azha

azha - celestial meadows (perfect wave, 2015)

Azha is the collaboration of Kathleen Baird (Spires That In The Sunset Rise, Sapropelic Pycnic) and Andrew Fitzpatrick (Noxroy, Volcano Choir, All Tiny Creatures, Bon Iver). In their debut release, Fitzpatrick processes Baird's flute and vocals through Ableton creating an icy, eerie, celestial ambience. Edition of 50. perfect wave

No se puede negar que en 2015 hemos contemplado un nuevo amanecer para Ka Baird. Siendo honestos, lo cierto es que se venía gestando desde un par de años atrás tras el sendero abierto por Tropical Rock. No obstante, el estallido avant-garde y free-jazz que supuso 'Beast in the Garden' ha liberado un torrente de reencarnaciones (Sapropelic Pycnic) y colaboraciones (Azha) al cobijo de Terry Riley, John Coltrane, Roland Kirk, Cluster o J.D. Emmanuel. Los más de 37 hipnotizantes minutos de la larga suite, secuenciada por Andrew Fitzpatrick sobre las improvisaciones vocales y flautiles de Kathleen, parecen fluctuar entre en un ambient que recorre las profundidades marinas y el espacio exterior. A estos parajes, dispares a priori pero que transmiten sensaciones similares, es a donde a mí me transporta ‘Celestial Meadows'. Flotas ingrávido entre interferencias, loops y disonancias, surgen vocecillas que se asoman para desaparecer rápidamente y vislumbras un arcoíris en la inmensidad helada que va desvaneciéndose paulatinamente. 

buy- listen

sunmoonstar / maia ibar / sapropelic pycnic

sunmoonstar ~ ibid (twin springs tapes, 2015)

"Twins Springs Tapes is proud to offer this, the debut album from Sunmoonstar (Natasha Home, Sydney, Australia). Panoramic frequencies and percussive surfaces weave satiny landscapes. Pastel planes reflect soft complexities of clouds." 

listen ~ buy

maia ibar ~ when you close your eyes / and i see (perfect wave, 2015)

"Maia Ibar of Dual-Split is experimenting with restorative sound voyages. She is interested in assisting you, her, him, them, to come into natural states of balance and harmonies through tones, frequencies and sound. Mysterious but familiar senses of timelessness, traveling through space, or back in the womb... Seeing "when you close your eyes," and "I see." We can always see, we are awake, we are awake."

synths, bells, chimes, drums, tibetan bowls, vocals: Maia Ibar 

guitar, bass: Baptiste Ibar 

vocals: Jean-Pierre Ibar 

listen ~ buy

sapropelic pycnic ~ see sun think shadow (perfect wave, 2015)

"Sapropelic Pycnic is the solo project of Kathleen Baird of long running avant psych project Spires That In The Sunset Rise. On her debut release as Sapropelic Pycnic, Baird releases a stunning 8 track record of piano improvisations performed on a Steinway Grand in December of 2011 in a church in her hometown of Decatur, Illinois recorded just days before her father’s passing on December 30, 2011. These improvisations have a raw focus that premiere Baird’s piano training as well as very own style of punctuation, spacing and repetition. Her approach brings to mind the playful, spacious qualities of Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou, the unrestraint of Cecil Taylor, the rolling arpeggiations of Alice Coltrane, and the ghostliness of Arvo Part." 

buy vinyl ~ listen / buy

spires that in the sunset rise

spires that in the sunset rise ~ beasts in the garden (alt.vinyl, 2015)

"Beasts in the Garden is the seventh full length record by Midwest visionaries Spires That In The Sunset Rise. Since 2010, Spires have operated primarily as a duo consisting of long time members Kathleen Baird and Taralie Peterson. After releasing two lush, string based albums Ancient Patience Wills It Again Part 1 and 2 in 2012 and 2013, the Spires have returned with a definitively new direction inspired greatly by two years of exploring improvisation with members of the free jazz community in Chicago, Madison and Milwaukee..." alt.vinyl

