microphones in the trees: July 2011

Friday, July 29, 2011

smokey feather

[luzzzalig, microphones in the trees, 2011]

spacey improvisations dedicated to spacey ones:
rafa aka arbore & salvador cresta
recorded the nights of july 16 & 17, 2011.
san miguel de allende, méxico.

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::: a volar, cual pluma en el humo :::
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wyld wyzrdz

"When I started recording as Wyld Wyzrdz I was in a much different place than I am now. The albums between 2008-2009 were made quickly and represent an exploration of sound, an era of figuring things out. In late 2009 my life began to shift rather drastically, and by early 2010 I was a new human. As a result the world of the wizard evolved with me. My intention for making these recordings changed and Wyld Wyzrdz became more of a reflective practice, a space for sharing my inner journey. The beginnings of these changes can be heard with the Antelope Island 7” and Positive Texture c45, while Free Magick is the full embodiment of my newness. After further exploration with From a Stone and Acceptance I found myself at a place of peace with Wyld Wyzrdz and a feeling of letting go has come to me. After these albums are released I will continue my journey as Coyote Dreamer." braden j mckenna


"...all of McKenna's work reflects the quiet passion and sincerity that can easily be overlooked by his enigmatic creative process. It doesn't matter how the music was made. Wyld Wyzrdz and all of the other channels McKenna inhabits exhibit experimentalism and artistic expression in a very digestible form. Relax, meditate, cleanse your nostrils..." inyourspeakers

me gusta su expresión de absoluta felicidad. gracias, braden

owl photo: ramona flume

Thursday, July 28, 2011

paavoharju

"...Ikkunat näkevät EP is a collection of rare and unreleased tracks with a first appetizer - its title track. Ikkunat näkevät belongs to their slower, more dreamy tracks, but still, more accessible in the way Laulu was. It features grieving, lamenting vocal with roots in Finland’s rural folklore. Its clear structure and slow build are nicely interconnected with Paavoharju’s usage of classical instruments - piano and violin - which make this more a classical folk ballad than band’s typical electro-acoustic experiment. Ikkunat näkevät is a nice introduction to Paavoharju’s calmer and more romantic soul." tomas slaninka

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

gkfoes vjgoaf


"This album is a reflection of my new-found intimacy with the water on our planet and within us. Previously I never felt a deep connection with water. I had a fear of drowning as a child. And I never really resonated with the color blue. All of this pretty much changed after Rosa and I moved rooms in a cooperative house. Our new room had only light blue, teal-ish walls. I thought I wanted to repaint at first, but after living in there a couple days it really grew on me. A lot of new songs and textures came out of living in that room. Very soon after, though, we traveled to New Zealand to do Wwoofing. New Zealand is one of the wettest countries and is home to the second wettest landscape (Fiordland) on Earth.
I worked on the rest of the album there and I very consciously felt like I’d never been so in love with the water. I swam in the ocean naked, after not having swum at all for years. I even got a blue hat to work in. My body is mostly water. It is pretty much the essence of thriving life on this planet. I also started thinking about how water works and moves. It is always moving, if it can… effortlessly though. It has no aversion. And it has no point of arrival. For me the songs on this record all resonate with particular forms that water takes. And, of course, whatever you perceive is equally valid. That’s where I’m coming from." sean conrad

suenan teclados y se intuyen, lejanos, efectos de murmullos y agua. es 'wholeyness', un nuevo viaje de sean conrad aka gkfoes vjgoaf, la inspiración infinita



Monday, July 25, 2011

stag hare

"Strange crossroad towns on top of the world rolled by, with shawled Indians watching us from under hatbrims and rebozos. All had their hands outstretched. They had come down from the backmountains and higher places to hold forth their hands for something they thought civilization could offer and they never dreamed the sadness and the poor broken delusion of it. " J. Kerouac
"Following her very noteworthy first album (Black Medecine Music, 2008), Stag Hare has joined us at the dawn of her second opus, Spirit Canoes. 4 titles make up 40 minutes of folk, drone, psyche played in a slow motion by this barefoot uninhibited free-spirit..." hands in the dark



"stag hare was raised mostly by wolves in the northern woods many hundreds of years ago, she has been traveling the path for many of the years since with frequent and extended stops along the way for food and tea. her favorite color is purple. she enjoys lavender, dancing, and decadent celebratory feasts. as the princess of her forest you may find her patrolling amongst the chattering ferns or perhaps sleeping away lifetimes lost in a mossy dream."


"Stag Hare seemingly lives that bohemian way on her own quest for truth (follow his beautiful travelin’ photos on Tumblr) and writes the soundtrack from her barefoot heart, a true traveling troubadour.  Get this among four songs on cd or wait for it on vinyl from Inner Islands in August." yvynyl

filed under: criaturas celestiales

Sunday, July 24, 2011

sad souls

"songs of differing ages, all from differing phases"

"Sad Souls’ “Forest Loops” is an album of quiet guitar moments, loops, and subtle shifts of mood and ambiance. The eight tracks on this record slowly build through delicate reverb, echoed sounds, sad moods, and the occasional distant background vocal, like on the sublime “On the Strand”..." their bated breath

bitchin' bajas / faceplant

"Bitchin Bajas is the solo synthscapes of one Cooper Crain, maybe better known as a member of modern krautrock masters Cave. With Bitchin Bajas, Crain creates worlds of sound, crafted from analog synthesizer and organ tones, not entirely too far removed from certain elements of Harmonia, Edgar Froese, or Cluster. Crain is definitely bringing a vintage sound to the table here. Clean, distinct arppegiated tones floating and bouncing, drifting and forming zones of their own. This is real deal psychadelia at its finest.

