[0]As you may have noticed, we've been away from the Garden on
an extended sabbatical over the last few months, and we emerge from our voyage
fully charged and ready to shine more light on the precious substrate of the weird
music underground. All in all 2006 has
simply provided the mother load in terms of far-reaching, strange, unique,
mind-bending, soul-cleansing sound. It's
a great time to be alive if you have the ears for this stuff and the time to
sift through it all. Enter your ever
diligent gardener.
First off: a few words about the highly influential VHF Records [1]. For over 10 years now owner Bill Kellum (who also played with Kranky prog-droners Doldrums) has served as a dependable bridge between the psychedelic underground and the avid sound art consumer. Certainly one of the most influential and dependable bands on the roster - it gave us Jack Rose for Chrisssakes! - is Pelt, the improvised brainchild of Patrick Best, Rose, Mike Gangloff and Mikel Dimmick. The story of how Pelt went from a primitive anti rock unit to one of the most fluid cosmic noise raga bands on the planet probably deserves a book, but in the meantime Skullfuck / Bestio Tergum Degero, a recording of a recent live set captured in NYC at the Knitting Factory, not only shows how far these lads have come compositionally, but also just how much their musicianship has improved, from Rose's fluid open-tuned fingerpicking to the other players' command of the deep drone (comprised of harmonium, srutis, fiddle, singing bowls, gongs, portacello and flute). It can all be glimpsed magnificently on their epic, mind-blowing rendition of Rose's "Calais to Dover." Perhaps even more fascinating are the brooding gongs and percussive drones of the three part title track, which grows from a cold whisper to a cloud-breaking sunburst before it's through.
Also fairly new on VHF, Aethenor explores similar polar regions at more suharmonic frequencies on Deep in Ocean Sunk the Lamp of Light. First off, compliments to VHF's design department. The album styled jackets, as employed here and on other recent spins - such as the reissue of L's Holy Letter - are tasteful packages that take up about half the space of a regular jewel case, while being ten times more aesthetically pleasing. These four tracks explore a sinister sound sculpture that falls somewhere between the grim crawl of Nurse With Wound's pulsing masterpiece, "Salt Marie Celeste," AMM and early tripped out French prog (that means Lard Free). It might come as no surprise that this is one of the latest in a never-ending series of musical projects involving Stephen O'Malley, working here with multi-instrumentalists Daniel O'Sullivan and Vincent De Roguin on what is probably the most textured free jazz/industrial collusion dropped in '06 and one of the best dark mood albums of the year.
Neil Campbell of Vibracathedral Orchestra has been a busy bee over the last couple years droning and fluttering his way through a seemingly endless series of self-released CD-Rs under the Astral Social Club name. It's no secret that Campbell is a big fan of early industrial such as Throbbing Gristle and Non, but he's also enamored of minimal techno, jazz fusion and the possibilities of transcendence through aural repetition in general. This self-titled CD collects stellar selections from the now long-gone CD-R series and evokes a pulsating MDMA dream world where throbbing beats, layered distortion, luminescent electro drones and mounds of fuzz are as jarringly transfixing as they are transportive.
Bardo Pond has emerged from its psychedelic cocoon in recent months with approximately four (!) album releases for various labels. Not going to get into any BP stuff this time out, focusing instead on two lower profile side projects that recently saw the light of day on the dependable Important Records [2]. Alasehir is the trio of John Gibbons (guitar, tamboura), Michael Gibbons (guitar, sitar) and Michael Zanghi (drums). With Sharing the Sacred, they mine everything from fuzz drenched raga spells to mountainous walls of distorted sludge (the mammoth "Bone Fire" and "Malta") and third eye probing ethnic trance ("Seven Tongues"). Needless to say, BP fans should lap this up, as should any real fans of brooding psychedelia.
Alumbrados features the same lineup plus Aaron Igler on electronics. A Generation of Vipers (also the title of a novel by Philip Gordon Wylie and a designation for the gung-ho American populace during WW2) emphacizes the more ethnic flavor of the above album with two massive tracks of build-up minimal drone and electro-acoustic improv. I really dig this side of the Gibbons brothers and would say if anyone ever wanted to hear BP in extended battle with the guys from Pelt and a bank of pedals, this might hint at the possibilities of such a sonic rendezvous.
