Ensemble Sacrés Garçons “Demonization: These Worldly Powers” LP out now

 

LIMITED EDITION LP NOW SHIPPING (Note: reverse of poster sleeve shown for illustrative purposes) (Note: this is a single LP - A and B sides shown for illustrative purposes) Ensemble Sacrés Garçons is a post-industrial band that was formed in 1994, by Paolo L. Bandera (Sshe Retina Stimulants, Sigillum S, The Sodality, Iugula-Thor, etc.), Andrea Chiaravalli (Iugula-Thor), both from Milan, and Mark Solotroff (Anatomy of Habit, BLOODYMINDED, The Fortieth Day, Intrinsic Action, etc.), from Chicago. “Demonization: These Worldly Powers” is the band’s second album. It contains seven songs that are characterized by dense foundations of magnetic tape processing, spectral analog synth, and layers of opposing vocals. The album is pressed on 160 gram black vinyl. It’s housed in plain, glossy black LP jackets, with wrap-around 12”x24” poster sleeves, printed on both sides, in metallic silver ink on heavyweight black stock. There are individually numbered, double-sided 8.5”x11” cardstock inserts included, with credits and lyrics, as well as separate download codes. Track Listing: Side A: I'm Your Nightmare (3:34) Death Inflates (3:28) Velocity (5:32) Devil's Still On That Seat (4:25) Side B: Voice Stealing (4:47) Dead Band (7:50) Suffers (3:44) --------------------------------------------------------------------- ORDER THE LP VIA BANDCAMP: https://ensemblesacresgarcons.bandcamp.com/album/demonization-these-worldly-powers Please note that the price of $30.00 includes postage in the US, EU, and UK. Additional postage of $15.00 will be added for all other countries/regions. EU/UK orders will ship from Milan each Saturday. All other orders will ship from Chicago each weekday. Tracking numbers will be provided. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrea, Paolo, and I are very pleased to finally release the new album by our group, Ensemble Sacrés Garçons. We’ve been anticipating it for a long time… for over 25 years, in fact. We recorded our debut in 1994, in Brooklyn, at Bass Mind Studio. Andrea and I got to work utilizing recordings that Paolo had prepared in Milan, in advance. Megan Emish from Intrinsic Action/BLOODYMINDED produced those studio sessions for us. It was released on CD by the Italian label Old Europa Café in 1995.   We decided to start on our follow up, right away. To begin, Paolo again prepared material on analog tape, which he brought to Brooklyn, in 1995. I then manipulated these recordings in the manner of the SCTL (Source Control) style that I used on multiple Intrinsic Action releases. Roughly eight months later, after I completed my mix, Megan mastered the album for CD, at Acme Soundworks, NYC.   As 1996 continued on, Andrea, Paolo, and I considered and discussed the results. I think we all new that there was great material on the DAT master, but across the 12 songs and 70+ minute running time, it began to feel somewhat impenetrable. Amidst its thick walls of synth noise, tape distortion, and destroyed vocals, it was lacking in the appealing immediacy of its raw and primitive sounding predecessor. Time passed, and every so often, the three of us would discuss resurrecting the recordings, doing some judicious editing, and preparing to release it.   Finally, in 2018, a solid plan was put together. Paolo would focus on adding some minimal yet dynamic synth, I would write new lyrics, and Andrea and I would take a new and more direct approach to our vocals. In April of 2019, studio time was booked at Soundcheck Studio in Milan, and I flew there to record and to perform at our debut live show. I believe that our concert was particularly important, because it further solidified Ensemble Sacrés Garçons as more than a collaboration and more than a many-years-long series of face-to-face visits, video chats, emails, and faded out faxes. It felt like we really functioned as a band. During the recording sessions, Andrea and I were focused on our vocals, while Paolo was working his magic in the control room with the engineer, Matteo Pace. By the time I returned to Chicago, we knew that the tremendous chemistry of that week, grounded in our long friendship, had given us just what we needed to complete the album.   Paolo then got to work on his final synth tracks, as well as the challenging process of mixing the album. After just a couple of rounds of mixes, we knew that we were ready. But the album still seemed too long, especially if we were going to move forward with releasing it on vinyl. Our next step was to consider whether we had two solid albums, and if so, how we might divide the twelve songs between them. This actually turned out to be easier than we thought it would be, and two discrete albums materialized with very little effort.   We then sent the songs for the first LP to Collin Jordan at The Boiler Room, in Chicago, and we were thrilled with the results of his mastering work. As we were putting our plan together for the LP, the global pandemic hit and things slowed down again. We decided to use a relatively new pressing plant in Chicago, Smashed Plastic, which was doing some great work on albums that I’d heard. Once they were able to reopen their facilities our album went into the queue. After a few months, we had our vinyl in-hand. Staying local, we also decided to have a Chicago printer and friend – Erin Page/Kill Hatsumomo – screen print the sleeves that we designed. The three of us simply couldn’t be happier with the final outcome, especially after all of these years that have passed. As for the future, we’re already discussing plans for our third album, “Sanctification: Seeing the Singularity”...   (Mark Solotroff, February 2021)

