Streaming: Six Steps Above The Earth - Step 3: A Study On Human Nature

Band: Six Steps Above The Earth
Album: Step 3: A Study On Human Nature
Label: Aza Records
Year: 2018







Tracklist
01. A Passage Through Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Axis
02. Maladaptive Schemata
03. Earth Gazing
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"Sometimes music just happens. You turn the volume up and it fills the room up to the ceiling. You have written nothing beforehand and still it pours out like it was waiting for you to plug in. That’s what happened with this record. Me and Sakis just plugged in and “A Passage Through Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Axis” came out almost in one go. There is an interesting concept behind that song. I like paying tribute to artists that inspire me but I don’t like doing cover songs. I like taking art and spitting it out as my own. That’s what all the vocals and spoken word are. They are lyrics from bands I like and poems from writers I love. 

We need to thank Kostas Kofinas for helping us record and mix this album, Post_Black_Punk for being our spiritual guide, Morphine Social Club and Wyatt E. for sharing the stage with us, Ypogeio for being our live home, John Simandiras and 666MrDoom for supporting us and promoting our music." - Six Steps Above The Earth

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The Inquisition: 094.Dirge (answered by Stéphane L.)

1. How did you came up with the name of the band? 

Marc T. came up with this name back in 1994. The relation between the meaning of this word (« funeral chant/music ») and the very nature of the music seems pretty obvious.

2. Do you have a standard procedure of creating a song? Do you just jam around or is there a main riff and the track is build up on it? 

At the time of the And Shall The Sky Descend / Wings Of Lead Over Dormant Seas albums, we used to improvise some parts during rehearsals, generally the most abstract and atmospheric ones. Because it was the most interesting way for us to explore certain moods and certain non-structured pieces. But beside this very specific era, we never jam. Even the most primitive structures or riffs are worked at home, then reworked, modified, transformed, adapted later with the whole band. Our songs are 80% finished when we finally bring them in the rehearsal room. Most of the time, tracks start then develop with one or two or three guitar riffs, in some other (rare) cases with a sample but I won't say there's a recurring modus operandi while creating a Dirge's song. We let things flow. Same goes for the lyrics, even though, and that's the only real standard procedure for us, words always come to life once the track is fully completed.

3. What are your influences and what kind of music do you hear when you are at home? 

Our primordial roots are quite obvious : Godflesh, Neurosis, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, The Cure... But all these structuring influences have been absorbed and digested for a long time now. The four of us have really different and various musical preferences. It goes from industrial to dub, passing by movie soundtracks, blues, classical, death metal, french songs, psychedelic, post punk/goth, electro... To give you an insight (and talking just for myself), I've been listening these last months to stuffs like Dälek, Lea Porcelain, Tropic Of Cancer, Death, Emma Ruth Rundle, Marissa Nadler, Throane, Myrkur, Butthole Surfers plus a bunch of old favourites (Cocteau Twins, Einstürzende Neubauten, Death In June, And Also The Trees etc).

4. Which is the one album you can't live without? 

Too many to name it. Let's say Pornography by The Cure.

5. What's the first record you've ever bought? 

October by U2. On tape.

6. Name a band that you would like to share the stage or tour with? 

To stay in a realistic world, and in order to have a package connected with the same spirit, but different enough to avoid any common field, I would name artists like Lycia, SubRosa, Anna von Hausswolff or Wardruna.

7. Did the internet and specially the blogs helped to spread your music around the world? Name a place (country) that you were surprised to know your music has reached to? 

Of course all these blogs and webzines, from the smallest to the biggest ones, do help bands like us to spread their music across the world. And therefore reaching countries we'd never have thought about, like Iran, India or United Arab Emirates...

8. Do you support the idea of bandcamp where fans can decide the price or services like Spotify?

We have to adapt to our times and, unfortunately I don't think we have other real alternatives concerning this new way to grasp music. These days, music is often seen as a « consumer product », something to burn off quickly, something to skim through rather diving into. The time spent downloading, listening, storing or throwing and so on and so forth, has became wealthier than a simple CD or LP. But in another hand, despite these changes, despite the dematerialization, I know that a lot of people, young or old, give to Art the value its deserves. So we have to trust these people (especially with the kind of music we're doing), trust their faith in artists' « handcraft », trust their will to support music and musicians. Bandcamp, Spotify or Deezer are not my ideal, but it is the way things are today. But I also know that piece of art's lovers will always prefer a beautiful vinyl than a simple 320ko mp3. And these people will always exist.

9. Is the artwork of an album important nowadays in the digital era?

Yes of course. Artwork, as well as the songs themselves, the production and even the tracklist are significant parts of a whole called « piece of art » (regardless of the quality of this piece). Yesterday, the cover was often the first interaction you had with an album, even before the music. And I still like this idea of visual incarnation of the sound.

10. What is you favorite album cover?

I'd say all the graphic works of Vaughan Oliver for the English cult label 4AD, especially Treasure (Cocteau Twins), Medusa (Clan Of Xymox), Tocsin (Xmal Deutschland), Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun (Dead Can Dance) among others. 

I also really appreciate Peter Saville's work for the Factory label like Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures & Closer albums or New Order's Brotherhood. 

I also really love the Wildhoney cover by Tiamat, Sympathy For The Devil by Laibach, the Sumerland 12'' by Fields Of The Nephilim, Icon by Paradise Lost, All The Pretty Little Hoses by Current 93 and so many others I forgot. All these artworks have a lot to say, far beyond their graphic nature...

11. It seems that a lot of people are turning on vinyl again. Why do you think that is and which is your preferable media format?

Because vinyl seems to be the most aesthetic response, the most graceful rebellion against our modern and disincarnate world, against the very-compact, the very-easy-to-get, the very-quick-to-listen. And it is also our favorite format, both aesthetically and sonically.

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Recommendation: Stereocilia - Hive Mind

Band: Stereocilia
Album: Hive Mind
Label: Drone Rock Records
Year: 2017








Tracklist
01. The Water Has No Darkness
02. Static
03. Aurora Borealis
04. Another Sleepless Dream
Streaming / Buy

'Hive Mind' is the 3rd full length album from Stereocilia, and heaviest to date. This 4 track album spanning over 40 minutes takes you on a journey exploring the boundaries of drone and psych. ‘Hive Mind’ also sees Stereocilia collaborating with another musician for the first time, with a guest appearance from Thought Forms drummer, Guy Metcalfe. Guy brings his unique drumming style to the 20+ minute sonic exploration, ‘Another Sleepless Dream’ and adds a new dimension to ever evolving project that is Stereocilia.

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Recommendation: Wyatt E. - Exile To Beyn Neharot

Band: Wyatt E.
Album: Exile To Beyn Neharot
Label: Self Released
Year: 2017








Tracklist
01. Nebuchadnezzar II
02. Ode To Ishtar
Streaming / Buy

Imagine yourself listening to post-metal  / doom in the desert. That's what Wyatt E. managed to create. A combination of instrumental post-metal with elements of doom, drone and oriental.

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Streaming: Twilight In Versailles - Möbius

Band: Twilight In Versailles
Album: Möbius
Label: Self Released
Year: 2017








Tracklist
01. Möbius
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Möbius is a comprised of a single 80-minute composition. The album features multiple movements and a plethora of sound textures.

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Video: Scott Kelly, Colin H. van Eeckhout and Mathieu Vandekerckhove - Absent In Body

For the full version (19' minutes long) go here: https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/neurosis-scott-kelly-and-members-of-amenra-join-forces-as-absent-in-body

The Inquisition: 082.BARST

1. How did you came up with the name of the band?

In Dutch, BARST has several meanings. It means 'fuck you, I'll do what I want to do'. It also means 'crack', bursting through something. I finally burst through the dark, that was really how it felt when doing my solo thing. No more boundaries. Just hitting it hard, as hard as possible, and bursting through.

2. Do you have a standard procedure of creating a song? Do you just jam around or is there a main riff and the track is build up on it?

Gosh, that’s so hard to explain.  Sometimes I start off with a riff, playing it over and over like a mantra. I then come in a sort of hypnosis. I also work with loopers all the time. Creating layer over layer. Then I search some electronics sounds to make it sound thicker. But sometimes I start off with a rhythm, another time I will start with synths and arpeggiators. I think it is a very organic way of working.

3. What are your influences and what kind of music do you hear when you are at home?

I try to as eclectic as possible, soak in as much as I can. But you can say that Sonic Youth formed me as a guitar player. Stepping away from the classic guitar player path. Nowadays I don’t listen to Sonic youth as often as back in the days. I love their early work, till Daydream Nation. There or some really good songs and albums after that, but they didn’t touch me as hard as the earlier work. I also love the album ‘Hold’ by James Welburn. Last couple of weeks that album was on my turntable several times. It is the perfect album. It inspired me a lot when, working on ‘The Western Lands’. Next to that I am really into 65daysofstatic, And So I Watch You From Afar, GY!BE, Mogwai, it is an endless list.

4. How difficult was to cooperate with so many guests on your latest album?

In fact, it was not really that hard. Again, the process was very organic. On the other hand I had these guests in the back of my head the entire creative process. When I had a kind of skeleton for a piece, I asked them to listen, to do their thing and so they did. After that I worked and reworked it until it was perfect for me. But it was not hard at all. It was pure inspiration and fun.

5. Which is the one album you can't live without?

That’s an impossible question. Let’s say that today it will be ‘Sister’ by Sonic Youth, but I need the freedom to choose another one tomorrow. Life without music is unthinkable, so narrowing it down to just one, is just not possible.

6. What's the first record you've ever bought?

I think I bought two that day, I must have been 10, 11 years old. ‘4us’ by the Dutch band Doe Maar and Iron Maiden’s ‘Number Of The Beast’.

7. Name a band that you would like to share the stage or tour with?

Again, these limitations! Only one? I think first of all, it must be cool and fun be to hang around with the people, because being on tour is hard work and little sleep. So, when it becomes edgy, you need to be around good people. I would love to tour with Sal-Ocin from Empusae. I think that maybe the guys from Mogwai are rather chill people, that should be fun. Let’s rather make it a festival with Do Make Say Think, Amenra, Mogwai, Empusae, And So I watch You From Afar, Monnik, Eleanora, ESLLY, and so much more (smiley).

8. Did the internet and specially the blogs helped to spread your music around the world? Name a place (country) that you were surprised to know your music has reached to?

Yes, for sure. But the backing of a great label like Consouling Sounds is primordial. Without people like them with ideas, vision and connections, internet will not get you far I think. It’s those people who make sure your music gets around. And after that, off course, internet spreads their word. It’s really fulfilling to see that my music id being bought from Japan to south America, Canada, Russia. It’s amazing when you think about it.

9. Do you support the idea of Bandcamp where fans can decide the price or services like Spotify?

Well, I just want my music to be heard really, I don’t care through what channel.

10. Where do you see yourself in 5 years. What's the next step for BARST?

I really can’t say, I don’t want to jinx it, and I really haven’t got a clue. I hope I will be making records and that I will be performing a lot.

11. Is the artwork of an album important nowadays in the digital era?

For sure, it is face of the album and we all remember faces. It also brings the element of recognition. When thinking of an album, I hear the music in my head and I see the cover before my eyes. In one way or another, the cover will also connect with the music. I’m so happy with the work Niels Verwijk did on ‘The Western Lands’, capturing the music, the concept, the everything. When you think about ‘The Western Lands’, I’m sure you see the cover before your eyes immediately.

12. What is your favourite album cover?

Damn, this really is the inquisition! Honestly, for the moment it is the cover of ‘The Western Lands’, it is just so perfect. Niels did such an amazing job there. But that’s just a very personal and emotional choice, I guess you can forgive me that.

13. It seems that a lot of people are turning on vinyl again. Why do you think that is and which is your preferable media format?

Oh, I am a vinyl kind off guy you know. I just love the concept. I love the physical item, I love to hold it in my hands. Open it. Put it on the turntable. Sit down, listen. Looking at the artwork while listening. Vinyl makes the listening experience kind off sacral.

14. What's the most vivid story or moment as an artist?

In the meantime I really played quite a lot of concerts, but I remember vividly one of the first solo concerts, when Mike and Nele from my label ‘Consouling Sounds’ were there and after the concert they came to me and told me they wanted me on their label. As an artist, to get that kind of recognition is everything. Another moment could be to see Mathieu Vandekerckhove, Amenra’s guitar player, in the audience while I was playing a show. Seeing him nodding his head with approval, yeah, those are good moments.

