. Grooves were orchestrated with a set of unusual electro-acoustic timbres including a finger-picked, overdriven acoustic guitar, a bass clarinet with a cheap microphone nested in the bell, junk-shop percussion run through a vocoder, and a slew of Casio keyboards (bought, urgently, from an unnervingly tense family in rural Maine). After tracking the arrangements, several elements were then removed to allow for one final stage of recomposition. With Cuddle Magic’s Benjamin Lazar Davis at the helm, Bryce Goggin (Pavement, Swans, Antony \u0026amp; The Johnsons) and assistant engineer Adam Sachs chopped, distorted, distressed, and delayed elements in each song. The end result is a sound that is warm and precise, raw yet sophisticated–a set of infectious pop songs from either an alternate reality or a paradoxically familiar near-future.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667151220959,"sku":"LP-NS-086","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667151253727,"sku":"CD-NS-086","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667151319263,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667151286495,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a2534050323_10.jpg?v=1703788611"},{"product_id":"on-fillmore-happiness-of-living","title":"On Fillmore - Happiness of Living","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1293544510\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/onfillmore.bandcamp.com\/album\/happiness-of-living\"\u003eHappiness of Living by On Fillmore\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is Happiness of Living: the latest musical transmission from On Fillmore, the long-running duo of percussionist Glenn Kotche (Wilco) and bassist Darin Gray (Tweedy). Carved from an ecstatic multi-day session in Rio de Janeiro, these 11 new tracks, which make up their fourth studio album, move effortlessly between pools of celestial vocals, deep cosmic pockets and occasional pop tunes, to create a glowing mood unlike any previous dispatch from On Fillmore.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSculpted from eight hours of sessions made with old and new comrade musicians, including esteemed producer Kassin (Caetano Veloso, Arto Lindsay), On Fillmore has invited others into their deepest creative space for the first time with Happiness of Living. Emerging from something deeper than improvisation, the sessions unfolded in a spirit of openness: like the analog tape loops borrowed from an installation by Sao Paulo artist, Chiara Banfi; or the voice of Brazilian-American singer-songwriter Gabriela Riley; the otherworldly percussion of Mauro Refosco (Atoms for Peace, Red Hot Chili Peppers); or even the words sang by Guillereme Valerio on \"Jornada Inteira”, who is the brother of their Sao Paulo promoter. The synchronicity of those recordings is evident upon listening to Happiness of Living, from the first touch of thumb piano (kalimba) on album opener, \"Pintado.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst visiting Brazil to perform at the 2005 Perc Pan Festival in Salvador and Rio, On Fillmore had what they describe as \"a musically life-changing experience.\" They arrived, laden with mini-discs and effects pedals, to play music from their then-new album Sleeps With Fishes (Quakebasket, 2004), but it was while watching a performance by +2 collective (Domenico, Moreno, Kassin) that something shifted. A friendship with those musicians took root and grew into an ensemble performance later that year at Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago which, though unrehearsed, remains one of the duo's favorite shows. It opened the door for what continued to grow into Extended Vacation (Dead Oceans, 2009), and eventually becomes fully formed in Happiness of Living.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn Fillmore have always embodied a collaborative spirit, most recently serving as the rhythm section for William Tyler’s acclaimed Modern Country (Merge, 2016). On Fillmore formed in 1999 on a plane ride home from performing in London with Jim O’Rourke, and met a few years before while working on O’Rourke’s Eureka (Drag City, 1998). On Fillmore has since remained a band without a geographical home: Gray based in St. Louis and Kotche in Chicago (or wherever Wilco's currently at). Since joining Wilco in early 2001, Kotche has become one of the most acclaimed and in-demand percussionists in the world, occupying a musical space at the intersection of pop and experimental music, orbiting within the worlds of classical commissions as well as rock and roll amphitheaters. Gray has worked with a range of underground music heroes, including Loren Connors, Chris Corsano, and Rob Mazurek, in addition to serving as bassist in Tweedy, with Wilco’s frontman, Jeff Tweedy, and his son Spencer. In cultivating their long-term friendship and musical partnership, Kotche and Gray’s still-unfolding On Fillmore discography showcases a process of exploration that is consistently pushing both musicians beyond the traditional divisions of labor in a bass\/percussion duo.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter discovering a new musical place with Extended Vacation in 2009, On Fillmore found themselves with the longing to transform their ongoing musical conversation to a wider specter of possible landscapes. Neither jazz nor Brazilian, not exotica, not free music, nor anything else. If anything, Happiness of Living has On Fillmore in uncharted land. For certain types of music fans, a dream record; the type one might put on and immediately be transported to some place filled with strange creatures and inviting sounds, some place you’ve never been but maybe find you’ve been missing. This is Happiness of Living.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667154628831,"sku":"LP-NS-083","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667154694367,"sku":"CD-NS-083","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667154661599,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667154727135,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NS083_OnFillmore_cover-e1646851449785.jpg?v=1703788630"},{"product_id":"arto-lindsay-cuidado-madame","title":"Arto Lindsay - Cuidado Madame","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2674611517\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/artolindsay.bandcamp.com\/album\/cuidado-madame\"\u003eCuidado Madame by Arto lindsay\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e• The album is titled after an infamous 1970 Julio Bressane film about oppressed housemaids revolting against and brutally murdering their mistresses. The literal translation is “Careful, Madame.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e• The album is produced by Lindsay. It features Melvin Gibbs, Paul Wilson, Kassa Overall, Patrick Higgins, Ryu Takahashi and Thiago Nassif.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e• Candomblé (spiritual rhythms revolving around possession and trance) served as the foundation for the record. The process began with recordings of atabaques in Brazil. Lindsay wrote melodies and lyrics over the rhythms in the studio in Brooklyn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e• The album is an exploration of the cultural nexus of Afro-Brazilian spirituality and western modernity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen people talk about Arto Lindsay’s body of work, they often project a reductive dichotomy. There is Scary Arto and Sexy Arto.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eScary Arto’s music is stormy and serrated and ruthless and almost deranged; evoking perhaps the glare and noise of New York City. Sexy Arto’s music is seductive and warm and textured and ethereal; evoking perhaps the dappled sunlight of Brazil. Both musics seem dreamlike. In the sense that there are many kinds of dreams.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 2014, Northern Spy issued a unique and conceptually provocative double-disc anthology of Arto’s solo work, called Encyclopedia Of Arto. Disc 1 was a “best of Arto LIndsay” survey of his solo albums. Disc 2 was something much more unusual: many of the same songs from disc one, performed live with Arto's signature haywire noise guitar (Scary Arto) juxtaposed against his lilting, slyly erotic, post-Caetano vocal style (Sexy Arto).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe choice to marry Sexy and Scary into a single performance was striking and bold. I cannot speak for Arto, but my read of the statement was that it rebuked the notion that his vision is somehow binary. It felt like fresh terrain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis brings us to Cuidado Madame, the long awaited new album, where Arto’s mastery is in full bloom. Though the album certainly favors Sexy Arto, its fearlessness makes us let go of our boring, dichotomous ideas. On offer is the full, inimitable Arto Lindsay range of texture, noise, technology, ensemble playing, melody and poetry, sensuality and intellect.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou will find that you stop analyzing and parsing. You will find that you surrender.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the sense that there are many kinds of dreams.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Chad Clark\u003cbr\u003eBeauty Pill \/ Washington, DC \/ Spring 2017\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667154858207,"sku":"LP-NS-090","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667154923743,"sku":"CD-NS-090","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667154956511,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667154890975,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a1543875685_10.jpg?v=1703788648"},{"product_id":"horselover-fats-liberty-ashes","title":"Horselover Fats - Liberty Ashes","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3445144871\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/track=4091609691\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/horseloverfats.bandcamp.com\/album\/liberty-ashes\"\u003eLiberty Ashes by Horselover Fats\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLiberty Ashes is an exercise in not only deliberation but also impulse. Side A and Side B act as inverse of each other, sharing similar three-movement structure. A is the more deliberate, ecstatic piece, its hulking movement arranged for the appearance of the State Street Singers men’s choir, led by Matt Morello. Ferocious wormhole guitars and irascible walls of drums weave in and out of the Latin incantations of the choir, producing a bliss both pineal and cerebral. Side B focuses more on chance–the composition builds around blooming synth pads and wanderlust guitars before dropping into synthetic percussion, processed into oblivion. By the end of the piece, vocals lace the ambient washes of the keys and guitars, again achieving a bliss–this one subliminal. The contrast between the two sides of Liberty Ashes is stark, but the spirit is similar. The music comes fast and easy, both seamless and sawtooth, sacred and profane. It’s a record built toward the end of post-modernity, exploring dichotomies of loud\/quiet, space\/occupation, light\/dark, and free\/unfree. Liberty Ashes refers to the remnants of an ideology, that deliberation and impulse together lead to something more sustainable than either on their own.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Cassette + Digital","offer_id":44667155742943,"sku":"CS-NS-078","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667155710175,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667155775711,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a3867845011_16-1-1.jpg?v=1703788686"},{"product_id":"shilpa-ray-paisley","title":"Shilpa Ray - Paisley","description":"\u003cp\u003eSIDE A: When Doves Cry\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=464065851\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/track=3167338915\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/shilparay.bandcamp.com\/album\/paisley\"\u003ePaisley by Shilpa Ray\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis was the track that got me. I was 4 years old when I heard this song. There was a story about him on the evening news and I told my mom I was gonna marry him. Why not? He looked like me. He had brown skin, black hair, big dark eyes and the longest lashes. Watching Purple Rain as an adult I was floored that I was allowed to watch it at all as a child. I didn’t remember it being so sexual. All my 4 year old self could absorb was that in the TV there was a world where you could get up on stage, wear glamorous clothes, and be surrounded by beautiful babes. I watched the older girls in my parent’s friend circle copping Appolonia’s style—big 80’s hair, purple shadow and bright red lips. She was a whole lot of woman, and Prince was the magic man from outer space. Those were good times. RIP\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSIDE B: Where Evil Grows\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=464065851\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/track=3347800726\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/shilparay.bandcamp.com\/album\/paisley\"\u003ePaisley by Shilpa Ray\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEver watch the video of this song on the Kenny Rogers show? It’s sublime. A wholesome white couple, seemingly Jesus loving hippies, singing a song about where evil grows. I first heard this track while working the door at Pianos this past winter. My friend, DJ Andy Haynes, a connoisseur of creepy music, was spinning that night and the lyrics to this grabbed me. “Evil grew. It’s part of you and now it seems to be that every time I look at you evil grows in me.” Like I said, really creepy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“When Doves Cry” is a collaboration with soul singer Deva Mahal.\u003cbr\u003e\nJeff Berner of Psychic TV engineered the tracks.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Lathe Cut Single + Digital","offer_id":44667156037855,"sku":null,"price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Cassette + Digital","offer_id":44667155939551,"sku":"CS-NS-084","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667155972319,"sku":"","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667156005087,"sku":null,"price":3.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-06-at-2.21.01-PM.png?v=1703788706"},{"product_id":"ravi-shankar-in-hollywood-1971","title":"Ravi Shankar - In Hollywood, 1971","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2092736005\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/ravishankar.bandcamp.com\/album\/in-hollywood-1971-2\"\u003eIn Hollywood, 1971 by Ravi Shankar\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePARTICIPANTS: Ravi Shankar (Sitar), Alla Rakha (Tabla), Kamala Chakravarty (Tanpura)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded live June 12, 1971 in Hollywood, California. Private concert at the home of Ravi Shankar on Highland Avenue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMusic Producer: Shyama Priya\u003cbr\u003e\nExecutive Producer: Shyama Priya, Cat Celebrezze\u003cbr\u003e\nCover Photograph: Claudia Andujar\u003cbr\u003e\nInside Photographs: Henry Diltz\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLINER NOTES:\u003cbr\u003e\nWritten by Sukanya Shankar, 2015\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a treasure of a recording as it is not only a live recording of a rare morning concert but it was also an “at home” performance Raviji did for some special friends at his residence on Highland Avenue in Hollywood, California in 1971. It was during this gathering that he spoke about his distress over the plight of the people of East Pakistan (later known as Bangla Desh) in the aftermath of Cyclone Bhola. Being Bengali himself, he talked about wanting to do something to alleviate the suffering. George Harrison, in attendance that day, listened and from those conversations the seed was sown for what would later become the Concert for Bangladesh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI telephoned Kamala Chakravarty in India, whom you hear on the recording playing tanpura (also Raviji’s one-time partner of twenty-five years) to find out details of the day, what the atmosphere was like. She is eighty-six now and she couldn’t remember in detail – there were so many musical nights! – but said that, at that time, it was not uncommon for Raviji to invite friends over and then all the four Beatles and people like Marlon Brando, Zubin Mehta, and Peter Sellers would to drop by!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis concert recording is unique musically as it is historically. The first piece is a beautiful raga composed by Raviji called Parameshwari. It opens with a little Aochar and a slow Gat in Teen taal of 16 beats and a fast gat in Ek Taal of 12 beats. The inspiration for this Raga goes back to Chengali, a little village near Kolkata. During the filming of his autobiographical film Raga, Raviji traveled to Chengali in the morning sometime in March 1968. While riding in the car, he conceived the nucleus of a melodic form that he later developed and called Kameshwari. By using the old Murchana (scale-wise progression) and Swara Bheda system (getting different ragas by changing the Sa or Do), he discovered three more ragas at the heart of Kameshwari, and Parameshwari was one of them. The other two are Gangeshwari and Rangeshwari. Parameshwari has flashes of known ragas Bageshri, Bhairavi and Bilaskhani Todi but it is pure Raviji.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLet us delve a little into what Raviji achieved when he created his ragas. A raga is not merely a cluster of notes with a theme or a motif. It is bound by some strict principles of its Arohana (ascending) and Avarohana (descending) characteristics. It usually has 5, 6 or 7 notes and sometimes permutations and combinations of these. It should have a Vadi, which is the most important note, and a Sam Vadi, which is usually the 4th or the 5th and note and secondary. What is core to the raga is its Prana or life and its power to be heard and to be propagated, to instill its emotional message in the heart of as many musicians and listeners as possible. Time will tell the validity of a new raga creation, by its acceptance, popularity and longevity. No matter how beautiful the raga, if you are the only one who can perform it, it is not considered to be of any consequence. Raviji’s ragas can be found in many artist repertoires – that tells you the intensity and emotional effect of his music and his creations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlso playing brilliantly on this recording is Ustad Alla Rakha or Abbaji, as he was affectionately addressed, Raviji’s tabla accompanist of twenty-five years. You can hear Raviji’s appreciation and excitement for Abbaji’s improvisations during the performance. On Dhun you hear pure Raviji in all his sensuality and mastery! Raviji dedicated Dhun to Bangla Desh, again, telling you what was on his mind and weighing on his heart at the time. The final piece is Sindhi Bhairavi in Thumri (meaning “light classical style”). Raviji’s hands are flying in the fast Drut composition, but at he loses not one bit of musicality. Towards the end, the musical conversation between sitar and tabla is incredible. Hearing Raviji’s inimitable laughter at the conclusion broke my heart. Oh I miss him so much…but am so grateful we can share his music with you.