Klasično obrazovan, čudesno plodan i raznovrstan kanadski ambijentalni strukturalist (ima i mnoštvo paralelnih projekata) napravio je izvrstan "normalniji" album - s gotovo post-rock pjesmama, vokalima...
streaming
64.92.105.10/~coldsnap/aidan/ahsyd.html
Already Drowning, a song-cycle inspired by various myths & folktales about female water spirits, marks something of a departure for Aidan Baker. While still retaining his trademark sense of ambience & texture, the tracks on this album are much more structured & song-oriented, embracing a minimalist post-rock, slowcore style & featuring a different guest vocalist on each track.
Aidan Baker is a multi-instrumentalist, classically trained in flute, although his primary instrument is the guitar. Using various electronic effects combined with prepared &/or alternate performance methods, Baker creates music which generally falls within the ambient/experimental genres, but draws on influences from shoegaze & post-rock, contemporary classical & jazz. Over the course of the last decade, Baker has released numerous album, under his own name, with his duo Nadja, & with various other group projects, on such labels as Alien8 Recordings, Important Records, Broken Spine Productions, & Robotic Empire. He is also the author of several books of poetry. Baker has toured extensively around the world, appearing at such international festivals as FIMAV, SXSW, Unsound, & Pop Montreal. Baker, originally from Toronto, Canada, currently lives in Berlin, Germany.
PERFORMERS:
All words & music written by Aidan Baker (guitars, bass, flute, drums, trombone, piano, & field recordings), vocal melodies & interpretations/translations by respective singers.
All words & music written by Aidan Baker (guitars, bass, flute, drums, trombone, piano, & field recordings), vocal melodies & interpretations/translations by respective singers.
Additional musicians: Leah Buckareff (of Nadja – accordion), Laura C. Bates (violin), Nick Storring (of Picastro – cello), Carl Pace (of Beta Cloud – trumpet), & Laura Rodie (alto & soprano saxophones).
Mastered by James Plotkin - gizehrecords.limitedrun.com/
Aidan Baker: Already Drowning
Aidan Baker: Aneira
Aidan Baker: Aneira
Two dramatically contrasting sides of Aidan Baker are documented on these concurrently released full-lengths on Gizeh and Glacial Movements, the former a vocal-and-song-based affair that sees Baker welcoming contributions from a number of guest artists and the latter a single-track, long-form ambient soundscape work that uses acoustic guitar as the sole sound source.
Already Drowning, a song-cycle drawn from various myths and folktales (including A. S. Byatt's Possessionand Philip K. Dick's The Dark Haired Girl), complements its vocal diversity—each of its seven pieces features a different female presence—with instrumental richness, much of it coming from Baker himself (who's credited with guitars, bass, flute, drums, trombone, piano, and field recordings), as well as accordionist Leah Buckareff, violinist Laura C. Bates, cellist Nick Storring, trumpeter Carl Pace, and saxophonist Laura Rodie.
Things get off to a haunting start when Clara Engel adds her desperate voice to the title track's doom-laden crawl. Her high-pitched cry of the song's title is certainly one of the album's most memorable elements, and Engel's story-like account meshes well with the deep smolder of Baker's fuzz-toned guitar, too. Jessica Bailiff's ethereal presence gives the already uplifting “30 Days/30 Nights” additional allure, as does its prominent deployment of strings and flute resources. Joanna Kupnicka's soft voice blends well into the acoustic folk arrangement Baker gives to “Mein Zwilling, Mein Verlorener,” whereas “Mélusine” proves to be more atmospheric in design when the voices of Valérie Niederoest and Maude Oswald spread themselves across flurries of guitar haze, ride cymbals, and snares. While the album is often laid-back, moments of greater intensity do arise. Without deviating from the overall downtempo style, “Tout juste sous la surface, je guette” (aided by Geneviève Castrée's singing) works up a powerful slow-burn, as does “Lorelei / Common Tongue” in large part due to the participation of Carla Bozulich (Evangelista).
It's a consistently absorbing recording and one deserving of recommendation for the concept alone. English, French, and German lyrics give Already Drowning a cosmopolitan tone, and Baker also strikes a satisfying balance between vocal and instrumental sounds by ensuring that the latter dimension is as fully realized as the vocal one. His decision to eschew pauses between the songs also proves to be a smart move, as the uninterrupted flow reinforces the song-cycle impression. One caveat, though: one wishes Baker might have handed the drum chair over to a more accomplished player as Baker's playing is serviceable but not distinguished (something most audible during “Ice”).
An entirely different Baker is captured on Aneira (Welsh for ‘snow'), though the mere fact of it being issued on Glacial Movements would imply as much to listeners familiar with the label's output. Recorded at Broken Spine Studios in Berlin, the single-track, forty-eight-minute work features Baker solo and was produced in its entirety using nothing more than an acoustic twelve-string as the sound-generating source. Of course, the playing was subjected to radical processing and manipulation treatments, and as a result the recording is anything but a conventional set of acoustic guitar playing. The instrument's sound is transformed into icy micro-slivers, the music's textural design in keeping with the wintry theme conveyed by the title. In fact, the guitar's sound is altered so consistently throughout the piece that the sudden appearance of recognizable plucks and strums at the forty-minute mark comes as a bit of a shock. Though unexpected, his decision to shift the focus in said manner during the work's closing minutes proves to be a smart one, and it especially seems so when its resolution is reached with a single, lovely strum.
The mood is, naturally, wintry: bleak and introspective, the material conjures the image of someone taking shelter from the sub-zero temperature outside and gazing through frosted, ice-encrusted windows at the slow and relentless accumulation of snow. The music mutates slowly, swelling in size from tendrils to sheets such that, seventeen minutes into the piece, the material more suggests the quiet creak of ice floes breaking apart in the wake of spring's arrival. The words immersive and hypnotic can't help but come to mind as one accompanies Baker on this extended foray into shivering ambient-drone drift and textural soundsculpting.
Already Drowning and Aneira are both high quality additions to what is at this stage a rather staggering discography of releases by the Canadian-born and now Berlin-based Baker. As a side note, it's wonderful to see this ever-prolific creator (who's published books of poetry as well as music) becoming an ever more familiar name in the experimental music scene (whether solo or as part of the duo Nadja) and to see his work bring presented on so many different labels. Baker has worked tirelessly on a huge range of projects for a good many years now, and the evidence at hand suggests that the hard work is paying off. - textura.org
Last year when I spoke to Toronto by way of Berlin metal-gaze duo Nadja, they divulged some strange plans, yet guitarist Aidan Baker kept quiet about his solo projects. This spring Baker will release his next solo work,Already Drowning, and its contents are surprising: seven compositions inspired by various myths and folktales about female water spirits, with vocal interpretations by eight female vocalists from Canada, the U.S, Germany, and Switzerland.
I say surprising because Nadja create bassy ambient drone that draws from bleak metal sounds, and Baker is an accomplished solo guitarist. On Already Drowning, Baker pushes his talents toward Warren Defeverterritory, writing all lyrics and compositions aside from vocal melodies, and playing guitars, bass, flute, drums, trombone, and piano--plus contributing field recordings. "30 Days / 30 Nights" vocalist, Ohio's Jessica Bailiff, has contributed to Defever's His Name is Alive in the past as a guitarist, so perhaps it's a fitting comparison.
The name dropping never ends (and it never should)--Already Drowning also features additional instrumentation from Laura C. Bates, Carl Pace (of Beta Cloud), Laura Rodie, Nadja's Leah Buckareff, and cello by Toronto's Nick Storring (of Picastro),
Other vocalists include American songstress Carla Bozulich (Evangelista), Valérie Niederoest & Maude Oswald of The Toboggan, German Joanna Kupnicka, Quebec's Geneviève Castrée, and two Toronto artists--Liz Hysen of Picastro, and Clara Engel, whose powerful voice on the album's title track describes a scene straight from a Guy Maddin movie.
Each vocalist brings a different spirit, bound by Baker's writing and atmosphere. The gentlest track is "Mein Zwilling, Mein Verlorener," which loosely translates to "My twin, My Lost." In this lovely psych folk piece, Kupnicka sings and speaks softly in German: a slow current leading the listener far from shore (while the lyrics are Baker's, some artists chose to translate them).
