JEFFREY ALEXANDER - ASTRAL TRAVELER
perfect wave 2015, edition of 75
DIRE WOLVES - THE BERNAL CODEX
pome pome tones 2015, edition of ?
"Founding member of The Iditarod in 1996, BF/BS in 2003 and Dire Wolves in 2009. Joined JOMF in 2013. Former label owner of Magic Eye Singles and Secret Eye Records. Also toured with and featured on recordings by Kemialliset Ystavat, Avarus, Es, Fursaxa, Christina Carter..." - JEFFREYALEXANDER.BANDCAMP.COM
wow that is quite the bona fides, i feel like i should be more than just tangentially familiar with ALEXANDER's work, which i'm well on my way to rectifying - to be sure this is a potent double recommendation, two tapes, two galaxies connected by a wormhole synapse deep in ALEXANDER's far out mind
Jeffrey says: "Celestial navigation music with electric piano, accordion, electric guitar, bells, percussion and talking book phonograph. Inner light time-folding exercises meant to shine a beacon from planet to planet. Sounds that need to be shared in order to maximize their power for intended effect. I recommend you closing your eyes and focusing on the images before you." Performed and Recorded by Jeffrey Alexander, December 2014 in San Francisco, CA - PERFECT WAVE
ASTRAL TRAVELER - the title alone reeled me in, and then the artwork - dissipating contrails, cirrus clouds and lens flare forming an ever gazing galactic eye of sorts - well that pretty much finished me off before i even hit play, then the music proceeded to obliterate my thin veil of consciousness like NATURAL SNOW BUILDINGS' DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS otherworldly longform drone on side one with a huge warbly tone swirling around a faint reverberating keyboard motif, then side kicks back with a BADFOOT BROWN / ALICE COLTRANE / PHAROAH SANDERS smoked out late night cosmic drone jazz improv session laced with some cool in-and-out avant guitar stuff - how is this just one dude?
"Dire Wolves play witchy overblown cosmic improv for fans of Pharoah Overlord, George RR Martin, Amon Duul, homebrew, Träd Gräs och Stenar and twenty sided dice. Eight full-length releases since 2008. Based in San Francisco and Oakland, CA." - DIRE-WOLVES.BLOGSPOT.COM
THE BERNAL CODEX is the latest from DIRE WOLVES, another major player in the free rock scene, physically manifested since 2009, somehow escaping my scouring of the four corners of the weirdo tape world til recently - as a four piece they give it all they got considering comparisons to contemporaries BURNT HILLS and DESMADRADOS SOLDADOS DE VENTURA where both outfits feature 8+ members - there's more mysticism in the WOLVES, splicing the dna of MV & EE, PHAROAH SANDERS and SONIC YOUTH, honing in on the heavy kraut psych of early 70s AMON DUUL II as advertised, in a way that neatly bridges the gap between BURNT HILLS' profound freeform primitivism and DSDV's enlightened groove-locked chaos - there's nothin about DIRE WOLVES that ain't right up my alley, they've got a tape titled THE CREATOR HAS A FASTER VAN on SLOOW for goodness sake
http://www.perfectwave.org/store/jeffrey-alexander-astral-traveler
http://pomepometones.blogspot.com/
http://dire-wolves.blogspot.com/
LIMITED EDITION CASSETTES
