microphones in the trees: November 2009

Monday, November 30, 2009

sylvester anfang

"How high can the Tree of Wisdom grow? If Sylvester Anfang II is the muse of civilization, then Wisdom will incarnate in a small stump. It makes this psychedelic bunch a modern salvation army.What Sylvester Anfang II has in common with half brother Silvester Anfang is that it is symbolically loaded with the sins of the people of Maldegem and that is has been sent to the big city to meet Azazel. Unless members wear the shirt of sheer evilness, they function as the brotherhood of reconciliation. These shaved goats produce their rituals exclusively on first takes. Every rehearsal is a recording session that wears the seductive dust of free folk music, the spiritual enrichment of acid rock and the razorblade-rawness of protopunk." luchtrat

Friday, November 27, 2009

antique brothers & the family band

"A new hour-long Antique Brothers jam is enough to get excited about, but when sibling shredders Ged & Cy Gengras include The Family Band it’s a full-fledged Happening to be attended at all costs. Along with the Gengras bros. on ‘Digger Gold’, Caitlin C. Mitchell, Jake White, Jeremy Kelley, and Seth Kasselman of Warm Climate join together in cracking open the smelling salts for all seven of our chakras.. Getting out of hand and family reunions go quite hand-in-hand, so listen as these partiers’ charms and spells transform the occasion into group sonic alchemy. Noise melts into grooves like lead smelts into gold and we all go home richer, baby.." stunned records

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

women & children

"our sister company IndoorMusic is honored to be part of the re-release of Women & Children's self titled album. The group first formed in Paris but currently reside in the U.S...They are a magical group and I always think of their music as a psychedelic lullaby. It is currently up on iTunes with two unreleased bonus tracks" trickety

reedición de women & children y dos canciones de regalo: night of the rake y north-south pagans. redescubriendo la preciosa day four...o el espíritu de nico y moe tucker en bear feet. gracias jonathan

foto via cradle to grave

barn owl

"The Conjurer is the latest offering by Bay Area duo Barn Owl. This new long player finds Evan Caminiti & Jon Porras finally (by way of an actual recording studio) documenting something that is a bit closer to their very heavy live sets, with expanded peaks of white light distortion and enormous valleys of bottom end. Each side opens with a brief funeral dirge to set the mood, a procession of bare-bones drum beats and bell-like guitar statements that bridge the gap to the wider open spaces of the almost side long 'Across The Desert Of Ash' and 'Ancient Of Days'. Apocalyptic westerns, mother nature fever dreams, it all seems to come to mind amid the evening guitar passages, incantations, flute tones, and finally, the solo piano that emerges lost among the electric mayhem to close the album. Considering the amount of terrain, The Conjurer is far from being scattered or rushed sounding. The record as a whole moves at a crafted even rhythm, slowly merging from one scene of violence to the next of almost silent recovery, then back up the mountain again. Edition of 500 LPs, half colored deep red, half black. Cover etching by Evan Caminiti." root strata

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

silver antlers / seven feathers rainwater

"...Seven Feathers Rainwater birthed into the fraternal "New Weird Utah" held down by mainstays Stag Hare, Silver Antlers, Navigator, Chaz Prymek, Hew Mun, etc... Seven Feathers Rainwater's murky drones, tripped out by Eastern influenced samples and ragas, are really some of the most straight up enjoyable moments in SLC's experimental hadj towards Mecca. Looped piano drones, scattered woodwinds, wordless vocals, acoustic guitars and dancey percussion. Silver Antlers reigns in and compresses some of the most exciting swelling guitar drones and soaring solos meets tribal meditations meets the Algerian Desert Desert blues of Terakaft at a Qawalli festival, and straddles a line between Western blues and the contemplative percussion and spiritualism of Eastern musical traditions. This split is a mystical journey in the vein of doomsday calendars, feathered serpents, far east shamanism and all the wonderful oddities of Salt Lake City." tome to the weathermachine

