It’s a treat to share Flower Garden Banks, an Animal Collective x Coral Morphologic collaboration featuring “Michael, Remember (Jam May 12, 2015)”, the first warm-up jam for Animal Collective upon getting together to practice for the first time in a year and a half. It features Avey Tare, Panda Bear, and Geologist, and was recorded at Drop of Sun Studios in Asheville, NC. The accompanying underwater video was recorded in July 2014 within the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary over two nights by Colin, with additional camera and lighting by Deakin and Geologist of Animal Collective. The raw jam and video were later shared, and the resulting video was edited by Jared.
The Flower Garden Banks are located about 100 miles offshore Galveston, Texas in the Gulf of Mexico and are the northernmost coral reef formations in the continental United States. The reef begins at about 60’ deep and is characterized by massive brain coral heads and a lack of branching or soft corals. The corals were filmed with special blue wavelength lights and filters that capture the natural fluorescence of the colonies. While the evolutionary purpose that this fluorescence serves corals is still not fully understood, the directed application of the corals’ fluorescent proteins by geneticists was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008 by serving to accelerate (and literally illuminate) the field of genetics and biochemistry.
Today we release an album we’ve been compiling for years – Flannel Beach: The Doom Years, a mixtape featuring South Floridian bands spanning the years of 2004-2012. The album is available in digital, 12″ vinyl, and cassette editions via our online store & IRL @ Gramps Friday, September the 25th. Coral City & Natural History Reduxare screening before Rick Guerre goes live, followed by a special Guy Harvey reunion set. Read more about Flannel Beach here via the Miami New Times and here via The Creators Project. Thank You to the musicians of Flannel Beach, Sound Nutrition, who co-produced the LP, Jorge Gonzalez Graupera, who mastered it, and Brian Butler, the artist behind the swampy album artwork.
We’re psyched to share a soundtrack of ours (‘Strand’) is part of Other Electricities‘ new “call and response” LP, where Emile Milgrim and T. Wheeler Castillo’s Floridian field recordings are included in original and remixed forms. Stream Archival Feedbackvia Spotify and pick up the album in digital and vinyl / deluxe editions @ https://other-electricities.bandcamp.com/album/archival-feedback
We’re grateful to present the original film score for Natural History Redux, collecting the original versions of NHR‘s 23 short film soundtracks. The NHR score was written, produced, and mixed by Coral Morphologic (with the exception of ‘Man O War’ – written, produced, and mixed by Geologist) and mastered by Adam McDaniel at Drop of Sun Studios, Asheville NC. The album is available in a 18″ x 24″ ‘Collage Poster Edition‘ featuring a collage by David Scott Myers (Red Wizard Collage), with design and photography by CM. Stream the original film score for Natural History Reduxvia Spotify and pick up the album in digital and print editions @ https://coralmorphologic.bandcamp.com/album/natural-history-redux-original-film-score
Coral Morphologic is proud to announce the digital release of the remixed and remastered Natural History Redux today, March 6, 2014. NHR compiles our original Natural History series of videos (that were previous only available online individually in 720p) into a digital 1080p collector’s edition. NHR sees these 23 films hypnotically datamoshed together into a half-hour odyssey of the sea. Watch the official film free above, @ https://vimeo.com/showcase/naturalhistoryredux, or purchase the film @ coralmorphologic.bigcartel.com/product/natural-history-redux-digital-hd-film
The release of Natural History Redux represents the closing of the early chapters of Coral Morphologic. The ‘Natural History’ series represents our early ‘demos’, as the acquisition of the landmark Canon 5D Mark II in 2009 had suddenly made high-definition macro videography an affordable prospect for us. At that time we were still based out of our original home-based lab, where we made do with miniaturized aquarium sets that we hand-crafted in DIY spirit, challenging ourselves to make living portraits of our local invertebrate marine life. Colin did the filming, and J.D. composed original soundtracks (except ‘Man O War’ which was scored by Animal Collective’s Geologist) to accompany each film. We charged ourselves to film and release a new portrait every week on this blog, which for the most part we delivered under self-imposed Monday morning deadlines. After filming ‘Man O War’ we found ourselves in a position where we felt constrained by our home-based lab, and took the gamble to move into a dedicated facility where we could expand our vision. It would be another two years before we had the time or resources to film anything new (the new Lab was considerably more expensive to set up and operate). 3 years later, we are pleased to offer a remixed and remastered compilation of these films as an audio-visual album. Enjoy!