Faceplant is the solo work of one Aaron Coyes, of Peaking Lights and Rahdunes fame. Peaking Lights have made a sturdy name for themselves playing homemade synth-driven psychedelic, dub-infused drone-pop. With Faceplant, described as Coyes' ''solo modular hessian noise trance project,'' he is mining a somewhat similar terrain. Driving percussive beats are slathered in dubby echo, while sweet synthesizers hover and chime; it's definitely a groovy affair..." bathetic

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

eternal dreamer


"opaque ruminations waver like dust clouds"
jewelled antler por fuera y por dentro

Monday, July 18, 2011

hear hums

"droned beginnings that soon become percussion led behind an organic setting filled with acoustics of every timbre, as Mitch’s ‘ohs’ & ‘ahs’ accentuate all around nature samples that seem to soak in and add a bit of a wilder Florida environment to it all.

Gainesville duo, Hear Hums, is about as atmosphere-driven as a project gets. I was lucky enough to be able to first come across these two at a show and experience the ethereal nature of their experimental work live. Now, Mitch Myers and Kenzie Cooke, the two behind Hear Hums, have prepared a wonderful third album, Opens, to follow the previous Psyche Cycles. After, several listens of the release, I can easily say it’s their most encompassing release of the three.

Though, the only track available on the internet right now is “Shrines”, but take it as a sampler of good things to come from the rest of Opens." awd castles

cualquier canción que me recuerde un poquito, o un mucho, a stag hare se convierte automáticamente en favorita

foto: hui

Sunday, July 17, 2011

james ferraro

"...Marble Surf is simply the most endlessly beautiful thing I've ever heard. In a post-post-Eno way, James Ferraro composed a slow-motion, ocean-sized waterfall of washed-out angelic choruses, watery steel drums, and dreamy synths that repeat the same basic structure for forty minutes (there are two tracks, but they're essentially the same piece of music)...

...It's a cloud-floating heroin-basted rimjob from jesus in a Terry Reilly calypso dream. It's J.S. Bach for the polaroid-transfer, new-age tapes set. It's weightless and epic and magnificent and ecstatic and transcendent all at once, and it's the best fucking thing I've ever heard." victorian squid

...a los nombres de brian eno, j.s. bach y terry reilly tan sólo añadiría uno más: julianna barwick. y algún pasaje de birthday of bless you de inca ore, aunque marble surf sea infinitamente más sobrecogedor 

l.r.j. martens & ada van hoorebeke

"L.R.J. Martens aka Dolphins Into The Future presents two 'Eternal Landscapes' inspired by the artwork of Ada Van Hoorbeke. These landscapes were recorded at the Cetacean Nation Studios in Antwerp, and at Wiels, Brussels, in 2010 and cover similarly tropical aquatic zones as Lievens is best known for. The first expanse is a trip through tropical mangroves soundtracked by chirruping bird calls, trickling polynesian rhythms and a nocturnal chorus of unidentified animalicula, maybe... The other side feels like we're on land, in a humid downpour listening to a novice gamelan orchestra zonked on the heat but compelled to keep playing beautifully out of time. Immersive." boomkat

tropical field recordings beneath the ocean como pequeños viajes bonitos por selvas y océanos donde suenan pájaros, búhos, delfines, metalófonos, xilófonos, tambores, gongs, cantos nocturnos de animales no identificados, agua...

Sunday, July 10, 2011

hertta lussu ässä

"Kuupuu (Jonna Karanka), Lau Nau (Laura Naukkarinen) and Islaja (Merja Kokkonen),  all together in one band - it's like the dreamiest Aquarius daydream come true! All three of these ladies have been responsible for some of the most mystical and beautiful recordings of the last few years, all of which have become permanent favorites with everyone here. Lau Nau, and Islaja's recent recordings have shown them moving toward a more direct approach in their songwriting, but this project really lets all of these ladies dig deep into their textured, experimental roots.
It's a bit like listening to a seance happening miles away. Distant and subtle rumblings, murmurs, and gently conjured spells. One of those records that you can't identify what instruments/electronics are being used, with many of the sound sources seeming to be drawn from nature. Hertta Lussu Ässä use their voices as another haunting instrument that glides in and out of these four long tracks. It has us thinking of the Jewelled Antler crew performing an Arvo Part piece, or Grouper and Hala Strana collaborating on the soundtrack to a pagan solstice ceremony. Completely breathtaking!" aquarius records

