microphones in the trees: sun araw
Showing posts with label sun araw. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sun araw. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

monopoly child star searchers

 

 monopoly child star searchers ~ barbados wild horses (pacific city sound visions, 2023)

"Recorded on a Banana and Mango Plantation in Tenerife. Featuring Cameron Stallones of Sun Araw on Track 2 and 3. Recorded by Dani Tupper. Special thanks to Dani's Dog Unga for holding it down for the Pound Puppys forever! Stay High forever Unga! Dedicated to my minds response to the majestic Martian province of the great god Teide, and his shadowed reflection on the salted wild surf of WILD POINT PUNTA BRAVA. Dedicated to all Wild Beings everywhere and compassion for those locked down in this beast, trying to find solace and freedom within the MIND!"


"grabado en una plantación de plátanos y mangos en Tenerife". algo así solo podría venir de ese loco encantador llamado Spencer Clark, quien  lleva muchos años (y ahora con Sun Araw en dos canciones de las cuatro que forman el disco) acercándonos a su mundo desconocido, utópico, donde mezcla su pasión por la ciencia ficción con los sonidos tropicales de la jungla. el Cuarto Mundo, que diría Jon Hassell, para quien la idea de la música de ese Cuarto Mundo era como "un regreso y un paso adelante al mismo tiempo", el mismo en el que habita Spencer Clark, pero añadiendo sus peculiares tonalidades alienígenas.

"Barbados Wild Horses" es mi disco preferido de todos los que ha hecho hasta ahora (y eso es decir muchísimo) porque, sin entender nada de producciones, me parece el mejor producido, el más fluído, igual de lo-fi, igual de alucinado, pero cristalino, agradable, como si todo estuviera más cohesionado. una jam tropical sin fin. para muestra, 'upper romántico', juego de encajes múltiples de percusiones tropicales, loops, voces. las repite y las repite en busca de no se sabe qué, tal vez la puerta del futuro para reinventar un pasado que solo existe en su imaginación. 

"...seguramente me influenciaron las terrazas volcánicas y la sensación de playa natural, pero claro, es como cuando Max Ernst entró en Nuevo México y descubrió que algunos de sus paisajes mentales realmente existían allí. Hay una parte de mí que entiende que mi futuro siempre me ha estado llamando y que termino en lugares según el elenco de mis sueños."

me produce mucha curiosidad su persona, en su sello pacific visions edita los discos más raros y fascinantes que te puedas imaginar. tampoco sé cómo definirlo por mi falta de autoría en la materia (hay que entender mucho para adivinar sus singularidades!), pero es esa estética de los 80 y principio de los noventa, las cintas de vhs y miami vice que, no sé porqué, relaciono también con Palmbomen, lo que me llama la atención. en su sello ha publicado la banda sonora imaginaria de Tradewinds, por ejemplo, o un disco de Keith Fejeran que me tiene muy intrigada...algo me dice que es el propio Spencer dando rienda suelta a su vena más romántica. esa estética y esos teclados/percusiones a lo 'detective en hollywood meets spandau ballet meets devendra meets ariel pink. escuchad si no "closer to you". qué maravilla.

Friday, June 28, 2013

deep magic


"the solo project for current Sun Araw live band member Alex Gray, Deep Magic’s work has tended towards a meditative ambient realm, crafting a cosmic sound as a sort of calm and organic grandeur that recalls Popol Vuh’. indeed like Popol Vuh, pursuit of a kind of spiritual grace has proven to be the measure at the heart of Deep Magic. Reflections of Most Forgotten Love finds a new urgency, an ever-shifting puzzle of sound breathing vital new life into Gray’s lyrical vision. dynamic and unrelenting yet somehow beautifully spacious and patient in its unfolding, this epic work thrives on equal parts pulse and poise, an essence held within a thrilling multiplicity of ideas. skittish techno, rolling pianos, warm pedal steel, foggy, dub drifts and microscopic sonics play out a hypnotic movement of moods with magnetic compulsion. throughout its stirring, blissful way, intimacy is its keynote. as the title suggests, this is an album of emotively raw presence with a singular take on solitude as a many splendoured thing." preservation

