Magik Markers are playing tonight.. October 29th at the knitting factory with Batoh
and again on Sunday (Halloween) at Chum's coffee house at Brandeis
Friday, October 29, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
peace .. pot .. micro dot
check out the micro pixels tomorrow night
and on Thursday... get cropped out:
here are the show details. for thursday the 21st
Thursday – Tip Top bar & Grill (432 Frankin Ave Bedstuy) OCT 21ST
$5
Spectre Folk 12:10 - http://www.myspace.com/spectreflux
FLIGHT 11:20pm - http://www.myspace.com/inflighttunes
State Champ 10:20pm- http://www.myspace.com/iamstatechampion
Phantom family halo 9:30pm - http://www.myspace.com/thephantomfamilyhalo
Adult Themes 8:45pm - http://www.myspace.com/adultthemesband
Doors @ 8
Friday, October 8, 2010
MAGIK MARKERS SHEA STADIUM OCT 16, SPECTRE FOLK AT CMJ
HEY NEW YORK.. (AND EVERYONE ELSE) THERE ARE 2 MAGIK MARKERS SHOWS THIS MONTH AS WELL AS 2 SPECTRE FOLK GIGS
OCTOBER 16TH.. SHEA STADIUM
THE MAGIK MARKERS WILL APPEAR WITH DEVIN, GARY, AND ROSS, IYEZ, AND THE GUNN/TRUSCINSKI DUO
OCTOBER 19TH .. GLASSLANDS GALLERY
SPECTRE FOLK WILL APPEAR AS PART OF THE MICRO PIXEL RITES CMJ SHOWCASE WITH:
Dent May
Steve Gunn
Woodsman
tooth ache.
OCTOBER 29TH .. THE KNITTING FACTORY
MAGIK MARKERS WILL APPEAR WITH BATOH FROM GHOST
Saturday, September 18, 2010
live action!! with The Magik Markers and Spectre Folk
Spectre Folk and Magik Markers have a bunch of live gigs coming up.
check em out!:
Spectre Folk
September 22nd Glasslands Gallery Williamsburg Brooklyn
Spectre Folk
with Toby, Grasshopper, Elevator Action
October 2nd Cropped Out fest, Louisville, KY
with.. a ton of rad bands like Sic Alps, Moon Duo, Sapat and
MAGIK MARKERS OCTO TOUR 2010
Magik Markers are back in full effect with OG Hartford style jams and structure guns on our backs now. What kind of conservative? Running downtown with a crazy mind?
Friday - 10/01/2010 - Cleveland, OH at Beachland Tavern
MAGIK MARKERS
HOMOSTUPIDS
OBEDIENT SKULL
All Ages.
$6 (Free for ticket holders of !!! show in the Beachland Ballroom)
10 pm
Chicago Oct. 2nd at Ronny's with Sic Alps
Louisville Oct. 3rd Cropped Out Festival with Sic Alps, Moon Duo, Sapat, Cave, Pissed Jeans, etc.
Monday Octo 4, 2010. The Mockbee (a.k.a. Bunk Warehouse) (http://www.myspace.com/bunkwarehouse), the address is 2260 Central Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45214; with La Otracino (Brooklyn psych/prog metal http://www.myspace.com/laotracina), Wasteland Jazz Ensemble (local freejazz noise http://www.myspace.com/wastelandjazzunit), and Holy Wars (local feedback punk). The doors open around 9pm and the show should start by 10pm, we will most likely have you guys play third, around 11:30pm
Tuesday Octo 5 Philadelphia PA The m room at 15 west girard ave
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Spectre Folk Interview At Village Voice
Check out the Spectre Folk intervew with the Village Voice
Yes In My Backyard
Download: Spectre Folk, "Burning Bridge"
By Christopher Weingarten, Tue., Sep. 7 2010 @ 11:00AM
Categories: Christopher R. Weingarten, Featured, MP3, Spectre Folk, Yes In My Backyard
Share
8
Yes In My Backyard is a semiweekly column showcasing MP3s from new and emerging local talent.
Spectre Folk is the long-percolating solo guise of Magik Markers drummer Pete Nolan, a black sea of noise guitar, psych-jams, no-fi experiments, and other interplanetary gunk released on a never-ending waterfall of tapes, CD-Rs, vinyl, and the occasional CD. Nolan's latest, Compass, Blanket, Lantern, Mojo (released via his label, Arbitrary Signs), is the most mellow, soothing, and ethereal of his sounds that these ears have heard, channeling the dusty desert vibe of Ennio Morricone, exploring a little Six Organs churn, and finding lusher new secrets in his home-recorded murk. He recently turned the band into an all-star line-up that includes Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and New York Times food writer Peter Meehan, but for now, grab the solo turn and album highlight "Burned Bridges," which Nolan describes as "kind of Les Rallizes Denudes by way of Laurel Canyon--there's probably some of Tim Buckley's spirit in there too." In short, it's dreamy, dreary, and a warm place to curl up. Nolan says he wrote the track to deal with his feelings of isolation, desperation, and sleep deprivation after becoming a new parent. He explains, "In this altered state of consciousness I interpreted my daughter's cries--being as she was, a total newcomer to the planet earth, incapable of putting personal attachment to her thoughts and feelings--as the pure sound of the universal consciousness heralding both her entry into the world and my passage into the next level of the game. That's the idea anyway. Can you dig it?"
Download: Spectre Folk, "Burning Bridge"
Q&A: Spectre Folk's Pete Nolan
What is "Burning Bridge" about?
This tune is about me dealing with the maelstrom of feelings I had welling up at the three-month stage of being a dad to my newborn daughter, Violet Ray. After going through life taking things as they came, I suddenly had the awesome responsibility of parenthood thrust upon me. My wife and I had gone through a tremendously violent birth experience and we came out the other end with this perfectly formed, incredibly beautiful alien creature that neither of us had the slightest idea how to care for. I was terrified that if I didn't watch her literally every waking second she'd stop breathing, or her tiny shrimp-like fingers would break off, or she'd choke on some kind of bubbly vomit like the baby in Eraserhead. And I had no idea how to get her to go to sleep. Lots and lots of bouncing on a yoga ball. At least three hours a day, till my spinal chord was throbbing with pain. I'd gone from being, to quote Bret Michaels, a "rock dude," to being the primary caretaker of a newborn human. Suddenly every minute of my life was devoted to keeping this kid alive and making sure she was growing and burping and pooping and comfortable and happy and I wasn't getting much sleep. It's incredibly alienating, because there's no way any of my friends could understand what was happening to me, unless they'd had kids--none of them had. I was adrift on an island all alone with my new family, trying to make ends meet and keep everyone alive and happy and floating along.
