Sunn 0))) - Monoliths & Dimensions

http://www.southernlord.com/images/promo/md_200.jpghttp://www.southernlord.com/images/promo/md_header.gif
SUNN O))) is proud to present their 7th studio album, after 10 years of existence, entitled Monoliths & Dimensions. The album showcases the core guitar duo - Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson - incorporating influences from a plethora of guest musicians, bringing the SUNN O))) sound to epic new levels. The band also collaborated with composer Eyvind Kang (notable for his work with John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, etc.) on various acoustic ensembles, in addition to the Helios fueled electric guitars and basses. Key players on the album include Australian guitar genius Oren Ambarchi, enigmatic Hungarian vocalist Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Tormentor, etc.) and slow music godfather Dylan Carlson (Earth), as well as Julian Priester (worked with Sun Ra in the 50s, John Coltrane’s African Brass band, and Herbie Hancock’s Sextant band) and new-music horn player Stuart Dempster. There's also an upright bass trio, French & English horns, harp & flute duo, piano, brass, reed & strings ensembles, and a Viennese woman's choir led by Persian vocal savant Jessika Kenney.

The album is not "SUNN O))) with strings" or "metal meets orchestra" material. The band took an approach concentrating on more of allusion toward the timbre of feedback and the instruments involved, so the piece is really illusory, beautiful and not entirely linear, stating that the end product is "the most musical piece we’ve done, and also the heaviest, powerful and most abstract set of chords we've laid to tape" The album was recorded and mixed by Randall Dunn & Mell Dettmer at various points over the last 2 years. As can be expected the packaging for this album is beautiful and appropriately compliments the audio content. Jewel case is sheathed by a velum O-card. Expansive 24 page booklet with velum cover and specially coated heavy-weight paper. Truly a site to behold!

Monoliths & Dimensions is practice in density, gravity and momentum.

Monoliths & Dimensions track listing:

1.
Aghartha (17:34)
2.
Big Church [megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért] (09:43)
3.
Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia) (10:02)
4.
Alice (16:21)

MAXIMUM VOLUME YIELDS MAXIMUM RESULTS.

*The cd is available by itself or available with shirt or sweatshirt for a special "package" price.

*All cd orders receive sunn 0)))-Monoliths & Dimensions badge!

It's out in the UK now. Anyone heard it?
anyone want to give me their vinyl promo? :)

best album since Flight of the Behemoth no lie

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2009/04/sunn_o_leaks_mo.php

PSYCHED FOR THIS

It really is a great record. Most Sunn albums don't work at home on a stereo, but I can really see myself actually pulling this one out and listening to it.

i may have to get this

Anyone giving away or selling their promo vinyl?

I really can't wait to hear this.

Anyone giving away or selling their promo vinyl?

Mine hasn't arrived yet; I'll let you know.

thanks!

"Agharta" !!

i recognize its unlikely that this is a miles davis cover im just pleased at the confluence

been looking for this. really psyched.

The album is full of Miles Davis references, 'The Big Church' being one as well.

That said the name of the track Agartha is down to the fact that Davis and Csihar are/were both obsessed by hollow earth theory rather than O'Malley and Anderson being heavily into electric jazz fusion.

this band is fucking terrifying.

STOKED

I've been excited to fuck about this for a while now and I'm getting to the stage where I fear it will only disappoint. Still: everything I read about it makes it sound like one of the best fucking things ever, so ...

village voice article makes me drooool

psyched for this

this is a really, really amazing record. by some way sunn o)))'s most ambitious and engaging record. each track is a stunner, but 'big church' and 'alice' are particularly incredible. kang's input is really apparent, and utterly invaluable.

incidentally, not only is miles referenced on this album, but 'alice' is a direct nod to mrs coltrane.

in other words, the buzz is really justified in this case...

Album of the year?

It's mine so far.

PURE SICKNESS says:

ANY ONE THAT WORSHIPS SATAN IS COMMITTING A GREAT SIN, AND DESTROYING HIS LIFE.
Posted On: Monday, Apr. 6 2009 @ 10:55AM

the only comment on that vv article

has this leaked?

Nice wee piece in the current Plan B (May 2009) going through it track by track with O'Malley & Anderson.

listened this morning. first track seemed pretty standard sunn. not bad, but nothing on here to match all the jazzbo hyperbole.

fell asleep for the next two, lol.

woke sometime during "alice." seemed cool.

Part-way through a first listen -- I've not heard Alice yet -- I'm sadly disappointed. I wanted huge, zero-gravity captivation and what I get is a Sunn O))) record with bells and whistles ... it's like all the choirs and horns and so on have just been slapped on the top, rather than becoming an integral, miasmic part of the sound.

I don't listen to stuff like this because I've got a hard-on for heaviness: I listen to it because, at its best, it's transcendently beautiful. This has a couple of moments where it's touched that so far, but really: so much less than the sum of its parts.

