Live Recordings: White Rainbow - University of Washington 11/20/2008

really good soundboard:

holler

Reviews: Robedoor - Raiders (Not Not Fun 2009)

On a personal note, I've had a love/hate relationship going with Robedoor since I first started listening to them. Their massive drones and thick haze of electronic noise has both bewildered me in how good it is and lost my attention with how dense and monolithic it can become. Not that Robedoor has anything to prove to anyone, but the two releases I've heard from them this year (Exorcist Blues on Monorail Trespassing, check it out) show a lot of good things to come, at least to my ears.

With titles like "Countdown to Depression" and "The Downcast Eye", you should expect another light and fun affair. This one comes with a long break between LPs, the meditative and purposeful approach coming across very clearly. They also have a new dude(ette) playing drums and dealing in synth tones, adding more of a ryhtmic backbone than you might expect. Echoed drums, low tone drone, thick guitar chords cutting through the swath, looping semi-melodies, effected vocals, the overall sound was summed up really nicely by Volcanic Tongue who said:

"Imagine the second side of the 13th Floor Elevator’ Psychedelic Sounds LP reduced to just phased guitar, crashing cymbals and free-associative vox and you’re close to the kind of dislocated third eye feel of the sonics."

So that's what you're looking at here. You're also going to get some thumping bass drum pummeling you headfirst into the flames, as the second song, "Indo Shadow" displays. Garbled feedback and high end guitar screeching, finely and subtly leveled channel into the driving drums and unintelligble voice, all propelled deeper and deeper into darkness along a thread of melody before funneling out and becoming unsettlingly quiet. It's fucking awesome.

Songs like this, and "People of The Book" show a great leap forward for me. Not that a song has to be moving towards a point to be effective, but I think it works much better in this context to have a destination. The best part is that the proverbial journey there is still the highlight. Pulsing drums, crashing cymbals surrounding desparate and stretched voices into brutal desolation.

Also, the shorter track times work really well. Not that they are three minute pop songs, but you don't get bogged down in any kind of repitition. I found myself surprised when they finished and wanting more. Then, when they get to the finale you're ready for a big hulk of slowly moving aural pounding and it is certainly delivered. Slowly building repitions with a whole host of well layered sounds coming in, breaking down the spaces between instruments and swelling into a singular force pushing forward. When somehow out of this wall a heavy groove is established and those high note guitar loops are soaring all over it and the voices are wailing and by the time it all fuzzes out at the end you're just kind of like, "shit".

An evolutionary leap? I don't know. A bad ass record that's up there with Rancor Keeper as the best I've heard from them? Abso-fucking-lutely.

Comes in both LP and cassette formats (and they both look great, which seems to be a staple of the band.

Indo Shadow

Please visit NNF for the goodss




And so you have something to jam to, check out this recording of Robedoor performing at The Smell in Los Angeles, 9/7/2006.

Endlessly Blazing

P.S. sorry for all the swear words. I'm in a weird mood today.

Review: Eternal Tapestry - The Invisible Landscape (Not Not Fun, 2009)

Eternal Tapestry has been on the forefront of this century's space inspired psychedelic rockers, releasing a slew of tapes, LPs, solo and side projects, as well as putting on blistering live shows. Much of the appeal of this comes from the fact they just straight out shred. In a genre that features less traditional line-ups and more of a focus on the space between notes rather than just flooding your face with a barrage of notes, Eternal Tapestry shred. Not to say there is an endless void of guitar hero moments in the neo-psychedelic sphere, but very few bands can combine virtuosity with space and the moments that connect these two zones as well as Eternal Tapestry does. With The Invisble Landscape, they return to the most traditional of rock line-ups (the power trio) and add some studio warmth to the mix to blast you with their unique blend of combined styles.

Blast they do. To call them kraut-punk is apt. Though they play far too many notes and groove way too hard to ever be punk, the heaviness and attitude that they bring to kraut style jamming is the overriding theme of their work. The Invisible Landscape finely balances the moments of heavy psych rock, pocket grooves and blissful space enough to make it one of their finer albums to date and an exciting point for moving forward.

The album starts uptempo and never really lets down. Fast, repetitive grooves and drowned out vocals slowly escalate into moments that take the best aspects of full on acid-rock freakouts and cocaine-rock shredding and mash them into a concotion that is wholly their own. The drummming settles into tight pockets, heavily influenced by motorik style kraut drumming. However, the pocket is never a gaurantee. While heavy on fills and propulsion, it is also content to just drop on you at any given moment and break the trance. At it's grooviest, most head-nodding moments, you get the added treat of a solid backing rythm being torn apart by blissful wah fuzz soloing. Indeed, for three players it is a super layered affair.

I have no idea how much of their songs are written as opposed to created spontaneously, but for a band that's bread and butter lays in its ability to free improvise into and out of songs their sense of melody and transition is impeccable. They also show, while being fully comfortable to hit the ground running and take songs full throttle, they can also slow down the tempo and slowly and deftly craft beautiful, lifting jams, all highlighted by fantastic guitar interplay where all the instruments seem to blend together into a cathartic whole.

