{"title":"Staff Picks","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"cloud-nothings-here-and-nowhere-else-in-windings","title":"Cloud Nothings - Here and Nowhere Else (In Windings)","description":"\u003cp\u003eDYLAN BALDI\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI’m writing this little monologue during a quick break from packing all of my belongings into poorly folded cardboard boxes, preparing to move to Western Massachusetts from my lifelong home of Cleveland, Ohio.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe most labor-intensive thing to file away and pack is, of course, my record collection. But this move has given me a chance to take a look through every one of my albums and think about some patterns in my obsessive collecting. One thing I noticed? No remix records in the bunch. Not even an album with a remix on it, minus a few techno and hip hop singles. The remix seems to be a phenomenon that has passed me by entirely, left me completely immune to its promise of…well…something. The thing is, I’m not really sure what the purpose of a remix is. I never have been, and I certainly can’t say I am now, even after releasing an album full of them under my band’s name.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut one thing I can be certain of is that there are a lot of records in my collection that were made by friends of mine. People I’ve toured with, people I grew up with, people I met from going to shows in Cleveland and from playing shows in other places around the world. Ever since I started Cloud Nothings my life has been filled with amazing, talented people from every corner of the earth. But some of the most exceptional are from where I’ve been all along: here in Cleveland.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo be able to release a record like this is an honor, and I hope all of the people featured on this album know I think of it as such. These are not remixes as much as they are completely new songs, using our work only as the most skeletal outline and filling out the body with the utmost individual personality and creativity. And these people are truly individuals – John Elliott wrote his commentary in orange comic sans font for god’s sake.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt means a lot to have people as gifted as these eight guys give their own treatment to my band’s songs, and it means even more that I can count most of them as friends of mine. I look forward to continuing to learn from them via their music and conversations, and I hope this record can shed some light on aspects of Cloud Nothings that have been hidden and under-utilized on our recorded output so far. And I also hope that Khaki Blazer becomes rich and famous beyond his wildest dreams, because that track made me laugh more than anything else I’ve heard in 2015. And now it’s time to get back to packing.\u003cbr\u003e\nJAYSON GERYCZ\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Northern Spy first asked us to make something for “record store day” the last thing I thought we were going to do was have our entire record remixed by our friends. I’m extremely happy that we did so and stoked on final product. I’m not really into the idea of a remix for a rock band, usually they don’t turn out very well and really it just doesn’t seem that necessary. Every time we release an album we end up having one or more of our songs remixed by some random dude. When we first finished Here and Nowhere Else I started brainstorming trying to think of an artist that I would actually be stoked about doing a remix for us. At that time I was (still am) listening to ‘Donato Dozzy plays Bee Mask’ a lot and around that same time I had the privilege to spend some time with and get to know Chris Madak. After being around Chris for one day I was completely blown away with his knowledge and understanding of music, I knew for sure thats the guy Id love to have remix one of our tunes. Asking the other guys to remix the rest of the album just naturally made the most sense, they’re all friends and some of the best jammers around. Those are the kind of people Id trust to bust a remix.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSam Goldberg is a great friend and has been a supporter since Cloud Nothings first started in 2010. I actually remember Sam booking one of our first gigs at his house. I recall the lineup being Cloud Nothings opening for Daniel Higgs and Mark McGuire. Only Sam could do that. Sam’s remix really helps set the pace for this bizarre remix album.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePat Modugno (Khaki Blazer) is one half of the legendary Kent OH based group called Moth Cock, if you don’t know what that is you really ought to study up, they’re every weirdos favorite band. Pat’s Khaki Blazer project is so awesome and if you dig his remix you should scope some of his mix tapes because they are straight fire! https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/khaki-blazer. to say the least it was an honor having Pat bust a remix.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSteve Peffer’s (Factorymen) remix is one of my favorites. I had no clue what to expect from Steve when I asked, but I did know that I like all of his bands. If you don’t know any of Steve’s bands again….study up, because they’re all amazing. We had the privilege of taking one of his bands Pleasure Leftist on tour with us in 2014 and that was a real nice time and they’re a great band. I didn’t know what to expect from his remix but I did know he would deliver something incredible, which he did. If you’re ever in Cleveland make sure you check out his record shop Hausfrau.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI first met Adam Miller around the time when we were first working on Here and Nowhere Else in the basement of my old house on Fowles Rd in Middleburg Heights Ohio. He would come over post up with his synths and jam for hours. He’s another brilliant jammer and runs a sick tape label called overview http:\/\/overviewltd.com\/home . I wasn’t worried at all when asking Adam to do a remix, I knew he’d deliver something awesome.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHaving John Elliott and Drew Veres (Outer Space) remix one of our songs just seemed like it made the most sense. John and Drew both are very close friends of mine and have always showed support for Cloud Nothings especially in the last 3 years. I lived with John on Fowles road and got to hear him and Drew create so much incredible music. After hundreds of hours watching damaged movies and listening to amazing records together I knew for fact that they would create something very fitting. If you don’t know about Spectrum Spools..GET WITH IT!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBen Billington (Quicksails) is an amazing drummer who makes killer electronic music. I was actually listening to his album ‘Silver Balloons in Clusters’ (if you don’t know it check it out) when I was trying to come up with the last couple remixers. Ive seen Ben play psych\/jazz\/noise\/rock so I felt it was pretty safe handing our jams over to him to make a remix. He did such a great job.