news 2008

austere - happenings 2009

news 1998

05 Dec 2009 — Good friend and astoundingly talented musician Jack Rose has died of a sudden, unexpected heart attack at the age of 38. Another blow to the ever smaller world of excellent musick. One of us is writing a eulogy / rememberance about Jack that will be posted and linked to here, and like the anniversary of Jhonn Balance's passing, each year our site will not be available on this date, displaying only a tribute instead.

01 Dec 2009 — Austere will be gathered again in Portland, Ore between Ex-mas and The New Year Day, working on new material as well as hoping to finish one or both projects that we've had at 90% done - the last 10% of the work always taking 90% of the time/energy/effort. With any luck, there will be a release on Hypnos or Blue Water records by next spring. Your Good Vibes are always welcome!

13 Nov 2009 — Once again time roars by like gale-force wind: Jhonn Balance of Coil, R.I.P. has been dead for five years now. We send best wishes to his family and friends, and miss him and Coil dearly.

10 Nov 2009 — In an article in the online magazine "S.F. Appeal", one of the key players in the transition of music from Big Labels, CDs and music stores, Anu Kirk, voted us one of his favourite bands, and our release "Curio" as his all time favorite CD. We have no words to express our gratitude.

08 Nov 2009 — Although we have kept finding small stashes of our second release, Monodia in the last two years, we have officially sold out the very last copy of this limited edition, which will never be released again. Hypnos has also sold out, so the 60-odd copies that were hand-made are now officially grown up and gone. Great relief on our part.

05 Nov 2009 — Our goal is to have an Austere, The Mystifying Oracle and/or a Freq. Magnet new release before year's end. Wish us luck, please.

20 Feb 2009 — Born on this day in 1967 was Kurt (Kurdt) Cobain, lead singer and guitarist from Nirvana, who committed suicide in 1994 at the age of 27. It seems like only yesterday. May you have found peace, Mr. Cobain. We miss you dearly.

12 Jan 2009 — Still trying to work on Web site but progress has been almost non-existent. Project is still on hold, we will probably decide before summer whether to quit or not.