FADE TO YELLOW

Record Of The Week

Glorie – Falling

Falling is the second release from, Memphis TN based band, Glorie. Their first self titled release was a gem, and this new release is a step up from that. This EP is 5 tracks coming in at 23 minutes. This is an instantly endearing EP to listen to. The opening track, Sunshine Then Tears, starts off with amazing keys and has vibes in the background and it drives and drives and just has such an incredible melody. Everything is just great in this track They actually slow it all down at and keep that slower tempo going to the end of the song. Track number 2, Run Away, then kicks in and the Glorie sound continues. This track has a similar tempo to the first track and a similarly complex, uplifting sound with amazing melodies and musicianship. The tracks are not long, mostly around 4 minutes or so but they pack a lot into them. The tempo does change for track 3, Smoke, it si slow and moody, more darker than the previous two tracks. More string heavy on this track, it twists and winds its way through the song with those vibes intercepting at every opprotunity. The title track, Falling, starts off with a melee of sounds, in readiness for the main part of the song to kick in. And kick in it does, haunting piano melody, strings playing out the main melody. The last track, The Lotus, i think this has my favourite instrument interplay on it. This EP has 5 tracks, and that is 5 quality tracks.

Glorie have stepped it up a notch with this EP. Looks like they also have lots more to be offering in future years. This EP confirms that this band are going from strength to strength.

The band Glorie is:

Jason Paxton – Vibes, Keys
Jonathan Kirkscey – Cello, Guitar
Robert Brimhall – Bass
Jeff Hulett – Bass, Vibes
Andrew Saunders – Drums

Additional Help:

Jessie Munson – Violin
Long Long Kang – Violin
Beth Luscome – Viola

Instrumental,experimental band, Glorie, was formed in Memphis in the spring of 2009 by former Satyrs frontman, Jason Paxton.  The other members of Glorie (Jonathan Kirkscey, Rob Brimhall, Andy Saunders, and Jeff Hulett) come from diverse musical backgrounds and have performed with an impressive array of artists such as Cat Power, Jay Reatard, The Bloodthirsty Lovers, Snowglobe, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and Al Green.

The band started as a desire to create  substantive, engaging instrumental music with a strong focus on melody.  Their music blends acoustic, electric, and electronic sounds and draws inspiration from many genres including rock, classical, and instrumental hip- hop. Glorie follows up on their well received 2011 self-titled  debut with their new EP, Falling, showing off more of their classical influence with the string section taking on a prominent role. Driving rhythms and diverse instrumentation including lush strings, guitar, piano, electric piano, and vibraphone, Glorie creates a thick wall of sound with a cinematic quality.

Record Of The Week

Ormen Lange

Record Of The Week

Radere – Dreamless 

Radere, the monicker of Carl Ritger releases his latest album, Dreamless, on Full Spectrum Records. This partnership is a great fit for both parties. By my reckoning, this is the third release by Radere on this label.

Dreamless – untroubled by dreams; “a sound and dreamless sleep”.

Seems like Carl has been having an easy time of it lately with his ‘sound and dreamless sleeps’ and, if that is the case, then long may it continue. This release is just amazing, I thought he had mellowed his music especially when you hear the first track ‘Beginnings’ its a track that has looping guitar sounds and is all very intricate and beautifully executed, then ‘Widowmaker’ comes calling and that is the complete opposite of the first track. If the first track is the ‘Beauty’ then this is the ‘Beast’. Oscillating sounds, panning from left to right and back again, maximum feedback and electronic sounds being composed then decomposed a plenty. ‘I Remember You’ is a lighter drone, with a more expansive sound than the first two tracks, there may even be a hidden melody in there somewhere, but you will have to use your imagination and submerse yourself in the music. The 4th track  ‘Summer Sun’ is the longest track on the album and a very enjoyable 9:34mins it is too, it gently twists and turns its drone sound and then fades away to make way for the last track ‘Marin’ which is a fine track  and is a fitting end to another fine release by Radere.

Radere sets the bar high with his compositions and creativity and this release places him at the top of his game. Hopefully the Radere/Full Spectrum partnership continues for quite a few more releases.

This show is dedicated to the music of My Education, who are an Austin based instrumental band. My Education formed in 1999 and have released 8 albums throughout their career. This rockumentary traces the steps from the formation of the band right up to the present day. The podcast can be heard at the link below. I have also included the playlist from the show and a My Education Discography charting the band members album by album.

http://www.mixcloud.com/fadetoyellow/episode-2-fade-to-yellow-podcast-my-education-rockumentary/

MY EDUCATION DISCOGRAPHY

This show’s playlist highlighted some of the acts coming to SxSW in 2013. It represented the best bands/artists of Austin and other countries that will be performing at SxSW in 2013.

RECORD OF THE WEEK 

Cass. – Loops & Farewell Sketches

Germany’s Cass. has just released his debut album and it has been funded and self released by the artists himself, that is very much a trend today in this genre of music. Artists are releasing albums on their own, some are good and some are not so good. This one is a good one, in fact its an excellent release. Cass. is the moniker of Niklas Re. So what about the music, well its very well constructed and executed. Multiple layers of sounds from keyboards and other assorted instruments, it is not intense or heavy but it is intricate and melodious. 8 tracks at just over 35 minutes total length, in some ways it feels too short. That is not a criticism rather an observation that when good music is created then it does seem to go by so much quicker.

