A short appreciation thread for @localagent2 and Nathan Young’s Ajilvsga and their latest release:

Ajilvsga is responsible for first getting me interested in noise music — specifically the first track off 2008’s Crossed Bones, which I stumbled across on one of those mildly sketchy pirate music blogs that same year.

In the 12 years since (!!), I've kept up with & supported as much of their work as I could. Their work has always transcended the stereotypes of noise for me — it reaches so far past the 'angsty dude smashing pedals’ trope. It's deep, emotional work.

White Crow, From the Muddy Banks of the Arkansas, Medicine Bull, The Harvest, Blood Nocturnes, Little Earth, the Massacre Canyon comp, and their split with Gremlynz (which I was fortunate to co-release on Prairie Fire with @dubditchpicnic) all have a special place in my mind.

Relatedly, getting to work with Nathan for his Alms tape ‘Annihilation of the Self’ tape on Prairie Fire in 2011 was a huge highlight for me, as was meeting him when Post Commodity came through Winnipeg. That tape is still one of my favourites of all the tapes we put out.

That brings us to today, where I need to say just how much I'm loving their latest release, It Is Waking Up. Getting word of a new Ajilvsga release in 2020 has been a bright spot in an otherwise shitty year. I'm now listening to it for the second time in a row.

It’s the trademark sound and texture that Brad and Nathan have cultivated over the years, yet somehow fresh and newly alive. It's thick, engrossing, weighty, and ultimately cathartic work, and I hope you will support it if you can: https://thejewelgarden.bandcamp.com/album/it-is-waking-up