Black Marble – Bigger Than Life (Sacred Bones, 2019)
Black Marble (Chris Stewart) will release his third album, Bigger Than Life, on Sacred Bones Records this Friday, October 25th. Stewart leans on synth-pop sounds and styles heavily, but the music sounds freshly earnest and eminently tuneful rather than merely derivative. Check out standout songs “One Eye Open” and “Feels,” and then stream the rest, via the Bandcamp embed below.
Black Marble is touring in November (dates below).
BLACK MARBLE – November Tour Dates
Nov 2 Los Angeles, CA SUBSTANCE at the Los Angeles Theater
Nov 5 TUCSON, AZ Club Congress
Nov 7 Austin, TX Levitation at Empire Control Room
Nov 8 Oklahoma City, OK 89th Street
Nov 9 Memphis, TN Hi-Tone
Nov 10 Nashville, TN The Basement
Nov 12 Columbus, OH Ace of Cups
Nov 13 State College, PA Webster’s
Nov 14 Oberlin, OH Oberlin College
Nov 15 Toronto, ON Eisbaer 2019
Nov 16 Montreal, QC Bar Le Ritz
Nov 19 Hamden, CT Space Ballroom
Nov 20 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts
Nov 21 Baltimore, MD Metro Gallery
Nov 22 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom (Record Release Show) w/ Automatic
This week, Low released a video for “Rome, Always in the Dark,” one of the tracks off of their new Sub Poprecording Double Negative (released yesterday).
On Double Negative, Low, probably best known for its work as one of the premier slowcore bands, moves their music closer to an aesthetic involving deconstruction and electroacoustic elements. One saw glimmers of this approach on their previous album, Ones and Sixes (2015), but now the band approaches distressing and reconstituting recorded material, including warped cassette tapes, full on and with aplomb. It is a fascinating new layer that complements, rather than replaces, the duet vocals of group founders Alan and Mimi Sparhawk and the group as a whole’s knack for finding fetching melodies and fashioning memorable instrumental arrangements. Double Negative is one of the freshest-sound and best executed recordings to see release this Fall. For a band in its third decade together, this vitality is all the more remarkable.
The band is touring in support of Double Negative (see dates below)
2018 Tour Dates
Sep. 19 – New York, NY – National Sawdust
Sep. 20 – New York, NY – National Sawdust
Sep. 21 – New York, NY – National Sawdust
Sep. 29 – Lisbon, PT – Lisboa ao Vivo
Oct. 01 – De Compostela Santiago, ES – Sala Capitol
Oct. 02 – Madrid, ES – Sala But
Oct. 03 – Barcelona, ES – Fabra i Coats
Oct. 05 – Milan, IT – Teatro Dal Verme
Oct. 06 – Zurich, CH – Bogen F
Oct. 08 – Leipzig, DE – UT Connewitz
Oct. 09 – Berlin, DE – Festsaal Kreuzberg
Oct. 10- Bochum, DE – Christuskirche Bochum
Oct. 11 – Brussels, BE – Orangerie (at Botanique)
Oct. 12 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso
Oct. 13 – Paris, FR – La Gaîté Lyrique
Oct. 15 – Bristol, UK – Trinity
Oct. 16 – Manchester, UK – Manchester Cathedral
Oct. 17 – Dublin, IE – Vicar Street
Nov. 02 – St. Paul, MN – The Fitz
Nov. 05 – Detroit, MI – El Club
Nov. 06 – Toronto, ON – Great Hall
Nov. 08 – Montreal, QC – La Sala Rosa
Nov. 09 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
Nov. 10 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
Nov. 12 – Washington, DC U Street Music Hall
Nov. 13 – Pittsburgh, PA – The Funhouse
Nov. 14 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop
Nov. 15 – Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme
Nov. 16 – Chicago, IL – Rockefeller Chapel
Nov. 17 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon
2019 Tour Dates
Jan. 29 – Glasgow, UK – Tramway
Jan. 30 – Birmingham, UK – Birmingham Town Hall
Jan. 31 – Brighton, UK – St. George’s Church Brighton
Feb. 01 – London, UK – Barbican
Feb. 02 – Kortrijk, BE – De Kreun
Feb. 04 – Groningen, NL – Vera
Feb. 05 – Erlangen, DE – E-Werk (Erlangen)
Feb. 06 – Cologne, DE – Kulturkirche Köln
Feb. 07 – Frankfurt, DE – Sankt Peter
Feb. 08 – Hamburg, DE – Uebel & Gefährlich
Feb. 09 – Aarhus, DK – Voxhall
Feb. 11 – København, DK – The Koncerthuset – Studie 2
Feb. 12 – Gothenburg, SE – Pustervik
Feb. 13 – Oslo – Norway – Parkteatret
Feb. 14 – Stockholm, SE – Kagelbanan (Small Room)
Mar. 08 – Denver, CO – Globe Hall
Mar. 09 – Santa Fe, NM – Meow Wolf
Mar. 11 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar
Mar. 12 – Tustin, CA – Marty’s On Newport
Mar. 13 – Tijuana, MX – Moustache
Mar. 15 – Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room
Mar. 16 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
Mar. 18 – Portland, OR – Star Theater
Mar. 19 – Vancouver, BC – Imperial
Mar. 20 – Seattle, WA – Neumos
Mar. 23 – Provo, UT – Velour Live Music Gallery
Neosho’s latest video, “Time Traveler,” is part of the composition process itself. Using an Ableton patch that responds to visual images as part of the arrangement, they have created dizzying audio and video. Programming isn’t all that’s there however; there are also jocular vocals and a sax solo that could be teleported from the mid-80s. Time travel indeed.
The second collaboration from alt-folk guitarists Bill Mackay & Ryley Walker, SpiderBeetleBee, will be released on October 20th via Drag City. A lovely video below of railway travel in eras past accompanies their song “Lonesome Traveler.” Another track streams, as well as ordering instructions (you will want those), via their Bandcamp page (below).
Best known for his work with Sonic Youth, in recent years Lee Ranaldo has carved out an interesting solo career. “Moroccan Mountains” is the lead off track from Electric Trim, his first LP for Mute (out 9/15/17). Check out the evocative, seven-and-a-half minute long video that accompanies the song below.
Offa Rex, a collaboration between alt-folk vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Olivia Chaney and indie rock stalwarts the Decemberists, released their debut LP, Queen of Hearts, today via Nonesuch Records. Check out a video for the title track below.
