tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88786538746421694712024-03-13T22:30:59.278-05:00PSI LABLIMITED EDITION CASSETTESPSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comBlogger258125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-32966778451913961222018-04-23T14:13:00.000-05:002018-04-23T14:16:54.467-05:00RECOMMENDATION #216 - INDIRA VALEYINDIRA VALEY - NO ME TENGAS MIEDO<br>
antiquated future 2018, edition of 50<br>
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"latest from Portland's Indira Valey. an EP of textural surprises and casual wizardry. Four soundscape pieces that exist in the realm of artists like Julianna Barwick, Juana Molina, and Grouper. // Released on Antiquated Future Records and Spirit House. A limited edition run of home-dubbed, hand-assembled cassettes." - ANTIQUATED FUTURE<br>
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from the unassuming label that released one of my all time favorite cassettes ever in TUCKER THEODORE's outsider weirdo bedroom folk diamond in the rough TO MAKE THE SUN HURT and seminal new weird american drone classic in SISTER GROTTO & BRAEYDEN JAE's BORN TO LOSE / BORN TO LEAVE, comes another straight up masterpiece, clocking in at just under half an hour, everyone knows that it's much (much) better to leave me wanting more than to wear out your welcome, so it's no surprise that this has been in heavy rotation since it popped up, even heavier after the tape showed up<br>
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AF ain't wrong, this is riyl BARWICK and some JUANA MOLINA by way of GROUPER (a catch-all for this sort of thing, i know), but it's not -just- that sort of thing - NO ME TENGAS MIEDO is full stride excellence, a snapshot of perfection in the surreal realm of measured ambient dream pop, the sort that BEACH HOUSE left behind years ago, here picked up and dusted off then filtered through IAN WILLIAM CRAIG's post pop construct, where NMTM's opening track stands as a bold female counterpoint, and then the rest is a melting pot of ENO's APOLLO and earliest / best JULIAN LYNCH and COVER THE WINDOWS era GROUPER and late MICROPHONES / early MOUNT EERIE, while earnestly appealing to folks who might prefer a vintage styling a la COCTEAU TWINS or even a big-indie flavor a la GRIZZLY BEAR -- "wide open" in particular grabs me, like ILYAS AHMED heard the opening bassline to LOU JOHNSON's "the beat" and promptly decided he should get stoned and sparsely noodle around a snippet sample of that for a good while -- a shoo-in for my "NADIA REID"-award that goes to my "as close as i get to somethin that could be construed as pop" favorite<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3183014281/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://antiquatedfuture.bandcamp.com/album/no-me-tengas-miedo">No Me Tengas Miedo by Indira Valey</a></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-24157366709926570912018-04-12T17:44:00.001-05:002018-04-12T17:44:40.528-05:00RECOMMENDATION #215 - KYLE BOBBY DUNN, WAYNE ROBERT THOMAS, BRIANNA KELLY, SYMPATHY PAINKYLE BOBBY DUNN / WAYNE ROBERT THOMAS - SPLIT<br>
whited sepulchre 2018, edition of 200<br>
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"Dunn's first physical release since 2014's Infinite Sadness is a warm compressed sequel to that universally acclaimed 3xLP. still set adrift in a sea of infinite nostalgia and reflections of past selves but with an ascending lightness that gleams at the contours of Dunn's most personal and affecting work. 'The Searchers', named after the John Ford film, meditates on the way in which the imposing expansiveness of the American West worked upon the minds of its inhabitants who fought, lost and did terrible things to each other in their attempt to claim it. The West, like the slipstream of the course of events in a life, offers no resolution and shakes off any narrative that attempts to define it.<br>
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Thomas is an Indianapolis musician who composes drones like sculpting in wet cement, each movement turning slowly upwards while being locked into time and space. His first appearance on vinyl, Thomas's 'Voyevoda' utilizes processed electric guitar to fill all available space with lofty and spacious tones that lose nothing of their clarity as the float up to the rafters before settling back down to the nave. A stirring counterpoint Dunn's composition, keenly examines one's fidelity to unconquerable nostalgia.<br>
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Album art and layout by Dustin Bowen // Mastered by Jeremy Bible." - WHITED SEPULCHRE<br>
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for sure, DUNN's "the searchers" picks up right where INFINITE SADNESS left off --it may be well acclaimed, but to me it seems underappreciated, like a ripple in STARS OF THE LID's tectonic-shifting wake, though it deserves placement on the shelf alongside those revered SOTL's triple lps-- [an aside, first since INFINITE isn't entirely correct, as there was 2015's well-received at least around these parts one-off spontaneous late-night collaboration with DEVIN FREISEN aka BITTER FICTIONS and JAMES GODDARD, courtesy FRIESEN's SHAKING BOX] --anyway-- assuming you're familiar with SOTL, that's a great place to start for comparison along with WILLAMETTE, except DUNN stretches it out like taffy here, excelling at the twenty minute opus in a way that SOTL never did, both more gradually in a way that kinda brings to mind BASINSKI, but also more robustly, as there's a lot goin on here, some SEAN MCCANN-esque surrealistic angelic density approaching CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE's CATHEDRALE DE STRASBOURG perhaps<br>
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WAYNE ROBERT THOMAS is not a name i am familiar with - "Making slow moving compositions for guitar since 2012" says bandcamp, he has self released cds going back to 2014 says discogs - i haven't perused any yet, but if his side here is any indication then i expect to hear good things both going back through his catalog and moving forward, both with now-anticipated future releases and also good things by way of critical reception - ambient fiends should be all over this - the tidal ebb and flow here is perfect in a way i rarely find, it kinda recalls BRAINWORLDS' "heliopause" trading some kosmische for classical, or maybe KURMA's "sweet death" swapping morbid mortality for, i don't know, transcendental (?) mortality or some such - the moves THOMAS makes here are gloriously understated and absolutely stunning, again tapping SOTL but with more intimacy - some comparisons might include KYLE LANDSTRA and OXHERDING, and that phenomenal lathe cut WAKE courtesy KJ (which definitely deserves a proper pressing), finding some tangential synergy with AARON MARTIN's and OJERUM's latest offerings - don't sleep on this one like folks slept on MIDWIFE's LIKE AUTHOR which only just recently sold out at the source<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1540878472/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://kylebobbydunnwsr.bandcamp.com/album/kbd-wrt">KBD / WRT by Kyle Bobby Dunn</a></iframe><br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1453735914/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://waynerobertthomaswsr.bandcamp.com/album/kbd-wrt">KBD / WRT by Wayne Robert Thomas</a></iframe><br>
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BRIANNA KELLY / SYMPATHY PAIN - SPLIT<br>
whited sepulchre 2018, edition of 100<br>
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"Cincinnati based Kelly crafts songs that attach themselves to a fleeting connection with the unseen world while rooting itself in a very real topography and landscape. A submission to a force that continues on with or without our attention / devotion. In her liturgical drone-pop songs Brianna weaves hypnotic drones and swells while recalling Julianna Barwick and Grouper in their sedated push and pull... held sway under the plodding gloom of Planning for Burial's linear heaviness. // Brianna also plays guitar and sings in the band Soften.<br>
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The third tape in Whited Sepulchre's split series, Brianna's floating melodies are tethered to this world by Sympathy Pain's aching slowgaze.<br>
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Birthed from the same SLC creative community that brought forth artists like Stag Hare, Braeyden Jae and Seven Feathers Rainwater, Skyler Hitchcox has been crafting trembling guitar-based drone-heavy compositions since the early-aughts under the name Silver Antlers. Sympathy Pain represents the truest and most distilled version of Skyler's emotional heft. Striking a balance between death-to-crescendocore post-rock, static-filled droning and skyward guitar lines, Skyler is joined on keys by Cult Leader drummer Casey Hansen, imbuing these compositions with living shadows and dead reflections." - WHITED SEPULCHRE<br>
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two more unknown-to-me's -- i dig KELLY's low-to-high fidelity emergence trick out of the gate - it only takes about a minute for the cement to dry around her being a leading outsider dream pop musicmaker and dreamer of the dream, hypnotic repetition wrapped in eddies of delay and reverb, as if inspired by an broken COCTEAU TWINS record, but there's more to KELLY's side as she elegantly blends styles and vibes - WINDY & CARL and early GROUPER are inescapable comparisons, and there's a lot of synergy with labelmate MIDWIFE (aka PSI LAB darling MADELINE JOHNSTON aka SISTER GROTTO), but other female vocal driven ambient (post?) pop artists come to mind, like EKIN FIL, RAAJMAHAL and CHRISTINE SHIELDS<br>
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regarding KELLY's vocals, i can't help but think of garage psych punk goddess BRIGID DAWSON of THEE OH SEES fame, to such extent it sometimes sounds like DAWSON's somehow breathy yet full-bodied cooing --particularly crystallized on PEANUT BUTTER OVEN's "kids in cars" wow what a song, anyway-- isolated and extrapolated from OH SEES and immersed in atmospheric soundscapes somewhere between previous decade GROUPER and the moodiest spaced out CHROMATICS sides, approximately<br>
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SYMPATHY PAIN's side is even more immersed, even more experientially embedded - there's an even more vivid slow motion cinematic vibe - again, there's some labelmate synergy with JOHNSTON by way of SISTER GROTTO's longform exaltations and meditations, but there's more anticipation and invested emotional input, if i may so stipulate, that earns attention and appreciation - perhaps a certain perfectionism with closed eyes and furrowed brow, painstakingly packaged and delivered for your enjoyment by way of rich ambient drone hypnosis, with some contemporary comparison to PSI LAB favorites in BRAEYDEN JAE and NATIONAL PARK SERVICE and GOOD NIGHT & GOOD MORNING's NARROWING TYPE<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=13300830/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://sympathypainwsr.bandcamp.com/album/sympathy-pain-brianna-kelly">Sympathy Pain / Brianna Kelly by Sympathy Pain</a></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-23180640587520339942018-03-22T17:01:00.000-05:002018-03-22T17:01:07.992-05:00RECOMMENDATION #214 - HOPITAL DE LA CONCEPTIONHOPITAL DE LA CONCEPTION - THE ELECTRIC ROCKIN' CHAIR<br>
opaque dynamo 2018, edition of 100<br>
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"Opaque Dynamo launches the cassette series with the release of an enigmatic artefact, a real mind-distorter for all zealots of primitive electric guitar fury and utter expression of instinctive command, a tantalizing charge of impenetrable origin, deeply infused in savage fire and filled with unruly beauty. The so-called Hopital De La Conception has arranged it all well in order to maintain an aura of mystery and ensure the untraceability of the band member(s)' identity; as a matter of fact, the only thing to feed our fantasies lies exclusively in the disclosure of the man-behind-the-guitar&voice's epic moniker: Junk Nurse. Yet the name itself allows one to catch a glimpse of the kind of deal to expect!<br>
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hear what happens once Junk Nurse is set in The electric rockin' chair: an influx of deconstruction, a barrage of free-form excavations meeting with a minimalist (and spooky!) edifice which repeatedly hammers its mantra with motorik pressure. ...two massive instrumental pieces like resonant monoliths, fully urban and in (most likely) unusual open-chord tuning. ...a haunting sporadic singing is found interspersed in the flow, it arises in sudden bursts and in an unexpected way like to summon the spirit of a forgotten protest. The gripping guitar tone enables Junk Nurse to so sharpen his style to the most expressive edge, as we also see him able to enter the realm of Guitar-Feedback loudness through a melodic door leading to a unique mastery in subtle & complex frequencies and, from there, to definitely unfold such an onslaught of guitar sounds as scary as dazzling for the senses.<br>
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Directly mastered from reel tape, Hopital De La Conception's The electric rockin' chair is an inspirational journey through the meanders of intense saturation & rumbling vibes, one of these rare ecstatic experiences to surface in our new Millenium. // FR- Cassette tape x 100 - 2018 / limited serie of 100 (hand-numbered) cassette tapes / Pro-duplication / Recording by P.F _ 11/17 - Revox B77 / Mastered & produced by Opaque Dynamo . 2018 . / Featuring Junk Nurse : Guitar & voice / Total Time : 35 mn (Same program both sides)" - OPAQUE DYNAMO<br>
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maybe thee juiciest label write-up i've ever encountered this side of VOLCANIC TONGUE - condemnably under-worshiped french guitar god GREGORY RAIMO via his OPAQUE DYNAMO imprint blast says just about all that needs to be said, but i'll try to supplement best i can<br>
