microphones in the trees: January 2012

Monday, January 30, 2012

reedbeds


"...The six untitled tracks of G’Morning Gomorrah oscillate between pastoral lo-fi guitar improvisations (with field recordings) in the style of Jewelled Antler roster (especially Loren Chasse) or the slow jams of Thoughts on Air and slowly evolving synthesizer-based drone pieces in the style of early Jeff Witscher (think Marble Sky at its most dronish). The fourth track gives a slightly creepy rendition of musique concrete with old song samples mangled beyond recognition, reduced to a set of droning ghost choirs, suddenly coming into existence and fading just as abrubtly. The last, longest track embodies the albums “ear to the ground” approach, enveloping the gentle synth notes with quiet hum, like a quiet wind going through the forest.


Reedbeds’ album, although extremely limited and not as “official” as other releases, offers a relaxing journey through a variety of aesthetics and might be an interesting link between the guitar-based improvisational ambience and the synth drone scene..." weed temple

sold out | download

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

au hasard balthazar



"... para practicar de este modo la lectura como arte se necesita ante todo una cosa que es precisamente hoy en día la más olvidada... una cosa para la cual se ha de ser casi vaca y, en todo caso no hombre moderno: el rumiar. "

Recupero estas palabras de Nietzsche de "La Genealogía de la Moral" porque valen más que cualquier crítica que pueda escribir. En realidad la consideración moral de las vacas por parte de Nietzsche no dista de ese episodio de iluminación tras ver un burro en el ya citado pasaje de Dostoievski en "El Idiota".

“Au Hasard Balthazar” es el mejor reflejo de la miseria animal humana, porque aunque el burro Baltazhar no es humano, es un animal como tú, como yo y como el vecino del quinto. Es decir, es un ser con la fea costumbre de querer comer y beber todos los días, un individuo con necesidades tan extravagantes como necesitar cagar y mear tranquilo, con necesidades sexuales que le lleven a querer follar de vez en cuando y de cuando en vez, y con una incomprensible respuesta a los estímulos que le sumen en el terror al escuchar la explosión de unos petardos, a rebuznar cuando reconoce a uno de sus maltratadotes, a temblar cuando está cubierto de nieve o a buscar cobijo cuando consigue deshacerse de otro de sus “dueños”. Dentro de sus aspiraciones existenciales, un burro es un ser descabellado, culpable de pretender crear clanes aunque no sean de su especie (véanse las ovejas). Y que por extraño que parezca, se echa a correr cuando le queman la cola, o agacha la cabeza cuando alguien le acaricia, hablamos de un objeto capaz de reír o de llorar. Qué desfachatez.

El valor de esta película reside en que Bresson otorga los mismos privilegios a los animales humanos que la interpretan que a Baltazhar, un burro. No crea fisuras en el tratamiento porque no distingue diferencias entre dos individuos por su especie. Es decir, Bresson se toma en serio a Baltazhar, de ahí que no buscase un burro adiestrado para hacer la película, buscó a un burro sin más, no busca el antropomorfismo del animal no humano, busca la misma honestidad que en un actor primerizo o inexperto. Y si se ha alabado en multitud de ocasiones el humanismo en el cine de Bresson hay que quitarse el sombrero ante su sorprendente animalismo, su inteligencia y su empatía.

La película, dice Godard, “es la vida en 90 minutos”, y Marguerite Duras añade “no es un film intelectual, es un film total; es tan sensorial como pensado”. “Au Hasard Balthazar” es un rodillo que aplasta las supuestas bondades que el intelecto podría brindarle a los animales humanos, y que mejor espejo para reflejar esa erosión existencial y espiritual que la vida de un burro, la pureza de una mirada que trasciende ese universo por el que se mueven los animales humanos, un universo en el que sólo importa el beneficio, el que dirán, la codicia, la tiranía, la perversidad y la maldad con todas sus caras. Una mirada que sólo encuentra complicidad en los ojos de un elefante, un tigre, un oso, un chimpancé y en Marie, cuya existencia corre muchas veces paralela. Un mundo en el que incluso un animal no humano capaz de multiplicar no conseguiría borrar su consideración moral, la de objeto, a ojos de los animales humanos. Tan sólo hay tregua en la infancia, en el nacimiento de un animal no humano que incluso es bautizado, en la época de los terrones de azúcar y las caricias, y tregua también en el final, en una de las escenas más bellas que servidor haya visto en una película, porque la belleza, si es belleza, duele. Y todo abrazado con las notas de Shubert.