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Streaming: Barst - The Western Lands

Band: Barst
Album: The Western Lands
Label: Consouling Sounds
Year: 2016








Tracklist
01. Side A: The Treshold/The Rite/The Passage
02. Side B: The Western Lands/The Fields
Streaming / Buy

After having released the critically acclaimed three-way collab album with Treha Sektori and RM74, numerous cassettes, and a whole lot of live shows, BARST is finally ready to present his full length debut album “The Western Lands”. This is an obvious reference to William S. Burroughs. The fragmented, the transcendental and the viscerally unsettling of his work was taken as an inspiration point to build up the massive effort that is BARST’s debut full length. Moreover, the cut-up technique of Burroughs earlier work, where layer upon layer is fitted to build up a work of art, is exactly BARST’s modus operandi too. Cutting up sounds, and layering them from very subtle to incredibly huge is in BARST’s DNA.

To reach the massive sound achieved on the “The Western Lands”, he had the help of an amazing riches of musicians like Mike Armine (Rosetta), Dehn Sora (Treha Sektori, Sembler Deah, …), Karen Willems (Inwolves), Mathieu Mathlovsky(Mathlovsky), Nicolas Van Meirhaeghe (Empusae, Onus,…), An-Sofie De Meyer (FÄR), Tokyo Oyo and Herr Man. The album is one epic trip, encompassing ambient, drone, metal, shoegaze and electronica. “The Western Lands” captures a multitude of musical universes, and blends them seamlessly together in one of the most complete albums we have ever heard. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Tim De Gieter at Much Luv Studio. The artwork, which reflects the same inspiration, was expertly executed by Niels Verwijk.

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Poll: Best Release of 2015

So the poll for the best release of 2015 is up and will be up until February 15th! The order in which the releases are shown is randomized each time, so that the poll will be as objective as it can. I tried to include as many as possible albums and EPs in the poll, but still I probably have forgot some, so there is an option to write down YOUR favorite release of the year! You can vote to a maximum of 20 releases, so take your time to choose!  

Go vote now!!!

Post-engineering's TOP 20 for 2015

2015 was a difficult year for me to choose my TOP 20. I had around 50 choices and didn't know which ones to include or not. I thought I could do a TOP 50, but what's the point in that? After a lot of consideration and excluding many of my favorite releases this year, here's post-engineering's TOP 20.

I will make another post with the rest of the releases that I think could easily be in my TOP 20 as well.

This is a personal list so I'm sure everyone would slightly disagree. You can vote your own 20 releases of the year here and please consider that these lists and polls are made mostly for people to listen to bands they haven't discovered yet and not so much about who's number 1.

20.
A Swarm Of The Sun
The Rifts
Label: Version Studio Records
Genre: Post-Rock

19.
Platonick Dive
O v e r f l o w
Label: Self Released
Genre: Post-Rock / Electronic

18.
Sunpocrisy
Eyegasm, Hallelujah!
Label: Self Released
Genre: Post-Metal / Progressive

17.
toe
Hear You
Label: Topshelf Records
Genre: Math-Rock / Experimental

16.
The Black Heart Rebellion
People, When You See The Smoke, Do Not Think It Is Fields They're Burning
Label: 9000 Records
Genre: Alternative / Experimental

15.
Maïak
A Very Pleasant Way to Die
Label: Fluttery Records
Genre: Post-Rock / Instrumental

14.
All We Expected & Raum Kingdom
Split
Label: Self Released
Genre: Post-Metal / Post-Rock

13.
Tengil
Six
Label: Tokyo Jupiter Records
Genre: Post-Hardcore / Screamo

12.
C R O W N
Natron
Label: Candlelight Records / Apocalyptic Witchcraft
Genre: Post-Metal / Sludge / Doom

11.
Fourteen Nights At Sea
Minor Light
Label: Hobbledehoy Records
Genre: Post-Rock / Ambient

10.
CHVE
Rasa
Label: Consouling Sounds / Tartarus Records
Genre: Ambient / Drone

09.
Caspian
Dust And Disquiet
Label: Hobbledehoy Records, Big Scary Monsters, Triple Crown Records
Genre: Post-Rock

08.
Rosetta
Quintessential Ephemera
Label: Golden Antenna Records, Tokyo Jupiter Records, War Crime Recordings, Init Records
Genre: Post-Metal / Sludge / Space