On top of Tom Carter's 15 year involvement with the Charalambides, he's also explored sound in a variety of other constellations, including most recently as a member of the Mudsuckers with the Yellow Swans and Robert Horton. He also has an impending release with multi-instrumentalist Christian Keifer, but it could be said that Carter never plows a deeper furrow than when it's just him and his guitar. The guy has one of the most unique, haunted tones in the modern underground. As heard on the recent Sun Swallower CD-R (Wholly Other [3]) he conjures a web of minimal drone that spans virtually all parts of the emotional spectrum. The 35 min track builds from jittery raindrops and ringing bells to static tones with bursts of fierce screech before descending into the most tranquil deep dream states. Just one man and his guitar.
[3]A little more difficult and almost as rewarding is Carter's
duo work with Marcia Bassett as Zaika. Recording
From Il Corral July 2005, a co-release
between Wholly Other and Bassett's Heavy Blossom, is another extended live trek
though the dense fog of amplified strings that eventually reveals warbling
massed distortion that could be an effective soundtrack for the freefall
through Kubrick's star gate in 2001.
Charalambides is where a lot of Carter's more abstract ideas first surfaced. Unless you've heard everything the duo/trio has released over the last 15 years, it's questionable how much you could ever really grasp their depth and reach. Both Jandek and The Dead C are influences, and as tangible as any aural similarities may be, it's more a common attitude that truly informs such comparisons. Charalambides are so amazing because they read the book of rock, folk and blues and they threw it away...seemingly forgot every word. As abstract and minimal as much of their recent work has been, there was a time when they actually rocked pretty hard in a totally fucked up way. Strangle the Wretched Heavens is the latest in Wholly Other's archival CD-R series clearing out the vaults of older material, in this case dating back just over ten years. That means this is the last of the trio recordings made with Jason Bill when the band was winding down what was arguably its finest period, yielding the Market Square double album and the remarkable "Naked in Our Deathskins" side long track on the Harmony of the Spheres boxset on Drunken Fish. Some of the material collected here is partly what might have been the follow-up to Market Square which never came. The real find here is probably "Lay Open" with a rare vocal from Tom and a remarkable tambura effect on electric guitar reminiscent of how Jeff Beck mimics a sitar drone in the opening of "Heart Full of Soul." Otherwise we get a raw turn at "A Mile is Only 5000 Miles," which originally saw light of day on the first live album in the late ‘90s and was a show staple for years. In fact both it and the similarly structured title track have been popping up in their shows of late, so the arrival of this album makes a lot sense. It's also reassuring to see the Charalambides of today mingling once again with the Chralambides of old.
[3]And what about St.
Louis? There's
some cool shit going on if we just listen closely. Take Raglani
for example, a post industrial soundtrack workshop
run entirely by one Joe Raglani. This
guy has a genuine gift for patching together hand-made electronic meditations
that consistently reach for the higher plane.
On the recent Man Myth Magic
CD-R (available on his own Pegasus Farms
Records [4]), Rags utilizes a smorgasbord of primo analog electronics with an assortment
of live instruments to conjure a multipart epic that touches on everything from
gentle folk spirals to distorted drone splays, some very cool Krautrock grooves
and more across just over a half hour of third eye mind mapping. Very Nice, indeed.
There were a couple other goodies in the same package, including a split CD by Raglani and Scenic Railroads, the duo of Joe Panzer and Mike Shiflet. This one's a split release between Pegasus Farms and Gameboy [5]. The three Rags tracks are flickering minimal drones and noise comprised of sine-waves, electronics, sax and field recordings, all of which is quite soothing for the most part, save for the more claustrophobic hiss and squelch of the appropriately titled "American Grotesque." Scenic Railroads does something similar with subharmonic drones of indeterminable origin across four tracks that invoke a corrosiveness not a million miles from Birchville Cat Motel's darker moments, but SR create an isolationist soundtrack of hushed distant murmurs, volume fluctuations, clicks and pops that's fairly unique. I suppose this is at least in part "glitchtronic," but I have no idea how they're going about it all.
