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Insurgentes (album)

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Insurgentes is the title of the first full-length solo album released by British musician and record producer Steven Wilson, known for being the founder and frontman of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree. The album was recorded all over the world in studios from Mexico City to Japan and Israel, between January and August 2008, and released in November 2008 as a special deluxe multi disc mail order version, with retail release to follow in February 2009.[3] According to Wilson himself, the album contained "the most experimental song-based music [he had] made."[4] The album is named after the Avenida de los Insurgentes, the longest avenue in Mexico City near which part of it was recorded.

History

On 16 July 2008, a photograph showing Steven Wilson in the central sculpture of the Espacio Escultórico (Spanish for Sculptural Space) of UNAM's Ciudad Universitaria —located nearby the Avenida de los Insurgentes—, with a cloudy sky background and the phrase «STEVEN WILSON - INSURGENTES ...COMING SOON...» appeared in the main page at Steven Wilson's official site.

On 6 August, a trailer video was posted to Steven Wilson and Lasse Hoile's respective MySpace pages,[5] and to Lasse Hoile's YouTube page; since 8 August, also in Wilson's webpage. The song featured in the trailer is the first song of the album, "Harmony Korine".[3] Lasse Hoile has been collaborating as a visual and video director for Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, Opeth, Dream Theater and more recently The Pineapple Thief. The trailer belongs to a documentary of the same name he directed that accompanies the album.

On 25 August, an Insurgentes microsite was set up (now at http://www.insurgentesfilm.com/), and is the official website for the album, from which people were able to pre-order the album as of 6 October. The special edition quickly sold out.[6]

On 28 September, a second trailer was released featuring a 3+1⁄2-minute edit of a song called "Get All You Deserve" (the song is 6:17 in length on the album). Since 22 October, "Get All You Deserve" can be found in an album containing sampler tracks from side projects by all Porcupine Tree members, titled Porcupine Tree - Solo Sampler 2008.[7]

The woman appearing in the trailer is Susana Moyaho,[8][9] who along with Lasse Hoile and Carl Glover captured the photographs for the booklet of the album. She also provided spoken words to the tracks "Only Child" and "Port Rubicon".

The songs "Harmony Korine", "Salvaging" and "Get All You Deserve" can be heard in their entirety through Wilson's MySpace page as well as film music for the Insurgentes documentary movie.

The track "Veneno Para Las Hadas" was named after a 1984 Mexican horror film of the same name directed by Carlos Enrique Taboada.

Influences

Steven Wilson mentions post-punk and shoegaze music as a major influence for the album, citing bands like Joy Division, Killing Joke, The Flaming Lips, My Bloody Valentine, and The Cure. He says the album is also very noise and drone-oriented.[4]

Release

Versions

Limited deluxe edition
The special deluxe edition was limited to 3000 copies as a double CD plus a DVD-A, and another 1000 copies in 10-inch (250 mm) vinyl (100 grams), both with a 120 page-hardback book, sold only via Headphone Dust mail order from a microsite in October 2008. All sold out within two weeks. Though this edition was released in 2008, the album is considered a 2009 release.[10]

The CD/DVD-A edition includes the album itself, with a second CD consisting of songs recorded during the same sessions but excluded from the final track list. The DVD-A contains a 5.1 Surround Sound mix of the album, 24-bit stereo resolution, a trailer for the album that had been posted online, and an 18-minute clip from the Lasse Hoile film Insurgentes. The vinyl edition contains all songs from the CD/DVD-A version.

Wilson briefly considered re-pressing the special edition due to the high demand and ultimately decided not to, but later released all the extra tracks of the Special Edition bonus disc through his SoundCloud.com account as full-resolution WAVs.[11]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
Aquarian Weekly(positive) [12]
Classic Rock [12]
Grand Rapids Press [13]
Kerrang! [12]
Rolling Stone(positive) [14]
Sound and Vision [15]
The Mercury [16]
Times Herald-Record(B+) [17]
Wall Street Journal(positive) [18]

Retail edition The album has been available as a digital download since 16 February 2009. Those purchasers ordering the album from the Burning Shed online store received a link within a confirmation email to download the entire album in 256 kbit/s MP3 format to listen while waiting for the physical copy to arrive.[19]

The Kscope retail edition of the album was physically released on 24 February 2009 in the US, 7 March in Australia and 9 March in the UK. It contains the original CD and DVD-A packaged in a hardback book. They also released an edition in a Super Jewel Box instead of digipak. In the US, a shortly-lived version with an autographed booklet was distributed by Newbury Comics starting from 24 February. This offer was packaged in jewelcase instead of the hardback digipak, and the DVD only had the 5.1 album mix with neither the trailers nor the 18-minute film excerpt.[20]

Japanese edition The album saw a Japanese release on 4 February 2009, containing both CDs from the special edition and a 40-page booklet in a hard cardboard case, with no DVD.[21]

Limited vinyl edition Kscope issued a double LP vinyl edition, shipped on 30 March 2009, which contains the regular album plus all bonus tracks of the deluxe edition on Side D, with the exception of "The 78". It was limited to 2000 copies and only available from the Burning Shed online store.[22]

