ben vida

ben vida ~ music for a soft epic (root strata 2011)

"Originally composed in 2008 as a soundtrack to a 5-Channel synchronized video projection 'The Soft Epic or: Savages of the Pacific West' by Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib. Two long tracks of classic environmental ambiance. Get lost on a lunar safari." root strata

"...the label describes it as some kind of sonic safari, and it really does sound like it, maybe like some synth/flute performance, taking place in some remote forest glade, the entire thing recorded onto a four track with dying batteries, the results, a dreamily druggy, atmospheric ambience, a warped ritualistic Jewelled Antler styled new age, and a seriously divine soft epic." aquarius

ben vida, synthesizers of the atlantic east, pajarindos!

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bird country

01. shirtless ~ town and country
02. BRDDRMS ~ bird show
03. dim ~ the zoo wheel
04. lightning ghost ~ bird show
05. phoney fuckin' mountain ~ town and country
06. allways / never sleep pt#I ~ bird show
07. untitled ~ pillow
08. after ~ joshua abrams

"there is no concept to the music - I am just working and working and if I am happy while I am working then I think the music is good - it has to feed my life - I love to make music because it takes care of me and it connects me to my friends and family and reveals me to myself." ben vida

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dibu: smicksy

drmwpn

drmwpn - bright blue galilee (apollolaan 2008)

"Drmwpn started as a Town and Country side-project in 2004 and has been growing ever since. It has always been understood that Drmwpn are playing a tune but that keeps getting more and more open as the group grows. The Brion Gyson Dreamachine has always been the focus onstage. The line up for Drmwpn on this recording is : Josh Abrams - Guimbri; Jim Dorling - Leslie Voice Electronics; Steve Krakow - Banjo; Mahjabeen - Kalimba; Dan Mohr - Voice Organ; Liz Payne - String Bass; Adam Vida - Cymbals; Ben Vida - Electric Guitar; Sam Wagster - Lap Steel Guitar & Michael Zerang - Drums" apollolaan

"...the sound is deep, slow-moving and beautifully brain-erasing, with aspects of Pelt and The No-Neck Blues Band as well as Spacemen 3, Velvet Underground & LaMonte Young..." volcanic tongue

foto: arbore

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bird show

bird show - untitled (kranky 2008)

"Ben Vida’s latest is hippie-tastic, a mellow trip replete with drum-circle beats, all-together-now vocals and a free, open vibe. It’s easy to imagine Vida and his colleagues (including labelmates Robert Lowe of Lichens and Greg Davis) sitting cross-legged in the woods, emitting sonic smoke signals as they stare at the sun—an image encouraged by the cover, which shows Vida’s collection of bells, tambourines, and pan flutes (he plays 25 instruments in total) atop a weathered oriental rug. It’d also be easy to call Bird Show nostalgic, but that would be wrong. On “Green Vines”, one of the few songs not named for the instruments used, Vida’s Terry Riley-style keyboard laps against the rattling percussion, creating soft waves for the vocals to happily ride. As curlicues of guitar drift away, the whole thing can start to feel almost too good, but don’t fight it: that’s just the track kicking in." paper thin walls

"...“Green Vines” is about the effect that certain places, physical settings, have on the senses. How being in the desert or deep in a woodland area can have an almost drug-like effect on you." ben vida

dibujo: seth neefus

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john fahey

v/a - the great koonaklaster speaks: A Jonh Fahey Celebration (table of the elements, 2007)

"A collusion of folk, blues, ethnic and modern classical methods, Fahey's music suggests both the trikster and the shaman, and has attracted a cult of musician followers over the years, ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime. His unsolved disappearance has inspired another cult that worships Count Saint Germain, a Rosicrucian adept who is said to have never died and assumed various identities over the centuries. Disciples of this sect, heard on this record, believe Fahey, "The Great Koonaklaster," to be the most recent incarnation of Saint Germain. They view Fahey's music as a synthesis of Saint Germain's abilities as a classical composer and skills as an alchemist, and have absorbed his guitar style in order to pay homage to him. There is much to be gleaned from the Kloonaklasterians' rites contained within; whether or not you choose to accept this "Inmortal Motherf#cker of the 20th century" as Saint Germain is up to you"

Jack Rose - since I've been a Man Full Grown
Greg Malcolm - Spanish Flang Dang
Ben Vida - Exorcise / Intone
Sir Richard Bishop - Hood River Lap Dance
Michael Hurley - My Babe, My Babe
No Neck Blues Band w/ John Fahey and Coach Fingers - Overcome
Lichens - Escapisms in a Comedic Forum
Badgerlore - Red Apple
R. Keenan Lawler - I Used To Strive For A Tree Now I Thrive On A Mountain
Pumice - Ceremonial Knives
David Daniell - Crossing the Susquehanna River Bridge

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bird show

resulta que el otro día tras terminar la partida de squash (obviando asociaciones pijiles, un invento la mar de divertido) luis y servidor decidimos darnos un baño en la piscina que está al lado de las pistas. creo que desde que tenía cuatro o cinco años no me bañaba en una piscina municipal, desde aquella época en la que un caballito que iba mutando de color determinaba tu suficiencia en el agua climatizada. a lo que iba, el caso es que el jueves la cita al mismo tiempo del bañador (¿existe algo más incómodo?), un espacio cerrado, una única calle (derecha ir, izquierda volver), la imposibilidad de gritar yiiiiiiihiiiiiiiii al pillar olas y la pinta de espermatozoide con el gorro puesto me recordaron lo afortunados que somos de poder disfrutar del maaaaaaaaaar, pero desnudos claro. flotar en el mar es acordarte de la placenta, del origen de todo, lo más parecido a la felicidad.