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– Sukanya Shankar, 2015\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Double LP + Digital","offer_id":44667156168927,"sku":"LP-NS-073","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Double CD + Digital","offer_id":44667156234463,"sku":"CD-NS-073","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667156201695,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667156267231,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Ravi-Shankar-In-Hollywood-Cover_web-e1646851928473.jpg?v=1703788727"},{"product_id":"the-necks-vertigo","title":"The Necks - Vertigo","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2107741802\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thenecksau.bandcamp.com\/album\/vertigo\"\u003eVertigo by The Necks\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Necks 18th album \u003cem\u003eVertigo\u003c\/em\u003e is an eventful, kaleidoscopic tone poem set against a darkly shimmering background. Slowly but inexorably moving forward, it crosses many frontiers yet remains true to the mission and mood established in the opening stanzas of this cinematic 44 minute journey. A work able to be viewed either as a whole, or two symmetrical halves, \u003cem\u003eVertigo\u003c\/em\u003e sees The Necks once again offer an excursion in sound that reflects both the light and darkness of some preternatural world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eVertigo\u003c\/em\u003e will be released on 30th October in North America by Northern Spy Records. It follows their acclaimed 2013 album Open, described by SPIN as ‘the most beautiful album of the year’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn contrast to the sustained improvisations that are their live performances, The Necks’ studio albums take shape by way of intricate crafting brought to bear throughout the entire recording and mixing process. “The discussion this time really began in earnest in the session itself, where we started to pursue the idea of having a drone running from start to finish, off which we could hang ideas,” said bassist Lloyd Swanton “But like all Necks albums we ended up in a very different place from whatever our initial notion of it had been.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMaintaining a teetering tension between suspension and collapse, \u003cem\u003eVertigo\u003c\/em\u003e draws on a diverse palette of sounds created in the studio by Tony Buck (drums\/percussion\/guitar), Lloyd Swanton (bass) and Chris Abrahams (piano\/keyboards), featuring everything from homemade instruments, extended instrumental techniques and marathon explorations of sonic textures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne piece, at the same time two. Monochrome, yet multicoloured. Dark, yet incandescent. Expansive and still. Melancholic and exhilarating. The Necks. \u003cem\u003eVertigo\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667157577951,"sku":"LP-NS-067","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667157676255,"sku":"CD-NS-067","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667157610719,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667157643487,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a1767889221_10.jpg?v=1703788782"},{"product_id":"damalibra-claw","title":"Dama\/Libra - Claw","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=602852303\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/dama-libra.bandcamp.com\/album\/claw\"\u003eClaw by Dama\/Libra\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eDAMA LIBRA is the enthralling new collaboration between two revered veterans of the national indie and avant rock scenes, Joel RL Phelps (formerly of underground rock legends, Silkworm, and currently working with his own band, The Downer Trio) and G. Stuart Dahlquist (formerly of doom metal progenitors, Burning Witch\/SunnO))), and currently of Asva). They are proud to be releasing their first full-length album as a duo, Claw, on Northern Spy Records in summer 2014. Combining the unique talents of both artists, Claw is a pronouncement of lush composition – teeming with a quiet intensity, subtle beauty, and pulsating with moments of raw, emotional catharsis.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUpon hearing the 2011 collaboration between Asva and French avant artist, Phillipe Petit, Phelps reached out to Dahlquist and proposed the addition of his vocals to an instrumental track he had found particularly moving. Despite having been friends and colleagues for nearly 25 years, discussions about working on a serious project together for the very first time began when a listen through the resulting piece (entitled “Thine”) nearly brought Dahlquist and his wife to tears. With Phelps living in British Columbia and Dahlquist residing in Seattle, all recording and composition for Claw was conducted in their respective home studios and transmitted via email over an 18-month period. The results are a profound representation of their individual yet somehow synchronous growth and maturity as artists. The mutual respect and trust both musicians have for and share with one another is evident in how far they pushed themselves to realize their combined work’s full potential and create what may be the strongest material either of them have ever put forth.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667160395999,"sku":"LP-NS-056","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667160428767,"sku":"CD-NS-056","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667160461535,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667160494303,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a2795837678_10.jpg?v=1703788895"},{"product_id":"arto-lindsay-the-encyclopedia-of-arto","title":"Arto Lindsay - The Encyclopedia of Arto","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1050637797\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/artolindsay.bandcamp.com\/album\/encyclopedia-of-arto-2\"\u003eEncyclopedia Of Arto by Arto lindsay\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEncyclopedia of Arto Lindsay\u003c\/em\u003e, coming out in the US on May 20th, 2014 for Northern Spy Records, is a photograph of the musical world created by Arto Lindsay. A double CD that presents the different musical souls that have always been the basis of the musical creativity of this American musician and composer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince his infancy, spent mostly in Brazil, Arto has been absorbing the music that surrounded him and elaborating a synthesis between experimental music and pop music. His first group, DNA, along with Ikue Mori, Robin Crutchfield and Tim Wright, without ever publishing an actual album, has deeply influenced the New York and worldwide experimental music scene, helping bring about the No Wave movement, brought to light by a compilation produced by Brian Eno in 1978 and titled No New York. As was clear from the innovative rhythmic elements already present in DNA, his Brazilian musical development already stood out in those years with Tropicalismo, Samba and Bossanova and with the Ambitious Lovers, the project which he gave life to in 1984 with the keyboard player Peter Scherer. No Wave and Post Punk were being enriched with Brazilian sonority such as Pagode and Bossanova which reached their heights in the cover of “Dora” by Dorival Cayimmi, an example of a popular Brazilian tradition showing up for the first time in a musical contest, that being that of the alternative American music which, up until then, had been absolutely distant. In this unique journey and in the many other collaborations with artists of varying extraction (from John Lurie and Marc Ribot to Ryuichi Sakamoto) and in important musical productions, (the most important of all being Estrangeiro in 1989, a turning point album in Caetano Veloso’s artistic career) and reaching deserved recognition in 2002 with the victory of the Latin Grammy Award (for the production of Marisa Monte‘s record, Memorias, Cronicas e Declaracoes de Amor), these apparently contrasting elements permeated each other more and more, giving shape to the unmistakable style and creativity of Arto Lindsay.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first CD which makes up Encyclopedia of Arto includes the tracks that Lindsay has chosen from his solo albums of the period between 1996 and 2004, “O Corpo Sutil”, “Mundo Civilizado”, “Noon Chill”, “Prize”, “Invoke” and “Salt”, tracks that he wrote with exceptional travel companions like Amedeo Pace (Blonde Redhead), Marisa Monte, Caetano Veloso, Kassin, Vinicius Cantuaria, as well as the faithful Andrés Levin and Melvin Gibbs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the second CD we find a solo performance of Arto, voice and guitar, a naked, cutting sound where the vocal melodies and the atonal guitar playing manage to epitomize all his “musical poetics”; it’s the essential Arto. Besides an unreleased track titled “Pony”, we find tracks from the aforementioned solo albums, including covers of Prince and Al Green, which revolutionize the studio versions recorded on “Mundo Civilizado.” We also find unreleased covers by Chico Buarque and also of the tradition of carioca Samba “Maneiras” (lead to success in Brazil by Zeca Pagodinho) and of the Samba Reggae “O Mais Belos Dos Belos” of Bahia.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Double LP + Digital","offer_id":44667160953055,"sku":"LP-NS-055","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Double CD + Digital","offer_id":44667161018591,"sku":"CD-NS-055","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667160985823,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667161051359,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a1406669571_10.jpg?v=1703788905"},{"product_id":"chicago-underground-duo-locus","title":"Chicago Underground Duo - Locus","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1853696010\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/chicagoundergroundduo.bandcamp.com\/album\/locus-2\"\u003eLocus by Chicago Underground Duo\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eLocus, the seventh album by the Chicago Underground Duo (Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor), follows on the heels of their acclaimed 2012 Northern Spy release Age of Energy. Bits of breakbeat and Afropop are heard within the jazz, ambient and electronica elements of their unmistakable grooves. Also in the mix is a Ghanian folk tune and Ennio Morricone played on cornet, drums, mbira, ballophone, bamboo flute and Game Boy. The pairing came out of the Chicago Underground Orchestra founded by Mazurek almost 20 years ago during a series of weekly workshops at the famed Chicago nightclub Green Mill Cocktail Lounge. The Orchestra morphed into the Chicago Underground Duo, Trio and Quartet as situations demanded, and while the orchestra has counted among its members such jazz greats as Sun Ra drummer Robert Barry and the late bassist Fred Hopkins of Air, the younger wunderkind Taylor has been the only other consistent member of the Underground bands. The duo remains core to most everything the uncompromising Mazurek takes on. With Taylor (championed timekeeper behind Marc Ribot’s Spiritual Unity Trio and projects with Peter Brötzmann, Ken Vandermark and many others), Mazurek has crafted an ever expanding sound, based in elements of jazz, techno, film music. The nine tracks on Locus find the tireless Duo exploring, as always, new sounds and new combinations.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667161444575,"sku":"LP-NS-052","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667161542879,"sku":"CD-NS-052","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667161477343,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667161510111,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/81kxRpnzC2L._SL1000.jpg?v=1703788928"},{"product_id":"rhys-chatham-harmonie-du-soir","title":"Rhys Chatham - Harmonie du Soir","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3809963487\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/rhyschatham.bandcamp.com\/album\/harmonie-du-soir\"\u003eHarmonie du soir by Rhys Chatham\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eRhys Chatham’s Harmonie du soir presents three heavenly compositions. The title track is the first major piece written for the configuration of six electric guitars, electric bass and drums since Die Donnergötter (1986). The second is The Dream of Rhonabwy, a piece written for large brass ensemble and percussion, realized in 2012 by a 70-piece brass band called Harmonie de Pontarlier, lead by the French conductor Patrick Erard. The last track on the CD version and bonus download for the vinyl edition is a 2012 studio performance of Drastic Classicism Revisited featuring Rhys Chatham, David Daniell, and Ryan Sawyer. The whole package is presented lovingly, mastered beautifully by James Plotkin, with extensive notes by Mr. Chatham.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667161870559,"sku":"LP-NS-048","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667161936095,"sku":"CD-NS-048","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667161903327,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667161968863,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/71qq92u78L._SL1400_-e1646851774155.jpg?v=1703788955"},{"product_id":"the-necks-open","title":"The Necks - Open","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=898907723\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thenecksau.bandcamp.com\/album\/open\"\u003eOpen by The Necks\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Necks are one of the great cult bands of Australia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOpen\u003c\/em\u003e, the 17th album from The Necks, is to be released on the 29th of October in North America as part of a brand new partnership between The Necks and Northern Spy Records.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFollowing on from their two track LP release, \u003cem\u003eMindset\u003c\/em\u003e (2011), \u003cem\u003eOpen\u003c\/em\u003e sees legendary artists-in-resonance The Necks return to the territory they are best known for, a single piece running for over an hour.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrue to its title, \u003cem\u003eOpen\u003c\/em\u003e possesses a stillness, drawing the listener into a spacious soundworld.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBassist Lloyd Swanton elaborates: “\u003cem\u003eMindset\u003c\/em\u003e reached some pretty intense levels at times, and though we never overtly discussed it, I think that on \u003cem\u003eOpen\u003c\/em\u003e by contrast, all three of us were taken by the idea of working in an area of great stillness. After a couple of days’ recording, it was clear that the music was leading us in this direction.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the opening tones of Tony Buck’s monochord, it is immediately clear that this Necks album is something special. As it unfolds, ethereal arco harmonics, minimalist funk, mesmeric piano riffs, subliminal pulses, twittering electronics, even an arco bass choir are inducted into the process.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOpen\u003c\/em\u003e will be the first of The Necks’ albums released in North America on Northern Spy. “They’re a great label; energetic and imaginative, with some really impressive artists” says Chris Abrahams, “so we’re flattered that they sought us out, and delighted to be working together on growing our music across North America, because the response to our tours there thus far has been incredible.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667162067167,"sku":"CD-NS-047","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667162001631,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667162034399,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/51qwJUPbhnL._SL1488_-e1646851760953.jpg?v=1703788963"},{"product_id":"gary-lucas-cinefantasique","title":"Gary Lucas - Cinefantasique","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis album is a total labour of love. I have been fascinated with film ever since I was a boy, when I used to project 8mm silent horror and science fiction classics courtesy of Castle Films to my friends in the basement of our house in Syracuse NY (a mere nickel would gain you admission). And I quickly grew to love film music scores – and the way they can comment on and enhance the experience of viewing a classic film. A good film theme can stick in your mind indelibly, like the best pop songs. I thank my mom and dad for instilling my love of film music – popular soundtrack LPs of the day were played continuously on our hi-fi, which is where I first fell under the spell of Victor Young’s “Around the World in 80 Days,” Michel Legrand’s “Umbrellas of Cherbourg” music and Frances Lai’s score for “A Man and a Woman” (the last two both ear-marked for “Cinefantastique Vol. 2”). And I have been intimately involved with composing film music – especially otherworldly film music – since being asked in 1971 to score my first film, “Aquatic Ecology,” a documentary for the New York State Department of Forestry narrated by fellow Syracuse native Rod Serling (Mr. Twilight Zone).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince then I have composed music for both film and television and have covered many film themes over my 20 plus album career to date. This is the first time though that I have assembled a full album devoted to showcasing some of my favorite film music composers and some of my own film music. And it is all arranged and performed (except for one piece) for solo guitar, without overdubs. Not that easy to pull off, considering most of the classic film themes covered here (well all of them) were composed and recorded for full orchestra. But I love a good challenge. And as I have been described as a one man guitar orchestra…enjoy! -Gary Lucas\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667162689759,"sku":"CD-NS-045","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667162755295,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667162722527,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a0507449113_10.jpg?v=1703788989"},{"product_id":"arnold-dreyblatt-and-megafaun-appalachian-excitation","title":"Arnold Dreyblatt and Megafaun - Appalachian Excitation","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2255461480\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/arnolddreyblattandmegafaun.bandcamp.com\/album\/appalachian-excitation\"\u003eAppalachian Excitation by Arnold Dreyblatt and Megafaun\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eThe meeting of composer Arnold Dreyblatt and psych-folk trio Megafaun shouldn’t be seen as unlikely just because it’s cross-generational, or even (arguably) cross-genre. Such categorizations have to be set aside before taking in their Appalachian Excitation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBorn in New York in 1953, Dreyblatt came up under such lauded experimental groundbreakers as Alvin Lucier, Pauline Oliveros and La Monte Young, obtaining a Master’s degree in composition from Wesleyan University. Now based in Berlin, where he is active as a visual artist and as a composer.  His music is based on his own vocabulary of pulse and self-designed instrumentation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe North Carolina by way of Wisconsin trio Megafaun (comprised of brothers Brad and Phil Cook and Joe Westerlund) has been working since 1997, when the three met at the H.O.R.D.E. festival. After a decade of crafting their sound, Westerlund contacted Jeff Hunt, owner of the Table of the Elements label, looking to get in touch with Dreyblatt, whose work all three admired. The following year they were able to schedule a week long residency at Salem Art Works in the mountains of upstate New York, where Dreyblatt taught them the just intonation tuning system he’d developed as well as some of the instruments he’d devised. They presented Dreyblatt’s compositions at the 2008 Wire Festival in Chicago and concerts in Boston and NYC.