Still Sweet on Edible Onion Records

Darian has been running Edible Onion Records since founding the label over five years ago. I've always been impressed with the hand crafted details of his releases like in a Br'er single a while back that had cutout windows on the sleeve with layers of vellum underneath. Handpainted and numbered they were tiny artifacts themselves reminding me of Sam from Eau Records mix of singles and art, Darian takes the packaging as serious as the tracks inside. It doesn't matter this is his own project with Benjamin Schurr from Br'er and Gabrielle Smith of Eskimeaux, tiny records should be given this attention from the day they're conceived to finishing each one of these 220 with a handpainted sleeve. The incredible amount of work that goes into each one makes you want to spend a little more time with them while the record is spinning.

A-Side's "Pirouette" opens on a warm reverb electric melody and plotted out bass that's referencing a lot of that '60s girl group harmonies and phrasing until this outer space synth sound warbles in running it straight into today. Darian and Gabrielle have a perfect combination of wandering harmonies in their deliberate, soft delivery. A quivering synth takes over it's every appearance, like an emulated saw but there s a massive range of understated electronics going on here, a dense mix of instrumentation. It's a dreamy kind of indie with echo's of the Vivian Girls and Magnetic Fields in the use of unique elements that drive the tracks and give them character. Just when it might be too beautiful or sweet, these odd tones remind you of reality that might not always be as beautiful as it seems on the surface.

B-Side's "Holey Bones" cranks up that reverb distance with wet springs in a slow trembly rhythm. Vocally it's wading through the molasses of this thick haze with triangle strikes, shuffling brushes on the snare and Gabrielle's ahhh's from the rafters of this prom. I like that these bones are full of holes and not the sacred kind. Minimal compared to the A-Side until sharp feedback shreiks come in breaking the spell with an orchestration of various synths piling into a jagged slippery wall, droning out the tenderness we started with. An unsettling piece hinting again there's always more to the siren call.

Get Still Sweet's single from Edible Onion Records. Head over there for samples of the tracks.

CMJ - Br'er at Lit Lounge - 10-19-10

I caught up with Darian from Edible Onion Records at the Lit Lounge for his show with Br'er, it was a perfect compliment to Emanuel earlier in the day, the classical instrumentation at this intimate venue...well maybe that's not exactly the right word...the Lit Lounge basement is barely one step up from the Charleston...there's some weird couches built into caves areas. At least there's a bar in the back, but it's what makes NY venues great, use every crazy possible space.
Benjamin Schurr is the mastermind and vocalist behind Br'er and they brought an eclectic array of instrumentation, Benjamin was at points playing a harmonium and kick drum while Darian switched mid song between glockenspiel and bass clarinet. The recordings are just bases to jump off with completely different live reinterpretations. On a track I didn't recognize, the cellist, out of nowhere, created that saw-like high warble with a sustained operatic soprano vocal.
Br'er is densely packed with metaphorical imagery, and Benjamin ranges from a quiet controlled vibrato to an impassioned tortured delivery. Lyrically unsettling, they do everything to separate themselves from any kind of sentimental, comfortable pop. It's full of Siamese twins and strangely ugly things that have a voice. They have a single minded direction that isn't like anything else.



It's like you stepping into that forgotten sideshow tent on the edge of the carnival, like Neutral Milk Hotel, Br'er is taking you in bizarre emotional directions with sounds you're unlikely to hear together like this.

Interview with Darian from Edible Onion Records

Darian from Edible Onion Records sent me his latest split single of his own project Br'er and the Hermit Thrushes and last week I ended up giving him a call about his handmade, small run label.
You can download it here.

They also have a pretty incredible handmade book accordion style CD compilation featuring watercolors from Darian and a slew of Philly artists, you can pick up at his website.

