Hello. Sorry for not updating the news for a little while; I’ve been away most of the summer and am finally back home. Lots has happened since the last update, the big news being the release of Flux a few weeks ago. We’ve been pleasantly overwhelmed with the great response that it’s receiving. Flux has been charting on the college radio charts and is even number 1 on several stations.
Flux has been selling great, better than all our previous releases. In mid September through mid November, it will be in listening stations in all the Borders stores. Flux is or will be in listening stations and on sale at many Virgin, Media Play, and Tower Records stores, as well. I’ve seen Flux at most places I’ve been to, so you shouldn’t have much trouble finding it (a nice change compared to when Ever was released).
For all you gearheads out there, we will be in the November issue of Keyboard magazine, which will be on sale in October. They did an interview with me while I was staying in in San Francisco last month. I talked about the gear and processes used in making Flux, while enjoying a pleasant dinner of Indian food with their writer Markkus Rovito.
We contributed the Flux track, ‘Nova,’ to Loraine, A KUCI 88.9 fm benefit compilation. Besides being a worthwhile double-cd benefit comp, it has some great tracks of ‘intelligent’ electronic music, with songs from Bassland, Simply Jeff, Uberzone, Gearwhore, THC, Robert Rich, Surface 10, and many others. It is a very cool limited edition compilation. For more information, see the Peach website at www.peachfuzz.net.
Thanks to everybody who has emailed us or wrote in our guestbook about enjoying Flux so much! I personally think Flux is our best release so far, and am surprised and happy to hear that so many of you think the same. Our website here has been redesigned too, as some of you may notice. I hope you like the new look. Also, be sure to check back here regularly for the latest info on what’s happening with us. A few shows are being talked about and I will post more info on those as soon as it becomes available.
And check out the new Massive Attack CD, it rocks!
Official Love Spirals Downwards ‘Flux‘ press release from Projekt Records:
As the name of their newest album implies, Love Spirals Downwards has continued their evolution with each new release. Comprised of Ryan Lum and Suzanne Perry, the band was among the first generation of musicians to grow up with home recording studios. As technology became more sophisticated, so did their art. Now Lum and Perry use a full range of technical advances, including computers and digital audio recording. Their embrace of technology helped lead to their current dance/electronica base.
The mood of Love Spirals Downwards’ music, for all its aural and technological spectacle, is contemplative, drawing upon such eclectic inspirations as classical philosophy, Buddhism, mysticism, Spanish ode, and the distinctly American free verse of Jack Kerouac. This range of sources suggests something of the scope and spiritual embrace of their art.
Degreed in Philosophy and Psychology respectively, Ryan Lum and Suzanne Perry’s musical collaboration as Love Spirals Downwards is both intrinsically thought-provoking and therapeutically relaxing. It is music which takes listeners beyond conditioned preconceptions, flowing into a space that is invitingly warm and boundless.
Wednesday, July 22nd, 1998 8-10 pm: Ryan Lum, of Love Spirals Downwards, will Guest DJ for an hour on Space Disco For Fish Tacos (on KUCI 88.9 fm in Irvine, CA). He’ll be playing a bit off of his forthcoming Projekt release, Flux, in addition to some of the music that he draws inspiration from. Look for the LSD track ‘Nova’ on the forthcoming KUCI benefit CD, Loraine.
As I promised, there are now some audio clips from Flux on our audio page. Without using any buzzwords, this should give you a pretty good idea of the direction and feel of the new album. I hope you enjoy.
The release date for our new album, Flux, is August 11, 1998. That date is firm and should not change. Coming soon to the site, there will be some clips of songs from Flux to listen to on our audio page, as well as info on the album.
Hello. It’s been a few months since my last update. Lots has happened, and the big news is that our new album Flux is finished and mastered. Its release date, last time I checked, is July 21, 1998. I’ll be sure to keep you informed here if that gets changed.
In other news, we had a great time onstage and off at the Los Angeles Projekt Fest show this past March. Thanks to those in attendance for making it the funnest show we ever had. And also thanks to Andrew Pluta of Arcanta and Rodney Rodriguez of the Von Trapps for joining on percussion and guitar respectively for this show. We hope to do more shows with the four of us, but I should say here and now that we will not be doing any of the Projekt Festival shows later this summer.
We have a new song on a new compilation put out by Pat Ogle’s (formerly of Projekt) new label Precipice Recordings. Our song, “Asleep,” can only be found on this compilation and will not be on our new album. Projekt is distributing this disc, so you can order it direct from them by calling 1-800-CD-LASER.
Mean Streets So Cal, March 1998, Volume VIII – Issue 9
PROJEKT FESTIVAL: One of the most dramatic and beautiful nights of music awaits you…
By Ned Raggett
About 2000 years ago. plus a few, the Ides of March proved to not be a pretty good day. At least for a balding fellow named Julius Caesar. However, that was Rome and two millennia away, not Los Angeles and the middle of this March.
At the El Rey Theatre on Sunday, March 15, the third Projekt Festival will be hosted for many an appreciative fan, likely providing one of the most dramatic and beautiful nights of music for years. Organized by Projekt main man Sam Rosenthal, the festival, previously held in the in the label’s headquarter city of Chicago, will feature two of Projekt’s flagship bands— Los Angeles’ own Love Spirals Downwards and Rosenthal’s group Black Tape for a Blue Girl — and Santa Barbara’s faith and the Muse (who though not on Projekt are closely associated with the label via Darkwave distribution). Tickets can currentIy be purchased via Los Angeles at Retail Slut on Melrose, in Orange County at Ipso Facto in Fullerton, and through Projekt at 1-800 CD-LASER. All very well, you say, but why should you care?
