Christmas ep cover art

two live performances of Northern Highland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NTe-FbgW9Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0LUi9uqOSE

Christmas EP Update again..

http://wisconsinsickness.com/sick/2009/12/canyons-of-static-christmas-ep/

follow the link to download the Christmas EP...
artwork to follow soon...

Christmas EP Update...

If you don't want to hassle with myspace I can email you mp3s of the christmas ep.
Just send me a request @ canyonsofstatic.mailinglist@gmail.com
if you want a physical cd this may take more time but is possible if enough people request them.
thanks
Ross

Painting

My wife and I recently purchased this painting from a great local artist from Milwaukee Kari Mcintyre. It is currently hanging over my couch and it is huge and I love it.

Last Years Christmas ep FREE..

Our Christmas ep from last year that we recorded live in our basement practice space is posted at www.myspace.com/canyonsofstatic from now until the end of the year for free download.
enjoy
Ross

Death by Audio Interstellar Overdriver....MY NEW TOY!!

Just bought this on friday and I absolutely love it, thick creamy overdrive, amazing tone and simple to use.

Ross

Temporary Slaraffenland by Vincent Moon!!!!

I cannot recommend this enough...it is full of beautiful music and the beautiful landscape of copenhagen.


http://vimeo.com/6522727

FLAMING LIPS ON CONAN!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iDjANWsnuc

November Shows

Nov 19 2009
9:00P
Cactus Club w/COLLECTIONS OF COLONIES OF BEES & THIS IS VERSAILLES(CHI)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Nov 21 2009
7:00P
ALL AGES- the borg ward
w/ Collections of Colonies of Bees, This Specific Dream, Concentric & Coelacanth

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Nov 22 2009
8:00P
Double Door w/ This is Versailles
Chicago, Illinois

Hope to see everyone out at these shows...The last few years we have hibernated during winter writing songs...This year should prove to be different. We want to play as many shows as possible...To book us please get in touch at canyons-of-static@hotmail.com

thanks

Canyons of Static

Canyons of Static live video

This is a video of the song "Northern Highland" which will be on our next album. The footage was taken at the Cactus Club in Milwaukee 9/25/2009. The audio is a bit rough but you can get a good feel for our live show.

Ross

THE WILD THINGS

http://store.mcsweeneys.net/index.cfm/fuseaction/catalog.detail/object_id/5fff804b-b728-401f-ad5c-52ae8ad1e752/TheWildThings.cfm

Today I bought my copy of David Eggers adaptation of "Where the Wild Things Are."
I am really excited to try and read this before the film comes out in a few weeks..
check it out
Ross

Video for "are we still the good guys"

Video for "are we still the good guys" by Ken Olson
check it out..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxC2gkkpIFA

Mount Eerie

Phil Elverum of mount eerie photographs his entire book collection. This is a ton of fun to look at http://www.pwelverumandsun.com/collection I really want to photograph my collection one of these days, when I get time. If anyone does this please post a link I would love to see your collections..(Eventually I will blog about my obsessive collecting!)

Mount Eerie also has a new album Wind's Poem that is absolutely incredible, he cranks up the noise and drowns the vocals in the mix creating songs that envelope you. I recommend high volume for this one..

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13299-winds-poem/


Ross

Slaraffenland...this band is amazing

Canyons of Static had the honor of opening for Slaraffenland on their first American tour. It was an incredible experience. This band from Denmark is a must hear and their new album comes out tomorrow..Preview all the tracks here
http://www.mbvmusic.com/2009/09/14/listen-mbv-slaraffenland-were-on-your-side/15071

learn more about Slaraffenland

http://home-tapes.com/Hometapes/HT032.html

http://www.slaraffenland.net/

http://www.myspace.com/slaraffenland

Enjoy

Ross

Cactus Club Friday Sept 25th

Eric Von Munz was kind enough to do a poster for our upcoming show @ the cactus club...
you can see some of his work @ http://www.lsmfa.com/vonmunz/index.html
hope to see everyone at the show..
Ross

“Untitled (New York City)” Helen Levitt

“Untitled (New York City)” a photograph by Helen Levitt

Helen Levitt died in March of 2009. She left behind a legacy of amazing "street photography."
This particular photo spoke to me on many levels. The children are masked and almost frightening to look at. It reminds me of "Lord of the Flies,"and the possibility of what evils children could do if left to their own devices.
On the other hand it reminds me of a time when children could entertain themselves with a simple paper mask rather than video games, tv, or the internet. Technology has come a long way in a short time and has many great advantages but sometimes the cost is great. The pace of life has quickened to break neck speeds. I find it hard to keep up. I find myself yearning for time to just sit on the porch and amuse myself with paper masks.
Ross

Physical Changes

I will be attending this thursday. My mind will be blown that I am sure of.. Jon Mueller was kind enough to join us in the studio to record some gong on one of our songs for the new record. Go see this......

