microphones in the trees: August 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

christina carter / josephine foster


In the words of  Christina Carter: "It is a sixty plus minute song, and it is definitely a song, not a piece. It is like taking a six-minute song and stretching it out for an hour with compositional coherence intact. In other words, it isn’t like a six-minute song with a 54-minute jam stuck on the end." The low E string thrumbs for the whole 60 minutes like a heartbeat. It's like dipping into someone else's memory for an hour. It's a whole other world. One of America's greatest living artists. Hey America, remember art?" amoeba

"Christina Carter in full-on tonal ascension mode"

entrevista con christina



"A story within a story, Blood Rushing is a glimpse into the world of Blushing, a heteronym of the artist Josephine Foster. A rock-ballet chanté, the music is set to a Pueblo drum's metapulsing Pan-American heartbeat. ...Josephine's voice is not metaphoric. Nor is it a spell. Blood Rushing is as native as my flesh and yours." Natasha Pradhan


madre mía, qué dos discos. blood rushing es un clásico lleno de canciones clásicas, el mejor disco del año, de cualquier año, es difícil encontrar canciones tan bonitas como 'waterfall', 'blood rushing' y 'o stars'. y el de christina carter tiene el buen gusto de siempre y unas melodías que, mmmm, la hace simplemente irresestible. 'trickster who is like god' es un larguísimo mantra con cambios de melodía y la voz inmaculada y dulce de christina que suena como una caricia, que crece y decrece y trasmite una agradable sensación de bienestar flotante, una burbuja de calma y placidez,... todo lo que estamos acostumbrados a recibir de una mujer irrepetible que vive dentro de sí misma, única en su especie, que nunca decepciona, 'a whole other world'

Thursday, August 30, 2012

donovan quinn and michael james tapscott


“though best known for his work with the Skygreen Leopards, Quinn has been culling his private weird recordings since he lived in a rotting trailer in the suburban sprawl of Walnut Creek, California. due to popular insistence, Donovan has finally gone solo. Quinn is a Marlboro man mystic channeled through Francois Hardy just woken from a nap: frowsy, susurrant and surly. he curls out chords like Duane Eddy on ludes, strumming on some ether plane of American guitar groupmind. It warms my heart that perhaps people will hear Donovan and be able to discern a true contender from the hollow trees out there.” ~ Elisa Ambrogio, Arthur Magazine

"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." digitalis


a veces los sueños se cumplen... dos de las voces más bonitas juntas en un disco que aparece de repente, sin promoción y que nos regalan donovan y michael desde su página de soundcloud. 'goodbye, marlene', un título que dice mucho más de lo que pueda escribir, es una preciosidad que de alguna forma da continuidad narrativa a nuestro querido 'sunny california'. letras evocadoras a modo de diario para un space folk soleado y cristalino que depara pequeñas grandes canciones una detrás de otra: 'i'll kill you in time', 'many safe returns, anne' (mazzy star meets beachwood sparks) y 'marlene left california' cantadas por donovan (espíritu oklahoma soul, one, two three, guitarras acústicas, pianos y algún tímido field recording como en los días felices de los leopardos del cielo verde), 'it's not the blues, it's the drug', a ritmo de armónica, y 'otw marlene', que me recuerda en algún momento fugaz a lindsey buckingham, esos coros, cantadas por michael james tapscott. un disco sencillo y bonito que en realidad sólo suena a the skygreen leopards y odawas, puro california dreaming, perfecto para escuchar a media luz, entrecerrar los ojos y soñar que el verano no toca a su fin (snif)


orphan fairytale


'Comets Come Alive' is a beautiful dreamy album of keyboard, layered with various unknown objects, toys and other non-instruments creating a sea of sound that is so stunning it's hard to put into words. The sounds Eva creates have a childlike nursery rhyme like quality which is what makes her music so charming, it's simplistic, but there's not much else out there that sounds like what Eva does, she blends the minimalistic with the psychedelic.

the lp is pressed on 180gram virgin vinyl including a download code. Edition of 500 copies, 100 copies pressed on 180 gram green vinyl with red, yellow and blue splatter with a hand numbered insert available only directly from Blackest Rainbow and 400 copies on 180 gram black virgin vinyl with an un-numbered insert on a different coloured paper to the coloured vinyl edition..."  blackest rainbow


decían en live arts que C.G. Jung nos enseñó a inventar juegos funcionales de niños para ponernos en contacto con nuestro pasado y así aprender a entendernos un poquito mejor ("las personas son totales solamente mientras juegan"). y que Orphan Fairytale sería la traducción musical de esa técnica, como Elodie Lauten, Terry Riley, Moondog o Clara Rockmore.

