microphones in the trees

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

message to bears

"Instrumental acoustic guitarist Jerome Alexander releases his first ep, and it is quite a promising debut. Recalling Xela’s excellent 2004 album Tangled Wool, Message to Bears chooses to play drums, piano, and even a glockenspiel to complement his guitar work. More melodic than complex, this is an incredibly sharp debut and hopefully a tool to get signed and grace us with many more releases of similar quality." the music lobby

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

castlemusic

"...recorded in the spring and fall seasons of 2007 with Jeff McMurrich in Toronto, with the intention to make a record with attention to performance rather than perfection, You can't take anyone allows the graceful tangles of Castlemusic's songs to radiate without pretense. Here Jennifer Castle's meandering, beautifully misshapen guitar lines meet with her thorny/poignant, womanly lyrics and utterly disarming voice. With a desire to write music that, "lets me really play the guitar with no preciousness to structure and timing so I can really enjoy singing…the song becomes the bridge for both interests", Castle's addictive songs echo homespun greats like Johnny Cash and Elizabeth Cotton.
Of her song writing intentions and heartbreaking delivery, Jennifer says, "I wish to write with a dedication to imagination, poetry, meaninglessness, impossibility and honesty. Bad grammar and sloppy chord changes…to lyrically write in the often sad voice of a person who feels alone, while playing and singing like a person who reaps the uninhibited and beautiful benefits of this state...". blue fog
después de un disco tan especial y bonito como 'Live at Music Gallery' necesitábamos más y hemos recibido mucho más...folk y soul y country, coros preciosos, una voz que da ganas de llorar, elegancia en cada arreglo, en cada melodía. te hace perder la noción del tiempo y se puede escuchar diez veces seguidas...y seguir enganchada. empieza perezoso, como si acabara de despertar, pero de repente algo mágico sucede: your hand is a wing, y todo tiene sentido. !!
foto: maya bird
*download part I & part II*

Monday, September 08, 2008

beggin' your pardon miss joan

"Stunning second release from Strawberry Hill dwellers Beggin' Your Pardon Miss Joan. After recently having their debut self released album re-issued by Reverb Worship, Beggin' Your Pardon Miss Joan have further extended their twisted blues and drone folk stylings, hidden beneath layers of dust and haze, like the sun blazing through a cloud of smoke. Short, but oh so very sweet, a perfect summer adventure companion. Play loudly.

Packaged in hand stamped recycled card sleeve, with window for artwork and textured paper insert. Edition of 50." dead pilot records

Friday, September 05, 2008

the rural tradition

"As if the title of this album wasn't self-deprecating enough, Julian Poidevin, the sole member of The Rural Tradition, even goes so far as to declare its release last year as "spectacularly unsuccessful" on his myspace page. Well, the sales figures might not have been through the roof, but in creative terms this really is quite a find. Sounding remarkably like a down-and-out Nick Drake, Poidevin strings together an album's worth of beautifully dilapidated acoustic narratives, intercut with detuned instrumental interludes spun on xylophone chimes, accordion, melodica and of course, acoustic guitar. in the timid fingerpicked tracts like 'I thought i was intended for a country life' or the daydreaming, Syd Barrett-like 'The nightingale fund', The Rural Tradition's finest qualities really shine through the modest, unnecessarily humble presentation. An absolutely gorgeous album." boomkat

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

sandstorms

"I love her little brown hairs
every freckle every fold in her skin there
and the scent of her lifting
dancing up to my nose
so i got the idea
to dig a hole and watch all the life there
i said a lonley prayer and i left them
they're on their own oh
i want to be in heaven
i hope theres someone there when i hold her
bless her little heart, keep it going
willful and strong
and the sun beats down
it's hot as you know
and the sandstorms tear through skin as they blow
yes i understand fear
i get plenty of it built up right here
but when the sun goes down and the wind dies
we're left polished and clear"
foto: daytrips

Sunday, August 31, 2008

we in a tree

01. my eyes are disconnected from... ~ maestro echoplex
02. boats up the river ~ holly golightly
03. i wish i was a stone ~ derroll adams
04. cave ~ sons of noel & adrian
05. preacher ~ christian williams
06. mama tried ~ merle haggard
07. hollow's cove ~ beat beat whisper
08. bella ~ angus & julia stone
09. i of mine ~ papa m
10. i'm satisfied ~ mississippi john hurt
11. one two three ~ castlemusic
12. a good thing ~ domingo
13. and then you left ~ viking moses
14. freezing moon ~ wyrd visions w/ jennifer castle
15. the jute mill song ~ mary anne paterson
16. nothing lasts ~ karen beth
17. lifetime ~ rf & lili de la mora
18. now i love someone ~ holly throsby

