Dead Voices On Air : "The Light Of June Drowned Flowers In Your Mouth" - new vinyl LP release from Brudenia available for pre-order! Only 350 copies to be made. http://www.lensrecords.com/showproduct.a..spx?ProductID=226

The Light of June Drowned Flowers in your Mouth is the second release by Dead Voices on Air in 2009, the first being the double cd album, Fast Falls the Eventide for Chicago’s Lens Records. It is the 12th release by Mark Spybey under the Dead Voices on Air name and the first to be released on vinyl.

The album was recorded in a three-week period in June of 2009. Many of the characteristic Dead Voices on Air sounds are present; the dark clusters of processed tones, shifting rhythms, fourth world overtones, and the use of unlikely source instruments such as children’s toys. Unlike many of his releases, this is an attempt to peel some of the layers of sound away. It is only in the final track, “You Are Too Young to Fall Asleep,” that Spybey raises the anti and the volume in the shifting waves and pulses of sounds whose origins cannot easily be identified, save for the fact that (contrary to the popular opinion of reviewers) absolutely no synthesizers were used in the recording sessions.

Spybey has been reluctant to talk about what his music means to him, preferring to afford the listener the opportunity to experience this for themselves. The music is generally made in isolation from external references but for this release, key texts informed the recording sessions, notably the poetry of Pablo Neruda and that of Stephen Spender. Spender fought for the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War and Neruda lived in Spain at the time and was deeply affected by the struggle against fascism. The album title was taken from a line of one of Neruda’s poems. The album is dedicated to the International Brigades and their struggle against the governments of the time whose antipathy did little to prevent the spread of fascism. Many artists lost their lives in this struggle, including Federico Garcia Lorca, who was executed by forces loyal to the dictator Franco.

Miss Autopsy shares a lot of common ground with early Mountain Goats, such as uncomfortably raw vocals and a tendency towards rather wordy narrative lyrics.  However, Steve Beyerink has something that John Darnielle does not: a singular propensity for squirm-inducingly soul-baring misanthropy and pessimism that precludes absolutely any possibility of widespread acceptance.  While certainly somewhat flawed, this album is not an easy one to forget.

Chicago’s Miss Autopsy began as a solo bedroom recording project in 2003 but gradually blossomed into a full band…and is now back to being just Beyerink.  It's probably better that way as other musicians would only dilute his lonely, black-hearted vision.  That said, Steve does not radically depart from Miss Autopsy's past formula of creepy, unsettling lyrics and dark, blues-influenced indie rock/post punk.  Instead, he seems to have focused on doing the same thing as always, but better.

The presence of other musicians is not missed.  Significantly, Steve’s vocals and deliberately blunt, disturbing lyrics are so central that the surrounding music is almost irrelevant: Caterpillar would likely be even more compelling if it was reduced to just the vocal track.  While decent and certainly functional, the underlying music rarely threatens to overshadow the vocals (aside from the excellent jagged guitar solo that concludes “That Fighting Spirit” and the sloppy, yet cathartic, shredding in the title track).  That is not to say that Steve is an infallible vocalist, however: he can be a bit clumsy and over-the-top at times.  In fact, some songs would be unintentionally comical if the lyrics weren’t delivered with such unwaveringly grim conviction (like the opener, “Jonathan”).  Other times, it seems like Steve is being intentionally funny: the opening verse of “Caterpillar,” in which he discusses murdering the friendly titular Lepidoptera in his garden, seems like it can only be deliberate self-parody.  Probably, anyway.  Regardless, he’s a scary guy. There are times when he approaches being a hookier, more conventionally musical Jandek.

When Beyerink gets it right the results are often gripping, immediate, and incendiary in a way that few other performers can approach (perhaps because there is no superfluous artifice or polish).  The breathlessly sociopathic “Dead Loner Blues” and the nakedly cathartic crescendo of “Caterpillar” stand out as especially stunning in an already impressive batch of songs. The true centerpiece, however,  is “The Wildlife Refuge.”  Nobody else could turn a spoken recollection of a nocturnal trip into one of the most mesmerizing and haunting pieces of music that I've heard in a while (“Instantly, in comes a stench.  It smelled like crystal meth and murder.”).  I’m sure I will probably read about this guy committing a spectacular suicide on stage some day, but until then I will be enthusiastically awaiting each new dispatch from his irrevocably twisted head.  Inconsistency and occasional conspicuous missteps are necessary consequences when you’re chasing brilliance with no filter or artistic detachment.


