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LU: Share the load
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TS-004 is available 04/2004 from textilesounds in a cd edition of
1000.
In 1999 post-rock outfit Lorelei split, spinning off into two forward thinking projects. Bass player Stephen Gardner formed Chessie, hailed by the editors of the Washington Post and the New York Times as one of the best new artists of 2001. Guitarist Matthew Dingee assembled LU, releasing a self-titled CD on Trevor HollAnd's pulCec label (a subsidiary of Darla) the same year, which was also met with enthusiasm. Both men continue to race for the prize, expanding on the work they started in Lorelei, with Chessie recording for Plug Research and LU for Dingee's Textilesounds imprint. The two groups share a use of traditional rock instrumentation blended with a palette of sampled or synthesized drums and an array of keyboards to produce electronic compositions that combine the tonality and textures of modern dance music with the warm comfort of independent pop music. LU are as likely to reference Steve Reich (on "Amateurs Talk Strategy") as they are early '80s New York label 99 Records (on "Cartoon Mouse Tail"). The group have found a niche between avant garde exploration and post-punk firepower. Still eschewing lyrics in favor of intricate guitar and keyboard melodies, "Share the load", their second full length release, transpires in movements. The first three tracks could each be singles in their own right. In fact, "A La Casa" was culled for Teenbeat Records' 2004 sampler. The next three tracks slow the tempo and darken the mood with dub influenced reverbs and negative space. Then it's a return to a bump and grind mix of metronomic rhythms and angular guitar suggesting a perforated future threatening to tear itself apart. On the whole, "Share the load" is more contemplative and exploratory than LU's debut. It is road trip music for the rail commuter; liberation doled out one station stop at a time; furniture music taken outside of the house. The band have prepared a mesostic (apologies to John Cage) with intent to fLUx us. Each line corresponds to a track from "Share the load". (For more information on mesostics see http://www.ubu.com/papers/perloff02.html)
Call for eSg to come to the clinic and Calder to clean up after
wire lion. Bounce along in Hysterics with your burden. No logo for
consumption. Surge Along behind the
phenom who, Raging on about logistics, says stacks. Whilst gaining
commission on a stEamer, avoid drowning and shrinking
from crushing aim To perform. You are a zoo keeper in an exclusive
woodlands. Sadly all launcH drifting. Boats sink. Cycling
in of craft, now moltEn highway in big pond.
Caution, doom of vioLated parking ticket ahead. Might be time,
smear the excrement arOund. Seclude clever elements
in impertinent detAils. Enclose the mobile circus
in their life buoy of Dung. Give in? Oh no. We partake in the freight.
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members
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Previous Releases
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amateurs talk strategy: TS-003 released 04/2003 on textilesounds in a vinyl edition of 250. Distributed by tonevendor (www.tonevendor.com)
LU are back charting the course of their optical art blueprint with this follow up to their self-titled 2001 debut. "Amateurs talk strategy" finds LU exploring below the surface, submerged in murky sonic territory. From the water-logged cow bell in "Cut the tentacle" to the deep space echo of a carousel off its axis in "Unicorn feeding time" LU delve down and don't come up for air. The LU palette remains nearly unadjusted and yet there are plenty of new sounds to mine in this material. The steady, base rumble is there but within a greater amount of space and freedom for the instrumentation selected in each track. LU are still speaking in binary but there code is now more complex. LU remain afraid of words. Little time for them. LU are for good times but not this time. "Amateurs talk strategy" was recorded under the ground in Washington, DC and above the ground in San Francisco, CA in 2002. These three tracks represent a taste of what is to come from LU. Full length communique to follow in 2004. Deep vinyl cut courtesy of Ron Murphy at Sound Enterprises. |
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LU: pulC004 released 09/2001 on pulCec in a compact disc edition of 1500. Distributed by darla (www.darla.com).
LU features former members of Washington DC's Lorelei, Gloworm, the Saturday People, Whorl, and The Lilys. This, their debut, hits sonically between Neu! and New Order. LU is something new, almost like the musical manifestation of op-art. Or, like early Squarepusher working from a hi-fi, live-band context. Art and music, never the twain shall meet. When in 1998 Matthew Dingee, Dan Searing and Kristaps Kreslins set out to form LU, it was as if they had instructions. Where art and music have always been immiscible, LU adhered to their own aesthetic map and in doing so blended a love of the avant-garde with commercial tendencies. LU songs are free of 'messages' and contain no lyrics, only sparse, clean arrangements that outline blurry, negative space. The effect is minimal and beautiful music. Binary drums, angular guitars, and Japanese noise. On/off. Kick/snare. Dan Searing's simple kit has been the basis of countless DC bands. As part of LU he has produced something very distinct, beats that seem visual. A kick beat that looks like a black square, a snare hit like a spark. Kristaps Kreslins has a knack for 70's TV, cop-drama basslines. Sonically muted and dry, his phrases rely more on brevity than indulging every urge. As part of Lorelei Matthew Dingee's guitar tones were, well, famous. In LU he creates a huge variety of voices--relying both on standard and prepared tunings. LU has made an aural cut-up of electronic music's past and future. Their sound might just be locked in the molecules that created it. We invite you to sample the air in Washington DC in the year 2001. -- trevor hollAnd (2001) |
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Mood Elevator: TS-001 released 04/2001 on textilesounds in a vinyl edition of 500. Distributed by tonevendor (www.tonevendor.com)
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