Test Pressings - B!034 The Sodality "Confusion" (1997)

Test Pressings - B!028 Sshe Retina Stimulants "Amplifiers" (1997)

Brainwashed on Iugula-Thor

Thanks to Creaig Dunton at Brainwashed!

http://bit.ly/2jyhPVm

After a lengthy dormancy, Andrea Chiaravalli reinstated his long standing harsh electronics project Iugula-Thor in 2012 and has been active ever since, releasing some of the strongest work of his career.  This is the first full fledged release since then, with the prior ones being largely splits and singles, and also features Chiaravalli partnering with Paolo Bandera (Sshe Retina Stimulants, Sigillum S) to create a bleak, but multifaceted record of diverse electronics.

Iugula-Thor never fit in quite as specifically as many other Italian artists associated with the power electronics scene.  Their work largely took on a grey aura simultaneously colored by Marizio Bianchi's depression and the violence of giallo films.  It is a distinct and great style, but it is always great to hear an artist breaking away from what is expected. Iugula-Thor’s influence has drawn more heavily from the thrash and speed metal scenes, and while that may not be immediately apparent these days, I think that influence adds a lot to the duo’s unique sound.

Rhythms play a notable role in the sound of Choosing Your Own Brand of Evil.  "Unknown Third Party" is driven by a crashing loop and an insistent, throbbing bit of bass, as the two work a multitude of weird synth sounds in, at times twinkling and almost light, and other times dark and sinister.  The overall effect is wonderfully schizophrenic.  The terse "One Mind No Views" is a bit less subtle in rhythm:  a big, rib cage pummeling kick drum that never subsides for the pieces' brief two minute duration, with other bits of trash percussion and simply oscillating noise synths stay prominent.

Even a more noise oriented composition, such as "n.a." has some semblance of rhythm with the crunchy static-laden loop that underscores it, but the tasteful applications of filtered noise and other bursts of static place it somewhere on the spectrum between avant garde experimentalism and outright noise brutality.  There is a similarly tenuous balance to be found on "First Time My Wrists Opened", though the grinding electronics and sinister slowed voice passages nudge it a bit more in the death industrial direction.

The moments where the duo take a "throw everything together and see what happens” are the ones that stand out the most for me, however.  For example:  "I'm Not" is at first all noise loops, but with an almost toy-like synthesizer line.  Voices appear here and there, and the whole song alternates from lighter bits of electronics into vaguely industrial stomping.  The voices and what almost could be horn samples make for a confusing, scatter-shot quality in instrumentation but it all manages to work together.  The album closer "Hammer" is also a bizarre mix of marching band like rhythms, largely clean synth sounds, and what could almost be a violin here and there.  Compared to what preceded it, it is lighter and less oppressive, but still just the right amount of abrasive and weird.

For their first full album release in nearly two decades, Chiaravalli and Bandera have put together an excellent, fully realized album with Choosing Your Own Brand of Evil.  The mood and style may not be a surprise, but the actual work from the two artists is a unique, idiosyncratic mass of collaged electronics and abrasive electronics that comes across as composed, rather than just improvised.  The music itself is where the unpredictability lies, and that sense of the unknown is where it excels the most.

B!178 Sshe Retina Stimulants and The Land Of The Snow "Free Bitches Love = A Deflagation In Extra Sensorial Perception" CD

B!178 Sshe Retina Stimulants and The Land Of The Snow "Free Bitches Love = A Deflagation In Extra Sensorial Perception" CD

Limited Edition of 100 Copies.

http://bloodshop.bigcartel.com/product/b-178-sshe-retina-stimulants-and-the-land-of-the-snow-free-bitches-love-cd

BloodLust! is pleased to announce the release of an exciting collaboration between Sshe Retina Stimulants (Italy) and The Land Of The Snow (Switzerland). While this album can certainly be read as the next entry in the long history between BloodLust! and Sshe Retina Stimulants, including the artist's many solo works, multiple collaborations with The Fortieth Day - including one with Terence Hannum of Locrian, and a more recent album with Chicago synth maestro Neil Jendon, this particular work also functions as a very personal noise tribute to P.NG5361.B's favorite jazz giants, specifically in terms of its approach, its improvised construction, and its consideration of elements of modal noise, sound and drone dynamics.

As such, the code-breaker title directly references landmark releases, including Ornette Coleman's "Free Jazz," Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" and John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," merging key title words into "Free Bitches Love." Additionally, it acknowledges the esteemed ESP-DISK' label in its "Extra Sensorial Perception" subtitle.

