New Sun Araw - Belomancie

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johnnyboy
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New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by johnnyboy »

http://www.sunaraw.com/BELOMANCIE.html

Preview of a new song called Huff from the album. Some pretty crazy processed guitar sounds going on. Like his last couple of albums it sounds quite plinky plonky but then a groove picks up and you're nodding away whilst thinking Cameron you crazy cat what are you doing this time.

Hopefully some live UK dates will follow. He was great at the Corsica Studios last April.

(Belomancy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belomancy)
Last edited by johnnyboy on Wed Jan 22, 2014 8:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
TheWarmth
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by TheWarmth »

Yikes. I like some of the Sun Araw stuff, but this is inpenetrable. I can't imagine listening to an entire album of material like this.
runaway
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by runaway »

I thought it was good - his work is always surprising. Love how the blips and burps eventually coalesce into something at least resembling a song. That being said, I haven't listened to Ancient Romans or The Inner Treaty nearly as much as I listened to Beach Head and Heavy Deeds.
johnnyboy
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by johnnyboy »

runaway wrote:I thought it was good - his work is always surprising. Love how the blips and burps eventually coalesce into something at least resembling a song. That being said, I haven't listened to Ancient Romans or The Inner Treaty nearly as much as I listened to Beach Head and Heavy Deeds.
Yeah, there's a definite groove going on in the song, I really like it. Will be interesting to see what the album sounds like. Inner Treaty is the only one I don't have of his as I wasn't overly keen on what I heard at the time. It was interesting but nowhere near the dizzy highs of On Patrol album and the Off Duty EP. I've got Ancient Romans but have only digested it in small chunks so far. This week has been a Sun Araw week for me so I'm very much in the 'zone'.
Hofstadter
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by Hofstadter »

I've heard some of the new album live, and what I have heard it is super inline with this - I think it's pretty fucking rad - the more you hear each of these, the more hypnotic they get and the more the groove comes out - if you liked Inner Treaty, I bet you will love Belomancie (at least everything I've heard of it). One of the tracks I heard live is a bit more ambient, sort of in the spirit of Grip. I'm incredibly excited. Hit me up if you want a boot of a tiny solo performance that I made where he played some of the new material. I also have a really nice webrip I did of a performance on KXLU a few months ago where he played this.

KEEP IT LIFELIKE!!!
johnnyboy
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by johnnyboy »

Hofstadter wrote:I've heard some of the new album live, and what I have heard it is super inline with this - I think it's pretty fucking rad - the more you hear each of these, the more hypnotic they get and the more the groove comes out - if you liked Inner Treaty, I bet you will love Belomancie (at least everything I've heard of it). One of the tracks I heard live is a bit more ambient, sort of in the spirit of Grip. I'm incredibly excited. Hit me up if you want a boot of a tiny solo performance that I made where he played some of the new material. I also have a really nice webrip I did of a performance on KXLU a few months ago where he played this.

KEEP IT LIFELIKE!!!
Sounds cool, wouldn't mind hearing the live boot, cheers! The great thing with Sun Araw is that once you find that groove and have entered the zone then it's pretty hard to get out of. I've been playing it all week, Ancient Romans on my headphones to work today, sounded so good. I should treat myself to Inner Treaty as I was listening to the tracks via youtube at work yesterday and they really grow and open up after repeated plays.
kuniko
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by kuniko »

http://www.dragcity.com/products/the-su ... -lp-bundle


http://www.sunaraw.com/BELOMANCIE.html
digicover.jpg
digicover.jpg (362.08 KiB) Viewed 4861 times
BELO2.jpg
BELO2.jpg (90.58 KiB) Viewed 4861 times
<3
johnnyboy
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by johnnyboy »

Has anyone got the new album yet? Would be interested to hear opinions. Few reviews floating around, this one being interesting for the fact it hardly mentions specific songs but has focus on higher/deeper meanings and textures http://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-revie ... belomancie.

I see he's playing a collaborative gig in Hackney soon but I'm hoping for a stand alone headline show. http://www.seetickets.com/event/laraaji ... rch/769117
olan
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by olan »

I bought this last week. I've only listened to it once. Suffice to say that it didn't hit me like his other releases did. This is not a criticism, just a statement of where I am with the record. I need to give it another few listens. Not unhappy to have bought it though. I suspect if I work with it for a few plays it'll grow on me.

OT: I bought Belomancie at the same time as GNOD's A Somnambulist's Tale, which has been (IIRC) just been released on vinyl. (I've kind of lost all recollection of the GNOD catalogue at this point in time). Anyway, the GNOD record is superb!
johnnyboy
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by johnnyboy »

olan wrote:I bought this last week. I've only listened to it once. Suffice to say that it didn't hit me like his other releases did. This is not a criticism, just a statement of where I am with the record. I need to give it another few listens. Not unhappy to have bought it though. I suspect if I work with it for a few plays it'll grow on me.

