MIS+RESS, the solo ambient project of Brian Wenckebach, best known as a member of Brooklyn shoegaze darlings Elika and experimental electronica outfit Thee Koukouvaya, is releasing his debut album via Somewherecold Records. This album has also become a 2017 favorite of electronic mastermind and radio host Ulrich Schnauss.
This self-titled 10-track offering is quite remarkable, oscillating between the atmospheric opaque reverie of such bands as Land Observations, the mysterious edge of Michael Brook and Daniel Lanois, and fantastic imagined music boxes for grown-ups.
MIS+RESS is the solo project of musician, artist, mixing and mastering engineer, father, and educator Brian Wenckebach. He has worked with a number of established artists and labels including Showtime Television Networks, Polyvinyl Records, Ulrich Schnauss, Asobi Seksu, Noveller, Thisquietarmy, Dead Leaf Echo and Nadja, and also re-mastered Blind Mr. Jones’ classic album ‘Tatooine’.
Wenckebach first began recording music to analog tape in 1995 and, by the end of the decade, had started to move towards computer sequencing. The Durutti Column, Land Observations, Daniel Lanois and Harold Budd number among his musical influences, along with Loscil, Nils Frahm, William Basinski, Noveller, Rafael Anton Irisarri, Susumu Yokota, and Tim Hecker.
A long-term professional used to the comforts of his work with Electric Blue Studios in Brooklyn, this album marks a departure from the studio setting. It was recorded in Toms River, New Jersey with an electric guitar and four effects pedals in a make-shift studio he set up in his sister-in-law’s abandoned childhood bedroom.
Rather than relying solely on atmosphere and texture, MIS+RESS creates songs with genuine emotional content. They are clever and intricate, dreamy yet broken. They paint a sonic canvas full of gorgeous landscapes, littered with machines languishing in obsolescence. This debut album evokes memories of a past/future you didn’t/won’t have. This is post ambient, instrumental guitar. No frills and no hiding.
“This is much simpler and more direct in the sense that I utilized a very limited palette (simply guitar with a few effects). My other projects have emphasized vocals and electronics and had hundreds of layers,” explains Brian Wenckebach. “Electronics used to feel rebellious to superimpose on shoegaze/dreampop. Now, it is commonplace. The danger is gone. I figured I would go in the opposite direction.”
MIS+RESS’ album is the latest release on Somewherecold Records, whose blossoming collection of dreampop, nugaze and ambient offerings includes albums from Ummagma (Canada-Ukraine) with Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins and Dean Garcia of Curve, The Corrupting Sea (Fort Worth, Texas), The Beremy Jets (Malmo, Sweden), and Yellow6 (Leicester, UK.
This MIS+RESS album is a limited edition with only 100 copies available on CD and 50 on cassette, available exclusively through Somewherecold. They are available for pre-order now via the label’s Bandcamp.
“It’s like opening the gates of heaven, and getting lost in its circular ‘trippyness’ – its optimism, haziness and watery imagery”
– Last Day Deaf“Looking for that late summer ambient guitar album – delivering not only a generous range of delicate tones and scapes, but also a rich palette of actually hummable melodies and sequences? Brian Wenckebach’s new solo record provides exactly that and may establish him as a Chicagoan Vini Reilly- highly recommended!”
– Ulrich Schnauss“Like distant clarion calls hailing through the twilight fog”
– The Sunday Experience“Waves of joy and bubbles of bliss, winds of hope and breaths of truth. MIS+RESS is our new best find. Calming, chakra aligning enlightenment as far as music goes and the fact that it is just a few minutes shows that Wenckebach doesn’t require much time to show that he’s capable of delivering a masterpiece”
– The Record Stache
LINKS:
http://www.facebook.com/mis.plus.ress
http://soundcloud.com/misplusress
http://twitter.com/MisPlusRess
http://misplusressswc.bandcamp.com
http://vimeo.com/misplusress
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The Academy of Sun – The Parts That Need Replacing
Formed in Brighton nine years ago, The Academy of Sun is a four-piece comprised of Nick Hudson (piano, synths, Hammond organ, harmonium, vocals, percussion, synths), Kianna Blue (bass, synths), Guy Brice (guitars) and Ash Babb (drums).
