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Adam Burke Interview: Knight, Death and the Devil

Posted in Features on September 26th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

You’ve probably seen some of Adam Burke‘s art. Maybe it was an Ice Dragon album cover, or a show poster for any number of bands out of the Portland area and Pacific Northwest — in addition to playing in Fellwoods, Burke has worked with Diesto, Ancient Warlocks, Danava, Crag Dweller, Hobosexual, Sons of Huns, Mystery Ship and many others — and as the poster that went up with the Oberon and Grel tour dates yesterday proves, his reach is beyond regional. Drawing on a visual style influenced by classic fantasy artists like Frank Frazetta and other old pulp sci-fi paperbacks, Burke has come to create works that immediately stand out and are easily identifiable as his own.

Raised Baptist, as he notes, Burke began like a lot of artists to draw early, and discovered music later. The two seem to have become intertwined, however, and more and more parties are taking his works for their own, whether it’s The Golden Grass from Brooklyn asking him to design their logo or the podcast The Soggy Bog of Doom using one of his paintings for its banner. Colors are rich and deep throughout most of Burke‘s watercolors and acrylics, and whether it’s a stark, foreboding landscape or a rainbow-shooting eyeball with a fetus in a teardrop, what seems at first like a familiar stylistic ideal is given a fresh perspective.

Fellwoods released their debut album, Wulfram in 2011 (discussed here), then working under the moniker The Moss, and signed with Svart Records to issue the follow-up Gyromancer EP, initially streaming it early in 2013 before takingĀ  it down ahead of the still-to-come Svart version. In the interview that follows, Burke gives the latest on that as well as some background on the development of his style, his influences as an artist and some of the processes that go into making his pieces, working with bands in and around Portland and some of the differences between creating a visual work and writing songs with Fellwoods.

Complete Q&A and a sampling of Burke‘s art follows the jump. Click any image to enlarge it and please enjoy:

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Friday Long-Player: Fellwoods, Gyromancer

Posted in Bootleg Theater on January 25th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

I recall digging Fellwoods‘ 2011 album, Wulfram, when they released it under their prior moniker, The Moss (review here), so it seems only natural to engage the follow-up, a 2013 EP called Gyromancer, which you’ll find above. The creepy, riffy Portland foursome have been playing shows and kicking around since the full-length — they also had a split with Ice Dragon out last year — and the new release seems to take the analog doom ethic to newfound sci-fi weirdness. Observe the concept, hoisted from their Bandcamp page:

This album tells the tale of an endangered civilization who has known for centuries that it’s home planet will suffer catastrophe as it is slowly sucked into a massive black hole. Plying all their planetary resources, they create a gargantuan spacecraft/arc capable of sustained deep space travel. They plot a course to another viable solar system, and escape just as their planet is being torn apart. Attempting to utilize the black hole’s herculean gravitational energy to propel them on their journey, they are accidentally captured in its grasp and must enter it’s dark and unknown depths. While there they encounter a traveler, The Gyromancer, who holds the secret to their salvation. Enjoy!

Sold.

It’s a good cap for what was a busy week, between trying to bang out the Neurosis review and the Corrections House review earlier and the Graveyard review today and still try to get a record or two in as well, but what the hell. There’s next week for other stuff. I’m gonna do what I can when I can and let the rest work itself out. It may or may not, but ultimately there’s little I can do to put more hours in the day.

This weekend, The Patient Mrs. and I head north to Massachusetts once more to look at a handful of houses for purchasing and subsequent residing in. Would be cool to find a place, especially since we’re still way ahead of actually needing to be up there for the start of the fall semester when she starts teaching, but I try not to hold my breath with that stuff. Too easy for things to fall through. While we’re up there, though, I’m gonna try to get out to see the recently-reviewed Gozu in Allston on Saturday. There’s family doings in Connecticut beforehand, but we’ll see. I’ve got my fingers crossed we get up there in time and I’m not completely dead to the world from the trip.

If I do get out to that, I’ll review next week, and also to come are writeups for New Keepers of the Water Towers andĀ Helen Money, both of whom have fascinating new albums up for release. I’ll also have an interview with Pittsburgh’s Low Man and whatever news, videos, etc. come my way. I’ve been trying to stay on top of that as much as I can — it still nags at me that I only just now put up the news that Lord Dying signed to Relapse up, speaking of Portland bands — so hopefully it’s been of some use along the way. We’re coming up on four years of The Obelisk next week too, so I’ll probably take a minute out to mark that occasion, much as it is one mostly to me.

Special thanks to everyone who’s bought a Clamfight CD so far. If that’s not you, please feel free to rectify the situation.

Hope you dig the Fellwoods above, and that whatever your plans, you have a great and safe weekend. I’ll be running back and forth, but I’ll check in on the forum too, so if you’re around, please say hi or why you’re looking forward to the Clutch record, or whatever else might come to your mind (seems to me we’re due for a good trolling, hmm…), and otherwise I’ll be back in front of the keyboard on Monday with more zany shenanigans.

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