Packaging Notes
150gram 45rpm vinyl comes in an uncoated black jacket and black polylined dust sleeve. The jacket has a 4"x4" sticker title/tracklist/artwork sticker and center holes showing the label art.
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Tracklist
1. Any Fucking Thing You Love
2. Birds Toss Precious Flowers
Running time: 00:23:16
Packaging Notes
150gram 45rpm vinyl comes in an uncoated black jacket and black polylined dust sleeve. The jacket has a 4"x4" sticker title/tracklist/artwork sticker and center holes showing the label art.
Description
Following their acclaimed Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything released in January, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra dust off an old chesnut from their 2005 album Horses In The Sky and coat it in glitter and shards of glass; not remixes really, but brand new recordings that use set-closing live favourite "Hang On To Each Other" as a launching point for some rather glorious dancefloor excursions.
The band says this:
It's like that famous quote that Emma Goldman never said = "DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION"!
Somewhere around 1964 or thereabouts, we wrote a tune called "Hang On to Each Other". Acapella mostly, with just a few chords on harmonium. Recorded the thing in the woods 'round a campfire = heady times.
The chords to that tune are like house music chords, and we figured we'd re-record it someday, thusly and EARNESTLY. 4-on-the-floor. Drum machines and arpeggiators. Pink lasers and grape-flavored smoke machines. Most important thing = No irony.
Because we love that kind of music, and impromptu dance parties too.
Guess it took a long time to manifest, but this past x-mas we finally rustled up the necessary gear and holed up in the snow to loop thee joyful noise = 808, Oberheim Two-Voice, bright yellow toy keyboard, low pass filter, auto-wah bass guitar, wooden drone-box, squeaky tape delay, broken oscillator, string machine, distortion pedal, and violin. No guitar.
We let the machines yell at each other until they were hoarse and wheezing. With a baby in her belly, Ariel Engle of AroarA did the kind of singing that we can't, and we are thankful. Outside of the studio, the city was frozen, and thin tendrils of fine snow whisped across the ice like dragons.
We made this thing like a for-real disco 12-inch, for to give to d.j.'s to play because we live in the kind of town where some d.j.'s maybe will. Much respect and much love to thee sweaty dancers, and the lost ones, and the ones who fell away.
- xoxoxox thee silver mt. zion memorial orchestra
Credits
Jessica Moss, Efrim Menuck, Thierry Amar, David Payant, Sophie TrudeauGuests
Ariel Engle: vocalsRecorded & mixed at Thee Mighty Hotel2Tango, Montreal.
Mastered by Harris Newman at Greymarket.
Reviews
"Captivating... This is music made for Berlin nightclubs as much as for post-rock enthusiasts, the repetitive beats tailor made for the kind of two-step that SMZ’s fans might not be used to... From ethereal post-punk orchestral arrangements via thrashing guitars and bristling, indignant lyricism to brutal synth explorations and cyclical beats, SMZ have proved themselves equally adept at stretching the musical limitations of everything they turn their virtuosic minds to." – The Line Of Best Fit
"Something that’s clear from the outset of the first version of the song, retitled 'Any Fucking Thing You Love', is that this isn’t some jokey dalliance with dance music. Nor is it coming from a place of naivety... It’s an unabashedly nostalgic work based around zigzagging analog synth patterns and an ancient drum machine, topped off by a euphoric club diva vocal from Ariel Engle of AroarA... [On 'Birds Toss Precious Flowers'] Thee Silver Mt. Zion get close to filtering their familiar sound through an overtly electronic template. The keyboards are firmly set to distress when the song begins, but a more tender underbelly emerges as it progresses, edging toward that part of clubland that’s less about nihilistic 'losing yourself' thrills and more about getting in touch with feelings." – Pitchfork
"In creating a dance remix EP, is an otherwise political band playing the iconclast? Perhaps not. Thee Silver Mt. Zion has stepped off their predetermined path for a night out at le discothèque, while name-dropping anarchist activists in the process... Sometimes you just need some joy in your life, and while it’s not likely to take the DJ world by storm, Thee Silver Mt. Zion’s luminous mood will still be heard." – CMJ
"‘Any Fucking Thing You Love’ starts murky and distorted with a sound like Godzilla with indigestion, but as soon as the 808 starts kicking, it’s on. The squall created by injured instruments is enhanced by the very un-TSMZMO-style singing, but Engle has a perfect voice for this venture. The repeated chorus is safe in her hands. Engle is multi-tracked, recreating the band harmonies. The breakdowns grind like deceleration. The speaker-to-speaker effects are sublime... On 'Birds Toss Precious Flowers', the pace is slower, the vocal more languid. The sweat of the first version is balanced by the trancelike cool of the second. The drum patterns recall those of Sisters of Mercy; for all we know, the latter band may have influenced the former... Now Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra is a dance band. Who knew? But then again, why should it surprise us? More importantly, this is their best move in a long time." – A Closer Listen
"It may have taken nearly a decade, but Hang On To Each Other nails the dance music dynamic while still presenting an aesthetic that is perfectly in keeping with the band’s identity. Using drum machines and sequencers from 25 years ago, plus some feedback and tape delay and other effects, both tracks have just enough grit and personality to hold the interest of those who may not normally be interested in dance music." – Northern Transmissions
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