A 15-headed Hydra Breathing All Over You

I'm at work right now fooling employees I preside over into thinking that I'm laboring over their well-being and meticulously scheming to improve their work performance. In actuality I'm typing this up and ignoring them. That's not the point though. The point is that I'm at my day job while I'm supposed to be 1 of 15 people belting out the lyrics to ambiguous protest songs at Bank Row Studios right now.

Yes. As I type this, The Trials and Tribulations is in the studio (sans me) torturing Justin Pizzoferato (Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth) with it's folk-sludge mash of 5409 individuals all braying in cacophonous unison. I'll be joining them tomorrow to lay down some synth squiggles and crunchy organ drones on "Quebec", an evil, swampy rendition of "You are my Sunshine", and the epic and absolutely fucking crushing "President Arbenz' Last Smile". Now I've had my doubts about T&T before. I'll be the first to admit that it can be a chaotic mess. In a bad way. But after the recording rehearsal last weekend, all of those doubts were shattered like the dreams of a pregnant teenager. Mark my words: this will be far more monstrous than even I anticipated.

Completely unrelated: Just a reminder for some shows coming up...

SYLPHID
playing Sat. Feb 6 @ The Yellow Sofa (24 Main St. Northampton, MA)
all ages
free
starts at 8pm

PONDS
playing Sat. Feb 20 @ The Brass Cat (65 Cottage St. Easthampton, MA)
with
BLACK PYRAMID
BLUE STAR BURNS RED
21+
$5?
starts at around 8:30

SYLPHID
playing Feb 28 @ The Elevens (140 Pleasant St. Northampton, MA)
providing the soundtrack to Scott Alden's TRIALS OF GARY
MORE INFO TO COME!!!
21+
9pm

We're back, we're bad, you're black, I'm mad.

Apropos to reference the Danny Glover swansong Lethal Weapon 2 in this post title. Apropos because Sylphid is back, not only with teeth, but with a badassed, off-the-rails partner in plugging South African diplomats with hollow-tipped bullets. That's right - our very own PA system. You can call him Riggs.

Eon, Cora, and I congregated like cows huddled for warmth during a nor'easter yesterday and squeezed out an effluvium of pretty sounds for the first time since early October. We tested out our new PA system. Sounds totally dope. This year, we will test out our new live format. Anonymous background music.

We're now officially in the process of offering our minds and bodies (and the products thereof)to anyone who seeks slightly noisy, oft-unpredictable, textural drones and lullabies for their listening needs. Restaurants, parties in opium dens, art galleries, lonely insomniacs et al: we are here to offer you a delta-wave stimulating, narcosis electronic-helping hand.

Sorry Madame Rock Clubs. You were our first love. Freaking out onstage, drawing blood, and generally making a spectacle of yourself is fun... unless you're making ambient music. We do not write songs. Our music is bereft of a tangible personality. To showcase our ugly mugs bobbing several feet above a confused and underwhelmed crowd, conditioned to devote it's attention to us, makes very little sense to me. It's time for us to move on and find slightly less spotlight-driven venues. The less of a stage there is the better. We will however be providing background music and drones wherever it's wanted or needed.

One of the first of these performances will be this Thursday night at Sam's Pizza on Main Street in Northampton, MA. We'll be playing roughly 3 hours (6:30-9:30) of moody blip-bleeps. It's also free. We're being paid in pizza. And holy god of fleeting joy, Sam's pizza just so happens to be the best in town.

Other shows coming up:

-Sat. Jan. 23 Don't Go In the Basement house show @ 4 Caterbury Lane in Amherst. PONDS will also be rocking the show for the first time in awhile. Also appearing are Hornworm, Abortus Fever, Belltone Suicide, Two Tents, and the lascivious Gastric Lavage. Fuck. Go to this. Hornworm's dream machine will be in full effect.

-Sun. Jan 31 @ The Elevens. This is the Happy Valley Showdown. Sylphid will be appearing alongside Visited By A Giant, Johhny Mondegreen, Golden Boys, Almost Morse Code, and Tasha Yar. Come watch us play an ill-fitting show judged by folks who will sneer at our absence of onstage banter. Shit starts at 10pm and should be a party.

long-winded indeed

love,

Adam and Riggs

2 Last Minute Shows...

Lots of wee 'ittle bits of news this week.

First things first: There are 2 last minute shows quickly advancing this week. A bit bummed about this, only because this is my first opportunity to really tell anyone at all about them.

This Thursday (Nov. 12) PONDS will be rocking the the dirt out of our hair and the grease out of our beards at O'Brien's Pub in Allston, MA with God Awful and other mysterious bands that are unbeknown to us. This is bound to be a dead show and I apologize to all two of my bandmates for booking such a waste of gas. Come out and prove us wrong! Nevertheless, thank you Mr. Shred for keeping us in mind. Starts at 9pm, 21+, and I believe can be had for $7. click for directions. You don't want to get lost in the bone bucket that is Allston...

Show # 2 is this Saturday night (Nov. 14). SYLPHID is playing a house show in South Deerfield, MA at the Woodrose Ballroom (7 River Rd.) with Almost Morse Code. I jammed with these cats roughly a year ago. Weird, Krauty psychedelic squalls of splendor. A wall of synthesizers, a homemade electronic drum kit... I'm missing The Jesus Lizard and Animal Hospital in Boston for this, so you know it'll be good.

In other news there has been a truly mongoloidal amount of recording activity lately. We've got 4 separate projects in the process of recording material for various EPs, full lengths, and downloadable tracks. It's consumed our entire being - and we wouldn't have that shit any other way. More to come oh so soon!

~Adam

3 Sylphid shows this week of our Lord...

We're playing, well... tonight actually, at PA's Lounge in Somerville, MA with our buddies TECHNOIR MA (an eerie, unintentional(?) re-vamping of the best elements of Factory Records circa 1979) and CONNCET9 (blasts of noise from CT). Sort of a down-to-the-wire notification, but oh well. Should be dead, albeit rad.
This Thursday we'll be at The Sierra Grille, in our stomping grounds of Northampton, MA with Boston's inimitable, monster drones of ANIMAL HOSPITAL and a bizarre mash-up of HORNWORM (ex-Psychic TV among a million other stripes of insanity) and HUNTER-GATHERER (doom, gloom, and... hope?), both from in town.

And then on Sunday, Aug 16, we're playing this monstrosity with a SHITFUCK of bands... Lightning Bolt, White Crime, Sisters and Brothers. Sord, Relics, Belltone Suicide, Problem with Dragons, and a million others. Check the flyer.