torngat

torngat - la petit nicole (alien8, 2009)

Torngat return with “La petite Nicole”, the follow up to the critically acclaimed 2007 effort, “You Could Be”. This time around the band is sporting a grittier, propulsive sounding record that more closely resembles the bands live sound. “La petite Nicole” offers forays into dub-heavy elements of post rock as well hints of kraut rock and the occasional miniature freak-outs. Aside from these flirtations in new directions, the same sound that has made them popular in Canada and festival stages remains. One gets the feeling that the band is creating music for yet-to-be-made films; while cinematic references may be considered standard when describing instrumental music, Torngat’s creations are particularly evocative of the medium.

Torngat put on a very energetic and inspiring performance and sound a lot bigger than a trio. The heavy use of organs recalls elements of Tom Waits and even hints at the pre-jazz era of Soft Machine. Up until now much of the hype about this young band has been linked to their affiliation to Chamber-pop sensations Bell Orchestre and the Luya’s, amongst countless other guest appearances with various Montreal projects.
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Ghostly keyboard figures take the lead with a distorted organ creaking into life, gathering up momentum for the haunting title track - a piece of music that owes as much to Harmonic 33-style library music pastiche as it does to instrumental prog and post-rock. Throughout the record the sound takes on a warm, muffled and generally rather enigmatic feel that's just the right side of lo-fi, with the comparatively full-blooded closing number 'Going What's What' permitting just enough of the track's lamenting brass melodies to poke through the mix. A beautiful album, and one that doesn't quite sound like anything else. Bookmat

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no neck blues band

no-neck blues band - clomeim (locust, 2008)

Clomeim is the new studio album from New York's No-Neck Blues Band.
Clomeim is an evolution, a vital document of Change in The No-Neck Blues Band's 15+ years of para-musical activity. This pivotal recording is a creative distillation of the collective at a new and startling saturation
point.

For three rainy days in March 2007, the seven-headed hydra that is NNCK holed up in Black Dirt Studios, their newly outfitted recording studio in the foothills of upstate New York. With a discipline & a clarity of vision they've rarely displayed before,the collective channeled all of their energies into hours of recording live, real-time improvisation.After months spent sculpting and recasting the raw material, Clomeim emerged--a distinct whole, recalling in its parts the communal howl of Algarnas Tradgard, the dead spirit channeling of Geino Yamashiro Gumi, the glacial shadowplay of 'Heresie' era Univers Zero, and Krautrock zenith Faust at their finest hour.
Clomeim is that rare hybrid - a rock exterior with a cryptic, experimental core; a dense groover and a burning, exploratory psychedelic grimoire for the new dark ages.

download: part 1 , part 2

aldea f.: Qvaris, Embryonnck

donovan quinn and the 13th month

donovan quinn and the 13th month - donovan quinn and the 13th month (soft abuse, 2008)

The son of Dave Carter, bassist & vocalist for legendary 60's psychedelic group Country Weather (consult Pokora...), and named after Mr. Leitch, Quinn grew up on a horse ranch in Walnut Creek, CA and began writing songs at an early age. Donovan's growing reputation as a first rate darkly romantic penman (thanks to contributions to The Skygreen Leopards and solo as Verdure) has culminated with his latest endeavor, a new solo vehicle known as Donovan Quinn & the 13th Month.Rather than aping or ducking genres, Quinn has crafted a bright spectrum of songs best described as 'American.' X-ian folk, languid indie pop, VU cool, loner country, and west coast psych are touchstones, with Quinn's singular lyrical abilities & taste for sun-baked song at the fore.

Ever the flower bed romantic, Quinn has – at the risk of over-simplification - written a classic "break-up record;" albeit one filtered through surrealistic tenderness and riddled with red herrings & feelings of betrothal. Though not exactly lost in a sea of scarves, Quinn is indebted to the vulnerability, humor and bitterness present in the works of Ronnie Lane, Skip Spence, Nikki Sudden, Gene Clark and Basement Tapes-era Dylan. Weaving earthy melodies around Quinn's characteristically hazy vocals is The 13th Month: a small rotating cast of players that includes Jason Quever (Papercuts), Karl Bauer (Axolotl), Hélène Renaut, and Jess Roberts.

aldea f.: the skygreen leopards
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ignatz

ignatz - iii (k-raa-k, 2008)

III projects the atmosphere of Jack London and The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog onto a modern world ruled by technology. Devens brings us the most genuine melancholy contemporary pop music has seen since quite some time. This album leaves the underground scenery that is troubled by trends so often far behind and just shows us the pure essence of what Music has to be: raw emotions put to sound.