Saturday, August 30, 2008

jackie peludiño

el otro día claire le contó a mariña: "¿mamá sabes que morimos dos veces?, una cuando te mueres y otra cuando te olvidan". perdóname peludiño por no poder evitar que un coche te enviase antes de tiempo al cielo de los perros, lo que sí puedo asegurarte es que será la única vez que vayas a morir porque jamás voy a olvidarte, esto quiero que lo tengas muy claro, porque voy a grabar un disco que llevará tu nombre y porque siempre, siempre, siempre seremos uno aunque ahora estés en el cielo de los perros y yo tenga instalada una cortina de lluvia salada en los ojos. porque te quiero más que a mi vida y eso no nos lo puede robar nada ni nadie. hasta pronto peludiño!

p.d.: hoy es uno de esos días en los que a uno le gustaría poder estirar los brazos hasta el cielo para abrazarte.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Friday, August 22, 2008

bird show

"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

Sunday, August 17, 2008

zeitgeist, the movie


lo peor: que intuíamos algo así / lo mejor: que intuíamos algo así

conclusión: hazle caso siempre a la intuición

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

caethua

caethua - queenly women crowned and uncrowned (abandon ship 2008)

"Cold marriages of growing up in the snow covered cornfields of upstate New York, moldy nylon-stringed guitars, a hissing blend of flea market electronics, rusted pots and pans, field recordings of a doomed boat trip down the St. Lawrence River, birds in the ice covered trees, the groan of an overheating diesel engine, shortwave radio in the middle of nowhere, busted cars sliding in the sleet of Indiana, the soft hum of a dusty living room, bugs and reptiles singing from Florida swamps, and a sorrowful voice leading us into the frozen ground.

Recorded, written, produced and mixed by Clare Hubbard, featuring the accompanying sounds of Justin Clifford Rhody and friends. Queenly Women Crowned and Uncrowned is Caethua's 3rd release." tomentosa

pantaleimon

"Heart of the Sun is the wonderfully remixed and realised version of 'Mercy Oceans'. It also features four brand new exclusive tracks including a collaboration with Strings of Consciousness and a cover version of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's 'Even If Love'." durtro
"Andria Degens is making such beautiful and haunting music as Pantaleimon that we almost hesitate to mention that she's married to David Tibet of Current 93, as her own music more then stands on its own. While the sound is similar to the music of folks like Fursaxa, Grouper and Christina Carter, there is much more immediacy, focus and a connection to folk history in the songs of Pantaleimon. There is also a rustic quality in these stripped down songs that makes us think of Bridget St. John and Hala Strana recording a record together. Heart Of The Sun is becoming the record we listen to both early in the morning and then late at night as we surrender to sleep. So beautiful!" aquarius
*download cd I & cd II*

Monday, August 11, 2008

silver summit

"...Silver Summit is a Brooklyn-based song-writing partnership between longtime friends and multi-instrumentalists, Sondra Sun-Odeon & David Shawn Bosler. they combine their love for folk music of the world with contemporary melancholic and psychedelic sounds. Much like the haunting and ethereal album closer "The Bridge," Silver Summit's earnest and captivating self-titled record bridges unexpected musical realms of light and darkness, and yet the effect is at once, dark, joyous and hopeful. " neufutur
"...Hazy, smoky, and macabre, the record's mellifluous vocal harmonies and meandering multi-ethnic instrumentation paint mental portraits of foggy Victorian streets, gypsy caravans, and Baghdad bazaars with effortless execution." naturalismo
foto: molly see

Friday, August 01, 2008

dredd foole

"For over 30 years troubadour wailer Dan Ireton, aka Dredd Foole, has called upon the spirit of 78 shellac blues n' psychedelic Stooges n' Velvets to fuel his guttural, pure soul ethos of the song. Whether solo or leading mass, Foole hints at the classic forms of Blood On The Tracks and the celestial fug of Sun Ra's third-eye vision to create an approach untraveled yet increasingly influential (see: Six Organs of Admittance, Sunburned Hand of the Man).

