|
Friday, June 02, 2023
Mark Solotroff "Black Openings" Book + Interview
Thursday, February 23, 2023
ANATOMY OF HABIT: V13 Premieres Black Openings
ANATOMY OF HABIT: V13 Premieres Black Openings From Experimental Post-Punk/Doom Outfit; LP To Drop This Friday
Posted on February 23, 2023
V13 is currently streaming Black Openings, the latest full-length from long-running experimental post-punk/doom outfit ANATOMY OF HABIT. The premiere comes on the eve of the record’s official release, Friday, February 24th.
Elaborates vocalist Mark Solotroff, “Releasing Black Openings in a timely manner, as a follow up to our previous album Even If It Takes A Lifetime, was an important milestone for us, as it demonstrates the momentum that we’re building as a band. It was critical to not just release a single album, after the long gap that trailed Ciphers + Axioms. Furthermore, knowing that we’re about fifty percent finished with our next album, we feel confident that we can maintain the forward push that we’ve been working hard to develop.
“It’s not just about releasing albums, although that feels really good. It has to do with the fact that this lineup has experienced consistency and fluidity in our ability to collaborate and to create new songs. We may still labor over them, to make sure they’re ready to perform and to record, but there are always one or two new ideas in development. As for Black Openings, I think it encapsulates exactly what ANATOMY OF HABIT is all about. It contains the important balances that we strive for, between darker and brighter, heavier and lighter, slower and faster. Well, look, we’re not becoming a speed metal band, but we can shift into a higher gear, from time to time. It’s always an exciting moment when we finally share our latest music with a broader audience. The opportunity to make new connections and to learn how people interpret our work, in their own way, is always rewarding. We hope that this album resonates with people who already listen to us, and we look forward to hearing from new listeners who discover us through Black Openings. As this album makes its way into the world, we’ll be working hard to wrap up the next one. What’s our next milestone? It’ll be an album with four songs. You heard about it here, first.”
Stream ANATOMY OF HABIT’s Black Openings in its absorbing entirety at THIS LOCATION.
Thematically, Black Openings continues to elaborate on Solotroff’s expressions of love and loss, the abstracted and vanishing self, and complexities within the creative process. It further explores the concept of obliteration, and it propels the idea to a dreadful new terminus point. The concept of the inner drive that keeps pushing a person forward, which Solotroff explored on Even If It Takes A Lifetime takes on a new meaning here, when the harrowing black hole of the title track opens up and swallows you.
Black Openings was recorded with Sanford Parker, who has been working with the band in the studio for over a decade, including on their 2014 Relapse Records-issued Ciphers + Axioms. Parker also handled mixing duties while Collin Jordan (Boiler Room Mastering) took care of mastering.
Black Openings, which comes adorned in the artwork of Solotroff, will be released on CD, LP, cassette, and digitally. Find preorders at THIS LOCATION.
Formed in Chicago in 2008, ANATOMY OF HABIT has been described as a hybrid of doom metal, post-punk, death rock, early-industrial, psychedelic, and shoegaze. Although they’ve experienced significant membership changes since forming, today’s band, which includes Alex Latus (guitar), Isidro Reyes (metal percussion), Skyler Rowe (drums), Mark Solotroff (vocals), and Sam Wagster (bass, lap steel), represents their longest-standing and most prolific lineup. The band credits their treasured chemistry to their intertwining histories as friends and collaborators. Rowe and Latus have made music together since they were teenagers, growing up in Indianapolis’ heavy music scene, while playing in the band Still. Rowe and Wagster create sweeping, pastoral instrumental music together in Mute Duo. Reyes and Solotroff are old friends who’ve played together for many years and they continue to record and perform in both BLOODYMINDED and The Fortieth Day. This deep connective tissue contributes to what the band describes as consistently effortless writing sessions and innately unified live performances.
