Simply put, this is one the best albums to be released thus far in 2011. Subrosa, out of Salt Lake City, walk a fine line between sludge, doom, folk, and other, harder to pin down sounds, making this record impossible to classify. All the better.
The serene violins will try to lull you into a state of calm while the down-tuned guitars and pummeling bass will crush you, beat you into submission... and the vocals will tear you limb from limb. No Help for the Mighty Ones is a beautiful and thunderous record, one that might not effect you with one listen, but if you give it time (and I obviously recommend that you do) will grab and hold your attention, allowing you to gradually fall in love with it. Released by Profound Lore earlier this year, it is also available in the band's BigCartel Store. You can also get a t-shirt, hoodie, and poster there, but you've got to start with the music. Don't let this record be one that you just let go; don't put it off. Listen to samples on the band's myspace page, buy the album now, and enjoy it for years to come.
North Carolina's Young and in the Way have a new LP out that you really need to get. Elements of hardcore, crust, sludge and even black metal play a part here. 11 songs, nearly 30 minutes. You can stream the entire album for free on the band's Bandcamp page, and buy the 12" at Self-Aware Records. Really good stuff, highest recommendation.
If you, like me, thought you missed out on the chance to get the new Gridlink vinyl, there is some hope. Vacation Vinyl has some copies of the Orphan/Amber Grey LP left in stock. I recommend you hurry. Also watch your record stores - reputable shops will be carrying this.
180 gram vinyl, 45 RPM. Also comes with download code.
Terence Hannum is one of the founding members of HSS favorites, Locrian. Between Locrian and his solo recordings, he has contributed to a number of releases on labels that include Utech Records, Small Doses, At War With False Noise, BloodLust!, and the band's own Land of Decay. Terence is also a visual artist, actively creating paintings, audio and video installations, and artist zines inspired by heavy metal and religion. You can check his work out at http://www.terencehannum.com.
Top 10 Video Art Pieces & Artists Publications
10 Video Art Pieces
1) Bill Viola – Anthem (1983)
I honestly do not think I would be making video art at all if it were not for Bill Viola, while I am not on board 100% with his entire output some of his early work was completely sophisticated for the video medium and delved deep into some intense content. Granted this piece is being made approximately 20 years after the birth of video so you find no navel gazing studio experiments, or performance documentation that plagues the early years. Rather a more poetic interpretation emerges, one that touches on a deeply human and religious theme.
2) Artur Zmijewsi – Singing Lesson 2 (2003) Artur Zmijewski is a Polish artist who has made politically intense video work for a while now. However his most moving, to me, has to be the quietly epic Singing Lesson 2 which has a choir from a school for the deaf singing Bach’s Cantata inside the Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig. The choir is joined by a baroque quartet and a professional soprano vocalist which adds the necessary contrast to their atonal vocalizations. It is honest and human, completely fragile yet bold.
3) Deborah Stratman – In Order Not to Be Here (2002) Ok, so it’s a film, 16mm to be exact. However it happens to be one of my all time favorite pieces. You can find it on DVD from Pythagoras. And it is worth it, I will also add that the original audio score is provided by the master, Kevin Drumm. There is a great intro and outro piece shot by helicopter in night vision, however what makes this film so compelling is the sequence of juxtapositions of suburban vignettes at night, still shots, no real motion punctuated by car alarms. Waiting for something horrible to happen,and expecting the worse in a suburban horror Vacui!
I’ve been a fan of Gary Hill’s for quite a while, though this piece only recently came to my attention. There is a ton to like about this video, the wonderful voice over, the darkened table of bones, skulls, scraps, dead insects, etc. which we visually sift through by way of a stationary camera. Such a simple set up with profound results.
5) Anri Sala – Three Minutes (2007) I am a huge fan of most art having to deal with music. Anri Sala is an Albanian artist who uses music in many ways to analyze certain themes important to himl perception, space, etc. In Three Minutes two video channels are projected into a space projecting a cymbal moving under a strobe light at two different frame rates. Completely beautiful and alien without its sound source.
6) Vito Acconci – Pryings (1971) The earliest work on my list, and again from Super8 film and transferred to video, but this piece is so upsetting and intense. Completely violating.
7) Adam Ekberg – A Disco Ball in the Woods (2005)
It is just that, and it is a simple and captivating piece from this Chicago based artist.
