Sunn o))) C/D, S&D.

New interview via Whiney is up on Stereogum, too.

STEREOGUM: There was a story about dead pigeons falling out of the rafters somewhere during a Sunn O))) show that could use a fact-check. Is that real or fake?

O’MALLEY: I’ve never seen a dead bird. I’ve never seen a dead creature.

STEREOGUM: That’s what separates you guys from Slipknot.

O’MALLEY: I guess so.

ANDERSON: That’s one of the things.

hell yeah

#LifeMetal Vs. #TripMetal

strong interview

i usta work with Stephen in an office. Super-nice guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo4Jq-_tysc

Psyched to hear this in the context of a Sunn album

That's the best news about this; that Hildur is on board.

Oh seriously? Hell yesssssss.

Yeah, it's in Whiney's interview linked up here. Super stoked.

Another interview with a bit more details on both albums: https://newnoisemagazine.com/greg-anderson-on-sunn-o-new-album-life-metal/?fbclid=IwAR1s-yVTVaKvXzbzANe6SodeeXePg7fDaBqwzuG01E6lMY2m0jITeIXHajU

Love this part (so all analog the record is not ;)

Life Metal also features other collaborations on the first song, “Between Sleipnir’s Breaths.” “The intro is actually stolen from Bathory, the [1988] Blood Fire Death record,” Anderson admits. “What happened was that Stephen and I are obsessed with Bathory, especially that record. That’s my personal favorite. In the past, on [2005’s] Black One, there is a riff from Blood Fire Death that we just slowed down. Same notes, but you can’t tell; it’s unrecognizable, because we play it so slow. I love that intro of the horses going into battle, and I just joked and said, ‘Why don’t we run that through some amps?’ It was funny, because I was thinking, ‘Albini is not going to be into this idea. He’s probably going to be like, “I don’t know, guys,”’ but right away, he was like, ‘Where can I find that?’ He looked it up on YouTube and then ran that through his board. The only computer in the room is the one that Steve uses on chat forums, but there is no recording going on there. So, there was a computer involved in that he transferred YouTube, ran it through his board, and then we ran it through some amplifiers and distortion pedals and added our own horse samples.”

looking forward to this

So, any thoughts? I like it, but it's more like a return to form than a step forward. I feel like I've heard most of it before. But it's good to have new good Sunn O)))

I like it a lot.

I've only heard one track off it, which popped up on a shuffle and it sounded pretty fucking good. I'm always waiting for one of theirs or related side projects to sound something like that Ensemble Pearl album from about 6/7 years back, which imo ruled.

Yeah that Ensemble Pearl record was so, so good. I feel like it never really got the attention it deserved.

This album is basically everything I ever wanted in a follow-up to Monoliths. The albums and collabs over the last 10 years have been great but on this they've essentially returned to form while also evolving and adding elements to the sound that they've never quite done before. "Between Sleipnir's Breaths" at times plays more like a shoegaze track (i might regret saying that). Layered more than maybe anything I ever heard them do, and at one moment we hear what I would even maybe call a solo...??? Its fucking great. Also, I got to see them a few days ago and it was the best show I've been to in years. Played for 2 hours and the lighting/fog/theatrics were amazing. A combination of the art direction in Mandy and the album artwork.

Yeah, I'm in. It's gloriously layered and expansive and, well, bright for want of a better word.

I really like it

I listened to Kannon twice and never felt the need to take it from the shelf again. Will definitely give this a chance. And I've tickets for a gig soon.

Monoliths came out ten years ago. Another I feel old moment

Flight Of The Behemoth still hasn't been bloody reissued!

Kannon was great but I agree, rarely was motivated to revisit. I have revisited Soused recently and it's still brilliant.

This most recent live show is the best I've ever seen em. One of the coolest looking shows I've ever attended.

Flight Of The Behemoth still hasn't been bloody reissued!

Didn't even know it was out of print.

vinyl i mean

I have a promo CD of it and I dont have $200 to spend on the vinyl.

Most of my Sunn o))) is on vinyl so I'd rather like to have this album on the same format as the others.

i expect i said all that way upthread years ago too when I started this thread and i'm still waiting

Maybe I'll just get one of those japanese 2CD versions if they're good quality. Do you have that, Phil?

