Today we've got a little something to give you: a reworking of timwarrenmusic's "life cycle of a seahorse" by Conifer Rock, entitled "The Mare Stallion Exoskeleton Enters the Anemone Forest." The original, from the under_score album, is a beatless digital sound piece. Conifer Rock's version is somewhere between a remix and a cover, adding percussion, vocal noises, and other instrumentation. It's quite a breathtaking piece, if we may say so..... You can download the mp3 and cover art by clicking on these linkxz:
In other news, under_score has been reviewed by Cyclic Defrost:
"Straight outta downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, comes an EP of beatless vignettes that wears its heritage with pride. Think Eno, circa Music for Films, City Centre Offices releases, and the holy trinity of IDM; Aphex, Boards of Canada and Autechre."
"Maybe the English language simply does not have enough words to describe snow, ice or softsynth textures."
Textura have written a nice review of timwarrenmusic's under_score. Bits and pieces:
"Warren has a way of infusing his becalmed, percussion-free pieces with a warmth and humanity that enables them to transcend their wholly synthetic character and register as emotive vignettes that just happen to have been digitally produced."
"Originally recorded by Warren's band Tokyo Morose, “One Wheel Appeal” shimmers like time-lapsed footage of a wheat field on a windy day."
You can read the whole review here. Thanks........
9 / 28 / 09 /// UNDER_SCORE NEWS
We want to thank everyone for the enthusiastic response to timwarrenmusic's under_score album.
Apparently some people are having trouble downloading the entire album package, for whatever reason. If that's the case for you, you can download the music portion and the film portion separately using these links:
Also, the people at Forest Gospel have given under_score a very glowing review. Excerpts:
"First off, the music is as soothing and beautiful as the soft colourful edges an unfocused television. Of course, you’d have to mute the volume and play under_score to really get at that beauty, but it is there: brief snippets of heaven. In a genre that can be belabored by repetitious, occasionally infinite-seeming loops and drifts, under_score seems enhanced tremendously by the concision of its pop length."
"A truly stunning, beautiful document that asks little, but gives much."
Today we're very excited to present under_score, the new album by timwarrenmusic. You can download a zip file of the album by clicking on the link to the right, or by clicking here:
It's a 200MB zip file, so give it time........ It's possibly our most comprehensive release yet. The release includes the entire under_score album, a remix album entitled expanding under_score, a short film for one of the tracks, and two album covers and four posters.
Under_score is based on a collection of percussionless ambient pieces, constructed entirely within a digital environment. This approach to texture and layers results in a very deliberate, sleek, austere sound, in marked contrast to Sean Patrick's Flight album (SQR019), which explores similar subject matter in a very different manner.
Here's the cover art for under_score and its remixed companion:
Under_score is the result of a couple of years' worth of exploration and composition, and it therefore serves as Tim's most personal work to date. It's slightly ironic, then, that under_score has also served as an arena for a number of collaborations, in the form of Wes Slover's audio remixes, Sean Patrick's short film, and Dan Streeting's design work for the album cover and posters. These seemingly disparate elements all come together through subject matter: the impermanence of technology, the place of humans within nature, the idea of being overwhelmed by texture, the disorientation of travel and humanity's potentially futile attempt to ground itself, etc.
SQR020 Tracklisting:
1. pennies taped to
2. short
3. life cycle of a sea horse
4. arch
5. purple surplus
6. brass
7. they are awake
8. the grave of Sadie Delay
9. toronto houndstooth
10. one wheel appeal
11. 45
12. flat end
One of the highlights of under_score is an ethereal version of One Wheel Appeal, originally recorded by Warren's band Tokyo Morose. The Tokyo Morose version, included on the Specific Ocean EP (SQR014), is a rather lively and communal affair, featuring an amateur choir, strings, percussion, and a chord organ. The version on under_score takes the underlying building blocks of the song away, so to speak, leaving a solitary airy synth line to recreate the song's central melodic theme.
We're very proud of this release, as it represents the culmination of a lot of very personal work. Download the album, give it a listen, and let us know what you think. Thank you for listening to SQR.
9 / 17 / 09 /// STUDIO MAGIC
Next week sees the long-awaited release of timwarrenmusic's under_score project. Part of under_score involves a video project by Sean Patrick of Andrasklang, entitled Brass. It revolves around an interesting perspective on post-human landscapes and the permanence/impermanence of technology, particularly in relation to the almost inhuman digital sound of the under_score album itself.
