#thomas meluch

[nofatclips]

Memorize by Benoît Pioulard & offthesky from the album Sunder

[stevenvenn]

Benoît Pioulard - Halve (from Eidetic) It’s always great when Benoît Pioulard releases a new album. Loving this one from Eidetic out on Morr Music. Check it out!

[dustedmagazine]

Benoit Pioulard — Eidetic (Morr Music)

Eidetic by Benoît Pioulard

Thomas Meluch has such a specific and distinctive aesthetic that subtle variations within his sound catch the ear. His default setting is an amorphous wash of warbling, nostalgia-drenched tones, punctuated by muffled percussion, plucked nylon-string guitar and his hushed, multi-tracked voice. Patterns begin to emerge in his songwriting methods the more you listen, such as his fondness for introducing tambourine into the right channel to inject energy into a song, or fading a gentle rush of soft-focus bells into a glimmering instrumental. Just as you begin to tune out, the next song might shift a little, introducing a steel-string acoustic or electric guitar to allow the instrumental timbres to brighten in the mix. The sounds themselves are gorgeous, but it’s the ebb and flow of Eidetic that maintains interest.

Meluch has been working in this vein under his Benoit Pioulard moniker for the last 15 years or so, and he drifts back and forth between instrumental and vocal-led releases. Eidetic offers a pleasing balance of both styles. Though they’re kept to a few minutes each, immersive instrumentals such as “Margaret Murie” and “Where To” feel like they could drift on indefinitely. In contrast, galloping guitar-led tracks such as “Thursday Night” inject a slightly manic early-Animal Collective energy, like being shaken from staring listless at a campfire and swept into a stirring, clapping sing-along. The true outlier is “The Void,” a breezy, beachy sway that momentarily puts one in mind of the retro British summertime sounds of Cliff Richards and the Shadows. Quite a shift from the shadowy, mossy, forest vibes of the rest of the record, but it works. 

After 45 minutes, when Eidetic draws to a close in a blur of tape hiss and bird song, it feels like waking from a dream. Though the album title refers to being able to recall specific mental images in detail, the hazy ambiguity of Benoit Pioulard’s music leaves the listener in a pleasingly disoriented daze. 

Tim Clarke

[yamabra-extra]

BENOÎT PIOULAR / Eidetic

Benoît Pioulard（ベノワ・ピオラール）は、米国のシンガー・ソングライター、マルチインストゥルメンタリスト、作家、さらには写真家でもあるという多彩なアーティスト。Benoît Pioulardという名前はThomas Meluchのペンネームとのことだ。

正直にいって、最近はこういうエレクトロニカ〜アンビエントを聴く機会はめっきり減っているのだが、本作は歌もフューチャーされていてシンガー・ソングライターとしての側面も強く、それ故容易に入りやすい。その部分と彼の作り出す幻想的な音像は、とてもフィットしているように思う。

歌のある曲はギターのサウンドを中心にして、ヴォーカルなしの曲はアトモスフェリックに。どちらも繊細かつ映像的な音像で、落ち着いていて暖かいBenoît Pioulardの歌声が、ざわついた日常を心地よくトランキライズしてくれる。

[ghosted-sound]

PERILS - Flaw by desire path recordings Taken from PERILS - S/T (Pathway010) PERILS is Benoît Pioulard and Kyle Bobby Dunn. Mutual admirers of each other’s work, Thomas Meluch (Benoît Pioulard) and Kyle Dunn (Kyle Bobby Dunn) endeavored to put together a collaborative recording that ruminates on painful realities, disappointments, and transitioning to new homes, in the hopes of finding a coping mechanism to bring them through to the other side. PERILS began auspiciously in 2012 at transitional points in these artists’ lives. Kyle was living in a small town called Belleville, Ontario trying to complete Kyle Bobby Dunn and The Infinite Sadness (Students of Decay) and coming to grips with the fact that this great endeavor was at its end. Given the enormity of the record and the emotionally and physically exhausting process of recording the album, Kyle found himself drained with unforeseen questions and confusions. Working only at night, Kyle immersed himself into this newfound nocturnal work, finding a path in the midst of wondering. Thomas, meanwhile, was in a state of literal transition: uprooting from the UK and relocating to Seattle during the recording process of PERILS. In a state of flux, nearly drowning under the anxieties of living on uncertain ground, Thomas channeled these emotions into musical escapades. Thomas recorded in his spare moments, sending sonic puzzle pieces one by one to Kyle, who would in turn explore the musical sentiments Thomas had shared, adding his own billowing sounds to the seething mix. The ten pieces created for this release are culled from a poutine- and whisky-fueled trudge through the dark corridors of an as-yet undiscovered or possibly imaginary mystic temple. Commencing with the shimmering guitar and tape loops of “Colours Hide My Face,” the album crawls out of the grooves with a slow-churning turmoil, coaxing the listener to embark along its path. The dirge-like guitar clang and vocals of “(Dead in the) Creekbed Blues” could be an 18th century blues standard emitted from a buried radio. On PERILS, Thomas Meluch and Kyle Bobby Dunn lock arms and together chart the upheaval in their lives to bridge the liminal gulf between the once-was and the soon-to-be.

