Shackleton

that feeling of being in an empty, depopulated zone and yet feeling some sort of strange presence there

He certainly evokes the strongest and strangest mental images of any current dubstep (post-dubstep, whatever) producer. He'd be great at scoring movies I think.

Shackleton live is something quite special. The organ noises do really open his sound palette, but I think that three albums in two years (granted, one was a collaborative effort) is a bit much and a little selectivity would probably edge his releases from being good to essential.

i really love the drawbar organ eps, one of the best things i've discovered from various EOY lists - been listening a lot through hungover fugs this past week

i like music for the quiet hour too but don't feel like i've got a handle on it yet - i love how detailed and intricate it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfpMPUctTaE

^ i didn't even really know what a drawbar organ was until about a minute ago

that's just a little app that replicates the actual thing btw

wait i am being super dense here

never drink and think

Just listening to the Pinch Shackleton album and wow...

Like, I had no idea either were capable of making something as unerringly pretty as this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtTbrZMPh0s

The recent ep is totally more of the same, but in a totally good way.

Who let Sam a go on Sleazy's music making machines? Good move.

both the Vengeance Tenfold collaboration and this are very, very impressive

https://boomkat.com/products/behind-the-glass-with-anika

suddenly, a new EP! https://boomkat.com/products/furnace-of-guts

This is some of his finest work yet. A real return to form after Sferic Ghost Transmits and Behind The Glass, which weren't very good

I still like those two a lot (imho, he's been on a roll since Freezing Opening Thawing)

Yeah this is really hitting me in a way I haven't felt since the Drawbar Organ pieces.

https://www.factmag.com/2019/08/15/shackleton-tunes-of-negation-album/
https://soundcloud.com/cosmo-rhythmatic/tunes-of-negation-nowhere-ending-sky

This album is so good and the best thing he's done since the Drawbar Organ EPs at least. This technically isn't a Shackleton album but apart from the vocals I'm not really sure what the other musicians are bringing to the table that he couldn't have done himself.

Yes, this is wonderful. It does have more of wide open and ensemble feel than typical for Shackleton, and with all the reedy organ tones it's giving me some similar vibes to the recent James Holden and Amon Tobin albums.

new track on this as well: https://fabricrecords.bandcamp.com/track/shackleton-drawn-and-quartered

This is great too: https://samshackleton.bandcamp.com/album/primal-forms

oh wow

Saw him play live, I dunno, four or five years ago. Most of his set was the top-notch unrelenting tension he's known for, but the end of his set actually was like ten or fifteen minutes of ecstatic release. Not sure if I imagined it, or if it's in his recorded catalogue and I hadn't heard it, or if it really was what it seemed - a treat he rolled out just for a live audience.

ten or fifteen minutes ok probably five

Zimpel's collab with Holden this year is really great too, and his solo album Massive Oscillations.

I'm really liking the new one too. Never heard of this Zimpel chap before so will need to check out more of his work.

thanks for the reminder re: Shackleton/Zimpel!

I was supposed to see that duo do a live set last year but Shackleton fell through and it ended up being a Holden/Zimpel show instead. Kind of a slow start and I wasn’t sure if they’d played live together after having recorded. Good, though

Primal Forms is wonderful. The first full Shackleton album I've unreservedly loved.

Primal Forms is wonderful. The first full Shackleton album I've unreservedly loved.

― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Monday, August 17, 2020 8:03 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Came here to post something similar (although at the time I unreservedly loved Music for the Quiet Hour / Drawbar Organ). I'm a massive Zimpel fan and I think this is a match made in Reichian (Riley-an?) heaven

Yum, another Tunes of Negation album to be released in November
https://thequietus.com/articles/29047-shackleton-tunes-of-negation-like-the-stars-forever-and-ever-album-details

\m/

Primal Forms is an absolutely phenomenal record.

finally listened to it, really good wow! it's jammy in the best way, great energy. reminds me of amon duul lol.

Primal Forms is an absolutely phenomenal record.

― Matt DC, Friday, October 9, 2020 6:47 PM (four weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

qft

Primal Forms is the witchy neo-krautrock nww-list album I didn’t know i needed this year

I fucking love The Idea of Shackleton but I'm always kind of underwhelmed by the music proper.

Have you heard this one? If you like amon duul ii violin jams you’ll like this. It’s not super sharp or brainy, just good old fashioned psychedelic electronic goodness with some impassioned playing from zimpel. Idk it’s what I want right now, some unpretentious deep state lost in a forest stuff.

I did, yeah. It was pleasant enough but it didn't really grab me. I'll give it another spin soon 'cause I'm definitely all for Amon Düül II violin jams.

There’s one section that goes all in with it (the violin jamming that is). It’s an easy album to sort of let float by and set a mood but i think it also breathes a lot and has great energy.

Yeah this is an amazing album and the best thing he’s done that I’ve heard

the best thing shackleton's done?

or zimpel?

definitely stopped checking shackleton after the fabric mix but i still listen have time for the fabric mix, three eps and skull disco comps

tlg did you grab the Shackleton & Pinch LP before you signed off?

Best single album from Shackleton (incl. the Fabric mix which was my favourite until now).

yeah i did and i still have it. looks like i briefly discussed my impressions of it upthread. eight years ago, which would have been about a year after it came out. i don’t recall exactly how long it took me to find a copy so i don’t know how long i’d had it at that point but i definitely haven’t gone back to it much since then because i can’t recall a single track off it... in fact i don’t even know if I recall a single solo pinch track off the top of my head aside from “qawwali”.

fabric mix on the other hand ... i can practically hear the whole thing in my head ... “you’re beginning to come up come up come up” ... “everyone starts from point one” ... etc

i haven't followed him closely at all. i had some skull disco tracks, "death is not final" and another one. then i was super into "freezing opening thawing." this album though feels more lived in than anything i remember hearing. idk that might be in my head because it's hard to point it why - it just sounds like it's not trying to impress but drawing a lot of strength from a kind of pagan energy, flowing pretty seamlessly, inhabiting in-between spaces very consciously (don't get me wrong, zimpel's playing is pretty impressive in parts, i don't know everything he's playing but i'm sure it's more than just the saxophone, maybe recorders and the violin?). and there's some callbacks to psychedelic music of yore that i appreciate. (i'm sure he was always doing that to some degree and always coming out of a nww / current 93 axis).

https://samshackleton.bandcamp.com/album/tunes-of-negation-like-the-stars-forever-and-ever

With the new Tunes of Negation album and Primal Forms, it feels as though he's finally hitting the heights he had the potential for. lovely stuff.

Agreed. I think anyone who enjoys Primal Forms will vibe with this release as well.

Give this man a lifetime achievement award.

Euphoria Bound is the best since Flesh & the Dream! I'm super curious re: what his approach is to the microtonal stuff; is he working out complex scales like Harry Partch or just winging it?

it's great. trippy as hell even by his standards and the drum programming is ace.

it’s really good

really bleak but also really fiery

New one is great, but it's almost weird to hear him solo now. Like even hearing obvious programming or drum machine sounds at all is a bit less mysterious than some of his more organic collaborations, but it's still sick.

The new one is very menacing and incredibly cool (complimentary). Love it.