Produced in multi-dimensional spectrasound by Matt Valentine, Kissing The Contemporary Bliss spans 50 miles of elbow room and kicks up the most outward bound and staggering approaches to Gus Cannon's "Walk Right In" and Robert Johnson's "Stones In My Passway" while offering ear-popping originals colored by Erika Elder's jug blowin' and Coot Moon's ecstatic, reverb dosed banjo. You'll hear nothing like this in 2008 or beyond.." family vineyard

 cd1 & cd2

microblind harvestmen

"...Microblind Harvestmen are Robert Horton and Hal Huges. Microblind Harvestmen are the rare creature, like those only found in a few places in nature, that manages to avoid simple classification. This is drone. This is raga. This is bluegrass. This is folk. This is free-jazz. This is pure, covered-in-dirt, dancing-in-the-rain psychedelia. The death bottom slide is a riveting world, finally unleashed after years in the barren wilderness." digitalis

foto: soƒia

Thursday, July 24, 2008

the blithe sons

"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

Sunday, July 13, 2008

beggin' your pardon miss joan / luminous craft

beggin' your pardon miss joan - dear nautilus (reverb worship, 2008)

"We are an amorphous group, psychonauts who began recording in December 2007. Our music is determined by our surroundings, sometimes quiet, sometimes not so quiet. We thrive off fuzz, harmonies and repetition. If you dig on what we do, jump in, come join us."

no tengo ni la menor idea de cómo hacer una crítica de esto. podría decir que todas las canciones ponen los pelos de punta, pero eso aunque no lo sepan lo podrán imaginar. si les digo ahora que todos estamos incompletos, que a todos nos falta algo me dirán que ya lo sabían. seguro que si les digo que la felicidad como meta no existe, que es un ir y no un llegar, también me dirán que lo sabían. si les digo que yo tampoco sé qué sucedió el día en el que me vine a este lado de las cosas, bueno en realidad si lo sé pero sería extremadamente difícil vestirlo con palabras, asentirán con la cabeza. el caso es que un día apareces aquí, irreversiblemente lejos de todo, más que perdido diría que encontrado aunque sin poder precisar que mecanismo activó vete tu a saber qué palanca y volteó las cosas envolviéndolas con un manto del que es imposible desprenderse. cuando era pequeño, más bien cuando tenía licencia para serlo, en clase un profesor solía decirnos que nunca explicásemos las cosas empezando por un "es como..." pero es como si aquello no hubiera existido nunca. cada vez cuesta más creer las cosas como son en sí, es más fácil el es como porque todo recuerda a todo y ahora hay pocas sorpresas. a veces recuerdo el otro lado de las cosas como un entreno que no sirvió para nada, nadie nos avisó de que llegaría un día diferente a los demás y que nada volvería a ser igual. a veces también pienso que mis padres debieron avisarme pero al mismo tiempo que lo pienso los excuso porque ellos no tenían ni idea, ¿cómo iban a saberlo?...

luminous craft - 4 jar ep (pirate and cowboy, 2007)

...las cosas ahora viven en un "es como" perpetuo porque es difícil precisarlas, masticarlas o desmenuzarlas, es como lo que pasa con la fotografía, quiero creer que las fotografías le eligen a uno y no uno a ellas, hay quién las busca y hay a quién lo buscan. las cosas pasan, te buscan y aunque las despistes te encuentran. no sé porque digo todo esto, o sí porque un día nos entendíamos hablándolo lex, dominick y servidor, a lo mejor ustedes también lo sabían. el caso es que ana dijo que me regalaba la sudadera más bonita del mundo a cambio de las críticas de beggin' your pardon miss joan y de luminous craft, yo le dije que ya no tengo palabras, es como si las hubiera gastado todas, ella dice que es normal y yo ya no sé qué decir, es como si nada tuviera sentido, le digo que todo esto sobra, ya no es necesario. por eso es mejor subir los discos enteros y dejar que los curiosos decoren la música con sus sensaciones. si les digo que "dear nautilus" es el mejor disco del año me dirán que no lo sabían, si les digo que a "luminous craft" le sucede los mismo me creerán o no, lo que es muy probable es que si les digo que no subiremos ninguno de estos discos porque son de los que merece la pena comprar, me mandarán a freír espárragos y yo les haré caso, porque los espárragos trigueros con tofu, patata cortada en taquitos, un poco de jengibre y salsa de soja están muy ricos, aunque eso a lo mejor no lo sabían. o sí, ojalá.

beggin' your pardon miss joan - red dusk

luminous craft - song for nana

Saturday, July 12, 2008

kemialliset ystävät

"Kemialliset Ystävät (based in Tampere, Finland) is the drunken bird's dream, the mouldy instrument, the song of half past four am joy, people bathing in fairy's pee and releasing the enchanting sound and the tantalising sound. They have been active movers in the Finnish underground for over a decade now, slowly building their own castle of sound. Someone wrote that is was like "landscapes glimpsed from a train: marching band melodies scored for duck calls and bells, huge fields of teleporting percussion, accordion-led music box refrains and heartbreaking almost-songs carried on tides of wordless vocals". With members coming and going, the music of Kemialliset Ystävät is always moving to new and unknown territories.
Harmaa Laguuni feature performances from quite a few of our favorite Finnish noisemakers, including members of Avarus, Kiila and Es. Also - Tom & Christina Carter of Charalambides guest! All exclusive tracks, this was released for Kemialliset Ystävät's 2008 usa tour. Limited tour-only release...and not available in stores! Eat up. Fast." secret eye