Singles

A single for the song "Harmony Korine" was released on 23 February, in a choice of black, white, or blood red coloured 7-inch vinyl, each limited to 1000 copies. The A-Side is a remixed edit of album track "Harmony Korine", and the B-side is a track called "The 78", only available previously as an untitled hidden track on the bonus disc of the deluxe edition. A promotional video of the single was uploaded to the mini-site and by Lasse Hoile to his YouTube channel. Shortly after the clip appeared in the website of Blender magazine.[23] The song was NPR's "Song of the day" on 4 March 2009.[24]

Remix competition and NSRGNTS RMXS

Main article: NSRGNTS RMXS

From 31 January 2009, a renewed Insurgentes microsite created by Kscope replaced the old one, thought to offer information about the retail edition of the album, featuring more digital and interactive content than the previous site, including a competition to remix the track "Abandoner". Two remixes appeared as examples in the site, one by British dream pop band Engineers and other by King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto. Initially, the deadline for the competition was Friday 27 February, but by demand of those involved ones, it was extended one month until 27 March.[25]

As of 15 May 2009, an EP titled NSRGNTS RMXS was available to order worldwide in both CD and Vinyl formats, the last one limited to 1000 copies. It comprises songs from the album mixed by David A. Sitek of New York City indie rock band TV on the Radio, Pat Mastelotto, Engineers, Hip Hop duo Dälek, and ambient artist Fear Falls Burning. The track list varies between both release formats.[26]

Wilson chose eight of all the resulting mixes of "Abandoner", then people could vote through the Insurgentes website among those versions, and the resulting winner track was included in the digital download and CD versions of the EP. The voting ended on 29 May.[27]

Track listing

Regular album

All tracks are written by Steven Wilson

No.TitleLength
1."Harmony Korine"5:08
2."Abandoner"4:48
3."Salvaging"8:17
4."Veneno Para Las Hadas"5:57
5."No Twilight within the Courts of the Sun"8:37
6."Significant Other"4:31
7."Only Child"4:24
8."Twilight Coda"3:25
9."Get All You Deserve"6:17
10."Insurgentes"3:55

Bonus disc

The limited deluxe edition and the Japanese edition of the album include a bonus disc. All tracks, except the hidden "The 78", are also included on Side D of the Kscope limited vinyl edition. All of these tracks are available through SW's SoundCloud.com account as full resolution WAVs.

No.TitleLength
1."Port Rubicon"4:24
2."Puncture Wound"4:18
3."Collecting Space"5:10
4."Insurgentes (Mexico)"5:45
5."The 78" (hidden track with 50 second pregap of silence. Its name has been unveiled after becoming the B-side for the Harmony Korine 7-inch single)4:47

Vinyl edition

The Kscope vinyl edition of 2000 copies has the same track listing as the regular album (tracks 1-3 on Side A, 4-6 on Side B and 7-10 on Side C), plus all songs of the limited deluxe edition bonus disc on Side D, with the exception of "The 78".

Personnel

Guest musicians

^ [*] Bonus disc tracks

Technical personnel

  • Produced & Mixed By Steven Wilson
  • Engineers: Steve Price, Maki Sasaki
  • Guitars Engineered By Mark Prator & John Wesley
  • Piano Engineered By Bert Baldwin
  • Mastering: Andy VanDette (stereo mix); Steven Wilson (5.1 mix)
  • Cover and photography by Lasse Hoile

Chart performance

Country Peak
Position
Top Heatseekers[28] 15
Top Independent Albums[28] 45
Poland[29] 22
Netherlands[30] 78
France[31] 114
Germany[32] 81

Insurgentes road movie

"Isla de las Muñecas" (in English: Dolls' Island), a chinampa nearby one of the Xochimilco canals. Part of the footage for the Insurgentes film took place there.

Insurgentes is a documentary, filmed and directed by Lasse Hoile, based on the curiosity of an artist to travel around the world and find inspiration to create music.

An 18-minute extract from the film is included on the DVD packaged with the deluxe edition of the album Insurgentes. The locations for the film include the Mexican Xochimilco canals and ex-Templo de Santa Teresa La Antigua (a church where piano and voices for the song "Insurgentes" were recorded). Other places where the filming took place were Sweden, England, Finland, Holland, USA and Denmark.[33]

The film is now being screened all over the world through many independent film festivals, with a world premiere in the Danish CPH:DOX International Film Festival. Other screenings include Swedish "Sensurround Music Film Festival", the "Unerhoert Music Film Festival" in Hamburg, Germany,[34] Mexican "Ambulante" and Argentine "Cinema At The Museum", of Mendoza.[35]

