the ivytree

the ivytree ~ a pillar of clouds (tall texan, 2019)

 

The Ivytree is a solo project from San Francisco musician Glenn Donaldson, who has been in a number of groups championed in the DIY underground over the past 20 plus years. Glenn was a founder of the influential Jeweled Antler Collective releasing some of the best underground Bay Area projects of the early 21st century, but he's also been in bands spanning an array of genres; from the drone and experimental works of groups like Thuja and Blithe Sons and psychedelic jangle of Skygreen Leopards.

His Ivytree project is probably described as a tapestry of drones, field recordings, and ghostly folk, interwoven in a haunting tapestry, perfect for the approaching fall and winter."

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the ivytree

the ivytree ~ unburdened light lp (recital program, 2018)

"The Ivytree, as some may know, is the project of San Franciscan musician Glenn Donaldson. In the early 2000s Glenn was a founder of the Jewelled Antler Collective, forming such projects as The Blithe Sons, Thuja, and The Skygreen Leopards, among many others. I admire the range of projects he is associated with, they all beautifully web together. Between 2001 and 2005 Donaldson published a handful of discs under the names The Ivytree and The Birdtree. These boiled down and tanned the patient, outdoor ambiences of the long-form instrumental recordings. These were slow and pastoral and pensive songs, carried by Glenn’s haunting voice: my favorite of his work. Glenn recorded outside with field-recorders and mini-discs: in forests, headlands, and tunnels of the Bay area.

I grew up listening to his recordings ~ throughout high school and college in Goleta, CA. They spark many memories: driving around beach parking lots, dragging boomboxes into creeks, camping in the mountain valleys etc. I remember once driving 5 hours up to San Francisco with a group of friends to try and get into a Giant Skyflower Band concert (another Donaldson project). It was at a bar and we were under 21 ~ so we couldn’t get in, even after trying to bribe the doorman. As you can tell, very special places in my mind and memory. My fondness for The Ivytree never dissipated, and I always dreamed of hearing more material from that time, as I know how prolific the Jewelled Antler association can be.

On a whim in 2017 I reached out to Glenn and asked him if he wanted to publish a “best-of” The Ivytree as a limited LP. This idea blossomed and provoked Glenn to dig through his vast mini-disc archive, where he unearthed some forgotten jewels. The recordings were trickling in to my email ~ one by one, each better than the last... Ranging from the Robert Wyatt-esque piano ballad “Evil is Circular” to the gentle melancholy of “All the White Plumes” that could belong on Richard Youngs’ Sapphie. Unburdened Light carries on the warm breeze and innocence of the early 2000s CDr culture. 

So our project then turned into publishing a new album of unreleased Ivytree recordings. A full circle youthful wish now ripens in my adulthood. I am honored to have stirred up the bees-nest to deliver you these tragically honeyed songs"

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donovan quinn and michael james tapscott

donovan quinn and michael james tapscott ~ goodbye, marlene (self~released, 2012)

“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)

fotos: alina senchuk & adriá cañameras

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whysp

 whysp - s/t (good village/yik yak/love tape love, 2004)

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

cloud shepherd

cloud shepherd ~ cloud shepherd (self~released 2011)

"Great sounds from ex-Free Rein improv trio (Brian Lucas by the way is former Mirza participant). Guitar, winds, percussion and theremin. Three long trips, which described by the band as "soundtracks to the abyss" we have no zen

foto via cold splinters

flotando

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the blithe sons

the blithe sons ~ we walk the young earth (family vineyard 2003)

"The Blithe Sons are the duo of Loren Chasse and Glenn Donaldson. Compiled from performances that took place under a creek bridge in San Gregorio on sea cliffs in the Marin Headlands. With acoustic guitar, harps, bells, harmonium, gongs submerged in a creek, cymbals, vocals, banjo, birds, pipes, bell-blocks, drums, branches and the location itself as an instrument, these album weaves minimalist hymns with stark drones. The Blithe Sons conjure an imaginary wilderness through the sounds made within these mysterious locales, combining Chasse's leanings towards tones and percussive textures with Donaldson's folk-inflected melodies" family vineyard

"...But, what about the true meaning of the 'Jewelled Antler'?

Loren Chasse: "The name came up spontaneously one day, while Thuja was playing. It stuck around in our thoughts and appeared later on as a title for a song. This didn't quite seem to fulfill the potential of this image, and so when Glenn and I decided to begin a label there was the Jewelled Antler, waiting as the perfect mascot for our imagined musics." perfect sound forever

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the blithe sons

the blithe sons - the great orthochromatic wheel (family vineyard lp 2008)

nuevo disco de Loren Chasse y Glenn Donaldson después de casi cinco años, y reedición de la cajita de cuatro cd's de The Jewelled Antler Library, una de esa ediciones originales cuyas ventas en ebay se disparan hasta $350...

"The Great Orthochromatic Wheel is The Blithe Sons first full-length release since 2004. In the years since the California duo of Loren Chasse and Glenn Donaldson may have traversed poppy fields and swam to aqua cities though mostly they've remained active with their Jewelled Antler offshoots: Ov, Of, and Child Readers (Chasse) or Skygreen Leopards and Flying Canyon (Donaldson) and both in Thuja.

