Mount Eerie single on Atelier Ciseaux

It's been a while since I got a chance to check in with Atelier Ciseaux Records and see what they've been up to....and right before record store day they put out this Mount Eerie release, it's been a while since hearing anything Phil Elverum....in fact the last thing I can think of was this "Stop Smoking" single, which I have to revisit by the way and Atelier is a perfect place to put out the latest chapter of Mount Eerie.

A-side's "To the Ground" is made up of crazy electronics, which is the logical end game to his progression, Phil's got all of that hands-on clunky lo-fi theory and strategies of working behind him and now that the methods of production have sort of caught up to him you get this real madman sound full of disjointed specks of ideas. These kind of perfect mini-ideas, encapsulated in a single mote or melody, all of this coming together with his melancholy vocal. There's a million different room tones all over this track, from the warm depth of his vocal track, the massive space harmony of a vocal choir, the cheap organ sample from a casio and a roomfull of hands clapping in an isolation booth. The single is a place for ideas, any musician can take notes and extrapolate a million different directions. Truly inspiring recording. Equally as interesting as the intellectual parts of electronic music and influenced by the best parts of homemade, underground rock.

The B-Side, "The Mouth of Sky" shows off a layered synth track which varies between the top shelf strings and the cheap cut off stuff. I swear I'm even hearing the key presses here, his fingers actually pressing down plastic midi keys, that would figure they would have mic'd that process. I wouldn't put it past him to get that meta. The vocal that comes in is robotic and autotuned, a vocal that most likely didn't need any of this 'correction'.... and that's the point maybe, how easily you can 'ruin something that should pretty much be left alone. These midi strings can be good by themselves if you don't try to hide them? There's a lot going on here, all sadness and epic as the Microphones ever were.

For my money Phil hasn't done enough lately, but that makes jewels like this even that much more special when you come across them.

Pick this limited single up from the overseas label Atelier Ciseaux Records.

MOUNT EERIE "TO THE GROUND" 7" (feat. Nicholas Krgovich)/ OUT NOW
I grew up at the foot of a chain of mountains. As a teenager, I dreamed only about the city, about leaving. These mountains were symbols of boredom. It took me time to learn to know them, to appreciate them. The fascination Phil Elverum has for his mountain, Mt. Erie, has probably guided me to them. These days, I always miss those “summits” when I’m away for too long.
Whether it is with The Microphones or MOUNT EERIE, Phil E. has always been part of those who never cease to explore, again and again. His music has eyes. It observes, travels for us. And it is now time to leave, to accompany them through 9 minutes and 16 seconds of this 7" which goes out today on Atelier Ciseaux.
To the ground » is limited to only 300 copies. The artwork was done by Phil E. The digital version is also available on our website.

Ela Orleans / Dirty Beaches "Double Feature" split 12" on Atelier Ciseaux, La Station Radar and Night People Records

Had to mention this split 12", not just because it features Dirty Beaches and Ela Orleans haunting idiosyncratic soundtracks, but that these three cutting edge labels joined forces in releasing this long player. It couldn't be a more perfect union and like all great split efforts, one will lead you to look into the others work...in this case I'd heard Dirty Beaches first a while back on the Italian Beach Babe label and his spaghetti western sound felt related to Deerhunter's subtly changing long form experiments and Suicide's stark futuristic minimalism.
Ela on the A-Side is also working everything ambient and atmospheric from soft tremolo reverb piano, on "Hope Lange"...or is that a guitar? Already this is going to be futile to try to specifically pick out and dissect the various textures and elements, that's the scientist part of the brain, and this is very much coming from that intangible dreamlike place that's better left to the unconscious. "Neverend" is even aligned with something like Ducktails, a real foreign tropical sound, made up of things that shouldn't necessarily be on an island list of typical instrumentation. A steel guitar slide, the heavily muted picked reverb surf melody, the layers of reverb, and high strung tinny plings above the frets, evoking a kind of seagull cry? Or is that a sample. Stop it. It's those mysterious uses of the familiar that continue to carry this into that futuristic place. Her floaty but in focus vocals keep bringing you to that Julee Cruise place, a mix of retro sounding instrumentation and voyeuristically witnessing this personal memory. Ela's "Movies for Ears" site mentions she has participated in BMI's film scoring program and worked with various experimental/noise projects in NYC, and composing a sort of narrative out of seemingly minimal elements is present in instrumental breaks like "Vertigo" where a string synth plays slowly over quiet field recordings, a stand in for our idea of an orchestra, the false promise of that transcendence maybe? It's quickly broken by "In The Night" as close to a pop feel as we're going to get, an uptempo loose feeling barely danceable track. There's a huge sense of distance from this side, everything is always out of reach, turning up the volume just increases the density and overwhelms. Finally "I know" utilizes a demo chord melody from an old Casio SK-1, and that improvisational sounding guitar slides, singing through a field of delay, this one could even be a part of that '60s wall of sound reemergence of the Vivian or Dum Dum Girls sound or the 13th Floor Elevators pop-psyche.

