Herman Düne – Sweet Thursday (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 34:11 minutes | 356 MB | Genre: Alternative
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Yaya Tova
Channeling a continuum of influences spanning from Neil Young to Sonic Youth to Pavement, French anti-folk band Herman Düne earned an international cult following that included the influential BBC radio personality John Peel. Featuring sibling singers/guitarists André and David-Ivar Herman Düne and drummer Omé, the group issued a series of self-released cassettes and CD-Rs and toured the U.S. and Europe before releasing its first “official” LP, Turn Off the Light, on the Prohibited label in mid-2000. That September, Peel extended an invitation to cut a BBC radio session, and was so impressed that he summoned the trio to his home for a live Christmas broadcast. Upon relocating to Paris, Herman Düne recorded 2001’s They Go to the Woods for the noted Amerindie label Shrimper. Omé exited the lineup soon after, and with new drummer Néman Herman Dune, they resurfaced later that year with a second full-length, Switzerland Heritage. After a 2002 split release with U.S. emo outfit Cerberus Shoal, The Whys and the Hows of Herman Düne & Cerberus Shoal, the trio backed Canadian singer/songwriter Julie Doiron on a French tour. Two new LPs, the Track & Field release Mas Cambios and the Shrimper release Mash Concrete Metal Mushrooms, followed in 2003. After a series of self-released solo efforts, André and David-Ivar reconvened Herman Düne for 2005’s Not on Top, which featured Doiron on bass and vocals. Their Source Etc. label debut, Giant, hit stores in 2006; late that year, André Herman Dune departed the band and pursued a solo career as Stanley Brinks. Now a duo, Herman Dune removed the umlaut from its name for the 2008 album Next Year in Zion. After taking a break and starting their own record label, Herman Dune returned in 2011 with an album named after their label, Strange Moosic. The label also released the band’s music for the film Mariage á Mendoza in 2013. Around this time, David-Ivar began working on his solo project, Black Yaya. ~ Jason Ankeny
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Herman Düne – Notes from Vinegar Hill (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 41:53 minutes | 485 MB | Genre: Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Yaya Tova
Quarantined in the sleepy San Pedro neighborhood of Vinegar Hill, on the same harbour-adjacent street where Charles Bukowski lived out his final years, David-Ivar Herman Dune, visual artist and founding anchor of French antifolk stalwarts Herman Dune, turned those Covid-induced anxieties inward and emerged from his home studio with the new full-length LP Notes From Vinegar Hill. There’s something for everyone on this record – folksy rockers, Bakersfield twang, Big Pink-style Americana, 70s AM Gold, and rough-hewn Cold Turkey guitar stomps. The songs speak of the suffocating claustrophobia of isolation and fear, the anguish of being an immigrant in a country where policies harden by the moment, but also of the beauty of California, the ocean, and a quiet life with three black cats that turned the heart of a Scorpio toward felines. This album is dedicated to David Berman. Personnel: David Ivar: Voice, Piano, Guitars, Upright Bass, Drums, Percussions, Whistles and Harmonica Caitlin Rose: Vocals and Duet on Vinegar Hill Mayon: Vocals Spencer Cullum III: Pedal Steel Jon Natchez: Horns on Say You Love Me Too
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