EUROPE TOUR DATES TAKING SHAPE, NEW ALBUM ON THE WAY
Our next run of dates in Europe will commence at the start of November, and a number of shows have already been confirmed, including a three-night season at London's Cafe Oto.
When everything is locked in we will announce it all in a newsletter subscriber mailout, but in the meantime, check our Tour Dates page for the latest updates.
And in other news, we have just finished work on our seventeenth album (as yet untitled) and we will be launching it on this tour.
NEW ALBUM MINDSET, ON CD AND VINYL, AVAILABLE THROUGH THIS SITE NOW
Mindset, our first album since 2009's acclaimed Silverwater, and our first album to also be released on LP, is now released throughout Europe, North America and Japan on ReR/megacorp.
Mindset is also released in Australia and New Zealand on Fish of Milk through Fuse, and is available for purchase through this site.
AETHER ADDED TO NATIONAL REGISTRY OF RECORDED SOUND.
Every year, Australia's National Film and Sound Archive adds ten recordings to its National Registry of Recorded Sound.
Sound recordings which the public consider to be of particular significance are nominated and then examined and selected by an expert panel.
We're very proud to announce that our 2001 album Aether has been added in 2012's list. (We always thought it was pretty good.)
For more information, see here
SEX BACK IN PRINT
Sex is the legendary first album by The Necks.
Released over twenty years ago, it has had a life all of its own and is easily our best-selling release.
We're very happy to announce that we have re-released Sex through Fuse Music Group, who have been distributing our latest release Mindset in Australia and New Zealand. Sex is again available through this website.
THREE GREAT REVIEWS FROM LONDON VILLAGE UNDERGROUND SHOW
We finished off our UK/Ireland tour with a blinder at London's Village Underground. There are glowing reviews of the night here from The Telegraph, The Guardian and The Financial Times
NECKS PERFORMANCES AVAILABLE AS DOWNLOADS
We have a couple of downloadable pieces posted on the internet:
*In February 2009 we went into the studio at WFMU, New Jersey, and recorded a piece for Brian Turner's show. You can hear it at:
blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2010/02/the-necks-live-at-wfmu-mp3.html
*On January 27th and 28th 2010, we played two memorable nights at the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn, NY. You can hear one of the sets here:
www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2010/02/the_necks_recorded_live_in_brooklyn.html
ARTICLE IN SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/music/lords-of-the-trance/2010/02/10/1265477615798.html
NEW T SHIRT SIZE
All our T shirts are described by the suppliers as "unisex" but feedback we have been getting from female customers suggests that often the Small unisex is not small enough.
So for two of our most popular shirt designs, namely Swiss choc brown and THENECKS (black), we have introduced a new Female medium size. Dimensions are on our Online Shop page.
ANOTHER DOWNLOAD FROM ISSUE PROJECT ROOM SHOWS NOW AVAILABLE
freemusicarchive.org/curator/ISSUE_Project_Room/blog/piano_bass_drums
Enjoy.
NECKS CONCERT VIDEOS
Both sets from two memorable Sydney concerts, at the Metro Theatre and The Factory, beautifully filmed and recorded by Moshcam, can be seen on the Press Kit page of this site.
ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN (UK) BY RICHARD WILLIAMS
NEW ESSAY ON THE NECKS
There is a brief but good essay on us in Song Logic, a new book by music writer Rino Breebaart. See here for more details.
We also recently received some nice coverage in Working the Room (Canongate, UK, 2010), Geoff Dyer's latest collection of essays.
If you happen to be interested in reading more about The Necks, there are a few other options these days too.