[fixy8ed4xys]

Benoît Pioulard aka Thomas Meluch 

[musicollage]

Benoit Pioulard. The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter, 2016. Kranky. ( Mastered By – Rafael Anton Irisarri )  ~ [ Album Review |   1) Pop Matters  +  2) Exclaim!  + 3) All Music  +  4) Impose Magazine  + 5) Echoes And Dust  ]

1) The peculiar title of Benoît Pioulard’s latest album gives the impression that it could be some kind of best-of collection. It isn’t, but The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter could stand in as a succinct summation of Thomas Meluch’s charismatic melding of dream-folk, field recordings, and sandwashed atmospheres.

The completion of The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter has been trailed by poignant timing and tragic coincidence. Meluch’s first album for Kranky, Précis, was released ten years earlier, nearly to the day. His brother, for whom the record is dedicated, passed away on the same day that it was finished. Listening Matter’s mood is not easily read. Its pleasure and melancholy are both wary. Meluch being a photographer as well, several of his Polaroids serve as the album art. There’s surely some reflection of the music to be drawn from the cover image; a fish eye mirror on a dark weathered wall, offering a detached and bent view of a beautiful day.

Starting with Sonnet in 2015, Benoît Pioulard has let loose an outpouring of ambient releases. There was Stanza, a companion to the Sonnet LP, Stanza II, the Noyaux EP put out by Morr Music, and the tour EP Thine. This past June he released the Radial EP, which featured an ‘interpretation’ of the Aphex Twin song “Stone in Focus”, to help pay for medical bills he incurred breaking his wrist while hiking in the Cascade foothills near North Bend, Washington.

Listening Matter swings back toward the singer-songwriter yin to Meluch’s structure-averse yang, a mode he hasn’t dwelled much in since Hymnal in 2013. Working again with Benoît Pioulard here is Rafael Anton Irisarri, who mastered the album at Black Knoll Studio in New York. Along with being the go-to guy for completing his own music, Irisarri is a composer with whom Meluch collaborates as Orcas. The duo’s stunning, underappreciated second album, Yearling, is a standout in both of their bodies of work.

Opening euphoric gust “Initials B.P.” is both a clearing of the throat and a girding of the loins. Outside the door lay a progression of perils to face down. “Narcologue” wastes no time, cutting into time and distance’s grip on love: "But this freezing of the heart / Is a shameful shuttering born of being apart / With numbness but in command / My senescence proves we hold together like sand”. Addiction lurks in “Layette”, which begins with the admission, “In a matter of time / I’ll slowly burn through my vices / Cos when I level with them / They still put me through my paces”.

The elated melody of the brief but voluble “Anchor as the Muse” belies its sense of futility. Nearly halfway in and there’s still no resolution in sight on “I Walked Into the Blackness and Built a Fire”: “So I will give chase / The back roads are clearer than before / But mist is in pace / And I can’t see the paths anymore”. Not to overstate the point, but after going practically speechless since Sonnet, Meluch has a lot to get off his chest here. He also gives himself a narrow window in which to do it; a baker’s dozen of future-past pop songs etched onto water-warped tape that average in length somewhere in the two-minute range.

Contradictions being key to the album’s balance, it is only natural that Listening Matter’s greatest moment of levity comes wrapped in cataclysm. On “The Sun Is Going to Explode But Whatever It’s OK”, each successive verse is an eloquent capture of a different thought or perspective in the context of the end of it all; a couple of the sentimental kind, but most of the ‘oh well’ variety. “Oh in the great conflagration of the universe / The sun is going to fucking explode/It doesn’t help to block it with your hand / So just tremble with the ruptures in the land”. It’s the “Take It Easy” this generation deserves.

2) Over the past decade-and-a-half, Thomas Meluch (aka Benoît Pioulard) has covered a lot of musical ground. The Washington-via-Michigan producer has averaged a release per year, tackling electronic, ambient, electroacoustic and even shoegaze and folk along the way but on his latest LP, the aptly titled The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter, Meluch has focused on a subject that has seemed to elude him over the years: himself.

