The sound: drum machine pulses, guitar flourishes, and synth washes. The setting: California by way of construction paper landscapes. Together they are FWY!, a project distinctly focused on the sensation of driving—all the work of San Francisco resident Edmund Xavier, who takes us through its inseparable elements below.
Last Saturday Ashley Paul‘s record release show took place as part of Diamond Mouth Surprise. Among those in attendance was our dear friend Dan Goldberg aka The Spookfish, who was so struck by the set that he emailed her afterwards (below). The story came up over coffee with Dan yesterday and all this indeed went on to strike us as well…
“Hey just wanted to say your performance tonight was my favorite thing I’ve seen in a long time. I felt like La Sala turned into a different place when you were playing.
I also remembered a day I had forgotten about while you were performing: it was when I lived in Korea and took a really long, aimless walk and ended up walking under what seemed like endless highways next to a mountain. Then I decided to hike up the mountain trail. I ended up at a somewhat run-down Buddhist temple where monks were hitting drums at different rhythms as part of some meditation. I snuck around and listened to their drums for a while without them noticing me.
After this, I decided to continue up the mountain. I found myself on an exposed ridge that went on farther than I could see and the sun was going down. I walked as far as I could until the sun was almost down. Then I decided to turn back and take the steepest trail back down to the road under the highway tunnels before it got dark. It was barely a trail and after cutting through thick vegetation, I realized I had stumbled into a little clearing full of burial mounds. I quickly got back down after that though and then went to a party at my friend’s apartment and forgot about the whole thing.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy that story and it isn’t a drag to read. It is one that hardly ever crosses my mind, but I relived it in like a split second from your music and wanted to send it to you.”
She replied kindly.
Line the Clouds is out now on REL Records, and streaming over at Ad Hoc.
Jakub Alexander has a way with tone and gradient. It can be heard in his work as Heathered Pearls, the latest of which is Loyal, an LP due out next month on Ghostly International. And it can be seen in his art, which has graced various projects related to the ISO50 Blog, where he curates, and Moodgadget Records, which he runs. The Brooklyn-based, Polish-born artist takes us through his colors below, along with a sonic backdrop provided for the very occasion:
The sonic work of Ted Feighan first sent us sailing back in 2010, and with each Monster Rally release since, he’s built on a sound which suggests a bent kind of exotica that feels strangely familiar yet infinitely unplaceable. It makes sense that his own collage work be pulled from a similar page of the subconscious (and it also makes sense that he be our first dreamer). The Ohio native has essentially constructed his own vibrant paradise, and he was kind enough to give us a detailed tour of it below, guided by his latest track:
Diamond Mouth Surprise, the “monthly night of writing music film pictures talking chanting dancing loving communing,” was held last Saturday in its usual high ceiling-ed apartment space in Williamsburg. One of four performances (which included Noah Wall sound-sculpting crystal glass frequencies, photos below), was the debut projection of Bill Gillim’s new Megafortress release (out 1/31 on Software) with a Grant Nitsch-made video for each song. The internet saw “Green Child” last week (via Pitchfork) and now “My Favorite Girl” today (via Dummy). The rest should arrive soon, and when it does, we recommend a full, start to finish viewing—it’s a gorgeous and cohesive series, and also quite expansive given the ingredients Grant limited himself to. My curiosity into his process grew throughout that show, and while the Kansas City native wasn’t present to ask, he was just an email away: