Join us Saturday at ISC HQ to celebrate Brin & Dustin’s album release on Leaving Records.

Two of our favorite local electronic artists come together on Texture II, the latest vinyl release on Leaving Records! Fans of the “all-genre” label’s “listen to music outside in the daylight under a tree” events will likely recognize Brin & Dustin as regular attendees and performers at the monthly community-driven music series. Widely regarded as sort of experimental “heavyweights” on their respective instruments (drums and guitar), both artists take an improvisational approach to their performances allowing the rhythms, melodies, and soundscapes to naturally reveal themselves as they push forward with various pedals and electronics. We’ve caught Brin & Dustin (individually and together) numerous times over the years, and each set has been a truly expansive experience. Experimental, hypnotic, and highly inventive, the duo’s music takes live electronic improvisation to a whole other plane…

On Texture II, their debut collaborative LP on Leaving Records: “Born of a live, improvisational, collaborative session on Wong’s long-running dublab show, both musicians regard their working relationship as among the most intuitive of their careers. Complimentary indeed: Wong’s background with guitar and Brin’s history on drums (particularly his tenure in heavy music) ensure a fitting pairing. Throughout Texture II’s five tracks, generally plaintive and curious, there awaits (as if by doppler effect) an intermittent cacophony—a sudden rush of percussive, synthetic rain.”

This Saturday, August 19th 6-10pm, we’ll be presenting Brin & Dustin’s Texture II record release show with Leaving Records at our headquarters. The night will feature live performances from the two artists with support from m.a. tiesenga & Dylan Fujioka, live visuals by Nico Daunt, and sound by Moebius Acoustics.

Tickets are available now: https://link.dice.fm/n084587058da

In anticipation of the show, we asked Brin and Dustin to share 5 selects with us ranging from lush electronic music from Japan to heavy grindcore from Northern Ireland.

Chee Shimizu : Obscure Sound

Dustin: This is not a record but a book of records. Written descriptions under each album from Chee Shimizu’s collection, record labels from all over have been taking these records, re-issuing them in hopes for a next re-issue hit like Midori Takada’s “Thru the Looking Glass.” While the Youtube algorithm is getting limited at every moment, you hope a rose would sneakily grow out of the cracks of the mainstream asphalt.

Sanford Ponder : Tigers Are Brave : Rhipidon

D: I was introduced to this record as soon as I moved to Los Angeles, a kind of fantasy anthropology or an imagined ancient civilization. The fact that it was recorded and mixed in Burbank, gives this layer that is quite specific to its corniness and new ageness that lends to a feeling of fondness to the work. Once you fully accept this aesthetic, your world opens up to a whole new appreciation of these timbres and textures.

Soichi Noriki : Kitchen (soundtrack) : Full Moon

D: I come back to this track pretty frequently, a beautiful balance of electronic sounds and acoustic instruments. A slice of life, where time moves a little slower, and you feel the magic of the typical, usual and ordinary things that were taken for granted. To be walking or on a slow bike ride to feel the wind and see the people around you walk to their particular destinations.

Saeko Suzuki : No Like No King No Music : Real

D: I remember watching this film for a revival screening in Shimokitazawa with a couple of friends. The idea that a rumor so ubiquitous can become a reality, a very black magick type of stuff. The track itself is so beautiful, the industrial and lush wilderness colliding into something new and exciting. So many sublime qualities with such clear, fantastic, imaginative landscapes.

Costin Miereanu : Jardin Oublies

D: This whole record is medicine, and I totally mean it. I suffered from migraine headaches and cluster headaches, starts with your eyeball and it just gets worse and worse and lasts for a few hours. This record would be played on repeat, and it helped me cope with the pain and nausea that came with the head aches.  

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Agriculture – S/T

Brin: I’ve been really loving this new record from LA – based “ecstatic” black metal band, Agriculture. Nice mix of blasted out heaviness with some wonderful eclectic interludes. There is always plenty of water. 

Kowloon Walled City – Piecework 

B: Been a fan of KWC since about 2014, but only recently had a chance to see them live. It was crushing and loud and exhausting and hypnotic. Highly recommend this new one as their songwriting and rhythms have gotten more subtly intricate. In top form here on this record. 

MIZMOR – Prosaic 

B: I had only heard Mizmor through their collab record with Thou, but this new record has been on heavy rotation. Sounds like a pack of orcs trudging through a swamp. Perfect soundtrack while I play diablo iv.

Unyielding Love – Flesh of the Furnace 

B: Some incredible blackened grindcore out of Northern Ireland. Unyielding Love’s first EP was on heavy rotation, and then this new record came out and really added such a wide scope to their sound.

Ascended Dead – Evenfall of the Apocalypse 

B: Just recently found out about this band, but this is my go to dog walking album. Dizzying death metal.