‘Drones and Piles’ emerged as a reinterpreted live version #13 of a composition from ‘Drones and Drolls’, with 12 previous versions first appearing on the concept album ‘Le Batteur Est Le Meilleur Ami Du Musicien’ by Piles drummer Guigou Chevenier.
Based in the French cities of Nancy and Avignon, Piles is comprised of Guigou Chevenier (Etron Fou Leloublan, Volapük), Anthony Laguerre (Filiamotsa, Club Cactus, Myotis), and Michel Deltruc (Isle-Adam 95, NAJA Nancy Jazz Action). In 2016, Chevenier had the idea for Piles to continue his musical work with experimental trio ‘Les Batteries’ between 1985 and 2000. This drum trio also involved British drummer Charles Hayward and American drummer Rick Brown. Piles’ three drummers have long and rich careers.
‘Una Volta’ is a knock-out record of eight drum sound compositions, revealing secrets of the universe that are written in light. Abstract instrumental, this collection of tracks was created by three friends who teamed up especially for this recording.
Piles’ sound is a free fall into the universe of energetic beats, rhythm, dynamics, repetition of the unexpected. It is an adventure that reveals the hidden depths of their sound spectrum of acoustic drums.
Piles’ drumming is shaped by their individual musical roads by life, architecture, landscapes, nature, politics, film, art, dance and theater. By seeing and hearing the rhythm in all that surrounds us. Taking inspiration from krautrock, free jazz, and improv, they are also influenced by Can, Dave Grohl, Arvo Part, Drumbo (of Captain Beefheart), Robert Wyatt, Abe Cunningham, Jimmy Chamberlain, Jon Theodore, Joe Baron and many others.
Piles ‘Una Volta’ CD is accompanied by a 32-page booklet based on the graphic stop-motion video ‘Drones and Piles’, created by graphic artist Bas Mantel. The visuals were created to the music in the same way the scenes of Eisenstein’s1938 film ‘Alexandre Nevski’ was directed totally based on the rhythm of the music of Sergei Prokofiev.
The rhythmic and fragmentary style of the black and white images exposes the art of dance with Lettraset, dots-dots-dots, molecules transmitting life and death, cells constructing shapes and graphic radiowaves translated into frequencies and velocity, repetition in electromagnetic patterns, and the isolation of getting lost in outer space.
Like Piles’ drum-based sound, these graphic designs are frightening, direct, loud/quiet, raw, layered, fragmentary, abstract and experimental. REV. Lab founder Bas Mantel felt Piles would be a perfect fit for the REV. Lab. series, released jointly with Aagoo Records.
‘Una Volta’ is a limited release of 300 copies, including a CD with book carefully packed in a semi-transparent glassine bag. As of September 21, it will be available via online stores and streaming platforms, but can already be ordered from Aagoo Records’ website and digitally via Bandcamp.
LINKS:
http://www.revlaboratories.com
https://www.facebook.com/revlabrecords
https://revlabrecords.bandcamp.com
https://www.soundcloud.com/revlab
https://www.vimeo.com/revlab
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCorO-e4Y06ICQ67dhV6LsNA
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Modesty Blaise – Girls Just Wanna Dance
Modesty Blaise has released their new video for the track titled ‘Girls Just Wanna Dance’. That quirky, almost show tune shtick vibe about is what catches the ears and opens the eyes. This song is catchy. And I mean catchy in a stuck in your head fashion. This is a good thing, trust me. Partly because Modesty Blaise will put a smile on your face. And the story-tell factor of the video adds punch to the punchline and puts some stammer in your step.
As of February 5, ‘Girls Just Wanna Dance’ is available digitally everywhere, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. ‘The Modesty Blaise’ album will be released on March 26 by from Lo-Fi to Disco! and distributed by Broken Silence (for Europe), Shellshock (for the UK), and Tedium House – Revolver USA and Midheaven mailorder (for North America).
ABOUT MODESTY BLAISE
Bristol-based avant indiepop outfit Modesty Blaise has announced that the impending release of a new album via German label From Lo-Fi to Disco! A baroque pop collection titled ‘The Modesty Blaise’, this is the band’s third studio album and their first LP in 20 years since releasing their head-turning ‘Melancholia’ LP (2001), featuring hit single ‘Carol Mountain’.
Ahead of this, they present the lead single ‘Girls Just Wanna Dance’, a perfect orchestral pop song and live favorite singalong that is more Music Hall than Dance Hall. A longtime set closer, ‘Blaise fans have been crying out for it to be recorded and here it finally is. You can bounce around your own kitchen to it and rip your own sink out just for fun.
This new release was preceded by a string of singles, including ‘Natalie Vendredi’ with its endearing nouvelle vague video, which will also be included on the album.
Modesty Blaise has been around for a few decades in various guises. After forming in late 1993, the band quickly recorded their debut single ‘Christina Terrace’ with the esteemed Edwyn Collins at the helm, garnering them immediate success with a live appearance on ITV and inclusion among many many end-of-year top music rankings. This acclaim however was not enough to quell the kind of internecine warfare that Modesty Blaise has become famous for.
After ‘Melancholia’, the band faced one delay after another with line-up changes and deteriorating personal circumstances. An all-too-familiar spiral, the years went by slowly but, no matter how bad it got, Jonny still had his guitars in his mum’s attic.
“When everyone else was in their bedrooms working on guitar solos and dreaming of being a rock god, I was reading biographies of Cole Porter and listening to Gershwin and Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin. I try to write concise things, with deliberate moves away from that where necessary,” says frontman and songwriter Jonny Collins.
“Melody, arrangement and counter melodies… The 3-minute pop single is, I’d contest, the summit of great art. It is timeless, and we consistently get it wrong confusing art with commerce. If your art (or your pop record) sounds like today, it may sound like yesterday pretty soon. Pop iconoclasm”.
Oher career highlights include supporting Robbie Williams at London’s O2 Arena, inclusion in a Rough Trade compilation, an ITV company documentary on Jonny Collins, and a BBC Radio session involving seventeen people.
LINKS:
https://www.modestyblaise.net
https://modestyblaiseuk.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/themodestyblaise
https://www.instagram.com/modestyblaiseuk
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4lnNm8g0IYG9H90ZIzsOZw/videos -
The Stirrings – Start A Riot
The Stirring has premiered their new video for the track titled ‘Start A Riot’. With the flare of artists and the grit of starving artists, The Stirring gives a subtly emotional guitar driven stomp to kick off the new year with guided angst and creative direction.
ABOUT THE STIRRINGS
An experimental rock band with pop structures and a sound reminiscent of shoegaze, with an emphasis on noise, drones, and distorted soundscapes.
The band was formed in early 2018, and is composed of producer Raúl Galán Berlanga -synths- (Nibble), Juan Pérez Marina -guitar- (Leone, Sangre Fácil, L’Exotighost, Corcobado) and New York musician, Ryan Louis Bradley -bass and voice- (Fearless Sons).
LINKS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgSxCUkXYEY
https://thestirrings.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/thestirrings.band
