Fossils From the Sun – The Living Mixer [Peasant Magik]/Transcendental Manship Highway – Lord of the Trees [Carbon]

Continuing to make my way through the stack, I got these two releases Ray Hare (Century Plants, Burnt Hills) sent awhile back.
The Living Mixer is a thirty minute tape of super minimal electronics under Hare’s solo moniker, Fossils From the Sun. The thing that’s amazing about it is that guitar looks like the only sound source. The first side consists of five tracks ranging from one to six minutes. “A Livication” is the shortest and introduces the listener to the pulsing pallet of the tape. “Rockers” is louder and crunchier, where frequencies are molded and manipulated over a pseudo-rhythmic juddering. The track covers quite a lot of ground for clocking in under two minutes actually. “Sun Selector” is my favorite here. Hare gives the track plenty of room to stretch its legs, focusing on a repeating swell and dissipation of a tone more akin to a didgeridoo than a guitar. There are little prickles of quiet, metallic feedback that form, very slowly, a vague rhythmic counterpoint to the central loop. There really isn’t a lot going on to be quite honest, but there is something incredibly hypnotic about it and an attractive strength in its subtlety. That main loop is like the donging of a church bell almost. A super hard track to pull off, especially communicating to someone with a short attention span like myself, but Hare does it with style——though style seems like the absolutely wrong word to use there. I suppose “concentration” would be a bit more accurate. “A Damaging Air” is another short piece, this time of echoing percussive contact noise. “Not Waving” finishes the side with more of those metallic, hi-frequency feedback tones. Hare expands the sound spectrum deliberately over the course of the track, leaving the initial sounds the same by the end but swollen somehow.
Side B starts off with “The Living Mixer (a Sound Clash)” which clocks in at nearly 12 minutes dwarfing all the other songs on the tape——at least, lengthwise. The track works with a round, lightly pulsating drone for a while. That tone casts a constant, whirring fog across the track which experiences slight ripples in its static fabric by various sounds, some of which are actually somewhat identifiable as guitar. It’s a hard piece to describe really. The last two tracks are both just over a minute. “A Simple Star Vibrating Slowly” is quite nice and develops an intuitive melody amidst the pulsing electronic signals. “A Livication (version)” actually features of some straight-up guitar playing (though still heavily effected.) It works as a nice coda/transition back to the world outside the tape. This tape is certainly way different than any other of Hare’s projects, even quite a bit different than the FFtS 3” I reviewed in the fall. While it’s not necessarily something I put on a lot, I don’t have anything else in my collection that covers this ground. Hare does a pretty great job creating a world of his own on tape and really altering your consciousness in a way. He’s sculpting some deep meditations here but stripped of any put on “psychedelia.”
The awesomely christened Transcendental Manship Highway is an upstate NY “supergroup” featuring Hare, Eric Hardiman (Century Plants, Burnt Hills, Rambutan,) Cory Card (Stone Baby) and Joe Tunis (Joe+N). This CD-r is a single half hour bludgeoning and damn fine one at that. Beginning rather quietly with a lone drum and indecipherable speech, guitar tones drift in along with a vocal sample submerged in a effects. Tension is built up gradually with some frantic, slicing wah-wah work before the tempo picks and the full crew gets moving. It’s actually nearly relaxing at first. Shuffling mid-tempo drums and 2 or 3 blurry guitars combining with ease, but there’s always a suggestion of something a bit more evil on the horizon. Around the 7 minute mark, TMH shifts to sinister. A lot of cymbal smashing and wah freak outs and general disarray. The drums drop out a bit revealing a pretty solid chunk of noise being kicked out by the other dudes. I think there’s someone shouting an arena rock chant but it’s completely buried by grimy feedback. About halfway through the drummer picks up a fast groovy pattern and the track takes off. All of sudden the psychedelic feedback bath becomes a foot stomper with the return of a (still buried) lead vocalist. It’s all pretty ruling, especially an aborted guitar solo during a breakdown. Whoever was watching this gig was treated to quite a show. Things slow way down and get a little heavier and there’s a killer repeated synth swoop coming from somewhere that adds a second point of rhythmic orientation. All guitars take this as a cue to go to town, some go wild but one keeps things steady with a nice melody. If this was completely improv’d then, damn, these guys know to write great songs on the spot. The track actually fits somewhere between a long jam and already worked out songs. No one ever gets lost either which is always good in long jams like this because it can be a bit of a bummer when some dudes are roaring but another isn’t sure what he’s doing. An amazingly protracted drum pummeling ensues against more feedback and wah-wah excursions. There’s a come down which actually a total fake out before the four horsemen lay waste to the room and everything in it in the final minute. Pretty rad set, I’m looking forward to seeing more of this combo; so hopefully this wasn’t a one-off performance cause, you know, if it is that would suuuuck.
The TMH CD-r is still available from Tunis’s Carbon label but the tape was dreadfully limited to a mere 39 copies and thus is long out of print. So if you are remotely interested in the sounds and you see a copy floating around somewhere you should pick it up cause this baby is practically a collector’s item.