So is it jazz? To my ears, fuck no! The recording is constructed from treated guitars, EFX, samples and loops created by The Land Of The Snow (AKA Joel Gilardini), while P.NG5361.B's contributions include electronics, track manipulation and assemblage. The end result is a cohesive set of six songs that fuse dark drone, minimal synth, noise, isolationism, stark electronic frequencies, ghostly voices and deep space. Never overly forceful but not necessarily pretty, this hour-long album conjures unsettling dream states and takes the listener on an active voyage that doesn't allow for complacency.

Professionally duplicated CDs, packaged with single panel, double-sided inserts; color artwork; in jewel boxes with shrink-wrap.

1: "Don't Ask Me To Follow You Across Gnosis" (9:06)
2: "A Roaring Cascade From Magnetic Pus" (10:32)
3: "Clustered And Bruised Through Monades" (10:15)
4: "Places Don't Matter And Time Bursts" (7:56)
5: "Opening Pandora's Vase In Fits Of Bile" (6:43)
6: "Exiled By Alien Language And Rocket Philosophy" (16:24)

BLOODYMINDED "True Crime" CD SOLD OUT

The BLOODYMINDED "True Crime" CD is currently out of stock and a new digipak edition is being planned for release this winter.

This is the band's second full-length release and guest artists include Xavier Laradji of "Timeless" magazine (now a full-fledged band member); Paolo Bandera of Sshe Retina Stimulants/Sigillum S; Andrea Chiaravalli of Iugula-Thor; Akifumi Nakajima of Aube; Jonathan Canady of Angel of Decay/Deathpile/Dead World; and John Balistreri of Slogun.  The CD was Recorded at Brooklyn Electrical, Brooklyn, NY and Satellite Studios, Chicago, and it features a Quicktime video for the song "Chinatown," from the "Trophy" CD.

Out Now: B!174 The Fortieth Day + Sshe Retina Stimulants + Terence Hannum "Advent" CD

B!174 The Fortieth Day + Sshe Retina Stimulants + Terence Hannum "Advent" CD

http://bloodshop.bigcartel.com/product/b-174-the-fortieth-day-sshe-retina-stimulants-terence-hannum-advent-cd

CD version of 2012 Land of Decay cassette

These are professionally duplicated CDs, with single panel, double-sided inserts, featuring black and white artwork; in jewel boxes with shrinkwrap; released in 2013.

LoD description:
This release marks the rare, one-time only, collaboration of The Fortieth Day, the Chicago duo of Mark Solotroff and Isidro Reyes (also of influential power-electronics group Bloodyminded), Sshe Sshe Retina Stimulants (the solo project of P.NG5361.B, or Paolo Bandera, a founding member of Sigillum S), and Terence Hannum. The recording took place during a late night session at WLUW on Loyola University’s campus for Phil von Zweck’s “Something Else” radio show on November 29th, 2009.
The group created these six tracks live using guitar, bass, synthesizers, and vocals. The live recordings were then processed in Milan, Italy by P.NG5361.B. The group uses these instruments to create burned out industrial drones made up of looped feedback, percussion throbs and the sounds of machines dying. Hypnotizing repeating layers tactfully shift into blasts of angular high-pitched mechanical frenzy. There are implicit melodies in the chaos. Strong material from this unique collaboration.

From The Inarguable:
A massive collaboration within itself, it isn't hard to imagine The Fortieth Day (Mark Solotroff and Isidro Reyes from Bloodyminded), Sshe Retina Stimulants, and Terence Hannum (Land of Decay co-proprietor and Locrian analog wizard) meeting up in WLUW 88.7 FM's studio. The product of a group of like minded musicians, the Advent tape is a work based in juxtaposition, suddenly changing from soft, deep drones and quiet drum machine mantras to complete, utter chaos. Synthesizers do relentless battle with atonal guitar work and crumbling laptop noise, sometimes not letting up for extensive periods of time before entirely disappearing without any cue or warning. To be a fly on a wall in that studio, sheesh.

Stream the album: 
http://thefortiethday.bandcamp.com/album/the-fortieth-day-sshe-retina-stimulants-terence-hannum-advent

The Fortieth Day + Sshe Retina Stimulants: The Rematch

Isidro and I were pleased to welcome P.NG5361.B, he of Sshe Retina Stimulants and Sigillum S, into the PB/AOH/TFD practice space last night, to do a bit of playing and recording.  P.B. added some intense Monotron-through-FX to our weekly mix.  We captured an hour or so "on tape" and we will see what transpired and what sort of editing, micro-sampling, etc., Paolo might want to do, should the results warrant it...