But the other side of the alienation was this feeling of having been through an incredible rite of passage. Like I'd just made myself a link in the chain of the history of the human race. I dove with a resigned fatalism into a game of chance with the collective memory of DNA and, to quote a line from Master Shake's "Spirit Journey Formation Anniversary" song, "the creature thus be born." We couldn't have been more blessed. Our kid is so much cooler and better-looking than either me or my wife. Watching her grow and learn at the stage of the game I was at when I wrote this song was like watching one of those time-lapse movies of a plant sprouting out of the ground.
What inspired it musically?
Somewhere along the way I figured out that songs in 3/4 are more likely to induce that "floaty" feeling that some people cherish so dearly. Earlier that year the Magik Markers had toured with Ghost. I really wanted a song that could showcase the kind of soaring epic guitar soloing that I saw Michio Kurihara pull off so effortlessly night after night on that tour, so there's that element too.
How did this latest lineup of the band come to be?
About a year before Compass came out I got to be pretty good friends with Peter Meehan. My lady was learning how to make jewelry working in his lady's shop, and we got to be buddies. He's a head, and he knows his way around psych records, so he got tuned into my jams. He encouraged me to stop wasting my time pouring my psych-spew music into CD-Rs as they're ultimately ignored dead-end landfill media. After one sweltering solo gig I did at the Market Hotel in Bushwick he offered to lend me some bread so I could start self releasing my stuff on vinyl via my Arbitrary Signs label. Compass is the product of that. When I started playing gigs to promote the record he offered his services on his Japanese Fakenbacher guitar and I was more than pleased to have him, seeding the ground for a heavy new band.
Tell me how you met Steve Shelley and when/how you decided to start playing music together?
I met Steve Shelley when I was sixteen years old in Alma, Michigan. It was my birthday and my Mom had driven me from my hometown of Mt. Pleasant to buy my first four-track tape recorder at Cook's Christian Supply. The store was empty, but in the custom drum shop in the back I noticed a couple of dudes, one of whom looked suspiciously like the drummer of Sonic Youth. I worked up some nerve and finally went back and introduced myself. Sure enough, it was Steve Shelley. I was blown away! I asked him what he was doing here amid this endless sea of cornfields that, from my experience up until now, had proven to be a barren wasteland of culture, devoid of anything even remotely "cool." He said that he was originally from Midland and that the drum shop here in Alma was one of his favorites. I had my mom take my picture with Steve, as he was the second celebrity I'd ever met--the first being Michael Winslow of Police Academy fame--and took it as an incredibly good omen for all future recordings on my newly acquired four track. Fast forward to six months ago. I'm eating the most insanely delicious cheeseburger I've ever had in my life. It was slathered in butter and prepared by Mark Ibold from Pavement. He off-handedly mentions that since Sonic Youth is taking kind of a hiatus for a year, me and Peter should see if Steve Shelley wants to jam with us. After some intense prodding on my wife's part, I tracked Steve down on Facebook.
Being in a band with a food-nerd like Meehan must mean some pretty amazing culinary adventures...
Oh my god, there are too many to recount. They all kind of blur together into one big mass of memories that exist in some part of my brain that is too primordial to verbalize. When you get to that place where you're eating something that is the best thing you've ever tasted, your eyes kind of glaze over and you're in the zone of pure sensory experience. I guess I could talk about the duck buns at the Oriental Garden on Elizabeth Street; or seven courses of beef at Ma Peche with $700 bottles of wine enjoyed with Kim and Thurston of Sonic Youth; or learning how to order my In-N-Out Burger "Animal Style." But the best meals I've had with Meehan are the ones that he prepared himself in his own kitchen. Dude is all about finding the best meals in the best restaurants out there and learning how to make them yourself at home. This kind of homemade professional grade aesthetic is something that really lines up with my aesthetic musically too. Homegrown's the way it should be. So yeah, dude's been a total inspiration.
What's the most memorable show you've played in New York?
My most far out memory of a show in New York would have to be of one wintry night at the now defunct Tonic about six years ago. The snow was piled up about five feet high outside. Most of New York was shut down. The Magik Markers had driven down from Connecticut and we didn't know if the show was still happening or if anyone would show up. If you ever have the chance to see a Paul Flaherty/Chris Corsano performance after having the type of tea you might read about in an Allen Ginsberg/William Burroughs correspondence, you too will know that these two are giants among men, literally. They grew before my eyes to a height of well over eight feet. And if you are ever so lucky as to get to take the stage behind a drum kit after them, as I did on this night, you will be driving the Big Rig through space and time. The snow was piled up high enough to block off all travel down Norfolk Street, leaving a silent stillness and eerie calm over the Lower East Side, but inside the concrete bunker of the Tonic the Magik Markers had opened up an ungodly rift in the cosmos. In my curious state of synesthesia, I perceived the sound we created from the stage that night to have long purple suction-cupped arms that could reach all around the room and back again. I may not be remembering the right night, but something like this definitely happened. I was convinced for a long time after that Paul Flaherty was actually Santa Claus.
Are you working on anything else?
Should I plug the kid's book and record I'm working on? The story is a riff on the kind of magical realism Alan Lomax might have dug up in his quest through the deep South while looking for early American mythology in the form of lullabyes and kid's songs. My curious toddling daughter is the protagonist and she meets a host of woodland creatures along the way. My sister Meegan is working on some killer illustrations for it and the accompanying soundtrack is a mixture of meditative instrumentals and traditional tunes done in the Spectre Folk style.
What's your favorite place to eat in Brooklyn?
The Commodore on Metropolitan in Williamsburg has the greatest fried chicken on the planet. The rainbow chard is killer too. I love it. If I'm going to spend money eating out, which I almost never do, you'll find me there.