We are psyched to debut the Coral Morphologic + Dylan Romer-directed video for Dim Past‘s ‘Spectre In Wire’, an aquatic cut off the Black Dolphin EP. Utilizing Google Glass and GoPro devices, we take a trip down the Miami River, through Government Cut, and out to the sea, our destination. There we dive in and illuminate the Corals of Miami, keepers of a magical yet ephemeral realm. Dylan Romer’s reality-augmenting ‘Time Piles’ application treats the exploration, holding the experience together like a glue until we resurface.
At last month’s screening of the FUTUREHISTORY program, we debuted Into the Cosmic Flower Garden, a triumphant ode to the sex cycle of the Phymanthus crucifer sea anemone, as well as a remixed compilation of Jean Painlevé’s seminal aquarium-based films. Enjoy!
We are proud to present (in collaboration with O, Miami Poetry Festival) an original 5-Poem split 7″ featuring 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy K. Smith and L.A. Times Book Prize-finalist Gabrielle Calvocoressi. A limited edition of 200 records were pressed, with each cover hand-painted as an original multiple by Miami artist Nicolas Lobo.
On Thursday, September 20th, at 8:30 p.m., we’ll unveil the record at Lester’s in Wynwood. Copies will be available for sale for $15. The record is also available to buy via the Coral Morphologic store.
We are proud and humbled to have the opportunity to release the final four recordings from the beloved and now-defunct Miami band Beings. The Social Creep EP is a 4-song, limited-edition run of 100 copies in glow-in-the-dark vinyl with sleeve art by the band, screen-printed in glow-in-the-dark ink by Iron Forge Press. We have rubber stamped our corallimorph logo onto both sides of the center-sticker by hand and numbered the a-side, both in silver ink.
Lester’s in Miami is graciously hosting the listening/ release party this Friday, December 9th as well as Laser Wolf in Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday, the 10th. We will have the record for sale for $15 at the parties. The remaining copies will be available at the Coral Morphologic store.
We are proud to announce the fifth release in our South Florida-centric 7″ vinyl series; ‘Slave Exchange’ b/w ‘Sweetwater’, from Miami’s Lil Daggers. The wax is a limited edition run of 100 copies in black vinyl, with a wheat-pasted photo on each individual sleeve affixed by the band. As usual, we have rubber stamped our corallimorph logo onto the b-side of the center-sticker and stamped/ numbered the a-side.
The release party will be held within a party: Saturday, January 16th @ the 2nd annual Sweatstock. Check out the set times for a bigger picture of the event – many amazing bands will perform, including Discosoma’s Lil Daggers, Beings, and Guy Harvey. The 7″ will be available at Sweat Records exclusively Saturday, which is also Record Store Day. After Saturday, you can pick up the record at Sweat as well as the Coral Morphologic store.
We are psyched to announce the fourth release in our South Florida-centric 7″ vinyl series; the debut 7″ (‘Big Problem’ / ‘Dead Gulf’) from Miami’s ANR. Typical of our 7″ singles, the record is a limited edition run of 100 copies in black vinyl with individually lino-block printed sleeve art by the band. We have rubber stamped our corallimorph logo onto the b-side of the center-sticker and stamped/ numbered the a-side.
Little Munich in Lake Worth is graciously hosting the 7″ release party this Saturday, January 15th, featuring live sets from ANR, Beings, the band in Heaven, and Sumsun. We will have the record for sale for $8 at the release party and at the run of ANR performances supporting Washed Out the following week (including a Miami show). A portion of the remaining records will be going to Rough Trade’s London shop and to Sweat Records in Miami. The rest will be available at the Coral Morphologic store.
We are proud to announce the third release in our South Florida-centric 7″ vinyl series; a double A-side (‘LKLL’ / ‘Metrozoo’) via Miami’s Beings. The record is a limited edition run of 100 copies in black vinyl with individually lino-block printed sleeve art by the band. We have rubber stamped our corallimorph logo onto the b-side of the center-sticker and stamped/ numbered the a-side.
The Vagabond & Sweat Records are hosting the 7″ release party this Friday, October 29th with live sets from Beings and Plains. We will have the record for sale for $8 at the show.
For those who wish to purchase the Beings 7″ online, please see the Coral Morphologic store.
We are proud to present the debut 7″ vinyl release (‘Innovator’ b/w ‘Stuck In The Night’) from Miami’s Plains. The record is limited to 100 copies in black vinyl with individually-stenciled sleeve art by band leader/ songwriter Michael McGinnis. We have rubber stamped our corallimorph logo onto the b-side of the center-sticker and stamped/ numbered the a-side.
