microphones in the trees: October 2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

günter schlienz


"cooling drift over soft terrain; smooth modular ambient for inner voyages (Inspired by the book of Peter Michael Hamel.)"

buff, qué se puede decir a estas alturas del misterioso duende güenter schlienz. sabemos que acaba de publicar dos de mis discos favoritos de este año, los intimistas "tape studies" y "furniture sounds", que desde 1987 lleva dedicado a la música, fue músico de la calle, profesor, y lo más importante, construye sus propios instrumentos, sintetizadores modulares y guitarras. en "trough music to the self", inspirado en el libro de peter michael hamel, alcanza un nivel de belleza fuera de este mundo, de verdad que si tape studies es una obra maestra, "through music to the self" es igual de detallista, igual de elegante, igual de sutil. un trocito de satie con filtro cósmico, una experiencia sensorial y física que alcanza el clímax en el hipnótico "capítulo III". así al vuelo, y sin ser ninguna experta en sonidos electrónicos, las diferencias entre las tres cassettes no parecen muy reconocibles, de hecho tengo la sensación de que para tener la fotografía completa hay que escuchar los tres discos como una misma obra. günter contacta con el más allá en el 'capítulo I', construye nanas fantasmales de extrema fragilidad, casi transparentes, a partir de un loop que una vez más me recuerda al theremin, sube y baja, las adorna, envuelve y acaricia con silencios y diversos tratamientos electrónicos de trazo elegante y pausa delicada, minimalista. si fuera una imagen, o una palabra, pienso en moléculas, como las de la portada de 'furniture sounds', en células volátiles que hacen cosquillas. llega y se aleja envuelto en brumas, como esos drones que parecen olas que despiden el disco en el "capítulo cinco" ('encuentra tu frecuencia personal a través del poder de la respiración'). 'hacia el interior a través de la música', definitivamente, el perfecto compañero de viaje de 'on sea-faring isolation' y 'the voice of the silence' de dolphins into the future

out of print ~ download

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

sashash ulz


"a fresh and vibrant stream coming from Petrozavodsk, Karelia. this album has been recorded over an old tape, pressing rec/stop any time Sasha felt like. not really bothering to calculate track/side lengths, there’s no soundwork either (except the lowest-finest). no clear concept throughtout the record, all tracks are first takes. delayed guitar compositions erupt into creepy organ washes, interrupted by poppy instrumentals with Ariel Pinkish cardboard drumming and even a raga-esque acoustic guitar piece." fon 

"after a cassette release on great Sweat Lodge Guru and a split work with Swim with a carrot (as Dva Zagorodnyh Doma) Sasha delivers a new full-length work 'Voln'. ten lo-fi tropical jams with transliterated Russian titles open for you a muzzy and elusive world of slurred but sharp, enticing but righteous feelings and colors. unstable blurred drones, far/low guitars and handmade sounds will like a weather make you a whole day." ddb

sold out ~ listen ~ download

Monday, October 29, 2012

hanetration / stelliform


"London’s Hanetration has released a record this year that has really taken me by surprise with the experimental electronica ep Torn Heat. Stretching very far outside of the usual tonal identity of modern electronica, there is an extensive diversion of the drone that sets place into all of the melodic ideas on the record. Removing a lot of percussive elements, the music wavers into abstract form with synthetically fabricated rhythms to keep the body of motion in a forward progression. Torn Heat is an odyssey of the past, present and future in many ways, forming a musical pallet of sound that speaks a tribalistic and cosmic voice. With most albums, it takes awhile to process what I felt and what the experience revealed to me. With Torn Heat, I immediately became deeply encased inside of the experience and have not felt the same since." sound colour vibration



"Stelliform’s knack for creating massive, heavenly atmosphere is on full display as warm, hazy synthesizers loop and layer. It’s a beautifully slow growing piece that relaxes. It doesn’t rush anything, just intelligently takes care of things calmly and smoothly as to avoid disrupting any ambiance. The entire album just feels very accepting and inviting, luring you in to soak up the atmosphere and bask in it’s warmth. Lofi percussion echoes far off, like foot steps in the distance, only chiming in at key moments throughout the track. Everything comes together to create this faded, dreamy masterpiece. The synths occupy the space inside your head and envelop you with their lavish atmosphere." heart and soul


Sunday, October 28, 2012

chicaloyoh


"Chicaloyoh is the Alice Dourlen solo project, a music between soundscape exploration and intimate contemplation, a mix of guitar, keyboards and percussions from distant and various horizon. Chicaloyoh is a one woman band that will attract those who like the priestesses singings of Inca Ore or Zola Jesus. she is also part of the dark church trio Folle Eglise and has a collaboration with High Wolf called Woodoo Mount Sister."