According to Pioulard, the album was recorded during a rough period in his life; the 13-track LP tackles such subjects as grief ("I Walked Into a Blackness and Built a Fire"), turmoil ("In-the-Vapor") and self-medication ("Narcologue"). Opening the record off with the bleary and antonymous electronics of "Initials B.P.," Pioulard goes on to fill the album with guitar strums and vulnerable vocal sighs, while distancing himself from his most recent work. Despite the themes covered throughout, tracks like "Defect" and "A Mantle for Charon" sound honourably optimistic and cheery as Pioulard's voice comes off clean, clear and often chatty, akin to the warbling vocals of the Beta Band's Steve Mason.

Surrounded by ambient hiss and faint female backing vocals, The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter shows Pioulard expressing emotion through simple but intensely personal songwriting.

3) Over a decade's worth of albums, Thomas Meluch took Benoît Pioulard's music in such wide-ranging directions that, by the time of Sonnet's expansive ambient instrumentals, it seemed unlikely he'd return to the project's folktronic beginnings. However, he does exactly that with The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter, an album title that hints at coming full circle: if Precis was a concise introduction, then these songs are a poignant summary. Benoît Pioulard's music feels lighter and freer than ever, even as it touches on heavy subject matter. Within half an hour, Meluch reflects on life's impermanence ("Narcologue"), the fleeting comforts of vice ("Layette"), and mortality ("A Mantle for Charon") in ways that give Precis' affecting simplicity a greater depth. On songs such as "Perennial Comforts" and the gorgeous "I Walked into the Blackness and Built a Fire," he couples his flair for atmosphere with lyrical storytelling that paints a more complete picture of his world than ever before. Meluch surrounds these deep dives with ambient pieces that are the mainstay of Benoît Pioulard's work -- the breezy album opener is even called "Initials B.P." -- and the interplay of space and texture is lovely as always on "In-the-Vapor" and the velvety final track, "Ruth." Nevertheless, a voice as expressive as Meluch's should be used as much as possible, and his singing is especially welcome after Sonnet; on the lilting "Like There's Nothing Under You," he says as much with his circling harmonies as he does with his poetic words. Indeed, The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter features some of his catchiest songs in some time, from the shimmering "Anchor as the Muse" to "The Sun Is Going to Explode But Whatever It's OK," a brisk singalong for an end-of-the-world campfire. A tenth anniversary is as good a time as any to take stock, but to Meluch's credit, it doesn't feel like he's revisiting the past merely for nostalgia's sake. Instead, adding the clarity of experience to his early work's atmospheric conciseness only makes The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter all the richer.

4) Musicians often need to assume a persona, giving an alter-identity to better create and perform. Thomas Meluch has been working under such a pseudonym for his solo efforts since 2005, moving deliberately toward his current intersection of folk and ambient electronica. His previous output under his Benoît Pioulard name has often been nebulous and, as with the case of last year’s album Sonnet, voiceless. With the release of The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter, Meluch opens up his expressions both lyrically and via acoustic guitar. With this new effort, he shades his atmospheric music with a humanity that also works as a curative measure for his grief and emotional state.

Listening Matter begins with one of Meluch’s signature drone-based expressions, reminding of the ethereal and isolating moods of Brian Eno. Throughout the album, he uses these quick interims as a respite between vocal sets, seemingly giving himself a breather from his realizations and confessionals. When he does open up, his voice has a calming lilt reminding of many heartfelt troubadours like Nick Drake and Elliot Smith, recalling moments while looking forward. “Narcologue” has a flamenco flair but soothes like a opiate, emulating that painless relief from reality. With the bright outset of single “Anchor and The Muse”, Meluch reaches for balance and awareness in the aftermath of his struggles. Meluch states poignantly that “If you still resent me after everything I’ve done/ Well, then I can’t really blame you, can I?”, owning his faults with a weary finality.

The tracks on The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter rarely last beyond the three minute mark, but the impressions made are distinct and indelible. His production is stark yet sprightly, finding the right moments to add a layer of anodic ambience or environmental hum. The harpsichord produced on “I Walked Into the Blackness and Built a Fire” matches well with an understated gallop as rhythm track, echoing with rich history and a tangible sound. The album’s best track “A Match for Charon” features an uplifting chord progression and swells that creep out gradually bursts through the mix like sunlight. The listener acts almost as an audience member in a theatre, where Meluch’s songs are vignettes to be experienced as well as heard.

That hazy, memorable ambience is a trademark of the music from Chicago-based label Kranky and its impact is easily recognized on the Benoît Pioulard signature. What makes the efforts of Meluch distinct on this LP is his representation of the ebb and flow of life, acting both as the cause and effect of his music. One can perceive Meluch lift the weight off of his shoulders as his songs resonate with individual pain and resilience. This feeling becomes clearer with the knowledge that he lost his brother tragically upon completing this album. With this, Listening Matter is an unmistakable release from a record label committed to a singular sound and an individual effort from a musician still coming to terms with his own art and station in life.

