Media Jeweler Announce "Sublime Reworks, Tour Japan and Share "Middle Ages - Pregnant Remix"
A year after releasing their third LP 'The Sublime Sculpture of Being Alive,' Media Jeweler have returned to announce a collection of 'Sublime Reworks' - an eclectic edition of remixes from friends & fellow musicians that reinterpret highlights from their 2021 LP, 'The Sublime Sculpture of Being Alive,' mastered by Graham Ulicny. Today they're sharing a taste of the album in the form of avant-garde experimentalist Pregnant's jazzy, downtempo "Middle Ages." They also announce a slew of shows in Japan in April 2023, where they will be joined at all shows by Sarah Parks (Deep Throat Choir) on saxophone and vocals.
Founded in Orange County before rising to greater prominence in Los Angeles, Media Jeweler are a band who have long pushed to the outer edges of the art rock scene they've been a fixture of for the better part of a decade. From their early days sharing stages with artists like Palberta, Palm, Yonatan Gat and Anna Meredith, their dramatic, technically-adept and largely instrumental sound has been turning heads. Their mesmeric live performances initially attracted the attention of Brooklyn's Fire Talk Records (Dehd, Mamalarky, Pure X), who released their 2015 debut $99 R/T Hawaii and their 2018 full length 1-800-SUCCEED to wide acclaim from outlets like Pitchfork, NPR, VICE, Paste and Stereogum, who drew comparisons to artists like Slint, Dimemberment Plan and Built To Spill while praising the bands "carefully-honed art rock" (VICE). The band's 2021 LP marked some significant changes for the band, including the addition of a new member in Graham Ulicny of The Faint and Reptar, and a shift away from their instrumental roots, with member Sam Farzin taking on vocal duties on the majority of the album's 11 tracks.
Farzin elaborates on the single:
"Pregnant parsed Sublime’s most raucous cut into bebop hold music with slinking mid-century arpeggios and jazz hand pianos. The original’s manic declarations sound like advertising slogans. Perfect! "
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‘The Sublime Sculpture of Being Alive,’ the new album from Los Angeles-based Media Jeweler, is a three-dimensional reckoning with the contradictions of life in all its manic altitudes and claustrophobia. Recorded over three chaotic weeks in Omaha, the band’s elaborate sonic infrastructures carry the same sense of studied experimentation as Palm, Guerrilla Toss or Deerhoof, rollicking across an energetic spectrum that parlay the band’s post-punk roots, jazz rhythms and art punk choruses into something greater than the sum of its parts. The most fully-fleshed release yet, a myriad of musical collaborators were enlisted uniting a finely-tuned sense of adventurousness that roves between the personal and political to frame an acute portrait of modern day societal revelation. ‘The Sublime Sculpture of Being Alive’ is out on August 13th on Fire Talk.
1st Pressing
300 Units - Ecomix Vinyl
400 Units - Black Vinyl
300 Units - Swamp Green Vinyl exclusive to independent record stores.
Get all three Media Jeweler record bundled together for one low price! ‘The Sublime Sculpture of Being Alive,’ the new album from Los Angeles-based Media Jeweler, is a three-dimensional reckoning with the contradictions of life in all its manic altitudes and claustrophobia. Recorded over three chaotic weeks in Omaha, the band’s elaborate sonic infrastructures carry the same sense of studied experimentation as Palm, Guerrilla Toss or Deerhoof, rollicking across an energetic spectrum that parlay the band’s post-punk roots, jazz rhythms and art punk choruses into something greater than the sum of its parts. The most fully-fleshed release yet, a myriad of musical collaborators were enlisted uniting a finely-tuned sense of adventurousness that roves between the personal and political to frame an acute portrait of modern day societal revelation. ‘The Sublime Sculpture of Being Alive’ is out on August 13th on Fire Talk.
At about 9:30 PM on the June day we wrapped “1-800-SUCCEED,” we walked over to the local Pawtucket dive to celebrate, just as we did upon completion of album one, with jello shots. Same as it ever was. Despite posted operating hours, we were greeted by a locked door and no explanation in a completely still, silent neighborhood fraught with urban decay.
There’s no cure-all elixir for feeling lost or confused and attempts at suppression may have some side effects. “1-800-SUCCEED” is the unavoidable hangover that follows our first foray into multi-level marketing, “$99 R/T Hawaii” — the promise of a better, or at least other, place within reach.
We bought and sold the dream. While deep in an unsustainable REM slumber, escapist ambitions took a nosedive out of that budget airliner, artlessly hurtling back to earth with no recourse. Maybe there was nothing to celebrate. There’s no tube amp warm enough, no microphone sensitive enough, no pickup sweet enough to shake off the debris of this world. You can’t snap your fingers and step out of this claustrophobic plane of existence. “1-800-SUCCEED” is the sound of this realization.
“1-800-SUCCEED” was recorded, mixed, and mastered at Machines With Magnets in Pawtucket, RI by Seth Manchester and Keith Souza (Lightning Bolt, Battles, Load Records).
1st Pressing
300 Transparent Blue Vinyl
Debut LP from Santa Ana, CA based Media Jeweler. "$99 R/T Hawaii” aims to capture the relentless restlessness of being alive on this increasingly weird and overstimulating planet. It was recorded and mixed in a casual and really quite nice three-day session during the dawn of spring at Machines with Magnets by Seth Manchester and Keith Souza (Battles, Lightning Bolt, etc.). It was mastered a week later by XOQ (Liars, Factory Floor, Martin Gore, etc.).
"A true fiesta for the ears" - Pitchfork
"It's immensely pleasing" - Stereogum
1st Pressing
200 Fluorescent Pink Vinyl
300 Black Vinyl
Tour Dates!
4/12 - Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon
4/16 - Kyoto, Japan - Growly
4/17 - Osaka, Japan - Para-Dice
4/18 - Fukuoka, Japan - Utero
4/19 - Yamaguchi, Japan - Organ's Melody
4/20 - Takamatsu, Japan - Toonice
4/21 - Nagoya, Japan - Stiffslack
4/22 - Tokyo, Japan - JAM
4/23 - Tokyo, Japan - ERA