EXCLUSIVE: “No Stairway!” …Mick Barr’s Coiled Malescence album stream

By: jonathan.horsley Posted in: featured, gnarly one-offs On: Monday, August 22nd, 2011

CT

Mick Barr is not the sort of guitarist to just chill on the money chords, putting out the catchy riffs and hanging off the pentatonic scale until the familiarity sends you tripping. No way. Whether it’s his work as one half of the mind expanding avant-garde duos Orthrelm and Crom-Tech, the dual-personalities of solo projects Octis and Ocrilim, or even giving black metal some weird, post-modern genetics with Krallice, Mick Barr‘s always jacking his playing hard to the outer limits of your ears’ capabilities. His first solo release under his own name, Coiled Malescence, is a typically challenging, transcendent 40-minute solo arrangement for guitar. Sure, of course it’s not accessible, it’ll be murder to transcribe, and will make those afternoon’s you spent learning “Eruption” seem kinda redundant; but come on, it’d always good to trip on someone with the talent and the vision to take the instrument somewhere new.

Coiled Malescence is released on vinyl on September 13th through Safety Meeting Records, CD through Savage Land.

The album is delivered as one entire piece but it’s broken into seven tracks, or movements we should say…
Side A: 1. Arkh, 2. Vohvar, 3. Isor
Side B: 4. Cvether, 5. Coiled Malescence, 6. Welth, 7. Herna

Mick Barr Coiled Malescence Side A:

Mick Barr ‘Coiled Malescence’ – Side A by safetymeeting

Mick Barr Coiled Malescence Side B:

Mick Barr ‘Coiled Malescence’ – Side B by safetymeeting

Here’s Mick tearing it up live in New York

  • youknowittobetrue

    that is the most boring shit i have ever heard and i’ve heard all of his other bands, so…

  • Jeff

    If you keep clicking ahead on the track about every quarter of an inch, you can’t even tell that you’re skipping a few minutes of the song.

  • Breakfast Sandwiches Breakfast

    I had high expectations of this … but I also said the same for Absolve

  • Brendan

    Wow, you’re actually right.

  • Wankmaster5000

    If you love the sound of another man masturbating, then you will love this album!

  • Zebeldakh

    this sucks!!!!

  • Anonymous

    On the one hand, I don’t see anyone in their right mind paying money for that album, or to see it played live.

    On the other, I gotta say I’d be damn impressed if Mick Barr could play that whole thing from memory without any sheet music, simply as a herculean feat of persistence.

  • Random Guy Who Think You Suck

    Screw you haters. Mick Barr reigns supreme and I can’t wait to play the record.

  • Random Guy Who Think You Suck

    Screw you haters. Mick Barr reigns supreme and I can’t wait to play the record.

  • Anonymous

    True, it’s not necessarily “bad,” just unlistenable.

  • Mick Barr admirer

    Don’t understand why everyone has to get so nasty just because they don’t enjoy this.

    I’ve been a dedicated fan of Barr’s work since early 2006 and I’ve listened to this album several times a day the last few days and YES I ENJOY IT. It’s hard to explain. It’s not “masturbating”, it’s not unlistenable. I think all you need is a great deal of patience to understand his musical language. Then after some effort and repeated listen you can tell me you truly don’t enjoy his music.

  • Mick Barr admirer

    Actually he does perform the whole thing from memory without any sheet music. In fact he can’t read sheet music. There’s a video on youtube where he performs Coiled Malescence, Welth and Herna from this album.

    I saw him perform almost the entire “Annwn” without any sheet music or anything. 40 minutes straight, barely looking at what he was doing and not moving an inch.

  • Lars

    If you don’t notice you’re skipping a few minutes of the song that means you don’t pay any attention whatsoever.

  • http://www.omgvinyl.com/2011/08/25/mick-barr-coiled-malescence-lp-preorder/ Mick Barr “Coiled Malescence” LP Preorder | OMG Vinyl… Because Records Sound Better

    [...] Stream the whole album at Decibel. [...]

  • http://bastonate.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/streamo-mick-barr-coiled-malescence-safety-meeting/ STREAMO: Mick Barr – Coiled Malescence (Safety Meeting) « -bastonate-

    [...] Mick Barr è uno dei pochi personaggi chiave dell’accacì e del metal dalla seconda metà degli anni novanta ad oggi. Dalla fondazione del progetto Crom Tech, l’ossatura di quasi tutti i gruppi chitarra-batteria stile Hella*, l’uomo ha portato avanti da solo e con incrollabile fermezza la sua visione, dando vita ad una mezza dozzina di gruppi indistinguibili l’uno dall’altro e raggiungendo un meritatissimo status di culto sotterraneo, in gran parte dovuto al fatto che il gruppo più valido in cui ha militato dal 2000 in poi è uscito su Ipecac: si chiama(va)no Orthrelm e la loro massima espressione è il disco mono-traccia OV, sfiancante MATTONE di un’ora filata composto da una dozzina di furiosissimi pattern chitarra/batteria mandati avanti per tre-quattro minuti ciascuno. OV, probabilmente uno dei dischi più estremi mai realizzati, è uno di quei pochissimi dischi per i quali la prova di forza dell’ascoltatore pareggia e forse supera quella (comunque poderosa) dell’artista, rendendo l’intera esperienza una delle poche vere manifestazioni di rock indipendente degli anni duemila. Da lì in poi, tuttavia, seguire Mick Barr diventa una questione d’affetto e nient’altro, ricompensato dal musicista con un’uscita ogni quattro mesi con una mezza dozzina di denominazioni diverse (Octilis, gruppi col nome dei musicisti coinvolti, Krallice e quant’altro) e musica sempre e solo identica a se stessa: mezz’ora di tapping furioso con un batterista di area postrock a decontestualizzare il tutto. Oggi esce il primo disco firmato semplicemente Mick Barr, un’altra mezz’ora di tapping incessante con i soliti toni grotteschi ma nessun batterista a decontestualizzare, che in prospettiva potrebbe essere visto come il primo deciso tuffo di testa in un mare di autismo prog-metal dopo dieci anni di bagnare il piedino nell’acqua. Anche a questo giro naturalmente l’incrollabile visione di Mick Barr troverà la sua parte di fan tra i setacciatori di m-blog a tempo pieno, ma il disco è comunque una panzana senza costrutto. Meno male che l’ha messo in streaming. [...]

  • Mark

    It actually sounds weirder ( and I think, better) if you play both tracks at the same time.

  • Mark

    And I don’t mean that in a hater way. I like Mick’s guitar work quite a bit.

  • http://www.lostateminor.com/2011/09/03/mick-barr-coiled-malescence/ Mick Barr: Coiled Malescence — Lost At E Minor: For creative people

    [...] | by  Gerry Mak|Mick Barr, guitarist for NYC black metal band Krallice, just came out with his first solo record under his own name. I had the honor of doing the album art. Tagged: gerry mak art, Krallice, NYC [...]

  • Pip

    Great!

  • Manbearpig

    You’re totally right. Krallice especially has given me a new appreciation for his other stuff. Fucking love this dude. It’s funny how everyone talks shit about him, but the musicians they like probably love Mick Barr’s stuff. Eh, whatever, I’ve given up on humanity almost completely.

  • Trevor

    CORRECTION: this is NOT his first solo record under his own name, there’s also one on the Tzadik label

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