5) Following an excursion of a wholly ambient release, one that truly enveloped the listener into a world that offered intrigue and mystery, composer Thomas Meluch offers his latest work under the Benoît Pioulard moniker. Returning now to his roots of experimental ambient folk, The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter features Meluch taking a step back from his 2015 album of Sonnet, utilizing his incredible range of ambient composition to further push and extenuate his own acoustic-folk musings. The result of it all is an album that that feels strangely familiar and comforting, whilst managing to express many ideas and notions that are certainly different.

Whilst Sonnet emphasized ambient techniques greatly and featured very sparse vocals, The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter instead focuses around Meluch’s own folk notions, all accompanied, pushed, moved and broken up by his own ambient techniques. At the heart of every musical technique, is Meluch himself who examines himself and his own experiences and understanding of troubling times with great examination, using the recording process of The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter as a growing and healing process. Vices, virtues, life and death are all mused upon and expressed by Meluch, all blurred and obscured by ambient washes, as though there’s only so much we’re supposed to see.

There’s a great intrigue following this album and its release. Meluch seems to have spent much of the past two years really turning his gaze into himself, looking at how he views the world and understands it, before turning at introspection outward through the medium of his songs. There’s an incredible fragility to much of the work on the album, whilst also being incredibly headstrong and confident. As a body of work, much of the album seems to jump further ahead than much of Meluch’s work, sounding more concise and direct than the 2015 ambient work of Sonnet or even the more folk-directed 2013 album of Hymnal.

Meluch’s works may sometimes feel a little hard to really tap into at times, especially much of his earlier work which really felt experimental at times. It seems now Meluch has really honed in his incredible range and talents, creating an album that is no doubt experimental, but is also much easier to digest and understand, whilst still being a wonderful album experience that simply achieves everything it has set out to do. It’s arguable that Meluch has created a perfect entry point into his music for those who may be unfamiliar to his unique style, whilst also releasing a work that will really inspire his many lifelong fans.

[theerecoup]

Song Of The Day: Benoît Pioulard, "Moss Detail" We've been a fan of the music of Benoît Pioulard for quite some time now, enjoying the simple, almost naturalist drones and ambient compositions for what they are: simply beautiful music.

[otoradio]

Night Album - 51 :: Lignin Poise (Benoit Pioulard)

На OTO-Radio 51-й выпуск еженедельной программы "Альбом Ночи". Мы послушаем недавний альбом Thomas Meluch, он же Benoit Pioulard. Night Album - 51 :: Lignin Poise (Benoit Pioulard) @ Beacon Sound, 2017 Tracklist 1. Hawk Moth Mirage 2. &c. 3. Same Time Next Year 4. Vesperal 5. On Form 6. Rook 7. Lignin Poise pioulard.com

[thebittersweetdistractor]

BENOIT PIOULARD  “Same Time Next Year”

Thomas Meluch aka Benoit Pioulard has announced “Lignin Poise”, a new album that will drop in September on Beacon Sound. 

I recorded this album during the fall and winter of last year, and it’s thematically meant to trace a path through decay, death, and regeneration over the course of the tracks. My flat/studio is surrounded by deciduous trees (a huge deal for me especially since I live in the heart of the city), so those patterns were right in my face every day while I was recording. Lignin forms the support systems of vascular plants, so the title is intended to convey the posture and temporariness of life in full bloom.

The first taste from the album is a slow-moving, richly textured ambient gem called “Same Time Next Year”. Listen above and pre-order “Lignin Poise” here.

[nofatclips]

Raze II by Benoît Pioulard featuring Caroline Adelaide Shaw

[stevenvenn]

Benoit Pioulard - Upon the Break Arch (from Sonnet) Every time I go back to listen to more of Benoit Pioulard (aka Thomas Meluch) and this album Sonnet, this song always stops me in my tracks. There’s something very cinematic, melancholy, and beautiful about it. It’s got a kind of beatless Boards of Canada charm for me. All of his work is amazing.