8) Dan Graham – Rock My Religion (1984) A massive tome about the intersections of religious fervor and rock music set to a soundtrack by Glenn Branca and Sonic Youth. This is perhaps one of the most influential videos on most of my body of work and I am still impressed at how Dan Graham weaves the Shakers with Patti Smith and post-WWII Suburbia and punk music into this captivating tapestry. It’s pretty phenomenal still.
9) Annika Larsson – DOG (2001) I saw this show at Andrea Rosen and it was so unsettling, bizarre and fascistic. Perfect addendum for the Modernist rigid fantasy, shot in the Mies van der Rohe pavilion. The severity of her shots and how she vacates so much of the frame really influenced my work and sense of composition.
10) Josh Mannis - all I went to school with Josh and was always in awe of the amount of work he would make and their level of comfort with the sociological, ritulstic, technologic and comedic. His short videos, often infinitely looped, are disturbing mantras worth your time.
1) When I Die Bury Me in the Clothes of My Youth / Cathexis– Mark McCoy
I have been a fan of Youth Attack more for the design than the music, which gets a bit monotonous after a bit, however it made so much sense to me that Mark would distill his visuals into the printed form and I have to praise both of these tomes, one out of print now.
3) Regress A more typical zine like the ones I grew up with about music. However this is on great paper stock, deals exclusively with black metal and focuses more on design which is welcome. Welcome because I find most interviews, even ones I am a part of, to be completely underwhelming or cliche. Rather spend time listening to the music.
I cannot emphasize how much I respect Marc Fischer and his art collective, Temporary Services. If we’re not talking about amazing music then he is exposing me to some art group I never heard of. So it is no surprise that his basement is a pseudo-gallery where he displays occasional shows of artists’ publications. This one is a huge eye opener about an artist whose practice was challenging, funny and open. Primarily using surveys to expose banal and profound questions about art and how we experience it.
5) The Chance is Higher– Ari Macopoulos A bit pricey but this is such a heavy bow to the altar of the Xerox that you cannot ignore it. Totally degraded imagery, destroyed by their reproduction. Lovely, haunting, exquisite by one of the Xerox/zine masters.
6) Zeitgeists – John Jansen This compendium of dark arts has a wonderful line up and an excellent designer/ compiler, Scandinavian designer John Jansen. The first issue features Justin Bartlett, Demian Johnston, Mattew Adis, Max G. Morton, Scrmn, French, Rainbath, Lona Aalders & Experimental Jetset. Pretty impressive. Ultra limited and very cult.
7) Traum – Alexander Binder This guy is prolific and a quality photographer. I am always attracted to those committed to the printed tome in their work and Alexander does not disappoint. His dark photos of hooded figures, bleak landscapes and rainbows emit a sense of control and vision I have yet to see. Find his work and own it.
8) Nazi Knife So most of the work I like is super dark and bleak and disciplined, but this zine with a horrible title has completely fascinated me. Excellent printing chock full of awesome artists. It is total design vomit but its abjection is what makes it curious and attractive.
9) Supreme Vice – Tereza Zelenkova Recently was turned on to her work by the repress of this book of her photos. Figures, landscape, hair, enigmatic tattoos, sigils of bone stated bluntly and bound. I wish I had known of her work earlier to pick up her hand bound editions which also look intense. Pick up the reissue.
10) Places to get great books So I have to recommend some great places to find out about books, since it is a weird medium to traffic in. However there are many more places to get things, or find out about stuff that comes out. I would begin locally, being based in Chicago I have to put up Quimby’s (http://www.quimbys.com) a zine/book/indie shop, and add a more recent space/mini-gallery called Golden Age (http://www.shopgoldenage.com) whose curators/shopkeepers always have a nice suggestion and give a plug for Western Xeditions (http://www.westernexhibitions.com/westernXeditions/index.html) a small shop of artists work (including my own). A great place for artists books and editions are two classics; Printed Matter (http://www.printedmatter.org) in New York City, Art Metropole (http://www.artmetropole.com) in Toronto, Canada. I also enjoy this young whipper-snapper space called Family (http://www.familylosangeles.com) in Los Angeles. I would also like to add one more online location Self Publish Be Happy (http://www.selfpublishbehappy.com) which showcases books they like and have a pretty impressive shop.
