"Imaginary Scores" Review ~ BMB

From Boa Melody Bar:

Oceans of oscillations glide and dip across the electronic soundscapes here, the rather lovely picture cut through with harsher tone bursts along the way. These contrasts are more extreme on the second disc, where the first piece has stormy layers billowing over a very attractive tremolo keyboard sound. The last of the four tracks is a complete contrast: Brandon Miller switches to guitar for the sort of piece which would be at home on a North Sea record. The music gets this a recommendation anyway, but the artwork and packaging are very pleasing too (JC)

New Releases at Boa Melody Bar

So Now I Have My Copies

Not much of an update, but I now have copies of "Imaginary Scores." If you would like one, send me an e-mail at the address listed above and we'll get in touch. As of right now, the price is $7.50 US / $9.50 World.

Still available:
Crow Feathers / Ville Moskiitto Split C-24 (Sound Holes)
"Moves To E. Lansing" C-30 (Turgid Animal)

Each: $5.50 US/ $7.50 World


That's all.

"Imaginary Scores" (Abandon Ship) Now Available!

The wait has certainly been worth it. The first full-length Crow Feathers recording (split over two 3" cdrs) drops today via Nate Rulli's NYC-based Abandon Ship Records. Beautifully done and adorned with photographs by Mark Lies, I'm more than proud of this project. While my personal connections to the music on the discs remains intense, Nate's handiwork on the actual physical release blows me away. Pick this up, please.

Here's the site description (authored by yours truly):

"Pre-dawn bedroom synthesizer and guitar compositions from a North Carolina ex-pat currently exiled to Central Michigan. Imaginary Scores never stagnates in effortless emotionalism; instead melancholy passages trace the horizon for glints of hope, seeking resolution and solace. This collection exhibits my favorite long-form recordings from the past year. While these pieces were not created with the intent to function together as a cohesive album, when paired together in this manner, I found that they illuminate an ethereal, radiant quality for which I always strive."

Edition of 100. $7 US / $8 North America / $9 World (from the label only at the moment.

October Update

Hello all,

Just thought I would quickly jot down some comings/goings in this musical journey realm of mine. Not much to report as of now. "Imaginary Scores" has yet to hit the streets and I still have plenty of the split cassettes with Ville Moskiitto in my apartment. Please take them off of my hands. Other than the pending release, I have one possible trick left up my sleeve for 2007 and then on to new projects for the new year.

I've been kicking around the idea of writing/recording a traditional, classicist record of sorts with a large group of collaborators. So far I don't know who those people would be, nor do I have the songs. But it's an idea.

In terms of musical creation/exploration, there are indeed two brand new tracks that I would like to air shortly. One might be on a release, the other might not. Their titles are: "Cornelia Street" & "Avenue A" (both are single-length guitar tracks).

Good records in my life as of late:

- Magik Markers: "Boss" -- They actually made a pure rock record a la Patti Smith's "Horses." Totally rules.

- Thurston Moore: "Trees Outside The Academy" -- He actually made an acoustic record. Quite nice all around and the Mascis burners dominate.

- Fantastic Magic: "Witch Choir" C25 (Abandon Ship) -- You can read my full review on Foxy Digitalis if you like. I guess its no longer a secret that I write official-ish music reviews, although I'm sure that complicates things for me being a musician myself. Captivating freak-folk trio from San Diego. Big sounds and somehow head-and-shoulders above most of the current goings-on.

That's all for now.

Crow Feathers / Ville Moskiitto Split C24 (Sound Holes)

As yes, a surprise even to me! My split cassette with the inimitable Finnish bliss-folkster Ville Moskiitto sees the light of day thanks to Dan at the up-and-coming Sound Holes label. Here's the label description:

"SOUND HOLES #007 CROW FEATHERS / VILLE MOSKIITTO - SPLIT C24

CF hits with one side long piece ["Saint-Hilaire Steeple"] of electronic weirdness and blown guitar playing.... totally hard to pin down whats going on next.... VM drops 2 pieces of beautiful tones generated in the far out reaches of Finland..... awesome pairing.....

edition of 98... black, white and grey covers / b/w gold painted tape labels... purple tapes

£4 ppd UK (£5 ppd Worldwide)"

I have not received my copies yet, but they are on the way! Go ahead and order one from the label...

