When is experimental-noise music recorded in the tropics? With Black Dice, anything is possible.
The innovative New York-based group is currently embarking on a massive U.S. tour to support their aptly titled "Broken Ear Record," released last Tuesday. They'll be dropping into Buffalo's Mohawk Place on Tuesday, Sept. 13.
Band member Aaron Warren talked to The Spectrum about the group's new album, their relationship with tourmates Wolf Eyes, and how their experimental sound is crafted.
"The band is amping it up a little bit," Warren said of the new album. "The album has a more rhythmic, dirtier feel. When we're done touring this record, we will probably go in a different direction."
This is Black Dice's first album to be split between their label DFA and major label Astralwerks, which handles the distribution.
"We mainly deal with DFA creatively, on the album artwork, and on a musical level. We don't have that close of a relationship with Astralwerks, but working with them has given us more resources," Warren said.
One of the interesting features of the new album is the production they were able to utilize in the studio with Astralwerks.
"We really wanted to record in a tropical environment, play somewhere nice, to see what that would do for us musically," Warren said.
Given the experimental nature of the music, it is a wonder how the work is conceptualized, and what methodology lies behind it. Even if their music is experimental, it goes through a planned and thought out process.
"We're not that different from a regular rock band," Warren said. "We first work with sounds that Bjorn designs, and we check out how they work together. After months of work, we produce a body of work, and record it live."
"It is not improvised in the studio, it is the result of months of work," Warren said.
They record their albums live, with studio effects playing a very small role in the overall makeup of their albums.
Black Dice formed in Providence, Rhode Island in 1997. Members Bjorn Copeland (guitar), Hisham Bharoocha (drums), and Sebastian Blanck (bass) were art students at the Rhode Island School of Design. They became notorious for their wild live shows where injuries were common. Their music was commonly labeled as aggressive experimental noise.
In 1998, they moved to New York City, where Copeland was attending college. They also met member Aaron Warren who was a film student at NYU. Aaron Wilson replaced Sebastian Blanck, and this current incarnation of the group still resides in New York.
They will be touring this season with Wolf Eyes, a band that has had a close relationship with Black Dice.
"We met them a few years back and did a collaborative record with them. We are really excited to play some shows with them," Warren said. "We usually are in different places at different times, like they'll be in Michigan and we'll be in New York, so we usually meet up if we tour the same places."
One of the most talked-about features of the group is their live show, which is said to be a spectacle to behold.
"It's a bit gnarly, there are differences in every live show because it is not a controlled environment. We work with that, and it can make our sound different and better," Warren said.
The live show also features a visual component that complements their sound, considering that the band members are visual artists.
"Danny Perez did the visuals for the concert and directed the video for the new song from Broken Ear Record, 'Smiling off,'" Warren said.
A combination of two masters of discordant sound, Wolf Eyes and Black Dice will fill Mohawk Place with a deluge of noise on Tuesday. One can only hope that after such a sonic assault, the building will still be standing
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