Eva, 'la amante belga del casio', juega con theremines, organillos, con instrumentos de juguete que tienen lucecitas que se encienden y apagan, xilófonos, membranófonos, flautas de bambú que imitan el sonido gamelan, juega con las imágenes y nos hace partícipes: lluvia de meteoritos, chicas correteando por bosques encantados, una portada entre bonita y enigmática, loops, efectos, notas y melodías entrelazadas al azar por su varita mágica, un folk exótico y extraño para el que faltan las palabras, que no se amolda a ningún estilo, coqueteando con la melodía sin entregarse a ella, electrónica fantástica que tiene tanto en común con Miaux o Mittland Och Leo como con Hanna Barbera y Kuupuu, que suena a caseta en el bosque, que invita a accurrucarnos en su regazo, folk marciano, folk modular, free-folk, free-ambient, free!, todo en una sóla 'canción' de atmósfera onírica que podría ser un cuento de walt disney sobre bosques encantados dirigido por Ed Wood, siempre él, preludio del que estoy convencida será su disco más alucinante.

no se puede entrar en 'comets come alive' sin retirar las tres densas y polvorientas cortinas que esconden a Eva Van Deuren en 'meteor shower'. una, dos, tres,... y ahí está, presa de una bruma densa que sólo despeja con el sonido de algo que recuerda a un theremin. todo en 'comets come alive' queda sometido a la presencia magnética de ese sonido. ciencia ficción en blanco y negro, la manta acogedora de taped sounds,..todo es tan bonito que sólo piensas en tener ese vinilo cuanto antes en tus manos aunque no tengas donde hacerlo sonar. y que el hechizo no desaparezca nunca

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

dreamers cloth


"here is a tiny album from Danish musician Dreamers Cloth. It was released by Relax With Nature on a cassette titled A Bamboo Dream. this feeds me the necessary energies and inspirations I need to cancel out the bad shit. excellent healing pleasure. as far as I know, he’s got 4-5 releases under that name… all sold out though ~ super limited edition. though I do believe there is a blog out there that one might be able to find his stuff on (that is an assignment)." gift tapes

sold out ~ download


"New Age meditation dance party on tropical beach, getting one with nature under a relaxing shower of multi~colored fractals and shining keys. It’s only the dreamer who moves mountains. Fantastically zoned drones from Denmark . Smoked-wreathed drones underpin heady swirls of vocal wail and wow." sloow tapes

"I think Mind Beach is whenever you rest your thoughts on something ~ and that could be anything really... Mind Beach is a picture of this static “thought gazing". But, also when you’re having many concurrent thoughts and the next minute everything seems solved and you rest your mind on one specific thing. This way, “Mind Beach” works as a landing strip for your thoughts. That is a picture I find really beautiful" jonas frederiksen aka dreamers cloth


sold out ~ download


"Relax with Nature is my idea of chilling out and going with the flow. I think that what I’m trying to evoke is an atmosphere of a place where civilization and culture is non~existing. Maybe I should call it cultural~civilization, since our concept of civilization is defined and interpreted via our culture. What I’m talking about is a place ~ or a state of mind, which becomes real the very second cultural~civilization is cancelled, and all that is left is nature ~ but ~ a new nature where, amongst other things, communication between individuals isn’t corrupted by words. I know this sounds really romantic and it’s also paradoxical to try to describe a place free from culture by means of words!..." jonas frederiksen aka dreamers cloth

sold out ~ download
 
dreamers cloth ~ the coconut pearl (relax with nature, 2008)
 
"Dreamers Cloth is diving underwater in the ambient dreamlands of fantasy creatures and unknown high sky visions. beautiful & psychedelic new age bliss-sound drones, for the fans of Ashtray Navigations, Family Underground, Skaters, Dolphins Into The Future."