The B-Side from Dirty Beaches gets into "God Speed" a definitively sounding Suicide homage, the mechanical rapid fire drum machine track or sample and a repeated far off guitar pendulum swinging riff and his soulful vocal...a sort of Elvis animatron, constructed out of the samples from the idea of the vibrato rocker, with a lot of important pieces missing. "Crosses" then mines the repetition further with harpsichord strums and a lonesome electric again, like Matt Mondanile, flirting with the Velvet Underground dissonant sounds and neverending structure. The live drum sound here almost missing beats, nodding off alongside deeper plaintive vocals. "Death Valley" goes to his familiar western sounding place, in love with that slow reverb guitar sound, like Neil Young's Dead Man soundtrack, lost on the tiny AM radio, a smaller steam train struggling down the tracks. There's such strong, specific references he's able to draw from, or just arrange. "Don't let the Devil F", has Alex emotively singing over a looped electric strum, a Leonard Cohen vending machine stuck in the back of that wild west bar, with the saloon doors that swing both ways. His attempts at homage always deliberately thwarted by the unnatural sounds. Next there's two pieces tied to New York, "A-Train" and "L-Train", the brush snare rhythm of "A-Train" decidedly creating that chugging away feel, while a massive delay on the guitar creates an eerie, unsettling effect...another reverb warble perfectly in time, not creating any notes, just humming away underneath...this is the stuff of Bladerunner, if I can nerd out for a second here...it's a dark future, maybe the most accurate because it isn't that far away from where we live today, it's not shiny and convenient, things are going to be even older. Are they going to one day replace the entire subway line? No, it's going to be replaced, piece by piece at different times, it's going to have these indecipherable layers of construction. "L-Train" is an even bleaker piece, which makes sense...mostly industrial assembly line machines stamping away, or the clicking of tracks underneath while a loop of an out of sync organ quietly bleats away in the corner. A kafkaesque mass.

Get it from your pick of various local source, Atelier Ciseaux or La Station Radar they'll be combining their catalog soon, if you're over there in Europe or from Night People who says:

Ela Orleans and Alex Zhang Hungtai are long time friends, artistic allies, and adventurous spirits who have both spent lives traveling between different cities, countries, and continents. Through their individual travels and life direction changes both have remained steadfast and dedicated to their own unique visions of musical outlet. The commonalities represented in Double Feature resound in a sense of space and time, a cinematic view of nostalgia. This is not a nostalgia that is trying to re-create the past but an art that seeks to use the presence and power of history to create more content in the present. Ela's lush baroque pop fitted against Alex's electric drifter blues creates for an eclectic but united pairing that serves as a good representation of their long standing creative dialogue and there correspondence as friends.

Dead Gaze on Atelier Ciseaux Records/La Station Radar Records

Just heard from the finger on the pulse folks at Atelier Ciseaux and La Station Radar that after putting out a few joint releases together they have officially merged! Combined they should have some pretty amazing future releases, including this latest from Dead Gaze. I had to go back and listen to that Firetalk one again...so glad Cole is getting more of his work on vinyl...I hope he's got big plans for a full length soon.

I remember talking to him a long time ago and just based on the CD-R he sent alone I wanted to talk to him for the podcast...he was an amazing encyclopedia of music knowledge...turned me onto a bunch of stuff I never heard of....really someone that can absorb a massive amount of various influences and then filter it all into his own dreamy pop aesthetic. Like I imagine Panda Bear sampling from all over the world, it's entire music history and subtly referencing the future at the same time.