"Alice Dourlen’s phantom vocals and otherworldly guitar comes echoing straight from the heart. Her spiritual offerings manifest themselves into a series beautiful psychedelic songs accompanied by pounding drums and spiralling outer space keyboards they create a very haunting personal album." bumtapes


banda sonora ideal para recorrer tu desierto favorito flotando en vez de caminando, como las muñecas de los dibujos de alice dourlen (muchas de las canciones tienen nombres de desiertos, 'las bardenas reales', 'atacama', 'sonora',...). en realidad, improvisaciones grabadas en el cobertizo (¿cabaña?) de Alice y aderezadas con voces fantasmales, percusiones nebulosas y una producción opaca que recuerda a inca ore, pocahaunted, second family band,...

dibujos: alice dourlen 

Saturday, October 27, 2012

cannibal movie


After the reissue of 'Avorio' in lp by Sounds of Cobra, Donato Epiro & Gaspare Sammartano come back noting less to the small armenian label, yerevan tapes. Two long underground jams are the best recording of the duo and own Donato. The first side takes you in a hypnotic journey to the afterlife, I like to think (even if only organ and percussion) in early Amon Düül, the darkest ambient of German Oak and surrounded by accumulated strain that doesn't end to explode, as the great recording of japanese Jacks. The other side begins more meditative and at times ethereal, until the percussion of Gaspare opens the path to a ceremony of a secret brotherhood with dissonant textures and hypnotic pulse.

Tras la reedición de 'Avorio' en lp por Sounds of Cobra, Donato Epiro & Gaspare Sammartano regresan al cassette, nada menos que al pequeño sello armenio para ser la tercera referencia tras The Dreams y Gianni Giublena Rosacroce. Dos largos jams subterráneos que me parecen la mejor grabación del dúo y de Donato. La primera cara se sumerge en un viaje hipnótico al más allá, me gusta pensar (aunque sólo haya órgano y percusión) en los primeros Amon Düül, el oscurísimo ambient carvernoso de German Oak y en la tensión que durante más de 13 min se va acumulando y no termina de estallar, como el genial disco de los japoneses Jacks. La otra cara comienza más meditativa y por momentos etérea, hasta que la percusión de Gaspare abre el sendero hacia la ceremonia de una hermadad secreta con texturas y paisajes disonantes y pulso hipnótico.
 
listen / out Nov 2012

micromelancolié


"Micromelancolié, aka Poland-based musician Robert Skrzyński, is the owner of the 49manekinów net-label and the co-owner of 77industrie net-label. Robert's works can be described as deformed repetitive ambience with a dynamic micro activity in a sound that is created in non traditional way by using no-input mixing board, old VHS tapes, classic analogues and field recordings.


Skrzyński’s approach to the issue of samples reminds me of going through one’s personal scrapbook ~ an archive of the most secret, intimate symbols and metaphors which are totally incomprehensible but seem to be driven by some internal order.  lazy drones and funeral strings are layered together with a cackling of cheerful chickens, birds chirping. the most mesmerising piano is having a chat with group of flute scraps and an industrial loop. but what’s most important here: his music is a collage, not chaos, it’s a subtle symphony made of one’s handy mess. Skrzyński never loses his wits so everything is falling into right place, carefully caressing the ear and lighting up the atmosphere of your reading room. It’s postmodern mysticism, hot and dusty sampledelia similiar to Kurek’s Heat or Basinki’s Disintegration Loops in miniature." easterndaze

"few days after will be released "gravity boat editions" by australian twice removed label. editions contain remastered, expanded version of Gravity Boats + some remixes" 

jokiz, otro minúsculo sello finés fuente inagotable de tesoros (mt. tjhris/fallen axe split). y cuántos de ellos condenados injustamente al olvido, algo que por cosas tan íntimas y abstractas (será un theremin lo que suena al final?) como la canción/corte/tema/composición que da título al disco no debería ocurrir. si 'owl eater' era un disco de atardecer, 'gravity boat' es un cuaderno de bocetos y pequeños detalles para escuchar al amanecer: pianos, voces de niños, glitchs, campanas de monasterio, drones, bucles infinitos y muchos pajaritos, cuervos, gaviotas... decía jackie farrow en foxy digitalis que "robert can sample almost anything and turn it into a work of art" y no puede ser más verdad



