Grouper: New songs

Mon 5 Oct 2009

In A Dungeon Without Light

Reigniting memories of her live performance last year in Auckland, Grouper’s new tracks recently added to her myspace page perfectly capture her live persona. Using minimalist guitar chords as a back drop to her whimsical, shady voice, she creates a dark atmosphere, still and lifeless. ‘Hold The Way’ and ‘Vessel’ purr with an emotional instability, focusing on the mind and laying to rest the darkest of secrets. Both sound like lullabies written inside a gloomy dungeon; the type of music that insomniacs use to put their minds to sleep.

Her live show saw her playing in a dark corner lit only by a projector screen that at times barely exposed her face and guitar. She had a passive control over the audience that hushed every corner of the room, making for a very tense, intimate environment. It’s something that comes through in all of her music, if you can imagine yourself surrounded by strangers standing silent in the dark you’ll be able to understand what it was like to be there.

There is no details yet as to whether the songs will appear on any upcoming release, but if you want to purchase some of Grouper’s music then check out her myspace.

Grouper- Disengaged: MP3

Grouper- Heavy Water/ I’d Rather Be Sleeping: MP3

Grouper- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Oregon, Portland, U.S.A
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Explode Into Colors

Sat 26 Sep 2009

Make the hipsters dry heave

Explode Into Colors

The three girls who make up Portland, Oregon-based band Explode Into Colors all bring an intense array of talents to the band. Their sound, punctuated frequently by low, rousing yelps, jazzy, climbing bass lines and continuous looping drum rolls like thunder creates a momentum that’s invigorating. EIC combine a mix of playful melodies the likes of Moron Says What?! with offbeat, eccentric song structures akin to Lightning Bolt and the earthy ambiguity of a tribal African band. They also chant “bombs over Baghdad” in the slowed-down sounding refrain of their song ‘Heat’ over ’60s bass you’re more likely to hear in a WOMEN song.

Claudia Meza (who sings and plays a Danelectro baritone guitar in EIC, which she named Nico) is a freelance graphics and video artist, Lisa Schonberg (drums) is an illustrator and Heather Treadway (melodica, keyboard, percussion) is a fashion designer and dancer with Janet Pants. Claudia recently said in an interview with Under The Dog that EIC was started as a creative vehicle for all of their artistic interests.

Members of EIC have played in other bands including Thunder!Thunder!Thunder!, Hornet Leg and Japanther, and currently Lisa also plays with Kickball and Heather plays in Tender Forever.

NME called EIC’s “arty mechanics and party semantics” the B-52′s lost kraut-core album. They recently released the first two of a set of three 7″s; ‘Eyes Hands Mouth’ b/w ‘Wooden Ghost’ on Kill Rock Stars, ‘Coffins’ b/w ‘Sharpen The Knife’ on M’Lady’s Records and the third, yet to come out, will be on Just For The Hell Of It. Later all the songs from the 7″ series will be released in an EP on CD and vinyl, and following that will be EIC’s first full-length album, to come out on Kill Rock Stars.

Explode Into Colors- Paper (Hot Sax Version): MP3

Explode Into Colors- Sharpen The Knife: MP3

Explode Into Colors- Myspace

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Oregon, Portland, U.S.A
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Gudrun Gut + Grouper & Pumice preview

Tue 3 Mar 2009

A Weird New World: Gudrun Gut

The good folk at Altmusic have some great things coming up as part of the Fringe Festival. In association with the Goethe-Institut, who are also very renowned in the international art scene, Altmusic present Gudrun Gut on March 4 with Disasteradio and Mr Hayday. An early member of Einstürzende Neubauten (a weirdo experimental/industrial group from Berlin), Gudrun Gut plays really cool, spacey indie/electronic laptop pop. An established experimental artist dabbling in new wave/techno/multimedia art/spoken word, Gut was a founding member of Malaria!, Mania D and Matador, and a member of Project Miasma. The Wire magazine described her as a “feminist agitator, festival organiser, entrepreneur. Plus of course musician, performance artist, DJ, radio presenter, club organiser, cultural ambassador and label owner…” I’m really excited to see Gut, who will seemingly fit in well with our own artistic entrepreneurs Disasteradio and Mr Hayday. I’m sure they will produce an intriguing and intelligent show at Cassette #9.

Gudrun Gut – Rock Bottom Riser: MP3

Gudrun Gut – Move Me: MP3

Gudrun Gut – Myspace

Disasteradio – Myspace

Mr Hayday – Myspace

Slowing Solace: Grouper

Also coming up is the Grouper and Pumice show at Whammy Bar on March 12. For those of you outside of Auckland they’re also playing at Happy in Wellington on March 14, St Lukes in Christchurch on March 19 and Chicks Hotel in Dunedin on March 21. Pumice fascinated me when I saw him years ago at the now-defunct Schooner bar, his simultaneous drum kit and guitar playing alone on stage had an eerie, isolated feel, but he was very charismatic in his shy and impersonal kind of way. Grouper is Elizabeth “Liz” Harris from Portland, USA. She plays stunning, simple, ethereal, cold-sounding haunting pop. Touring the states with Animal Collective in May, she’s also collaborated with Xiu Xiu, releasing Creepshow in 2007. Grouper has three albums out, the latest being the Type Records release Drag A Dead Deer Up A Hill. If you enjoy your music slightly surreal and hypnotic, and if you enjoyed the fascinating and lilting experimental bliss of High Places’ recent New Zealand shows, make sure you check out Grouper!