[stormyrecords-blog]

new arrivals sept 8th 2017

stormy records13306 michigan avedearborn, mi 48126313-581-9322 always paying cash for used records - always putting great new titles onto the shelves - stop by and see what we have for you! also - new stereo eqpt on the shelvesmarantz receiver model 25 from the 1970s $250technics receiver / amplifier model sa-919 from the 1980s $40ten band sound shaper stereo equalizer ss-115 $100fisher studio standard turn table mt-6360 $100pair of never used jensen cd310 speakers $150 (like new) new arrivals for Sept 8th, 2017items will be in by the early afternoon on friday CULTIVATION First Edition double lp $24.99Featuring tracks by Arthur Colvin, Blair French, Mazri/Imzra, and Windy & Carl. "Cultivation is the brainchild of Jay Rowe and Ross Westerbur. The idea was to have a day in the outdoors to enjoy fresh air, friends, music, meditation, and good food. The day-long event would happen on or around the autumn equinox and feature live music and special musical artifacts released on that day. Past events have included performances and cassette releases by Warren Defever, and Dave Shettler, along with special mixes for Dub Lab Radio. This is the first in a series of vinyl releases that will combine like-minded artists working in the fields of ambient, electronica, and new age musics. All four groups are from the Detroit area and have long histories within the music scene, both locally and globally. Each side represents one artist and a single piece of musical output clocking in at approximately 20 minutes per side. Music for relaxing/healing created by modern sound sculptors. Beautiful gatefold sleeve with a double LP on black vinyl. Comes with download code. One time pressing of 500 copies." AFGHAN WHIGS - Up In It LP (Loser Edition * Color Vinyl w/ Download)   $22.99      * 180 Gram cut from the original master tapes. AFGHAN WHIGS - Uptown Avondale 'MINI-LP' (Loser Edition * Color Vinyl w/ Download)   $22.99       * 1st time on vinyl in the US.  45 rpm 180 gram pressing. AFGHAN WHIGS - Congregation DOUBLE LP (Loser Edition * Color Vinyl w/ Download)   $29.99      * 180 gram 45 rpm pressing cut from the original masters ALICE COLTRANE - World Spirituality Classics 1: The Ecstatic Music of Turiya Al        * DOUBLE LP $31.99  / CD $16.99  / CASSETTE $15.99 BEACHES - Second Of Spring DOUBLE LP  $20.99       * Epic New Double Album from Australian Psych-Rock Icons.   Download included. DEERHOOF - Movntain Moves LP  $19.99       * BLUE SWIRL Color Vinyl.   Download included EMA - Exile In The Outer Ring  LP   $21.99       * RED VINYL Indie Exclusive *   RAFAEL ANTON IRISARRI - Hope And Past Desires 12" EP   $11.99reissue on red vinyl Kirchin, BasilBasil Kirchin Is My Friend LP $29.99An awe-inspiring sampler of the late, great musical polymath's music. From pop punk pop to field recordings, jazz, horror film music, ambient sounds, experimental ideas and all points in between. Many tracks have not been released before. Basil Kirchin was a unique talent. A man brought up as a drummer in the post-war big band era, he soon shunned the sounds of London ballrooms for world travel, marijuana, and spiritual enlightenment. On his return to London in the mid-1960s, he started work on experimental "sound picture music", a direction that led him into horror film music, library music, and eventually, to field recordings. He then developed the idea of slowing down the sounds of bird, insects, animals, autistic children -- anything he recorded in fact -- to reveal the hidden particles of sound that made them up. Mixing this with free jazz improvisation in 1969, he developed a new, peculiar sound that is now known as "ambient". Here, in this unique Trunk Record's sampler, the label offers a fascinating musical glimpse into his world, bringing together work from three decades, plus parts of a long conversation between Jonny Trunk and Basil Kirchin, recorded a few months before Kirchin died. There is unreleased film music, field recordings including autistic children from Schurmatt, music for advertising, the opening of Quantum (JBH 003CD), brilliant mixes of jazz and birds ("Charcoal Sketches"), the newly discovered digital post punk classic "Silicon Chip", plus brilliant and moving homages to his life with Esther, his wife. Together it makes extraordinary listening. All cues mastered and sequenced by Jon Brooks, AKA The Advisory Circle. LARAAJI - Sun Gong LP * CLEAR VINYL Indie Exclusive  $24.99 LARAAJI - Essence/Universe LP  $24.99 LARAAJI - Celestial Music 1978 - 2011 LP  $29.99 MOGWAI - Every Country's Sun  CD    $12.99        Brand New EXCELLENT Mogwai full length!      * LP version delayed until September 22nd PATRICK AND THE BARITONE SAXOPHONE RETINUE, PATSound Advice (2017 Repress) LP  $24.992017 repress of Art Yard's 2015 reissue. Originally released in 1977 by Sun Ra's El Saturn label. Includes printed inner sleeve. As composer, bandleader, and full-time member of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Pat Patrick was a visionary musician whose singular contribution to the jazz tradition has not yet been fully recognized. As well as holding down the baritone spot in the Arkestra for 35 years, Patrick played flute and alto, composed in both jazz and popular idioms, and was a widely respected musician, playing with Duke Ellington, Eric Dolphy, Thelonious Monk, and John Coltrane, with whom he appeared on Africa/Brass (1961). But he is best known for his crucial contributions to key Sun Ra recordings including Angels and Demons at Play (1967), Jazz in Silhouette (1959), and The Nubians of Plutonia (1967), among dozens of others. But as a bandleader, Patrick only released one LP -- the almost mythical Sound Advice, recorded with his Baritone Saxophone Retinue, a unique gathering of baritone saxophone masters including Charles Davis and René McLean. Sound Advice is a deep-hued exploration of this special instrument, a lost masterpiece of Arkestrally-minded Ellingtonia on which higher adepts of the lower cosmic tones are heard in rare conference. Unissued since original release, this unique jazz masterpiece now returns to the limelight. Released in collaboration with the Pat Patrick estate. Remastered and restored sound. Liner notes by scholar and musician Bill Banfield. PHARMAKON - Bestial Burden  $18.99      * Sacred Bones 10 Year Anniversary BRUISE COLORED Vinyl Pressing  Edition of 500. Benoit PioulardLignin Poise LP $23.99After the sold-out cassette release of Stanza / Stanza II on Beacon Sound in 2015 (a co-release with Baro) and 2016's The Benoit Pioulard Listening Matter on Kranky, Seattle's Thomas Meluch returns with a brand new Benoit Pioulard album of ambient bliss. Floating on a plume of pure shoegaze, Lignin Poise conjures nature, specifically the waters and forests of the Cascadia bioregion, as ecstatic reverie. It is a work of deliberate renewal in a time of global tumult. A golden oasis of deep memory open to all seekers; hallucinogenic, like stumbling into one of the verdant. highly-oxygenated upper canyons of the Columbia River Gorge on a late spring morning, soaking in the warm humidity and cool mist. In Tom's own words: "I recorded this album during the fall and winter of last year, and it's thematically meant to trace a path through decay, death, and regeneration over the course of the tracks. My flat/studio is surrounded by deciduous trees (a huge deal for me especially since I live in the heart of the city) so those patterns were right in my face every day while I was recording. Lignin forms the support systems of vascular plants, so the title is intended to convey the posture and temporariness of life in full bloom." PROTOMARTYR - Under Color Of Official Light LP  $16.99       * Restock of their fantastic Hardly Art Debut.  Download Included.    New Album (COLOR VINYL) forthcoming at the end of September PROTOMARTYR - The Agent Intelect LP  $16.99      * Restock of their awesome 2nd album on Hardly Art.   Download Included.   TY SEGAL - Fried Shallots 12" EP   $17.99      * a litle late getting his new EP, but here it is. SHABAZZ PALACES - Quazarz: Born On A Ganster Star LP  $19.99       * SUB POP "LOSER EDITION" Color Vinyl!   Download Included. cd also available $13.99 SHABAZZ PALACES - Quazarz Vs. The Jealous Machines LP  $19.99      * SUB POP "LOSER EDITION" Color Vinyl!   Download Included. cd also available $13.99 Sky Music A Tribute V2 LP+CD $27.99A vinyl-only release of two epic outtakes that didn't make the main album, Sky Music: A Tribute To Terje Rypdal (RCD 2194CD/RLP 3194LP), due to lack of space. Guitarist and composer Terje Rypdal (1947) is probably as close as one gets to a living legend in Norwegian music. Sky Music is a heartfelt celebration of an inspirational artist and truly unique guitarist who hasn't fully received the due credit and recognition he deserves for over 50 years of music making. Initiated by the experimental US guitarist and lifelong Rypdal fan Henry Kaiser, Rune Grammofon put together an all-star band including keyboardist and long-time Rypdal side-kick Ståle Storløkken (Elephant9, Supersilent), bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (Scorch Trio, The Thing), drummer Gard Nilssen (Bushman's Revenge), guitarists Even H. Hermansen (Bushman´s Revenge) and Hedvig Mollestad, Finnish guitarist Raoul Björkenheim (Scorch Trio), and Swedish guitarist Reine Fiske (Dungen). Kaiser also played and produced. The Sky Music project also includes additional contributions from Hans Magnus Ryan (Motorpsycho), Jim O'Rourke, Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, David Torn, and Erik Friedlander. Includes CD. SKY MUSICSky Music: A Tribute To Terje Rypdal 2LP  $33.99Double LP version. Guitarist and composer Terje Rypdal (1947) is probably as close as one gets to a living legend in Norwegian music. He has received a number of awards, including three Norwegian Grammies (Spellemannpris), the last being the honorary award in 2005. Sky Music is a heartfelt celebration of an inspirational artist and truly unique guitarist who hasn't fully received the due credit and recognition he deserves for over 50 years of music making. Initiated by the experimental US guitarist and lifelong Rypdal fan Henry Kaiser, Rune Grammofon put together an all-star band including keyboardist and long-time Rypdal side-kick Ståle Storløkken (Elephant9, Supersilent), bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (Scorch Trio, The Thing), drummer Gard Nilssen (Bushman's Revenge), guitarists Even H. Hermansen (Bushman´s Revenge) and Hedvig Mollestad, Finnish guitarist Raoul Björkenheim (Scorch Trio), and Swedish guitarist Reine Fiske (Dungen). Kaiser also played and produced while Hans Magnus Ryan (Motorpsycho) added bits and pieces and Jim O'Rourke beamed in his exquisite contributions to "Sunrise" from Tokyo. Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, and David Torn delivered their solo interpretations, Cline with the aid of cellist Erik Friedlander. SLOWDIVE - Slowdive LP  $18.99        * Re-stock of their excellent 2017 full length release.   Download included. CHAD VANGAALEN - Light Information LP (Loser Edition * Color Vinyl w/ Download)   $19.99      * POSTER and STICKER included. CHAD VANGAALEN - Infiniheart DOUBLE LP (Color Vinyl w/ Download)   $23.99       * 1st time re-issue of his 2005 release. JOSEF VAN WISSEM & JIM JARMUSCH - The Mystery Of Heaven LP  $18.99        * Sacred Bones 10 Year Anniversary GOLD VINYL Pressing.  Edition of 350. VARIOUS ARTISTS - Secao Ritmica: Instrumental Funk from '70s Brazil CD  $18.99 ZOLA JESUS - Okovi LP  $19.99        * Limited Edition RUST-COLORED Vinyl Pressing.   Download included.   ZOLA JESUS - Stridulum LP  $19.99       * collects the early Zola Jesus EP's 'Stridulum' and 'Valusia' for the first time.   Limited Edition of 500 on ICE VINYL ZOLA JESUS - The Spois LP  $18.99      * Sacred Bones 10 Year Anniversary SMOKE VINYL Pressing.   Limited Edition of 500. cool local detroit happenings!! DETROITSOUND4: Detroit Sound DesignSaturday, September 9th, 8am-6pmA single day conference including panels, presentations, workshops, and an exclusive performance on the Blue Bird Stage. cost is $15 per person    tickets can be purchased through a link on the detroit sound conservancy websitedetroitsound.orgevent taking place at the  CCS Taubman Center, 460 W. Baltimore, Detroit, MI 48202 Upcoming events at Trinosophes Thursday, Sept.7: Friends & Neighbors  (Norway)Friends & Neighbors represents a new generation of bands from the Norwegian jazz-scene. The music can be described as energetic and melodic free jazz inspired by musicians like Ornette Coleman, Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders and John Carter. On their debut album ”No Beat Policy” (2011), Friends & Neighbors created an authentic and acoustic atmosphere that refers back to the political roots of free jazz. Through original and strong compositions, this has resulted in a band sound with strong identity, crystal clear presence and personality. The quintets members can also be heard in bands like Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit, Frode Gjerstad trio, Albatrosh and Cortex. Their second release «Hymn for a Hungry Nation» was received with  4 1/2 out of 5 stars in DownBeat Magazine.   "The spirit behind the phrase suits the quintet beautifully, and in terms of both historical stylistic precedent and a certain, strong and palpable ensemble identity… Call it a neo-"New Thing" sensation" -(Joseph Woodard/DownBeat Magazine) André Roligheten - reeds,  Thomas Johansson - trumpet,  Jon Rune Strøm - double bass,  Tollef Østvang - drums Doors at 8pm; $10 min. Coming Soon9/9: Keir Nueringer9/16: Swell, Gjerstadt, Strom, Nilssen-Love9/19: Hans-Joachim ROEDELIUS! with Hydro Park and Dave Shettler9/22: New Music Detroit's Strange and Beautiful Music opening night with m usic by  Khemia Ensemble,  Juxtatonal: Jocelyn Zelasko and Bryan Hayslett,  YAK,  Joel Peterson (with Lisa Raschiatore clarinet, James Greer viola, Abby Alwin cello),  New Music Detroit (featuring  cellist Una O’Riordan) and  Rebecca Goldberg 10/10: Circuits Des Yeux 10/14: Grails Related 9/23: Trinosophes present Ryan Jewell Duo at night two of Strange and Beautiful Music at The Max M Fisher Music Center . 10/26: Joel Peterson original score to silent classic   Der Golem  at Toledo Museum of Art   EL CLUB UPCOMING SHOWS  (most shows all ages - ticket will say all ages or not)remember - tickets are cash only. this saves us all the service charges!! the spits, screaming females  sat sept 30th $15cold cave sun oct 1st $18joyner lucas mon oct 2nd $12touche amore fri oct 6th $25tokimonsta sat oct 7th $15the bronx tues oct 10th $17algiers fri oct 20th $13giraffage sun nov 5th $17kelela tues nov 7th $20parquet courts thurs nov 16th $17daniel ceasar sun nov 19th $15 MARBLE BAR (all shows 18 and over) tops fri sept 22nd $10nude party tues oct 10th $5pickwick thurs oct 12th $12grails sat oct 14th $13cults sat oct 21st $19hoop sun oct 22nd $5bully wed nov 8th $15shy girls thur nov 9th $13cold specks wed nov 29th $10 ASSEMBLE SOUND (18 and over) the blow, ema fri nov 17th $13

