TTW#118 – Aaron Turner – Interminable Conniption
Cassette only – limited edition of 200 copies
SOLD OUT AT SOURCE
A1: I Can See What’s Coming
A2: And Though Resistance is Mighty
A3: Its Arrival’s a Certainty
(programme repeats on B-side)
A. Turner: guitar/electronics. Tracks 1 and 3 recorded by Matt Bayles at Robert Lang, Shoreline, WA, July, 2017. Mixed by Matt Bayles at Redroom, Seattle, WA, August, 2017. Additional production and mixing by AT at HOLC, Vashon, WA, September/October 2017. Track 2 recorded and mixed by Randall Dunn at Avast, Seattle, WA, February, 2019. Mastered by James Plotkin at Plotkinworks, Bethlehem, PA, April, 2019. Illustration: SavX.
Interminable Conniption finds avant metallurgist Aaron Turner ruminating on the aberrant possibilities of solo electric guitar. Herein Turner focuses on psychoemotional atmospherics built from the sonic detritus of a full-stack and a few effects pedals. The resultant tracks are minimally-layered spontaneous performances interweaving quivering drones, distended melodies, and saturated dissonance into an immersive architecture of burbling turbulence and uneasy quietude.
Besides his solo works, Aaron Turner is renowned for his participation in the bands SUMAC and ISIS. His other projects include Old Man Gloom, Mamiffer and House of Low Culture, as well as collaborations with other artists such as Tashi Dorji, Daniel Menche, Keiji Haino, and Circle. He is the founder of Hydra Head Records and co-founder of SIGE Records.
Reviews
Bleep (UK):
Aaron Turner is one accustomed to absolute extremity, having previously pushed sludge and doom to breaking point with Isis and SUMAC — as well as with the odd collaboration alongside the likes of Keiji Haino and Stephen O’Malley. But solo EP Interminable Conniption turns the ethos inside-out, if not exactly by turning down the volume. Here you’ll find uneasy listening; anti-ambient compositions of dense fog and goring burrows.
The Wire (UK):
Aaron Turner is a guitarist based in Washington State, best known as former frontman of Isis and current leader of Sumac. He is also the founder of the Hydra Head and SIGE labels (the latter with his wife Faith Coloccia). Turner has done lots of other stuff too, collaborating with everyone from Keiji Haino to Daniel Menche. This tape is a solo exploration of electric guitar and effects pedals played in an extremely loose and spatial fashion. There’s lots of shimmering and throbbing in the woods tonight, interspersed with lost radio signals and the siren song of space critters. It’s a dang trip!
