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Balam Acab's New Project WINGS OF THE GREAT EAGLE Might Get Him Banned from Venues

The Pennsylvania producer has teamed up with a childhood friend for some anxious ambient recordings.
CJ

Before Alec Koone released records on Tri Angle and played festivals across the globe, the producer/songwriter now known as Balam Acab was playing open mic nights like any bored high school kid with a predilection for music making tends to do. But instead of toting around an acoustic guitar and whispering Bob Dylan covers to a respectfully bored audience, he and his friend John Michael Clark tried a more impactful tact, starting a noise duo and slamming on effects pedals at ungodly volumes. "[It] didn't go over so well," he said in a recent email. "We got asked to turn down after 5 minutes, then asked to stop about 30 seconds later, and were banned from the venue from then on."

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If the prospect of room-clearing noise sounds exciting to you, well, good news, following the December release of his endearingly dark Balam Acab LP Child Death, Koone has teamed up again with Clark under the name WINGS OF THE GREAT EAGLE with the stated goal of reviving the spirit of their childhood love of ambient and noise. "It's fun to make, fun to play, and it's they type of music John Michael and I both grew up on," Koone said. "Now that we are living in the area and have some time to devote to the project, we wanted to make it more of an official thing." Today, the duo is sharing the first fruits of their collaborative effort, a two-part composition called "ain't worried about nothing."

The duo's first collaborations, recorded in high school while the two were in a post-rock band together, were improvisational in nature, but "ain't worried about nothing" swirls together string samples, syrupy synths, and static into a clearer, more affecting structure. Even more depressing than Child Death's anxious atmospheres, "ain't worried about nothing," captures a frazzled headspace where you can only do the opposite of what the title suggests, just sit and sulk.

When Koone spoke to THUMP about Child Death, he suggested that he might eventually form a rock band, an impulse further evidenced in the bleak, bristling hardcore track "NOTHING TO OFFER / NOTHING TO REAP" that he released as a Balam Acab track last month. Turns out, those experimental punk stylings will also find a home in WINGS OF THE GREAT EAGLE, they'll occasionally play shows and make blown-out punk tracks aided by drummer Joe Bruzga. Koone initially promised to write and record a punk song to accompany this post, but homework for his college classes got in the way. He did say that the band will "prolly record a 'punk EP' or something rly soon" which is still exciting news.

Both Clark and Bruzga will also play in Koone's still to-be-named rock group, which he emphasizes will be "more involved in terms of actual songwriting" and vocals that are "pretty and melodic" instead of the demonic contortions of these recordings. It's all exciting stuff from a guy whose primary focus for the time being is finishing up a college degree.

Below are both parts of "ain't worried about nothing," along with the previously released "NOTHING TO OFFER/NOTHING TO REAP." You'll want to stream it all here.

Before Alec Koone released records on Tri Angle and played festivals across the globe, the producer/songwriter now known as Balam Acab was playing open mic nights like any bored high school kid with a predilection for music making tends to do. But instead of toting around an acoustic guitar and whispering Bob Dylan covers to a respectfully bored audience, he and his friend John Michael Clark tried a more impactful tact, starting a noise duo and slamming on effects pedals at ungodly volumes. "[It] didn't go over so well," he said in a recent email. "We got asked to turn down after 5 minutes, then asked to stop about 30 seconds later, and were banned from the venue from then on."

If the prospect of room-clearing noise sounds exciting to you, well, good news, following the December release of his endearingly dark Balam Acab LP Child Death, Koone has teamed up again with Clark under the name WINGS OF THE GREAT EAGLE with the stated goal of reviving the spirit of their childhood love of ambient and noise. "It's fun to make, fun to play, and it's they type of music John Michael and I both grew up on," Koone said. "Now that we are living in the area and have some time to devote to the project, we wanted to make it more of an official thing." Today, the duo is sharing the first fruits of their collaborative effort, a two-part composition called "ain't worried about nothing."

The duo's first collaborations, recorded in high school while the two were in a post-rock band together, were improvisational in nature, but "ain't worried about nothing" swirls together string samples, syrupy synths, and static into a clearer, more affecting structure. Even more depressing than Child Death's anxious atmospheres, "ain't worried about nothing," captures a frazzled headspace where you can only do the opposite of what the title suggests, just sit and sulk.

When Koone spoke to THUMP about Child Death, he suggested that he might eventually form a rock band, an impulse further evidenced in the bleak, bristling hardcore track "NOTHING TO OFFER / NOTHING TO REAP" that he released as a Balam Acab track last month. Turns out, those experimental punk stylings will also find a home in WINGS OF THE GREAT EAGLE, they'll occasionally play shows and make blown-out punk tracks aided by drummer Joe Bruzga. Koone initially promised to write and record a punk song to accompany this post, but homework for his college classes got in the way. He did say that the band will "prolly record a 'punk EP' or something rly soon" which is still exciting news.

Both Clark and Bruzga will also play in Koone's still to-be-named rock group, which he emphasizes will be "more involved in terms of actual songwriting" and vocals that are "pretty and melodic" instead of the demonic contortions of these recordings. It's all exciting stuff from a guy whose primary focus for the time being is finishing up a college degree.

Below are both parts of "ain't worried about nothing," along with the previously released "NOTHING TO OFFER/NOTHING TO REAP." You'll want to stream it all here.

Tagged:HardcoreDIYBalam Acabthump newswings of the great eagleThump
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