sold out ~ download ~ see


"Dreamers Cloth is Jonas Frederiksen from Copenhagen. He has been pumping out limited-edition, cassette-only recordings from a secret lair in Denmark as fast as eager bloggers can upload them. The idea of swimming in an ocean on a distant planet full of telepathic otters, diving underwater in the ambient dreamlands of fantasy creatures and unknown high sky visions: these are beautiful & psychedelic new age bliss-sound drones. Jonas runs the tape label Beyond Repair" ~

sold out ~ download

dreamers cloth es una pequeña y exótica maravilla del danés jonas frederiksen, uno de esos grupos 'clima' tan escondidos que agradeces mil veces que exista alguien que se acuerde de ellos y finalmente lleguen a ti. su música es infinitamente evocadora, como si fuese tocada bajo el agua rodeado de peces y corales de colores, o compuesta en una habitación junto al océano pacífico, huye de la contaminación, del frío, sueña e imagina paisajes tropicales en sellos como relax with nature o beyond repair y todo es tan bonito que es imposible resistirse a compartir casi todos sus discos. no puedo evitar asociar nombres: dolphins into the future y monopoly child star searchers sobrevolándolo todo, buchikamashi y komodo haunts flotando en el hilo musical, james ferraro, john elliott, exo tapes, palmeras, sol, tormentas de verano, cascadas de agua, cocos, sueños de bambú, buscadores de perlas, playas imaginarias, grabaciones de campo, de agua, kraut, psicodelia submarina, hypnagogic pop, ambient, lo-fi, glow-fi, chill wave,... todo!, para volar muy muy lejos. larga vida, espero, quiero

entrevista a jonas frederiksen, aquí

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

micromelancolié


"dissonant tones, an unstable aural combination, and tensions that demand more; 'owl eater' from Micromelancolié is an album that finds a much more humanly private quality than resolution: it finds conflict and grief. the album begins in the static unknown ~ a monotonous search in the woods of a lonely whir. as an owl's gaze wanders, so does the light buzz in the tone, moving in and out of the speaker, up and down in the melody.


looking for prey, Micromelancolié eats the bird of wisdom and moves onto the second side with a pounding harmony on the piano. the gloom and drear of chord pushes back into another tension, but this time more harsh than side a. contact mics, samplers and pre-recorded sounds; 'owl eater' brings a moon-skulled thrill, and a surreal reach for the creatures of the night." ray jackson, already dead tapes

Sunday, August 26, 2012

brendan codey


"Philadelphia songwriter Brendan Codey just released his latest collection of spacey jams: the Casco ep, recorded over several years, and in several locales ~ a bedroom in New Jersey, apartments in Maine and Chicago, and his current home in Philly ~ and is a fine survey of the tones and textures Codey has explored thus far in his recording career. “Diaspora” showcases his nimble folk-style acoustic fingerpicking; “What a Lucky Girl You Are” blends that with spacey backwards loops similar to his debut EP A Bottle House Vernacular; “The 43rd Suite” is a straight-up space rock anthem in the vein of “Twelfth Page” (spotlighted last year in the Philly Local Philes). Codey says a few of the tracks are destined for a full album he plans to release later this year, tentatively titled Phoenicia 1995." the key

"This Philly songwriter has a knack for combining dusty, folky ramblin’ trail songs like “Diaspora” with vast and ambitious 70’s-style orchestrated post-hippie reaction pieces like this one into a single set of songs. His Neil Young influence is worn proud, like a frayed navajo serape at a bonfire." yvynyl




"Gorgeous, complex and heartbreaking work....This is the kind of album you should have headphones on for ~ and let it wash over you like laying in pillowy fresh snowbank during a snowstorm ~ so cozy and soft, but fall asleep and you could be dead. Recorded throughout January and February, deep into a recent Chicago winter, "a bottle house vernacular," was inspired by certain visionary and outsider artists" yvynyl

"Ethereal. I seem to kick that word around a lot when describing Emery Blagdon Saves Your Mortal Soul. As I was struggling to assemble various words and phrases to get you all interested in this beautiful track by Brendan Codey, ethereal seemed to be the only one that came to mind. Maybe the limited knowledge of the english language I contain has forced me to fall back upon this adjective so many times. Or maybe it’s just the wistful combination of Nick Drake-esque folk melody and haunting reverb-laden vocals that have led to me once again use the word ethereal to describe a track." nothing sounds better





