Album artwork for Distractions by Ikonika

Gold Dime is a calling to relentless grit — jolting listeners awake before turning meditative under a hypnotic drone. Raw but composed, GoldDime alternates between an aggression and intimacy, both so sincere, you can't turn away. It's transfixing. Live, Andrya Ambro anchors Gold Dime on drums and lead vocals. Every beat is a beckoning to actively listen; and her confident voice no less a beckoning. Performing live as a trio since 2014, opening for the likes of Lower Dens, U.S. Girls and Xiu Xiu, Gold Dime is at last ready to release their hard-won debut album, Nerves, on Fire Talk Records. Gold Dime is the vision of Andrya Ambro. Ambro is best known as one half of the noise rock duo Talk Normal, who released two critically acclaimed albums, Sugarland and Sunshine, and shared the stage with the likes of Sonic Youth, Wire, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Zola Jesus. The dissolution of Talk Normal marked a shift in Ambro's writing process. Going forward as Gold Dime, her compositions now veer towards an exploratory sound that is distinctly her own. Her drumming is rhythmically-centered, a reflection of driving West African beats crossed with a blunt industrial throbbing, which serve to both underscore and retreat from Classically- influenced orchestrations. Bass lines dance. Guitar riffs in rare tunings purposefully stray from typical rock n' roll conventions. Their urgent squalls gracefully enter and exit, allowing for a permeable tension throughout each of these tracks. Ambro's lead vocals are forceful but can seamlessly alter to a deadpan counterweight— a prominent feature to Gold Dime's cover of the British spoken-word artist Anne Clark's "All We Have To Be Thankful For." And for all of the Gold Dime's musical density and elaborate noise, the magic that ensues when Ambro's thunderous vocal style is often foiled by Adam Markiewicz's (The Dreebs, PC Worship) falsetto voice is palpable. Her lyrics are frequently confrontational ("Quota," "4 Hours"). But they also speak to the challenges of maintaining our most sacred relationships (as in the case of "Easy"), as well as confronting the struggles to continue creating when forces seem against us ("Rock," "Shut Up"). Descriptive phrases aside, here's the pin on the map: this is noisy, unapologetic art rock. Think Velvet Underground meets Cameroonian godfather of weirdos, Francis Bebey, with Laurie Anderson on the mic, crooning like Andy Mcluskey of OMD. That only sounds hokey on paper; it's not in sound. Gold Dime steals from the best of them — 'the best of them' being artists who took their tools and ideas outside of their comfort zones in favor of making a new one. Produced by Andrya Ambro, recorded by underground ringleader Justin Frye (PC Worship), mixed by Jonny Schenke and mastered by the acclaimed Sarah Register (Talk Normal), Nerves is a compelling artistic statement. From the compositions, to the arrangements, to the fully realized production, Gold Dime delivers in the details. It's an album of expressive clarity, galvanizing dissonance and entrancing grooves — this is Nerves.

Ikonika

Distractions

Hyperdub
Album artwork for Distractions by Ikonika
LP

$22.99

LP

Released 06/16/2017Catalog Number

LP-HDB-035

Learn more
Album artwork for Distractions by Ikonika
CD

$17.99

CD

Released 05/30/2017Catalog Number

CD-HDB-035

Learn more
Ikonika

Distractions

Hyperdub
Album artwork for Distractions by Ikonika
LP

$22.99

LP

Released 06/16/2017Catalog Number

LP-HDB-035

Learn more
Album artwork for Distractions by Ikonika
CD

$17.99

CD

Released 05/30/2017Catalog Number

CD-HDB-035

Learn more

Gold Dime is a calling to relentless grit — jolting listeners awake before turning meditative under a hypnotic drone. Raw but composed, GoldDime alternates between an aggression and intimacy, both so sincere, you can't turn away. It's transfixing. Live, Andrya Ambro anchors Gold Dime on drums and lead vocals. Every beat is a beckoning to actively listen; and her confident voice no less a beckoning. Performing live as a trio since 2014, opening for the likes of Lower Dens, U.S. Girls and Xiu Xiu, Gold Dime is at last ready to release their hard-won debut album, Nerves, on Fire Talk Records. Gold Dime is the vision of Andrya Ambro. Ambro is best known as one half of the noise rock duo Talk Normal, who released two critically acclaimed albums, Sugarland and Sunshine, and shared the stage with the likes of Sonic Youth, Wire, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Zola Jesus. The dissolution of Talk Normal marked a shift in Ambro's writing process. Going forward as Gold Dime, her compositions now veer towards an exploratory sound that is distinctly her own. Her drumming is rhythmically-centered, a reflection of driving West African beats crossed with a blunt industrial throbbing, which serve to both underscore and retreat from Classically- influenced orchestrations. Bass lines dance. Guitar riffs in rare tunings purposefully stray from typical rock n' roll conventions. Their urgent squalls gracefully enter and exit, allowing for a permeable tension throughout each of these tracks. Ambro's lead vocals are forceful but can seamlessly alter to a deadpan counterweight— a prominent feature to Gold Dime's cover of the British spoken-word artist Anne Clark's "All We Have To Be Thankful For." And for all of the Gold Dime's musical density and elaborate noise, the magic that ensues when Ambro's thunderous vocal style is often foiled by Adam Markiewicz's (The Dreebs, PC Worship) falsetto voice is palpable. Her lyrics are frequently confrontational ("Quota," "4 Hours"). But they also speak to the challenges of maintaining our most sacred relationships (as in the case of "Easy"), as well as confronting the struggles to continue creating when forces seem against us ("Rock," "Shut Up"). Descriptive phrases aside, here's the pin on the map: this is noisy, unapologetic art rock. Think Velvet Underground meets Cameroonian godfather of weirdos, Francis Bebey, with Laurie Anderson on the mic, crooning like Andy Mcluskey of OMD. That only sounds hokey on paper; it's not in sound. Gold Dime steals from the best of them — 'the best of them' being artists who took their tools and ideas outside of their comfort zones in favor of making a new one. Produced by Andrya Ambro, recorded by underground ringleader Justin Frye (PC Worship), mixed by Jonny Schenke and mastered by the acclaimed Sarah Register (Talk Normal), Nerves is a compelling artistic statement. From the compositions, to the arrangements, to the fully realized production, Gold Dime delivers in the details. It's an album of expressive clarity, galvanizing dissonance and entrancing grooves — this is Nerves.