{"title":"Pile","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePile is an American indie rock band formed in 2007. Known for their raw and energetic sound, *Pile* has become a prominent figure in the underground music scene. Drawing inspiration from various genres such as punk, post-hardcore, and noise rock, their music captivates listeners with its intense guitar riffs and powerful vocals.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith a discography spanning over a decade, *Pile* has released several critically acclaimed albums that have garnered them a dedicated fanbase. Their unique blend of catchy melodies and introspective lyrics sets them apart from other artists in the genre.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOften compared to bands like Ovlov, Krill, and LVL UP among others, *Pile* continues to push boundaries with their experimental approach to songwriting. Their live performances are known for their high energy and passionate delivery, leaving audiences wanting more.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"songs-known-together-alone","title":"Songs Known Together, Alone","description":"\u003cp\u003ePile is currently known as a band but it started in 2007 as a solo project by Rick Maguire. Because of the circumstances of 2020, it temporarily returned to being a mostly solo operation and Rick recorded \u003ci\u003eSongs Known Together, Alone\u003c\/i\u003e, a reimagining of some of the band’s previously released material. Recorded live in a barn in upstate New York, Rick used the opportunity to explore new sounds and instrumentation, half of the songs were performed on guitar and a foot-pedal synthesizer and the other half performed on piano. The reimagined performances show Pile in a new light, and while the approach is unlike anything heard from the band before, the emotional charge is just as palpable.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Exploding In Sound Records","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50476359123275,"sku":"1130728","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/59904eb9-3bb3-4cb4-a013-e5f08636eee1_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727458462"},{"product_id":"live-at-third-man-records-11","title":"Live at Third Man Records","description":"\u003cp\u003eProminent members of the Boston music scene and post-rock specialists, Pile began as the brainchild (and solo project) of Rick Maguire in 2007. In the earliest incarnations, the songs were the broken bones of bigger ideas: the impassioned, ramshackle work of one dude with a momentous sense of riff and mood. In the time between then and now, the band has enjoyed a steady output and expanded to include Kris Kuss, Matt Connery, Matt Becker and, from time to time, Chappy Hull. This spring, their new critically-acclaimed LP \u003ci\u003eA Hairshirt of Purpose\u003c\/i\u003e was given a rare 10\/10 by The AV Club, citing the record is “still pushing the (rock music) form to its outermost limits,\" and fortunately, this live LP was recorded right after its release, capturing them at a distinctly creative peak and unparalleled energy. This record is somehow chilling and explosive - kicking off with their total jam \u003ci\u003eBaby Boy\u003c\/i\u003e and including a surprise Blonde Redhead cover. It stands shoulder to shoulder with the rest of their catalog and will no doubt remain a shining example of Third Man's live series for years to come.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Third Man","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50481994793291,"sku":"1023419","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/ea6e36c9-dd7b-461d-9290-fa55145c14ab_thumbnail_4096.png?v=1727547729"},{"product_id":"hot-air-balloon-ep","title":"Hot Air Balloon EP","description":"\u003cp\u003ePile - the trio of Rick Maguire, Kris Kuss, and Alex Molini - found inspiration in the studio while working on their latest LP \u003ci\u003eAll Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e, working tirelessly to record, experiment, manipulate, mutate, and layer the songs with lush orchestration, haunting synths, and abstract textures. Challenging the confines of the standard “rock band,” they took inspiration from artists like Portishead and Aphex Twin, reigniting their passion as they explored their sound in a new realm. The sessions resulted in a flutter of productivity and before the band knew it they had completed well over a dozen songs, stretching far beyond the confines of a single LP’s runtime. After much deliberation, songs were pulled from the record, never a “trimming of the fat” but more of a consideration of which songs were able to stand best on their own. These songs form the Hot Air Balloon EP. Released digitally on January 5th, 2024, and now in LP format for the first time, the EP captures the band experimenting in all directions, from the direct to the further abstract. Following the release of “Scaling Walls,” a song Paste Magazine called “a contemplative slow-burn,” the band introduce the EP with the quasi title track, “The Birds Attacked My Hot Air Balloon,” a song that finds Pile in a more surrealist state, the meditative composition bristling with shuffling rhythms and brilliantly disorienting synths.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Exploding In Sound Records","offers":[{"title":"Blue 12\"","offer_id":50496693567819,"sku":"2223457","price":26.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Hot_Air_Balloon_EP_42bdd75f_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727723222"},{"product_id":"all-fiction-2","title":"All Fiction","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor fifteen years, Pile's evolving take on rock has earned the group one oft-repeated superlative: your favourite band's favourite band.  Ceaseless touring took its members from Boston's basement circuit to international festivals, hitting loftier technical apexes with each new record. \u003ci\u003eAll Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e, the band's eighth record, fialtnds the ambitious group assembling its most texturally complex material yet.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Exploding In Sound Records","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50828925141323,"sku":"2008122","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50828926845259,"sku":"2008123","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/All_Fiction_e4fb7300_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1731518633"},{"product_id":"sunshine-and-balance-beams","title":"Sunshine and Balance Beams","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSunshine and Balance Beams\u003c\/em\u003e, Pile’s ninth album, is a Sisyphean parable concerned with labour and living. To write it, singer Rick Maguire inhabited “a dark place,” wrestling with the concept that there is no enlightenment, no end to suffering. Maguire explores workaholism, the myth of meritocracy, and acceptance of mortality—all through a devilish allegory of trudging through a shadowy forest towards the uncertain dream of a bright clearing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePile wrestles with existential and social contradictions by evoking sonic in-betweens. The music exists somewhere in the temporary equilibrium of light and shadow, chaos and order. Heated rain-like guitars, shifting drums that pave sinuous roads in sound and pace, eerie synths, and aqueous strings add to a panoramic production of loud-quiet dynamism matching the emotionality of the band’s thunderous performances.\u003cbr\u003eThe group also favored freewheeling performances that would animate the storytelling, while enlisting a string section (violins, viola, cello) to perform incandescent, through-composed arrangements co-written by cellist Eden Rayz and Pile. They drew inspiration from cinema and opera scores by Chopin, Bernard Herrmann, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, lending Sunshine a larger-than-life sound that intensifies Pile’s blistering realizations of some of their most accessible songwriting to date.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe recording is a noticeable leap in production value, and centers Maguire’s vocals in new and exciting ways. Pile traveled to Pawtucket, RI for two weeks of tracking at Machines with Magnets with longtime engineer Miranda Serra (Kal Marks, Kira McSpice). The album was mixed by Seth Manchester (Lightning Bolt, Mdou Moctar), and Mastered by Matt Colton (Aphex Twin, Swans, Muse).\u003cem\u003e Sunshine and Balance Beams\u003c\/em\u003e is Pile’s first album for Chicago’s Sooper Records.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sooper Records","offers":[{"title":"LP - Purple","offer_id":51803604943179,"sku":"R8321-3151","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":51803604910411,"sku":"R8321-1888","price":23.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":51803604844875,"sku":"R8321-4319","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Tape","offer_id":51803604877643,"sku":"R8321-3056","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Pile-SunshineandBalanceBeams.jpg?v=1747045345"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/pile.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}