new album "The Magic Place" is streaming on NPR: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/13/133621452/first-listen-julianna-barwick-the-magic-place
it actually has some instrumentation on it instead of just vocal loops, but sounds pretty similar to her other stuff
I think she has been compared to Grouper on other ILX threads to listen if you like Grouper
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 17 February 2011 12:16 (2 years ago) Permalink
she basically does layers of (wordless?) reverby vocal loops that end up sounding really dreamy and amazing
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 17 February 2011 12:18 (2 years ago) Permalink
there's a really great bootleg of her playing in brooklyn a few years ago, floating around, doing things that i don't recognise from either of the EPs. more guitarry, and yeah maybe grouper-esque, although way lighter.
curious to hear the record; i think seeing that it's on asthmatic kitty somehow lessened my anticipation of it, as if it'd come out all cloying and sweet.
― schlump, Thursday, 17 February 2011 12:36 (2 years ago) Permalink
Thanks for posting this! This is #1 on my anticipated albums for 2011.
― Pisle of dogs (seandalai), Thursday, 17 February 2011 15:26 (2 years ago) Permalink
I need to hear this.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 17 February 2011 15:27 (2 years ago) Permalink
Can't stop thinking of USMILEAMBIENT.mp3 though.
― Pisle of dogs (seandalai), Thursday, 17 February 2011 15:30 (2 years ago) Permalink
THIS IS FUCKING INCREDIBLE
― flopson, Sunday, 20 February 2011 20:42 (2 years ago) Permalink
the title song is beautiful. angelic, even
― reggie (qualmsley), Sunday, 20 February 2011 23:04 (2 years ago) Permalink
A feature, not a bug. Sunlight, Heaven sounds a lot like Eno to me too.
― Féile Kuti (ecuador_with_a_c), Sunday, 20 February 2011 23:27 (2 years ago) Permalink
I had a Barwick epiphany the other day listening to prizewinning. This is a fucking amazing album.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Wednesday, 23 February 2011 19:26 (2 years ago) Permalink
Diplo described it as sounding like "carebears making love" but don't let that put you off, this is far more nuanced, intersting and striking than that horrible metaphor suggests
― o0o00h really? (boxedjoy), Wednesday, 23 February 2011 22:44 (2 years ago) Permalink
"carebears making love"
Squishy.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 23 February 2011 22:45 (2 years ago) Permalink
i think seeing that it's on asthmatic kitty somehow lessened my anticipation of it, as if it'd come out all cloying and sweet.
yes-- starting to get into this one, though... i see the grouper thing but not nearly as dark & swampy, more in the clouds.
― Damn this thread seems so....different without ilxor (ilxor), Thursday, 3 March 2011 16:29 (2 years ago) Permalink
Okay, this album is fantastic.
― ka£ka (NickB), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 10:36 (2 years ago) Permalink
I see the Grouper comparison, but this is making think of Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares too.
― ka£ka (NickB), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 10:56 (2 years ago) Permalink
This is still brilliant, I thought there would be a bit more excitement around this. It makes me think of specific moments of the last Stars Of The Lid album, but whereas that sounded a little bit "movie soundtrack moment" this seems so much less clinical and considered in its approach. "Cloak" might be the best thing I've heard all year, with vocal loops sounding like they're falling down a well only to be pulled back up by a rich piano melody.
― o0o00h really? (boxedjoy), Thursday, 7 April 2011 00:26 (2 years ago) Permalink
i've enjoyed this album the couple times i've streamed online (NPR and someplace else) but this is the kinda record that really cries out to be heard in CD quality on proper headphones. need to pick up a retail copy...
― hey ilxor, thanks for contributing, glad you stopped by (ilxor), Thursday, 7 April 2011 14:00 (2 years ago) Permalink
So this is still amazing
― ha ha ha ha jack my swag (boxedjoy), Thursday, 3 November 2011 22:38 (1 year ago) Permalink
Possibly still my favourite JB song:
― fun drive (seandalai), Thursday, 3 November 2011 22:51 (1 year ago) Permalink
Holy shit, this album is really something else. Completely slept on this (until it came up in the "related artists" links from the Colin Stetson album that placed in the EOY list)
This is some serious old school 4AD Bulgarian Voices / Dead Can Dance style atmospherics, completely stunning.
― Drexciya's Midnight Runners (Wheal Dream), Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:09 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yes, yes it is!
― Phibes Kartel (NickB), Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
I want to know what kind of reverb she uses, or if she just records everything inside the dreaming spire of an ornate medieval cathedral made entirely from ice crystals and unicorn horn?
― Drexciya's Midnight Runners (Wheal Dream), Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:27 (1 year ago) Permalink
^ You can peak at some of her set-up here
― Phibes Kartel (NickB), Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:40 (1 year ago) Permalink
also bonus points for Sting - Bring On The Night t-shirt
― Phibes Kartel (NickB), Thursday, 2 February 2012 13:41 (1 year ago) Permalink
I love how GarageBand has become, like, the new 4-track for the generation below mine. All those bedroom weirdoes who used to record 4AD style baroque stuff in their bedrooms on wonky old Yamaha MT100-IIs are now doing the same thing in GarageBand, there's something reassuring about that, the technology gets better but the bedroom innovation stays the same.
― Drexciya's Midnight Runners (Wheal Dream), Friday, 3 February 2012 15:17 (1 year ago) Permalink
It also makes sense that she learned to sing in a church auditorium - that completely makes sense with the kind of reverb that she uses.
LOL @ Greenpoint, though. I think I've walked past that block when I used to live near there, but perhaps most of that part of Brooklyn looks alike.
― Drexciya's Midnight Runners (Wheal Dream), Friday, 3 February 2012 15:24 (1 year ago) Permalink
good old sp404. looks like she's just using it for effects? it does have a surprisingly nice reverb.
is 'prizewinning' the only song with drums on the record?
― the third kind of dubstep (Jordan), Friday, 3 February 2012 15:55 (1 year ago) Permalink
could be wrong, but i think so. certainly the most overt use of drums is on that one song
― Phibes Kartel (NickB), Friday, 3 February 2012 16:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
Vow does a similar trick of introducing another instrument halfway through when that (upright?) bass comes in
― Phibes Kartel (NickB), Friday, 3 February 2012 16:05 (1 year ago) Permalink
It's shit like this that makes me wish I hadn't sold my Boss RC pedal :-( :-(
― Sounds Of The Baskervilles (dog latin), Friday, 3 February 2012 17:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
omg this album
it's like sitting on your own in a deserted cathedral and hearing a choir practice in the distance, with added strange effects
― first period don't give a fuck, second period gon get cut (lex pretend), Friday, 3 February 2012 18:28 (1 year ago) Permalink
so devotional and rapt
Yes! The devotional aspect spot on. Every time I hear it, it completely captivates me.
― Drexciya's Midnight Runners (Wheal Dream), Friday, 3 February 2012 19:28 (1 year ago) Permalink
needs more rhythm
― the third kind of dubstep (Jordan), Friday, 3 February 2012 19:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
Nah I like that it's SAW II not SAW85-92. Rhythm would be a distraction.
― Drexciya's Midnight Runners (Wheal Dream), Friday, 3 February 2012 19:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
oh hey: http://juliannabarwick.bandcamp.com/album/matrimony-remixes
― the third kind of dubstep (Jordan), Friday, 3 February 2012 21:12 (1 year ago) Permalink
diplo :((((((((((((((((((((((((
― RYVITA® (Lamp), Friday, 3 February 2012 22:09 (1 year ago) Permalink
yeah uh no
― Phibes Kartel (NickB), Friday, 3 February 2012 22:21 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yeah, I don't know about those remixes, at all. Especially Prizewinning, which is just such a devastatingly amazing tune, really felt like - why bother? I guess based on Prizewinning, I wouldn't mind if she added more drums to her work. But the beats on those remixes just seem really grafted on in an unnecessary way.
― Drexciya's Midnight Runners (Wheal Dream), Friday, 3 February 2012 22:24 (1 year ago) Permalink
diplol
(of course he has a co-producer)
― the third kind of dubstep (Jordan), Friday, 3 February 2012 22:30 (1 year ago) Permalink
I don't think any other music this year has put such vivid images in my head. Sorry if this sounds really corny but mostly I picture cold rural meadows early in the morning with the sun breaking through the mist,or there's other songs where it sounds like the voices of ghosts on top the mountains with the wind just whistling over the boulders and through the shredded prayer flags, and then there's those parts where the voices keep rolling on and on like waves breaking just off the beach, and then again there's that whole african choral vibe and I dunno - it's good music for just letting your mind wander around in and I kind of think that too many beats would distract from that.
― Phibes Kartel (NickB), Friday, 3 February 2012 22:35 (1 year ago) Permalink
This is a nice performance btw though not much of a video:
― Phibes Kartel (NickB), Friday, 3 February 2012 22:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
One thing that the album reminds me of a bit:
― Phibes Kartel (NickB), Friday, 3 February 2012 22:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
I think what I was trying to get at with my gibbering is that for such bedroom music, it really evokes big wide open spaces.
― Phibes Kartel (NickB), Friday, 3 February 2012 22:47 (1 year ago) Permalink
I was saying more, "made in a bedroom" rather than "it sounds like a bedroom" - because it really doesn't sound like a bedroom. It's that immense reverb that gives it that sweeping sense of space, cathedrals, halls, echoing mountaintops. It's weird seeing her making music in such a tiny enclosed room, because it sounds so designed for huge, sweeping spaces.
― Drexciya's Midnight Runners (Wheal Dream), Friday, 3 February 2012 23:35 (1 year ago) Permalink
Oh yeah, I wasn't disagreeing with you at all.
― Phibes Kartel (NickB), Friday, 3 February 2012 23:49 (1 year ago) Permalink
Seeing her do her thing live is incredible: like, it's not just a triumph of craft but a triumph of vision, her ability to harmonise with and work loops based on her own voice, to make something that sounds so fully-formed and evocative and rich.
― boxedjoy, Saturday, 4 February 2012 01:00 (1 year ago) Permalink
Beautiful. Had it in all last night while cooking a fish curry. Just purely wonderful.
― Sounds Of The Baskervilles (dog latin), Saturday, 4 February 2012 10:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
Anyone else enjoying the Ombre album? "A modern avant pop masterpiece" says your man in The Wire, probably an overstatement but it is very pretty.
― atari era stylings of (seandalai), Friday, 14 September 2012 02:47 (8 months ago) Permalink
She released a new song! Don't know how to embed yet so:
― Van Horn Street, Friday, 8 February 2013 18:12 (3 months ago) Permalink
Good stuff
― monster_xero, Sunday, 10 February 2013 02:58 (3 months ago) Permalink