Alistair Crosbie – Sad Faces of the Moon [Peasant Magik]

The review portion of this blog isn’t dead just deceptively dormant (I stole that line from the Jyrk dudes). Anyhow, it’s been ages since I’ve reviewed anything and I feel like a douchebag. But the good news is I have this killer tape to share with you.
I don’t know anything about Alistair Crosbie other than my friend may have seen him live at some point, so I let his tape do the talking. Lucky for me, it sounds real nice. The cassette is split evenly with two 14 minutes halves but the trick is the A-side is all vocal while the flip is all keyboard. The two sides still feel very unified which is a nice; fluidity is a good characteristic. Especially when you’re dealing in drones, which appears to be Crosbie’s favorite way to play.
“Side A” despite being all voice sounds insanely alien. I mean, I know people have effects and whatnot in this day and age, but it’s hard to believe the sounds on here originally came from a human. The side is really chilly and placid, reminiscent of the more sedate numbers of Double Leopards when they were still operating. There are some rhythmic-ish loops but they’re buried about six feet under so you’re really only hearing their ghosts. I feel like I’m on a phantom beach letting waves wash over me. Mostly the water is gentle but occasionally I’ll get splashed in the face by a shot of high pitched fuzz. Crosbie made a smart gesture putting “moon” in the title, because this tape is all moonlight and mist.
“Side B” is a bit warmer while maintaining continuity with the first track. It almost sounds as if there is an arpeggio going on but the track is so zoned out it’s probably not worth trying to figure out. A little way in though some other less droney sounds fade in. I’m having trouble identifying what they are exactly which is always a good sign. To me it sounds like a swirling but rhythmic bout of feedback being looped. But other times I think I’m hearing clipped up words or samples so who knows. The piece slumbers along until a pleasant comedown. I’m having trouble pinpointing a specific reference point for the track so I’ll just say it maintains an abstract rhythmic pulse without relinquishing any lunar droniness whatsoever.
The packaging is classy, top-notch style as is expected when you’re dealing with Peasant Magik merchandise. A clear tape with a printed label comes with a 4 panel color, fold-out j-card. It’s topped off with a tracing paper-like slip that goes over the cover and the tape with title, info and the Peasant Magik logo on the side so you can find it on your shelf with ease. Real slick. Limited to 100 but it looks like Peasant Magik still has a few copies so grab one before they are gone, because when Summer rolls around you are gonna be longing for that winter chill.

Ajilvsga – Thorazine to Infinity [Peasant Magik]/Ajilvsga – Sacred Arrow [Arbor]

