Download - Unknown Room

I don't know how many SP/Download/cEvin Key fans there are here, but I didn't see a posting for this and thought I would toss it up.

The preview track (Gaslighter) is pretty fucking great. This has been one of my most anticipated releases of the last few years. So stoked.

https://brap.bandcamp.com/album/unknown-room

    Quote

 

2019 will mark 25 years since the formation of Download, the avant-garde, post-industrial project featuring Skinny Puppy's Cevin Key, and Vancouver fixture musician Phil Western. 

 

Unknown Room is the project's 11th studio album, recorded in Los Angeles over a several-year period, culminating in a recent two-month session in the Fall that Key describes as being "extremely intense." 

 

The results are stunning. Key and Western dived deep for this release, continuing a love for the magic of synthesizers, coupled with an interest in mining the sounds of the past to create something new. On Unknown Room, one hears some of the old Bites-era sampling techniques coming through, as well as a strong Tangerine Dream influence. Fans of second-wave Download, early Skinny Puppy, minimal techno, and off the wall zaniness from the 1970s and 1980s pioneers that mixed prog experiments with analog equipment will love what is here. 

 

Released exclusively on Artoffact Records on various formats, including loads of merch goodies, fan-packs, apparel and more!

[bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3814563718 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 track=1945235677]

I keep intending to revisit Download's "III" album and always forget. Thanks for the reminder! 

  On 1/15/2019 at 8:00 PM, Taupe Beats said:

I keep intending to revisit Download's "III" album and always forget. Thanks for the reminder! 

sounds neat

*raises hand*

Cannot recommend enough joining cEvin Key's Patreon if you are a fan. He and Phil Western were livestreaming working on this.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

  On 1/16/2019 at 3:01 AM, brap23 said:

Cannot recommend enough joining cEvin Key's Patreon if you are a fan. He and Phil Western were livestreaming working on this.

 

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Thank you for bringing this up, I had no idea they were on Patreon.

=D

Oh, and for anyone interested:;:

Phil Western's solo albums can usually give you an idea of some of the sounds to be used on the following Download album.

There's a few Download tracks that have been reworked Western tracks.

---

https://philwestern.bandcamp.com/album/no-love-lost

I fucking love Download, thanks for the heads up.

  On 1/16/2019 at 10:20 AM, Hk47 said:

 

  On 1/16/2019 at 3:01 AM, brap23 said:

Cannot recommend enough joining cEvin Key's Patreon if you are a fan. He and Phil Western were livestreaming working on this.

 

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Thank you for bringing this up, I had no idea they were on Patreon.

=D

 

Oh, and for anyone interested:;:

Phil Western's solo albums can usually give you an idea of some of the sounds to be used on the following Download album.

There's a few Download tracks that have been reworked Western tracks.

---

https://philwestern.bandcamp.com/album/no-love-lost

 

The Patreon is great, cEvin posts so many videos from Skinny Puppy tours, Tear Garden sessions, etc, as a fan of all things Key related, one of the best monthly expenses I have.

And mentioning Western's Bandcamp, I think his full discography is still available at a ridiculously low price. A must for all Download fans.

Love SP and the early Download albums but after III they just haven't moved me as much. Still rated Effector and Fixer 4/5, and really enjoyed the III Steps Forward and Inception Jams that were put out in the Subconscious collections. But Helicopter and LingAM just weren't very interesting to me - they just haven't evolved their sound from album to album in a while. 

Helicopter I found strangely unengaging, yeah. Fixer might've been my favourite.

I have a feeling this one could be a nice shift from the previous few albums, which are pretty good but a bit monotonous and over-processed with fx, in my opinion.

Impatiently waiting for a new SP album...

I actually love Helicopter and LingAM. I struggled with Helicopter at first but it grew on me, there's sort of a rough, manic energy to it that I quite enjoy. LingAM was colourful and fun and I liked it on first listen. Long gone are the days of the experimentation of the early albums, but their discograpy is still really consistent. That new track sounded pretty good but I found it a little unengaging, still looking forward to the new album anyway. I want new Plateau though, something closer to Spacecake, didn't really rate the album that came out same time as Helicopter.

I love Helicopter and Gort Spacebar. Two sides of the same coin.

It did take a while for them to grow on me, but then I listened to them and LingAM while rolling and on acid and I've loved them ever since.

They're actually the albums that got me into modular music.

Unknown Room sounds like it's going to be a pretty significant change, though. And I'm so freak'n stoked for it to be released.

And yeah, I'm eagerly awaiting another PlatEAU album as well. I was hoping something would be released alongside or soon after LingAM... Feels like it's been forever since Gort was released.

=X

Kushbush has by far been my favorite PlatEAU album. More of that! Although I haven't listened to it in quite some time.

Better cherish this one dudes....

Phil "Philth" Western - 1971-2019

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156843783995851&set=a.75842315850&type=3&theater

RIP

Yeah, I saw this last night.

Sad as fucking hell...

He was such a great musician, and after reading a few of his interviews, he seemed like a really great human being.

=/

Just... Fuck.

Ah man, very sad. Another one of Cevin Key's close collaborators down. 
Definitely going to add an extra punch to the first listen of this release.
 

That's a major bummer.

Holy shit, totally unexpected news. RIP Philth 

Based on my readings above, I just listened to Phil Western - No Love Lost, which was my very first exposure to the soundworlds of Download, platEAU, and even Skinny Puppy.

First of, what a group of profoundly sad and deeply moving electronic tunes. Made even more moving by his passing. RIP, man. A new fan was born in your ashes.

“She Devil” one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard.

What the fuck!? How!? That's so depressing. Rip

I didn't realize Beehatch (Phil Western & Mark Spybey) put out a third album in 2017. Listening to it now, nice mix of electronic and rock instruments with Mark's excellent weird vocals. This is quite good! I haven't listened to the first two Beehatch albums in a long time, and this one seems pretty different. Anyway, to my ears it's more interesting than the last few Download albums. I always wished Mark Spybey had never parted ways with Download - something's been missing ever since. 

Beehatch - Oh Noh Me

  On 2/14/2019 at 7:36 PM, Obel said:

What the fuck!? How!? That's so depressing. Rip

Apparently accidental OD, although can't really say if it's legit info or not.