Friday, October 26, 2012

robert aiki aubrey lowe


"visionary neo-tantric synth minimalism and Afro-futurist rhythms from Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, making his solo debut outside of revered work as Lichens and a sometime member of Om. 'Timon Irnok Manta' marks the start of a compelling new trajectory for Lowe, one which promises to uproot drone music and give it new coordinates by seamlessly incorporating a wider palate of influence from dub in a way which has, arguably, not been explored before. 'M'Bondo' connects his contemporary practice with more ancient rites; waves of mesmerising modular synth layer and accumulate a dark, wyrd energy not dissimilar to the recent Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement releases, but with a freer, subtly unstable element precipitating infectious, purposeful pulses and rhythms ~ before we know it we're twitching and grooving to a plonging bass cadence (you don't dance to drone records we hear you say! you might to this one) which builds and roils like Nate Young meets Frank Bretschneider while maintaining a cosmic poise all of his own making. the spellbinding B-side 'M'Bondo' builds on this sound beautifully, adding layers of his own vocal ~ sounding some way between Grouper, AFX and Popol Vuh ~ to a mixing desk-carved dub rhythm more akin to one of Mark & Moritz's most depleted Rhythm & Sound versions than any of his peers, and eventually giving birth to a quizzical synth spume which recedes and flickers thru the skeletal structure like some nano-bot organism performing esoteric duties." boomkat 

los tres samples de boomkat saben a poco, pero de verdad que bastan tres segundos para darte cuenta de que es uno de esos diez, veinte, treinta, cincuenta discos de los que te enamoras cada año y que necesitas dar a conocer al primer click. el oca a oca y tiro porque me toca de facebook a veces tiene estas cosas tan gratificantes. gracias grizzly prospector!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

mike bruno + the black magic family band


"Mike Bruno & the Black Magic Family Band's album The Willing of the Wisps has the charm of backwoods religious-cult-folk music mixed with a touch of Jandekian isolation. The songs do not reveal themselves to you easily, but the sound of the listening experience is thrilling...if you want to get lost that is...deep, in acoustic guitar lines, mournful ballad voices, and "out there" percussion hits. Bravo!" cassette gods

"One of the only truly psychedelic bands I've seen all year and the stuff sounds great on tape and vinyl. Philly based Mike Bruno and his crew inhabit the hushed realms of the deep mind. For fans of the golden rectangle, Robyn Nice et al." free form freakout



Wednesday, October 24, 2012

anvil salute


"We’re pleased to welcome Anvil Salute back to Deep Water, as their previous release for the label ~ This Is the Voice of Doom Calling ~ has long been an in-house favorite. Several years in the slo-mo making, Black Bear Rug marks the group’s first foray into full-length multi-track recording, with a rich sound that weaves mandolin, accordion, banjo, ektara, esraj and flute into the drifting blend of acoustic & electric guitars, upright bass, and drums, across settings both spontaneous and composed. Compared with the rooster’s crow of its predecessor, Black Bear Rug finds Anvil Salute in a mostly pensive frame of mind, manifesting a late-night comedown atmosphere suspended somewhere between Great Plains and opium den, optimized for listener immersion possibilities." deep water acres

 "yeah, we're still around"




Tuesday, October 23, 2012

oliwa


"Mi nombre es Sebastián Oliwa. Te escribo porque me encanta la música y artistas que suelen tratar en el blog, y por eso me acerqué, para mostrarte la música que hago. Este año edité dos discos en cassette, en un tape label de Suecia, llamado Zeon Light. La verdad es que lo único que busco con mi música es promocionarla, que se difunda...por eso la subo gratuitamente desde mi primer disco, y eso me lleva a que busque esa difusión en personas que tengan una visión similar respecto a la promoción de los artistas..." sebastián oliwa