07.
Yuri Gagarin
At The Center Of All Infinity
Label: Kommun 2
Genre: Space Rock / Psychedelic

06.
Brother / Ghost
Buried
Label: i.corrupt Records, Shelsmusic
Genre: Experimental / Post-Rock

05.
mewithoutyou
Pale Horses
Label: Run For Cover Records, Big Scary Monsters
Genre: Post-Hardcore / Indie

04.
Spoiwo
Salute Solitude
Label: Self Released
Genre: Post-Rock

03.
Chelsea Wolfe
Abyss
Label: Sargent House
Genre: Alternative / Folk / Experimental

02.
So Hideous
Laurestine
Label: Prosthetic Records
Genre: Post-Metal / Black-Metal

01.
We Lost The Sea
Departure Songs
Label: Self Released
Genre: Post-Rock / Post-Metal / Instrumental

We Lost The Sea released this year a solid album combining amazing music, artwork and concept behind "Departure Song" and was my number 1 choice for 2015.

News: The sound of H.P. Lovecraft's "The Colour Out Of Space" by The Dunwich Orchestra

Dark drone meets horror classic: “The Dunwich Orchestra” accompanies the horror comic picture show “The Colour Out Of Space” with musical gloominess. Slow-paced, gloomy and grave: This best describes “The Colour Out Of Space”, H.P. Lovecraft's short, cruel horror story which comics artist Andreas Hartung restages as a dark episodic picture show. “The Dunwich Orchestra” creates the atmospheric instrumental music to accompany Hartung’s illustrations: Their mixture of experimental and grave drone, americana and post-rock sounds is the perfect backdrop for this beautifully gloomy world of images.

“The Colour out of Space” is a forceful horror comic experiment full of darkness and devoid of words and acceleration. 

The musicians crept through dark cellars, forests and across open fields to capture noises and sounds that embody the strange and menacing elements of nature. “The Dunwich Orchestra” uses modulated white noise to musically recreate humanity’s complete forsakenness in a merciless universe, a theme that is characteristic for Lovecraft’s stories. This noise incorporates every perceivable frequency from which the musicians carve ghostlike sounds as if they were creating wooden sculptures.

Realization

Hartung adapts the story in five parts which are between three and twelve minutes in length. Each chapter will be published online.

The first Chapter is online

Crowdfunding Campaign

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EP: Strategic Silence - Form

Band: Strategic Silence
Album: Form
Label: Self Released
Year: 2015








Tracklist
01. I
02. II
03. III
04. IIII
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Every sound will continue until it is punctuated with silence. It is this strategically placed pause that organizes sound into an art. With silence we summon love and hate, peace and war, confusion and understanding. By stopping a sound something much more is created. Music. Strategic Silence.

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EP: Sequoian Aequison / Dry River - Split

Band: Sequoian Aequison / Dry River
Album: Split EP
Label: Self Released
Year: 2015







Tracklist
1. Пойма(н) - Sequoian Aequison
2. Туманная дуга - Sequoian Aequison
3. Mount Olivet - Dry River
4. Running \ Returning - Dry River
Download Sequoian Aequison | Dry River

Sequoian Aequison & Dry River are 2 Russian post-rock /ambient bands from Russia.

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Album: Zachary Reid - My Return To The Ground Will Be Lonely

Band: Zachary Reid
Album: My Return To The Ground Will Be Lonely
Label: Precarian Media
Year: 2015







Tracklist
01. Form And Void
02. We Break Backs And Bend Wills
03. And The Graves We Dig Shall Be Our Own
04. My Return To The Ground Will Be Lonely
Download

Zachary Reid is the eponymous pseudonym used by ambient producer/composer Zack Hansen, also know as a founding member and drummer of Tucson based doom monsters North (Prosthetic Records), and grind band Languish (Battleground Records/Crown and Throne Inc).

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The Inquisition: 068.IIVII (Josh Graham)

 1. How did you came up with the name for your latest project IIVII?

I wanted a name that was short, symmetrical, and was pronounceable in a least one way…meaning not all consonants. I’ve been pronouncing as ivy, but have also read another pronunciation which is cool too, eve.

2. Do you have a standard procedure for creating a song? Do you just jam around or is there a main sound and the track is build up on it?

The last few records, including IIVII and A Storm of Light, I have been starting with noise mostly…parts of movie scores looped in reverse, screaming kids in massive reverb, NASA space probe sounds etc. That weird shit always sets a unique mood and usually inspires me to start adding new noise to the old noise, and then somewhere actual instrumentation will start to come into the mix.

