microphones in the trees: September 2012

01. bed time ~ young man
    boy (frenchkiss, 2009)
02. néctar ~ miaux
      étude des têtus (taped sounds, 2012)
03. the last living legend ~ orphan fairytale
      comets comes alive (blackest rainbow, 2012)
04. from a harmonic algorithm ~ laurie spiegel
      unseen worlds (scarlet~infinite series, 1991)
05. kuoleman tappajan kuolema ~ lau nau
      valohiukkanen (fonal, 2012)
06. from sterling to snow ~ ricardo donoso
      assimilating the shadow (digitalis, 2012)
07. beached ~ lee noble
      persona (bridgetown, 2011)
08. celestial gaze ~ raajmahal
      unreleased track (kelippah, 2012)
09. untitled a4 ~ euglossine
      floridian abstract (housecraft, 2012)
10. jungle apparition ~ komodo haunts
      atoll phantasm, split with hobo cubes (hooker vision, 2012)
11. amnesia and comets ~ aloonaluna
      va ~ goldrush II, companion tape (goldrush, 2012)
12. you are the sun ~ inez lightfoot
      three weaving at the well (biological radio, 2012)
13. spacepony ~ bil vermette
      archives I (field studies, 2012)
14. aquasun no.5 ~ paul lemel & eric marving
aquasun (sylvester music company, 1974)
15. together again ~ gary sloan and clone
      harmonitalk (finders keepers, 1980~2012)
16. front porch rumbling ~ gonzález & steenkiste
      stuffed with the down of the eider (eiderdown, 2012)
17. untitled V ~ poor farm
      drifts along weakley hollow (poor farm editions press, 2012)
18. the hunters ~ john marshall
unknown, maybe from the documentary 'the hunters'
19. for you ~ jeffrey cain
      for you (raccoon, 1970)
20. faretheewell (fred's tune) ~ fred neil
      fred neil (cap., 1966)
21. main theme ~ bernard herrmann
      taxi driver o.s.t (arista, 1976)
22. chimera ~ pierrot lunaire
      exercise in futility (semata, 2012)
23. morning ~ langsyne
      langsyne (garden of delights, reissue 2012)
24. merry go round ~ j.d. emmanuel
      sound paintings (rain forest music, 1980)
25. tangi tahiti ~ webley edwards
      hawaii calls: exotic instruments vol IV (cap., 1961)
26. constantly collapsing paradise ~ zonotope
      cruising through the hypersphere of resonance (2010)
27. my birthday on iscandar ~ 400 lonely things
iscandarian sunset~split with transmuteo (rotifer, 2012)
28. cnidarian sunset ~ transmuteo
      iscandarian sunset~split with 400 lonely things (rotifer, 2012)
29. paradise found ~ martin denny
      quiet village (liberty, 1959)
30. lady (fallin' in love) ~ d. wilson
unreleased album landlocked (cap., 1972)

download part I & II

fotos: lauren wisnewski & casey bunæn

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

former selves / quiet evenings

former selves ~ build (hooker vision, 2012)

"For those only familiar with Paul Skomsvold's hazy tapes of blissful drone, this disc may come as something of a surprise. Recorded prior to Many Moons, Build is the missing link between Paul's early experiments in lo-fi rock and his more recent excursions into pure sound. A perfect soundtrack for the final days of summer."

foto: melissa catanese

sold out ~ listen ~ free download

quiet evenings / former selves ~ riverbend/future nostalgia (constellation tatsu, 2012)

"Descend into the deeply personal sound of Quiet Evenings and experience music in both time and space. Gradually resurface on the sustained, perfumed bubble of Former Selves’ soporific harmonies" costellation tatsu

foto: lil bavvers

bandcamp ~ buy

former selves ~ limits (rotifer, 2012)

