Another red-eyed Studio One revery from Madison, WI’s Peaking Lights, the husband-wife duo of Aaron Coyes and Indra Dunis, formerly of San Francisco’s Rahdunes. “Key Sparrow” opens with the squish of a record player booting up to 33, as though its base synth motif were playing directly from a raspy dub LP. In come some minor-key fingerpicking, a few screaching guitar flyaways, and Indra’s minimal sing-song vocals, midway between double-dutch chant and teutonic battle cry. Their new 936 LP on Not Not Fun, which also includes “Tiger Eyes” and “All the Sun That Shines”, just might be the most deadpan psychedelia to grow up on your playroom floor.
Peaking Lights: “Key Sparrow”
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Sometimes we have to cut the crap and just play around. This new clip from Madison, Wisconsin’s Peaking Lights, directed by Ben Shearn and LA Vampires‘ Amanda Brown, invites us to that whimsical place. Brown describes the video’s aesthetic as “Warhol dub.” Certainly the playful side of pop art is invoked here. When we’re taken to Rasta nation it’s through pastiches of album cover images. While the track’s drum machine and keyboard dub recalls the titans of Jamaican music like The Congos and Sister Nancy, David Bowie and Lloyd Dobbler also have a seat at the table. Rather than using dub for darkness, the track’s frantic drum machine taps and soft, mechanical organ tones take us to a light-hearted fan-space, where playtime and creativity go hand in hand. (Altered Zones co-premiere)
Peaking Lights’ new full length, 936 comes out February 2nd on vinyl, tape and CD from Not Not Fun
Words: Samantha Cornwell
Video: Amanda Brown and Ben Shearn
Peaking Lights’ new full length, 936 comes out February 2nd on vinyl, tape and CD from Not Not Fun
When I stumbled upon Maids at a one-off Upstairs CD-R show at Coco66 this Spring, I remember stopping dead in my tracks, covering my ears in pain, and being unable to stop mouthing the words, “Abandon All Hope All Ye Who Enter.” Behind a suffocating wall of smoke, the 2-man rhythm section of New Jersey’s Big Troubles could be seen down on the ground in matching child’s poses, bowing in deference before a projection of a giant floating head — not unlike the Wizard himself, pictured above. I could barely make out what type of gear they were using, but the squall they produced was so debilitatingly loud that I couldn’t help remembering the one time I saw Whitehouse play and actually experienced the sensation of my ear drums being stretched to the ripping point. Funny thing, is Maids sound like nothing like Whitehouse. As I learned when Sam Franklin (also of No Demons here) rolled up to Newtown radio last Sunday, they simply layer purring drones and lackadaisical pentatonic keyboard scales until the room gets so saturated with sound that you actually end up getting a little scared. Probably all the more so because they are clean-cut surburban dudes who play in indie rock bands and show up on stage with their shirts tucked in.
Underwater Visitations Episode #7: The Maids Episode
Download the entire episode here.
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ACT 1
Scene 1, Off Air In which DJs Ivy Meadows and Visitation Rites arrive at the Newtown Radio studio ready to set up but are hypnotized by a 25-minute bongo-laden siren dirge — Dreamcolour’s “Spiritual Celebration” — at the tail end of Sunday Brunch with Chocolate Bobka. Unbeknownst to them, the song spills fifteen minutes into the beginning of their set.
Scene 2, Aside Meanwhile, Peter Pearson, Derek Muro, and Lorna Krier of Brooklyn’s Love Like Deloreans steal away from their home base — a renovated closet space in Bushwick containing some 20 synthesizers — load half of them into a Volvo station wagon, and appear at the station door, successfully breaking the spell that has been cast over Ivy Meadows and Visitation Rites.
ACT 2
Scene 1, On Air Still haunted by the specter of the siren from Act 1, Ivy Meadows and Visitation Rites attempt to communicate their experience by layering ambient musics from lands as far and wide as ‘70s Germany, early 21st Century Northampton, and present-day Canada into a single organic continuum.
Scene 2, Aside In which Love Like Deloreans set up all seven of the synthesizers they brought in the drowsy blink of a Sunday afternoon eye, causing Ivy Meadows and Visitation Rites to suspect that that they too possess supernatural powers. Love Like Deloreans do their best to assuage their fears, suggesting that they are simply “putting the punk back in punctuality.” Exeunt Chocolate Bobka.
ACT 3
Scene 1, On Air Love Like Deloreans perform the first half of their in-studio. Dancing, Ivy Meadows and Visitation Rites attempt to document the event through Blackberry photos, Tweets, and a FlipCam.
Scene 2, On Air Love Like Deloreans pause to participate in an informal Q&A with Visitation Rites, touching upon their origins as a group, their cohabitation of the classical world and Brooklyn DIY, their roots in New York minimalism and Kosmische, and why the best way to listen to their music is while traveling cross-country.
Scene 3, On Air, Love Like Deloreans perform the second half of their in-studio. Dancing resumes. Ivy Meadows films an excerpt of their set through the anamorphic lens of an oddly shaped water bottle, the results of which can be seen below.
Episode #8 of of Arthur Radio definitely makes Visitation Rites’ universal internet heart sing. Ivy Meadows and Harry Painter shower you in an ecstatic medley of psychedelic dirges from all four corners of the planet. Special guest Robert Damore (aka Bobby Bouzouki) whispers some bittersweet nothings on his Bouzouki, and even takes the time to recount some of the narratives behind the rebetika (Greek folk songs) he plucks. Visitation Rites concludes the voyage with an ode to the past, present, and future of drone.
A tentative listening guide, straight from mobile writing desk of DJ Harry Painter:
“The sun is here and opens the curtains slowly! It brings the slow glowing dust! It springs the earth out of polar jail, the winds blow the desert sand to make for better traction. If you sit, it will make your hair look sexier! The tectonic plates are shifting all around us, their quakes make the planet spin faster, and change the pitch! If you jump, you can land in buttes, the plateaus, or the Isle of Cyros! Through our earth’s muzak, the winds blow Bobby Bouzouki up to the Arthur radio treehouse for a jaunt upon rebetika mountain. Happy trials!”
“Arthur Radio Voyage #8: The Bobby Bouzouki Episode”
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