Chuck Johnson - The Cinder Grove - VINYL LP

Chuck Johnson is a California-based composer, producer, and musician. He approaches his work with an ear towards finding faults and instabilities that might reveal latent beauty, with a focus on pedal steel guitar, experimental electronics, alternate tuning systems, and composing for film and television. Recordings of his work have been published by Thrill Jockey, Temporary Residence, Kompakt, Ghostly, and Three Lobed, among others. Between 2011 and 2015 Johnson released a triptych of solo guitar LP's - A Struggle Not A Thought, Crows in the Basilica, and Blood Moon Boulder - that have become touchstones of 21st Century acoustic guitar. Balsams, his first album to pedal steel guitar, was described by Pitchfork as Inchsingular,Inch and Incha mournful hymn built out of layers of sliding strings, cascading with a zenlike stateliness.Inch In 2019 he collaborated with Marielle V. Jakobsons to their debut LP as Saariselka for Temporary Residence Ltd. The follow-up to Johnson's acclaimed Balsams LP, The Cinder Grove delves further into the compositional possibilities of the pedal steel guitar in the context of chamber ensemble arrangements for strings, organ, and piano. Johnson's credits as a film composer include scores for the HBO series Burden of Proof and the popular PBS shows Somewhere South and A Chef's Life. In 2009 he received an MFA in Electronic Music and Intermedia Art from Mills College, where he studied composition and electronic music with Pauline Oliveros, Maggi Payne, Chris Brown, John Bischoff, Laetita Sonami, and James Fei. His work as a mixing and mastering engineer includes releases by Room40 records, No Quarter, Three Lobed Recordings, Temporary Residence, Bill Orcutt, Allison Russell, Nathan Salsburg, claire rousay, Daniel Bachman, Body/Head, and more.

Limited clear colored vinyl LP pressing. Six years used to be a lifetime in rock 'n' roll. Kids driven by the urgency of youth form bonds, plug in, play gigs, find a tag. Acclaim, exhaustion, over and out. Teenage Fanclub's early years were propelled by that kind of frantic energy (thankfully without the flameout). As outliers of the sound of young Scotland's second wave, they released five albums in their first six years together. The foundations of their national-treasure status were already laid. The tenth Teenage Fanclub LP-Here-arrives six years after the of 2010's hugely acclaimed Shadows (described by Uncut as Inchthe sound of a great group ageing gracefullyInch). Here is the work of a band entirely confident in their own craft-the consolidation of nearly three decades of peerless songwriting and almost telepathic musicianship. Recorded with the band's soundman David Henderson alongside regular drummer Francis Macdonald and keyboard player Dave McGowan in three distinctly different environments (initially at Vega in rural Provence, then at Raymond's home in Glasgow before mixing at Clouds Hill in the industrial heart of Hamburg), it's a record that embraces maturity and experience and hugs them close. As ever, song-wise the Fanclub present a textbook representation of democracy in action, the record offering four each by Blake, Love, and McGinley. From the almighty chime of opener InchI'm In LoveInch (InchWe will fade into history, I'm in love with you love... And I like your trajectory, I'm in love with you loveInch) through the ecstatic soul-search of InchThe First SightInch (InchWill I ever get to see the first sight of a heart that's true?Inch) and the paean to unerring friendship InchWith YouInch (InchI will hide with you from sadness, and bad philosophy / I will laugh with you at madness, and learned stupidityInch), Here is a collection of twelve songs

Music composed and recorded for the HBO TV series directed by Cynthia Hill. Chuck Johnson's evocative arrangements utilise a sound palette that includes electronic textures, chamber music and pedal steel guitar to conjure a collection of mood pieces that work both as documentary score, and the most varied and intriguing record that the artist has produced to date.A1. Burden of ProofA2. The SistersA3. Night of the Disappearance A4. Take Him DownA5. The Note A6. Ruth AnnB1. InterrogationB2. The CrawlspaceB3. More SurrealB4. The CallB5. Into A CornerB6. Two WorldsB7. Letters from the Attic