Como diría Nietszche, rumien esta película, no la vean. Rebuznen, añado yo, si no quieren quedar retratados.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

mike gorman


"We are Applewood Records, a folky label based in Austin, Texas. Our artist Mike Gorman just released a new EP entitled Sister Mountain. The songs were inspired by a hike in Bear Mountains in Upstate New York. You can smell the leaves and dirt and hear the birds chirping softly in these songs. They're songs about leaving the smoke and smog of a big city for the depth and earth of the country." applewood records

vale que si le das una patada a una piña lo más probable es que debajo de ella surja algún cowboy con una acústica cantándole a las montañas, a los árboles o a las arrugas que dejaron las sábanas en la cama cuando ella decidió irse. pero ayer, cuando la gente de applewood nos envió un correo con la canción "sister mountain", sentí que la película que terminaba de ver, "like crazy", tenía más sentido. porque el amor no se puede explicar pero sí sentir, y el amor que profesamos a canciones como "sister mountain" tampoco podríamos explicarlo, pero sí sentirlo. oklahoma soul.


Monday, January 23, 2012

dolphins into the future


"Canto Arquipélago" is an audio poem for the Açores. It being an elogio for this (and others) beautiful and metaphorical volcanic archipelagos. The album is a coherent scrapbook collection of on site fieldrecordings and automatically written cantatas. Recorded at our temporary studios in a small fishermen town, São João, on the island of Pico.
Ilha Do Pico is a small isle in the central group of the Açores archipelago. Where we lived for a few months, in the aforementioned friendly village, closed in by the Atlantic ocean and the bush. On the flank of one of Europe’s highest volcanic mountains, Pico. The haze, the extreme beauty, the energy and the dramatics of a sleepy wild place on the Mid Atlantic volcanic ridges, is felt in every hiss and sound. The rhythm of the archipelago, as being my guide." lieven moana (dolphins into the future)


"There is something phenomenally enticing about a sequestered island chain, literally bounded by a vast and enveloping sea. Perhaps it’s the romance of discovery, the knowledge that here lies the safety of land within the great seclusion of nature. Perhaps it’s the raw beauty that is simply emerald speckled turquoise.
Lieven Moana as Dolphins Into The Future dedicates his latest effort to the Azores, a remarkably beautiful volcanic archipelago that lacks very little by way of inspiration. The ambient conjurer weaves glorious tones and minimal percussion with brilliant and evocative field recording, having spent several weeks on the island cluster for this body of work. “Once an island gets born,” Lieven articulates, “it’s a continuous struggle, a continuous dialogue, a learning, a battle and cooperation of influences. The sea starts bashing on it’s shores. Erosion starts the complete demolition of the island. But at the same time, sun and sea give birth and food… Archipelagos have a heavy rhythm.”  underwater people


un fin de semana especialmente idílico y bonito gracias a la relajante discografía de dolphins into the future. el belga lieven martens, ese ser marino (he is actually a dolphin), de entrañable bigote, enamorado del agua y los cetáceos, también conocido como lieven moana, duncan cameron, o l.r.j martens (no olvidar a horseback ride to the sanctum of montu ni el exótico viaje con ada van hoorbeke) nos deleita con un poema musical dedicado a las islas ozores  y grabado en la Ilha do Pico. cantos de pájaros tropicales, evocadores kikirikís de gallos vespertinos, palos de agua, delfines, ballenas, burbujas, murmullos de agua, xilófonos, grillos, ¿azores?..."My music is a landscape. A ku'ono for your mind to hike in. For the exploration of a personal jungle. For the atonement of a world out there, above there, in there. A spring of harmonies. A bay of sound. A natural and abstract composition, rooted in romance and subconsciousness."

