Micro Organs set to play Sled ISland

Micro Organs are in fact playing in SLED ISLAND Calgary June 20-23

"Climb inside a dead carcass and prepare for the apocalypse, because Halifax’s Micro Organs are going to raze the earth with their crunchy punk psychedelia. Jenny Gillespie and Mathieu Blanchard slash-and-burn across grungy, war-torn numbers and minimalistic experiments that drop them out of this world. “I’m sleeping off eternity,” haunts Gillespie, but you get the feeling she can’t wait to wake up."

— SLED ISLAND 2012

check out the whole lineup, they got some Steve Malkmus, Tim Hecker, The Antlers, Archers of Loaf, Prince Rama. But look out for Micro Organs to steal the show.

RADIATOR REVIEWS: Micro Organs - And Her Ugly Aura

With their first track "Gentle Little Shakes", blasting power chords along with some much needed cowbell opens the album very well and "Ne'er Do Well" has this kind of quiet slow drum beat that slowly picks up a bit, breaks down and then speeds up again that gives it this real grunge sound to it. My favorite song would have to be "Crooked Hairs", with Gillespie humming in the background reminds me of some snake charmer playing a flute, hypnotizing the chorus. "Tincture" gives this intermission like transition where the Flipper influenced feedback almost sounds like their just tuning or getting ready to get the audience pumped up and then it totally goes in another direction with "Microbes" making the singers voice clearer and then when the chorus comes in with the singer saying "you still wont admit you know what I mean", the guitar really goes distorted like Slint or the Pixies giving that system of quiet;loud;quiet. The end of "Tincture" with the singer going "nothing" made me think of what the song title actually meant. You start to hear an audience in the background almost as if it's live or almost to say their leaving the show and going back to reality. This meaning of the word tincture is actually an alcoholic extract so to say that their the leaving the party and going back to albums title or reality, makes some sense to at least this writer. Either that or her saying nothing at the end meaning this whole thing to her means nothing. Just a few perspectives you may get from listening to this album. The song "Microbes" lyrics go into great depth about how small we are on this earth. "do you remember when were microbes? floating up from a brine we rose to breathe in the air and start rooting hair", whenever I hear this lyric I think of amoebas evolving with those little hairs they have. Each song really does connect very well because after "Microbes" or as if the beginning of earth, "God's Song" comes next, a slow jam where the singer speaks to god who supposedly came as a ghost in the form of man and asked her to sing his song. The singer acts throughout this whole album as a person who should not be in these situations and doesn't know how she got here, and then what follows are very amusing lyrics "so i went down to the valley asked lucifer to heal my incantation my indignation and he said, no". When lucifer says there's only one way to go, I suppose that was referring to the creation of the album itself, but to ask lucifer to heal the spell god put on her is just ludicrous and to ask him to relieve her of this duty of singing gods song is very bold to say the least. The lyrics in this song definitely show the singer trapped between both worlds. "Grass Bed" reminds me of a My Bloody Valentine song mixed in with either a bit of whistling or a theremin (can't pinpoint which it is), definitely the perfect song to be lying in a field of grass while listening to. This song signifies death, or the end of the album, with god rejecting her and the lucifer unwilling to help her, she lies in her grass bed and sings the song god asked her to sing. Grass bed could be a reference to a grave where we all to end up when we die. So If you wanted to create a design for a generic post punk band then the micro organs certainly nailed it. Although its a bit repetitive, its something so catchy that anyone can enjoy. This album can be a bit bare boned and a little simple, but sometimes simple ideas are the ones that resonate with the most clarity. This would be called your bread and butter album, something to get the average rock and roller up out of their chair. The band name Micro Organs may be referring to the whole world as little micro organisms just bouncing around with no path or destination but on And Her Ugly Aura could it mean the own vocalist's feeling of being out of touch with these micro organisms, or does she have an ugly feeling about the whole world? 7.6

Micro Organs - Ne'er Do Well

reviewed by Michael Clark RADIATOR COLLECTIVE 2011

RADIATOR REVIEWS: Micro Organs - And Her Ugly Aura [Alt Review]

And Her Ugly Aura is the debut EP of Halifax art-pop project Micro Organs. Fronted by former Meat Curtains lead Guitarist Jenny Gillespie, the songs evoke a sort of backyard black magic mysticism, anti-religious fervor and post-geometric symbolism. The first couple of tracks sound like they were recorded live off the floor with no overdubs, highlighting the energetic and lean in-studio performances. The guitars in these tracks are fairly constant crunchy power chords, The dynamism lies more in Matthieu Blanchard's drums, which are constantly changing and shifting yet always on point. As i said before these are lean recordings, there isn't a single bass track on this album. But in a way quite similar to The White Stripes, the lack of bass isn't really that big a deal. The tracks for the most part don't feel like they are missing the bass. The noise interlude 'Tincture' breaks up the EP at the middle. Whereas the first half has a live sound quality to it, the second half features a much more produced quality. There is some bold panning on "Microbes" and the track "Grass Bed" sounds more sculpted sonically, more full, more interesting from a production standpoint than the more straightforward recordings of "Crooked Hairs" and "Ne'er Do Well". "God's Song" got reworked into a guitar song having been originally a hauntingly satanic track with dark chanting and heavy organ drones as track off the Radiator Comp Vol. 2. The new direction helps to keep the album cohesive but it lacks same directness and personality of the original. In And Her Ugly Aura, Gillespie forgoes extra instruments and instrumentation making it lean almost to a fault as i feel it would have benefited greatly from more instruments, particularly more guitar. The songs here feel like they have a lot of room for the band to explore by layering different instruments and melodies over the frameworks of the songs. The lack of instrumentation leave some tracks feeling a bit spacious. The songs here are well written, the vocals are very interesting, the drums feel punchy despite having a softer, less compressed kick and snare in favor of prominent cymbals and the album itself is cohesive statement, intriguing in its own way leaving with it much room for the band to grow in any number of possible sonic directions. 7.6

reviewed by Mohamed El-Darwish RADIATOR COLLECTIVE 2011

Micro Organs - And Her Ugly Aura

Micro Organs first official release, Her Ugly Aura is out in on Superbob Records or ask Micro Organs for a copy.

Micro Organs - Ne'er Do Well

Micro Organs - Gentle Little Shakes

Micro Organs featured on pilot episode a new web series The McDons House. Click here for the full video and a hilariously catchy opening theme song

Micro Organs - Microbes

Here's a crispy new track from the ever-intriguing Halifax art-pop outfit Micro Organs. The usual organs are spared and the tight drum kit and piercing vocals drive this track into a sludgy wall-of-sound chorus.

Micro Organs - Microbes

Micro Organs Press

reposted from THE COAST

Jenny Gillespie (also of Meat Curtains) first began performing solo under the name Oil Spills and Microrganisms in 2008, but has since switched to the shorter Micro Organs. She teamed up with drummer Mathieu Blanchard in October of last year---“I thought you were good, I wanted to play with you,” Blanchard pipes up from behind, over the phone. Starting off as a combination of folk and experimentation with electronics and cassettes, Gillespie has gotten a bit louder with the addition of a band member.

“I’ve been writing grungier riffs since Matt joined, playing more electric,” she says. “It’s punk and grungy but with a melodic voice.” Micro Organs has released material on some Radiator Collective compilations and they’re looking at recording a full-length album this summer. Gillespie was excited to play Radiator’s showcase at the Obey Convention recently. “There were a lot of people who don’t usually come out, and it was kind of fun to be rushed.”