"slow motion nostalgia from Former Selves...soundtracks to lost love scenes, blurry 8mm film montages of carousel rides, memories of a beach sunset. highly accessible, emotive synth movements, that seem impossible to resist. the soundscape is thick, and full, but never crowded or overbearing. a beautiful confluence of warm layers and clean, crisp delicate sounds. there is an elegant simplicity in the four track c20. peaceful, honest compositions, absolutely meant to be enjoyed, and effortlessly successful. stunning physical product. retro futurist art, pro printed, pro dubbed limited to sixty copies. grab directly from Rotifer." guide me little tape

buy ~ listen ~ download

siempre es motivo de alegría cualquier cosa que salga de los dedos mágicos de rachel y grant, hooker vision, rotifer y el recién llegado costellation tatsu (hakobune, cankun), pero former selves, el mago de la nostalgia por excelencia, es una debilidad personal... qué bonita 'future nostalgia', el perfecto equilibrio entre sensibilidad y ciencia, una de esas melodías que dejan huella de verdad. las imágenes que lleva dentro y que desencadenan un estado de ánimo de melancolía y emoción son pura ciencia ficción musical, la demostración empírica de que existen otros planetas ambient. y están aquí. porque el cambio a partir del minuto cinco me deja sin respiración, capas y capas de teclados entrelazándose con una tímida percusión que avanza dulce y delicada, conscientemente anacrónica y triste. sólo un deseo, que siga el estado de gracia de paul skomsvold (al que pronto tendremos de gira por españa y también en portugal, porto) y que siga haciéndonos levitar por mucho tiempo

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

parrots

parrots ~ parrots (self~released, 2008)

bird island, cinamon island, green island, henry island, york island...

listen~buy

Saturday, September 22, 2012

joshua abrams

joshua abrams ~ represencing (eremite, 2012)

"Represencing is an ethereal collection of static snapshots, spirited over sonic sand dunes by the textured tonal linger of Abrams’ guimbri (a traditional North African stringed instrument).

recorded at home, abrams again organizes small group statements around the resonant grooves of the guimbri with a unique & broadly assimilative compositional voice. sources from traditional musics to minimalism, jazz to krautrock, animate represencing, but Abrams is always grounded in the solidity of true working musicianship & he proves himself an artist fluent not just in styles but traditions. abrams' guest musicians embrace his polyglot approach. goaded by abrams to focus on a particular facet of their musical vocabularies, jeff parker & emmett kelly appear as finely contrasting rhythm guitarists, michael zerang gets virtuosic on a tambourine, david boykin devotes himself to altissimo long-tones & circular breathing, jason stein's bass clarinet, or, as with nicole mitchell's diaphanous choir of flute parts, function as landscape. the moondog-influenced "sungazer" is an aria for tomeka reid's spirited cello. throughout the album gong rhythms, synthesizer "sub" bass, harmonium & organ return as unifying coloristic elements. abrams likens the overall concept to "entering a forest from different directions", sandy bull's duets with billy higgins, don cherry, arnold dreyblatt, hamza el din, popul vuh, & pharaoh sanders as inspirations." eremite

foto via peter harris

listen/buy

Friday, September 21, 2012

dredd foole with mv & ee

dredd foole with mv & ee ~ blues sermon with congregation lp (humito, 2012)

"Blues Sermon With Congregation is basically a trio set, with Dredd Foole aka Dan Ireton on vocals and guitar backed by Matthew Valentine and Erika Elder in full-on Spectrasound head-fuck mode. Christina Carter also guests on one track, here credited as Christiina Madoniia. Blues Sermon combines the kind of wood and wire vortices of Alan Silva and the Revolutionary Ensemble with those amazing post-Starsailor/Buckley vocal flights, keening in a high cosmo style that is just impossibly beautiful. With free folk the emphasis was always on the free part of the equation, an improvisatory stance that was lost on most beards but this is the absolute apex of that approach, think Robbie Basho’s spine-tingling take on “Salangadou” as played by Don Cherry’s Organic Music Society and with Pat Kilroy on form-destroying raga guitar and feedback visions. Matt & Erika generate some of their most F/X heavy sonic environments, Christina Carter ascends through visions of atonal vocal/guitar bliss and the trio rip through a take on Robert Johnson’s “Stones In My Pathway” that sounds like it is being broadcast over centuries via Sun Ra’s vision of tomorrow in yesterday. A stunning avant/folk/psych private press masterpiece in an edition of only 400 copies. Highest possible recommendation!" volcanic tongue