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concerning RAIMO... he's most infamous with/as GR & FULL BLOWN EXPANSION as heard on the 2007 self titled outsider opus, unsurprisingly also a most underappreciated underground diamond in the rough, very much in line with THE ELECTRIC ROCKIN' CHAIR here, but less zoned-in and one-lined as GR&FBE is more sporadic, wild-eyed and hair-brained, channeling weirdo anti-heroes like JANDEK and MICHAEL YONKERS --in fact RAIMO did an album with YONKERS, which, if you're familiar then it probably sounds nothin like what you might expect at least from the half dozen YONKERS albums i've heard-- filtered through messy pummel n throb psychoses akin to AMON DUUL II, MOONEY era CAN, CHROME punk industrialization, hell even BO DIDDLEY, the STOOGES and various LES RALLIZES japanese noise jam adaptations - these are still valid for THE ELECTRIC ROCKIN' CHAIR, but only as a backdrop, an introduction<br>
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the next major mile marker is GUNSLINGERS' MASSACRE-ROCK DEVIANT INQUISITORS circa 2013, which just tightens all the many loose bolts on GR&FBE and opens the throttle wide open, kinda like an alternate MARK E. SMITH on speed rant-laced soundtrack to MAD MAX runnin down those biker thugs, which could be construed as CARRION CRAWLER era -best era- THEE OH SEES on a real bad trip and on the verge of collapsing the stage at some dive bar<br>
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now, THE ELECTRIC ROCKIN CHAIR, what a title - really fits the raw n bluesy vibe - but it's not at all laid back like JOHN HURT or (relatively) good-timin' like chicagoans (approximately) HOWLIN WOLF and MUDDY WATERS - this kinda feels more like my favorite bluesmen ever, FRED MCDOWELL - that drone'ish repetition, get out of the way - though the vocals definitely break the mold - not that there's much vocals to this, they crop up only a couple brief moments over the half hour plus running time, and who the hell knows what mr JUNK NURSE is saying, but it's all the better or it<br>
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this cuts close to free rock duos CHALAQUE and YERBA MANSA, like one of those covering the VELVETS "the gift" with some distantly EXPO'ish loop desynch a time or two, if there's even a loop employed, tough to be sure, maybe not, but maybe so - i have the feeling this is just one dude and i don't get the feeling that it's overdubbed or anything "fancy" like that, but no one knows - there's HERBCRAFT'ian cosmic wah as heard on WOT OZ, circling back toward that unmistakable bombed-out basement stoner vibe a la GEORGE BRIGMAN and VULCAN, surely eternally indebted to, say, LIGHTNIN' HOPKINS, HENDRIX of course, and i don't know, weirdened guitar rock provocateurs like WICKED LADY, fast forward to SONIC YOUTH zeroing in on NEIL YOUNG's ARC, but perhaps THE ELECTRIC ROCKIN' CHAIR has more in common with KING BLOOD's relentless pursuit of nirvana being just one more riff away, collapsing then resolving, somehow makin me think of the shape's face emerging from the darkness behind laurie in HALLOWEEN which is maybe my favorite cinematic moment of all time<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=58364800/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://opaquedynamo.bandcamp.com/album/h-pital-de-la-conception-the-electric-rockin-chair">HÔPITAL DE LA CONCEPTION / The Electric Rockin' Chair by OPAQUE DYNAMO</a></iframe><br>
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<a href="https://oracleoffilm.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/halloween-still.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://oracleoffilm.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/halloween-still.jpg" width="400" height="174" data-original-width="480" data-original-height="209" /></a>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-67570811405047183232018-03-11T11:24:00.000-05:002018-03-11T11:24:28.782-05:00RECOMMENDATION #213 - SIMPLE AFFECTIONSSIMPLE AFFECTIONS - SIMPLE AFFECTIONS<br>
recital 2018<br>
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"I corralled a dream LP that I would want to listen to. Too smelly, too sweet. LP is mainly myself, Graham Lambkin, Madalyn Merkey & Zach Schwartz, but features contributions from a slew of people, all playing over my favorite augmented classical pieces. Limited LP edition coming spring 2018" - RECITAL<br>
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despite being (even) more subdued and twenty minutes shorter than SEAN MCCANN's 2016 standout MUSIC FOR PUBLIC ENSEMBLE -a proper magnum opus- i find this to be an (even) better work, grander to some extent, more intimate and indulgent but not overwhelming, playful yet brilliantly reserved<br>
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MFPE is a lot, an awful lot, sometimes too much if you aren't locked in for four sides' worth - SA streamlines and simplifies, filters and distills the best elements into a more digestible work that i find easier to get lost in, which is perhaps the single most crucial selling point for me when it comes to music like this<br>
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SA drifts on from where MFPE left off - an incredible abundance of space laced with angelic arias, chamber accompaniment, distorted splices and fragmented eavesdrop transmissions, acute "next age" weirdness - a most curious and thoroughly engaging free flowing stream of sub-consciousness, as MCCANN acknowledges - i don't think he has displayed such sublime subtlety since 2010-11 with understated works like FOUNTAINS, SKY IS FILLED and SINCERE WORLD, and those don't approach this level of organic detail<br>
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comparisons - last year's SARA SOLTAU cassette comes to mind, perhaps RAISING HOLY SPARKS' FOUR SACRED MOUNTAINS at some nth degree, always ENO's ambient oeuvre and OBSCURE curating (BUDD, BRYARS, NYMAN) - it's like AARON MARTIN semi-improvising over down-the-hall HILDEGARD VON BINGEN passages and BIG BLOOD snippets patchworked into a BOOKS style tapestry with some congregational synergy to the MICROPHONES' MOUNT EERIE -
i guess that's what i hear, i mean MCCANN kinda seems beyond comparison at this point with his ever expanding and meandering root system, drawing and focusing lord knows what back toward his minimal neoclassical experimental framework<br>
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free download from the source (for now?)<br>
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http://www.recitalprogram.com/simple-affections/<br>
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<a href="http://www.recitalprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/R44Postcard3-768x556.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://www.recitalprogram.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/R44Postcard3-768x556.jpg" width="400" height="290" data-original-width="768" data-original-height="556" /></a>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-42064596093298792022018-03-08T17:35:00.001-06:002018-03-11T11:22:49.342-05:00RECOMMENDATION #212 - NATASHA MORROWNATASHA MORROW - SUGAR LAND<br>
self released 2018<br>
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"somewhere with dancing / visuals / gold dust visions" - NATASHA MORROW bandcamp<br>
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something happens and i'm head over heels - i'm surprised that i am one of only two people in the "supported by" section of MORROW's bandcamp page - i get it, the population of folks who obsessively pan for gold in the never-ending stream that is bandcamp -for tapes no less- is probably quite low - but there's gotta be enough dumb luck in the world for more folks to stumble upon this tape and enjoy it enough to buy it, and that's not counting the likeminded searchers (however few, but surely more than two) who would take notice, be it by name, title or -in my case- cover art<br>
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let that be a lesson to all the bandcamp artists and labels out there, artwork goes a long way - the artwork here is alluring, that's a word for it - she (the artist?) is beautiful, but there's more going on here - is that a jail cell? it's intriguing if not engrossing, there's another two words for it - the best i can make sense of it is to contextualize it with JANDEK cover art, which, as much a (selective) fan as i am of his music and more so his aesthetic, i'm probably a more receptive fan of his album cover art (which is saying somethin because in general i despise portrait artwork with few exceptions)<br>
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and to top it all off, this arrived in the mail with a black ribbon around it tied in a neat little bow - fantastic - and that's where i'd like to start in terms of sonics - deceptive simplicity - there's a lot of that here in general, with the music channeling the best of that ilk that comes to mind, like prime STEVIE NICKS sharply redirected with an outsider tack, skirting early/best CAT POWER territory toward an even more stripped down style, again finding comparison to JANDEK, particularly "NANCY" as heard on all time favorite song "nancy sings" and then, well i forget the legend but i don't think it's her on some of the THE LIVING END tracks (i wanna say it's her sister? yeah it kinda gets weird, if it wasn't weird enough)<br>
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anyway-- all that to say MORROW has a trajectory that at certain angles lines up with CHRISTINA CARTER (thinkin 2006 hat trick BASTARD WING, ELECTRICE and LACE HEART) -one of my all time favorite female artists- though at first glance that comparison might not stick (it does for me) - MORROW has an alluring throwback characteristic --organic, decisively dramatic and crucially not overdone-- reminiscent of jazz singer songwriter legends like BILLIE HOLIDAY and SHIRLEY HORN, distantly echoing PORTISHEAD's BETH GIBBONS and THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA's DOROTHY MOSKOWITZ (more all time favorite female voices)<br>
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there's lineage to last decade's weirdo female frontrunners, but MORROW is less GROUPER, more INCA ORE unplugged and dosed on nyquil, aligning with cassette contemporaries PHIPPS PT and CAROLINE NO, finding some tangential synergy with SPENCER DOBBS or TERRORS, but with better results if i may say - i guess i'm just a sucker for loner / outsider / weirdo female singer songwriter stuff, and i can't think of much that outright tops this<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1353494244/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://natashamorrow.bandcamp.com/album/sugar-land">Sugar Land by Natasha Morrow</a></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-28338104380573664152018-03-05T14:58:00.001-06:002018-03-05T14:58:25.330-06:00RETROSPECTIONS<a href="https://psilabtapes.blogspot.com/2018/03/retrospection-4-tom-carter.html">#4 - TOM CARTER - all ahead now (root strata)</a><br><br>
<a href="http://psilabtapes.blogspot.com/2017/06/retrospection-3-paul-cary.html">#3 - PAUL CARY - ghost of a man (stankhouse)</a><br><br>
<a href="http://psilabtapes.blogspot.com/2017/03/retrospection-2-king-blood.html">#2 - KING BLOOD - eyewash silver (ignorant gore)</a><br><br>
<a href="http://psilabtapes.blogspot.com/2017/02/retrospection-1-twells-christensen.html">#1 - TWELLS & CHRISTENSEN - coasts (digitalis)</a>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-53085011537571908742018-03-05T14:48:00.001-06:002018-03-05T14:48:27.344-06:00RETROSPECTION #4 - TOM CARTERTOM CARTER - ALL AHEAD NOW<br>
root strata 2011, edition of 120<br>
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"Originally released on Root Strata as All Ahead Now, I've restored the original title of Naked, Stoned and Stabbed (originally rejected because someone else used it. Now it seems silly to care). Wholly Other mail-order description: 'It ain't from the streets but i could spit out the window and hit the J train (Z during rush hours). two long tracks recorded in the loft around the same time as the 'Dance From' LP. // Best known for his work with iconoclastic acid-folk improvisers Charalambides, Carter currently focuses on solo performances and recordings" - TOM CARTER bandcamp<br>
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"Metallic raga for electric guitar. Dark bliss of feedback and harmonic brick layering feed from the streets of NYC." - ROOT STRATA<br>
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"sounds like Terry Riley's A Rainbow In Curved Air re-imagined by Sonic Youth, a dense, druggy feedback meditation as melodic as it is severely face-melting." - BOOMKAT<br>
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one of only about a dozen tapes or so thus far courtesy ROOT STRATA, so from inception an exception to the rule, on the surface channeling the "noisy" side of "guitar music" as heard as the 2000s gave way to the 2010s - just look at ROOT STRATA contemporaries - BARN OWL (and HIGUMA and JON PORRAS), JEFRE CANTU-LEDESMA, THE NORTH SEA, and probably no more perfectly embodied than PETE SWANSON's FEELINGS IN AMERICA out just a few months and a couple catalog numbers ahead of ALL AHEAD NOW - but none of that stuff is as good as this<br>
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ALL AHEAD NOW didn't hit me dead on at first, it landed in my year end honorable mentions alongside excellent company including the likes of ETERNAL TAPESTRY's BEYOND THE 4TH DOOR, HIGUMA's PACIFIC FOG DREAMS, SEAN MCCANN's SINCERE WORLD, STEVEN R. SMITH's FLOOR OF THE SKY and WEYES BLOOD's THE OUTSIDE ROOM --a rather impressive list looking back-- i won't bother to hash out a then-and-now review of 2011 top to bottom, but i had CHARALAMBIDES' EXILE in my top ten, and i'd likely keep it there, but i would surely find a way to get AAN in there now, which wouldn't be easy because 2011 was loaded - strictly considering tapes that year, only LEE NOBLE's NO BECOMING outright tops it, goin up against other all-timers like DAVID ANDREE's IN STREAMS, EXPO 70's BLACKOUT and DEREK ROGERS' INFORMAL MEDITATIONS - good lord, all five tapes are legendary<br>
