| $13.44
new to stock as of
june 12th, 2009
threads:
doom
minimalism-drones
modern-composition
modern-psych
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| | | southern lord (usa) #sunn 100 cd sunn o))) “monoliths & dimensions” compact disc - aghartha (17:34)
- big church [megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért] (09:43)
- hunting & gathering (cydonia) (10:02)
- alice (16:21)
| may 2009 release ; impressive outing from an “orchestral” lineup of sunn o))), with regulars stephen o’malley, greg anderson, oren ambarchi, and attila csihar aided by a who’s who of contemporary sound, including deep listening band founder stuart dempster (!?), trombonist julian priester, steve moore, eyvind kang, dylan carlson, cuong vu, daniel menche, joe preston, rex ritter, and dozens more ...
the opener “aghartha” immediately places us in familiar territory as unison slo-mo riff-walls blast us for a good 5 minutes ... but then ensemble begins to rear it’s head ; at first all penderecki-like, then coalescing into a woozy conch-shell pattern under attila’s recitation(s) ... “big church” is a straight-up choral piece, with said buzzsaw guitars offering a rattling foundation under the angelic proceedings ... “hunting & gathering” reminds me of “grimmrobe” era sunn o))), albeit with a nice layering of analogue synths ... and finally “alice” ; were it not for the southern lord catalogue number, i could easily take the striated brass writing & penultimate drone-doom core for something out of the xi / pogus catalogue(s) ...
love that these guys, after a pretty lengthy break there, didn’t just drop “black 2” on us, but instead something much closer to the heart of the matter here @ mms ... beautifully captured long-form sound, taking cues from the 70s/80s west-coast minimalism & modern composition wave & site-specific explorations ... highly recommended !!! |
| | southern lord press release... |
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sunn o)))
monoliths & dimensions
sunn o))) is proud to present their 7th studio album, after 10 years of existence, entitled monoliths & dimensions. the album showcases the core guitar duo - stephen o’malley and greg anderson - incorporating influences from a plethora of guest musicians, bringing the sunn o))) sound to epic new levels. the band also collaborated with composer eyvind kang (notable for his work with john zorn, marc ribot, bill frisell, etc.) on various acoustic ensembles, in addition to the helios fueled electric guitars and basses. key players on the album include australian guitar genius oren ambarchi, enigmatic hungarian vocalist attila csihar (mayhem, tormentor, etc.) and slow music godfather dylan carlson (earth), as well as julian priester (worked with sun ra in the 50s, john coltrane’s african brass band, and herbie hancock’s sextant band) and new-music horn player stuart dempster. there's also an upright bass trio, french & english horns, harp & flute duo, piano, brass, reed & strings ensembles, and a viennese woman's choir led by persian vocal savant jessika kenney.
the album is not "sunn o))) with strings" or "metal meets orchestra" material. the band took an approach concentrating on more of allusion toward the timbre of feedback and the instruments involved, so the piece is really illusory, beautiful and not entirely linear, stating that the end product is "the most musical piece we’ve done, and also the heaviest, powerful and most abstract set of chords we've laid to tape" the album was recorded and mixed by randall dunn & mell dettmer at various points over the last 2 years. as can be expected the packaging for this album is beautiful and appropriately compliments the audio content. jewel case is sheathed by a velum o-card. expansive 24 page booklet with velum cover and specially coated heavy-weight paper. truly a site to behold!
monoliths & dimensions is practice in density, gravity and momentum.
maximum volume yields maximum results. |
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