buy | link removed by request of the label

Friday, January 20, 2012

we need to talk about kevin


tenemos que hablar de las entrañas

Menos mal que Luis existe y ayer pude llamarle a las 12 de la noche tras terminar de ver “Tenemos que hablar de Kevin” porque me faltaba el aire para respirar, que puede sonar exagerado, pero créanme que sí lo necesité. Soy muy fan de la música, y del arte en general, pero cuando una película es buena de verdad la onda expansiva es devastadora, se lleva por delante más cosas que un buen concierto, un gran disco, una gran cómic o una buena exposición de fotografía. He visto grandes películas, pero que al terminar me dejasen sin aire sólo recuerdo “Lilja-4-ever”, y “Earthlings” por supuesto. Y cuando digo que me falta el aire, me refiero a que si ayer Luis no hubiese cogido el teléfono, no sé qué podría haber hecho para rescatar mi yo tras haberme perdido dos horas en el abisal mundo que Eva esconde tras su mirada. Porque Eva no habla por la boca, habla por los ojos.
No entraré a detallar el guión de la película, es mejor no saber nada de ella, así llegué yo, y así me suele gustar acercarme a las películas, en este caso me interesó por Tilda Swinton a la que, si creyese en los Oscar, le daría una docena por esta película, al color rojo le daría el Oscar al mejor actor secundario y a la Banda Sonora el último, porque más allá de resultarme impresionante la elección de las canciones, tienen una personalidad y una puesta en escena tan acertada que se convierten en protagonistas más que en atrezzo.
No soy nada de leer críticas antes de ver las películas que me interesan, soy de los que al terminar corre a leerlas ávido de información. Y más cuando la resaca es visceral y no analítica como en este caso, podríamos hablar de Kevin horas y horas, pero nunca sabríamos por qué determinadas cosas suceden a pesar de manejar multitud de datos que aparentemente podrían darnos una explicación. Hay tantos sentimientos intangibles en esta película que resultaría una grosería traducirlos a palabras porque determinadas radiografías emocionales no existen, se pierden en códigos indescifrables que no tienen un por qué, simplemente son ("There is no point, that's the point" se justifica kevin). Esta película seduce por el magnetismo que desprende cada fotograma y por la empatía hacia unos personajes prisioneros de la milimétrica frontera que separa el amor del odio. ¿La mejor película de 2011?

Thursday, January 19, 2012

shep and me


"Minnesota's Matthew Himes, of the fantastic Lighten Up Sounds label, has carried Shep & Me through a revolving door of sounds, places, people and time. The sounds found here span five states, six other folks lending a hand, and seven years of recording, but you would never guess it with how well this flows as a whole. Like an old car radio, things crackle and split across the dial from crooked hayloft sing-alongs to smoky low-fidelity transistor radio drones. You never quite know what you're hearing in between - the hum of a midnight motor, a voice crooning from another room, or a dirty '45 spinning just a little too slow. A perfect blend of straight-forward songs and far-out mixups of sound. In an edition of 50 tapes in cardstock sleeves with an insert." cabin floor esoterica


cabin floor esoterica se está convirtiendo poco a poco en mi sello favorito. escogen cuidadosamente cada disco que editan (keijo, serfssacred basil, breathing flowers,...), grabaciones mágicas y atemporales con un sonido muy reconocible y a la vez inclasificable (polvorientos, minimales, lo-fi, folkies, ingrávidos, evocadores, cinematográficos........) que para mí son los más especiales y de los que, creo, nunca me cansaré. como carretes caducados o cintas de cassette desgastadas que conectan de alguna forma con the caretaker y me recuerdan todo lo que me gustó keijo o rambling boys la primera vez que los escuché. para ganarme ya del todo, la entrañabilísima 'i can't help myself', con silbidos y un eco lejano a village of spaces acompañados por la guitarra de johnny cash

fotos: jordan sullivan

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

mpala garoo | kon tiki gemini | golden dwarves


"Mpala Garoo is Ivan from Moscow who also plays in a duo Kon Tiki Gemini and Sunbells Fennimore. Golden Dwarves is one of the moniker of Gary Reuben Morris. Ship I left by like wondering deities who ate those august landscapes glimpse blossom jungle wounds me to not mayanic membership tune statue moves like a three thousand foliage mantra overbay beach crawls to reach assembled peak Arjuna lagoon with foggy shjrines and miscellaneous mines of dub asparagus do entire magnetic lips whisper aloof you painter shake your rococo coconuts just push Rimbaud chocolate air to European nomads of best who killed their..." steak au zoo