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJohn Daniel (forest management) is such a kind spirit. John’s minimal drone music is so beautiful and moving. When I first asked John if he was interested he got back to me right away asking what song. I didn’t know John even knew our album at all, but he did and he requested Pattern Walks which was probably the most fitting tune for him to remix. its amazing that he turned our longest and very aggressive tune into a beautiful drone track using Dylan’s guitar and vocals. John was one of the three remixers who knew exactly what track they wanted along with Outer Space and Bee Mask\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChris Madak is a complete fucking genius. I have no clue how he makes the music he makes and I don’t understand how he turned I’m Not Part of Me into what it is on the remix album, but I’m certainly glad he did! Every time I’m around him and hear him talk on his ideas and thoughts for music I get inspired even though I don’t fully understand what he’s talking about. Man, I wish I had a noggin thats wired as wild as his. When We Were Eating Unripe Pears will always be one of my favorite records.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIts so cool that all of these jammers are originally from OH, and its even better that I can call them my friends. Ive learned so much from these guys and all the other wild jammers in Cleveland. Cloud Nothings certainly would not be jamming the way we do now if these people weren’t apart of our lives, whether its a recording or spending time together these jammers helped provide necessary influences that helped get us where we are now and I can’t thank them enough. everyone should go listen to all of these artists recordings!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTJ DUKE\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA. A violent order is a disorder; and\u003cbr\u003e\nB. A great disorder is an order. These two things are one.\u003cbr\u003e\n-Wallace Stevens\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThough seemingly obtuse, this quote from “connoisseur of chaos” puts into focus the reason this record has become so important to me. Since the creation of h.a.n.e. was one of near recklessness and immediacy, when the idea of turning it over to a flock of bona-fide weirdoes and visionaries came in the form of a “remix album”, we immediately began it’s pursuit. Within a couple of weeks the tracks started to surface and the result was astonishing. Each one was thrilling to experience — our music distilled to its elemental state and rebuilt into a genuine expression. It quickly became clear that not only did these tunes stand on their own, but they worked together in unexpected harmony as if they all conspired to create some hallucinatory redaction of our record. I am as proud of this release as anything we have done as a band, and with the help of our friends I think we’ve created a record that pays respect to a few of the artists that have inspired us to open our heads and grow, it’s my sincere hope that it will do the same for the fans of cloud nothings. Enjoy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSAM GOLDBERG – NOW HERE IN\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRemixing music is still really strange to me. For lack of a better way to explain it, to me, it seems like most of the time, remixes fall into two zones. Either it’s a remix to promote and create internet buzz (which seems really prevalent and dark) or remixing artists for the purpose of modifying source material to present in a dance atmosphere, the more purposeful zone.The CN album doesn’t seem to fall into either of those categories… it’s a complete outlier. Also, oddly having total weirdos remix it rather than an indie edm act from the PR world seems makes the release actually something interesting. Hearing some stabby stubby synth club remix of CN would just be too damaged and would likely end up in the worlds overfilled trash bin of unnecessary remixes. None of the acts are really like remix heads, each act is first and foremost an original creative project or being… and I think that’s why this plays less like a “remix” compilation and more like a regular album… a cohesive reflection of an interconnectedness of a group of geographical relatives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe song had a few different hooks that I could sink my teeth into. I wanted to at least include a shred of the CN sound that their fans are into, while still presenting something that would come naturally from me. As I listened through the guitar, drums, and bass tracks, I chose the real hard hitting hook that I thought could juxtapose a mellow pad zone that I could create. I wanted to do something kind of simple, that could be used as a transitional piece. I wanted to give them something that could make the album… more album-like. Also, once it started to sink in, I realized that I would try to create something like Cluster meets Lulu… I think I was somewhat successful at that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKHAKI BLAZER – QUIETER TODAY\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy track was quieter today. I had never heard it until cloud nothing’s drummer Jayson asked me to remix it. I don’t know the other dudes in the band all too well but I got to know Jayson pretty well through various shows in Cleveland. I’m honestly not in to any kind of modern rock band. Im into some stuff from the 60s-70s ,but mostly for the trippy aspect of the music. With that said, I was a little unsure as to how I should remix something that’s sort of uncharted territory for me. I felt even more unqualified when I received the stem tracks. The files were too big to fit on my shitty phone, and I had to load them on to a borrowed lap top. There were like 25 stems all for one song. This blew my mind. I’m used to using sub par gear and have no experience in studios. I don’t even use a mixer. There was a strong feeling that a well crafted project was being handed to an inexperienced scum bag. It was also funny doing a remix of a song that isn’t dance-y or funky. If anything the original song is emotional. That’s something I respect in artists but won’t do myself. As khaki blazer, I work off of dumb and passive vibes. I usually take samples from old recordings from failed projects, funk records, vine ect. Using cloud nothings stems as a sample source was a hilarious change of pace. I added some of my own percussion and synth. Aside from that, I mostly built the track on Jayson’s drums and various vocals that they gave me. It sounds nothing like the original song. I was happy with it. Its really not that different from my own stuff. I think my track is the only one in mono too. I didn’t even know I recorded in mono.