The Primordial Undermind

“Eric Arn and his Primordial Undermind have tirelessly mined the nether regions of avant psych-rock for the past 15 years, resulting in a sonically fertile body of work. Arn cut his teeth in the legendary Crystallized Movements throughout the 1980's, the Twisted Village flagship band which, in its wake, also spawned Magic Hour and Major Stars (Wayne Rogers & Kate Village). With a wealth of 7" singles and a number of compilation appearances throughout the 1990's, plus albums for September Gurls [1] , Camera Obscura [2] and Emperor Jones [3] , the Primordial Undermind trajectory has grown and evolved with each outing. A rotating membership came to typify the band, and a restlessness to stay put in one sound form denotes a steady progression from distorted, psychedelic Nuggets-esque overload as found on You and Me and The Continuum (Camera Obscura, 1997) to full blown free instrumental rock exemplified on Beings of Game P-U (starring Tom Carter of Charalambides; Camera Obscura, 2001), and everything in between (Thin Shells of Revolution, Emperor Jones, 2003). Just before relocating from Austin, Texas to Vienna, Austria in late 2004, Arn engaged in a furious series of studio sessions with his Austin crew. The results have been honed down to a fantastic new album entitled Loss of Affect, the most outré document of the Primordial Undermind sound to date.” – Strange Attractors Audio House label bio

• Primordial Undermind on Myspace
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• Bio Page on Camera Obscura Records [5]
  

Mike Tamburo

Pittsburgh-based Mike Tamburo has been an increasingly prolific presence on the underground scene since the late 1990s, initially with the groups Meisha and Arco Flute Foundation, more recently as a solo artist. While his previous bands mostly operated in a space-rock/ambient post-rock territory, Mike’s solo work usually begins with the acoustic guitar; inspired by American folk traditions (via John Fahey and the like), he expands outward to include influences from avant-garde to noise to modern compositional music. His most recent CD Ghosts of Marumbey (Music Fellowship, 2006) included everything from solo acoustic guitar to sculpted walls of rock noise, all assembled using advanced compositional technique and large-scale vision, and was deservedly named to a number of “best of 2006” critics’ lists. A Tamburo performance often includes both subtle fingerpicked guitar and swirling walls of sound generated by a raft of effects, and is always a very transportive experience. Tamburo also runs the New American Folk Hero [6] label, which continues to release an eclectic roster of creative and experimental musics.

• miketamburo.com [7]
  
• Mike Tamburo on Myspace
  [8]

Evening Fires

Evening Fires is a new group from the State College area that includes members of local bands the Clear Spots and Peacefeather. While sharing a certain sonic adventurousness with those groups’ (respectively) acidic barn rock and freewheeling experimentation, Evening Fires stretches out into wider dimensions of rural drone-based psychedelia, incorporating abstract electronics, folk guitar, rhythmic tribal jamming, and electric rock mayhem. Their self-titled debut CD [8] , released Jan. 2007 on the Deep Water [8] label, highlights a somewhat gentler side of the band, which has since evolved in a noisier and more muscular direction while broadening its sound even further – Appalachian psychedelia channeling the sounds of the hills into improvisational creations that stretch from dark hollers to rugged mountaintops.