The A-Side of this one, 'Somewhere Else' comes out with massive layers of swirly electronics and a solid foundation bassline. An acoustic guitar riff comes in over Cole's warbly phaser'd vocals. There's layers of texture here that sounds like peering through that dusty warped glass window to some kind of Victorian house in the middle of that Andrew Wyeth field. The chimes, strumming and oooo's adding up to more than their parts. A real mystery of gleaming and opaque fidelity, a true craftsman, excavating unusual sounds and them applying them to a patchwork pop.

'Enz' kicks off the B-Side with underwater crackling and ghostly vocals. Loops and repeated unrecognizable sounds slowly changing, gurgling up from the depths. A campfire crackling maybe, slowed down to the point of ring tone, so oversampled it becomes a rhythm. A quiet reprieve between the two journeys into muddy sunshine.

'Fishing with Robert' rounds this up with the straight ahead cool fractured pop that Dead Gaze has ready to pull out at any moment. To combine that washed out shoegaze with a catchy melody, that can sound like The Psychedelic Furs or the Cure all the way to Cloud Nothings and Minks. The textured overblown cymbal crashes and irregular vocals leave out all kinds of spaces for your mind to fill in. That's the most successful pop anti-fi is when things are left up to chance in the interpretation. So dense it calls for multiple listens and even then, it's a near mystery how things come together, I'm sure it's a little like that for Cole because you don't have to force something like this, you almost conjure it up out of thin air.

Go check out the interview from a million years ago, such a cool guy, I'm still kicking myself I wasn't in a place to be able to offer him a single...it's so great there's at least two of them out there now.

By now, you, like I did, have no excuse not to put together an order with Atelier Ciseaux or LSR and spring for the shipping...the Jeans Wilder full length is so great, I put that next to Sore Eros..and it's a good freakout modern psyche block, there's even a few Reading Rainbow/Coasting splits left, I know you wanted the US Girls or Jeans Wilder/Best Coast split...well don't miss out on this one. If you're lucky, convince fusetron or SS Records to import these.

Reading Rainbow / Coasting on Atelier Cisaeux Records

The Workshop Scissors are at it again! Atelier Ciseaux emailed me about this amazing split single from Reading Rainbow out of Philly, whose full length I have to grab from Hozac actually and Coasting from Brooklyn. I've been meaning to listen to both of these guys and that's why I turn to a 7" like this, one of these tracks has to be good. But AC has so far put out an amazing collection of singles from Jeans Wilder (check out their full length at AC also), Terror Bird, US Girls and freaking Best Coast for gods sake so I know this is in the best company.

The single doesn't specify and A or B Side, so I hit the Reading Rainbow side first, Euphoria is a perfect title for this fuzzy, massive guitar sound and dual guy/girl vocals. They took the No Age overwhelming haze and added an extra layer of pop. The vocal harmony comes first, and that's what keeps me coming back to this one. My favorite on the whole single...and even after listening to most of Prism Eyes, I love this track, probably their strongest. The vocals are far too precious for the grit flying around underneath, but that's where this really works, the angelic harmony over the distorted layers, lightening the echo doom sound. When this then shifts gear towards the end into an the epic chorus of their voices and crunch, the seemingly perfect track gets better.
Euphoria / is over... just until you play the track again.

But I want to hear the next one, "Can't stand it".
In just these two brief tracks they stretch out into all kinds of various echos and far off guitar wash. They aren't sticking with one type of sound. This one is a lot more raw... where the first was getting into My Bloody Valentine haze, this track is getting dirty in the garage. I like they're really exploring the range of overblown distortion in just these two tracks.
Every time it comes up, this fuzzed out no-fi, it's going to define this late 2000's, starting in 07 with the Vivian Girls, this romanticized-in-love-with-the-90's distortion, indie rock sound and then combining it with a '50s melodic pop. Everyone is sort of building on an entire time period, and it's a weird one to come back, but the time and effort that goes into the craft of distortions and layers of sound is what makes the whole thing bigger than it's description. I love their sound, I think they're bringing something new to the party.
Speaking of the Vivian Girls, Coasting is Fiona from the Vivian Girls and Madison from Dream Diary, so they also have a clear direction to take this sound...and the pedigree.
"Snoozefest" uses a simple reverb guitar melody and the double hit snare that breaks into chorusy dual harmonies with a raw, spontaneous feel. That drum sound is defining everything about the last 4 years. Put a tambourine on the tom, or high hat...it's essential.
"What you wanted" is even looser, the guitar even lagging a quarter beat off because it's trying to keep up this frantic surf strumming. I like that AC put these duo's together on the same single...I think it makes perfect sense to hear them together, two completely different approaches to the same initial setup.
This is a really great single but it's not fair when yo stack the deck like this this...I hope to god fusetron or midheaven is importing these, (not yet -ed). Excellent release.
I need it.
Damn you scissors.

