Archives for posts with tag: Silber Records

“When you’re singing a song, it needs to be the only thing happening in the world right now. You need to believe it and you need to make them believe it.” – Jon DeRosa

Welcome to part 1 in a series of interview pieces, called “A Touring Daze,” in which I speak with musicians on the road, while I, myself, am on the road. To kick off the series, I had the opportunity to speak to Jon DeRosa. DeRosa has worked professionally as a musician for the last twenty years under different guises, names, and projects, including Dead Leaves RisingVlor, Aarktica, his own name (solo), and Pale Horse and Rider. In the Berlin alternative mainstay Wild At Heart, we caught up before a gig in September. We spoke about his recent work, touring with Lydia Lunch (in support of his recent 7″ single, “Signs of Life“), and who has armed him with artistic inspiration as of late. This piece is called “Crossing over from Ambient into crooner-pop.”

DeRosa

Recently, Decoder Magazine also published a feature I wrote about the interview. The audio piece first aired on KZSU Stanford 90.1FM on October 21st, 2013.

Many thanks to Jon and Rocket Girl Recordings for the opportunity. The next podcast will arrive December 1st and feature Irish rockers, God Is An Astronaut.

Adam

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It’s time for my end-of-year list. I really didn’t listen to as much new stuff this year as I did in 2011, so the list is cut to 20. Generally tried to limit to one album per label, but I didn’t really follow that rule (go 12k!?). Anyway, maybe I’ll add some comments at some point. Really beautiful stuff, and I look forward to diving into some other great albums based on other year-end recommendations soon.

Like I said last year, if you are struggling to find out more information about a specific release, let me know and I can possibly direct you in the correct direction. But for the most part, I would recommend searching for these fantastic labels and their online websites.

1 Swans The Seer Young God Records
2 Gareth Dickson Quite A Way Away 12k
3 Nuojuva Valot Kaukaa Preservation Records
4 Deep Listening Band Great Howl At Town Haul Important Records
5 En Already Gone Students of Decay
6 Fire! With Oren Ambarchi In The Mouth – A Hand Rune Grammofon
7 Steve Peters + Steve Roden Not A Leaf Remains As It Was 12k
8 Strategy Strategy Peak Oil
9 Hakobune The Cowboy Across the River Constellation Tatsu
10 From the Mouth of the Sun Woven Tide Experimedia
11 Gabriel Saloman Adhere Miasmah Recordings
12 Sujo + Sun Hammer Fistula Inam Records
13 Neptune msg rcvd Northern-Spy Records
14 Electric Bird Noise Live at the Basement Silber Records
15 Brian Eno Lux Warp Records
16 Mount Eerie Ocean Roar P. W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd.
17 Sharon Van Etten Tramp Jagjaguwar
18 Thee Oh Sees Putrifiers II In The Red Records
19 Gultskra Artikler Abtu/Anet Miasmah Recordings
20 White Hills Frying On This Rock Thrill Jockey Records

My ghost trees interview series continued today with Brian John Mitchell out of North Carolina. Brian John Mitchell is the founder and operator of Silber Records as well as the songwriter and force behind the project Remora. The origins of Silber Records can be traced back to fall of 1994 with the development of the zine, QRD. Silber Records has a motto of “drone, love, honesty, sound” and label artists are stylistically diverse but carry a common link through ethereal ambience, acoustic guitars, and a taste for waves of noise. Silber artists include Rivulets, Alan Sparhawk, Plumerai, Azalia Snail, Aarktika, and of course, Remora, to name a few. Remora released Scars Bring Hope in late 2011, which is a move into the studio and a return to post-apocalyptic folk pop songs that are dunked in electronics, drones, and heavy sounds.

2011’s release Scars Bring Hope by Remora on Silber Records

The lengthy discussion I had with Brian jumped all over the map. We spoke about QR, upcoming Silber releases, Remora and drawing comics. Brian is such a good guy and it was a pleasure to get to know him before and after our interview. If you would like to take a listen to the interview, you can do so here. Make sure to head over to the Silber Records home on the web: www.silbermedia.com. Silber is truly one of the great labels I’ve only had the privilege of discovering due to my involvement in college radio at Stanford.

Upcoming interviews on ghost trees (Mondays from 9am – noon PST on KZSU Stanford 90.1FM and http://kzsulive.stanford.edu):

  • February 20th (10am): Cory Rayborn, head of Three Lobed Recordings and another label stalwart from North Carolina.