#krankys

[javelinbk]

The Beatles meet Muhammad Ali in Miami, 18th February 1964

[dustedmagazine]

Belong — Realistic IX (Kranky)

Belong’s first album October Language, released way back in 2006 and reissued in 2018, was a humid swirl of beatless, droning guitarscapes, indebted to Christian Fennesz and Tim Hecker. Second album Common Era (2011) changed gear, surging forth through the slate-gray goth of early Cure and Joy Division. And now, on new album Realistic IX, Belong resume their victory lap of laudable influences by drawing primarily on the seminal sound of My Bloody Valentine.

Right from opening cut “Realistic (I’m Still Waiting)” it’s clear this isn’t some ham-fisted homage; if someone told me these were MBV demos, I’d believe them. The chord voicings, the way the guitars are EQed, the wispy indecipherability of the vocals — Michael Jones and Turk Dietrich aren’t just aping the sound, this is the sound, reduced to its merciless essence, a scabrous churn that rarely lets up. On “Difficult Boy,” single “Souvenir,” “Image of Love,” and “Jealousy,” the sound fires up again and again, in various forms of squalling intensity.

Jones and Dieterich know to vary the tempo and timbre across the course of the album to keep things interesting and digestible. Interspersed with the MBV-style tracks are pieces that hark back to the more textural atmospheres of October Language, but backed by a rhythmic pulse that aligns the sound more closely with Gas or The Sight Below. After the relentless opening pair of tracks, “Crucial Years” is a welcome wash of panning static to clear out the eardrums. “Bleach” is an overwhelming firehose of cymbals and crunchy guitar textures that sounds like a field-recording of the ocean, everything clipping in the red. And “AM / PM” closes the album out like a rave and chill-out room have had the wall between them bulldozed. That’s Realistic IX in a nutshell: it brings both the burn and the balm.

Tim Clarke

[musicollage]

Tim Hecker — No Highs. 2023 : Kranky.

[zef-zef]

Tim Hecker - Monotony from: Tim Hecker - No Highs (Kranky, 2023)

[honkowo]

waow im on a roll👍 (more artfight stuff but its eyes this time)

peep my fucked up old man

[disease]

DISORDERED MINDS GROUPER | SHADE, 2021

[kronize]

Kranky Cafe double matcha cake

[iamlisteningto]

Belong’s Realistic IX

[wildoute]

[mymelodic-chapel]

Deerhunter- Cryptograms (Neo-Psychedelia, Experimental Rock, Indie Rock) Released: January 29, 2007 [Kranky] Producer(s): Chris Bishop

[caviarsonoro]

En la isla a veces habitada de lo que somos, hay noches, mañanas y madrugadas en que no necesitamos morir. En ese momento sabemos todo lo que fue y será. El mundo se nos aparece explicado definitivamente y entra en nosotros una gran serenidad, y se dicen las palabras que la significan. Levantamos un puñado de tierra y la apretamos en las manos. Con dulzura. Allí está toda la verdad soportable: el contorno, la voluntad y los límites. Podemos en ese momento decir que somos libres, con la paz y con la sonrisa de quien se reconoce y viajó alrededor del mundo infatigable, porque mordió el alma hasta sus huesos. Liberemos sin apuro la tierra donde ocurren milagros como el agua, la piedra y la raíz. Cada uno de nosotros es en este momento la vida. Que eso nos baste.

De Probablemente alegría, 1985

José Saramago

[bruce-adams]

Brian McBride 1970-2023

I got the word this past Saturday morning, August 26, that Brian McBride has passed. The news was not easy to hear. It was my good fortune to have been working for kranky when Brian and Adam Wiltzie agreed to release Stars of the Lid recording on the label. Before I left the label, I was also lucky enough to promote his solo album, When the Detail Lost its Freedom.

It was my great fortune to have known Brian and spent time with him. In addition to his musical work, Brian was a college debater and coach of great skill and renown in the field. I wonder if the ability to examine and articulate the sides of an issue, so crucial in debate, was reflected in Brian's music - so focused on detail and gesture. I have memories of evening conversations, cats, and half-lit rooms in Chicago when I think of Brian. And now I have the accumulated regrets we sometimes get when someone dies - why didn't I stay in touch? Why didn't I follow up on that unanswered email?

So if you love the music Brian made, drop a line or make a call to a friend you haven't talked to for awhile.

[musicollage]

Labradford — Mi Media Naranja. 1997 : Kranky.

! listen @ Bandcamp ★ buy me a coffee !

[remainsstreet]

Video for “Tongue Shaped Rock” by Christina Vantzou. 

Video by Robert Beatty. 

From the album “No. 5″ out today on Kranky.

[musicandotherdelights]

Daily Listening, Day #1,187 - April 1st, 2023

Album: Ruins (Kranky, 2014)

Artist: Grouper

Genre: Ambient

Track Listing:

"Made Of Metal"

"Clearing"

"Call Across Rooms"

"Labyrinth"

"Lighthouse"

"Holofernes"

"Holding"

"Made Of Air"

Favorite Song: "Call Across Rooms"

[disease]

FEAR OF FLYING BOWERY ELECTRIC [BEAT, 1996]

WE ALL GET USED TO DREAMS THAT USED TO PLEASE WE ALL GET USED TO DREAMS THAT USED TO PLEASE