The film was premiered last week at the semi-regular Hott Lava film program in Ann Arbor, and you can download it from andrasklang.com right now, in anticipation of under_score's official release on September 22nd, which is next Tuesday for all you calendar enthusiasts.
9 / 11 / 09 /// TIM WARREN IN TWO WEEKS
Well, a little less than two weeks. On September 22nd, we'll be releasing under_score, the new album from timwarrenmusic. Under_score is a collection of entirely percussionless digital pieces, and Tim considers it his most personal work to date. Listening to the album is an incredibly sleek, synthetic, almost crystalline experience, reflecting Tim's interest in precision and texture.
The album will be available as a download and as a CD, including a set of remixes and a video, in about ten days.
8 / 21 / 09 /// TOKYO MOROSE VIDEO PERFORMANCE
At the end of 2008, Tokyo Morose performed live on the air on WYCE in Grand Rapids to promote their new EP, Specific Ocean (SQR014). We've unearthed video footage of that studio session and uploaded it to the YouTubes, as you can see. You should probably pause the Quicktime player to the right before you watch it. Technology. You can see our other YouTube videos here.
8 / 14 / 09 /// TOKYO MOROSE LIVE
As the poster above tells you, Tokyo Morose will be playing at the Mixtape Cafe in Grand Rapids on Tuesday, August 18 at 6pm. As a regular Tokyo Morose listener (obviously), I must say that it's been interesting following their musical evolution over the last six months. If you've only heard their Specific Ocean EP (SQR014), you might be surprised to hear what they've been doing recently.
7 / 31 / 09 /// NEW MUSIC IN SEPTEMBER
We're proud to announce our twentieth release: under_score, an album of understated, beatless pieces from timwarrenmusic. The album will be available in CD and download formats in the middle of September.
This will be tim's second release on Square Root Records, following the rather eclectic Sitzmaschine, released back in 2007. tim has been working on under_score, a set of sleek, digital, ambient recordings, for quite a long time now, and as such it stands as his most personal work yet.
Continuing in Square Root's collaborative tradition, the album will be accompanied by a set of remixes from our friend the Strait of Anain, as well as a Conifer Rock remix and a short film by Sean Patrick, whose Flight CD/DVD was released by Square Root earlier this year. We're very excited about this project...
7 / 18 / 09 /// WORDS FOR CONIFER ROCK
After reviewing Centre's new EPs last week, the Tome to the Weather Machine blog has turned to the latest Conifer Rock record, Exploded Views. Excerpts:
"Guitars in Exploded Views take a prominent role, from the staccato, Bow-Wow-Wow influenced, start-stop strumming in 'Young Professionals' to the Can inspired freak out of the opener 'Sure Fire'."
"The percussion ranges from the metronomical, Motorik percussion of electronic pioneers NEU! and Kraftwerk to the cut-up patchwork of todays dubstep."
You can read the whole review here. You can also download Exploded Views for free or buy it on CD -- just use the links on the right.
"McKinney's monotone voice is muddled somewhere in the mix as if the ghost of Peter Murphy was trapped inside a sequencer. "
"Far from being a languished post-goth album Another Year/L' Enfant Coma has a very human emotional centre that hold everything contained within its robotic heart."
"Autechre remixing Joy Division."
If those excerpts have whet your appetite, you can read the entire review here. You can also download the albums yourselves to see what all the fuss is about...
7 / 2 / 09 /// CENTRE PRESS
The July issue of Textura includes reviews of Centre's two new EPs, Another Year and L'Enfant Coma. An excerpt or two:
"'Take It or Leave It' makes its entrance dressed in full Joy Division garb with McKinney 's vocal buried in a swollen, hot-wired mass of burning synthesizers and guitars, pulsating machine beats, and goth-punk atmosphere."
"'L'Enfant Coma' works guitar washes and dubbed-out drum treatments into an aggressive dreamscape... If there's a common denominator to the EPs, it's McKinney's electric guitar playing and, to a lesser degree, a rather skewed “pop” sensibility that inflames the more song-oriented tracks."
You can read the entire review here. The two EPs are available to download or to purchase as a two-CD set - just use the links to the right.
6 / 23 / 09 /// FLIGHT ON THE BIG SCREEN
This Friday, Sean Patrick's film Flight (SQR019) will be screened at the State Theatre in Ann Arbor as part of the Hott Lava film festival. It should prove appropriately monolithic to see those ink shapes ten feet tall, so you should go see it. Look at hottlava.net or andrasklang.com for all the details. A few copies of the CD / DVD / book version of Flight are still available for a lucky few.
