{"title":"The Writhing Squares","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"mythology-3","title":"Mythology","description":"\u003cp\u003eRIYL: Seventies-era Miles Davis, Spacemen 3, Cabaret Voltaire, Hawkwind, Motorhead, The Stooges, Voivod, Purling Hiss, Parliament. In many ways, the music of Writhing Squares could have only originated in Philadelphia; the city itself a microcosm of creatives, go-getters, freaks \u0026amp; weirdos that have coalesced into a supportive \u0026amp; boundary-pushing crew. Former Purling Hiss bassist Daniel Provenzano \u0026amp; Ecstatic Vision sax-player \u0026amp; vocalist Kevin Nickles' first musical missive was shot forth in 2013 (the self-released CDR \"Live In Space\") \u0026amp; various singles, split releases, albums (and a double-album) later we arrive at the duo's fourth full-length \"Mythology\", their third for Chicago-based Trouble In Mind Records. \"Mythology\" picks up the pieces left shattered by their previous double-album \"Chart For The Solution\" and reconnects the broken shards together like Kintsugi, the ancient Japanese technique for mending broken ceramics, infusing the breaks with powdered gold. The Squares themselves are like mad-scientists, taking the ruined detritus populating junk shops \u0026amp; surplus outlets \u0026amp; constructing their own sonic laboratories in their New Jersey basements to record, mix \u0026amp; tweak \"Mythology\"'s eight tracks. Their new location allowed the band to regroup, reassess \u0026amp; reconstruct their sound from the ground up, shearing away the cosmic excess of 2021's \"Chart For The Solution\" to a sharper point. Tracks like 'Barbarians' \u0026amp; 'LEM' are classic Squares; brutal, aggressive, unwavering assault of Motorhead\/Stooges-inflected sci-fi punk scree, while others like 'Chromatophage's mutant funk \u0026amp; 'Cerberu''s techno-slink owe a serious debt to electric-era Miles Davis \u0026amp; show that the group has more to offer than bludgeoning you with sonic force. Provenzano's bass \u0026amp; electronics are like a tank rolling across the terrain - a gnarly construct of Hawkwind-ian headiness \u0026amp; 'Vincebus Eruptum's snarl - uncaring of what gets in the way. Nickles' brass vacillates between Stooges-influenced sleaze, jazzy no-wave stabs, \u0026amp; cacophonous sonic storms, strafing the listener into oblivion. The duo are joined on \"Mythology\" by drummer John Schoemaker - who contributed drums to \"Chart For The Solution\"'s epic closing track 'Epilogue' - whose percussive pulse adds an organic swing to The Square's sonics, particularly on album closer \"The Damned Thing\"'s cosmic strut. \"Mythology\" tackles a multitude of themes, from fantastical tales 6 of hellhound 'Cerberus' or the comic-inspired \"Eternity\" to 'Chromatophage's colorful\/evil yarn about animals that eat colors (or a Magic: The Gathering card) to the true-life influenced 'Acid Rain' that deals with the uncertainty of consuming drinking water after a chemical spill in the Delaware River. Elsewhere, 'Ferrell' is an homage to the late, great Ferrell \"Pharaoh\" Sanders \u0026amp; 'The Damned Thing' by a short horror story penned by Ambrose Bierce about an animal whose coloring is invisible to the naked eye. Writhing Squares are in a transitional phase, mapping out a new sonic mythology for themselves after crossing the event horizon into unknown space.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Trouble In Mind Records","offers":[{"title":"Green LP","offer_id":50409740665163,"sku":"2190524","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50409741123915,"sku":"2190544","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Writhing_Squares__Mythology_5857b0d1_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726625885"},{"product_id":"out-of-the-ether","title":"Out Of The Ether","description":"\u003cp\u003ePhiladelphia duo The Writhing Squares! with their newest album \u003ci\u003eOut of The Ether\u003c\/i\u003e. It's five tracks of cosmic sounds from the Philly underground featuring former Purling Hiss and current Rosali and the Middlemen bassist Daniel Provenzano alongside Ecstatic Vision and Taiwan Housing Project's Kevin Nickles. \u003ci\u003eOut Of The Ether \u003c\/i\u003efeatures five tracks of minimal, pulsing, motorik psychedelic dirges; equal parts Hawkwind, Suicide, and The Stooges sent through a meat grinder of drum-machine, bass guitar, saxophone, and flute.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLP - Limited Red Vinyl.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLP - Black Vinyl.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Trouble In Mind","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50498219016523,"sku":"1051551","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50498219344203,"sku":"1051552","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/6365c253-47d3-454d-bab8-0312ce4fb4c7_thumbnail_4096.png?v=1727741784"},{"product_id":"chart-for-the-solution","title":"Chart for the Solution","description":"\u003cp\u003eWrithing Squares - the Philadelphia duo of Kevin Nickles (sax, flute, synth) and Daniel Provenzano (bass, vocals) - have been refining the nuts and bolts of their sound over their previous two albums. Their latest (and second for Trouble In Mind), \u003ci\u003eChart For The Solution \u003c\/i\u003eis a double album chock full what makes them tick; heady, progressive, psychedelic space-rock-cum-minimal synth slop, punctuated by MacKay \/ Chance-style blasts of brass and woodwinds that definitely scratch an itch. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOver the course of \u003ci\u003eChart For The Solution's\u003c\/i\u003e four sides, Nickles and Provenzano utilize the extended format to stretch out and settle into a groove all their own. From the relentless synth pulse of opener \"Rogue Moon\", thru the aggro-throb of \"Geisterwaltz\" and four-on-the-floor scree of \"Ganymede\", The Squares have no mercy for your weary ears. After a brief, (slightly) mellow respite thru three tunes (\"The Abyss Is Never Brighter\"\/\"A Chorus of Electrons\"\/\"The Library\"), the band ratchets up the intensity with the cacophonous clatter of \"NFU\" (featuring Philly legend \"Harmonica\" Dan Balcer Ripping thru runs on his harp) leading right into the album's centerpiece; all of Side Three's \"The Pillar\", a near-nineteen minute epic suite that launches the listener straight into the maw of a black hole and thru the other side. Side Four closes out \"Chart For The Solution\" starting with the slinky stomp of \"North Side of The Sky\" into \"Resurrect Dead On Planet Whatever\"s unsettling, cosmic-funeral dirge. Fittingly, \"Epilogue\" closes out the album, with Nickles' sax dive bombing around Provenzano's bass throb like an alien interpretation of \"Funhouse\"s howling anarchy, augmented by live drums by John Schoemaker \u0026amp; organ by Alex Ward. \u003ci\u003eChart For The Solution\u003c\/i\u003e really is a Zone, \u0026amp;andthe perfect auditory cleanser to scrub away the stain of the previous year.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Trouble In Mind","offers":[{"title":"Yellow | LP | x2","offer_id":50508840960331,"sku":"1112082","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"Black | LP | x2","offer_id":50508836274507,"sku":"1112081","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50508839289163,"sku":"1112080","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/3e861ff5-ade9-44e1-a2b6-7dd0db5d0fcb_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727862109"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/the-writhing-squares.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}