BAR is hosting the 7″ release party this Friday, September the 3rd with live sets from Plains and Animal Tropical. We will have the record for sale for $7 at the show.
For those who wish to purchase the Plains 7″ online, please see the Coral Morphologic store.
We were recently commissioned to create the official video for the London/ Paris based electronic music collaboration WALLS, released by Kompakt Records in Berlin. ‘Hang Four’ was premiered on NME.com.
The yellow coral in the opening and closing shots is a sun coral (Tubastrea coccinae). The polyps are seen expanding in reaction to the addition of food to the aquarium. Unlike most reef building corals, the sun coral is non-photosynthetic, and relies on the capture of plankton as its sole energy source. In the Gulf of Mexico and Florida, this is an invasive coral species that most likely hitched a ride into the Caribbean basin following the opening of the Panama Canal. It has since spread northward into the Gulf of Mexico, colonizing oil rigs one-by-one. This particular colony was collected from one of the rigs not far from the BP Deep Horizon disaster about 2 years ago. It is unknown to us whether these corals have been negatively impacted from the spill, but as an invasive species, it raises a number of questions about whether their potential loss should be considered a detriment or not. Nevertheless, research on the impact these sun coral communities have experienced in the Gulf will be useful in determining oil tolerance on a stony coral species in close proximity to the oil disaster.
The iridescent, twinkling gelatinous creatures are called ctenophores (TEEN-o-fores) (aka comb jellies) ranging in size from 5-10mm in total length. They float in the open ocean and beat their rows of cilia (the iridescent, beating ‘combs’) which allows them to filter plankton out of the water. They often float in huge conglomerations of hundreds of thousands. They are an important part of the pelagic (open ocean) community of plankton likely impacted by the oil spill in the Gulf.
The little jellyfish are called ‘club hydromedusa’ (Orchistoma pileus) and range in size from 7-10mm. They also live in the open water near the surface, using their stinging tentacles to capture smaller zooplankton.
We are proud to present the debut 7″ vinyl release (‘Take Your Time (With Me)’ b/w ‘Never Seen Snow’) from West Palm Beach’s Guy Harvey. The record is limited to 100 copies in black vinyl with individually-screened sleeve art by the band. We have rubber stamped our corallimorph logo onto the b-side of the center-sticker and stamped/ numbered the a-side.
To celebrate The Vagabond is hosting the 7″ release party this Friday the 13th with sponsorship by Sweat Records and the live sounds of Guy Harvey and The Jameses. We will have the record for sale for $7 at the show; see you there!
For those who wish to purchase the Guy Harvey 7″ online, please see the Coral Morphologic store.
On Saturday April 17th, we projected two video loops during ‘Sweatstock’; a free, all-day, all-ages block party in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood celebrating Sweat Records 5-year anniversary. For No Age, Sweatstock’s headliner, we projected the neon green mouth of a Fungia sp. coral that actively ‘smiled’ over the energetic performance and enthusiastic audience, as seen in the video above.
Prior to No Age, we displayed an undulating, double-mouthed Ricordea florida polyp for Otto von Schirach‘s swamp-freak take on Miami Bass (below).
We are proud to have helped contribute to what we consider was the best music festival Miami has seen in recent memory. Congrats and thanks to Lolo and Sweat Records for an awesome 5 years of organizing and promoting our Miami music scene; the Magic City would be a lot less magical without your hard work and drive.
Erik DeLuca, composer of the incredible sonic experience The Deep Seascape, visited our lab last Friday with a hydrophone (underwater microphone) in tow. We placed the hydrophone in the aquarium cubicle above and threw in some pellets of food for the harlequin serpent stars to get excited about. The sounds that are heard in the recording below are that of the stars racing towards and devouring the food.
Coral Morphologic acquired this awesome piece of ocean-related vinyl via our good friend Lauren Reskin, owner of Sweat Records. The following clips are digital conversions of Side 1 and 2 of a special vinyl insert in the January 1979 issue of National Geographic.
We’re going to be in the studio with our good friend Josh Arcurio on his arcuRADIO show from 5:30-7 pm today (Saturday 19th). We’ll be bringing some Coral Morphologic swag to give away to help raise money for WVUM. This week’s show is during their annual radio-a-thon to raise money to help pay for (apparently) the rest of the stuff that the University of Miami doesn’t fund in the operation of their college radio station.
Listen here and/or call in and make a request… or even donate some cash to WVUM.
