Kranky S&D

my favourite label circa 99/02.

been digging some of it's older releases these past few weeks (trip down memory lane?). tho some of it hasn't aged that well (1st dissolve record, amp, bowery electric, etc), there are still a couple of underated gems in there : doldrums, flies inside the sun or pan american...

never heard the first jessamine. only ones i have are 'don's stay too long' and 'long arm of coincidence'. don't recall them that well (same with spiny anteaters, also).

First Jessamine rules. First Kranky release I picked up.

Yeah, Jessamine had a great sound. Listen to "Royal Jelly Eye Cream" off that first record, it rules.

Hey now, I'm STILL an Amp fan. Had a new album this year and everything.

Agreed on the worth of Jessamine.

Also! Magnog have reunited and are playing out. Dana Shinn's on Facebook and the band's on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/magnogmusic

Just gonna go ahead and post this to encourage any wavering souls to give it a listen, such a cool guitar sound:

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

enjoying the new disappears record. no massive departure.

Really excited to hear this, loved the live thing they did with Steve last year.

Love the one song I've heard from the new Disappears album. I love both their other albums and, so far, don't really mind if they keep refining the same sound.

dreamscape do some pretty sweet dream pop, even if their drum machine sounds a bit too secret shine-ish

Yeah, I just read this, had never heard of them before:
http://www.factmag.com/2012/07/06/kranky-to-issue-retrospective-of-long-forgotten-shoegaze-combo-dreamscape/

hahaha, they really wanted to release an EP called "greater than god," didn't they?

lool i was totally unaware it was secret shine related

totally enjoying implodes atm -- arrived via ken camden, who has become my default walk-to-work spaceout go-to.

Any thoughts on Loscil's Sketches from New Brighton?

i bought it on yesterday and really enjoyed it- it hits that spot- it's weird to compare it to the previous records, it's a softer midrange sound, but the same DNA is there.

bought it / put it on oops

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WLApSAwlUU0/UR9CPzy10wI/AAAAAAAAANE/8LjTgX2FKd0/s400/implodes-recurring-dream.jpg

^ new Implodes album out in April

new song here:
https://soundcloud.com/kranky/implodes-scattered-in-the-wind

closing section is beautiful, stellar guitar sound will get you right between the eyes

I was having a Disappears moment on the occasion of the new album, and then this week I was having a Stars of the Lid moment, which reminded me of the Labradford moment I had a month or two back. So out of curiosity/boredom I looked up the whole Kranky catalog and realized that this just might be my favorite label. Man, they have been so consistent for almost twenty years. That said, I also realized how many releases I've not heard! So: I made a Spotify playlist of the entire Kranky catalog, in order from KRANK001 to KRANK182 or wherever they're at currently.

After scouring Spotify (a few artists are kinda hard to search due to weird typography vs html coding), I found every single album except for maybe four. There's a Fontanelle EP, the first Lichens and Nudge records, and a Deerhunger 7" that aren't there. Everything else is there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X33EZhfB_Kk

Justin Walter album is still one the year's best imo - a really beautiful album of treated trumpet sounds and burbling electronics that that rise up out of the dead quiet of night like jeweled chains set against soft black velvet. Very poised and graceful, kind of like Jon Hassell meets Cluster, but every now and again it also attains this psychoactive kind of Terry Riley meditative dream state.

http://styleofsound.culturecrat.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/kranky-records.png

http://styleofsound.com/kranky-records-20-years-of-hugs-andor-drugs/

Can we please see Labradford in that TBA spot?

By the way for those interested - after I made that Kranky playlist mentioned upthread, I started writing my way through the entire catalog. I'm up to the 12th or 13th release at this point. About 170 to go. Scroll back a little to get to the beginning if you're interested: http://sctttnnnt.tumblr.com

started listening to that playlist, what an amazing thing.

By the way for those interested - after I made that Kranky playlist mentioned upthread, I started writing my way through the entire catalog. I'm up to the 12th or 13th release at this point. About 170 to go. Scroll back a little to get to the beginning if you're interested: http://sctttnnnt.tumblr.com

― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Wednesday, September 18, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Four months later I've gotten to 96 albums and counting. Handy little archive here, if you like.

This afternoon I was on the Consequence of Sound Aux.Out podcast talking about this project, plus a few digressions. Talked about a lot of Kranky bands, with some shout outs to Windy & Carl, Growing, Charalambides, and others. My bit starts around 38 minutes in and goes til the end, if anyone is interested.