The DVD was released on 27 September 2010.[36] The first pre-orders will receive an additional bonus CD containing a 9 minutes song titled "Vapour Trail Lullaby" which was demoed during the In Absentia era and at the time only released in a very modified version as simply "Lullaby" in the Blackfield debut album. The DVD film contains a 31-minute film of Bass Communion and Pig live in Mexico City, the "Harmony Korine" video, trailers, an alternate ending, footage of a Q+A session with Steven Wilson and Lasse Hoile from the international premiere at the Copenhagen film festival, 6 audio out-takes from the album recording sessions, and is mixed in stereo and 5.1 surround sound with Spanish, French, German, and English subtitles.[37]

iPod destruction

For the Insurgentes film, Wilson tested various ways to destroy iPods, as a protest against how the MP3 format reduces the experience of the listener. "I really wonder if people realise what shit they are listening to when they listen to an MP3", worries Steven Wilson, who compares the final result of such audio compression with someone who is staring at a photocopy of a painting in an Art Gallery. The methods of destruction move within a range of at least 10 different elements, including a sledgehammer, a blowtorch, a shotgun and a wood chipper among others.[38]

Insurgentes bonus DVD track listing

  1. "Desperation" (unreleased track)
  2. "Veneno Para Las Hadas" (demo)
  3. "Western Home" (unreleased track)
  4. "Collecting Space" (demo)
  5. "Deadwing Theme" (previously released only on MySpace)
  6. "Insurgentes" (Sweet Billy Pilgrim remix)

See also

See also: Steven Wilson and Steven Wilson discography

References

  1. ^ Ezell, Brice (15 February 2012). "The 10 Best Progressive Rock Albums of the 2000s". PopMatters. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  2. ^ a b allmusic ((( Insurgentes > Overview ))
  3. ^ a b Kscope. Retrieved on 31 October 2008.
  4. ^ a b "No-Man - Positive momentum". Innerviews. Retrieved 25 March 2009.
  5. ^ "Lasse Hoile – DK – www.myspace.com/lassehoile". Myspace.com. Retrieved 25 March 2009.
  6. ^ vinyl edition sold out Archived 1 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "News". Porcupine Tree. Retrieved 25 March 2009.
  8. ^ MySpace.com - Lasse Hoile. Retrieved on 24 October 2008.
  9. ^ MySpace.com - Steven Wilson. Retrieved on 31 October 2008.
  10. ^ "Steven Wilson – StevenWilsonHQ.com". Steven Wilson. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  11. ^ "Insurgentes (Special edition bonus disc)". Steven Wilson. 25 October 2010. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  12. ^ a b c Steven Wilson - World Press
  13. ^ Album Review: Steven Wilson's 'Insurgentes' - MLive.com
  14. ^ Rolling Stone, Fricke's Picks. 19 February 2009.
  15. ^ Sound & Vision Magazine - Steven Wilson: Insurgentes
  16. ^ Steven Wilson - Insurgentes Music Reviews - The Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania
  17. ^ Album reviews: Jake Owen, Steven Wilson, K'naan | recordonline.com
  18. ^ Prog Rock of Epic Ambition
  19. ^ Steven Wilson. 2 December 2008
  20. ^ Insurgentes signed Newbury Comics pre-order announcement 27 January 2009
  21. ^ Steven Wilson / Insurgentes (Cardboard Sleeve)(HQCD) CDJapan. Retrieved on 10 December 2008.
  22. ^ Insurgentes 2LP vinyl 1 March 2009
  23. ^ "Watch: Steven Wilson's Harmony Korine". Blender magazine. 20 February 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ "Steven Wilson: Emotion Amid Perfection". NPR. 4 March 2009.
  25. ^ "Kscope » Blog Archive » Steven Wilson - US release on Tuesday, vinyl edition now available to pre-order, UK signing sessions, Harmony Korine and iPod destruction videos". Kscope. 17 February 2009.
  26. ^ "Kscope » Blog Archive » Steven Wilson - NSRGNTS RMXS details". Kscope. 15 May 2009.
  27. ^ "Steven Wilson Insurgentes Remix Competition". INSURGENTES.org. 15 May 2009.
  28. ^ a b "Billboard.com - Artist Chart History - Steve Wilson". Billboard. Archived from the original on 1 February 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  29. ^ "Steven Wilson – Insurgentes – Music Charts". acharts.com. Retrieved 17 November 2009.
  30. ^ "dutchcharts.com – Steven Wilson – Insurgentes". dutchcharts.com. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
  31. ^ "lescharts.com – Steven Wilson – Insurgentes". lescharts.com. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
  32. ^ "musicline.de – Steven Wilson – Insurgentes". musicline.de. Retrieved 23 March 2009.
  33. ^ "Lasse Hoile's pictures". Lasse Hoile in his Facebook. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
  34. ^ "Steven Wilson Insurgentes Documentary Film". Kscope.
  35. ^ "lassehoiledotcom". lassehoiledotcom.[dead link‍]
  36. ^ "Steven Wilson Headquarters". SWHQ.co.uk. 21 May 2010.
  37. ^ "Steven Wilson - Official page". Steven Wilson in his facebook. 29 June 2010.
  38. ^ "An Eclectic Master Craftsman: An Interview with Steven Wilson". PopMatters. 30 March 2009.
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