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THRILL 624LP
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"Wrekmeister Harmonies, the duo of JR Robinson and Esther Shaw, are sonic shape shifters with expansive ideas. From special performances to collaborations the band have worked with David Yow (Jesus Lizard) Ryley Walker, Ken Vandermark, Bruce Lamont, Mark Solotroff, Sanford Parker, Jamie Fennely (Mind Over Mirrors), The Body, Mary Lattimore, Olivia Block, Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu), Chris Brokaw, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Thor Harris (Swans). Inspired by artists such as Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, and Lou Reed, the duo approach each album as a new sonic adventure. Flowers in the Spring was born of deep, careful listening as much as composing. It explores music as a meditative practice with a focus on microtonal shifts and intersectional overtones. Robinson explains: 'It's the subtle movements within and without, the fine threads of sound, loud or quiet, interior or exterior that become valuable.' Limiting himself to just four mixer channels on each piece; precisely layering guitar and electronics, intently listening and manipulating either the intensity or the duration of each loop to yield unexpected interactions, moments of beauty as well as dissonance." Flowers in Spring emerges from fizzing distortion, hewing monolithic slabs of drone from the rock face while electronics push through fissures. 'Fuck the Pigs' uses layers of noise as it metaphorically shifts into the depths of winter, arctic winds howling while the guitar scars like frost across a windowpane. In contrast 'A Shepherd Stares Into the Sun' is pure light and heat, overwhelming in its sheer celestial enormity. 'Flowers Variation" was born of nature's microscopic subterranean movements in its primordial gloom and buzzing synth pads. Each track holds multitudes of micro sonic details coming together to form the album's expansive ecosystem."
"an immensely rewarding listen that takes both his band -- and the hybrid genre he's helping invent -- to new heights." --Pitchfork
"Robinson's musical vision is as naturally imposing on a recording as you imagine his grey-bearded, urbanshaman -- with-knuckle-tattoos-appearance would be in the flesh."- The Quietus
"Intense, genre-defying" --Brooklyn Vegan
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THRILL 624X-LP
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Pink color vinyl version. "Wrekmeister Harmonies, the duo of JR Robinson and Esther Shaw, are sonic shape shifters with expansive ideas. From special performances to collaborations the band have worked with David Yow (Jesus Lizard) Ryley Walker, Ken Vandermark, Bruce Lamont, Mark Solotroff, Sanford Parker, Jamie Fennely (Mind Over Mirrors), The Body, Mary Lattimore, Olivia Block, Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu), Chris Brokaw, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Thor Harris (Swans). Inspired by artists such as Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, and Lou Reed, the duo approach each album as a new sonic adventure. Flowers in the Spring was born of deep, careful listening as much as composing. It explores music as a meditative practice with a focus on microtonal shifts and intersectional overtones. Robinson explains: 'It's the subtle movements within and without, the fine threads of sound, loud or quiet, interior or exterior that become valuable.' Limiting himself to just four mixer channels on each piece; precisely layering guitar and electronics, intently listening and manipulating either the intensity or the duration of each loop to yield unexpected interactions, moments of beauty as well as dissonance." Flowers in Spring emerges from fizzing distortion, hewing monolithic slabs of drone from the rock face while electronics push through fissures. 'Fuck the Pigs' uses layers of noise as it metaphorically shifts into the depths of winter, arctic winds howling while the guitar scars like frost across a windowpane. In contrast 'A Shepherd Stares Into the Sun' is pure light and heat, overwhelming in its sheer celestial enormity. 'Flowers Variation" was born of nature's microscopic subterranean movements in its primordial gloom and buzzing synth pads. Each track holds multitudes of micro sonic details coming together to form the album's expansive ecosystem."
"an immensely rewarding listen that takes both his band -- and the hybrid genre he's helping invent -- to new heights." --Pitchfork
"Robinson's musical vision is as naturally imposing on a recording as you imagine his grey-bearded, urbanshaman -- with-knuckle-tattoos-appearance would be in the flesh."- The Quietus
"Intense, genre-defying" --Brooklyn Vegan
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THR 339LP
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"J.R. Robinson has been writing and recording music as Wrekmeister Harmonies in various incarnations since 2006. In 2012 he brought together some of the most revered musicians in the black metal and experimental music worlds (Jef Whitehead of Leviathan, Sanford Parker and Andrew Markuszewski of Nachmystium, Jamie Fennelly aka Mind Over Mirrors, Mark Solotroff of Anatomy of Habit, Bruce Lamont of Yakuza, and more) to perform You've Always Meant So Much to Me at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago to much acclaim and a sold out theater. The collaborators for the live performance joined Robinson at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio later that year to record the composition in full. The 38 minute composition was written to accompany a film Robinson shot in decimated Detroit locations, the desert of Joshua Tree and decaying forests of Tasmania. The beauty and darkness of the visuals are reflected in the music, which seeps from the ether with great melancholy. Reflective drones grow and decay, forming waves of overlapping sound that evolve into a gigantic roar of distorted guitar. Searing, disembodied howls and pummeling drums signal a shift from mournful to harrowing as Robinson and his ensemble lurch forward into the abyss. As the metal elements dwindle, electronics return to the fore, accompanied by a softly plucked harp signaling gentle finality." Housed in a gatefold sleeve.
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