Archivist

There are three bands named Archivist. (1) It has become a common place to credit the deathly cold of Montreal’s lengthy winter season for the hot-chronology of creative outpour that has entered the global music scene from Canada’s tiny heart-shaped island. Archivist’s debut release Learning to Live on Poison, does not present an exception to this particular rule, though it will inevitably be accused of challenging a great many others. Is there not a law against literary lyrics over shake-your-ass drumbeats and synths that turn your aural canals into ecstasy-riven sex organs? Rapier irony and scathing confessionalism framed by pop-luscious arrangements and achingly sweet vocal harmonies? If there is no such law, why is it only now that such a collection of recordings has emerged? Beginning as a home-recording project, Ben McCarthy (writer/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist) invited a number of his talented and generous friends (including members of the Dears, Sunset Rubdown, Pony Up and Land of Talk) into his chilly bedroom-come-studio on the lonely side of Mile End to help him fully realize his sonic vision. The result defies even the eccentric, hyphen-ridden genre-generation of these late-postmodern days: lit-rock, folk-wave, existential-party-pop, whatever its denomination, this is an album whose dark poignancy will embrace you in the stark umber of the sleepless four a.m. morning, in the crowded, rush-hour subway, or squeezed between the sweaty and undulating bodies of utter strangers in the thrumming of an endless loft party. It has been said that ours is the first generation that will learn to take nourishment from toxin. Archivist’s Learning to Live on Poison (released June 2nd), bears witness to, archives, this becoming, this everyday event of surviving on what would do us in. www.myspace.com/archivistmusic Archivist is a collaborative project incorporating many musicians that currently features Ben McCarthy— vocals/ guitar/piano/general fuckery — and the Defrayers— Lisa J. Smith of ‘Pony Up,’ and ‘the Dears,’ bassist/keyboard/vocals, Sarah McCarthy, vocals/tambo/synth/keyboard/accordion. New members include Brendan Cordy and Katye Seip. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (2) The second Archivist is from Belgium. Archivist is to europop what housemusic is to disco; a sound savagely stripped of everything unnecessary to its central purpose, a naked synthesis of pop-house and electronic disco, as tacky and tasteless as its tempo is slow. Like house, it's a music of necessity, developed trough dancefloor demand. Entering the Boccacio club in Ghent is like falling into a dislocated vision of life in slow motion. Two and a half thousand dancers are standing backs rigid, limbs swinging at robotic half-speed. The tempo is cast down so slow that the vibrations are close to heart stopping. Bass drums explode in cascades of digital reverb, electronics undulate sensuously and any stray shreds of voice are ground to a growl. Bass, how low can you go? Lower still, say the dancers. For the band they're calling Archivist, they'll go as low as you like. When they push the speakers to the bass limits of endurance, switch up the lasers and mix up records, the reaction is total bliss-out. Myspace: www.myspace.com/archivistband Members: Alex Dumarey , Jan Mertens , Chiel Walker 3) Archivist are a post-metal/blackgaze band with members from Fall of efrafa, Light bearer. Archivist is the tale of human hubris, the end of the world, and the willingness of a child to accept the weight of our legacy. tags: metal blackgaze blast-beat post-hardcore post-metal space-metal links: http://archivistmusic.bandcamp.com/releases https://www.facebook.com/archivistband Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.