The Fortieth Day - Status

Isidro and I had another very fruitful session last night, really taking our time arriving at jet engine volume level. But, my ears are ringing this morning... proof that we did arrive there. As usual, Isidro focused on bass and rhythms, and I stuck to Korg Monotron through a shitload of pedals. We dedicated last night to the gods of ProCo, worshiping the RAT, and during its functional moments, the TurboRAT. I will be reviewing the recording later, after more espresso and after "Heroes" plays for the eight-zillionth time (yes, I finally broke the Stones' grip on me... the new Interpol album helped that). This week, we intend to finalize mastering and art/design for the next full-length CD by The Fortieth Day - and - our associate in Milano, Sig. P.NG5361.B of Sshe Retina Stimulants and Sigillum S, is reviewing the recording of our WLUW radio session from November 2009, and we are discussing his availability for SRS Desktop processing for said recording. Discussions continue with Lisa (AKA Noise Crush) regarding a sound+vision release for our full, collaborative mode. Speaking of which, it is rather surprising to see just how few shows this band has actually played, particularly considering, from mid-2005 forward, how frequently we have actually gathered to play, practice, record, whathaveyou...

The Fortieth Day + Noise Crush
2007-02-20 - Elastic
2007-03-30 - The Flowershop
2007-06-12 - Elastic
2007-06-30 - The Empty Bottle
2007-08-21 - Elastic
2008-01-06 - Ronny's
2008-02-23 - Pictures and Sounds - Film Studies Center - The University of Chicago
2008-06-07 - The Empty Bottle
2008-11-02 - Cobra Lounge
2010-02-02 - The Empty Bottle

The Fortieth Day
2006-11-26 - Something Else - WLUW 88.7 FM (with Sshe Retina Stimulants)
2009-11-29 - Something Else - WLUW 88.7 FM (with Sshe Retina Stimulants and Terence Hannum)

Sigillum S Announcement

Re-Post:

HERE COME THE MEDIATICK DJINNS: SIGILLUM S GO BANDCAMP !

"....the drenched guts of physics are bursting open and etherick monsters are getting loose... the spilled stench of acoustic embryos fills the space and turns realities inside out, drilling speculations out of known universes and beyond the gates of the surreal dimensions.... the audio equivalent of self digestion resulting in multiple revelations...."

SIGILLUM S are proud to announce the "go live" milestone for their BANDCAMP website

http://sigillum-s.bandcamp.com/ !

The site allows you to

• stream all the featured SIGILLUM S releases in full;
• purchase them as downloads (your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire);
• buy all the available SIGILLUM S physical releases on VERBA CORRIGE, together with any other SIGILLUM S releases of which we still have copies;
• be re-directed to the producing labels for those SIGILLUM S products which are still available at the source.

The current list of featured releases includes

1. Wroclaw 071111

2. 23/20

3. Private 8788

4. SIGILLUM S present HELIX "Numbers"

5. Live @ Iterarte 04/03/1993

6. Cybertantrick Quantum Lips

7. Hallucinated Moisture Of Synaptic Slaughterhouse

8. Studs and Divinity

9. Boudoir Philosophy

10. Of Will

11. Hhhard

while the following releases will be added with a "one every week" frequency

1. Bardo Thos Grol

2. Organic Skyscrapers & Occult Wastelands

3. Terror Auto-Obstetrics

4. Abstraction

5. Tidal Surface Tension

6. Five Forecasts EP

7. Future Eros Channels

8. Helix Parasites

9. Heteromorphonicks

10. Bedscanner Philosophy: An Updated Boudoir Mode

11. Dispersion: Sliced Carrions And Pixel Handcuffs

12. Simulacra

13. Mutilated Terrorism

14. Klimax Axis

15. Live @ Ear Nerve 22.02.1988

16. Live @ Immaginazione 14.11.1987

17. Live @ Immaginazione 30.05.1987

18. Live @ Helter Skelter 17.01.1987

19. Trance Flexure

20. Sigillum S

Please take note that all the DL albums have been newly re-mastered for the purpose.

Moreover, we are soon also going to add a brand new and free DL-only EP, called "GLAMOUR AND DECADENCE ACROSS GALAXIES".

Regarding physical releases, VERBA CORRIGE is also going to announce shortly the full details for the ARCHIVIO INDUSTRIALE campaign, which will feature re-issues of key works from a number of Italian (post) industrial projects, together with some SIGILLUM S ones: these should take the form of limited editions CD for those products originally appeared in an analogic format, while we are also planning vinyl for some of the long deleted SIGILLUM S CD albums, as well as a couple of "lost" studio items (i.e. EPIDEMIOLOGY and S/M-TEK SHI).

Additionally, plans are also being refined for a couple of brand new SIGILLUM S productions, tentatively called "HAPPENING WHENEVER" and "FALLING IN DUST AT THE SPIRES OF TIME".

Finally, a schedule of live shows is also being worked on.

More details on everything SOON !

"... does a scream get hotter and scarier when no matter is there to absorb it ?...."

SIGILLUM S , 2010/09