16 June 2010

thisquietarmy & Scott Cortez - Meridians 12" LP out now!


The collaboration between Scott Cortez and thisquietarmy doesn’t really come as a surprise. The latter acknowledges that the previous works from Cortez (under the lovesliescrushing moniker) greatly influenced his work, to the point of using the same way of writing the band’s name (no capital letter and no spaces between words) for his actual solo project. The main thing that they have in common is their unconventional use of the guitar, which they consider as a signal generator. They then process those sounds through various effects, to obtain a different result than that of the original signal until the source becomes almost undetectable. Meridians is also the first vinyl production from thisquietarmy, as it is Scott Cortez’s first under his real name.

Meridians is a cross-project between the two artists. Separated by 1.000 miles, Eric Quach (thisquietarmy) and Scott Cortez simultaneously began to record the first guitar layer for both sides on December 18th 2009 at 1pm EST. The original drone was supposed to be played like a three tones piece, with the use of a different string for each tone. They then sent the result to each other to work on the piece that the other had begun. This is how they recorded the two tracks that feature on this record.
This is definitely an unusual practice, far from the classic split exercise and the result is fascinating: abstract, radiant and hypnotic drones that intertwine with numerous harmonic structures. They created a coherent whole that goes beyond their unique recording method.

Written and pressed to be played at 45 rpm, the record can also be played at 33 rpm. Darker and more mystical, the result is stunning.

Tracklist

A. 41° 52' 50" N, 87° 42' 39" W
B. 45° 30' 4" N, 73° 33' 29" W

++

Available on three:four Records. Order here: http://www.three-four.net/releases/TFR005

There are a few available for Canada/USA through TQA Records: http://thisquietarmy.com/records/#tfr005

9 June 2010

écho. musique pour égarer.

thisquietarmy will play this, along with Aun, L'Oreille à 60 cordes, Martin Bournival, Antoine Bareil & Marc Bourassa --- Friday June 11th. This is worth a roadtrip from Montreal or Quebec City at least.



5 June 2010

Toronto/Guelph shows with Monarch this weekend

Hi,

Due to circumstances out of my control and some kind of overbooking mess, I've been forced out of the lineup at Brohaus in Toronto, 364 Dupont, on Saturday June 5th.

Seeing as I am still touring with Monarch!, I will still be present at the show, in case people want to buy merch --- I will have all the CDs of all of my projects, t-shirts, TQA recs' label releases, and last but not least... the 12" vinyl LP of my collab with Scott Cortez (lovesliescrushing) magically arrived at my doorstep this morning!!! I will be bringing some of those as well, as a world-premiere merch item.

I hope you're not too disappointed. Can't be more than I am for not being able to perform, it really sucks. I've been looking forward to this for weeks...

++

I will still be performing in Guelph the next evening if you can make it to that one - the venue has been changed to Van Gogh's Ear on Wyndham North Rd.

Hope to still see some of you at these.
Sorry about the last minute changes...

-eric.

2 June 2010

The new Aftermath digipaks have arrived!

A month late, but we finally got the corrected digipaks from the printers!!! Some people still think the misprinted version is cooler, but this new version is definitely as close as we wanted it to look: gone is the oddly placed catalog number on the front cover, and the weird pink halo in the inside... the print is also greener in general.

The misprinted versions has thus been called back and are now classified as a limited edition. We'll be selling the new corrected version for all orders starting today. Please head to the TQA store or the TQA Bandcamp (comes with instant download via Bandcamp) to buy it!

If you already bought the misprinted one and would like to get the corrected one, email me. I can include it in your next order or come up with some kind of arrangements...


++

To celebrate the occasion, Aftermath received a couple of positive reviews this week. First, an 8/10 by The Silent Ballet, which is has gained quite a hateful reputation lately for some harsh cold-blooded reviews in the past year or so. Some labels have even started to avoid sending material to them. Like some of my close friends who recently got burnt in their latest reviews, my past material has always been well-received by TSB. Needless to say that I was actually quite curious to see how Aftermath would fare through this new cutthroat honesty system:


And one in Vital Weekly, an e-mail magazine from the Netherlands, always nice to be reviewed by a publication that has been around for as long as them (since 1987) :

1 June 2010

Aural Diptych Series reviews

TQA Records' Aural Diptych Series are featured on Hard Format, a wonderful blog whose headline is "Reaching for the sublime in music design" --- I'm honored to be part of it. Thanks Colin!

Inspired by reputed magazines such as The Wire covering their favorite covers or art books covering CD packaging such as this one, Hard Format focuses on their favorite records covers and design packaging, some revisited old favorites but mostly new and current contemporary works being produced in the now. One of my favorite blog to spend an afternoon on, browsing their archive. Take a look:


The latest June issue of Textura also features a review of the music featured on the first two Aural Diptych Series. Mains de Givre/thisquietarmy & Quilt/Hoefizer are given the heads up by Ron Schlepper:


We do have a few left of these two releases --- limited to 100 copies only...
Don't wait up, get them while you still can: here.