and here's the write-up for growing from the city paper...
Tonight is Olympia, Wa's metal drone band, GROWING, playing with the politically
and socially motivated electronic experimental noise venture, HARM STRYKER, and
the electroacoustic drone psych of THE WIND-UP BIRD.
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Tonight! Wednesday! July 14th!
at the Warehouse Next Door
1017 7th St. NW
$7 / 8:30 doors / 9:00 music
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It's hard to figure out whether Growing is a metal band without a drummer or a
New Age band with a metal edge. The pedigree of this Olympia, Wash., duo
definitely indicates the former: Guitarist Joe Denardo and bassist Kevin Doria
(pictured somewhere in the crowd) are ex-members of hardcore act Black Man White
Man Dead Man and doom act 1000 AD, respectively. And Growing's 2003 debut, The
Sky's Run Into the Sea, is chock-full of grim atmosphere: The album's thick,
distorted chords crawl so slowly at times that they turn and churn into pure
drone. But the duo is fond of more than just the blackened noise pumped out by
its drum-free peers Earth and Sunn O))). Sky's guitars often mimic bagpipesâ??even
harpsichordsâ??and the band flat-out hijacks the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" on
"Cutting, Opening, Swimming." To confuse matters further, Growing's upcoming
double album, The Soul of the Rainbow and the Harmony of Light (the title of
which comes from a late-19th-century essay on the rela!
tionship between color and sound), more or less dispenses with the Hessian
riffs, dwelling only on their benign aftermath. Thrown in a mix with the ambient
likes of Fripp & Eno or just about any album on Kranky (Growing's label), Soul's
shimmering waves of synthlike guitars and cymbal swells fit in just fine.
Growing plays with Harm Stryker at 9 p.m. Wednesday, July 14, at the Warehouse
Next Door, 1017 7th St. NW. $7. (202) 783-3933. (Brent Burton - washington city
paper)
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The Wind-Up Bird's lineage points to hardcore (Jerome's Dream) and post rock
(33.3), but where they end up is pretty far removed from either. With a rare
clarity, Whips combines lush and airy drone (a la Stars of the Lid), violin,
trumpet, trombone, layered voices, and computerized bleeps, bloops, and
manipulations.
Based on a message left on an answering machine (which is manipulated on the 4th
track), the song titles, if put together, say "Sorry that I've become this
monster. I love you a lot." After taking this static-y sample of an answering
machine and manipulating it into a hardly intelligible garble set in a maelstrom
of noise, the clouds part and clear tones pulse beneath a mournful violin line.
Not only does this album deconstruct its songs and melodies into lyrical
textures on par with the best of ambient music, but it's also brimming with
activity. Different textures, melodies, and instruments slide in and out of the
mix, adding their little piece to the massive puzzle.
Generally reminiscent of the mood Labradford conjures, The Wind-Up Bird aren't
so easily categorized. The use of acoustic instruments, with no treatment
alongside the laptop and looped guitar lines, makes this an unusual amalgam of
tones, giving the moody music plenty of depths to fully submerge.
sean hammond, FakeJazz.com
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Harm Stryker is a politically and socially motivated electronic experimental
noise venture. The intention behind Harm Stryker is to help increase awareness
for different radical issues that deserve attention through various forms of
independent media. We believe that in order to provoke action against
oppression there must be a strong enough feeling of dissent towards the
oppressor. In order for this to happen, people must feel educated and empowered
to make a change. Harm Stryker intends to fuel the revolutionary flame by
providing an outlet for radical ideas through literature, art, and experimental
music that encourage people to take matters into their own hands. While we
realize that some direct action tactics are not for everyone, Harm Stryker
supports creative alternatives that help increase awareness as well. Some of
these ideas involve art, music, wheat pasting, screen-printing, event
organizing, etc.
Harm Stryker is based on the actions of individuals, not the dictations of
authority figures. each person is independent, connected only through the use
of the Harm Stryker tag. Those who act for the idea of Harm Stryker do so by
their own decision, and are advised of the Harm Strykers guidelines below:
Harm Stryker Guidelines:
* avoid causing physical harm to any living being.
* choose your battles wisely. consider what you hope to affect, and insure that
it is a worthy cause.
* do not vandalize for pointless recreation.
* fight corporations, not the people working for them.
* be conscious of your environment and avoid its destruction.
* Harm Stryker is about making informed decisions. educate yourself.
* make your assertions into facts supported by solid evidence.
* express your opinion to us often!!!
Harm Stryker will not tolerate hate, racism, sexism, or homophobia. We stand
beside those who fight capitalism and work for a better living wage in local
communities and foreign countries. We understand and support those who struggle
to save our forest and animals from extinction. It is crucial that we all stand
together and fight these injustices as one. Harm Stryker's goal is not to
compete with other groups, but to contribute to their cause and stand in
solidarity with them as they combat various social, environmental, and political
issues in a non-violent manner.
