12 " Bio

Echononecho, Mi Ami's debut 12" on Quarterstick, is an energy-intense exploration in space, anxiety, sexuality, repetition and percussion. Hailing from San Francisco, this trio finds their strength in restraint, while remaining enthrallingly chaotic.

Featuring two key members of Dischord's hyper-percussive Black Eyes (Daniel Martin-McCormick on vocals and guitar, and Jacob Long on bass) as well as Damon Palermo on drums, Mi Ami builds on the promise of Black Eyes' spastic energy and renowned live performances, but steers it into a more focused, volatile, and personal direction.

Mi Ami's work starts at the foundation of dance music, deconstructing and rebuilding it, disassembling and reanimating it. The band's relentless disco rhythms are an organic base that frees up everyone.s playing. Palermo.s four-on-the-floor kick work allows him to approach entire songs as extended solos, and this continually cresting wave of percussion creates an ever-changing sonic landscape for Martin-McCormick and Long to present their own take on dub bass, precarious melody, and distance.

Side A, the title track (and first single from their upcoming full-length, Watersports), is flush with yelping vocals, a wailing guitar and bubbling bass lines. Shadowy noises are layered into the mix with plenty of echo and reverb to create a cosmic airspace.

Side B, "Version," is an exercise in subversion and editing. A remix of the title track, it is rapturously eerie, bending the already twisted frame of the A-side, as the yelps of the original take on an even more galactic vastness amid a cavern of sound.

The band will be touring extensively in 2009, and Watersports is due out in February 2009 on Quarterstick.

LP Bio

Through both passionate live performances and incredibly powerful recordings, Mi Ami has made authenticity their mission. Comprised of two key members of Dischord's hyper-percussive Black Eyes (Daniel Martin-McCormick on vocals and guitar, and Jacob Long on bass) as well as Damon Palermo on drums, this trio from San Francisco has harnessed the energy of their previous work and focused it, laser-style, into a pure stream of heavy, concentrated playing. Pulling from 60s free jazz, dub, minimalism, disco, and African music, the band manipulates rhythm, negative space, and the physicality of song.

More than anything else, Mi Ami believes the music is the message, and that message is meant to be shared. The perfect live show is a transformative experience, and the band dreams of creating \'literal sound spaces that blur the line between the mechanical, electrical, and living.\' They want to take sound to another place - where what you.re hearing at a show is only a small part of what that song actually is . to where the noise becomes multidimensional, physical, overwhelming, and freeing.

Fittingly, their new record, Watersports, out February 17, 2009 on Quarterstick records, was recorded mostly live over 2 ½ days in San Francisco. Thematically, it's a study on fear and anxiety. "Pressure," which is initially almost whispered, turns into a complete freak-out over sexuality, love, and autonomy. "The Man In Your House," on the other hand, is about modern American paranoia, something aptly conveyed with the entrancing drum and guitar work on the track. With its plaintive, wailing vocals, "Echononecho" is a rejection of an attempted emotional connection . something the band thinks might be the universal heartbreak.

Even still, amid the panic and pain, the record is also about love and the ability to find it in all places, despite flaws. "White Wife" is about the search for genuine pleasure and learning to embrace oneself, rather than yielding to irony and self-referential bullshit. The record's closer, "Peace Talks/Downer," with its layered instrumentation and reverential tone, speaks of hope, bringing the Watersports experience full circle - from anxiety comes hope; from fear, love.



Marah Eakin
P.O. Box 25342 Chicago IL 60625
marah(NO-SPAM)@tgrec.com
T: 773/388/8888 x 201 F: 773/388/3888
WEB: www.touchandgorecords.com


Features

Anthem
Baltimore City Paper
Dazed and Confused
Dusted
The Independent
The Onion
San Francisco Bay Guardian
The Stranger
Washington City Paper
XLR8R


Reviews

Anthem
Crawdaddy
Kerrang
NME
New York Times
Pitchfork Forkcast
Pitchfork Review
Washington Post
Wired


Marah Eakin
P.O. Box 25342 Chicago IL 60625
marah(NO-SPAM)@tgrec.com
T: 773/388/8888 x 201 F: 773/388/3888
WEB: www.touchandgorecords.com


    Marah Eakin
    P.O. Box 25342 Chicago IL 60625
    marah(NO-SPAM)@tgrec.com
    T: 773/388/8888 x 201 F: 773/388/3888
    WEB: www.touchandgorecords.com