REVIEW: Christina Vantzou - Nº1 Remixes

7.5 out of 10

Find it here.

Christina Vantzou first came across my radar (and probably yours too) with the 2004 Kranky release 'The Dead Texan', which was a project with her and Adam Wiltzie (Stars Of The Lid/A Winged Victory For The Sullen). To this day I still think "Glen's Goo" is one of the best Kranky songs of all time. Needless to say I will be in this/these artists debt(s) for as long as they record/I live. After Dead Texan Christina went on tour (as a traveling member) with Sparkling Horse (whom I miss:() and began writing material for her debut release 'Nº1'.

This is the remix companion to 'Nº1', Christina asked some artists (Loscil, Dustin O'Halloran, White Rainbow ..to name a few) if they were interested in remixing her work. Some said yes, some said no. The first 10 (and best probable) choices were picked. Judging by the artists on here, I'd say Christina hangs out with a pretty interesting/awesome crew. The original intention of Ms. Vantzou's work was minimal/basic beauty generated from a synthesizer (or something close to it in nature). That same "theme"/overall tone is still present on 'Nº1 Remixes', only as seen or heard rather through other perspectives. I will say that the original songs felt "almost darker" than this release, the remixes are a little more "light and airy" I suppose. But I think that the choices for the remixes were chosen well, they all "pay homage" to Christina's sound quite perfectly. Slow moving synths, drones, white noises, etc. meets Neo Classical Ambiance mixed with a few vocals (which I found surprising and inviting) + a few minimal structures built on top (I don't want to say "beats"), and just that "nice-niceness" that you'd come to expect from anyone related to the Kranky family. You know how it goes, new Kranky = happier EIC.

Nuthin' here but gorgeous stuff, hear to lull you. Recommended.

Standout Tracks: And Instantly Take Affect (Loscil Remix), Prelude For Juan (Montgomery Knott Remix), Small Choir (Ben Vida Remix), 1111 (Dustin O'Halloran Remix), Steady Beamin (White Rainbow Remix) <-LOVE THIS SONG., Homemade Mountains (ISAN Remix), The Adversary Of Evil Budd (Bonus Track From The Dead Texan) <-!

EIC'S10Q'S w/ A Winged Victory For The Sullen

"..a bit of downer, a gorgeous effervescent disaster slowly unfolding into itself to reform the polar opposite.."


A Winged Victory For The Sullen
Pulchritudinous Flux

A Winged Victory For The Sullen Bio:
A Winged Victory For the Sullen is the first installment of the new collaboration between Stars of the Lid member Adam Wiltzie and composer Dustin O'Halloran. The duo agreed to leave their normal home studio comfort zone and develop the recordings with the help of large acoustic spaces, and to hunt down a selection of 9ft grand pianos that had the ability to deliver extreme sonic low end. Other traditional instrumentation was used including string quartet, French horn, and bassoon, but always juxtaposed is the sound of drifting guitar washed melodies.

The recordings began in one late night session in the famed Grunewald Church in west Berlin on a 1950s imperial Boesendorfer piano and strings were added in the historic East Berlin DDR radio studios along the River Spree. One last final session in a private studio deep in the norther cusp of Italy on a handmade Fazioli piano, and the final mixes took place in a 17th century villa near Ferrara, Italy, with the assistance of Francesco Donadello. All songs were processed completely analogue straight to magnetic tape.

Their secret to harvesting new melodic structures from the thin air of existence was for the duo to push themselves to live dangerously, realizing that clear thinking at the wrong moment could stifle the compositions. The final result is seven landscapes of harmonic replicating ingemination. In “Requiem for the Static King Part 1 (created in memory of the untimely passing of Mark Linkous) they have taken the age old idea of a string quartet and then shot it out a cannon to reveal exquisite new levels of mellow bliss. Of the 13 minute track 'A Symphony Pathetique' Wiltzie says after almost 20 years of struggling to create interesting ambient drone music, I feel like I have finally figured out what I am doing.

Notable guest musicians include Icelandic cellist Hildur Gudnadottir, and violinist Peter Broderick. A Winged Victory for the Sullen is not a side project. This is the future of the late night record you have always dreamed of.


