The world of experimental rock music was shaken this week by the dissolution of The Mars Volta. Despair not! We have a band for you that would love to fill that hole in your hearts. They’re called Soft Speaker, and they need your help.
Allow me to back up a bit. Soft Speaker is more than just a delightfully heady prog-influenced rock band. It’s more complicated than that. The band interweaves its story with a fascinating mythology involving a prominent Austrian historical figure and the idea that all their songs have been unearthed and recorded from sheet music written by a turn-of-the-century iteration of Soft Speaker (Sanftsprecher).
Soft Speaker have recorded their third full length LP, Turkish Mindbathers, and are turning to Kickstarter pledges to press it to audiophile-quality 180 gram vinyl. They are hoping to raise $2,000 by February 28th to pay for the costs of plating and pressing. In addition to Turkish Mindbathers, these prolific devils have recorded an EP’s worth of material to be released on CD as International Scheiße, Dummkopf!.
Engineered and mixed by Cooper Cain (of Chicago’s own CAVE), both recordings are mastered and ready to be plated and duplicated.
Turkish Mindbathers is the follow-up to their 2011 LP Vortrobos. Complex yet accessible, Vortrobos chased us through a fever dream of inspiring fuzz leads, King Crimson-esque filtered vocals, and infectious ear worms to a place where prog nerds and rock and roll everymen can bliss out together.
The rewards for the campaign are well-designed and creative, starting off at $10 for a CD that includes both releases, $25 for the Turkish Mindbathers vinyl and CD with International Scheiße, Dummkopf!. Higher pledges earn you a mexican feast with the band for $150 and an intimate acoustic performance for $500. All pledges above $25 include the vinyl of Turkish Mindbathers as well as the CD. You can even snag Paul Foreman’s vintage mid-60’s non-reverse Gibson Firebird V for $2,200. Just check out that tailpiece! This writer is drooling.
As of this writing, the campaign is just over halfway towards its (reasonable) goal of $2000. We urge you to contribute to this campaign and snag some great music on the way!
Bonus: Since the campaign has already reached $1000, all backers will receive an exclusive digital single that is not available on either recording.
Soft Speaker Official | Facebook | Twitter | Kickstarter