With his third full album Bram Devens has once again amazed us with a masterpiece. In his usual brain-melting retro-futuristic blues folk, he summons the devilish spirits of Bukka White, Robert Pete Williams and Sleepy John Estes as seen through the eyes of an adolescent Lou Reed. III tells a fictive and blurred story about the death of music genres. Tragedies built upon screeching, atonal and repetitive melodies. Smelling like a wet dog or a badly dried towel. III breathes a much more sentimental atmosphere compared to Devens’ previous work because of his grousing voice, that is not unlike Skip James’s. After the closing track “Dead By noon”, the tormented soul frees the listener from a heavy personal trip and leaves him dazzled. III projects the atmosphere of Jack London and The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog onto a modern world ruled by technology. Devens brings us the most genuine melancholy contemporary pop music has seen since quite some time. This album leaves the underground scenery that is troubled by trends so often far behind and just shows us the pure essence of what Music has to be: raw emotions put to sound.

El old-drone blues de Bram Devens, continúa cada vez más sumergido en escenarios subterráneos y atmósferas por las que sólo los maldecidos se pasean entre tormentas, aquellas en las que resúenan los ecos de Ornette Coleman y Henry Flynt. En III, el mejor disco de Ignatz, salen a la luz las melodías de un trovador del appalachian-folk, eso sí, uno extraño y misterioso a lo Jandek, pero más mutado por sus rasgadas guitarras. Como es seña de identidad, música para escuchar, imposible de describir.

aldea f.: ignatz

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josephine foster

josephine foster - this coming gladness (bo'weavil, 2008)

Colorado born Josephine Foster has practically defined what it means to be an outsider folk singer. Initially with Born Heller and then solo and accompanied by the Supposed, her unsettling soprano and way with a song takes the eerie otherness of those early Appalachian ballads and brings them, whispering, into our dreams. The Coming Gladness brings the folk aesthetic that Josephine has explored in her recent albums to the psyche rock territory of her recordings with the Supposed. This intense, uncompromising music is the looming badlands landscape lit by the charged lightning strikes of an extraordinary voice. That voice belongs to no movement, trend or fashion, any more than the equally haunted spirit of Tim Buckley, another outsider, another unique talent, did in his day. It is simply great music and Josephine Foster is, simply, a great singer, simply a great songwriter. Guitarist Victor Herrero and percussionist Alex Nielson more than contribute to the otherworldly sound of the album. Alex Nielson has been the drummer of choice for Will Oldham, Current 93, and many others, while also fronting his own bands Directing Hand, Tight Meat Duo, and Trembling Bells. Victor as accomplished on electric guitar as acoustic, has also a new solo acoustic guitar soon to be released on Bo’ Weavil. .
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One of the finest artists to have emerged from the so-called freak-folk boom of a few years back, Josephine Foster continues to write beautiful songs, and doesn't sound remotely like an artist tied to a particular fad. Regardless of its context, Foster's voice always sounds as if it's emerging from some dusty, wartime 78pm vinyl, with an outgoing, operatic tone probably best described as 'witchy'. Foster has tried out various styles of arrangement of her peculiar song craft over the years, and set into a trio format (with drums supplied by the always excellent Alex Nielson and lead guitar from Victor Herrero) this album probably draws comparison's with the more fleshed out sounds of her A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing album or the Born Heller material. There's nothing that could be branded as especially folksy about this music though, in fact it probably more closely resembles a kind of song-based free jazz at times: on the woozy piano psychedelics of 'Lullaby To All' she sounds like a 1940s Kate Bush, as a rampaging, atonal solo scrawls mercilessly across the song from Herrero's guitar. His inky lead playing leaves its mark on much of the album, and it's particularly effective on the more atmospherically charged moments, such as 'Indelible Rainbows', which is swamped in glistening echo. Despite its ventures into dissonance and the more exploratory dynamics of free jazz, this latest body of song from Foster finds her at the peak of her songwriting form, and she actually seems all the more effective for having other musicians to clash against. Very highly recommended.

Entre que con el paso del tiempo cada vez resulta más complicado escribir palabras que aporten verdaderamente algo y que me llegara el Lp, el regreso de la sirena se ha hecho esperar. Querer intuir que nos esperaba tras A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, el folk más misterioso y desolador que yo haya oído y un disco bellísimo que siempre habrá que reivindicar, era tarea perdida. Abandonado el romanticismo alemán y también a Locust, lo cierto es que aún perduran recuerdos de aquel viaje y, en realidad, por aquellos parajes aún vive pero fuera de la cueva en la que se refugiaba. Su compañero Victor Herrero resquebraja ahora la guitarra aunque las consecuencias son menos fatales, algo más enmascarado en una densa atmósfera. Más Alex Nielson a la percusión, This Coming Gladness, se rinde a la exploración psicodélica y a un folk con alma de blues, eso sí la sensación de free-songs de 'A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing' sigue ahí. Cada paso de Josie en su trabajo es un nuevo vacío a llenar, en sus diferentes reencarnaciones el paso intermedio e invisble nunca había existido, así que por fin llegó.

aldea f.:josie, hazel eyes, a wolf in sheep's clothing, the cherry blossoms & josie

ulaan khol

ulaan khol [steve r. smith] - ii (soft abuse, 2008)

All heavy with warmth & mystery, Ulaan Khol returns with another round of vertical incantations aimed at the heavens. As Ulaan Khol, Steven R. Smith (Hala Strana, Thuja, Mirza) creates dense tapestries that revel in the eternal and infinite. The bursts of tones & grip on formal structures can compare to the best of Hototogisu or Handful of Dust, though filtered through an ample dose of Ash Ra Tempel.

