A pulse, humming forth from the speakers. Rhythms fracture and divide themselves, intersecting, diverging. The pounding of a heartbeat emerges, so stressed....this is a feeling of dread. Thus passes the first moments of 1 Minute 2 Midnight, Russ Waterhouse's second solo release.
  
It's been several years since Russ participated in new music-making as part of the duo Blues Control, now on an open-ended hiatus. Since, Russ' solo work has coalesced as the relationships that had created Blues Control fell apart, making almost unconscious commentary on a disillusioned state of mind. Living in Richmond, VA during this time, Russ found himself in a void, with a variable response to the sense of dissipation - resistance and surrender, outreach and retreat. A trek to locate bodies of water  led him to the intersection of the Appomattox and the James rivers around the city of Hopewell. Instead of some peaceful clarity, what he found there was mechanic, industrial noise. Suddenly, here was something that resonated--Hopewell had been the site of a disastrous chemical spill. The sounds of this place, implying calamity, needed to be captured. 
 

1 Minute 2 Midnight features two long pieces, each taking up a side of wax. Recorded without overdubs, using field recordings, a Sears Rhythm-Matic drum box, Roland TR-505 drum machine, Korg synth, percussion (marbles in a glass jar with a contact mic!) and more, Russ' real-time mix embodies an immanent doomsday.  Side one, "Hopewell," disperses collected sounds over nineteen minutes through a series of increasingly forbidding moments. The flip, "Too Many People," also utilizes field recordings (this time from the local mall), and climaxes with a corrosive guitar performance.
 
1 Minute 2 Midnight captures an often blistering, ultimately cathartic journey. Listen to the excerpt of "Hopewell" above and pre-order your copy for 10/18!

TOUR DATES
9/28 @ Washington Street Art Center in Somerville, MA
w/ Noell Dorsey & Mary Staubitz, Ian Douglas-Moore & Chris LiButti
10/19 @ Cold Spring Hollow in Belchertown, MA
w/ Idea Fire Company, Kryssi Battalene & Anthony Pasquarosa, Arkmary Foambitz, Xenojothsz, Life Appreciation Renewal
10/23 @ News Cafe in Pawtucket, RI
w/ Vanitas, Mothwing, Mary Staubitz & Tim Johnson, Seamus Williams & Mickey O'Hara
10/25 @ Philadelphia Record Exchange in Philadelphia, PA
w/ Slow Tongued Beauty, Shots
10/26 @ House Show in Brooklyn, NY
w/ Sandy Ewen & Mary Staubitz, Slow Tongued Beauty, Isn't Ours