Black Marble Signs with Sacred Bones

I’ve loved a lot of music, but one of the acts I always tried to turn folks onto was Black Marble; I’ve even used these here pages to support the project. It seems that promise is finally coming to the forefront, as today they announced their signing to Sacred Bones Records. Chris Stewart, the man behind the project, has altered his craft for this new LP; he’s admittedly pushed the vocals to the front and sort of stripped them of various effects that accompanied his earlier works. And, while this began to emerge on It’s Immaterial, the beats here are pretty sharp, yet also really sparse, letting you focus on their intent as the lyrics sink into your skin. The new LP is titled Bigger Than Life and it will be out on October 25th! There is also a scheduled tour date at Austin’s Levitation festival too!

Show Pics: Black Marble @ The Sidewinder (6/24)

You ever go to a show excited about the headliner, and in fact, very impressed by the headliner, but walk away a bigger fan of an opener?

That very thing happened last Saturday when Austin converged on The Sidewinder last Saturday night. Black Marble was outstanding. They ended up selling the place out. However, I was really taken by Body of Light; they were fully on target for the renaissance of analog synth pop/dark wave I am delighted to see surging right now. The fact that openers Draa held their own here was also worth praise.

Click through for a few thoughts and plenty of pics.

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Show Preview: Black Marble @ Sidewinder (6/24)

If you are out and about tonight, perhaps you should go say to Big Bill at friends at Electric Church. It is one of the best lineups of the residency. Check it out here. But if you are keeping it lowkey tonight and want to burn it out tomorrow…

We make no bones that Black Marble had one of our favorite records of last year. It’s Immaterial is packed with waves of density, haunting basslines and respites of sparse tension. This show at Sidewinder instantly went on my calendar.

I also want to highlight the openers. I missed the PR blitz when Body of Light‘s record Let Me Go came out last summer. I am bummed about that. It is full on new wave perfection with peppered in samples that will haunt you until you figure them out. Draa rounds out the bill bringing gorgeous echoing pop. Listen to previews of all three below.

This bill is stacked.

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Top 50 Albums of 2016

top50You’ve all been waiting, anxiously. Waiting for our arbitrary list of the opinion of four folks who run this site, and what we think were the best albums of 2016. It’s really really important. We’re going to make our site great again with this list. We’re going to win, bigly. But really, it’s just a list of the stuff we loved the most that we covered throughout this year on our site. The comment section is open, so feel free to tell us where we’ve gone wrong or what we’ve got right or anything else fitting. Read more

Even More New Black Marble

blackBy now you’ve noticed my affection for the electro-musings of Black Marble, thus when another song pops up, I’m going to share it with you. This new track has the feeling I’ve been looking for as we head into the cooler (ish) months; it’s practically bedroom pop, which very may have been the way it was recorded…and meant to be enjoyed. I also get this faintly haunted feeling from it, giving it another avenue to be explored during my listening excursion. We’re still a good solid month out from It’s Immaterial, which is the new LP being released by Ghostly on October 14th.

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Another New Black Marble Song

blackI’m gearing up to really enjoy this new Black Marble record, which is being released on September 30th. Hearing this new single, there’s a sensation of solitude that’s incorporated through the echo-effect on the vocals. The electronic progression is pretty restrained, it’s not forcing beats into your ears, allowing the song to slowly settle within the caverns of your brain. For a bedroom electronic project, this is precisely what one would come to expect. This LP is titled It’s Immaterial, and it’s going to be handled/released by Ghostly.

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Black Marble Is Back!

blackmarbleI think I can attribute my re-introduction to electronic music to Black Marble and the album A Different Arrangement. But, the project has been mostly quiet since that release…until now. Yesterday, this track blew up with the announcement that there’s a new home for them, Ghostly International. I think that heavy resonating drum sample is really one of my favorite pieces here, but I’m also enjoying the contrast between the song’s soft emotional pull and the deep tonal quality of the vocals. It’s Immaterial, the new album, will be out on September 30th.