“…a long, lovely journey that you can settle into, trusting that you’ll be alternately unsettled, soothed, creeped out, pummeled, and exalted… Sheets of shimmering guitars appear like torrential rains, giving way to a quiet interlude and a sinister sense of ritual catharsis…” – The Chicago Reader
“It’s power that truly defines the ANATOMY OF HABIT sound across time and personnel changes, and ‘Black Openings’’ own muscular sound, appended by junk percussionist Isidro Reyes’ rhythmic counterpoint with Rowe’s heavy pulsing and guitarist Alex Latus’ slack-tuned atmospheres, truly shines as one of Chicago’s finest active live acts.” – Invisible Oranges on Black Openings’ title track
“The extended instrumentation is top notch and never overbearing or gimmicky, and perfectly blends in with the heavier more ‘metal‘ passages and the hypnotic vocals. Perfectly making accessible to listeners their experimental nature, ANATOMY OF HABIT is a unique and engaging band.” – Infernal Masquerade
ANATOMY OF HABIT:
Alex Latus – guitar
Isidro Reyes – metal percussion
Skyler Rowe – drums, vibraphone
Mark Solotroff – vocals, analog synth
Sam Wagster – bass, lap steel, piano, keyboard
http://anatomyofhabit.com
http://anatomyofhabit.bandcamp.com
http://www.instagram.com/anatomyofhabit
https://www.facebook.com/anatomyofhabit/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/25eNG0mU6r1UiaTn55Tffs
Friday, February 10, 2023
ANATOMY OF HABIT: Invisible Oranges Premieres “Black Openings”
ANATOMY OF HABIT: Invisible Oranges Premieres “Black Openings” From Experimental Post-Punk/Doom Collective; LP Nears Release + Band To Play Record Release Show This Saturday
Invisible Oranges is currently streaming “Black Openings” from long-running experimental post-punk/doom collective ANATOMY OF HABIT. The track comes by way of the band’s fourth full-length of the same name, set to drop February 24th.
Elaborates vocalist Mark Solotroff, “‘Black Openings’ is the opening song, as well as the title track, of our new album. It could easily be a closing track, as its journey towards obliteration takes some of my more recent writing to a dreadful new space. This location is a terminus point. It’s a literal dead end. It’s a black hole. When we were composing the song in our practice space, I had a very cinematic image in mind of a life passing by in both forward and reverse order and crossing or maybe even crossfading, along the way. I wanted the song to progress to a point where it becomes a beckoning aperture, like a great mouth, which opens up and swallows you as you float into it. You’re in control of this trajectory, though. You made the decision. You are bound to the consequences. If it’s not already obvious to people who know our music, I have a thing for these long pieces that take up one side of a record. While the song ‘Then Window’ from Ciphers + Axioms blasts out into the atmosphere at the halfway point, this storyline resolves itself in a much different manner. The song starts out calmer, as the first section builds its way towards that crossfade, an undulating impressionistic instrumental segment, which then gives way to a mounting slab of colossal substance. In a live setting the song can go on and on and on. It can last as long as I last. It expires when I expire.”
Adds Invisible Oranges, “It’s power that truly defines the ANATOMY OF HABIT sound across time and personnel changes, and ‘Black Openings’’ own muscular sound, appended by junk percussionist Isidro Reyes’ rhythmic counterpoint with Rowe’s heavy pulsing and guitarist Alex Latus’ slack-tuned atmospheres, truly shines as one of Chicago’s finest active live acts.”
Stream ANATOMY OF HABIT’s “Black Openings” HERE.
Thematically, Black Openings continues to elaborate on Solotroff’s expressions of love and loss, the abstracted and vanishing self, and complexities within the creative process. It further explores the concept of obliteration, and it propels the idea to a dreadful new terminus point. The concept of the inner drive that keeps pushing a person forward, which Solotroff explored on Even If It Takes A Lifetime takes on a new meaning here, when the harrowing black hole of the title track opens up and swallows you.
Black Openings was recorded with Sanford Parker, who has been working with the band in the studio for over a decade, including on their 2014 Relapse Records-issued Ciphers + Axioms. Parker also handled mixing duties while Collin Jordan (Boiler Room Mastering) took care of mastering.
Black Openings, which comes adorned in the artwork of Solotroff, will be released on CD, LP, cassette, and digitally. Find preorders at THIS LOCATION where first single, “Breathing Through Bones,” can be streamed.
ANATOMY OF HABIT will celebrate the release of Black Openings with a record release show this Saturday, February 11th at Cobra Lounge in Chicago with additional performances to be announced in the weeks to come.
