GHQ - Hea CDr (2005, Arbitrary Signs)

Appalachian ragas for the drone set by Double Leopards/Hottogisu/Zaimph’s Marcia Basset and Steve Gunn on Pete Nolan’s Arbitrary Signs label. This limited edition of 100 CDR is apparently a teaser to a forthcoming Time-Lag release. Beautifully packaged in a silk-screened faux neon snake scale cover, this CDR contains some of the most pleasing back porch howl and moan ever to come from the rural backwoods. Marcia Basset is obviously one of the most highly regarded and accomplished noise artists working in the underground today, and this collection of lonely backwoods psychedelics only further illustrate her ability and diversity in committing to tape what others only imagine or wish to attempt. These full on repetitive droning string raga’s transport the listener into a full on ecstasy over four long tracks. Sometimes venturing into a Six Organs of Admittance/Fahey eastern romp complete with crashing bells and voice modulations, creating the most trance inducing modal music that ever came from the Smokey Mountains of the East. This disc is definitely a high light in the already stellar body of work that has been forged by Marcia Basset, illustrating her obvious ability in creating mind melting psychedelic music. It’s apparent from listening to these recordings that this work deserves greater distribution and investigation even by those who are not obsessed with the fevered nightmares of Double Leopards or the metallic green metal of Hototogisu. For those lucky enough to get there hands on this beautiful backwoods neon psychedelic CDR rejoice, for other’s not so lucky hopefully the upcoming Time-Lag release will bless your fevered skulls with more of this beautiful rural drone. 9/10 Description from Digitalis.

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Bonecloud - Drawing Spirits In Crystals CDr (2007, DNT Records)

‘Drawing Spirits into Crystals’ is a 40-minute epic by Irish couple Bonecloud, from my vantage their best work to date. Front to back the track is veiled behind the static of disintegrating tape reminiscent Basinki’s ‘Disintegration Loops’, though with spacious improvised drone/spirituals replacing those tightly wound little loops. Accompanying a shifting array of metallic instrumental-weaponry, a vast howling mediates each leg of this track with regional vernaculars to identify the terrain like a map. Whether spooked or stoned from this way-out voyage, the high notes of the track’s last quarter begin to resemble horns playing some dust-laced jazz with the growling menace of electric guitar beneath the heavy fog leading to the question, where am I? Well, that’s what love songs often do. Sprayed and stamped CDr comes bagged with nice paper insert. Limited to 100 copies. Description from Animal Psi.

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Red Temple Spirits - 2 LP's (1988, 1989 Fundamental)

Los Angeles quartet Red Temple Spirits skillfully mixes tribal post-punk influences mid-period Cure, Savage Republic, early (Death) Cult with a loving dose of lysergic psychedelia (Syd Barrett and Roky Erickson are particular touchstones). Bassist Dino Paredes (formerly of Psi-Com, with Perry Farrell) and guitarist Dallas Taylor coax entrancing drones and pulses from their instruments with judicious use of echo and other effects, while shamanistic frontman William Faircloth (a colorful immigrant from Britain's original '60s psychedelic movement) delves into mysticism (Native American on the first album, Tibetan on the second) with a grace and passion rarely seen before.

Dancing to Restore an Eclipsed Moon is an astonishing debut. The luxurious packaging (double LP/single CD) mirrors the care put into the music, which tastefully incorporates flutes, bells and natural sounds (water, birds) to create a heady atmosphere of ritualistic ecstasy. Short catchy compositions like "Dark Spirits" and "Dreamings Ending" alternate with several long and complex pieces.

The follow-up, "If tomorrow I were leaving for Lhasa, I wouldn't stay a minute more...," is far more direct, both in the melodic music and the lyrics, which turn towards external/environmental stimuli. As crystallized by the gorgeous "Dive in Deep" and an incandescent cover of Pink Floyd's "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun," the theme of hope for the magic and beauty of life in the face of despair remains. Description from Myspace.