In summary, go check this out and he did have CD’s to accompany the digital download, but when I checked thay had sadly sold out. Maybe I will get a hold of a CD from the next release.

Info from the Bandcamp site

‘Loops and Farewell Sketches‘ is the first official full length album by Cass., a 1991 born German electronic ambient musician, dj and sound artist. All songs are the result of various late night recording sessions during the last month of 2012. The sound sources vary from old, sampled, pitched, modulated and destroyed vinyl records, a large field recording directory that has been created over years, multiple effected instrument- and synthloops layered on the top of each other, and different small acoustic instruments. All these elements of the album create a meditative looping bed of sound, which is in some parts framed by his own hazy voice. Much of this album is also the sound of microphones in the room, picking up the sound of moving around, or brushing the edge of an instrument. Reading this and listening to the songs, it’s not a surprise that the cold days of the year seem to be the most fitting season for this kind of music, which combines the warmth of organic instrumentations and the stillness of nature in a distinctive way, similar to the works of Ezekiel Honig, Lusine Icl or even Ulf Lohmann.
The artwork was painted by Lea Seppä-Murto in 1979 when she was 18 years old, inspired by the beautiful landscape of her hometown Sammaljoki, Finland.

This is the first cloudcast of a Fade To Yellow show and is hosted by the Mixcloud website.

You can listen to the  show by clicking this link

 An observation by Professor Ted (Host of Virtual Noise on KOOP)

RECORD OF THE WEEK 

Ethernet – Opus 2

Ethernet is the monicker of Tim Gray and this is his second release on the excellent Kranky record label. Opus 2 is the follow up to 144 Pulsations of Light. This ambient/electronic/drone artist produces a real dark atmospheric type sound with a nice beat that is way back in the sound mix. I find this genre of music compelling listening and this album has been on at least once a day for the past few weeks. I find it very fulfilling and I always seem to detect other sounds or weird melodies within the drones. Ethernet is not an artists to uplift your spirits, and it wont put the spirits totally down either. It is music that you can listen to in the background, but I prefer to listen on headphones and that way you can feel enveloped by the sounds that he is creating. This music was created by Ethernet between late night shifts providing technical support for hospital operating rooms. Maybe that explains why the music is more dark than light.

It is not often that this genre of music ends up as my record of the week, but this is an outstanding release by an outstanding artist.

From the Kranky website

Developing on the trance-induction and brainwave entrainment techniques explored on the firstEthernet album 144 Pulsations of Light, Opus 2 moves into deeper, more introspective and emotive territory. A stronger focus on melody and harmonic structure results in pieces that almost approach, but never quite arrive at, traditional song forms, while still leaving much to the imagination of the listener, evading mental categorization and revealing new sonic experiences with each listen.

The bulk of recording took place during the darkest months of winter in the Pacific Northwest, between late-night shifts providing technical support for hospital operating rooms. The pieces on the album each formed gradually and spontaneously during extended improvised sonic meditations as part of the composer’s own trancework (or self-hypnosis) practice, this in an effort to remove specific compositional intention from the process, instead just allowing them to “happen”.

If 144 Pulsations… was about expansion of awareness and opening to the light that surrounds us,Opus 2 is intended to induce inner contemplation and internalized focus on the light within us. It is also a statement on the gradual darkening and inexorable decay of our modern world, and the need to look within to find true support and sustenance from one’s own energetic source. Patience and perseverance.

RECORD OF THE WEEK 

Tactics – ////////////

Tactics debut release has been a long time coming, well at least for me. I think I heard a few tracks from this release about 6 months ago or more. I was impressed then and I am still impressed now. There is a rich pedigree of Austin area instrumental bands who are producing great post-rock. This album titled ////////////, or LP1 as Tactics guitarist, Brett Thorne , calls it was released at the end of 2012. 5 songs in total over 30 minutes in length. Two of the tracks, ‘Carved Thrones’ and ‘Identical Movements’ were recorded by Alex Bhore (This Will Destroy You) in his studio. Those are the first two tracks of the album. ‘Carved Thrones’ is a great opener and sets the tone for the rest of the tracks. What I like most about the music is the way that they mix the quiet/loud musical passages, along with really nice time signature changes. I guess all the ingredients are there for post-rock, but they kind of mix the ingredients in a way that it is cohesive and interesting. The track ‘Titan’, which is the albums closer is very low key and very acoustic, it is beautifully executed.

So in summary, this release is well worth the wait and I quote from Brett ‘I am  really excited to be able to focus 100 percent of my attention on Tactics and hopefully try to get at least a 2 or 3 song EP out sometime in 2013. We’re also hopefully going to be getting some shows together here in the very near future’

Band members are:

Ross Bennett – guitar
Daniel Vega – drums
Glynn Jordan – bass
Logan Wexler – keys
Brett Thorne – guitar