2014

Out May 13, 2014

[WATCH] The Official Music Video for "New Teles": 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rpqrTVQ7_k 

2014 sees Mercury Prize nominated rock-jazzers Led Bib celebrate their 10th Anniversary with the release of their fifth studio album, and third for American label Cunieform, 'The People in Your Neighbourhood'. On the same date the band also release a limited edition vinyl album of live music entitled 'The Good Egg,' recorded over two London shows last year. 

Led Bib retains its original line-up of 10 years ago, when the infamous five met at Middlesex University and formed the band for Mark Holub’s university project. The group are bandleader Mark Holub, drums; Pete Grogan, saxophone; Chris Williams, saxophone; Liran Donin, double bass and Toby McLaren keyboards/ piano. Looking back on a decade of music that takes in seven albums, hundreds of live shows and a string of accolades, Led Bib can feel content that they have punched through genre barriers to fly the flag for progressive music in the UK and that they forged a path where a host of new exciting bands would follow. 

Musically, the album is a coming of age of sorts – the pounding grooves are still very much in evidence, but there are more introspective moments too, showing a maturity that only ten years on the road can achieve. The album was recorded under the watchful eye of Grammy winning engineer Richard Woodcraft (Radiohead, Neil Young), with the band using monitors only (no headphones) and the result is more akin to a powerful live show than a studio album, and is perhaps the reason it has such a cinematic sound. 

The album’s title 'The People in Your Neighbourhood' is taken from Holub’s fondness for the Sesame Street sketches of the same name. The concept brought about a curious insight into Led Bib’s fans too, when the band asked ‘pledgers’ to their Kickstarter campaign (the crowd funding campaign which raised funds to make the album) what their occupations were. A fascinating array of jobs ensued and feature in the album’s artwork - from psychotherapist and roofer to philosopher and ad. executive, plus of course fellow musicians and artists.

Led Bib, "New Teles" from 'The People In Your Neighbourhood' (Cuneiform Records)

Out december 8th, 2014 on www.elparaisorecords.com

3rd album from Causa Sui drummer Jakob Skøtt expands his one-man-band experiments into vast new territories. 

Taurus Rising is built from motoric synthesizer arpeggios and heavy duty live drumming. But rather than simply worshipping endless repetition, Skøtt reaches an impressive array of expressions on each of these five mini epics - each song is ALIVE - frequently whirling off track like the wind direction in a sand storm, leading to some mind-altering melodies and rhythms that’ll keep you on your toes. Washed currents of pulsating analogue synthesizer scores, pre-fusion jazz-sensibility and fuzz’ed out electronics all tied together by fevered rhythms.

Jakob Skøtt is the drummer in revered danish experimental psych act Causa Sui and has previously collaborated with artists from Tortoise and Sunburned Hand of the Man. In a number of different outfits he has also released thru esteemed labels such as Morr Music, Ghostly International, Darla Records. Furthermore Jakob has done exclusive live visuals and artworks for Amon Düül II, Earthless, Manual, cult actress Asia Argento as well as The Roadburn Festival.

Taurus Rising is released as a single LP as well as a 2xCD package also containing his previous album Amor Fati. All drums for each albums were improvised in a single afternoon.


Jakob Skøtt: Pleiades (Taurus Rising)

"The brainchild of guitarist Dave Miller, Algernon walks a thin line between melodically driven post-rock and instrumental unconventionality. The quintet, based in Chicago, has drawn comparisons to hometown compatriots Tortoise — thanks to a vibraphone and a few jazz-inflected melodies — but it very much has established its own voice, particularly on Ghost Surveillance, its sophomore album. This album places greater emphasis on synthesizers and sprawling song structures, but at its core is the combination of accessibility and technicality that has defined Miller’s style. Noisy, circular rock riffs transform to tranquil, wandering passages. “Timekiller,” the album’s fourth track, is a beautiful, buoyant number — and one of the band’s best creations to date. As always, the vibraphone work of percussionist Katie Wiegman offers a warm, harmonic accompaniment, but the group’s best-supporting player may be drummer Cory Healey, whose wild fills and drum-and-bass moments imbue Ghost Surveillance with explosive bursts of energy." 
– ALARM (best albums of the week) 

"Algernon draw inspiration from the jazz-tinged post-rock machinations of Tortoise, Chicago's foremost group in the genre. The group's style, however, veers into the louder and noisier elements of rock music. Led by composer/guitarist Dave Miller, Algernon uses two guitars, bass, drums and a vibraphone to combine gorgeous melodies with psychedelic effects and rock beats." 
– Center Stage Chicago 

"Algernon is one of those bands...that is pushing the boundaries of rock...and more to the perimeters. They obviously don't care if it can be pegged to a genre, they only care if it's good, and it is!" 
– Jazz Chicago

Algernon are one of Chicago's fastest rising young bands. All instrumental, they feature a unique line-up of dual guitars, vibes, bass and drums. The band is led by guitarist and composer Dave Miller. The other members of Algernon are second guitarist Toby Summerfield (who also was a member of Larval for many years), vibes player Katie Wiegman, bassist Tom Perona, and drummer Cory Healey. Miller formed Agernon as a way to combine a large number of influences of various types of music he liked in a unique way, without any one of them being the dominant sound. These influences include experimental rock (60s psychedelic rock, Jimi Hendrix, 13th Floor Elevators), kraut-rock (Harmonia, Can and Neu!), post-rock (Tortoise, Isotope 217, Chicago Underground, Godspeed!, Talk Talk) the late 70s art-punk and no-wave scene (Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca) and avant-garde jazz. A very important point about Algernon's music is despite Dave having a strong jazz background, Algernon is not a improvising band. The music that Dave writes for the group is basically wholly scored; there is a very small amount of improvisation and what improvisation there is, is more about atmosphere(s) than about solos. 

Ghost Surveillance is Algernon's third album and is their first on a label able to reach a wider audience. Their music brings a lot of influences together in surprising and entertaining ways. A quick listen to the download sample will show you why we have such great enthusiasm for this band, as they manage to be quite accessible while pushing stylistic boundaries and exploring new paths.

From Within

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