Ross

Jon Mueller: Physical Changes DVD excerpt from rhythmplex on Vimeo.

PHYSICAL CHANGES:performance and video screening

Thursday, September 3, 2009
The Haggerty Museum of Art/Helfaer Theatre
Milwaukee, WI

Reception at 6PM at Haggerty Museum of ArtPerformance at 7PM at Helfaer TheatreAdmission is FREE.

Jon Mueller: drums and percussion
Jim Schoenecker: analogue synth
David Bailey: gongs
David Dinnell: video

Milwaukee drummer and percussionist Jon Mueller will present his new solo percussion work Physical Changes at the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University on Thursday, September 3 at 7 p.m. Jim Shoenecker and David Bailey will appear alongside Mueller in a performance that combines percussion, electronic music and video (David Dinnell) to turn the fundamental concepts of rhythm and percussion into an entirely new experience that’s heard, seen and felt.

Mueller has been an active drummer and percussionist since the mid-80s, working regularly with the group Collections of Colonies of Bees. He has performed throughout the U.S., Japan and Europe and played or recorded with members of the groups Swans, Wilco, Bon Iver, and Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Trio, among others.

The performance is offered in conjunction with the Jump Cut Pop exhibition on view at the Haggerty throughOctober 4.
More info on Physical Changes: https://webmailcluster.perfora.net/xml/webmail/mailContent;jsessionid=8FA78CA0519155CD285DEC3A46B333D9.TC136b#More info on Jon Mueller: http://www.rhythmplex.com/

Haggerty Museum of Art
Marquette University
13th & Clybourn, Milwaukee
marquette.edu/haggerty414-288-1669

Fives

5 Books I've Read This Year & Loved

1.2666 by Roberto Bolano
2.Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
3. On the Road (scroll edition) by Jack Kerouac
4. Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
5. Hairstyles of the Damned by Joe Meno

5 Graphic Novels

1. Black Hole by Charles Burns
2. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware
3. Three Paradoxes By Paul Hornschemeier
4. Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
5. Little Things by Jeffrey Brown

5 Vinyl on the turntable

1. Music for 18 Musicians By Steve Reich
2. Physical Changes by Jon Mueller
3. Decending Moonlight Dervishes by Terry Riley
4. Stone/Water by Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet
5. Beacons of Ancestorship by Tortoise

5 Compact Discs

1. Bill Dixon & the Exploding Star Orchestra
2. Vox Arcana
3. Control by Pedro the Lion
4. Black Sea by Fennesz
5. A living Room Hush by Jaga Jazzist

waiting for in the mail
Gather, Form, and Fly by Megafaun
Meet and Greet 7inch by Slaraffenland
1st vinyl in the new dust to digital all vinyl division of their label

Records I'm most looking Forward to

1. Unmap by Volcano Choir
2 We're on your side by Slaraffenland
3. Curse Your Branches by David Bazan
4. Central Market by Tyondai Braxton
5. Embyronic by Flaming Lips

This is just some fun stuff I thought people might enjoy
Thanks
Ross

Bon Iver + Collections of Colonies of Bees = Volcano Choir!!

Our friends from Collections of Colonies of Bees have put together what should prove to be one of the better albums of 2009 with their good friend Justin Vernon of Bon Iver fame. The first track was released to the public yesterday and it sounds fantastic featuring the swirling loops of the Bees and the always amazing vocals of Bon Iver.

Ross----

check it out here

http://pitchfork.com/news/36179-premiere-volcano-choir-island-is/

All Tiny Creatures

Our good friends All Tiny Creatures release there debut ep today. I can tell you from playing with them live a few times and hearing the tracks that it is a fantastic album done by some really great people.

check it out.

