Showing posts with label kraak records. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kraak records. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

4-way split Vol. 2 on Kraak Records


Kraak is back at it again on the one year anniversary of their philly elite split with another awesome 4-way with Geordie (sp?) getting you into the mood.
It's amazing to see this government sponsored music festival organization also getting into the 7" game. Seriously, the US needs some government funding for the arts again where people don't examine too closely all the fucked up things they are funding. Maybe there could be an intermediate organization that would get funded and then they would distro the money off the books.
I'm sure there are people in Belgium who think 'Why am I paying a 65% tax to fund a 4 -way split with Ducktails?' Then that crotchety old guy who just had a free heart transplant a few months ago and just woke up from his afternoon nap in the middle of his 10 weeks paid vacation says to himself...'Oh well, those fringes of society need some kind of outlet or they'd be over here throwing dead animals into my pool.'
And he's right, not only would that keep a lot of weirdos in line but everyone on some kind of unemployment insurance could go work for these agencies... then again if Captured Tracks and Woodsist and NNF can exist without that hassle then good for them. I just think how many more could be out there.
Does America just count on the creative numbers game? With so many possibilities happening within both coasts, if it's funded or not we're going to have 10 kraaks hopefully, so there's no reason to fund this stuff. It's going to happen without anyone's help.

Well Kraak has a pretty good model over there, throwing huge festivals with great bands who just happened to end up on that 4 way Philly split...which then spawned their latest 4 way split that includes Ducktails, that's what caught my immediate attention and then I had to check out his side-mate Peaking Lights, based on the myspace stuff it's lots of layered subtle samples. Those hazy loops just wandering all over the place all the way over to a harsh electronic rhumba beat. It's sort of a soundtrack to a 70's horror movie, or long lost electronica speaker testing discs. The dawn of computer music compilations. Alien Radio is pretty self explanatory, lots of glitchy, slow tempo ultra manipulated electronics...sort of Tron on ludes. Kohn, (on Kraak's myspace) keeps with the whole slightly foreign sounding electronics. These aren't state of the art components or recording techniques...they all are a little unearthed and weathered. Appreciating those sounds...and they deserve another chance...at the time they were too new, it was all a novelty...now that no one gives a shit they can be taken seriously by these composers.

P. S.
I was thinking the other day, did Matt of Ducktails decide on that name because it would be a pretty good indication of the bands success? If they ever receive a cease and desist letter then they've gotten big enough. I mean the project is named after a Disney cartoon! He's asking for it! You google Ducktails, and this project comes up!
I'm waiting until he's forced to change his name and the Ducktails ebay stock goes through the roof.

Get it direct from Kraak, or the usual ungovernment funded distros near you.

Kohn/Peaking Lights/Alien Radio/Ducktails - Lune Atroce / Soleil Amer (4 way split 7" on Kraak)

One year after the ‘Meet the Philly elite’ 7” we finally release a fresh 4-way split. This time Köhn and Alien Radio are trancing deep into the history of synthesizer classics while Peaking Lights and Ducktails have a take on their own pop music.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Jack Rose/Kurt Vile/U.S. Girls/Meg Baird-Meet The Philly Elite 7” on Kraak records


This sounds like a pretty amazing 4 way split from Kraak, a label based out of Belgium, apparently they had these four over for a festival and talked them into releasing all exclusive stuff to this single. Kurt Vile, alright, can't wait to hear what weirdo thing he's comitted to wax, U.S. Girls, more super weirdo punk and Jack Rose, can't get enought of his instrumental Fahey influence acoustic. I don't know Meg Baird, but she's from Philly, hence the comp name and must be equally interesting. Can't wait for this one.
I'm also just realizing that they are all from Philly...crazy, way to go PA.

So far I've seen this at Scratch records and Fusetron, kraak is sold out already and the other US distro link they have on their site wasn't working for me.

Kraak says:
Meet The Philly Elite | 7inch
MEG BAIRD/U.S. GIRLS/KURT VILE/JACK ROSE
KRAAK loves Philadelphia. In recent years Marshall Allen, Bardo Pond, Espers, Clockcleaner, Fern Knight and many other artists climbed the KRAAK stage. With some of them we developed a modern internet relationship. As if we were young lovers we decided to fly over to their side of the water for an evening of cheese steaks, Rocky Balboa and live music. On 6th July 2009 KRAAK set up a show at Kung Fu Necktie. The Flemish Primitives met the Philly Elite: Jack Rose, Meg Baird, Kurt Vile and U.S. Girls. To celebrate our love we also pressed this very awesome 7" with four exclusive tracks!

Master finger picker JACK ROSE is the mastodont of Philadelphia. His mix of drone infused raags, bluegrass and acoustic folk is as sweet as a crate of Saison Dupont. "mr. Rose visits Washington D.C" is a live improvisation from the first solo tour Jack did with Six Organs of Admittance and Fürsaxa. It's a raw piece dating from before his debut album.

KURT VILE's hit singles were the big surprise of the most recent Kraak festival. Classic American road pop and nineties melancholia. The dude likes his Duvel cold. "I Wanted Everything" is an amazing new song in the melodic Vile tradition, containing the lyrical one liner of the year "I ain't never going to go to work no more".

U.S. GIRLS is Megan Remy. With a reel-to-reel tapedeck, some delay and distorted vocals she became the Philadelphian queen of ultra lo-fi pop music. Sounds like tunnelvision Kinks after serious car accident caused by too much Orval. With "A day at the races" she delivers the shortest but most mind frying track on this 4-way split.

We never had MEG BAIRD solo on stage here, but we did admire her when she came around with her psych folk friends of Espers. On her own she's pretty much digging in the same zone: sixties folk, traditionals, hippy love and tea OD. "Wave crashed on rocks" is a cover of British eighties rock unit Felt.