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PRICE:
$18.50
IN STOCK
ARTIST
TITLE
Methods Body
FORMAT
LP

LABEL
CATALOG #
BNSD 047LP BNSD 047LP
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
8/28/2020

Beacon Sound presents the debut album by Portland duo Methods Body, a co-release with New Amsterdam. "Dark twin, meet your light twin." That's how musicians and best friends John Niekrasz and Luke Wyland were first introduced to each other in 2007. It's an apt description of the duality and synergy of their musical project Methods Body. Using keys/electronics and percussion, the two maximize the duo configuration to create music at once primal and futuristic. Overflowing with polyrhythms and layers of microtonal melodies, the two suites on Methods Body's self-titled debut conjure a sense of traveling through space and time to a prismatic, post-human landscape. No strangers to instrumental innovation, Niekrasz and Wyland are known for their previous acclaimed projects: Wyland's art-pop ensemble AU, and Niekrasz's virtuosic experimental duo Why I Must Be Careful. Having played together in improvisational contexts for more than a decade, they committed to Methods Body in 2016 by spending five days a week in their Portland, Oregon, studio composing and interrogating themselves about their usefulness as artists in "combating the distressing geopolitical climate." Working with the same therapist, Wyland and Niekrasz began to focus on their personal relationship "as a model of creative love through nurturant masculinity." Their vision for Methods Body crystallized as they journeyed to remote landscapes to record together. First, to a historic saloon in the Mojave desert -- Pioneertown's Red Dog Saloon -- then, to a 12' by 16' cabin in the primeval Oregon forest where they slept on the floor beneath their instruments. Methods Body creates instrumental music with language at its core. Niekrasz and Wyland's contrasting relationships with language allow a real alchemy to emerge from the tension between them. Language is foundational for Niekrasz, a poet from the Iowa Writers' Workshop who studies the cross-cultural traditions of verbally-inspired drumming. He uses syllabic notation to form intricate rhythmical patterns that bloom into wild tangentry. As a stutterer, Wyland's approach to music is informed by his idiosyncratic relationship with language. The cadences of broken speech and use of technology as an aid in communication are fundamental to his musical vocabulary. Featured on track "Claimed Events Pt. 2 - Overheard", vocalist Holland Andrews (Like A Villain) reveals the linguistic heart of this music with a virtuosic call to action. RIYL: Terry Riley, Dawn Of Midi, Konono No 1, Silver Apples, Aphex Twin, Battles, Four Tet, Kelly Moran.