No, the only Japanese editions I have are Kannon and Terrestrials. Didn't bother getting this new one because it doesn't come with a bonus disc like Kannon did. But the two that I do have are nice mini-LP packages, so in general I'd recommend going that route. If you decide to do that I ordered mine from the Inoxia label shop, where Flight is about 25 pounds (you're in England, right?).

heh almost (that country to the north) but the UK is being a bastard with grabbing stuff at the customs which adds on a £8.50 post office charge plus whatever the VAT is) so probably better buying within UK or the EU before Brexit. but thanks anyway!

I love this so much

I haven't listened to the Ensemble Pearl album since the year it came out. That said, it made my year-end list, and I remember fucking loving it.

They didn't seem to be offering a CD of Pyroclasts (which comes out this Friday) in the US so I ordered it from Japan, and then decided I might as well order the Japanese CD of Life Metal just so they'd match on my shelf. The CDs haven't shipped yet, but I just got WAV files of the new one from a publicist and it's pretty great. Each track is almost exactly 11 minutes long, and they're a little more minimal — there only seems to be one or two things going on at a time, rather than three or four, and they're entirely instrumental, no sound effects or anything — and droney. Definitely from the same sessions/creative mindset as Life Metal, though.

I do prefer it when they spice their sound up a bit, I must say. I love them, but I know what Sunn O))) sound like by now, so why no return to the (relative) maximal work of Monoliths?

that said, I'm listening to Life Metal for the first time now and it's really good

I'm excited to hear this, but I'm really annoyed it's not getting a domestic CD release (not sure I'm ready to pay $30 for the import). Seems odd to announce these as a pair of albums and not issue them in the same formats.

Life Metal is great. I look forward to the new one.

I'm excited to hear this, but I'm really annoyed it's not getting a domestic CD release (not sure I'm ready to pay $30 for the import). Seems odd to announce these as a pair of albums and not issue them in the same formats.

Yeah, that is a really baffling and annoying choice/gesture on their part.

I feel I've listened to enough Sunn O))) for now. Their live show a few months ago didn't inspire and I don't feel the desire to put on their records. I imagine in five years time I'll be in the mood again.

I thought the live show was pretty good, if about 15 - 20 minutes too long for my tastes. I think a prior show I'd seen at a festival was more varied but even longer, and I ducked out for part of the middle of that one.

the live show I saw was very underwhelming. they'd moved venue at last minute and I got the impression it wasn't cut out for that kind of volume.

Saw them in April and it was my favorite show of theirs I've seen. The light and fog show finally caught up to the level their sound has been on all this time. I loved it. Looking forward to this but right now im going into it like it's a bonus disc.

Pyroclasts is super good

Stephen O'Malley confirmed on Twitter that Japanese Daymare version will be "the only CD version which will be published of this album". Which means this will be the first Sunn O))) album in... ever... I won't be purchasing.

Shit, if they're gonna do region-exclusive CDs, how about a Japanese CD of Dømkirke? That album rules, and I'd buy one in a minute. As it is, all I have are the digital files from Bandcamp.

sounds like its really only a special tour album but they know people get gouged on eBay for it so to kill the JC's* of this world they make it available everywhere

*Notorious twat on the old SL and VLV boards who paid people to snap up limited editions of everything ever to sell at inflated prices on his various eBay stores then boasted about it

Just received the CD repressing of La Mort Noir Dans Esch/Alzette they released as fundraiser for Justin Bartlett's cancer fund. Had never heard this before. It's from a year before the Domkirke set, sort of similar lineup - though Malefic on vox instead of Attila, no Marhaug and adds Dylan Carlson on extra guitar. It's a pretty killer set.

So Greg Anderson has a new project with Petra Haden and they will be performing their first live (free) concert next week at [url= https://fulcrumfestival.org/exhibit/opening-reception-for-fulcrum-festival-deep-ocean-deep-space]Zebulon in LA [ /url].

It’s the kickoff event for Fulcrum Festival. The following week there will be [url= https://fulcrumfestival.org/exhibit/freq_wave-pacific-los-angeles]sound installation at Mt Wilson Observatory[ /url] that Greg also collaborated on (along with Lawrence English, Jonsi, Richard Chartrier and others).

Apologies for the distractingly bad formatting in the post above but in any case, two things coming up in the next two weeks that Greg is involved in. Full disclosure I’m involved with the org putting it together - it’s going to be a rare/great series of events!

Thanks for the reminder to pre-order that album, I dug the first Lord album well enough but the addition of Petra Haden sounds like a great move.

Is the Observatory thing just going to basically be a drone you can check out at any time that weekend?