“I’m inside of your head right now” she said, “good luck getting me out”. don’t know if I want to, “get up get up get up….” Organ thing of the Day? That was what we were supposed to be doing here now wasn’t it?. Just a simple signpost to one thing each day, a piece of music, an art show, a painting, a book, a hook, a thing of the day.  Gone are the days of Organ and the big magazine beast, the extensive website, the glossy paper thing, been there, done all that, the interviews, the dealing with egos at PR companies, the selling of advert space, the dealing with printers when things go wrong, the selling of hundreds of zines at gigs and such, a little more than just taking five copies to Rough Trade and thinking that’s it, walking it rather than just talking it. These born again days Organ is just this simple stripped back thing, Organ mostly exists these days because painting excites and music still does and the faddish art media in this city can’t be bothered and someone needs to go cover things like that excellent Lennie Lee show that’s happening this week rather than just obsessing on the latest dot from that tedious bloke with his shark.

The Blow are from Brooklyn, they came into our lives yesterday, never heard of them before, I see they’re been about for quite a while, we can’t be on the case with everything, they got here yesterday, Khaela Maricich & Melissa Dyne is who they are and here they are, all their bulging at the either and arriving late to the orgy in the internet ghetto and get get get up or something like that. Rather like the early encounter with The Blow, I like that space they find in my brain and the future beckoning with that dirty little finger and. Ego bridges up to the sky, the ones we want them to be, dressed up in that dress, it really is totally no problem to share this with you, we know what you want, here’s the Blow, their music, and the bigger the better, and some words and you can walk right inside and not get distracted by the facts…

….ask yourself what you’re here for? Are you here? A stairway to heaven? I sold my old Sigue Sigue Sputnik t-shirt to someone in New York yesterday, it was all cut up and faded and torn, it came from Kensington Market way back in the last century, I found it again last week, he bid £82 for it, seemed a little silly, but then. I’m stalling here while I  listen to The Blow again (and again) and we want to talk to them and we all like them, and the beautiful dignity of The Greatest Love Of all, a special place so they sing. They have an album out over here on Match 16th called ‘Brand New Abyss’, there’s more about them on the other side of the next song…  (sw)

here’s the press release and the hype, the lazy cut ‘n paste –

The Blow’s new album, Brand New Abyss, is a lightning rod. A wild assembly of frequencies produced out of a thrust of electroacoustic punk energy, the album is a search for a new sound of rebellion in an environment where the aesthetic of punk has been commodified into submission along with almost everything else. Brand New Abyss was written and produced by The Blow (Khaela Maricich and Melissa Dyne) using a production rig the duo painstakingly developed over the past four years; a mothership of patched-together modular synthesizers, ancient samplers and audio production gear.

The record crosses many grounds. Flipping the conventional album notion of rallying out of the gates, its opening pieces are measured, delicate, confessional. “Dark Cold Magic” is lit up by breathtakingly pretty shooting stars of analogue synth melodies;  “So There” laments on a bubbling bassline that underpins Khaela Maricich’s gentle wordplay and wistfulness. The contrast comes at the midpoint of the album, with the fizzing, irreverent “The Woman You Want Her To Be”, and the beautiful, sparkling, quasi-hip-hop of “Get Up.”

As well as this newfound structure-toying, Brand New Abyss represents further new starts for The Blow: it is their first with their newfound passion for analogue synth programming, Maricich and Dyne teaching themselves to control the raw material of sound through modular synthesis, going beyond the processing of live instrumentation methodology of their previous outings.

And, crucially, it represents the inaugural original release of the band’s newly formed WOMANPRODUCER collective, a multi-dimensional platform for female, trans and non-binary sonic innovators. Formed – writes Maricich – to “highlight these creators’ frequently untold histories and encourage the generation of more materials by and about these producers and technologists.” WOMANPRODUCER’s conversations, think-tanks and live performances have featured such luminaries as Neko Case, Zola Jesus, Pauline Oliveros, Suzi Analogue, Miho Hatori, Yuka C. Honda, Mirah, and Val Inc.

Produced in a multitude of spaces along the US Eastern coast (the band were forced to relocate as their NYC studio space became unexpectedly surrounded with construction work), Brand New Abyss is released in the UK and Europe in March 2018 on turquoise vinyl and all digital formats.

Live dates

16. March – Baltimore, US – Metro Gallery w/ Joint Combo
18. March – New York, US – Elsewhere w/ Olivia Newton-John
1. April – Manchester, UK – Gullivers
3. April – London, UK – Moth Club
6. April – Copenhagen, Denmark – Vega Ideal Bar
7. April – Aarhus, Denmark – Kunsthal (talk + live concert)
9. April – Berlin, Germany – Kantine am Berghain
10. April – Jena, Germany – Trafo
11. April – Freiburg, Germany – Slow Club
12. April – Lausanne, Switzerland – Le Bourg
14. April – Paris, France – Olympic Cafe
19. April – Utrecht, NL – dB’s
21. April – Heidelberg, Germany – Karlstorbahnhof

The Blow