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBusy schedules kept them from working together again until the 2012 Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh, North Carolina, just a stretch of mountains south from where they’d developed their joint sound. Excited about the performance, they booked the Pinebox Recording studio in Graham, N.C. to lay down the tracks that make up Appalachian Excitation. They connected again last February to play the Ecstatic Music Festival in New York City.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe album was recorded live in the studio with no click track and minimal separation, a new experience for the men of Megafaun. It’s “the most rewarding way to record,” said Joe Westerlund. “This record with Arnold marks a step towards Megafaun becoming more of a live-in-the-studio recording band, a more traditional and time-tested method.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpeaking from the stage at Merkin Concert Hall during their Ecstatic Music appearance last year, Dreyblatt said such genre transcending collaborations wouldn’t have been possible several decades ago. “We are no longer one-dimensional people,” he announced. Experience the dimensions of Appalachian groove and time-honored minimalism anew with Dreyblatt and Megafaun.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667162788063,"sku":"LP-NS-044","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667162853599,"sku":"CD-NS-044","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667162820831,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667162886367,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/81LOVv1t8XL._SL1200.jpg?v=1703788998"},{"product_id":"nymph-new-millennium-prayer","title":"NYMPH - New Millennium Prayer","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=426050176\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/nymph1.bandcamp.com\/album\/new-millenium-prayer-2\"\u003eNew Millenium Prayer by NYMPH\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis June, Brooklyn-based psychedelic free-rock outfit NYMPH emerges from a transmogrifying and highly regenerative chrysalis state to release its second album, the expansive and enveloping New Millennium Prayer on Northern Spy Records. Recorded by David Tolomei at DNA and mastered by Sarah Register of Talk Normal at The Lodge, New Millennium Prayer for the first time makes manifest NYMPH’s expanded 8-piece lineup in the long-playing format; the band’s monolithic compositional vision and augmented sonic palette is here presented in the classic cosmos-splashed Krautrock template: three long and deeply kosmiche pieces, with one side-encompassing mega-jam — the transcendent title track.\u003cbr\u003e\nIn the two-plus years since the release of their eponymous debut, the group has engendered severe and resonant changes. For one, it absorbed four members of Athens, GA’s nomadic freak-rock family Dark Meat into its ranks; while touring together, members of the psych-noise cabal would join NYMPH for spontaneous jams, and they soon began making stops off the road to record tracks for this new album. The beauty of the burgeoning partnership inspired the itinerant Georgians to settle in the city for good, thusly inspiring the former duo-plus-two of guitar-visionary Matty McDermott and vocalist Eri Shoji to consider new arrangements and invoke fresh textures, including a horn section with Aylerian proclivities, tape-delayed sound-settings, a shimmering jungle of percussion and a tendency to loosen structures a la their free-jazz and minimalist-compositional heroes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFeatured Artists:\u003cbr\u003e\nJim McHugh – Guitar, Drone\u003cbr\u003e\nMatty McDermott – Guitar, Shaker\u003cbr\u003e\nJason Robira – Drum Kit\u003cbr\u003e\nJeff Tobias – Saxophone\u003cbr\u003e\nJess Stathos – Congas\u003cbr\u003e\nNickle Emmet – Bass\u003cbr\u003e\nEri Shoji – Vocals, Hand Percussion\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667163148511,"sku":"LP-NS-040","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667163214047,"sku":"CD-NS-040","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667163181279,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667163246815,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/61SaMCFT2aL._SS500.jpg?v=1703789016"},{"product_id":"john-butcher-bell-trove-spools","title":"John Butcher - Bell Trove Spools","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1028063960\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/johnbutcher.bandcamp.com\/album\/bell-trove-spools-2\"\u003eBell Trove Spools by John Butcher\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eNorthern Spy is proud to present two of John Butcher’s most recent experiments in moving sound waves through space. On Bell Trove Spools we hear Butcher in two distinct situations: Richmond Hall, a Houston art gallery housing a permanent Dan Flavin collection that has been compared to a bowling alley; and the high-ceilinged marble room in Brooklyn which is the new home to Issue Project Room. Butcher is heard on his two saxes of choice, the soprano and the tenor, and suspended in space, fluid, challenging, at times melodic and always exciting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn short, John Butcher knows how to work a room – and that’s not about relating to the audience. In fact, there was no audience present for the Brooklyn session. Bell Trove Spools is just Butcher and a saxophone and spaces ready to receive. The results speak for themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667165180127,"sku":"CD-NS-032","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667165147359,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667165212895,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/51D0fNjzL.jpg?v=1703789078"},{"product_id":"chris-forsyth-kenzo-deluxe","title":"Chris Forsyth - Kenzo Deluxe","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3653928045\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/chrisforsyth1.bandcamp.com\/album\/kenzo-deluxe\"\u003eKenzo Deluxe by Chris Forsyth\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eGuitarist Chris Forsyth is a unique voice in the realm of American music, having emerged from the challenging free form expressionism of his old group Peeesseye with a lyrical command rare in any genre. Forsyth has always relied on the vernacular of country and blues to make his point, while also maintaining an open-ended and experimental approach, collaborating with artists as varied as free folk goddess Meg Baird, noise-oriented trumpeter Nate Wooley, and analog synthesist Koen Holtkamp (of Mountains)along the way. His newest work brings his trademark lyricism to new heights in his most straightforward setting yet. Gone are the fleshed out rock band arrangements of last year’s Paranoid Cat LP, replaced on Kenzo Deluxe, by Forsyth shunning overdubs and playing his transcendent songs alone in a room on his electric guitar.\u003cbr\u003eOn top of a dedication to hypnotic Cosmic Americana, Forsyth possesses a remarkable technical skill. Listen to the strict timekeeping that anchors Kenzo Deluxe’s “Downs \u0026amp; Ups” and “East Kensington Run Down.” They’re quiet, meditative pieces, each lasting around 10 minutes, but they never feel lost. The accuracy in Forsyth’s finger picking keeps the tracks anchored. The two-part “Boston Street Lullaby,” on the other hand, shows the other reaches of his artistry. His bluesier side gives rise on “ Boston Street Lullaby No. 1,” drenched in soft reverb, while the waves of distortion on “Boston Street Lullaby No. 2,” serve as a centerpiece for the album, showing his love for noise and the pure sound of the electric guitar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s the album’s opener, however, which will no doubt be the attention-grabber. Named for the Rolling Stones decadent and ill-fated 1972 tour documentary, “The First 10 Minutes of Cocksucker Blues” is an ethereal, imaginary score punctuated by slapback echo and guitar licks that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Group Doueh or Tinariwen record. And Forsyth has even paired it with the opening sequence of the never-officially-released film. It’s a bold move, bringing the Americana back home by way of the Brits who adored it so, and at the same time giving their stumbling boogie rock an almost ambient soundtrack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eForsyth recorded the album over three days in the studio with the assistance of co-producer Scott Colburn, who has worked extensively with the Sun City Girls and Richard Bishop’s solo projects as well as Animal Collective and others. The result is a richly recorded album of five rewarding and listenable tracks. With no loss of vision, Forsyth has created his most accessible album to date, one that will engage guitar geeks, freak folks and the uninitiated alike in its trance-inducing glow.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667167572191,"sku":"LP-NS-025","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667167637727,"sku":"CD-NS-025","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667167604959,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667167670495,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/61L6Lq4-8fL._SS500.jpg?v=1703789140"},{"product_id":"starring-abcdefg-hijklmnop-qrstuv-wxyz","title":"Starring - ABCDEFG-HIJKLMNOP-QRSTUV-WXYZ","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3332059164\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/starringmusic.bandcamp.com\/album\/abcdefg-hijklmnop-qrstuv-wxyz-2\"\u003eABCDEFG-HIJKLMNOP-QRSTUV-WXYZ by Starring\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eStarring’s ABCDEFG-HIJKLMNOP-QRSTUV-WXYZ combines minimalist musical patterns with dreamy poetry to create a new style front-woman Clara Hunter likes to call “sparkle prog.” It captures the frenetic energy of the band’s live show, but here it is overlain with a new palate of synthesizers, delay effects, drum processing, aux percussion, and vocals that create delicate, but sometimes radical juxtapositions between the lyrical and the experimental. Though songs like “the best” and “aphonia” channel the loud, raw, and repetitive “circus punk” of Starring’s early releases, much of this record speaks with a broader sense of expressive depth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver the course of the album’s six cuts, choruses soar at monstrous heights framed by mechanical and occult trances. Dead jazz turns up with fuzzy 8-bit solos, whistling synths pipe beneath ghostly choral arrangements, viola lines in Turkish modes swoop into ornamented curls and loops, and singer Clara Hunter’s girlish vocals whisper the record’s secrets with surreal, woozy melodies. Concretely, the album reflects an aesthetic that recalls the classic sounds of European prog rock (Magma, Faust, Neu!), the unhinged grit of 1970’s New York no wave artists like Suicide, the earliest cuts from minimalists like Terry Riley and Philip Glass, and even a dose of post-rock’s strung-out improvisations.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667167867103,"sku":"LP-NS-024","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667167932639,"sku":"","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667167899871,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667167965407,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Starring-ABCDEFG-HIJKLMNOP-QRSTUV-WXYZ.jpg?v=1703789158"},{"product_id":"extra-life-dream-seeds","title":"Extra Life - Dream Seeds","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1044147528\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/northernspyrecords.bandcamp.com\/album\/dream-seeds\"\u003eDream Seeds by Extra Life\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eExtra Life’s first record for Northern Spy, Dream Seeds marks a dramatically new creative direction in the band’s still-young but prolific career. It is perhaps Extra Life’s most clearly-defined concept album :  seven songs dealing entirely with the twin themes of dreams and children. In a lyrical left turn away from the morbid sexuality and black humor of Made Flesh, these songs look to the subconscious in search of innocence, morality and meaning. According to principal songwriter and elementary school teacher Charlie Looker, the lyrics began with a consecutive series of harrowing dreams involving children, all interconnected by recurring symbols. Claiming to be in some way spiritually reborn, Looker penned the songs while mining these dreams’ buried pasts and even watching in awe as some of their prophesies unfolded in all-too-real life. Alternately brutal and tender, haunted by ghosts of both the dead and the unborn, the songs of Dream Seeds express the violent yet redemptive collision of the Real and Psychic Worlds and an archaic belief in the divine truth of dreams.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667168522463,"sku":"LP-NS-022","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667168587999,"sku":"CD-NS-022","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667168555231,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667168620767,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Extra-Life-Dream-Seeds.jpg?v=1703789176"},{"product_id":"dan-melchior-catbirds-cardinals","title":"Dan Melchior - Catbirds \u0026 Cardinals","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=543001404\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/danmelchior1.bandcamp.com\/album\/catbirds-cardinals-2\"\u003eCatbirds \u0026amp; Cardinals by Dan Melchior\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eCatbirds and Cardinals is the latest psychedelic album lobbed in to New World shores from Dan Melchior und das Menace. Coming down slow with a clear vision, it’s a sure hit. Since the late 90s, Shepperton, England native Dan Melchior has consistently delivered an avant-pop that is off-kilter and literate, with a sense of menace and a stronger sense of play. He’s a new Jesus of Cool, riding just about the underground like the antipodean Chris Knox. The sound of Catbirds and Cardinals is clean, lo-fi, deeply-engaging, and guaranteed to pull in new legions of fans. It’s a clever garage pop set that will lick your pate clean.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn Catbirds and Cardinals, Dan Melchior und das Menace successfully meld a hodge podge of disparate elements into a cohesive whole, bringing to mind veteran UK and US underground bands like The Swell Maps, Andrew Klimek, Chrome and Alternative Television more than they do old blues men or the tweedy garage rock conservatives of Dan’s past.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCatbirds and Cardinals is probably the most overtly ‘poppy’ Das Menace release, with songs like ‘Poison Pete’s Holiday’ and ‘English Shame’ lodging in the cranium like carpet warehouse jingles. The recordings retain the overdriven quality Melchior is known for but push the envelope sonically into some unexpected places, with the dream like synths of ‘Crow Radio number 1′ showing a marked departure from the overall guitar grime.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667170685151,"sku":"LP-NS-011","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667170750687,"sku":"CD-NS-011","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667170717919,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667170783455,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a3675785098_10.jpg?v=1703789269"},{"product_id":"rhys-chatham-outdoor-spell","title":"Rhys Chatham - Outdoor Spell","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2393287899\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/rhyschatham.bandcamp.com\/album\/outdoor-spell-2\"\u003eOutdoor Spell by Rhys Chatham\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eRhys Chatham has trail-blazed a course through late 20th century music, equally aplomb in post-minimalist composition as he is in punk. Not since Roebling laid his span across the East River has there been an artist who builds bridges in both how we hear music and how we can appreciate art. His latest album, Outdoor Spell, is a further document in that direction. Here he has eschewed 100 guitars, or even himself playing a single guitar, for the trumpet and voice, both electrified and dry. It is an Earthquake Island for the 21st century, tugging at the corners of new ideas, taking in forms endemic to a shared imagination and renewing the beauty there.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667171930335,"sku":"LP-NS-004","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667171963103,"sku":"CD-NS-004","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667171995871,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667172028639,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/41g4Ue988RL._SS500.jpg?v=1703789318"},{"product_id":"bird-names-metabolism","title":"Bird Names - Metabolism","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2994604339\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/birdnames.bandcamp.com\/album\/metabolism-a-salute-to-the-energy-of-the-sun-2\"\u003eMetabolism: A Salute to the Energy of the Sun by Bird Names\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe latest release by the fringe pop outfit Bird Names is another bright star in their galaxy of offerings.  The album, Metabolism: A Salute to the Energy of the Sun, was created meticulously over the course of many moons and spiritual awakenings in sunny Chicago, IL.  The band is a duo, of sorts, comprised of Phelan LaVelle \u0026amp; David Lineal, though a cast of good souls have helped them along their travels.  Recently making Athens, GA their home, they explore a pop sound that touches as much on the naïve as it does the borders of avant-experimentation.  Their new album, mastered by Griffin Rodriguez (Icy Demons, Beirut, Band of Horses), is a lo-fi, boundary-pushing, pop experiment in the vein of the Beach Boys’ Smile. It is a fully-realized reflection on the sun and the fount of organic energy, or human energies, as the speech of the sun.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667172159711,"sku":"LP-NS-006","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667172225247,"sku":"CD-NS-006","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667172192479,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667172258015,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/51wIDlcryqL._SS500.jpg?v=1703789326"},{"product_id":"chasing-an-illusion","title":"Larkin Grimm - Chasing An Illusion","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1101430676\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/larkingrimm.bandcamp.com\/album\/chasing-an-illusion-2\"\u003eChasing an Illusion by Larkin Grimm\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs on Larkin Grimm’s previous records, Chasing an Illusion pivots around the Harlem singer’s commanding voice, a bloody howl that is fierce enough to gobble people whole and spit out their souls. But the music here is freer than in her past work. Often, the playing veers into territory suggesting adventurous corners of jazz. Combined with Grimm’s vocal heft and hippie underpinnings, the subsequent work frequently brings to mind Astral Weeks (an album that Grimm, naturally, has never heard). Meanwhile, her songwriting remains potent and considered. Lyrics are more direct than on past records, particularly those addressing motherhood—the album’s recurring, if not quite dominant, theme. These songs dig deep, exploring an emotional openness that can feel unusually raw, vulnerable, and, at times, ferocious.