"Buenos Aires’ Oliwa recently released an album called "Rituals", and from listening to his music, we can assume said ceremonies are a celebration of the multiplicity of possibilities inherent in movement. the album as a whole is most definitely a South American trip. Oliwa refers to explorer and scientist Charles Wiener, who almost re-discovered the ruins at Machu Picchu in the late 1800s, and is on the second tune of the set, “Charles Wiener’s Dreams.” From the internal memory games of a personal bon voyage like the opening synth rolls of “The Last Summer Night,” to launching one’s journey, and finally to reaching a geographic landing point (“Tierra Del Fuego”), "Rituals" is a travelogue and a damn fine score." international tapes

imperdonable haber pasado por alto la música de Oliwa, que si ya de por sí es bonita aún lo es más por el aura que lo envuelve, por su mundo interior, por su conexión con la naturaleza, por su filosofía (noches interminables leyendo libros sobre antropología, meditación y antiguas civilizaciones: "Rituals" habla del viaje por América del Sur del explorador y científico Charles Wiener),  y también por su generosidad. blade runner meets la tierra de fuego, sintetizadores de altísimos vuelos... si te dejas llevar vas a ver el machu picchu muy pequeño desde allá arriba

cloud shepherd


"Cloud Shepherd was formed in late 2008 as Free Rein by three gentlemen who had all met through the Bay Area experimental poetry scene and proceeded to form a trio to explore improvised music, but in a more "ambient" setting reflecting their combined interests in improv, drone-based music, and certain 20th Century classical and jazz composers."

"Great sounds from ex-Free Rein improv trio (Brian Lucas by the way is former Mirza participant). Guitar, winds, percussion and theremin. Five long trips, which described by the band as "soundtracks to the abyss" we have no zen

 Andrew Joron: Theremin, waterphone
Brian Lucas: 6 string bass, sounds, voice
Joseph Noble: wind instruments, percussion

nueva edición (y una canción que se había perdido en el limbo) para uno de los discos más bonitos y especiales y favoritos de nuestro blog. ahora mismo el único que podría hacerle sombra al también maravilloso e incatalogable celestrial stairway de inspired school of astral music. hay theremines, saxos elegantes y estratosféricos y muchos instrumentos de viento. cósmico, submarino, espiritual, meditativo, relajante, 'brutoniano' casi sin pretenderlo...

Monday, October 22, 2012

jan jelinek


"mini lp Jan Jelinek's 'Music for Fragments / Music & Birds' is the first of four vinyl compilations that bring together a highly diverse range of Jelinek's works ~ including commissioned pieces, live recordings, collaborations with other musicians, as well as unreleased material from the past five years.

Side A / Music for Fragments: developed from a collaboration with Canadian choreographer Sylvain Émard. Two excerpts of music composed for the dance piece Fragments – Volume 1 (2010) are presented in revised form on the A side.

Side B / Music & Birds: is a commissioned work for the CosmoCaixa science museum in Barcelona, Spain. Using various recordings of birdsongs and two oscillators, Jelinek produced a number of rhythmical sketches. The tracks gathered here were recorded during the preparations for a live performance in 2011." faitiche


"...sound research ~ specifically the vintage timbre-set of raw, analogue oscillators & dripping spring-reverb, the pieces are largely rhythmic (in the way that Daphne Oram’s “listen, move, and dance” series is or the Delia Derbyshire-esque) but otherwise this should push the same buttons that, say, sifting through Raymond Scott’s “manhattan research” set does. there are plenty of artists right now trying their hand at 'vintage' electronic sounds, but few do it with quite the uncynical panache as Jan Jelinek." mimaroglu

Sunday, October 21, 2012

ghostrider


"Ghostrider is the debut cassette from Cologne dark synth guru Jens Pauly (formerly Temple Of Beeheads). Sci-fi tones & brooding minimalism leads the way to the open portals of your interior psyche. Droned out oceans of flowing arps for your spiritual demons." hobo cult


"one of the most solid and promising debuts I’ve come across all year, Demons is the stunning first release from Cologone-based synth overlord Jens Pauly, aka Ghostrider. Sorta brings back the same feelings of hearing Oneohtrix Point Never‘s early stuff for the first time, although Ghostrider’s got some truly original tricks up his sleeve. I highly recommend snapping this tape up quickly ~ especially if you’re a fan of those deep, fuzzy drones that send chills up your spine. Brilliant." zen effects

out of print ~ listen ~ download


"Germany's Jens Pauly seemed to appear out of nowhere in 2011 with two of the year's best synth tapes on Hobo Cult and Digitalis Ltd. Voices finds Pauly honing his craft even further with seven new meticulously composed pieces. Each track immediately springs to life with vivid, cinematic detail. Pulsing, heavily sequenced numbers call forth images of high-speed drives through neon-lit urban jungles, while more restrained and amorphous tracks bring to mind slow strolls through a foggy hillsides. Steering clear of the slightest bit of excess, Pauly is truly a master at conveying moods that resonate deeply without wasting a single second. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle." tranquility tapes

sold out ~ listen ~ download


"everyone is going all berlin school these days, but ghostrider's jens pauly just shrugs his shoulders wondering what all the fuss is about. he's all ready to start his own fucken köln school, blasting seraphim blisscapes over the bridges attempting to drain the rhine. "light pulse" resonates with absolute clarity, rolling over the synthetic hills into a different shade of grass. as his compositions loop around and fold in on themselves, they disappear like vapor in the early morning and leave nothing behind but the haze."  