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so i clearly underestimated ALL AHEAD NOW at first - perhaps it just needed time to work on me - clearly something stuck as it kept creeping into rotation, and with each play it sunk in deeper and deeper until it became apparent to me that what i had here was a masterpiece - or perhaps more likely, i just needed to finish (d)evolving more or less into my present state of sound-mind, which was finishing up right about then i suppose, and then there it was just waiting for me to naturally conform to -it- because expounding on it now, it crystallizes and epitomizes PSI LAB, at least how i see it, to such extent that i suppose one could argue -which i might- that PSI LAB wouldn't exist without AAN's form -and- function influence<br>
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right out of the gate, AAN threatens to destroy your tape deck with white hot searing bliss of "go to the mirror boy", unbridled amp melting ecstatic shredding, buried in the red, rapturous in its ecliptic third eye gazing, pushing the limits of the sonic parameters CARTER sketched out via live improvisations captured on 2010's NUMINOUS tape on PRAIRIE FIRE, in turn laying the foundation for the intense sides of his magnum opus LONG TIME UNDERGROUND [REC #74] - but for all its glory, i must say that AAN side one doesn't hold a candle to side two<br>
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"gonna tune right in on you" adds an entire dimension to CARTER's wailing guitar, intertwines elevated emotional intensity and immersed anticipation, coalescing suspense and mourning - in one fell swoop he brazenly one-ups NATURAL SNOW BUILDINGS and STEVEN R. SMITH - for all the CHARALAMBIDES and solo stuff out there, there's not enough of -this- to be found - four years before FIVE GUITARS FOR TONY CONRAD [REC #88] came along (and blew my mind in its own singular way), CARTER had already been there and lowered the boom every bit as righteously and exponentially more boldly<br>
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recently available digitally courtesy CARTER's bandcamp page, retitled NAKED STONED AND STABBED as originally intended - i don't know, i'm much too partial to "ALL AHEAD NOW" now - either way i definitely prefer the original cassette's dot matrix lookin artwork - either way any fan of this blog should either already have this or else bump it to the front of the line<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4065913757/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://tomcarterguitar.bandcamp.com/album/naked-stoned-and-stabbed-all-ahead-now">Naked Stoned and Stabbed (All Ahead Now) by Tom Carter</a></iframe><br>
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<a href="http://rootstrata.com/media/release/115/1/tom_carter_web-700.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://rootstrata.com/media/release/115/1/tom_carter_web-700.jpg" width="400" height="400" data-original-width="700" data-original-height="700"></a>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-63028904278231065502018-02-19T08:41:00.002-06:002018-02-19T14:22:56.002-06:00RECOMMENDATION #211 - OJERUM | AARON MARTINOJERUM - UNDER GANGE<br>
vienna press 2018<br>
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"Following a contribution on the recent Vienna Press compilation, Under Gange marks øjeRum's debut on the label proper. It combines, over a double cassette spread, two discrete suites of graceful arrangements. Taken together, they present an extended study of sombre movements for strings, piano and synthesizer. // øjeRum is the primary sound project of Copenhagen resident, Paw Grabowski, also a prolific visual artist who is well known for his collage work. øjeRum has released a succession of quality releases of on imprints such as AVA and Vaald, among others. // 2 x c32, White cassettes / clear cases. Duplicated in real time on Luxman machines." - VIENNA PRESS<br>
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i've been obsessively collecting OJERUM tapes since his first one SANGE TIL DOENDE emerged in 2014 courtesy HORROR FICTION - GRABOWSKI has a penchant for handmade micro editions, initially as supplemental EPs and then as intimate reissues or parallel variants and revisions, uniquely artworked and stylized, some of the coolest tapes i have ever seen<br>
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i do not intend to portray favorites like HVID HVILE or NAAR VI VAAGNER or STILHEDENS as less than excellent - to be clear, i think -everything- with OJERUM's name on it is well worth having - but despite my dedicated fanaticism, i must admit --in part due to its unrealistic bar-setting showstopping perfection which i'm in no hurry to refute-- i haven't experienced that feathery knock out punch that SANGE so effortlessly delivers since, well, SANGE<br>
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by that measure i suppose UNDER GANGE is a return to rare form, as it finds GRABOWSKI simultaneously reinforcing his established style while incorporating new elements, sometimes comfortably cultivating a familiar fertile soundscape, other times navigating into adjacent territories sharing a border or two with SKITTISH ARM, and beyond toward zones sparsely and infrequently inhabited by the soft underbelly of european post industrial dark ambient dronemakers like C.L. LOBBESTAEL and TREADING BLOOM<br>
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the key to UNDER GANGE is the attention to detail, the nuance - this separates UNDER GANGE from the pack, both contemporaneously and intra-catalog - these loop like structures don't just reel you in, they come alive, without any unforced errors like gratuitous clutter - there's no undue gimmick or over-saturation like i often find in my pursuit of new weird ambient drone - this is the good stuff, and -only- the good stuff, and by that i mean in no uncertain terms that UNDER GANGE is -at least- the best OJERUM since SANGE, if not his best outright<br>
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<a href="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0278683814_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0278683814_10.jpg" width="320" height="318" data-original-width="800" data-original-height="796" /></a><br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3170683617/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://oejerum.bandcamp.com/album/under-gange">Under Gange by øjeRum</a></iframe><br>
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OJERUM with AARON MARTIN - NEEDLESHAPED SILENCE<br>
fluid audio 2017<br>
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"Mistakes are quickly erased in a world that wishes to erase flaws, but imperfections can be perfect things, too, and that's true of Needleshaped Silence, a collection of muted tracks from øjeRum wherein the past reassembles itself to permeate the present. Accidental sounds become firm roots that can't be displaced, and its solid foundations become defined things which, thanks to the slightly worn, decade-dulled layers around them, don't sound like accidents at all. It isn't always quiet in a dynamic sense: quiet music can be quietly-toned and not necessarily quiet in its overall volume, and it also dismisses the stale, carbon-copy approach of the recording process.<br>
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Like a collage, single tracks were taken and moulded anew using the same old software as before. Introverted sounds that were once buried under the woolen clothing of outer layers are now reluctantly exposed, arriving at the forefront of the music. øjeRum added that he 'preferred the seemingly random, anonymous, silent and unpretentious sounds, recorded as mere backdrops and never intended to come to the fore'. Chance encounters are essential ingredients in the magic spell, but the transitions are so subtle as to seem invisible. A new sound slips easily into the old, and Aaron Martin's additional strings help in fleshing the tones out, supporting them in their first steps and hovering around the quivering vibrations, the subdued frequencies. Deeper and deeper the record descends, until the atmosphere sails through a pair of gates and into the inner reaches of the mind, its own kind of deeper-toned ambient seeming to be a perfect fit for the inner cosmos, coming across at times as a sister of space-ambient. Black sunshine fills the world of Needleshaped Silence, its sobering strings levitating in and around the quavering, flexible tones, its near-silent music lit by the past's dull solar flares." - FLUID AUDIO<br>
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i was particularly excited to hear this, as with the perfect pairing of SISTER GROTTO and BRAEYDEN JAE on the phenomenal collaboration BORN TO LOSE/BORN TO LEAVE, i figured if there was one artist perfect for a collaboration with OJERUM it would be AARON MARTIN, whose IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT WHEN EVERYTHING IS ASLEEP (also via FLUID AUDIO) made my 2016 top ten non-cassette list - and much like that collaboration where LEONARDO ROSADO provided textural soundscapes within which MARTIN operated, here OJERUM provides these sparse yet engrossing structures, a solemn sonic framework, and then MARTIN expertly adds exquisite string elements, well reserved and perfectly complimentary to OJERUM's flickering ambient drone backdrop, further deepening the emotional immersion of the resultant work, and it is breathtaking - i shouldn't have let this one sit by the wayside as long as i did, and this should not have been absent from my year end non-cassette list<br>
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<a href="https://images.bigcartel.com/product_images/202471006/Screen_Shot_2017-08-29_at_17.08.32.jpg?auto=format&fit=max&h=1000&w=1000" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://images.bigcartel.com/product_images/202471006/Screen_Shot_2017-08-29_at_17.08.32.jpg?auto=format&fit=max&h=1000&w=1000" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="800" data-original-height="800" /></a><br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2179693876/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://oejerum.bandcamp.com/album/needleshaped-silence">Needleshaped Silence by øjeRum</a></iframe><br>
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AARON MARTIN - A ROOM NOW EMPTY<br>
preserved sound 2018<br>
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"sees him returning to the memory-based recordings of previous albums such as Almond, River Water and Chautauqua, where layered meanings in the music and titles don't allow a single clear-cut reading of the music. 'A Room Now Empty is similar to the concept of Day Has Ended where Christoph Berg and I created music to encompass the passing of a day, but stretched out for the passing of a lifetime or at least a portion of a lifetime' says Aaron. Using cello, electric guitar, bass, roll up piano, banjo, concertina, acoustic guitar, voice, ukulele, singing bowls and lap steel, A Room Now Empty keeps the same intimacy and directness of Aaron's previous albums, with a slightly more processed sound creating distance within the music. / Mastered by Ian Hawgood" - PRESERVED SOUND<br>
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released just three weeks ago and PRESERVED SOUND already has a second edition coming down the pike - while perhaps not the over the top exuberant artifact that is FLUID AUDIO's cd packaging modus operandi, A ROOM NOW EMPTY has the best cover artwork i've seen this year thus far (courtesy OJERUM no less, as with the other two titles here) --it has me thinkin, i should spend more time blurbing about the physical aspect of all this stuff, or at least an annual revue, because a lot of this stuff is almost as impressive visually as it is aurally<br>
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but, aurally, A ROOM NOW EMPTY is the finest showcase of MARTIN's skill and talent, at least that i've heard anyway, moody modern classical constructs with contemplative traditional abstracts and a tempered experimental edge that cuts straight through a black and white cinematic veil to a much more potent level of intimacy and realism exceeding and wholly independent of any forced imagery or even situational suggestion therein - in that way -and also to some extent sonically albeit tangentially- i find some comparison to STEVEN R. SMITH's most subdued sides, as well as AURALGAMI SOUNDS SERIES contributions from ROB COLLIER and SARA SOLTAU, closing in on SEAN MCCANN's RECITAL imprint where i think MARTIN would fit right in -- to be sure, there -are- vivid images and situations, thoughts and emotions, that appear associated when i listen, but i bring those to the table, knowingly or not, as the artist by way of the music allows - such is a hallmark of a well crafted close listening experience<br>
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<a href="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3872249961_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3872249961_10.jpg" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="800" data-original-height="800" /></a><br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2863032162/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://preservedsound.bandcamp.com/album/a-room-now-empty">A Room Now Empty by Aaron Martin</a></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-87881276098390838762018-02-09T17:54:00.000-06:002018-02-09T17:55:33.711-06:00RECOMMENDATION #210 - MATT LAJOIE | ML WAHtackling my favorite new label's fresh batch of tapes, all of em highly appreciated additions to my collection, but these are the standouts by my measure<br>
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MATT LAJOIE - THE FOUNTAIN<br>
flower room 2018, edition of 50<br>
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"Recorded live at 3S Artspace (Portsmouth, NH) 06.29.17. Special thanks to Daniel Bachman & John Andrews. / Matt Lajoie: electric guitar / Home-dubbed Type I music grade c27, with each cassette shell individually hand-painted by the artist. Full-color pro-printed tip-on cover on clear polybox, hand-numbered and strictly limited to 50 copies." - FLOWER ROOM<br>
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LAJOIE at peak electric (slide) guitar wizardry - side one akin to JON COLLIN eschewing his typical "a loner starkly" approach, arming himself with a warm amp and an array of pedals, pulling up alongside criminally underappreciated fellow weirdo folk guitar veteran DOC DUNN (another regular MV & EE road warrior and studio contributor), here LAJOIE conjures an electric vibe parallel to DUNN's 2009 acoustic trip PEACE BE YOUR RIDER courtesy BENIFFER<br>