collage: beth hoeckel


"late night escapades to the mountain to watch the sun rise. create a unique musical zone where time stands still and makes you want to float forever. Total gripper for you smooth cats and night crawlers...Kon Tiki Gemini jam some mellow atmospherics for those late night escapades to the mountain to watch the sun rise. Ivan & Sergei (mpala garoo & bedroom bear) create a unique musical zone where time stands still and makes you want to float forever. Total gripper for you smooth cats and night crawlers..."

collage: beth hoeckel


"ivan karib is one of the main culprits using multiple monikers and corralling multiple collaborations alike. for me, his top guise is mpala garoo (though his work with kon tiki gemini is quite good too) and over the course of these 25 minutes you can hear the tropics invade russia and clatter to the floor. ghost guitars ring hollow, looping around endlessly searching for synthetic embrase. kourbakov laces a beat or two here and there but always keeps an eye on wrapping melodies around it all." digitalis

"wondrous spaced-out electronics that floats somewhere between Monopoly Child and Moondog"


"Like a cool breeze from a summer lake or a plume of purple incense smoke, Russia's Kon Tiki Gemini waft across the room like spectral shivers, leaving in their wake a chilled ripple." hooker vision

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

the caretaker

"... James Leyland Kirby returns with a long-in-the-making soundtrack to acclaimed filmmaker Grant Gee's documentary about German writer WG Sebald. 'Patience (After Sebald)' is a multi-layered film essay on landscape, art, history, life and loss - an exploration of the work and influence of German writer WG Sebald (1944-2001), told via a long walk through coastal East Anglia tracking his most famous book 'The Rings Of Saturn'. Much like The Caretaker's oeuvre, Sebald's works are particularly focused on themes of memory, both personal and collective, making Kirby the ideal candidate for this score. Grant tasked him with soundtracking responsibilities, but rather than thrift shop shellac, the source material for 'Patience' was sourced from Franz Schubert's 1927 piece 'Winterreise' and subjected to his perplexing processes, smudging and rubbing isolated fragments into a dust-caked haze of plangent keys, strangely resolved loops and de-pitched vocals which recede from view as eerily as they appear. Mastered and cut by Lupo at D&M, the album is adorned with another specially commissioned painting by Ivan Seal..." boomkat

download

foto: miroslav tichý

Sunday, January 15, 2012

reedbeds


"Another soother from Californian, Carter Mullin. Beautifully tonal guitar breezes' loop your way into hibernation."

"...being an untrained and inexperienced guitar player, i’m often shaky and weary of stumbling upon sour notes and accidents like that. I avoid writing ideas down or memorizing them because they’re bound to either sound completely different or fall apart on record. Finding time to record is impulsive, and rarely am i comfortable, though relieved and fulfilled afterward. I’m a morning person, but only so if outside is looking dreary or it’s from around 4-6 am. Otherwise, the spirit of containment and warmth no longer appears within reach. If all goes my way, Reedbeds captures the essence of solitude, swigging coffee, and languor." carter mullin

scan: petercat.harris

(thanks to the radiant now for the rip and the upload)

Friday, January 13, 2012

Ø+yn

"Ø+yn (said 'Omasin') come from the inland badlands of Córdoba, Argentina, and 'He Resucitado en la Montaña' is quite a trip, taking all kinds of unexpected yet smooth turns: from the occult church to the carnival to the Balinese woods at midnight, taking a detour up 6th Avenue to jam with Moondog before shifting gracefully towards a climactic scene with what sounds like a swarm of angry bees taking the guitar player for a ride at dinner time.