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Friday, October 19, 2012

inspired school of astral music


"the music on this cassette is recommended to be used in conjunction with a Light Excluding Mask (LEM) and experienced with headphones on in a tranquil environment. journey beyond forced reality to your inner mind space and explore it. pay attention to what you encounter. this cassette is a tool to help you enter your personal Enhanced Lucid Realm (ELR). there are no restrictions to what you can achieve." isam

"the source of all music is universal. the realms of astral music are manifold; a natural hierarchy exists organically."



"good for you, Stalker Recall & Inspired School of Astral Music, to not have a web presence. hard for you, fan of alien drone, to procure a copy of this I’m sure. slow descent of UFOs onto the burning front lawns of isolated farmers, crews of loggers returning from work or wave-drunk sea captains. Stalker Recall flow out like a smoother-sounding version of Telecult Powers, the sound is more coalesced, but heavily rooted in the bubbles between oscillations. totally worth the buy if you can find it, but it sounds like something your astral spirit may have to procure." foxy digitalis



"split release with Psychic Sounds. Birthed as Bill Doob, Inspired School of Astral Music is Sam Jones of Million Brazilians, who also played drums in a few Kansas City bands before departing for Portland a few years ago. the synth-driven solo project of Jones' captures minimal synth explorations in the tradition of Brian Eno's "Ambient" series, early New Age explorer's and moments of Terry Riley's tape loop melodies. more of a conceptual project that also features essays with each release and concentrating on deep meditation and out-of-body experiences, ISAM will surely bring the calm, float your brain and drift your body." psychic sounds


"dreams of the void
diverging from a path
where we can find another way"

recorded by bill doob.
insired school of astral music
lucidity phase temple trilogy

Thursday, October 18, 2012

driphouse


"this recording was created during a temporary employment position at a commercial music studio. the result: ten incredibly brief tracks composed on a Moog Modular in the vein of classic early Moog adopters. strains of Wendy Carlos or BBC Radiophonics Workshop may be heard through this cassette as the listener travels within it. Daren Ho, the man also known as Driphouse, underwent several days of library music listening required as part of the employment. many of those songs ended up in a third of major broadcast television and radio commercials. "Moog Workshop" is a reflection of this brief stint." gel

collage: jesse treece

sold out ~ download

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

günter schlienz


"i wanted to record something very minimal, very long, actually as minimal as i could stand it myself , and i can stand lots of minimal sound. it’s the very old erik satie concept, sounds that stand in the room, like a wallpaper, like a chair, a table. you don't recognise them very often, they are just there, but sometimes you look or hear at it more careful and you think, yeah, it's nice." guenter schlienz

"environmental modular synth sounds you will miss as soon the tape is finished"



"good news! Günter Schlienz’ Stuttgart label, Cosmic Winnetou, has put its entire first batch for free streaming and download on Bandcamp. now you can drown yourself in the waves of ethereal ambience or dusted krautrock grooves for free (or pay the man, if you feel like, he deserves it)! oh, and a heads up ~ another batch is coming soon, this time with Mark Bradley and Sylvia Monnier. stay tuned!" weed temple

illustration: paul flanderky

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

motion sickness of time travel


"angelic croons of synergetic babylon follow and merge with sonic dream synapsis...the elevator cruises on pulse-o-matic mode, the walls glow infinitely and as you stare upwards at the plastered ceiling long enough you see remnants of omni-consciousness taking life and sending subliminal messages of further knowledge....makes one feel that one rachel evans is completely in tune with the light matter magic of the universe...the automatic doors open ad you are propelled into a digitized utopia where the sounds take shape into tropic life drawing you in. magical as personal creativity should be, rachel roses per usual ~ reps the highest par of beautiful synth/vocal hypnosis/mind healing music." old frontiers

 

