that album cover looks really familiar and is fucking with my listening experience. Where have I seen this before? Hmmm.... OH JUNK! That freaks me out, and not just because that kid is chillin' so hard. Thieving bastards! Did Wiseblood straight lift the photo from the cover of Amen Dunes' Dia , one of my favorite releases of 2009, like they lifted all them samples? That ain't no count, mane. Controversy! Nah, I'm just funnin'. That's a classic public domain [...]
Amen Dunes is the performing name of one Damon McMahon and he has just released a new seven track EP of hazy, sunlit psychedelic folk titled Murder Dull Mind . It came out via the excellent Sacred Bones label. We have the title track for you here and while on the surface it is sweet enough (with even an underlying pop sensibility), it still has a sinister undercurrent of the kind we like so much here at MM. Download, enjoy and compare it with a track from his 2009 album Dia . [...]
amen dunes - periódico de ayer city center - this is how we see in the dark everything everything - tin grasscut - in her pride
Amen Dunes - Murder Dull Mind A merge psychedelic soul with a heavy dose of melody. Recorded in Red China.
Amen Dunes: Diane This much is clear: Darren McMahon (aka Amen Dunes ) is a strange man. As reviews and press will tell you, he wrote 2009's Dia in a Catskills cabin (pictured here ) while attempting to "drive the demons away". Though his latest offering lacks an equally awesome backstory (it was recorded in a Bejing apartment), it's still as haunted as ever. Almost entirely improvised, Murder Dull Mind trades Dia 's [...]
Amen Dunes is not something you put on to just listen to. It is an invitation to possession. Somewhat in the vein of Exuma, Death in June, or Sam Ashley, Damon McMahon (the "mind" behind Amen Dunes) seems to have an intimate relationship with songwriting as a medium to conjure spirits and recording as a way to capture and exorcise them. His monumental last full length, DIA, was written and recorded during a period of intense seclusion in a cabin in upstate New York in 2006. When I asked Damon about how this isolation affected the recording process, he [...]
Amen Dunes has received plenty of love around the RSTB halls, even showing up on this year's compilation with a stunning entry that showed his softer and harder sides. So it should come as no surprise that we're a bit excited about Damon's new EP coming out on Sacred Bones. This, along with an EP from The Bitters, marks the next installment in the label's spectacular, color coded 12" series. Again McMahon weaves heartfelt outsider folk with an attack of noise, though a few inclusions here may well be the closest that he's ever flown to the pop canon. Shades [...]
Now outside of our "usual" hour of radio antics, the guys at Indie-Verse have given us a "prime" slot and we will now be soothing your ears every Thursday at 4 PM CST. According to the meterologist, it's balls cold today so we've slowed the mix down a bit (with only a couple of hard hitters). This week's effort was another solo run but expect Ryan to make it for the next. It's been a busy week with moving, work, and some SXSW planning but (teaser) we've got some good/big news coming your way real soon. Click HERE and follow [...]
A princess of crimson dress and black mane of hair roams halls of a darkness thick as ink deep down in the forgotten heart of the castle, illuminated by the light of a feeble candle, following chalk symbols scribbled in the walls by an exiled hermit who will tell her of the end of her [...]
Time again for the obligatory year end list. However, ours is a bit different than others you may have seen. For example, this list is not enumerated. Empirically ranking albums rather trivializes the music, yes? Nor is the list in any particular order, save for the fact that we assembled it based loosely on aesthetics - meaning, we encourage you to mash on the little javascript media player in the bottom left-hand corner and enjoy our best-of picks as a mixtape or an uninterrupted block of music. Not only is this a fine collection of altered states laments, but each [...]
Yesterday I began the Top 100 countdown with numbers #100 to #81 , and today we continue to add to that list with selections #80 to #61. The top 20 albums will be revealed on Friday, so keep checking in . [...]
Amen Dunes (Myspace) Hometown: Beijing, China Album: Dia (Buy) Label: Locust Amen Dunes - Two Thousand Islands Bookmark It [...]
It's been a minute since The Decibel Tolls has slung a mix your way, and all'z, summer is tight and a good reason for a mix. I love the outdoors. I'm sitting outside Days Coffee as I typed this right now . The weather's been awesome right now, but when it gets unbearable later, L-Train and I have the six visits pass at Six Flags so we can fuck up this water slide right here: Treated. And of course, all the festivals (who's going to Lebowski Fest? See you Saturday?). So [...]
When I think of summer and the hot weather that we've been sometimes enjoying, I often conjure this majestic image in my head: Treated. It's the Tornado at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. You can probably see this thing from space. It's huge. I've made one pilgrimage across town this summer to do bidding with the mighty Tornado, and plan to go five more times (as per the season pass). Not that any of this matters to you, of course. You probably just want the jams. Fair enough. Here is a summerish mix [...]
Amen Dunes isn't gonna end up on a lot of year-end lists, but maybe it should... BLOGLOAD: Feathers and All
Sure you've heard the "guy alone in a cabin" story before, but where others have produced easily accessible folk, Damon McMahon has truly tapped into the loner psych vibe on his debut Dia . The first side of this album trades in a less sunny version of Glenn Donaldson/ Donovan Quinn styled psych folk with just the right twinges of isolation and blissful solitude coming through in each note. The haze begins to clear slightly on the second side, with more focus on acoustic guitar but with no less stirring results. McMahon's songs resonate with a beautiful eccentricity, as [...]
Good Sunday, all. A very good Sunday if you're looking forward to the summer months, I suppose, but here in Southern California there isn't really anything that exciting (or even noticeable most of the time) about changing weather and seasons. While there's certainly a difference between cloudy/cool and sunny/warm, those are pretty much the only two "days" that we experience all year. Maybe your Sunday was good for another reason? Did your local sports team win a big game? Did your significant other buy you a gift? Did your parents finally decide to get off your back, even [...]
Sometimes it's great to live in Boston. There is so much awesome shit going on this week that it's impossible to see it all. Fucking shame... DJ Kat Fyte via Monday, June 1 DJ Kat Fyte at Enormous Room (FREEEEEEE, 9:00, 21+) Beat Research is doing their regular Monday night at Enormous Room with resident DJs Flack and Wayne & Wax [...]
More and more artists are paying homage to Thoreau lately and recording their music in the midst of a hermetic retreat. And while most return with nothing more than a bruised ego and a full beard, every now and then they stumble back with something personal and articulate enough to rattle the ears of unsuspecting strangers. Damon McMahon, working under the name Amen Dunes , made a similar pilgrimage in 2006 to the Catskill Mountains to record what would become his debut album DIA . Both insular and cavernous, this debut LP is an [...]
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