Magik Markers DBA Brooklyn Feb 18, 2012

United Waters Pitchforked by Six Organs Chaz

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Ben Chasny

Top Albums

Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang:Aestuarium [Editions Mego/Ideologic Organ]: Polyphony is overrated. All you need is an incredibly beautiful voice singing with a majestically in tune viola, playing the same notes, melting into each other-- that can sustain you through a whole sitting. This is a reissue of a CD originally released in 2005 by two of the more higher minded musicians living in America today. Aestuarium is the most beautiful record I heard in 2011.

United Waters: Your First Ever River[Arbitrary Signs]: Brian from Mouthus goes solo with the densest pop record of the year. Maybe it doesn't sound so pop on first listen but dig in a little further. In fact, the titles of the songs themselves invite the act of digging-- "My Geology I-IV", "Platetectonics", etc. Listen to those drums. That is some straight up Tusk-era Mac rhythm going on. The only thing is the whole record sounds like it's gurgling and bubbling from a newly dug well in a lost valley.

Jakob Olausson: Morning & Sunrise [De Stijl]: Our loner psych-folk hero returns after the masterful Moonlight Farm record that was released a few years ago. It's the morning now and Jacob has had a little coffee. He's waking up with a few rockin' tracks. He still can't help drinking a whole bottle of Robo before he sits down to record, though. These are rural cough syrup jams where you feel stoned-to-the-bone just listening to them-- the kind of music that makes you wish you were in a hospital bed with a drip of codeine just so could properly get into the mood. There's something about the way Jakob constructs vocal melodies over a soup of melting instruments that blows everyone else out of the water. Total fist in the air positivity, if only you had the strength to raise your arm.

Kourosh Yaghmaei: Back From the Brink [Now-Again]: Heavy and soulful Iranian psych from the 70s. Insanely gorgeous booklet and 3 Lps of jams that range from piano tinged ethereal numbers to more electric guitar scorchers. KIller jams, killer 'stache.

William Tyler: Behold the Spirit [Tompkins Square]: This kid has the moves. The melodies are fluid, the compositions have energy, the playing is varied. This gives me hope for the future of acoustic guitar music. Go see him live if you have the chance. He's a top rate performer of the old school variety.

Originally from Pitchfork

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happy halloween

big snow

United Waters at Shea on THursday

hey... Seems the awesome United Waters band will play this Thursday at Shea Stadium. Don't miss it! Details below.

Apologies for the sudden unavailability of the Devin, Gary, and Ross record. And so soon after the sweet review on the Siltblog! Seems I'm moving to Massachusetts. Nothing against Brooklyn or anything... it's just too crowded for me and my giant baby. Anyway... all outstanding orders are on the way ... and the DGR will be back on the Market in the next month or so..

hey all -

New Monuments United Waters Zaimph Decimus Thursday Dec. 8th Shea Stadium 20 Meadow St. Brooklyn, NY 9pm | $8 | All Ages

Spectre Folk Band ...

Spectre Folk is Pete Nolan, Peter Meehan, Steve Shelley, with Aaron Rosenbloom on tapes and keys and a special guest bass player Bentley Anderson for the Saturday gig at Big Snow and ? for the Monday gig at Death by Audio. Spectre Folk are a good psych rock band from New York. Jammers. Check kem out at Big Snow Buffalo Lodge on 89 Varet St. this Saturday night (the 19th) in good old Brooklyn and again on Monday at Death by Audio in Williamsburg, BK along with a host of other awesome bands... see the flyers for more details.

Spectre Folk is Pete Nolan, Peter Meehan, Steve Shelley, with Aaron Rosenbloom on tapes and keys and a special guest bass player for each of these 2 gigs. Spectre Folk are a good psych rock band from New York. Jammers. Check kem out at Big Snow Buffalo Lodge on 89 Varet St. in good old Brooklyn and again on Monday at Death by Audio in Williamsburg, BK along with a host of other awesome bands... see the flyers for more details.

United Waters Zebulon October 6

Hello,

just got word from the United Waters camp that a rare appearance is happening this sunday at Brooklyn's Zebulon "jazz" club. Don't miss out. Here's the official press release:

hey all

Please join us this Sunday at Zebulon for a special night of music celebrating Barge's new release entitled Loop Current / Raft, to be performed by percussionist Mike Weis. Live sets by United Waters and Koen Holtkamp, as well as DJ sets by the Barge fellas, should make for a pretty fun night. Details below.

Thanks for reading!

-Barge

::

Sunday, November 6th, 9pm

Mike Weis (Barge Recordings)

Koen Holtkamp (Thrill Jockey / Type)

United Waters (Arbitrary Signs)

DJ sets by Ian & Dave from Barge

Zebulon, 258 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn

About the artists:

Mike Weis is no stranger to the American indie / experimental music scene. He's been the percussionist and drummer for the highly respected Chicago outfit Zelienople for the better part of the last decade, and has collaborated with such esteemed underground luminaries as Scott Tuma, The North Sea, Xela (John Twells), and Jasper TX. The compositions on his first solo LP on Barge Recordings entitled Loop Current / Raft breathe a singular vision of percussion as centerpiece to a multi-layered aural canvas. Mike's drums are shrouded in billowy clouds of ambient sound and muted synthetic drones. Tribal rhythms glean in and out of focus as sheets of bells, claves, bowed cymbals, and rattles dance over a hazy backdrop of manipulated field recordings, short wave radio samples, and found sounds.

Listen here.

After several years of focusing predominantly on film and video, Koen Holtkamp (b. 1978 NL) began working with sound in 1997. He co-founded the apestaartje collective / label in 1998 while studying at The Art Institute of Chicago. Holtkamp has released five albums as Mountains (Apestaartje, Catsup Plate, Thrill Jockey), a duo project with Brendon Anderegg as well as several albums under his own name (Type, Thrill Jockey). Holtkamp has shared bills with Fennesz, Loren Connors, James Blackshaw, Tape, Tim Hecker, Oval, Tony Conrad, Supersilent etc., and collaborated with Ben Vida and Chris Forsyth amongst others. His current solo performances utilizes a customized analog / digital performance system which integrates guitar, synthesizer and modular electronics via various strands of processing that communicate via control voltage to create an extremely gradual and hypnotic listening experience. He’s currently finishing a new solo album based on video footage of rivers he shot in upstate New York titled Liquid Light Forms.

Listen here.

United Waters is the solo project from Mouthus guitarist / vocalist Brian Sullivan. The live performance of the material from his debut recording entitledYour First Ever River on the Arbitrary Signs label will include accompaniment by Patrick Cole (Scumbags / Francis) on guitar and Robert Mayson (ex-Grey Daturas) on electronic percussion. Tiny Mix Tapes accurately reviews Your First Ever River: "The album is loaded with this kind of otherworldly flotsam — gurgling vocal manipulations, wooly acoustic guitars, fingerdrumming loops, synthy syringes — barely cohering into songs, but how Sullivan manages to make the stuff so warm and inviting despite everything is a little harder to point at."

Listen here.