creo que a partir de ahora, cuando lea la palabra 'spectrasound' inmediatamente pensaré en 'blues sermon with congregation' y especialmente en el hechizo hecho canción llamado 'oro is god', cuya chriistina madoniia no es otra que nuestra querida christina carter. es tan fácil entender el entusiasmo de david keenan y heather leigh murray y que sea 'tip of the tongue' y tan difícil explicar el porqué... blues sermon no es ese 'otro' disco de mv & ee, es folk espectral de la pradera extraído directamente de las raíces de child of microtones, jazz, blues pantanoso, avant, experimental y tradicional, demasiado 'demasiado' para poder describirlo. sólo puedo recomendar de corazón este encuentro casi fantasmal entre dredd foole, erika elder, matt valentine y christina carter, que, a pesar de no ser un disco fácil, es de los que hace honor al tópico y consigue que cada nueva escucha sea un descubrimiento de nuevas sensaciones, tan creativo y rico en matices como clásico y fascinante. todo encaja a la perfección en un encuentro improvisado y lleno de misterio en el que sólo faltaría otro ser de otro mundo para que fuera más que perfecto: keijo virtanen y sus rambling boys. y además está editado en humito, el sello de rafi bookstaber.

out of stock ~ download

Thursday, September 20, 2012

günter schlienz

günter schlienz ~ tape studies (sicsic, 2012)

"Günter Schlienz is a quiet handed modular scientist, building his own instruments to create quality cosmic sounds. but we won’t spill the beans about the technical details and the specific process it took to cook up this high octane ambient music. all we are allowed to share ist that it’s all about Reel-To-Reel and Echos n’ Delay and Modular Synthesizers ~ but the exact recipe’s locked up in a secret Hobbykeller-Laboratory located somewhere unknown in Stuttgart. all you can do is: get some of Günter’s sonic narcotics, plug in your headphones and travel space without leaving the comfort zone of your couch!" sicsic

minimalismo y microscopismo, trocitos de sonidos cortados y pegados en estado de duermevela, recuerdos y sonidos familiares que no consigues ubicar... el misterioso duende günter schlienz acaba de llegar y se esconde detrás de viejos sintetizadores que a veces ('presentation four') parecen un theremin (el instrumento más fascinante del mundo de los instrumentos fascinantes): spel de kandahar, étude des têtus de miaux, archives I de bil vermette y tape studies de günter schlienz. cuatro discos favoritos de este año que por el aura añejo y especial que desprenden y que tanto me recuerdan al retrofuturismo de los años cincuenta y a las composiciones de louis y bebe barron en 'forbidden planet', no puedo evitar relacionar entre sí. poco puedo añadir a las palabras de guide me little tape y honest bag, sólo insistir en lo mucho que agradezco que sellos como taped sounds, sicsic tapes o field studies estén ahí, recordándonos que siempre habrá un nuevo tesoro por descubrir

dibujo: paul flanderky

sold out ~ listen ~ download

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

m. sage

m. sage ~ music for interior shadows (patient sounds, 2011)

"with Music For Interior Shadows, Fort Collins-based artist Matthew Sage focuses on what’s missing. while sonically inspired by the recent lost memories of The Caretaker, Sage’s real thread to pull came after visiting Dan Flavin’s light sculpture exhibit at the MoMA last month in New York City. He was particularly moved by the way it utilized the space between physical elements to create composition, not the light fixtures themselves he explains, but the shadows they cast. upon returning home, Sage dove into a stack of old records with the idea of finding minimal chunks of sound and turning them into absent compositions. what resulted is a pure and tragic, era-bending experience." stadiums & shrines

