Future Record Fair: All Tiny Creatures
Upcoming tracks from Madison musicians
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Madison is surprisingly a decent spot for instrumental rock: Cougar recently scored a record deal for its new album, Revolving Doors has a second record on the way, and El Valiente and Czarbles stick it out with sets of compelling, wordless tunes.
When All Tiny Creatures (which plays this Friday at The Frequency) played a set for a dispiritingly small audience during last September’s Forward Music Festival, a persistent heckler—who turned out to be Robby Schiller of local band Blueheels—jokingly called the music “disco.” For a moment, leader Thomas Wincek seemed torn between getting pissed at the guy and laughing it off. Luckily, Wincek took it in stride: Getting experimental music across can take patience.
Previously: Wincek lent his keyboard and electronic skills to long-running Milwaukee outfit Collections Of Colonies Of Bees and a duo project called Emotional Joystick. Last year, he released a solo EP, Extended Techniques, and culled unusual sounds by playing different instruments untraditionally on tracks like “Grand Piano” and “Melodica."
New: Wincek recruited three local musicians, including Czarbles bassist Matt Skemp, to help him blur the line between a live-band sound and layers of looped piano and computer-manipulated textures. All Tiny Creatures played its first show last May and let Wincek build up his minimalist patterns without sacrificing punch or volume. The forthcoming Segni EP builds on the same live-meets-electronic principles: Wincek insists that even the stacked-up keyboard loops of the 17-minute title track and the dense, buzzing atmosphere of “Street Lights Ten Thousand Feet” were recorded almost entirely without overdubs. Wincek says “Street Lights Ten Thousand Feet” is “just me with a contact mic on my throat, and then I build up masses of sound with different computer processing and looping.” Segni doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’ll come out on the Hometapes label. Wincek also plans on a limited-edition vinyl run through Milwaukee’s Zod Records.
Standout track: Segni spans a continuum between a band building songs and a lone experimenter tweaking and stretching his vision. The track with the broadest take on All Tiny Creatures’ sound is aptly titled “To All Tiny Creatures” (which you can stream below). Skemp and drummer Ben Derickson keep it rocking steadily forward as Wincek keeps creating subtle backgrounds and straightforward melodies. Andrew Fitzpatrick’s guitar helps tie it all together by first hanging in the distance and then locking into a rhythm part, which is one more element that helps the band turn abstract ideas into well-rounded instrumental rock.
"To All Tiny Creatures" by All Tiny Creatures
