Bones From the Garden, February 2006

Bones from the Garden is a column devoted to the documentation and exploration of mostly limited underground releases from the US and elsewhere. A lot of these are CD-Rs in an edition of 100 or less -- some by virtual unknowns, others by more established familiars. Since this is the first of what we hope to be a regular feature, some of the releases mentioned this time will be older and possibly out of print, but most were released during the last half of 2005 and should be findable. Contact information is included, and these can be purchased from the usual suspects (Eclipse, Boa Melody Bar, Time-Lag, Volcanic Tongue, etc).

When the Charalambides relocated to Austin at the end of the 90s, Tom and Christina Carter found themselves living next door to Eric and Vanessa Arn of the Primordial Undermind. As could be expected, crosspollination ensued. Tom joined the ‘Undermind for their Beings of Game P-U LP (Camera Obscura) -- a molten Krautrock fireball well worth the hunt if you ever wanted to hear Carter in rock mode a good decade after the Mike Gunn. And then there’s The Friday Group, which arose out of jam sessions between then ‘Underminder Brian Smith (Iron Kite, Ethereal Planes Indian), Shawn McMillen (Ash Castles on the Ghost Coast, Iron Kite), Tom Carter and Matt Martinez. Like these other ensembles, Friday Group is concerned with mapping oblique trajectories through familiar musical terrain. These guys have stripped away all the bullshit of whatever might be their starting point (folk, blues?) to devolve into a more damaged electro clatter space and ultimately reveal their own post-industrial path to aural divinity.

As heard on the three tracks that comprise the darkly hallucinogenic Wet Fur (Wholly Other / Twilight Flight Sound), there is no easy way to sum up the haunted guitar drone, syncopated percussive clatter and primitive ring modulations captured at the Red River house during the Fall, 2001. It’s easier to think of other artists and scenes touched upon, but then that does no one any real service, either, does it? Opener “Skin and Bones” is a devastating 15 min crude electro / minimal noise jam. An introduction of stumbling guitars shifts into a dramatic swarm of electronic screams, stretching out with slide and bowed guitars into the deepest regions of the celestial void. The fierce mid section walks the line between piercing atonality and total mind-washing exaltation in a way that virtually no one else can really come close to these days, but lots of folks out there are trying. “Rabbit’s Foot” rides on deeper bass squelch and hum, conjuring a state of sinking dread, only to strip everything back to the skeletal remains of sun-burnt blues reminiscent of Charalambides’ defining minimal live opus, “Eternal/Internal.” The extended “Bear Hair” has shakers kissing hand percussion and tinkling piano. Bestial scratching gives way to damaged buzz and fractured string swells before eventually sliding us right through the wormhole to the ecstatic promise land. Harrowing stuff, but the rewards are plentiful in this deep chasm of fire and ice.

Daniel Padden is one-third of Volcano the Bear, and a talented composer in his own right, as heard on his beautifully twisted recordings as The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden. No false advertising; the first two One Ensemble albums were almost entirely solo affairs, with Padden manning everything from guitar, bass and percussion to piano, violin, bouzouki and voice to conjure a spectral gypsy folk/jazz soundtrack music informed by European roots music, the early art pop of Robert Wyatt and the violin-scapes of Aranos.

Live at VPRO Radio (home of the revered Mort Aux Vaches releases) is a CD-R that comes via Brainwashed’s Handmade Series in an edition of 500 in folded letterpress sleeves. It’s both an extremely lavish and simple package, reflecting the haunted ensemble performances captured within. This edition of the One Ensemble of Daniel Padden is in fact a quintet, with stunning support from Chris Hladowski (bouzouki), Jandek sideman Alex Nielson (drums/percussion), Peter Nicholson (cello), Aby Vulliamy (viola), and Padden rounds things out on guitar and vocals. Like Steven R Smith’s Hala Strana, The One Ensemble takes much of its musical inspiration from more unlikely, but still relatively familiar territory and combines it with a free jazz or prog approach. Jewish Klezmer, Gypsy and other Eastern European styles are drawn into Padden’s dense web of ominous tonal phrasings, only to be built up, distended, collapsed and rebuilt. Volcano the Bear’s early albums play like Nurse With Wound covering Robert Wyatt’s Rock Bottom, so it’s no surprise that Padden’s take on European roots leaves plenty of space for freer formations. But it is surprising just how beautiful it can be.