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side two pushes past COLLIN and DUNN toward a more boldly psychedelic territory adjacent to folks like RAFI BOOKSTABER and CLOUDSOUND with glorious gradually de-sychronizing loops nearing the kosmische zone of "golden age" EXPO 70 circa 2009-11, not too far from the last known intergalactic position of LAJOIE's mainline HERBCRAFT triangulated by masterpiece WOT OZ and satellite tapes TABS OUT and AMEN DUEL, bringing to mind another avant rural guitar gem quietly collecting a decade of dust by another unheralded trailblazer in 2008's DUST AMERICAN DUST by PETE FOSCO courtesy DIGITALIS - this is like the best tape DIGITALIS never released<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1192666047/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://flowerroomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/matt-lajoie-the-fountain">MATT LAJOIE - The Fountain by Matt Lajoie</a></iframe><br>
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ML WAH - BIG AIR<br>
flower room 2018, edition of 50<br>
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"ML Wah's solo debut is a long-awaited return to the brass instrumentation that was the origin of his musical path 25 years ago. An unbroken chain of ambient sample-and-hold-based automatic compositions unfold organically in the cathedral of now time across two sides. / ML Wah: trumpet, slide trombone / Home-dubbed Type I music-grade c52, with hand-painted A-side and hand-stamped B-side on black shell. Full-color pro-printed tip-on cover, hand-numbered and strictly limited to 50." - FLOWER ROOM<br>
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a mind-blowing dark ambient drone concerto for trumpet, patient longform improvisation elegantly laid out over hypnotic loops laced with kosmische experimentation - big air, indeed - a tabula rasa dream state where out of the nothingness appears this surging swelling energy, a glorious sonic monolith of origin and inspiration, primitive yet profound, echoing enthralling existential evocations in DEREK ROGERS' SATURATIONS and SOMNOROASE PASARELE's DEMO, kinda like LICHENS' THE PSYCHIC NATURE OF BEING swapping voice for trumpet<br>
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LAJOIE offers a crucial bold brass counterpoint to COLIN STETSON's hyped saxophone works, which, aside from the fact that i wholeheartedly believe that the trumpet is a vastly superior instrument (unless you're almighty COLTRANE or SANDERS), right out of the gate i find BIG AIR's approach and execution much more -exponentially more- captivating and exhilarating than anything i've heard from STETSON, but hey, that's just me<br>
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BIG AIR kinda taps into the cinematic charge of both LIGETI and STRAUSS courtesy 2001 and to some extent VANGELIS' BLADE RUNNER score, as well as the hushed stark psychosis sides of early to mid 70s MILES DAVIS, sure think BITCHES BREW, but just as much if not more so BIG FUN and GET UP WITH IT<br>
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a year end top ten tape heavyweight contender right here<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=562835963/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://flowerroomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ml-wah-big-air">ML WAH - Big Air by ML Wah</a></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-53883905951109179762018-02-05T17:04:00.000-06:002018-02-11T08:11:47.754-06:00RECOMMENDATION #209 - BURNT HILLSBURNT HILLS - ROUND LAKE<br>
c/site 2018, edition of 100<br>
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"safe to say that the best Monday night house party has been happening on a weekly basis at the Helderberg House in Albany. For well over a decade Burnt Hills has gotten together on Monday nights to jam, host shows and produce some of the best free-form psych rock the 21st century has known. On Round Lake, one such Monday evening is captured. On this night the usual Burnt Hills players are joined by Marc Weinstein, former drummer of the mighty MX-80 Sound (that makes for a total of three drummers on this session). Starting on a slow groove, Round Lake ramps up quickly into the full freakout that has been typical of Burnt Hills jams. The band sustains the heaviness with the confidence and ease of seasoned vets, allowing the listener to be lost in the shred and fury pulsing out of the basement." - C/SITE<br>
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ROUND LAKE continues BH's emphasis on the groove, letting in some natural moonlight and cool air to counter some of the daunting claustrophobia of their patented helderberg haze, apparent that -something- is different in the gradient, more than just a third drummer, though crucial in the waning minutes of this hour long excursion - the first few could be a lost basement tape of ASSEMBLE HEAD IN SUNBURST SOUND or hell maybe even DEERHUNTER if they hooked left instead of faded right after CRYPTOGRAMS, but then it slides toward their more familiar careening cacophony<br>
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following a wide-open gear-shifting muscular groove, ROUND LAKE channels BEEFHEART's "drop out boogie" and the KINKS "you really got me", elliptically orbiting a vibe triangulated by ELEVATORS' LIVE IN TEXAS, FLYING SAUCER ATTACK's IN SEARCH OF SPACES and COLEMAN's FREE JAZZ with an ambulance siren and table saw added to the lobe-splitting frenzy - that said, ROUND LAKE mostly manages to stay on its hinges, with some sweet lead guitar lines that mange to climb -just barely- above the fray long enough to open pathways previously closed off by gratuitous sonic demolition - if previous efforts might be perceived as "noise" -pejorative sense- then perhaps this is thee BH recording to shed that stigma and earn more appreciative ears<br>
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is this stoner rock? eh, sure, but it's sure to send most purveyors ducking for cover, so i might go with somethin a bit more selective like "proto industrial bonehead kosmische" or even the grossly ambiguous "experimental rock" if that helps any fence-riders - perhaps consider BIRDS OF MAYA's READY TO HOWL and MIKE VEST (BLOWN OUT, HAIKAI NO KU) demos, or that ROUND LAKE could be construed as BH siphoning away some of the untapped resources lying beneath adjacent sonic territories of fellow tip-of-the-spear free rock outfits DSDV and DIRE WOLVES, though both arrived on the scene after BH, and ROUND LAKE is still very much (un)filtered through BH's inimitable -untouchable- chaos theory, obliterating everything in its path<br>
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<iframe width="75%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/393404913&color=%23747c70&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><br>
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get it direct from C/SITE -or- from FLIPPED OUT distro (run by central BURNT HILLS member and helderberg house owner JACKSON WINGATE), who still has some PSI LAB tapes available (PL08 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, PL14 SKITTISH ARM and PL15 DIRE WOLVES)<br>
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http://csiterecordings.storenvy.com/products/23134554-burnt-hills-round-lake-cs<br>
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http://flippedoutrecords.com/shop/burnt-hills-round-lake-cassette-c-site-recordingsPSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-73070289579068291822018-01-15T11:32:00.000-06:002018-01-27T09:30:04.039-06:00RECOMMENDATION #208 - VIERZIG SKIZZEN | CLA-RAS / LUNG CYCLEScozy tape label LILY --self proclaimed "purveyors of good sh*t" with TUCKER THEODORE's all time instant weirdo classic TO MAKE THE SUN HURT on his bandcamp "recommendations" page commented with the simple yet crucial plea "please listen to this" which i wholeheartedly echo-- starting off 2018 right with a stunning one-two(-three) punch<br>
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VIERZIG SKIZZEN - TRAVELS IN PUBLIC<br>
lily 2018, edition of 60<br>
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"For our latest batch of releases, Lily Tapes & Discs reaches across the Atlantic for the first time to welcome vierzig skizzen of Kiel, Germany to the fold. Partly inspired by a recent move away from home, travels in public translates the nervous optimism of leaving the known behind and embracing the new into a collection of road-weary journal entries. It's music that radiates from the overlap between wistful recollection and hesitant beginnings, like watching tracers of late night scenery on the other side of a bus window, or imagining familiar faces emerging on unfamiliar streets. It's a lonesome soundtrack to what we see when unknown surroundings make us feel like spectators to our own lives. // Edition of 60 pro-dubbed metallic gold chrome tapes. Packaged with full-color j-cards, numbered and assembled by hand at LTD Headquarters." - LILY<br>
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VIERZIG SKIZZEN ("forty sketches") is emergent soundscapist DANIEL STUHR who describes TRAVELS as "the first VIERZIG SKIZZEN album" despite digital and physical titles that predate, perhaps demarcating his first non-self-released album or perhaps a commentary on "album", perhaps shedding light on how he approached TRAVELS from inception<br>
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in any case, STUHR delivers the goods, a soothing iv drip, part hypnotic melodic undulation of SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE, part textural heaven of BITTER FICTIONS - it's not easy to discern which instrument is which, where one note ends and another begins - a sonic palette where hum, feedback and distortion are not mere effects employed to enhance other elements or else left as unintended artifacts, rather these colorful sounds are aptly applied to both stand on their own and aesthetically compliment the totality of the music, both at any particular sliced moment in time and from a panoramic perspective - but TRAVELS isn't the perfect sum of it's perfect parts - the real beauty of it is that, say, much like ENO, for all the attention to such aural minutiae, there's -something- there that wasn't recorded --though intended, no doubt-- that is so easily able to obliterate all else and allow the close listener to soak it in, to escape through it like a hidden door - if there's somethin beyond the horizon of this existence and it doesn't sound somethin like this i will be rather disappointed<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1829722207/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://lilytapesanddiscs.bandcamp.com/album/travels-in-public">travels in public by vierzig skizzen</a></iframe><br>
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https://vierzigskizzen.bandcamp.com/<br>
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CLA-RAS / LUNG CYCLES - SPLIT<br>
lily 2018, edition of 50<br>
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"seventh entry in our long-running series of split releases brings the tape debut of Cla-ras, a new musical project based in Providence, Rhode Island. 'I Could Taste Iodine in the Drinking Water' is a subtle but impactful introduction, a transportive work of deceptively rich guitar playing that slowly fills the room like steam off a pot of broth, with spoken word adapted from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley emerging from the haze. Opposite Cla-ras's performance is the first new transmission from Lung cycles since 2015, a loose constellation of slow meditations on quick ideas, left alone to simmer while we wait for the room to heat up. // Edition of 50 pro-dubbed gold chrome tapes. Packaged in Brad Paks from Stumptown Printers with artwork designed, printed, and assembled by Jeremy Ferris, numbered by hand at LTD Headquarters. Includes a copy of 'Above Bridge Water' an illustrated booklet that serves as a companion piece to the tape." - LILY<br>
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LUNG CYCLES split cassettes are a real treat, fresh yet familiar, wandering yet welcoming, and perhaps easier and less daunting for the featured artist to just focus on half a tape's worth of material and to know that LUNG CYCLES will pick up the slack on the flipside - not that CLA-RAS leaves much slack to pick up<br>
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"transportive" is an operative word for this batch, but CLA-RAS's execution is on a grander scale, a nineteen minute sidelong suite, delicate fermatas sustain and dissolve above and below the sound floor, forming elongated loop-like structures that reveal minimal almost subliminal melodies, further out past ENO toward KRAFTWERK's "harmonika" and even further - really, CLA-RAS is like the finest iteration of late 70s early 80s private press new age, but with a certain longing or forlorn undercurrent that betrays that vibe, echoing in a STARS OF THE LID record run out groove, in a headspace not too far from DAVID COLOHAN at his most zen, perhaps not too distant from DAVID ANDREE's all-time favored IN STREAMS, then as it winds to a close things turn toward a decidedly folk-ified ambient zone, somewhere between MARISA ANDERSON and that NEVADA GREENE / SCOTT TUMA split, finding some overlap with PSI LAB's own SHAMELESS FRIEND cassette [PL03]<br>
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LUNG CYCLES picks up where CLA-RAS leaves off with a cluster of elegant hypnotic passages embellished with minimal self accompaniment, sometimes in the form of a subtle yet crucial dynamic ambient backdrop, other times courtesy blurry field recordings of people, muted faceless conversations and some of the clutter that comes with that, here filtered, strained and retrained into an immersed atmosphere - intimately recorded and emotionally invested, enamored maze-like circular melodies and pensive soundscapes, improving and expanding on some of those "slow meditations on quick ideas" that surfaced on his split with YLAYALI [REC #44] - i might be more inclined to the "moody drone psych" styling of the miniature odyssey presented on his side of a split with OCEAN CHARTER OF VALUES [REC #57] as highlighted by standout "sparklers" but i'm also inclined to say that this is his best side yet, cultivating a sublime zone adjacent to a host of upper crust contemporaries from ILYAS AHMED to OJERUM, from LOST TRAIL to TALK WEST, and recent phenoms ERIK KRAMER and JACOB SUNDERLIN<br>