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eARTIST STATEMENT:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI offer up to you my latest attempt at creating utopia through sound. It is called Chasing an Illusion, and it was recorded in a dank, moldy cave in Gowanus, Brooklyn by Martin Bisi, using a decade old vintage version of Pro Tools on a long obsolete computer, and the same dusty, unlabeled mixing board used for David Bowie's Young Americans. The band was made up of generally all my true loves at once. This is an album about higher love, and truth. Truth in sound, accomplished by recording live, keeping the vocals raw, hearing the actual sound of the room, and letting the out of tune and out of time parts celebrate our humanity and imperfection. That is the beauty of this album, as we honor the perfection of the divine energy that we invoke through the ritual trance of this music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the private viewing room at Riverside Church I was standing in awe above Ornette Coleman's body. I think he was wearing a purple suit. In death, his body looked like a wax idol. His energy was thick and mellow in the room. As I touched the side of his casket, I heard the words, \"The music is yours. This energy is for you. You can use it to make something.\" Holding my little jewel of Ornette's energy in my heart I walked into the main church to listen to the eulogies. Yoko Ono held a white scarf she had knitted with her precious artist's hands for Ornette to keep him warm. I thought about the musical collaborators I have loved, and the small ways I honor them with my time. I wanted to gather them all together and record immediately. On my way outside the church, I ran into Ravi Coltrane.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I think I'm going to make a harp record, in honor of your mom,\" I said. \"Her music has been getting me through the worst year of my life.\" \"Is it a jazz record?\" He asked. \"Maybe it's a jazz record.\" \"Aren't you a folk singer?\" someone said. \"Maybe you should leave jazz to the people who have studied it for years,\" said a guitarist. \"Study? I never even practice,\" said Ravi Coltrane. \"I just play.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI turned around and Pharaoh Sanders was standing right behind me. My face turned white. I was starstruck. \"Your playing is magic. It makes me cry. Thank you so much,\" I said. Pharaoh Sanders, in a long blue robe and a short blue cap, took hold of both of my arms and looked me square in the face, saying nothing. He gave me a somber, stoic hug while one of Ornette's friends took a picture of us. Two Aliens at a funeral. Smiling with tears in our eyes. And that is the moment in which this record was conceived.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThrough this music I strive to be free. Free from suffering, free from shame, free from inhibitions, free from language, free from hatred, free from oppression, free from gender, free from race, free from expectations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn my spiritual practice, when a student is ready to humble themselves and transform, they strip naked and prostrate themselves at the feet of their teacher. This gesture of humility and openness is extended to you, the listener, as I kneel before you on the cover of this album. Ornette Coleman believed that every listener is equal, and no particular education is required to understand the language of the heart. I hope that this album will heal your pain as it has healed mine. I hope it will bring you closer to the divine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLove,\u003cbr\u003eLarkin Grimm\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667172978911,"sku":"LP-NS-088","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667173044447,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667173011679,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/front-cover-Larkin-web-e1646851149491.jpg?v=1703789370"},{"product_id":"door-girl","title":"Shilpa Ray - Door Girl","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=262799965\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/shilparay.bandcamp.com\/album\/door-girl\"\u003eDoor Girl by Shilpa Ray\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGirls Are Free.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat’s what it says on a makeshift sign on the wall above Shilpa Ray’s head on her latest record, Door Girl. Sometimes in life it helps to take the signs one encounters literally. Girls are free to make mistakes. Girls are free to come and go. Girls are free of all those preconceived notions attached to what it is to be a girl. Gazing with a mixture of serenity and weary imperiousness beneath that sign is Shilpa Ray. Door Girl takes as its titular inspiration her time working the door at Lower East Side bar Pianos, its reputation one of hard-scrabble survival and the inspiration of desperation. Shilpa Ray has seen it all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGirls are free to bear witness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Shilpa Ray Stars as Door Girl” beckons from the cover of Door Girl in pink neon - reminiscent of nothing less than the pink lipstick that spells out New York Dolls on the cover of their similarly explosive record. The seething frenzy of a feeding frenzy - the hallmark of closing time desperation - whirls around her on the cover, people moving past so quickly that they become a smear of obscurity even as she watches everything by the door. Or is it merely normal life, speeding across her hemisphere in that blasé and banal way that yields few treasures except those that only the most perceptive of all possible artists can dig out? Her song titles are gems that glitter with scorn - “Shilpa Ray’s Got a Heart Full of Dirt,” “You’re Fucking No One,” and “Morning Terrors Nights of Dread,” to name a few - and underscore how extortionately rare good song titles truly are.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGirls are freed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer voice - singular in modern popular music because of its radiant imperfection - takes neither prisoners nor guff as it offers up continuous caustic commentary on the human condition. Hers are observations gleaned from endless nights watching people in their natural habitat. These arenot pretty pictures, shot through as they are with violence in the obvious and menace in the failures. Alternately dreamlike and lifelike, Door Girl carves out its portraits of nightlife with reverberation and feedback, unveiling an expansive level of production quality through which even the perfectly-recorded snare drum is as present and as crisp as the bad breath of the drunk falling asleep at your elbow. Each instrument is so clearly defined in the presentation as to become one of those selfsame dive bar habitués on which Shilpa Ray shines a stark Klieg light of absolute truth. It is the story of a city as it lives and breathes at its most basic levels, as told by an artist who is equal parts musician and magician and for whom each song is a different life she has lived and breathed and experienced like few others have.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- David Cotner\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.wnyc.org\/widgets\/ondemand_player\/wnyc\/#file=\/audio\/json\/794355\/\u0026amp;share=1\" width=\"100%\" height=\"130\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667173437663,"sku":"LP-NS-093","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667173470431,"sku":"CD-NS-093","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667173503199,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667173535967,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Shilpa_Ray_Door_Girl_cover-e1646850959270.jpg?v=1703789400"},{"product_id":"terry-riley-in-c","title":"Brooklyn Raga Massive - Terry Riley In C","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3593172528\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/bkragamassive.bandcamp.com\/album\/terry-riley-in-c-2\"\u003eTerry Riley In C by Brooklyn Raga Massive\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBrooklyn Raga Massive (BRM), a collective of forward thinking musicians rooted in Indian classical music, release Terry Riley In C recorded live in concert with 18 musicians at Joe’s Pub on January 11, 2017. Indian classical music is often a lonely affair involving 3 or 4 musicians at most. Sitarist Neel Murgai identified the canonic minimalist masterpiece as an accessible way for a critical mass of BRM musicians to play together. Terry Riley himself, after listening to an early performance recording, suggested they “use the basic In C form but open it up to solos...based on some of the patterns.” BRM’s arrangement of In C incorporates raga, Indian ornamentation, driving tabla rhythms, improvised solos and an instrumentation of sitar, sarod, bansuri, vocals, tabla, hammered dulcimer, oud, violin, cello, upright bass, dragon mouth trumpet, guitar, cajon, riq and frame drum.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTerry Riley composed In C in 1964, but this release marks the first time it has been performed and recorded by a group featuring so many Indian classical musicians and raga elements. The piece’s basic structure consists of 53 cells of music for any instrumentation, short fragments that each performer repeats, displaces and moves through at their own will. Terry Riley is a long time practitioner of Indian classical vocal music, having studied with Pandit Pran Nath, but he confirmed that “I have never heard an ensemble like this playing In C.” BRM brings the composition full circle with this unique rendition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBRM performs and presents over 70 concerts annually including an ongoing weekly concert and jam session at venues including Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Celebrate Brooklyn, Pioneer Works, MOMA, Rubin Museum and more.Their extensive repertoire includes Terry Riley’s In C, a Coltrane Raga Tribute, Indian classical and original works by various members of the collective. BRM is a 501 c3 Non-profit run by musicians for musicians dedicated to spreading raga inspired music across the globe. This is BRM’s first release with Northern Spy Records, and the first time the group’s work will be available on CD.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProduced by Neel Murgai and Brooklyn Raga Massive\u003cbr\u003e\n\"In C\" Composed by Terry Riley\u003cbr\u003e\nMusic Direction by Neel Murgai\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded Live at Joe's Pub at the Public\u003cbr\u003e\nJanuary 11, 2017\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMixing and Mastering - Kane Mathis\u003cbr\u003e\nRecording Technician - Milton Ruiz\u003cbr\u003e\nSound Engineer - Jon Shriver\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePEOPLE\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNeel Murgai - Sitar \u0026amp; Vocal\u003cbr\u003e\nArun Ramamurthy - Violin\u003cbr\u003e\nAndrew Shantz - Vocal\u003cbr\u003e\nJosh Geisler - Bansuri\u003cbr\u003e\nSameer Gupta - Tabla\u003cbr\u003e\nRoshni Samlal - Tabla\u003cbr\u003e\nEric Fraser - Bansuri\u003cbr\u003e\nTimothy Hill - Vocal\u003cbr\u003e\nTrina Basu - Violin\u003cbr\u003e\nKen Shoji - Violin\u003cbr\u003e\nKane Mathis - Oud\u003cbr\u003e\nAdam Malouf - Cello\u003cbr\u003e\nMichael Gam - Bass\u003cbr\u003e\nLauren Crump - Cajon\u003cbr\u003e\nDavid Ellenbogen - Guitar\u003cbr\u003e\nMaz ZT - Hammered Dulcimer\u003cbr\u003e\nVin Scialla - Riq \u0026amp; Frame Drum\u003cbr\u003e\nAaron Shragge - Dragon Mouth Trumpet\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667173667039,"sku":"CD-NS-094","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667173634271,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667173699807,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/BRM-InC-cover-e1646850803826.jpg?v=1703789411"},{"product_id":"exo","title":"Parlor Walls - EXO","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3771543889\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/parlorwalls.bandcamp.com\/album\/exo\"\u003eEXO by Parlor Walls\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Shit needs to be shaken up,” says Parlor Walls guitarist\/frontwoman Alyse Lamb.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe’s talking, as you might have guessed, about the larger social reverberations that work their way into the scope of the New York City trio’s new EP EXO. But she’s also talking about the personal inconstancy that powers the band’s creative engine. That’s in there too -- and it’s with this internal unsettling that Parlor Walls truly shake things up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m always moved by unrest or agitation,” Lamb continues. “That’s what moves me. We need to shake things up. We like to be shaken up.””\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFormed in 2013 around the partnership between Lamb and drummer\/keyboardist Chris Mulligan, Parlor Walls essentially started even before they played a note together. The pair fell fast into a profound rapport based on their myriad shared interests. Mulligan saw Lamb, a former ballet dancer, fronting the experimental noise rock outfit EULA wearing ballet shoes and a leotard. Intrigued by her stagewear, Mulligan introduced himself and offered to custom-paint a leotard for Lamb. He did, she began sporting it at shows, and although they didn’t realize it at the time, they were on their way towards forging an unprecedented sound that neither had heard before -- and that they couldn’t have arrived at without one another.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCrucial to the equation was the way each nudged the other person of their respective comfort zone: Mulligan helped Lamb (who holds a degree in composition) get more comfortable with improvisation, while Lamb helped Mulligan get more comfortable with unstructured noise. Oh, and Mulligan learned how to play drums and keyboards simultaneously -- a decision that, as Mulligan describes it, forced him “into a corner” by requiring him to be more inventive on both instruments. His distinctive technique (Mulligan prefers to write parts that he can physically play at the same time) lies at the heart of what makes Parlor Walls so unique.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecades after the wall between rock and jazz began to fall, the band’s 2017 full-length debut Opposites took us further down the road towards finally being able to envision the two styles commingling without an awkward language barrier or self-conscious air of dilettantism between them. Perhaps it took polymaths like Lamb and Mulligan to get us there with such natural ease. (Both bounce freely between mediums, including instruments, fabrics, various dance forms, film, acting, etc.) On EXO, which introduces clarinetist\/programmer\/multi-instrumentalist Jason Shelton to the band’s lineup, Parlor Walls erode at the divisions between no wave and new wave by balancing melody and what Lamb and Mulligan refer to as “anti-melody.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLikewise, the pair possesses a rare gift for creating a sinister mood that’s rife with antagonism yet still feels inviting and, even cozy. Throughout EXO, soaring vocals co-exist alongside brittle, spray-painted guitar chords and rumbling drums as keyboards cast ominous shadows for clarinet lines to skulk behind. At other times, the instruments trade dispositions -- take, for instance, the soaring swoon of “Love Complex,” which hints at what the B-52’s might have sounded like had they honed their act at the Knitting Factory. (It helps that the songs bear the recording and mixing touch of Joseph Colmenero, who has served as RZA’s personal engineer over the last decade and has also worked with Philip Glass, Björn Yttling and others.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll in all, you’d be hard-pressed to point to another contemporary release that renders what we would commonly refer to as “darkness” using such a wide range of color. There’s plenty of music that gets us riled up to shake our fists at external targets -- in fact, EXO works quite well for that. Presumably, there’s no shortage of listeners who, like Lamb, realize that things around us can no longer remain as they are. But this is music that cuts just as deeply when pointed inward. You can take it any number of ways, for example, when Lamb sings “Get out in front of it” on “Low Vulture.” Without a neat bow of resolution or even a clear-cut antagonist\/protagonist relationship, the song leaves you with a lingering sense of uncertainty -- and it’s all the more rewarding for it.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Cassette + Digital","offer_id":44667174322399,"sku":"CS-NS-096","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667174355167,"sku":"","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667174387935,"sku":null,"price":3.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a3493178836_10.jpg?v=1703789450"},{"product_id":"body","title":"The Necks - Body","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=937190826\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thenecksau.bandcamp.com\/album\/body\"\u003eBody by The Necks\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eAustralia’s greatest cult band, The Necks, has a new piece to offer the world this summer, entitled “Body”. Different again to all previous Necks albums (20 in total), the band has chosen 10 words and phrases that summarize the four richly contrasting episodes of this hour-long, mesmerizing groove. They are as follows: Episodic, Driving, Dynamic, Layered, Celebratory, Soaring, Rocking out, Buoyant, Sustained, Perfectly paced.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe album uses, yet again, the combination of Chris Abrahams (piano, keyboards) Tony Buck (drums, percussion, and guitar very much to the fore on this one) and Lloyd Swanton (acoustic bass) with Tim Whitten (engineer), who has recorded and\/or mixed the last twelve Necks albums. The Necks hold their own with the best of them when it comes to rhythmic complexity, but they have put much of that to one side for this album in the interests of conjuring their most relentlessly driving album since Hanging Gardens.