matthew sage, además de dirigir el sello patient sounds (meadowlands, nate henricks,...), edita su propia música como m. pyres o m. sage y, a veces, explora el mismo territorio emocional que the caretaker. todo lo que he escuchado hasta ahora merecería una entrada y una retahíla de adjetivos que hicieran justicia a tanta belleza, especialmente into the world ep y los orgánicos esbozos de chautauqua (loops) tape, pero me gustaría que 'music for interiors', una pequeña maravilla, no quedara en el olvido.. notas susurradas más que tocadas, música etérea y abstracta tan sumamente evocadora creada a partir de canciones, retazos, ideas sacadas de discos antiguos, una fórmula mágica y para mí inagotable que, como leyland kirby, parece detener el tiempo a su alrededor mientras está sonando: el eco lejano de vinilos antiguos, violines, bailes de salón de los cincuenta, el delicado crujir del vinilo,... una debilidad personal

foto: ana kras

sold out ~ free download

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

kandahar

kandahar - spel (taped sounds, 2012)

"on demand: a small extra run of this extremely nice historical recording. two lovely minimal compositions, recorded in 1982 by this Belgian prog / jazz band, for the Samuel Beckett play "Spel". a soft mix of guitars and synth using the memory moog, korg sigma and fender strato. recorded on a fostex tape recorder. originally released on Hara Productions in 1983 as "Kandahar: Spel - Samuel Beckett" on cassette. (first edition of 150 copies in yellow covers. second edition of 50 copies in grey covers. out of print!)" edições cetacean nation communications

"weird soundtrack reissue from Lieven Martens of Dolphins Into The Future’s imprint, two minimal compositions recorded in 1982 by this progressive Belgian group as a soundtrack to Samuel Beckett’s play Spel. guitar, synth and percussion... " volcanic tongue

otra burbuja de nostalgia y placidez, otra preciosísima delicatessen a baja fidelidad del sello de Lieven Martens. la cara b es puro elixir sonoro, sintetizadores vintage que harían las delicias de Miaux... no sabría cómo definir el sonido del memorymoog y el korg sigma pero es como si brotase directamente de planetas desconocidos, una sensación parecida a lo que me produce el theremin, instrumentos que de tan bonitos, evocadores y anacrónicos no parecen reales

out of print ~ download

Monday, September 17, 2012

kaliska / ashan

kaliska / ashan ~ night spell / white light (inner islands, 2012)

" ...when approaching a recording I try to be as honest with myself as possible, only keeping what really needs to be on the record. I want to make music that is totally open and honest, music that comes from a loving place. I want my music to feel human. I guess my intention in creating the music could lead to the organic feeling you have experienced" braden

"Ashan music is a new channel being explored by sean conrad, previous explorer of gkfoes vjgoaf. Ashan is to be a place for healing, loving, and openness. the music of Ashan is to be given and received with an open heart. it is teaching from 'the gentle way', the way of Ashan. i have a feeling or experience that i want to share with others. from my heart and spirit. it comes out as sounds and images mostly. it’s really just energy. i feel love for this world of individuals and want to express that." sean

la emoción de volver a escuchar algo nuevo de inner islands, de saber que de un momento a otro recibirás un mensaje en tu correo y te despertarás con dos canciones tan bonitas... lo verdaderamente mágico de estas dos nuevas canciones de kaliska y ashan es que de alguna manera, y aunque suene a tópico, sintetiza a la perfección la mayoría de ingredientes que braden y sean han ido cocinando y regalando, de forma literal, como gkfoes vjgoaf, wyld wyzrdz, ashan o kaliska: night spell y white light están llenas de matices y guiños a su propio mundo, esa sensación única de euforia y felicidad que sólo dos personas tan especiales pueden transmitir... nadie suena como ellos, el sello inner islands

listen & buy

Sunday, September 16, 2012

richard youngs

richard youngs ~ rurtain (alter, 2012)