Thursday, July 10, 2008

we in a "field"

 

01. heat & birds ~ field recording
02. song to laughter, tree at dusk ~ the child readers
03. sleeper under a tree ~ the birdtree
04. imi the king ~ steve gunn
05. buck dancer' choice ~ jack rose, dr. ragtime & pals
06. crossing the james ~ black twig pickers
07. that was then, this is now ~ my two toms
08. lift him up, that's all ~ washington phillips
09. ghost light ~ barrett lindgren
10. loudest void ~ cartoon monster
11. robin & beth ~ hezekiah jones
12. coal or smoke ~ joshua marcus
13. sasquatch ~ beggin' your pardon miss joan
14. dogwood tree ~ luminous craft
15. nothing elegant ~ tender buttons
16. a long time ago ~ the cherry blossoms
17. amazing grace ~ wild gunmen
18. after death ~ the ray pacino ensemble
19. things in the ground ~ mont smokey
20. collapse into the sweet grass the north sea
21. waves of grass ~ the blithe sons

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

pocahaunted

"The hardest working ladies in show business are back! Pocahaunted offer up two side long siren excursions into the otherworldy plains. On "One Another" our enchanted twosome ride a cindering tapestry of guitar string propelled by other-worldly beats of oblivion. And "Sister Calypso".. a hauting ode to the lovestruck daughter of Atlas or uncanny caribbean sea breeze lullabye that transmogrifies into full blown tropical thunder? Who can say? This dynamic duo is on a roll! Likes: Billy Joel, cuss words, candy corn, diamonds and furs, psychic connections, african percussion, and kombucha. Dislikes: flat tires, the ocean, and silent movies. Extra skronk and skree provided by Andy Spore and Bobb Bruno. Label art by B&A. Beautiful full color covers with artwork by Olga Balema." weird forest

Sunday, June 29, 2008

david a. jaycock

"new solo outing from big eyes family players' david a. jaycock. named after a hitchcock-esque nightmare in which he was set upon by a pair of hard-winged, marauding cuckoos, david a jaycock's second album is step forward from the pastoral motifs of his debut, incorporating an expansive country-folk sound alongside the indigenous qualities and general oddness that have made his name. taking inspiration from players such as segovia and john fahey, there are drones, waltzes, dirges, sea shanties, dissonances, bells, european flavours and the sound of ghostly train journeys. “Some longer songs, some shorter songs, some singing songs”, explains David, “sinister fairground melodies, Spanish preludes, improvised laments…" woven wheat whispers

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

james blackshaw

james blackshaw - litany of echoes (tompkins square 2008)
"...Litany of Echoes, James Blackshaw's sixth studio album in five years, shows a more mature, focused and, on the whole, accessible approach to composition. While the album often feels darker and more introspective in nature than on previous releases, many of the songs have a huge-sounding, classical quality to them. With Blackshaw adding some glistening piano work for the first time and Fran Bury returning to play swarms of sweeping string parts for violin and viola, Litany of Echoes is a truly original, affecting and timeless album from a guitarist/composer coming into his own." tompkins square

Sunday, June 22, 2008

fantastic magic

"For anyone who missed out the first time around, or those looking for a higher fidelity version of this release... "Take a magical trip on a pegasus through a field of lsd. Flowers harmonize and dance among young wizards at the festival of the equinox.", stated a mystical nypmh as he sat perched apon a toadstool, shanai in hand. These thoughts come to mind as a neo-psychedelic journey begins through a field of emerald green grass and a multicolored sky that is Fantastic Magic. Pull up a woven floor mat and enjoy the fruits of the earth as you delve into three young wizards journey through the island forest." orion ferguson

Thursday, June 19, 2008

richard youngs

“Summer Wanderer” is a sideslip in the discography of the Scottish avant folk musician Richard Youngs because it’s the only acappella release in his eminent and extensive list of recordings.

Summer Wanderer” was released for the first time in 2004 in an edition of twenty copies. For close friends only. A year later, Youngs re-released these recordings on his own No Fans imprint. So this vinyl release on the Ghent based Gipsy Sphinx label can actually be called a re-re-release. But that doesn’t matter because the more people who hear this music the better.

And this is why: “Summer Wanderer” of course gets to your attention because of its concept: a full album with the singer's voice as the only instrument. But besides that, this album also contains all the specific Richard Youngs characteristics: it sounds minimal, repetitive, meditative and improvised. I’m not sure if these songs are actually improvised but it sure sounds that way.


