Spiritual Emergency, which sounds an awful lot like something someone in a Woody Allen movie would have when they had to miss a meeting with their analyst in order to visit their estranged lover in upstate New York, is now also the name of a Guardian Alien album. That’s why I put it in italics at the beginning of the paragraph. It’s called foreshadowing, reader. You learn something new every day, am I right? Pay attention, and you might learn a thing or two more. Like, oh, I don’t know, when the album is coming out (January 28, 2014). Or maybe even what record label it’s out on (Thrill Jockey). Or wait, maybe you don’t even know what a “Guardian Alien” actually is outside of its literal interpretation of an alien that stands watch over some ancient treasure? Well friend, it’s a rock & roll band from Brooklyn. You honestly couldn’t sort that one out for yourself given the fact that I was talking about albums and record labels and this is a music site? In that case, when we’re done here, I’ve got a bridge to sell you in Florida’s swampland.
Before we get to the bridge transaction, though, more on the album and the band. Spiritual Emergency is the follow up to Guardian Alien’s 2012 release See the World Given to a One Love Entity (TMT Review). Guardian Alien is led by drummer Greg Fox (ZS, Liturgy, etc.), and on Spiritual Emergency he’s joined by Alexandra Drewchin, Bernard Gann, Turner Williams, and Eli Winograd. The album was also mixed live by Wharton Tiers (an engineer who has worked with the likes of Sonic Youth and Glenn Branca) so it would sound more like an actual spiritual “emergency” instead of just a spiritual “let’s see what it looks like in the morning and then decide if we want to go to the general practitioner” type of thing. Describing themselves as “anti-genre explorers,” the band sought out and decapitated the last person who tried to put them inside a genre box, so I’m just going to go ahead and say that they play “music.” Pre-order the album here, and catch the band on tour with Pontiak throughout December. In fact, if you’re in Florida and still interested in the bridge deal I mentioned, we could hang out after you sign the papers later tonight at Look Alive Fest and see Guardian Alien alongside the likes of Wolf Eyes and Chronic Youth.
Spiritual Emergency tracklisting:
01. Tranquilizer
02. Mirror
03. Vapour
04. Mirage
05. Spiritual Emergency
Dates:
12.06.13 - Miami, FL - Churchills (Look Alive Festival)
12.07.13 - Tampa, FL - Crowbar
12.08.13 - Orlando, FL - Will’s Pub *
12.09.13 - Gainesville, FL - The Atlantic *
12.10.13 - Atlanta, GA - 529 *
12.11.13 - Asheville, NC - The Mothlight
12.12.13 - Charlottesville, VA - Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar #
12.13.13 - Philadelphia, PA - Kung Fu Necktie
* Pontiak
# Great Dads
• Guardian Alien: http://guardianalien.tumblr.com
• Thrill Jockey: http://thrilljockey.com
[Photo: Cheryl Georgette Arent]
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