Ajilvsga is a project of Mr. Foxy Digitalis himself, Brad Rose, and Nathan Young. Just so we’re clear, Nathan Young is not Nate Young, at least as far as I can tell. In conference with a few close friends we’ve decided this new Ajilvsga stuff (these two and the double cassette on Not Not Fun) is the best Mr. Rose has put his name on. Is it a coincidence they are all on tapes? I think not. Furthermore, I’ve heard rumors that his upcoming label is gonna be doing a few tapes. Is it that the proclaimed hater of cassettes, Mr. Rose, has finally seen the light? Let’s hope so, both for his sake and our own, cause these little suckers—released on Peasant Magik and Arbor—are total domination 2 tha maxx.
Thorazine to Infinity begins with the hum of electricity, certainly a fitting beginning. There’s some thick dirty guitar (bass?) going down and maybe a bit of synth or effects too. It kinda has a drone-doom thing but you know, not mind-numbingly boring. I tend to be a fan of low frequencies so I wish they were mixed a bit louder for full on quaking effect but they still do a damn good job as is. It is tapes like these that make me wish I was one of those dudes whose hobby is his stereo; you know so I could play this way too loud on huge fucking speakers and go deaf and get kicked out of my apartment. It’s a good thing I’m not one of those dudes though cause I wouldn’t want to be deaf and homeless. I don’t have the balls for that. “I am Your Charred Remains” is easily my favorite piece on the tape. It’s more actively droney/noisy than the mildly lethargic opener. Again, the Ajilvsga dudes are playing with raging thickness/sickness. It sounds like there are lots of loops/tracks stacked on top of each other, shuddering under the wait of it all. Short repetitive loops are contrasted with the protracted fuzz giving the mass a good dose of rhythm/momentum and ending with some dude cackling. Total daze of thunder.
The twelve minute tremor, “Asphixiation”, starts slow with an insistent revving and loopy synthtones. Almost halfway through a weird percussion type thing starts going down. I think it’s a handdrum of some sort and it comes out of nowhere. Somehow the bizarreness of the hand-drum-on-tremulous-electronics action works, don’t ask me how though. The piece takes on a strange, sauntering psych vibe. Man, what a peculiar ordeal that was. The short closer, “Lex Talions”, goes even further into psych territory with more drums and other percussion, a bowed/blown instrument, guitar feedback and a thumbpiano/musicbox device of some sort. These guys sure turn the tables with style.
Sacred Arrow isn’t as colossally crushing. “Salt Plains” sounds like might just be two guitars a-droning. Well it’s not necessarily droning cause there’s definitely some strumming going on, yet it still has that effect. It’s a nice simple track that doesn’t get old despite a relatively small amount of change. There’s some theremin-esque sounds at the end too. Strong but subtle (it’s oxymoron day!) sense of melodic structure too, so it sounds real nice on the ears without being obvious. My only complaint is one guitar has too much of a transparent flanger thing going on. “Wolves Standing in Water” brings back the rumble; well I guess for the first time on this particular tape. There’s an elusive melodic loop buried underneath the murk that’s pretty fun to chase. It’s a pretty solid wall of low-end too, which I like, consuming everything like a black hole or the blob. The final minute sees the blob get briefly upturned by a couple pulsing rhythmic loops before blasting them away and everything ending in Armageddon. “Fire Builder” takes the entirety of the B-side and, soundwise, it fits somewhere between the two on the previous side. It’s also the most straight “drone” to my ears. Woven in between the long heavy layers are different bits of manipulation, originally, I thought a field recording of some sort but now I’m not so sure. More eerie theremin sounds pop up too. Yeah, eerie is a pretty good way to describe to the track. It reminds of the more sluggish (not in a bad way) work of Family Underground and other acts. Though perhaps a bit too protracted for its own good, “Fire Builder” is excellent way to, as that one Oscar-winning m&m guy put it, lose yourself in the music.
Each label has done a fine, classy job packaging their respective cassettes. Thorazine to Infinity comes with a textured slip cover, printed j card and the whole deal. Sacred Arrow comes with a double-sided full color printed/screenprinted j card and sprayed case. Both are still available but limited. 100 copies of Sacred Arrow and only 75 of Thorazine to Infinity.

Lanterns – Lughnasadh [Peasant Magik]

Lanterns, for those who don’t know, are a trio of UK basement dwellers. They seem to operate with one foot in the serene drone bucket and the other in a jangling free-folk bucket (what kind of lame analogy is that?). This CD-r on Philadelphia’s Peasant Magik label is, if I’m not mistaken, the group’s first stateside release after tapes and CD-rs on Sloow Tapes, Blackest Rainbow, First Person and other European buddies.
So anyhow, Lugnasadh has 3 tracks just like Lanterns got members. The first is the awesomely titled “Inectoplasmic Blues”. I dig the ragged arrangement on this one; there are a bunch of elements on this: a couple guitars, various percussion (drums, cymbals, shakers), flute and some vocal coos and moans. Aesthetically, the track is similar to the ilk of 6majik9 or Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood, but with a slightly muffled quality. While retaining that fragmented aesthetic though, the group keeps everything moving in a surprisingly focused direction. Also, at certain points different elements appear at the forefront, as if they all rotated, taking turns standing closest to the microphone. I’m not sure how they did that (mixing maybe?) but it’s a cool little effect.
“Suma” follows and skews to the more dronier side of things. Beginning with a single high-pitched whine and incorporating, bit by bit, other sustained tones, a garbled vocal sample, subtle additions on guitar, a simple, muted drum pattern and something that sounds bowed but it may just be a keyboard or something. The whole ordeal is pretty placid and hypnotic, and floats along on the fluttery sustain of organ tones. Really easy to get lost in. Especially the insanely brief and insanely beautiful guitar outro. Come on Lanterns! The track could have run for at least another three minutes on that little baby alone and you gave me about 20 seconds worth. So other than the track ending much too soon, it’s a real nice piece.
The final track, “Mong” is a good deal longer than the previous two. It begins similarly to “Suma” but focuses more on low frequency guitar sustain and vague, disembodied vocals. There are strange almost squelching type sounds poking through in the background as well. Lanterns create a very pleasant fog, almost like the time at night when your body is getting tired and ready for bed and you feel peaceful in your submission to sleep. Maybe that’s not how nights are for other people, but, for me, “Mong” has that same restless calm. The track builds gradually as hushed cymbal clatter tiptoes in. I’m wondering if the squelching sounds from the beginning are actually heavily effected cymbals. Eventually a more formal drumbeat is composed taking the track to its final fadeout. All in all, it’s a nice trance maybe a bit like a less acoustic GHQ or the most singularly sloshed (VxPxC) moments.
Lugnasadh is still available from Peasant Magik and comes in a slimline snapcase with wraparound artwork by Mel (Crowley?) from Ashtray Navigations and a pasted-on insert inside. Limited to 100 so make you’re move.