Monday, November 23, 2009

the great valley / prince rama of ayodhya

"Sonic-utopian synth mystics and pretend pop make-believers don't always sound so good side by side as Prince Rama of Ayodhya and The Great Valley do. Prince Rama's twelve-minute earth-shaker "Aeolian Divine" winds its way to eternity, from the floating island Atlantis, through some kind of cosmic dancehall, and into an infinite-space ecstatic-calm of heartbeat drums and swimming synth lines. Then the Great Valley descends with ukuleles and guitars down from space, through a tree in the forest, and into their underground home" spooky town artifacts

Sunday, November 22, 2009

grizzly prospector

"...I don't know much about Parker Yates, the man behind the grizz, but I do know there is something about his short, simple songs that grab me with a fragile, tangible grasp for the few minutes they are on. Recorded with a decided lo-fi approach, Grizzly Prospector wraps his short, sweet tunes, and his fragile yet assuringly confident voice in a thin sheen of tape hiss that sounds like an old 45 you saved from your Grandmothers estate sale. I suppose this is the aesthetic he is going for on Old Mountain Radio, tiny depression-era folk songs about love, mountain men, grizzly bears, and a kindly old narrator who introduces the album with an inexplicable cajun accent. Bookmarking each end of the album is a spoken word piece titled "Bare Hands/Bear Hands" that seems to begin and end the journey of loss, love, and discovery on this little disc that clocks in at just under 24 minutes. Stand out tracks include "Medley" and "True Love will Find You in the End" which include some of the best strummed guitars & voice I have heard all year..." tome to the weaher machine

quería escribir algo bonito sobre este disco pero sólo puedo dar las gracias. además se puede descargar gratis aquí. medley, child's prayer, true love will find you in the end... en repeat

Friday, November 20, 2009

stag hare

"...the sun shines warmly through the tops of trees that have just begun to flutter green. The forest’s magic unfolds. It is alive with sound. In this ever-unfolding present, life begins anew, free from the conditions of the past" naturalismo