That's why this is a great album and in general Eternal Tapestry is a great band. All tension and no release is a sure formula for blue balls, but with this band you're going to get a lot of catharsis. Many of the times, bands face downfalls in being able to build moments, but not finish them, or that thier lack of ability to console and combine the myriad influences of what they are playing. That's where talent and group cohesion come in and Eternal Tapestry displays both in spades on The Invisble Landscape.

Temporal Starshine Voyage

BUY

Edition of 400 on mystery colored vinyl. A steal at $13.

Free Music: Monkey King - La Lune Se Cache Derriere Les Montagnes (Black Mantra, 2009)

Monkey King is the collaboration of Philippe from Goa on voice/electronics and Will Glass from Dirty Projectors & The Octagons on drums. This is their first release. There are moments that remind me of early Popol Vuh. The exceptional drumming mixed in with some Atari-esque jamming makes this a collaboration to pay attention to.

DOWNLOAD
MySpace
Black Mantra

Reviews: Megabats - In/Out (Debacle Records, 2009)

A psych duo from Washington. Two brahs figuring shit out. We get to hear them figuring it out in real-time on In/Out.

If you check out your myspace, you see some props given to Peaking Lights and the Fuck Buttons, both of whose influence you will quickly hear. Simply put, you get the sweet lulling psychedelic harmony of the former and the driving percussion of the latter. The album works well as a whole because it seamlessly flows around driving noise, psychedelic melodies and sweeping drone-scapes, never an easy task to combine.

The album starts off with a two fuzzed out, complimentary synths, exploring small changes in notes and tone, but mostly just droning out into infinity. Battleground Sky is where it really picks up (perfect song name, too). Lower end synth pads lay down a rhythm while a fuzzed our higher end synth weaves in and out of it. Meanwhile a slow but persistent drum beat builds, pushing the song further. At some point or another they all peak in gentle ecstasy. The middle of the album has moments of contemplation, excitedness and just sweeping synth peaks. It all leads up to a epic closer in Canopy fire, that drives into your head with a repetitive synth line while an ebb and flow of fuzz drowns in and out. It all ends with a driving beat as the synth lines get looser and looser, eventually wrapping around each other and the drums to form a unified wall of glorious noise sounds.

If this is figuring stuff out, I can't wait to hear what they come up with when it's all said and done. Highly recommended.

MYSPACE/BUY
DOWNLOAD

Review: Moonflare - All The World Is Bright With Joy And Magical Delight (Cubic Pyramid, 2009)

Moonflare is a soul trance artist reigning from I can only assume are the golden coasts of Portugal (Lisbon is on the coast, right?). This release is his first for new label cubic pyramid, just beginning it's journey into the foray of international neo-psychedelia. The world is bright indeed.

This CDR starts with a funky drum beat, echoing in and out like it was recorded in a tunnel. A repetitious guitar rift, moaning voices and oscillating synth fuzz burst through it, almost like you were listening to a Can song. It moves upwards, blissfully through a load of tremolo and sparkling synths until the drums and the bottom drop out. Those pretty synth lines soon become death drone dirges and the fog of heavy electronics is cut only by wailing voices and sharp, discordant guitar notes. The behemoth pushes on slowly before it ends with no light in sight.

The second song, an epilogue of sorts, is a different beast. A lonely, effected guitar plays bar room, solitary desert blues over some high droning, Penderecki-esque orchestra strings, while electronics quietly bloop and bleep. It is pretty much hair raising mood music, reminiscent of a Jaramusch soundtrack or some other existential noir score. I actually enjoyed it so much I was wishing that there were a few more like this and that the original behemoth had a few less minutes to it.

It's funny that the album is called All The World Is Bright With Joy And Magical Delight. I don't think it is tongue-in-cheek, poking fun at the hopeless optimism and earthy vibes of some psychedelic music, but when it drops into the heavier droning it almost felt that way to me. It's good that the album never falls into the other cliche category of just being "heavy" "massive" "death drone", though some of the themes do go into darker spaces. Moonflare is very promising in that it is pretty unique in its own right. I'd love to hear what else he/she/they/it (?) come up with and would hope that it covers more of the mood piece style of music they deftly display on the second track.

Expect a label feature to appear soon and more stuff from these psych artists of The Gentle Land.

MYSPACE
LABEL
DOWNLOAD

Live Recordings: Thurston Moore and Tom Surgal

Didn't know about posting this one, as it was a live performance taping that was eventually released, but fuck it. If there are any copies left it's more likely someone is selling them for absurd prices online than it is the artists are seeing any of it.


