12.40 1440

Fussing & Fighting

Thrill Jockey
thrill 12.40 - 2010

This vinyl only EP is presented with a 10” x 6” high-gloss photo print hand-pasted to the LP jacket front (some in white jackets, some in black jackets).

Jason Urick is highly regarded in the Baltimore music and arts scene, through his work in the group WZT Hearts and at the Floristree Space where he has curated many shows and festivals. Fussing & Fighting follows his solo album debut Husbands, and finds Urick pushing his music further forward with new experiments in rhythm and sonic space.

“Phantom drones twirl, drifting in and out of hearing range, cloaked in a faintly menacing electronic buzz… Urick is in complete and utter control of the sonics he commands.” - Baltimore City Paper

“Husbands is a very compelling and enjoyable listen...it’s near faultless...these four tracks are certainly worth 43 minutes of anyone’s time” - Drowned In Sound (UK)

The three tracks on Fussing & Fighting were spawned during the period just after Urick completed his work on Husbands. After not listening to little else as he finished that album, Urick dove deep into some old faves, including Pita’s Get Out and the Gas catalog, and also became obsessed with videos of London reggae linchpin Jah Shaka. The three compositions included on this 12” are experiments in trying to combine these influences into Urick’s working methods established for Husbands.

Unlike Husbands’ gentle washes of ambience, the songs on Fussing & Fighting are Urick’s first in a very long time to incorporate any sort of rhythmic element, however simple. This time Urick made a conscious effort to slowly steer away from the experiments with density on display on Husbands, opening up his music sonically and allowing things to breathe. As with Husbands, all three of the original tracks were recorded by Urick himself at Floristree.

The fourth and final piece on Fussing & Fighting is Matthew Papich of Ecstatic Sunshine’s take on the title track, recorded with engineer Craig Bowen.

Tracklist

00:00:00

  • 1 Fussing & Fighting
  • 2 The Chase
  • 3 Make This Critical/Sleeping Bag
  • 4 Fussing & Fighting (Estatic Sunshine)