Distro Update

From a Google search (mere curiousity, not vanity), I noticed that my first cassette can be purchased from Molehill in Japan. While I do not speak Japanese (and online translators are a joke), it seems they liked it. If you want to check out the link--Visit Molehill.

Michigander Blues

So, I'm now living in Michigan...Lansing area to be precise. That's more or less the point of this update. Regarding releases, "Imaginary Scores" will be out in mid/late September. No word yet on the Crow Feathers / Ville Moskiitto split C-24 on Sound Holes. That's right.

I think I'm checking out a show somewhere on Michigan Ave. tomorrow afternoon and meeting representatives from the local crew. Should be interesting.

No musical ravings right now.

Tony Wilson, You Shall Be Missed

Factory Records / Hacienda head-honco, Tony Wilson passed away at the age of 57 this evening after a prolonged battle with cancer. Beyond influential, his work at Factory laid the foundation of the very scene and sound that so many today still shamelessly crib from for their indie hits.

Pull out a Joy Division, Durutti Column, New Order, Happy Mondays, or some other FACT catalog title and pay a little respect.

Here's the BBC story.

July Update

While I'm currently on a musical sabbatical in New York City, I just wanted to post a quick update. The split cassette with Valerio Cosi has changed dimensions a good bit. On one hand, it will no longer be a split, but instead a full-blown collaboration. However, on the other, it will not be out this summer or fall. There is no set release date. The material is nowhere near complete. We are starting fresh, so that means that "Saint-Hilaire Steeple" will not be on this release. There are only two things that remain to be true from the previous month's update--that "Imaginary Scores" will be out on Abandon Ship for the fall and that Sound Holes will likely handle the planned collaboration.

No ravings this month. I have picked up a lot of music while wandering around the East Village over the last month. Hopefully there will be something to obsess over in the pile.

Vital Weekly Review of "MTEL"

CROW FEATHERS - MOVES TO E.LANSING (cassette by Turgid Animal)

Brandon Miller, the man behind Crow Feathers doesn't trust Vital Weekly to own their own cassette player, so he added a CDR of the music that can be found on 'Moves To E. Lansing'. Miller plays guitar, synthesizer and electronics. Turgid Animal is known to release noise music, and there are indeed moments when Miller shows his love of the genre, but not until we are well into the fourth piece 'Kursk Magnetic Anomaly'. The three preceding pieces are filled with soft tinkling guitars and likewise soft keyboard moves on 'Elegia', which ends with some force, before the real thunder starts. The noise piece isn't well spend on me, but the three tracks on the b-side aren't like that at all. Here Miller further explores the use of guitar and electronics in a rather melodious manner, but also in a free spirit. He doesn't let his sound to be restricted inside a composition, but rather sets a more free, spacious tone for them. Quite cosmic in approach, even when 'A Meditation' is hardly meditative, but a more angular take on cosmic music. Quite nice stuff altogether, and certainly should have found its way to a CDR release, me thinks. (FdW)

June Update

As described in May's posting, the cassette on Turgid Animal remains available from myself or George Proctor. The current going rate is $7 worldwide postage-paid from the RW headquarters, or if you are in the UK you can save a few bits by ordering it from George (http://www.turgid-animal.co.uk).