3. The artwork is depicting a derelict space colony across Saturn. Do you think this will become a reality in near future?

Probably not as soon as I would like. Stephen Hawkings has predicted the end of humanity in the next 1000 years if we don't start to colonize other habitable planets. So if we don't destroy each other before we develop the necessary equipment, then yeah…it may happen at some point.

4. What do you think about extra terrestrial civilisations? Do they exist? Are they advanced?

The odds are in favor for extra-terrestrial life. Our sun is one very average star out of an estimated 200 - 400 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy alone. Our planet is one among 100 billion planets in the galaxy. The age of universe suggests that alien civilizations could be more or less advanced depending on the their environmental conditions.

5. “Colony” could easily be the soundtrack of a sci-fi movie or TV series. Is something like this in your future plans? To dress a movie with your music or even direct and compose the music for your own sci-fi movie?

Both would be awesome. I think creating a soundtrack would be a bit more realistic. Movies are insanely expensive. But yes, exploring all options! haha.

6. What are your influences and what kind of music do you hear when you are at home?

I listen to everything except pop and modern country. It’s a pretty schizophrenic collection of music. metal, rock, experimental, drone, dub, blah blah blah. In the last 2 days I have listened to Ranking Joe, Pj Harvey, Nick Cave, Metallica, Creedence, Hair and Skin Trading Company, Joy Division, The Police, Bad Brains, The Cure, Nortt, and probably few more. Heavy influences for me are Joy Division, Black Flag, The Cure, Ministry, Brian Eno, Arvo Part.

7. Which is the one album you can't live without?

Like on a desert island? That's insanely tough…Pink Floyd - Meddle or Joy Divison - Closer, or Hair and Skin Trading Company - Over Valance.

8. What's the first record you've ever bought?

I bought random crap records in 2nd / 3rd 4th grades. In 7th grade my dad’s co-worker let me borrow (for a year) all of the Black Flag records. I think the same week I bought The Cure - Pornogaphy as well.

9. You’ve collaborated with big names either by designing their artwork or directing their videos and visuals or even by founding and taking part in bands. With whom would you like to collaborate in the future?

Young and upcoming bands are always fun to work with. Big names that come to mind are Pj Harvey, Nick Cave, Massive Attack, Die Antwoord.

10. Do you support the idea of bandcamp where fans can decide the price or services like Spotify?

They are both interesting. I think Spotify needs to work out a better payment system for artists. I use Spotify to find music all of the time, and for that I really like it, however I buy the music that I latch onto rather than continually streaming from Spotify. Bandcamp feels pretty straight forward, albeit it’s not curated whatsoever, and so there is no quality control.

11. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I have no idea really. Time goes so damn fast. I just keep working my ass off and hope I can continue to make a good living at all of this. I feel really lucky for how things have gone over the last 5 years.

12. Is the artwork of an album important nowadays in the digital era?

Yeah definitely. Even the iTunes single image still gives people insight into the music, where the artist is coming from, and a visual reference for the music. the massive explosion of vinyl over the last 5 years has also brought back some more importance to the artwork.

13. What is your favorite album cover?

Storm Thorgerson is probably my favorite album-cover creator. As a kid i was always drawn to Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here.

14. It seems that a lot of people are turning on vinyl again. Why do you think that is and which is your preferable media format?

I think the format makes people relate to the music more. The artwork is bigger, you have to interact with the album itself, flip the sides etc. the fidelity rules. Unfortunately my set up right now is based on the computer. All of my records are still packed away from our last move. I’d like that to change sooner than it will.

15. What's the most vivid story or moment as a musician?

Hmmm, probably 2 different scenarios. 

1. playing in Kiev last year and seeing the city changed by the riots. Then we left Kiev to play Minsk, Moscow and St Petersburg, and drove for 12 hours every night with no hotel, our driver was high on meth, blaring BOTH a russian CB radio and Russian pop music. I assumed we would die on one of those drives but somehow we made it out alive. the shows were all amazing. 

2. playing ATP in London with Slayer, Melvins, and Yob.

IIVII is the new solo project fabricated by visual artist, multi-instrumentalist and composer, Josh Graham, which focuses on sonically engulfing and moody soundscapes, layered with a science-fiction edge.

