Windy & Carl/ Heavy Winged - Monolith: Earth

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

5...according to our Brian on Thu 19 Feb, 2009.

Windy & Carl, doe-eyed beaus, ambient drone manufacturers extraordinaire. They're a collectors band of high repute, and to reward such obsessive global geekery, they're guesting on a new split 12" picture disc with former Norman AOTW sludge-rock barbarians Heavy Winged. Now this 'ere piccy disc is a wonder on it's basest elements alone. Take away the music on 'Monolith: Earth' and yr left with a sweet twin pronged slice of art, 1 side a painting of some tranquil neanderthal SF scene, the other a close-up of Africa from a satellite photo, being swathed in swirling cloud. It's one of those reverse cut, shared groove concepts is this (see press below, W&C do their usual cerebral textured drift, a calming work of subtle nuances and gently shifting sound patterns. Heavy Winged begin their complimentary piece with lo-fi abandon, a squalling guitar wail cloaked in wah-wahing feedback whilst slowly flailing drums & cymbals are bashed in a loose yet slightly possessed manner, the whole thing very absorbing & slightly hypnotic in it's screeing tribal excorcism. I really dig these guys, they go for the jugular in a rather profound & subtle way. A smashing piece of sonic temptation, either way. Comes with a free CD so you need not bother removing the main prize!

The first monolith appears on Earth. The apes, huddled in a valley, find the mysterious object and approach it with trepidation. With one hesitant touch, evolution is spurred, and the apes begin their ascent(/descent) to humanity with the use of tools. Territorial wars between apes are no longer fought with fists and teeth, but with bones and clubs. As the victorious ape hurls his deathclub into the air, thousands of years of evolution fly by from first tool to spacecraft.

The Monolith series combines two artists on the same one-sided, reverse-cut LP by hard-panning one recording to the right and the other recording to the left. By adjusting the panning controls on his or her turntable, the listener is free to control the degree to which the two recordings melt into one. Each edition in the series is limited to a one-time pressing of 500 picture disc LPs featuring a Monolith inspired painting by Ned Clayton and includes a CD with stereo mixes, extended versions, and bonus tracks.

Monolith: Earth is the oxymoronic pairing of dreamcore drone legends Windy and Carl and new school leaders of free rock Heavy Winged. Heavy Winged contribute one of their darkest, most oppressive tracks yet. The addition of Windy and Carl's purity creates something entirely different. It's no longer the sound of three bros busting out dark drone metal in some shed in snowy Vermont; it's now the sound of some communal artists busting out epic krautjams in the German hinterland. Primitive, vicious early man meets colossal pristine symbol of higher thought - could there be any better pairing for this Monolith?

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