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My Cauliflower Ears

by Microwolf

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padredre
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padredre Very raw and engaging. Fragile vocals, hushed, minimal arrangements, and richly textured instrumental tones. Gives me Mark Hollis vibes. Some really interesting and subtle rhythmic ideas here, too. Favorite track: Mara.
Gyakkun
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Gyakkun I love these sparse, hypnotic compositions. The tracks walk a really interesting line between uneasy loneliness and a beautiful serenity. Favorite track: Sad Collector.
kaelsmith
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kaelsmith A beautiful spookiness runs through the veins of this album. Each song plays like a static-hued transmission from a lonely dwarf planet. Fans of Mount Eerie, Aiden Baker or Smog will definitely enjoy.
Lost Tribe Sound
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Lost Tribe Sound There’s a humbly triumphant dynamic at play here, no tight rhythms, no strummed guitars, no loud singing. 'My Cauliflower Ears' embraces its own emptiness, awkwardness and fleetingness.

Fans of Mt Eerie, Akron Family, Douglas Dare, Puzzle Muteson might dig this.
Randy Arnold
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Randy Arnold Microwolf’s album can be best described using a single word: voluminous. From the Latin, voluminous relates to “having many coils” or “full of turnings and windings.” As it relates to English, the term suggests “fullness or thickness”. Listening to My Cauliflower Ears on this sweater of a fall day, I'm profoundly struck by its depth and beauty. Listen to My Cauliflower Ears with intention and you will be rewarded many times over. Highly recommended.
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $3 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Normal Retail $12
    • Glass Mastered CD
    • Japanese style gatefold heavy stock, reverse printed case
    • Double-sided lyric insert
    • Limited to 100 Editions
    ------------------------------------------------
    NON-US Customers interested in ordering multiple items, please email us directly at info(at)losttribesound(dot)com and ask for custom shipping quote. Should save a lot on shipping

    Includes unlimited streaming of My Cauliflower Ears via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    edition of 100  14 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      $9 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    • Truncated and partly remixed version of the album, self-released by Microwolf in cooperation with Lost Tribe Sound
    • Contains 2 exclusive remixes not on the original album, by Martijn Comes and Xadrez
    • Lathe cut, transparent vinyl in PVC sleeve with insert
    • Comes with a digital copy of the full album
    • Limited to 40 Editions (hand-numbered)
    • Shipped by the artist himself with handmade surprises

    Includes unlimited streaming of My Cauliflower Ears via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    edition of 40 

      €15 EUR or more 

     

1.
Mara 07:16
I can never see Anything you see I hear other voices Calling Whispering Crawling under skin Fragments of faces Forgotten Trying to tame the mind Flighty and unkind Rushing wherever It may Like a fish onto the sand Trembling in the face of death Can I flee the hands Of Mara? Oh, that I may know wrong from right Oh, may I wiseup once and for all Oh, may I stick to my own choices Oh, may I speak of what I know May this song be about you May it be what you need it to May your heart be open wide May I learn from you the truth And may I never run from you Om ah hung swaha
2.
You gave me colour When I needed colour Made my blacks and whites turn grey Made my blacks and whites turn blue Turn yellow turn red You made me humble When I needed humbling Laughed my silly opinions away Laughed my silly ego, my pride, My guilt, regrets Away These lands crawl back to me In my eyes is all I see I know now I do believe That you gave me colour
3.
I thought all I had was music And the promises it held Of a beauty unknown Of a life not lived yet But there was nothing to hold on to And Jim, I know you lied You will not be there When I die All those nights spinning records Holed up warm inside They will not be there When I die Saw your face again this morning A glimpse of an unlived life Songs I’ll never sing Words I’ll never write Can’t collect what consumes me Can’t grasp what goes inside It will all us just somehow be there When I die "My poor heart dribbles at the stern My heart covered with caporal They squirt upon it jets of soup My poor heart dribbles at the stern Under the gibes of the whole crew Which burst out in a single laugh, My poor heart dribbles at the stern My heart covered with caporal" - Arthur Rimbaud, The Cheated Heart "There will be bigotry and
 There will be open minds
 There will be days of peace
 You'll never have the time As long as you keep a straight face I will be there when you die" - My Morning Jacket, I Will Be There When You Die
4.
I’m a southpaw Punch-drunk palooka With cauliflower ears On the ropes Look for my cornerman Throwing the towel in Split decision Faking the weigh in I am the journeyman When I gasp for air When I cry When I punch you back It’s just you and I And I wanna settle this now All regret All desolation I’ve been a sorry sight Pull my punches Feeling you out It’s time for the flash knockdown Teach me the footwork Throw me the sucker punch I’ll take it blow by blow When I gasp for air When I cry When I punch you back It’s just you and I And I wanna settle this now
5.
Ciao Mare! 03:05
In the light of day You let it go In the line of fire It's all you know You've decided
6.
Under 03:47
When the shutdown of the brain Is a triumph of the heart And I hurry way too much And I worry way too much And the emptying of bowls And the cleansing of the guts When to say it like it is Is not to say it like it was Always love would pull me under And I give I give I give And I give my happiness And I take on I take on I take on their suffering Always love would pull me under
7.
(Traditional) The first thing they gave me Was a cap well lined with lead The longer I wore it It grew heavier on my head Then they gave me a mantle to wear Lined with grief and stitched with care The drink they gave me was bitter gall The food they gave me was worse than all The last thing they gave me, gave me Was a belt with colours three First was shame, next was guilt Last of all was sad misery But I will climb up that high, high tree And I will rob that wild bird's nest And I will fall Without fear Must I be bound While you go free? Must I love one Who never loved me?

about

‘My Cauliflower Ears’ is the third album from Netherlands-born, Benjamin van Vliet, who makes music under the name, Microwolf.  

