SDAI is pleased to host NY noise duo WHITE SUNS (Load/The Flenser/UgExplode Records), along with "Mexicali's great goth hope" SILENT (ThreeOneG Records), and LA's opaquely ambient TELECAVES (I Had An Accident/Absence of Wax Records).
WHITE SUNS
New York City’s noise duo White Suns have existed since 2006 and have released three full-length albums – Waking In The Reservoir (UgExplode, 2011), Sinews (Load, 2012) and Totem (The Flenser, 2014) – along with a handful of small-run releases. Their material has received accolades from the New Yorker, SPIN, Pitchfork, and Tiny Mix Tapes among others, and they’ve extensively toured the U.S. and garnered a reputation as a threatening and intense live act. This summer, White Suns will release their challenging fourth album, Psychic Drift, via label partner The Flenser.
Following the deconstructed rock instrumentation of 2014’s Totem, White Suns’ Dana Matthiessen and Kevin Barry continue their inexorable plunge into sonic abstraction. Psychic Drift consists of four long-form compositions where synthesizers, field recordings, cut-up samples and lurching rhythms form a tapestry of shifting layers. The focus here is on texture and atmosphere, utilizing repurposed aspects of drone, industrial and harsh noise to create claustrophobic soundscapes that ripple and groan.
“The ostensible soundtrack for the apocalypse.” – Dusted
“…subverting the lines between noise-rock, metal, and the electronic avant-garde with aural assaults that render those distinctions irrelevant.” – Pop Matters
“Every so often a band comes along whose music is so disturbing and jarring on the first initial listen that it prompts you to just stop halfway through their record. But then, you immediately keep playing and delve deeper into the record because it intrigues you and stirs your overall senses, redefining what it means to play heavy music that straddles a very thin line with noise and cacophony.” – The 1st Five
theflenser.com/white-suns-psychic-drift
SILENT
Miles Davis said that “it’s not the notes you play, it’s the notes you don’t play”. It’s when one is silent that sound suddenly becomes the most meaningful, the most necessary—moments of reflection or restraint punctuate the importance of what’s there versus what’s not. This is the case not only in music, but in history and in daily life. Framed in this way, a band named Silent suddenly seems like less of a paradox and more of an awareness. This is especially the case when considering their album title, A Century of Abuse, of which one could draw many connections between oppression and silence. Created in Baja California, Silent’s music takes on various aural approaches. Interludes bring forth hypnotic sounds that have an almost cinematic quality, all heartbeat and boots on cement rhythms with sunsets on a desert landscape distortion. Other tracks take on a more fast-paced approach, sometimes even crossing barriers into catchy, surf-like guitar riffs. While Andrea Varela’s drumming, Rodo Ibarra’s (Maniqui Lazer) bass, and Alejandro Lara’s guitar lines do vary quite a bit depending on the track, Jung Sing’s (Maniqui Lazer, All Leather) vocals are a common thread throughout, consistently emitting honeyed grief: soothing but woeful, desperate and yet in no rush, perhaps calling to mind something in the spirit of a Mexicali-reincarnated Nick Cave. – Becky DiGiglio
noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/silent-are-making-some-goddamn-angry-noise
TELECAVES
Telecaves is an improvisational noise duo comprised of Juliette Amoroso and Elaine Carey, an audio engineer and production designer, respectively. Both have struggled with depression and generalized anxiety. Often classified as ambient noise, Telecaves put their own spin on that label, essentially making ambient music that's so thick and opaque it penetrates with the intensity and immediacy of noise. Not exactly ethereal, but sublimely atmospheric nonetheless.