Album artwork for Liv by Daniel Blumberg and Hebronix
Album artwork for Liv by Daniel Blumberg and Hebronix

Rough Trade Albums of the Year 2018 Exclusive

Daniel Blumberg and Hebronix releases Liv, a previously unreleased studio album on Rough Trade Exclusive Vinyl.

Minus - Rough Trade Albums of the Year 2018 No. 6

Rough Trade Exclusive. Liv – which preceded Minus by several years – is an unreleased studio album, recorded over three days at Sarm West (Bob Marley, Exodus) live from start to finish (with additional vocals and saxophone added at a later date) by Daniel Blumberg - Steinberger Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals; Billy Steiger – Violin; Kohhei Matsuda - Monosynth and Tom Wheatley - Double Bass. Marta Salogni mixed the album in 2018.

Blumberg explains, “I made a few studio unreleased albums in the period between Hebronix and the Minus album and many, many recordings on tapes at my flat. After Liv was finished we talked about releasing it but I felt I wasn’t ready at the time. I wanted to focus more on drawing than on touring and there were more questions I had with the work we were doing" The original idea for the album was to record it as a trio with Billy Steiger and Kohhei Matsuda, who had performed previously as a trio at Cafe OTO. Tom Wheatley joined at the last minute, Blumberg explains “He added so much and really grounded everything. I’ve been working with him on pretty much everything ever since.” Drums weren’t used because Blumberg hated the sound of drums at the time, “they reminded me of stainless steel kitchen utensils. I think Kohhei was relieved also cos he’d been touring quite heavily with Bo Ningen and they are very loud.” Listening back to this years later it sounds pretty strange, but all our instruments have percussive capabilities, so there is still a lot of percussion. Pre-production was at Blumberg’s flat in Stoke Newington, and the gear and band were booked into a Youth Hostel for the duration of recording, “We only had 3 days for tracking the whole thing so I didn’t want to waste any time. We trapped ourselves in Notting Hill which was sort of like being on holiday. A strange holiday where we'd record for 16 hours a day in Bob Marley’s studio.” The artwork for Liv has been taken from mono-prints which Blumberg created at the time of writing and recording the album, edited down from a collection of around 1000.

LP - Rough Trade Exclusive Standard Black Vinyl.

Daniel Blumberg and Hebronix

Liv

Mute
Album artwork for Liv by Daniel Blumberg and Hebronix
CD

$15.99

Released 03/08/2019Catalog Number

CD 69827 M

Learn more
Album artwork for Liv by Daniel Blumberg and Hebronix
LP

$29.99

Released 12/18/2018Catalog Number

STUMM434

Learn more
Daniel Blumberg and Hebronix

Liv

Mute
Album artwork for Liv by Daniel Blumberg and Hebronix
CD

$15.99

Released 03/08/2019Catalog Number

CD 69827 M

Learn more
Album artwork for Liv by Daniel Blumberg and Hebronix
LP

$29.99

Released 12/18/2018Catalog Number

STUMM434

Learn more

Rough Trade Albums of the Year 2018 Exclusive

Daniel Blumberg and Hebronix releases Liv, a previously unreleased studio album on Rough Trade Exclusive Vinyl.

Minus - Rough Trade Albums of the Year 2018 No. 6

Rough Trade Exclusive. Liv – which preceded Minus by several years – is an unreleased studio album, recorded over three days at Sarm West (Bob Marley, Exodus) live from start to finish (with additional vocals and saxophone added at a later date) by Daniel Blumberg - Steinberger Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals; Billy Steiger – Violin; Kohhei Matsuda - Monosynth and Tom Wheatley - Double Bass. Marta Salogni mixed the album in 2018.

Blumberg explains, “I made a few studio unreleased albums in the period between Hebronix and the Minus album and many, many recordings on tapes at my flat. After Liv was finished we talked about releasing it but I felt I wasn’t ready at the time. I wanted to focus more on drawing than on touring and there were more questions I had with the work we were doing" The original idea for the album was to record it as a trio with Billy Steiger and Kohhei Matsuda, who had performed previously as a trio at Cafe OTO. Tom Wheatley joined at the last minute, Blumberg explains “He added so much and really grounded everything. I’ve been working with him on pretty much everything ever since.” Drums weren’t used because Blumberg hated the sound of drums at the time, “they reminded me of stainless steel kitchen utensils. I think Kohhei was relieved also cos he’d been touring quite heavily with Bo Ningen and they are very loud.” Listening back to this years later it sounds pretty strange, but all our instruments have percussive capabilities, so there is still a lot of percussion. Pre-production was at Blumberg’s flat in Stoke Newington, and the gear and band were booked into a Youth Hostel for the duration of recording, “We only had 3 days for tracking the whole thing so I didn’t want to waste any time. We trapped ourselves in Notting Hill which was sort of like being on holiday. A strange holiday where we'd record for 16 hours a day in Bob Marley’s studio.” The artwork for Liv has been taken from mono-prints which Blumberg created at the time of writing and recording the album, edited down from a collection of around 1000.

LP - Rough Trade Exclusive Standard Black Vinyl.