Ross

buy

http://home-tapes.com/Hometapes/HAUS_HT030.html

listen

http://www.myspace.com/alltinycreatures

tour

Upcoming Shows
( view all )
Aug 7 2009
8:00P
Solly’s, w/ The Caribbean
Washington DC
Aug 8 2009
8:00P
Gooski’s, w/ The Caribbean
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Aug 9 2009
8:00P
Cake Shop, w/ The Caribbean
New York, New York
Aug 11 2009
8:00P
Empty Bottle, w/ The Caribbean
Chicago, Illinois
Aug 12 2009
8:00P
Cactus Club, w/ The Caribbean
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Aug 13 2009
8:00P
The Frequency, w/ The Caribbean
Madison, Wisconsin
Aug 14 2009
8:00P
Pizza Luce, w/ The Caribbean
Duluth, Minnesota
Aug 15 2009
8:00P
Kitty Cat Klub, w/ The Caribbean
Minneapolis, Minnesota

jacob kirkegaard

Jacob Kirkegaard has some amazing ideas about sound, and I have really been admiring his work. You can take a look at some of the things he has done here'

http://www.myspace.com/jacobkirkegaard

http://fonikdk.blogspot.com/


http://fonik.dk/works.html

enjoy
Ross

Day 3 & 4

Day 3. we finsihed bass and synth stuff followed by a full day of the most incredible guest musicians on bass clarinet, tenor sax, cello and trumpet. it was amazing to watch our visions for these songs come to life and we still have more recording to go.

There was a day 4 to recording and it flew by..Guitars were blasting all day followed by Nathan doing an inspired one off take on a mini vibraphone for one of the new songs. The record is 95% recorded and sounds better than we could have imagined. We will be putting the finishing touches on it in a few weeks.eventually I will get some pictures posted!

Recording Day 2

Day 2 recording was a long one...10+ hours..drums,keys,synths & loops are all done and one track of bass..we also managed to watch ghostbusters II !!! & play around with eno's oblique stratagies cards for some album art ideas. However we still have yet to come up with a name for this album>>>>>Our good friend Noah stopped by and took some video footage also so some of that may surface sooner or later....time for shut eye and then straight back to the studio.

Recording Day 1

Day one of recording was not with out minor mishaps..Chris' bass amp died before we even made it to the session. Lucky for us Ben from All Tiny Creatures saved the day and got us a loaner for the weekend. So things are back on track!!. We have the drums all mic'd up and sounding good after an hour of listening to Nathan hit his snare as we moved mic's around. One song of drum tracks is complete. We were done a little after midnight. We are all meeting up right now to head back in for a full day of Recording.
Ross

Recording..

We are going into the studio next thursday to start work on our new album..we are super excited and will be sharing pics and video with you along the way..

Poster......................

the new poster arrived in the mail today and it is crazy..check it out..it will be available at summerfest..





19×25"
6-colors
by Nick & Nadine
June, 2009

Here is what they had to say about the process...

Canyons of Static are a West Bend, Wisconsin based instrumental band who play epic, melody drenched rock. This posters offered a pretty unique challenge, in that the band only wanted their name listed on the poster, no show dates, etc. That’s right, just a straight up band poster. We thought it was a great idea and still can’t believe more folks aren’t doing this! The print started with a basic structure. The bottom 2/3rds of the print was filled with repeating 5 inch squares. The squares where filled with fine textures and a photograph that Nadine took in my hometown, Dyersburg, Tennessee. Once the structure was established, we broke away from the system, adding large blocks of texture and some unexpected colors. The end result is a massive cluster of structure and disharmony.

Poster Coming Soon..

We are working with Chicago artists Nick Butcher & Nadine Nakanishi of Sonnenzimmer. They will be designing and screen printing a Canyons of Static poster that will be amazing. They have done posters for great bands like Throbbing Gristle, A hawk and a hacksaw, silver jews, wolf eyes and many more....
check out examples of their work at http://sonnenzimmer.com/store/
and check out this video of them talking about their work at http://www.hangingbyashoestring.com/index.html

Sonnenzimmer: the shoestring portrait from dsinker on Vimeo.

