Can We Win
(Regional Bears - RB09) Cassette $7.50 (Out-of-stock)
Shots Bring It In. Due to weather, noise complaints, lack of time, artistic choice, or some combination thereof, Shots’ instrumentation moves indoors. Can We Win replaces the characteristic outdoor resonance of previous releases with tighter, more enclosed environment. The sound sources remain varied as ever, but the running water, somnambulistic percussion, and rupturing metal in play are enfolded in an intimate domestic acoustic space, making for a considered and engaging listen. C32
Live from Devil’s Den
(Pauf Recordings - PAUF022) CD $7.50
Fantastic and mysterious dead-of-winter in situ group sound survey — also described as field recordings from a cave / theme park in Florida. Having recorded for Kye and Bánh Mì Verlag, the Fribergs and the DiMaggio collaborate with Jeronimo Jimenez of Ñaka Ñaka on a single 49-minute track so diminutive in nature it has to be a performance. “Arrangement of sound with depth,” according to Nothing / Shut Down, “A story that seems to have no pulsation but firmly exists.”
Private Hate
(Careful Catalog - CARE04) LP $20.00
The first full length LP by this trio that has existed publicly via recordings and performance since 2015 encapsulates the group’s pivot toward an emphasis on events, movement, and locations presented as a challenge perception. Sounds happen at the wrong time in unexpected places. Sometimes they go missing and you’re left holding the bag. Free music is somewhere murmuring behind the walls but Private Hate is not really about that. Three monkeys in the jungle, a jest on managing expectations. If one hears an object being struck enough times and the resonance of the room, is this at all useful in extracting a narrative? We’ve all read about cryptophasia. These are just some scenarios to be interpreted. Two-color letterpress jacket with art by Justine Neuberger and postcard insert by Tom Darksmith.