"Sometimes, when I’m sitting at my desk, I close my eyes and imagine being in the woods, walking down a long trail in the quiet piney air.  That’d be the day dream captured here by this film shot and directed by Alee Peoples on beautiful Super 8mm in Upstate New York." yvynyl

what a lucky girl you are, diaspora...absorbiendo el espíritu ted lucas meets 'graveyard' de loren connors & kath bloom meets voices of the seven woods. nos flipa mil, y más con los vídeos de alee peoples. mil veces sí :)

Friday, August 24, 2012

panabrite


 Panabrite: la paciencia, la calma, el bucle... sería tan bonito vivir en el mundo de Norm Chambers. poco a poco me ha ido ganando el corazón hasta el punto de que un día sin Panabrite, al menos una canción, no es un día completo. presente, pasado, futuro. Norm juega en la liga del minimalismo, la delicadeza y la inspiración infinita. no es fácil transmitir en palabras la cantidad de imágenes y sensaciones que sugiere su música, siempre entrañable, de superficie melancólica y esencia melódica, contemplativa, próxima a la perfección, relacionada con un pasado que es futuro, el mar, el universo, programas de ciencia ficción de los setenta, teclados vintage comestibles, guitarras acústicas que asoman cristalinas y muy de vez en cuando (sobre todo en 'Soft Terminal'), documentales del mundo submarino,... la música que ilustraría la melancolía retrofuturista de las viñetas de 'Lupus' de Frederik Peeters y 'El Caminante' de Taniguchi. eso es precisamente lo que más me gusta y a la vez me desconcierta, como Leyland Kirby (The Caretaker), esa sensación evocadora y difusa, constante, la capacidad de sugerir mil imágenes y no ser capaz de ubicarlas en el tiempo y lugar exactos.

decían en mnml ssgs (para quienes hizo este mixtape), que Panabrite trasciende el peligro de sonar simplemente 'bonito' porque su música está llena de matices y texturas y por encima de todo refleja un cariño especial a los géneros con los que trabaja, gracias en parte a un profundo conocimiento de la biblioteca musical de sintetizadores, kraut, new age, ambient, etc de los 60, 70, 80, tan prolífica. para muestra un botón: 'Lunar Atrium', un blog repleto de pequeñas joyas que 'dirige' el propio Norm.


suena 'reflections' y me parece la canción más bonita del mundo, como si Norm Chambers volara hasta el cielo y se desintegrara en el viaje de vuelta. o 'rainbows in the catacombs', 'turqoise veil', 'cirrus' y 'crystal colosseum'... no existen canciones que determinen mejor qué es el ambient acuático y espacial, que expliquen por qué un loop puede ser cambiante y seguir siendo un loop, que suenen frías y calientes, que tengan alma, groove, a pesar de ser eminentemente electrónicas. o ese breve momento de infinita belleza llamado 'garden interlude' que da paso a 'octopus in your dreams', que además de ser preciosa tiene un título de cine fantástico de serie B de los cincuenta que me vuelve loca. pero entonces asoman las primeras notas de 'glass corridor', despegando por encima de lo terrenal, alzándose hacia el cielo. así que, mientras esperamos con ansia y curiosidad su próximo disco, qué mejor que compartirlas en un recopilatorio dedicado sólo a la ensoñadora discografía de Panabrite. bon apétit!


01. garden interlude | "blue grotto" ~ love all day, 2012
02. beau vallon | "seychelles" ~ field studies, 2012
03. cirrus | "illumination" ~ under the spire, 2012
04. octopus in your dreams | "sub~aquatic meditation" ~ aguirre, 2012
05. anemone | "neptune visions" ~ cylindrical habitat modules, 2010
06. citadel in the sky | "omni center" ~ sturmundrugs, 2011
07. clean lines | "infinite pulsation" ~ digitalis ltd., 2011
08. atoll | "sub~aquatic meditation" ~ aguirre, 2012
09. sound softy | "soft terminal" ~ digitalis, 2012
10. databank meditation | "infinite pulsation" ~ digitalis ltd., 2011
11. humid zones | "seychelles" ~ field studies, 2012
12. glass corridor | "blue grotto" ~ love all day, 2012
13. infinite passage | "the baroque atrium" ~ preservation, 2012
14. the gate | "omni center" ~ sturmundrugs, 2011
15. whirlpool | "sub~aquatic meditation" ~ aguirre, 2012
16. vortex | "wind rider" ~ tranquility tapes, 2011
17. siphonophore "neptune visions" ~ cylindrical habitat modules, 2010
18. crystal colosseum | "cloud prism"/split with the away team ~ hooker vision, 2011
19. atlantic pulsation 2 | "infinite pulsation" ~ digitalis ltd., 2011
20. glass palace | "soft terminal" ~ digitalis, 2012
21. nocturnal | "wizard chimes" ~ gift tapes, 2010
22. capraia | "the baroque atrium" ~ preservation, 2012