...Ma-hu-sive edition of 84 copies coming from an old school desk containing some right-on graffiti ('wings') and no bubblegum skeets that i can see." swinebox

"Ruidosas cancioncitas que emergen de la superficie terrestre. Piezas de aire etéreas provenientes de una vieja casa a la distancia. Una procesión de ratas buscando el árbol sin raíz. Bailamos hasta el amanecer, soñando luego con los rayos del sol coloreando las patitas de un ciempiés. Constantemente creemos en la pose del caballo de Túnez" Ø+yn

"The Manchester imprint Winebox Press releases tapes in rough, elegant wooden packaging, crafted from found objects including ladders, boxes and felled trees, secured with twine, nails, screws and glue. They’re made by guitarist Jon Collin, who founded the label in 2007 with a solo tape, Sky-Writings, which, inspired by George Maciunas’s Fluxus Boxes, was packaged in wood from an old wine crate. Since then, Winebox has documented the output of a network of artists in the North of England associated with the Singing Knives label." the wire

sólo puedo dar las gracias de corazón a pablo por acercarme a esta cajita de madera. junto al de aloha spirit uno de los diseños más bonitos del mundo de los diseños bonitos. en breve, "barraskiloaren extean dantzan", editado en el sello vasco makrame records

Thursday, January 12, 2012

god damn, i hate the blues

"Fourth installment in our split 7” series, God Damn I Hate the Blues, presents splendid new work from Amen Dunes, Marisa Anderson, Ignatz, Nathan Bowles, Warm Climate and Bridget Hayden.
Damon McMahon comes up with a brilliant interpretation of an old Ethiopique traditional, blending his typical Amen Dunes style with a far-out etnic melody. Marisa Anderson’s contribution ‘Heat Lap’ is a rough and moving delta styled improvisation on lap steel. Our hero Ignatz keeps on surprizing. After his fourth album he started to focus on country music. ‘She Gets All She Wants’ is the result, one of his most melodic workouts to date. Also Bridget Hayden presents a new side of her work. No drilling drone-riffs here but a hazey folk song, putting the Robert Burns poem ‘Aye Fond Kiss’ to music, with her guitar and voice drenched in reverb. Nathan Bowles is one of the three Black Twig Pickers. He dreams about Alabama girls alot. Classic style banjo core. Warm Climate is Seth Kasselman and his band. ‘Tourmaline Witches’ appeared on the ‘Pigeon Brides Weigh In’ cassette on Stunned Records. Seth jams like Bobb Trimble on acid, or Marc Bolan on ketamine..." kraak

vaqueros, llanuras y montañas, folk, country y blues, radios mal sintonizadas, voces con eco, etiopía vs oklahoma soul, un clima tropical y polvoriento que lo envuelve todo, y esa canción perfecta y definitiva de músicos que ya me gustaban y otros que me gustaban menos pero ahora me encantan porque por fin suenan a lo que siempre había deseado... 'she gets all she wants', 'ethio song' y 'aye fond kiss' en bucle

michael james tapscott with andrew kenower

"Michael James Tapscott is one half of internationally acclaimed fringe folk darlings, Odawas, but also an entire universe unto himself, and here it is his new solo record with field recordings by Andrew Kenower incorporated.
Taking psychotropic paths through forgotten exotic literature, extrapolating mysticism from the shag-toothed street peddlers, his is a world of wonder that seethes just below the surface of yer perspective skull jellies. Stitched together from an electric eclectic sonic palette where synthesizers sigh next to the jingle-jangle buzz of 12 steel strings and the plitter-patter purr of cybernetic drum circles.


And here is Michael, eyes wild and green, with his hand outstretched, some secret curling across his lips as they part, and he asks, "Would you to take a journey, old friend?" Assuming you didn't throw up, then hope that's ok. Be excited about where we can go together, regardless of where we might be." bookmaker

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

miaux

 
"warm thick tears force their ways out of droopy eyes, children cover their ears and peppep is rubbing his underbelly with sandpaper. the general gloom Miaux aka Mia Prce spreads on her sandwiches is darker than tatort and could easily replace any soundtrack of a fassbinder movie, the sad joy of a lady from sarajevo pushing her entire hands into a keyboard, don't ask her for a encore or you'll receive a grim reward!

