Stadiums & Shrines
The In Between Years

 

Popular music from 1959 to 1963 is the source of inspiration (and material itself) for Chuck Blazevic’s latest release. These heavily processed ambient pieces explore the tragedy of that era’s transition (“when teen music dominated the charts between the waning of rock ‘n’ roll in ’59 and the flowering of ‘rock’ in ’64”). Nostalgia, heartbreak, innocence lost… engrained imagery flash alongside Chuck’s mournful work here—which recalls the more subdued, formless stretches of his other project, You’ll Never Get To Heaven. Opener “Adagietto For Priscilla”, a nod to The Paris Sisters, bends vocal and string snippets into a haunting, slow-motion choir. The technique repeats throughout, perhaps at its most devastating when the second half of “You Take My Love For Granted” bursts into static.

The cassette is out today via Mystic Roses.

My Spiral Arm

 

Here as Sound of Ceres, Karen and Ryan (of Candy Claws) have constructed their own Yellowstone inside a home studio. The new project reaches for new territory—just as unmistakably dreamt as past work while slightly sharper so far. Guitar, percussion, synthesizer… everything is more tangible on “My Spiral Arm”. It’s an exceptionally warm and curious song about a shape in the deep green sea, arranged with a live environment in mind (which is quite exciting).

Megafortress - Murderer

 

Much like the first (and quite unlike anything else in the sonic ether), the second piece to fall from Megafortress’ debut LP Believer does so boldly. It again finds Bill Gillim right up front, addressing the grace of a nameless figure in relation to his metaphorical whereabouts—high, low, in, out… “Murderer”, however, is more urgent. The lone midi-bells of the former are now guided by percussion and flourishes of soprano saxophone. The floor drops out momentarily; a glitch-filled basement awakens. Then we’re back with Bill, displaced somewhere new in the spiral. Fascinating, as always.

Believer in its entirety lands November 20th by way of Driftless Recordings.