Valérie Niederoest and Maude Oswald's duet "Mélusine" shivers between jazz percussion, guitar loops, and drones. A Melusine is the most famous of water spirits--what we would recognize as a siren, or mermaid. The two voices, Ariel's mysterious deep-sea cousins, waver and chant. Yet Already Drowning isn't all soft water sounds: in one of the albums' greatest moments the tempest of doom that swirls through Nadja emerges on "Tout Juste Sous La Surface, Je Guette". I'm also glad to admit that while I wasn't crazy about Bozulich's work on Xiu Xiu's Always last year, her restrained efforts on "Lorelei / Common Tongue" are gorgeous and sinister. The album is a work of beauty, and I'll be listening to it a lot.
For the moment, enjoy the sounds of Baker's fall 2012 release, Origins and Evolutions, where Baker gathered over a dozen guitarists from around the world, creating four ambient drone tracks suited to a frozen winter. - www.blogto.com/
Some people use many names to do many different kinds of music. Aidan Baker mostly uses his own name when it comes to his 'solo' music. I put that in parentheses, because this new one is certainly not 'solo'. Here he has a 'song cycle' of seven songs inspired by myths and folktales about female water spirits, all sung by female singers and there is help on various instruments by leah Buckareff (accordion), Laura C. Bates (violin), Nick Storring (cello), Carl Pace (trumpet) and Laurie Rodie (alto & soprano saxophones). Baker himself plays guitars, bass, flute, drums, trombone, piano, drum machine and field recordings. So, as you can imagine, this is pretty much, an album of songs, with vocals, but then in the 'Aidan Baker' way. It connects both his solo work (his 'real' solo work of ambient moods, that is) and the more heavy textured rock music of Nadja. This is all quite psychedelic stuff. Lyrics are not always to be recognized, such as in 'Melusine', but more add to the rich texture of the music. And textured this is! With reversed vocals, lots of guitar parts, spacey drums and all sorts of late 60s studio techniques to keep this psychedelic. But a piece like 'Mein Zwilling, Mein Verlorener' is on the other hand deceivingly simple, with just repeated guitar patterns, accordion, vocals and a set of drums that remind me of John Densmore's more jazzy parts in The Doors. The organ of that band is the only thing that's missing, I should think. If you are a true Baker fan for all his works inside ambient music, then you may very surprised by this, but hopefully also pleased when you hear this. I certainly was both surprised and pleased. Pleased a lot actually. While some of Nadja's work is too monolithic for me, some of his ambient work truly pleases me, but there is a lot of it, here's something entirely different, merging all of this together is some seven great songs. (FdW) - vitalweekly.net/
Despite only releasing music since the year 2000, Canada’s poet and multi-instrumentalist Aidan Baker has accumulated an immense discography so far. The songs for ‘Already Drowning’ were inspired by myths about female water spirits and with the rich level of detail on show, one wonders how he finds the time to have made this record, let alone all the others.
The title track ensures the dark shadow is cast early on. Clara Engel’s wounded vocals search desperately for solace but the omnipresent sense of doom provided by the slowcore backing ensures there is no light to be found. Importantly the song rises from its languid pace to approach levels of urgency and danger and by the end of it you appreciate you’ve been on an exhausting yet rewarding journey. Then the quiet, often spoken word vocals of Jessica Bailiff contrast neatly with a full string section for the sombre ’30 Days/30 Nights’. Thereafter, though the messages are delivered in a consistently melancholic fashion, there’s plenty of stylistic differences between songs from acoustic simplicity (‘Mein Zwillihng’), to post-rock/jazz (‘Mélusine’), whilst ‘Tout Juste Sous La Surface’ is engulfed in a nightmarish swirl of noise.
