This is Thurston Moore’s seventh solo album, and features musicians Deb Googe (My Bloody Valentine) on bass and backing vocals, Jon Leidecker aka ‘Wobbly’ (of Negativland) on electronics, James Sedwards on guitar, and Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley, as well as Jem Doulton, alternating on drums. Prior to isolation during the Covid pandemic, Thurston worked in recording studios in North London until the third week of March 2020 to complete this album.
SPIRIT COUNSEL is a collection of three extended compositions recorded between 2018-19. This collection represents a period of reflection on spiritual matters, collective musical friendships, and a time and space universally, without words or languages to distract from meditation.
Guitar hero Thurston Moore and improvising drummer Frank Rosaly met for a first encounter in 2012 at the Neon Marshmallow Festival, at the Burlington in Rosaly's hometown, Chicago. The results were monumental. The slow build of Moore's gigantosaur sound and Rosaly's clamorousness and gradually escalating propulsion made for an idea match over the course of an electrifying 32-minute piece, the thunderous conclusion of which left no ear unburned. Marshmallow Moon Decorum presents the full concert in all its glory, gorgeously rendered in a multi-track recording that captures both the grit and grace of their mutual ascent. The cover sports a painting by Amy Feldman, perfect visual foil for the boys and their noise.
Thurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. New Thurston Moore record, featuring the same line-up of musicians who played on his last album, The Best Day: Deb Googe (of My Bloody Valentine), James Sedwards, and Steve Shelley. Recorded by Paul Epworth in London at The Church. Mixed by Randall Dunn in Seattle at Avast.
Michael Chapman is often cited as one of the unsung heroes of the British folk music community, but that tends to shortchange the eclecticism of his approach. While the melodic sense of British folk plays a large part in Chapman's music, one can also hear much of the "American Primitive" sound pioneered by John Fahey, and like Fahey in his later years, Chapman has a strong taste for experimental sounds, and all of these elements make themselves heard on The Polar Bear, the third in a series of free-form releases Chapman has recorded for Blast First Petite.