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFACTORYMEN – PSYCHIC TRAUMA\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCloud Nothings gave me probably their most accessible tune. In essence, a pop song. The reimagining that came out is understandably a challenging listen. It’s the deconstruction of the three waves of a dream. My dreams generally flow in three waves. So that was my approach to this song. A dreamer’s warped deconstruction of a pop song. And since imagination is king and rules or any sense of traditional song structure do not regulate in dreamland, I was able and motivated to let my paranoid subconscious run hogwild with the tune and we’re left with a not untypical dream’s end. A closing without closure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eADAM MILLER – JUST SEE FEAR\u003cbr\u003e\nThe original track is really fast and direct, so I tried to follow a similar pace for my version. besides that, I had no idea what to do for this, since the cloud boys definition of “remix” could mean a million different heady things. I decided to make a track based around loops of the source material, with the end result sounding a lot like the stuff I made when I was staying in middleburg heights all the time. Except instead of weetzie stealing my chair every 5 mins, I had Buster and Bob laid out on my bed. While I continued to work on the track, memories of the house ended up influencing the direction way more than I had anticipated. Thanks to the Fowles crew for their endless hospitality. (weetzie, buster, and bob are cats)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOUTER SPACE – GIVING INTO SEEING\u003cbr\u003e\nJOHN ELLIOTT (OUTER SPACE)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy immediate thought when hearing the new record was that it hands down their best effort yet. In fact, when I run on my treadmill, which is nearly everyday, I pretty much only listen to this record and “Tri Repetae”.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI feel like a lot of the people making music in Cleveland are pretty tightly knit. There is a great group of people who have been working for many years and everybody seems to know one another well. The thing that’s great is that it doesn’t really matter what anybody is doing, wether it’s a rock trio or a guy DJ’ing, if you’re striving you end up around the right people. The Cloud Nothings are no exception, and so we didn’t hesitate to morph their music in a way Drew and I would execute it for an Outer Space track. The end result isn’t really far off from what they actually do (at least in our minds). Even since “Attack on Memory” there have been some more motorik and repetitive parts that are really great, we just made a salvia styled time loop of a part we really liked and put some drum machines and electronics on top. We knew they’d like it and we’re pretty happy to be a part of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDREW VERES (OUTER SPACE)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Jayson initially asked us about working on this we were pretty excited. John and I both were already big fans of the album, and hadn’t worked on a remix like this before. I couldn’t say what really led us to the final product. We spent time experimenting with different parts of the original before settling on what became the core of the remix.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQUICKSAILS – NO THOUGHTS\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCloud Nothings are surrounded in the best company and have luckily found themselves entrenched in a sea of amazing friends all over the world, and especially in their hometown of Cleveland. Northeast Ohio is a hotbed of experimentalism in music, and the Cloud boys are right in there. While it may seem risky to take their rock ‘n’ roll tunes and hand them over to a bunch of “experimental music” guys for remixing, this situation was more of a “family compilation”. I believe every person involved are close friends and love each others music. Its a very special thing, and I’m so glad this happened! No better way to explore new aspects of a band than to deconstruct and examine in new light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI’ve only been familiar with the Cloud Nothings for a year or so, and haven’t heard much of their recorded music. When the band asked me to remix ‘No Thoughts’, I believe I had only heard the song in a live setting here in Chicago. I listened to the full song once all the way through, and then that was it before going to work on it. It was important for me to approach this remix in a different working method than my usual Quicksails composing style, so I experimented with ‘sampling’. I took a very short few seconds of the bass line, few seconds of guitar, and a few seconds of the lead vocal, and then basically used those few elements to compose the frame of the track. There is an upright piano in my house so I got a bit of that in there as well as a bit of tabla and synthesizer. I thought it ended up sounding pretty psychedelic but also spacious, which was the intention. It was a really fun experience!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFOREST MANAGEMENT – PATTERN WALKS\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI wanted to capture the power that I hear in Cloud Nothings’ music. “Pattern Walks” is unique in its duration and sense of space, and there is a certain tone that you don’t hear anywhere else on the record. Dylan’s guitar seemed very fitting for my usual approach in creating drone music, so I used it for the foundation of the remix. It didn’t feel complete, though, and sticking with just the guitar didn’t seem right. I started experimenting with looping Dylan’s vocals, and eventually managed to capture this continuous line of “I thought, I thought, I thought…”. This really completed the remix for me, and on a more profound level, I felt like it highlighted a certain emotional aspect of Dylan’s vocal line, which was an unexpected element. When I listened back to the completed remix I felt a much deeper connection to the song.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBEE MASK – IM NOT PART OF ME\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Jayson asked me about remixing something from “Here and Nowhere Else”, “I’m Not Part of Me” was my immediate choice. The decision was an intuitive one on my part (I’m as much a sucker for a bulletproof hook as anyone), but now that I’ve had some time to think, it makes a particular kind of sense. “I’m Not Part of Me” feels like the moment at which the record becomes conscious of itself as such, when, after seven tracks of sustained forward momentum, Cloud Nothings pause to wink at the idea that as they’re performing, they’re inevitably, well, performing — hiding as much as they reveal by virtue of the very nature of the game. The tone of the record, which up to this point has been dominated by bile and pessimism gives way to forcefully declaimed, fake-it-till-you-make-it serenity. Sure it’s affected, but it reflects a striking understanding of the power and inevitability of affectation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHad it (for example) opened instead of closed the record, “I’m Not Part of Me” would still be a killer song, but in some small way, “Here and Nowhere Else” would be a more average record. By virtue of this performative coming-to-terms showing up at the curtain call, it slyly acts out the way in which the synthesis and aestheticization of experience is always partial and always aspirational. In its own way, it’s meta-songwriting as much as, say, Harry Nilsson or U.S. Maple.