BLACK MOLD Snow Blindness Is Crystal Antz Out October 19th on Flemish Eye Recordings
A warped and mutated blend of the futuristic and the organic, Snow
Blindness is Crystal Antz is the debut album from Black Mold – the
electronic alter-ego of songwriter and Polaris Prize nominee Chad VanGaalen.
With Black Mold, VanGaalen is allowed the freedom to explore the wildest
tangents of his instrumental work, using a broad palette of glitches and
noise married with the warm hues of acoustic instruments. Guided by a
free-associative approach to songwriting, the songs show the full-blown
instrumental side that VanGaalen hinted at sparingly on his own albums.
The product of several years of late-night instrumental experimentation,
mainly on vintage analogue and hand-built modular synths, Snow Blindness...
is at times glitchy and unpredictable while at other times Teutonic
and sparse. The album opens with a baffling and beautiful composition,
“Metal Spider Web #2”, a lattice of cello and clarinet complemented by
shifting electronic pulses. In the dreamlike and metamorphic title track,
subtle oscillations and erratic surges build before settling into a simple
layering of acoustic guitars and drums. Elsewhere, other songs utilize 8-bit
beats & warped synthesis to create multi-layered rhythmic patterns. Snow
Blindness... comes from a basement stacked to the ceiling with broken and
discarded devices and poorly wired technology fused with organic instruments,
all jury-rigged to somehow work together in sequence – and often
acting with no masters.
Fans of VanGaalen may draw immediate parallels between Black Mold and
the early electronic groundwork of "J.C.’s Head on the Cross" (Infiniheart,
2005), the enigmatic synthesizer lines of "Red Hot Drops"
(Skelliconnection, 2007) or the quasi-literate dance styling of "TMNT
Mask" (Soft Airplane, 2008). While many songs embody the spirit of the
more accessible pop-based leanings of VanGaalen's solo work, the debut
album from Black Mold is the product of an artist bent on creating a
personal soundscape.
Sometimes re-working the tradition of modular synthesizer pioneers such
as Wendy Carlos, Tomita or Jarre, at other times cutting a swath through
contemporary sample-based territory, the album is strewn with musique
concrete pastiches, creative use of circuit bending and manipulation, and
an intuitive and intelligent understanding of rhythmic minimalism. Snow
Blindness is Crystal Antz will be driving late-night parties as well as
providing the hung-over soundtrack to the aftermath.
Chad vanGaalen, Polaris Prize nominated Calgarian, has released a new video under his Black Mold pseudonym, for the track 'Metal Spiderwebs'. Chad is a talented animator as well, and this video is entirely self-created and produced.
The Link --> http://vimeo.com/6493725
The Music --> www.myspace.com/blackmoldmusic
Blindness is Crystal Antz is the debut album from Black Mold – the
electronic alter-ego of songwriter and Polaris Prize nominee Chad VanGaalen.
With Black Mold, VanGaalen is allowed the freedom to explore the wildest
tangents of his instrumental work, using a broad palette of glitches and
noise married with the warm hues of acoustic instruments. Guided by a
free-associative approach to songwriting, the songs show the full-blown
instrumental side that VanGaalen hinted at sparingly on his own albums.
The product of several years of late-night instrumental experimentation,
mainly on vintage analogue and hand-built modular synths, Snow Blindness...
is at times glitchy and unpredictable while at other times Teutonic
and sparse. The album opens with a baffling and beautiful composition,
“Metal Spider Web #2”, a lattice of cello and clarinet complemented by
shifting electronic pulses. In the dreamlike and metamorphic title track,
subtle oscillations and erratic surges build before settling into a simple
layering of acoustic guitars and drums. Elsewhere, other songs utilize 8-bit
beats & warped synthesis to create multi-layered rhythmic patterns. Snow
Blindness... comes from a basement stacked to the ceiling with broken and
discarded devices and poorly wired technology fused with organic instruments,
all jury-rigged to somehow work together in sequence – and often
acting with no masters.
Fans of VanGaalen may draw immediate parallels between Black Mold and
the early electronic groundwork of "J.C.’s Head on the Cross" (Infiniheart,
2005), the enigmatic synthesizer lines of "Red Hot Drops"
(Skelliconnection, 2007) or the quasi-literate dance styling of "TMNT
Mask" (Soft Airplane, 2008). While many songs embody the spirit of the
more accessible pop-based leanings of VanGaalen's solo work, the debut
album from Black Mold is the product of an artist bent on creating a
personal soundscape.
Sometimes re-working the tradition of modular synthesizer pioneers such
as Wendy Carlos, Tomita or Jarre, at other times cutting a swath through
contemporary sample-based territory, the album is strewn with musique
concrete pastiches, creative use of circuit bending and manipulation, and
an intuitive and intelligent understanding of rhythmic minimalism. Snow
Blindness is Crystal Antz will be driving late-night parties as well as
providing the hung-over soundtrack to the aftermath.
Chad vanGaalen, Polaris Prize nominated Calgarian, has released a new video under his Black Mold pseudonym, for the track 'Metal Spiderwebs'. Chad is a talented animator as well, and this video is entirely self-created and produced.
The Link --> http://vimeo.com/6493725
The Music --> www.myspace.com/blackmoldmusic
