Black Dice "REPO"

Paw Tracks  PAW 26 cd/double lp/digital

300 dpi jpeg of front cover:

300 dpi jpegs of the band by jason frank rothenberg with art by black dice:

300 dpi jpegs of the band by jason frank rothenberg:

Live photo by Frank Siringo:

REPO is the fifth album by Black Dice.  The Brooklyn, NY-based trio has never worked harder at crafting a set of concise, sonically battering, or flat-out bizarre tunes than on this collection of fringe-surfing tone bombs.  Yet a new roadhouse blues-band philosophy has simultaneously emerged, allowing the group to loosen up and toss off a record packed with blurry hooks and zoomed-in riffs as casually as a grizzled denizen of roadside dives might spew out aural alchemy in-between a few brews.

Brothers Eric and Bjorn Copeland and Aaron Warren have spent the better part of 10 years in daily contact, touring the world over, and sculpting their saw-toothed sound balloons under circumstances most reasonable people would wretch at.  The resultant hive mind occupied by the three is an inevitable consequence of so much shared experience, both musical and simply day-to-day.  Their communal consciousness is as packed with garbage as much as it is concerned with making catchy tunes, and often the songs pouring out of it contain equal parts bombastic infectious rhythm and chaotic detritus.

REPO is the sound of a disciplined group of cosmic jokers setting out to reclaim the landscape popular culture would have us believe we cannot afford.  The record irreverently mulches the sounds and images of radio, TV and internet into a fertile compost pile squirming with new, raw life.

Repo Points:

-       Publicity by Forcefield PR

-       College Radio Promotion by Terrorbird

-       Full North American tour this spring

-       CD and Double LP both feature 20 page booklet with exclusive art by the band

-       Recorded at Brooklyn’s Rare Book Room

-       Hand-crafted music video by the band in the works

-       Visit Black Dice online at www.blackdice.net

Tracklisting:

1. Nite Creme 2. Glazin 3. Earnings Plus Interest 4. Whirligig 5. La Cucaracha 6. Idiots Pasture 7. Lazy TV 8. Buddy 9. Ten Inches 10. Chicken Shit 11. Vegetable 12. Urban Super Mist 13. Ultra Vomit Craze 14. Gag Shack

Release Date: April 7^th, 2009

Black Dice Biography

        Black Dice is an explosive, radical, and viciously unique rock & roll band.  Based out of Brooklyn, NY, the trio is fiercely independent, doggedly disciplined, and uncompromisingly DIY in approach.  Brothers Eric and Bjorn Copeland and Aaron Warren have spent over a decade recording, touring, and unleashing their bizarre musical doctrine on audiences the world over.  Starting as a loud, chaotic mix of early-eighties-inspired thrash and harsh noise, the band has transformed itself with each record and every era of performance.  The music currently retains elements of noise and proto-industrial experimentation, while at the same time organically suggesting minimal, electronic, hip-hop, and psychedelic ideas as well as those of punk, tropicalia, and dub.  Consistent to every era and all of their material is an irreverent, aggressive, hand-made aesthetic that simultaneously revels in and reconfigures the whole of popular culture.
            Black Dice formed during the spring of 1997 in Providence, Rhode Island. At the time, Bjorn Copeland  (guitar), Hisham Bharoocha  (drums), and Sebastian Blanck (bass) were students at the Rhode Island School of Design while Eric Copeland (vocals) was still attending high school in Maine.  Early shows seldom lasted more than fifteen minutes and were characterized by violent performances where injuries were often sustained by the band and audience alike. Live sets mixed structured songs with improvised sound manipulation, and shows differed from night to night.
            In the summer of 1998 the band relocated to NYC where Eric was going to college. At an early New York performance the band met current member Aaron Warren who had recently moved from Los Angeles to attend NYU. In the spring of 1999 Sebastian left the band and Aaron joined the group.
            It was around that time that the emphasis shifted from conventional song structures to more open-ended sonic investigations.  Shows of this era maintained an equally physical presence through the use of high volume levels and an extreme range of frequencies, and violent performance became less frequent. The music bore more resemblance to crude first generation industrial music or contemporary power electronics than straight noise or hardcore.
            By the fall of 2001 live shows had grown in length to almost five or six times of the earlier sets, with the occasional song reaching 45 minutes.  An emphasis on signal processing provided a broader sonic palette. While volume and physical presence of sound remained crucial, melody and repetition became key compositional elements. The shift in focus introduced a new gentle and tuneful quality to the intense, brash music.

         In spring of 2004, the band parted ways with longtime drummer and friend Hisham Bharoocha.  Though a trying transition, the band continued writing, recording and touring as a three-piece.  Metamorphosed once again, Black Dice emerged as a tight compositional unit, with little emphasis remaining on improvisation or long-form songs.  A near-pop sensibility was embraced, with shorter and catchier tunes bouncing forth. 
            Visual art has been a key counterpart to the music, with all record-sleeve design made by band members.  Artists Ara Peterson and Danny Perez have made videos for songs, and Mr. Perez has contributed a live video mix to the band's live set since fall of 2005.  Recent releases include limited edition posters, and in summer 2005, the group released its first non-music object; a 128-page book of collage art made in collaboration with photographer Jason Frank Rothenberg.  In 2007, the band made their first video with “Kokomo”, a visual mash up of images culled from television and the internet. 
            The band has toured America and Europe dozens of times, and has visited Japan twice.  In 2005, the trio recorded an album in Byron Bay, Australia following a tour.  In 2006, the band played in Brazil and a live set was captured on national television in Lima, Peru. Virtually any and every type of venue has served as the backdrop for Black Dice shows; from basements and warehouses to art galleries and museums, from house shows to gigantic outdoor festivals or formal seated theaters.  Placing the music in a context contrary to the average show remains a compelling inspiration for unique performances.