As a long-time STITSR fan, who still come back from time to time to those rituals where they used to invoke Comus, let me start by saying that 'Beast in the Garden' is their most experimental and overwhelming recording. Even though the duo introduces a new sound and aesthetic, you will be able to recognize that Kathleen (on flute) and Taralie (on alto saxophone) are behind of this. For instance, the instrumentation remains as varied as always. Nevertheless, everything in the album turns around free-jazz in a dreamy ecstatic dimension with some avant-garde elements in it. In fact, the duo has been exploring new directions for the last two years inspired by members of the free-jazz community in Chicago, Madison and Milwaukee. Anyway, Terry Riley seems to have been a major influence. The title track and ‘Schluss’ have the typical Kathleen’s haunting vocals but in a more operatic style, with tons of loops and some fascinating flute and sax passages. There seems to be an imaginary collaboration between Lol Coxhill and Slapp Happy. A darker reincarnation of Kathleen's parallel project Tropical Rock appears in ‘Bitchin’ (For Suma)’ by means of dense soundscapes. On cuts like 'Portabittaclog’ (which is probably my favourite) and ‘White on White’, the spirit of Roscoe Mitchell and Albert Ayler set the pace while the duo passing through ambient paths. Another highlight of the album is ‘Promise Land’; here you can find a lush combination of instruments chants and loops creating a mysterious landscape. Finally, discordant textures and quirky improvisations emerge in ‘The Sun’. All in all, ‘Best in the Garden’ sticks out as a very imaginative and unorthodox shift towards new musical directions, but also as their best album to date.

Como fan de Spires That in The Sunset Rise que aún regresa de vez en cuando a aquellos oscuros rituales donde el por entonces cuarteto solía invocar a Comus desde un aquelarre, me gustaría empezar esta reseña señalando que 'Beast in the Garden' es indudablemente su grabación más experimental y sobrecogedora. Aunque el dúo emerge con estética y coordenadas musicales renovadas, todavía hay suficientes elementos para reconocer que Kathleen Baird (flauta) y Taralie Peterson (saxo alto) son las artífices de todo esto. Valga como ejemplo que la instrumentación sigue siendo tan ecléctica como siempre. No obstante, ahora todo gira en torno a un free-jazz nebuloso y fluctuante que parece lindar con el avant-garde. De hecho, este nuevo rumbo ha venido propiciado por diferentes inmersiones del dúo en comunidades free-jazz de Chicago, Madison y Milwaukee. De todos modos, Terry Riley parece haber sido la fuerza oculta y omnipresente detrás de todo. Así, la canción que da título al disco y ‘Schluss’ presentan a Kathleen con sus típicos y evocadores juegos vocales hacia el infinito, pero en un tono más operístico, y rodeado de cientos de loops y fascinantes pasajes de flauta y saxo. Lo cierto es que me viene a la mente una colaboración imaginaria en los confines del canterbury entre Lol Coxhil y Slapp Happy. ‘Bitchin’ (For Suma)’ emerge como una reencarnación más lúgubre del proyecto paralelo de Kathleen, Tropical Rock, pero igual de placentera. A continuación, nos topamos con ‘Portabittaclog’, probablemente mi corte favorito, y ‘White on White’, donde el saxo de Taralie alcanza la inmortalidad y los espíritus de Roscoe Mitchell y Albert Ayler iluminan el camino a través de senderos en clave ambient. Otro punto álgido es ‘Promise Land’ con su exuberante instrumentación, cánticos y loops que dibujan un paisaje brumoso y misterioso. ‘The Sun’ regresa a la experimentación con texturas discordantes y descontroladas improvisaciones. Una vez terminado ‘Beasts in the Garden’, no queda más que postrarse ante la magia poco convencional de Taralie y Kathleen, reconociendo de paso que estamos ante su mejor álbum hasta la fecha.

listen ~ out in may

tropical rock

 tropical rock ~ 'suma love' (perfect wave, 2015)

 "new project featuring Kathleen Baird of Spires That in the Sunset Rise and Camilla Padgitt-Coles. keyboard/tenori-on/flute/vocal space-scapes" all events

 listen ~ name your price

tropical rock

tropical rock ~ 3 lewej (perfect wave, 2014)

