It’s not like we are not working or anything, we just are not sharing our daily thoughts at the moment! 2012 is going to be a big year for us at FH – we are relishing the quiet here for just a little bit longer…. On a somewhat related note – back from vacation was waiting for me the Goaty release of Hammer of Hathor’sThe Ineluctable Modality of the Visible that was so kindly sent by Mark of said band. If you recall, HOH graced Field Hymns with an excellent album titled Vroom Psycho a while back and I was terribly excited to see what they had been up to in the meantime.
Once again what strikes me about this band is how ethnically non-specific their music is – what I mean by that is I have no idea how to approach this album from my North American background. It is an amalgamation, a synthesis of so many forms of music – I have no mental divider in my internal Rolodex in which to file this, which makes writing about it tricky. Hammer of Hathor are conversing in a musical language that excludes my understanding – I am fascinated by it but I cannot respond in turn, forever to be an outsider. And unlike many of their contemporaries it is always musical – even at it’s most un-hinged. It’s like a free-jazz Gamalen Kentucky minimalist banjo workshop in North Africa. No, it’s like Sun Ra re-interpreting the score to Badlands. See? A better writer could explain this better. I feel like this is truly original piece of work and encourage you to seek out the rest of their catalog.
Luckily Hammer of Hathor have just posted this album and a great deal of their work at the Free Music Archive (which I seriously recommend checking out if have not before). If you need the tape you can pick one up at the fabulous EGGY ( and I will always recommend the tape) and our release can be gotten here.
What a hell of way to ring in the new year – even if this wasn’t a Field Hymns release it still would be one of our favorite albums of the past year – just waiting to put it out has been agony… so without further ado – check out EYES, the fucking harbinger of awesome.
“An astute observer will recognize within the first seconds of the crackling drums that open A Candle in the Crown of the Dawn that this record is supercharged, blown out and stripped down. With the intensity of Black Mountain soaring over a splashing, hypnotic rhythm section, San Francisco’s EYES bypass to the center, to a place beyond knowledge, beyond rock, where human batteries are charged by a Dionysus crystal, where the shimmering organs read your mind, and the sun and shadow voices dwell.
EYES is made up of Aaron Morgan (Roots of Orchis/The Finches/The Lambs), Scott Pinkmountain (Pink Mountain), Mike Cancel and Justin Pinkerton (Roots of Orchis, Corsic).
2011 was the best year yet for Field Hymns – we released a ton of great music, got picked up by some of our favorite online stores, made lots of new friends and now have a wave of fabulous releases for the spring – Grapefruit, Detainee, Foton, Susurrus, Adderall Canyonly & Oxykitten. I’d like to thank a whole bunch of people but I am terrified of forgetting someone – suffice to say if you are reading this, you are probably one of them. Hugs from the bottom of our hearts!
Our very own Oxykitten has a new track from the upcoming album “Octagonal Wax” (out this spring) on Crash Symbol’s new mixtape – “Dope Mountain Fuck Vol.2” – just try and tell me that comp is not awesome. Check that shit out and support an excellent label!
There has been some disagreement in the FH office about the merits of this particular band – I for one am a big fan of this album – French Canadian old-skool metal fronted by a woman? Bring it on I say!
These folks do not seem to like to have their music in embeddable places – this is all I can find and the track is more on the Sabbath side of things – the rest of the album is more galloping…
PORTLAND, OREGON, NOV. 14, 2011 – What is purported to be the front sleeve art for the forthcoming album “Stop Faking Sense” by the Portland musician Boron has been submitted to the label. In a staunch show of support for the eccentric electronic artist, the lable Field Hymns has decided to make the art public.
The release of the artwork also comes with a quote from the artist himself, who rarely gives interviews or speaks publicly. “People don’t fuckin’ buy fuckin’ physical fuckin’ albums anymore anyfuckin’way, so who gives a flying fuck what the fuckin’ sleeve looks like? How many fuckin’ more fuckin’ bad albums with great fuckin’ graphic fuckin’ design to we have to fuckin’ witness before people fuckin’ learn to stop fuckin’ associating a nice fuckin’ sleeve with the fuckin’ music? Fuckin’ mp3s…upload that shit on my Twitter.”
Although the artist’s views are likely to erode his small by loyal fanbase–and inspire the ire of critics–Boron continued his semi-rant by insisting on the role of sleeve art to capture attention and entertain, rather than to edify and reinforce musical credibility: “Radiohead. Great. Fuckin’ band. But “Pablo Honey”? Have you fuckin’ looked? At that fuckin’ sleeve lately? Come on!”
PORTLAND, OREGON, NOV. 10, 2011 – It has come to light that the forthcoming album “Stop Faking Sense” by the Portland musician Boron will not be the solo affair his fans are used to. The double album will feature a half dozen guest musicians known for their cutting edge work straddling the pop and experimental genres of indie music. The roster reads like a whos-who of cutting edge indie music: MaryClare Brzytwa, Josh Mong, Oxykitten, Crank Sturgeon, Stefan Jecusco, Joel Ricci, Larry Yes, Lexa Walsh, and Nate Lumbard.
The Los Angeles-based composer MaryClare Brzytwa is best known for her work with Fred Frith, William Winant, and Ava Mendoza; Josh Mong is a veteran of the Portland group Smegma; Crank Sturgeon is a noise musician from Maine who integrates video and handmade contact microphones into his brief and abrasive pieces; Joel Ricci and Nate Lumbard, who have appeared with the bands March Fourth and the Dickel Brothers respectively, will supply horns and flamenco guitar respectively, on “Hard Tard” and “Boron Squad” respectively; Stefan Jecusco, who recently finished a trilogy of albums based on Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy”, is rumored to be co-producing “Stop Faking Sense”; and sources claim that Portland psych rock luminary Larry Yes has supplied a guitar solo on the track “Mountain Dew’d”; Lexa Walsh is a member of Toychestra and the Czech acapella group Kackala.
It has also been confirmed that Oxykitten has put the finishing touches on his contribution to the track “Tomato Upload.”
“Stop Faking Sense” will be released in late December on the Field Hymns label, which releases electronic, experimental, krautrock, lo-fi, psychedelic, musique concrete, and soundtrack music, mostly on cassette. For more information, contact marketing director Dan Nelson at nelson@fieldhymns.com.
PORTLAND, OREGON, NOV. 7, 2011 – The title of a forthcoming album by the Portland musician Boron has been announced. Despite earlier rumors that it retain its working title of “The Beige Album,” the double album has been entitled “Stop Faking Sense”. The musician’s label had no further comment on the title, which presumably alludes to the concert film “Stop Making Sense” by the group Talking Heads. The leader of that group, David Byrne, was also unavailable for comment.
Field Hymns also announced that the album will be released–in what is either an ingenious or simply puzzling marketing strategy–on December 26, the day after Christmas. “With this unorthodox release date, we’re hoping to capitalize on a market that has received little attention so far, that of the holiday shopper who ventures forth to the shopping center to return or exchange gift merchandise,” stated Field Hymns president Dylan McConnell.