Summerfest 2009

We will be at Summerfest again this year on Saturday June 27th at 4:30pm at the Cascio Groove Garage and we will be playing all new songs and we should have new t-shirts and possibly a poster if it is done in time(more on that to come)>>>>>>>>

Mad Planet Show Review

Collections of Colonies of Bees w/ Male & Canyons of StaticMad Planet, Milwaukee WI
Milwaukee is kind of a craphole. I should know; I grew up there. And yet, even though my family no longer lives there, I still find myself there at least once a year, and almost always the reasons are the same: music and friends. There are not a lot of decent venues to play in Milwaukee, but I’d heard ever since my teenage hangout The Globe closed down a few years ago, Mad Planet was the place to go. Having never been there before, I was excited not only to see three bands I liked and never seen live before, but also to experience a new space in an old place - a place I used to call home.
In typical Milwaukee fashion, I walked in and realized, yup, it’s your typical bar. So it was nothing fancy, no big deal. It had a black light that embarrassingly illuminated all the white cat hairs on my jacket I failed to lint roll before I left Minneapolis and a healthy amount of regulars that were glued to their barstools - leaving absolutely no one on the floor in front of the stage. At least there was room to stand and see the bands. As the first band in an all-instrumental lineup, Canyons of Static absolutely tore the place down, playing mostly new tunes plus a couple from their solid 2008 release The Disappearance. Their brand of droning but incredibly intense post-rock is not necessarily a new sound, but with a subtle infusion of melodic keyboards and guttural unmic’d screaming from the polar bear of a man behind the drum kit, they hypnotized me and frightened me simultaneously. With flashes of abstract projection against the pitch black stage and three intermittent white screens, it was also a visually compelling set-up - the perfect kick start to a much anticipated spring break.
Next up was Male, a new Chicago collective of ambient experimentalists, featuring former members of Joan of Arc and Pan American. I understand how pretentious that sounds, but what makes this awkwardly-named group rise above their own artsy-fartsy-ness was definitely their presentation. They could have gotten up there and just swelled their guitars and barely touched the drums and stared at their feet the whole time. But no - with a charmingly theatrical frontman manipulating the guitars through a laptop while seemingly being possessed by the music emanating from his bandmates that surrounded him, jutting his fists into the air with every new layer projecting out through the speakers, I found myself once again transfixed. Toms were tickled, turntable crackle was looped and placed every so slightly in the mix, and guitars were both reserved and blasting, creating sonic textures that felt both soothing and completely insane.
Finally, local favorites Collections of Colonies of Bees utilized both the climactic splendor of the evening’s opener and the quirky but still artful execution of Male to completely own the night. My traditional stop at the record store before epic road trips found me digging in the used section to, in a twist of fate, find a copy of the band’s latest album Birds, which I played heavily during my drive and certainly used to psych myself out. And while so often I have found myself disappointed by a band’s live act after falling in love with their record, it was indeed the opposite with the Bees. The gentle minimalist expansions of Rhodes piano, keytar, sparkling guitars from virtuoso Chris Roseneau (formerly of Pele and Vermont), and manic drumming filled every possible void in my eardrum, and even though they never strayed too far from a main riff, they got the most of their few notes, creating a tense mood and briskly cathartic releases. As I left Mad Planet and drove back with their sounds still ringing in my ears, I looked at the Milwaukee skyline before preparing for my next destination and realized it’s actually quite the pretty sight. All it took were two of the city’s best acts to convince me that maybe the place I grew up wasn’t so shitty after all.

Chris Polley teaches high school English, often with his hair disheveled and a glint of crazy in his eye, in the Midwest’s greatest city, Minneapolis. He rambles on and conducts discourse with friends and strangers about the horrific beast that is pop culture over at The Blogulator.

new show posting

The mini tour with cocob's and Male was fantastic. If you missed it you will get a chance May 9th in West Bend, WI to see Canyons of Static & Collections of Colonies of Bees for Free..

Games Bar

228 n 6th ave

west bend, wi 53095

may 9th @ 9pm

free

Tour Poster

Artist Nick Butcher did a fantastic poster for our mini-tour with Male (chicago), and Milwaukee Collections of Colonies of Bees (Milwaukee). You can purchase this poster at the link. Hope to see everyone at these shows in April...

http://sonnenzimmer.com/store/2009/male-tour/

Free Download of "Shelter"

http://www.mediafire.com/?mmlmwxtjkdd

The Disappearance

Video taken by Union Rock Yards (Chicago-2/21/09)