it seems that a new breath of electronic music is blowing over antwerp, all in a sort of kubin/depressed pop/late wave/instrumental suicide kind of style who knows where the hell it came from, orphan fairytale's early antics, cassis and colombo, radio centraal...comes in a orange stencil printed cover design by dennis tearfus, your hands will be orange after holding it, limited to 150 copies. no reissues" ultra eczema


un teclado de juguete, suspiria, drácula, fassbinder, carnival of souls y mil y una referencias cinematográficas para un disco sencillo, breve y muy evocador. en rotación junto a mittland och leo, 'from the grave' de umberto y 'an empty bliss beyond this world' de the caretaker.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

michael tanner & sharron kraus

"As the title of their joint album suggest, this lp was recorded in the Rheidol Valley in Wales. Sharron and Michael took some instruments with them, went for a long walkin the valley, and did some recordings there. This results in a mix of improvisations, songs with a folk structure and some field recordings. The album has a very organic feel to it from start to finish." morc

"Michael and I have just released an album of field recordings  and improvisations we made here in Wales, in the valley behind my home. We sat by waterfalls and in fields with sheep in and played what we felt like playing. We ended up with about an hour of material, which Michael edited into In The Rheidol Valley." sharron kraus

"...a field recording can suggest very obvious geography, a sense of place in the world – a history, even – just with the merest of sounds; a fact which never fails to blow me away." michael tanner (plinth)
dibujo: seth neefus

steven r. smith | ulaan khol

"...mostly the solo stuff is just music I did on my own that doesn't have any set parameters, like Hala Strana or Ulaan Khol, to define it. With those projects, I know going into it that it's going to be this specific thing, but other times I just make music and it doesn't have any specific aesthetic that I'm trying to do and it needs to go somewhere so it usually just winds up under my own name, for lack of anything else. But having said that, I suppose looking back, some records like Kohl, or the Anchorite, and Owl as well, are a bit more personal and are usually more modest and minimal and probably do actually sound like one person in a room playing music, so it's fitting that it's released under my own name. The other end of that would be Hala Strana or Ulaan Khol where I am going out of my way to try and make it sound more like a group of people playing at once." steven r.smith


"La Catacomb, purloined from a great abyss of uncertainty, is finally among us. The fourth album proper from Smith’s blisteringly psychedelic “power trio” guise, La Catacomb languished for a few years awaiting release from this label & that before landing at Soft Abuse HQ. La Catacomb is the perfect follow-up to Ulaan Khol’s Ceremony trilogy, offering more smoulder than flame, more rumination than provocation. Smith's meticulously-crafted heavy drones & drift have rarely sounded this harmonic and zoned. Once again, he's pushed further out. Edition of 200, with gratis download." soft abuse

cualquier cosa relacionada con jewelled antler y alguno de sus supervivientes es siempre una muy buena noticia

Monday, January 09, 2012

lightning strike lightning

"L’animaux Tryst has put out a total of 3 releases by Lightning Strike Lightning. All three of these have been huge favorites here. The newest of which was put out recently in an edition of 33, now sold out at the label. Each copy includes a unique poloroid with hand-written tracklisting on it’s backside, all housed in a fabric sleeve. More great banjo/drum/vocal drone goodness with tasteful additions of electric guitars, a great follow up to “Turn Myself Into The Ocean”." broadcasts from poor farm


"...moments of breathless spectral visitation bloom alongside forest-folk recitations, bell loops drawn out to time-bending drone, heavy dirge remembrance, and general free-form folkery. While the murk of of the previous recordings has been dialed back a bit on Creepy Power, the gossamer echo chamber that remains—combined with the slightly-higher-fidelit—makes for a smoother ride and headier drift; this is one to get lost in. Special One-Time-Only Art Edition: Clear cassettes with in-house screen-printed labels, held in a case with double-sided reversible pro-printed j-card, each with a one-of-a-kind Land camera photograph taken by band member Sean Turley with tracklisting handwritten on back, held in a sewn fabric sleeve. Limited to 33." l'animaux tryst field recordings

sold out | free download 
(this is a gift from the beautiful broadcasts from poor farm)

Saturday, January 07, 2012

ocelote rojo

"Ocelote Rojo is Francisco Aravena from Santiago de Chile making amazing homemade recordings which you could describe as world lo-fi music with a tropical feel in them...it brings in mind a summer version of Hala Strana's sound without his droning part but with the same ability to capture beauty with an acoustic guitar." venus in leathers


