Video :: True Widow :: Skull Eyes

Been spinning True Widow's Kemado Records release for a while now, and they're garotting DC tonight at Rock and Roll Hotel with a serial killer lineup. The theme of this post is way more wan/fey/goth than any of the bands playing tonight. Gonna paint my nails black, and then go check out some freak folk.

RNR lineup...
7pm: True Widow
8pm: White Fence
9pm: Woods
10pm: Kurt Vile & the Violators

Reviews :: Biosphere :: N-Plants

Geir Jenssen's newest album for UK label Touch is one of the most beautiful and technical representations of post-bomb, world architecture to be attempted since Kraftwerk first harnessed the essence of radioactivity. Jenssen's execution has more depth and feel to it as though the music successfully encases the motorik urgings of his No-Euo (kinda like Fro-Yo, but with more blonde, blue-eyed kids holding ice cream cones) predecessors. Only, there's no paranoia here. There's no grim acceptance of nuclear energy's potential. Or any other portentous message for the generations. For me there's a distance between the viewer and the subject like Jenssen's crawled out of his fallout shelter to discover a  world in which objects no longer hold their old meanings, in which there's time enough at last to look over mankind's creations.

Jenssen completed recording a month before the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, he had this to say about the album's production:

Early February 2011: Decided to make an album inspired by the Japanese post-war economic miracle. While searching for more information I found an old photo of the Mihama nuclear plant. The fact that this futuristic-looking plant was situated in such a beautiful spot so close to the sea made me curious. Are they safe when it comes to earthquakes and tsunamis? Further reading revealed that many of these plants are situated in earthquake-prone areas, some of them are even located next to shores that had been hit in the past by tsunamis.
 
A photo of Mihama made me narrow down my focus only to Japanese nuclear plants. I wanted to make a soundtrack to some of them, concentrating on the architecture, design and localizations, but also questioning the potential radiation danger (a cooling system being destroyed by a landslide or earthquake, etc). As the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said: “the plants were so well designed that ‘such a situation is practically impossible’.

The album was finished on February 13th. On March 17th I received the following message from a Facebook friend: ‘Geir, some time ago you asked people for a photo of a Japanese nuclear powerplant. Is this going to be the sleeve of your new coming album? But more importantly: how did you actually predict the future? Kind regards, David.”






Here's a bonus photo of Jenssen... recording avalanches. I suppose I don't know of another way to go about it. Just never thought it would look so damn easy.

Features :: Mixtape :: Swanchez's Mind Eraser Mix

Mind Eraser Mix by machinedream

1) Bedhead - Disorder
2) Clams Casino - Wizard
3) John Maus - Believer
4) Xander Harris - Fucking Eat Your Face
5) Moon Duo - When You Cut
6) The Caretaker - The Sublime is Disappointingly Elusive
7) Nathaniel Mayer - White Dress
8) Purling Hiss - DUI
9) Zomby - Witch Hunt
10) Ariel Pink - Revolution's a Lie
11) Factums - Sod
13) Pissed Jeans - Fantasy World
14) Flight - Goodbye Horses
15) Dent May - I'm an Alcoholic

News :: Upcoming Shows :: August

Dope Body.

It's gonna be a slow month for shows round here, but here's what scuzz city's cooking anyhow...

8/9 :: Memory Tapes/Sleep Over @ Red Palace

8/10 :: Kurt Vile/Woods/White Fence/True Widow @ Rock and Roll Hotel

8/12 :: Hume/Dope Body/Buildings @ Comet Ping Pong

8/19 :: Celebration/Deleted Scenes/Tree River @ Subterranean A

8/25 :: Richard Buckner @ Iota

News :: Upcoming Shows :: July

Nobunny.
 
7/5: John Maus/Puro Instinct/Geneva Jacuzzi @ Black Cat
       Liturgy/Dope Body @ DC9

7/6: Nobunny @ Black Cat

7/10: Real Estate/Dent May @ Rock and Roll Hotel

7/12: Wild Nothing/Twin Sister @ Ottobar

7/13: Bill Callahan/Ed Askew @ Rock and Roll Hotel

7/15: Cass McCombs/Lower Dens @ Black Cat Backstage

7/16: Wild Beasts @ 9:30 Club

7/22: Heartless Bastards (acoustic) @ Iota

7/25: Teengirl Fantasy/Pictureplane/Gatekeeper @ Subterranean A

7/26: Mountain Man @ Iota

7/28: Sonny & the Sunsets/Sandwitches @ DC9
         Craft Spells/Gardens & Villa @ Black Cat Backstage

7/29: Marissa Nadler @ Red Palace