[bandcampsnoop]

11/12/16.

I’ve listened to the 4 tracks available on Bandcamp for this release several times.  I knew I wanted to post about this album last week, but I just didn’t know what to say about it.  I’m sure Benoît Pioulard would take that as a compliment. 

This can be quiet, hushed, indie folk - but actually I think that label does a disservice to this release.  Think about a weird amalgamation of The Clientele, Jens Lekman and Sufjan Stevens.  Then throw in the vibe of Ed Askew and C.Strøm .  I really haven’t done this justice - Benoît Pioulard is in a league all his own.

This is self-released.  Benoît Pioulard will sign your vinyl (and probably include a leaf from his front yard).

Benoît Pioulard is the alias of Seattle based musician Thomas Meluch.

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Benoît Pioulard

Dusted has been following the music of Thomas Meluch for close to a decade now, starting with his 2006 Kranky debut, Precis. Since that time, Meluch has recorded something like ten full-lengths as Benoît Pioulard. Two more, recorded with Rafael Anton Irisarri, were released on Morr Music in 2012 and 2014, under the Orcas house name. While Dusted’s Brandon Bussolini was once able to write that “Thomas Meluch sounds more like a singer-songwriter than most of his Kranky labelmates,” last year’s Sonnet saw Pioulard’s more conventional half almost completely driven out, leaving, as Ian Mathers noted, “an album that���s more reminiscent of the wavering radiance of early Eluvium and the kaleidoscopic, weathered memoryscapes of Boards of Canada.” A new album, titled The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter, is due out on October 14th. As it veers back in the direction of his vocal work, Meluch assembled a list of quotes for this week’s Listed, tapping everything from Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon’s most famous (and excellent) creation to the poetry of the 13th century’s most famous poet to the wisdom of a close friend.

TEN SETS OF WORDS THAT GOVERN MY EVERY DAY

I have my dad to thank for a lifelong love of words, puns, pithy quotes and the like, and since I always end up talking about music for pieces like this I figured it was time to drag out some of my favorite lines ever penned or spoken. Or, at least, the few that cross my mind most regularly and with the greatest relevance:

“Be excellent to each other.” – Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

“Now was right then / When it was / And here it comes again / Right then” – Mason Williams, Flavors (1970)

“Maybe you are searching among the branches, for what only appears in the roots.” – Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī

“Life is great; without it, you’d be dead.” – Gummo (1997)

“You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.” – Alan Watts

“Boy, if I could sing a song like that… I mean, if I could sing a song about the way I feel right now... It’d be a hit.” – Martin Sheen as Kit Carruthers, Badlands  (1973)

“It doesn’t matter.” / “Nobody is thinking about you.” – Roger Rosenblatt, Rules for Aging (2000)

“Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent.” – Jim Jarmusch

“Be good.” – Windy Weber, at the end of every email we’ve ever exchanged

[justice-nugget]

For my first post here on tumblr I wanted to highlight the work of Seattle-native Thomas Meluch. Working under the name Benoît Pioulard, Meluch recently released a wonderful ambient experimental album titled Sonnet, which I highly recommend you go check out as soon as possible. I love the recent trend of lo-fi tape recordings and this one is right up there. 

The album overall is very dreamy and relaxing. When I sit down to listen to music for the first time I like to close my eyes and pick out the different noises and sounds that comprise a given album, and this one has a lot to listen to. The subtle background noises go quite deep in these tracks. My URL is “aural textures” so I know people are going to find it funny when I overuse the word “texture,” but if there’s one thing this album has it’s texture. Soft pads, harsh chords, gentle rumbles, distortion, calmness, this album has it all.

As I mentioned, this album is a lo-fi listening experience but don’t think that means the album doesn’t have depth. Tracks like The Gilded Fear that Guides the Flow, Upon the Break Arch, The Very Edge of its Flow, and And Relent have a beautiful stereo image. Definitely one of my favorite albums so far this year. I’m very much looking forward to the next Benoît Pioulard release.