A grower? Maybe. Doubt it, though.

grimly i plan to use the phrase 'hard-on for heaviness' whenever ppl ask me what kind of music i like

have been soooo broke, so have yet to spring for this but will prob weaken come payday - but im worried that the record i'm imagining is better than the one that Sunn O))) made, to paraphrase ts eliot

Ward, I'd be privileged for you to do that :)

And yes, I think that's exactly what I did: imagined something that maybe was never going to exist. Still, I've actually just been discussing it with a colleague (a colleague who's excitedly rushing home with his newly imported Omar Rodriguez Lopez album): he hasn't heard it, is waiting for the vinyl and wasn't put off by my moaning at all. Good.

Simon please read http://www.foreverdoomed.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=6220&start=610

Hahahah. I absolutely appreciate that: I mean, I hadn't even listened to the whole thing when I posted that first message, which is pretty unforgivable.

And I'm not for one second saying: "Here, this is shit." Alice continued in the vein I sort-of expected and I stand by my original verdict -- disappointed -- but that's about me and my expectations, not necessarily this record, which I think I'd raised to impossible levels in my mind.

Three other points:

1) Despite all that, I'm looking forward to listening again. That's something I didn't expect when I posted this afternoon.

2) When I finished listening, it took me ages to find something I wanted to listen to next; it certainly creates a strong mood in its wake.

3) I haven yet concentrated on it, for want of a better word; immersed myself, if you like.

The bottom line is that I don't think it's ever going to live up to my absurd expectations. But whose fault is that? (Clue: mine.)

what I get is a Sunn O))) record with bells and whistles ... it's like all the choirs and horns and so on have just been slapped on the top, rather than becoming an integral, miasmic part of the sound.

XD

what I get is a Sunn O))) record with bells and whistles

dude this has been EVERY sunno))) record since Flight of the Behemoth. It's like jazz albums. Sunn with Oren Ambarchi. Sunn with Julian Cope. Sunn with Xasthur. If they didn't it would just be 8 albums of BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I think this is the most seamless of the lot.

'Big Church (Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért)' is absofuckinglutely WOW

I liked "Big Church (Argybargypuddingandpie)" except for the middle section that is just BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

This is the end of my trying to like Sunn O))) on record. Just doesn't work for me, though I'd still see them live.

I would like confirmation of when the vinyl is coming out. Id rather have it on vinyl than cd. But usually the vinyl is like 6 months later forcing everyone to buy it on cd.

first listen and this is pretty good, love these trombones. Alice really sounds like Alice which is sweet.

This should be sitting in my mailbox when I get home tonight, cannot wait.

This is friggin' great.

Yeah. Is anything else of theirs this good?

Yeah. Is anything else of theirs this good?
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 26 May 2009 19:45 (3 hours ago) Bookmark

Well, it's early days, but I'm beginning to think this might be their best. But I'm not too precious about them moving away from the heavy drones of previous albums (great as they were), combining the vestiges of drones past with adventurous arrangements of choral vocals, horns etc.

But, to answer your question, the last Sunn O))) album, the Black One is absolutely fantastic, if a different beast to Monoliths & Dimensions. More more indebted to black metal in its musical ideas, moods artwork etc, but still using digital sound textures as well as the guitar drones. Closer "Báthory Erzébet" has to be one of the finest pieces of the past few years. Classic.

I'm liking everything but these stupid vocals.

Is anything else of theirs this good?

They've only become a viable studio concern in the last couple of years, but you should definitely get Black One and Oracle, if you can find it. The former is, as described above, their black-metal-influenced album; I think they go too far in that direction, but mine is a minority opinion. Oracle's first track is sort of their tribute to Einstürzende Neubauten (Joe Preston plays jackhammer, and Attila Csihar's vocals are very Blixa-esque). Those two, and this new one, are the only Sunn discs made to be listened to in your home.

just got this and skipped ahead straight to "alice." i'm at work, so the volume's not as high as it should be, but whoa.

Very good album. Been listening to it on and off all week.

when the horn (horns?) come in about halfway through, that's when i decided o listen to it over and over again.

I'm just back from a week in Rhodes and I spent an unlikely amount of time lying on a beach listening to this ... I'm increasingly fascinated, but still can't quite get it to "work" for me. Yet.

I'll happily admit there are many nuances I missed on the first listen -- while there are some bits of the sound that still jar with me (there's one moment in Alice that makes me think of horror-movie soundtracks, and not in a good way) there is a lot more subtlety to the horns etc than I first realised. As Kerr says, it's a grower. I'm sticking with it, certainly.

O_O

Okay, I've had this since Tuesday but I didn't listen to it until tonight because I wanted an uninterrupted listening experience on my good headphones. This is absolutely fantastic. "Alice" is easily the most gorgeous thing they have ever done.

You sound like a hipster trying to justify buying a metal album

I don't think it is a metal album, really. Sunn O))) have gone beyond metal.

Doom/drone metal, more than anything else -- though I agree plenty of outside genre influence is there.

