Saturday, July 13, 2019

Closedown - 1993 demo

The title of the first track says it all.  Heavy-handed practitioners at that, alas there's nil I can inform you of regarding Closedown's background details, even as basic as where they called home.  Named after a Cure tune, but more in league with early Slowdive (and surprisingly, not even so much My Bloody Valentine) this was a defiantly noisesome lot whose amped-out histrionics must have had a concussive impact on their audience back in the day.  Case in point is the bracingly dense "Monolith," so overpowering it virtually mimics the sensation of ascending in an airplane.  Things chill-out as this tape progresses, with the instrumental "Sundown" emanating a soothing comedown of sorts...or I suppose in this case, a "closedown."

01. Shoegazer
02. Monolyth
03. Amber
04. Vitrescence
05. See Me Fade
06. Infinite
07. Sundown

Hear

8 comments:

DLBKCMO said...

Criminal that they only made, what, a demo and one album - shrouded in mystery... wonder what happened.

... said...

Hi, I've enjoyed your blog for several years now and have been lucky to discover new music.

How cool it is to see my old band Closedown here!

Let me know if you have any questions and please repost Rain Parade's "Crashing Dream."

P.S. 1st song was called "Bliss," not "Shoegaze." LOL.

james.

tslwn said...

James,

Great to see you here! Fell in love with Closedown after a friend sent me 'Bliss'. Via the compilation Splashed With Many A Speck, the band also introduced me to Dewdrops Records that I am really enjoying at the moment.

Are the band still in touch at all? I definitely know a few people who would love to see this tape reissued ... 😊

Tim

... said...

Hi Tim,

Thanks for reaching out!

The folks in the band have periodically kept in touch since we all live 20 minutes from each other.

The demo posted here and other releases have periodically been on the verge of being reissued.

I’d love to see some vinyl releases in the future.

tslwn said...

Somehow I didn't get a notification from your comment, so I'm sorry for the late reply...

I'm glad to hear that, on both counts. I've always thought about starting a reissue label, which is much easier said than done, but it'd certainly be worthwhile to bring the band's work to a new audience.

Feel free to email me sometime (tslawson72@gmail.com) if you'd like to start thinking about it (again). Thanks!

dweihn said...

I just heard about Closedown. I recently discovered DKFM (decayfm.com), and internet radio station. They have a classics channel and an Edge channel. Closedown is in heavy rotation on the classics channel. Check it out!

dweihn said...

hey James from Closedown, are you familiar with decayfm.com internet radio? they play Closedown a lot on their classics channel. It would be great to hear you do one of their station IDs!

... said...

Painted Air records is issuing a limited edition Closedown vinyl LP entitled "Dissolve." It's set for release on 4/29/24.https://paintedair.bandcamp.com/album/dissolve