In other news, two new Crow Feathers releases are currently in the works--one of which is a split cassette (C-24 at the moment) with Valerio Cosi. When Dan at Sound Holes (the label handling the release) asked who I would like to share the second side of the tape, I threw out VC's name as an exercise of wishful thinking and as the fates would have it, he agreed to contribute. I haven't heard his track yet, but I'm sure it will totally devastate 99% of the music being released this summer (as always). "Saint-Hilaire Steeple" acts as my submission and audio update. In many ways I feel that this twelve-minute track represents my most fully-realized work to date--combining some of my harshest and softest moments yet to appear on tape. Once the release gets closer to completion, I'll add an edit to MySpace for preview.

"Imaginary Scores," my second full-length release will be handled by NYC label Abandon Ship (already making a big name for themselves with tapes from Non-Horse and Spectre Folk). The four extended tracks on this one will be spread out over two 3" cd-rs--a poor man's way to recreate the physical process of flipping a record. Here my krauty obsession will be most evident, collecting three dense synth constructions from this year, along with an acoustic guitar improvisation from September 2006 that still haunts me. Equally blissed out and baiting--I hope everyone will dig this one.

Also, now available from Nursing Home is the "Every Day Is Halloween" compilation, featuring the Crow Feathers track "A Bee Following Every Ghost" from back in December 2006. Other appearances by Redglaer, Wether, King Wheat, Nursing Home, Oubliette, et al. Check it out--$7 ppd. You can grab it for yourself here: http://www.nursinghomeband.com/Halloween.htm

Oh, and visit the MySpace--I'd love to be your friend!

As always, currently spinning at the R-Dub:

Iggy Pop - "The Idiot" / "Lust for Life" (Virgin, 1977) -- I absolutely cannot get enough of these two records. Very little listening outside of these Berlin behemoths has happened in weeks. The original versions of "China Girl," "Tonight," and "Neighborhood Threat" dominate the Bowie covers (in all fairness to my perennial hero--a bad period...possibly bad drugs as well), plus the masterful proto-post-punk jammers "Dum Dum Boys," "Nightclubbing," "Fall In Love With Me"...yadda yadda yadda...you've all heard these classics, I need to say no more.

That's really it.

"Moves to E. Lansing" [Turgid Animal, 2007]

Well, I finally have good news regarding impending releases--George Proctor at Turgid Animal is currently at work on the first Crow Feathers release, "Moves to E. Lansing." While some of you more in the "know" about the UK tape underground will balk at my joining the ranks of a power electronics label, I promise you that this one has a few brutal moments to justify itself among TA's roster. Actually, the tape flows in a similar manner on each side; slow build from more traditional song forms to frenzied electronics. Here's the tracklisiting:

Crow Feathers - "Moves to E. Lansing" c-30 (Turgid Animal)

Side A:
Letter X (Lying On Its Side)
Pages from the Bible
Elegia
Kursk Magnetic Anomaly

Side B:
A Piece for Sadie
A Bedsit
A Meditation

These should be out in the next few weeks. I don't know how much they will cost yet--I'll have to see what TA charges for them before I set my price. Oh and its an edition of 50...so they'll be gone fast. This material spans from October 2006 to April 2007. Much of cancelled "In Memory of a Friend" cd-r appears instead here (with the remainder to follow on other releases in the very near future...hint hint).

As always, here's a breakdown of the heavy rotation here:

Harmonia - "Musik von Harmonia" / "Deluxe" (Lilith, r. 1974; 1975) -- These two records have dominated the stereo throughout the spring. A huge thanks goes out to the wonderful Russian label Lilith for reissuing these krautrock masterworks.

Valerio Cosi - "And the Spiritual Committee" (Foxglove, 2007) / "Freedom Meditation Music Vol. I" (Students of Decay, 2007) -- Blazing sax, droning fragments, and the motorik...yes, the motorik. Young God V.C.

Graveyards - "The Breath Stop" (BrokenResearch, 2006) -- A (dare-I-say-it) slightly straightforward outing from Olson's annihilation trio. Clean, almost pristine recordings of free chamber works. Absolutely amazing.

Keep truly independent music alive--buy from tape/cdr labels. Oh, and worship krautrock.