‘My Cauliflower Ears’ combines the sonically rich, yet minimal approach of drone music, the sampling techniques of hip hop, and the intimacy of folk-styled songwriting and storytelling. It’s the kind of honest, personal, and roughhewn sort of sound that has inspired Lost Tribe Sound since our beginning in 2010. This type of hard-to-frame vocal music has always been important to us, and helped us convert some of the most diehard instrumental music fans, into fans of vocal-lead music such as this. Music where the vocal truly plays the role of an instrument, just as much as anything else in the song. Microwolf is very much in line with other acts that we’ve championed over the years, such as Mute Forest, Cock & Swan and Graveyard Tapes.

Before Van Vliet started Microwolf, he’d always made music that was a compromise. Making music with others he’d naturally strive for democracy. So the outcome would always be a mix of ideas, wherein his more outlandish ideas would usually get tossed in the process. Microwolf was designed to be an outlet for those things Van Vliet knew he’d have to do himself to get them right.

Having never fully taken the creative reins before, the first two Microwolf albums ('You Better Go Now' and the mini-album 'You Are The Everything') were a huge learning curve. 'You Better Go Now' is sonically all over the place and absolutely stuffed with ideas. That album could have been the beginning and the end of Microwolf, but about two years later Van Vliet realized he had at least one more solo album in him. After taking a refugee vow with a Buddhist lama in 2018 and diving deeper into drone music and contemporary classical music, Van Vliet set out to make a statement that was far more subtle and better articulated. An album that was short, quiet, conceptually precise, but executed loosely and freely. No tight rhythms, no strummed guitars, no loud singing. Music that embraces its own emptiness, awkwardness and fleetingness.

The resulting album, ‘My Cauliflower Ears,’ in the words of Van Vliet, is the most radical music he’s ever made. In that it achieves exactly what he set out to do, following up on rhythmic ideas and sonic landscapes that he has walked around with for years. There’s a humbly triumphant dynamic at play here, one that feels like Van Vliet has turned inward, learned some lessons from his past, and now has the clarity to express this intimate discourse.

‘My Cauliflower Ears’ arrives in a few limited physical formats. Lost Tribe Sound is releasing a reverse-print gatefold CD version with lyrics insert (100 Editions). In addition, the artist is releasing a truncated 10” clear vinyl version of the album, featuring two exclusive remixes (40 Editions). Also, LTS is releasing a bonus album, ‘My Cauliflower Ears (Instrumentals)’ on the same day as the album proper. All who pre-order the original album, or subscribe the the Fearful Void Series will receive a free copy of the instrumentals. 

credits

released August 21, 2020

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Originally released on Lost Tribe Sound. See Catalog: losttribesound.bandcamp.com
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BEST INDIE ALBUMS OF 2020 - TINY ROOM

"ALBUM OF THE WEEK - The vocal element is undoubtedly decisive for the crowning of Van Vliet's message, not only in terms of narrative content but above all in the definition of his sound universe , undoubtedly marked by understatement yet in every song overflowing with extremely stimulating creative ideas." - (translated from Italian) - MUSIC WON'T SAVE YOU

"The music is full of ideas, of rhythmic discoveries and of (environmental) sounds that are inventively introduced and incorporated into recognizable pieces of music... An intimate and detailed album full of wonderful melancholy." (translated from Dutch) - OPDUVEL

"Detached from folk history Microwolf's new LP for Lost Tribe Sound
inhabits an undiscovered sonic island shaped by his own devices, sounds, forms & cabin fevered imagination where tradition is electronically warped & the past will never sound the same again" - SLOW MUSIC MOVEMENT

"Despite the many details and sometimes complex structures, the music emanates a certain calm and sobriety. It is all somewhat introverted, but in such a way that it knows how to biologize and move and it never ends up navel-gazing." (translated from Dutch) - Jan Willem DE SUBJECTIVISTEN

"It's a genre-defying album, with elements of folk, Krautrock and avant-garde, all served up at a leisurely pace. Microwolf's vocals hover slightly his intricate musical tapestries, telling autobiographical stories in almost off-handed way" - HERE COMES THE FLOOD

"It is a light and irregular gait amidst dazed landscapes, songs offered to a pale moon that indulgently illuminates a calm yet intensely fervent and fascinating creativity." (translated from Italian) - SOWHAT

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Total run time: 35 minutes

All songs written and recorded by Benjamin van Vliet
Mastered by Martijn Comes
Layout and design by R. Keane
Cover art by Rob de Vries, R. Keane
© Lost Tribe Sound LLC / Microwolf
℗ Settled Scores LLC (ASCAP)

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about

Microwolf Tilburg, Netherlands

Microwolf is the nom de plume of Benjamin van Vliet, a Dutch DIY singer/producer currently residing in Tilburg. After spending 7 years as the lead singer and songwriter for anti-folk band Moi, le voisin, he created Microwolf in 2012 as an outlet for his more intimately radical ideas. ... more

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