Thursday, August 23, 2012

mt. tjhris


"get ready for the headiest New Age cave experience of the Summer. British composer Mt. Tjhris throws down on Amethyst Cave. open up your chakra and get ready to let the powerful mineral take over your soul as you realize the answer to life and the meaning of existence!. New Age dream drones from England's darkest cave. close your eyes and let the purple float around you." holypage

foto: luke byrne

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

europa rural / berlenga


exo tapes se está convirtiendo poco a poco en un sello a seguir casi ciegas, junto a sloow tapes, cabin floor esoterica, hooker vision, tranquilitity tapes, rotifer... todo lo que editan tiene un sonido especial, reconocible al instante, como si  joão costa gonçalves estuviese detrás de todas las grabaciones: jccg, the exhalers, mediafired y meadowlands. hay algo en todos ellos que me hace tenerle un cariño inexplicable a esas tres letras. no es una novedad, cuando creas un sello tan pequeñito, y si es de cintas de cassette todavía más, lo haces para publicar la música que de verdad te apasiona. ser fan antes que músico, para mi tan tan tan importante.


europa rural y berlenga, de los que sólo sé que son portugueses, siguen la senda y la filosofía de todo lo que joão ha publicado hasta ahora. melancolía acústica sobre un colchón de teclados, un paraíso ambient, melodías desenfocadas, ensoñación atmosférica, aires a monopoly star searchers, former selves, mark mcguire, cetacean nation cassettes,... siempre ahí la naturaleza, el agua, la nostalgia, acariciando como nunca en la preciosísima canción-refugio 'violas' de berlenga. si me obligo a quedarme con sólo una, con permiso de 'os días máis curtos' y 'violas', sería 'untitled 1', o tal vez 'untitled 2' porque en realidad son dos que son una, de europa rural, gozosamente contagiosas y refrescantes, perfectas para hacer el recopilatorio perfecto en el que también asome la nariz 'waterfalls introduction' de monopoly star searchers. ojalá el micromundo fan en el que nos movemos aprecie lo suficiente a exo tapes para que sobreviva durante mucho mucho tiempo


sold out ~ download

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

charlatan meets the north sea


"Here is our new release, out September 1st by Brad Rose of Digitalis record label fame. Impromptu post-speakeasy jam session, recorded at the witching hour by two of the the scene's most reclusive noise cats around. They got down and burned all the heat out of the studio with some serious synthesizer blowouts, each getting in their own licks. Charlatan's mellow moods converge with the harsh wailing of the North Sea, faithfully laid to tape (in the midst's of tension) by Green Country's chief engineer Brad Rose. These cats might not break it down ever again, but for one magical night it got crazy."

brad rose meets brad rose...

filed under: Jürgen Müller, Ursula Bogner, weatherbeaten analog skies

Monday, August 20, 2012

pentros

pentros ~ a night residue (love all day, 2012)

"A Night Residue was recorded entirely in a bedroom studio in the very late evening on the brink of slumber. Pentros wanders the off-roads between electronic and acoustic spaces. In its improvisational unfolding, A Night Residue evokes the contingent atmosphere of dreams~aural atmosphere paradoxically defined by a cloud of melodic fragments. Disparate elements coalesce in moments of sharp lucidity."

todo lo que tenga un poquito que ver con panabrite (' a chance'!), blithe sons, evan caminiti o dolphins into the future será siempre bienvenido. 'resting on winter winds' (emocionante, delicada como la espuma del mar), 'ground and complete', 'darkets of night' (sci-fi lullaby, el futuro en el pasado), 'carried by sea' (demasiado bonita para describirla con palabras, suena incluso una steel, o dobro, o...) y 'pacífica' no se escuchan, se respiran, acarician, adormecen...sintetizadores analógicos, viento, mareas, burbujas, pajarindos

listen ~ buy

Friday, August 17, 2012

deep magic


"organic soundscape of textural harmony"