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2018 is certainly off to a stellar start<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3782853848/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://lilytapesanddiscs.bandcamp.com/album/cla-ras-lung-cycles">Cla-ras / Lung cycles by Cla-ras & Lung cycles</a></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-42865130841697985192018-01-03T16:44:00.001-06:002018-01-03T16:44:18.376-06:00UPDATE - FAVORITES OF 2017same deal as last year's list, a bunch of good stuff didn't make the cut, a bunch of good stuff i just couldn't find the time to sit down and recommend, and that many more that i probably slept on or otherwise missed, still i think i got out more recommendations this year than i might have first guessed - i think about half of the tapes and most of the non tapes are still available from their sources and/or usual distros<br>
<br>
cassettes<br>
<br>
RAISING HOLY SPARKS - search for the vanished heaven (eiderdown) [#192]<br>
DANNY CLAY & GREG GORLEN - birch (midnight circles) [#173]<br>
BITTER FICTIONS - xxvii (shaking box) [#190]<br>
SARA SOLTAU - series 1.2: in parts (auralgami sounds) [#199]<br>
ERIK KRAMER - a house, floating in the middle of a lake (anthropocene) [#204]<br>
JACOB SUNDERLIN - hymnal (null zone) [#205]<br>
STARBIRTHED - citrine dreams (flower room) [#203]<br>
LINDEN POMEROY & LONESOME BLOOD - maybe it's our january heads (illuminated paths) [#171]<br>
BUFFALO VOICE - pilgrim takes his spill (antiquated future) [#189]<br>
SOMESURPRISES - serious dreams (eiderdown) [#180]<br>
<br>
non cassettes<br>
<br>
SARAH DAVACHI - all my circles run (students of decay) [#207]<br>
JON COLLIN - the glorious licking (singing knives) [#206]<br>
ALEXANDER - alexander (self released) [#202]<br>
EXPO 70 - cleverly mystique (5nakefork) [#182]<br>
ASH & HERB - northern lights (child of microtones / flower room) [#203]<br>
MIDWIFE - like author, like daughter (whited sepulchre) [#188]<br>
YERBA MANSA - untitled (deep distance) [#170]<br>
IRMA VEP - no handshake blues (faux discx) [#186]<br>
SAMUEL REGAN - a warm room (unknown tone) [#187]<br>
ANDREW WEATHERS ENSEMBLE - build a mountain where our bodies fall (full spectrum) [#196]<br>
<br>
https://www.facebook.com/psilabtapes/posts/1597630643668142PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-72353185714708388602017-12-31T17:40:00.000-06:002017-12-31T17:40:05.331-06:00RECOMMENDATION #207 - SARAH DAVACHISARAH DAVACHI - ALL MY CIRCLES RUN<br>
students of decay 2017, edition of ?<br>
<br>
"fourth full length release by Montreal-based electro-acoustic composer Sarah Davachi and her second outing for Students of Decay. In a move which may surprise followers of her previous output, the five compositions on this record eschew synthesizer entirely, each focusing on a different instrument, including strings, voice, organ and piano. What remains consistent however is the striking attention to detail and commitment to investigating tonal possibility that characterizes all of her work. The sinewy 'For Strings' opens the album, with keening overtones stretching out in all directions to form a mass of slow moving, radiant sound. 'For Voice' charts an even more celestial course, as wordless vocals ebb and flow to awe-inspiring effect. The stunning, melancholic 'For Piano' closes the record and is something of a high watermark in Davachi's oeuvre to date, with plaintive piano figures nestled atop a shimmering string drone to create a richly emotive, reverent atmosphere. Ultimately, a confident step forward from an exciting artist whose compositional and aesthetic tendencies steer her steadfastly towards both the subjunctive and the sublime." - STUDENTS OF DECAY<br>
<br>
bigger label stuff isn't as easy for me to tackle, i guess i feel like 1. i'm a weirdo cassette bottomfeeder so not only do DAVACHI and SOD not need my "press" in any way, i figure folks don't even come here lookin for high(er) profile stuff to begin with, so if i bother then 2. i figure i gotta make it count somehow, which is irrational, because 1. i like what i like and 2. i just do what i do, and if i didn't then i'd just be boring myself which is more than enough to make me not bother in the first place<br>
<br>
DAVACHI has been on my radar since her 2014 sophomore (?) tape AUGUST HARP courtesy IMPORTANT's cassette imprint CASSAUNA, which showed me a lot of promise - she's extremely talented and established, now more than ever as an SOD mainstay, which i suppose carries nearly as much water these days as saying "TYPE mainstay" a decade ago, but for whatever reason i never fully connected with her music until last year's VERGERS lp also via IMPORTANT, where she turned a corner, but everything VERGERS does, ALL MY CIRCLES RUN does better<br>
<br>
AMCR is absolutely stunning, prodigious, transcendental, leaps and bounds above and beyond her previous works by my measure, dare i say the best pure drone record i have heard since FIVE GUITARS FOR TONY CONRAD [REC #88], and i'm not so sure this isn't even better -though they are most certainly different beasts- as i can't easily think of somethin that outright bests this most elegant unassuming minimal drone masterpiece, other than an impossible all timer like ZEIT or somethin - it's the best non-cassette thing of 2017 to my ears, and it easily has what it takes to challenge shoo-in top tapes by CLAY & GORLEN [REC #173] and RAISING HOLY SPARKS [REC #192] for straight up favorite album of 2017<br>
<br>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2807319763/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://sarahdavachi.bandcamp.com/album/all-my-circles-run">All My Circles Run by Sarah Davachi</a></iframe><br>
<br>
http://studentsofdecay.com/post/148750953949/sarah-davachi-all-my-circles-runPSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-24299206324056055872017-12-28T12:48:00.003-06:002018-01-27T09:31:22.508-06:00RECOMMENDATION #206 - JON COLLINJON COLLIN - THE GLORIOUS LICKING<br>
singing knives 2017, edition of ?<br>
<br>
"A six-part live electric guitar set, recorded to reel-to-reel tape in the cellar of a Prague coffeehouse. Comes in an oversize four-colour risograph-printed folding outer sleeve with full-colour postcard insert."<br>
<br>
why not, one more COLLIN rec before year's end, just in time, and it's a doozy<br>
<br>
this sounds like LOREN CONNORS tensely focused in a minimal-maximized third eye lagrange point of profundity, TOM CARTER at his most austere yet freakishly inspired, making BURNT MONDAY sound like a dress rehearsal --goddamn, JANDEK could have conquered the known universe if his guitar sounded like this-- as COLLIN's possessed improvisational style moves in-and-out tangential to an all time favorite cassette in FIVE GUITARS FOR TONY CONRAD, at times almost locking in like an isolated thread of that epic one-in-a-million missive, only to veer into once-in-a-universe territory<br>
<br>
by now i'm sure i sound like a broken record going on about COLLIN's music, but he's kinda thee alpha and omega in my tiny corner of the weirdo music world, and has been for a while<br>
<br>
i listen to -a lot- of new stuff, even in a down year - not down in quality - it was a down year for me because i scaled back my rampant obsession, more on the buying side than the digging side, even so i tried to spend less time unblinkingly searching for new stuff - i try to avoid using the word "best" when "favorite" is much more interesting to me - i don't separate the two except in an attempt to connect with those who do by translating "best" as "an arbitrary quasi objective measurement of quality often favoring critical and/or popular consensus and/or some other arbitrary significance (artistic, cultural, historical, number of copies sold) while often discounting one's own opinion vis a vis 'favorite'" - if that sounds boring, i agree<br>
<br>
far be it from me to claim what is "best" by that measure, hell i'm probably too far gone to even claim my own surefire favorite, as by year's end i've likely boasted some twenty titles as "stone cold top ten" --though i have tried to shore that up a bit-- also i'm just too much of a fanatic at times - in that, COLLIN joins the nigh impossible rank of artists i can't possibly judge with any fairness or objectivity --an active group i can probably count on one hand-- where my favorite is simply the last one i listened to - still, it seems quite clear to me that this is the best --my favorite-- with COLLIN's name on it, and if you have any doubt then just wait for "part six" to reach through your speakers and slap some sense into you<br>
<br>
<a href="http://singingknivesrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Jon-Collin-The-Glorious-Licking.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://singingknivesrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Jon-Collin-The-Glorious-Licking.jpg" width="400" height="400" data-original-width="800" data-original-height="800"></a><br>
<br>
SINGING KNIVES is selling it on their website and also on discogs<br>
<br>
http://singingknivesrecords.co.uk/jon-collin/<br>
<br>
audio samples<br>
<br>
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/74050<br>
<br>
https://www.mixcloud.com/TheWireMagazine/adventures-in-sound-and-music-hosted-by-derek-walmsley-13-july-2017/PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-71282750484172840822017-12-26T17:36:00.000-06:002017-12-26T17:36:50.064-06:00RECOMMENDATION #205 - JACOB SUNDERLINJACOB SUNDERLIN - HYMNAL<br>
null zone 2017, edition of 50<br>
<br>
"Recorded at home, 2016" - NULL ZONE<br>
<br>
cassette label out of athens georgia "focusing on homegrown experimentalism" - well i can definitely get behind that, and SUNDERLIN fits that narrative perfectly, alchemizing his own unique blend of drone folk, a brilliant follow up to last year's (debut?) DEATH RANCH [REC #148] cassette courtesy CASTLE BRAVO that further develops and expands his technique and sonic territory, built on traditional american primitive and old guard new weird american elements, now more closely aligning in both sound and mind with concurrent greats in DOC DUNN, WILLIE LANE and ANDREW WEATHERS, sometimes particularly zeroing in on that sweet spot inhabited by GLOVER/PERREAULT's one-off masterpiece FREIGHT 1110 THROUGH GREENSBORO [way way back REC #9] cassette courtesy WEATHERS' in house imprint FULL SPECTRUM, right alongside ROCK & ROLL CAN & WILL HEAL US [REC #135] - this is avant folk minimalism paying dividends on FLYING SAUCER ATTACK's "rural psychedelia" tagline with fuzzy fringes that creep up and seep in, gloriously shifting toward LOST TRAIL territory one moment, then dissipating and floating away like an extended BIG BLOOD interlude featuring BITTER FICTIONS possessed by the ghost of FAHEY<br>
<br>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3625827222/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://nullzone.bandcamp.com/album/hymnal">Hymnal by Jacob Sunderlin</a></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-53376856604848706172017-12-25T14:26:00.001-06:002017-12-25T14:26:19.687-06:00RECOMMENDATION #204 - ERIK KRAMERERIK KRAMER - A HOUSE, FLOATING IN THE MIDDLE OF A LAKE<br>
anthropocene 2017, edition of 80<br>
<br>
"debut release of Erik Kramer from Madison, Wisconsin. folk abstractions, new age textures, guitar soli, pastoral ambience, with a focus on the blending of organic and synthetic sound realms. AHFITMOAL is also the debut release from Anthropocene. Anthropocene is a name for our present geologic epoch, a time where the ecological-social impact of capitalism has made (and, without serious intervention, will continue to make) our Earth a profoundly different place. // 'Kramer creates a tune so forlorn, and yet, so beautiful and then follows up its eco-spirituality with the destructive... steady drone gale that dares the listener to stand up to its ecological force. But much like the resulting folk (r)evolution, the genre seems to be looking to echo destruction rather than to proactively speak against it, as if to give us the real sound of our fate rather than thoughts of cautious protest.' - Tiny Mix Tapes" - ANTHROPOCENE<br>
<br>
out of nowhere last minute year end list crasher of epic proportions, for sure - KRAMER has one foot firmly planted in this modern post american primitive "folk (r)evolution" as it were, echoing elements permeating the foundational FAHEY/TAKOMA model, molded -weird-ified- into sound shapes not all that unlike DYLAN AYCOCK's experimental ego TALK WEST, while cohesively meandering an array of sounds and styles a la LEE NOBLE's NO BECOMING -an all time favorite tape- with distant echoes of THANKSGIVING's self titled triple lp magnum opus, steeped in SIX ORGANS discography, sometimes alternating while other times overlapping standout favorites self-titled debut, DARK NOONTIDE, ASLEEP ON THE FLOODPLAIN and MARIA KAPEL, mostly falling on the hushed acoustic haunting side of the CHASNY spectrum, but not without flashes of flashes that bleed into retro new age musings akin to JAMES FERRARO's LAST AMERICAN HERO and SUN ARAW's most meditative late 00s sides -- sold out now, but his bandcamp says "*I'll make more if there's enough interest....message me!*"<br>
<br>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1951904824/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://anthropocenerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/erik-kramer-a-house-floating-in-the-middle-of-a-lake">Erik Kramer- A House, Floating In The Middle Of A Lake by Anthropocene Recordings</a></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-73777369386821188342017-12-18T14:41:00.000-06:002017-12-18T15:11:43.356-06:00RECOMMENDATION #203 - ASH & HERB | STARBIRTHEDASH & HERB - NORTHERN LIGHTS<br>
child of microtones 2017, cd edition of 99<br>
flower room 2017, deluxe lp edition of 50, cassette edition of 50<br>
<br>
