Boomkat – new DEMDIKE STARE, MATER SUSPIRIA VISION, D’EON / GRIMES, etc

*Due to high demand we’re making all three of Demdike Stare’s 2010 LP’s available again in an edition of 400 copies for the world – available to buy as a set only. Please note that the set does NOT include the 40 minutes of bonus material included with the Tryptych CD set* Demdike Stare is a project made up of two insatiable vinyl collectors based in the north of England: Sean Canty (who works for the esteemed Finders Keepers label) and Miles Whittaker (a longtime producer and DJ who has released music under the MLZ moniker and as part of Pendle Coven). The music Demdike Stare make is hard to pin down, based largely around archival musical sources ranging from obscure library records to long forgotten jazz, early electronic, and industrial recordings, alongside an array of Iranian, Pakistani, Turkish and Eastern European material largely unknown in the Western world. Demdike Stare absorb and re-align these found sounds via their ever-expanding array of analogue machinery, ending up with something that is in part Plunderphonic, but ultimately completely new. Their music has sometimes been lumped-in with the Hypnagogic, Hauntological and, most recently, ‘Witch House’ movements, but ultimately Demdike Stare should appeal to anyone with an interest in everything from classic KPM library records through to the music of Basic Channel and all the way to the smudged, altered-realities of James Ferraro and The Caretaker. That is, at least until the next record, when the frames of reference might just change up and take them somewhere completely different…

Hot on the heels of their jaw-dropping ‘Space Finale’ cassette and LP on Editions Mego last year, ‘Big Shadow Montana’ is the sixth album from BJ Nilsen & Stilluppsteypa and sees them returning to hallowed San Francisco experimental imprint Helen Scarsdale. Those of you already familiar with the collaborative project will probably be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of more dusty drones, unusual samples and ethereal harmonies, and let me tell you there’s plenty to keep you going. The first side opens with a familiar overdubbed wheeze, but as the grimy analogue hiss begins to subside, we’re left with a slice of near-orchestral ambience. Punctuated by church organs, BJ Nilsen’s signature synthesizer fizz and Stilluppsteypa’s distant, scraping percussion; you could almost compare this to Deaf Center or (recent) Tim Hecker with its majesty and subtle control, but the real Ace in the pack comes with the second side. The orchestral grandeur of the first piece slowly melts away into the distance, and is swapped out for woozy analogue synthesizer drones – something like hearing Keith Fullerton Whitman jam with Eleh in a distant corridor, possibly underground. This hardly prepares you for the conclusion however, which ends up in near-exotica territory with drum machines, vintage organs and bass playing a jaunty but disturbing funeral march into hell. As usual from these guys ‘Big Shadow Montana’ is essential, gripping stuff, but it’s the artists’ sense of humour that really sets them apart from the competition. Anything is possible, and all of it is essential. Highly recommended.

**Strictly limited Marbled white vinyl edition** ‘Crack Witch’ is the most in-demand record by W*tch House loner, Mater Suspiria Vision. Originally released as a cassette in 2010, it now appears on vinyl due to popular demand. If you weren’t quite convinced by him yet, this is really the place to start. Like Salem soundtracking an early ’80s Giallo with Gatekeeper, ‘Crack Witch’ features five tracks of blunted drum machines, acres of arcane reverb space and hypnotic samples smudged into a certain type of narcotic bliss. The A-side features four shorter tracks laden with dystrophic beats and cheap, petrified effects put to murky effect. The prophetic flipside is unanchored; a sprawling, beatless collage of droning synth slurry and sewer ambience like the soundtrack to unwanted sleep paralysis. Brilliantly uncomfortable stuff, features unique artwork by Cosmotropia De Xam.

HIT’s latest is an electronic pop marriage made in a simulated heaven, pairing Montreal’s D’eon and Grimes on a most delicious split with Arbutus Records. Both artists are relative debutantes to the scene; D’eon dropping his ‘Palinopsia’ LP to widespread acclaim in 2010, and Grimes recently arriving to much fanfare on her spellbinding ‘Halfaxa’ LP – one of our favourites of the year so far. While their styles are rhythmically rooted in opposing spheres, they share a kindred taste for boldly emotive pop music drawing on the ethereal electronic melancholy of late ’80s 4AD releases and mid-’90 dance-pop without forgetting that they make music in 2011. Grimes contributes five exquisitely wyrd and windswept cyber-pop programmes, none more effective than the jaw-dropping ‘Urban Twilight’, scouting the sprawl with Ed Rush style sentinel drones while her vocals appear to plot spiralling vectors in the polluted synth hues of a Metropolitan night sky. D’eon’s four tracks are helplessly, and brilliantly, diverse but again dominated by one outstanding example in ‘Thousand Mile Trench’, a previously unimagined fusion of skittering Footwork drums, luscious R&B harmonies and time-suspending chords, next to the light-footed dBridge-like ‘Tongues’ and one of the finest uses of mobile phone signal distortion on ‘Telepathy’. Ostensibly, these nine tracks are pure pop, but there’s an experimental undercurrent to each one which we urge those who find the “P” word offensive to check out at the nearest opportunity. Highly recommended!