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Exclusive Track: Zachary Reid - We Break Backs And Bend Wills

Zachary Reid is the eponymous pseudonym used by ambient producer and composer Zack Hansen, also know as a founding member and drummer of Tucson based doom monsters North (Prosthetic Records), and grind band Languish (Battleground Records/Crown and Throne Inc).

What started as pure noise on his end, a cacophony of misplaced notes played out painstakingly on a darkened computer keyboard. The outlet for stifled creativity and frustration with all music eventually turned into something more. Actual music.

After what felt like an eternity of electronic tinkering, his debut album “Songs For Cyanide” was released like a dull murmur into the nothingness in early 2014. An amalgamation of cackling noise, soothing synths, and distorted samples ripped from nothingness, replete with vicious critiques about the state of modern theology throughout the work, “Songs For Cyanide” reflected it’s bitter epithet. 

“I was almost embarrassed by it, this personal of an album with my name on it, it was something I’d never done before” Zack says. The album went unheard for the most part, no physical medium in site and Zachary had no interest in sending it to anyone, content to leave it on bandcamp.

The project stagnated, until a series of live opportunities sprang into existence. “I had several friends coming through Tucson and not enough bands to play, so I thought, why not?”. The only problem was “Songs For Cyanide” was entirely created on a computer with virtual instruments and samples, the question was how would Zachary Reid be played live? Zachary set out to build a live set that could be accurately represent his music. Thus the first live shows were performed. “I then realized I had written an entire album for live purposes and I actually really liked the songs” he says. From these live shows, the next album was created. 

“My Return To The Ground Will Be Lonely” is a dramatic, despair filled, compilation of music composed entirely for solo live performances. A profound loneliness and a foreboding sense of doom about the human condition flood the work which is replete with lush synthesizers and distorted drones. “It’s not hopeful music, if anything it’s what happens when you’ve given up hope”. 

Now both albums are ready for the world, with simultaneous cassette releases being readied by Zachary Reid’s own label, Precarian Media, with “My Return To The Ground Will Be Lonely” coming digitally as well. Limited to 50 white cassettes for Songs For Cyanide and 100 black cassettes for My Return To The Ground Will Be Lonely, followed by the first ever Zachary Reid tour, scheduled to make stops in El Paso, Tucson, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Phoenix alongside Memphis based ambient guitar wizard Holy Gallows.

Zachary Reid has performed live with such bands as Barrows, Godhunter, He Whose Ox Is Gored, 100 Onces, Destroyer of Light, Sleep Like Trees, Minnow, Methra and more.

Songs For Cyanide (PCM-001)  

https://zacharyreid.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-cyanide

1. Never Ending Quiet
2. Cyanide Dreams In Scarlet Sleep
3. Singularity
4. Fuck Music
5. Entropy
6. Dead Kids Don’t Do Drugs

My Return To The Ground Will Be Lonely (PCM-002)

https://zacharyreid.bandcamp.com/album/my-return-to-the-ground-will-be-lonely

1. Form and Void
2. We Break Backs And Bend Wills
3. And The Graves We Dig Shall Be Our Own
4. My Return To The Ground Will Be Lonely

RIYL: Stars of the Lid, Tim Hecker, Eluvium, Fennesz.

September 23rd - El Paso, TX - Bowie Feathers

September 24th - Tucson, AZ - Sky Bar w/ Ryan Chavira, Adam Golden

September 25th - Los Angeles, CA - The Pehrspace w/Barrows, YEAR

September 26th - San Diego, CA - The Treehouse

September 28th - Phoenix, AZ - The Trunk Space w/ MA Bell

all shows with Holy Gallows

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Video: IIVII - On The Shores Of Markarian 335

IIVII is the solo project of visual artist, multi-instrumentalist and composer, Josh Graham. Founding member of Red Sparowes and Battle of Mice, Graham currently plays in A Storm of Light, and has also made appearances with Syndrome, Jarboe, Tombs, Blood And Time, Fallen Black Deer and Tribes Of Neurot. IIVII focuses on sonically engulfing and moody soundscapes, layered with a science-fiction edge. This approach has allowed Josh to expand his sonic body of work and explore new electronic territory, focusing on the subtle orchestration and manipulation of dense sonic atmospheres, rather than the bombastic approach found in A Storm of Light.