★Root Strata
Undercurrent
California Gothic set to the tidal rhythms of the Pacific and tuned into the metabolic pathways of the northwest coast. Porras (Barn Owl) has scripted a love poem to the mist, a prayer cast in ghostly reflected guitar and deep pools of distortion. The ominous opening of 'Gray Dunes' is a dense and impenetrable murk, a fear that eventually succumbs to distortion but then gives way to a endless open space of delay in its second half. Its trajectory is symbolic of the record as a whole, with many o…
Pacific Fog Dreams
Way out in the North West American wilderness, Evan Caminiti (Barn Owl) and Lisa McGee regroup for another exceptional, ethereal session as Higuma. 'Pacific Fog Dreams' is also their 2nd release for Root Strata, following their earliest collaborative release in '08 with 'Haze Valley', and 2010s 'Den Of The Spirits' LP for Digitalis, one of the finest of its ilk in recent years. Their sound is incredibly precious and achieves the rarest of tangible sensations with glooming, ghostly drones and bil…
Preying In Circles
There's hardly a shortage of meandering spiritual free folk in the world at the moment, but the reason I have a soft spot for Australian outfit Brother of the Occult Sisterhood (BotOS for short) is that they effortly make music that I find genuinely calming. That's not to say it's boring either, no the music they make is like antidote for a diseased soul and through a Jewelled Antler or Fonal influenced jangling free-folk fog we are treated to some quite intense and personal jams. 'Preying in Ci…
Absent Coast
Another sublime drone album from the unshakably good Root Strata camp, En's The Absent Coast is a real upper tier ambient release. Distinguished by its depth and effortless musicality, this album is one for genre fans to really savour. After the sandblasting noise/tonal onslaught of 'A Dying Sun/Return To Holyoke', the album calibrates itself to a stately simmer that comes to life during the quite sublime 'Honeysuckle Heart', which combines glassy sustains with crackl…
Of Psalms
restocked, few available...Music for the rain forests of the moon, straight out of Oakland CA. ‘Of Psalms’ is the debut album by Date Palms, the duo of Marielle Jakobsons and Gregg Kowalsky. The two have birthed a suite of slowed-down music of the spheres, with a canopy of glowing fog and a heavy narcotic bass pulse that keeps the whole thing rooted straight into the earth. It’s a heady mix of alap paced violin phrases, jewel toned keys, harp swells, distorted tapes and ever present bass w…
Origin
The entirety of Origin's musical material is comprised of the vibrating strings of Pitre's ensemble of bowed "harmonic-guitars," which are unconventionally strung electric guitars (utilizing multi-unisons) tuned to intervals corresponding with the Harmonic Series, a.k.a. Just Intonation. No effects processing (pre or post) was used in this recording. All effect-like qualities result from the multi-unison strings (phasing), sympathetic vibrations, combination/difference tones (of the chosen just …
Glass Armonica
In its two hundred year history, the glass armonica has played many roles. It was a serious attempt by Benjamin Franklin to create a new instrument for the classical repertoire; believed to cause insanity in its players, it gained traction as an object of superstition; a century or more in historical obscurity ensued, followed by its revival as a compositional curiosity for a handful of composers and as an exotic timbre in soundtracks and on pop records. More recently, Christina Kubisc…
Shrine Of The Post
Now I've seen the Starving Weirdos play live, which always tends to blur opinions of a band's recorded material. If you see a band play and they are a bunch of obnoxious f*ckwits with no clue what they're doing it can colour your judgement somewhat and make a record seem a lot worse than it is, and if you see a band that are just frankly very awesome indeed and lovely folk to boot, then it can give you a different focus when you hear them on cd. Thankfully Humbolt crew Starving Weirdos fal…
Ribbons Of Dust
In La Monte Young's formulation, drone music is built on the idea of vertical composition, moving away from developmental form towards "Vertical Hearing". The danger, of course, is that layers will be substituted for composition, resulting in dissonant monolithic roars. These have their place, but tread an easy route to some ambiguous transcendence. On the four extended meditations for guitar and electronics here, Alex Cobb chooses no such route. Instead, patience and focus help him build up vas…
Conjurer
"This is a must-buy for everyone this summer. 10/10 - Foxy Digitalis", finally out the CD version. This finds the duo finally documenting something that is a bit closer to their very heavy live sets, w/ expanding peaks of white light distortion & enormous valleys of bottom end. Opens w/ a brief funeral dirge to set the mood, a precession of bare bones drum beats & bell like guitar statements that bridge the gap to the wider open spaces of "Across The Desert Of Ash" & "Ancient Of Days" …
Harry Smith
New LP - first ever vinyl - from this great west coast drone group with a magical sÇance in tribute to occultist, archivist, artist and visionary film-maker Harry Smith, performed as a live soundtrack to his films. Mile-deep tones that you could swim in flux through intricately populated blankets of brain-cushioning foo with that classic aircraft-hangar-filled-with-white-light feel. Edition of only 300 copies with paste-on art.
Worn
Now expanded to a four piece, Common Eider, King Eider have crafted yet another blast of high end wind chill that whips through the empty spaces in your skull. More stories of flora & fauna that hang beautifully in dynamic rooms of piano, strings, voices and stargazing guitar explosions born of layer after layer of feedback. This ghost world is all gray and black, with a high condensation of loss penetrating throughout. Moonlight occasionally lights the path, but for the most part prepare to be …
The Conjurer
This new long player finds the duo finally documenting something that is a bit closer to their very heavy live sets, w/ expanding peaks of white light distortion & enormous valleys of bottom end. Each side opens w/ a brief funeral dirge to set the mood, a precession of bare bones drum beats & bell like guitar statements that bridge the gap to the wider open spaces of the almost side long "Across The Desert Of Ash" & "Ancient Of Days."
Lace Heart
Already sold out, few copis available. Gorgeous double vinyl reissue of what still stands as one of Christina Carter’s finest moments, originally issued in an edition of 300 copies on her own Many Breaths Press. Six love songs comprised of elliptical bell like guitar phrases, barely there, sometimes even coaxing silence, set behind the extended vowel sounds of voice. Soft gentle performances here, like this whole record was cut very very late at night or in the early hours of the morning. An unh…
Off Light
His first solo album, Off Light finds Scott Goodwin (known for his work as part of trio Bonus), exploring the microtones associated with overlapping sine wave oscillations. 'Off Light' and its accompanying piece 'Arc' both focus on the very subtle interplay and morphing interactions of these fundamental waveforms, taking on a level of meditative discipline that's sure to require a good deal of patience and concentration both on the part of Goodwin and the listener. Minimal as it may be there's u…