Monday, January 21, 2013

REVIEW: Jared Fairfield/Afraid - EMF

8 out of 10


On this split "debut LP" between Jared Fairfield & Afraid the duo give us a sneak peak into a (not so) distant future filled with all sorts of luscious-dark sounds. Both of these artists are a shining example of underrated/overlooked talent. This release was/is severely overlooked, and not nearly enough people are talking about it.. a shame really. I have a feeling this is all about to change though (especially as more and more people talk about how great this release truly is;).

Jared & Jakob (Afraid) compliment each other perfectly on 'EMF'. Jared's sounds are somewhat "Balam Acab-y meets Post Drag/Trance meets Ʌ", whereas Afraid's sound are more Dark/Gothic Electronica (can't think of a comparison at the moment, although..maybe "Radiohead Drag" comes to mind, also Ʌ). The general tone of this release as a whole is "mournful Post Dub/Trance Drag Step". There's enough variance here to suite a lot of moods, overall though it's atmosphere is best suited for slower more cumbersome-melancholy days infused with a small lining of post-hope. What "EMF" means we may never know (I guess it's a secret), it doesn't really matter though. You will be so intrigued by this release that it just doesn't matter what it necessarily "represents/narrates" (side note: this is only the first album of many in the "EMF" series..II is on it's way soonish I believe). Come up with an acronym of your own, I think you'll feel/agree with what these two artists were going for when they put this piece of art together, you'll also agree with me when I say "I need moar NOW (please?)".

Highly (good enough for this list = good enough for you.) Recommended.

Standout Tracks: Fair Skin, The Mountain, It Doesn't Bother Me, Tearing The Tongue, Sissy, All F#$%ed Up (Forever)(on repeat)

EIC's 10Q's w/ Afraid

"..there are two rules to having a good time.."
 
(Photo credit: Ryan Eyestone)

Afraid
Nebulous Drift Drag

Afraid Bio:
Portland, ME-based smoky bedroom sounds. Gravebaby shiv. Est. May 2011.
Go HERE to download everything ever for free....


Hello, how are you?
Doing much better than I have been in the past six months. Coming out of a bad spell, y'all.

What are you currently listening to?
Tricky's 'Pre-Millenium Tension' album. This Mortal Coil's 'It'll End In Tears.' Also, lots of old soul. Garnet Mimms, Otis Redding, Smokey Robinson, Ben E. King. Other than that, I've been listening to Grouper for a couple hours here and there laying in bed, looking out the window.

Whats with the band name, is there something specific you fear?
I once recorded a version of Nico's "Afraid'" with a very certain girl in my life. We were going to be Afraid together. The girl left, but the name stayed. It still feels appropriate. 'Desertshore' is one of my secret favorite records of all time, and I think it shows through in places in my music if you know where to look. I'm just waiting out here on the Desertshore to meet up with Nico one of these days…

When did this project come about?
May of 2011. I recorded "Tearing The Tongue" and sent it to some close friends. It was over a year until anything was released though (EMF, 9.10.12.) I had to take some serious time to figure out what the fuck I wanted to be doing. Lots of fiddling with knobs and tuning ladies' voices down in audacity.

Care to tell us a little bit about the album you did with Jared Fairfield titled 'EMF', theme/meaning of acronym, how it came up/how you know Jared, etc.?
We sort of promised not to give the meaning away ever. But, you can see on the cover of the album that Jared has an 'EMF' tattoo. We spent a lot of time in that very same room on the cover, doing just what you see there, fucking off and drinking profusely and tattooing each other and our friends occasionally. We watched a lot of Rihanna videos on local access music video television and decided to make a split record, since we were both making electronic music for the first time. The title and the image just came to me. There are maybe three or four different meanings, but a couple hold sway over the others. One day we might share. In the meantime, we both need to cracking on EMF II, as we plan to do a whole string of these things.

Any plans to tour for said release?
No plans to tour at the moment. One of the only things I know for sure that I want to do in life is to tour with Afraid. I just haven't finished putting my live crew together yet. I need friends, people who are on the same wavelength. I can't use any old dummy. No hired hands. No local goons. Big purple lights and lots of strobes, fog machines, many many speakers. All of this needs to come together first.

Got any other projects we should know about?
At the moment, no. I'm married to Afraid.

What movie would work best on mute while listening to you music?
Boogie Nights. I actually put this on mute while I was messing around with my MicroKorg the first time I got it. So yes, Boogie Nights. "I'm a star, I'm a star, I'm a big big star." Put on "All Fucked Up (Forever)" from EMF and watch the cocaine dealer scene, I think that would work nicely.

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
Spacemen 3's 'Forged Prescriptions.' If I can only have one record for the rest of my life, I'm going to take the one that sends me floating off to heaven every time. Thank you Spaceman. Thank you Pete.

Are you living your dream?
No. If one day I wake up and I can miraculously make music all day, and play shows and record all morning and night, then I will be living my dream. I have never been able to tell if this dream is ludicrous or worth chasing, so instead I have learned to focus solely on the work at hand, and to live inside of it. This is all I ever want to do, anyways.

Thanx Jakob!

Afraid recently released the 'French Braids/Dead Friends' single, check that out NOW. He's also currently working on his upcoming "debut" LP, look for that sometime soon (as well as one other surprise;])..

Sunday, January 20, 2013

EICV7" No. 35 - Sideways Heart ..coming soon!

EverythingIsChemical Virtual 7" No. 35 - Sideways Heart comes out January 27th!
 
  

"Flowers grow out of dark moments." ~Corita Kent

(hopefully you checked out the last v7"?)

Saturday, January 19, 2013

[[EIC Mixtape: № 9 - February '13]]


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1. Karelle - Visite Écourtée
2. Tazmanian Tiger - Softly And Tenderly - Interlude
3. MedicineHat - Late Nitez
4. Mosh - Leopold
5. Pro Era - Last Cypher
6. Cry Guy - Gumdrop Wishes
7. Kučka - Polly (Serialkillersundays)
8. Photay - Moon
9. Mosh - Misbehavior
10. London Bridges - Players Ball (Stockz)
11. Tazmanian Tiger - The Last Winter
12. Trip The Light - Nebula
13. Spaceghostpurrp - Swervin
14. Sea Camp - Patterns In Y
15. Gabe Catanzaro - Nothing To Lose (Genevan Heathen & Oliver Screwed Mix)
16. London Bridges - Falling
17. Julia Losfelt - Mojo So Dope (Kid Cudi Cover)
18. Sweet Valley - Lee & Kirby
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Thanx for listenin';]

Cool Video Funtime #359 - B 4 Sure