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat Cloud Nothings’ understanding of craft extends beyond the construction of individual songs to the ability to carry off these sorts of subtle formalist tricks is a huge part of what I like about their work, and because my own productions are very much a matter of making records that really aggressively foreground their constructedness and playing around with the ways in which the sensation of inevitability can be produced as an aesthetic effect, I suppose that there was something in “I’m Not Part of Me” that I related to and which showed me a way in when I started working on the remix.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhere the specific direction in which I took things is concerned, there are a few factors in play. When I do remixes, I’m always conscious of the fact that I’m essentially being asked to do my idea of someone else’s idea of my style. There’s an element of self-parody to it, which is probably a healthy way to look at the situation, because otherwise it would be too easy to turn in the sort of grim, assembly-line version of your schtick that characterizes remixing at its least interesting. So I’m always looking to deliver something a bit over the top and outré, looking for challenges and opportunities that I might not get out of sitting in my studio slogging it out on whatever else I’d have been working on, and looking for the chance to take some aesthetic or technical thing that I’m dealing with in my own work, see how it works in a different context, and inflate it to the point of absurdity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this case, I was hugely stoked to have really comprehensive multitracks of nicely recorded drums and guitars. I don’t often get to work with those sorts of sounds and I specifically requested that I get every individual mic’d element as opposed to submixed stems so I could go nuts making like fifty new versions of every snare hit, for example. When I started in on this remix I’d just had my head totally done in by reading Iannis Xenakis’s “Formalized Music” and had spent the last few months developing a group of probabilistic sequencing patches for use in my own material. One feature of these sequencers is that they have a particular way of controlling and modulating the degree to which a group of otherwise quasi-random processes appear to be correlated, and when you apply this correlation to more conventionally “musical” material, the result is really hilariously unsettling and uncanny. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to push those techniques into totally inappropriate insect-prog territory, and indeed a lot of the finished track was made through painstaking hand-editing of that kind of algorithmic vomit. Not everything made the cut — one working draft had an entire “Owner of a Lonely Heart”-sounding verse, for example — but quite a lot of it did in the end, as you can probably tell.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667158200543,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667158233311,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/cloudremix.jpg?v=1703788813"},{"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":"zs-grain","title":"Zs - Grain","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=788763719\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/zstheband.bandcamp.com\/album\/grain-2\"\u003eGrain by Zs\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe new Zs lineup (Sam Hillmer, Greg Fox and Patrick Higgins) sounds very much like a new band, at least as evidenced by the Grain EP. The two side-length tracks (coming in at a total of 42-minutes) bear the marks of Zs’ sound – repeated phrases, looped or played in situ; buried drones and harsh electronic tones – but it does sound very much like a new band.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere’s an extended ambience to the album that trick perceptions of time. Glitches and waves that last only a minute or three somehow feel as if they’ve gone on throughout the whole record. Something very mysterious goes on within the grooves. Hillmer and Higgins (who also arranges Bach for guitar and has composed for the Mivos string quartet) teamed up to create Part One of Grain while Greg Fox (Man Forever, Guardian Alien) built Part Two. The album was beautifully mastered by Heba Kadry of the Lodge. It’s a great listen and it’s also an inventive segue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFeatured Artists:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSam Hillmer\u003cbr\u003e\nPatrick HIggins\u003cbr\u003e\nGreg Fox\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667163476191,"sku":"LP-NS-037","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667163541727,"sku":"CD-NS-037","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667163508959,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667163574495,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a4069817658_16.jpg?v=1703789041"},{"product_id":"seaven-teares-power-ballads","title":"Seaven Teares - Power Ballads","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1330536508\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/seaventeares.bandcamp.com\/album\/power-ballads-2\"\u003ePower Ballads by Seaven Teares\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003ePower Ballads is the debut album from Seaven Teares, a New York band formed in 2010 featuring singer\/songwriter Charlie Looker (Extra Life, ex-Zs), experimental vocalist Amirtha Kidambi (Sequins and Skeletons), Robbie Lee (Howling Hex) on woodwinds, guitars and synth, and percussionist Russell Greenberg (Yarn\/Wire).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeaven Teares’ mostly acoustic sound brings together a number of disparate influences: dark post-Industrial folk (Death In June, Current 93), 1960’s co-ed pop folk groups (Mamas and the Papas, Ian \u0026amp; Sylvia), the drones and textures of modern composition and experimental improvisation, and the cold alien vocal harmonies of Gothic era liturgical music. The seven slow-burning songs shift between abstract raga-like meditations and straight melodic hooks, set against acoustic guitars, dark synth ambience, vibraphone, bells, and occasional harsh electronics, as well as authentic Medieval pump organ and recorders.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRadically reimagined cover songs are an important part of Seaven Teares’ repertoire. In addition to five originals, Power Ballads includes dismantled versions of Alice in Chains’ 1992 classic “Them Bones”, (featuring Dutch lutenist Jozef van Wissem) and depressive Renaissance composer John Dowland’s 1596 classic “Flow My Tears”.