Sample tracks on the podcast from Edible Onion Records featured are:
Br'er - Endometriosis and The Chord and the Fawn - Right as rain

97 shiki on hewhocorrupts inc records

This came in a few weeks ago from 97-Shiki...I just saw Locrian at Public Assembly and happened to mention it and it turns out they know these guys and forwarded them my address...crazy, more about their show later. This mini Ep at 33 1/3 is packaged in a giant matchbook style heavy cardboard sleeve screen printed with lyric insert and digital download card, which is a welcome addition to avoid the work of digitizing it for the old ipod...thanks guys.

I have to say with this impressive packaging I was expecting some kind of conceptual experimental electronics or field recording, leave it to 97-Shiki to not only give you barely a frame of reference for this musically but then to put real thought into the object of the 7" itself, coming up with something completely off the beaten path of black and white xerox. If they put this kind of thought and craft into the sleeve, it has to be a token of things to come once you put the needle down.

The A-Side starts out with Brother...this is angular rock,
With the track 'Massachusetts' it's driven by the bass, which lets the guitar just interrupt changing up melodies, muting harmonics and creating truly weird rhythms out of distorted guitar. This is reminding me of an energetic Gang of Four....a hardcore Gang of Four, the front authoritative vocals. All the parts are working so separately, I don't know how this is working. This was my favorite of the single. It has all the skill and innovation of something like At the Drive in with Fugazi style abstract lyrics, open to all kinds of interpretation, especially in 'Disassemble', I could almost hear them dong this... today.
For having such disparate parts, the hardcore vocal style, a little spurt of guitar melody (or in this case I'd say repeated experiment) in separate speaker channels, it's really clean sounding, all the pieces are separated and just heavy enough but restrained. The brief outbursts, like guitar tourettes that are channelled into interlocked intricacies. I can't find a rhythm to grasp on to, it's pounding, but they just aren't ever happy with anything typical long enough to let it sink in for a few verses. Hardly a chord is played....it's an impressive truly original guitar style. They are testing hypotheses about song construction...and it's all adding up to a new intellectual hardcore sound.

Go get this, it's Locrian and 7inches approved from hewhocorrupts inc.



Locrian, as I mentioned were in town last night at the public assembly. We had been emailing back and forth about when they might be in town to meet and do an interview. I was so glad I caught up with these guys as they passed through and got a chance to talk with them out on the street. An interview will be coming shortly, but I just had to post these bad ass pictures, thanks to their fog machine and candles. It was great to catch them on this varied show with a bunch of other stuff I would have never been exposed to. the curtains opened (nice touch) into a cloud, Locrian spent most of their time in the middle of. There was nothing overdramatic about it, it was adding to the weirdness of having every sense taken over completely. There wasn't any room left for your own thoughts, you just sort of stand in awe of the experience. They were deafening, their huge sound vibrating every inch of the place. One long piece of improvised sound. I was shocked to see the amount of analog gear they had piled up on a table next to Terence, an old taoe machine, a 4-track. I love to see this physical manipulation of these sound machines, who knows what's coming from where, how the sounds are piling up, but it's this complete experience of watching sound being willed into existence.


Just really quickly as well, Darian from Edible Onion records just emailed me about a cassette preorder for a new project from Roger of Br'er, I covered a little while back.

The debut EP of The New Heaven and the New Earth, which is the songwriting project of Roger Martinez, who is also in Br'er, is available for preorder. It comes out July 7th.
We're releasing it in a run of 100 cassettes that are encased in spraypainted butterboard, and each case features cut-out "stained glass" windows made with tin-foil, tape, and magic marker.

Just briefly gave this a listen and someone who can compose with a complete orchestra is mindblowing. It's songwriting on an entirely different level. I just have no experience having to think about 20 different elements working their way in and out working with background chorus...this guy is a serious genius. It deserves this kind of attention to packaging, and why at the end of the day it isn't so exciting to play another CD.
Call my mind completely blown again today.

Music, please stop taking over my life, I can't get anything done.

