Interstellar Skeletal

Last updated
Interstellar Skeletal
Weird Owl - Interstellar Skeletal (2015) cover art.jpg
Studio album by
Weird Owl
ReleasedMay 25, 2015 (2015-05-25)
Genre Psychedelic rock
Length43:53
Label A Recordings, Ltd.
Weird Owl chronology
Healing
(2013)		Interstellar Skeletal
(2015)

Interstellar Skeletal is the fourth studio album by the American psychedelic rock band Weird Owl, released by A Recordings, Ltd. on May 25, 2015. [1] The album was ranked as the 11th best psychedelic record of 2015 by Redefine magazine. [2]

Album collection of recorded music, words, sounds

An album is a collection of audio recordings issued as a collection on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium. Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78-rpm records collected in a bound book resembling a photograph album; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl LP records played at ​33 1⁄3 rpm. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format widely used alongside vinyl from the 1970s into the first decade of the 2000s.

Psychedelic rock Style of rock music

Psychedelic rock is a diverse style of rock music inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelic culture, which is centred on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music is intended to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs, most notably LSD. Many psychedelic groups differ in style, and the label is often applied spuriously.

Weird Owl are a psychedelic rock band from Brooklyn, New York City formed in 2004. Their first recording, Nuclear Psychology, was released in 2007. Their debut studio album, Ever the Silver Cord Be Loosed, was released in 2009 by Tee Pee Records. Their second album, Build Your Beast a Fire, was released in 2011, and received generally positive reviews. Their mini-LP Healing was released in 2013, followed by the album Interstellar Skeletal in 2015.

Contents

Recording

Trevor Tyrrell, guitarist and lead vocalist for Weird Owl, stated in an interview with Decibel that "This was the first time our personnel remained unchanged between records, so it allowed us to push the sounds and visions we started to establish with Healing even farther toward some odd starry coordinates". [3]

Decibel is a monthly heavy metal magazine published by the Philadelphia-based Red Flag Media since October 2004. Its sections include Upfront, Features, Reviews, Guest Columns and the Decibel Hall of Fame. The magazine's tag-line is currently "Extremely Extreme" ; the editor-in-chief is Albert Mudrian.

<i>Healing</i> (Weird Owl album) 2013 studio album by Weird Owl

Healing is a mini-LP and the third studio album by the American psychedelic rock band Weird Owl, released on October 15, 2013. The short-length album was released by A Recordings, Ltd., unlike Weird Owl's previous studio albums, Ever the Silver Cord Be Loosed and Build Your Beast a Fire, which were released under the label of Tee Pee Records. Healing received generally mixed reviews upon its release.

The album's cover art was designed by Tyrrell, who wanted for the cover to be "abstract and unlike stereotypical psych album art", stating that "I wanted our album to look like it was from some time and some dimension completely unknown to the audience, and I wanted it to represent the cosmic psychic template (or skeleton) of the material universe". [3]

Abstract art Art with a degree of independence from visual references in the world

Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a new kind of art which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy. The sources from which individual artists drew their theoretical arguments were diverse, and reflected the social and intellectual preoccupations in all areas of Western culture at that time.

Dimension Maximum number of independent directions within a mathematical space

In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus a line has a dimension of one because only one coordinate is needed to specify a point on it – for example, the point at 5 on a number line. A surface such as a plane or the surface of a cylinder or sphere has a dimension of two because two coordinates are needed to specify a point on it – for example, both a latitude and longitude are required to locate a point on the surface of a sphere. The inside of a cube, a cylinder or a sphere is three-dimensional because three coordinates are needed to locate a point within these spaces.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [1]

Dave Cromwell of The Deli wrote that, throughout the album, "the band covers an extensive range of neo-psychedelia, post-rock and alternative/indie", and called the song "God" the album's highlight track. [4] Nic Smith, writing for SLUG Magazine , said that the album's "tracks are prone to suddenly diving into heavy riffs that inject energy and purpose back into their weightless soundscapes", and concluded his review by saying that "This record is a nice change of scenery, if you're in the mood for a cosmic comedown". [5]

The Deli is an independent music magazine, with both print and online editions, as well as a blog that cover local music scenes and their emerging artists. The magazine is run from Brooklyn, New York, and covers multiple cities and genres.

Neo-psychedelia is a diverse genre of psychedelic music that originated in the 1970s as an outgrowth of the British post-punk scene, also called acid punk. Its practitioners drew from the unusual sounds of 1960s psychedelia, either updating or copying the approaches from that era. After post-punk, neo-psychedelia flourished into a more widespread and international movement of artists who applied the spirit of psychedelic rock to new sounds and techniques. Neo-psychedelia may also include forays into psychedelic pop, jangly guitar rock, heavily distorted free-form jams, or recording experiments. A wave of British alternative rock in the early 1990s spawned the subgenres dream pop and shoegazing.

Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with electronics. The genre emerged within the indie and underground music scene of the 1980s and early 1990s. However, due to its abandonment of rock conventions, it often bears little resemblance musically to contemporary indie rock, borrowing instead from diverse sources including ambient music, electronica, jazz, krautrock, dub, and minimalist classical.

The album was named the 11th best psychedelic album of 2015 by Redefine magazine, with writer Thad McKraken stating that Weird Owl "doesn’t do anything particularly well, and yet, it’s somehow arranged with such a concise precision that it rules". [2] In regards to Weird Owl's discography, Jeff Treppel of Decibel called the album "the finest LP of their career". [3]

Redefine Magazine is an independent online publication which began in May 2004, and it is dedicated to music, visual art, and film, and the ways in which the disciplines merge. The magazine also has a social aspect to it, and routinely highlights non-profit and humanitarian causes. It is based in Seattle, Washington.

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Interstellar Skeletal"2:19
2."Silver Ziggurats"3:32
3."God"6:35
4."Split from the Sun"4:26
5."Fine Vibrations"8:16
6."White Werewolf"6:43
7."Flying Fortress"6:19
8."You Are a Spacecraft"5:01
9."Interstellar Skeletal II"0:42
Total length:43:53

Personnel

Guitar Fretted string instrument

The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that usually has six strings. It is typically played with both hands by strumming or plucking the strings with either a guitar pick or the finger(s)/fingernails of one hand, while simultaneously fretting with the fingers of the other hand. The sound of the vibrating strings is projected either acoustically, by means of the hollow chamber of the guitar, or through an electrical amplifier and a speaker.

Singing act of producing musical sounds with the voice

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice and augments regular speech by the use of sustained tonality, rhythm, and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir of singers or a band of instrumentalists. Singers may perform as soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Different singing styles include art music such as opera and Chinese opera, Indian music and religious music styles such as gospel, traditional music styles, world music, jazz, blues, ghazal and popular music styles such as pop, rock, electronic dance music and filmi.

The bass guitar is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, except with a longer neck and scale length, and typically four to six strings or courses. Since the 1960s, the bass guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Interstellar Skeletal - Weird Owl". AllMusic . Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  2. 1 2 Thad McKraken (31 December 2015). "Psychoactive Soundscapes: Top Psychedelic Records of 2015". Redefine . Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 Jeff Treppel (15 June 2015). "No Polka Here: An Interstellar Interview and Song Premiere from Weird Owl". Decibel . Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  4. ↑ Dave Cromwell (27 July 2015). "Weird Owl releases 4th LP "Interstellar Skeletal" + tours Europe in September". The Deli . Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  5. ↑ Nic Smith (1 October 2015). "Review: Weird Owl – Interstellar Skeletal". SLUG Magazine . Retrieved 15 May 2017.


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