Are you an emerging local band who has an upcoming 7", MP3, or album? Are you not totally fucking terrible like 90% of the bands in this city? Then please send us an email at yesinmybackyard@gmail.com. Links and YSIs only. No attachments please!
Yes In My Backyard
Download: Spectre Folk, "Burning Bridge"
By Christopher Weingarten, Tue., Sep. 7 2010 @ 11:00AM
Categories: Christopher R. Weingarten, Featured, MP3, Spectre Folk, Yes In My Backyard
Share
8
Yes In My Backyard is a semiweekly column showcasing MP3s from new and emerging local talent.
Spectre Folk is the long-percolating solo guise of Magik Markers drummer Pete Nolan, a black sea of noise guitar, psych-jams, no-fi experiments, and other interplanetary gunk released on a never-ending waterfall of tapes, CD-Rs, vinyl, and the occasional CD. Nolan's latest, Compass, Blanket, Lantern, Mojo (released via his label, Arbitrary Signs), is the most mellow, soothing, and ethereal of his sounds that these ears have heard, channeling the dusty desert vibe of Ennio Morricone, exploring a little Six Organs churn, and finding lusher new secrets in his home-recorded murk. He recently turned the band into an all-star line-up that includes Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and New York Times food writer Peter Meehan, but for now, grab the solo turn and album highlight "Burned Bridges," which Nolan describes as "kind of Les Rallizes Denudes by way of Laurel Canyon--there's probably some of Tim Buckley's spirit in there too." In short, it's dreamy, dreary, and a warm place to curl up. Nolan says he wrote the track to deal with his feelings of isolation, desperation, and sleep deprivation after becoming a new parent. He explains, "In this altered state of consciousness I interpreted my daughter's cries--being as she was, a total newcomer to the planet earth, incapable of putting personal attachment to her thoughts and feelings--as the pure sound of the universal consciousness heralding both her entry into the world and my passage into the next level of the game. That's the idea anyway. Can you dig it?"
Download: Spectre Folk, "Burning Bridge"
Q&A: Spectre Folk's Pete Nolan
What is "Burning Bridge" about?
This tune is about me dealing with the maelstrom of feelings I had welling up at the three-month stage of being a dad to my newborn daughter, Violet Ray. After going through life taking things as they came, I suddenly had the awesome responsibility of parenthood thrust upon me. My wife and I had gone through a tremendously violent birth experience and we came out the other end with this perfectly formed, incredibly beautiful alien creature that neither of us had the slightest idea how to care for. I was terrified that if I didn't watch her literally every waking second she'd stop breathing, or her tiny shrimp-like fingers would break off, or she'd choke on some kind of bubbly vomit like the baby in Eraserhead. And I had no idea how to get her to go to sleep. Lots and lots of bouncing on a yoga ball. At least three hours a day, till my spinal chord was throbbing with pain. I'd gone from being, to quote Bret Michaels, a "rock dude," to being the primary caretaker of a newborn human. Suddenly every minute of my life was devoted to keeping this kid alive and making sure she was growing and burping and pooping and comfortable and happy and I wasn't getting much sleep. It's incredibly alienating, because there's no way any of my friends could understand what was happening to me, unless they'd had kids--none of them had. I was adrift on an island all alone with my new family, trying to make ends meet and keep everyone alive and happy and floating along.
But the other side of the alienation was this feeling of having been through an incredible rite of passage. Like I'd just made myself a link in the chain of the history of the human race. I dove with a resigned fatalism into a game of chance with the collective memory of DNA and, to quote a line from Master Shake's "Spirit Journey Formation Anniversary" song, "the creature thus be born." We couldn't have been more blessed. Our kid is so much cooler and better-looking than either me or my wife. Watching her grow and learn at the stage of the game I was at when I wrote this song was like watching one of those time-lapse movies of a plant sprouting out of the ground.
What inspired it musically?
Somewhere along the way I figured out that songs in 3/4 are more likely to induce that "floaty" feeling that some people cherish so dearly. Earlier that year the Magik Markers had toured with Ghost. I really wanted a song that could showcase the kind of soaring epic guitar soloing that I saw Michio Kurihara pull off so effortlessly night after night on that tour, so there's that element too.
How did this latest lineup of the band come to be?
About a year before Compass came out I got to be pretty good friends with Peter Meehan. My lady was learning how to make jewelry working in his lady's shop, and we got to be buddies. He's a head, and he knows his way around psych records, so he got tuned into my jams. He encouraged me to stop wasting my time pouring my psych-spew music into CD-Rs as they're ultimately ignored dead-end landfill media. After one sweltering solo gig I did at the Market Hotel in Bushwick he offered to lend me some bread so I could start self releasing my stuff on vinyl via my Arbitrary Signs label. Compass is the product of that. When I started playing gigs to promote the record he offered his services on his Japanese Fakenbacher guitar and I was more than pleased to have him, seeding the ground for a heavy new band.
Tell me how you met Steve Shelley and when/how you decided to start playing music together?
I met Steve Shelley when I was sixteen years old in Alma, Michigan. It was my birthday and my Mom had driven me from my hometown of Mt. Pleasant to buy my first four-track tape recorder at Cook's Christian Supply. The store was empty, but in the custom drum shop in the back I noticed a couple of dudes, one of whom looked suspiciously like the drummer of Sonic Youth. I worked up some nerve and finally went back and introduced myself. Sure enough, it was Steve Shelley. I was blown away! I asked him what he was doing here amid this endless sea of cornfields that, from my experience up until now, had proven to be a barren wasteland of culture, devoid of anything even remotely "cool." He said that he was originally from Midland and that the drum shop here in Alma was one of his favorites. I had my mom take my picture with Steve, as he was the second celebrity I'd ever met--the first being Michael Winslow of Police Academy fame--and took it as an incredibly good omen for all future recordings on my newly acquired four track. Fast forward to six months ago. I'm eating the most insanely delicious cheeseburger I've ever had in my life. It was slathered in butter and prepared by Mark Ibold from Pavement. He off-handedly mentions that since Sonic Youth is taking kind of a hiatus for a year, me and Peter should see if Steve Shelley wants to jam with us. After some intense prodding on my wife's part, I tracked Steve down on Facebook.
