Wrekmeister Harmonies (musical collective)

Wrekmeister Harmonies, led by musician and composer JR Robinson, is an experimental music collective. Named after the Béla Tarr movie Werckmeister Harmonies, it combines elements of drone music, serialism, post-rock, and heavy metal. Wrekmeister Harmonies typically performs a single composition, often almost an hour in length, beginning with a slow build, shifting into a cathartic middle section, concluding with either a peaceful or disquieting resolution.^[1][2]

Critical response

In 2013, Wrekmeister Harmonies was signed to independent label Thrill Jockey,^[3] toured internationally with Grails and headlined in Europe.^[4]

Wrekmeister Harmonies' albums have been featured in year-end lists of major publications and were praised by music critics. Saby Reyes-Kulkarni of Pitchfork Media rated "Night of Your Ascension" as 7.8/10^[5] and listed it among his top ten metal albums of 2015.^[6] John Dornan of The Quietus included "Then It All Came Down" among his "Quietus Albums of the Year 2014".^[7] Spin selected “You've Always Meant So Much to Me” as one of the “20 Best Metal Albums of 2013,”^[8] and Grayson Currin of Pitchfork rated the album as 7.9/10.^[9] Andy Gensler of the Village Voice listed “Recordings Made in Public Spaces” as one of the top 10 Pazz and Jop albums of 2009.^[10]

Notable venues

Wrekmeister Harmonies is known for bringing major metal artists to perform in unconventional venues, such as the Andy Warhol Museum, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Pompidou Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and Chicago's Bohemian National Cemetery.^{[11][12][13][14]}

Individuals associated with Wrekmeister Harmonies

• JR Robinson
• Jef Whitehead
• Sanford Parker
• Mark Solotroff
• Bruce Lamont
• Jaime Fennelly
• Nandini Khaund
• Billie Howard
• Chanel Pease^[15]
• Andrew Markuszewski
• Lydia Lane Stout
• Kate Spelling
• Solomon Snyder
• Esther Shaw
• Anne Patterson
• Tom Hernández
• Fred Lonberg-Holm
• Julie Pomerleau
• Chris Brokaw
• David Yow
• Ken Vandermark
• Keefe Jackson

Discography

• Recordings Made in Public Spaces, Volume 1 (2009) Atavistic
• You've Always Meant So Much to Me (2013) Thrill Jockey
• Then It All Came Down (2014) Thrill Jockey
• Night of Your Ascension (2015) Thrill Jockey

References

1. "A Closer Listen, May 27th, 2013". a closer listen. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
2. "Tiny Mixtapes, September 10, 2014, Wrekmeister Harmonies continues stronghold on gloom, doom with new album". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
3. https://web.archive.org/20140903093506/http://www.thrilljockey.com:80/thrill/Wreckmeister-Harmonies/You-ve-Always-Meant-So-Much-to-Me. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved March 18, 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
4. "The Quietus, October 9, 2013". The Quietus. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
5. "pitchfork.Com, "Review of Night of Your Ascension", Saby Reyes-Kulkarni, November 25th, 2015".
6. "Pitchfork.Com, "Best Metal Albums of 2015", Saby Reyes-Kulkarni, December 21st, 2015".
7. "The Quietus, "Quietus Albums of the Year 2014", John Doran, December 11th, 2014".
8. "Spin Magazine, 20 Best Metal Albums of 2013". Spin.com. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
9. "The Pitchfork Review, August 2, 2013". Pitchfork. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
10. "Village Voice, Pazz and Jop Ballots, Dec 2009". Villagevoice.com. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
11. "Atavistic Records Artist's Page". Stavistic.com. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
12. "Chicago Music, Artist Interview, June 20, 2013". Chicagomusic.org. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
13. "Unusual Show of the Week, Wrekmeister Harmonies @ Golden Gate Bridge, SF Weekly, February 2nd, 2009". SF Weekly. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
14. "Chicago Reader, Bleader, July 31, 2013". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
15. "Dronouncement: New Wrekmeister Harmonies Album, "Then It All Came Down!" - Decibel Magazine". Decibelmagazine.com. Retrieved 21 November 2014.