Time for a conclusion: “Summer Wanderer” doesn’t only stand out because of its concept but also because of its musical quality. For me personally, “Summer Wanderer” is as excellent as “The Naïve Shaman”. And that means something because “The Naïve Shaman” was, to me anyway, the best record of 2005. 9/10" foxy digitalis

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

davenport

"While the number of Davenport releases has grown and grown, they still manage to never record the same thing twice. Only one release is backporch folk: Free Country, only one release is tiny wind-up box drone: Tongue of Bear, only one release is an Appalachain folk/hillbilly jam session: Marble Seed, and only one release is a joyous raga: Springtime on Saturnalia" fakejazz

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

caethua

"I May Be Gone For A Long, Long Time is the second album by Caethua, the song-based alias of Midwest multi-instrumentalist Clare Hubbard who also records as Sports and a member of dbh. In the former, she builds collage-based hip hop; the latter is a gutter jazz improv troupe, where she mans the sax. The diverging recipe is not that unlikely for a young artist these days, and Hubbard does a nice job of keeping her differing personas distinct. Caethua, for instance, builds a majestic framework of rural poetics and darkly colored orchestration that manages to cross the aesthetics of Harry Smith and This Mortal Coil.

The mood of the 14 songs here are summed up nicely in the opening “Oily Heat and Muddy Waters.” With an acoustic folk strum as anchor, Hubbard’s strong voice blends in and out of the chimerical atmosphere and becomes another leaden layer at times. Folk notions are subdued in an almost eerie ambience that ebbs from clanging bells and distant creaks that are more incidental aura than craft. The abstract is amplified in the instrumental “Cutting Away the Ice,” in which a saxophone wails faintly as a distant foghorn..." dusted magazine

preciosísimo, recomendación de jesusitos

Sunday, June 15, 2008

tender buttons

"what do you get when three danes, two girls and one guy, take a trip to sweden with a tape recording, a guitar, and a few other instruments? you get tender buttons. this trio features three members of the exquisite pink luminous invocation, and this one-off project is quite special. tender buttons is named after gertrude stein's impressive book of the same name, and if that wasn't enough, the lyrics are all adapted from her writing. it's a deadly combination and though this release is short, the brevity makes you want to play it over and over again. simple folk melodies complemented with mouth organ, percussion, and other random instruments, and highlighted by, mostly, female vocals. lovely indeed." foxglove

Saturday, June 14, 2008

my two toms

my two toms - "field recordings" and "two" (mole in the ground 2006)
“The melodies are direct, memorable, and inseparable from the interlocking harmonies that are weaved around them. My Two Toms carries the traditions of the most memorable music; the complexity found deep within the drone of the Appalachian Mountains, the spiraling melodies of Northumberland pipe tunes, a simple song that stands well the test of time and is remembered not in a crazy-making way but as an old friend.” charlie parr
"When My Two Toms write music, they often use broken instruments and allow the remaining strings to dictate the structure and melody. They have a deceptive simplicity that can sometimes trigger images of rural landscapes. Their music is as familiar as an old children’s tv programme. It is also often driving and hints at folk and American country, with a very English slant." mole in the ground

Thursday, June 12, 2008

the lamb called light

"The Lamb Called Night is for now like a one-night inspiration musical project by Theresa Behnen and Clay Ruby. Both had a late night musical vision, seeing and provoking the lamb, the lamb called night. In the shadows of that late night a semi-religious ritual was set up. With hum Hum the Om-drone vocals, plucked strings and campfire-reminiscent percussion the invitation is expressed. Like former churchvisitors on poison, they now sing for a different holy place, preferably with nature. The female vocals are whispery ; the vocal harmonies are from harmonious to very odd. Some combinations of its kind of religious song inspiration sounds in its sphere, as something in between a very tempered Spires That In the Sunset Rise, with a devotional aspect of course, and Long Live Death, with something of the mystical aspects of the Finnish Lau Nau & Islaja. The second track, listed as “Alleluia”, is a most recognisable song, with drums and percussion, electric bass, acoustic guitar. "Part of The Plan" is done in a semi-Middle Eastern mode, with droning plucked strings. Of course this is also a psychedelic (folk) song. Very good and very enjoyable." psychedelic folk

foto: tanaken

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

cosas que pasan


Sr. Jefe de la Policía Municipal de Vigo y Sr. Director del periódico en cuestión

Vigo 6 de junio de 2008

Paren por favor, me bajo

Sí, me bajo y lo pido por favor. Quiero bajarme de este mundo, quiero creer que debe haber por ahí perdida otra alternativa, otro lugar dónde la justicia existe y dónde todos los valores asociados a ella sobreviven. Donde el ser humano es ser y, sobre todo, humano. O por lo menos hace todo lo posible (algunos incluso lo imposible) porque así sea. ¿Por qué?
Pónganse cómodos.