Being in a band with a food-nerd like Meehan must mean some pretty amazing culinary adventures...
Oh my god, there are too many to recount. They all kind of blur together into one big mass of memories that exist in some part of my brain that is too primordial to verbalize. When you get to that place where you're eating something that is the best thing you've ever tasted, your eyes kind of glaze over and you're in the zone of pure sensory experience. I guess I could talk about the duck buns at the Oriental Garden on Elizabeth Street; or seven courses of beef at Ma Peche with $700 bottles of wine enjoyed with Kim and Thurston of Sonic Youth; or learning how to order my In-N-Out Burger "Animal Style." But the best meals I've had with Meehan are the ones that he prepared himself in his own kitchen. Dude is all about finding the best meals in the best restaurants out there and learning how to make them yourself at home. This kind of homemade professional grade aesthetic is something that really lines up with my aesthetic musically too. Homegrown's the way it should be. So yeah, dude's been a total inspiration.
What's the most memorable show you've played in New York?
My most far out memory of a show in New York would have to be of one wintry night at the now defunct Tonic about six years ago. The snow was piled up about five feet high outside. Most of New York was shut down. The Magik Markers had driven down from Connecticut and we didn't know if the show was still happening or if anyone would show up. If you ever have the chance to see a Paul Flaherty/Chris Corsano performance after having the type of tea you might read about in an Allen Ginsberg/William Burroughs correspondence, you too will know that these two are giants among men, literally. They grew before my eyes to a height of well over eight feet. And if you are ever so lucky as to get to take the stage behind a drum kit after them, as I did on this night, you will be driving the Big Rig through space and time. The snow was piled up high enough to block off all travel down Norfolk Street, leaving a silent stillness and eerie calm over the Lower East Side, but inside the concrete bunker of the Tonic the Magik Markers had opened up an ungodly rift in the cosmos. In my curious state of synesthesia, I perceived the sound we created from the stage that night to have long purple suction-cupped arms that could reach all around the room and back again. I may not be remembering the right night, but something like this definitely happened. I was convinced for a long time after that Paul Flaherty was actually Santa Claus.
Are you working on anything else?
Should I plug the kid's book and record I'm working on? The story is a riff on the kind of magical realism Alan Lomax might have dug up in his quest through the deep South while looking for early American mythology in the form of lullabyes and kid's songs. My curious toddling daughter is the protagonist and she meets a host of woodland creatures along the way. My sister Meegan is working on some killer illustrations for it and the accompanying soundtrack is a mixture of meditative instrumentals and traditional tunes done in the Spectre Folk style.
What's your favorite place to eat in Brooklyn?
The Commodore on Metropolitan in Williamsburg has the greatest fried chicken on the planet. The rainbow chard is killer too. I love it. If I'm going to spend money eating out, which I almost never do, you'll find me there.
Are you an emerging local band who has an upcoming 7", MP3, or album? Are you not totally fucking terrible like 90% of the bands in this city? Then please send us an email at yesinmybackyard@gmail.com. Links and YSIs only. No attachments please!
Friday, September 3, 2010
AS MEDIA FRENZY! Liberty Rose review from Agitated Atmosphere
Justin Spicer of KEXP in Seattle just made a fine review of the Arbitrary Signs release: MV EE "Liberty Rose" here: AGITATED ATMOSPHERE Check out the full text below:
Matt Valentine & Erika Elder ‒ Liberty Rose
By Justin Spicer | Published: September 3, 2010
As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it’s creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosphere hopes to pull back the curtain on a wealth of sights and sound from luminaries such as Matt Valentine & Erika Elder.
Agitated Atmosphere strives to not repeat itself but often sounds come along that forces this column to stoop to parrot talk. Such is the case with Vermont duo Matt Valentine and Erika Elder. Last year, AA had the pleasure of talking up the virtues of Barn Nova, the so-called ‘mainstream’ effort from the psych folkies. A group of diehards proclaimed it MV & EE’s best effort as some shuddered at its pedestrian shift (AA’s stance is rather clear).
But what of those who have devoured the band’s ultra-limited self-released efforts via their Child of Microtones label? How about those who scrapped together the dough to nab the band’s extensive cassette box sets? You’re loyalty to the cause has been rewarded with Liberty Rose, Valentine & Elder’s latest from Magik Marker/Spectre Folk guru Pete Nolan’s label, Arbitrary Signs.
The blend of classic folk phrasing and tripped out production that has littered many MV & EE releases returns in full effect throughout the width of Liberty Rose. Yet it’s not near as removed from Barn Nova as some would believe. Valentine’s patented Spectrasound returns, trimmed down to utilize its omnipotent power to the fullest: “Crow Jane Environs” finds Valentine’s subtle vocals echoing above the clean guitar and Elder’s daydreaming slide. “Flow My Ray” returns to the Neil Young playbook with its bare bone melody and whispered harmonica. Valentine’s vocals continue to gain distance, never seeming as concrete as the music.
Listen to “Death Is My Friend”:
Longtime fans will find their rebuttals to the plain jane Barn Nova stuffed within the gentle blues of “Death is My Friend.” The easy bar blues riff and Elder’s sweet nothings provide the needed bridge between the duo’s so-called ‘mainstream’ aesthetic and its lived in sound long familiar to their cult following. If Barn Nova signaled a significant shift in style, Liberty Rose dares not to let on. It picks up where Valentine & Elder always leave off and fails to hit a sour note. As summer pulls the curtains back, Liberty Rose gives them on last tie back to allow the warm glow of the sun one final bow; the last sip of freshly squeezed lemonade before the batch and the weather turn sour.
Justin Spicer is a freelance journalist who also runs the webzine, Electronic Voice Phenomenon. He writes the Monday News Mash-Up for the KEXP Blog. You may follow him on Twitter.
This entry was posted in Agitated Atmosphere, KEXP and tagged MV + EE. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
« Concerts at the Mural videos: Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, The Head and the Heart, Yuni in Taxco 8/27
Matt Valentine & Erika Elder ‒ Liberty Rose
By Justin Spicer | Published: September 3, 2010
As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it’s creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosphere hopes to pull back the curtain on a wealth of sights and sound from luminaries such as Matt Valentine & Erika Elder.