1. Klangfarbenmelodie..And The Colorist Strikes Primitiv
2. Phase 2

Thurston Moore: guitar
Tom Surgal: drums

Recorded live in early 1995, in NYC.
Limited to 4300 copies.
Label: Corpus Hermeticum
Catalog number: Hermes011

Allmusic review by Sylvie Harrison:

An obscure 1995 release from the famed Sonic Youth guitarist, this CD sees him paired with free jazz drummer Tom Surgal for a blistering noise set, in keeping with New Zealand noise label Corpus Hermeticum's aesthetic. The listener should not expect the sweet psychedelic pop of his Psychic Hearts album of the same year; rather, Moore explores his interest in freeform improvisation on this live set recorded in 1994. The recording is incredibly lo-fi, but that adds to the CD's candid charm, as his guitar thrashing reaches peaks of noise only hinted at in early Sonic Youth. The duo works along lines that are more akin to the Blue Humans -- with whom drummer Surgal began -- and also seems influenced by such underground acts as Fushitsusha and the Dead C. Moore's guitar is so distinct, however, that many parts here could be mistaken for a live Sonic Youth recording from that band's more heady and chaotic '80s period.



http://www.mediafire.com/?yw2oyny1nmm

thanks to Trey for this

Free Music: Sundog Peacehouse - Brosound (Digitalis, 2009)

So, from the looks of it, coupled with the band name, you might associate this with some kind of "hippie-drone" outfit. No fear, though, it's just genuinely good, minimal, fully instrumental ambient beauty. Just remember, there are a lot of buzzwords, trends and the like out there (even in experimental music, it seems), so don't get too caught up in "neo-primitivism" or "hypnagogic pop" backlash because the bands with talent always rise above it. That is your P.S.A. for the day. Now mellow out to these psychedelic song stretches, brah.

"the first time i heard this trio i was absolutely smitten. sundog peacehouse are chris mucci, sal farina and austin redwood and will soon be taking over their native pittsburgh by lulling everyone into a codeine coma. shimmering walls of heavily-processed vocals, guitars and samples ease you down into emerald green pools of total bliss. pure waves of spiralling sonics drench you and hold you close. there is something so unbelievably comforting about this music that it's impossible to get away from, impossible to ignore. having shared bills with caboladies (past) and bardo pond (future), you get any idea where these soaring aural dreams are going to take you. sundog peacehouse are stunning, simply put. don't wait around for the surf to break you out, just stay sunkissed and in love. edition of 70, fuschia waves to the stars."

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TRY
INFORMIFY

Update: Deep Magic

deepmagik.com is up and running.

You can find the balance c20 reviewed earlier this month, as well as the crystal visions c60 from deep tapes, the new label started under the Deep Magic project.

You can also find news, all releases, upcoming show info, etc. from this site. Stop by and show some love.

Review: 84001/Ancient Ocean Split LP

I first heard 84001's instrumental brand of ambient beatification when this blog was first opened up to reader submissions and they became one of my most liked finds as a result of starting said blog. Needless to say, a beautiful split LP from them and other cosmic explorers Ancient Ocean was more than welcome.

84001 work as a live instrumental duo, creating (gulp) soundscapes and ambient textures through a combination of guitar interplay, synth drones and various electronics. This track also features a viola, drums and some percussion, creating new dimensions in sound travel. The side long track starts in familiar territory, with soft guitar interplay awash in warm fuzz tones. The viola adds extra texture, remaining minimal, but also enveloping in how all the instruments solely combine to create a single thrust of sound while understated drumming pushes it forward.

As the track slowly melts into feedback, electronic sound waves and walls of subtly shifting synth drone push out the more classical ambient aura into a denser and less comfortable zone of listening. Not simply for a washout effect, the electronic half of this piece coexists as a separate dismension. It knocks you out of the pleasant music coma the first half induces, but also continues past that, surrounding you with paranoid alien synth sounds, perhaps pushing the contemplative part of the music into the eerie, more cosmic spaces in between notes.

This is a really beautiful piece. It has so many sounds; minimalist instrument interplay, classical ambient textures, throbbing percussion, heavier synth drones, electronic feedback and an almost post-rock air of ethereality, but in all it is it's own sound that works wonderfully. If it exists as a study between light and heavy, then it works perfectly.

There's usually someone in your town exploring the limits of space and music. If you're in Nashville, you got 84001.

Recorded and mixed by Brandon Bell at Minutae Studios in Nashville, TN
84001 is:
Timory Carey: Guitars, Keyboards, Electronics
Jimmy Thorn: Guitars, Keyboards, Electronics
Additional Musicians:
Casey Eagan: Viola
Brandon Bell: Drums, Percussion

84001 would love for you to hear this, but until it's sold-out there won't be a download. The vinyl itself is a beautiful slab of colored wax that I'm assuming these guys did all on their own. As much as a tight-wad as I am, I can confidently say it's worth the purchase. However, if you miss it or somehow cant' afford it, check back later for a link.

BAND MYSPACE - INFO & PURCHASE

Of course, it would be amiss for me not to mention Ancient Ocean, who complete the split. Actually, they start it. A mix of retro psychedelia pop, combined with haunting vocals, moments of big band free cacophony and blissful space rock jamming, all mixed up into three good time pop tracks. It sets you up perfectly for the space travel on side B. All the more reason to get this.