Music such as this can occasionally come across as rather cold and it’s true that some of these songs – not helped by the leaden pace – convey austere art rather than moving music. Nevertheless, the fifty five minutes contained here is impressively intense, powerful and superbly arranged; calling to mind the tragedy and mystery of the This Mortal Coil project. - leonardslair.wordpress.com/
Aidan Baker - Aneira
'Aneira' is Aidan Baker's impressionistic electro-acoustic tribute to the romantic image of "ice moving or breaking and wind or snowstorms", using only his favoured 12-string guitar. It shimmers and unfolds as one, long, 47-minute piece rendering slow-moving harmonics and trickling barely-melodies from his spindly string picks. "Aidan Baker is a multi-instrumentalist, classically-trained in flute, but best known as a guitarist. Using various electronic effects combined with prepared and/or alternate methods of playing the guitar, he creates music which generally falls within the ambient/experimental genres but draws on influences from shoegaze and post-rock, contemporary classical and jazz. Over the course of the last decade, Baker has released numerous recorded works, both solo and with his duo Nadja, plus various other musical projects, on such labels as Alien8 Recordings, Important Records, Die Stadt Musik, and Broken Spine Productions. He is also the author of several books of poetry. Baker has collaborated in-studio and live with such artists as Tim Hecker, Carla Bozulich, Jessica Baillif, Noveller, OvO, members of The Jesus Lizard, and members of Swans. He has also composed for and performed with such contemporary classical ensembles as The Penderecki Quartet, The Riga Sifonietta, and The Monday Morning Singers. Baker has toured extensively around the world and appeared at such international festivals as FIMAV, SXSW, Incubate, and Mutek." - boomkat
Aidan Baker - Lost In The Rat Maze
This prolific Canadian classically trained multi-instrumentalist has contributed much to the doom/drone/ambient genre. Nadja, Arc and Whisper Room are just a few of his manifestations. Known for his extensive ambient soundscapes, Baker chose a different approach on Lost in the Rat Maze by almost embracing a "postrockish" method of composing.
etc. on Boomkat: boomkat.com/search?q=Aidan%20Baker&fields%5B%5D=
Aidan Baker is a Canadian musician & writer alternately based in Toronto & Berlin. A classically trained multi-instrumentalist, his primary instrument is the electric guitar with which he creates music ranging from experimental/drone to ambient post-rock to contemporary classical. He is the author of several books of poetry & has released numerous albums on such labels as Drone Records,Basses Frequences, & Alien8 Recordings.
Discography (via Discogs)
Press Kit
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Press Kit
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Nadja is a duo of Aidan Baker & Leah Buckareff alternately based in Toronto & Berlin. The duo makes music that encompasses experimental/drone, ambient, shoegazer, & doom metal. Originally formed by Baker in 2003 as a solo endeavour, Buckareff joined in 2005 to bring the project out of the studio & into a live setting. They have since released numerous albums on such labels asImportant Records, Hydrahead Records, & Blocks Recording Club.
Discography (via Discogs)
Press Kit
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Press Kit
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B/B/S/
Formed in 2012 in Berlin, Germany, B/B/S/ is a trio of Aidan Baker (CA – Nadja, Whisper Room, ARC) on guitar, Andrea Belfi (IT – David Grubbs, Hobocombo, Il Sogno del Marinaio) on drums/electronics, and Erik Skodvin (NO – Svarte Greiner, Deaf Center) on guitar. The group makes largely improvisational music, combining freeform psychedelica with low-key melodics and experimental drone textures. Their debut album Brick Mask is scheduled for release in early 2013 on Miasmah Records. Stream a track here
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Caudal
Caudal is a new trio featuring Aidan Baker (CA – Nadja, Whisper Room, ARC) on guitar, Gareth Sweeney (IE – Gout) on bass, and Felipe Salazar (CO – Muerte En Pereira) on drums. Baker’s multi-layered, heavily affected guitar overlays Sweeney and Salazar’s driving, propulsive rhythm section creating music equally influenced by krautrock, post-punk, and spacerock. Their debut album Forever In Another World is out now on Oaken Palace Records.
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Adoran
Adoran is a duo consisting of Aidan Baker on drums & Dorian Williamson on bass. The project makes music combining elements of post-rock, drone, industrial, and sludge. Their self-titled debut album is forthcoming fromConsouling Sounds. Listen here.
Adoran is a duo consisting of Aidan Baker on drums & Dorian Williamson on bass. The project makes music combining elements of post-rock, drone, industrial, and sludge. Their self-titled debut album is forthcoming fromConsouling Sounds. Listen here.
