Tagged with "Gainesville Archives - PORTALS"
Praything – “Soon Soon” (Official Video)
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Last year Gainesville’s Praything released, Her Skin Caught the Glow, the second EP from the project. Its first track was featured on our own May 2012 Monthly Mixtape. But it was “Soon Soon” that became the first visual piece to the story behind the release. Frontman, Ju Kovacevich wrote me more on that story below, along with the 2nd track’s visual counterpart which falls in love with time-lapses of overcasts projected atop scenic landscapes fit for Ansel Adams’ dreams.
From Ju Kovacevich of Praything:
A few weeks ago, the person who inspired “Soon Soon” prematurely passed away. She was a mother and I wrote ‘Her Skin Caught The Glow’ about her daughter.
It was difficult to communicate with her in the few times I met her. The right side of her body was paralyzed. Her speech was limited to mostly yes’ and no’s. Yet she was always lively, funny, and sassy. She laughed and gossiped with her daughter. She always complained about the food they served at the nursing home. She loved Virginia Slims and McDonald’s Iced Coffee. Her love for her daughter always showed through in the conversations I had with her.
While her speech in dialogue was severely limited, she was able to sing full stanzas of songs from memory. The first time I met her, I was stunned to hear her sing a line or two of a love song she remembered. She lifted up her mobile arm and gracefully gestured toward the sky. Every word was sung beautifully. Every note was perfect.
With “Soon Soon”, I wanted to create a physical world that was timeless and unfamiliar. Slowing down the beautiful time lapses Brian shot made the clouds and light dance playfully. I saw new rhythms appear in the heavens. While not being religious myself, I wanted both the video and record to at least attempt to create a place of spiritual calm.
Dedicated to her and the limited time I had the pleasure of spending with her. May she find calm soon.
Her Skin Caught the Glow; self-released August 1st 2012.
Peace Arrow – “Doors”
Gainesville’s Peace Arrow is the side project of Hear Hums’ Mitch Myers. Over the last year or so he’s been working on the projects debut LP ↑↓↑↓. With Peace Arrow, Myers diverges from the organic tribal energy usually unleashed by Hear Hums. Instead he pushes his grounds underneath something more folk-like or pop-like soaked in minute waves of field recordings. “Doors” is a track recently featured as part of the AKASHIC Compilation. AKASHIC Records is a place where Myers will be featuring bands from the Florida area and beyond that he thinks deserve some exposure. He did this previously on the Hear Hums blog, but it now lives entirely in its own space at AKASHIC Records and this compilation is a good introduction to what its all about (featuring songs from folks like Bayatas, Dada Trash Collage, Sea Camp, and Oshwa).
“Peace Arrow is more lyric and/or melody driven, less about a universal feeling and more of where my head’s been the past year or so. I know it’s a departure from what I’ve done with Hear Hums. All instrumentation is my own, no sampling others’ music. I’ve been recording this album on an old Windows laptop two input interface that crashes about every five takes of a track. Over the past year and half writing and recording this album, I’ve slowly been working out the kinks and revising everything.”
Hundred Waters: Stadium Red Sessions
Gainesville’s Hundred Waters stopped by NYC studio Stadium Red during the East coast stretch of their first tour months ago, where the group managed to give us an alternate take on “Visitors” while they were there. Small Plates announced the pre-order of the 7″ just yesterday along with a Nicole Miglis solo take of “Caverns” as the B-Side. Yours Truly produced a beautiful live take of the B-Side as well.
Euglossine – ‘The Floridian Abstract’
Tristan Whitehill, aka Euglossine, is a keystone in the Gainesville music community. Whitehill lends his synth and sample work to Levek, to the rising hip-hop force MSNRA, as well as being active in the Elestial Sounds and Church of Holy Colors communities. Whitehill’s latest release from Housecraft, The Floridian Abstract, eschews many of the beat tape conventions that bog the genre down in a like-minded sea of presets and timbres. Harmonic complexities define many of the vignettes that compose The Floridian Abstract, but Whitehill never clouds his message with excessive keyboard theatrics. Instead, he always engages his listeners in a warm, cerebral fashion. Whitehill’s warbly synthesizer melodies swirl through lush beat-scapes until they disappear into a realm of deep celestial atmoshpherics that fans of IASOS will totally flip for.
The Floridian Abstract comes highly recommended.
Levek – ‘Look a Little Closer’ LP
Look a Little Closer came together much differently than any of the previous Levek released arrangements. David Levesque even details part of the album’s recording process in the “Black Mold Grow” Silk Screens feature posted a few weeks back. It must be quite a sigh of relief for the band to finally see the album closing in on its release, set for Sept. 25th. We move a little closer to that date today, but it also helps to have Hype Machine‘s stream available for preview.
Physical pre-orders are available through Lefse Records.