 "psychedelic-ritual-tropical-ambientalistic guitar noodlings with a bit of field recordings." bad panda

 free download pacarina & nostalgia

Friday, January 06, 2012

the aloha spirit

“This Is Water, the first release from The Aloha Spirit, examines the interplay between stasis and movement using delayed synthesizers, cassette tape loops, and field recordings. Inspired by the repeating, but constantly evolving, nature of tides and precipitation, the pieces on This Is Water come together as layers of intricate loops overlap and blur into slow-moving rivers of sound. As tones puddle and dissolve, they expose the growth and decay inherent in repetition.” a giant fern

Thursday, January 05, 2012

annapurna illusion

"...The music on Life Is An Illusion is gigantic and all-encompassing, conjuring up images of towering mountains, lost gods and swirling cosmos. At the same time, he elegantly suffuses his insistent and open-ended drones with touches of industrial noise and saturation that in less capable hands would seem out of place or clumsy. As such, Life Is An Illusion is one of the most accomplished synth drone albums released this last decade, and a welcome addition to the great kosmische canon." the liminal


"Annapurna Illusion, from France, is the evil twin of Not Not Fun's High Wolf. 'Life Is An Illusion' is scattered with fizzing electric guitars and ambient raga's which unfurl with the might of a psychedelic blizzard, fogging the sponges of the brain and eyeballs with a wash of hallucinations where Ash Ra Temple jam for hours on end with Loop. Tropical repetitive rhythms drone and drift, guided by a swarm of breezy effects and celestial layered synths that engulf the base of the mountain in hypnotic swirls of colourful head spinning rituals before zipping airborne to glide in a state of tranced euphoria." clearspot

fotos: ƒenk

glowing rain family

"First release from Glowing Rain Family. Featuring members of Wrugs and Sleepy Villas."
 'drifter's devotion pt I', uno de los grandes olvidos de nuestros 'rewind' 2011. gracias Kyle!

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

the dove azima


Moving to the outer fringes of psych-folk, The Dove Azima is a deeply American recording. This solo project of Zack Hay has folk sensibilities much like John Fahey’s and hearkens to roots music from an era before the cultural tributaries of country and folk had parted ways. American avant-gardists have also crept much more into Hay’s sound since his last, more straightforward album, Bronze Horse. Hay himself had written of his interest in naïve experiences with guitar and he seems to have stumbled upon the steel string’s extended faculties a la Eugene Chadbourne. Hay’s detuned meditations can sometimes sound as weird as Jandek or sometimes lush and heady like Harry Partch’s microtonalities. Like a decayed American flag you found buried in the woods, The Dove Azima is one of the more brilliant pieces of Americana I’ve ever heard. It begs for many repeated listens and one oughtn’t neglect such a request.” Nat Roe, WFMU

Zack Hay hizo ese disco tan especial que se llama Bronze Horse, nombres de los que siempre buscas y rebuscas cosas nuevas, como Head of Wantastiquet aka Paul Labrecque, Willie Lane, Boots/c.c./Snake & Remus  o a partir de ahora Rafi Bookstaber. discos pequeños, a veces  un poco misteriosos por la falta de información, que acaban siendo los más grandes ("untitled X")

isengrind


"Solange Gularte (Natural Snow Buildings) returns for her second solo LP for Blackest Rainbow. A dreamy psychedelic haze of shimmering drones, minimal string plucking with barely-there vocals, Gularte's sound is somewhat more far out in comparison to say Twinsistermoon or Natural Snow Buildings. Night Of Raining Fire showcases this with tracks like the almost medieval sounding Still Voyager, or the outsider folk sound of Nadirs of the Sun. The record comes packaged in a stunning full colour sleeve covered in Gularte's strange surreal illustrators." blackest rainbow

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

wyld wyzrdz

mil gracias a braden por enviarnos el último y precioso regalo musical grabado bajo el nombre de wyld wyzrdz. en the road to acceptance canta, evocador y directo al corazón. en as we flow, que es como un disco dentro de un disco, perdemos de vista el mundo 

"Wyld Wyzrdz was a musical outlet for Braden J McKenna between 2008-2011. The wizards have been set free. Much love and peace."

...y en marzo 'the path we make' de kaliska, el nuevo proyecto de braden