Kathleen Baird ~ Casio PX800, Camilla Padgitt-Coles ~ Tenori-on

"a sonic journey birthed under the auspices of frog possession in the lush confines of the cyberjungle. playful and minimal, Tropical Rock is an earpath, improvisational frequency route into some kind of alternative reality." perfect wave

 "I'm getting more involved with Perfect Wave and I'm helping with some releases coming up. there is a release, just a cassette, of something totally different that I've never done before, just really minimal ambient keyboard stuff with my friend Camilla Padgitt-Coles, and it's this project we have called Tropical Rock." entrevista con kathleen

 un casio, un tenori-on y tres nanas preciosas. colleen, roj, plastic moonrise, madalyn merkey...

listen ~ buy

spires that in the sunset rise / the iditarod

spires that in the sunset rise ~ mirror cave (perfect wave, 2014) 

‘Mirror Cave’ is a conceptual album in 8 movements based on Italo Calvino’s short story ‘Sword of the Sun’ interspersed with excerpts from Shinkichi Takahashi’s ‘After-Images: Zen Poems.’ In a face-off with the ego, Palomar (Kathleen Baird) observes, reacts, contemplates, struggles and finally transcends how the “sword” of the sun’s reflection on the ocean always appears to stop exactly at his very own eye. Taralie Peterson represents some other dimension of reality~”the sensation that you are here but could not be here in a world that could not be but is.”  

Recorded in spring of 2013, STITSR later connected with Providence based artist Erik Ruin on a colorful 28-page offset printed booklet to accompany the live recording that combines hand-drawn text, ink drawings and scratchboard elements in layered and unexpected ways." 

Kathleen Baird ~ flute, voice and Taralie Peterson ~ cello, voice

listen/buy the cassette book ~ listen/buy 

the iditarod ~ foxfur and rarebits (morc, 2014) 

"this album brings together oddments ~ compilation tracks, plus a previously unreleased live recording ~ and, although these songs were never meant to be together as an album, they do work as one. If you randomly pick two EP or compilation tracks or outtakes of The Iditarod,and  you put them together, they strangely make sense." morc 

order the 12'' vinyl ~  listen/buy

hay discos que siempre se acogen con los brazos abiertos, nombres especiales de los que ya nunca esperarías que volvieran a dar señales de vida. y de repente las sorpresas y las casualidades hacen que coincidan The Iditarod y Spires That in the Sunset Rise, para mí siempre tan parecidos, casi en el mismo día. aunque la canciones de The Iditarod en realidad no son nuevas, de ahora, (hay una inédita en directo y muchas que ya habían aparecido en recopilatorios), sigue siendo un regalo reencontrarse con su paraíso folk, con la voz de Carin Wagner, dulce hasta derretirse, el cello y el banjo de Sharron Kraus y el glockenspiel y la guitarra de Jeffrey Alexander. 'where the cold winds blow' es demasiado bonita y me recuerda a 'the turin horse'. 'mirror cave' de Spires That in The Sunset Rise es la plenitud. me gusta casi más que sus dos últimos lps y conecta de alguna forma con la música que escucho últimamente. inclasificable en épocas y lugares, tiene una flautilla muy 'libray music' que lo inunda todo, un aura a cabaret y a cosas antiguas que me encanta. y la voz inabarcable de Kathleen Baird, otra gran dama del folk favorita desde los inicios del blog y a la que siempre recordaremos con especial cariño por ser la autora de 'calm in trees'. 'la sensación de que estás aquí pero podrías no estar en un mundo que podría no ser, pero es." ya sólo faltaría un nuevo disco de Davenport y otro de Black Forest/Black Sea...

spires that in the sunset rise

spires that in the sunset rise • ancient patience wills it again
[hairy spider legs, 2012]