Mathemagic / Young Prisms split on Atelier Ciseaux Records

Just got word about another great split on Atelier Ciseaux...I'm just about able to spell that without copying and pasting from their website by now. After that Jeans Wilder / Best Coast split, AC decided to make this a regular occurrence, and this single is the second single in this series...two bands I haven't come across anywhere else so far, but are both serving up ethereal electronic shoegaze from across two continents, Mathemagic heavily serving up hall size echo and Young Prisms setting a candlelit scene in Better Off Dead with saxophone.

Mathemagic, 'Breaststroke' on the A-Side has that strong sampled delay sound of Ducktails, the staple foundation of a ringing, bell-ish percussion reverbed into a new sound. That kind of repetition tricks your brain into near ignoring it after the first minute...and there's a lot of other elements finding their way to the surface, fighting for attention, but this essential delayed glass harmonica sound can simultaneously be just there and better than everything else.
Heavy chorus on the vocals give it that dreamy shoegaze sound, with drawn out syllables, it's an exercise in the longest sentiment ever. Sort of Beach Fossils and Ducktails met on the beach and keep passing each other, checking each other out. They might meet, but they're both there for the weekend, so they don't get serious but they think about each other....a lot.

Young Prisms' track 'These Daze', could be related to Crystal Stilts, that attack on a specific laid back reverb...loving a particular pedal setting and never letting go...or it's going back to the Psychedelic Furs, or Lush... Blur...it's got that super slow dance feel, the vocals are right exactly in the middle of the mix, but that goes for everything...it's all on a level playing field, all of the sounds taking their time to fade away...and you know what? I just realized there's no drums on this track. How is that even possible?

MATHEMAGIC // YOUNG PRISMS split 7"

A or B Mathemagic : Breaststroke

B or Young Prisms : These Daze

Climbing over a wire fence. Lying down at the bottom of a pool. Empty. Picturing the waves. On old-fashioned tiles.

The Jeans Wilder/Best Coast split 7'' was just an introduction, a magical one. This new record is out/will be available on August 24th. On one side, MATHEMAGIC, children of the wave, Toronto's beaches. On the other (side), the wild YOUNG PRISMS, from San Francisco, who've already released several magnetic tracks on Mexican Summer and Transparent.

A retro sunset printed on a sleeveless shirt. The sound of the ocean on cassette tape. Two contemporary ripples of a dark and/or bright shoegaze.

"These Daze" is a previously unreleased song. And "Breaststroke" was only available - until now - as a digital download via Paper Bag Records.

From the French label that I wish would open a branch office in Brooklyn, Atelier Ciseaux. Using google translation that means, try the usual mailorder distros, fusetron, SS etc.

Terror Bird on La Station Radar and Atelier Ciseaux Records

I got an email from Nikki in Terror Bird a while back about their release slated to come out this month through Atelier Ciseaux and La Station Radar. Nikki actually sent me one of the tracks for 7Inches to preview and gave permission to post it here.
Now normally I'm against this kind of giving-the-milk-away-for-free kind of preview but the single actually ended up being a massive 4 track EP, so really, it's just enough to get on over to paypal...even though it is going to be an import...check if Fusetron or Midheaven's going to end up getting this...but there's only 300, and I didn't see that U.S. Girls release ending up over here anywhere....yet.
Terror Bird is just Nikki and her husband Jeremiah, like Handsome Furs (also from Canada!?), this is a duo rarity, but one that really has the potential to work amazingly...to be able to tour like they are right now in Europe? Playing every night, putting out 7 inches? Writing songs all the time?