ANATOMY OF HABIT:
2/11/2023 Cobra Lounge – Chicago, IL * Record Release Show w/ Kill Scenes, Twice Dark [tickets]
Formed in Chicago in 2008, ANATOMY OF HABIT has been described as a hybrid of doom metal, post-punk, death-rock, early-industrial, psychedelic, and shoegaze. Although they’ve experienced significant membership changes since forming, today’s band, which includes Alex Latus (guitar), Isidro Reyes (metal percussion), Skyler Rowe (drums), Mark Solotroff (vocals), and Sam Wagster (bass, lap steel), represents their longest-standing and most prolific lineup. The band credits their treasured chemistry to their intertwining histories as friends and collaborators. Rowe and Latus have made music together since they were teenagers, growing up in Indianapolis’ heavy music scene, while playing in the band Still. Rowe and Wagster create sweeping, pastoral instrumental music together in Mute Duo. Reyes and Solotroff are old friends who’ve played together for many years and they continue to record and perform in both BLOODYMINDED and The Fortieth Day. This deep connective tissue contributes to what the band describes as consistently effortless writing sessions and innately unified live performances.
“…a long, lovely journey that you can settle into, trusting that you’ll be alternately unsettled, soothed, creeped out, pummeled, and exalted… Sheets of shimmering guitars appear like torrential rains, giving way to a quiet interlude and a sinister sense of ritual catharsis…” – The Chicago Reader
ANATOMY OF HABIT:
Alex Latus – guitar
Isidro Reyes – metal percussion
Skyler Rowe – drums, vibraphone
Mark Solotroff – vocals, analog synth
Sam Wagster – bass, lap steel, piano, keyboard
Thursday, January 26, 2023
Anatomy Of Habit's New Album "Black Openings" Announced
|
ANATOMY OF HABIT: Experimental Post-Punk/Doom Outfit To Release Black Openings LP February 24th; New Track Streaming + Preorders Available
Long-running experimental post-punk/doom outfit ANATOMY OF HABIT will release their fourth album, Black Openings, on February 24th.
The follow-up to their 2021-22 album, Even If It Takes A Lifetime, was recorded with Sanford Parker, who has been working with the band in the studio for over a decade, including on their 2014 Relapse Records-issued Ciphers + Axioms. Parker also handled mixing duties while Collin Jordan (Boiler Room Mastering) took care of mastering.
The three-song offering opens with the title track, which will align with what fans envision when referring to an archetypal side-long ANATOMY OF HABIT song. It’s built from three distinct movements that range from a calmer opening section, to an extended atmospheric instrumental passage, to an escalating mass of pure heaviness. “Formal Consequences” starts off the B-Side and it introduces greater shimmer to the band’s sound, with vocalist Mark Solotroff’s voice submerged in a vast swirl of guitar atmosphere. Album closer, “Breathing Through Bones,” is a mournful ode that links back to earlier ANATOMY OF HABIT compositions like “After The Water” and “The Decade Plan,” but here, the group ups-the-ante with a vein of taught, slow burning tension. Along with the band’s core instrumentation, listeners will recognize piano, organ, analog synth, and vibraphone, similar to the array of sounds on Even If It Takes A Lifetime.
Thematically, the album continues to elaborate on Solotroff’s expressions of love and loss, the abstracted and vanishing self, and complexities within the creative process. It further explores the concept of obliteration, and it propels the idea to a dreadful new terminus point. The concept of the inner drive that keeps pushing a person forward, which Solotroff explored on Even If It Takes A Lifetime takes on a new meaning here, when the harrowing black hole of the title track opens up and swallows you.
In advance of the record’s release, today the band unveils “Breathing Through Bones.” Notes Solotroff of the track, “I believe that we all enjoy playing ‘Breathing Through Bones’ live. I certainly love singing it, and each time we play it, I feel like I’ve found my ideal place in music. When Sam [Wagster]’s bass begins to chime, it should be clear that this is an unparalleled ANATOMY OF HABIT song. The pace is slow and somber and there’s a great deal of space left open in the composition. We hear traces of Alex [Latus]’s guitar in the opening panorama, while Skyler [Rowe]’s drums start up with a minimal, deliberate beat. Isidro’s scraping metal enters, sounding like something from a subterranean hell-scape. Then my first reverberating vocal begins, two-minutes in, and then the five of us are completely locked-in together.
“Across three verses and three choruses, the song continues to increase in strength, volume, depth, and density, and it builds towards a climax that takes nearly ten-minutes to arrive at. If I had to explain the song to someone, I might use words like ‘resolve,’ ‘tranquility,’ ‘pulsation,’ ‘structure,’ ‘stillness,’ ‘doggedness,’ ‘entanglement,’ and ‘patience.’ That might get you somewhere, but I never like to give it all away. While I’d be tempted to write a dozen more songs like this, we’ve already succeeded in going in several new directions as we continue to write, but I know that this one will always burn bright for me.”
