Subscribe
now to receive all the new
music
Keith Fullerton Whitman creates,
including this release
and 73 back-catalog releases,
delivered instantly to you via the Bandcamp app for iOS and Android.
You’ll also get access to
subscriber-only
exclusives.
Learn more.
Since moving to Australia in late 2015, every year, on my birthday, I tend to realize an edition of some sort on Broken-Music's in-house label Industrial Abbotsford; last year was the run of 25 hand-cut copies of the "Halle (Salle)" LP, and this it's a six-disc set of "Automatic" synthesizer works entitled "Late Monoliths, 2011-2013."
The pieces on this set all use the same methodology; a particular combination of elements specific to the Hybrid Digital-Analogue setup I've been slowly refining over the past 15 years was dialed in, set in play, then captured over the course of roughly an hour, with little to no intervention. All of the sounds originate from within the system itself, and were subjected only to subtle augmentation in the mixing & mastering stages.
Of the scores of recordings made during this stretch, these six were chosen as they show a clear progression from rather ecclesiastic, melodic forms - the first three discs - into more challenging material. As a general guide, I recommend listening to one disc, once a week, during an hour that you put aside for listening. In the traditional of Indian Carnatic music, the first three discs are more "morning" appropriate, and can be heard at a moderate level - the last three are more "evening" and are best given a little more volume. In no way is there an emphasis on chronology, other than that the pieces are presented in the order they were recorded; feel free to mix & match, and in fact disregard pieces that you favor less.
If you see a pattern emerging here it's because you're familiar with Douglas Leedy's seminal "Entropical Paradise" set, on which this enterprise is loosely based; I have been scheming for decades to riff on this exact modus, this is the eventual result. I'm normally not one for dedications, but I feel compelled to invoke the memory of Richard Lainhart, who ushered words of kindness and encouragement on several occasions when I was absolutely ready to throw in the towel right around the time these were being laid to tape; that and the fact that his 1974 piece "White Night" was- and is a clear influence on how these pieces took shape. RIP Richard.
The latest U-Udios release is an electro-acoustic exploration of rhythm and atmosphere featuring Pissed Jeans' drummer Sean McGuinness. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 24, 2020
MinaeMinae, from Germany, make psychedelic electronic music with a dense collage of sound and giddy, skittering beats. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 22, 2020
supported by 84 fans who also own “Late Monoliths, 2011-2013”
So soothing! So ominous. A warning siren for someone, but not you. This is a drone I can return to endlessly, knowing that it will calm me and give me some focus. Mister Meows