Uncategorized

New Noise Magazine is currently streaming Waning Hymns, the new full-length from hypnotic doom folk collective GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE. The premiere comes on the eve of the record’s official release via Scry Recordings.

Among the Pacific Northwest’s hidden societies, GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE forges a doom-inflected folk ritualism; dirges tinged with Eastern psychedelia and meandering meditative trances. For the last several years, the group has shown the Washington state underground a clear vision for their sound and lyrics creating a shamanistic space for the listener, placing them into a trance, then building up the excitement. The overarching theme of their lyrical work is that of an idealist, a yearning for an end to the modern human condition, for destruction of the constructs and constraints of oppression.

Stream Waning Hymns alongside a track-by-track breakdown from the band’s own M. Sauder, exclusively at New Noise Magazine, at THIS LOCATION.

View the band’s previously released videos for “Closed Eye” and “Volition” below.

Recorded and mixed by J. M. McNulty at Killroom Studios and mastered by Mell Dettmer at Studio Soli with artwork by Anima Nocturna, GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE’s Waning Hymns will be released on digital and vinyl formats. For preorders visit THIS LOCATION.

GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE has shared the stage with acts as diverse as Oranssi Pazuzu, Insect Ark, Soriah, Six Organs Of Admittance, Pedestrian Deposit, Yonatan Gat, Father Murphy, and Jackie-O-Motherfucker, and has appeared at Thirst For Light, Missoula Psych Fest, PNW Folklife, Magma Fest, Dismal Fest, and Escalator Fest. With tours from Maine to Virginia and California to Montana, their live shows are hypnotic and emotionally charged, often taking place at unique locations like a metal forge and foundry, forests and meadows, old schools, churches and more. At their greatest, GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE’s tunes exist as an ever-changing pilgrimage, transforming their abstract drifts into apocalyptic folk hymns or private confessionals.

“Waning Hymns offers hope and understanding amid desolate soundscapes and turbulent times…” — Decibel

“These somber, enveloping sound baths exist to cause spiritual epiphanies and open obscure pathways within the individual.” — Metal Injection

“GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE sounds like the closet thing this city has to ’90s/00’s – era Swans: heavy, ritualistic rock that somehow straddles the moat between forlorn pastoral vibes and grim urban realms.” — The Stranger

“[They] do brooding, monolithic, and mystical like no one else, crafting out sand dried sonic psalms that howl like youthful godspeed ghost riders.” — The Sunday Experience

“Their music is both earthy and abstract, ancient and timeless. They truly opened a portal, infusing the blue-lit room with otherworldly vibes; slightly spooky, completely sublime.” — The Drainage

http://www.geistandthesacredensemble.com
http://www.facebook.com/geist.sacredensemble
http://www.instagram.com/geistandthesacredensemble
http://www.geistandthesacredensemble.com
http://www.scryrecordings.com
http://www.facebook.com/scryrecordings
http://www.instagam.com/scry_recordings

BrooklynVegan is currently streaming “Wind” from activist and luminary Butoh dancer VANESSA SKANTZE’s Writhing Treasure Feast.

Writhing Treasure Feast is a soundtrack to SKANTZE’s solo dance exploration. Here, SKANTZE explores the sounds of the fierce beauty, pain, resourcefulness, and resurrection of the land, the people, the creatures, and elements of the original Americas, dancing with the gods of Mexico, North America, and Haiti primarily. Writhing Treasure Feast draws from the artist’s travels to Mexico and Haiti, her experience and initiation into a Vodou Sosyete (community) in New Orleans, and her residency in Seattle, the traditional land of the Duwamish People.

SKANTZE produced, directed, choreographed, and performed the live dance elements of the piece as well as conceptualized, co-produced, and commissioned the music, photography, original text, and painting aspects of this magnum opus which incorporates the skills of a host of vanguard sound artists including Masaaki Masao, Erymanthe (Joy Von Spain and Susan Dumett), Pink Void, Greg Campbell and Sioux City Pete, Morher, and Noisepoetnobody with Uneasy Chairs and Cailleach.

