Malka Spigel - Gliding EP - OUT TODAY!
Tracklisting : Strumgliding // Hacol Zaram Beyachad // Tall Grey Buildings // Dreamwalking
Malka releases Gliding (the follow up to 2012's Every Day is Like The First Day ) today. Buy Gliding HERE
In the winter of 2012, Malka Spigel played a series of concerts in France and Israel, with a full band, to promote her third solo album, Every Day Is Like the First Day. The performances drew not only on her latest record but also on several of her earlier releases, with older tracks (in completely rearranged formats) becoming highlights of the live set and, in turn, laying the foundations for ‘Gliding’.
Immediately following the 2012 dates, Spigel embarked on a studio project with the band. The objective was to revisit those live highlights as a springboard for recordings that would capture the power and dexterity of the musiciansʼ live performances and at the same time channel their creative synergy into new sonic territory.
As always, Spigel gathers an eclectic range of styles. Her signature dubby bassline and a rolling rhythm anchor the harmonically lush ‘Strumgliding.’ Dating from Spigelʼs 1993 solo debut, Rosh Ballata, the Hebrew-language ‘Hacol Zaram Beyachad’ (featuring Campbell on guitar and backing vocals) is elegant in its simplicity. Meanwhile, on ‘Tall Grey Buildings,’ Spigel transforms the austere urban landscape into blissful pop, in the process reinventing shoegazing for 2014. By contrast, the closer, ‘Dreamwalking,’ is a darker, harder-edged, more mysterious affair, with its kaleidoscopic layers of guitar, Mellotron and heavy, distorted bass. (The tracks were finished and mixed in swim~ studio by Colin Newman.)
Gliding is a transitional record, or perhaps a prologue, for Spigel: this is very much the work of an artist on the threshold of a new creative cycle, reimagining existing material in intriguing, forward-looking ways, brimming with fresh ideas and pointing ahead in myriad directions.
Gliding features the core lineup of Spigel (bass, vocals), her partner Colin Newman (Wire/Githead; guitar), Ronald Lippok (To Rococo Rot/Tarwater; drums), Gil Luz (Mambas; keyboards) and Uri Frost (Mambas; guitar). Also making appearances are Matthew Simms (It Hugs Back/Wire; guitar) and Julie Campbell (Lonelady; guitar).
The focus track ‘Tall Grey Buildings’ (which has had quite a lot of BBC 6 Music action) is accompanied by a suitably dreamy & kaleidoscopic video by Eric Scott. Made up of time-lapse sequences shot around LA and London last year, the clip is visually inspired by Malka Spigel’s richly colourful Lomo stills. Watch the video HERE.
Also watch out for a Marc Riley session in early June when Malka will be backed by Younghusband a marriage which is the fruits of meetings at the Independent Label Market (which Malka & Colin did back in December), Kenichi Iwasa's * "notorious" Krautrock Karaoke and some nights in the pub :) There may well be more outings for that collaboration..
* Ken is himself a member of Xaviers! who supported Wire on their last UK tour in Sept 2013.
Githead - 4th album
For those wondering, there will indeed be a 4th Githead album out this year!
The band assembled over August bank holiday in 2012 at the world famous Rockfield Studios with zero preparation and simply played for 4 days, the results being recorded by Rockfield house engineer and sometime Wire keyboard player Thighpaul Sandra (aka Tim Lewis). Over the past couple of years, time permitting, the results have been subtly crafted intro a series of pieces bearing both the hallmarks of classic Githead and entirely new directions. There's still a bit more work to do to finish it up but we confidently expect a release in the latter part of 2014!
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As always our communications are rare and minimal :) If you want to keep up with stuff on a more regular basis try looking at Malka's "pro" facebook page at - https://www.facebook.com/MalkaSpigel.MayaNewman or indeed Githead's at https://www.facebook.com/githead -