That's what's on the agenda here, pure and simple. Seidr features Austin Lunn from Panopticon, Crow from Wheels Within Wheels, Jack Hannert, Adam Nicholson, and J. Brafford, so you know it's going to be good. This album has been in the works for a long time, and it's awesome to finally see it released. It takes everything that was great about the Blood in the Soil and Cosmic demos and the Cortez the Killer EP and expands upon it, resulting in the organic yet spacey doom concoction that sits before you now. Phenomenal album that you've all really got to hear. Awesome guys. Awesome band. Awesome album.
And wouldn't you know it, it's available now for pre-order from an awesome label. NOW FLENSING...
If you need convincing, check out the teaser at SoundCloud.
The first four days of pre-order feature a discounted price; after those 4 days are up, the price will go up. The price will go up again once the album is released, so don't be a sucker- buy this now. Support independent music or die.
Portland, Oregon's Burials features present and ex-members of Fall of the Bastards, Hacksaw to the Throat, Weregoat, Ritual Necromancy, and others. This, their debut LP, is a furious blend of technical/progressive metal, grind, and hardcore, with just a little bit of melody thrown into the mix to keep things interesting. The 5 songs on this LP are fast, brutal and catchy as hell. The packaging, while simple, is quite nice as well. 2-color cardboard stock outer sleeve with great artwork, and it comes with a 3-color foldout insert with more art and lyrics. Limited to 500 copies - 125 blue, 125 black, and 250 white. For $14 you can't go wrong, and you won't. I'm enjoying this record more than I thought I would, and honestly think you will too. These guys figure to be around for quite a while if they continue to put out records as good as this one. Get it now from End Theory Records. Also distributed by Cory at Halo of Flies.
HSS friend and supporter Keith Utech has just announced the Utech Records Music Festival. The festival is taking place June 11, 2011, at the Cactus Club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Check out the amazing lineup:
Horseback
Locrian
Mamiffer
House of Low Culture
James Plotkin
Jon Mueller
Gog
William Fowler Collins
Ural Umbo
RM74
Ithi
Keith has set up a page on the Utech Records website specifically for the festival, where he will be posting more details as the festival date approaches. We'll be sure to post the latest updates as Keith makes them.
Also on the festival page is Utech Records Music Festival sampler, which features one track from each of the participating artists and includes some sneak previews of some upcoming Utech Records releases.
Tracklisting:
1. Horseback "Tyrant Symmetry" from The Invisible Mountain URCD039. 2. Horseback/Locrian "The Gift" from New Dominions URLP066. Available June 2011. 3. Locrian "The Crystal World" from The Crystal World URCD056/057 and URLP056. 4. Mamiffer "Uncrossing" excerpt from split URCD055. 5. House of Low Culture "Ice Mole" excerpt from split URCD055. 6. James Plotkin "Afyon" excerpt from Indirmek URCD009. 7. Gog "Spells of Shadow" from Heavy Fierce Brightness: Spells of the Sun URCD053. 8. Gog/William Fowler Collins "Fire in the Valley" from Malpais URCD063. Available June 2011. 9. Ural Umbo "Self Fulfilling Prophecy" from Delusion of Hope URLP070. Available late 2011. 10. RM74 "Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea" from Reflex URCD045. 11. Ithi "Imagination is the Ground of Being" from The Persistence of Meaning URCD058. Available June 2011.
Nate from Servile Sect and Ash Borer emailed me recently to let us know that Servile Sect's Eternal Mind, which saw a very limited cassette release last year through Senseless Empire, has been rereleased as a free download through Radical Matters. Our friend Kevin Gan Yuen provided the artwork for the rerelease. Get it here.
Not much to say about this one. The band Ecocide hails from San Antonio, Texas. They put out a demo in 2007, and a single in 2008, and this is their first release since then. They play epic crust/sludge that is outstanding, in the same vein as Nux Vomica or Dead to a Dying World. Atmospheric and heavy as hell, with vocals, female and male alike, that will at once destroy you and make you fall in love. What I love about this music is that it while it forces us to recognize that our society is a fucked-up, overwhelmingly horrible place, there are still fragments of beauty to be found within it, sometimes right before our eyes.
This is only available as a download from the band's Bandcamp page right now, but will soon be out as a 12" vinyl.