"installment seventeen features Alex Gray, aka Deep Magic, explore sound collages of euphoric instrumentation and vocal tone. Gray's preferred cassette medium has seen releases on Not Not Fun Records, Moon Glyph, and his own Moon Tapes, where he correlates a beautiful audio/visual aesthetic. a member of psychedelic outfit Sun Araw, Gray describes the piece as "weird garage stuff time stretched with spoken word by yours truly, all processed strangely..." colourful storm


Wednesday, August 15, 2012

creation VI


"Creation VI is an ambient/drone project for Ukrainian sound artist Tim Six, started in 2006. the main aim of the project is to discover the properties of music as a tool for expressing nonverbal concepts. the first such notions arise in philosophy, mysticism and of course, in all kind of creativity. power of ambience is practically inexhaustible, so every aspect in which there is a need of musical thinking, finds its particular expression. so the music of Cretion VI may vary from dark and ritual ambiences to weightless, transparent drones.

"Paleolith" was inspired by archaic music practices. album will be released in october by dronarivm as limited edition cassette. you can pre-order it now for special price."


free your energy field. Paleolith es un regalo, un universo de cuevas misteriosas y lagos subterráneos, una acogedora habitación con vistas al pasado en la que es muy complicado escoger una sóla canción porque todas son mágicas, ancestrales, cristalinas, artesanales, eufóricas, tribales, literalmente perfectas. gracias en parte a la presencia constante del arpa~birimbao, ese antiguo instrumento de apariencia sencilla que se toca con la boca, tan importante en toda la música de creation VI o Drop Sum. también a la esponjosidad de los drones, a un sonido tallado a mano, indescriptiblemente orgánico y acuático, que consigue ponerte los pelos de punta en maravillas como 'cave rites' o 'the emergence of language'. arranca con 'the birth of music' (uf) abriendo paso a las campanas, murmullos, grillos, palos de agua, cuencos tibetanos...y a un clima que me recuerda a 'from there to here' de sunhiilow o a las cuerdas flotantes de brother ong. uno de esos discos que, ojalá, se quedará conmigo, contigo, durante mucho tiempo


Monday, August 13, 2012

soft sounds


01. patiente (waiting for the summer) ~ sunny dunes
02. wake up in summer ~ sparkling wide pressure
03. faraway trees ~ loner deluxe
04. song for nana ~ luminous craft
05. dominican black abbey ~ the driftwood manor
06. soft sounds ~ muffin
07. emery blagdon saves your mortal soul ~ brendan codey
08. a grave affection ~ tim kinsella
09. bull doze blues ~ henry thomas
10. you're going to leave the old home, jim ~ lulu jackson
11. summer oscillating ~ j. hanson
12. the store ~ mirror to mirror
13. spetses ~ panabrite
14. khi ~ high wolf
15. deeper into meadows ~ black eagle child
16. palolo ~ charlie wilson
17. in the park ~ deep magic


18. crystals in time ~ nibiru communion 
19. hummingbird city ~ orphan fairytale
20. kid island ~ mpala garoo
21. what comes after, part. 2 ~ long legged woman
22. edna ~ dead drums
23. goon the dooms star ~ ladyshapes & braden j mckenna
24. asyndeton ~ hobbledeions
25. veranda ~ monster rally
26. tape studies ~ günter schlienz 
27. rescue of prisoners from cannibals ~ x.y.r.
28. stained glass sequence demo ~ motion graphics
29. song of the whale ~ jd emmanuel
30. flown the other side ~ good shepherd
31. leaves on the breeze ~ shep and me
32. ceramy ~ kandodo
33. ~ ~ happy tendry
34. moonlight mind ~ imperial topaz
35. guider ~ braden j mckenna

foto via amhpics & kevin hsia

Sunday, August 12, 2012

ocotillo


"this ensemble started as a rebellious joke and ended with the creation of a whole new dark form of high desert magic, as well as this incredible album. of all the "shamanic" or star-eyed mystic types that came and went throughout the existence of Desert Lotus, Ocotillo, a self-described "qliphothic cactus cult", were working with a much more sinister style of sorcery than anyone else within the community. In response to transcendent feeling of the Journey to Ixtlan album, Ocotillo soon held their own fraternal gathering to create and record their own musical rites and what results is this beautiful album of dark folkish meditations that sonically interpret the twisted astral pathways unlocked and navigated by these spiritual mavericks alone." desert lotus / journey to Ixtlan family