"split into two parts, “Rurtain” is a new elec-tronic piece which picks up from where the “Core To The Brave” lp on Root Strata left off, but taking a more abstract road into something more skeletal and strange. In the first part, broken beats cluster around minimal hits of percussion and wordless vocals that sound like they’re trapped in a vacuum, evoking a slightly unsettling atmosphere. things become a little more celebratory in the second part with the addition of some very erratic organ playing, giving an ecstatic and almost ‘free-jazz’ feel to the piece. the b-side features three very different interpretations of Richard’s originals by Neil Campbell (Astral Social Club), John Clyde-Evans and Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never). Neil’s version expands the organ of the second piece into a huge kaleidoscopic drone, whilst John hones in on the woodblock and percussion to make something more metallic and abrupt. finally Daniel Lopatin closes the lp grandly by adding violent stabs of digital synth and mel-ancholic guitar playing to Richard’s voice, almost creating a kind of futuristic ballad." alter

listen ~ buy

hobo cubes / komodo haunts

hobo cubes/komodo haunts ~ breathing/atoll phantasm (hooker vision, 2012)

"The Hobo man is back again on Hooker Vision to put his fractured take on dub music. Spin this at the club and you’re bound to get your freaky ass thrown out. On the B side, British newcomer, Komodo Haunts, delivers a gentle set of cool, reflective beach zones. The comedown yin to Hobo Cubes’ yang party" hooker vision

sabía antes de escucharlo que ésta sería mi colaboración favorita en lo que va de año, la magia de ver tan sólo los nombres, los títulos y el sello. hobo cubes más acuáticos, relajantes y de corazón que nunca (lazy in heaven!), un bálsamo de dub, drones e incluso un poquito de jazz. komodo haunts tan orgánicos y húmedos y tropicales como en el disco de la palmera editado no hace mucho en sangoplasmo y con el que había experimentado un flechazo tan especial, los dos juntos nos llevan de paseo por la isla de la foto. me despierto con jungle apparition y las flautillas lejanas de streams through thick air y, con permiso de lieven moana, pienso que si hablamos de clima y de bucles no hay nada que me transporte como lo hace la música, dulce y diminuta, del astronauta ollie tuttie. cuanto más lo escucho, más me gusta. todo fluye como si estuvieras en un sueño... hooker vision que estás en los cielos

komodo haunts ~ hobo cubes ~ buy ~ download

Saturday, September 15, 2012

matthe shaw

matthew shaw - there was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be (blackest rainbow, 2012)

Beautiful new CDR from Matthew Shaw, the man behind Tex La Homa and Apollolaan Recordings, and one half of the Blue Tree (with Andrew Paine) and Fougou (with Brian Lavelle). Shaw has released some beautiful work across these various projects as well so some fantastic records on Apollolaan. This new 40 minute piece was recorded in inner city Vancouver BC (Canada), hedges in Sandbach, Cheshire (UK) Blandford Forum and surrounding Dorset countryside (UK) & Zeist and it's woods (The Netherlands), blending field recordings and instrumentation. Colour covers featuring photography by Matthew from various locations where the recording of this album took place. 80 copies.

buy - listen

Thursday, September 13, 2012

michael hurley

michael hurley ~ back home with drifting woods lp (mississippi, 2012)

"Unbelievably great Hurley recordings from 1964....never before heard. Recorded by Fred Ramsey as part of the same sessions that resulted in Michael's "First Songs" LP on Folkways. Pretty psychedelic classics, sad drifty little tunes, harmonica solos & hallicinatory lyrics that can very well put you into some kinda trance. ...After that we get to hear two great compositions for the first time, & man oh man are they pretty - "Hey Hey Hey Hey" & "I Love You Babe".