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667176779999,"sku":"CD-NS-104","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667176845535,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667176812767,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a3079202239_10.jpg?v=1703789511"},{"product_id":"days","title":"LIP TALK - D A Y S","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4013495150\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/liptalk.bandcamp.com\/album\/days\"\u003edays by Lip Talk\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp bis_size='{\"x\":12,\"y\":9,\"w\":565,\"h\":19,\"abs_x\":393,\"abs_y\":289}'\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp bis_size='{\"x\":12,\"y\":45,\"w\":565,\"h\":97,\"abs_x\":393,\"abs_y\":325}'\u003eLIP TALK is the project and alternate identity of frontwoman Sarah K. Pedinotti, and D A Y S is her debut album. “I imagined characters in the songs like scenes in a movie, emotion expressed like colors on a canvas,” Pedinotti says of D A Y S. Throughout, Pedinotti’s production mixes singsong simplicity with densely ambitious art rock, charming and challenging her audience in equal measure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp bis_size='{\"x\":12,\"y\":159,\"w\":565,\"h\":156,\"abs_x\":393,\"abs_y\":439}'\u003ePedinotti first started singing as a pre-teen, performing at her parents’ family restaurant and jazz club in Saratoga Springs, New York. The restaurant became a hotspot for music in the area, and as a girl Pedinotti got to meet and perform with Jazz legends as they passed through town to drop in on sets. The past couple years have found Pedinotti performing with musicians as stylistically diverse as psych-noise group Cosmicide, rock band Okkervil River, experimental-pop band Kalbells, and R\u0026amp;B songwriter Cautious Clay; on D A Y S, you can hear her drawing from all those influences and more to craft something distinctly her own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp bis_size='{\"x\":12,\"y\":331,\"w\":565,\"h\":608,\"abs_x\":393,\"abs_y\":611}'\u003e\u003ciframe width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YBMXz5s6RoY?rel=0\" bis_size='{\"x\":12,\"y\":331,\"w\":804,\"h\":604,\"abs_x\":393,\"abs_y\":611}' bis_id=\"fr_0cb288l6vx6l9bwp45873r\" bis_depth=\"1\" bis_chainid=\"1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Light Blue Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667176911071,"sku":"LP-NS-107C","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Standard Black Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667176943839,"sku":"LP-NS-107","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667177009375,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667176976607,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/small-Lip-talk-cover-e1646850473913.jpg?v=1703789521"},{"product_id":"towards-the-shadow","title":"Wume - Towards the Shadow","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3667764556\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/wume.bandcamp.com\/album\/towards-the-shadow\"\u003eTowards the Shadow by wume\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eTowards the Shadow, the third full-length from Wume, the Baltimore duo of April Camlin (drums, vocals) and Albert Schatz (keyboards, electronics), offers eight exploratory, polyrhythmic jams taking the listener on an excursion deep into inner space—not as a form of escape, but rather in search of purpose and personal liberation in a time of chaos.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile Wume draws much inspiration from past masters, with a particular rooting in German cosmic sounds of the 1970s, their music has always celebrated forward-motion and growth—the name “Wume” both nodding to the hometown of the legendary band Faust and homonymously suggesting gestation. Towards the Shadow announces a new phase for the band featuring a bold expansion of their palette, distilling influences as different as Francis Bebey, Midori Takada, Erkin Koray, and Alice Coltrane into interdimensional songs born of profound personal change. While Wume’s sound remains rooted in crisp, precise, and dizzyingly intricate percussion worthy of comparison to Can wedded to harmonic synth patterns and kaleidoscopic electronic textures, Towards the Shadow also features guitar, treated violin, hand percussion, field recordings, and, on “Pool of Light,” a player-piano improvisation (an instrument borrowed from Dan Deacon, with whom both Camlin and Schatz frequently collaborate).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSignificantly, Towards the Shadow centralizes vocals and lyrics more than any prior Wume outing. It’s not simply that Camlin’s voice is more dominant in the mix. Once employed to ride waves of sound or convey abstract feeling, Camlin’s lyrics here grapple head-on with deep philosophical issues probed during an intense period of reading, self-teaching, and focus on her artistic practice in weaving, resulting in real breakthroughs and dramatic shifts in perspective.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn standout “Shadow,” Camlin sings about facing the darkness that many bright and creative people bury deep within. Lyrics like “I embrace my shadow\/ It’s the self that I know\/Go below the ego\/And welcome your shadow\/Repression serves no one\/And limits our freedom” affirm a willingness to not only confront the most secretive aspects of ourselves, but learn to love them. “Pool of Light” reconjures dream images Camlin experienced over the course of crafting this record; “It’s Okay” champions an acceptance of human impermanence unreliant on religion or a belief in any afterlife; and “Functionary” even features a reading from Herbert Marcuse’s Eros and Civilization, a transformative and empowering text for Camlin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWume hail from the collaborative, radical, and highly varied Baltimore music scene that includes such artists as Dan Deacon, Abdu Ali, Horse Lords, Raw Silk, Smoke Bellow, and Chiffon, and Towards the Shadow offers one of this community’s most exciting and essential documents yet. This is a record that looks within and asks listeners to do the same, a record that has the guts to give its listeners not only diversion, but challenges: to know themselves better; to question and confront systems of power; to not just keep going, but keep growing. But Wume never ask for more than they give; each time the listener takes Towards the Shadow’s illuminating journey through to the album’s stunner of a closing track “GenSeq,” they’ll find their inner battery recharged, their ears and mind newly attuned to the complex worlds they face—both within and without.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667177304287,"sku":"LP-NS-106","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667177337055,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667177369823,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/201374716819-e1646850417770.jpg?v=1703789540"},{"product_id":"ghost-box","title":"SUSS - Ghost Box","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1742994579\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/suss.bandcamp.com\/album\/ghost-box-expanded-2\"\u003eGhost Box (Expanded) by SUSS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat would it sound like if ambient pioneer Brian Eno had produced the Western film scores of Ennio Morricone? We’ll never know, but we’re now a step closer thanks to Ghost Box, the debut album by SUSS, an NYC quintet whose members have worked in various capacities with Lydia Lunch, the B-52s, Rubber Rodeo, k.d. Lang, David Bowie, John Cale, Ed Sheeran, Wilco, Norah Jones, The War On Drugs, Burt Bacharach, and countless others. More than a literal reconstruction of an imagined collaboration between Eno and Morricone, Ghost Box opens a door onto a world where ambient music and country-western make for natural bedfellows.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat world, as it turns out, is the one we already live in -- it just took someone to make the connection. For Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist and cowpunk pioneer Bob Holmes, that connection has been hiding in plain sight for decades. The catalyst behind SUSS, Holmes views electronic acts like Boards of Canada and shoegaze icons like My Bloody Valentine as more recent avatars of the “high lonesome” vibe that we tend to think of strictly in terms of traditional roots music. In that light, you can trace the melancholic sprawl of classic titles by both of those acts back to Hank Williams. Looking at that lineage in reverse then begs the question: What is twang, anyway, if not a form of ambiance?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGhost Box, then, embodies “ambient country music” not as a gag or a novelty or even a postmodern recontextualization, but instead as the organic offspring of forms that, in a sense, were already conjoined. One of the album’s charms, though, is that the rest of SUSS didn’t necessarily see it that way. So it required quite a bit of exploration as a group -- Holmes on mandolin and guitar, guitarist\/keyboardist Pat Irwin, pedal steel player Jonathan Gregg, synth looper\/visual artist (and New Yorker\/New York Times illustrator) Gary Leib, and William Garrett, architect of the “high lonesome” quality in the album’s mixing stage -- to arrive at a blend that felt natural. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"In the past,” says Holmes, “Gary and I were well known as the guys who mashed-up Dolly Parton and Devo -- but you could see the stitches. This time, we wanted to make music where you couldn't see the stitches.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe goal, in a nutshell, was to create ambient music using (mostly) traditional instruments -- a kind of reverse-engineering of Holmes’ longstanding conviction that electronic music is today’s folk expression. Ostensibly, Ghost Box achieves what Holmes was aiming for, but it also accomplishes much more. As tumbleweeds continue to blow across the screen of modern musical fashion, artists appear to yearn for the mythical America of yore as if they could somehow get there by re-creating vintage sounds. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday, we’re practically inundated with music that evokes the hills of Appalachia, the never-ending Western sky, the hallowed halls of the Grand Ole Opry, and so on. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between reverence for these cultural artifacts and a fascination with them as kitsch. In both cases, the resulting music can exude the fragrance of social archeology. Ghost Box echoes from a more genuinely inviting musical landscape where the cowboy-hatted Brooklynite and the native Kentuckian are no longer confined to their respective stereotypes as tourist and tourist attraction.  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhatever your frame of reference, wherever you stand when it comes to notions of “authenticity,” Ghost Box will transport you, as Irwin puts it, to “other places.” Irwin, who shares Holmes’ love of Brian Eno but “wasn’t totally familiar with” the ambient country direction Holmes wanted to pursue, sums up one of the album’s most enticing qualities when he admits that “we don’t even know where those places are.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe course this band is charting, he notes, “is something we’re discovering as we go along.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667177402591,"sku":"CD-NS-105","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667177468127,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667177435359,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/201374716702-e1646850399474.jpg?v=1703789549"},{"product_id":"columbia-icefield","title":"Nate Wooley - Columbia Icefield","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2619057415\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/natewooley.bandcamp.com\/album\/columbia-icefield\"\u003eColumbia Icefield by Nate Wooley\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Columbia Icefield is an imposing behemoth, the largest icefield in the Rocky Mountains, a glacial structure that feeds into the Columbia River, and, eventually, into the Pacific Ocean. It’s alien, unapproachable, and yet, somehow, a striking metaphor for man’s relationship to nature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn Nate Wooley’s forthcoming, soaring, Columbia Icefield, the Pacific Northwest bred trumpeter tries to reckon with his relation to the Icefield and, more generally, humanity in the face of the unapproachable. But this alien entity is laced with contradiction and imposes itself onto Wooley’s music in a magnificent way. “This record really came down to trying to build structures that have a feeling of being really large and slightly disturbing, but also, natural,” Wooley explains, before adding, “it’s earthbound, it comes from a natural place; it’s not an attack on our senses. We understand it.” And this became the chief task for Wooley and his superlative band—Mary Halvorson on guitar, Susan Alcorn on pedal steel, and Ryan Sawyer on drums—namely, how to express what is most natural and most foreign to us simultaneously?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe result is a stirring and staggering practice in being alive and the way our lives are reflected and shaped by our surroundings. For Wooley, that’s a small seafaring town shadowed by the Icefields, a logical restart after his deliriously genius reimagining of Wynton Marsalis’ early work on (Dance to) The Early Music. Wooley’s creative drive comes from a place of constant reinvention, and the success of Early Music allowed for him to stray far from that with Icefield. If that record was about being somebody else, Columbia Icefield is about Nate Wooley and his collaborators, making the truest form of self-music imaginable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There’s always been this drive for me in all the work I’ve done to figure out the way to best express my own humanity,” he says. On Columbia Icefield, Wooley stares down a piece of nature almost impossible to see one’s self in; that he was able to carve a piece of his world into this glacier is a shock, until you hear the opening notes of “Lionel Trilling.” With Columbia Icefield, Nate Wooley makes it possible to see the humanity in everything.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNate Wooley - trumpet\u003cbr\u003eMary Halvorson - guitar\u003cbr\u003eSusan Alcorn - pedal steel\u003cbr\u003eRyan Sawyer - drums\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667178451167,"sku":"CD-NS-112","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667178516703,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667178483935,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NS105-ColumbiaIcefield-cover-e1646850320737.jpg?v=1703789574"},{"product_id":"elephantine","title":"Maurice Louca - Elephantine","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4202692857\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/mauricelouca.bandcamp.com\/album\/elephantine\"\u003eElephantine by Maurice Louca\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn Elephantine, his new Northern Spy album, Cairo-based Maurice Louca guides a 12-piece ensemble through a 38-minute masterwork that might best be described as panoramic. Elements of free improvisation, Sun Ra’s cosmic jazz, gorgeous Arabic melody, trancelike African and Yemeni music and minimalism meet in his wholly unique compositional vision. Louca also makes vital contributions on guitar and piano, and inspires stirring performances from a global lineup. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSimply put, Elephantine—which Louca calls “by far my most ambitious work”—would stand as a grand achievement for any musician, of any background. But for an artist hailing from Egypt, where the history of expression has been equally brilliant and daunting, the album is astounding. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn recent years, Louca has become something of an ambassador for his nation’s thriving experimental music scene, via two previous solo records and an evolving lineup of genre-defying collaborations. The Wire called his 2014 sophomore effort, Salute the Parrot, “remarkable music—dense, driven and splashed with colour.” In 2017, the self-titled debut by Lekhfa, the trio of Louca and vocalists Maryam Saleh and Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, was praised as an “edgy triumph” in The Guardian. This past July, Louca appeared again in The Wire, in a cover story on “Cairo’s new wave” that featured his solo work as well as the Dwarfs of East Agouza, his mesmeric unit with Sam Shalabi and Sun City Girls’ Alan Bishop. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLouca’s narrative begins with music we all know, albeit in circumstances that most of us can’t imagine. Born in Cairo in 1982, he started on guitar at age 12, and became immersed in the music of the MTV era, as well as such 60s psychedelic mainstays as Pink Floyd, Hendrix, and the Doors. These were pre-Internet years in a country with state-run media, so access was scarce; tapes were dubbed and traded at school, along with bits and pieces of information. By the mid-to-late-’90s, spurred on by a media panic that connected metal fans to Satanic ritual, the state had essentially outlawed live rock music. Louca, just in his early teens, was able to rehearse with his bands and explore his burgeoning interest in songwriting. But booking gigs was almost impossible, and he witnessed older generations playing rock and metal become targets of the authorities. “It was a very, very depressing time to be a musician,” he reflects. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs the ’90s became the aughts, the reins were loosened on live music, and Louca’s tastes eventually expanded into classical and contemporary Arabic music, especially the street-level pop called shaabi, as well as the avant-garde and electronic music. Accordingly, his toolbox grew to include the synthesizer, laptop, sampler and drum machine. Following the Arab Spring protests of 2011, a galvanized DIY scene developed in Cairo, building upon the passion and elbow grease of the music and arts community that’d been gathering steam in Egypt throughout the prior decade. Artists, promoters and fans could suddenly operate without police oversight, and the results were remarkable, with shows attracting large numbers of concertgoers. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSadly, as new leadership has taken hold in Egypt, and as those leaders have been alarmed by the sight of tens of thousands of spirited young people joining together, performance opportunities have regressed. A system of dedicated promoters and artists has been replaced by what preceded it, namely embassies and institutions with the funds to throw events in an economically distressed nation. A mind-boggling 14 governmental permits are required to throw the average gig, in addition to other requisite bribes and payoffs. Not surprisingly, the lack of operational spaces is dismaying. “When you have millions of people and around 10 venues,” Louca says, “there’s something wrong.” Despite these challenges, Egypt continues to provide fertile ground for Louca and his peers, like the celebrated Egyptian visual artist Maha Maamoun, who contributes the album’s cover art. Today, the Egyptian scene is a familiar feature of contemporary art and experimental music festivals across Europe. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCertain components of Elephantine, especially Louca’s use of avant-jazz-style improv, a developing fascination, required the composer to go outside Egypt’s rich talent pool and tap players from Italy, Iraq, Sweden, Turkey and Denmark. The sessions, however, held in 2017 in Stockholm, made these efforts worthwhile. “There was a blessed thing about the process of making this record,” he says. “The dynamic between us musically but also as people … it was a very exciting time.