Br'er on Edible Onion Records

Darian from Edible Onion records asked if I wanted to give one of these super handmade releases a listen. I'm seriously grateful he was able to send me one of these Br'er singles which are limited to just 300...the work that went into this is really impressive.
Both sides of the sleeve have windows of vellum where a painting on inner sleeve shows through. There are even painted cutout cardstock inserts with credits handwritten on the reverse. Not even the vinyl single itself escaped painting, the inner label is color coded and lettered as well.

The handmade painstaking quality of the sleeve absolutely reflects what's happening on the record. It completely adds to the entire experience of this recording....here's this delicate object that was literally painted by someone hundreds of times in their apartment, in countless steps of complication...drying, cutting, lettering...it's preparing you for the work...the blood and tears that went into the songwriting.

Benjamin Schurr has an amazing vocal quality on both of these sides, it's what I keep coming back to over and over. The thing I can't get over to even pay attention to the music...it's really the focus, for me, on both of these tracks. He's got an intimate high falsetto voice...a little more conventional than say a completely schizophrenic Xiu Xiu, or hoarse cracking Conner Oberst but it has all the epic tragedy. The content of someone completely stripped bare, and (pun intended) ....pulling it off.
There can be too much sharing, and this confessional intimacy can easily fall apart if not just carefully finessed. It's a careful combination of ingredients. It's nothing you can even duplicate...you know if you have it or not. Is that 'have-it' going to be different with everyone? I don't think so...I think when someone is completely sincere in their openness, it shows in the music. It helps to be talented...to have an ear for arrangement, to be skilled at composition, when you open up your diary to the world, and it better be honest. There's nothing easier to write off then being overly self aware....who wants to listen to an egotist? Himself.

As much as I'm really examining the vocals and why something like this is immediately of the caliber of Jeff Magnum, I do want to get into the orchestration which is insanely complex, and when I say orchestration, I mean it, I'm not just referring to an arrangement of the guitars and bass. This is an array of weird percussion, a beat consisting of multiple objects being struck in odd time. There's a harp, a saw...nothing ever gets gimmicky, or overused. You wonder what got these guys together in Philadelphia to construct this. It all works under a pop umbrella, but the pieces are impossible to pin down. Like watching a choir ring those bells individually, each person plays one ringing note...it doesn't even make sense on an individual level. I know they have to be amazed listening to their own song. It's a magic trick every time.

It's completely live sounding, this has been recorded all at once in a room, and there's no tour dates listen on Br'er's website and I'm beginning to wonder if, like with everything too great to be true, everyone has since moved on to other projects. This being so taxing emotionally and musically, they couldn't keep that kind of effort up forever, and it just collapsed under it's own weight. God, I'm writing their obituary already...they just have me in that tragic mood, where the most beautiful things are ephemeral...like the availability of this single.

Get it on Edible Onion

Side A
I'm A Kid Again (Geltabs Version)

Side B
I'm Sorry Mom (Angelic Version)

Edible Onion is proud to announce its first vinyl release, a 7" single from Br'er, featuring alternate recordings of "I'm a Kid Again" and "I'm Sorry Mom." The two tracks orginally appeared on Br'er's debut full length "Of Shemales and Kissaboos," and have long been audience favorites in Br'er's live sets.

The version of "I'm a Kid Again" featured on the 7" was orignally recorded by Audio Confusion in Mesa, Arizona, during Br'er's first US tour. "I'm Sorry Mom" was recorded mostly live by Dan Angel in Philadelphia on his digital sixteen track. The songs as they appear here capture the raw, chathartic sound that characterized the group's early live performances, and differ dramatically from their melancholy readings on "Of Shemales and Kissaboos."

As with every Edible Onion release, each "I'm a Kid Again/I'm Sorry Mom" 7" is packaged in handmade art. For this release, each record jacket has a hand painted outer jacket, with vellum windows cut out to reveal a hand painted inner jacket. The painting was done with a mixture of acrylic and watercolor paint on oak tag (outside) and American Masters printmaking paper (inside). All of the text is handwritten.

The release is being done in a limited run of 300 records.