Words/Photos by Andrew Parks
“There sure is a lot of black in here,” a friend said as we walked around the winding promenade of the Guggenheim and scanned the crowd that was clearly here to see Cold Cave and the steely sculptures of John Chamblerlain.
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The Artist/Album: Vatican Shadow, Kneel Before Religious Icons (Hospital Productions, 2011)
A Short Review: In case you couldn’t tell by Dominick Fernow’s recent move to L.A., the seemingly sudden closing of the noise mecca/beloved brick-and-mortar shop Hospital Productions, and his straight-faced alt-rock mix for us, the underground icon is as unpredictable as ever—in the very heat of an exciting, transitional period creatively. The peak of which may be this limited cassette release (now available in a limited LP pressing through Type), a surprisingly subdued foray into the same knackered house territory as labels like Modern Love and Sandwell District. Fernow hinted at this direction on his last Prurient LP, which paired his dead-eyed poetry with ashen atmospherics and fractured electronics. Vatican Shadow is strictly instrumental, though, mowing ominous melodies down with leering synth lines and waves of mechanized beats. It’s also convincing enough to make a case for Fernow as a full-on techno artist, a pedller of gloomy grooves who’d make sense on the same bill as Demdike Stare, Andy Stott and Regis, who, sure enough, is remixing Vatican Shadow very soon.
Available At: Amazon · Insound · iTunes · Spotify
Stream the entire record below…
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Photo by Shawn Brackbill
Like most serious music fans, self-titled spends most days devouring records across hard drives, streaming services and our trusty office turntable. That’s why we’re devoting the next month to deconstructing LPs we loved from throughout the year. Here’s one of them…
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Words and Mix by Dominick Fernow of Prurient and Cold Cave
The ’90s was the last time that popular music was directly attached to and addressed darkness. It was also coincidentally the decade during which I grew up and was the first music I was exposed to. As a child I always felt that this music was in some sense morbid and existential, but I wasn’t aware enough and lacked a context for the subject matter. Later in life, my feelings were confirmed, when reading books about some of the men that created this work revealed stories of sex, death and, of course, heroin. The pre-Columbine era is also, some would say, the heaviest heroin age in America. The shootings triggered a cultural loss of innocence in America and rock died…
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Words and Photos by Andrew Parks
If you could make it past the kill joy closing of Fleet Foxes—seriously dudes, no one cares that Dizzee Rascal dissed your MOR folk music a few years ago—the second day of Pitchfork’s annual festival was rife with artists reinventing their studio sound for the stage. That goes for everything from the feel-good Grateful Dead-isms of Woods to the muscular synth-pop of Cold Cave, which finally saw frontman Wesley Eisold relishing his frontman role with the same sense of confidence and pressure-cooked aggression that he once had in the hardcore band Give Up the Ghost.
The only letdown of the day? Watching DJ Shadow struggle to project the live visuals of his ambitious “Shadowsphere” show in broad daylight. Some advice for Pitchfork’s promoters: don’t make a sample-chopping, crowd-pleasing legend in a Death Star globe play before a band that’s best heard in coffee shops and the main stage of Bonnaroo.
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Photo by Shawn Brackbill
On the last Cold Cave tour, a new friend gave me a mix cd and this is my return, though I wanted to share it with you too. Made with you in mind, Songs for the summer indoors against the exhaustion of traffic outside. Please share.
Check it out below, along with the band’s current tour dates, and our cover story from a while back…
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Prurient
Words and Photos by Andrew Parks
What is punk rock, really? If you ask anyone who’s witnessed it firsthand, they’ll tell you it’s got nothing to do with your record collection, haircut, or that Rotten sneer you practiced in the mirror for the past month. Punk rock just is; it’s a state of being you’re either born with or develop naturally out of a sheer disdain for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Not to mention all the small print bullshit that goes along with it.
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Photo by Shawn Brackbill
With Cold Cave‘s first proper Matador LP (Cherish the Light Years) on the way next Tuesday, we thought we’d share a couple things: (1) a maniacal mix Dominick Fernow (also of Prurient and Hospital Records) recently cut for the Quietus, and (2) the cover story we ran on the group in the sixth issue of self-titled. We’ll have a new Cold Cave feature ready in the coming weeks…
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The Raveonettes (Photo: Lauren Dukoff)
For the latest in free music, click this, or tear through the tracks below…
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The Artist/Album: Cold Cave, Cherish the Light Years (April 5, Matador)
The Details: As much as we’ve covered Cold Cave to death over the past couple years, this is the band’s first proper Matador album after a string of singles, limited releases, remixes and represses. Considering it was produced by Chris Coady and features such guests as Nick Zinner, Daryl Palumbo, Sean Martin and Matt Sweeney, we’re expecting a higher-fi affair than the band’s past work, and a fitting pop/noise/power electronics fusion of Cold Cave’s core players—frontman Wesley Eisold and Dominick Fernow of Prurient. Not to mention a rain-slicked reflection of Eisold’s first year living in New York City.
“Lyrically, I want to convey what a lot of my favorite writers give me to other people,” he explains in a press release. “I want there to be this air of romance that has a seedy underbelly, like Jean Genet…I [also] wanted the record to pertain to every musical moment of my life, from being a kid who’s into The Cure or New Order or some of the early Siouxsie records to some of the last few bands I’ve been in too.”
Eisold also makes sure to mention everything from Scott Walker to Suede, so we’re not quite sure what this will all amount to. Either way, keep your eyes here for more Cold Cave coverage in the coming months. In the meantime, we’re proud to present the cover story we ran back when this record was started more than a year ago…
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