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The Skull Defekts - Rotating Feedback & Save The Skulls CD (2005, iDEAL Recordings)

The Skull Defekts was formed in early 2005 after the death of the Swedish avant rock outfit Kid Commando. Together with Henrik Rylander of the infamous garage rock monster Union Carbide Productions, Jean-Louis Huhta (known from Cortex, Anticimex, Lucky People Center, Stonefunkers etc) and experimental turntablist Henrik Grevesmuhl, Eric Olofsson and Joachim Nordwall (curator of the iDEAL Festival and label) of KC formed a band that goes further down to investigate the outer regions of rock music & experimental sound & noise.

But here - on the first full length album of TSD, we meet a duo consisting of Rylander and Nordwall only, dropping a 38 minute-long dark atmosphere mindphucker that will slay your soul. Here they use the very minimal equipment of feedback though mixing desks and a contact microphone. But it is surprisingly vital and changes in sound make slow melodies, almost hidden to the listener. Description from Dotshop

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Heavy Winged - Mojito (200?, no label, no artwork, no info)

"Across their first 3 full-length releases (plus several compilation appearances), the ex-NYC trio Heavy Winged have garnered a reputation for blowing out tuned-in eardrums with their urban retro-futurist DIY rampaging-giant-lizard noise rock. And deservedly so." Description from Dwacres

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GHQ - Square Growth Sessions Tape (2007, Sloow Tapes)

"Three extended celestial hymns of acid smoked vibrations spiraling right into the labyrinth of the third eye, connecting profoundly with the psychedelic freeflow of the earths and bodys four fluids. Mirage healing powers as played by the boundless trio of Steve Gunn, Marcia Bassett and Pete Nolan. Elongated and shadowy-lit edition of 150 copies." Description from Sloow Tapes.

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DOPO - Crossing Birds CDr (2007, Foxglove - generously donated by the band!)

Described by Eduardo Chagas as "one of the most interesting and original projects of the unclassifiable experimental music" from Portugal, DOPO explore psychadelic folk, drones, cheap electronics and any other ways that their multiple instruments point to.

Their debut EP, "Last Blues, To Be Read Someday" (digital release - Test Tube, 2005), was compared to the improvised ritualistic music of Sunburned Hand of the Man and to the melancholic quietude of Boxhead Ensemble. People and critics like Patrick Best (Pelt), Rui Eduardo Paes, Jose Marmeleira and Helder Gomes praised the record.

This EP was followed by "For the Entrance of the Sun" album (CD-R Lovers & Lollypops/digital release - Test Tube, 2007), in which DOPO began to explore other elements, such as their own voices.

"Crossing Birds" (2007) was released by respected United States' label Foxglove (Keijo, North Sea, Hush Arbors).

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http://www.myspace.com/dopodopo

Huntress - Full Snow Moon 3'' CDr (2006, Some Dark Holler)

This is part of the Folklore of the Moon Series. Heavy drone from 1/2 of Fulci formed from burnt casio circuitry, melted cassettes, and overloaded speakers. track listing: 1• Ice & Lamps, Intertwined 2• This Blizzard 3• Jets to Full Snow Moon

Description from Some Dark Holler.

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The Goslings - Full Hunter's Moon 3'' CDr (2005, Some Dark Holler)

This is part of the Folklore of the Moon Series. The Goslings bring the heavy drone for October! Menacing beauty.
track listing: 1• Roman Candle 2• White Kitten 3• No More Ribbon, No More Kite
Description from Some Dark Holler.