These five songs combine nature's melodic pull and minimalist songs forms summoned by a miniature orchestra of eclectic instruments. Each LP side flaunts a different depth of the Sons, one recorded outdoors and the other inside. The indoor set consists of slow-motion ballads built on hymn-like organ, nylon string guitar, analog drum machine & stark percussion. The outdoor side offers a web of exotic wind-instruments & battery-powered electronics reverberating in cavernous hall cut in the side of a sea-cliff." family vineyard

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the blithe sons

the blithe sons - waves of grass (jewelled antler 2001)

"cuando grabamos en la naturaleza, la música se impregna de su sonido, el viento, el espacio acústico, los cuervos siempre presentes, el sonido del mar en la distancia... pero además, perderse en el medio de un bosque es una lección de humildad. me intimida, y creo que influye en mi forma de tocar." Glenn Donaldson

"...‘Waves of Grass’ sí puede darnos una idea de la dirección que las bandas del colectivo Jewelled Antler comenzaban a tomar en sus inicios. Temas como ‘Summer Blazes’ y ‘Tree-Lined Road’ dejan ver la religiosidad y belleza que estos músicos extraían de su comunión con la naturaleza." ruido horrible

"Recorded this past spring in the open air of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Waves of Grass is the second release from The Blithe Sons, an offshoot of the improv-drone ensemble Thuja, featuring Loren Chasse and Glenn Donaldson. this work finds Chasse and Donaldson performing their semi-improvised songs for harmonium drones and gently sad guitar strum for a indifferent audience of grass, insects, and birds in the Park. These extended droning passages occasionally arppegiate into simple melodies and are often interjected by the cackle of a crow or the buzz of a marauding fly. aquarius

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badgerlore

badgerlore - we are all hopeful farmers, we are all scared rabbits (table of the elements, 2007)

"Founders Rob Fisk (Deerhoof, 7-Year Rabbit Cycle) and Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance, Comets on Fire) released their debut in 2002. Tom Carter (Charalambides) and Pete Swanson (Yellow Swans) joined in 2004; in 2006, Glenn Donaldson (Blithe Sons, Jewelled Antler) and Liz Harris (Grouper) added their voices. Now the clan extends its cadence of mantras, dirges, prayers and curses with its third full-length release, We Are All Hopeful Farmers, We Are All Scared Rabbits, produced by Tom Carter.

While the group enlarges, the form compresses, into a brambled nexus of sound, as quaverous organs and guitars, humid vocals, and florid tape manipulations all intertwine. It's their most song-oriented recording to date, the tracks functioning as tightly-clasped fetishes and buried amulets, exerting a phantasmic pull on the listener. Together the musicians proceed with masterful nuance and inexorable tension. It is the sound of effigy mounds slowly rousing from prehistoric slumber.

Forget New Weird America; forget Old Weird America. In devotional murmurs and arboreal whispers, the denizens of the Badgerlore lodge summon the dreadful, breathing shadow of the Old Weird Universe.

Features original artwork and tintypes by San Francisco artist Allison Watkins; graphic design by Grammy Award-winner Susan Archie.

Release date: April 24, 2007"

suena 'furbearer' y ahí está la sensación agradable de reencontrarte con Ben Chasny, Tom Carter y Glenn Donaldson. dan ganas de que el disco se detenga en esa primera canción, una de las más bonitas y tristes, con permiso de 'the crops that you tend', del disco. pero siguen (despacito y con buena letra) en diez temas más donde todo funciona en 'slow motion', narcotizando las notas mediante unos arreglos de terciopelo que acarician más que sustentan. si Stories for Owls era un manual musicado de cómo construyen sus nidos los pájaros, 'We are all hopeful farmers...' podría ser el diario de un campesino cualquiera del siglo pasado, su particular canto a la tierra, a las cosechas, a los granjeros que las cuidan y a los animales que lo habitan, el encuentro soñado gracias a Table of the Elements entre Loren Connors, Jewelled Antler y Flying Saucer Attack. profundizan en ese ambiente taciturno y delicado a través de Susan Archie, creadora de la portada (suya también es esa preciosidad de Albert Ayler llamada Holy Ghost) y catalizadora de postales musicales tan emocionantes como 'mountain wine', guiño imaginario a Hush Arbors y ...¿Spokane?

