Januar Blues

It has been awhile since we posted here…but given the difficulties of staying in touch via social media, we are going to start using this blog more regularly—though if anyone would rather be on our Telegram channel instead of here, here is the invite link.

So, to catch up—here are some recent-ish releases maybe you didn’t already hear about, all of which are available (in some form or another) on the Broken Spine bandcamp page:

Aidan Baker & Stefan Christoff – Januar (Time Released Sound)

“[A] stunning ebb and flow of neo-doom grandeur. Baker’s subtle, sci-fi inspired noisescapes nestling under Christoff’s tender work across the ivories.”
—Sun13

Nadja & Fawn Limbs – Vestigial Spectra (Wolves & Vibrancy / Roman Numeral / Sludgelord)

“Vestigial Spectra feels like the musical equivalent of Gravity’s Rainbow…its creativity and willingness to experiment set it apart…Vestigial Spectra is the soundtrack to falling into a black hole.”
—ToiletovHell

Aidan Baker’s Trio Not Trio 5CD Series (Gizeh Records)

“[T]he Trio Not Trio series is debatably Baker’s finest hour.  Over five releases…the Trio Not Trio concept has seen Baker collaborate with artists from across the globe, unearthing some of the most underrated voices within the world of experimentation.”
—Sun13

Lastly, in concert news, we will be performing in Mexico next month:

Nadja

09.02.24 316centro, Mexico City
15.02.24 The Basement, Guadalajara
17.02.24 Casa de la Contracultura, Queretaro

Aidan Baker

14.02.24 Casa del Lago, Mexico City
16.02.24 Red Rum, Guadalajara

Labyrinths Are Different Than Mazes

The new Nadja album, Labyrinthine, will be released on CD on Broken Spine next month, along with seven different cassette editions from micro/indie labels around the world. The CD is available to pre-order now from our Bandcamp—and you can find links to the various cassette releases, if you want any of those.

Labyrinthine is unique in our catalogue, as each track has a guest vocalist, namely: Alan Dubin (Khanate, Gnaw), Rachel Davies (Esben & The Witch), Lane Shi Otayanii (Elizabeth Colour Wheel), and Dylan Walker (Full of Hell). The CD comes in a oversize digisleeve package and each cassette has its unique artwork, based on the lovely artwork from our old friend HLG:

We will be playing a handful of shows this and next month in support of the new album, including these hometown(ish) shows, the first two Aidan Baker solo, the last two Nadja:

27.08 42 Adelaide St., London, CA 
28.08 Baby G, Toronto, CA
02.09 Intersection Festival, Toronto, CA
03.09 Hiatus/Broken Chord, Montreal, CA

And then a couple weeks in Europe with the great Australian band MY DISCO:

13.09 Merleyn, Nijmegen, NL
14.09 Hafenklang, Hamburg, DE
15.09 Basement, Copenhagen, DK
16.09 Urban Spree, Berlin, DE
17.09 LAS, Poznan, PL 
18.09 Scheune, Dresden, DE
20.09 Klub Re, Krakow, PL
21.09 Poglos, Warsaw, PL 
22.09 Replugged, Vienna, AT
23.09 A4, Bratislava, SK
24.09 Zizkovska Noe Festival, Prague, CZ

Sommerkommen

Updated spring/summer 2022 EU Aidan Baker solo/trio/collab dates starting next week at Marie Antoinette in Berlin:

04.05.22 – Marie Antoinette, Berlin, DE (trio performance)
19.05.22 – A Colossal Weekend Festival, Copenhagen, DK – w/ We Like We
21.05.22 – A Colossal Weekend Festival, Copenhagen, DK
02.06.22 – Klub Gromka, Ljubljana, SI
12.06.22 – Ausland, Berlin, DE
30.06.22 – Punctum, Prague, CZ (trio performance)
01.07.22 – Trafo, Jena, DE (trio performance)
08.08.22 – Casseiopeia, Berlin, DE

And the following Nadja EU/UK dates:

20.05.22 – A Colossal Weekend Festival, Copenhagen, DK
01.06.22 – ZEZ Festival, Zagreb, HR
15.06.22 – Freakout, Bologna, IT
16.06.22 – Villa Rossi, Genova, IT
17.06.22 – Torchiera, Milan, IT
24.06.22 – Bruisme Festival, Poitiers, FR
07.07.22 – Audio, Glasgow, UK – w/ Bismuth
08.07.22 – Gorilla, Manchester, UK – w/ Circle & Richard Dawson
09.07.22 – Supersonic Festival, Birmingham, UK – w/ Bismuth & more
10.07.22 – The Lexington, London, UK – w/ Bismuth

Spring Forward

It’s been awhile since we posted here…so just a quick update on some recent releases, in case anyone missed them:

Newly released from Somewherecold Records, Aidan Baker’s You Are All At Once, three songs of minimalist slowcore:

A ‘soundtrack’ to John Brunner’s classic dystopian SF novel The Sheep Look Up on Bibliotapes:

And, Nalepa, a sort of double, live-in-studio, Nadja / Aidan Baker album from Midira Records:

And, finally, as the world (maybe) returns to some sort of normalcy, some upcoming (and more tba) tour dates:

Aidan Baker
04.05.22 – Marie Antoinette, Berlin, DE
19.05.22 – A Colossal Weekend Festival, Copenhagen, DK – w/ We Like We
21.05.22 – A Colossal Weekend Festival, Copenhagen, DK
01.07.22 – Trafo, Jena, DE

Nadja
19.05.22 – A Colossal Weekend Festival, Copenhagen, DK
24.06.22 – Bruisme Festival, Poitiers, FR
07.07.22 – Audio, Glasgow, UK – w/ Bismuth
08.07.22 – Gorilla, Manchester, UK – w/ Circle & Richard Dawson
09.07.22 – Supersonic Festival, Birmingham, UK – w/ Bismuth & many others
10.07.22 – The Lexington, London, UK – w/ Bismuth

Autumn Leaves

As weird as it might seem to be announcing live performances, Nadja will be heading out on tour this month, with dates in Russia, Germany, and Belgium:

08 OCT – Lastochca, St. Petersburg, RU
09 OCT – Lastochca, St. Petersburg, RU *
10 OCT – Pravda Club, Moscow, RU
22 OCT – Komma, Esslingen, DE
23 OCT – Borsigfest, Berlin, DE **
26 OCT – Halle Am Rhein, Cologne, DE
27 OCT – Botanique, Brussels, BE
28 OCT – P8, Karlsruhe, DE
29 OCT – Trafo, Jena, DE
30 OCT – The Black Lodge, Berlin, DE
25 NOV – Roter Salon, Berlin, DE

* Aidan Baker solo
** Aidan Baker Trio, Hypnodrone Ensemble, & The Psychedelic Choir

Sommerkommt

In an effort to make our discography more streamlined and navigable, we have re-organized our various bandcamp pages so that everything can be more easily found on the Broken Spine page under the individual project names. We’ve also separated Nadja and Aidan Baker albums proper from collaborations and live/digital-only releases via their own sub-pages.

And if anyone needs to pick up something to further complete their collection, we’re offering a 20% discount off physical and digital media for the next week – just use the code ‘sommerkommt’ at check out.

Manifold Luminous Rot

Our forthcoming album Luminous Rot from Southern Lord Records is now available for pre-order in a variety of formats and permutations.

The red and black vinyl or cd, and a new t-shirt, are all available on our bandcamp page – but please note this will be shipping from the US and not directly from us in Berlin. If you are in North America and want to take advantage of an album/shirt bundle, here pictured, then visit the Southern Lord Store.

If you are in Europe, the cd, black and yellow edition are available from Southern Lord Europe or, if you’d like a shirt or album/shirt bundle, visit our friends at Haus Nostromo based here in Berlin.

Lastly, the Japanese CD edition of the album, which comes with a bonus track, is available directly from Daymare Recordings.

Satellites, Sailors, & Unicorns

Some recent releases in the last weeks, months compiled, on the chance you might have missed out on them:

Nadja – Seemannsgarn (digital only w/ accompanying art print – Broken Spine)
Aidan Baker – Stimmt (cassette release – Cruel Nature Records)
Whisper Room – Lunokhod (cd release – Midira Records)
Nadja / Disrotted – Split (LP/Cassette – Roman Numeral Records / Bad Moon Rising Records)

The Year That Wasn’t

Except it was. Of course, 2020 has been a difficult year for everyone but we have been lucky enough to sneak in a couple short tours before the pandemic hit, play a smattering of shows over the summer and fall, and scrape by with your, our listeners, support. To that end, below is a summary of our 2020 releases, for the completists out there who might have missed something, many of which are available as free or pay-what-you-can downloads:

AIDAN BAKER – solo & various collaborations from Broken Spine, Consouling Sounds, Gizeh Records, Karlrecords, A Red Thread / Torn Light Records, Grisaille, & Utility Tapes:

NADJA – we released a couple live recordings & a remix collection this year, but nothing brand new (apart from the physical LP edition of Stripped)…however, there will be a new full-length from us, Luminous Rot, in 2021 – stay tuned for details:

HYPNODRONE ENSEMBLE – Aidan’s collaborative space-/drone-/krautrock ensemble with Thisquietarmy released a live album with Midira Records & a new full-length (completed remotely during lockdown) with a total of 15 musicians on Wolves & Vibrancy Records:

WERL – Aidan’s collaborative duo with drummer Tomas Järmyr released a live cassette with Katuktu Collective &, performing as a trio with bass-clarinetist Gareth Davis, a live LP on Midira Records:

Here’s hoping 2021 shapes up to be a better year – stay strong, stay healthy!

A Physical Stripped

Nadja’s ‘unplugged’ album Stripped, previously only available digitally, finally gets a physical release as a special limited edition release. The album is housed in a kraftpaper cardboard sleeve, each individually hand-painted with black paint, as are the labels themselves, with bronze paint:

The album is exclusively available from us in our webshop and digitally on our bandcamp page: