Fanatics by W-2

"W-2’s Sam Weinberg and Chris Welcome are helping spearhead a raging Brooklyn DIY avant movement with a thick splatter of free jazz, noise and experimental music...which harkens back to the basement no-jazz of NYC's Borbetomagus" - The Observer

"Do you guys play weddings?" - Vic Juris, jazz Guitar legend

Brooklyn-based electroacoustic outfit W-2 have been honing their distinct sound over the past 2.5 years. Comprised of tenor saxophonist Sam Weinberg and synthesizist Chris Welcome (the Flying Luttenbachers) , W-2 is set to release their third full length record, "Fanatics" on Austin, TX based label Astral Spirits on June 16. The music on "Fanatics" takes their decidedly contorted sound to its furthest extreme - ceaseless abraded timbres abound at every turn, punishing noise walls suddenly interrupted by abrasive blips, sudden digressions and an unflinching sense of urgency.

Given the disparate nature of their instruments, the blend that Welcome and Weinberg are able to conjure is enviable and one of the most notable aspects of the group—when listening to "Fanatics" it's often difficult to discern where certain sounds are coming from and who is producing them. Weinberg explains: "From the outset of the project, Chris and I were both really interested in exploring and exploiting the possibilities that come from thoroughly embedding ourselves deeply in each other's sounds. When playing with W-2 we've tried to develop a language that makes the two instruments indistinguishable from one another."

Recorded at the Brooklyn arts hub JACK days after a 2 week North American tour in the spring of 2016, "Fanatics" was pristinely engineered, mixed, and mastered by trumpet wizard and frequent musical collaborator Jaimie Branch.