Together, they present dystopian fantastic creations that combine the deeply personal and the poetically arcane. Dark yet buoyant, this is a controlled explosion of psychedelic and dark power pop with atmospheres couched in vast and expansive landscapes and cinematic arrangements.
The video for this single was directed and edited by Nick Hudson with cinematography by Samuel Horn. It features Wolfgang Storm with dinner guests Mark Walter, Gillian Rodgers and TAOS frontman Nick Hudson in what seems to be a red-brushed-culinary spread of grisly delight held in a gothic lair.
“The Parts That Need Replacing’ was written to sate my desire to ‘reconsecrate’ 16th Century Hungarian countess and noblewoman Elisabeth Bathory, whose reputed cannibalism and serial murders were most likely reputation-staining fantasies dreamed up by the church out of institutional jealousy. How could a woman possess such vast wealth and estates AND resist conformity with the church’s ways of being. Same tarring-brush as used on Jeanne D’Arc and Gilles de Rais. Usually, Bathory is immortalized in doom and black metal, so I wanted this reconsecration to take place by feeding these myths, scenarios, and allegations of bloodbaths, black magic, and eternal life into the medium of a hyper-catchy, high-energy pop song,” says Nick Hudson.
“The video, just as the song, alludes to various parts of the Elisabeth Bathory mythos – the alleged bathing in blood to replenish her youth, the cannibalism, the occult, and gnostic preoccupations, the aristocratic sensibilities, etc., whilst also ‘queering’ Bathory by having her played by the 23-year-old musician and artist Wolfgang Storm. The local butchers are getting fairly accustomed to my infrequent but memorable extra-curricular requests for off-cuts. As the song states “the best special effects are those you cannot see”… we shot it in one, fevered, orgiastic and insanely fun day. The dinner sequence was as deranged to shoot as it looks to be in the resultant video.”
Following 2017’s ‘Codex Novena’ LP, a hypnotic, doomy opus that found its way onto both Dangerous Minds and Sweeping The Nation end-of-year lists, ‘The Quiet Earth’ offers a colossal meditation on dystopia, irradiated landscapes and extreme states of human emotion. This 15-track collection of post-punk, chamber ballads and darkly prog studio epos was recorded at Church Road Studios with Paul Pascoe, whose work includes the last 2 albums by Barry Adamson (Magazine / Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds).
Nick Hudson’s musical juggernaut has been active in various incarnations since 2012, always transcending expectations. The Academy Of Sun has collaborated with Massive Attack’s Shara Nelson, members of NYC’s Kayo Dot, David Tibet of Current 93, Asva and Matthew Seligman (Bowie, Tori Amos, Morrissey). Hudson has also collaborated with Wayne Hussey of The Mission, as well as Canadian queercore icon GB Jones.
Known for explosive and psychedelic live shows, The Academy Of Sun has performed in a medieval castle in Italy, a boat on the Thames, an abandoned railway carriage in Offenbach, colossal churches, The London College of Fashion, The Old Market theatre in Brighton, the MS Stubnitz in Hamburg, Brighton Dome, and a string of L.A. shows in 2019. Having toured 3 continents, highlights include appearances with Mogwai, Toby Driver and Keith Abrams from Kayo Dot, and Timba Harris (Mr. Bungle, Amanda Palmer).
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/TheAcademyOfSun
https://nickhudsonindustries.bandcamp.com
https://www.twitter.com/theacademyofsun
https://www.instagram.com/The_Academy_Of_Sun
https://www.youtube.com/user/NickHudsonMusic
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5CxsNgEPz9v8iBgO52VUUd -
Poppymoon – No I Won’t
Poppymoon has today premiered their new single and video titled ‘No I Won’t’. This song is one of those that creeps up behind you and just quietly begins that dance move that entices you to join in. Sabina’s voice is the perfect fit and strength to lead this track into that part of your memory where it becomes a part of you.