Real great stuff all around that we recommend for deep into it Hurley fans & newcomers to his art alike. Michael Hurley is a great American song writer with his own unique way of seeing the world & this LP is a great testament to his vision. Faux folkways wraparound cover with liner note insert by Hurley himself. Co-release with our friends Nero's Neptune." drift

ocho perfectas miniaturas folk, ocho grabaciones caseras de 1964 que nunca habían visto la luz hasta hoy. gracias por tanta belleza, mr. hurley!

foto: leanne bentley

buy ~ download

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

naps / electric sea spider

naps / electric sea spider ~ aquatic not aquatic / wet shirts (this thing, 2012)

"sun drenched and submerged beats span coral seas and tropical jungles. a translation of the natural world through mesmeric and subsuming rhythms. washed out harmonies, incessantly reshaping in form, forever in motion, not confined to a limited space" naps

sold out ~ listen

naps ~ earthsea + fauna (this thing, 2012)

'melbourne’s naps, has created his own ecosystem of music. his infinitely stretching palette of samples and drums sound like nothing if not organic. 'fauna' deals with south american rain forest vibes, using clear pan flute above gushing sounds and erratic tom drums. eventually a distinguishable rhythm is heard with the aid of a deliciously soft and rubbery kick drum.' ~ portals

"fauna, a bonus track exclusive to the physical release, is something special. the three minute track is a muffled, atmospheric journey. the highlight of the track, besides its ambient tractorbeam-like nature, is these trailing woodwinds drifting far off in the background. catch the wave, bruh." marinate

foto: elliot michael fairhurst

listen~buy / fauna

five tracks from naps

lunar miasma

lunar miasma ~ managing the dream (tranquility tapes, 2012)

"Grecian synth lord Panos Alexiadis has been releasing music steadily as Lunar Miasma over the past three years, ratcheting up the intensity significantly with each new missive. Managing the Dream is certainly no exception in that regard, diving deep into a world of lucid dreams and nighttime hallucinations. There's a real narrative feel to the release, consisting of two dense, long-form pieces in the middle and two short but sweet pieces at each end. Showcasing his impressive abilities as a player, Alexiadis unleashes rapid-fire keyboard solos that dance atop gorgeous melodic loops which sound as though they were imported from another realm. The dream is under your control and the possibilities are endless...what will you do next?" tranquility tapes

sold out ~ try ~ listen ~ download

lunar miasma ~ false memories (sacred phrases, 2011)

"gorgeous ambient synth music that floats and progresses in a uniquely melodic and spacious manner. for that reason, Panos Alexiadis has a truly distinct voice, and his numerous releases always arrive to high expectations. his latest album is another example of why few artists can compete with Alexiadis. four pieces of haunting glacial beauty unfold over two sides, reverberating and melting into one another, while False Memories builds into a truly magical work of art." zen effects

sold out ~ download

lunar miasma ~ impermanent nature (sicsic tapes, 2012)

"Lunar Miasma from Greece is handing over three pieces of lush synthesizer meditations. Berlin-School-Style? Of course,… but: despite the now wide spread love for mid-seventies-adventures-in-modular-music „Impermanent Nature“ goes beyond the style of its ancestors. Panos Alexiadis effortlessly reaches out into stellar and colorful sonic worlds unmapped and the recorded music on „Impermanent Nature“ is in contrast to its title a constant source of energy. we don’t know how Panos does the trick, but listening over and over we’ve been flabbergasted. deep shit, no kidding" sicsic tapes

sold out ~ name your price

fotos: luke byrne

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

maestro mariano peres

m. m. peres ~ la evolución del notocordio (self release, 2012)

"el album "La Evolución del Notocordio" está compuesto por dos tiernas baladas del siglo V, rayos de propaganda política y sinestesia india... alcohol de leche quemada y el tercer ojo mas revolucionario del mundo. la primera parte (Side A) fue grabada junto a "Edu, the trumpeter" en su apacible casa de las sierras de Córdoba.

the album "La Evolución del Notocordio" comes from the river "Sinestesia India", a course of yellow water in the mountains of Calamuchita. I make this music as part of a ritual called: "Fulminar La Mente del tipo Facebook" salvita cresta

~~ two long astro-music sessions by m.m. peres ~~

download

quartz safari

quartz safari ~ pineal origins (rotifer, 2011)