They are living the dream, people.

Speaking of U.S. Girls, this goes right along with the minimal electronics kind of no wave sound from her and Zola Jesus. In 'We Were Monsters', Nikki has an uncanny ability to zero in on those haunting chord changes that are catchy and a little sad at the same time. Her vocals are wavering a little bit, she's on the verge of breaking down maybe...I could hear an early Siouxsie in an echo chamber here. Her vocals are definitely the star, and the rest of the mix is perfect...mic'd tinny speakers, someone just bumped the stereo, I can practically feel the bedroom. I wouldn't mess with this voice too much...it's got just enough of a dark feel that isn't overdone. There's definitely pop elements...like that party for the depressed gang...they want to rock, but just a little bit, let's not get carried away.
She's got a lot of Megan Remy's kind of soul filled vocals, she really could take this voice anywhere...maybe that's why this and US Girls works so well is that contradiction in the minimal string synth sounds that aren't trying to be anything but a casio and her vocals that are coming out of some almost religious place. Even singing against nearly nothing, like on 'Shadows in the halls', she creates these layered melodies out of nowhere. There's no cues to except the 808 claps and kick and a chime to lead this along. I have to give Jeremiah some credit here and stop going on about her vocals already...it's even a more minimal choice to keep the effects on these sounds to a minimum, he's not trying to bury the cheap sounds under anything, they are terrible and he's determined to actually take them seriously. It's a lot of work to be sure.
The whole thing rounds out with a Twin Crystals cover 'Lament', and it's really some kind of alchemy to have one super basic synth sound and delayed reverb vocals come together like this, it's stripped bare and vulnerable.
It's a great creepy catchy introduction to these guys who I hope can make it down to NYC sometime...

Terror Bird says:

We are Nikki Never and Jeremiah Haywood. We live in Vancouver, BC

The track, We Were Monsters is from our upcoming 7" being put out by La Station Radar and Les Atelier Ciseaux based in France and Montreal.

Nikki Never's heros are no other than Morrissey, David Bowie and Marc Bolan.

This is available direct from Atelier Ciseaux, and La Station Radar who also add:

skulls on a silk shirt. Dark dark dark. Again. A little hope crossed out with a tipp-ex on a denim jacket. Keyboard worn out by the 80s, pop romance, the future combined with the past, Gloomy dances for phantom mirrors. Terror Bird is still Nikki Never. Sometimes, Jeremiah Haywood too. Vancouver behind rainbow-coloured sunglasses. A forthcoming album on Night People / Adagio 830 and above all a 7″, ‘Shadows in the halls’, on La station radar and Atelier ciseaux. Atelier ciseaux and la Station Radar. Atelier radar, Station ciseaux. A collaboration between two labels. The beginning of a friendship, something like that. Good.

U. S. Girls preorder on Atelier Ciseaux Records

U. S. Girls, who I haven't actually sat down and listened to an entire full length yet, so all of her singles will have to do...actually I think the only other track I have from her is on the 4 way philly split from Kraak Records so I have to get on these 2 full lengths from Siltbreeze. Remi from Atelier Ciseaux records let me know about this single he's releasing June 15th, and is up for preorder now.

Meghan Remy is U.S. Girls and what she does with the haunting electronics and a disembodied heavily effected voice is remarkable.

'Lunar Life' is an example of how an artist with nothing at their disposal can literally pull songs out of thin air. There's hours of tinkering and a love of unnatural sounds throughout. Recreating this is going to be problematic, but can allow for amazing reinterpretations of these heavily sculpted specific tracks. A tiny cheap demo organ beat provides the base for a warbly organ that matches her distorted vibrato cries. Towards the end Meghan is singing along with a high pitch mess of an organ melody and the two start to harmonize in a magic way that becomes another sound on it's own. Like Zola Jesus, she's playing within a barest of bones structure, the delay and looped repeating melodies become haunting and hypnotic. It's a scary desolate world sometimes.

'Take Over Dynamix' features a warped simple guitar melody with ungrounded cable crackle, background minimal drums and vocal sounds. Her vocals are always buried, barely discernible
from the monotony of machines, they are the only sign of humanity almost struggling to reach the surface in this kind of overwhelming oppression. There's nothing like it.

