New York instrumentalists Blind Idiot God will release their first album in 23 years, Before Ever After, next Tuesday, Feb. 24, on Indivisible Music. The label is a new project helmed by guitarist Andy Hawkins, who also co-produced Before Ever After with Bill Laswell, recording over several years with drummer Tim Wyskida (Khanate) and bassist Gabe Katz, since replaced by Will Dahl what is a kind of second debut — a generational debut, maybe — for the Brooklyn-based trio, who issued their first outing as a self-titled on SST Records in 1987. Like that album, Before Ever After is a dangerous kind of offering, a 74-minute CD/2LP able to turn on a dime between precision mathematics, reggae, crunching heavy riffage, surf rock and jazz in a wordless sprawl that makes a joke of most bands’ ideas of sonic diversity. My god, it’s almost like they’re actually trying different things!

There isn’t a track to sum up everything the album does — the frenetic drumming and dissonant guitar of the aptly-titled “Barrage,” the laid-back bounce of “Night Driver,” etc. — so one might as well just find something unbelievably heavy and roll with that. To that end, I’m pleased today to be able to host “Antiquity” for streaming. The third of Before Ever After‘s 13 tracks, it follows ritualistic opener “Twenty-Four Hour Dawn” (also the longest cut at 8:50; immediate points) and the more spacious but still tense post-reggae rocker “High and Mighty,” and with only a couple guitar chugs as warning soon unleashes a battery of dense riffs and furious drums that alternate between plodding and blasting. Tonally it switches between grinding bite and grueling doom, but it’s the tempo changes that really distinguish “Antiquity” from its stylistically varied surroundings, and how Hawkins, Wyskida and Katz are able to make these jagged transitions sound mechanically precise, so that by the end of it, there’s an almost industrial feel, despite the lack of any discernible element of electronica.

It’s also, one should note, the shortest song on Before Ever After at 3:39, and that subsequent pieces like the distortojazz “Earthmover” and dreamy surf meditation “Ramshackle” reach even further outside of stylistic bounds. The takeaway is that “Antiquity,” while unrepentantly heavy as fuck, isn’t telling the whole story of Blind Idiot God‘s return, and if you want to hear more, there’s plenty of fodder worthy for investigation. Even as the closing duo of “Strung” and “Shutdown” alternate between impact-conscious progressive metal and sweet-toned psychedelic sentiment underscored by the album’s warmest basslines, the resonant message seems to be that Blind Idiot God have even more to say than they do in the hour-plus here, and that their return from the ether has brought with it new purpose for their avant stylizations. They’re here to remind us what it means to be adventurous in sound.

Submit to “Antiquity” via the player below, followed by info for the March 7 release show in Brooklyn and more album background, and enjoy:

Indivisible Music announces new Blind Idiot God (BIG) studio album co-produced by Bill Laswell. “Andy Hawkins is a nut, a perfectionist for his amplification and the guitar, and we recorded it right,” Laswell explains about the new record. “Every detail is there. It’s probably the best thing they’ve done.” The 74-minute opus titled, Before Ever After, is slated for an early 2015 street date. The gatefold double-vinyl LP artwork was created by noted artist Seldon Hunt (Neurosis, Earth, Melvins, Sunn). Formats will include vinyl, CD and digital. The release will be celebrated with live performances in and around New York and will be co-promoted by MerchTable, local vinyl retailers and others TBA.

Blind Idiot God is Andy Hawkins on guitar and Tim Wyskida (Khanate) on drums. Gabe Katz, the band’s original bass player is featured on the album but moving forward Will Dahl is the band’s new bass player live and in the studio. Touring in support of the new album is planned for 2015. “Moving from the studio to the stage is always great,” Hawkins explains, “the music opens up dynamically, both performance wise and sonically. The human ear has a much greater dynamic range than any recorded medium and we excel at taking full advantage of that fact.” The band has shared the stage with artists like John Zorn (a collaborator who released their third album on Avant Records), Helmet, Black Flag, The Minutemen, Sonic Youth, Die Kreuzen, Don Caballero, Jesus Lizard, Napalm Death, HR, Eekamouse among many others.

BLIND IDIOT GOD Record Release Party
Saturday, March 7th
The Paper Box in Brooklyn, NY
doors 8:00 pm // tickets $10 advance, $13 at the door // 21+
also playing: Oneirogen, Rhyton, Gnaw

Blind Idiot God on Thee Facebooks

Indivisible Music

Tags: Before Ever After, Blind Idiot God, Blind Idiot God Before Ever After, Indivisible Music

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 19th, 2015 at 12:49 pm and is filed under audiObelisk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.