microphones in the trees: November 2008

Friday, November 28, 2008

stag hare

"Stag Hare has blown my mind. The sound on Ahspen is culled from the often touted and equally disowned explosion of a ‘new weird America.’ What Stag Hare has accomplished here is something that should definitely garner notice from the Jackie-O, Six Organs of Admittance and Holy Mountain crowds. The tracks read like Keith Fullerton Whitman's Lisbon as interperetted through Animal Collective in their more ambient moments. Stag Hare’s raga flows meticulously like the most serene metaphysical river, constantly and ever so slightly shifting and surging as it washes over you. Any endeavor to listen to such music of this nature comes with skepticism for me, even with knowledge that I am quite fond of experimental music. Stag hare has obliterated any preconceived doubts and converted a true believer." forest gospel

"el primer disco de Stag Hare es un raga continuo de cuarenta minutos. precioso. escúchalo mientras medites, mientras te estés tomando un baño, o simplemente cuando quieras relajarte." a. star

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

rambling boys

"Original Rambling Boys were Keijo, Jii & Jaakko (2005). Story goes on with open lineup. Lately it has been: Keijo, Jukka, Sami, Lauri, Leila, and Jii. Out now: Rambling Boys: Pastures of plenty (Rambling Boys/W. Guthrie) / Uusi (Rambling Boys) 7" lathe cut. 50 copies. 5 eur + postage. blues, folk, psicodelia."

Jukka Nousiainen, Sami Virtanen y Keijo Virtanen son tres de los responsables de esta maravilla que combina el espíritu de jam y psicodelia de Davenport con la magia de Woody Guthrie y Paivänsäde; algo así como un grupo soñado. Buy you a car, Hard travellin' y Up the birch whisk mountain se convierten en un bucle adictivo en el que todo es perfecto: la voz aguardentosa de Keijo, las percusiones destartaladas, el blues rural, los campos de trigo, el Delta del Mississippi, los bosques de Finlandia...todo a partes iguales y en perfecta armonía

Saturday, November 15, 2008

keijo

"Keijo hails from Jyväskylä, Finland, a small town in the north that claims to be the center of the universe. In the sprawling Finnish underground, Keijo is the wise sage who everyone admires. In his 52 years, he has travelled the world twice and seen his share of turmoil. He was nearly killed in a motorcycle accident and still bears a metal plate in his skull as a constant reminder. But these experiences have been essential in shaping the sound world he constructs with his fingertips.

Palla, Blown From Here sees Keijo finally getting the larger audience he deserves. He has worked and collaborated with Finnish acts such as Vapaa, Avarus, and Kheta Hotem. This nine songs sees Keijo taking a more solemn path, reflecting on the quiet moments nature brings, and showcase Keijo's array of talents, including his impressive throat-singing abilities. Palla, Blown From Here is the aural transition of summer into autumn. Over the course of this album, Keijo's soft acoustic compositions flow from him like prose from a poet's pen. The beauty this music exudes is a testament to his life and his work. This is Keijo's world and we are just living in it." digitalis

Thursday, November 13, 2008

estasy

"black velvet mask, golden wigs, untied shoes, candle flames & beautiful trickling of wax, vine leaves, powder puffs.
mystery is the word. all tracks recorded in darkness. its about spiritual evol love emotion....its not the pills...oh oh whatever" emi estasy
sounds like: hundred goblins
be banshee (sample)
blue feather (sample)
opium song (sample)
der demon (sample)

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

sepviva bells

"Duo recordings by Tara Burke (Fursaxa, Anahita, Tau Emerald) and Grant Acker (Slurp Dogs), smoking one late-period Un/early Fursaxa style. A scorching blend of distorted psychedelia, hypnotic riffing and mellow vocals trapped inside a very trippy atmosphere. Edition of 170 copies with silkscreened fold-out booklet." sloow tapes

Monday, November 10, 2008

higuma

"Higuma is Evan Caminiti (of Barn Owl) & Lisa McGee. Cast in a dark space in SF, Haze Valley holds rather true to its name, filling the edges with smoked out vocals, guitar delays and any number of drone layered acoustics. Very much a distant sound, with distortions burnished down to smooth horizontal planes that lift the music to higher summits. Not at all dissimilar from some of Barn Owl's recent excursions, but with the addition of Lisa's vocals, this goes somewhere else completely. Offset printed sleeve with silver on white." root strata

"Haze Valley" is a totally perfect autumn bummer. Crystal drones and bones to soak up all that smoke you've been exhaling. " brad rose

Sunday, November 09, 2008

talugung

"Talulung is a mystical trip from Canada, heading for deep exotic zone and ethnic space. Acoustic improvisations and clouded forest rhytms on various instruments, including homemade ones. Ideal companion to your morning meditation. 70 copies." sloow tapes

Thursday, November 06, 2008

calm in trees

01 loren mazzacane with kath bloom - it's so hard to come home
02 flaviola e o bando do sol - noite
03 feathers - silverleaves in the air of starseedlings
04 travelling bell - calm in trees
05 aekie - kavyt oksilla
06 nuno canavarro and carlos maria trindade - cmt plan
07 valerio sartori - ester
08 songs of green pheasant - knulp
09 the kitchen cynics - carol by candlelight
10 greg ashley - mona rider
11 jason meagher - no capo new
12 james blackshaw - white goddess
13 idyll swords - sagarika
14 fursaxa - neon lights
15 paavoharju - kuu lohduttaa huolestuneita
16 spires that in the sunset rise - sort sands
17 the big huge - lows at the highland game
18 the magickal folk of the faraway tree - le bon marin
19 giampiero riggio - separation I (souvenir)
foto: séverine
(éste era el primer recopilatorio de microphones, que el lunes cumplía cuatro años!. los demás están subidos y listos para bajar, a un click en compilations)

keijo


"Keijo Virtanen makes his long distance walk into the stream of folk/countryblues continuum. These marvellously rusty and dusty tracks have been cooking with tender flame in Keijo’s mind&soul for a good while: "When I was just a little boy, I used to just lay down under the blanket (just before falling to sleep) randomly switching the channels of our transistor radio. Under the crunches and washes I also found the new pirate radio stations and there, among the speeches came out the echoing, rhythmic, electric guitar music. Eventually under rock music and British pop music I discovered the sounds of the black people of North America. I felt like those deep singing voices and wailing guitars would somehow also belong to this kind of environment, to rural, middle-of-nowhere Finland, surrounded by wildlife and physical work with our own hands and whatever we may get grown from the land." ikuisuus

Monday, November 03, 2008

clothed in moss

01. capable of murder ~ christina carter
02. a bolt cannot turn them back ~ head of wantastiquet
03. tiny lights ~ feathers
04. dharma ~ we wait for the snow
05. this is the spade that descends ~ head of wantastiquet
06. blue werewolf with rainbow eyes ~ the golden oaks
07. halloween is black as night ~ jackson c. frank
08. never know now ~ keijo
09. brigidine ~ shoreline
10. interlude ~ david thomas broughton
11. evening call ~ jani hellen
12. how to catch a lizard ~ larkin grimm
13. qué he sacado con quererte ~ violeta parra
14. clothed in moss and hoary frost ~ the golden oaks
15. jubeltane ~ shoreline
16. dance of the honey bees ~ pantaleimon
17. standing horses ~ rio en medio
18. first there came a letter ~ milton cross
19. dusty train ~ the end springs & a man and a guitar
20. cavaquinho ~ luiz bonfa & maría toledo
21. midnight blues ~ liz green

Sunday, November 02, 2008

the blithe sons

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