Tag Archives: GY!BE

2017, albums, music, Patient Sounds, reviews

Visit – “Werewolf Honeymoon”

Leave a comment

Visit’s latest, “Werewolf Honeymoon,” is a varied ambient album. Textures range from the repetitive ground bass and overdriven guitar of opener “We Had to Grow Gills Or We Wouldn’t Make It Out Alive,” to the steel string acoustic guiding “Sungaze,” and the more pure amorphous ambience of “Meadowolf” and “Sun Pact (for Niki).” The way that the longer tracks, opening and closing the album, develop amid static textures is what makes “Werewolf Honeymoon” so interesting.

There are moments throughout that call to mind Godspeed You! Black Emperor, especially their two most recent releases. The drones on “Allelujah!   Don’t Bend Ascend” are presented as palate cleansers; one between the two extended tracks and one to close out the album. On the vinyl release of that album those drones exist on a 45 separate from the seemingly main 12″, and easily separated from the listening experience. Godspeed takes a similar approach with their latest as well, though in a condensed form.

I think that some of the very same elements appear here in “Werewolf Honeymoon” though the ambiance surrounds those longform melodic elements all within the same track. The sharper attacks of plucked steel strings arrives via the lush sounds which preceded it, while the shorter middle tracks present one of these elements at a time, ushering the listener to the final track.

Visit show themselves to have impeccable pacing in the way that ideas are not so much layered as they are revealed. Sounds not originally in the drone feel as though they have been merely pulled up for closer inspection, and that they were in fact lying in wait the entire time. From the perspective of phrasing each track is shown to be very thoroughly considered, with fairly regular cadence points and an ebb and flow that feels completely natural.

The album is available for pre-order now on the Chicago tape and record label Patient Sounds. If you like this album, then you should know that Patient Sounds regularly releases great stuff, so you should check out their page and listen to all of it and sign up for their newsletter.

2014, albums, music, reviews

Stream: Mono – “The Last Dawn”

Leave a comment

The most difficult part about writing anything about a post-rock band is that each song is such a journey, and the albums seem to be massive offerings. It’s more about the journey than it is about the little pieces that make them up. Mono, throughout “The Last Dawn” manages to weave together extended sections of tranquility with blasts of euphoric noise. The slow unfolding of each track (as is usually the case) relies on short repetitive melodies that are built up in every way possible. This, of course, is not exactly out of the ordinary. Post-rock tends toward the slow-burn, slowly blending in element after element until the full fabric is complete. It’s a lot easier said than done.

There are many moments on “The Last Dawn” that sound close to Explosions in the Sky’s treatment of guitar, with open string voiced chord extensions are carefully articulated. Mono makes extensive use of a piano as a complement to the quieter guitar parts.

What it all really boils down to is a series of beautiful moments. Specifically, the moments of martial drumbeats and roaring guitars strummed wildly. After so much waiting and placidity, once the album really opens up, and it does so at only a few key moments (which isn’t to say that it should happen more often. On the contrary, the pacing is maybe the most important thing to listen to here), it’s something that gives the listener pause. Those moments are made all the more explosive and awe inspiring in that Mono has made you wait for them. As much as “The Last Dawn” is a collection of songs, it really is more about the journey across the entire album.

And the journey doesn’t end with “The Last Dawn,” the album was recorded simultaneously with their other new release “Rays of Darkness.” The albums are counterparts, but aren’t to be thought of as the same entity. “Rays of Darkness” stands in near opposition to the hopeful, sometimes joyous nature of “The Last Dawn.” Both of these albums are currently available on LP and CD through Temporary Residence Ltd.

2013, Festivals, live, music, news, Portland

MusicFestNW 2013

Leave a comment

 

Oregon, and the rest of this corner of the country, has really been coming up the past few years with regard to music festivals. There’s Sasquatch, in central Washington, bringing in an impressive lineup of bands in May. The Treefort music festival in Boise in March that brought in a whole slew of great artists like Dan Deacon, Youth Lagoon, Earth and Quasi. Of course, as one of my recent posts pointed out, there is also the annual roots/folk festival just outside of Portland called Pickathon.

But, in my opinion, the most exciting of all of these is the SxSW style MusicFest NorthWest that happens all over the city of Portland for nearly an entire week at the beginning of September. The beginning of September, for those of you that aren’t fortunate enough to live in the Pacific Northwest, is when our weather tends to be absolutely perfect. Little to no rain, warm, sunny, everything you don’t think of when you think of the weather in the Pacific Northwest.

The artists that are brought to this area for each of these festivals keep getting better with each passing year. Last year Lightning Bolt, Deerhoof and Fucked Up playing MFNW were the bands that originally brought the festival to my attention and now that the full lineup has been released I would seriously urge people to sell a kidney if they had to in order to get there.

The full lineup and schedule have been officially released, which includes Neko Case, Animal Collective, Deerhunter, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Titus Andronicus, Dan Deacon, Superchunk, The Thermals, The Dodos, Surfer Blood and a whole bunch more that I would give anything to see. It’s the largest music festival in the Northwest and the 3rd largest indoor music festival in the country, no small feat.

Wristbands range in price from $90 to $200, each guaranteeing free entry to any show, though the cheaper ones are “space permitting” while VIP is “immediate entry.” You can also buy individual tickets for each show, for those of you that don’t want to spend a week running across Portland (though if you were going to run around a city, Portland would be a good one to do it in. The light rail is pretty fantastic there.) And being that it is very similar in style to SxSW there is, of course, TechFestNW that overlaps with the last two days of the music festival.

If you’re in the area, or even if you are within a few days drive I would say go for it. Catch all the shows you can, and if you can’t get in to all of the shows that you wanted to, hey, you’re still in Portland. Have a beer.

Facebook//Twitter//Myspace(??)//Instagram//Lineup//Tickets