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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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?

keenan lawler

keenan lawler - music for the bluegrass states (table of elements, 2006)

"Keenan Lawler, a Kentucky-born guitarist and composer who had an excellent debut on Table of the Elements earlier this year, had the tough task of following Connors' obvious influence, but he proved highly capable: Using a resonator guitar, a series of pedals, and a set of finger picks, long bows and four hand-held bows curled inside of his palm, Lawler rolled seamlessly between a distorted low-country blues and a free-strung improvisation and balanced challenging technique with higher considerations in the way that has made Table of the Elements such a powerful stable for innovation." table of the elements

"There’s more to Kentucky than the Colonel’s famous recipe, and armed with his trademark Resonator guitar R. Keenan Lawler (who was last spotted on the ‘Strands Formally Braided’ CD on Music Fellowship) takes steps in re-branding the bluegrass states for us modern avant-garde heads. Taking a similar route to guitar god John Fahey and the Fahey for our modern age Jack Rose, Lawler wrestles with Bluegrass structures, tearing them apart and bending them into shape as if they were made of thin wire. You might get the hint of a traditional structure for a moment and then we’re back into tangled abstraction, allowing Lawler the space he needs to show off his dextrous fingerpicking. I can’t say I’ve heard Americana interpreted in this way before, there’s something undeniably dark and foreboding about Lawler’s style, which gives his America a quality usually pushed way into the background. A brave move and one which certainly pays off as he treads the line between Tony Conrad’s wild experimentalism and John Fahey’s folk reverence. A bizarre and beautiful statement from a unique voice in American music." boomkat

se había hecho esperar tanto que ya casi daba por perdida la esperanza de que apareciera alguna vez el tercer disco (sin contar las colaboraciones con Pelt y Eric Clark y con Mike Tamburo y Matt McDowell en Spiderwebs) de keenan lawler. la segunda canción, 'wall climbing spirit', me corta, literalmente, la respiración, y estoy convencida de que también dejaría boquiabierto a cualquier amante de la línea invisible que une a John Fahey con Loren Connors, a Jack Rose con Tony Conrad, a Ben Reynolds con Albert Ayler, al violinista Lakshminarayana Shankar con el bluesman del delta Mississippi Fred McDowell. desde 'one of these days', ese inicio casi ceremonioso, hasta la dulcísima versión de 'our prayer' de Albert y Donald Ayler, pasando por el bluegrass pantanoso de 'a universal rose' y el blues cósmico de 'the air on mars is hard to breathe, we'll just have to stay in Louisville'...todo es un hermoso sueño, los drones, los ritmos, los cambios, la forma de tocar la guitarra con el arco...todo. si en sus sueños Keenan aparece como la reencarnación de john fahey, en sus discos lo hace como un inquieto explorador de los géneros tradicionales. más allá, mucho más, que la americana del blues arrastado y correoso...

sounds like: 'a rain of mirrors'; filed under: 'sound is pretty boring if you can't see and hear the color'. R. Keenan Lawler

the train has already left the station (mp3 sample)

wall climbing spirit (mp3 sample)