While the video is simple it is to the point and past the limit in a signature way. In that way alone I feel that it is the perfect introduction to Poppymoon. Strong yet subtle. Beautiful and boundless. Welcome to the next experience of your life.
ABOUT POPPYMOON
Poppymoon is a German pop duo founded in 2020 by producer djaaaen and singer Sabina. Infusing their sound with elements of their past life in a rock band together, the duo creates a darker pop sound that nonetheless remains groovy as hell. Inspired by their own experiences coming of age in today’s world, their lyrics explore topics around mental health, self-discovery, freedom, and hope.
Sabina and djaaaen started their musical careers early, with Sabina singing ever since she can remember and djaaaen playing various instruments from the time he was six years old. They met in 2011 in a bar when Sabina asked djaaaen, then just a stranger next to her, if he could order her a cocktail. Since she was not of legal age yet, it was a slightly irresponsible decision the duo advise not to copy, but luckily, he obliged. What started as a light criminal act sparked a friendship and a musical partnership for life.
For almost a decade, Sabina and djaaaen wrote and performed music with their band ASHBY, touring Mexico and Germany along with playing gigs all over Europe. In the fall of 2020, amidst a pandemic locking down live music worldwide, the duo decided to indulge their long time love for pop music and form POPPYMOON.
Their first single, “Wanna Play that Game?” was released in September 2020, addressing topics like societal pressure and recognizing your own value against a minimalist pop backdrop that recalled the deft production of Billie Eilish and Dua Lipa. Their second single “Weirdos” followed shortly after and, to start off the new year, the duo announced “Joanie’s Secret” in January and their upcoming single “No, I won’t” in February. Opening on one of the duo’s most driving bass lines and building to a tropical house-indebted climax with Sabina’s commanding vocals guiding the way, “No, I won’t” is an empowering pop anthem tailor-made for a hopeful new year.
“No, I won’t’ embraces the concept of enforcing boundaries and living a life true to yourself without complying with others wishes, projections, and expectations, especially as a female-identifying person,” Sabina says. “Although this song deals with this topic from a female viewpoint, this message stands for everybody.”
LINKS:
http://www.itspoppymoon.com
https://open.spotify.com/artist/31yWm5xJWd4ld6WjI21nI3?si=GSjWsUCWRAWxmMpNcKWH6A
https://instagram.com/itspoppymoon
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDyXHjSbM2RL9_ne4aN-UEw
https://www.tiktok.com/@itspoppymoon -
Those Fantastic Things – Don’t Feel
Those Fantastic Things have dropped their new video for the track titled ‘Don’t Feel’. Paul Donnelly, frontman for Those Fantastic Things, gives a personal reflection on a situation and stays rooted in the realism of said situation; something more of us should do in this day and age. Musically, this is a brilliant retro-styled electro-magical song that is one consistent hook with that pop sensibility that is somewhat lacking today. The instruments become symbiont with the vocals and come together to deliver the message in a way that captures the ears and stimulates the mind.
ABOUT ‘DON’T FEEL’
Packed with John Carpenter-esque synths, razor-sharp drum beats and jangly guitar hooks, Don’t Feel offers a high energy anthem that leaves you wanting more.
Don’t Feel “is about someone close to me going to a psychic, coming back, and telling me all kinds of nonsense I didn’t want to hear. They thought they were helping but couldn’t have been further from it – the future they talked about trapped me” says Paul Donnelly, the man behind ‘Those Fantastic Things.’
Clocking in at 2.46, Don’t Feel doesn’t drop its energy from the moment the drums kick in until the closing beat, keeping your attention until the closing note. The single epitomizes the pop ethic which is reflected throughout the whole album…this is just the beginning for Those Fantastic Things.
LINKS:
http://thosefantasticthings.com
https://www.facebook.com/thosefantasticthings
https://twitter.com/ThoseFantastics
https://www.instagram.com/thosefantasticthings