Monday, October 15, 2012

riot meadows


"the new transient luminous phenomena runs close to the skin. majestic satellites that look like bushy pillars of greenery can be found sailing 20 feet above water. succulent green pods appeared to respond to a light being switched on and off, to a verbal or radio message, and even to an unspoken thought in the mind. a fetal mountainscape of letters, computer printouts and inter-departmental memos emerged from the red-brown metamorphic rock and blue-black mutations of old volcanic waste. the barren country, gilded by evening light as people raise monuments along a thin white line fading into darkness." steve targo aka riot meadows

"Riot Meadows is the handle for a 39-year-old journalist in a Southeastern Wisconsin tourist town who sculpts sonic environments and creates photo collages. 'temporal drift tape' is Riot Meadows's debut, recorded over a period of seven years."

steve nos pidió que dejásemos un link a 'temporal drift tape' y nosotros encantados, su música no puede ser más bonita, drones y sonidos orgánicos de naturaleza acuática, aves tropicales, lluvia y olas rompiendo en la orilla, un festín de texturas que nos recuerdan a venn rain, the aloha spirit, meadowlands,...


collage: sarah eisenlohr


Sunday, October 14, 2012

death batistutas / salvador cresta


"grabado durante la noche, sobre una alfombra perdida en la ciudad de Villa Carlos Paz, Córdoba, Argentina."

Death Batistutas:
· Rubito: Electric Guitar
· Salvador Cresta: Pedals, Sax, Casiotone, Soap-Synth, Cell Phone, Perc



Información Variada del Vol. 1:

· La pieza mas importante del "Lado A" es lo que yo llamo un Espanta-Momias (Es para evitar el acercamiento de espíritus nocivos: deportistas, policías, profesionales de la industria, cabezas huecas, etc.)
· Estoy proyectando un viaje a La Antártida en bicicleta.
· Lo único que me interesa es encender fogatas con mis diez perros, mis cinco gatos y mis tres azafatas.
· Estoy buscando un editor para mi próximo libro: "Leukeluni: Notas Dispersas Sobre la Vida en Humania".

Información Variada del Vol. 2:

· Estoy vendiendo psicoanalistas de peluche a siete pesos.
· "El Muro" de Facebook es "The Wall" tal como lo presentó Alan Parker.
· Tengo debilidad por las damajuanas llenas

Información Variada del Vol. 3:

- Grabado cuando fumaba marihuana y leía revistas de karate.

listen/download/buy

después de un número incontable de discos todavía me sigue sorprendiendo la creatividad desbordante, e inabarcable, del hombre de los mil nombres, el simpático predicador salvador. qué mundo tan particular el suyo, sobre todo cuando suena tan atmosférico como la aventura del espacio. diría que mi disco favorito si no fuera porque todavía no he conseguido asimilar y retener tal cantidad de proyectos, vídeos, manualidades... y porque los collages de grabaciones viejas tampoco se quedan cortos en cuestión de belleza y silbidos, de samples extraños y esa emoción casi infantil, o porque también existen mardipouses y madrugapha. creo de verdad que a salvador hay que tenerlo en cuenta mucho más de lo que lo tenemos: la pieza más importante del lado A!

Friday, October 12, 2012

inspired school of astral music


"In a much more playful vein then previous Ispired School of Astral Music releases, I'm excited to present the Celestrial Stairway LP. Recorded by Sam Jones for the Inspired School of Astral Music and beautifully mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk at Stereophonic Mastering, this is a very different direction for ISAM. Along the same lines of the Dreams and Ambitions cassette, the 5 compositions that make up this recording were recorded live with no overdubs and represent a more lively, melodic and full stereo sound. Ascend the Celestrial Stairway." asam

sólo puedo dar las gracias a las dos personas que amablemente y en un suspiro me han grabado Virtually Underwater y este otro tesoro de Bill Doob. sólo ver la portada me dio un vuelco el corazón, esas pequeñas tonteridas de la vida. el catálogo de Psychic Sounds no es muy extenso (éste es el lp número ocho) pero sin duda escogen muy cuidadosamente todo lo que editan. Celestial Stairway es un mantra acogedor que te obliga a escucharlo en bucle. fluye y envuelve y piensas inevitablemente en la palabra oceánico, nos da una idea de cómo sonaría Iasos si grabase en el estudio de Spencer Clark, o en el de John Elliott. o Herbcraft si grabasen en el estudio de Gunner Møller Pedersen ('Forced reality I', pura psicodelia lunar). la delicatessen de las delicatessen, empezando por la preciosa portada azul tan 'bruton library', que haría las delicias de...