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTommaso Cappellato (Drums\/Percussions)\u003cbr\u003e\nOzun Usta (Drums\/Percussions)\u003cbr\u003e\nElsa Bergman (Bass)\u003cbr\u003e\nPasquale Mirra (Vibraphone)\u003cbr\u003e\nPiero Bittolo (Baritone Sax\/Alto Sax\/Bass Flute)\u003cbr\u003e\nAnna Högberg (Alto Sax)\u003cbr\u003e\nRasmus Kjærgård Lund (Tuba)\u003cbr\u003e\nIsak Hedtjärn (Clarinet\/Bass Clarinet)\u003cbr\u003e\nNadah El Shazly (Vocals)\u003cbr\u003e\nNatik Awayez (Oud)\u003cbr\u003e\nAyman Asfour (Violin)\u003cbr\u003e\nMaurice Louca (Guitar\/Piano) \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded by: Ronny Lahti\u003cbr\u003e\n(In the Palm of a Ghost) recorded by: Adham Zidan\u003cbr\u003e\nMixed by: Adham Zidan\u003cbr\u003e\nMastered by: Heba Kadry\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667178582239,"sku":"CD-NS-111","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667178647775,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667178615007,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Elephantine_cover-e1646850308704.jpg?v=1703789584"},{"product_id":"from-untruth","title":"Amirtha Kidambi Elder Ones - From Untruth","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3887533018\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/amirthakidambi.bandcamp.com\/album\/from-untruth\"\u003eFrom Untruth by Elder Ones\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe second release by Amirtha Kidambi's ensemble Elder Ones, From Untruth is comprised of four pieces grappling with issues of power, oppression, capitalism, colonialism, white supremacy, violence and the shifting nature of truth. This music means to give the listener momentary relief from the anxiety and pain caused by living in our current reality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom Untruth builds upon the bedrock foundation of Kidambi's previous compositional and conceptual work with Elder Ones, while forging uncharted territory. After a journey into wordless abstraction on Holy Science (Northern Spy, November 2016), Kidambi felt the urgency of the political moment required a direct and verbal call to action.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe instrumentation adds a layer of technology as a metaphor for modernity, with Kidambi on analog synthesizer and Max Jaffe's drumming talents extended to electronic Sensory Percussion. The frenzied improvising of Matt Nelson on soprano sax and gravity of Nick Dunston on bass, anchor the music in the tradition of free jazz, while it pushes into new futurist realms. The aesthetic seamlessly reels from modal meditation, atonal expressionism, free improvisation and melodic invention, to unabashed bursts of punk rock energy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is Elder Ones at an unadulterated breaking point; on the edge of a knife that cuts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAmirtha Kidambi: Compositions, Vocals, Harmonium, Synthesizer\u003cbr\u003e\nMatt Nelson: Soprano Saxophone, Moog\u003cbr\u003e\nNick Dunston: Bass\u003cbr\u003e\nMax Jaffe: Drums, Electronic Sensory Percussion \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded at Birdwatcher Studios, Big Indian, NY\u003cbr\u003e\nEngineer: Chris Weiss\u003cbr\u003e\nMixing and Mastering: Matt Mehlan\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667179925727,"sku":"LP-NS-113","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667179892959,"sku":"CD-NS-113","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667179991263,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667179958495,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NS113_FromUntruth_cover-e1646850113495.jpg?v=1703789610"},{"product_id":"chisholm-trail-aurora","title":"SUSS - Chisholm Trail b\/w Aurora","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=842242712\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/suss.bandcamp.com\/album\/chisholm-trail-b-w-aurora\"\u003eChisholm Trail b\/w Aurora by SUSS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eNew York-based ambient country quintet SUSS follows up its acclaimed album Ghost Box (Expanded) on Northern Spy Records with a new 7 inch EP, “Chisholm Trail” b\/w “Aurora”. Together, these tracks find the musical horizon line where the end of the trail on the A-side meets the cosmic expanse of the B-side. Drawing on psychedelic influences as diverse as the Flying Burrito Bros and Boards of Canada, SUSS uses a combination of bignote guitars, pedal steel, harmonica and synthesized sound to take a chill, heroic trip into the great American West and beyond.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1. Chisholm Trail\u003cbr\u003e2. Aurora\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Vinyl Single + Digital","offer_id":44667180482783,"sku":"SI-NS-116","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667180548319,"sku":null,"price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667180515551,"sku":"","price":1.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a1282137886_10.jpg?v=1703789640"},{"product_id":"highline","title":"SUSS - High Line","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4240622064\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/suss.bandcamp.com\/album\/high-line\"\u003eHigh Line by SUSS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHigh Line represents a new path into the high country for the NYC ambient country quintet known as SUSS. The follow-up release to their acclaimed album Ghost Box (Expanded) on Northern Spy Records, High Line explores the horizon line where the cosmic meets the landscape of the American West. Drawing on influences such as Ry Cooder and Bruce Langhorne while forging new paths alongside fellow travelers like Daniel Lanois and Boards of Canada, SUSS uses a combination of acoustic guitars, pedal steel, harmonica, mandolin and synthesized sound manipulation to take the listener on a blissful and mythic trip into the unknown.  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“...a vivid landscape where mellifluous tones foster the mystery and magic of a fabled landscape.” - Allison Hussey, Pitchfork\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"...a creature unlike any other, where slide guitars and tremolo-heavy string pluckings paint a picture of a desert horizon facing a gorgeous sunset.\" - Evan Sawdey, PopMatters\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Green Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667181924575,"sku":"NS-120-GREEN","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Standard Black Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667181957343,"sku":"LP-NS-120","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667181891807,"sku":"CD-NS-120","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667182022879,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667181990111,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/suss_highLine_lo.jpg?v=1703789665"},{"product_id":"spinningcreature","title":"Spinning Creature - CUP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3537989166\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cupmusicentity.bandcamp.com\/album\/spinning-creature-2\"\u003eSpinning Creature by CUP\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCUP is the duo of Nels Cline (the guitarist\/composer best known for his work with Wilco) and Yuka C Honda (the composer\/keyboardist\/programmer best known for her work with Cibo Matto). Combining aspects of electronica, folk, improvisation, and some heated rocking, this debut recording—perhaps predictably—defies easy categorization. But fear not! Contained within this package is a sometimes sweet, sometimes jarring, but always compelling excursion into what a shared sensibility sounds like, and after taking the journey that is ‘Spinning Creature’ it all feels just right as CUP's music veers from the accessible to the abstract and back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e‘Spinning Creature’ was recorded in about three days in Brooklyn. In the last several years, Nels and Yuka had performed some of the songs included on this record, while always leaving room for improvisation in their sets as well. This recording was approached with those same parameters. Thus, one hears songs with lyrics and some semblance of song structure as well as pieces that were created spontaneously. A significant bonus factor in the recording process is that Yuka could take tracks to her home studio and give them the \"Eucademix\" treatment, meaning to sculpt details of the tracks, adding her often meticulous sound production while still honoring the live performance aspects. This balance is what CUP music is all about. Nels and Yuka (who are married, by the way) even sing a little here and there as they enter their singular sound world. And now you can enter it, too!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667182874847,"sku":"LP-NS-117-P","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667182842079,"sku":"CD-NS-117","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667182940383,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667182907615,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/CUP-Spinning-Creature-digital-art-e1646842833980.jpg?v=1703789677"},{"product_id":"the-weather-up-there","title":"Jeremy Cunningham - The Weather Up There","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2015962542\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/jeremycunningham.bandcamp.com\/album\/the-weather-up-there\"\u003eThe Weather Up There by Jeremy Cunningham\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eChicago drummer and composer Jeremy Cunningham wrote The Weather Up There in response to the loss of his brother Andrew, who died in a home invasion robbery in 2008. Co-produced by Jeff Parker and Paul Bryan, and engineered by Paul Bryan and John McEntire, this new work confronts the tragedy of violence and examines the acute ripple effect on several people's lives through the lens of memory, response, and collage. Further deepening the textural and emotive impact, Cunningham formed a “drum choir” for these recordings, comprised of close mentors and colleagues Mike Reed, Makaya McCraven, and Mikel Patrick Avery. Cunningham also taps regular collaborators Ben LaMar Gay, Jaimie Branch, Tomeka Reid, Dustin Laurenzi, Matt Ulery, and Josh Johnson.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Jeremy is a rare drummer who possesses both insane skills and immaculate taste.\u003cbr\u003eHis tunes have that same sensibility— they are layered and sophisticated while\u003cbr\u003eremaining visceral and hummable.” -Yoni Wolf (Why?)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Jeremy Cunningham’s upcoming record is a testament to his commitment to sound,\u003cbr\u003efeel and creativity that sets him apart from other drummers. I am inspired by his\u003cbr\u003evulnerable and honest approach to music both as a drummer and composer.” -Makaya McCraven\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I've had the pleasure of watching Jeremy grow into one of the most visionary\u003cbr\u003ecomposer\/bandleaders on the scene today. It was truly an honor for me to work with\u003cbr\u003ehim on 'The Weather Up There'.\" –Jeff Parker\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Tranparent Orange Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667183268063,"sku":"LP-NS-122LE3","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Limited Edition Hazy Sky Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667183300831,"sku":"LP-NS-122LE2","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Standard Black Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667183333599,"sku":"LP-NS-122","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667183366367,"sku":"CD-NS-122","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667183431903,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667183399135,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Jeremy-Cunningham-digital-art-e1646419242572.jpg?v=1703789701"},{"product_id":"three","title":"The Necks - Three","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4185856817\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thenecksau.bandcamp.com\/album\/three\"\u003eThree by The Necks\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThree, the 21st album from legendary Australian instrumental trio The Necks, is a winding, textural, and visceral musical exploration through three individual, contrasting tracks that each delve into separate tenets of their sound. Three’s variety of tones and structures offer a glimpse into the boundless, immersive sonic universe The Necks have been constructing, through recorded and live performance, for over 30 years: three musicians, three variable songs, highlighting three decades of groundbreaking experimental excellence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom its very first moments, “Bloom” rattles and propels listeners through a dense, mesmerizing soundscape of unceasing intensity. Directly juxtaposing the consuming rattle of the opener, “Lovelock,” dedicated to the memory of Damien Lovelock, former frontman of The Celibate Rifles, is a weightless and atmospheric threnody that ruminates in the quiet and overwhelming moments of grief. The final setting of Three is one of warmth and familiarity. “Further,” is a confident, seductive groove in a quintuple meter, reminiscent of the groups’ work on records like Sex (1989) and Aquatic (1994).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eContrasting the style of their celebrated improvisational live act, the group’s studio work is meticulously sculpted from beginning to end. On Three, Chris Abrahams (piano), Lloyd Swanton (bass), Tony Buck (drums\/percussion), and their long-time backend collaborators Tim Whitten (engineer) and Doung Henderson (master) have again scrupulously built music that focuses on the most intricate edges of staggeringly immense, diverse worlds. From strained to still to smoky, each piece of Three marks itself as distinct and its own, but all feel representative of Australia’s greatest cult band, The Necks.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667183628511,"sku":"CD-NS-126","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667183694047,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667183661279,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Necks-Three-e1646419021853.jpg?v=1703789724"},{"product_id":"bath","title":"Cuddle Magic - Bath","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3830129376\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cuddlemagic.bandcamp.com\/album\/bath\"\u003eBath by Cuddle Magic\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCuddle Magic recorded their newest album in a bathroom. What you hear is six people performing together (without headphones, amplification, or overdubs) nestled amidst 23 microphones in a bathroom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhy the bathroom?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the winter of 2013, Cuddle Magic spent three months camped out at the same address. They wired up the entire place. They explored every trick of modern recording on the way to a beautiful and idiosyncratic set of richly orchestrated tracks. But none of it felt quite right.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e… except for one recording, of one song, the product of one fortuitous afternoon spent crowding around a pump organ, huddled in the bathroom. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat project was set aside. The band took some time to reflect, and then they made Ashes\/Axis, an album full of swirling, gritty electronic sounds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut, that singularly successful bathroom recording was never forgotten, and became the inspiration for Cuddle Magic’s sixth album, Bath. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe bathroom transforms the music. It contributes an incredible natural reverb - a few different ones, in fact, with various microphones hidden in far reaches. (It’s a cliche and true: everyone does sound better singing in the shower!) And because the quietest sounds resonate, and because the musicians are packed so closely together, every sound is in every microphone. There’s no hiding mistakes, no way to fix them. Every note is played, and every word sung, with absolute commitment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBath is a document of Cuddle Magic playing a lot like they did when they started out. They re-invent tropes of 21st-century pop song structure with the quietest acoustic sounds. It is a distillation of 15 years of mutual experience and experimentation. It's six talented musicians (all individually prolific as solo artists, producers, and in-demand collaborators) casually in agreement about a shared unique musical language, and so many very specific aesthetic judgements. It's music that is relaxed, free, and unconcerned. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis album is also, simply put, the sound of six people in the same room breathing and listening together. The band (Alec, Ben, Christopher, Cole, Dave and Kristin) wishes everyone safety \u0026amp; health, and looks forward to the day when we can all, once again, be in such close proximity to the people we love.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667184120031,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667184087263,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Bath-digi-art-1400-e1646418620853.jpg?v=1703789747"},{"product_id":"play-at-night","title":"Masma Dream World - Play At Night","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3465007925\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/masmadreamworld.bandcamp.com\/album\/play-at-night\"\u003ePlay At Night by Masma Dream World\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eDevi Mambouka’s evolution in becoming a multidisciplinary artist is rooted in her past informing her present and future. Born to a Gabonese ambassador and a Singaporean mother makes her a child of the world, and one who learned to tap into her inner magic to overcome trauma, abuse, and addiction. Play at Night, her debut album under the moniker Masma Dream World, is the resume of such learnings and experiences.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSinging is the refuge Devi has known since she was six years old, with nature being the first audience encouraging her to sing from the heart. Abruptly moving to the Bronx at 12 yielded more intense challenges—with music being her balm and escape. Influenced by the likes of Amel Larrieux, Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, and Zap Mama, she immersed herself in the world music section at Tower Records, finding her voice and her understanding of music composition and production. Her world opened up even more when she took up DJing at just 16. Devi was a mainstay in NYC nightlife, with a lucrative DJ gig in the meatpacking district.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTapping into her training as a reiki practitioner and a Butoh dancer (a Japanese avant-garde, spirit-led performance art), Devi’s debut showcases her ability to abide by her own precise rules when producing music. Play at Night was recorded in four days—encompassing elements of butoh, theta frequency (which creates a trance state in the mind) and the need to hold sacred space.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe project is not only for the subconscious mind, but also serves as a call for those who are truly ready for change; those who are yearning for a new world. The ear will catch soundscapes she recorded from her travels to respective home countries—spaces that further awakened her connection to frequencies. The bass-heavy undertones of the album are an ode to Devi’s first audience when she began her musical journey—trees and the elements—as they too exist on a low frequency.