Over two years ago now strange rumblings were first felt with the arrival of the mysterious Lost Domain via Jon Dale’s Rhizome label. It was a massive exhalation from the lungs of “free electronic jazz noise” that's since blown further with the more ethereal Sailor, Home From the Sea (Digitalis/Broken Face), but this is merely the tip of the iceberg that is the loose conglomeration of musicians and noisemakers surrounding the ensemble as documented on Australia’s Kindling label. G55, a trio featuring two members of the Lost Domain, is just the latest manifestation born from this hallucination factory. If the LD is levitated and ghostly, G55 is an entirely more mechanical post punk beast on 2. To be completely honest, these seven charging improvisations are some of the most perfectly realized garage blasts of pure rhythm and sound I've come across in recent years. G55 might suggest many previous ground-breakers--This Heat, Volcano the Bear, Faust and Dead C among them--but the trio strikes out for deeper waters and purer evocations by leaving cumbersome details like lyrics, song titles and any recognizable form behind. The way these lads shift from squawking minimal noise blurts, expand into a primitive krautrock pulse and finally blast off for the deepest regions over the first three tracks alone is mindblowing. Given they all were improvised and recorded live in one day (!) makes it all too obvious: G55 brings the real post rock shit storm.

Also from Kindling come two highly recommended older 3” CD-Rs which may be long gone by now: Leighton Craig and Eugene Carchesio’s self titled 3” is a work of levitated simplicity. Four tracks captured live in early 03 see the Lost Domain/G55 members conjuring hypnotic minimal tone spells via conversing organ tones. Uncluttered sound space for examining the more gentle folds in the space time continuum. Equally inspired and even more transcendent is Stuart Busby’s Breathe 3” CD-R, which finds the lone trumpeteer running his ethereal tones through delay to build some of the most hypnotic dream tunnels this reviewer has ever breached. And if these are gone, something tells me there’s more in the pipeline, such as Busby’s recent Foxglove CD-R Drift.

Spanish Magic is a newer Australian imprint that’s already proven worthy of closer investigation for those who favor droning, squealing, free dissonance above all other modes of discourse. It’s Over, We Don't Care is an excellent primer CD, chock full of trance inducing garage noise such as Hiss's blistering “Burning Easter,” and there’s a track by the all too elusive, dearly loved Garbage and The Flowers, a ramshackle pop gem entitled “Elisabeth.” The always dependable Hi God People do the sort of space age minimal pulse that Stereolab and Jessamine perfected in the mid 90s. There's the roly poly Tortoise like post-jazz of ii, Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood's moody prog noise and Keith Mason's godhead guitar sorcery. Castings (the cats that operate Spanish Magic) keep it short and stumbling with “Missive:Aside,” and Anthony Guerra and Peter Blamey arouse a piercing fuzz scream of twin guitars that glare like the morning sun.