Agitated Atmosphere strives to not repeat itself but often sounds come along that forces this column to stoop to parrot talk. Such is the case with Vermont duo Matt Valentine and Erika Elder. Last year, AA had the pleasure of talking up the virtues of Barn Nova, the so-called ‘mainstream’ effort from the psych folkies. A group of diehards proclaimed it MV & EE’s best effort as some shuddered at its pedestrian shift (AA’s stance is rather clear).
But what of those who have devoured the band’s ultra-limited self-released efforts via their Child of Microtones label? How about those who scrapped together the dough to nab the band’s extensive cassette box sets? You’re loyalty to the cause has been rewarded with Liberty Rose, Valentine & Elder’s latest from Magik Marker/Spectre Folk guru Pete Nolan’s label, Arbitrary Signs.
The blend of classic folk phrasing and tripped out production that has littered many MV & EE releases returns in full effect throughout the width of Liberty Rose. Yet it’s not near as removed from Barn Nova as some would believe. Valentine’s patented Spectrasound returns, trimmed down to utilize its omnipotent power to the fullest: “Crow Jane Environs” finds Valentine’s subtle vocals echoing above the clean guitar and Elder’s daydreaming slide. “Flow My Ray” returns to the Neil Young playbook with its bare bone melody and whispered harmonica. Valentine’s vocals continue to gain distance, never seeming as concrete as the music.
Listen to “Death Is My Friend”:
Longtime fans will find their rebuttals to the plain jane Barn Nova stuffed within the gentle blues of “Death is My Friend.” The easy bar blues riff and Elder’s sweet nothings provide the needed bridge between the duo’s so-called ‘mainstream’ aesthetic and its lived in sound long familiar to their cult following. If Barn Nova signaled a significant shift in style, Liberty Rose dares not to let on. It picks up where Valentine & Elder always leave off and fails to hit a sour note. As summer pulls the curtains back, Liberty Rose gives them on last tie back to allow the warm glow of the sun one final bow; the last sip of freshly squeezed lemonade before the batch and the weather turn sour.
Justin Spicer is a freelance journalist who also runs the webzine, Electronic Voice Phenomenon. He writes the Monday News Mash-Up for the KEXP Blog. You may follow him on Twitter.
This entry was posted in Agitated Atmosphere, KEXP and tagged MV + EE. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
« Concerts at the Mural videos: Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, The Head and the Heart, Yuni in Taxco 8/27
Thursday, September 2, 2010
New Spectre Folk video by Pax Paloscia
see a hi res version at Fader.com
here's the scoop:
Q&A With Pax Paloscia, Director of New Spectre Folk Video
story Hanly Banks
Underwater photography is so ubiquitous at this point, we didn’t think it was possible to film submerged and still be unique. But “Burning Bridge,” the new video from New York supergroup Spectre Folk, is shot beneath the water and completely changed our minds. Where does anything this beautiful come from? Italy, of course. Italian-born, New York-based photographer Pax Paloscia is the woman responsible for this lovely footage. (She’s also married to fellow talent Gabriele Stabile, photographer of so many wonderful images in the FADER, including our current Glasser cover.) Paloscia answered a few questions about making the video, her transition from still to moving images, and the identity of that skinny kid in the water. Also, how do we go to there?
How’d you get hooked up with these guys?
[Spectre Folk member/New York Times food writer]Peter (Meehan) is a good friend of ours. He sent us the song and I loved it. I’m very lucky, because in my family I have many nephews whom I’ve been following all my life—so I’ve been recording a lot of material. On the day we shot the video, I was with my youngest nephew, Tommy, and we were in the swimming pool (I am a little bit obsessed with water). The song was very inspiring for the kind of slowed-down mood, and he actually just jumped in the water and started swimming around. It was like this moment—it looked like he was really listening to the song. Then we played around a little bit with the landscape and I mixed the two moments together, and it came out with a natural mood, like the kid was lost in his own world.
Did you shoot with the intention of making a music video?
I had it in mind when we were listening to the piece. The video was almost done by the time we shot it, in my mind. I knew that I would be in Italy, I knew the landscape, I knew the people, and I knew that it would be perfect for this kind of song. As soon as we were back in New York I couldn’t wait to mix them together.
You’re a photographer by trade. How was the crossover to video?
I’ve been shooting all my life, but I have to say that I use my photography for both painting and video-making. Every time I work in my studio I’m doing a collage of things, a mix of media.
How did your nephews feel about the whole thing?
They love to play and it’s great because they totally forget about the camera. So they kind of just play with me and we used to run like crazy in this giant forest and they just make it fun, so it’s totally natural to work with them.
Nerd question—what kind of camera did you use?
A canon 5D with an underwater thing [laughs]. I was very, very afraid to put the camera inside of it. We tried to close it with tape and glue, and everybody was telling me “You’re crazy for going under the water with the camera!”
Well, it’s a beautiful video.
It’s exciting when someone tells you that about something so personal—like my life and the people i love and the things I really love—and when people get it, it’s magic.
ShareThis
Buy at Insound
Read more: http://www.thefader.com/2010/09/02/qa-with-pax-paloscia-director-of-new-spectre-folk-video/#ixzz0yUQhnUUv
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
New Spectre Folk video Premier!!
The new video for the Spectre Folk song Burning Bridge premiered today on brooklynvegan.com... Check it out here
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Arbitrary Signs Radio Today! Spectre Folk Show!
Hey Everybody,
Tune into Arbitrary Signs radio today: www.newtownradio.com
between 3-5 .. I'll be djing some killer tunes live on the air!
Also.. Come check out the Spectre Folk band this thursday at Union Pool.. Pete, Pete, and Steve will kick out the zone along with Man Benu and Pure Horsehair.
Tune into Arbitrary Signs radio today: www.newtownradio.com
between 3-5 .. I'll be djing some killer tunes live on the air!
Also.. Come check out the Spectre Folk band this thursday at Union Pool.. Pete, Pete, and Steve will kick out the zone along with Man Benu and Pure Horsehair.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Arbitrary Signs Titles Currently Available
 best album cover of the month in Vice (click it and see) |
Devin Gary & Ross is a mind melting three- man music making machine. Four Corners Bounce is their first record. The six tunes on it are full spectrum serving of psychedelia that includes washed out wanderings over well- worn terrain, bold ventures into a candy-col- ored abyss and a snappy title track that you will end up signing in the shower.
