VALEDICTORIAN/EXOSKELETON (12IN)

The Valedictorian/Exoskeleton EP, Dan Friel's first release for Thrill Jockey, contains two brand new songs, as well as the first ever remixes of his music. Valedictorian opens the EP with a burst of adreneline, pure pop filtered through a layer of noise. Exoskeleton is more mysterious, with bursts of Friel's overdriven synths coming in and out of focus over a steady 4/4 beat. The first remix is a clean, Italo disco take on Exoskeleton courtesy of Moss of Aura, the solo project of Gerrit Welmers, one third of Future Islands. Moss of Aura has released six albums and Welmers is currently working on the seventh. The final track is a sprawling, murky remix of Ulysses, by California dub-kraut duo Peaking Lights. The original version of Ulysses will appear on Total Folklore, Friel's sophomore full-length, due out in February 2013 on Thrill Jockey.??After playing in numerous noise and punk bands in high school around Amherst, MA (where he helped to found the Flywheel collective), Friel moved to New York, where he has been transforming cold, electronic sound into joyful noise since the early aughts. As a founding member of Parts & Labor, Friel crafted five albums and several singles and EPs that drew on noise rock, pop, and experimental electronic music. Concurrently with Parts & Labor's ten year run, which ended this past February, Friel released numerous EPs on Night People, Green Age, Velocirecords, as well as a full-length on the venerable Important label. He has collaborated as a solo artist with Tyondai Braxton, Glenn Branca, and Damo Suzuki.??SALES POINTS?Valedictorian/Exoskeleton is the first release from Dan Friel on Thrill Jockey. A full length album will follow in Feb 2013?Dan Friel was a founding member of the New York group Parts & Labor who released five albums and several singles and EPs over their ten year run?Contained on this 24 minute EP are two brand new Dan Friel tracks and remixes from Moss of Aura (Gerrit Welmers of Future Islands) and Peaking Lights (three of these tracks exclusive to this EP)?Free download coupon included??idiosyncratic beauty and blipping, crackling, and distorted fist pumpers. - Stereogum??Dan Friel takes the disobedient squeals of keyboards and other sundry electronics and marries them to more familiar contexts, making otherwise jaw-clenching noise surprisingly palatable while helping the two- to three-chord punk anthem sound new again. - Pitchfork??dragging frayed wires and busted electronics into the forefront of his sound and mixing them with tweaked beats and caffeinated keys. - Raven Sings the Blues??TRACK LISTING:?01. Valedictorian?02. Exoskeleton?03. Exoskeleton (Moss of Aura Remix)?04. Ulysses (Peaking Lights Remix)