Friday, August 10, 2012

atlantis / tidal


"going back to where it all started for Chemical Tapes, Tim Diagram who's opening salvo for us was his excellent kosmische workout 'Maps And Diagrams ~ Red Moon Rising' returns under his Atlantis moniker with The Institute Of Technology. subaquatic synth soundscapes document the expedition into the deep. from the hazy tranquil moments at the surface to the curious glitched rhythms of the depths" chemical tapes


"eight tracks of submerged whooshes and blips and layered synth drones, hypnotic arpeggios, lots of celestial twinkle and flutter, some bubbly noises, quite a bit of echo in places. It’s quite varied actually, going from ambient, almost percussive bloopscapes to drawn out, healing dronechords of ‘The Otto Cycle’, and more of a synth-focused approach than with Maps & Diagrams. for music of this ambient experimental nature it’s quite fast paced and melodic and you really get swept up in the emotional narrative as it drifts and shimmers its way delicately into your subconscious. excellent stuff." norman records


"...Is this a reference to soaring mountain peaks? If so this is the perfect soundtrack. 4 journeys spanning the c40 cassette take us on a trip of psychoactive shimmering ambience, there is a re-assuring warmth to the synth soundscapes across Olympus, keeping the listener engaged and locked into the eternal bliss." chemical tapes 


"Tidal's Jimmy Billingham makes murky cosmic music filtered through a blurry, drunken haze to give it that slight “Turquoise Hexagon Sun” disorientating vibe like that grizzly unmaintained old tape machine is about to gobble its contents. It’s very beautiful actually and comes across like the musical equivalent of soft sun rays streaming through tall trees in a forest glade on really good psychedelic drugs but with bits of wool soaked in olive oil stuck in your ears. aceness abounds..." norman records

fotos: alison scarpulla

Thursday, August 09, 2012

whysp


Only just now I tried a summer sell-out copy of Santa Cruz based band Whysp's first LP. It was recorded in Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie)'s Nowhere studios in 2004. The band was formed by a trio (Josh Alper, Hugh Holden and Jeffrey Manson), but quickly became a loose musical communal foundation featuring members like Glenn Donaldson (Skygreen Leopards, Thuja and The Blithe Sons), Christine Boepple, Hugh Guthrie Holden, Jr., Ia Hernandez, Jeffrey Manson, Michele Hannigan, Caroyln Pennypacker-Riggs, Margaretha Haughwout, Karl Blau, Tom Child, Phil Elverum, Aaron "A-Ron" Emmert, Nicky "Dinosaur" Emmert, Kyle Field, John Garmon, Mike May, Adam "Handel" Payne, Niki Selken, Emily White (...) The band very much was inspired by Forest, an Incredible String Band alike UK folk band, with the new version of that band they were going to do some new recordings.

The first side showed an attractive mixture of the forest people meet 60s sounds with an Incredible String Band alike touch and a few more strummed Syd Barrett directions. The vocal harmonies of the full band are one of the strongest parts throughout the album. There are some weird flute harmonies, some mouth harmonica, 60s psych organ. There's an overall acoustic feeling, a playing with some loose ends, nearly amateurish. And somewhat primitively recorded and played with band's enjoyment, with a context like being involved with nursery rhymes, lullabies and ballads. On the second side some less convincing, with somewhat lazily sung male vocal songs with simple strums dominate more, which takes away some of the enjoyment elsewhere, the primitivisms, despite its charm, could have been recorded better. psychedelic folk

foto: blind-alley

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

je suis le petit chevalier


"like a silver stripe on an endless horizon Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier’s music’s signifying relief. within her minimal dark musings Felicia Atkinsons’ buried some light. It’s not bursting out, but you can catch a glimpse of it if you wait patient enough. so take your time, head towards the horizon and you’ll be rewarded!" sicsic tapes


con un título que dispara la imaginación, 'a guide to the sun' da forma y color a, con permiso de 'tropical malady', mi disco favorito de félicia hasta la fecha, palabras mayores teniendo en cuenta la cantidad de música que ha publicado como félicia atkinson o como je suis le petit chevalier. será por el título, por la portada (un círculo naranja sobre un fondo blanco) pero los efectos, las reverberaciones, las mil y una capas, las estructuras delicadas, los drones atmosféricos y absorbentes, en especial los de painted figures, una montaña rusa con todos esos cambios, me hacen pensar en dos figuras avanzando a través del desierto en el planeta marte, bajo un sol ardiente y cegador que se oculta poco a poco en el horizonte.



