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12"
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AMI 051EP
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"Amish is pleased to announce the physical release date of June 19, 2020 for Sunwatchers' third Amish-related release, Brave Rats EP. Quick on the heels of the band's fourth full-length, Oh Yeah? (Trouble in Mind) out April 2020, Brave Rats celebrates Sunwatchers and the EP format, well after the moment of the latter's extinction. The title track delivers Sunwatchers' most anthemic pop music to date, while the other five tracks mix the political with the punk, street toughs aligning with the avant-garde. Guitarist Jim McHugh recounts the origins of both the title song and the EP itself: 'I was walking home very late at night from a short-lived bartending gig on the Lower East Side during a period when I had been reading books about the struggles of working-class people and immigrants and squatters in those neighborhoods. Coming across the Williamsburg Bridge, I decided to go by our old practice space on South 4th, across from Pies-N-Thighs -- where I very briefly worked as a line cook. This was the night the restaurant had reopened in their new location -- and out front there was an enormous cadre of grease emboldened rats. I kept thinking about the rats in relation to the new residents of the Lower East Side and North Brooklyn. I hoped for those rats to be brazen and Brave in the face of the extermination efforts that they/we all face.' Other tracks on the 12" EP include: a hypnotic and vaguely psychedelic cover of Sonny Sharrock's 'Blind Willie' taken from Sunwatchers' first recorded studio session in March 2015; an alternate version of 'Everybody Play'; an esoteric and extended deep dive with 'Saxz'; and a live version of Alice Coltrane's 'Ptah, The El Daoud,' recorded when Sunwatchers opened for Bill Callahan in June 2016. The EP closes with 'Pedal One,' an outtake from Sunwatchers' score to Ian Olds' film Burn Country (2016)."
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CD
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CF 070CD
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"'Hard to pin down, harder to hold onto; bent circuit board snake charmers unfurl across hexagonal grids. A seemingly familiar sound, but then you realize you have your ear pressed against a reflection. Sunwatchers are a distorted prism to so many past greats: reminiscent of Ethiopiques, John Handy Band, Terry Riley, Art Ensemble meets Laddio Bolocko. Forever-swirling saxophone blended belly-to-belly with elastic guitar and tinfoil-thin phin (a Thai instrument not unlike an electrified tenor guitar or sitar); a whirlpool of repetitious interpretations; militaristic marches ascend into meditations. These songs map out great pyramids and deep, buried labyrinths; they are massive, they are leviathans. The band is comprised of NYC improv heavy hitters -- Jim McHugh (guitar, electric phin), Peter Kerlin (bass), Jeff Tobias (alto sax), Cory Bracken (vibes, percussion), Jason Robira (drums) -- and sitting in are Dave Harrington (guitar, synth), Ben Greenberg (guitar), Dave Kadden (keyboard), Jonah Rapino (fiddle). Notable previous projects include Dark Meat, Arthur Doyle's New Quiet Screamers, NYMPH and Chris Forsyth's Solar Motel Band. Amazing cover painting of Handsome Jimmy Valiant by artist Scott Lenhardt -- a strange but somehow sensible match made in heaven. Dream machinery, just plain far out. Look for traces of this one in your brain jelly afterwards.' -- John Dwyer"
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LP
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CF 070LP
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LP version. Includes download code.
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