Hello, how are you?
Terrible. I am having the 2nd worst week of my entire life. Let's hope I can survive it.

What are you currently listening to?
Nothing except for music by a Dutch singer named Chantal Acda. She has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard

What's the story with the band name?
I have a long history with coming up with dumb band names. As I may have said before I have a long history of sitting with friends at a bar, and just making lists of the possibilities. There was an atmosphere hovering over us that this project would not just be a single endeavor. Using our names seemed to reek of a doomed one off project. So we chose the road of a certain benign teutonic countenance....

When/where did you to meet?
We met of May 24th 2007 in Bologna Italy. I was on tour playing with Sparklehorse. Dustin came to the show,
and I found him in the dressing room after drinking all the whiskey. It was a beautiful omen.

How did the idea for this project come up/start?
I love his "Solo Piano Vol.2" record. It was may favorite release of 2007, and with SOTL getting in a lot of end of the year best of lists, I was so surprised that no one had heard this record? Sometimes you just have a feeling. Despite our differences in the type of music we make, there is an emotion I feel we both seem to follow.

I heard you will be touring for this release with a string orchestra of some sort, who's organizing that?
Depends of the country, but basically we are organizing it. When you make the kind of music we do, you don't have a lot of promoters who see big $ signs in their eyes. We are basically touring with the potential of financial disaster dangling in front of our heads like a rotten carrot.

If you guys could score a movie (any movie) what would your top choice be?
Blade Runner (that is the answer for both of us) ..we are rehearsing right now, and we keep looking in each others eyes and screaming "VANGELIS"!!!!

In an ideal world whom would you like to see remix your sound?
No one. I am really not a fan of this genre. But I would however love to work with the composer Alexandre Desplat. I would kill to have him help us with some string arrangements, he is one of my heroes.

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
This is gonna sound a bit narcissistic, but it would be Sleepingdog's 'With Our Heads In The Clouds, And Our Hearts In The Fields'. It's probably most beautiful experience I have ever had making music, and the songs still inspire me.

Are you living your dream?
More like nightmare for the moment, but AWVFTS could be the therapist that will save me.

Thanx Brian & AWVFTS!

A Winged Victory For The Sullen are currently touring the US, make sure to soak in those glorious ambient waves if you can...

REVIEW: A Winged Victory For The Sullen - S/T

8.5 out of 10

Find it here.

A few things my "winter ears" require; 1. Tonal Warmth 2. Post Bliss 3. Lack of gravity. These are also, coincidentally, three things A Winged Victory For The Sullen's debut has to offer. Let it snow, I'm ready now.

AWVFTS is Adam Wiltzie (Stars Of The Lid/Dead Texan) and Dustin O'Halloran (Dustin O'Halloran). The two of these guys joining forces isn't really that peculiar of a concept, in-fact it makes a lot of sense. Adam and Dustin both seem to have an ear for clear and ideal Classical Ambiance so it only seemed inevitable that their paths would eventually cross. AWVFTS's debut/self titled release is a nice companion piece for both artists involved. Slow murmurations of gorgeous synths swimming in a pool of strings and an accompanied piano that is no doubt one of the most gorgeous things I've ever heard. Track 1 is a bit of downer, a gorgeous effervescent disaster slowly unfolding into itself to reform the polar opposite. Track 2 is just as slow moving, maybe more so since the shift of the piano has been more focused towards the swirling synthetic strings, I really like this track (a lot) a lot. Track 3, ohhh track 3..soooo warm. Every track just gets better and better the further you listen. Music like this only comes along so often, its even better when it comes out during the proper season. What you would expect from these two artists has indeed unfolded in a grand manor that will hopefully be replicated on a new album sometime in the near future. If this (see track 5. 'Steep Hills..') is only the beginning of this bands career ..I don't know how much more emotion my ears can handle, but I'm willing to risk it. More please?

Said it before, say it again (always and forever) it's Kranky so you know the "gold standard" is there. Recommended for fans of slow motion.

Standout Tracks: All. (but mainly) Requiem For Static King Part 2, Minuet For A Cheap Piano, Steep Hills Of Vicodin Tears (yum), A Symphony Pathetique (imagine (happily) dying in the snow to this song)