It was awhile back when Ned called it some of the best Ambient he's heard in awhile. I agree. Despite sounding like it was recorded in hell I listen to this primarily when drifting off to sleep. And I mean that in a really good way.

this record is great, idk if it's metal or not or who really gives a fuck

then its settled

i'm the judge judy of art metal

Given that metal is more of an aesthetic than a clearly defined sound, I'd say that it's metal. There's a whiff of 'it's too awesome to be metal' about some of these posts. Of course it works as ambient music, something they nod at themselves by ironically terming their stuff 'Power Ambient'. But then most metalheads I know use death metal to chill out to and as background nodding off music.

I listened to it yesterday and immediately thought 'Why don't I listen to this once a day?'

I'm the Judge Anderson of art metal.

Given that metal is more of an aesthetic than a clearly defined sound, I'd say that it's metal.

OTM. I hate, hate, hate when critics use the phrase "transcends its genre" to describe a book or album or whatever, as if they're giving a sly wink to their audience to say "yeah we know you don't like anything so crass as 'genre', but this is ok to like. No one will laugh at you if they find it on your bookshelf/record player/iPod".

Anyone who has seen them play live, particularly on the Monoliths & Dimensions tour, would struggle to argue that Sunn0))) are anything other than metal.

I am an unashamed fan of genre personally, as I think it gives context to experimentation.

Don't care what it is, just love it (I'm with Judge Judy).

I'm the Judge Jules of art metal.

fuck that kayo dot album's coming out and i don't have it

does sunn 0))) have a sick drummer? no? NOT METAL.
I'm the Judge Reinhold of art metal

Mastodon have a sick drummer and they're less metal than SunnO)))

I'm the Judd Nelson of art metal.

http://www.revelationrecords.com/images.d/release/thumbnail/132/profile/rev020.jpg
I thought this band was the judge of art metal? (Ok, not really art metal.)

http://www.ghetto-rock.com/Afbeeldingen/produkten/judgedread-cd97101.jpeg

This man is not the judge of art metal.

FWIW I def don't need to justify buying a metal album, althoguh my interest in it has waned over the last few years. I haven't been too impressed or felt the need to delve too deeply into ILX faves like Baronness (who sound very flimsy for a "metal" band) and Mastodon (something just irks me about them), but since falling in love with M+Ds I'm seriously thinking about subjecting myself to a metal-listening month in order to get back to my roots in some way.

I think metal, somewhat justifiably, got a bad rep during the Big Hair & Spandex era. You even found metalheads arguing over who was genuine & who was 'false metal!' I found that phase amusing because it provided strong evidence of something I had always believed: When a candy-ass plays through big amps, it doesn't make him have balls, it just makes him a loud candy-ass. I think bands like Sunn o))), Monarch, Boris, Hey Colossus, Corrupted, etc. are closer to the spirit of the original sound, feel & spirit of H/M than False Metal boyz like Europe & Quiet Riot [as deemed by Kerraanng!! [sp?] magazine back in da day]. They also have crossover appeal to fans of drone & ambient music,which I suppose is what may be meant by 'transcending genre.' I've kinda like 'Sludge' as a vague catch-all for this sub-sub-genre...

ILM has covered all this before
When did Doom Metal/Black Metal and the like become "hip" and why?
John you were on ilx hiatus I think when this thread was active

Ah - thanks pfunk! Sorry is this was poorly located, but something about some of the recent posts got me going. :-)

Im sure you will have plenty to say on that thread too!

I'm listening to "Aghartha" right now, and it sounds like the dude just said "I search for Derrida of clouds."

― kshighway1, Thursday, October 22, 2009 9:25 PM (6 months ago)

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http://www.southernlord.com/images/subscriptions_gallery/07.jpg

Don't care about the subscription series in general, but this looks sick.

been listening to eno music for airports a lot lately and realizing that monoliths and dimensions is kinda the metal version of that record

100%

and what a great album to have a metal version of. both are fantastic

i need to hear m&d like right now.

but i'm at work :-(

i think this record's great and all, and i do appreciate the ways they've expanded and diversified their sound, but for sheer replay value and just incredible, singular atmosphere, i always seem to reach for black one.

The Sunn O)))/NWW collaboration The Iron Soul Of Nothing is set for re-release next month on Editions Mego.

My vinyl is ordered. Oh frabjous day.

If anyone is stuck for a Ticket for this tonight in london with nurse with wound ive spare one

finally found a way into this album, by turning down the volume. the huge, buzzing wall of noise kept making me run away from it, but turning the volume down let me appreciate the subtlety and beauty here. the chamber ensemble on alice and aghartha is mind-blowing.

you mad? TURN IT UP

you trying to make me go deaf?

what use is hearing without self-respect?

when i can hear, i don't fall over as much.

i'm about to be 46. this shit is too loud.

pffft im 41 TURN IT UP

One assumes you have never seen them live

i've seen the wiggles live.

rockin' show. the one with the red sweater spat blood and shot fire from his mouth.

Thunderous resonant sounds call from beyond the depths
And the winds of gravity change,
In memories of the consciousness of the ancient rocks,
Nature's answer to the eternal question

uplifting!

you guys need to pop in here just now http://plug.dj/ilxors/

that you, playing some satan-loving song?

lol WHAT IS THIS DJ-WEBSITE?

well it was sund4r

still so good all praise false metal