Damon McMahon of Amen Dunes just sent over his new video for "Bedroom Drum," directed by Jesse Hlebo, and its effect on me is crushing. The tension within the blank spaces between shots is wildly unnerving, forcing us to connect the scenes and ultimately write the story ourselves. But the slow tracking shots from behind, light from under a doorway, the turn of a faucet-- they all emerge from the dark as Damon's voice comes from the murk and rumble of his instrumentation, like pleas to a pulsing void. --Ian Pearson, Altered Zones
MP3: Amen Dunes: "Bedroom Drum"
Through Donkey Jaw is available for purchase from Sacred Bones
CMJ is finally here! While we couldn't be more stoked to present our own party at the New Museum this Saturday with Trash Talk, Eric Copeland, araabMUZIK, and Atlas Sound, among others, there's four other nights of music to behold. Read on to see the CMJ shows that you absolutely can't miss. --Ric Leichtung, Altered Zones
By Ian Pearson
MP3: Amen Dunes: "Christopher"
MP3: Amen Dunes: "Bedroom Drum"
In 2009, Amen Dunes' debut LP, DIA, presented itself as a mystery: a red cardboard sleeve with strange, xerox-printed art, the story of a man taking refuge with his guitar in a Catskill Mountain cabin, and twelve dissonant jams from the leafy crawl space, stirring and emotive. In the months to follow, this terribly romantic story and the ambling folk freak-outs it left behind caught the attention of listeners Internet-wide. What I first encountered as some obscure record bin treasure became a prized gem in an ever-growing, modern fuzz-psych canon. Damon McMahon, the man behind the moniker, has since released a few follow-ups, including this year's finest downer, Through Donkey Jaw on Sacred Bones, and Rat on a Grecian Urn, a cassette of unstructured compositions on Fixed Identity. I phoned Damon a few weeks ago, just after the threat and ultimate disappointment of hurricane-turned-tropical-storm Irene, to talk about the origins of Amen Dunes and where he's headed now.
AZ: Amen Dunes is not your first project. How did this one come about?
Damon McMahon: It came about from some recordings I was doing in 2006. I bought a tape machine and miscellaneous music gear and I had a plan to just go away for a month and record some stuff. I ended up with a bunch of songs that I didn't intend on releasing, but then sent them to this label in Chicago called Locust Music, and they said they wanted to put it out. That's when I put a name to the project. I had no intention of playing shows at all at the point. I didn't even play any until 2009, when the album came out. So it was just the name for the recordings I did in 2006.
AZ: Did you have any kind of musical training?
Damon: It was pretty minimal. When I was 15, I took one year of guitar lessons, where they'll try to teach you The Allman Brothers. That was it. I learned the chords, but to this day I have no idea what key anything is in, or which scales. All I know is major/minor chords, seventh chords, and then everything else I kind of... I like it that way. I wouldn't want to know too much. But the thing is, ever since I was 13 or 14, I've just been a fanatic listener, and I think that's been my music training. I've internalized patterns or habits of how people structure songs.
Brooklyn-based DIY label Blackburn Recordings is offering up a second helping of savory lo-fidelity cuts with Various Deficiencies Vol. 2. The compilation features a blend of highly relevant spices, including tracks from Sweet Bulbs, who now go by Heaven's Gate after shedding some members; King Cyst, formally known as No Demons Here, solo-project of Big Troubles's Luka Usmiani; Sultan, who is also moving to greener pastures; and Amen Dunes, who has recently released albums on both Sacred Bones and Fixed Identity. To layer awesome on top of awesome, they're feeding all of it to us for free through WFMU's Free Music Archive. But for the vinyl enthusiasts who would rather chow down on a plate of wax, Blackburn has started a Kickstarter campaign to help you help them cook it themselves. Donate enough and you can even write the liner notes. --Ian Pearson, Altered Zones
MP3: Amen Dunes : "When I Was A Kid"
Download Various Deficiencies Vol. 2 from Free Music Archive, and head over to Kickstarter to pitch-in for a 12" pressing
Memories of marathon cartoon viewings in my youth conjure a hypnagogic state smothered in sludge. Listening to this cut from Amen Dunes' freshly pressed Rat on a Grecian Urn cassette for Fixed Identity, it's natural to drift into that mindset. An ambient mess of meandering guitar lines meshes with phantom moans, offering the perfect soundtrack for the warm glow of a television. The onset of a muffled percussive assault anchors us firmly to the couch, minds adrift in suspended animation. --Matt Sullivan, Altered Zones
MP3: Amen Dunes: "Watching Cartoons"
Rat on a Grecian Urn is out now on Fixed Identity, and the forthcoming Through Donkey Jaw LP is out August 16th on Sacred Bones
--Previously:
For his 2009 debut under the Amen Dunes moniker, Dia, Damon McMahon followed in the great hermetic tradition of Thoreau-- holing up in a cabin in the woods, later returning to civilization with a thick beard and a cathartic experience under his belt. Dia's murky color, arboreal soundscapes, insular lyricism, and sometimes frantic mood swings fit the archetype of a creative mind exorcising demons amongst nature's splendor.
On the forthcoming Through Donkey Jaw, McMahon again wears his shroud of mystery well, this time concealing a subtly dynamic sound that bolsters broader instrumentation and songs free of tension. Dia felt claustrophobic and confined at times, rumbling with the sounds of kinetic psychedelia attempting to bubble through the cracks in the walls of McMahon's Catskill retreat. In contrast, Through Donkey Jaw offers ample breathing room, showcasing McMahon's sparse and cosmic guitar melodies as they float gently above deep pockets of muffled distortion and dusty trails. The breezy, hummable hooks within the peyote-fueled album closer "Christopher" feel rollicking and freewheeling, yet still exist within the shadows around Amen Dunes' trademark foreboding ambience.
The resplendent sonic palette of Amen Dunes' grainy acid folk parallels the mind-bending songwriting of Skip Spence and Roky Erickson, though McMahon carves out his own niche. A monumental and articulate effort throughout, Through Donkey Jaw proves Amen Dunes will continue his vision quest, albeit less overtly. --Kenny Bloggins, The Decibel Tolls
MP3: Amen Dunes: "Christopher"
Through Donkey Jaw is available August 16th from the musically cohesive, graphically distinct, all around solid label Sacred Bones.
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