JAPANESE TO ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS BY MORGAN HARKNESS

Takayuki Nakazawa (NAM):
Our aim was to perfectly match the world of Sun Airway’s music and take that world of sound and enlarge its image visually. I believe that the music and the cover visuals that go with the creation of an album have an extremely intimate relationship. Music and visuals have the power to overcome country and language to convey a message. Creating something so intimate between the US and Japan was an incredible experience, and most of all it was fun! We would like to take this opportunity to extend our appreciation to Jon Barthmus for inviting us to this wonderful project.

私達が今回目指したのはSun Airwayの音楽の世界と完全にマッチし、さらに音の世界をビジュアルによってイメージの視覚的拡大をする事でした。アルバム制作における音楽とカバービジュアルは本来とても密接な関係性をもっているものだと思います。音楽やビジュアルは言語や国境を超えて伝達していく力があり、今回、日本とアメリカの間で密な相互関係をもって制作が行われた事は、私達にとって大変良い経験で、なによりも楽しかった！このような素敵なプロジェクトに私達を誘ってくれたJon Barthmusさんに、この場をお借りして感謝をしたいと思います。

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The moniker of Chicago musician Jaime Fennelly’s Mind Over Mirrors seems to contain a philosophical idea that hints at a mind’s ultimate “victory” over experiences in a world of mirrors and illusion. Yet at the same time, such an idea inherently contains a philosophical flaw if viewed logically; for what, truly, is “mind”, and what is experiencing the illusion if not for the mind?

Steeped in analog and digital drones from a harmonium and varying electronics, the landscape of Fennelly’s latest album, Check Your Swing, provides a listening experience that seems to riff on the contradictions inherent in his project name (if indeed my interpretation is even remotely correct). It may not be intentional, but Fennelly’s music incites within a listener a battle between conscious and subconscious mind spaces, as certain moments flow on without demanding much thought and others dominate one’s experience completely.

On first listen, album opener “Breaking A Jam” and the sparse “Pass Into The Driftless” both seem to fall back towards background music territory. Though excellent, they — like most tracks on the album — are most significant when viewed as a part of the entire record spectrum. Others like “Memorander” and “Check Your Swing” seem to insist on being front and center in one’s aural line of sight. These two tracks don’t capture one’s attention for being more erratic or bizarre than the others; they just drone on heavier, by possessing a nuanced, burning intensity that becomes notably more eerie and fiery with every second, as though preparing listeners for an explosive introspective revelation. Never do the sonics actually explode in any ostentatious sense, but their ever-building tensions do crest to a point where they absolutely demand’s attention even if they had begun without it.

The album’s sequencing seems to produce a curious effect in a listener, where tracks will alternate between capturing one’s conscious mind and releasing it, all the while dipping in and out of one’s subconscious. Hence, like moments in life where revelations about the nature of existence come and go, Check Your Swing ebbs and flows, creating an ever-changing deep listening experience.

Mind Over Mirrors – Check Your Swing Full Album Stream

Check Your Swing, which will be released via Hands In The Dark Records on November 13th, is well worth repeat listens. It is limited to 300 copies of vinyl with MP3 download coupons. Get yours.

You can also get a mixtape Hands In The Dark made for us earlier this year.

Ω

A generally daunting experience, CMJ Music Marathon hosts an extremely wide range of bands over the course of 5 days in NYC. To those who attempt to tackle this festival, the lineup can seem overwhelming.

One advantage to being a 10-year CMJ veteran is that you not only know to have a strategy; you can put it all in perspective. And it’s good to have a basis for comparison, too. From year to year to year, CMJ has progressed, in both good ways and bad. While my first few years felt completely daunting, the past few have felt manageable. There weren’t so many bands that both my CMJ partner-in-crime Devorah and I were initially excited about, but that’s the thrill of CMJ: discovering new gems. Last year was all about not getting into the right shows and being frustrated with CMJ in general. We went into this year cautiously, but it ended up being much easier to gain entry to shows and all of the venues seemed a bit more relaxed (with the exception of the Ghostface Killah show in Williamsburg on the last night, in which the whole block had to be closed due to overcrowding).

Below are our picks for our favorite bands, of which there were happily a large amount.

SEE FULL FESTIVAL RECAP

Teen Daze

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Breton + Busy P

French electrohouse producer (and manager of Daft Punk and Justice, amongst other things) Busy P builds on Breton’s “Governing Correctly” with a bass-driven expansion upon the more straight-laced, vocal-driven rock band original. The track’s trancey potentials are fully realized as the track goes in and out of extended breaks and electro builds, finally concluding with an ending two minutes that are rich, satisfying, and completely realized ideas.

Breton – “Governing Correctly” (Busy P Dub)

Breton – “Governing Correctly” (Original)

Breton – "Governing Correctly" by RTS

2012 marked the 16th anniversary of United States of Consciousness (USC)’s annual Halloween party, Freak Night. One of Seattle’s premiere electronic music massives, Freak Night has seen multiple venue changes through the years, beginning in spaces like indoor soccer fields (1998)¹ and floating to and from miscellaneous warehouse and events spaces like Fremont Studios (2006)². Yet these days, it always seems to end up back at its most high-profile venue, WaMu Theatre in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood. WaMu Theater, formerly known as the Exhibition Hall, houses Freak Night’s multiple rooms comfortably, with a layout and configuration that seems to change from year to year as the event grows and shrinks accordingly to industry flux. And now, with electronic dance music (EDM) bigger than ever, Freak Night has followed suit, with 2012 housing the largest population for the festival to date.