6 / 14 / 09 /// TOKYO PHOTOS
Hello..... Here are some photos from the recent Tokyo Morose performance at the Festival for the Arts in Grand Rapids.
We have some other big news regarding upcoming releases and the like, but things are still getting finalized, so stay tuned, as they say.
6 / 3 / 09 /// UPDATE!
Good evening. If you're in Grand Rapids this weekend, you may be aware of a little get-together known as the Festival of the Arts. Last year Spectral Mornings turned in a riveting performance, and this year it's the turn of Tokyo Morose. The band will be playing this Sunday (June 7) at 10am on the Fountain Stage. We know it's early, but that's never stopped us before....
The band will be performing quite a lot of new material, some of which you may have heard at their performance at Little Bohemia in April. This new stuff is quite different from the acoustic chamber pop of their debut album (SQR014 - Specific Ocean).
Here's a poster for the show. Click on the image to see it all nice and large.
5 / 14 / 09 /// HELLO..........
We just returned from a west coast sojourn, where we spent a week driving fast cars along Mulholland Drive and looking at a large body of water. You can see some classy photos on our Flickr page.
Textura.org has given Sean Patrick's Filght CD/DVD project a glowing review:
"There is a discernible change in character from one piece to the next, with each becoming progressively more naturalistic. ... In one setting, teal and blood-red elements are gradually buried under oil-black shapes until the screen turns completely black too. Flowing shapes in another resemble the kind one might discover gently swaying at sea's bottom, until, that is, they transform into ice-like shards of blue and violet colour. The translucent overlays that result are strikingly beautiful, especially when displayed on a large screen, and make for a natural analogue to Patrick's music."
You can read the entire review here. Flight (SQR019) is still available in limited quantites - you can buy the deluxe version or download mp3s with the links on this page.
4/ 22 / 09 /// ART AND THAT
This Saturday Crystal Brown, one-time member of thirty (over) thousand and part of Square Root's extended family, will be presenting her thesis project, Heavy Platypus, in a warehouse location in Grand Rapids. Crystal's work focuses on headresses, restriction of movement, position pods, and the combination of texture and light. The show takes place this Friday from 7 to 10 pm, on Grandville between Wealthy and Logan. Live music will be provided by Spectral Mornings...
Here are some pictures of Crystal's recent work, which we stole from her blog. Take a look at it for some more photos.
4 / 15 / 09 /// LIVE FRIDAY...
Tokyo Morose and Spectral Mornings will be performing live this Friday at Little Bohemia in Grand Rapids, from 8pm to 10pm. This is part of some rather extravagant Friday art festival throughout Grand Rapids. This is the first time Tokyo Morose will be playing some new electronically-tinted material, which is quite a departure from their Specific Ocean album, released a few months ago.
Click here or on the image above to see a large image of the poster, designed by Dan Streeting.
4 / 7 / 09 /// SQR015 + SQR016
Today we're proud to present two new EPs from Centre, Another Year (SQR015) and L'Enfant Coma (SQR016). You can download them as zip files with mp3s and artwork right here, or from the menu to the right.
These long-awaited releases constitute Centre's first new recordings in almost four years. The two EPs form a pairing of sorts, with one focusing on digital post-punk and the other focusing on melancholy guitar ambience.
Chad McKinney has been writing and recording for the better part of the last fifteen years, drawing inspiration from acid house, shoegaze, post-punk, ambient guitar, techno, and folk music. McKinney started recording under the name Centre around the turn of the century, and he contributed two tracks to Square Root Records' Catalog compilation album in 2005, including the impeccable Last Impression. McKinney also played with Square Root band Spectral Mornings in 2006 and 2007, a period that culminated in the band's self-titled 2007 EP.
Now McKinney brings back his Centre alias with Another Year and L'Enfant Coma. At the moment, Centre is arguably the most pop-based artist on the Square Root label, and these two EPs explore this idea quite deeply. "Pop" is quite a perplexing concept, and it lies at the heart of McKinney's current songwriting.