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Whisper Room
A trio of Aidan Baker (guitar), Jakob Thiesen (drums/effects), & Neil Wiernik(bass/effects). The three members of Whisper Room moved in similar musical circles in Toronto & Montreal for many years, sporadically playing together &/or sharing stages, but not actively coming together as Whisper Room until December 2006. As an improvisational unit combining their disparate musical backgrounds, the trio creates music which explores the conjunction of electronic rhythms & textures with the pulsations & psychedelics of shoegaze & krautrock music. Their released their debut full-length album, Birch White with Elevation Recordings.
A trio of Aidan Baker (guitar), Jakob Thiesen (drums/effects), & Neil Wiernik(bass/effects). The three members of Whisper Room moved in similar musical circles in Toronto & Montreal for many years, sporadically playing together &/or sharing stages, but not actively coming together as Whisper Room until December 2006. As an improvisational unit combining their disparate musical backgrounds, the trio creates music which explores the conjunction of electronic rhythms & textures with the pulsations & psychedelics of shoegaze & krautrock music. Their released their debut full-length album, Birch White with Elevation Recordings.
Discography (via Discogs)
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Infinite Light Ltd.
Infinite Light Ltd. is a collaborative project between Nathan Amundson (akaRivulets), Aidan Baker (of Nadja), and Mat Sweet (aka Boduf Songs). The trio explores the similarities and the disparities of their respective musical projects, creating music which combines minimal folk, abstract post-rock, glitching noise, and ambient drones. Their debut self-titled album, recorded remotely over the winter of 2010, was recently released on Germany’s Denovali Records.
Infinite Light Ltd. is a collaborative project between Nathan Amundson (akaRivulets), Aidan Baker (of Nadja), and Mat Sweet (aka Boduf Songs). The trio explores the similarities and the disparities of their respective musical projects, creating music which combines minimal folk, abstract post-rock, glitching noise, and ambient drones. Their debut self-titled album, recorded remotely over the winter of 2010, was recently released on Germany’s Denovali Records.
Discography (via Discogs)
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ARC
ARC is a trio of Aidan Baker (guitar, woodwinds, percussion), Richard Baker(drums, percussion), & Christopher Kukiel (percussion) which formed spontaneously in 2000 at a performance at The Ambient Ping in Toronto, Canada. The trio’s sound is centred on the melodic loops, textures, & samples provided by heavily-effected guitar & other melodic instruments, in turn overlaid with poly-rhythms provided by various percussive instruments. With this combination, ARC creates a roiling tapestry of both rhythmic & ambient sound, a sound simultaneously prim(ev)al & avant-garde.
ARC is a trio of Aidan Baker (guitar, woodwinds, percussion), Richard Baker(drums, percussion), & Christopher Kukiel (percussion) which formed spontaneously in 2000 at a performance at The Ambient Ping in Toronto, Canada. The trio’s sound is centred on the melodic loops, textures, & samples provided by heavily-effected guitar & other melodic instruments, in turn overlaid with poly-rhythms provided by various percussive instruments. With this combination, ARC creates a roiling tapestry of both rhythmic & ambient sound, a sound simultaneously prim(ev)al & avant-garde.
Discography (via Discogs)
Cross Paths: AIDAN BAKER and MATT SMITH
As one of the most intriguing contemporary composers, Toronto-born and Berlin-based Aidan Baker’s path could be summed up as perpetually challenging; whether releasing under his own name, or under the moniker Nadja (which started as a solo project and later evolved into a duo with bassist Leah Buckareff), each record can be treasured not just for its own value but as part of a bigger quest for sound sculpting and, ultimately, for approaching the very idea of music. A quest which can get strangely playful as well, as with Nadja’s 2009 cover album experiment, “When I See The Sun Always Shines On Tv” (End Records), which submitted and tamed to a doomy treatment songs as diverse as A-ha’s The Sun Always Shines On Tv and My Bloody Valentine’s Only Shallow; the record also marked a fruitful collaboration with illustrator Matt Smithwho conveyed a sense of exploration and mystery to its visual side. The pair return to work together on Aidan’s latest project, “The Spectrum Of Distraction” (Robotic Empire), a two hour and 96 tracks journey, originally intended as an experiment in xenochromy (a random juxtaposition of independently recorded tracks), which evolved in a study on randomness within the album and the songs themselves. With a choice between casually shuffling through the record or building an intentional musical narrative, Matt was called to create a “Choose Your Own Adventure” booklet. The result, for the audience as well as for its creators, is incredibly freeing and empowering.