sold out ~ bandcamp ~ download

Friday, August 03, 2012

matthew "doc" dunn


"One of my favorite tapes of the past or so 5 years. Been outta print for a couple years now. I’d first heard Dunn’s playing with mv & ee and subsequently grabbed this tape after recognizing his name. Ever since I’ve really dug all his solo material, Peace Be Your Rider was the ‘follow-up’ to this x2 tape set, and he also had a few albums before ‘Church of the Transfiguration’ on Medusa and InYrDisk. Doc Dunn is also associated with the group Transcendental Rodeo who put out a great ‘Volume 1’ CDr on Beniffer Editions in 2009 and a recent 2011 release on Healing Power Records.

Tape 1 is a bit more over-arching in terms of crafting some perfect drone + steel string picking, singing bowls, eastern instruments, & ominous tones. Tape 2 goes into more minimal & abstract paths. Beniffer put together a booklet full of Doc Dunn’s photographs translated through bright layers of color and a silk screened process. I’ve scanned this whole book and packaged it as a PDF - it is present in ‘Part 1’ of the download." broadcasts from poor farm

"born in the teeth of a gale, Matt 'Doc' Dunn embarks upon nothing less than total Cosmic infinitude on this strange and devastating release. the smoke you hear on this hit is the 3 am Mount Analogue as described by Rene Daumal and the 'humming in the night skull' music of shaman and prophet Angus MacLise. mystic realms wherein the author remains entirely concealed in the sound in order to reveal the deepest secrets of the soul. In reaching for the 'infinite music', Dunn, the young thundercloud-messenger of the future-sound unites the entire musical

In terms of creating Space, no music I have heard this year or any has brought me to such a profoundly blue and contemplative state of trance. listen to it over and over and over again for it rewards you with boundless gifts. this is meta-music, a new Temple Stone of third eye zones. totally free, embers burning over the current of the moonlit sea." Ayal Senior

~sold out~



Thursday, August 02, 2012

sacred flower union


"Sacred Flower Union presents four flowing pieces of warm landscapes, strange, absent minded gorgeousness, building from a burble to a steady, patient groove punctuated by whooping, think Oxygene but less cheesy. considering Sacred Flower Union man Dan Griffin is no longer working contemporaneously with the now defunct Clean Living, there may well be more to come soon." life is noise

"good soul-food for fans of Emeralds/Mark McGuire, White Rainbow, Ashra, Cluster, Stag Hare, all that good shit. this is a fantastic, lively/relaxing set" the thounsands

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

chrome wings/ladyshapes


"Ladyshapes is offering up its first official release with one-half of a split cassette with Chrome Wings. recorded last May, one might infer that "Winch" was significantly informed by lysergics or narcotics, but if I had to guess, I'd assume this was recorded without the influence of such mind-altering agents. sounding extraordinarily lucid and mindful of each other, Ladyshapes core of John Rau, Cassidy Kane, and John Frank improvise with a multitude of fragile elements, frozen, tremoloed guitars, textural percussive scrapes, and drones~and pace them impeccably, resulting in the kind of candid ambience best suited for drawing warm bath water to. also note a special appearance from Eternal Tapestry drummer Jed Bindeman filling out the track with auxiliary percussion.

Jon Jurow and Shance McDonell's Chrome Wings follow up last year's New Lands with a considerably evolved side, showcasing their growing affinity for deep sea dub and loop-based drones. graspable layers of yeasty ambience wax and wane like cluttered tides, revealing air-dried guitars and pitch-bent keys splashing mildly through shallow snare rappings. It's hazy, late-night stuff; an appropriate contrast to Ladyshapes' comparatively spare and lucent offering." end hits