Ayer 5 de junio (Día Mundial del Medio Ambiente) leía en la prensa (Faro de Vigo, La Voz de Galicia, Atlántico Diario) una noticia que para los vegetarianos, voluntarios de la ONG Igualdad Animal y afiliados al PACMA (Partido Antitaurino Contra el Maltrato Animal) como servidor, suena a barbaridad y duele especialmente, cito textualmente:

Una guillotina con maíz
Hallan una trampa para patos en el paseo del Lagares

“Una patrulla de la Policía halló una trampa para mamíferos activada bajo el túnel de la calle Val Miñor, en el paseo del río Lagares. Se trata de una trampa de malla metálica con sistema de guillotina. Los agentes indicaron por el cebo encontrado –maíz- que probablemente se tratase de una trampa para patos, debido también a la presencia de estas aves en la zona. “


Eso es lo que te cuenta la prensa a ti que compras el periódico para saber qué pasa en el mundo, en tu ciudad, lo que defiende esa policía que suponemos está para ayudarnos y protegernos de los males o de los malos. Pero la realidad habla un idioma bien diferente.

Resulta que en el túnel de la calle Val Miñor hay un gato atrapado desde hace 60 días, un gato que algún desalmado abandonó tirándolo al río Lagares. Un gato que si sobrevive, es gracias a la labor de María, una persona que todos los días va a darle de comer, una persona que solicitó ayuda a los bomberos (uno de sus Cuarteles está justo enfrente del puente) para poder rescatarlo y recibió más reproches que ayuda, una persona que superada por la situación solicitó ayuda a una Asociación Protectora (Proyecto Gato) para rescatar al pobre gato.

Un miembro de esa Asociación acudió a la llamada de auxilio y también recurrió a la ayuda de los bomberos porque llegar al lugar dónde se encuentra el gato, sin ayuda, es imposible. En un primer intento, con la generosa ayuda de un bombero sensibilizado, se colocó un tablón para ver si el gato conseguía subir por él y salir por su propio pie, lamentablemente no sucedió. En un segundo intento ese voluntario colocó, de nuevo con el consentimiento y ayuda de una pareja de bomberos, una jaula-trampa (eso de la guillotina queda muy lejos créanme, afortunadamente en la revolución francesa, allá por el 1789) con un cebo. Sí, un cebo, una latita de comida gatuna para ver si “picaba” y podía recogerlo. Eso sucedió el Viernes 30 de Mayo, María y el voluntario estuvieron controlando durante el fin de semana mañana, tarde y noche la jaula para saber si el gato había caído pero no fue así, el lunes tampoco. Vista la situación decidieron conjuntamente retirar la jaula el Martes 3 de Junio y esperar a que la llegada del verano y el cese de las lluvias sequen el río para que el gato pueda salir de allí por sí mismo.

Pero el martes la jaula no estaba, sorprendidos por la desaparición María y el voluntario le preguntaron a los bomberos si sabían algo del supuesto robo, les contestaron que no, creían que una señora había alertado a la Policía Municipal de la colocación de una jaula para cazar patos. Ante semejante esperpento el voluntario se puso en contacto con el Ayuntamiento el Jueves 5 de Junio (Día Mundial del Medio Ambiente recuerden) por la mañana, allí le remitieron a la patrulla rural y ésta solicitó una dirección en la que poder contactar con el voluntario ya que éste les había llamado para recuperar la jaula. Al poco rato una pareja de policías de aire chulesco se presentó en la dirección facilitada y le solicitaron el DNI al voluntario de la Asociación Protectora de Animales, afirmando que iban a denunciarle por poner una jaula con guillotina para cazar patos y por alimentar a animales salvajes en un tono más propio de los spaghetti westerns de Morricone, Sergio Leone y Clint Eastwood. El voluntario (que soy yo) explicó ésto que les estoy detallando añadiendo que si había maíz en el interior de la jaula se debía a la existencia de un grupo de patos en el lugar en el que estaba la jaula, pero también hay patitos e incluso un ganso que tiene muuuuucha hambre, por eso María y el voluntario le echaron maíz para alejarlo de la comida “cebo” destinada al gato, pero claro, una jaula trampa tiene huecos y entre ellos, se colaron los granos que se citan en la estrambótica noticia publicada en la prensa. La respuesta de los policías; “la jaula está incautada, tenemos fotos y vamos a denunciarte, a ver cómo te defiendes.”