Don’t just take it from us. Here’s Father Yod himself, Byron Coley, on the record about the record:
Gary Panter is a bad penny. If he were German, the phrase might be, schlechter pfennig, which is much less euphonimous. So it’s a good thing Gary is no Kraut. But what the fuck is he? A Texan. A famous artist. A writer of songs, poetry and prose. As well as a gifted primitve musician. Thus, in this instance, bad means good, and penny means rennaisance man.
Panter first burst into the public gut in the 1970s with his Jimbo strip in Slash magazine, his design work for Ralph Records, and some really goddamn UGLY commercial art. A few people were also aware he was a musician, although many who discovered him through his first single— “Colahaus”—would deny the word actually applies to what he does.
After his next record, a collaboration with the Residents entitled “Tornader to the Tater,” people began to take his roistering a bit more seri- ously. A Japanese company even let him do a gorgeous bizarro-world country-and-acid LP called Pray for Smurph. That one was so good, people started to realize—hey, he actually is a musician!.
Moving from L.A to Brooklyn, he eventually fell in with the evil genius, Devin Flynn, who widened Panter’s aural palette and also to got him playing somwhere besides closets full of pot smoke. The duo cut a dandy album, Go Outside, then managed to corral the wildly talented Ross Gold- stein into their conspiracy. The results are this new record, and brother, it is a treat. They create miniature brain-damaged nuggets ranging from fake jazz to sloth psych with a nimble touch that’ll make your head squeal with pleasure. Marty Robbins might toss around in his velvet-lined grave
when he hears it, but screw him. All four of your corners will bounce like crazy. Guaranteed.
—Byron Coley, Victoriaville QC 2011
Side B
El Paso Peppermint Patty Meets the
Phantom of the Opera Cat Swim
Side A
4 Corners Loin Green After Donk
About the band
Devin is Devin Flynn, best known as the creator and illustrator behind the very insane Y’all So Stupid, a cartoon that once ran on Super Deluxe. In DGR, he does the drumming and a lot of the singing and more or less plays just about everything. About the same goes for Ross Goldstein—the Ross of the band—except he plays a lot more piano than percussion and in the art zone he does more photography and sign painting than crazy animation. The G in DGR is for guitar, played by Gary Panter, who also blows a little trumpet on this record. Gary’s been blowing minds with his art—paintings, album covers, illustration, comics, set design, light shows—since the late seventies.
For more information, to order records, or just chat about how awesome DGR is, contact Arbitrary honcho
The United Waters lp's have arrived! The new totally solo jam from Brian Sullivan of Mouthus fame is a quiet beautiful masterpiece of loner psych majesty. We went to great lengths to make sure these lp's maintained the pristine tones intended and have been mastered for crystal clarity. Beautiful full color sleeves with artwork by Mary Kidd and inserts with lyrics included. We're very proud of this record. Shipping is free. Get yours today!ASCS008 Magik Markers "Isolated from Exterior Time" Cassette... get some basement clues to the Markers new direction... 60 minums long
AS LP 003 Spectre Folk "Compass Blanket Lantern Mojo" Psych lushness miraculously recorded in a home studio while looking after a 3 month old. Close to my heart. Not many left:
AS LP 002 Magik Markers "BOSS" Recorded in the cavernous confines of Echo Canyon West with Sonic Youth maestro Lee Ranaldo running the boards. Screen printed covers WITH ORIGINAL POSTER INSIDE
Magik Markers/Sic Alps split lp Yik Yak recs
Not and Arbitrary release.. but a burner for sure.. Good old Steve Lowenthal at Swingset says it's his fave Markers release to date.. Mike Wolf said it sounds like Yeti.. WE'LL TAKE IT!
Spectre Folk s/t cd on 3 Lobed
Early Bushwick 4 track recordings from the s.f. Got a birds cover and still has that dirt porch vibe. Nice little package from 3 lobes.
Spectre Folk "Sparking Age" Cassette
latest Spectre cassette in stunning mono. Get a clue to the new zoo.
Please feel free to inquire about any past Arbitrary Signs releases that you don't see listed with me: petenolan@hotmail.com ..
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Spectre Folk Union Pool 8/19 + MV EE review at TMT
This gig is happening on the 19th.. It's a record release for our friend Bentley's band Man Benu. Should be a rad night.
Also.. check out Jeff Roesgen's review of the latest Arbitrary Signs release from Tiny Mix Tapes:
MV & EE
Liberty Rose
STYLES: experimental/minimal blues, sparse psychedelic jam
OTHERS: Spectre Folk, Pink Floyd, Wooden Wand/Vanishing Voice
Beaming down from the cosmos to a transmitter in some desolate place west of the Appalachian Mountains comes Liberty Rose, the new LP from Brattleboro, Vermont’s prolific duo/collective MV & EE. Noted for their ability to assemble both musicians and noises into dense, reverb-laden compositions, Matt Valentine and Erika Elder’s music describes the companionship between human-modified sound and nature’s own silence and echoes. Aptly split into two suites of equal running length, Liberty Rose, like most of the duo’s discography, hearkens back to the days of Scott Walker and Pink Floyd’s explorations into music’s atmospheric qualities, making it a perfect fit for Arbitrary Signs’ vinyl- and cassette-only release format.
With the air of dissonance that’s common throughout their discography, MV & EE capture well the state of being lost. Rather than forging through the anxiety and helplessness that this state offers, however, the band lavishes in its adventurousness and liberation. Unlike previous recordings, which feel dense and stratified, Liberty Rose is open and sparse: the difference between being lost in the woods of Appalachia and in the deserts of the Southwest. “Right to Dry" — an abstract, shimmering piece of reverb devoid of both structure and vocals — descends like stray noise into a transmitter. The absence of percussion sets the raga-infused tone for what’s to follow. “Flow My Ray” and “Crow Jane Environs,” which will be recognizable to fans, are electrified blues drones that aspire toward melodies amid distant, twangy whines and indistinguishable vocals. These voices are mere whispers moving across the sound plane, as much an instrument as the amplified strings that surround it.