Supreme while discreet, these songs carry a sense of unnerving calm and optimistic gloom, often within a single composition. Swaths of heavy feedback cascade against sinister organ workouts & varied percussion that’s at times pounding, and at others distant. Throughout, Smith’s works emerge as vessels of possibility, exploratory rituals of hope.
Under the Ulaan Khol banner, Smith has planned a maximalist three-part suite, 'Ceremony.' Following the cryptic first installment, II shines with hazy, rolling atmospheric works that drift and shift with ease. Riding a crumbling riff into oblivion, Ulaan Khol's II emanates with the gleam of pure white light.

aldea f.: ulaan khol - i
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milton cross

milton cross - light in the west (digitals, 2008)

You might not have heard of Milton Cross, but you've certainly heard of the main band he's in (Tarentel). He's also a member of Dial Square and Party of Doom. "Light in the West" was originally self-released in a limited CDR format, but has now been remastered and reworked (some tracks removed, some new ones added) and reborn in this new skin.

Cross does his best work when he's playing his violin or harmonium. He's classically trained and his skill is immediately apparent. Both instruments permeate the album, adding a thick layer of glowing warmth to the songs which they haunt. From the heartbreaking opener, "It's Been Almost a Year" to the quiet, wavering whispers of "Future Ghost," Cross has created an album full of endless layers and organic details. Each listen reveals something new to dissect and digest. It's an album we are very proud to resurrect from the ether.

Packaged in two-color silkscreened gatefolds. Limited to 500 copies. All new artwork by Eden Hemming Rose.
First 100 copies include special, handnumbered pressed-leaf insert.

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clem alford (rare earth XXIII)

clem alford - mirror image (ex-magic carpet, 1974)

Clem Alford was born in Glasgow, Scotland, where he studied the Scottish national instrument, the bagpipes. He was introduced to the sound of the sitar in the mid sixties. He travelled to India and studied under Pandit Sachindranath Saha, principal of the Midnapore Music College in West Bengal. He secured the diploma of Sangeet Sudhakar for expertise in sitar from Surer Maya Sangit Samaj of Calcutta in 1970. Clem's first major recital was in Bombay in november 1970, an event which the Times of India flashed in its headlines as "American's astounding skill, ease in sitar" (a slight case of mistaken nationality!). It was this sitar recital at the celebrated Kal-ke Kalakar Sammelan of Bombay which won Clem the rich accolade of 'Sur Mani' (a jewel of notes)Keshav Sathe, Clem Alford, Jim Moyes, 1971. Since then Clem has performed not only in the West but also in India, Japan and other Asian countries. He has been hailed by many experts and the press as the best western sitar player of today. An example of this recognition was his participation in the concert held in 1975 in the Royal Albert Hall, in which he was presented along with the leading Indian vocalist Laxmi Shankar.

Clem has been associated with the famous John Williams (classical guitar) John Mayer (composer/ Indo Jazz Fusions) Maurice Jarre (film scores) John Dankworth (jazz) Hemmant Kunar (vocalist) and a host of other striking personalities in the world of music. He has recorded for EMI, amongst other labels, and has authored a very helpful book on how to play the sitar published by EMI. In 1970 he formed a group named Sargam with two other musicians - Jim Moyes (guitar) and Keshav Sathe (tabla) - and this innovative trio (see picture above) recorded an album inappropriately released as Pop Explosion Sitar Style! under the band name Sagram, mispelt by the Windmill recording company, who issued the recording without the bandÕs consent or knowledge. This LP that has since become highly collectable. Then, in 1971 Alisha Sufit joined the trio and the Magic Carpet band was formed; the album Magic Carpet was recorded in the winter of 1971-1972, later released on Mushroom Records.

Pediente estaba desde hace unos meses en rare earth la primera aventura en solitario del extraordinario Clem Alford tras Magic Carpet. Discípulo de Pandit Sachindranath Saha, sus ragas se sumergen en eternas e instrumentales melodías improvisadas donde la inventiva es una constante, para muestra la canción que da título al album. El místico sitar de Clem se ve arropado por la tradición hindú y sus ragas se pasean entre la fusión y la psicodelia -sintes, efectos, tabla, flauta...-.

aldea f: magic carpet
download: mirror image (part 1) & mirror image (part 2)