There are people who really love music. Who put their hearts and souls in the dissemination of stuff obscure, experimental groups that reach an audience too small. The people behind the label Latitudes fall into this category. Definitely.
I was exposed once at Latitudes through the Sun City Girls. In my illness, I was looking for all the outputs of the CIS and I fell on a solo album titled Sir Richard Bishop "Fingering the Devil." I was already hooked on the title and the iconography of the cd. At the outset I knew that music would satisfy me fully. I confess that I was not disappointed and "Fingering the Devil" remains one of my favorite albums of Richard Bishop. Also, when I had been in the hands I have seen firsthand the wonderful work of Label Latitudes, a superb cover of cardboard that closes by folding down the rear sides and top of each other, an artwork Embossed and a narrative of the recording session by way of liner notes. Everything I love. Reading the text I found that the two guys behind this label are finished music fans and they invite different artists, visiting London, to come to the studio recording Southern. No prior preparation, the artists come to record some stuff spontaneous. Latitudes is actually a division of the Southern Records label, also a record store in London.
I got myself a subsequent ep of Blood and Time , a project of some folk musicians from the metal band Neurosis. After that, I kept an eye open for news that appears on each of latitude alone, due to the short duration of some albums I suppressed my enthusiasm. Like me, some have been grumbling a bit about the short duration of some publications in comparison with their selling price. So that $ 1 per minute, sometimes a price to pay for disc. The idea was actually out of the ep, whose duration would vary between 15-25 minutes but some publications are much longer, for our greatest happiness.
That Latitudes that seems to open its vaults this year and brings to market several albums at once, at least he seems to have a new issue every month, Gang Gang Dance, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Gowns, Nadja, Bohren und der Club of Gore, Magik Markers, Circle, Grails, Miasma and many more ... I do not know if these discs are all out this year but it seems that most have just appear on my list of new distributors and favorite stores.
From my side, I ordered those from Master Musicians of Bukkake , Boduf Songs , Mount Eerie , Dälek, The (Fallen) Black Deer and Alexander Tucker Decomposed Orchestra. I do not regret.
First, the disk Master Musicians of Bukkake "Commendation Sombra" is simply brilliant. True to their habits, they continue to mix psychedelic rock, ethnic music and improvisation in the style of Sun City Girls. We will retain the title track "Elogia de la Sombra," where they infuse a rhythmic Krautrock their barbaric practice and "Tainted Phenomena" with the mantra of the Heart Sutra.
Another disc that impressed me is that of the Decomposed Alexander Tucker Orchestra "Grey Onion." I knew Alexander Tucker for his solo albums on ATP and I appreciated very much his mixture of baroque psychedelia incursions. But with the addition of Duke Garwood on clarinet and saxophone, one enters a world quite different. Mixture of folk, drone and free jazz very convincing, with the voice of Tucker in two parts.
Then there is the disc Dälek ... What to say. This is a long piece of 40 minutes which mixed spoken word, Eastern drones, sharp electric guitars, breakbeats pulling the metal / industrial. A hard exhausting but brilliant, somewhat in the spirit of Faust vs. Dälek. Stunning and beautiful.
Disc Mount Eerie Black Wooden "respects the traditional form of folk melancholy which we are accustomed to Phil Elverum. It comes to acoustic and electric guitar with an instrumental piece built with a few overdubs but still minimal. The sound recording is exceptional and very beautiful songs, as usual.
The (Fallen) Black Deer Requiem "is a nice surprise. It's actually a project of Josh Graham and Greg Burns of Red Sparowes group (and Halifax Pier). They entered the studio with the idea of recording an improvised soundtrack to the end of the movie "The Shining". The result is excellent and at the same time I discovered the Red Sparowes, doing a post-rock a bit more folky, very cinematic. Somewhat surprising when one learns that the group is formed among others, metal bands of musicians and Neurosis Isis .
Finally, Boduf Songs album of "The Strait Gait" or "A Great Difficulty In Getting To Heaven" and two long pieces which we differ considerably from their albums released on Kranky. Despite the vote, a bit difficult to Matt Sweet, I learned to love the project and especially its Boduf Songs album "How Shadow Chase the Balance". For this recording session, Matt Sweet has joined with other musicians or C. And Henry W. Goatley (which I do not know the source). The first piece "Please Extract My Teeth With Your Rustiest Pliers (For Redemption)" is a drone worthy of horror movies and has nothing to envy to groups known to quarrel over this kind of style. 10:38 From tension subsides and turns into a beautiful piece of acoustic folk. The second track "That WAS Fucking Piss Angel" reconnects us with the voice and guitar of Mr. Sweet and ends with a superb bass drone. 22 minutes of beautiful music.
Limited to 1000 vinyl copies and / or CD, these albums (and the back label) deserve to be heard, bought, found ... You can order from your favorite stores or directly to the label (at good price).