SQR015 Tracklisting:
1. Alternating Cord
2. Take It or Leave It
3. 15 Minutes On
4. Modular (passerby)
5. We Were Late
SQR016 Tracklisting:
1. L'Enfant Coma
2. Depth Curves & Soundings
3. L'Enfant Coma II
Another Year is the more digital of the two EPs, although guitars feature throughout both. The tracks on Another Year focus on synth pulses, drum machines, and delay. The EP's centerpiece is its single vocal track, Take It or Leave It, a resigned and decidedly gothic affair. That song is framed by a droning instrumental on one side and three dub-influenced pieces on the other.
L'Enfant Coma moves towards atmospheric guitar and haziness. The three tracks on this EP incorporate guitar fx loops, pitched bell samples, delayed drum machines, and the odd field recording to create a subdued sense of melancholy, ending with an extended drone version of the title track.
We hope you enjoy these two records -- they're incredibly important to us. A song like Take It or Leave It alone encapsulates why we make and distribute music in the first place.
If you like, you can buy Another Year and L'Enfant Coma as a two-CD set, complete with a hand printed postcard, which you can see below. All that for eight dollars, and one little click on the PayPal button below.
In anticipation of next week's Centre releases, we thought we'd give you a little glimpse into his recording studio. Check back on Tuesday for two EPs of goodness...
3 / 31 / 09 /// TWO NEW RECORDS
Next Tuesday we'll be unleashing two new records from Square Root's man from the north, Centre. This is a big deal for us, since these two recordings are Centre's first new output in almost four years. He's come back with two EPs: Another Year (SQR015) and L'Enfant Coma (SQR016).
You might remember Centre's two contributions to our Catalog compilation in 2005, including the immortal track Last Impression, arguably one of the purest and catchiest slices of pop songwriting that we've ever had the pleasure to put on a CD. Centre's two new EPs continue this pop-based trajectory, drawing inspiration from acid house, shoegaze, post-punk, ambient guitar, and techno. Another Year is the digital half, while L'Enfant Coma is its hazy counterpart.
Even though we originally billed Square Root Records as a rather experimental label back in 2005, we've always flirted with the elusive concept of pop music. Avid readers of this site might have seen the word "pop" appear with alarming regularity, particularly with the recent Conifer Rock and Tokyo Morose albums. All of our artists regularly move from one place to another along a spectrum from pop to abstraction, and the reason most of us make music is to work out the connection between the two, stumbling across some sort of catharsis in the process.
Another Year and L'Enfant Coma will be available to download and purchase on April 7. Thank you...........
3 / 24 / 09 /// SQR019 - FLIGHT
Today we're proud to present Flight, a film and music project by Sean Patrick. Flight is a joint release with AndrasKlang, Sean's label based in Ann Arbor. You can download Flight as a zip file, containing four mp3s and the twenty-two minute film, by clicking here: Flight.zip
You can purchase one of the limited edition book versions for twenty dollars by using this nice PayPal button, but copies are in short supply..........
"Flight" consists of four atmospheric instrumental pieces accompanied by twenty-two minutes of breathtaking visuals. The music is built around piano, mellotron, moog, tape loops and guitar, all wrapped in a bed of delay, reverb, and digital manipulation. We hesitate to use the terms "drone" or "ambient" to describe these works, since those words have become buzzwords of a sort, but "Flight" does indeed share characteristics of those forms of music. It's effective as background music, working on some sort of subconsciously emotional level, and at the same time it rewards close listening by revealing subtle melodies, panning effects, and so on.
The word "flight" is a particularly appropriate title for this project, as the album's three pieces have a psychological connection to the disorienting experience of flying. The album's otherworldly tones and stately pace evoke a sense of being caught between two worlds -- the same unsettling feeling one gets while marooned in a nameless departure lounge halfway around the world. The first piece in particular (appropriately titled "Gatwick") is built around the idea of persistent fuzz, which brings to mind the ambient background noise of a muffled airplane journey, inhabiting the space between night and day, evoking that strange sense of disconnect so peculiar to long flights. Through these sounds, the idea of flight becomes a metaphor for a journey between interior worlds as much as a journey between exterior locations, between a sleeping state and a waking state, between one mooring and another.
The twenty-two-minute "Flight" film examines these ideas in a visual context. The entire film consists of long shots of various liquids dropping into water, swirling, interacting, and settling. The effect is uncanny, at times resembling clouds, smoke, sea life, interior body membranes, molecular structures, vector shapes, and planet surfaces. The images are both alien and intimate; in a single glass of water we move from feathers to icebergs and back again.
We hope you enjoy Flight. As always, you can e-mail us or e-mail andras and tell us what you think. In the meantime, here are some screenshots from the Flight film to whet your appetite.