Divided into seven sections: Stone, Sea, Wind, Fire, Serpent, Muck, and River featuring lush and unexpected soundscapes, the offering was recorded and mixed by Marc Tweed, mastered by Casey Chittenden Jones, and includes artwork by Ambrosia Bardos and photography by Anima Nocturna.

Stream the audio for “Wind” HERE

Complete press release HERE

On MAY 8-9, ANNIHILVS POWER ELECTRONIX returns to TRANS-PECOS for the first time in years to present APEX FEST 2020, featuring an assembly of acts working within the multifaceted substrata of industrial, power electronics, experimental noise, and beyond.

Advance ticket sales and more details will be announced soon.

LINEUP:

MURDEROUS VISION (CLEVELAND)
murderousvision1.bandcamp.com
T.O.M.B. (PA)
tombnoise.bandcamp.com
ORMUS (PORTLAND, OR)
ormus.bandcamp.com
TO END IT ALL (SEATTLE)
toenditall.bandcamp.com
TEN THOUSAND MILES OF ARTERIES (IDAHO)
ttmoa.bandcamp.com
TIMEGHOST (PROVIDENCE/NYC)
nexykl.org/timeghost
RECTRIX (PROVIDENCE)
pippizornoza.com/pippi/music
THE VOMIT ARSONIST (PROVIDENCE)
thevomitaraonist.bandcamp.com
VENERENCE (NYC)
https://chondriticsound.bandcamp.com/album/just-for-you
OCTONOMY (NYC)
octonomy.bandcamp.com

DJ DEREK RUSH (Chthonic Streams)

DJ PLAGUELUSTRE (There is but none)

I can tell you, it was glorious. Rain unending for days in a row and deep indigo skies…

“According to the climate blog of University of Washington Atmospheric Sciences Professor Cliff Mass, Dec. 20, 2019 was the darkest day ever recorded in the 20 years since the school has been recorded solar radiation on the roof one of the atmospheric sciences building.

Mass said they measured just .37 million Joules of solar radiation over a square meter surface on Dec. 20. The previous record low was .39 million Joules in December of 2006. For comparison, the university recorded 27 million Joules in July.

“Everything had to be perfect to achieve this depressing record,” Mass explains in the blog. Not only are the days incredibly short because of the almost-solstice, but there have been intense storms around Seattle for days.” more HERE

Drone Box by NOISE POET NOBODY is a set of two ten-minute immersions in layers of minimalist drone. The drones were created with home-built slide guitar and e-bow, electronic tanpura drone box, and Moog analog bass waveforms with multiple re-ampings.

To order, go to THIS LOCATION. 

This album is also available through Spotify, iTunes and many other streaming and digital music services.

Drone Box Track Listing:
1. Drone Box, Pt. 1
2. Drone Box, Pt. 2

For well over fifteen years, Casey Chittenden Jones has been soundtracking the collapse of civilization under the moniker NOISE POET NOBODY utilizing homemade instruments, synthesizers, and modular equipment to create haunting, discordant, and broken sounds to express the need for creativity in a dying ecosystem.

Performing in underground venues, bars, art galleries, abandon buildings, and illegal DIY spaces and forever seeking to promote mental deprogramming through anti-commercial sonic immersion, each NOISE POET NOBODY set is a one-of-a-kind exchange of energy employing analog electronics and improvised inspirations via speaker cones. NPN has collaborated frequently with Butoh dance artists and released a 12” (The River) with choreography instructions composed by Vanessa Skantze.

Most commonly associated with the genres experimental, minimalism, noise, industrial, drone, his solo works and collaborations have been released by Lens Records and Public Eyesore, among others. NOISE POET NOBODY has participated in numerous festivals and series including NorCal Noise Fest, Eugene Noise Fest, Hipster Death Fest, Olympia Experimental Music Festival, and Modular On The Spot. Jones joins Peter Keller in the duo Dosenöffner, organizes Seattle’s Dismal Fest and leads the Driftwood Orchestra.