We got Aidan and Matt to discuss the project together.
We got Aidan and Matt to discuss the project together.
Chapter 1: Manners first. Allow me to introduce myself
Aidan Baker: I grew up in the country outside of Toronto, Canada in a musical family and was somewhat compelled to take up an instrument. I began with piano at age 5 and shortly thereafter took up classical flute which I studied for many years. As a teenager, I started playing jazz saxophone in school and teaching myself to play guitar at home. I started my first rock band at the age of 14…it was pretty bad new-wave (or maybe no-wave) and over the years morphed through various shades of punk rock and/or grunge (think Devo to Jane’s Addiction to Black Flag) until we all graduated and the band split up and separately went off to university. I studied English Literature in Montreal and, while I still played music, I focused my attention more on literature and creative writing. I dived into the post-modernist writings of authors like John Barth, Donald Barthelme, Jorge Luis Borge, Italo Calvino and Stanislaw Lem and explored industrial and experimental rock like Throbbing Gristle, Godflesh, Einstürzende Neubauten, Caspar Brötzmann Massaker, and The Birthday Party.
After university, I moved briefly to New York City and got heavily into artists like Swans, Glenn Branca, Sonic Youth, and Rhys Chatham whose influence spurred me to create more experimental, ambient, drone-based guitar music. Upon returning to my native Toronto I began performing this style of music live, both solo and with the trio ARC, and recording and releasing music in the burgeoning undergound cdr label scene. Lacking an outlet for my interests in heavier music, I began Nadja as a studio project in 2003 and after releasing a few demos, my partner Leah joined in 2005 in order to bring the project into the live arena and we signed with Montreal’s Alien8 Recordings. Our first two shows were opening for Khanate in Montreal and Toronto and we have since released numerous albums and toured around the world.
After university, I moved briefly to New York City and got heavily into artists like Swans, Glenn Branca, Sonic Youth, and Rhys Chatham whose influence spurred me to create more experimental, ambient, drone-based guitar music. Upon returning to my native Toronto I began performing this style of music live, both solo and with the trio ARC, and recording and releasing music in the burgeoning undergound cdr label scene. Lacking an outlet for my interests in heavier music, I began Nadja as a studio project in 2003 and after releasing a few demos, my partner Leah joined in 2005 in order to bring the project into the live arena and we signed with Montreal’s Alien8 Recordings. Our first two shows were opening for Khanate in Montreal and Toronto and we have since released numerous albums and toured around the world.
Matt Smith: I grew up north of Boston, Massachusetts. I recall constantly drawing. Early influences came from the usual sources, monster/space movies and comic books. I think most every illustrator I admire mentions being thankful for parents who allowed them to draw robots and monsters endlessly and I feel lucky to have had the same deal. As far as going beyond the usual youthful drawing phase, I have to give a lot of credit to my highschool art teacher, Mrs. Paradis. She instilled the confidence to take it more seriously. Unless you are some kind of prodigy, or maybe just confident as a kid, it’s easy to stop drawing early on. Having someone, whose opinion you value, say “hey, you could do this thing” can carry a significant amount of force. So be careful, highschool art teachers, you might unintentionally be sending some waffling kids down a long road of financial hardship. Ha. After that, art school, then a looooong string of unrelated day jobs, late nights working against deadlines (with good albums), a hideous amount of coffee and now currently a full time illustrator.
Chapter 2: You wanna hang out?