Stream ANATOMY OF HABIT’s “Breathing Through Bones” at THIS LOCATION.
Black Openings, which comes adorned in the artwork of Solotroff, will be released on CD, LP, cassette, and digitally. Find preorders at THIS LOCATION.
Black Openings Track Listing:
2. Formal Consequences
3. Breathing Through Bones
ANATOMY OF HABIT will celebrate the release of Black Openings with a record release show February 11th at Cobra Lounge in Chicago with additional performances to be announced in the weeks to come.
2/11/2023 Cobra Lounge – Chicago, IL * Record Release Show w/ Kill Scenes, Twice Dark [tickets]
Formed in Chicago in 2008, ANATOMY OF HABIT has been described as a hybrid of doom metal, post-punk, death-rock, early-industrial, psychedelic, and shoegaze. Although they’ve experienced significant membership changes since forming, today’s band, which includes Alex Latus (guitar), Isidro Reyes (metal percussion), Skyler Rowe (drums), Mark Solotroff (vocals), and Sam Wagster (bass + lap steel), represents their longest-standing and most prolific lineup. The band credits their treasured chemistry to their intertwining histories as friends and collaborators. Rowe and Latus have made music together since they were teenagers, growing up in Indianapolis’ heavy music scene, while playing in the band Still. Rowe and Wagster create sweeping, pastoral instrumental music together in Mute Duo. Reyes and Solotroff are old friends who’ve played together for many years and they continue to record and perform in both BLOODYMINDED and The Fortieth Day. This deep connective tissue contributes to what the band describes as consistently effortless writing sessions and innately unified live performances.
ANATOMY OF HABIT:
Alex Latus – guitar
Isidro Reyes – metal percussion
Skyler Rowe – drums, vibraphone
Mark Solotroff – vocals, analog synth
Sam Wagster – bass, lap steel, piano, keyboard
http://anatomyofhabit.com
http://anatomyofhabit.bandcamp.com
http://www.instagram.com/anatomyofhabit
https://www.facebook.com/anatomyofhabit/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/25eNG0mU6r1UiaTn55Tffs
Friday, September 23, 2022
Anatomy of Habit "Black Openings" T-Shirt Pre-Order
|
Friday, February 11, 2022
Anatomy of Habit show + update + Vaura album
We want to send a big thank you to everyone who has already supported our new album over the first two months of its release! Your response has been great and, so far, the coverage has been very positive. You can check out some reviews here.
We added a new show, which is coming up in a couple of weeks, and we're really happy to join this dark, heavy, and noisy trio of artists. FYI, Many Blessings is Ethan McCarthy from Primitive Man, who I shared a stage with in December, when we both played with Indian at the Peace Simulation fest. This show will be all ages and it's rare for us to play a non-traditional venue like this. The show starts at 8:00 PM and more details, including links to music, can be found here: https://fb.me/e/1ENo2gglX
VINYL UPDATE: Things are still progressing slowly with the LP version of "Even If It Takes A Lifetime," due to the ongoing delays that have been much discussed in the music industry. The pressing plant did let us know that center labels have been printed, so at least there's some movement.
BLACK OPENINGS: I've started working on the artwork for our next album and we'll be moving that process along while we wait for the current LP to appear.
In the meantime, you can find "Even If It Takes A Lifetime" on CD, cassette, and digital on Bandcamp and it's streaming on all major digital platforms.
In related news, Isidro contributed metal percussion to the excellent new album from Vaura (members of Blacklist, Azur Swan, Kayo Dot, maudlin of the well, Gorguts, Dysrhythmia, etc.). "Vista Of Deviant Anatomies" was just released two weeks ago and we're extremely happy for our friends! You can find the album on Bandcamp and all major digital platforms.
Skyler and Sam mixed the new Mute Duo album this week with Cooper Crain (Bitchin' Bajas, Cave) at Electrical Audio. More news on that, as it emerges...
http://anatomyofhabit.com
http://anatomyofhabit.bandcamp.com
http://www.instagram.com/anatomyofhabit
htts://www.facebook.com/anatomyofhabit/