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlay at Night is Devi’s intentional offering and token of thanks for those who’ve walked with her as she endured her own personal healing and shadow work. The album challenges your preconceived relationship with darkness, guiding you to step into it—to play in it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis space is a prime opportunity to awaken one’s power source from within.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Transparent Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667184480479,"sku":"LP-NS-131D2F","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Standard Black Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667184513247,"sku":"LP-NS-131","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667184578783,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667184546015,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Masma-Dream-World-Play-At-Night-digi-art-scaled-e1646418434722.jpg?v=1703789769"},{"product_id":"supersense","title":"Steph Richards - Supersense","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1227105891\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/stephrichards.bandcamp.com\/album\/supersense\"\u003eSUPERSENSE by Steph Richards\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAs one of the most exciting artists working in jazz’s avant-garde Steph Richards is no stranger to challenging listeners’ expectations, helping them hear things they might not have previously imagined with experiments that range from playing underwater to incorporating a carousel into one of her compositions. But the trumpeter, composer and bandleader is pushing in a still more unusual direction on her upcoming release SUPERSENSE (out September 5 on Northern Spy). Along with a trio of fellow all-star improvisers — Jason Moran, Stomu Takeishi and Kenny Wolleson — Richards tapped acclaimed multimedia artist Sean Raspet to create singular, abstract scents to both inform and accompany the recording.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“I was thinking about how much information you get from a live performance that you just can't get by listening to something digitally,” says Richards, alluding to how that rich experience gets literally and figuratively compressed by contemporary distribution — not just its soundwaves, but the feel, look and in the case of SUPERSENSE, smell of where it’s being performed. “What if I could create an experience where listeners felt even closer to the music by involving their other senses?”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eHaving worked with both pioneering experimentalists like Butch Morris, Anthony Braxton and Henry Threadgill and more pop-oriented innovators like St. Vincent and Yoko Ono, Richards has pursued abstract, visceral expression via a variety of musical modes — but scent offered a new pathway to intuitive immediacy, a way to prompt herself and her collaborators that avoided language and representation completely. So with Raspet’s help, she crafted the album’s scents and compositions simultaneously, writing his concoctions into her score: As they played, the musicians would be directed to open numbered boxes containing scents that they would then respond to with improvisation.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“They’re not necessarily beautiful,” Richards explains — one of her own favorite scents, for example, was of cricket exoskeletons. “They’re weird, complex things you can't put your finger on — some of them make you feel a little uneasy, some make you feel clean, some make you feel dirty.” Fittingly, the ensemble explores a wide range of unorthodox sounds and textures. Moran offers some piano preparations, Wolleson brought a vanful of homemade percussion to the session, and Richards altered her already dynamic sound with a range of mutes and even playing underwater. Raspet then listened to the record, and tweaked the scents to better accompany the music. His creations, presented on a scratch and sniff card, will accompany physical copies of the record so that listeners can get the full experience, taking in the smells as they hear each track.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThough Richards had hoped to present the album’s full multisensory experience via live performance, its mission — to bring some of the tactile feeling of concert-going to the at-home listener — has rarely been more relevant than during the COVID-19 pandemic, when intimate shows seem all but impossible. She hopes that by playing to more than one sense, listeners will be drawn into the music more fully. “It's really mean to live in abstract wordless space,” she concludes. “One where we’re not exactly able to define where we're traveling and what we're feeling, but where we can just be swept away by sensation.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Transparent Red Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667185791199,"sku":"LP-NS-130D2F","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Standard Black Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667185823967,"sku":"LP-NS-130","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667185856735,"sku":"CD-NS-130","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667185889503,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667185922271,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/SS-cover-1400-e1646418348141.jpg?v=1703789797"},{"product_id":"promise","title":"SUSS - Promise","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=253371050\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/suss.bandcamp.com\/album\/promise\"\u003ePromise by SUSS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile their first two albums, Ghost Box and High Line, explored panoramas that evoked the American West as well as the cosmic beyond, Promise--the third and latest album by SUSS on Northern Spy Records--takes a more personal journey that maps out the rocky terrain of the American dream. Written, recorded, and mixed during the pandemic quarantine, the members of SUSS used their music to come to grips with concepts such as “promise” and “hope” and what they could still mean in this day and age.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn Promise, the NYC quartet creates sonic landscapes using pedal steel, baritone guitar, ebow, harmonium, synths, loops and other Americana instrumentation. Drawing on influences from their younger years, SUSS has created music that evokes early psychedelic Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk and the seminal soundtrack work of John Barry. The result, which they call “pastoral psychedelicism,” is a music that is beautiful, haunting and challenging.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition \"Fools Gold\" Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667186020575,"sku":"LP-NS-134D2F","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Standard Black Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667186053343,"sku":"LP-NS-134","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667186086111,"sku":"CD-NS-134","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667186118879,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667186151647,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/suss_promise_lpCvr_3000px_300dpi-scaled-e1646418060925.jpg?v=1703789809"},{"product_id":"charismatic-megafauna","title":"PSYMON SPINE - Charismatic Megafauna","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3405422813\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/psymonspine.bandcamp.com\/album\/charismatic-megafauna\"\u003eCharismatic Megafauna by PSYMON SPINE\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eBiologists define \"charismatic megafauna\" as plant and animal species whose size and appearance tend to draw larger groups of people to ecological causes. It's a curious, fascinating phrase that also perfectly defines the sneaky appeal of Psymon Spine's second album of the same name. Fusing psychedelic pop and the deep grooves of dance music, the Brooklyn electronic pop outfit's music is oozing with approachable melodic hugeness on first contact—but the places these guys take their songs is truly out there, exploring complicated feelings and catharsis through a singular approach to left-of-center electronic and dance sounds.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ePsymon Spine's origins date back to core members Noah Prebish and Peter Spears meeting in college and finding common ground in their artistic aims: \"We wanted to make something that was experimental, but also accessible and satisfying,\" Prebish states while discussing the thrust of the band's origins, citing influences like Talking Heads and Os Mutantes along with the rush of the NYC dance scene. Eventually, Brother Michael joined Psymon Spine, as the trio hashed out the demos for what would become their debut, 2017's \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eYou Are Coming to My Birthday\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e. \"We've always wanted to make people feel good with our music, but challenge them too,\" Spears explains.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAnd Psymon Spine continued on that aesthetic mission by becoming figures in the Brooklyn dance scene through throwing the immersive art and dance parties of the Secret Friend series. Meanwhile, Prebish's work in dream-pop band Barrie—who broke out last year with the excellent debut \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eHappy to Be Here\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e following a string of buzz-making singles—led him to meet singer and multi-instrumentalist Sabine Holler, who eventually joined Psymon Spine's ranks after they both parted ways with the rest of Barrie.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThat band's eponymous lead singer also guests on \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eCharismatic Megafauna\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e's first single \"Milk,\" and the album's glimmering melodies bear resemblance to the pop smarts of Prebish and Holler's previous outfit—but \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eCharismatic Megafauna\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e is proof that Psymon Spine are on a whole different journey too, embracing and exploring left-field electronic sounds ranging from disco's high-energy rhythmic breakdowns to the upward build of early techno and motorik's indelibly incessant pulse. Psymon Spine put their own loopy and addictive stamp on the sounds of the past throughout, with surprises at every turn and the type of lush synth work that could only come from such brilliant students of dance music.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThematically, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eCharismatic Megafauna\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e—which takes its title from a biological term passed down from Prebish's biology professor father—reflects on the changes the members of Psymon Spine have experienced in their lives over the past several years. \"There's a lot of recovery on this album,\" Prebish explains. \"It's music about catharsis and being together. We've all had a crazy few years, and for all of us this band is a safe haven—a community, and a way to create something about what we were experiencing.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eHe describes the squishy synths of \"Modmed\" as \"a breakup song for our previous band,\" an elegy to his and Holler's parting ways that features contributions from Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT, while Holler defines the message underneath \"Channels\"' shouty dance-punk vibes as \"Channeling whatever's in you to something constructive in a healthy way.\" \"It's a therapy song about channeling inner turmoil,\" Prebish adds, \"and connecting the things that define us to create a system where you can relate to the different parts of yourself.\" Reflecting optimism and emotional catharsis, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eCharismatic Megafauna \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eis a heady trip through left-field pop that packs its own emotional wallop.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition \"Opaque Pink\" Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667186282719,"sku":"LP-NS-129D2F","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Standard Black Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667186315487,"sku":"LP-NS-129","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667186348255,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667186381023,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/CharismaticMegafauna-e1646418031253.jpg?v=1703789821"},{"product_id":"abracadabralifornia","title":"Jon Daly - Abracadabralifornia","description":"\u003cp\u003eJon Daly—the actor and comedian known for his roles on \u003cem\u003eKroll Show\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eCurb Your Enthusiasm\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eBob's Burgers\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eAmerican Dad!\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Secret Life of Walter Mitty\u003c\/em\u003e, and so much more—has announced the vinyl release of \"Abracadabralifornia\" and \"I'm Your Dad\" via Northern Spy, as part of Record Store Day's #RSDBlackFriday. Only 1000 copies of the 7\" will be available in stores worldwide, with only 850 available in North America.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Abracadabralifornia\" properly broke the internet back in 2014 when Daly uploaded it to \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/rhcp2014.com\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/rhcp2014.com\/\u0026amp;source=gmail\u0026amp;ust=1606238669894000\u0026amp;usg=AOvVaw02SMq1F0Jqsu7ngMmvA974\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eRHCP2014.com\u003c\/a\u003e ahead of the band's Super Bowl performance. TIME Magazine described the song as \"a perfect pre-Super Bowl performance treat,\" while Salon called it \"pure genius.\" The flip side features the diss track \"I'm Your Dad,\" which materialized after a public Twitter feud between Daly and the rapper Lil Xan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaly recently appeared on \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/2frBUXU5We1NHHOR2XBtxU?si=xVz_SO6RRZ65A-6lMcjxEQ\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/2frBUXU5We1NHHOR2XBtxU?si%3DxVz_SO6RRZ65A-6lMcjxEQ\u0026amp;source=gmail\u0026amp;ust=1606238669894000\u0026amp;usg=AOvVaw0EaGKuSDetUgWZdEh1Ko68\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eThe Best Show\u003c\/a\u003e with Tom Scharpling to discuss the release. He also recently starred as \"Dave from Sub Pop\" in The Postal Service's \u003cem\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SkF-Njy3Te8\u0026amp;feature=youtu.be\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v%3DSkF-Njy3Te8%26feature%3Dyoutu.be\u0026amp;source=gmail\u0026amp;ust=1606238669894000\u0026amp;usg=AOvVaw3qhak-FA6HKcC2MistUToo\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eZoom Auditions\u003c\/a\u003e \u003c\/em\u003evideo in support of HeadCount's \u003cem\u003eMake Your Vote Count\u003c\/em\u003e campaign.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor a list of North American stores that will be carrying 'Abracadabralifornia,' \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/northernspyrecs.com\/jon-daly-abracadabralifornia-rsd-black-friday-release-is-available-at-the-following-stores\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/northernspyrecs.com\/jon-daly-abracadabralifornia-rsd-black-friday-release-is-available-at-the-following-stores\/\u0026amp;source=gmail\u0026amp;ust=1606238669894000\u0026amp;usg=AOvVaw3ovBHGkkfjHHu9gtzxx1QD\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eclick here\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor more information on RSD Black Friday, head to: \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/RSDLists\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/bit.ly\/RSDLists\u0026amp;source=gmail\u0026amp;ust=1606238669894000\u0026amp;usg=AOvVaw3GwrrgLCfjCwIIcJc-gR3p\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ebit.ly\/RSDLists\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667186413791,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667186446559,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Abracadabralifornia_Cover-e1646414485486.jpg?v=1703789830"},{"product_id":"hope","title":"Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog - Hope","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1270397148\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/marcribot.bandcamp.com\/album\/hope\"\u003eHope by Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen these recording sessions began in the last week of May 2020, I hadn’t left my house to go anywhere other than the grocery store in over two months. I hadn’t taken a cab or subway. I’d lost several friends to COVID-19, and was afraid I’d also lose more thanks to the non-response of our would-be dictator\/“president”, whose deliberate embrace of untruth fed tens of thousands of lives to the pandemic, and also reduced what little hope was left for avoiding global warming catastrophe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hadn’t seen my partner since February (our plans to fly to each other’s countries shut down) and it would be July before we finally got together. Our difficulties were nothing compared with others. When me and fellow Ceramic Dogs Ches and Shahzad figured out a way to record, we entered the studio separately, sat in separate, isolated rooms from which we couldn’t see each other, communicating through mics and headphones. We were careful to wash our hands: one of us has respiratory issues, so fuck-ups could’ve been bad. We wound up with two record’s worth of material, some released on Bandcamp in October on the EP What I Did on My Long Vacation, and the majority of the music here on this full CD-length recording.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf\/when people look back on these times, maybe they’ll seem\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e unreal... foreign, alien: the way I, as a child in the 1960’s, looked at the faded footage of the 1930’s as impossibly ancient, even though the family members who had survived those newsreels sat next to me at breakfast. In fact, my 9 year old self was closer to the burning of the Reichstag\u003cbr\u003e\nthan we are now to the release of Nevermind.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnyway, when we went into the studio, I thought we’d come up with something that spoke to our times… a message in a bottle to our equally shipwrecked (imaginary) listeners. But once we started, it was so much fun to jam that we forgot the disasters outside. So instead, we “spoke” to each other. And to other times that we couldn’t yet see: like the day, 5 months later, when people all over Brooklyn would dance in the streets for joy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s almost December now. Things are shutting down again, and I’m quarantined in Europe writing liner notes for a record that will be released in the new year--once more, speaking to another time… perhaps a future?