Pitchfork

Do you dare throw the Black Dice? Lord knows what will come up if you do. Used to be some blistering noise rock, but lately it's been trippy, convulsing electronics. So what's next for the New York noise machine?

We took a chance on an email chat with Black Dice's Eric Copeland (not to be confused with this guy), and the odds worked out in our favor. Not only did we learn a bunch of details about the forthcoming Black Dice LP, but we also got the scoop on Copeland's first solo offering, Hermaphrodite, out August 14 on Paw Tracks.

First, Black Dice. The new LP, which follows up 2005's Broken Ear Record, arrives October 23, bearing the tasteful title Load Blown. It's technically a collection of 12"s with bonus cuts, and this one, as previously mentioned, comes courtesy of Paw Tracks rather than Black Dice's longtime home DFA. So why the switch?

"Our contract ended with DFA," explained Copeland, "and by that time a lot had changed for both them and us where the match wasn't quite as right as five years ago. So we parted amicably. Paw Tracks asked us and it has been a really easy experience, zero bullshit."

Scope the tracklist for Load Blown below. The disc will include several recent single cuts-- among them "Manoman" and "Roll Up"-- as well as nascent jams "Scavenger", "Cowboy Soundcheck", "Bananas", "Bottom Feeder", and "Kokomo" (alas, not a cover). The new tunes will be released as an EP also on October 23.

Wrote Copeland, "We spent almost a year and a half, off and on, doing this record. So there was less of a goal in mind for the album as a whole; we tended to focus on each song individually. We wanted to make strong singles.

"Consequently, none of us really knew what to expect until we finished the sequencing, just a few weeks ago. I think it's a pretty upbeat record for the most part. I don't think anyone expects our records to sound like anything else we've done, but this one seems pretty different from the last. I hope everyone's always surprised."

And even if Load Blown fails to surprise (which is doubtful), perhaps Copeland's previously discussed solo album will.

Hermaphrodite collects 12 tracks Copeland recorded using some fairly primitive equipment. "I played some guitar, a harmonica, a little percussion," wrote Copeland. "The rest is electronic. Most of the sounds are just MiniDisc recordings with a mic. I recorded the entire thing on MD and an obsolete digital 8-track machine... I appreciate that there's a little bit of mystery as to what is making the sounds, where the music is from."

The idea for a solo album came about for a lot of the same reasons that birth most creative pursuits: "Everyone I play with was busy with other things and it was the summertime, so too hot to be outdoors all the time. I spend a lot of time in our practice space and started to really like things I was working on, so I just kept working until a lot of it felt too complete to offer to someone else. Eventually, I just committed to the idea of my own record and it felt comfortable at the time."

He added, "I obsessed for a long time on some of the recording, spending hours and hours just listening and trying to feel comfortable with some new ideas that I wouldn't explore with other people."

As for the title, "it encompasses a lot of opposing ideas and I appreciate that it's a little taboo to most people."

Folks can get a feel for Copeland's process as he hits the road in the coming months. He'll join up for a leg on the upcoming Animal Collective tour. Black Dice, meanwhile, have their eyes on a November trek, with only a few dates scheduled so far.

Beyond that, Dice still plan to release another new single on Catsup Plate Records. "Hopefully we can ride our momentum through to completing that soon," said Copeland. Terrestrial Tones, Copeland's project with Avey Tare, is on the shelf for the moment.

Load Blown:

01 Kokomo
02 Roll Up
03 Gore
04 Bottom Feeder
05 Scavenger
06 Drool
07 Toka Toka
08 Cowboy Soundcheck
09 Bananas
10 Manoman

Hermaphrodite:

01 Hermaphrodite
02 La Booly Boo
03 Oreo
04 Green Burrito
05 Wash Up
06 Spacehead
07 Tree Aliens
08 Scumpipe
09 Dinca
10 Mouthhole
11 FKD
12 Scraps

Black Dice dates:

11-04 Detroit, MI - Scrummage University *
11-05 Chicago, IL - Lakeshore Theater
11-23 New York, NY - Highline Ballroom

* with Ecstatic Sunshine, Aaron Dilloway

Eric Copeland dates (all with Animal Collective):

09-05 Boston, MA - Avalon
09-06 Montreal, Quebec - Le National
09-07 Ottawa, Ontario - Bronson Centre Theater
09-08 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix
09-10 Chicago, IL - The Vic
09-11 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
09-14 Seattle, WA - Neumos #
09-15 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom #
09-16 Portland, OR - Roseland Theater #
09-17 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore #
09-18 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater #
09-20 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theater #

# with Wizard Prison