"Having once been a collaboration of up to five women all hailing from Decatur, Illinois, the music is now the more intimate expression of long time members Kathleen Baird and Taralie Peterson. The instrumentation remains varied and eclectic: harmonium, guitar, slide, banjo, bowed psaltery, cello, flute, autoharp, spike fiddle, mbira, etc. Toying with certain traditions but never fully embracing one, STITSR remains a truly unique vision of the personal and mystical and is not for the casual listener nad they shared bills with John Zorn, Espers, The Incredible String Band, Bert Jansch, Lichens, Paul Metzger, Charlambides, Pelt, MV/EE, Faun Fables, Six Organs of Admittance, Larkin Grimm, Arrington Dionyso, Melissa Nadler, Lucky Dragons, Jack Rose, Kawabata Makoto, Daniel Higgs, Samara Lubelski, P.G. Six, Mayor Daley, Josef Van Wissem, Evangelista, and others." hairy spider legs

*

::: Release date: April 17th - vinyl pre-order.
It will be in some record stores in the U.S...
for Europeans will be available on norman records :::

listen & buy

download 'child of the snow'

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"the reign of death is silent, dark and warm; there is no cold, nor fear; one needs to be close to death, closer to death than the living, who are so contradictory and lovers of betrayal" maría sabina

'those who have ears to hear will listen', said maria sabina -the whirling woman who looks inside. she was able to search in shadow and silence. a healer that taught to her listeners that 'the ignorant will never be able to chant like the wise'. while reading the teachings of such an extraordinary mexican woman -who dedicated her life to heal while chanting after eating sacred mushrooms- i can picture completely the world that maria sabina referred to in her chants. it is a world full of mysticism and mystery, like the one that kathleen baird and taralie peterson in 'ancient patience wills it again' transport us to. while listening, it is evident that they created music like the wise. their magic comes from a place full of sounds that whisper to the spirit; they can take you to the depth where for sure consciousness wanders in bliss. so fast and without realizing we fly fast to another reality, their reality. 'grandma' sounds like the gate of the reign of death, the song makes clear that indeed, we will travel light this time. once transported to this magical and unknown place it will be difficult to get out. every musical detail feels like being in a forest full of sacred plants to play with. like the sound of the spike feedle in the hands of kathleen with 'child of the snow', which provokes the need to cuddle up in the snow as we dont want to melt away. spires that in the sunset rise spread power, like in the magnetic song 'well tempered'; a power full of femenine energy and love (like the grandmother ayahuasca), while being hypnotized by the harmonium, we know this is real power to be devoured.

we music lovers who were waiting to these new sounds can't be more happy... the only way i found to thank patrick of laughing eye weeping eye, was to write with my bad english all my excitement about this record ... what a way to turn hairy spider legs into a real label!... palabras mayores*

fotola: ana cabaleiro

spires that in the sunset rise

spires that in the sunset rise - curse the traced bird (secret eye 2008)

"The fourth album by Chicago avant rock trio Spires That in the Sunset Rise is the group's most musically direct and immediately accessible work yet. The album was recorded in Philadelphia in collaboration with the Philly acid folk veteran Greg Weeks at his own Hexham Head Studio; members of Weeks' band, Espers, contribute as well. Gone is the deliberately noisy "free folk" aesthetic, in favor of a more controlled blend of folk, psychedelia, and Sun City Girls-like world music explorations, like the dramatic "Equus Haar" which weaves influences that echo Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and North Africa at the same time. Even at the album's most chaotic points, such as the dissonant interludes of oddly tuned harmonies and gamelan-like percussion that recur throughout the nearly ten-minute epic "Party Favors" there is a sense of restraint that was rarely a factor in earlier Spires That in the Sunset Rise releases. One song, "Java Pop", is so direct and tuneful (with backing vocals by Weeks and a hypnotic central riff) that it's easily the closest the group has ever come to a straightforward pop song. Those who liked singer/guitarist Kathleen Baird's more measured solo work (under her own name and as Traveling Bell) but found earlier Spires That in the Sunset Rise forbiddingly impenetrable will certainly find Curse the Traced Bird more to their liking. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide

es casi lo más bonito que han hecho nunca, tremendamente bonito. tengo mi primera favorita y es Pouring mind, un pastel rosa y suave que me recuerda a Pocahaunted. y Black earth, tan decadente, tan hipnótica, con esa voz casi monacal de Kathleen Baird. no sé qué más decir, sólo que como siempre me encanta