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eM Ribot (Nov 2020)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"2 x LP \"Warp Speed\" Edition","offer_id":44667187003615,"sku":"MLP-NS-139","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"2 x LP Standard Black Edition","offer_id":44667187036383,"sku":"LP-NS-139","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667187069151,"sku":"CD-NS-139","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667187101919,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667187134687,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Hope-scaled-e1646414141614.jpg?v=1703789861"},{"product_id":"raw-demoon-alchemy-a-lone-operation","title":"Darius Jone - Raw Demoon Alchemy (A Lone Operation)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eRaw Demoon Alchemy (A Lone Operation) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eharnesses the gamut of raw, unadulterated emotions — suppressed feelings that we’ve all been allowed to “feel” again in the wake of a global pandemic. Born out of a live performance in fall 2019, during the last stop of his tour in Portland, OR, saxophonist Darius Jones renders a solo effort that evokes sadness, rage, and confusion, all the while still holding for glimmers of hope for the future.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eWith four of its five tracks on \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAlchemy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e, Jones selects compositions from artists who are not just unapologetically Black but also notably ones that he regards as “world builders.” From Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman, and Roscoe Mitchell right up through the present with Georgia Anne Muldrow, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAlchemy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e draws immeasurable strength from each of these artists who dared to envision and create an entire universe unto themselves, on their terms.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“I want to capture a moment in time, to crystallize the beginning of something at the end of something else,” says Jones. Separated and now divorced from his partner of 10 years, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAlchemy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e balances the emotional heft of closure with the simple act of standing alone. Each track unearths a deep and profound vulnerability in every solo performance that isn’t just personal but also delves into the macro-level divisiveness of our current political climate.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eWith “Figure No. 2,” Jones offers us a modern-day version of the blues. Courtesy of Muldrow, her refrain encapsulates the vast breadth of the Black experience in America, transforming our deep-seated pain into our beauty and armor of resilience. Jones also proudly rests on the shoulders of Coleman and Mitchell, two of this music’s known improvisers who often stood alone in this music’s ever-changing landscape. He pays homage to Mitchell with “Nonaah,” which in the late 1970s was initially met with jeers from an audience, that is, until his 21+ minute long version overtook them.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAlchemy \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003euncovers a duality of what it means to be alone, especially resonant in today’s climate of social distancing. In one turn, we were all forced to put life as we knew it on hold — to simply be still and deal with our emotional realities unencumbered by the distractions of life. But at another turn, Jones taps into an unknown power of his lone voice, finding a newfound strength and enthusiasm that will carry him — and its listeners — beyond the uncertainty and doubt of not knowing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667188543711,"sku":"LP-NS-141","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667188576479,"sku":"CD-NS-141","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667188609247,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667188642015,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/ns141-cover-small-e1646413794315.jpg?v=1703789899"},{"product_id":"instant-night","title":"Beauty Pill - Instant Night","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2496786268\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/beautypill.bandcamp.com\/album\/instant-night\"\u003eInstant Night by Beauty Pill\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe title track to Beauty Pill's new EP, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=73LJV8CBdM0\"\u003e\"Instant Night,\"\u003c\/a\u003e was originally written by bandleader Chad Clark in 2015 after he watched Ann Coulter, as a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher, predict that Donald Trump would win the 2016 US presidential election. The Washington, D.C. based artist recorded and surprise-released the single in October 2020 out of urgency to inspire people to vote in the presidential election. Because the song was being recorded during the pandemic, and because Clark has an artificial heart that puts him at high risk for COVID-19, it was recorded on a rooftop, with meticulously planned social distancing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Instant Night\" is Beauty Pill's first single without drums, and it is also the first Beauty Pill song to conspicuously highlight the band's woodwind quartet. The single was released alongside a music video featuring time-lapse footage of Trump, Lindsey Graham, and Mitch McConnell being drawn and depicted as monsters. \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=73LJV8CBdM0\"\u003eThe video\u003c\/a\u003e was created and directed by the artist \u003cex-beauty\u003e Ryan Nelson.\u003c\/ex-beauty\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e+ + +\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf \"Instant Night,\" Beauty Pill's Chad Clark says:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast year I came to my band with a song called “Instant Night.”  I was nervous about presenting it to them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This one is unusual.  There are no drums and it kinda sounds like Philip Glass music.  I don’t know where it came from exactly.  I wrote it a few years ago, but I think we should do it now. I think it’s kind of urgent, actually.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeauty Pill is not a dictatorship.  The people in my band are all strong-willed artists themselves and they don’t just agree to do whatever I tell them.  Not every idea gets ratified, trust me.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut they seemed to quickly understand the song and understand the reason why I wanted to do it.  Remarkably, it took us only a few hours to develop and learn the arrangement that you hear now.  It came together almost magically.  And it felt natural.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe next step was convincing our label Northern Spy to rush-release the song before the election of 2020.  The label staff had a full docket of planned releases with other artists at that point. This was certainly an unwelcome request.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI’m sure the label was privately exasperated with this request, but they understood why it was an important song for that moment.  “Instant Night” was released digitally a couple weeks before the November election.  It was a complete surprise to Beauty Pill fans.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eListen, I operate under no delusions that my little arty DC post-punk band brought about the downfall of Donald Trump.  But I do think we contributed in a tiny, granular way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe last words of the song are “Scared is alright” and I think everyone who heard it, felt it.  I do think that America was teetering on the edge of a very frightening plunge into the obliteration of pure fascism and bigotry at that moment.  And I think voters narrowly averted that crisis.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe lyrics of “Instant Night” are insinuating and allusive, not topical. It’s only a political song in the way that Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” or Public Enemy’s “Fight The Power” are political songs. People call them “protest songs,” but neither of those songs is as specific as people think.  Go back and listen again.  They’re pretty abstract!  They are more poetic than polemic.  I see “Instant Night” as existing within that spectrum too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd I think it will last.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e+ + +\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf the EP's send single, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/music.beautypill.com\/bettermind\"\u003e\"You Need A Better Mind,\"\u003c\/a\u003e Clark says:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Roland TB-303 is an old Japanese synthesizer that was designed to convincingly mimic the sound of a bass guitar.  It was introduced in 1981, it sounded like a toy and failed miserably, and it was ultimately discontinued in 1984.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt makes freaky, wiggly, cartoony sounds.  It sounds fuck-all like a bass guitar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhy am I telling you this?  One ended up in my hands for a week.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI did a lot of silly stuff with it.  I did come up with this one worthwhile riff, which I built a song around.  The song is called \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=z6Ulig_f7IQ\"\u003e\"You Need A Better Mind.\"\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was recorded with my band in a single take at the end of a recording session for another song. We were tired. None of us cared that much if we failed. The fun spirit you hear in this song is mostly exhaustion… that kind of punchy exhaustion you get late at night when you’ll laugh at anything.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe lyrics were inspired by the spooky\/funny 10-minute movie \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/341842996\"\u003e“Rachel.”\u003c\/a\u003e  The song is about the scourge of American loneliness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is by far the fastest, easiest song Beauty Pill has ever created.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe hope you like it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e+ + +\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBeauty Pill - 'Instant Night'\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProduced by Brown Eno\u003cbr\u003e\nRecorded in Kimani Clark's rooftop apartment, Washington DC\u003cbr\u003e\nand Magpie Cage Studios, Baltimore\u003cbr\u003e\nMastered by Heba Kadry\u003cbr\u003e\nDesigned by Nora McKelvey\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeauty Pill is\u003cbr\u003e\nBasla Andolsun: bass\u003cbr\u003e\nChad Clark: voice, guitar\u003cbr\u003e\nDrew Doucette: guitar\u003cbr\u003e\nErin Nelson: voice\u003cbr\u003e\nDevin Ocampo: drums, guitar\u003cbr\u003e\nwith\u003cbr\u003e\nVictoria Banos: trumpet\u003cbr\u003e\nAaron Harman: bassoon\u003cbr\u003e\nSarah Hughes: saxophone\u003cbr\u003e\nDon Godwin: tenor horn\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Transparent Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667188805855,"sku":"LP-NS-137C","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition Transparent CD + Digital","offer_id":44667188838623,"sku":"CD-NS-137","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667188871391,"sku":"","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667188904159,"sku":"","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/BP-Instant-Night-digital-2-1-e1646413671934.jpg?v=1703789919"},{"product_id":"picnic-in-the-dark","title":"Renata Zeiguer - Picnic in the Dark","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3188689337\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/renatazeiguer.bandcamp.com\/album\/picnic-in-the-dark\"\u003ePicnic in the Dark by Renata Zeiguer\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e'Picnic in the Dark' is the enchanting new album from Renata Zeiguer, her second full length release for Northern Spy. The album follows Zeiguer through a dreamworld of magical realism as she navigates her memories and seeks to confront inherited dysfunctional patterns head-on. As Zeiguer reconciles her childhood and her adult lives with careful compassion, 'Picnic in the Dark' reveals itself as an album not only of transformation, but of healing and self-actualization.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eZeiguer takes us by the hand and leads us into her surreal storybook realm by way of lead single “Sunset Boulevard”. We are guided through the metamorphosis of a caterpillar, a kaleidoscopic metaphor for the process of letting go of the seemingly safe and familiar in pursuit of a healthier and freer life. Throughout the album, Zeiguer’s free-associative approach transports the listener from sylvan reverie in “Evergreen” into disturbing fever dreams in “Burning Castle”. Her intuitive gift for storytelling, through both her words and music, is rare: narrative journeys seem to unfold spontaneously over the length of her songs. For instance, “Whack-a-mole”, a restless hunt for her innermost grief, slowly blossoms from a menacing nocturnal spy chase into a celestial wash of shimmering guitars and synths that shine like fireflies in an evening mist.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eIn collaboration with co-producer and old friend Sam Griffin Owens (Sam Evian), Zeiguer sonically invokes the meeting point of memories and dreams, calling to mind Broadcast, Cindy Lee, or David Lynch’s multidisciplinary ventures. With generous splashes of spring reverb, ghostly vocal harmonies, antique drum machines, cinematic strings, and the comforting warbles of synthesized organ, all bolstered by a tight indie rock sensibility, the sonic palette of 'Picnic in the Dark' is magically anachronistic.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eFittingly, Zeiguer incorporates the sounds of her childhood—from jazz standards to classical music—but most notably the bossa nova greats such as João Gilberto, who married musical playfulness with lyrical poignancy. She shares Gilberto’s subtlety and intention of approach in every aspect of her music-making, from her hushed, deliberate vocals to her gorgeously understated arrangements and fine-tuned vintage guitar sounds. Most remarkably of all, Zeiguer has a masterful command of the harmonic and rhythmic language of bossa nova, fully capturing its romantic spirit. This is showcased in the impishly shifting ditty “Mark the Date”, a delirious dance through memory and time, and the yearning chromaticism of “Carmen”, an achingly beautiful plea for honesty. The album’s tranquil epilogue, “Primavera”, a direct homage to Gilberto’s heartfelt intimacy, brings Zeiguer’s journey full circle, passing through seasons of life and death and returning to the rebirth of spring at last.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eIn 'Picnic in the Dark', Zeiguer has lovingly crafted a volume of fairy tales, torchlight glowing through its golden leaves. The image conjured by that very title reveals its essence and purpose: to allow the artist, like a child lost in the pages of a story, to safely venture into the shadowy, painful corners of her psyche with a lightness of spirit and fantastical whimsy.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Limited Edition Postcard Pack [of 12]","offer_id":44667189559519,"sku":"LP-NS-152-PC","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667189526751,"sku":"LP-NS-152","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667189592287,"sku":"CD-NS-152","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667189625055,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667189657823,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/RZ-PITD-FINALCOVER-copy-e1646412032989.jpg?v=1703789970"},{"product_id":"portrait-of-a-lady","title":"Shilpa Ray - Portrait of a Lady","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=157144298\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/shilparay.bandcamp.com\/album\/portrait-of-a-lady\"\u003ePortrait of a Lady by Shilpa Ray\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith her raging new album Portrait of a Lady, New York punk rock\/art pop songwriter Shilpa Ray has created her most searing and personal album to date. Written in the wake of the #metoo movement and the weathering years of the Trump Administration, the record finds Ray processing her own experiences with abuse, layering autobiographical detail with ferocious bon mots and surrealistic rock \u0026amp; roll gloss. Featuring singles like the Stooges-styled “Manic Pixie Dream Cunt,” the reverb soaked dream pop of “Heteronormative Horseshit Blues,” and the hard-charging “Bootlickers of the Patriarchy,” the album draws from a stylistic palette of synths, electronic beats, and hard rock guitars, inspired by artists like Ministry, Billy Idol, Pat Benetar, and the glittery, jagged but still pop guitars of Los Angeles hair metal. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe idea for  Portrait of a Lady Ray stretches back Ray’s experience with photos from Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, a personal expose of the photographer’s time in the No Wave scene of New York in the late ‘70s. “It shook me to my core and made me reflect on my own experiences with sexual assault and abuse,” Ray says. She couldn’t shake the idea of a concept album—a full-throated rock album about being a survivor—but found herself hesitating until 2019, when she began to approach the concept in earnest. “I kept asking, ‘How do you do this?’ But Goldin’s work—as well as the writings of music journalist and musician Jes Skolnik—inspired Ray to throw herself into the difficult work. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo match her personal and fearless lyrics, which range from darkly funny to harrowing, Ray and her co-producer\/collaborator Jeff Berner gather a wide batch of sounds, from unhinged garage rock to soul ballads. The songs shimmer with neon gloss, from the electronic piano and harmony-packed excoriation of privilege “Straight Man’s Dream” to the heartbreaking showstopper “Cry For the Camera,” and from the noise interlude of “No” to the leather clad strut of “Lawsuits \u0026amp; Suicide,” a tale of manipulation set to ‘80s hard rock-inspired new wave, drawn from Ray’s childhood memories of MTV. “In the ‘80s, everything looked like candy, but it was sharp—there’s an anger to it,” she says. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat anger is present on the record, but it shares space with acceptance, gallows humor, and strength. “No survivor has a set way of dealing with what they had to survive. There’s no homogenized experience or interpretation of it,” Ray says. Portrait Of A Lady isn't a political record so much as a personal one, dedicated to “showing the good, the bad, and the ugly as well as the power one can ultimately hold being a survivor. \u003cem\u003e- Jason Woodbury\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667190575327,"sku":"LP-NS-146","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667190608095,"sku":"CD-NS-146","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667190640863,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667190673631,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/portrait-of-a-lady-cover-FINAL-1-scaled-e1646411828390.jpg?v=1703789990"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.northern-spy.com\/collections\/mood-luminous.oembed?page=3","provider":"Northern Spy Label Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}