6 new jams born in a Chicago summer and recorded during a Brooklyn Halloween. Testament to a new musical community with William Salas II, aka Brenmar. This is the futuress and you can dance to it.
"Sweat-soaked off their late-2007 release, Terrific Seasons (Hoss), Brooklyn'strembling post-punk trio These Are Powers spurt out another hot mess on their supplemental EP, Taro Tarot (Hoss). From the get-go, the record lurches forward with a disjointed war drum that ominously rumbles from the heart of some perilous darkness on "All Night Services." Pat Noecker (ex-Liars) lends a tinge of comfort in the wake of so much hopelessness and despair, finding new ways to shout a whispered secret despite the blight unraveling before him. While known for their physically demanding live shows and startling polyrhythm contortions, the trio is best understood through a volume-up approach. Even with your headphones mashed to your skull, you'll have trouble fully experiencing the waves of punishing subsonic bass and underlying knee-buckling. At times, stand-out track "Chipping Ice" sounds like industrial waste on the march, as its repetitive bassline advances with rank-and-file left-left-left-right-left cadence. Tandem howls by Noecker and guitarist Anna Barie recall a jackal's acknowledgment of the Fall recapitulated. The 20-something-minute runtime makes this EP seem like a full-length, but, then again, the sound of an impending apocalypse is usually pretty grueling."--CMJ
Vinyl NOW AVAILABLE!!! 500 copies on 180 gram vinyl w/gatefold, silkscreened covers. Double LP, with art printed directly on side D.
Get it at Cake Shop, Kim's, and Soundfix in NYC <> Permanent and Reckless Records in Chicago!
"What first strikes me about the TAP sound is the starkness of it. If Terrific Seasons were a Christmas Tree, it wouldn’t be one of those numbers with a Lionel train track running around it, expensive Hallmark hangings, and a star the size of Israel at the top. This is the X-mas tree you always dreaded as a kid: old, dusty, natural branches, frayed pine needles, a dusty birdhouse full of live birds, and the smell of gun powder hanging in the air. Now, just for gits and shiggles, imagine yourself running down the stairs as a kid and seeing a tree like the latter in your living room. Then, imagine yourself NOT being disappointed in the least."--Tiny Mix Tapes
“..barrel-ass drumming, comic-panel style song construction and general thrub. Very pleasing.” -- The Wire
"These Are Powers is probably the closest we will ever get to hearing cult on tape. They sound awesome...only in a wonderfully scary way. Listening to their dark, repetitious guitars; tribal, ominous drums and battle-cry vocals, images of dancing circles and raging fires are conjured without strain. The high priestess, Anna Barie, is a former Knife Skills member while bass shaman Pat Noecker used to be in Liars. Bill Salas completes the unholy trinity (drums, percussion, electronics) to carefully concoct a sound they have deemed “Ghost-punk.” This tribe, indigenous to Brooklyn, New York, is quite enchanting but beware--those whose ears are subject to their powers may not want to hear anything else."--URB Magazine
"These Brooklyn art-rockers transplanted to Chicago for the summer
(to induct a new drummer, Bill Salas of Brenmar Someday) and it's a
shame they ain't staying. The band is best known as the new outfit
helmed by Pat Noeker, formerly of Liars. The co-ed trio is all about
polyrhythmic pummel; guitars imitate industrial noises, drums clack
and grind like fixed gears -- they describe themselves as
"ghost-punk," but the band's caustic heaves, shudders and sighs are
more mechanical than ethereal. Singer/guitarist Anna Barie is the
focal point of the band; her vocalization sounds like a witchy
incantation over her harsh torrent of plinking, beeping, screaming
guitar. The band is propulsive and post-modern to the
core."--Jessica Hopper, Chicago Tribune
"These are Powers have been running around Brooklyn for a while now, playing the Todd P circuit, and generally spoiling the mood with their noisy, vaguely improvisational brand of noise punk."--Impose
When We Were Thrash?
These Our Powers Improv Performance at Silent Barn, Ridgewood
With guests Ryan Sawyer and Austin Stawiarz
PUNKCAST video "Little Sisters of Beijing" at Death By Audio, Brooklyn
"Untitled (Garbarge Bird)" video
"Silver Lung" video directed by Joe Krings
THESE ARE POWERS <>THESE OUR POWERS
These Are Powers make music like cashmere lightning.
We are free. We are a language of sound. We are hymns piggybacking on noise collages, club beats and ragas. We are a celebration. We are present in dreams and energy. We are the dynamics of being and the infinity of possibility. Union and improvisation strengthen us.
We are future primitives who tour lots and live in Brooklyn and Chicago.
THESE ARE POWERS <>THESE OUR POWERS
WITNESSES
SOME PEOPLE WE HAVE PLAYED WITH:
Aa, An Albatross, The Apes, Athletic Automaton, Best Fwends, Bird Names, The Boggs, Boris, Calvin Johnson, Chinese Stars, Christy and Emily, Citay, CLIPD BEAKS, Dan Deacon, The Deathset, Dirty Projectors, Ecstatic Sunshine, Excepter, Ex Models, The Fall, The Fugue, Flying, Golden Birthday, Google Earth, Gowns, High Places, Indian Jewelry, Juiceboxxx, Knyfe Hyts, MAHJONGG, Magik Markers, Mika Miko, Memes, Modey Lemon, More Teeth, Mythical Beast, Neptune, NO AGE, Old Time Relijun, Oneida, Our Brother The Native, Parts & Labor, People, Phosphorescent, Pterodactyl, Rings, Ryan Sawyer, Soft Circle, Sun Circle, SIDS, Sightings, Sword Heaven, Taaiga!, Telepathe, Thee Scarcity of Tanks, Tickley Feather, Tirra Lirra, Tussle, USAISAMONSTER, WZT Hearts
You guys prob wont remember me but i sat in the kitchen with you after a show in pittsburgh and got pretty hammered. i think that night i put some pretty crazy shit down in my sketch book. Anyway, just wondering when/if you guys are going to play in philly anytime soon. or even one of my parties in jersey