Also on Spanish Magic comes the ubiquitous Robert Horton in his Egghatcher guise. The guy has probably released more limited CD-R's in 05 than any other weird noisemaker, along with high profile gigs with Tom Carter on Important Records and Digitalis. Whether conjuring screeching steel string meditations or unleashing a free jazz howl, his music maintains a constant magnetism. On Cat’s Ear Egghatcher bears some resemblance to Robert's solo material, only this is more of a sound sculpture thing, complete with tasteful digital manipulation. Think Omit given a slightly more bubbly texture, which I suppose is shorthand for Horton has a lot of ideas up his sleeve that range from surrealist nightmare collage to fun with contact mics, field recordings, turntables, dulcimer, etc. Occasionally makes me think of the holy trinity of NWW/ Coil/ Current 93 at their most abstract. Praise be to thee. While we’re down here may as well dig up Castings’ latest CD-R. ‘Allo Hickory is some seriously bombed out tribal improv deconstruction landing on more than a few boundaries. This mysterious Aussie ensemble has rightfully been compared to Jackie-O Motherfucker, but this reviewer hears more than his share of This Heat (them again!) in the droning post industrial hum and pulse. Opener “Black Man’s Hand on a White Sans Dolby” starts on a tidal wave of feedback and moans before settling into a creeping rhythm of percussive dub beats, screeching distortion and radio feedback. At high volumes, it’s inescapable. Elsewhere we get driving tribal actions, distorted feedback washes, post industrial field recordings, and even something called “Widescreen Blues,” which evokes a gently swaying suspension bridge of tremelo and strum to the more damaged, windswept terrain of “We Want Something to Hold On To.”

Brad Rose and his Foxy Digitalis zine and Digitalis label have quietly become major players in the world noise underground in the last two years, with a rapid release schedule of consistantly adventurous, just plain far out there, weird music. At last count, his Foxglove series had released over 100 (!) limited CD-Rs of beautifully weird noise, free folk and tribal drones from all over the damn place. If looking for an intro, look no further than the excellent Gold Leaf Branches 3CD comp released at the tail end of 05. I won’t go into detail here, for this column would never end. If curious though, point your clickers to the blog, http://womblife.blogspot.com and search Gold Leaf Branches.

With A Discreet History of Bone, Norman, Oklahoma’s Anvil Salute, of the Maritime Fist Glee Club, offers up devotional psychedelic improv / dream music across six tracks that were captured live in early 05 in Norman. Expansive acoustic and electric tones slowly coil together as flowing orchestral builds and eventually break right through. Other moments combine primitive electronics and Native American tribal percussion into extended workouts that should arouse more than a few spastic physical reactions. Moment Trio, also from the Maritime Fist compound, explores a ragged free sound sculpture that ranges from percussive clang fests to scorched bass and drone rumbles and lots of minimal inbetweens. Mostly enganging, unclassifible journeys that sound like a more spacious cousin to Daniel Padden’s One Ensemble, where the deconstruction reveals brilliantly illuminated passages of solemn transcendence, albeit captured at the bottom of a well; nice echo chamber production. Silvester Anfang is one of the flagship bands in Belgium’s necro fixated / too-drunk-to-fuck-but-can-still-rock Funeral Folk collective. These guys are hilarious on paper, and that’s certainly what they’re going for, but on tape their greatness cannot be denied. There is little here you can really call irony. Destroyed? Most certainly. There’s definitely something wrong here. At their site you can download Silvester’s demonic-savant take on Venom’s “In League With Satan” and hear the bastard offspring of black metal and Amon Duul I. Two tracks -- “Raping the Goat” and “Tearing the Rectum” -- 36 mins of crumbling, stumbling, charred to the bone free psychedelic trance scunge. Nihil! Au is the Dutch duo of Jan Borchers and Paul Klaui weaving an entrancing spell of bubbling guitars and effects on (aux). These three longish tracks make me think of Growing, Flying Saucer Attack and other dissonant bliss merchants who mold hypnotic lo-fi washes with rumbling amp buzz into organic dreamscapes. Also on Digitalis comes the most excellent Wailing Bones series, 4-way split compilations of EP length tracks from a revolving assortment of psychedelic cosmonauts. Vol One features Tom Carter at his deep drone best with the live “Moment One,” scorching blues slides and more gentle striations via his unmistakable tone. Keijo & the Free Players graft nature sounds with jaw’s harp and devotional chants for an extended trek into spiritual stillness. Alligator Crystal Moth (Brad Rose and Mr. Terracid) wrap tribal percussion and bowed strings in flute, chants and squeeling distortion that touches upon primitive krautrock, bedroom psych and industrial skree, and Drona Parva (Mr. Time-Lag) shows his acoustic chops on “Our Friends Have Wings,” as slow fingerpicking gives way to gongs, warped ethnic drones and effects, and suggests Matt Valentine playing in a vat of glue.

Next up comes Finland’s 267 Lattajjaa, another remarkably consistent CD-R label hovering near the 50 release mark at last count. Terracid, just mentioned above, is one half of Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood. On Alltounia, Michael Donnelly (who has his own CD-R empire, MusicYourMindWillLoveYou) explores a blurred amalgam of clattery improv and hallucinagenic prog folk that feels less like actual songs than a series of altered harmonic states. Many bands might come to mind -- early Ghost and Comus among them -- but virtually no one does damaged psych space with such feral garage abandon as Connelly bows, plucks and scrapes his way through the tangled forest maze with consistantly levitated results. Turn it up loud and surrender to the bright world. Needless to say, expectations run high for Donnelly’s American debut at Terrastock this April. Ben Reynolds is another young musician who’s been making ripples in the avant waters of late. He can be heard playing with Phil Todd and Alex Neilson on some recent and amazing Ashtray Navigations joints (namely To Your Fucking Feather'd Wings on Gold Soundz and The Love that Whirrs on Last Visible Dog); solo he conjures his own dense webs of undulating feedback and acoustic raga. “Silver Songs or Ghost of a Cube” has pieces ranging from piercing tonal trances (“Slip Slipper”) to ethereal acoustic journeys (“Freedom Waits”). I like the dense feedback and percussion pieces (“Conciousness Hut” and “Cradle Forest Cradle”) most, but Reynolds makes it interesting no matter where he takes his magic guitar. Almost there. Drunjus is the duo of Davenport family members Clay Ruby and Dan Woodman. This 20 min 3” CD-R finds the lads weaving dense ambient washes from field recordings and crude electronics. A few artists out there are working this sort processed ambient drone, but Drunjus operates in harsher territory on Thick Winds of the Sargasso, approaching power electronics as the sounds of thunder enter the mix, which is as good a reason as any to recommend this to anyone who stares into the terrestrial void on a daily basis.

And that brings us to Keith Wood’s Hush Arbors, one of the most inspired arrivals in the avant or “free folk” or whatever scene in recent years. Hush Arbors’ Since We Have Fallen album was issued as one of the first Foxglove CD-Rs, and the out of print self-titled debut is due for a proper CD reissue on Digitalis any day now. Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance is also a fan and plans to issue some Hush Arbors vinyl on his Pavillion label in the near future. This is a very good thing, as Wood’s music cries for the lavish long player format where his themes can develop organically and slowly over the warm glow of clicking, hissing vinyl. 3”CD-Rs are perfect in that they provide an album side of space to coax the creative spirits/demons to do their best/worst. Cleaning the Bone has been out there a while and may be gone, but that’s not going to stop me. It opens with bowed strings and acid folk fingerpicking before shifting into a deep ringing massed drone of electric guitars, chants and God only knows, peaking early on and slowly burning down to a dull roar before shifting into a gripping convergance of the intro melody and screeching electric guitar trills. Mind-swept.

Last but never the least is Hush Arbors’ 3” CD-R for Australia’s MusicYourMindWillLoveYou, a two track acid folk noise swirl entitled Death Calligraphy, and its every bit the mind-cleansing experience as above. This time out we get to hear Keith’s acid-kissed high vocals over a massive, plodding drone straight off of the first Velvet Underground record. Wood’s voice is his real secret weapon, and when double tracked as it is occasionally here, it’s just about the most awe-inspiring nakedly wasted human cry I’ve ever heard. The liners include lyrics, along with a quote from Octavio Paz’s “The Monkey Grammarian,” from which Wood takes the title of the second track “Reconciliation…Liberation,” a grimy wash of organ, feedback and ambient sounds (including what may be thunder, offering its own syncopated backbeat) that reconciles on a bed of ambient drift worthy of early Popol Vuh. Great artwork on this one. Can’t wait for what Mr. Wood does next!

And this concludes our maiden probe through the garden. Feel free to stop back by next month for fresh digs, same bat time, same bat channel.

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