By the time I arrived at WaMu Theater, it was 11:00pm and I was quite surprised to see a rather large line outside the venue. Due to needing to pick up my press pass and hop in quickly at a nearby art show, I managed to avoid the line completely, but heard through text messages from friends that the line was completely not moving, despite the fact that the doors has supposedly opened at 7:00pm. No one knew what was happening and the only rumor I heard was that someone had been caught with narcotics for sale. When I returned an hour later after popping by a nearby art show, the line had disappeared and everyone was hurriedly ushered into the venue with brisk ID checking and the most laughable patdowns imaginable. USC events are usually fairly stringent with their security so this was a surprise; I can only imagine the effort was sped up in an attempt to please partygoers. (Unfortunately, though USC later issued an apology³, many people let their disatisfaction get the best of them and let that circumstance color their entire experience.)

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Emil & Friends

Emil & Friends’ last two releases, 2011′s Lo & Behold and 2010′s Downed Economy EP, have been reliable releases year after year. This year’s short five-track EP (with two tracks and three remixes) does not pack quite the same punch, but the track below, “Internal Affairs” is veritably Emil & Friends, in the best of groovy and swaggery ways. You can also hear a minimix of the rest of the release on Kitsune’s Website. It features “Internal Affairs” along with another original track, “Royal Oats”, and three remixes of “Royal Oats” by Dubka, Radial, and DVNO.

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Eternal Tapestry

Eternal Tapestry’s records are known for their epic instrumental ebbs and flows — a sound that comes partly from their creative process. On their latest record, A World Out Of Time, Eternal Tapestry broke their usual mold of culling material from hours worth of jam sessions and instead recorded the album at once, in its entirety. The music video for their latest single, “Apocalypse Troll”, was directed by guitarist Nick Bindeman and combines live video footage shot by Anton Long with vintage geometric and extreme sport (?!) imagery. Despite a duration of only 2:23, the abstract footage and the track’s memorable leading guitar riffs propel it forward in a blissfully anthemic way. The remainder of the record wiggles itself all over the psychedelic rock universe like nobody but Eternal Tapestry’s business.

A World Out Of Time will be released November 13th via Thrill Jockey Records, and you can pre-order it HERE. The band has two upcoming Portland shows: tomorrow with Midday Veil at The East End in Portland, alongside Grapefruit and Hot Victory, and November 9th at 7:30pm, as a part of Thrill Jockey Records’ 20th Anniversary Show. That insane lineup also includes locals like Golden Retriever, Mike Scheidt, and Jason Urick, as well as out-of-towners like Liturgy, Barn Owl, and Trans Am.

See the full post for the A World Out Of Time tracklisting and to hear an edit of the notably more spastic track “When Gravity Falls”.

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Aperiodic

Aperiodic’s Future Feedback begins with “New West”, a slow growth of jingling bells and static that bumps found sounds up against R2D2-type electronic beeping. Banging, off-tempo jazz drums and distorted guitar all grow in intensity throughout the duration of the 4-minute track, and one could suspect that the remainder of Future Fedback will be comprised of hardly palatable instrumental wankery. In a sense, one would suspect right, but this type of music always took a special musical ear to appreciate.

Elements of musique concrète, free jazz, and noise are at the forefront of Future Feedback, which champions improvisation’s most chaotic possibilities with a natural erratic twitch. Aperiodic have described themselves as “The Jesus Lizard disfigured beyond recognition”, and it is the spirit of the post-hardcore band that shines through, not actual music parallels. The disfiguration comes in Aperiodic’s cramming of heavier noise elements into a free jazz framework in absolute madness. Only on one track, “Amalia’s Regret”, does the band slow down to explore their more minimal side via creepy breathing and classic piano. You can rest assured, though; structure hardly plays a more significant role even then.

The entire album is now available via Phratry Records, and you can stream its digital noise stylings via the Bandcamp embed below. Prepare yourself for all of the guitar distortion, manipulated samples, and pummeling drums you can imagine. And while you’re at it, see the full post for a stream of The Jesus Lizard’s full-length from 1991, Goat.

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Juju & Jordash

In this generally unsettling music video for “Dr. Strangepork”, directed by James Murray, flesh and rope create tension and discomfort that’s balanced by strange — and increasingly stranger — images of floral bouquets. Here, the gritty repetition seems appropriate for carnal pleasure and displeasure, taste and distaste, but Juju & Jordash show more than just these simple dichotomies on the dualistically-named Techno Primitivism, their latest release on Dekmantel. Some have called the title “ironic”, but there is no semblance of irony here. It’s just that Juju & Jordash know exactly how to push Stone Age atonalism and fire pit hypnotism into the streamlined waves of future music.

(Note: It’s actually a pretty fun mental exercise to craft the hypothetical cinematic in where Juju & Jordash’s music connects those two worlds.)

Juju & Jordash – “Dr. Strangepork” Music Video

Juju & Jordash – “Bleached Roots”

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Toro Y Moi

Toro Y Moi’s Chaz Bundick has proven himself time and time again to be adept at shape-shifting through the indie electronic universe, and his latest, “So Many Details”, spaces its way though the five-minute mark while feeling infinite. Though not as overtly funky as 2011′s Underneath The Pine, “So Many Details” has a quiet allure and power behind it, and moves forward even further from Bundick’s blander chillwave days. I can’t get enough of this track, and cannot wait for his upcoming full-length, Anything In Return, which comes out January 22nd, 2013, via Carpark Records. The full tracklisting is below, along with 2013 tour dates. The So Many Details 7″ comes out November 23rd.