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667164491999,"sku":"LP-NS-034","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667164557535,"sku":"CD-NS-034","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667164524767,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667164590303,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a0276415812_16.jpg?v=1703789070"},{"product_id":"zs-score","title":"Zs - Score","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2374516240\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/zstheband.bandcamp.com\/album\/score-the-complete-sextet-works-2002-2007\"\u003eScore - The Complete Sextet Works: 2002 - 2007 by Zs\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Complete Sextet Works: 2002-2007\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeptember 2012 New York City band Zs celebrates 10 years of being a band with the release of Score – The Complete Sextet Works: 2002-2007. Zs has been described with a dizzying array of musical vocabularies, and has performed alongside an equally dizzying complement of colleagues and collaborators ranging fromThrobbing Gristle’s Genesis P. Orridge, to Roscoe Mitchell, toChristian Wolf, not to mention hundreds of comrades from the Brooklyn DIY scene, that has been home to Zs’ myriad incarnations and musical and artistic tangents. Belonging nowhere and everywhere, Zs has absorbed the editorial space of Howard Stern andAlex Ross alike. In 10 years of activity, the band has changed in countless ways without ever changing a fierce commitment to inscrutable aesthetics and execution crafted to provoke reflection and challenge assumption in the consumption of music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Zs first formed the sextet, the band operated as a composers collective who played their own compositions. All members of the band huddled over sheet music on music stands illuminated by floodlights. The band was known for ensemble style rather than individual styles of the players, and developed a particular reputation for a near pathological commitment to unison execution of counter intuitive rhythms at an ear splitting volume, or at a virtually inaudible volume. Additionally, the band wore uniforms, a way of drawing attention away from the people playing in the band, and toward the group responsible for the monolithic rhythms and harmonies Zs spun out relentlessly at early shows. This stands in stark contrast to the emphasis on individual style found in Zs’ recent work. That said, this music is important in the development of Zs as it articulates the formation of the aesthetic and formal vocabulary that would form the underpinning for all future journeys the band would take.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt present Zs remains committed to constant change in method and stasis in intention – different means, people, and aesthetics, always meant to instigate questioning and challenge preconception. The band is working on writing their 3rd full length record and an EP, both due out in 2013. In the mean season, dive into the early world of Zs with Score – The Complete Sextet Works: 2002-2007.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667167211743,"sku":"CD-NS-027","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667167146207,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667167178975,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/homepage_large.bf2ea24a.jpg?v=1703789111"},{"product_id":"hubble-hubble-drums","title":"Hubble - Hubble Drums","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3749865255\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/hubble1.bandcamp.com\/album\/hubble-drums-2\"\u003eHubble Drums by Hubble\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlanned since Hubble’s first live performance in September of 2010, Hubble Drums is an inspired record of new guitar music. Equal parts shred-fi, cyber-dread and fried psychedelia, Hubble Drums marks Ben Greenberg (of Zs and The Men)’s first full-length recording and debut for Northern Spy. Recorded at Python Patrol and lovingly mastered at Bonati Mastering, the CD and 150g LP features original artwork by Michael Yaniro and Ben Greenberg.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hubble’s Hubble” serves as the soundtrack for a video of NASA sanctioned cosmic imagery captured by the actual Hubble Telescope. Possibly the most minimal track, Ben produces sheets of sound that circle through 3 channels, panning left to center to right, creating an aural environment that reflects the space and movement of deep space. “Nude Ghost” is based off the first tapping riff that Ben wrote when creating music for solo guitar. The glacially emerging beat mixed into the track came from two days of hazed studio jamming with Joe Williams (White Williams), Jon Leland (Janka Nabay, Skeletons) and Matt Papich (Ecstatic Sunshine). ”Glass Napkin” highlights Ben’s mastery of both guitar tone and hypnotic rhythmic patterns, as well as his energetic patience in the face of a void of his own devising.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667169767647,"sku":"LP-NS-015","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667169833183,"sku":"CD-NS-015","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667169800415,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667169865951,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/516HHL0eZYL._SS500.jpg?v=1703789232"},{"product_id":"the-usa-is-a-monster-r-i-p","title":"The Usaisamonster - R.I.P.","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1610355475\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/theusaisamonster.bandcamp.com\/album\/r-i-p\"\u003eR.I.P. by The Usaisamonster\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt’s been a long journey for Northern Spy artist Colin Langenus and Tom Hohmann, like floating stoned on the back of the turtle that carries the world. Or primal scream therapy. That trip culminates with R.I.P., the group’s final release, and the first of Brooklyn’s newest indie label. A swan song of a group at the top of its form, flowing with ease through psychedelia, stoner rock, prog, Native American mythos, and even political disintegration. R.I.P. was mixed by sludge-riff wunderkind, Max Hodes and features local NYC luminaries such as Jeremy Danneman (Parade of One) and Matt Mottel (Talibam!). Graced by Tom Hohmann’s original cover art and pressed both on high quality vinyl and CD digipack, it will be a small treasure to carry forward for both the band’s fans and those just discovering this fascinating group as they embark on their next journeys.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667172683999,"sku":"LP-NS-001","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667172749535,"sku":"CD-NS-001","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667172782303,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667172716767,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a2242879476_16.jpg?v=1703789352"},{"product_id":"old-ghost","title":"Renata Zeiguer - Old Ghost","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=905923040\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/renatazeiguer.bandcamp.com\/album\/old-ghost\"\u003eOld Ghost by Renata Zeiguer\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRenata Zeiguer's debut album Old Ghost is the sound of someone finding and losing herself in the endless dance of fear and forgiveness. Renata is a composer, her music deep and complex. With secretly wise melodic constructions, she tempts the listener toward forbidden insights, resurrecting her childhood fascination with classical music. The ghosts of Ravel, Debussy, and Chopin run through her veins, whirling with Billie Holiday, Os Mutantes, The Pixies, and Yo La Tengo. She grew up in two worlds: Riverdale, New York, near the Bronx, and Buenos Aires, the land of her father, torn between the clear expectations of piano lessons in Yonkers, and the Dionysian passions of Argentine tango. Possessed by musical inquiry, she moved to New York City, performing throughout her 20s with bands Ava Luna, Widowspeak, Mr. Twin Sister, Mutual Benefit, Christopher Burke, Relatives, Quilt, and Cassandra Jenkins, while spilling her own haunted refrains in lonely Brooklyn apartments. Her music is stained with the brutality of battling oneself, and yet the pulse of love echoes throughout like a mystical wind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArrangements by Renata Zeiguer, Jason Burger, Adam Brisbin, and Christian Carpenter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProduced by Adam Schatz and Renata Zeiguer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEngineered and Mixed by Jake Aron at Figure 8 and Doctor Wu's, Brooklyn, NY.