"...as far as comparisons go here, Stag Hare stands strong along side Kranky artists Bird Show or White Rainbow..." forest gospel

~~~~ allah ~~~~

topaz rags

"Grey clouds stay grey. Low light situations birth low-lit moods. It's all bummer clockwork. West Coast lurk-jazz triad Topaz Rags return to vinyl with their debut long player, Capricorn Born Again, an eight-song comedown recorded/mixed from spring-to-fall of '09 via a complex 4-track/boombox assemblage method. Everything creaks and hisses, there's smoke in the air, players at the end of their ropes, lyrics washing over faded raga ballads, slinky electric piano bar depressions, shadow gauze cavern pop. The bell jar is half empty, obviously. Slow dive and sink in. Black vinyl LPs (mastered by Pete Swanson) in jackets designed by Amanda." not not fun

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

kuupuu

"although finlander jonna karanka has been slowly leaking out little kuupuu jewels for six years now, somehow it’s taken just that long to materialize her first ‘proper’ album. maybe it has something to do with the time she’s devoted to her beautiful artwork, or her time spent in a highly impressive string of other bands, included Hertta Lussu Assa (with Islaja and Lau Nau), Anaksimandros, Avarus, and many others… but, you know, i always figured kuupuu music didn’t have much to do with ‘time’ anyway. it’s music from another reality, to put it bluntly. a beautiful place no doubt, but somehow totally other. you could call this music a lot of things, all without really saying much… post-everything? pre-birth folk? bedtime acid-art? naive avant-garde loop witchcraft? maybe something like a thousand memories & vague images folded into each other and spooled out infinitely like a sloppy film loop…now play backwards in slow motion… surreal might just be an understatement… " time~lag

foto: roraadear

listen, the snow is falling...
 
(gracias toxinho)

twinsistermoon

"Twinsistermoon is Mehdi from Natural Snow Buildings, the male counterpart of this beloved French folk/drone duo who's gentle, otherworldly voice often has him confused with a little pixie lady that lives in some spectral forest glade with a battalion of fiercely protective woodland animals. This recording errs more towards tender, cracked & psychedelic pagan folk entwined with earthy samples/field recordings than any neo-drone or tonal affair, most probably the stuff folk who are into this mystical Gallic couple are most enamored with anyway. I cannot possibly do this album much justice in words, the sweet, woozy tracks are delicate, quietly meandering & personal affairs that demand your absolute full attention, the lo-fi recording technique used here gives the music such a rich & rustic personality i'm not surprised at the ever growing cult of fanatics their music. Comes with cracking 8" Sq. art booklet by Solange who casually chucks in some cello work on a track too! Plus there's a 40 minute unreleased bonus track!!" norman records

collage: liam crockard

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

keijo

"...for his second release Keijo has produced yet another interesting and lovely album. mesmerizing folk-blues jams and psyched-out atmospheric pieces. "Here They Come" has eight tracks beginning with a baroque sounding "Clear After Midnight" and ending with "At Night" with its lovely field recording of bird song. This album is a very worthy follow up to his "About Around" album. It has all manner of instrumentation and touches on blues and psychedelia with the addition of a few guests including Keijo's cat "Leila". reverb worship

being by! being by! being by!

Monday, November 16, 2009

mountainhood

"Somewhere in the realm of the Holy Modal Rounders, Tower Recordings, Diane Cluck & Daniel Johnston there is Mountainhood. Each cover is exquisitely handmade. So nice. This follows his sold out and sought after Time Lag & Ecstatic Yod releases. See the release page for a link to photos of each and every cover. Get it now before it hits the online auction realm" important
foto: hoy joy

Friday, November 13, 2009

gkfoes vjgoaf

"dang. gkfoes is back with another song set. they're heavier on the percussion and rhythm but he's still using all his mysterious pretty samples and weaving that lofi magic across an even larger sound palate this time around. spaced out psych-swag music you can blush to. edition of 100." ace of tapezzz

foto: árbore

winter fields through summer eyes wind moves the clouds, the trees, the waves; i move the wind


Monday, November 09, 2009

tom carter & robert horton

"Casual late night camfire jams by Robert Horton and Tom Carter, with laidback appearances by Natacha Robinson, Janet and Mary Carter. Baked guitars, boot and percussion. On special request there’s only 40 copies of this one." sloow tapes


Friday, November 06, 2009

best coast

"Group Tightener is putting out Best Coast's new 7" featuring four sweet fuzzed out summer jams ideal for those of us still clinging to the last remnants of this lamented season.In an interview on Olive Music Bethany described this 7" as a little moodier: "The songs on there are a little slower paced, and the lyrics are definitely more angsty." As for her overall artistic vision, she just wants "everything to sound really sweet and poppy, but also really fuzzy and sort of dark. Like the sun coming out after an epic rain storm or something." Lovely." no conclusion

Thursday, November 05, 2009

soothsayer