"Pineal Origins by Quartz Safari is remarkably complex compared to a lot of other ambient-type electronic recordings that I've heard. rather than just choosing a few notes to drone over the duration of ten minutes and then call it a day, these recordings take serene field recordings (birds, water, etc.), heavily digitized electronic manipulations, and very light sounding guitar recordings and pack them into very dense ambient soundscapes that are some of the best I've heard. definitely a great overseas collaboration, US to Norway, that shouldn't go unheard for fans of dense ambient electronic music." prog archives

"debut release from the American-Norwegian collaboration between Robert Thompson (aka Mohave Triangles) and Sepehr Nabi. 40 minutes of psychedelic ambient, full of processed and glitchy guitar improvisations and occasional field recordings" weed temple

parafraseando a noise is a friend: etéreo: 1. del latín aether, que es intangible o poco definido y, a la vez, sutil o sublime. 2. relativo al éter. 3. de las esferas celestes, celestial. 4. una palabra preciosa, que flota, que no pesa. 5. fluido vaporoso, sutil, invisible, imponderable y elástico que, según cierta hipótesis, llenaba todo el espacio, y por su movimiento vibratorio transmitía la luz, el calor y otras formas de energía. 6. algo que no parece de este mundo, como Old Joy de Kelly Reichardt, el autorretrato de Munch o la música de Quartz Safari. ojalá pudiera decir algo realmente bonito sin sonar repetitiva ni recurrir a los tópicos, pero lo que de verdad importa es, como en las películas, ese momento en que escuchas un disco y te llega de forma especial... en realidad como todo lo relacionado con Mohave Triangles y en este caso el trío perfecto que forma con Seperh Nabi y Rotifer

sold out ~ free download

Monday, September 10, 2012

secret birds

secret birds • in hex [no kings 2012]

"Damon Black of Australia recorded this audio cryptogram of interlocking loops, riffs, and textures when he was living in Tokyo in 2011. Moment to moment, this record is hitting many touchstones, part Kraut / psychedelic / drone, but always expansive, outward, and visual. Shapes and forms: waves, hexagons, prisms, serpentines, pyramids. A druggy wah in the distance buried over with fuzzy ether. Edition of 80 pro-dubbed tapes with risograph artwork." no kings

listen | buy

fotola: jordan carmignani

Sunday, September 09, 2012

mv & ee

mv & ee - space homestead (woodsist, 2012)

Coming at Space Homestead after heavy lifting with the recent Suub Duub live box, the first thing that hits you is the heightened articulacy of the group’s arrangements, which somehow stand out amid the blissfully languid performances. There are plenty of beautiful MV & EE songs out there, but very few quite as weightless and hallucinatory as “Moment,” where Valentines’s falsetto melts into Elder’s dream-sigh, buoys bobbing in an estuary of reverb for two criminally short minutes, while guitar and piano play a lover’s retreat, easy and gentle. The first half of Space Homestead feels almost uncommonly beatific and becalmed, the group playing through a haze of smoke, with Valentine and Elder’s voices sitting somewhere between an unforced drawl and soft susurration.

The second side of the record hits heavier. “Too Far To See” starts drowsy, swimming out on a tide of slide guitar, but about 90 seconds in, the song cuts to a more tense and fervid pace, as though David Crosby and his gang got all uptight during the recording of “Laughing.” When you reach the closing “Porchlight,” MV & EE finally surrender the reins to their more extended side, with what sounds like live recordings, carved up, exposed to the elements, and then bolted on to the front of a particularly weightless chunk of meandering blues, close to perhaps MV & EE’s clearest predecessors, the great Souled American. But it’s the preceding “Wasteland” that hits hardest, gifted with a graceful, slow, countrified gait, Elder and Valentine singing in unison over chord changes that seem to pull the ground out from underneath your feet, leaving you suspended mid-air and happy with it, before a fuzz-tone guitar solo carves firework shapes through the clouds. It’s another in a long line of seductive drift-songs from this most wise, peripatetic and yet enigmatic duo. dusted magazine

buy - download

Friday, September 28, 2012