THE GARMENT DISTRICT (featuring Jennifer Baron)
“Luminous Toxin”
KSE #296 (CDR album)
a beautiful and haunting new collection of atmospheric all-instrumental pieces from Pittsburgh’s acclaimed Psychedelic musician-composer-bandleader
$8 US postpaid / $11.50 elsewhere postpaid
payment via paypal to django5722(at)yahoo(dot)com
please provide a note with your order listing the items you’ve ordered and your mailing address….thanks!
We featured a piece on Jennifer Baron/The Garment District in a May 23, 2015 post (scroll down to that for some background info) as a kind of teaser for her new KSE album, but the tease is now over….LUMINOUS TOXIN is out and available. This is an album specially commissioned by KSE from Ms. Baron. When I work with a psychedelic musician (Plastic Crimewave, for instance) who is an excellent songwriter, I generally encourage them to save their great songs for a better-distributed label and to let their experimental or conceptual side run free at KSE–this is the place for them to put out their TWO VIRGINS or their SKY YEN. I’ve followed Jennifer Baron’s work for many years, through the various earlier GARMENT DISTRICT releases, and have always had the greatest respect for this amazing lady: multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, bandleader, and someone who truly “gets” the deeper aspects of the psychedelic experience. So many people today who drop the term “psychedelic” view it as a series of mannerisms or images or chord progressions–for me, it’s almost an initiation or a rite of passage one goes through, and when one becomes a member of the society of psychedelic brethren, one never needs to “announce” the term or reference the expected tropes–it’s imbued into the work, whatever the work might be. Jennifer Baron’s work of any kind—-her photography, her arts curating, etc., not just her music—reflects a certain effervescent, magical quality. Even though her music does not resemble, say, Tyrannosaurus Rex-period Marc Bolan, she shares that sparkling, mystical ineffable quality. However, LUMINOUS TOXIN is not an album that would automatically be put in the “psychedelic” section of a record store.
Instead of creating her TWO VIRGINS, as mentioned above, Jennifer Baron has created her WONDERWALL MUSIC here. No, it’s not Indian-inspired, but actually it’s atmospheric instrumental work that evokes soundtrack music. Her skill as a composer of excellent trippy songs has led her, as it led Mancini and Morricone (both also excellent writers of songs), to create soundscapes that sing, that press the buttons of the imagination. Those knowing earlier GARMENT DISTRICT music will get a pleasant surprise here….instead of reminding one of, say, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy or the Crome Syrcus, reference points for this album might include Bowie’s Low or Eno’s Another Green World….or the more melodic side of Fripp & Eno or perhaps some of David Sylvian’s things with Japan. There’s also a Krautrock element, yet if I was given this album and told it was from a John Carpenter or Dario Argento soundtrack, I could believe it.
LUMINOUS TOXIN’s instrumental soundscapes evoke a world, a world where I’d like to live! As I said earlier, all of Jennifer Baron’s many pursuits have a unity, and perhaps the best way to evoke the feel of the album might be to show you a series of photographs of hers because the album sounds the way these look:
and let’s not forget the beautiful cover photo, which was taken (I believe) in Las Vegas:
The way these photographs evoke so much, have such a luminous texture and glow, similarly the new Garment District album LUMINOUS TOXIN will have a similar effect on the open-minded listener and will take him/her into its mystical world. Just to be clear, this is NOT a drone/ambient release–if you like side 2 of Bowie’s LOW, think of that as a jumping-off point. But really, it’s pure GARMENT DISTRICT, soundtracks for the mind, and of course, Jennifer Baron’s instrumentation (Rickenbacker guitar, 1980’s Roland JX-3P synth, Wurlitzer electric piano, old Hohner organ, bells and various percussion) will be familiar from her more overtly psychedelic works.
A wonderful and magical new creation from a major talent from one of my favorite cities, PITTSBURGH.
THE GARMENT DISTRICT were featured in the Silver Studio Sessions of the Andy Warhol Museum, and you can catch those performances here: http://www.warhol.org/connect/silverstudiosessions/The-Garment-District/#.VYGaovlViko
And here is a 2014 interview from TINY MIX TAPES: http://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/the-garment-district
You can score a digital copy of the 2011 Garment District cassette album Melody Elder here: https://thegarmentdistrict.bandcamp.com/
The Garment District is music by multi-instrumentalist Jennifer Baron, a founding member of Brooklyn’s The Ladybug Transistor (Merge). Her debut tape, Melody Elder, was released on Night-People in late 2011 and her latest 7″ on La Station Radar features a remix by Sonic Boom. In Summer of 2014, The Garment District’s debut full-length LP was released (vinyl + digital formats) on Night-People. We are honored to welcome THE GARMENT DISTRICT and Jennifer to the KSE family. There’s no one like her, and we appreciate her spending months on LUMINOUS TOXIN, an original creation made especially for Kendra Steiner Editions. Get your copy NOW!
And while you are ordering that, why not also get some of our Spring 2015 releases:
KSE CDR’s OF EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC NOW AVAILABLE:
full-sized KSE CDR’s ($8.00 each, ppd. in US—outside US $11.50)
Please include a note with your paypal order including the items ordered AND your mailing address (which Paypal often fails to provide me)….thanks!
ALL ARE AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY
new releases for 2015:
NEW FOR SUMMER 2015: KSE #310 (CDR) MORE EAZE (Marcus M. Rubio), “Accidental Prizes”
NEW FOR SUMMER 2015: KSE #294, FOSSILS WITH BRIAN RURYK (a joint release with Middle James Co.—-only 48 copies made, 24 from Middle James, 24 from KSE)
NEW FOR SUMMER 2015: KSE #305, RAMBUTAN, “Remember Me Now”
NEW FOR SUMMER 2015: KSE #299, LISA CAMERON & ERNESTO DIAZ-INFANTE, “Sol Et Terra”
NEW FOR 2015: KSE #298, GIFT FIG: the duo of ALFRED 23 HARTH & CARL STONE, “Stellenbosch” (live in South Africa, September 2014)
NEW FOR 2015: KSE #293, MORE EAZE (aka Marcus M. Rubio), “stylistic deautomatization”
NEW FOR 2015: KSE #307, STEVE FLATO, “Exhaust System”
NEW FOR 2015: KSE #292, DEREK ROGERS, “Depth/Detail of Processing”
NEW FOR 2015: KSE #300 (CDR), FOSSILS & BILL SHUTE, “The Florida Nocturne Poems” (poetry and music album), cover art by MP Landis
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SUMMER 2015 will bring SEVEN new releases: in addition to THE GARMENT DISTRICT, we’ll have new albums from LISA CAMERON & ERNESTO DIAZ-INFANTE, FOSSILS, RAMBUTAN, FADENSONNEN, MORE EAZE (Marcus M. Rubio), and JEN HILL. Stay tuned….
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Kendra Steiner Editions (Bill Shute) 
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