In Case You Missed It: Moving Mountains Go Out With A Beautiful Bang
–Remembered by Michael Hogan
Before I get started, I have to be honest with you guys: I feel a bit of trepidation including this album in our ICYMI series. Those of you out there that know who Moving Mountains are LOVE them, and I mean ferociously so. I’ve only ever heard two responses when Moving Mountains are brought up; either “they’re amazing”, or “who the hell are Moving Mountains?” I don’t know if I’ve ever really heard a bad word spoken about them, except in response to their rather sudden and supposedly permanent hiatus. So those that fall into the former category, this will be a sort of ‘duh’ article for you – of course you know this album, and of course you know it’s awesome. For the rest of you, I’m going to need your undivided attention for a few minutes.
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Preview: Feed Me Set To Sink His Teeth Into 9:30 Club
–Written by Kayla Kiser
Sir Jon Gooch – aka Feed Me – is at it again. He recently released a new EP and just embarked on a North American tour, featuring a new spin on his self-designed “Teeth” production set-up. The Psychedelic Journey EP dropped just a few weeks ago, and he’s been working hard on the stage production, keeping fans updated via Facebook and Instagram every step of the way.
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The Daily Frequency (8/13/14)
–Written by Kevin Madert
This is a daily post we’ll be running to keep you as up-to-date on musical goings-on as we can. We’ll be gathering news tidbits from across the music world and compiling them for you towards the end of each day. This is not meant to be an all-encompassing source for music news, but rather a collection of news items we found interesting, important, or otherwise necessary to share.
Today, a lot of things happened in the world of music. Here are some of them.
1. DJ Shadow released (streaming, anyway) a short-but-sweet two song EP. The first new music from the legendary instrumental hip-hop producer in three years coincides with his decision to begin his own label, Liquid Amber Records. Included with the EP is a really, really good Machinedrum remix of Shadow’s classic “Six Days.” Via Rolling Stone.
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Next Time I’ll Bring More Rope: Behind the Scenes (and Before the Crowds) at Big Dub Festival
–Written by Michael Hogan
On Wednesday, July 30, people were beginning to show up to Big Dub in droves, sitting outside the front gate at some ungodly hour of the morning. I was most certainly still asleep, though I couldn’t stay asleep for long, I had work to finish, and unfortunately I had to finish it before gates opened at two to let all those people in. That was the 5th day of my Big Dub adventure.
Of course, people started pouring in much earlier than two, and I was greeted by every single one of them as my team and I worked tirelessly to finish up our last major deco installation, which was blocking the main road down to the bottom camp (much to the disdain of Four Quarters management). Nearly every person that waited patiently as we cleared the road in periodic increments to let campers by made sure to shout from their car windows at us to let us know how good everything looked, and what a good job we were doing. This was quite brave of them; I was hot, sweaty, and had gone far too many days without a shower. I couldn’t have looked like anybody worth a kind word.
But everyone appreciated all our work regardless, and that felt really good. That made all the setbacks and frustration worth it. Not only seeing our finished product in the air and working, but having everyone else see it, and actively appreciate it; that made it worth the trouble.
I couldn’t help but recognize that all of those people were only seeing the closing stages of the process; they were only witnessing the proverbial tip of the inflatable iceberg. They knew it looked cool, and I’m sure they knew it must have been some work to get it all up there, but that effort was not a tangible, identifiable action. It was a concept, a theoretical portion of time that had passed, and remained in their mind for only a fleeting moment as they first passed underneath the almost complete structure.
They had no idea we had a potentially disastrous light bulb oversight, or a massive calamity with the rope, or how we had to improvise with just about every makeshift ‘tool’ that we used. And that’s okay. They didn’t need to know about all of that. They were there to enjoy the show, and only processed the decorations as an object requiring effort when they could see the effort being put in.
And it’s that forgotten side of things that I’m here to talk about, because most of us rarely take the time to note all the hard work that actually goes into making these festivals look presentable. So here’s a timeline of my set up experience from start to finish.
It’s important to note that this is only a small piece of the pie; countless staff members put in countless hours of hard work to make this happen. But it should provide some relative perspective, and hopefully an interesting look at a side of the festival experience that you have never seen before.
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In Case You Missed It: Tor’s Way-Chill “Drum Therapy”
–Written by Kevin Madert
It’s been a long time since I’ve come across an album as appropriately titled as Tor’s 2012 debut Drum Therapy. If Neil Peart and a few enlightened monks started a side-project, the general thrust would be pretty similar: there’s never a lack of forward-moving percussive elements, but the entire album listens like a slow stroll down a long beach. It’s this tightrope between heavy and light that Tor traverses with deftness befitting a producer albums-deep into a career, and it’s how well he pulls it off that has kept this album on heavy rotation two years down the road.
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Emancipator announces Loci Records showcase, premieres new track “Diamonds”
-Written by Kevin Madert
It’s always a good day when Doug Appling releases new music. It’s an even better day when that music is coupled with an announcement of even more music. And it’s an even better day still when said new music will be a free showcase of the brightest talent in the downtempo scene. By these parameters, yesterday was certifiably fantastic: Loci Records – the label Emancipator founded in 2012 – will release a compilation album entitled Season One entirely free of charge. Featuring tracks both new and old from Tor, D.V.S*, Nym, Stratus and more, the nine-track collection promises to be a delectable sampling of the independent label’s artist offerings.
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