"ASH & HERB is a unit to challenge the boundaries of duo exchanges within free dankazoid jam fiction. written by one of the medium's most innovative and prophetic voices (matt lajWAH from the mighty herbcraft), he is now found thrice as potent with astral goddess ASH 'sister anubis' joining him in sonic rapture, tone and float perfectly realized on a joyous alternative earth. the dual vocal attack reminds me of a look i love & recognize, while the reality of time & death are totally displaced into a homegrown dimension i haven't seen in what seems like an aeon but now is finally here. transportation, extrapolation, whack, zonk machine, action, art, plot, jam, focus... a truly superior work of free folk. COM brought you samara lubelski's first record as well as the debut from willie lane -> now we offer you ASH & HERB -> dig!" - MATT VALENTINE, CHILD OF MICROTONES<br>
<br>
MATT LAJOIE, ever forward on multiple fronts, numerous trajectories - a new project, hell a new -album- reveals a new direction, however tactical or strategic, always tangential, but never straying too far - i can't -not- hear HERBCRAFT in any given LAJOIE work - not that his other sonic pathways are tributaries - on the contrary, i see them all as independent flows equally originating from his singular source, and while HERBCRAFT is perhaps the main line, ASH & HERB is making one hell of a charge right out of the gate<br>
<br>
LAJOIE's music always has embedded propulsion - where MV taps into a supremely cool vibe and just drifts along with it, LAJOIE channels it, charges it - that said, LAJOIE takes a(nother) cue from MV, lets the good times roll a little for their own sake on "keep off the grass" and intensified variation "club colors" which are like MV & EE blazin through ecstatic VANISHING POINT style revival tent mashups of EARLY STEPPENWOLF, VELVETS' "what goes on" and BO DIDDLEY's "who do you love" in spectrasound<br>
<br>
but don't let the coolest golden jams not written by MV & EE fool you, this is deep end stuff, echoing HERBCRAFT's maiden (?) voyage BITTER WATERS OF AGARTHA and nth degree points between then and now, with heady heroine ASH BROOKS infusing her own potent energy and talent, dovetailing parameters set by folk goddess ERIKA ELDER and outsider DAWN AQUARIUS aka ZETA ONE, distantly echoing UNITED STATES OF AMERICA vocalist DOROTHY MOSKOWITZ's peculiar elegance - NORTHERN LIGHTS is no doubt the product of an ideal form-AND-function collaboration, but IN NOW TIME VOL. 1 -deluxe edition complimentary live cassette- does an even better job of displaying how purely and perfectly symbiotic this duo is, boldly stepping out into a drool worthy shamanistic kosmische space like KLAUS SCHULZE by way of NATURAL SNOW BUILDINGS, man i hope there's a lot more where that came from<br>
<br>
contemporary comparisons - ILYAS AHMED, GREG ASHLEY, SIX ORGANS, TOPAZ RAGS - i'm not sure it matters, this is one half HERBCRAFT, fully endorsed -let alone physically released- by MV, surely you don't have to take -my- word for it, but, if you say "i only have twenty-four minutes to listen" then please start with side two (or track six for COM cd folks), get a blast of their cut-loose revival stomp, an epic penultimate title track meditation (thee prime directive of FLOWER ROOM) and "cap & stem" which is my favorite song-with-words of 2017, good lord, get on board or get well out of the way<br>
<br>
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-caDJMMq33nw/WjL8epDJuaI/AAAAAAAAAeE/nDOGk2FiCfgwlnmMy3WvknvvUyimLwhOwCLcBGAs/s1600/vp1.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-caDJMMq33nw/WjL8epDJuaI/AAAAAAAAAeE/nDOGk2FiCfgwlnmMy3WvknvvUyimLwhOwCLcBGAs/s400/vp1.png" width="400" height="214" data-original-width="726" data-original-height="388" /></a><br>
<br>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=417250420/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://flowerroomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ash-herb-northern-lights">ASH & HERB - Northern Lights by Ash & Herb</a></iframe><br>
<br>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1497683012/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://flowerroomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ash-herb-in-now-time-vol-1">ASH & HERB - In Now Time vol.1 by Ash & Herb</a></iframe><br>
<br>
<br>
STARBIRTHED - CITRINE DREAMS<br>
flower room 2017, edition of 40<br>
<br>
"FIRST EDITION (ltd. 40) includes full-moon-charged citrine gemstone // home-dubbed, music-grade Type-I c30 // orange shell // hand-painted and inked label // og wraparound paste-on-polybox cover" - FLOWER ROOM<br>
<br>
returning to "thee prime directive of FLOWER ROOM"... their bandcamp says it is "A record of services and offerings from the Flower Room // Virtual rurality experiences, sonic sage cleansing and Upfull hymns to manifest a more harmonious YOU-WE-ALL // WELCOME" - now -that- is a mission statement, a label that sounds like it was custom tailored to my telepathic specifications, and, most crucially, it actually -sounds- that way -- for me, FLOWER ROOM is a righteous boon, it's like i hit the jackpot - welcome to my new home<br>
<br>
i recently mentioned SPECTRUM RESEARCH INSTITUTE concerning CANADA EFFERVESCENT's stellar tapes this year --perhaps STEVEN HALPERN's STARBORN SUITE played a role in this project's name-- consider SRI's mission - "the healthful application of sound" as defined by SRI - i must say that BROOKS and LAJOIE, in a single year -their first year- have already bullseye'd that same target, in an exhilarating same-yet-entirely-different way - i would not describe STARBIRTHED as new age or at least not entirely so, as i think there's something old -ancient- about it, dawn ritualism and dusk mysticism blended with some new age mechanics<br>
<br>
CITRINE DREAMS strikes a naturally elevated balance between experimental minimalism as pursued by labels like ENO's OBSCURE and GLASS's CHATHAM SQUARE -thinkin JON GIBSON's opus TWO SOLO PIECES side one zen drone "cycles" but perhaps some indirect inspiration from side two's untitled improvisation- and the spiritualized kosmische approach of RANDALL MCCLELLAN's THE HEALING MUSIC OF RANA, arriving at that "healthful application of sound to manifest a more harmonious you-we-all" meditative center from both ends, in the zone with favored contemporary works by JEFFREY ALEXANDER, KYLE LANDSTRA and DEREK ROGERS<br>
<br>
unfortunately sold out, hopefully "first edition" implies a second - but you can stream/dl and there are other tapes available - a nice guided meditation entitled CHAKRA FOUR ("first in a series of seven") and a far out improvisational droner DEEPER THAN THE SEA, HIGHER THAN THE SKY that provides another third eye outlet for BROOKS and LAJOIE, "longform minimalist automatic compositions for violin and loosely-tuned antique tack piano, tidal waves of chord-cluster, ambient clouds of tone-form, gently pulsing harmonics stimulate the mind, unmoor the body to unexplored vistas" - i mean, i'd like to go on about that tape too --it's fantastic, particularly side two, get it while you can-- but i think i've gone on long enough as it is and i have other stuff i'd like to get out via proper recommendation before year's end, if i can<br>
<br>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3933891107/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://flowerroomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/starbirthed-citrine-dreams">STARBIRTHED - Citrine Dreams by Starbirthed</a></iframe><br>
<br>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3274620646/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://flowerroomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ash-brooks-ml-wah-deeper-than-the-sea-higher-than-the-sky">ASH BROOKS & ML WAH - Deeper Than the Sea, Higher Than the Sky by Ash Brooks & ML Wah</a></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-55792380239142953312017-11-29T15:09:00.001-06:002017-11-29T15:39:20.870-06:00RECOMMENDATION #202 - ALEXANDERALEXANDER - ALEXANDER<br>
self released 2017, edition of ?<br>
<br>
"Alexander is the solo guitar project of New Haven, CT native David Shapiro (Kath Bloom, Headroom, Nagual). After spending most of 2016 and 2017 touring behind an on-going series of improvised cassette releases that document the various locations Shapiro has lived, he settled down long enough to offer up a full-length LP of fingerpicking tunes. The nine tracks that make up Alexander are bound together by a melancholy sweetness that evokes a performer's wandering lifestyle and the characters they meet along the way. Sonically tied to the 'American Primitive' school of guitar playing, Shapiro distuinguishes himself with an exacting, almost academic focus, manipulating tempo and harmony with a confidence far beyond his young years. Where masters like Fahey and Basho drew from earlier musical lineage, Alexander incorporates a contemporary pool of influence, broadening the fingerstyle palette with patience and self-assuredness. Recorded on a guitar that Shapiro built himself, Alexander is an earnest and substantive debut that gives the listener a window into the player's intimate devotion to his instrument and the language it speaks. // Cover text by Cyd Goodwin. Recorded at Key Club Recording Company by Bill Skibbe. 180 gram vinyl pressed at Erika Records." - ALEXANDER's website<br>
<br>
"Alexander's keen grasp of both intricacy and minimalism cement him as a top player in a time of heavyweights. A preview of what promises to be one of the most compelling albums of the year." - C/SITE<br>
<br>
C/SITE predicted that a couple months back when they released DAVID ALEXANDER SHAPIRO's split single with ROB NOYES, both worthy of some "best new purveyor of new american primitive solo guitar music" award as i see it, with NOYES earning it last year with late-in-the-year bombshell -and my #1 overlooked album of 2016- in THE FEUDAL SPIRIT and SHAPIRO coasting to the front of the pack this year with this self titled full length vinyl debut, which exceeds my lofty expectations<br>
<br>
i dig all these ALEXANDER tapes i have but none of em prepared me for the profound impact of this unassuming modern day private press masterpiece - SHAPIRO straddles the deceptive simplicity of earliest FAHEY strokes of genius in BLIND JOE DEATH and DEATH CHANTS and the more overtly complex structures and themes of his early 70s spiritualized refinements in AMERICA and FARE FORWARD VOYAGERS<br>
<br>
but the above write up is right on the money, there's a forward looking facet to ALEXANDER, as with all of SHAPRIO's music, really - there's a wild hair woven into all of his work -listen to NAGUAL or ELEXTRIC 1 for the most unabashedly ambitious demonstrations of this- but it's best incorporated here as an accent against a perfectly executed traditional backdrop - it's an absolutely brilliant less-is-more approach, moody yet meditative, bold yet reserved - a lit candle flickering in the dead of night, exposed and sharply defined with pockets of infinite darkness all around, capable of attacking with a brooding intensity akin to JACK ROSE's RAAG MANIFESTOS, but at half the pace and with a tenth of the notes, putting that much more emphasis and focus, lending that much more weight, not only to each carefully considered fingerpicked note and coolly strummed flourish, but also the awe inspiring spaces between, where, like the candle, it's as if SHAPIRO's guitar plays tricks on listener<br>
<br>
contemporary vibe comparison is less in line with, say, GLENN JONES or WILLIAM TYLER, and much more in line with moody min-max'ers like MARISA ANDERSON -particularly THE GOLDEN HOUR- and CHUCK JOHNSON -particularly BLOOD MOON BOULDER- and to some tangential extent perhaps OJERUM's single line acoustic offerings - but i'm not sure i've been this reeled in by this style of music since i first heard FAHEY<br>
<br>
tis the season for year end lists and thus letting stuff fall through the cracks, so make doubly sure to not let this one pass you by, it is a no brainer top five lp of the year in my book<br>
<br>
pre-order here:<br>
http://davidalexander.storenvy.com/products/21996761-alexander-lp<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=589269262/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://davidalexanderguitars.bandcamp.com/album/alexander-preview">Alexander (preview) by alexander</a></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-70101054395921874622017-11-05T12:31:00.000-06:002017-11-05T12:39:01.627-06:00RECOMMENDATION #201 - PETER KRISPETER KRIS - DUTCH FLAT<br>
patient sounds 2017, edition of ?<br>
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"Peter Kris -- a primary force in the German Army faction -- cuts out solo on this burnt offering. Oh the flat earth! So scorched and ragged! The desert yawning a million flecks of roasted sand in every direction. Wailing walls of guitar roast at the nugs. Tight and bright in points, and loosely expressive in others. A passing flare in the red night, or the sun catching flame." - PATIENT SOUNDS<br>
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PETER KRIS - CARGO ROAD<br>
sonic meditations 2017, edition of 65<br>
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"Peter Kris makes music with German Army, Q///Q, Final Cop, and other projects from the forsaken confines of the Inland Empire. Like the beauty of mountain ranges, beaches, city lights and skylines under whose shadows so many toil away their days, may the music of Peter Kris serve as a respite, a few moments of joyous inspiration, to all who need a little more happiness in their all-too-fleeting private hours." - TYMBAL TAPES / SONIC MEDITATIONS<br>
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KRIS's pursuit of dark ambient guitar drone seemed fully realized right out of the gate with SPRAWL AND SKY [way way back REC #11], which i blurbed as "right in my wheelhouse, GA's post-industrial attack is scaled back, dismantled, diverted and channeled into a sprawling mixture of ambient, drone, noise, rhythm and riffs that recalls FLYING SAUCER ATTACK, FRIPP & ENO and late period SPACEMEN 3" --back when my buzzed blurbs were single fragmented lines, which, i do occasionally consider reverting back to that "hundred words or less" model, but more and more i feel like more words need to be pondered and invested toward the music that is becoming ever more important to me<br>
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that description stacks up rather well against KRIS's entire solo discography to date, with last year's LABRADOR double cassette courtesy NEVER ANYTHING -who have quietly amassed quite the roster in and around the zones i hone in on- having a couple twists and turns that deviate some from that modus operandi - but if you're into FSA, FRIPP and/or ENO and SPACEMEN 3 then i don't see why you wouldn't dig any given PETER KRIS tape, and if you haven't bothered to listen to any PK yet then i figure you might as well start with these two since they are his best yet, without question<br>
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forget upping the ante, DUTCH FLAT shoves all in with moody brooding atmospherics, ecstatic shredding and slow burning inexorable desert fried riff repetition, earning comparison to TOM CARTER's glorious cosmic blues deconstruction as heard on ALL AHEAD NOW and LONG TIME UNDERGROUND [REC #74], bleeding into those heady rural psychedelia improvisations and meditations scattered throughout FSA's catalog and revitalized on INSTRUMENTALS 2015 [REC #67], occasionally overlapping the chilled out stoner incantations of EARTH's HEX<br>
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CARGO ROAD is more dismal, distressed and urgent, further echoing some of CARTER's more hushed efforts while drifting deeper into the murkier waters of LOREN CONNORS and STEVEN R. SMITH, but not without bouts of ROY MONTGOMERY esque soaring reverberating bliss - it may be just the power of suggestion in the label being SONIC MEDITATIONS, but i hear plenty of EXPO 70 synergy, more so than other KRIS tapes - there's a curiously twisted kosmische thread here on a bad trip and lost in space with an internal battle of numb tranquility and disconnected turmoil, and in that i suppose CARGO ROAD travels a more ambitious and winding path than DUTCH FLAT, but they are both righteous weirdo expositions of potential and kinetic energies, of contemplation and exertion, of provoking and obliterating thought<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2130174903/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://patientsounds.bandcamp.com/album/ps093-peter-kris-dutch-flat">PS093 - Peter Kris - Dutch Flat by Peter Kris</a></iframe><br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=372110330/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://sonicmeditations.bandcamp.com/album/cargo-road">Cargo Road by Peter Kris</a></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-24395002682847251332017-10-31T18:32:00.000-05:002017-10-31T18:44:48.949-05:00RECOMMENDATION #200 - CANADA EFFERVESCENTCANADA EFFERVESCENT - CRYSTALLINE<br>
not not fun 2017, edition of ?<br>
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"French fabulist Canada Effervescent follows up a few Bandcamp collections with a fleshed-out full-length, Crystalline, tracing his unique hallucinatory mode via interstitial new age and intuitive brainwash electronics. Laid out in vibrant vintage graphics by Mr Donnie Ka. // Discreet French synthesist Denis Tremblay's latest offering spirals further into the recesses of refracted relaxation music and interstitial new age which have come to define the sound of Canada Effervescent. Sun-bleached tones phase, dazzle, and decay against shimmering vistas of synthetic harp and piano, layered with raga drones, meditative mist, field recordings of running water, wood chimes, and nocturnal insects. Inspired by the canonic healing music of Steven Halpern and David Naegele as well as 'wood-and-carpet covered studios, forest moons, and humid love songs,' Tremblay's touch is ambient but expansive, unspooling in fragile arcs of inner space reflection. An immersive and softly psychedelic sound spa of tonal voyaging by one of today’s more attuned Next Age conduits." - NOT NOT FUN<br>
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CANADA EFFERVESCENT - RIDIN' AMERICA<br>
constellation tatsu 2017, edition of ?<br>
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"Tremblay channels the moving forces of the Pacific again, through 7 tracks of cinematic New Age forming an ideal soundtrack for these mornings where the sun begins to warm up the water and the sand. Bowed down in a humble reverence before the masters Joanna Brouk, David Parsons or Hiroshi Yoshimura, the french musician gives birth to layers of psychedelic organ shrouding synthetic flutes and arpeggios, slowly shaping a vast space for meditation. A soft early 80's reverie, this album evokes the pure quietness prevailing in beach paths, on islands where nothing ever happens, in smoky crash pads where light pokes only through louver windows with peeling paint... Hidden behind the entity Canada Effervescent, Tremblay continuously pays tribute to the healing power of the ocean, of music, and of daydreaming, and invites you to take a step forward in your own journey." - CONSTELLATION TATSU<br>
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wow it doesn't feel like three weeks since i last posted a recommendation -- it's no surprise that NNF's write up gets me goin as it goes above and beyond in all the right ways, worthy of being copy-pasted verbatim into a crucial TIP OF THE TONGUE provision, which i will do my best to supplement here<br>
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TREMBLAY, apparently, has also been at it for a while - not only does he sound a lot like top shelf new age ambient old guard, i suppose he's a member of that prestigious corps (or else some of his early release dates are a head-turning ploy) - he strikes a harmonic chord with NNF's west coast weirdness bias, but leaves most in the dust, hearkening back (or perhaps contemporaneous to) aforementioned HALPERN and his tenure with/as SPECTRUM RESEARCH INSTITUTE, "an educational and experiential resource center for 'Sound Health' based on years of research and field testing into the healthful application of sound" - yeah that sounds about right, paralleling the philosophical (spiritual?) mission of fellow off-the-beaten-path visionary old guardian RANDALL MCCLELLAN, who enjoyed a righteous four tape boxset reissue via NNF alumnus SUN ARAW's in-house imprint SUN ARK, which provides a single degree of separation from J.D. EMMANUEL, another veteran seeking to "enhance deep meditative or altered states" through new age music, further advancing an obscuro trend in (re)discoveries a la JORDAN DE LA SIERRA's GYMNOSPHERE courtesy NUMERO, BIL VERMETTE's and DENNIS (ANDREW) YOUNG's essential new old stock offerings courtesy PERMANENT<br>
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for all the affinity to the old guard of ambient, kosmische and new age, there's just as much a knack for the new guard of apparently so called next age that permeates an ever larger chunk of the weirdo cassette world as i see it, made obvious by two tapes in nearly as many months via NOT NOT FUN and CONSTELLATION TATSU, the latter especially indicative of what i might now describe as the tip of the spear in weirdo next age tapes, or at the very least right there among the very best hubs for such music - TREMBLAY simultaneously sounds as much a profound predecessor a la FRIPP & ENO, TANGERINE DREAM and VANGELIS as he does a crucial contemporary of favorites like MATTHEW BARLOW, BLUE COMMUNION: ISAM and KYLE LANDSTRA - tape vs tape, it only took ten seconds of "rayon solaire holistique" to convince me that i absolutely had to have CRYSTALLINE, but there's not that knock-out punch on RIDIN' AMERICA, it's more subtle, with a sixteen minute slow burning opener that gradually blooms like a flower in the spring - they're both amazing, but if one is gonna make my year end top ten -and this late in the game i think it is safe to say that one will- it has to be CRYSTALLINE, and if i was more ambitious i woulda coulda shoulda put it out myself<br>
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bubbling, churning, cycling, repeating, shifting, shimmering - these are keywords that might help zero in on TREMBLAY's music, if "new age" is a turn off and "next age" doesn't mean anything to you - i might throw in MCCLELLAN's "drone box" and FRIPP's "frippertronics" into the mix, but if that moves the needle any then you are probably already intently listening if not outright buying - speaking of, there's a handful of RIDIN' AMERICA available via CANADA EFFERVESCENT's bandcamp with plenty more direct from CTATSU for the absurd price of $6 postage paid in the usa - seriously, i don't even know how that is possible - CRYSTALLINE is sold out at the source(s), but it looks like MIDHEAVEN still has a stash so best grab one while you can or forever sleep without rest<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1487462907/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://canadaeffervescentmontreal.bandcamp.com/album/crystalline-2">Crystalline by Canada Effervescent</a></iframe><br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 75%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2195011408/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://ctatsu.bandcamp.com/album/ridin-america">Ridin' America by Canada Effervescent</a></iframe><br>
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https://www.midheaven.com/item/crystalline-by-canada-effervescentPSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-8199045083152688592017-10-10T17:50:00.001-05:002017-10-10T18:56:45.941-05:00RECOMMENDATION #199 - SARA SOLTAUSARA SOLTAU - SERIES 1.2: IN PARTS<br>
auralgami sounds 2017, edition of 50<br>
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"Sara Soltau is rooted in classical music but constantly curious. Blurring genres and traditions, she experiments through her violin to understand the sonic world around us." - AURALGAMI SOUNDS<br>
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in their three years, AURALGAMI have accumulated an impressive range of sounds and styles - there's little that doesn't at least toe the line of weirdness -which is quite alright by me- but other than that there's no tellin what's next, their roster is a potpourri of garage punk, synth pop, world music, quirky techno - one tape sounds like it belongs on IN THE RED, another is a twenty-piece ensemble performance of TERRY RILEY's IN C - in contrast, tributary SERIES -an aptly minimalist title for their sub-label esque "solo compositions and chamber work"- runs a straighter course with a distinct vibe connecting the dots - carefully considered exposition of composition, experimentation and excellence, kinda like ENO's OBSCURE, catering to a close listening experience, outright rejecting the passive notion of "ambient" or "furniture music"<br>
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it's been more than a year since SERIES launched with inaugural cassette TEN SIMPLE PIECES FOR PIANO [REC #123] by ROB COLLIER, a most unassuming grand slam, and i would be lying if i said i didn't think there was a chance that SERIES might wind up a one hit wonder with a tape -that- damn good right out of the gate - but that was not my predominant sentiment, and certainly not my hope - i hoped for another tape half as good as TSPFP, but what i got was a tape that is -at least- as good<br>
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like COLLIER, it's on that immersed side of listening where SOLTAU wins big with her SERIES entry IN PARTS, a seamless patchwork of intimate interludes and stark stirring renditions of already stark and stirring works like BACH's SONATA NO. 2 and SAARIAHO's NOCTURNE, which, if you plot those two points you can determine the general heading, but there are crucial well executed deviations that include a revolutionary war traditional and DYLAN's HARD RAIN, both incorporated neatly into this surprisingly multi-dimensional masterpiece channeling a wide swath of "violin music" - not that SOLTAU is a chameleon on IN PARTS, but there is a host of influences drawn from centuries of classical composition and folklore, from BACH and SHOSTAKOVICH to BUDD and BRYARS to ATLANTIC's SOUNDS OF THE SOUTH and HARRY SMITH's ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC - she's kinda like an american roots music informed COCKPIT ENSEMBLE of one, with a little help from her friends<br>
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there's not a lot i can point to in terms of my usual contemporary comparisons - there's some moody atmospheric saxophone overlap during the interludes with PSI LAB's own A MELBOURNE NOCTURNE [PL13] courtesy DAVID COLOHAN aka RAISING HOLY SPARKS, and perhaps some listening synergy with SOMNOROASE PASARELE's DEMO [REC #194] and some of OJERUM's most recent works (more on those later, if i can just find the time) - on the guitar side of things, i might point to JON COLLIN's THE NATURE [REC #197] and the ROB NOYES / ALEXANDER split [REC #195], perhaps BITTER FICTIONS' XXVII [REC #190] - but all of this is more in context of the high yield close listening experience - there is something at work behind the notes in all of these which i cannot fully explain - SOLTAU has the same quality, she just gets there by a path less traveled around these parts of the weirdo cassette blogosphere<br>
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i am most grateful that SERIES -and these artists- are there to deliver a no brainer top five tape each of the past two years, and i desperately hope they keep it goin - i'm surprised that this tape sold out as fast as it did - i turned around and it was gone - i know that COLLIER's was twice as many tapes but there are still a handful of that one left at the source, which, if you've bothered to read this far and you don't already have then you should absolutely snag while you can - anyway, i urge you to experience IN PARTS any way you can - stream it, or buy the download, or politely pester the label and/or artist directly -which i've done a time or two over the years- or GUESTROOM LOUISVILLE might even have a tape with your name on it<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2305044367/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://sarasoltau.bandcamp.com/album/series-12-in-parts">SERIES 1.2: In Parts by Sara Soltau</a></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-83514797758674756962017-09-21T17:49:00.000-05:002017-09-21T17:53:03.297-05:00RECOMMENDATION #198 - T HOUSET HOUSE - A HORSE AND I MUST KILL<br>
endless 2017, edition of ?<br>
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"Various numbers recorded between then and now in various houses" - ENDLESS<br>