" ...unlike the physical world, damping effects do not occur in the metaphysical milieu. for this reason it is possible to experience the music from beyond within, and voice this experience through a musical instrument." bill doob

Thursday, October 11, 2012

virtually underwater


"new stereo cassette out now. nearly 40 minutes of inspired underwater bliss recorded by Bill Doob. we are mired in plato's digital cybercave, drowning in a hollow virtual dream. swim up towards the true light, regain your memory and life." inspired school of astral music

 "Portland-based Bill Doob has been putting out some quality (and quantity!) zoned-out, mind-void tonefloat drone recently, and this is my favorite, and not only because I have a "thing" for underwater music. You could say it's very similar to the tape-eroded prism jams made by Josh Burke, but it's just fine as is." norm chambers/lunar atrium

cuántas cosas se descubren caminando por la telaraña sin fin de lunar atrium, como la segunda canción de la cara B de Virtually Underwater, una absoluta delicia, perfecta para seguir medio dormida en esta especie de sueño virtual inducido por el misterioso y barbudo Bill Doob o, lo que es lo mismo, Inspired School of Astral Music, que a veces funciona como sello, editando cassettes y vinilos a medias con Psychic Sounds y Sonic Meditations, otras como grupo y otras como un todo. no hay nada tan estimulante como enlazar cosas y que un sello nos lleve a otro y a otro y a otro...

sold out ~ listen ~ download

tempera


 "when it comes to quality control and prolificacy, one can't imagine a band doing much better on either count than Portland, Maine’s own Tempera. considering the thousands of minutes of original material they’ve committed to tape, microcassette, and hard-drive over the past four years, it's hard to believe that this is still officially Tempera's debut long-playing album. and befitting the band's thorough self-scrutiny the music is decidedly top-tier. this self-titled lp contains two side-long, long-form improvisations, with kraut-rock inspired tom-heavy drumming backing ethereal vocals and synth tones and drones; smooth, blissed-out ambient passages building to cymbal-crashing climaxes. here, Tempera's Nicholas Barker and Corinna Marshall are joined by electric pianist/drummer Robert Stillman (of Robert Stillman's Horses) to hit that ecstatic, transcendent zone." l'animaux tryst


foto: bumbarrels

sold out ~ download

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

lost trail

  
"Lost Trail (Burlington/Efland, NC) is the ambient/drone/noise project of husband and wife duo of Zachary Corsa and Denny Corsa. Utilizing lo-fi and obsolete recording technology, we aim to capture a sense of atmosphere and landscape in both man-made and natural, wild environments."

otra de esas agradables sorpresas que de vez en cuando recibimos en nuestro correo. zachary y denny componen música sin pretensiones y buscan adrede un sonido casero, dulcemente familiar, documentando incansablemente el día a día de la ciudad en la que viven: "mostly we produce sounds and capture them like runaway phantoms in antique jars, before they can evaporate into the walls and burrow into our sleep". de todos los discos que han publicado, que son muchos, hoy me quedo con éste. grabaciones de campo, voces misteriosas que nos recuerdan a esa época en la que hablábamos con ilusión de Constellation y 'wilderness', once minutos que hacen tilín. con patos, cuervos, radios, el crepitar de una hoguera, una slide y un banjo era imposible resistirse

foto: pemketuri

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

corum


"Psychic Sounds is very pleased to announce the highly anticipated release of Corum's exotic trance score for his touring short film Beguiling Isles: Born of Earth's Torments.  Beautiful melodies waft in and out of your consciousness like a humid island ether. It's a travelogue, hypnotizing and also lulling. It's easy to fall under Corum's island spells producing sweaty aural excitement and imagining the "Specter of Polar Reversal", as described in the liner notes, twinkling it's eye before the volcanic explosion of horns, drums and keys lay down a lush rush of eerie tropical groove." psychic sounds