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Dialing In - Ketalysergicmetha Mother CDr (2005, Celebrate Psi Phenomenon)

Dialing In is like a decades old recording of an All Night Flight on the organ from Terry Riley, falling apart in your fingertips like one of Basinski's "Disintegration Loops." Delicate piano and keyboard dirges are filtered through layers of re-recording, leaving a fully saturated spectrum and a glowing, warbly tone. Vocal coos and cries are pulled out of the air from distant numbers stations and processed through the same lo-fi low-pass filters, resulting in everything from a girgling baby in the title track, to something like Chinese opera singers in the album closer "Watch Out for Stalkers." While these thick, overprocessed incantations might lead to one to imagine the Skaters euphoric primitivism, there is nothing brutal or scary here. Dialing In creates a soft and warm space, filling the room with tone so dense, it feels like sounds filtered through the womb. The songs hiding beneath the blissful, comforting cloud of noise take cues from many influences. The simple melodies of songs like "Someone Else's Talking Pictures" and "Building It Down" can bring to mind slow pop songs like Low and Slowdive. Other songs bring in Asian influences, like the stellar "Imperfect Fifths," sounding like an Arab seance as heard from the heavens, bringing to mind Sun City Girls' Torch of the Mystics. All the songs take a heavy cue from minimalism. Some of the best songs on the album have the least going on. "Babel" opens the album with a three chord organ progression that repeats and repeats, but the great tone to the organ and the building noise around it - both from the recording technique and a vocal countermelody - create a wonderful sound to bask in. This wonderful sound that Dialing In creates through her recording technique is the key element to the album, and it is just so gorgeous and soothing. Review from Fake Jazz.

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Double Leopards/ Son Of Earth - The Exemplary Pursuit To The Rubble Thrown Up Over Thousands Of Years LP (2002, Heavy Conversation/Apostasy)

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Mike Patton/Fennesz - Live in Paris 8/6/07

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I got a live recording of the Patrick Best/Glenn Jones/Jack Rose show I saw coming soon.

OM Live at the Empty Bottle (9-15-07, recorded by Astraal Tempel RhytHymns)

Sorry about the vocals...I was right in front and could barely hear them.

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New posts coming soon.

Dont worry.

Daniel Higgs Live at the Empty Bottle (9-15-07, recorded by Astraal Tempel RhytHymns)

http://www.dischord.com/band/danielhiggs

http://www.thrilljockey.com/catalog/?id=100699

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Lichens & Michael Zerang Live at the Empty Bottle (9-15-07, recorded by Astraal Tempel RhytHymns)

http://www.kranky.net/artists/lichens.html

http://www.michaelzerang.com/

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Z'EV/Genesis P-Orridge - Direction of Travel CD (2002, Cold Spring)