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a most impressive curio from one mr HOUSE, apparent head honcho of ENDLESS digital and diy lathe editions out of brighton (i think), who i'm thinkin is more likely than not THOMAS HOUSE, member of ass-kickin stoner power trio SLOATH courtesy home base RIOT SEASON where i first took notice, but they have a lathe cut via -you guessed it- ENDLESS, and also member of now defunct (?) CHARLOTTEFIELD, which, i'm listenin right now and it has a strong 90s vibe, via cursory perusal i identify some FUGAZI, KYUSS, SHELLAC and SLINT as likely influences, which also feed albeit in less linear ways into his weirdo tendency that by my estimation is quite deeply rooted and runs rather rampant, and for which ENDLESS is the outlet, or the relief valve perhaps<br>
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ENDLESS didn't ping my radar until rather recently, but before this one, with IRMA VEP's THE CAKE WON'T EAT ITSELF EP, which i very quickly discovered in the wake of year long year end heavyweight contender NO HANDSHAKE BLUES [REC #186] - at that time i only briefly perused some of the available catalog, and though i heard plenty of stuff that i liked, nothin reached out and punched me in the face - i guess HOUSE was just saving up for a late round rally with the incredible flurry here on A HORSE AND I MUST KILL<br>
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sonically this is kinda all over the weirdo map - in typical fashion, i might try to simply the equation by narrowing likely influential confluences, as A HORSE AND I MUST KILL sometimes falls somewhere between THE FALL and SLINT, other times somewhere between DOCK BOGGS and JANDEK, armed with some (un)holy scuzz that splits the difference between DINOSAUR JR and EARTH - it looks rather scattershot on paper, i know, but it works - a potent cohesive alchemical compound that separates from the pack of outer limits song-driven weirdness - DAN MELCHIOR might be a fair not-too-distant contemporary (and predecessor), but that only goes so far here - AHAIMK echoes weirdo singularities CHARALAMBIDES and PUMICE, channels post XPRESSWAY kiwi dementia akin to MAD NANNA (though they are from melbourne i think), invades a headspace vaguely triangulated by RAFI BOOKSTABER, HERBCRAFT and BLAINE TODD, with some proximity to current year outsider songwriter frontrunners BUFFALO VOICE [REC #189] and IRMA VEP [REC #186], but AHAIMK is further off the deep end, for sure<br>
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worth noting- it's a lathe cut to order, only available this month, which is cool, but it's $60 postage paid to the states - admittedly i had think about it, but after a few spins it's easily one of the best things i have heard all year so i said what the hell and went for it<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=742088037/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://endless-records.bandcamp.com/album/a-horse-and-i-must-kill">A Horse And I Must Kill by T House</a></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-85783009785401866082017-09-15T07:52:00.000-05:002017-09-15T07:52:20.958-05:00RECOMMENDATION #197 - JON COLLINJON COLLIN - THE NATURE<br>
early music 2017, edition of 225<br>
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"Acoustic slide guitar improvisations accompanied by external arbitrary sounds, natural and otherwise; recorded in and outside, with and without electricity, in Stockport and Stockholm, 2016–17. 'What sounds tend to get silenced in the production of a record? Sounds are a perpetual and dynamic property of all landscapes but the walls and circuits of music studios largely exclude biophonic, geophonic and anthrophonic ambient sounds. If the unintended silencing of organisms by a myriad of human activities provides yet another indication of our impact on the planet's ecosystems should we be concerned about the role of music in normalising this silence? Collin's conscious broadening of presented sound, most prominently the inclusion of ambient birdsong, sirens, and aviation noise, is not novel and it is not necessarily a response to this question. However, his guitar playing acousmatically smashes the taxonomy of sound used above. It shares palettes and forms with vocalizing and stridulating animals, wind, rain, thunder and electromechanical devices without aping them or labouring under the conceit that it might meaningfully communicate with them. It is, however, attuned to the fact that a soundscape is necessarily made up of interfering and integrated signals. This approach choruses, without clarion calling, the quandary and challenge of collectively accepting responsibility for our species' impact on the stability of ecological systems whilst understanding that we are not external to them.' – Jon Marshall, 2017 -- Edition of 225 copies – comes with paste-on two-colour risograph-printed sleeve and single-colour risograph-printed insert." - EARLY MUSIC<br>
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"deeply affected sparse flickering improvisation merges monastic meditation and appalachian lonerism like nothin i've ever heard, to be sure this is fringe music, a profound gem found well off the beaten path of 'solo acoustic guitar music'" - that's how i described COLLIN's music two years and a day ago concerning EARLY MUSIC [REC #67] --the album, not COLLIN's sub label of the same name responsible for this, his latest long player-- and i now say the same of THE NATURE, but with more conviction, both as an ever increasingly fanatic fan and because i regard THE NATURE as COLLIN's best solo work yet, better than anything and everything in or around COLLIN's catalog except for his rapturous foray with IRMA VEP and TOM SETTLE [REC #110] - but, i think of that being of an entirely different universe, so this might as well stand as thee album in the style of what i've come to describe as "fringe folk" that any unfamiliar or otherwise curious listener should hear, as it does an excellent job of expressing and encapsulating the style and also strikes a balance between accessibility and abstraction - there's something particularly special in the ways and means presented here i think, that makes THE NATURE most likely to succeed for fans and newcomers alike<br>
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THE NATURE comes with a purpose-driven overtone elaborately spelled out in the write up, kinda like ANDREW WEATHERS ENSEMBLE's BUILD A MOUNTAIN [REC #196] - but in THE NATURE's case it doesn't translate quite as completely in the music - the extent of "biophonic ambient sounds" included and their significance, both to the music itself and as a statement or tenet of a certain ecological social psychology (?), though duly noted and empathized, are a bit overstated by my measure, but honestly i'm kinda glad the "birdsong, sirens and aviation noise" came in under the line, as somethin like that can go overboard in a hurry<br>
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THE NATURE's perfection is what i've come to expect from COLLIN, fringe folk meditations, inspired improvisation, avant american primitive, perhaps? well, by way of stockholm, by way of manchester --i think that's right-- with some sort of eastern thread somehow woven in this gordian knot, or some vague approximation thereof, often landing in a way out twilight zone somewhere between BASHO and JANDEK - experimental, spiritual (?), visceral, whatever you care to label it, THE NATURE is absolutely brilliant - there's just somethin about COLLIN's music, his style, his approach, his vibe - he's the best there is, no question about it<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2274101935/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://earlymusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-nature">The Nature by Jon Collin</a></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-26077611398256498532017-09-07T14:49:00.001-05:002017-09-07T14:54:11.109-05:00UPDATE - PL17 SAMPLE 1artist submissions are still coming in - it will be a few days before i get everything lined up and prepped for duplication, but here's a sample of the upcoming boxset targeting "new weird american drone" - one artist per side, with most sides in the 20-25 minute range - this sample includes JEFFREY ALEXANDER, GREG GORLEN, LEAAVES, NONCONNAH, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, SISTER GROTTO, SKITTISH ARM and ANDREW WEATHERS<br>
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<iframe width="75%" height="450" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/341219033&color=%23333333&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8878653874642169471.post-71858631781481445112017-09-03T15:15:00.000-05:002017-09-10T13:03:57.546-05:00RECOMMENDATION #196 - ANDREW WEATHERS ENSEMBLEANDREW WEATHERS ENSEMBLE - BUILD A MOUNTAIN WHERE OUR BODIES FALL<br>
full spectrum 2017, edition of 300<br>
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"The last project Weathers began before decamping from his home in Oakland, California and resettling in the desert climes of Littlefield, Texas, the initial sketches that ultimately formed the bedrock of Build a Mountain Where Our Bodies Fall were written in summer 2016 with Andrew's cohorts in the Real Life Rock & Roll Band. They laid down the first tracks, which would be taken by Andrew to North Carolina. There, he linked up with the East Coast wing of his Ensemble – Eric Perreault, Erik Schoster, Rin Smith and Austin Glover – to capture their contributions and overdubs.<br>
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All told, the expansive sound displayed on the final LP only took two months to capture and construct. The result is an odd melange of cosmic psychedelia and utopian idealism, all bound together by Weathers' recent obsession with the Industry Workers of the World Little Red Songbook. A collection of union songs and anthems about reclaiming the means of production in an ongoing effort dismantle capitalism, the Little Red Songbook is an odd starting point for such immersive music; but considering Weathers' current trajectory as an artist obsessed with regaining his sense of identity in the face of late-period capitalism, it comes as little surprise he would take inspiration from such a well.<br>
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'The album is an attempt to embody the transition I'm going through in Texas,' explains Weathers. 'It's an extension of the more moderate life-thru-death zone of Fuck Everybody. There are themes of intuitive symbolism – in that we create symbols for ourselves and constantly uncovering their meanings. So, I was drawing from markers in my own life as well as more traditional symbolic structures like those found in tarot. There's also this narrative of ritual disembowelment, like a splitting up and burying of my symbolic body to reassemble the parts anew.'" - FULL SPECTRUM<br>
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i typically abridge lengthy write ups into an aperitif of sorts to concisely contextualize my buzzed blurbs and rambling incomplete sentences and formulaic phrases, but left this one intact, a discourse on identity and meaning which offers compelling insight supplemental to the music, if that's you thing, which for me it rarely is, as i don't venture much beyond the listening experience -music is more like a drug for me- but it seems clear that this music strives for something beyond the notes, beyond the syntax, beyond the junkie's listening experience, and even i am moved by it, so credit where credit is due<br>
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"an odd melange of cosmic psychedelia and utopian idealism" - that's a lot to unpack, i'll tackle the latter first - i tend toward the dystopian by way of skepticism, which i don't think would surprise a regular reader - but i don't think i need to manage a temporary cessation of my shrug-full embracement of the KEYNESIAN truth "in the long run we're all dead" in order to reap the benefits of this album - am i trying to dismantle capitalism? no, but the music is still incredibly vivid and it cleanses my mind -- it's an oasis in the desert - you may enjoy any spectrum of meaning or symbolism you might care to attach to it and its discovery, but you can also just enjoy the oasis, immensely<br>
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i'm more confident in my evaluation on the "cosmic psychedelia" front - BUILD A MOUNTAIN is to both traditional folk and minimalism, separately yet simultaneously, somehow, like what IAN WILLIAM CRAIG's CENTRES is to modern pop music - it's incredible - it's most (all?) the same personnel from 2015's F*CK EVERYBODY, which didn't hit me anywhere near as hard as this does - and if that one was "obsessed with looking outside of itself to synthesize a deeper meaning" then BUILD A MOUNTAIN is the fruit of that labor, everything clicks into place<br>
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consider GLOVER and PERREAULT's FREIGHT 1110 THROUGH GREENSBORO [way back REC #9] and also BLAINE TODD's DILLINGHAM [REC #58] -both top shelf tapes via WEATHERS operations FULL SPECTRUM and LITTLEFIELD, respectively- i think their styles and influences are better integrated, seamlessly folded into the mix -
traditional appalachian sounds and songcraft spirited away into modern folk experimentation - AWE seem major (indie) label ready in the best possible way - here's an album out of nowhere(ish) that unexpectedly and understatedly yet brilliantly connects the dots between WILLIAM TYLER's move to MERGE and TIM HECKER's to 4AD - maybe think EARTH meets SUN KIL MOON, both served sunny side up alongside PHILIP GLASS and PHAROAH SANDERS on muscle relaxers - elegant countrified minimalism with a nice desert fried texas flavor, with a contemplative post rock atmosphere a la ZELIENOPLE, occasionally overlapping weirdo folk like TUCKER THEODORE sober and lost in deep thought<br>
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this could very well be the best album of the year right here<br>
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<iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=756970451/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://andrewweathers.bandcamp.com/album/build-a-mountain-where-our-bodies-fall">Build A Mountain Where Our Bodies Fall by Andrew Weathers Ensemble</a></iframe>PSI LABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16234200577360470126noreply@blogger.com