OT: I bought Belomancie at the same time as GNOD's A Somnambulist's Tale, which has been (IIRC) just been released on vinyl. (I've kind of lost all recollection of the GNOD catalogue at this point in time). Anyway, the GNOD record is superb!
I'm wondering if it will be a worthwhile purchase. I liked the track Huff, found it really interesting. Just seen the title track on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8QSRzpruc0 which is very ambient. On one hand it's pretty beautiful and calming but on the other hand it's not got that dense jungle sweaty tripped out sound like On Patrol had. Seems like he's off on a much more electronic trip now which could be good to follow him on but I'm not sure how many times I'd take the trip with him if I buy the album.

(listening to the title track now and it is chilling out my ultra stressed work head a great deal......feels like I'm on a beach looking at the blue skies and clouds drift by......much better than the previous feeling of wanting to machine gun down swathes of people at my work)

One thing I know for sure though, the album cover is very crap.
olan
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by olan »

Still struggling with it....
Hofstadter
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by Hofstadter »

I'm pretty much obsessed with it. I'm sort of obsessed with everything Cameron Stallones does. The longer, more ambient tracks are definitely my favorites - "Belomancie" is one of the most beautiful things I've heard in a long while - when the flutes come in it is just absolutely gorgeous. If you like Bitchin Bajas for instance, especially the song "Inclusion" on the latest Bitchin Bajas record, I guarantee you will love the song "Belomancie."

"Flote" is another amazing, minimal track in my opinion - as you cruise through it, you get super finely attuned to every little change in filter cutoff frequency and resonance, and every fundamental frequency change takes on a lot of power... on "Scrim" the thing that seems most important are the silences - they seem to be placed so perfectly and add soo much tension/anticipation.

"One After One" on the other hand is totally different from something like "Belomancie" or "Flote" but is still so fucking rad. It is much more in the "Huff" vein and I would say is totally a product of live Sun Araw shows. "One After One" just feels like a very classic, fucked up, crazy Sun Araw beat (at least "classic" in terms of post Inner Treaty SA, especially if you listen to a lot of the live shows on the bandcamp) with some sort of looping melodic line in the background with all sorts of crazy improvisations over it. Just a really crazy far out groove. If you were down with "Like Wine" from Inner Treaty you will definitely get "One After One" - but yeah, I think it's just a matter of sort of locking into the same zone as the track rhythmically and going with it, it all really comes together once you sort of can start to feel the patterns and repetitions/variations arising out of it.

"Curt" (Curtis in the liner notes) is a lot like the "Grip"-equivalent for Belomancie - I wish it was longer, it ends really abruptly - soft synthesis with a sort of blossoming, peaceful guitar line over it - there's a sort of obscure SA track called "MONNT BLANK" that's all about layering these very meditative guitar lines that this is similar to. It reminds me a lot of Fuxa's
"Photon" sans a beat - just that similar beach-y, sunrise feel.

"Seven Lampstands" is another one of those tracks that you just lock into... I don't even know where to start with it...

I don't know, maybe it's just that once you've listened to a ton of SA stuff and listened all the time (especially the live boots), it's easier to just hear all the pieces fitting together in some of the more out there tracks right away, but to me it seems so hard to not be totally captivated by each track, whether ambient or groovier. The ambient ones seem to just make me drift away perfectly and the groovier ones just create their own sort totally unique rhythmic language to get lost in.

I recommend this to everyone... I really don't think you will regret it if you give it to the time and attention and are willing to just go with it wherever... it's got a lot of similarities to The Inner Treaty but it's just even cleaner and so much fuller - IT felt like the prequel to this.
johnnyboy
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by johnnyboy »

Nice write up Hofstadter! Totally know where you're at with the Sun Araw sound there. I love Huff and the groove it carries you on, and the title track was a beauty when I listened to it on Friday. Once my job situation has righted itself I reckon I'll be picking up a copy pronto.
johnnyboy
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by johnnyboy »

.....new vibes kind of like this Hof? http://sunaraw.bandcamp.com/album/live-roma

This live set is great, reminds me of the stuff he played in London last April. Will definitely check out the other bandcamp shows. He's a very unique musician.
Hofstadter
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by Hofstadter »

Oh man, all the live recordings on bandcamp are AMAZING! The Australian ones are probably my favorites. PM me if you want some more boots. I listen to them all the time. PS if you are in london he is playing there in june.
johnnyboy
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by johnnyboy »

Hofstadter wrote:Oh man, all the live recordings on bandcamp are AMAZING! The Australian ones are probably my favorites. PM me if you want some more boots. I listen to them all the time. PS if you are in london he is playing there in june.
Yeah, he's playing at the St Johns Church in Hackney, supposed to be a beautiful venue. Collaborative gig with a couple of others but he'll be playing his own stuff too. Got a ticket in the bag already.