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Top Albums of 2012: 50-1

Here it is.  I know you’ll hate it; I know you’ll disagree, but that’s not the point in making an arbitrary list.  We here at ATH worked really hard to fit in the tastes of the four of us, and when we decided upon our Top 50, it really boied down to simple math.  What albums did we love when they came out?  Do we still enjoy spinning those records months later? If they’re in the Top 50, then the asnwer is probably yes.  I mean, our Top 2 records came out in January, and still play a vital part in my weekly listening.  There’s no disclaimer here.  We are who we are, we like what we like, and we hope that’s okay with you. If not, drop us a line and let us know where we went wrong.

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Black Marble – A Different Arrangement

Rating: ★★★★☆

There are tons of bands out there crafting dark electronic pop music nowadays, and I’m cool with that, for the most part.  But, sometimes you have to wade through a lot of mediocre work in order to find something special.  Luckily, the newest effort from Black Marble makes it easy; it’s accessible, dark and infinitely rewarding.  You’re going to want to get your hands on a copy of A Different Arrangement as soon as you can.

For three seconds, Black Marble begins things with this ominous feeling on “Cruel Summer,” but just minutes later it evolves into a evenly-paced bit of dark pop.  Beats unfold rather slowly, encouraging you to fall further into the track as a brighter electronic sound begins to take shape.  If you’re looking for something that’s going to beat you over the head with hooks, then perhaps this isn’t the song for you, with the lyrics keeping an even keel throughout. While other bands simply push forward to quickly, the NYC duo are happy just hanging out and making tracks you’ll want to listen to on your darkest days, and your brightest too.  There’s a pulsing beat to “A Great Design,” and even a bit of a lighter sound to the crafted music, but the slightest hint of an echo drenched over the vocal provides that sensation of personal melancholia that allows you to lose yourself within the confines of A Different Arrangement.

Even with the songs creating their own sort of negative space throughout, a few songs do allow for that slight upbeat movement.  The one-two punch of “A Different Arrangement” and “Limitations” does provide the record with an extra skip in the middle of things.  Musically, the former track is what provides the bit of a different mood, with the vocals holding tightly to the distant feeling they’ve provided since the get-go. I feel like the latter track, though still dwelling in that haunting spectrum, does its bit to move the mood into a peppier sphere, though only slightly.  All that being said, the tempo remains slow–a constant for almost every track on the album.

One of the things I really enjoy about immersing myself in this release by Black Marble is its ability to seem so far away musically, yet provide you with a bit of personal intimacy—at least if you grew up on the dark-tinged pop of the 80s.  Songs like “Pretender” though using a more propulsive drum loop still invoke a feeling of longing or isolation, yet the slight swinging of the beat makes me wax nostalgic about dancing in my room as a kid to my sister’s records.  Naturally, those sorts of feelings, even as an adult, still resonate, which is what makes the entire effort so enduring spin after spin.  A Different Arrangement never grows old, and it almost always surprises me with which song I like the most; sometimes I lose myself in one, only to find myself mildly tapping my tow to another.  As the winter months begin to approach, there’s not a record that I think you’ll appreciate more.

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Download:Black Marble -A Great Design [MP3]

A Different Arrangement is available October 9th from Hardly Art!

 

 

New Dark Jam from Black Marble

If the first few singles are any indication of what Black Marble have up their sleeve, then their new release, A Different Arrangement.  For me, this newest single, “Static,” has the feeling of a more approachable Blank Dogs track.  It’s got this underlying darkness being portrayed by the electronic element, but the overall feeling is definitely one that leans more towards pop.  You’re going to need to pick this record up the day it comes out, just to show your friends how good your tastes really are. You can pick the album up on October 6th from our dear friends over at Hardly Art Records.

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Download:Black Marble – Static [MP3]

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