If you really want this, don't ask how much it's going to cost to ship trackable from AC in France, money is no object!
The only saving grace might be shooting fusetron an email letting him know how much this needs to be distro'd stateside.

U.S. Girls - Lunar Life
7’’ + mp3s
300 copies - silkscreened artwork on recycled paper
A. Lunar Life
B. Intro/ Take over Dynamix
U.S. GIRLS = Meghan Remy / Artwork by Meghan Remy
Atelier Ciseaux #04 / 2010
OUT JUNE 15 th
helloatelierciseaux@gmail.com
www.atelierciseaux.com/
www.myspace.com/atelierciseaux
www.myspace.com/usgirlsss
Thank you !

Lucky Dragons on Atelier now at fusetron

Atelier Ciseaux records was kind enough to send me the files of this Lucky Dragons 7" after I mentioned it a couple weeks back, and I've been letting it sink in over the weekend. I realized I must have not heard much of them before, or the context has changed because immediately Ducktails comes to mind, it has that atmospheric lounge almost sampled delay pedal feel.

The A-Side 'The honeycomb house pt 1,2,3" starts out with maybe a mandolin, or probably a ukulele and acoustic with just a hint of animal collective-type indecipherable vocalizations, but it's definitely feeling tropical. The melodies work themselves throughout the three pieces, and when it comes back in the third part I realize I really missed it. It's that kind of long piece meant to be heard together like this where melodic phrases fade in and out of consciousness. They have an overall master plan that's unfolding. The rhythms subtly change, never leaning too hyptnotic...there's too much going on to be lulled asleep.
It's no surprise they are from LA really, it's exactly what I think of...I think what is a surprise on the other hand is that same Ducktails sound is coming out of NJ? That makes no sense. This EP is the perfect sound coming out of that west coast climate. I can hear the palm trees...everything is a slow motion dream, with the windows down, driving from desert to desert. I'm even going further and saying it goes way out pacific to Hawaii (where they issue a lot of fake birth certificates apparently). The beach, with a bonfire, life is pretty easy. They've never made it sound so good.
The B-Side is 6 tracks, a few of them no more than 30 seconds, these are definitely separate thoughts, coming from completely different places. I thought they were individual elements from the A-Side suite deconstructed, picked apart into something new, pushing the sounds...but that would be too easy and obvious. This whole single is clean sounding, there's no muddiness. There's more electronics in these fragments but it's not out of place. If these flute sounds are synth then they have me fooled. I imagine they work live instruments into the delicate samples. It's really optomistic sounding...it's weird because there's a hint of Pocahaunted in places but it never gets ominous.
Available direct from Atelier Ciseaux or locally from fusetron. The seriously screenprinted jacket and airmail jack this up a bit in price, but there is a lot going on in these 12 minutes, it's the perfect accompaniment to Ducktails, and I'm glad to have found another group working in this experimental sampled tropical way.

Fusetron says:
*Artist: LUCKY DRAGONS
Title: Vrais Noms/True Names Format: 7" Label: Atelier Ciseaux Country: France Price: $11.00 "Its still a bit too early in this big empty house. In the yard, an unsound choir seems to grin childishly and fishily to the neighbours around. Sarah Anderson and Luke Fischbeck, LUCKY DRAGONS, live in Los Angeles and have been recording for about 10 years albums (on Marriage Records, Upset the rhythm…) which are as extactic as well as precisous. Their new ep Vrais noms/ True names (limited to 350 copies + free mp3s) is available now on Atelier ciseaux records (Paris/ France). 9 tracks for less than 12 minutes, with an artwork by SUMI INK CLUB and screenprinted covers on recycled paper." - Atelier Ciseaux.

Lucky dragons on Atelier Ciseaux records

New Lucky Dragons single on a new french label, Atelier Ciseaux...crazy, I've been seeing more and more of this guy everywhere. I get a kind of Ducktails aesthetic from Lucky Dragons, one man programming electronic insanity, complex sampling, heavy on the vibes, the pressing of this looks real nice.
Not sure if you can order direct from the label or you'll have to track it down from the usual places...