...y poco más puedo añadir a lo que nos cuenta aquarius. la emoción en estado puro. dicen que este nuevo disco de islaja, laura y jonna es como un sueño hecho realidad. jewelled antler interpretando una pieza de arvo part, o grouper y hala strana colaborando en la banda sonora de una ceremonia pagana. tan sólo añadiré que las risas, murmullos, susurros, palmas, flautas, maullidos y pianos, convierten a estas cuatro canciones nana en otro disco familiar y acogedor del que no quieres salir. y que jewelled antler y finlandia es lo mejor que le ha pasado a la música en los últimos diez años. alabados sean por siempre ^^

foto via jesse treece

deep magic

"Deep Magic is an ascent of vibrating dreams.  A reverence for the past.  Family as honor and narrative bliss.  Spun webs of high wet dew.  Deep Magic is archaic spirit hymns.  Healing music." goldtimers tapes


"...“Ocean Breaths 1″  by Deep Magic is one of the most aptly titled songs I’ve heard in a while. Its nine-and-a-half minute run takes us on a shoegazing journey colored by bells, shakers, and the sound of slow, deep breaths. If you’ve been running around town, and have somehow forgotten to breathe, this meditative track will remind you. The visuals, which Gray produced on his own, are the sort of ethereal psychedelic fare. We’re shown scenes of the African animals in the plains, layered over images of Ocean predators... the deep focus on nature here works perfectly for this cleansing, zen track." visitation rites

Thursday, July 07, 2011

michael james tapscott

"if i could only be serenaded by one person for the rest of my days, i'd choose michael tapscott in a heartbeat. the odawas vocalist's talent is something to die for. that voice... cannot be beat. but what tapscott brings on his debut solo release under his own name is far more than just that voice. this is the soundtrack to the short film of the same name by neil blakemore and follows in the ocean-drift steps of the last odawas record, "the blue depths." melodic synthesizer passages float lightly on simple, seductive drum machine beats and acoustic guitar lines. erratic, almost-harsh electronica even makes an appearance as tapscott uses all his tricks to crystalize the theme of the film. every turn finds a new path, all of which lead back to the central precipice.


"sunny california" is a place rife with beauty and sadness and as tapscott as our guide, we're bound to find something to treasure" digitalis
foto: tululumu

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

royal geography society

"Golden Man" is the debut lp by the Oakland duo Royal Geography Society. Equal parts lush orchestration and soaring 60s psych vocals, the lp lays its lilting melodies over a base of electrobeat percussion and ramshackle synths. These parts form the trails for the tale of two explorers in search of the mysterious Eldorado, deep in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest. While this tale is from the exotic regions of the world, its metaphors are very prevalent in modern society. Since the dawn of humanity, man has crossed the earth many times over, searched the depths of the sea, and rocketed into space all to uncover the unknown. This desire is the true incarnation of the Golden Man.

Aaron Deer and Michael Tapscott (Odawas) are Royal Geography Society... Hired to compose a soundtrack to a documentary film on mushroom cultivation, the duo was quickly fired when the producers heard the early recordings. Enamored with working together, the duo decided to start fresh - following the same creative path - and create an album for themselves. Inspired by a non-fiction account of British explorers searching for Eldorado around the turn of the 20th century, the duo wound a tale of adventure, desperation, and acceptance of the inevitable. The search is the discovery." ruralfaune
annapurna illusion vs neil young vs mercury rev!

best coast


dancing queen

Monday, July 04, 2011

stag hare

"Stag Hare creates sounds like sacred spirals. He weaves out tapestries of pure waves that swirl and sparkle with infinite overtones. Put this dublab “sprout session” on loop and leave your body behind. Stag Hare will take you where you never knew you needed to be but will want to stay forevermore." dublab

the amazing and beautiful collage art by jesse treece

mountainhood



'The Boat-Maker's Daughter is a record about transition and transformation. It is an expression of total breakage from all prior forms of thought and action--your parents, your government, your faith--and blazing a new path through doomsday to the other side. The songs range from the quiet, fragile, and distant "Geodesic Dome, Oregon" to the anthemic folk sing-along of "Jaine," one of the most accessible songs in the Mountainhood catalog. With The Boat-Maker’s Daughter, Mountainhood has transformed and shed much of the tape hiss that defined his earlier recordings, and let these very special songs of rapture shine through. This is not only a singular release for Hilde, but for the entire psych-folk genre. Poster designed by Hilde included. Edition of 500 copies'. Blackburn

foto: hoy joy

Friday, July 01, 2011

sister irene o´connor


sister irene o´connor - fire of god´s love / songs to ignite the spirit (alba house, 1976)

download

"among the sea of sound-a-like private-pressed catholic lps that came out in the 1960's and 1970's, sister irene o'connor's 1976 album stands out with its primitive drum machine and spooky, echo-laden vocals. released in 1976 on the 'alba house' label, the dual-titled fire of god's love/songs to ignite the spirit lp features several haunting and remarkable songs. in particular, the title track "fire of god's love" strikes me as so otherwordly and uniquely eerie that i wonder how far sister irene's o'connor's seeming solipsism extended beyond music." wfmu
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fotola: lauren treece