Lovesliescrushing’s music to these novice ears sounds distantly related to Robin Guthrie’s work with Cocteau Twins. The linking to the imagery of birds makes for an intuitive leap. The use of bright colours and light wood expands the sense of the music into spring and summer and plays against expectations in a really pleasing way.
Listen
Little Orpheus and the Rogue Lyons, Pusdrainer, Fair Fjola (Auris Apothecary)
I dare anyone to argue with the delight of Auris Apothecary’s releases. Take Little Orpheus and the Rogue Lyons for example: who else takes the care to wrap their cassette release in a warped and paint splattered 7″ single? Or who releases an ‘infinite loop on vintage Norwegian chrome tape containing 20+ year old data recordings from oceanographic instruments’? I can still smell the dead earth smell emanating from Pusdrainer’s metal container which contents incidentally can be played back on any typical 4-track cassette recorder – that’s if the earth doesn’t screw the machine up first. Good luck with that.
Auris Apothecary produce small treasures made with care and imagination, each release is a delight.
Here’s what the label has to say:
Auris Apothecary is a not-for-profit micro-label hailing from Bloomington, IN which embraces obscure formats, innovative packaging and do-it-yourself ethics. We exist because fuck you.
We release drone, electronic, avant-garde, lo-fi, metal, punk and other varying forms of underground art from friends and family alongside artists located throughout the world.
With a general wrench-in-the-gears mentality to the modern commercial music industry, Auris Apothecary strives to create new forms of musical and sensory experiences through bizarre alterations of audio/video mediums and packaging that pushes the envelope of creativity.
All releases are strictly limited editions, distributed in Bloomington, IN record stores and online at the Phar
Facture have made every effort to provide a sensory experience with Our Fearful Symmetry. What can’t be conveyed at all here is the smell of this. I’m terrible at identifying scents, it may be lavender, but whatever it is, it adds another suggestive dimension. Wrapped in tissue paper and placed in a sealed envelope means some destruction is inevitable before the contents can be revealed. Those contents are a series of small treasures: a magic lantern glass slide, a medium format negative, a fleur-de-lys and so on. Not forgetting the rather larger A3-sized print of a woman holding out seeds in the palms of her hands.
About the label:
Facture was set at the beginning of 2011 as a sub-label of Fluid Audio which has been running for 2 years. The ethos of both labels is to present limited edition handmade packages that focus on the experimental, a coming together of audio and visual if you will. The objective of Facture is to support and promote upcoming artists who are willing to push boundaries and not be tied down to con-formalism, but rather to express their music through both visual and audio means.
This is a handsome hardback book containing a CD, an introductory essay and a number of still images documenting Tessa Farmer’s installation. Rather than repeat or paraphrase lots of information about the project, visit:
