It was at Brighton Music Hall in Allston, MA show where we first heard Corey J. Brewer. He was one of the two opening acts for almighty Godheadsilo (the other being Bostonians Black Helicopter) and his set got lost amidst all the rock’n’roll thunder.
Its a real shame, since Corey’s back catalog is very much worthy of discovery/exploration – from soundtrack scores to his unique solo LPs (which are highly cinematic in nature as well). Quite a feat for someone that was also a part of hardcore/punk underground for decades!
Now its time for us to present a mix that Corey made for IHN! Its a mix of old and familiar (Nick Cave, KLF, Popol Vuh, Harmonia) and some new names (Children of Alice, Meridian Arc, Tiny Vipers) we’re eager to learn more about!
Tracklist
Children of Alice – Rite of the Maypole (Children Of Alice / Warp Records, 2017)
Children of Alice have been quietly producing amorphous and intoxicating soundscapes as part of the Folklore Tapes collective for a number of years now, beginning in 2013 with Harbinger of Spring on the shared Ornithology release. This poetic conjuration of rebirth and new growth was the first unfurling of post-Broadcast creation from James Cargill, one half of the personal and artistic relationship at the heart of that epochal and increasingly feted band.
The group (or perhaps we should call them a collaborative triad, since they occupy island territory far removed from the familiar shores of rock, though still keeping it in vision on the far horizon) consists of Cargill along with his former bandmate Roj Stevens (who played keyboards in Broadcast) and Julian House, co-founder of Ghost Box records, whose distinctive graphic design work also gives the label its signature look, and hidden prestidigitator behind The Focus Group.
KO SOLO – Dreamer Too (Self Released, 2017)
Kate Olson is an improvising saxophonist and music educator based in Seattle, WA. Since moving to Seattle in 2010, she has done her best to infiltrate the local, regional and international improvised music scenes. She can be heard performing with her own projects KO SOLO and KO ELECTRIC, and as a collaborator with Syrinx Effect, Ask the Ages, the Seattle Rock Orchestra, the Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble and Electric Circus (led by Wayne Horvitz), the Seattle Jazz Composer’s Ensemble and with such Seattle staples as the Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses and cabaret producers Can Can Presents and Verlaine & McCann.
serpentwithfeet – seedless (Soil / Secretly Canadian / Tri Angle, 2018)
serpentwithfeet is an avant-garde vocalist and performance artist whose growing body of work is rooted in dueling obsessions with the ephemeral and the everlasting – key components of his artistic journey from a childhood stint as a choirboy in Baltimore through his time at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he studied vocal performance before relocating to New York City. His forthcoming debut full-length album soil is a return to the sensibilities and wide-eyed curiosity of his musical youth before symmetry and sterile soundscapes ruled the roost.
Harmonia – Watussi (Musik von Harmonia / Brain, 1974)
Popol Vuh – Im Garten Der Gemenschaft (Fitzcarraldo – Original Film Soundtrack / ZYX Records, 1982)
Cruel Diagonals – Disambiguation (Drawing Room Records, 2018)
“Disambiguation” is the first very album from Megan Mitchell and Cruel Diagonals. With this debut, Mitchell delivers a world-without-day of a record that surrounds the listener with rumbling electronic sounds and tones, inventive vocals, and early origin rhythms that penetrate the astral divine in us all. Stunningly high and gorgeously heavy, the album is in complete sync with the lower earth. Listen, listen again, and repeat. It’s best that way.
The Walker Brothers – The Electrician (Nite Flights / EPIC, 1978 / Tizona, 2013)
Knife Knights – Give You Game (1 Time Mirage / Sub Pop, 2018)
Knife Knights were born of the love of mystery. From the start of Shabazz Palaces – the groundbreaking project launched in 2009 by former-Digable Planets leader Ishmael Butler – confidentiality seemed essential: Butler wanted Shabazz Palaces to stand on its own strength, not his outsized reputation, so he adopted a nom de plume for himself. As the project’s network expanded, though, he needed new monikers for his partnerships. Knife Knights is the name he gave to his work with Seattle engineer, producer, songwriter, and film composer Erik Blood, a vital force in the Shabazz Palaces universe.
Tiny Vipers – K.I.S.S. (Laughter / Ba Da Bing, 2017)
Laughter is the fourth EP released by Tiny Vipers. It is the first major solo album released by Tiny Vipers in eight years. Laughter was created by Jesy Fortino while she was at the University of Washington studying civil engineering. It is a departure from previous major solo albums in that it relies mostly on synths and keyboards.
Ben Von Wildenhaus – The Limping Axeman (Great Melodies From Around / Riot Bear Recording, 2011)
Von Wildenhaus is from SEATTLE, WA. Amanda Bloom, vocals. Ben von Wildenhaus, guitar, vocals. Andru Creature, rhythm, contraption, Aaron Harmonson, bass, synth, recordings. Jon Sampson, saxophones, pianos.
The Jaguars – Night Walker (Van Records, ?)
From the Atlanta area, very cool instrumental combo noir with organ mystery vibes, circa ’63 or ’64.
Q Lazarus – Goodbye Horses
KLF – Build a fire
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Life on Mars
Brian Reitzell – Entree (Hannibal Season 1, Volume 1 (Original Television Soundtrack) / Lakeshore Records / Invada, 2014)
Meridian Arc – Sea of Darkness
Plack Blague – Demand More
Blasphemy – Winds of the Black Godz
Diablos – The Wind
Erik Blood – Canon 4: Minutes Become Miles (Canons, Vol. 1 / Self Released, 2014)
Erik Blood creates music that lives in the magic hour. His production is a nuanced secret told only to his co-conspirators (Shabazz Palaces, Moondoggies, THEESatisfaction most notably). After two albums and a film score, Blood is delving further inward, into the dream, and returning with tales and melodies that evoke the warmth between two bodies and the dizziness of love, sex, or other substances
Further Reading on CJB
Northwest Film Forum
City Arts Magazine
Letterboxd
The Stranger
Back Beat Seattle
