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LP
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NR 029LP
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"Grails don't mince words. Awesomely communicative but entirely instrumental, this dynamic band's violin, guitars, piano, and drums collide with sober melodies and massive emotion. At alternate moments, Grails can sound vaguely classical, Eastern European, Irish, like the lost tapes of Pauline Oliveros, and rock. They're not really like anything else on the Neurot roster, but they've got something in common with all the Neurot bands: a commitment to intense music that forges new paths and communicates in the most real way possible. Grails have their fair share of ambient noise -- shivery violins, a trickle of a high-hat, the amplified scrape of a guitar string -- but their music is based on strong, narrative melodies that resonate in the heart. At times it sounds delicate, but they never cower. Burden of Hope is the debut LP, following a pair of self-released, eponymous EPs in 2000 and 2002. The LP is the culmination of a year's worth of recordings, including a reinterpretation of Sun City Girls' classic 'Space Prophet Dogon.' Grails are gathered in Portland, Oregon from Baltimore, Little Rock, Louisville, Chapel Hill, and Reno. As an ensemble, their respective backgrounds in hardcore, classical, folk, and rock blend seamlessly. Formed in late 2000 to execute live the bedroom recordings of guitarist Alex Hall, the once-tentatively-assembled group found unexpected success with both audiences and local press. Originally formed under the moniker Laurel Canyon, the name of the group was changed to Grails to coincide with the release of The Burden of Hope in October, 2003."
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CD
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IMPREC 190CD
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"Opening with a nod to Syd Barret's Pink Floyd (Piper at the Gates of Dawn) Take Refuge In Clean Living begins with morse code and drops into one of the heaviest slow-burn grooves in the Grails canon. Sounding something like Hawkwind and Ravi Shankar scoring Blade Runner, it's lysergic and earthy for Grails in a new way. The rest of the record moves from blissful Eno-inspired ambience, to epic Morricone rock hymns, to an unexpected take on a Ventures tune that returns the listener back to the very beginnings of instrumental rock music. Take Refuge in Clean Living sees Grails pulling back their already-wide lens on multiple sonic horizons. Grails often take what seems like would sound over-ambitious on paper and make it flow sonically in a laid-back style. The band is defined by exploration and they've created a template for themselves where any style or method can be ingested to reap legitimate rewards. Take Refuge seems to suggest that Grails can't run out of ideas."
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CD
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IMPREC 105CD
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"The collected Black Tar Prophecies ends up being a more idiosyncratic mission statement for future Grails recordings, revealing their fondness for the groundfloor '60s and '70s experimental artists that saw music as a process of discovery as opposed to the pre-conceived, pre-parametered, commodified sport that underground music has become. A parallel is now forming between Grails and old-school experimental bands like Faust who, rejecting their past, started over from the beginning to build new languages in music. Grails' third full length recording, and first full-length since leaving Neurosis' label Neurot, is The Black Tar Prophecies. Seven of these nine tracks from this full length were released in small highly sought-after pressings of 12" vinyl on two European labels. The Black Tar Prophecies is a massive evolutionary step in the established Grails sound and it is shrouded in change and pain. The somewhat clinical studio sound and recording style which has established them a tremendous following has been replaced with a much more free and conceptual recording style. This method liberated the group in the studio and these recordings feel much more open, heavy and for lack of a better term, 'psychedelic.' We're not talking about the cliché co-opted psychedelic fashion, but psychedelia as a reckless embrace of new states of mind and possibilities." Last copies...
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