Raglani's Of Sirens Born is another recent limited release, this time in CD-R form on the Gameboy label. Here Raglani indulges more overtly in his love of early German pastoral electro-acoustic drones. I'm thinking of Cluster and Popol Vuh as I drift along on the ethereal currents of "Rivers In" and lose myself among the tangle of oscillating drones and ethnic instruments that comprise these extensive journeys. This one is probably my pick of the bunch, but all of these discs come highly recommended for fans of Birchville Cat Motel, Yellow Swans and other pillars in the current dream-noise scene.
[5]Another very promising discovery in recent months is the
axis of improvised electro-acoustic music in and around the Denton, Texas
area. An off shoot of space rock drone
trippers iDi*amin, The Zanzibar Snails [6]
conjure a brooding noise/jazz drone across the four live tracks captured on
their "Entrodewcing" live CD-R (Mayrrh Records), chronicling their first live
show some months back in Dallas. Props to
the eye-popping packaging with its womb-like iconography, but what's contained
inside is the real reward here with dark melodies comprised of crackling currents
of electronic hum beneath a cryptic bed of warped sax groans and oblique guitar
plucks. Fans of the subtler side of
early industrial noise, AMM, New
Zealand free noise and such should latch onto
this tasty treat and gulp it down like so much bad eggnog.
Moving on to our friend Brad Rose; he's been busy the last few months (last few years is more like it) with a slew of releases under his own name and almost a dozen other collaborative entities. And he's maintained the most intense release schedule on the planet via his Digitalis [7] label while also editing and contributing to the excellent Foxy Digitalis [8] e-zine on a regular basis. Guy's an inspiration on many levels, and his solo work under the name The North Sea has only improved. We have a few North Sea items to explore this month including one that may be next to impossible to find, but is well worth the hunt if looking for a full representation of Rose's compositional and performance abilities. The Underneath the Jesus Tree CD-R sold out some months ago from its source, Barl Fire [9] Records, but the usual suspects should still yield fruit if looking for an album of tranquil meditative plucks, strums, vocals and birdsongs that wafts and dances like leaves in the Autumn wind. Glenn Donaldson's work in The Ivytree is one of the few references I can think of, but Rose blows things open wider with spacious, loose arrangements and even the occasional acid guitar eruption.
[9]As fine as Under the
Jesus Tree is, I find myself even more impressed by the darker hues of
Rose's Summer Decays Into October's Alchemy
CD-R, this time on Foxglove [10]. It's almost a departure from previous works
under The North Sea name in that
ethnic or world instruments are central compositionally to what's happening
here, and I couldn't tell you just what all is employed, but Rose inverts expectations
by building his pieces from inside out via an arsenal of ethnic instrumentation,
before layering overhead some more expected percussion or guitar. It all makes for a uniquely brooding listen
in The North Sea discog.
In his latest bundle, Rose also sent over a couple of fine new items on the UK's Type Records [11], a new label to me, but based on the quality of these two releases and a quick gander at the website, Type's definitely one to watch closely for the discerning fan of warped aural beauty. First up is a reissue of the split album between The North Sea and Rameses III, originally released as a CD-R which sold out in a matter of days. Mr. Type saw it fit for a full fledged CD pressing, and he's definitely onto something here. Together, and this is an entirely collaborative postal effort, these artists achieve a tranquil minimal glide that's as haunted and beautiful as anything I've heard from all involved. Night of the Ankou is comprised of three drone-swelling tracks that suggest the more probing side of early Popol Vuh and Eno's Discreet Music, and even Pink Floyd at their early 70s hazy best. A glowing harmonic shimmer and one of the finer acoustic/electric drone albums of the year. Highly recommended.