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kathleen baird

kathleen baird - lullaby for strangers (secret eye, 2006)

sé que hay un duende en Aldea F. que espera el nuevo disco de Spires that in the Sunset Rise con impaciencia, por eso nada como el delicioso Lullaby for Strangers de una Spire, Kathleen Baird, para ir abriendo boca. antes conocida como Traveling Bell, Kathleen es una debilidad desde 'Calm in Trees', canción mágica y especial donde las haya y que nunca me cansaré de escuchar y recomendar. su sonido es envolvente, su voz arrulla y parece venida de otro plano, sus canciones son hipnóticas y levemente orientadas hacia el cabaret 'como si de una Pierrot femenina' se tratara, como una especie de ángel que susurra viejas canciones de Nico al oído, como unos Faun Fables adormecidos y perezosos. nanas para extraños de la magnitud de With which these waters swarm, melodías festivas, cortas y hechas con cariño como en el caso de Bury Deeper, violas dulces y chelos tensos, cajitas de música y pianos sollozantes, historias que hablan de romper tejados, de tormentas que tranquilizan, de sentarse en la orilla y escuchar el sonido del mar en una caracola. dicen que Morning Song #1 suena como si Kathleen tocase el órgano en el claro de un bosque. a David F le recuerda a Rosemary's Baby, canción compuesta por Krzysztof Komeda y cantada por Mia Farrow para la película La Semilla del Diablo...a mí me vuelve loca, como Spires That in the Sunset Rise, como Traveling Bell y como Kathleen Baird.

Breaking the Roofs

Morning Song #2

Solving, dissolving forces (de Traveling Bell)

Let You Go (de Traveling Bell)

The artist revealed is Taralie Dawn #7 (de Tar Pet aka Taralie Dawn)

spires that in the sunset rise

falta muy poquito para que Secret Eye publique This is Fire, el tercer disco de Spires That In The Sunset Rise. después de escuchar estas cuatro canciones una y otra vez, sobre todo Sea Shanty (tórrida aleación de folk y percusiones y violas) y Spike Fiddle Song (sonámbula, íntima, desquiciada, sensual, contagiosa...) creo que es su disco definitivo, lo mejor que han hecho nunca.

'A brilliant melange of middle eastern and kraut influences, their unique take on things is a breath of fresh air to the psych folk community. This is the type of album I imagine would be the result of an LSD-induced, impromptu jam session between Nico and Popol Vuh, fresh from recording their soundtrack to Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu. ' Fire in the Stereo

Spike Fiddle Song

Sea Shanty

Clouds

Morning Song

spires that in the sunset rise

spires that in the sunset rise - four winds the walker (secret eye, 2005)

Spires that In The Sunset Rise, cuatro mujeres de Chicago : Kathleen Baird - Vocals, acoustic, electric and slide-guitar, drums, harmonium, Georgia Vallas - Vocals, mbira, bul bul tarang, zither, Turkish lap banjo, lap slide guitar, harmonium, Taralie Peterson - Vocals, cello, guitar, banjo, mbira, y Tracy Peterson - Percussion, bells, mbira, thumb piano, washboard, rattlers.

Four Winds the Walker es un disco impactante, de sonido barroco y teatral, que sugiere muchísimas imágenes. Me hacen pensar en Kim Gordon al frente de Free Kitten, desenchufadas y campestres, o Tara Burke en Fursaxa (Shining posee el mismo punto de locura que Neon Lights). O en la protagonista, última superviviente, de la Matanza de Texas...en esa huída a plena luz del día, rodeada de polvo y horror, color amarillo fuerte.

Destacan las personalidades de Kathleen Baird y Taralie Peterson, ambas con dos grupos paralelos, Travelling Bell y Tar Pet. Travelling Bell es la belleza en estado puro (Calm in Trees)

Little for a Lot, Shining, The May Ham