la misma felicidad que sucede cuando te acercas a bird show, recuperas on the beach para musicar la escena y te das cuenta de que benjamin vida ahora mismo es lo más parecido a dios.

the zoo wheel

the zoo wheel - first born, grand days (lucky kitchen 2006)

"The Zoo Wheel is Liz Payne's first solo project. Liz plays bass in the acoustic minimalist band Town and Country (Thrilljockey). She is also part of the the quartet Pillow (Bottrop Boy) and has played with many Chicago improvisers, among them Ken Vandermark and Adam Vida. The structure is minimalist, but she builds hybrid acoustic timbres (from field recordings and musical instruments) into complex pattern clusters that recall but do not imitate past traditions."

con The Zoo Wheel se confirma lo que ya intuíamos: que Liz Payne es una parte muy importante del sonido de Town and Country. 'First Born, Grand Days' está plagado de pequeños y grandes detalles que lo convierten en un disco casi más imprescindible que Lightning Ghost y Up Above. como los fuegos artificiales con los que finaliza 'Dim', avant-folk y psicodelia viajera que sintetiza en sus diez minutos la historia de Bird Show, Town and Country y ahora The Zoo Wheel. lo tiene todo, lluvia de campanillas cristalinas, evoluciones hipnóticas, esas percusiones tribales tan familiares, ráfagas incontrolables de ritmo, pausas, líneas de bajo que vienen y van, un final absolutamente magnético y ese toque especial e indescriptible que tienen las mejores canciones de Ben Vida (Sleeping in the Midday Sun o Field on Water). otro momento álgido es 'Jitter and Hit', que ya conocíamos del recopilatorio Lead into gold: long form works, aunque bajo el título de 'Isa's Ball'. además de rebautizarla también le roba cinco minutos, dejando así la esencia de la canción. '30-30', con la voz de Liz susurrando como Tara Jane O'neil e Isobel Sollenberger, es más Bardo Pond que Bardo Pond. 'Cats of my Life' es como un crescendo que nunca llega a explotar, una nota eterna convertida en un baile improvisado de violines y drones a medio camino entre Robert Horton y Black Ox Orchestar. y 'Mudsaltcrystalsrockswater', la canción más sensual y cósmica de todo el disco, es Colleen más Füxa más Flying Saucer Attack con flautas mágicas, barro, arena, cristales, rocas y agua. ¿Beach Samba de Movietone meets Alva Noto? mmmm..algo así :)

"Jitter and Hit" (mp3)

"MudSaltCrystalsRocksWater" (mp3)

lead into gold

va - lead into gold: long form works [2cd] (rebis, 2006)

el año pasado tuvimos, entre otros, dos recopilatorios como dos soles: Invisible Pyramid (Last Visible Dog) y Gold Leaf Branches (Digitalis). este año tenemos el doble Lead into Gold, no tan exhaustivo pero sí igual de fascinante. dos aportaciones en especial, The Zoo Wheel, aka Liz Payne de Town & Country, y el bucle, una vez más, de Bird Show. siempre me atrae cualquier cosa que tenga que ver con Ben Vida, siempre lo escucho con más expectativas ¿sera la mejor canción del recopilatorio? ¿será sólo un pequeño interludio? ¿Otro tema más? y nunca decepciona. Isa's Ball e Inverted House son exactamente lo que pudimos ver en el Vade hace un par de años, un bucle infinito de campanillas rozando las alturas. con permiso de Field on water, dos piezas cumbre de toda la trayectoria de Town & Country, Bird Show y, ahora, The Zoo Wheel.

disco uno 1. isa's ball - the zoo wheel 2. the rocks will open - of...ohv 3. cherubim wheels - the gray field recordings 4. the finesse of limitation - son of earth 5. burning bright ember - birds of delay

disco dos 1. monadnock - white/light 2. time subjugatior - keenan lawler 3. {(music=time)=(time=music)}3 - bruce russell 4. goldener hour - bird show / lichens 5. inverted house - the opera glove sinks in the sea

bird show

Varios - And to the Disciples That Remain (Compilation Amish, 2006)

Amish cumple once años y lo celebra con trece canciones exclusivas de P.G. Six (dos), Mike Wexler, Samara Lubelski, Helen Rush (Tower Recordings), Bird Show, Theo Angell (Hall of Fame), The Oranges Band, Chuck Johnson, Dan Matz and the Birdwatcher, Dan Brown (Hall of Fame), Oakley Hall y Black Taj. Coherencia, cariño y búsqueda de calidad por encima de todo, la canción de Samara Lubelski es más bonita que cualquiera de su último disco, las de P.G. Six, idem, y la de Bird Show.... ante una canción como Field on Water, cumbre, con permiso de 'Sleeping In The Midday Sun', de todo el legado de Ben Vida, no puedo más que esbozar una sonrisa.

Field on Water (Bird Show)

foto: árbore

town & country & bird show

Town & Country - Up Above (Thrill Jockey, 2006)

tracklist completo en Thrill Jockey, samples incluídos. (recomendado sobre todo a todos los que, como yo, se quedaron prendados de su inolvidable concierto en la sala Vademecwm. aquí.)

Bird Show - Lightning Ghost (Kranky, 2006)

Pilz - [mp3]
Lightning Ghost - [mp3]
On the Beach - [mp3]

Bird Show es el proyecto en solitario de Ben Vida y Liz Payne, otra forma de expresarse muy similar a la de Town Country: 'Tracks are carved out of opiate'd chanting, disjunctive drum circles, synth meditation and prepared piano trance song. Vida's sonic explorations are embedded into tighter song structures, with a greater role given to vocals in the mix.' Las cosas parecen haber ido bien, pero de pronto Ben Vida comienza a ver cosas extrañas...

Crítica de su primer disco, Green Inferno, en Loop.