3 / 17 / 09 /// CAN YOU FEEL IT?
Flight's release date is coming up quickly -- one week from today. The album will be available in two versions: the regular mp3 download version, and the deluxe physical edition, which Sean Patrick describes thusly:
"The deluxe edition of flight is now complete. they really look beautiful. they are chock full of serious things, photos, paint, professional gloss and back breaking print schedules.
You get this:
- a signed/numbered, 8.5"x11" full color 20 page book on 80lbs semimatte stock.
- the two disc cd/dvd pack on select matte black discs in brown matte cases.
- a small photographic print made in the andras darkroom./// complements to the chef, etc."
We've seen copies of the deluxe package and they are indeed quite impressive. They'll be available for sale from both squarerootmusic.com and andrasklang.com for twenty dollars, starting next Tuesday. They've been produced in a limited run, so look out...
Incidentally, it's pretty odd to refer to a "deluxe physical edition" of an album. Is the alternative virtual? Maybe we're getting old...
3 / 12 / 09 /// SOON...
Sean Patrick's Flight project will be released on March 24th, a little under two weeks from now. Flight is an exploration into fuzz and confusion, touching on ambient noise, tape loops, and distorted piano and guitar. Sean's been working with this kind of material for quite some time now, and we must say that the effect of listening to the finished pieces on Flight is quite uncanny. It's both freedom and claustrophobia.
The album is being presented in conjunction with Andras Klang, and it represents our first foray into the world of film, since Flight consists of both a CD and a DVD. The auditory portions will be available to download on this site, but to get the full effect you should really buy a physical copy. They're going to be constructed in a very limited edition, housed in some sort of elaborate packaging that we haven't even seen yet. You'll be able to buy them here or from Andras Klang on March 24th.
Sean's also made a rather jarring short film about ferromagnetic fluid, shot in the Ann Arbor District Library and featuring music from his band, In Braille. You can see it on the YouTubes here.
3 / 5 / 09 /// PRESS FOR CANTILEVER
Cyclic Defrost, an electronic music magazine based in Australia, has written an interesting review of SQR013, Cantilever's Idalis/Hadalis record. An excerpt:
"As pointed out, the music itself is quite nice in its use of established modes to create gentle, textural datasound. And listened to simply on those terms it is successful..."
Read the whole review here. There's going to be some rather exciting Cantilever news in the next few months. Three-minute pop songs. What?
Today we're proud to present Exploded Views, the brand new record from Conifer Rock. This is Conifer Rock's fifth release for Square Root Records, and as such it offers a new direction in his musical evolution. You can download the entire seven-track album, including artwork, as a zip file by clicking here: ExplodedViews.zip
SQR018 Tracklisting:
1. Sure Fire
2. Finite Hearts
3. Young Professionals
4. Cross Sections of You
5. Honey Lies
6. Foreign Lands
7. Rocket Pops
With this EP, Conifer Rock has focused his attention on creating grimy pop songs, drawing inspiration from 1970s glam rock, ambient production experiments, shoegaze, funk and soul, and even a touch of early-1990s alternative guitar music. The seven tracks on the album are built primarily from guitar work and chopped-up percussion, both from live drum kits and from drum machines and laptops. These instruments have been combined countless times before, particularly in recent years, but we think this EP offers a fresh take on certain ideas. It's basically a lo-fi approach to twenty-first century production techniques -- pop music from a world that's more interested in emotional content and sound juxtaposition than with laying a glossy sheen over the top.
Within this environment lies a set of powerfully emotional songs, beginning with the off-kilter instrumental "Sure Fire" and ending with the ethereal droning of "Rocket Pops." Other highlights include "Cross Sections of You," with its stop-start drum machine editing, and, in particular, the otherworldly fx ballad "Foreign Lands," which seems like some sort of cross between Eno and the Smashing Pumpkins. Or something.
You can download the album as a set of mp3s by using the link above, or the link over on the right. You can also buy the album on CD, housed in a hand-painted chipboard sleeve with a poster, for the low price of five American dollars. Just use the PayPal button below.
We're also running a little contest. Take a listen to the album and send us some sort of creative interpretation of how it makes you feel -- it could be a haiku, a limerick, an MS Paint drawing, whatever. Email it to trevor@squarerootmusic.com. The 5 most interesting entries will win a deluxe version of the Exploded Views CD, with a T-shirt and other nice things.
