Christmas Decorations Record New Album, Explore Side Projects, Tour
Catherine Lewis reports:
The Brooklyn duo Christmas Decorations (Nick Forte and Steve Silverstein) will release their second album, Machines Were There, on Kranky in February. The album was recorded to a cassette four-track in Silverstein's home and mixed on Forte's computer. "The biggest difference between Model 91 and Machines Were There might be the presence of a lot more distortion," says Silverstein. "We use a consistent palette of sounds to unite somewhat diverse material, but the beeps, hisses, and sustained guitars of Model 91 have given way to a somewhat harsher, more driving, and distinctly chopped-up palette this time." Forte agrees, noting that "...some of the songs deal with the current quagmire of technological dependence (both musically and lyrically) our world is in and others are reflections on my broke-ass musician's life in NYC circa 2003."
The Decorations plan to perform live in December. The tracklist, as it stands now, reads like this:
01 A Gift of Clicking Needles
02 Machines Were There
03 Shovel and Pail
04 Stop Laughing
05 Boy Rusted Shut
06 Local Growth
07 Light the Kerosene Lamp
08 No Animal
09 Head on the Desk
10 Petrified Staircase
11 Broke Black Swing
12 Ten Such Threads
In the meantime, Forte will be touring to support his debut solo album Pasted Lakes, which dropped this summer on Schematic Records. He describes his side work as "computer-based compositions usually originating with guitar improvisation, though this gets messed with so much it often it is not apparent." The tour will feature fellow Schematic folks Phoenicia, Richard Devine, and Otto Von Schirach-- as well as a few rotating guests along the way. Tour dates (all shows with DJ Aura):
10-16 San Francisco, CA - Rawhide
10-17 Los Angeles, CA - What Club
10-18 San Diego, CA - Honey Bee Hive
10-21 Tucson, AZ - Solar Arts Gallery
10-22 Albuquerque, NM - Opm
10-23 Denver, CO - Climax Lounge
10-25 Milwaukee, WI - TBA *
10-26 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle *
10-27 Cincinnati, OH - Southgate House *
10-28 Detroit, MI - Panacea *
10-29 Pittsburgh, PA - Rex Theater *
10-30 Philadelphia, PA - TBA *
11-02 New York, NY - TBA #
11-03 Brooklyn, NY - South Paw #
* with Hearts of Darkness
# with Hearts of Darkness, Dino Felipe
.: Pitchfork Review: Christmas Decorations: Model 91
.: Pitchfork Review: Nick Forte: Pasted Lakes
.: Kranky: http://www.kranky.net
.: Schematic: http://www.schematic.net
.: Originally published: 16 October 2003
.: Items mentioned above on Amazon.com:
Model 91 (Christmas Decorations, 2002);
Pasted Lakes (Nick Forte, 2003).
