Onward Procession: Part 2… Ascend

•June 18, 2013 • Leave a Comment

“With Echoes In The Movement Of Stone” Double LP Available Now

http://birddialect.com/birddialect/blog/2013/6/15/ascend

http://www.roadburnrecords.com/2013/06/13/minsk-with-echoes-2lp-exclusive-eu-now-available-for-pre-order/

Words from Chris:

Bird Dialect is a collective endeavor formed by long-time friends.  I am fortunate to be a participant in this endeavor, and to release “With Echoes In The Movement of Stone” on wax is satisfying on so many levels.  ”Langue Verte”.  The Language of the Birds.  Bird Dialect…  The meanings held within the words and the symbols have always been of the utmost importance to this band.  The bonds we have formed over the last decade have shaped us in ways beyond comprehension.  To be able to move forward, and to continue to add to the Minsk narrative, is one of the greatest gifts I have been given.  The utmost respect and thanks goes out to Tim, Sanford, Aaron, Ryan and Zac for imbuing Minsk with their endless talents.

Minsk cannot neglect to thank all of our contributors present and past:  Bruce Lamont, Anthony Couri, Jeff Hyde, Dustin Addis, Joel Madigan, Brian Barth, and Jared Madigan.  Thank you all for your efforts and contributions over the years.  

Two birds stoned at once 16x11

Tour Posters

•June 14, 2013 • Leave a Comment

Thanks to Erin at Kill Hatsumomo prints we will have these beautiful posters in tow for our upcoming shows.  Check out more of Erin’s work @  http://www.killhatsumomoprints.com

minsk4

Onward Procession: Part I

•May 14, 2013 • 5 Comments

Upcoming Minsk tour dates:

July 4. PEORIA, IL @ The Brass Rail
w/ Alma Negra, Ghost Key, Goliath

July 5. LITTLE ROCK, AR @ Downtown Music
w/ The Sound of the Mountain, Mainland Divide, Enchiridion

July 6. NASHVILLE, TN @ Springwater
w/ Generation of Vipers, Hellbender, Brother Ares

July 7. MILWAUKEE, WI @ The Cactus Club
w/ Asatta, Subjugation

July 8. CHICAGO, IL @ The Empty Bottle
w/ Alma Negra

Words from Tim on Minsk’s forward progression:

To the brink and back.  Nearly a decade spent pouring everything we had into this thing, and just like that we almost felt it slip away.  Almost.  It has been a long two years.  It never felt like it was finished, the way forward just hadn’t made itself clear yet.  I really think it took facing the precipice for us to turn that corner and understand what it meant to us, what it meant to those who’ve connected with us and the music we were a part of through these years.  When Chris and I started this band twelve years ago, we never anticipated it growing into what it became, how much of ourselves it would occupy, how it would eventually become more than the sum of its parts.  We have always been our own harshest critics, and I think it took time to come to terms with the reality that this thing should continue.  The past is a memory.  The future is unwritten.  The present is all that is.  The work is not complete.

The family has expanded, and we’re so thrilled to have Aaron, Ryan, and Zac with us now.  Aaron has been a brother for a very long time, and so this addition is more natural than we could have imagined.  For me, hearing he and Chris play guitar together has that sense of something that just always should have been.  And as Ryan and Zac have individually come into our lives and into Minsk, they have raised us up.  Their abilities, and their spirits, take this collective space to new heights.

The Minsk practice space remains in the one and only city of Peoria, Illinois, as it always has.  There is something about that city that has always left such an indelible mark on what Minsk is.  Recent recordings coming out of rehearsals have been livening my life, and my mind, so much lately.  It is an exciting time.  Old material, new material, ideas just flowing again… that space being occupied again, that thing present in the ether that always seemed right when Minsk is making noise.

Up in Chicago, Sanford is still making some of the best records you’re going to hear this year.  Still helping keep Chicago the musical powerhouse that is always has been.  Still and always a member of the Minsk tribe from a distance, though we’re keeping a looser reign around him these days.  Time will not allow him to do these shows with us in July, but he will be joining us on stage for at least a song or two in Chicago.  When doing work involves giving birth to the kind of ground breaking music that Sanford has a hand in all the time, it’s hard to believe it’s not time well spent.

We are, however, ALL excited about working on a new album together.  So, it is with great pleasure that we announce this next step on the path, a milestone marking ten years since the very first show… a celebration of what was, what is, and what shall be.  Please join us.

Ten years ago today…

•March 7, 2013 • Leave a Comment

“Nothing rests, everything moves, everything vibrates.”

Ten years ago today, we unleashed our musical interpretation of what it means to be alive upon a curious crowd at a rented American Legion hall in East Peoria, Illinois.  And since then, this journey has contained unmeasurable and indefinable experiences which have shaped all of us to the core.  Ten years later, we are grateful to be continuing on the path.  A little less than two years ago we made an announcement that Minsk would be going on an extended hiatus.  The hiatus had to happen, and the hiatus had to end.  And now we find ourselves again focused and moving forward, not a re-formation but a continuation.

Much has happened behind the scenes in the last year and a half.  We have been busy writing, rehearsing, and preparing.  We are elated to officially announce three exceptional additions to the Minsk family in Aaron Austin, Ryan Thomas, and Zachary Livingston.

Minsk will begin performing live again in early July with a handful of shows in the Midwest.  Announcements on these shows will be forthcoming, with additional news of new releases, and the vinyl release of “With Echoes in the Movement of Stone.”

We want to thank all of you for your support over the last decade.  Your spirited words of encouragement have been quintessential in the empowerment of the Will.  On this remarkable day, we celebrate what has been as our sights are fully set upon what shall be.  Cheers!

From the fortress to the river, arisen
Over plains and mountains
To the redwoods, to the ocean, ENDURE.

Through turmoil and turbulence
Distance and time
For the wounded, recover, OVERCOME.

Still waters deceive
Enlisted we dance
The fire burns, but hidden.

The promised land of prophecy was purgatory too
We convulsed and beat the earth
Now the work and the world become one.

Renewed over myth, we forget what we know
Reborn, and grateful for the scars of battle
Sound the alarm, this city of truth to discover.

All rise, let us tremble
For the day is nigh at hand
We shall
CARRY ON.

– written by Jonathan Wright, a true friend and a brother on the path

Minsk has been cultivating sonic exploration and alchemical outpourings since 2002.  Christopher Bennett, Timothy Mead, Sanford Parker, Aaron Austin, Ryan Thomas, Zachary Livingston.

 
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