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded at Figure 8, Black Lodge Recording, and home, all in Brooklyn, NY.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMastered by Chris Gehringer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCover photo by Chris Weiss.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDesign and layout by Renata.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667173798111,"sku":"LP-NS-095","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667173830879,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667173863647,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a0430570891_10.jpg?v=1703789420"},{"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":"fluxkit-vancouver-its-suite-but-sacred","title":"Darius Jones - fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s̶ suite but sacred)","description":"\u003cp\u003eDarius Jones has created a recognizable voice as a critically acclaimed saxophonist and composer by embracing individuality and innovation in the tradition of Black music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Jones makes his point by showing, not just telling. His compositions are so intensely honed and performed they seem to talk, moan, and cry about intimate experience in ways we might expect to find in novels, not instrumental records.” – Daniel Felsenthal, Pitchfork\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCommissioned by Western Front, an artist-run centre in Vancouver, Canada, with a legacy of continuing support for multidisciplinary exchange, experimentation, and the avant-garde. This project was developed by Darius Jones across a succession of residencies at Western Front in 2019 and 2022.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded in June 2022 at Western Front’s Grand Luxe Hall in Vancouver, Canada, fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s̶ suite but sacred) is the first collaborative release with Brooklyn-based Northern Spy and Helsinki-based We Jazz Records.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs Harmony Holiday writes in her liner notes, included with this release: “The playing here is gorgeous, but what stands out most is the rigor of the compositions, which feel like tributes to Sun Ra’s call that ‘only the impossible happens.’ Their mood is expansive, gleeful, wistful, sometimes frantic, but so coherent and poised at every turn that all you can do while listening is marvel at this fluency in the language of will and won’t that lives here alone.”\u003cbr\u003ecredits\u003cbr\u003ereleases September 29, 2023\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEnsemble Personnel:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDarius Jones (alto saxophone, composer)\u003cbr\u003eGerald Cleaver (drums)\u003cbr\u003eJesse Zubot (violin)\u003cbr\u003eJosh Zubot (violin)\u003cbr\u003ePeggy Lee (cello)\u003cbr\u003eJames Meger (bass)\u003cbr\u003eDesign by Matti Nives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLiner Notes by Harmony Holiday.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCover art: Occ6 (2016) by Stan Douglas\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProduced by Darius Jones.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded in the Grand Luxe Hall, Western Front on June 25, 2022.\u003cbr\u003eRecording engineer: Sheldon Zaharko, Zed Productions.\u003cbr\u003eMixing engineers: Jesse Zubot and Sheldon Zaharko at The Deep Bay Bunker and Zed Productions.\u003cbr\u003eMastering engineer: Matt Mehlan at The Stuudio.\u003cbr\u003efLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s̶ suite but sacred) was commissioned by Western Front.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdditional development support was provided by Coastal Jazz and Blues Society, and Prof. Kevin McNeilly of the University of British Columbia and the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdditional support from Robert D. Bielecki Foundation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA special thank you to Aram Bajakian, Ben Wilson, and Susan Gibb for all your hard work and belief in my art. Your support on so many levels helped and inspired me greatly throughout this entire process. To the whole Vancouver community, my heart is full from the love and support you have shown me over so many years. This one is for all of you!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Splatter Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667195228383,"sku":"LP-NS-163-COLOR","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667195261151,"sku":"LP-NS-163","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD+Digital","offer_id":46159561457887,"sku":"CD-NS-163","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667195293919,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667195326687,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a3463292076_10.jpg?v=1720899590"},{"product_id":"patrick-higgins-social-death-mixtape-c63","title":"Patrick Higgins - Social Death Mixtape","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3360206886\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/nnatapes.bandcamp.com\/album\/social-death-mixtape\"\u003e'Social Death Mixtape' by Patrick Higgins\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe use of the word “mixtape” in the title of this release is no coincidence. New York City based composer and performer Patrick Higgins has appointed NNA with a highly original concept in the presentation of New Music – a “mix” or sampling of personal experimentations spanning from 2009 to the present day, intended specifically for the cassette format. Higgins, perhaps best known for his guitar work in avant-garde music group Zs and production work with Future-Past Studios, is able to accurately demonstrate his versatility as both a composer and performer through this diverse collection of recording studies. Very little territory is left uncharted as Higgins makes use of piano, harpsichord, synthesizer, guitar, violin, sampler, computer processing, and even group ensemble to communicate his unique musical vision. Bringing a genuinely modern voice to composition, the artist draws on contemporary pop culture influence (underground art rock, independent pop, noise) along with nods to 60’s minimalism (Riley, Glass, Meredith Monk) and classical Western electro-acoustic composition. The studies on this release range from the highly dissonant to the more consonant