{"title":"Market","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"the-consistent-brutal-bullshit-gong","title":"The Consistent Brutal Bullshit Gong","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor fans of Big Thief, Parquet Courts, Cate Le Bon, Elliott Smith, LVL UP. On their debut for Western Vinyl, recording engineer and multi-instrumentalist Nate Mendelsohn and his band use lyrical maximalism for the powers of good. Where Market’s previous home recorded releases shifted genre restlessly, on \u003ci\u003eThe Consistent Brutal Bullshit Gong Mendelsohn\u003c\/i\u003e took a core band of longtime collaborators to a house in rural Massachusetts where they carved out space for his words to speak through with humor and intensity. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThough he comes from a background in experimental music, Mendelsohn’s ear for pop has prevailed. Certain moments on Bullshit Gong reveal his stranger side, as on the thundering bridge of “Scar,” which sounds like a more unhinged Parquet Courts, or the angular “I Would Do That,” which takes cues from Cate Le Bon. On the whole, though, this band of close friends insists on directness, their arrangements clear despite the intricacies. Guitars and synthesizers tangle fluidly atop the rhythm section’s tight bedrock, evoking the tenderness and backbeat-centric qualities of Elliott Smith or Big Thief.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter college, where he met most of the members of Market, Mendelsohn became an engineer and producer at the Brooklyn studio Figure 8 Recording. Through that community he’s recorded artists like Frankie Cosmos and Wendy Eisenberg, and played with Yaeji, Vagabon, Katie Von Schleicher (who co-produced Bullshit Gong with him), and Sam Evian, who mixed the album.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCreating intimacy out of manic self-reflection requires a delicate balancing act, one Mendelsohn tackles with abandon. His words never skew too poetic or grandiose, and when he invokes the ugly it’s met with a sonic tonality that sets him right again. In tender moments, his voice is often flanked by bandmates Natasha Thweatt or Von Schleicher, who help skew his words toward the universal. Still, Bullshit Gong is an obsessive look inward, one in which Mendelsohn simply asks himself if he is good to those he loves. It’s an act of trust between the artist and the imagined listener he takes with him.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMendelsohn has worked in the studio as an engineer and musician with Frankie Cosmos, Yaeji, Sam Evian, Wendy Eisenberg, Thor Harris, Rebecca Black, in addition to touring as a member of Katie Von Schleicher’s band.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Western Vinyl","offers":[{"title":"Blue | LP","offer_id":50504671527243,"sku":"1144838","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50504672018763,"sku":"1144837","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/b9bc2b62-e78d-444d-9d8a-871024e272c4_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727809012"},{"product_id":"well-i-asked-you-a-question","title":"Well I Asked You A Question","description":"\u003cp\u003eSince writing 2022's \u003ci\u003eThe Consistent Brutal Bullshit Gong\u003c\/i\u003e, Market’s Nate Mendelsohn has become more entrenched in the Brooklyn, NY music community, producing the recent Frankie Cosmos and Dougie Poole albums, performing in Vagabon and Sam Evian, and recording with Yaeji and Lady Lamb. These experiences with adventurous artists likely resonate with fans of records like \u003ci\u003ePet Sounds, Fantasma, Insignificance, Blonde\u003c\/i\u003e, or\u003ci\u003e XO\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003ci\u003eWell I Asked You A Question's\u003c\/i\u003e aforementioned sonic palette wonderfully melds the physical and the synthetic: sampled orchestras duel with real orchestras (“Fantasy”), a robot’s spoken word duets with a choir of humans (“Around”), and blasts of noise “solo” over traditional rock instrumentation (“Rachel’s Getting Married”).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThough many of the sounds on the record are augmented and fractured, Mendelsohn still worked with the Market band, consisting of Stephen Becker, Natasha Bergman, and Duncan Standish, to build out the songs. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe wanted “musical accidents with frayed edges left in still a group of people, in a room, playing songs.” Beyond the core band, world-expanding contributions came from Katie von Schleicher, Mike Haldeman (Moses Sumney, Alto Palo), Justin Felton (L’Rain, Strugglin’), Rose Droll (Feist, Art Feynman) and Helen Newby with engineering by Adam Hirsch (Sam Amidon, Stephen Steinbrink).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWell I Asked You a Question\u003c\/i\u003e is ambitious and complex, but Mendelsohn tempers those goals by aiming at heart, toward the very human. Lyrically, it’s an exploration of speaking, asking, responding and the muddled nature of talking to one’s self versus interacting with others. In his words, he’s alternately “escaping the noise of the world by going inward” and “escaping the noise of the brain by going outward.” Whether swaddled in sound or absorbing the errant thoughts it carries, we’re along for the ride.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor fans of Alex G, Mitski, Jim O’Rourke, Mk.gee, Cornelius.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Western Vinyl","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50531284648267,"sku":"2220240","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Well_I_Asked_You_a_Question_7e500f24_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1728102817"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/market.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}