Pillars of Heaven – Silver Tusks Vol. 1 [Peasant Magik]/Pink Desert – Black Lung Ode Music [Peasant Magik]

These two are my first releases from Philadelphia’s Peasant Magik label, and judging by them, it looks like a cool little label. Both of these are from a little while back and since they came out PM has put out a handful releases by the likes of Bjerga/Iversen, CJA and others. Silver Tusks Vol. 1 is from earlier in the year while Black Lung Ode Music is from last year, in case you wanted to know. Starting reverse chronologically (or alphabetically, yr pick) we have Silver Tusks Vol. 1 by labelhead and Big Trouble in Little China enthusiast Salvatore Giorgi’s Pillars of Heaven moniker. It’s one-sided, which is kind of a bummer, but it’s still 30 minutes long so I guess that’s as good as any c-30. Sal has done a real nice job packaging it too. There is a double J card set-up with a clear plastic insert with the info and spine title printed on it and an insert of that neat, sparkly wallpaper-type cover. Oh yeah, there is a matching label on the white tape too. Overall a real classy job. Even better is the music.”Drifter” is the first to emerge from the tape hiss and it’s a clear favorite. It’s driven by fast echoing piano chords, a nice bassy melody and some lightly applied though effective vocalizations (at least I think it’s voice). Where is it driving to, you ask? Straight to your brain’s pleasure center, that’s where. Sal does a great job creating subtle changes and movement throughout the track but still allowing you to bask in the rich hypnotic shimmer of the opening notes that carry on throughout the track. “Winter is Coming” employs a similar, albeit much chillier (heh), approach. The track is anchored by a loop (I think piano again?) that rolls through the whole song. It is a series of drones that enter and exit at various points that fill out the track. There are a bunch of points where the wandering drones congeal into brief but striking melodic phrases. I sure do like it when those happen. “Angels Ablaze” is the 14 minute closer. It’s a really spacious piece with many long loops cycling throughout. The track is nice but in my estimation it carries on a bit too long without much change. However, the last third sees the arrival of fuzz; which sounds like it would be out of place in a serene soundscape such as this but it actually works marvelously in conjunction with the other elements adding some weight and new texture to the proceedings without overpowering them. So even though the journey is a little long, the destination is quite breathtaking.

Pink Desert are a duo who apparently hail from Lehigh Valley, PA. I ain’t gonna front like I ever been there, but according to the wide web of the world, there’s a bit of a noise scene going on in those parts. The Peasant Magik website suggests PD might be the east coast’s answer to the Skaters, which is quite a hefty statement. While they do dwell in vocal drone territory, Pink Desert has a much cleaner sound than the muggy murk that the Skater’s are busy emanating. I’d say they sound a bit more like Double Leopards at their most minimal minus the instruments. Anyhow, there are two tracks making up this 3inch cdr. The first, “Swollen Tongue Choir”, is an eerie bit of eeriness. Lots of disembodied voices sounding like disembodied souls floating about. There is some heavy delay pedal usage here, which is fine by me, and all the various repeats actually add a nice bit rhythmicness (not a real word, but you catch my drift) to the smooth drones. Then “Debrider” comes along and kicks the whole thing up a notch. (I’ll be damned, I sound exactly like Emeril Lagasse). It still rocks the wafting drone robe but not quite so minimally. There is a scratchy loop that almost supplies a backbeat while the Pink Desert boys wax plenty of harmonious flowing verbal tones. The result is a seamlessly solidified drone and it’s always a great day when you hear one of those. The packaging, though a tad plain jane, is once again well done (in this case, nicely screenprinted). Overall, a nice effort.
If yr into mind floating arrangments (and who isn’t these days?) I suggest checking both these suckers out. There are still copies available dirt cheap direct from Peasant Magik but they are super limited, PoH is limited to 50 and PD to a measly 36! So, ya know, act fast. I’m not sure what Peasant Magik has next on tap but it’ll probably be smokin’. As for the artists, Pink Desert has some tapes and LPs on the way while Pillars of Heaven will be supplying Silver Tusks Vol. 2 courtesy of Epicene Sound Systems/Epicene Sound Replica sometime in the future, I’ll be keeping my eye out for that one.