We are the subject of entire chapters by:
Andy Hamilton in Blocks of Consciousness and the Unbroken Continuum (Sound 323, UK 2006)
John Whiteoak in Sounds of Then, Sounds of Now: Popular Music in Australia (ACYS Publishing, Australia 2008)
John Shand in Jazz: The Australian Accent (UNSW Press, Australia 2008)
and also receive significant coverage in:
Richard Williams' The Blue Moment: Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and the Remaking of Modern Music (Faber and Faber, UK, 2009)
FIVE STAR REVIEW IN THE GUARDIAN
Thanks to everyone who came along and helped to make our nine country, nineteen date European tour our biggest and most successful yet. It was capped with the five wonderful UK concerts presented as a double bill with Harold Budd.
Here's a great review in The Guardian of one of our sold-out London shows.
GREAT REVIEWS FOR SILVERWATER
The Guardian, UK: (5 stars) - "austerely elegant"
Sydney Morning Herald: "Head and shoulders above the rest...the finest studio album in their 22-year history"
BBC.com: "The Necks are among the world’s most consistently great exponents of improvised music"
Uncut Magazine: "Maybe they should take a further leaf out of Morton Feldman's book, and keep it rolling for another hour or two more next time?"
Aquarius Records, USA: "Silverwater's shimmering textures and minimalist pulsations are simply beautiful, enthralling. It's a glorious 67 minutes, all right.
"If you know The Necks, you know you need this. If you're new to The Necks, please do yourself a favor and check this out. Next to seeing them live (which some of us have been lucky enough to do, oh my god they were good), this will demonstrate quite effectively why we hold them in such high regard."
Alternative Media Group, Australia: (4 & 1/2 stars) "...so simple and compact. Yet open the doors to Necks-world, take but a small peek inside, and suddenly the universe has opened up to worlds vast and previously unimaginable. The chemistry between Chris Abrahams, Lloyd Swanton and Tony Buck remains fresh and unhindered after over two decades playing together. Unplanned as always, the musical ideas that flow from this original position of nothingness are a testament to their philosophy (and a damning indictment of others who start with far more but end with so much less). Haunting, evocative, engrossing and astounding at each and every turn, Silverwater will defy any attempts at description but outstrip any expectation. This one really is special."
Mapsadaisical.com: "Silverwater is not just another bold piece of experimentalism...but is one of the most deeply satisfying albums anyone has released this year in any genre. An essential purchase."
***Rated Number 25 in Wild Mercury Sound's Top 100 of 2009 (Uncut Magazine)***
The Wire (UK): Like shoals of fish flitting at the periphery of vision."
New York Times: "The point of Silverwater is the entire creation...at some point, no matter how many times you’ve heard the group before, you say, “Oh I see, this is the main event.” Yet you’re still wondering where it’s going. It’s got you twice over."
The Times (UK): (4 stars) "They arrived fully formed, in a treeless plain where Kind of Blue’s narcoleptic haze meets Steve Reich’s pin-sharp minimalism, where time expands to fill the available space...stay the 77-minute course and, deliriously, deliciously, Silverwater will drown you."
NICE REVIEW FROM KNOXVILLE
It was great to return to play at the beautiful Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee. Here's what reviewer Matthew Everett of Metro Pulse had to say about the show:
blogs.metropulse.com/live_like_this/2010/01/concert-review-the-necks-at-th.html
FURTHER KUDOS
Los Angeles Times: The 42 Most Memorable Pop Music Moments of 2009:
Best long-form improv not found in the UCB Theater: The Necks at REDCAT. "Using piano, bass, drums and a whole lot of concentration, this category-defying trio from Australia delivered a spellbinding, all-improvised set early in 2009, somehow making two ever-evolving, 45-minute creations glide by in what felt like minutes. Come back soon, please."
All About Jazz New York: Best of 2009: Performances of The Year:
THE NECKS, Le Poisson Rouge, February 10th
AQUATIC BACK IN PRINT
One of our most popular releases, 1994's Aquatic, which has been out of print for some time, is available again, with a new cover by Berlin designer Asi Foecker, who has done most of The Necks' beautiful album covers in recent years.
Aquatic was glowingly analysed in Richard Williams' book "The Blue Moment", about modern music in the 50 years since the release of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue".