I see Bleep is offering a 30-track bundle of Kranky tracks.

https://bleep.com/stream/30%20tracks%20of%20kranky?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=tweet&utm_campaign=30%20tracks%20kranky%20tw

It's a Krapload of Kranky!

Really enjoying the new Tara Jane O'Neil album on Kranky.

Yeah, I've been enjoying the TJO album a lot. Still processing it but it's very nice. I basically lost track of her after her first solo album and her various post-Rodan bands broke up (Retsin, Sonora Pine). I didn't realize she had so many solo albums since then - totally fell off my radar.

Yeah she's been very busy in recent years, in a great way. The new album is indeed lovely.

Scott, just started reading your Kranky project and am loving it, and getting intoduced to a whole heap oif great stuff via it. Thank you!

Oh good! Thanks. It's been a lot of fun. I've discovered a lot too, and it's been very rewarding to stick with so many artists' discographies where I might not have given much time if I was just searching music for casual pleasure.

I've been writing my way through the Kranky catalog for the last eight months. 130 albums down, roughly 50 to go.

This is still one of the best projects of its kind around.

Thanks Ned! It's been (mostly) fun.

Enjoying the title track from High Plains' "Cinderland":

https://highplainskranky.bandcamp.com/releases

Demen

https://soundcloud.com/kranky/demen-niorum/s-2Lswu

Seems like Kranky went on a signing spree. MJ Guider, Forma, Earthen Sea, High Plains, Demen - all new to the label within the last 18 months. By contrast every release in 2014 and 2015 was by an artist who had other albums on the label. The last album by a brand new artist they released before MJ Guider's record last year was the Justin Walters album in 2013.

fwiw High Plains is Kranky vet Scott Morgan / Loscil and cellist Mark Bridges. Submers is a fave ambient disc, so stoked for the combo of his aesthetic and a cello.

Does Grouper count? If so, GROUPER FFS PEOPLE.

Gave the Demen an ear last night via an advance, very enjoyable.

Ah, didn't realize High Plains was a Loscil project! That excites me.

Earthen Sea is good. Abul Mogard-type vibes.

not sure where else to post this, but kranky fans might be interested in this:

https://vimeo.com/203361631

Looking back at this historical trajectory, Peter Burr, Mark Fingerhut, and Forma have created a spiraling interdimensional narrative aptly titled DESCENT - a meditation on one of humanity’s blackest hours. Taking the form of a desktop application, descent.exe gives the user a brief glimpse of a world descending into darkness - an unrelenting plague indifferent to the struggles of the user. There is a silver lining, however, tucked into the software’s final sweep. An equanimous watcher, reduced to a single eye, looks on as the plague of rats that has infested your desktop destroys itself.

This video is a recording of descent.exe running alongside Fingerhut's deepdesktop.exe.

Visuals: Peter Burr peterburr.org, undervolt.co/Peter-Burr
Programming: Mark Fingerhut markfingerhut.com/
Music: Forma - Descent (from Physicalist, Kranky 2016) formasounds.bandcamp.com/, formasounds.com/

i ran across it because i really like peter burr, but the music is outstanding too. turns out it's from a recent kranky release (Forma - Physicalist) which came out last fall.

I'm about to pre-order the new/old Grouper LP from kranky, but i want to pick up a couple others at the same time. are there any especially good, recent kranky releases? i've kind of drifted away from them over the years, to the point where i'm not sure i've even listened to anything by several of the most recent artists (Christina Vantzou, Dedekind Cut, Justin Walker, Demen, Earthen Sea, Anjou).

Justin Walter is great - parts of his most recent album sound like Labradford filtered through ECM (in a good way)

The Gregg Kowalsky album is modular synth melancholia stuff, definitely solid if you like that sort of thing

The little I heard of the new Dedekind Cut album sounded nice, if instantly forgettable as soon as it was no longer playing (which is a criticism I have of a lot of this stuff)

Anjou is essential if you like Labradford, though it's definitely its own thing - it's Bobby Donne's most recent (not really new) project and it's wonderful

Good luck, tell us what you end up choosing!

Christina Vantzou is great - in the vein of Winged Victory for the Sullen. And for that matter Winged Victory for the Sullen is great too if you haven't picked that up.

I second the Justin Walter rec - he's probably my favorite of their most recent group of signees (say, the last 4 years or so).

need to listen to that justin walter again. his debut on kranky was amazing but the recent one didn't really grab me all that much tbh

I do like the debiut more, but the second album is good too.

Here's a vote for Justin Walter - Unseen Forces

Never heard the first one. Same general vibe?