Suite two (side two), which is largely acoustic, relies more solidly on songwriting. “Death is My Friend” is an acknowledgment of the spiritual realm. Drawing macabre incarnations of seemingly Buddhist and Gnostic notions of transcendence, Elder eerily mutters, “When you’re a man/ You’re a lonely man/ Your body’s frail/ When you die you’re a holy man/ Your poetry’s better then.”Distracting from the hazy exuberance of the album is its meatiest piece, “Out in Space,” which ultimately feels uncertain as to whether it should act as a companion to “Death is My Friend” or go to venture off again. The album concludes perfectly with “Streams,” which finds a lonesome, pretty, finger-picked acoustic guitar dissolve away into the slow, electrified echoes and then silence.
Liberty Rose will deliver listeners to a remarkably different place than most MV & EE recordings. Lacking the psychedelic, collective-driven euphoria of Barn Nova (2009) or the cosmic folk of Green Blues (2007), this new album reaches slowly inward and outward at the same time, connecting distant echoes with our own utterances and creeping notes with our own synapses.
01. Right to Dry
02. Flow My Ray
03. Crow Jane Environs
04. Death is My Friend
05. Out in Space
06. Streams
Friday, July 16, 2010
MV & EE, Spectre Folk, Kuupuu, Herbcraft live from Shea Stadium JULY 24
MV & EE
SPECTRE FOLK
KUUPUU (FINLAND)
HERBCRAFT
SATURDAY JULY 24TH
SHEA STADIUM
20 MEADOW STREET, BROOKLYN, NY 11206
PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE ARBITRARY SIGNS PREMIER OF THE NEW ALBUM BY MV & EE ENTITLED "LIBERTY ROSE"! SHARING THE BILL WITH THE MELLIFLUOUS AND EUPHORIC DUO TONIGHT WILL BE SPECTRE FOLK(FEATURING THE COMBINED MIDWEST MINDS OF PETE NOLAN, PETER MEEHAN, AND STEVE SHELLEY) WWW.MYSPACE.COM/SPECTREFLUX A RARE PERFORMANCE BY FINNISH FREE FOLK LUMINARY KUUPUU www.myspace.com/kuupuu AND MAINE ISH BOYS HERBCRAFT www.myspace.com/herbearthcraft. IT WILL BE A NIGHT TO REMEMBER! DON'T MISS IT!
Friday, July 2, 2010
MV & EE, Liberty Rose ASLP 004
Arbitrary Signs is turbo stoked to announce the August 1st release of “Liberty Rose” the brand new lp by contemporary psychic blues visionaries MV & EE.
The duo spent 40 days and 40 nights under the twisted trees and endless sky of the Mojave desert via a Vermont homestead, freedom and unity. Thats where these songs were unformed in dreams, floating off to mingle with the collective unconscious of coyotes and rattlesnakes, before they were re-birthed as smoke signals channeled through shaky hands, an old tele, germanium transistors and a bucket brigade. We at Arbitrary Signs feel that this is the purest distillation of the MV & EE
“ S P E C T R A S O U N D ” to date. Embedded within the grooves of this record are 6 streams to dip into as respite from the punishing rays of the hot summer sun.
A side:
Right to Dry
Flow My Ray
Crow Jane Environs
B side:
Death Is My Friend
*Out In Space
*Streams
* special guest Doc Dunn
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
what's he thinking this week?
Seems like a couple other folks have been telling different versions of the same story as me... 1st is this dude... the next is my bandmate Peter bloggin on the NYTIMES... Nice going fellas!
Also.. check out this new movie by Spectre Folk logo designer Julien Langendorff
Elisa hipped me to Brother JT's tv show.. it's hilarious:
Also.. check out this new movie by Spectre Folk logo designer Julien Langendorff
Monday, June 21, 2010
eat em and weep... Spectre Folk Cali tour
Here's a rundown on events and foodings that have taken place in the last few weeks.
Day 1.. Frankie's 457 Book release party
Kicked if off with a Cheeseburger from Prime Meats, some kind of IPA. Played an early set with the sf trio of Peter, Pete, and Steve... good blasting... had several complementary meat balls and more beer.. then split as the Chris Robinson/Vetiver funk experience did their thing.
Day 2.. Day off in San Jose.. had Gramma Mariana Tinoco's famous eggplant parmagiana... same one she used to make when she worked as a body guard for Caesar Chavez
(Gramma Tinoco rinsing off the beans)
Day 3 Woodsist fest Henry Miller Library Big Sur.. I don't remember what we ate.. I think it was the staff chicken pasta gruel.. fest was sick.. Peter and I kicked it off duo style at 2.30pm.. cool sun baked zoner style with pre-recorded beats.. Kurt Vile was really good.. Moon Duo was shredding.. only caught a bit of Eat Skull.. their set was way more mellow than the last time I saw them.. but still good and fucked up.. Woods was the most psyched out I've ever seen them get.. and I liked Real Estate way better than I thought I would.. they sounded like a real band or something.. I think they'd been on tour for a month at this point.
Kurt Vile
Woodsist CEO Jeremy Earl
Ripley from Moon DuoDay 4.. Day off in Big Sur.. had a burrito from some joint... Stone IPA with Woods and Kurt Vile at Nepenthe.. Champagne room.. then back to Nepenthe for me and Hannah's b day party. Ate an artichoke that was fucking great and an Ambrosia Cheeseburger that was the best yet while watched the sunset over the pacific. I think I had a few bites of some kind of fruit pie too.. this place rules.
Touring party contemplates how to order breakfast at the Big Sur Inn
Day 5.. the Hemlock S>F. Started the day off with blueberry pancakes at Deetjens Big Sur Inn, then had a Lobster Roll at Phil's in Moss Landing like an hour later. It was fucking good, but maybe a little bit of overkill...saw a seal tho.
Played an early set with some bands that are from a part of the musical universe that I don't understand. Met Michael Tunc who provided me with a portfolio of artwork that will be cropping up in Magik Markers/Arbitrary Signs releases for years to come... Thanks a million Mike! Played the most crunked out Spectre set of the tour.. songs were barely there.. and apparently lil Dusty showed up to bait the crowd..heheh.. Afterwards fell victim to Meehan's notoriety by being taken to new shi shi sf restaurant 'Nopa" which I guess means North of the panhandle.. my poor ass ordered a pile of grilled brocolli that was fucking good.. I also ate some steak that was way good and some flat bread that was ok.. drank wine.. don't remember what kind. Stayed at Dori's.. ended the night with Whiskey and dice.