Julianna Barwick’s 2009 record ‘Florine’ launched her into an unprecedented cacophony of applause. The Brooklyn-via-Louisiana artist’s understated vocal drones may not seem like an obvious frontrunner for indie success, but with Pitchfork singing the record’s praises the groundswell of support was unmistakably positive. ‘The Magic Place’ cements this legacy, and now signed to Asthmatic Kitty, she seems perfectly poised to take her sound even further into the wide world of leftfield pop. I say pop because the songs on here are indeed songs in the classic sense, but like Grouper before her she has taken only the key elements of the songs, shrouding them in reverb and shredding them down to the bare bones of what is needed. Indeed Grouper might be the most obvious and most fitting modern comparison (especially early work such as ‘Way Their Crept’) but Barwick’s affecting, hymnal style is maybe even closer to the work of Cocteau Twins chanteuse Liz Fraser. There is a distinct beauty to her tones, and the cavernous reverb and wordless songs bear more than a passing resemblance to the Cocteau Twins’ more esoteric moments. These are songs for an age that seem to have passed, and as tragedy and heartbreak surrounds us, to return to something so blissfully simple, so pure and so unmistakably gorgeous is rare pleasure. In that, we have a selection of songs to soak up some of the modern disillusionment, and who wouldn’t need that? Essential.

**Limited edition of 480 copies** Natalie Mering (Weyes Bluhd/Jackie-O Motherf*cker) presents a compelling debut solo LP of forlorn “narcotic drifter ballads” for NNF. ‘The Outside Room’ is like a haunting acid flashback to late ’60s Nico, only distorted by time and a drug-degraded memory. Undeniably her vocals bear a genuinely uncanny resemblance to the folk-pop heroine, a fact doubtless enforced by her musical morphosis from murky FX riddled experiments as Weyes Bluhd towards death-folk guitars, doom-laced drums and stark ambience. But it’s possibly the final mix and recording from The Shadow Ring’s Graham Lambkin which really brings her songs into bleakly spacious relief. However, it’s not like she’s totally abandoned her old sound, it’s just been rendered in a different, yet more sepulchral light and with more space to swoon and float between her ghostly words. Most notably, her anachronistic style really stands out from the warped, sideways futurism of NNF’s current crop, and feels far more like some exhumed classic. Includes 11 x 17″ lyric sheet and ace artwork by Mering herself. Highly Recommended!

It doesn’t take long for you to realize that Belong’s latest full-length ‘Common Era’ is a shocking new direction for the New Orleans duo. ‘October Language’ was an expertly realized slice of fuzzy ambience, but within seconds of album-opener ‘Come See’ we are treated to drums, guitars and vocals; all the trappings of ‘real music’. A simple exercise in pop, however, this is not and Belong take the framework of classic shoegaze (pre ’92) and put it to work deep inside clouds of white noise and cavernous reverb. Skeletal songs and wordless vocals appear from the dense depths of blurred sound like Grouper playing Jesus and Mary Chain covers in lost cavern, a few miles of the coast. The overall sound occasionally brings to mind the early days of Factory Records, with the shimmer of The Durutti Column ever-present and stark, pounding drum machine pulsing in the background. Don’t think for a second however that ‘Common Era’ is merely an exercise in the retro-worship though, these songs are deep and memorable, haunting and strikingly melancholy. Just like My Bloody Valentine experimented with extreme distortion and degraded tape warble on ‘Loveless’, Belong have used ‘Common Era’ to similarly play with the song form. The songs sound totally enhanced by the duo’s deft treatments, and this is a rare example of how something you secretly wish would happen (drone band make pop songs, keep ‘em droney) actually happens. A gorgeous record in every sense of the word, and a daring move for a band that just keep getting better and better. Unmissably good, and a HUGE recommendation.

Chicago’s wonderful Immune Recordings pair two sensitively talented solo guitarists on their latest 7″. Steve Gunn occupies the A-side with the Fahey-esque 12-string expressions of ‘Decline Of The Stiff’, picking out a ribbon of complex but soulful Blues joined by his own husky vocals which are gently reverbed around the space. If you picked up his ‘Sundowner’ LP for Digitalis you’ll certainly want to hear this. Turn over and you might find Ilyas Ahmed’s ‘Ignored The End’ may not be as technically precise, yet elicits a more magical and heartbroken atmosphere as beautiful as it is forlorn. We say this about a lot of Immune releases, but this is sublime. Limited copies only.

Heartwarmingly lovely single from Gold Panda, including suitably brilliant remixes by Star Slinger, Forest Swords and Baths. The swaying pulses and convective synth loops of the original ‘Marriage’ give a fertile starting point for the remixes, from Star Slinger’s killer, Salem-style slowfast cruiser, to the crumpled folds of Baths’ crisp-but-smudged ambient pop version and a complete overhaul from Forest Swords. It’s possibly this mix that deserves the most attention, effectively replacing all the original elements with plangent, dubbed guitar, creepy ambient pads and ghostly African chorals. Highly Recommended!

Addison Groove squares up to the ‘floor with two twinkle-toed specials for Martyn’s 3024 label. It’s his 3rd single in as many weeks, following the ‘Work It’ session for Swamp 81 and ‘This Is It’ on Tectonic, but these vibes are more red-lit and sensuous than any of those. The midnight-primed ‘It’s Got Me’ swaggers to dextrously nipped and tucked 808 programming and Martyn-styled rhodes motifs resulting in one of the most laidback AG tunes we’ve heard. With ‘Minutes Of Funk’ he drops the tempo to roll at House pace, sounding kinda like Fast Eddie got blunted with Virgo on some weird, obscure Dance Mania episode.