"...an ethereal ride into experimentation and meditative tones. Brighter Days sets a tone for a very cosmic album where abstraction of majestic key tones drip into liquid form over field recordings, transfixing synth and other odd sources of sound. It’s a slow evolving voyage that is minimally designed but has a wealth of sonic color pulsing in every direction and in every measure. Music this delicate yet deep in resonance and texture grabs us on first listen and puts us in a really relaxed mood." deep tapes

only you, only me

foto: lee chang ming

Friday, March 01, 2013

deep magic


"A delicate nuance of organic phrasing; Alex Gray has been churning out a mysteriously attractive and impressive ambient catalogue for the past few years. 2012 has been relatively silent for the project, until now. Housecraft is proud to present Deep Magic's first vinyl edition. All new, all now. Full color jackets, stamped white labels. Mastered by Sean McCann." housecraft



Friday, August 17, 2012

deep magic


"organic soundscape of textural harmony"

"installment seventeen features Alex Gray, aka Deep Magic, explore sound collages of euphoric instrumentation and vocal tone. Gray's preferred cassette medium has seen releases on Not Not Fun Records, Moon Glyph, and his own Moon Tapes, where he correlates a beautiful audio/visual aesthetic. a member of psychedelic outfit Sun Araw, Gray describes the piece as "weird garage stuff time stretched with spoken word by yours truly, all processed strangely..." colourful storm


Friday, June 15, 2012

olympus mons


"olympus mons is a mystery duo, the dream folk project of alex gray (deep magic), who is currenlty melting minds as a member of the sun araw tropical-psych team. reflections of bliss lake is primitive instrumental communication between harmonium, synths, guitar and driftwood xylophone, a beautiful exploration of sun~soaked textures swirling and flowing in waves of synths, fingerpicked guitar and keyboards. It will leave you gazing for stars, even as the sun beats down on your face." deep tapes 

todo está unido...imposible no relacionar a alex grey con caracoles y a su vez con la magia de wirikuta , a la que si tuviera que poner banda sonora seguro que serían las trompetas y cascabeles que suenan en la cara b. nunca una flautilla, o silbido, o teclado imitando el canto de un águila, habían sonado tan evocadores, una experiencia parecida a la proporcionada por esos esos sueños extraños y bonitos de los que nunca quieres despertar

Saturday, May 12, 2012

high wolf


"ascendent, crystallized tones from High Wolf.  calm, mantric expansions, burning at the center.  France's finest in contemporary psych." sun ark


sun araw meets cetacean nation cassettes...la emoción más grande. no sé si es porque hace tiempo que estoy abducida por lieven moana, pero tengo la sensación de que high wolf no habían hecho nunca un disco tan contemplativo y acuático, tan bonito, tan étnico, tan a baja fidelidad. cuando piensas que los tambores y palos de agua sin fin de 'obsessions history', (“...i love to mix all those drum sounds from various places in the same piece of music), es lo más bonito del mundo, aparece 'mlk', y después 'khi', y después 'pandu', …y quieres que los minutos pasen despacio, que no se acabe nunca, un vaivén incontrolable e insistente como las olas del mar. vuelvo atrás y me doy cuenta de que 'khi' es la canción que más se acerca a lo que de verdad suena en mi cabeza cuando pienso en la palabra mantra  o que hay un mundo mágico paralelo. pero entonces suena 'oedipus' y... hay que escuchar para creer, max no es de este mundo, si acaso de uno submarino o de uno celestial. 'know thyself' es un cúmulo de sensaciones que me siento incapaz de abarcar, la sonrisa eterna, el sumum de la meditación trascendental y el ambient psicodélico

fotos via onyx earth & luke byrne

Thursday, April 15, 2010

magic lantern

"It’s been a while since Magic Lantern shined its High Beams out into the world but life’s a maze of alternate paths (marriage, children, Portland Oregon, etc) and that’s just the way it goes/went. Fortunately for all lovers of heavy male psych brotherhoods the ML gang convened back in 2009 before parting ways temporarily to track their second full-length, Platoon, and here it is. As oughta be expected, it's a monstrous hot-rod cruise into screaming dual wah distortions powered by the poker faced Gavin/Chip rhythm section and splattered with jazzy freak-out organ and the occasional Stallones echo yelp. Featuring most of their live classics from the pre-hiatus era (“Dark Cicadas,” “Friendship,” etc) and tracked/mixed by Best Coast Bobb Bruno, this fills the hole in yr heart left by High Beams..." not not fun