Some real effort has gone into the production of this CD. Apart from the diamond symbolism on the cover - which has been neatly juxtaposed with painter Charles Acethorpe's excellent flora imagery - this 1990 recording includes Z'ev's fourteen-page discussion of the psychiatric processes used to induce altered states of neurological consciousness. Following on from the ground-breaking work carried out by A.M. Ludwig during the 1960's, Z'ev elaborates upon the five different manifestations of the trance state and the categorical denominations within each. Amongst other things, these include the use of stress and deprivation, repetition and hypnosis, boredom and solitary confinement. Z'ev's thoughts on this subject are compelling, taking us on a magickal mystery tour through the complete range of transformative potentialities. Surprisingly, perhaps, many of these factors were explored long ago by the Ancient Greeks. The trance state was depicted by Plato as a form of madness which was highly desirable. This he broke down into four distinct forms: Mantis, Katharsis, Katokoche and Eros. Socrates, meanwhile, remarked that 'so much more glorious, by the testimony of the ancients, is madness than sober sense, the inspiration of Heaven than the creation of men.' The Japanese alternatives of Muchu, Konsui-Jotai, Saimin-Jotai and Mugen no Kyo are also touched upon. In fact the sheer breadth of Z'ev's exegesis is ground from the dust of both science and tradition, weaving together such periods, personages and philosophies as Vedic metaphysics, Timothy Leary, Hopic India, Zosimos, Mayan legend and Buddhism. Genesis, meanwhile, adds his own thoughts on these complicated brain processes and gives a courteous nod to Z'ev for introducing him to such concepts in the first place. But what ov thee Great Work itself? Each of the ten tracks is named after a specific direction, hence the name of the overall project in which these experiments are set. However, to suggest that this is a standard musical affair is way off the mark. 'East I' is a tormented sprinkle of chiming hand cymbals which will introduce your ears to the wonderful world of tinnitus and leave them ringing for several hours. 'East II', meanwhile, offers up a deconstructed swirl of anarchic noise-flux to the gods of aural detachment. The ringing is evident yet again, but is now accompanied by a huge whining spring-effect. 'East III' is an exercise in tribalism. A hollow, rhythmagick odyssey of stick upon wood and the approaching splutter of an industrial generator pitted with discordant sound. 'Southeast' takes us off into yet another direction. Through the psychedelic hallways we go and out across the rolling drumbeats, hand in hand with our own mentally-unbalanced selves. Until, that is, we arrive at 'South I', where the constantly-whirling treatise of mind-feed sounds like a ritualistic dream-sequence at the court of the Ming Dynasty. 'South II' is a yet further helping of African-style drumming, conjuring up images of Johnny Weismuller wrestling frantically with a brain surgeon in crocodile shoes as a mesmeric shaker rustles its way into the fibres and sinews of the old grey matter. This is a very hypnotic track indeed. Another gyratory switch on the compass and we are heading in slow-motion towards 'North I'. This is a lazy shuffle of colliding objects, each of them stopping and starting with no particular direction in mind. Like a giant dragging his furniture across a wooden floor. 'North II' has a certain watery quality. Large, breath-heavy raps against the doors of the soul. This rather eerie trend continues on into 'North III', although one can almost detect the dalek-like buzz of a laser. Lobotomy, anyone? Finally, we hang on to our scalps and head out 'West' for some trepanation, as the echoes and soundwaves of this thirteen-minute showdown drill small holes in mankind's rigid perception of sound. Yes, indeedy. Clothed in leopard skins and Egyptian hieraglyphs, this is pure originality at its finest. Another unique excercise in human experimentation and a stepping stone for the occultic adventurer. And, of course, yet one more notch on the Cold Spring bedpost. Review from Synthesis.

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Z'EV - Elemental Music LP (1982, Subterranean Records)

Elemental Music, recorded live in San Francisco in early 1981, finds bald percussionist Z'ev (Stefan Weisser) creating an amorphous and utterly atonal wall of pulsating sound on instruments that are neither identified nor aurally identifiable. Although different from what one usually thinks of in terms of ambient music — this shit gets loud! — as a soundscape for the post-industrial wasteland, it's fine in a numbing sort of way. (Z'ev's pioneering noise work prefigures similar experimental efforts by such metallic heavy hitters as Einstrzende Neubauten and Test Dept.) Review from Trouser Press.

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Double Leopards - Gematria 2xTape (2005, Heavy Tapes)

"The Gematria cassette box on Heavy Tapes has proved a wonderful sonic Rosetta Stone for decoding the Leopards’ cosmos. Since listening to those solo transmissions, I can’t help but zone in on the individual strands each member adds to the group sound." From Digitalis.

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Bodyvehicle - Being Being 2xTape (2007, Black Horizons)

This upload was generously donated to Astraal Tempel RhytHymns by the label and artist. Please visit their website here and support underground music!

65 minutes spread out over 4 sides. Presented as a retrospective, including some previously released select tracks, and some not heard before. The style can vary from track to track, some dominated by small sounds and buzzing loops, to epic and beautiful drone pieces, and electro-acoustic improv fused with noise. Instruments that are audible include saxophone, guitar, and drum machine. Bodyvehicle manages to keep the avant garde classics in mind while still looking forward in a way that few acts can. Presented in a black vinyl album, with color art on blue/gold shimmer vellum cover and color on transparent labels. Tracks listing is printed on blue shimmer paper, which is glued to the inside. Edition of 50 hand stamp #'ed copies on hi-bias chrome tapes. Click here to see more detailed images of the packaging. Description from the label.

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