To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie consists of Jehna Wilhelm, guitar and vocals, and Mark McGee, electronics and sound manipulation. Originally from Richmond, VA, the duo has been involved with this project for 4 years and has been supported by an ever-changing cast of players and musicians. They now reside in Minneapolis, Minnesota where they run their own label, The Riley Bushman Recordings & Archives, which they use as an outlet to release various projects and collaborations.
[ALMOST OOP] 804-002: Harm Stryker/To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie, Split 7"
Co-release between The Riley Bushman Recordings & Archives and Richmond, VA's 804noise Collective. Harm Stryker and To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie offer up their own brand of minimalist experimental noise compositions. Packaged in handmade silkscreened cover sleeves, silver ink on black card stock. Limited to 500 copies. Very few copies remain in print.
[AVAILABLE] TRBRA000: To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie,
Retire Early CDEP
Six-song CD featuring hot jams such as "Power Hungry Fucks Fold Their Hands When They Talk" and "Don't Be In Between Me, I'll Grow And Break You". First full release on The Riley Bushman Recordings & Archives. The Big Take Over magazine said it was "...noise as high art."
[AVAILABLE] TRBRA001: Cristal/To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie, Lahaie/Venture Dearly 7"
Features Richmond VA's Cristal (ex-Labradford, Aix Em Klemm) and To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie. Side A is Cristal creating subtle drones that climax into a thick, harsh wall of sound. Side B is To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie weaving a haunting narrative of children lost in a cave. Hand screen printed, gold ink on red cardstock by makr. Limited to 500 copies.
[AVAILABLE] KRANK 112: To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie, The Patron
~Boomkat~
'The Patron' is the debut album from the gorgeously named duo To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie, and is for me the perfect Kranky record. The Chicago-based label made a name for themselves with their subtle take on post rock in the 1990s, and since then have gone on to practically define the scene while taking on (and conquering) anything else they felt like doing. Guitarist and vocalist Jehna Wilhelm and electronics man Mark McGee clearly share this love of post rock with their label, but thankfully with their debut album they manage to move the genre on into territories as yet uncharted. Filling their skewed pop songs with noise and electrical excesses they make pop music sound like skeletons from the hydra's teeth, and manage to sit themselves somewhere in-between the glorious library-lounge music of Broadcast, the percussive jazz of Tortoise and the mysterious beauty of Portishead while at all times sounding so definitely Kranky. Take the eight minute 'Long Arms' for example, which begins with sub-aquatic drones and electronic manipulations not unlike something you'd expect to hear from the 12k stable, but over time Wilhelm's dusty, reverb-drenched vocals begin to hiss and coo and a deep melancholic soul is brought to the table. It's almost as if Julee Cruise's voice is being layered slowly into the background sound from Eraserhead, and while they might not have intended to To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie have probably made the most convincing electronic album of the year. The beats might be laptop-assisted but they never feel overpowering, and the compositions might be synthesizer assisted but rather than lie back and let the electronics do the work this is devilishly complex and forged by the hands of true masters. There's plenty here that reminds me of other things, but I'm never reminded of something precise, it's never one influence I hear, rather it's a whole plethora, and the duo have by doing this created something original in its scope. 'The Patron' is an album that manages to sound as convincing and murky as Portishead without ever succumbing to the trappings of trip hop, and an album which sounds as experimental and forward thinking as Tortoise without ever disappearing up the wrong end of the pipe. A gorgeous and expansive record, the album is yet another reason why Kranky is such an essential label right now... huge recommendation.
Hello, I played To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie on my Debris Slide radio show, along with a lot of other good music. Have a listen on www.differentclassradio.co.uk
i downloaded the new album via amazon-mp3 yesterday and it is really great. but i am missing the incredible song i heard & taped in berlin: http://kotzboy.com/?p=3419 can you tell me where i can find that song?
I was thinking today: "Wow. Mark really enjoys long acronyms." It was pretty astonishing. The more I thought about it, the more it appeared to be the best way to create new words where words weren't before. I mean, look at the full Riley Bushman abbreviation: TRBRAA. Now say it aloud. "Trubrah." That should mean something. Like when you get a killer sack but you forget it and have to bum a J off some sweaty dude at the bar...man that's trubrah. You get me, brah?
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