as Higgins blends found sound and electro-acoustic texture with harmonic notes, creating further originality by combining elements of improvisation with written score. Pieces like “Pattern Select” blast apart with pointillistic, colorful synth programming that builds its power through the precise use of dissonance, recalling the work of Babbitt, Boulez, and the French pioneers of early musique concrete. The “Curves, Points, Lines” series of tracks demonstrates the inventive studio layering of unorthodox acoustic instrument sounds, as Higgins dissects the intricacies of the various sounds made by the violin and rearranges them into something completely new. “Live At Oberlin” brings the music outside of the studio into the arena of performance, as Higgins lends his abilities to a group improvisation setting, using guitar and laptop to build new sonic worlds together with the Mivos Quartet on string instruments. “Social Death Mixtape” succeeds at showcasing Higgins’ prowess not only as a musician, but as a generally well-rounded artist, whether its as a composer and arranger, instrumentalist, live performer, electronic producer, or studio engineer. The experience of this release is further enhanced by the originality of creating an “audio sketchbook” for the modern composer by tapping into one of the earliest and most classical essences of the cassette tape medium - the “mix.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eComes with free mp3 download coupon.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567662457055,"sku":"CS-NNA-083","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567662489823,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567662522591,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA083-COVER-WEB.jpg?v=1714759553"},{"product_id":"foxsoper-duo-magenta-line","title":"Fox\/Soper Duo - Magenta Line","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2842534072\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/nnatapes.bandcamp.com\/album\/magenta-line\"\u003e'Magenta Line' by Fox\/Soper Duo\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Magenta Line” is the debut recorded offering from the Fox\/Soper Duo, consisting of New York City musicians Greg Fox on drums, and Ryan Soper on modular synthesizer. Soper, an inventive sculptor, video artist, and modular synthesist makes up one half of the NYC-based performance project Non-Native, and is also a member of the A\/V trio Brat Pit. Fox is a prolific drummer known for his work in experimental metal outfit Liturgy, as well as bands such as Guardian Alien and Zs, not to mention countless collaborations ranging from Colin Stetson to Dan Deacon to Hieroglyphic Being.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn “Magenta Line”, the duo takes on a form that is unexpected for an acoustic-meets-electronic style collaboration. Fox’s drums are slightly filtered and engineered to take on an alien, electronic quality that compliments Soper’s organic, expressive execution of his synth, to the point where the two styles meet in the middle to produce fierce and otherworldly results. For an instrument that manipulates purely electronic impulses, Soper manages to play it in an incredibly physical manner, buzzing, squealing, and roaring in all it’s distorted glory like an electric guitar. Fox’s ability to react and interact naturally with Soper’s synth is remarkable, and a rare feat that few drummers can effectively accomplish. The outcome of this fusion is a style that leans more towards industrial, punk, or metal than it does to jazz or modern improvisation. Unrelenting in it’s exploration, “Magenta Line” gives way to a new style altogether, yielding nearly 45 minutes of uninterrupted gritty and grinding cyborg thrash.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth artists demonstrate a very high level of skill and versatility with their chosen instrument. Fox and Soper each speak their own alien musical language to each other, meeting head-to-head in terms of the range of expression they can achieve with their expansive arsenal of mastered techniques. At times, Soper’s distorted sequences lock into place, providing the rhythmic backdrop for Fox to drum circles around, while at other times Fox lays down heavy, direct beats for Soper to explore the full range of free electronic shredding his synth is capable of. Musical form is firmly established, while extreme sonic and textural freedom is still allowed. “Magenta Line” is a marathon session where new ground is constantly being broken with powerful, crushing physicality. Although the instrumentation is unorthodox for an improvisational duo, the results are incredibly dynamic and exploratory when left in the hands of masterful musicians.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCassette comes packaged with digital download coupon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first 75 people who order “Magenta Line” will receive a free, limited edition 12″ x 12″ color poster of the full cover art by Ryan Soper. This print is only available from NNA, and is strictly limited to 75 copies! Still some remaining!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567664259295,"sku":"CS-NNA-091","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567664292063,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567664226527,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA091-digital.jpg?v=1714759664"},{"product_id":"issei-herr","title":"MIZU - Distant Intervals","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2943329005\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/iammizu.bandcamp.com\/album\/distant-intervals\"\u003eDistant Intervals by MIZU\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eDistant Intervals, the full-length debut from Brooklyn cellist and composer MIZU (fka Issei Herr), is an exploration of memory, dreams, and the infinite possibilities within imagined worlds. Centered around themes of becoming and transformation, the music encompasses the liminal spaces between our past, present, and future selves - our ever-changing relation to personal memories, the ideals and dreams we have for our futures, and the distance and idealism of these infinite versions of self.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eComposed and performed primarily through the vast sound-world of the cello, the album is built through layers of overdubbed improvisations, self-recorded entirely in MIZU’s bedroom closet. There is an element of newfound wonder throughout the album’s nine parts; the sounds of a single cello, an instrument she has known intimately since childhood, are augmented and transformed through the infinite possibilities of digital production and manipulation - layered and processed audio samples, tape loops, and synth ornamentation. Combining up to a hundred layers of overdubbed cello and processed samples, the resulting sound world is lush, vast, and orchestral in scope. A closing feature by rising vocal star Maria BC transforms and elevates Issei’s string-centered sound world into a\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateEllipsis\"\u003e...