I Believe In Lightning

You need to get into Lightning Records and its quarterly magazine and its Tumblr and its art and its one-off releases. I want to say way more but I'm fried. I'm listening to the People of the North song. On repeat. It probably sounds even better not fried, but then probably not too. They've released stuff by Wooden Wand and Cy Dune too, and support a lot of cool stuff, like Sam Amidon and Pontiak. It's a collective that I want everyone to be involved in. I believe in Lightning.

People Of The North Create Steep Formations, Melt Minds

This has been around for months, but People Of The North's Steep Formations is one heady exercise in aural endurance. That isn't to say that Oneida stalwarts Kid Millions and Bobby Matador have crafted something boring (well, if you aren't into twenty to thirty minute songs I guess it may be), but this kind of elongated noise takes some Zen-like preparation to properly consume. Millions' drumming, especially on 'Border Waves (Part 1)' is jaw-shattering. This track alone warrants spinning this double LP opus. It is aggressive in its singlemindedness - the thirty-plus titular track is pretty much an exercise in one distorted note - yet the audaciousness is for the most part extremely warranted.


Grab Steep Formations (out through Jagjaguwar) here.

People Of The North - Border Waves (Part 1)

Oneida's Dr Jekyll

And here is the second Oneida-influenced post of the day!

People of the North is a collaboration of Kid Millions and Bobby Matador, with a revolving door of musicians lending a hand since 2002 (including most of Oneida's past and present roster). In fact some of the PotN compositions have morphed into Oneida staples ('Lavender' is probably the most obvious instance of this). The music is in many ways business as usual here - but a little more compact, more bite-size chocolate bar than a chocolate carry bag. However you want to sell it, if you like hedonistic psych-rock that revels in taking everything beyond the ether, the outer reaches, and keeps going - then you'll love this stuff. Ive loved these guys for a couple years now, and my adoration will never wane.

People of the North's latest output is Deep Tissue, a pulsing minimalist LP that came out back in April via Jagjaguwar. The below track is from it!

People of the North - Tunnels