Day 6.. Woke up at 7 am .. fucking hating life.. Meehan drove most of the way to L.A. Stopped at In and Out for a cheeseburger.. learned about "animal style" and the fact that In and Out gives out hot peppers as happy meal prizes... fucking good. Ate at a killer Mexican restaurant in Santa Barbara.. can't remember the name.. Chille rejenos.. horchatas.. quesadillas etc.. soldiered through a tired ass not zoned set at Synchronicity Space in L.A... Watched Thurston Moore play a charming acoustic solo 12 string set while recounting hanging out with a drunken hippy baiting Siousie soux.. or whatever her name is... Kate Hudson was there.. Hollywood style.
The rest of the trip was filled with Gramma Tinoco's steaks and enchilada's as well as more in and Out's... a red a flight to New York where they made me gate check my Les Paul.. Fuck Virgin (they said due to the high level of musicians that fly with them you now have to buy a seat for your guitar if you want it on the plane).. slept like shit then
Day 7 Cake Shop NYC.. drove Juju to her carny gig in Park Slope.. tried to sleep.. no apetite.. ate some yogurt. Played a duo set with Steve in which I broke my first string on the Les.. Fuck Virgin. Noised it up with octive fuzz wah out of a bassman and tremolo verb style out of a twin.. Steve rocked it like only a master bluesman like Steve Shelley can. Caught Ghost Lady who hail from Michigan.. Killer drummer with dual female vox. Went home and slept forever..
Special thanks to Julien Langendorff for making the killer Spectre Folk logo on the t's..
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Spectre Folk Tour June 2010
on tour this June:
June 10 Frankie's 457 Book Release Brooklyn 8 pm
June 12 Woodsist Fest Henry Miller Library Big Sur CA 2 pm
June 14 Hemlock Tavern San Francisco 6:30 pm
June 15 Synchronicity Space Hollywood CA with Thurston Moore 8 pm
June 10 Frankie's 457 Book Release Brooklyn 8 pm
June 12 Woodsist Fest Henry Miller Library Big Sur CA 2 pm
June 14 Hemlock Tavern San Francisco 6:30 pm
June 15 Synchronicity Space Hollywood CA with Thurston Moore 8 pm
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
TAPES!
Check out these 2 new releases on Arbitrary Signs: Media Dreams
Arbitrary Signs Cassette 07
New full length tape from the deep zone trio of Samara Lubelski, Pete Nolan, and Brian Sullivan.. This band exists for the sole purpose of penetrating the vast unknown and their using the most up to date fire power. Jammage of the highest order.. Recorded live at the legendary Tarpit.
Spectre Folk
"In the Sparkin' Age of the Great White Horse"
Cassette
AS-06
"In the Sparkin' Age of the Great White Horse" is the new cassette
from Spectre Folk, nearly 50 minutes of psych-ish folk-leaning rock
fog that is destined to melt into your dashboard this summer.
The tracks are culled and clipped from the sessions that produced
Spectre Folk’s most recent LP, Compass, Blanket, Lantern, Mojo. Here
in the sparking age, Pete Nolan’s mood seems, lighter and brighter –
there’s less mystic nursery hush and a much more saturated stain of
the pink-orange ice cream colors of a Pacific sunset.
True to form, there are forlorn fingerpickers and some quiet, noisy
stretches that feel like a walk alone in the woods at night, but the
tape also finds Nolan making organic noises with his noisemaking
machinery: a tube amp makes thundercloud sounds on a track that’s got
the hazy warmth of a summer day begging for a rainshower; synths
burble, ominously at first, then dissolve into the a sound like
passing cars on the highway, before a couple guitars, intertwined,
come in at a glacial gallop marching the tape along.
And the albums rockers show Nolan’s increasing comfort with extended
form guitar solos that saunter into and out of wild crescendos and
murky valleys like it’s the easiest, most natural thing in the world
for the music to do.
tracks:
A
1. the follow trees
2. we're here forever
3. storm clouds in my fender
4. I dropped a line
5. suitcase
6. last days of the Binson
7. cash machine
>
B
1. 8 foot wings (now 6 feet longer!)
2. trailers
"In the Sparkin' Age of the Great White Horse"
Cassette
AS-06
"In the Sparkin' Age of the Great White Horse" is the new cassette
from Spectre Folk, nearly 50 minutes of psych-ish folk-leaning rock
fog that is destined to melt into your dashboard this summer.
The tracks are culled and clipped from the sessions that produced
Spectre Folk’s most recent LP, Compass, Blanket, Lantern, Mojo. Here
in the sparking age, Pete Nolan’s mood seems, lighter and brighter –
there’s less mystic nursery hush and a much more saturated stain of
the pink-orange ice cream colors of a Pacific sunset.
True to form, there are forlorn fingerpickers and some quiet, noisy
stretches that feel like a walk alone in the woods at night, but the
tape also finds Nolan making organic noises with his noisemaking
machinery: a tube amp makes thundercloud sounds on a track that’s got
the hazy warmth of a summer day begging for a rainshower; synths
burble, ominously at first, then dissolve into the a sound like
passing cars on the highway, before a couple guitars, intertwined,
come in at a glacial gallop marching the tape along.
And the albums rockers show Nolan’s increasing comfort with extended
form guitar solos that saunter into and out of wild crescendos and
murky valleys like it’s the easiest, most natural thing in the world
for the music to do.
tracks:
A
1. the follow trees
2. we're here forever
3. storm clouds in my fender
4. I dropped a line
5. suitcase
6. last days of the Binson
7. cash machine
>
B
1. 8 foot wings (now 6 feet longer!)
2. trailers
We still have a few Spectre Folk "Compass, Blanket, Lantern, Mojo" lps as well as the delux Magik Markers "BOSS" re-issue lps in stock here at Arbitrary Signs H.Q. Get em while you can!
Order direct from petenolan@hotmail.com for $7 per tape.
Order direct from petenolan@hotmail.com for $7 per tape.
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