\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003ca\u003emore\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567680774367,"sku":"CS-NNA-150","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV) + PDF Poster","offer_id":45567680807135,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (mp3) + PDF Poster","offer_id":45567680839903,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/MIZU_Distant_Intervals.jpg?v=1720877021"},{"product_id":"mizu-forest-scenes","title":"MIZU - Forest Scenes","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3061572486\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/iammizu.bandcamp.com\/album\/forest-scenes\"\u003eForest Scenes by MIZU\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eThere is a philosophical quality to MIZU’s second full-length, ‘Forest Scenes’. Through layers of gorgeous, yearning cello, pulsating electronics, and hyperreal field recordings, MIZU evokes a sense of depth by interrogating systems and exploring unknown territories both physical and cerebral. By way of its daring experimentalism, ‘Forest Scenes’ is patently modern and brilliantly ontological.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProceeding from Robert Schumann’s ‘Waldszenen’ in name and, to some extent, concept, MIZU began work on ‘Forest Scenes’ immediately after completing ‘Distant Intervals’, conceiving and writing the record over the course of two inspired weeks in São Paulo, Brazil in Summer 2022 and completing it over the following year in New York. While ‘Distant Intervals’ engaged and inverted the classical idioms in which MIZU was reared, ‘Forest Scenes’ lunges even further away from that world. It is in no small way an acknowledgment of transcendent experiences and the thrills of self-discovery, whether in the vast urbanity of São Paulo, in the community among New York City’s queer spaces and dancefloors, or in the more abstract place of a self in transition. Pulling from these energies, MIZU loops in techno producer Concrete Husband, who features on “prphtbrd”, to further ornament the dancefloor flirtations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile MIZU was socially transitioning during the creation of ‘Distant Intervals’, she began a physical gender transition in step with the inception of ‘Forest Scenes’. The record parallels this transformation, interrogating the boundaries between the forest and what is before \/ beyond it, building scenes of self-discovery through a kind of ecstasy in the unexplored. The forest is, at least in part, a metaphor for queer spaces, for spaces of self-discovery through community, through encounter. But the spaces of self-discovery, for MIZU, are also very much found within the songs themselves. This marvelous symbolic complexity holds Forest Scenes aloft, above mundane considerations of what is more or less beautiful. What is pastoral, what is modern, what is natural: all these considerations are teased out by MIZU’s compelling production, as she weaves electronic and environmental sounds, and cello both heavily processed and laid bare in a glorious, sweeping dream. But with the headlong dives into deconstructionist experimentation and the pathos, vulnerability, and staggering range of densities through a single instrumental body, MIZU asserts that ‘Forest Scenes’ could not be more her own, as she discovers herself within it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNotes by Mark Trecka \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReleases March 22, 2024\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eColor-in-color Light Pink \u0026amp; Red Vinyl. Artwork by Daedalus Li.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncludes digital pre-order of Forest Scenes.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Special Edition LP (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567681265887,"sku":"LP-NNA-153C","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567681233119,"sku":"CS-NNA-153","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (FLAC)","offer_id":45567681298655,"sku":"NNA-153","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567681331423,"sku":"NNA-153C","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/MIZU_Forest_Scenes.jpg?v=1720876935"},{"product_id":"the-necks-sex","title":"The Necks - Sex","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1126577777\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thenecksau.bandcamp.com\/album\/sex\"\u003eSex by The Necks\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSex was not the band’s first recording, but it was their first release. Recorded in 1988, it established the long form approach that the band has become known for, and has continued to be a strong seller in the Necks catalog. Fifty-six minutes and six seconds of strange\/beautiful acoustic ambience plays out as Swanton’s pulsing bass motif combines with Buck’s gliding cymbal work and Abrahams’ sparsely melodic piano. The effect is mesmerizing and immersive - an excellent album with which to begin listening to The Necks’ music.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":46164655898847,"sku":"CD-FOM-0000","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":46164655964383,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":46164655931615,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a1216891227_10.jpg?v=1721942017"},{"product_id":"the-necks-piano-bass-drums","title":"The Necks - Piano Bass Drums","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4166279542\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thenecksau.bandcamp.com\/album\/piano-bass-drums\"\u003ePiano Bass Drums by The Necks\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003ePiano Bass Drums was the first live release from the band; a set recorded at the legendary Sydney club, The Basement, on their September tour of Australia in 1996. Like many of their releases, Piano Bass Drums consists of only the one track, Unheard.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Necks in concert is a different proposition to The Necks in the studio; slowly building crescendos provide for a huge dynamic and emotional range as the group explores the various reverberant properties of the concert space. The only instruments used, as implied by the title, are acoustic piano, acoustic bass and acoustic drums - with no overdubbing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough recorded almost ten years after the formation of the group, Unheard is representative of an earlier live methodology in the group’s evolution, which featured the use of recognisable rhythmic “feels” and melodies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe album was nominated for Jazz Recording Of The Year, ABC Classic FM Awards, and has been out-of-print in CD form for some years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003ecredits\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital Download","offer_id":46167714463967,"sku":"CD-FOM-0005","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":46167714496735,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":46167714529503,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a1457561562_10.jpg?v=1722008811"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.northern-spy.com\/collections\/staff-picks.oembed","provider":"Northern Spy Label Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}