La conclusión de todo esto es el párrafo del principio. Quiero bajarme de este mundo porque el sentidiño común está en peligro de extinción. La conclusión es que si eres uno de los miles de animales que luchan cada día en las calles por sobrevivir en condiciones miserables y te ha tocado vivir en Vigo lo llevas crudo fiel amigo. Porque además de no recibir buen trato, ni por parte de los desalmados (que por desgracia son mayoría), ni por parte de las autoridades, lo tendrás extremadamente difícil para que los seres humanos que sí empatizan con tu situación puedan hacerlo. Que si está penado alimentar a los animales salvajes que alguien por favor lo haga (¿alguna autoridad levanta la mano?) para evitar el trabajo tan poco gratificante y tan sacrificado de todas esas personas mayores casi siempre -en su mayoría denunciadas, acosadas e humilladas- que alimentan colonias de animales subvencionadas por sus miserables pensiones, por sus diminutos bolsillos y por su insondable humanidad.

Suerte amigo, la denuncia me importa un pepino, volveré para sacarte de allí y conseguirte un hogar mientras María hace todo lo posible e imposible por darte de comer todos los días.

Atentamente,
Rafael Romero Matos
(el voluntario de la Asociación Protectora Proyecto Gato denunciado ante la Concejalía de Medio Ambiente el día Mundial del Medio Ambiente)
p.d.: Es gracioso, ¿no creen? Y recuerden, la policía no es tonta, si hay colillas saben que fumaron.
podéis leer la noticia de Faro de Vigo y La Voz de Galicia aquí y aquí

Sunday, June 08, 2008

ain


"Information on Aindriu Conroy is hard to come by - partly, one suspects, because this young Irish blues excavator aspires to the murky coolness of his inspirations, Mississippi John Hurt and Skip James. He describes his music only as "songs in the key of D", and Close to Cotton is just that: a six-track, 18-minute mini-album composed primarily in one key and sung in one register. But if Ain ploughs a narrow furrow, he does it well. Sleepily plucking an acoustic guitar, he commands attention by the old gambit of being the quietest person in the room. There's a bit of Neil Young to his raw-boned croon, and more than a bit of the Bad Seeds to the lurid pictures he paints of his "dead-eyed mistress". Excellent listening for the bleak midwinter." caroline sullivan

Saturday, June 07, 2008

the cherry blossoms


"This Nashville collective long shunned the notion that music is something to be consumed, preferring the communal experience of the live show. John Allingham, Peggy Snow and/or Laura-Matter Fukushima, Allen Lowrey, Chris Davis, Chuck Hatcher, Taylor Martin, Aaron Russell, Beth Matter have been playing as The Cherry Blossoms for almost 15 years, making loose folk that sounds like a combination of Harry Smith and Sun Ra. Finally, seven years after laying songs to tape, they got around to releasing their debut album this summer, with the help of six different labels, and it's easily the most unapologetically joyous recording I've heard and enjoyed in some time." dusted

"Mind-bending lp from Nashville's number one clatter-folk band. Listening to this record is like listening into the slipstream of general music conciousness. Sure, it was recorded a number of years ago, but the music still has a vitality that is completely unique in today's sonic landscape. This is truly timeless music that resides on the edge of collapse without actually snapping the tether, like some of the best historic rollercoasters now in disrepair. Nothing too flashy about this rickety ride, just some good, honest, fun. Beautiful cover art by Peggy Snow" apostasy

"This thing has 12 songs and every single one is a gem ~ I love the two Allingham songs with "rock" in the title, "Rockin' Rocket Ship" and "Rocks and Stones" and Snow's great ones include "The Mighty Mississippi," "Golden Windows," and "The Wind Did Blow," which is so nice it almost sounds like what woulda happened if the Velvet Underground had just had Mo Tucker sing the ballads on their first album instead of Nico, after inviting the Holy Modal Rounders' Indian War Whoop lineup to sit in of course. There's even a Blue Oyster Cult cover. Kudos all around ~ now the only question is where is the Arizona Drains vinyl?" blastitude

Friday, June 06, 2008

loren mazzacane & kath bloom

loren mazzacane & kath bloom - round his shoulders gonna be a rainbow (daggett 1982)