Simply put, quality, combined with a driving desire to steer away from an easy and obvious norm. Projekt has evolved throughout the 90s as the closest possible equivalent to the 80s glory days of England’s 4AD label — a record business dedicated not to the commercial quick kill but to an overall aesthetic of lush beauty in appearance and sound, shaded throughout with the dark emotional touches too easily summed up and dismissed as “goth.” While it’s no secret that Projekt and associated bands have been far too often seen as a goth label — Rosenthal has jokingly referred to himself as a crazy uncle of goth — in response to such charges in the past, while Faith and the Muse’s William Faith wears white make-up and haystacked black hair like a pro — the three bands featured each have their own specific style and much to offer to the open-minded listener willing to put aside clichéd descriptions in favor of the actual music itself.
The Los Angeles show that I referred to earlier, as some of you may have figured out, is the Los Angeles Projekt Festival at the El Rey Theater on March 15. Check Projekt’s Live Page for the latest info and details. I haven’t mentioned it here until now because the details of the show were constantly changing. The original idea for the show was supposed to be just us and labelmates, Thanatos. Now Thanatos is not playing and the show has become the “L.A. Projekt Festival.” Some of you know that Suzanne and I are not exactly blissful about festival shows, so this will be our last festival performance and your last opportunity to see us at one. Later in the year we plan to get back to doing our own shows again when we do some touring.
Dewdrops Records included our song “Delta” on their new 2-CD set, Splashed With Many A Speck, released this past December. The various artist compilation also features our friends Closedown, Faith & Disease, The Von Trapps, Lovesliescrushing, and many more, including Cocteau Twins. The Closedown track, “Bumblebee,” was actually mixed here at our home studio by me.
They say that every style has a limited life, from its prosperous origins to decline. There is, however, a current that has been in force for quite a few years and that has not declined at all: the heavenly voices. What began in the 80s with 4AD and continued with Hyperium now starsProjekt, a very successful American label that treasures some of the best ethereal music bands, such as LOVE SPIRALS DOWNWARDS, a Los Angeles duo formed by guitarist Ryan Lum and vocalist Suzanne Perry. In 1992 he made his debut with ‘Idylls,’ followed by ‘Ardor’ and his great and last work, ‘Ever.’
By Sonia Garcia
SUD: What is the meaning of the band name?
Ryan: Love Spirals Downwards? Does it have something to do with the acronyms that are formed with the initials, that is, the psychedelic LSD, and the effect that your music can cause?
Ryan: It’s just a name, we had to call ourselves somehow: it doesn’t mean anything.
SUD: Do you think drugs provide us with a new vision of the world around us?
Ryan: Yes, although it has nothing to do with the name of the band.
SUD: What is really more important: the lyrics themselves or the sound it has?
Ryan: I don’t really see the difference. What matters is the final result of the song.
SUD: Why are the lyrics of the songs never included on the CDs? Are they a secondary aspect of your music?
Ryan: In fact, there is not much to read in our lyrics.
SUD: What is the music scene in Los Angeles like? Could you name a band and the reason for their notability?
Ryan: Good bands in Los Angeles? I don’t know many. Let’s say the VON TRAPPS, formerly known as ELYSIUM.
SUD: Why do you often use Spanish words like “Amarillo,” “Ardor”, “El Pedregal”…? Have you thought about making a song entirely in Spanish?
Ryan: I think we did one some time ago, but I don’t remember. If not, maybe there will be some in the next album.
SUD: What can you tell us about your large Mexican audience? Are they more receptive than Americans?
Ryan: In general, I prefer the Mexican audience, because they have a warmth that is foreign to the American public, although in America we have also done great concerts, if we except the last ones.
SUD: What kind of problems did you have at the last Projekt Festival in Chicago?
Ryan: The conflict arose because at least half of the people who came to party, show off their cloaks and fangs, and make new Gothic friends, in any case not for the music.
SUD: Do you mean that the Goths are more concerned with socializing among themselves?What about music?
Ryan: In general, yes, they only care about themselves, and not about the groups.
SUD: How is your relationship with Projekt and with Sam Rosenthal in particular?
Ryan: We’re doing well. We haven’t seen each other much lately, but we’re still friends.
SUD: Is the acoustic guitar the ideal complement to Suzanne’s voice and vice versa?
Ryan: The two things work together, it’s not a simple combination.
SUD: What do trip hop and drum & bass suggest? Are they styles that influence you?
Ryan: Yes, much more than all those trends that people usually compare us to.
SUD: You can’t complain about the success you’ve had in America, but can you say the same about the treatment of the European press throughout your career?
Ryan: I don’t know. I don’t worry about everything the press says about us. I guess the deal has been favorable.
SUD: Does it bother you that you are included in the Heavenly Voices genre?
Ryan: It’s not a comparison that excites me, but it doesn’t bother me either. In any case, it is always better than being called a gothic band.
SUD: How important have COCTEAU TWINS been for you? What are the similarities and differences between them and you?
Ryan: I like them, but I’m also interested in at least a hundred other groups. I never know what to say when they ask me this.
SUD: How do you explain the journey from the shadows of “Idylls” to the clarity of “Ever”? Have you evolved yourself in the same way?
Ryan: I would describe Idylls, as dark; for me it’s something more than an album that sounds hippie. Indeed, we have changed since 1991… it would be good if it hadn’t been like that!
SUD: Do you want to say something to the readers?
Ryan: Thank you for listening to us. Stay tuned for our new album next year.We hope you like it.
(This was a translation of the original article below)
Sturm und Drang 1997Interview with Ryan Lum
Ethereal Shoegaze and Electronica from Projekt Records and Chillcuts