Xela is the solo project of Type Records head honcho, John Twells, and he proves to be a thoroughly compelling aural sculptor in his own right with the 12 tracks that comprise The Dead Sea. This is a fascinating trek through progressive electronics, subtle post rock melodies, soundtrack segues, field recordings, digital effects and beyond that consistently enthralls while maintaining a surprising musicality every second. It's also the kind of album that reinvigorates a bloated phrase like post rock, and I'd not be surprised if it made its way onto more than a few best-of lists in ‘06. It's certainly a gift from the heavens ‘round these parts.
And then there is our good friend Mike Tamburo and his ever evolving New American Folk Hero [12]. A package he sent over recently included a nice sampling of all of his releases to date, including the album that started it all, Miesha's For Sayas. Recorded in Philly with Brian McTear (he's produced Marissa Nadler, Mazarin, Greg Weeks among others), this studied drone psych epic is easily the most satisfying Meisha album I've heard so far. Every track brings together ringing, pristine guitar repetitions and shimmer-y fuzz washes that suggest everyone from early Durutti Column and Gastr Del Sol to Windy and Carl and Landing. Opener "Meisha Machine Music" is pretty much the centerpiece here, going from gentle spirals of layered guitar cycles to a blissful distorted workout across some 26 mins, but everything here is worth a closer listen.
Aab is a 20 min live CD-R album by Bradam Streiple. The single track opus opens with a static minimal drone inspired by the likes of Phil Niblock before devolving into some clangy Gate-like strums with a dark grizzled edge. If you don't know who Gate is, beg borrow or steal The Dew Line and catch up already. Streiple isn't there quite yet, but he gets close in spots.
Also on NAFH, Fathmount is another worthy new entry in the avant-noise scene, this time hailing all the way from Hong Kong. 6-String Renderings (One) is, you guessed it, the first in a two part CD-R series (its sister album was issued at roughly the same time on Digitalis) exploring deep listening sound sculpture comprised of percussion, guitar, electronics and contact mics, which all manifest magnificently in the 17 min opening track. The rest of the way we get layered feedback workouts that draw equally from the harsher and dreamier parts of the noise spectrum to conjure a gritty, overpowering garage hypnosis that sounds sort of like a throng of radioactive lizards reciting Buddhist chants through gigantic bullhorns.
Nux is the solo product of Matt McDowell, who also plays with Tamburo in a few different musical constellations. The Signal is four tracks of downtempo sludge nastiness that opens on an abrasive note and pretty much stays there with dense sheets of thunderclap feedback punctuated by some long-gone acid soloing. McDowell employs some imaginative harmonic loops into the proceedings that help to elevate this above just another solo-guy-with-a-guitar-and-lots-of-effects release.
[12]And
now, Sweet Baby Jesus, we close things out on a strange one. Arttu, one
of the masterminds behind Finn freak rock collective Avarus, recently issued
his debut self titled solo CD-R under the name Amon Düde on the Finnish Ikuisuus [13]
label. And it's actually quite worthy of such homage to the lords'n'lady
of communal Germanic psych. AMON DÜDE!
Five tracks of whacked cut up noise, splattered percussive expulsions,
squealing and grumbling vocal excretions, Atari soundtracks, catchy jingles,
harsh noise, goofy noise, tape manipulations, basement disco, and of course
tribal-gremlin-boogie. That's just a simplified breakdown though. There's
something more mysterious going on here too. On the freaked out power
electronics meets free jazz of track 2 or the curdled rumbles and flailing free
percussion of track 5, Arttu and his psychedelic collaborators conjure the kind
of all at once, ultimate sonic fusion of tribalism and modern day
techno-fascination/confusion that could serve as an accurate aural summation of
what is to be a self destructive, over-stimulated human being circa 2006. How's
about The Fugs move into the Whitehouse? Amon Düül frolics about The Holy
Mountain? Wolf Eyes goes to the Looney Tunes discotheque? Take your
pick, kids. This is mind porridge for the knuckle-dragging elite.
Well that's all for now, good friends. Happy Holidays and New Year to all, and keep hanging in there, babies! We'll be back with a fresh batch of goodies soon.
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