Written by Anthony D'Amico - www.brainwashed.com


http://brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7816&Itemid=1


Best,
Rob

Mr Russia just played a CD release show this past Friday and they rocked the house.  Thanks to Amy Dittmeier & The Deli Chicago for this rather accurate and flattering review:

Normally when I see panties neatly laid out on a table at a show I think one of two things – either I’ve stepped into the wrong show and I should probably get out before creepers come out, or that this band is going to rock. For Chicagoans Mr Russia, they were the latter. The phrase “Pretty girls don’t make mistakes” lined the back of each one, which is not only a catchy phrase but an equally catchy song by the band. With two handsome bass players, a sultry keyboardist, and a spot-on drummer the band gave a fantastic set to debut their new EP Training for the Gameshow Host. From their cover of the Cars song “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight” to the title track of their new EP “Training for the Gameshow Host,” Mr. Russia has got the dirty and dark lyrics down. There’s a certain line between entertaining and bawdy and offensive and perverted. Mr Russia definitely walks on the line but never becomes offensive with their in your face words and eccentric style. But the thing I liked most about the band is the complete lack of guitars. Lead singer Ivan Russia and fellow bassist R.L. Russia are so charismatic that you don’t even miss the treble timbre of the guitar. The synthesizers and pedal distortion add just enough high end to offset the basses low sound. Mr. Russia keeps getting better and better even after their spectacular debut Teething, and making Training for the Gameshow Host free sweetens the deal that much more to become a devoted fan. You can download Mr. Russia’s new EP for free online on their official site. If want a little spice to your music collection, I would highly suggest downloading it.

http://www.thedelimagazine.com/chicago/

Best,
Rob

http://www.lmnop.com/2009-Sept-LMNOP-Reviews.html#anchor95719

The new CD from Dead Voices On Air - Fast Falls The Eventide is now available for order.  And the first 60 orders will receive 2 limited edition Dead Voices On Air postcards featuring original artwork by Mark Spybey. Each postcard is individually signed and numbered by Mark.


Fast Falls The Eventide is aural provocateur Mark Spybey’s 11th album as Dead Voices On Air, and across a multi-decade career stirring pots experimental, existential, and otherwise, his is a sound that summons any number of nocturnal beasties from the ether. Blink twice, listen carelessly and you'll fail to discern the minutiae Spybey meticulously works into every one of the 15 pieces sprawling across the first disc of this 2-CD set’s eminent domain. Spybey works hard at his art so you don’t have to: rather, as the listener, the participant, the absorber, it’s more important to ignore categorical tags such as “industrial”, “ambient”, “soundscape”, et al, and instead gorge deeply on a wriggling, sometimes confrontational puzzlebox of sounds erupting from a bevy of mysterious sources.

The title of this collection notwithstanding, Spybey’s been having his way with rhythm and noise for so long that the motifs he’s ascribed over the years are practically commonplace amongst the novice post-industrialist - or, hell, the post-whatever. Throughout the last 25-plus years, he’s plied his trade and remarkable sonic mojo both solo and in the company of many a forward-thinking electronic engineer, from guitarists such as Michael Karoli and James Plotkin, to fellow artisans like Skinny Puppy’s cEvin Key or Rapoon’s Robin Storey (with whom he feints sounds as Reformed Faction). It’s as Dead Voices On Air, however, that some of his most startling ideas emerge fully-realized and fully-armed; of course, to hear Spybey tell it, once art leaves the nest it’s up to (once again) the recipient to assume the role of engager: “My work is created in isolation from external references. That is the ideal I strive for. Only in this way is it possible to allow the listener an opportunity to create their own understanding of the music, or, as the artist Joseph Beuys once said, ‘One should resort to interpretation only in an emergency.’”

Perhaps. Still, there’s much expressive bounty to be gleaned from these dark, dusky, evening-soaked works, from the first disc’s mix of ethnological drum cabals, windswept electronics and scraped edits, up through the immense near-quarter-hour title track, which finds Spybey revisiting the mortal atmospheric coils of former colleagues :Zoviet*France:. And pulling the whole enterprise together is the second disc’s first-time digital unveiling of Spybey’s opening salvo, the 1994 cassette Abrader, in conjunction with two unreleased tracks originating from the artist’s early gestations featuring contributions from the aforementioned cEvin Key. New or old, Spybey’s continuing vitality ensures these Dead Voices remain gloriously alive and kicking.

Fast Falls The Eventide is a two CD set featuring the all new recording Fast Falls The Eventide on Disc 1. Disc 2 features the long out of print first release by Dead Voices On Air - Abrader - originally released in 1994 on cassette by Japan's G.R.O.S.S. label. This digitally remastered version of Abrader features two previously unreleased tracks featuring cEvin Key. Abrader and the two bonus tracks are only available on this CD release.

We just got copies of a great new compilation we think many of you will be interested in.  It's the "Escaping From Color : Rapoon Recomposed & Remixed" CD from the Ukraine's Quasi Pop label.  15 tracks all based on bits of Rapoon tracks and sound sources.  We've got a limited supply on these so get them while you can!

http://www.lensrecords.com/p-208-va-escaping-from-color-rapoon-recomposed-remixed.aspx

Best,
Rob

Ok - we spent a very long day posting a bunch of new titles to the Lens Records website.  Titles from Cold Spring, Sound on Probation, Tympanik Audio & The Psychogeographical Commission were posted today.

We do a lot of trades with other labels so we've got a 100+ titles from other labels like Cold Spring, Manifold, Tympanik Audio, Nextera, Soleilmoon, Sound on Probation, Databloem & Dragon Flight just to name a few!

We have more releases in our inbox so those will be online soon.  We'll let you know when!

www.lensrecords.com

Best,
Rob