"This outfit has a distinctive middle-eastern flair, occupying the Interzone, known to play with dream machine, this time they had projections of burning incense, a cloaked figure. Jefferson played clarinet with delay, White Gourd sax and the same, with Corum laying down a Marrakesh flea-market beat, crunchy distorted tape beats, like Muslim Gauze in his prime. They brought the root down stomp, swaying like cobra charmers. The room was as full as i'd ever seen it, everyone was mesmerized. The group consciousness rayed and sparked like Quicksilver spray, and i was reminded, with fresh eyes" j's heaven

son (es) de Oregon, pero a Corum me lo imagino viviendo en un paraíso de palmeras y aguas cristalinas. así suena este precioso vinilo color turquesa incatalogable y exótico, como casi todo los tesoros que esconde el misterioso sello psychic sound recordings: Million Brazillians, grupo en el que también colabora Corum, Celestrial Starway o el extraterrestre Bill Doob. Beguiling Islands es de este año pero podría ser otro de esos vinilos desempolvados de la biblioteca de Lunar Atrium, tan onírico, alucinado y difícil de situar en el tiempo. imposible no enamorarse, aunque sea por acto reflejo, sólo con ver los títulos y escuchar dos segundos de la cara a, pero es que una vez que te sumerges hay tanto y tan bonito... órganos y cánticos tribales afines a la locura desbocada de Sylvester Anfang, Pierrot Lunaire y Valerio Cosi, percusiones, sintetizadores y guitarras planeadoras que recuerdan a Emeralds, a Cetacean Nation, a unos Monopoly Child Star Searchers arabizados, saxos estratosféricos y flautillas con un poder de atracción que ya quisiera para sí el flautista de Hammelin, groove, psicodelia, hipnagogia... que en directo suena así de bien

Monday, October 08, 2012

asio otus


"equipped with improvised acoustic recordings ~ electronically processed, sliced, looped and mixed ~ the Asio Otus begins its flight with the first shades of twilight to look for UFOs in the finnish sky and detect alien lifeforms. but the owls are not what they seem and we highly suspect Taneli Lehto and Jaakko Padatsu to be the otherworldly creatures they pretend to find in outer space. the far out Sunburned-Sternenmädchen-Sounds are giving proof that the duo ~ if not of alien nature itself ~ must have been abducted at least once. anyway: the truth is out there and the music’s on tape for now!" sicsic

foto: cosestesse

"las películas que vemos son las que dictan casi siempre nuestra forma de asociar sonidos e imágenes. fuerzan nuestra interpretación a través de la simple repetición de las mismas situaciones. sabes que estás ante algo especial cuando es al revés, cuando, gracias a los sonidos que escuchas, creas nuevas imágenes y ves cosas que no existen. Sun Ra lo consiguieron con Atlantis, en 1967: de hecho podías ver ese Objeto Volador no Identificado acercándose al continente en los primeros minutos del disco. pero ¿y si te dijera que auténticos sonidos de Ovni no sólo fueron grabados, sino procesados electrónicamente, cortados en bucle y mezclados por Asio Otus, el dúo formado por Jaakko Padatsu and Taneli Lehto, los cuales todavía pasan sus fines de semana vagando por los bosques buscando un lago misterioso que habían descubierto hace quince años en Pudasjärvi, Finlandia? así es como encontraron esa caja de grabaciones acústicas improvisadas. más tarde volvieron para seguir investigando pero ya no había rastro de ese lago. nadie había oído hablar de él. y no aparece en los mapas.

sería absurdo intentar reducir su sonido a un único estilo. la segunda canción, 'an american indian humanoid announced the year’ (traducido del finés) transforma evocaciones místicas que recuerdan a Sunburned Hand of the Man en momentos de poderosa percusión tribal con sabor a kraut y viceversa. para de repente encontrarnos con extraños sonidos dub de profunda naturaleza ambient, seguidas de 'the humanoid from Mätäsoja ditch’, una canción que fácilmente podría pertenecer al maravilloso disco Taste Tribes de Harth, Irmler and Müller. otros momentos recuerdan a la banda sonora de The Thing de Ennio Morricone y a Cluster. visitarás lugares y estados de ánimo totalmente diferentes. y algunos de ellos todavía no existen." cookshop


para seguir indangando en esta bonita historia-leyenda sobre vida extraterrestre en los bosques de finlandia, podéis ver, leer y escuchar sendas (y divertidas) entrevistas a Asio Otus (se llaman así en honor a este búho de orejas largas) en foxy digitalis y was ist das?, ésta última grabada en vídeo al borde de la carretera, además del prólogo de la cinta para sicsic tapes que también es otro trocito de entrevista. tal y como documentan de forma detallada aquí, esta vez sí podríamos creer a pies juntillas que no se trata de una historia idílica inventada por asio otus y sicsic tapes, pero aunque lo fuera no me importaría. que a la vez sea un disco apasionante a la par que entrañable (Fonal meets Sunburned Hand of the Man meets The Twilight Zone meets Fringe) es ya lo de menos.

sold out ~ download ~ listen/buy