if you think this nug is lovely, then wait until Loud and Sad permeate your head with angelic hymns. peace and love to my friends at Humboldt Relief :)
Best of 2012
In the remote darkness and silence of my consciousness, these poignant tracks delicately illuminate the austere expanse, replacing despair with enveloping august light. The power of music to travel expeditiously over synapses and recalibrate your reality is singular. And, in those moments, when False Intimacy -a recent release on the excellent Cae-sur-a - graces your head with elegant notes, it's commensurate to the touch of a good friend, a partner on whom you may depend. Loud and Sad is the long running project of Nathan McLaughlin and Joe Houpert. In the spring/summer, Nathan released Echolocation #6 on Sicsic, along with the tremendous The Refrigerator is Emotional on Senufo Editions. Meanwhile, Joe's Prayer project has been lighting up my head for the past few weeks. Additionally, they are collaborating on a new project, Tilth, with Cody Yantis. This year, especially the latter part, Loud and Sad have been busy, releasing this tape; Lathe #2, a companion to False Intimacy; and soon, Unknown Species on Greenup Industries. Earlier this year, my fellow Foxy D colleague, David Perron, hosted a wonderful in-studio session with Loud and Sad on his weekly radio show, Free Form Freakout - access the show here. It was through this podcast that I learned about the Loud and Sad project and the special bond that Nathan and Joe share. Only through David's show was I able to learn that Loud and Sad is at the cross-section of their individual works. At times plaintive and introspective and at others warm and ethereal, False Intimacy is comprised of works on solo piano and processing.
In 'Example 1', contemplative notes coalesce with protruding, acute beams of sound. As the track matures, other layers slowly emerge endowing it with warmth. The ending is particularly beautiful. As track one finishes, it merges with the opaque drift of, 'Example 2'. Delicate notes, suffused with electricity, morph and recede in 'Example 3 and 4'. For me, 'Example 5' is pure heaven. This last track spans the majority of the flipside. It commences with the synthesis of a warm, static-laced oscillating drone and elegant piano. Solitary keys come into being and then slowly disintegrate. Soon the oscillating drone moves to the background while distended keys echo. The middle part is stunning. As the track proceeds, the piano has an increasingly clean sound, seemingly devoid of processing. It's an achingly beautiful section of the tape.
Cae-sur-a always has some of the best nugs around. They have released some fantastic tapes from the likes of Baldruin, Hering Und Seine Sieben Sachen, Pine Smoke Lodge, April in the Orange and Rambutan. Along with Loud and Sad, the new batch includes the awesome Bjerga/Iversen and Drowing the Virgin Silence tapes. The presentation is strikingly beautiful, which is due to Travis Johansen. False Intimacy comes in hand made, silk screened, stamped and numbered matchbox cases with a booklet, in an edition of 100. Lathe #2 disappeared from Discriminate quickly. Don't suffer the fate of missing out on this cassette: purchase your copy of False Intimacy, along with the new batch, directly from Cae-sur-a.
peace and love, friends :)