Aidan Baker: Matt and I first ‘met’ online on an internet forum dedicated to Godflesh and Justin Broadrick projects — I think we first met in person was in 2008 at a Nadja show, along with Bloody Panda and Tombs, in New York City. At some point, Matt started designing avatars for the users of the Godflesh board and I asked him if he would do one for Nadja, which he gladly did (see here). When we started working on our covers album “When I See The Sun Always Shines On TV” we thought Matt’s cheeky, cartoonish, but still dark style would perfectly compliment the album. Initially, we talked about having the album artwork be presented as something of a graphic novel but this changed to more of a children’s book illustration style with a panel image dedicated to each song that we covered.
Matt Smith: It was the Grails/Nadja show where we met the first time. I remember it well, as after enjoying your set, I headed back home–not having any idea who Grails were. Of course the next day I listened to them and cursed myself for being a man who likes an early bedtime.
I came to Nadja’s music on the Avalanchers message board. I’m not sure I was even quite aware what kind of music it would be when I ordered “Guilted by the Sun”, the latest Nadja release at that time. My thought then being that there was (and very much still is) a great wealth of talent on that board and I should start sampling some of it. “Guilted” completely sold me on Nadja. It has the weight and space that I liked so much from Godflesh, but while being something totally of its own. From then on I tried to stay on top of whatever these guys were doing.
Coming from the children’s illustration field, my opportunities to combine the music I enjoy listening to with the style I enjoying working in are fairly rare. I find parallels in my favorite children’s books / graphic novels and heavier, experimental music releases–both get my imagination in gear and tap into some kind of sense of… exploration? I’m not sure if that’s the right word or if I’m making sense here. Let’s just say I’ve often had Nadja on while drawing. Having drawn the avatar as Aidan mentioned, I was emboldened to ask if he’d consider using my artwork for a Nadja release at some point. I was happily surprised to find he was open to the idea. I had done a handful of comic strips for the message board of fictitious adventures of Justin Broadrick from Godflesh that parodied the style of Herge (see here). This might have been the direction Aidan and I had initially talked about for the Nadja covers album–but without dialog, sort of a surreal sequence of panels. Somehow it changed over into the children’s book thing. Exploration is the right word for the approach on that cd booklet. The idea is that Aidan and Leah are searching for the songs, guided by a caged raven.
I’ve found there’s generally a handful of looks to heavy drone type of releases that isn’t deviated from too often. Maybe that’s an unfair generalization–but I’ve seen a lot of grim muted photography and sparse design. Granted, this is a good look for the style of music. There’s not a lot of illustration to be found there (as opposed to music that is more definitively “metal”) and certainly not much that has a cartoonish look about it. I wasn’t sure it would be well received, but a cover album is already a separate thing from other releases and so it seemed like the place to try it out. I’m still not sure it was well received, but I definitely enjoyed working on it. It didn’t hurt that I was able to hear the covers early while I was working on the drawings.
Chapter 3: Hey, I like you!
Aidan Baker: When I started working on my solo album “The Spectrum Of Distraction,” I thought it had a similarly cheeky/dark attitude behind its concept and asked Matt if he would do artwork for this album as well. Because the album is designed to be played on shuffle, I thought it would be amusing to base the song-titles and artwork around the “Choose Your Own Adventure” book series of which, as it happens, Matt is also a fan, both graphically and literarily (if one can consider those Choose Your Own Adventure books literary…).
Matt Smith: There was a direct link from the covers album to Aidan’s Spectrum album. At one point Aidan mentioned having considered covering the Pixies but they didn’t made the final list. Next to Godflesh, the Pixies are one of my personal favorites. So I began to scheme on how to get this Pixies cover recorded and released. I had thought about trying to put it out as a 7″, which Aidan and Leah didn’t seem completely opposed to, but I lost the momentum on getting that together. So when Aidan approached me for the Spectrum art I saw my chance and named the Pixies cover as my fee. Now I’m not sure if he already had it recorded at this point or if my request put it in motion, but the end result was that I got my Pixies cover and couldn’t have been more pleased. There were a number of other covers on the cdr, including one of my very favorite songs of any band–”Don’t Bring Me Flowers” by Godflesh. I would actually still like to put out that imaginary 7″ with the Pixies track and the Godflesh track someday, as it would clearly be the best 7″ ever pressed, but who knows…
The Spectrum of Distraction is now available on the Broken Spine Productions webstore
North Americans can order it direct from Robotic Empire
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