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

sun araw

"...The latest from Mr. Araw is easily his least compromising audio self-portrait to date. Three minute rhythm sketches are stretched into ten minute loop pedal odysseys. Organ solos last for entire vinyl sides. Ambiguous law enforcement themes are toyed with then abandoned in a haze of hypnagogic sleaze. Gone is the sweaty orchestration and funk of Heavy Deeds, extra long gone is the sun-kissed pop smoke shuffles of Beach Head. In its place is a heavily casual, zoned, patient 85 minute drum machine burro-ride accented by phasered organ gasoline, echo guitar sparkles, funny flute trills, tried/true Stallones vocal exclamations (“Whaaaah Ohhh”), and oddball FX. Magic Lantern cornerstone William Giacchi drops by to jam on one track but it doesn’t much upset the overarching On Patrol thesis: Ride It Out. The sound of one man’s conga mind soaking in its own juices, refracted down a hall of mirrors, and allowed to ferment..." not not fun

Sunday, March 07, 2010

sun araw

"Mental Groove are super good people, and they paid to have the Sun Araw set professionally recorded, mixed, and mastered off the soundboard at our show in Geneva. The result sounds pretty dop. They wanted to use this recording to make a highly limited collector's item, and so they chose just to press 50, hence the cost to recoup their expenses." sun araw

Thursday, January 21, 2010

sun araw

"Left coast karaoke machine enthusiast Cameron Stallones leaves no loop unturned in his endless questing for the ultimate kaleidoscopic island-psych cocktail, and freed him up to construct his own hermetic jam cove, dubbed Sun Ark Studio, thereby ratcheting up his workaholic-ism several levels.. Dubby basslines and reverbed drum pad action still reign hard but the song construction is less western and more liberated than ever before (echoing his new all-solo live set up), with micro-cycles of flute, voice and organ cascading down like fuchsia sunset light across the plastic rhythm section. “Bump Up (High Step)” is a warped reggae club heartbreaker, flangy cheese guitar leads and jungle rattles, a constant chorus. “Live Mind” is the B side, and it’s descended from the Heavy Deeds lineage, lots of equatorial sweat, low end pulse, dry funk guitar, bucket percussion, etc. A cool new boat trip on an evolved vessel.." nnf

Monday, October 19, 2009

sun araw

"Sun Araw’s Cameron Stallones & filmmaker Matthew Lessner are longtime Stunned brothers that go back with us before the music, the tours, the films, the label, you name it. As tireless globetrotters, both have spent the last year beaming their respective good messages far and wide to the delight of audio aficionados & visual art subversives alike. Marking a Second phase in all our geosynchronous friendships, ‘In Orbit’ finds these dudes collaborating on ascendant planes of high mind where outer Los Angeles and Inner Space bisect. Deep dubby howlin, Farfisa organ hang-gliding, gooey tempos, and trademark shimmering ‘Sun Araw-guitar licks are the hybridized fruits harvested here. Along with your candy, flip this tape as needed. Happy to say, there’s no limit to the number of orbits it can (and will) make through your stereo and ours. Special edition of 222 pro-dubbed & imprinted c30s with jcard design by Cameron." stunned

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

sun araw

sun araw - heavy deeds lp (not not fun 2009)

"*Blue Vinyl* Sun Araw - and the Not Not Fun label in general for that matter - are becoming ever more essential with each release. Heavy Deeds is the latest dubbed-out, tropical psych missive from this far-out collective, featuring an increasingly mature approach to experimental queasiness, which on this occasion is reminiscent of fellow solar travellers Sunburned Hand Of The Man knocking heads together with Sun Ra. There's some incredible wah-wah funk to be found here, jostling amongst a barrage of synapse-frazzling sound effects, clunking semi-tribal rhythms and gospel drone. And it's housed in another killer sleeve to boot..." boomkat

foto: hoy joy
download

Friday, March 13, 2009

pocahaunted

"The Pocahaunted whole album is bathed in a rich, ambiguous echo from which Bethany and Amanda's peyote trip vocal entanglements ebb and flow. In keeping with the African/Native American/other influences that tend to permeate their work, you'll hear plenty of ceremonial-type percussive elements along with strange, droning guitar harmonies that bring to mind Indian ragas and the more out-there work of the Velvet Underground in equal measure. Tremendous." boomkat

"Great new mini LP from this female psych duo, joined here by Bobb Bruno and Cameron Stallones. Four long tracks that combine thudding, nod-out acid rock rhythms with wordless choirs of abandon and power vocals extrapolated from hypnagogic 1980s pop. Something in the achingly elongated guitar lines and orchestras of throat that is just supremely addictive, joining the dots between Father Yod and Brother Louie in ways you never dreamed possible. Pocahaunted are at the absolute peak of their powers right now." volcanic tongue