I'll take you up on the boots offer, cheers.
Aquarian-Time
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by Aquarian-Time »

Bought this on vinyl last week and I can quite honestly say its the worst £17.99 I have ever spent. Hugely dissapointing.
each album of his seems to become more sparse and to my ears...basic.
His early stuff is great, but the last 3 albums have been poor and this just tops it for me,
V. Poor
Hofstadter
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by Hofstadter »

Bummer you feel that way :(

Belomancie is definitely light years away (at least on the surface...) from the Phynx... I think there is some sort of trajectory/progression from each to the next though...

I really hope you give Belomancie another shot, because so far it has brought me a lot of pleasure listening to it, so hopefully it could for you too... I guess with all music listening to something more will usually make it easier to enjoy, but for the later SA stuff I think it's so important, more than some other stuff just because I feel it is so rooted in this idea of really exploiting intense repetition/pattern recognition in two ways - 1) the less surprising and always rewarding variations/breaking of the pattern and 2) much more so on the later albums using repetition to establish really complicated patterns that are not immediately apparent (i.e. really complex rhythms established thru looping, etc), and which once you get into are really exciting because you can't quite compare it to any other rhythmic motion you've felt before, but yet you still feel it as rhythmic motion - add the "variations of a pattern" idea on top of that and things get really excited. This is especially apparent in live shows, but "One After One" and "Seven Lampstands" I think are good examples of this from Belomancie... "Like Wine" from the Inner Treaty is another good album version of what I am talking about...

"Out of Town/And I" and "Solo Wallet Shuffle" are sort of the slower version of this same idea I'm talking about... I think the first song that really features that sort of "fucked up beat" thing prominently is "Crown Shell" from Ancient Romans probably... doesn't get pushed in that song to the lengths he pushes it later (live shows, Treaty, Belo) - you can still sort of bob your head to it in a fairly standard way, but I think that's where you first hear it starting to creep in and where he starts to really shift directions away from the Phynx/Beach Head/Heavy Deeds style - that's also the first album on which there are really a decent amount of electronics... I guess one of the major shifts is from denser, fuller spaces that sort of take up a lot more of the audio field and have a lot more of a droning, synthesis-free, continuous sound with more distortion and noise to much crisper, electronic sounds populated with a lot more... space? between the instruments in that instead of forming a wash of sound, they form more sort of discrete but intertwining lines of sound.

And I didn't even mention all the sort of more ambient tracks!!! whatever, now I'm just going to start saying stuff I said on the last page again. But yeah, I think that's another big shift that happens - how the drone-ier ambience of some songs on the first albums transforms into the synthesized ambience on later albums...

But yeah, it is pretty weird listening to a track like "Hive Burner" or "Beams" or "All Night Long" and then listening to a track from Belomancie, but I think listening to all the albums in a row, it would just... make sense. I don't know. Every single album is super special to me, I can't think of another artist who has so many albums that I could listen to endlessly. I'll stop rambling, I just am in love with this doods music, listened to him more than anything else (except maybe sp3... probably not even sp3) over the past few years.

Hopefully you'll like the next one more AT!!
olan
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by olan »

I've been in 'diplomatic silence mode' about Belomancie while I give it time/plays.. It is a record I should love given my preferences, but it does not work for me at all. I've given it some time and effort and am very unimpressed. It is a fairly nicely produced LP and as an artefact is alovely thing, but sadly is a very boring and bland LP IMHO.
Hofstadter
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by Hofstadter »

Fair enough - if it doesn't float yr boat it doesn't float yr boat.
kuniko
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by kuniko »

Hofstadter said quite a bit, and I don't have a whole lot else to add, maybe save being an another name in the column of those who fervently appreciate what Cameron makes. It seems silly to try express how important and dear this record is to me, especially in ways that speak from the head and not from the heart, BUT I guess when talkin bout such things, it is often difficult to not sound a fool. What I said after I heard B E L O M A N C I E for the first time still seems to get at it right-

THIS ARROW FLIES TRUE

I remain grateful! <3
johnnyboy
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Re: New Sun Araw - Belomancie

Post by johnnyboy »

Hofstadter - have you got the Gazebo Effect album yet? Would be interesting hearing your views on it. Even more 'out there' than Belomancie in my opinion. Very random, music played in the studio and fed into a 1/4" tape machine and manipulated in all sorts of weird ways. Beyond a normal song structure, way beyond, some of it makes no sense but it's really intriguing and some of it is plain beautiful. Saw him live on Sunday evening in London and it was fantatstic, played tracks from Belomancie, improvised songs and sounds, some wild bamboo sax from Alex Gray. Different dimension sounds and evening.
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