"Soothsayer's debut, Neptune's Daughter, is a stark product of tensions, tensions that can be mapped through a sonic ether evocative of the deepest ocean depths and/or the far reaches of outerspace. The music can be both cavernous and claustrophobic, sometimes simultaneously. Soothsayer achieves this atmosphere by implementing, above all else, a mature restraint as well as Reverb, synth lines both brittle and crystalline, guitar oscillations and noises not attributable to given instruments. As a whole, the album conjures the act of untethering, pushing off into an expanding cathedral. Ed. of 50" moon glyph

foto: nyúlia

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

sideways hole

"The third installment of the ongoing series of live Rover recordings. All acoustic pieces played in the depths of a large concrete tunnel. Very spacious and relaxing. Three extended tracks featuring Stewart Adams on acoustic/slide guitar, Alex Gray (Dreamcolour/Deep Magic) on banjo, Sean McCann on viola and bowed banjo, and Dave McPeters on bowed upright bass and slide guitar. Limited to 48 copies." animal psi

foto: jeff luker

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

daughters of the sun

"The peaceful side of the word 'primordial' is not often mentioned when discussing music, but it does exist and if it didn't exist before, it will with the release of Daughters of the Sun's Ancient of the Ancients. Texturally, the two swathes of music splitting this album evoke an antediluvian pre-dawn, when wildness and stillness were on in the same. The Daughters begin and end Ancient with passages constructed with flutes, chimes and ostensible field recordings that tend to teem and effervesce around the throbbing tribal eruptions at the heart of the cassette. Ed. of 100." moon glyph

tal día como hoy nacía maicropons, chin chin!

ous mal

"Even if it wasn't for the song titles you'd still be able to tell this record was Finnish. Like all that country's finest musical exports, be they Hannu or Paavoharju, Ous Mal's recordings carry a certain grainy lo-fi charm, sounding like some gnarled old 78 you might find in an enchanted attic. Vinyl crackle, weird old field recordings and weathered instrumental sequences all come together to make beautiful collages on tracks like 'Meidän Piha', which comes laced with faded string samples, glockenspiel melodies, wispy voices and the tolling of bells from a distant church. The glistening ambience of 'Tähdet' persists with the magic-realist sense of wonderment, sounding a bit like a haunted version of The Avalanches as it makes way for the equally ethereal strains of 'Tumma'. By the time you arrive at closing track 'Ukkonen' (whose curious sonic profile seems to shift from a spectral sea chantey into a demonic ice cream van) you'll be totally hooked on this record's creaky, tuneful and endearingly decrepit constitution. Highly enjoyable Scandinavian lo-fi melodicism from the ascendant Under The Spire imprint, limited to a mere 100 copies. boomkat"

Monday, November 02, 2009

wooden veil

"...Inspired by the shared hauntedness of their respective homelands, they combine elements from forgotten and misremembered traditions to create a microcosmic world which only Wooden Veil inhabits, complete with its own symbols, clothing, food and shelters. Performances, installations and videos are characterized by an expansive wardrobe of ritual dress, and the creation of shrines, relics and talismans used to create music.
to understand:
Hold right hand, cupped near right ear; turn hand back and forth slightly with wrist. Bring left hand to opposite eye with the second finger pointing in the direction one is looking. With index and thumb of right hand, form an incomplete circle, space of one inch between tips; hold hand towards the earth, then move it in a curve across the heavens and back toward the horizon" dekorder

Sunday, November 01, 2009

tram

tram ~ heavy black frame (piao!, 1999)

¿qué hago hablando de un disco de hace diez años? pues la inercia de ver esa foto de ahí arriba, acordarme de a kind of closure y de ahí a tram y todo lo que eso significó un buen día de hace diez años. tram es uno de esos grupos que nunca hicieron el ruido acorde a la explosión, pero eso lejos de molestar ayuda a no pervertir y sí mantener el recuerdo inmaculado. estos días estoy apático, inmerso en la melancolía inherente al otoño de los ocres, las bufandas y las caras pegadas en las ventanas con vaho, y ahí tram son doctores cum laude. esta semana me han preguntado multitud de veces cómo estaba y no sabía muy bien qué decir, ayer lo supe, estoy heavy black frame de arriba a abajo, es decir, de "nothing left to say" a "you can go now (if you want)". sumergido en la melancolía que arropa como las mantas que hacen las abuelas y las horas consumidas estudiando la arquitectura de las esquinas. según el diccionario la melancolía es una tristeza vaga, profunda, sosegada y permanente, nacida de causas físicas o morales, que hace que no encuentre quien la padece gusto ni diversión en nada. los sinónimos hablan de tristeza, aflicción, pena, pesadumbre, pesar, nostalgia, añoranza, etc... palabras todas que nunca podrían condensar lo que uno puede llegar a sentir cuando al escuchar determinada música percibe como todos sus pensamientos bajan los brazos presa del encantamiento y deciden tumbarse a ver pasar las nubes, las horas. la melancolía es sin duda la peor de las drogas, la que mayor adicción conlleva porque nadie, absolutamente nadie puede escapar de ella cuando te atrapa, hay algo masoquista sí, pero también toneladas de romanticismo brotando y desfilando desde el cuello hasta los brazos en un ejercicio de erizado funambulismo a cámara lenta. tram son enfermedad y remedio al mismo tiempo, un estado, el que en un día de sol te anima a dejar entreabierta la última hilera de la persiana para saber, a través de los rayos que se cuelan, que hay otro mundo ahí fuera que no quieres visitar.

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foto: eva morell