"singer/songwriter Kath Bloom cut a run of impossibly gorgeous and bewitchingly out-of-time sides accompanying guitarist Loren Mazzacane Connors in the late 70s and early 80s, all of which are treasured by fans of privately distributed late-night soul poetry. the kind of fragile broken heart blues all the way out to the front porch." volcanic tongue

robert martin

"I first heard Robert Martin's Long Goodbye while surrounded by friends. Even over the din of voices rallying to quantify, qualify, contain, bag and tag what we were all hearing, I was sure I'd never heard anything quite like it. Long Goodbye opens with some broken acoustic noodling that sounds like a Derek Bailey slow motion replay, over which a double-tracked cry of voices transmits mournfully, meticulously, and with an unnerving sense of purpose. From there it gets stranger and more beautiful, as Martin sings with unique abandon - is there such a thing as sad joy? - often wordlessly, frequently incoherently. The tunefulness of Martin's achingly beautiful voice sits in sharp contrast to the crudely played guitar, and sets Martin apart from his lamentably more 'in the know' contemporaries. There are few touchstones for the magic contained herein - Bobb Trimble at his most wounded, Tony Caro and John's All On The First Day LP, the earliest blues recordings of Guitar Roberts - but Martin's intensely private music is all his own. And now, ours to share." James Jackson Toth

"...un misterio. En el año 2001 en la costa oeste estadounidense aparecieron unos pocos discos en formato cd-r, sin ninguna información sobre el autor: supuestamente una grabación casera de mil novecientos ochenta y algo de un surfista y músico underground. En el 2008 el sello Yik-Yak lo edita en formato vinilo sin dar mayores precisiones, y algunos llegan a decir que los que están detrás son James Jackson Toth (Wooden Wand) y el dueño del sello, un sr. llamado Tim Daly. Los ingredientes no son muchos. Por un lado una guitarra en forma de simple rasgueo, en otras ocasiones un punteo y armonías esporádicas, o una mezcla de ambas. Por el otro, una voz preciosa grabada en dos canales que van girando uno sobre el otro, adelante o atrás. Un efecto tan simple como complejo. Una flauta por aquí, un silbido por allí y se acabó, no hay más. Con tan poco construye canciones folk casi modélicas, de melodías perfectas, y otros cortes más experimentales que redondean 30 minutos alucinantes." Gabo

...y poco más que decir. en general me recuerda a 'round his shoulders gonna be a rainbow' de Loren Mazzacane Connors & Kath Bloom, por esa forma peculiar de tocar la guitarra, la producción bajo mínimos y el débil sonido de la voz, dulce y ligeramente desafinada. único, como Valerie & Paul, Boots,C.C. Snake & Remus, Loren & Kath, ...

foto: stella

Thursday, June 05, 2008

paz lenchantin

"In 2006 Paz Lenchantin came out with her second solo release “Songs for Luci” which is dedicated to her brother Luciano Lenchantin who sadly passed away in 2003.
Recorded in Louisville, Kentucky “Songs for Luci” is a very short, but sweet album clocking in at 18 minutes and 4 seconds and has a lot to offer the listener in its short playtime. “Songs for Luci” is a very touching album. Paz does a great job in creating a very pleasant atmosphere filled with her vocal harmonies and layers of instrumental melodies. Paz said so herself on her website. “This album is not for everyone but is available only here for anyone.” This album will only be available on Paz Lenchantin’s website until the beginning of March." James McDermott
"...The soaring and beautiful folk melodies on Songs for Luci contain some of the best female vocals I have heard from the collective folk movement." naturalismo
un disco bonito de verdad...hace muy poco que lo descubrí pero desde ayer lo tengo en repeat. canciones que con el título ya lo dicen todo: "Montana Train" y "Kentucky Hymn", como dusty in memphis, tropical malady o field recordings. hay violines, un banjo, fingerpicking, un bucle precioso llamado "365" y la voz de Paz. dura muy poquito, apenas veinte minutos

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

willie lane

"Willie “Gutbucket” Lane is a young guitar player from Maine who is also the protégé of Matt Valentine. This is his first release on MV’s own Child of Microtones label and it features Lane travelling similar paths as those trodden by MV himself or Joshua Burkett.

Lane’s playing, though very clear and assured, is unmistakably imbued with these unique kind of “psychedelic” fixtures as found on the most far-out mv/ee outings. I’m thinking of the “Ragas and Blues” lp or any of those “free folk” excursions that alternate more straightforward guitar playing with a very controlled and measured use of delays, reverse effects and other sound altering devices...." foxy digitalis

Recliner ragas es otro de esos discos pequeños y especiales salidos de la nada y de los que se sabe muy poco, sólo una referencia en Foxy Digitalis y apariciones en los 'blues lunares' de Matt Valentine & Erika Elder. Willie Lane se sitúa justo a un paso de Matt Valentine & Erika Elder con una colección de deliciosos ragas que siempre apetece escuchar y que resumiría en dos palabras y una frase: ingravidez instrumental y una preciosidad de principio a fin.

foto: leon rouge