flying canyon

flying canyon - s/t (soft abuse, 2006)

amanece. tres hombretones barbudos y con camisas de cuadros rasgan la acústica, cantan y tocan la flauta, la slide y el órgano en el porche de Glenn Donaldson, una isla rodeada por un interminable campo de trigo mecido por el viento. los primeros rayos de sol se cuelan entre las nubes y estallan en un resplandeciente manto de calidez y reflejos dorados. ponle música a esta estampa y sonará la preciosa 'At night when the world goes quiet'. Cayce Lindner (voz y guitarra acústica), Shayde Sartin (Skygreen Leopards, Giant Skyflower Band), Glenn Donaldson (The Skygreen Leopards, Thuja, Giant Skyflower Band, The Franciscan Hobbies) y Donovan Quinn hacen folk teñido de country rural tan imaginativo y clásico como Second Attention de Wooden Wand & The Sky High Band. citan influencias como Neil Young, Skygreen Leopards, Leonard Cohen, Souled American, Kris Kristofferson y Hotel Alexis. veranos ardientes y desiertos, ritmos monolíticos, canciones dulces pero poderosas, muy sugerentes, con la inconfundible marca del colectivo Jewelled Antler. 'Relover' es casi sobrecogedora, profunda, un himno pequeñito imposible de describir en palabras. 'This can't be my home' es la que más me recuerda a Neil Young y a muchas cosas que ahora no soy capaz de situar. 'Down to summer' podría ser el tema estrella (me gusta, me seduce, me acuna) de un disco que podría ser mi disco favorito del año, ese que cualquier amante del folk agradecería de por vida.

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wooden wand & the sky high band

wooden wand & the sky high band - second attention (kill rock stars, 2006)

"Does James Toth ever sleep? Having already released Gipsy Freedom this year with his Vanishing Voice band, and re-released his solo album Harem of the Sundrum, Mr. Wooden Wand is set to release yet another album, Second Attention, with his Sky High Band—featuring members of Skygreen Leopards, Vanishing Voice, and Davenport.
Still with me? The album, currently scheduled for a September 12 release on Kill Rock Stars, was supposedly recorded during a two-week period in San Francisco “holed up in a modified two story house with nothing but three reels of tape, a bunch of instruments and copious amounts of drugs and booze.” Amidst all this heathenry, the group churned out an album that reportedly has more of a traditional folk sound than Toth’s other projects. Go figure"

"...no matter. There is beauty in the periphery but more in the small details. Second Attention is where East truly meets West. Where the shimmer suddenly gets grimmer. Sunshine meets grease. It will likely be remembered as the album that remains after any and all 'movements' inevitably move on."

Second Attention tiene buenas canciones, excelentes melodías, una producción sencilla y sobre todo una química muy especial entre Wooden Wand Hassara, Clay Ruby de Davenport y Glenn Donaldson y Donovan Quinn de los leopardos del cielo verde. Neil Young, Townes van Zandt, Bob Dylan, Harem of the Sundrum, un hombre enamorado, un retrato bajo las nubes, el cielo de Nashville, el cañón del Colorado, y diez canciones maravillosas que, como The Witness of Fig, suenan a versiones de clásicos de toda la vida. Madonna (I Walk a line una vez más), Mother Midnight (uuu uuu uuu), Dead Sue (conmovedora, irresistible), Los Angeles Manna (nashville skyline). y The Bleeder. infinito como el horizonte amarillo de la portada el talento de James Toth, por segunda vez reencarnado y transformado en Zimmer Man, despojado de cualquier ruido extraño. brilla el sol con fuerza y en el aire sigue flotando la respuesta a la pregunta del millón. '¿duerme alguna vez James Toth?'

the buried civilizations

the buried civilizations - tunnels to other chambers (Lattajjaa, 2005)

Glenn Donaldson (Thuja, Skygreen Leopards, The Ivytree, Teenage Panzerkorps) siempre es sinónimo de garantía. Con la ayuda de Rob Reger (Thuja) y Christine Boepple (Skygreen Leopards) se presenta ahora bajo el nombre de The Buried Civilizations. ''Tunnels to other chambers'' huele a incienso de madreselva, suena frágil, íntimo, melódico y posee además la fascinante profundidad del campo que tantas alegrías nos está dando.

Buscando información me encontré con esta crítica de Brad Rose:

Escuchar Tunnels to Other Chambers es como caminar por el bosque tan lejos como te lleven tus piernas. Una vez te has perdido del todo y tu cuerpo necesita descansar, te encuentras rodeado de árboles magníficos. Sólo hay árboles de hoja perenne que se ven desde kilómetros. Los arreglos de cuerda de Gallery of Ancient Birds insinúan estas imágenes. La tranquila voz de Donaldson es como si los árboles gigantes te cantaran, haciéndote saber que te mantendrán a salvo. Estás atrapado aquí pero es un lugar seguro. La calidez continúa en el siguiente tema, A Port in Sacred Waters. Éste es el momento en que te das cuenta de que nunca encontrarás el camino de vuelta a casa pero pasarás el resto de tu vida aquí. Las cosas podrían ser mucho, mucho peor.

No puedo evitarlo. Soy un adicto a todo que tenga que ver con Jewelled Antler. Algo en la forma que tienen de canalizar el espíritu de la tierra a través de su música nunca deja de emocionarme. Toda la música que nos muestran merece la pena, algo impresionante considerando el abultado volumen de su discografía. La magia de los últimos discos de The Ivytree extiende su mano cubierta de musgo y bendice esta música. Es como si hubiera sido enterrada bajo pilas de basura y hubiera sido descubierta recientemente. Como cualquier joya perdida, se merece toda la atención. Llévatela a los bosques y haz de un árbol de roble tu hogar. Esto es maravilloso.

foto: pabadam

"As Cold As The Clay"
"Moss Banjo"