Apr 25, 2009

of (loren chasse)


Loren Chasse is responsible for a whole host of vital albums. He was a founding member of the Jewelled Antler label and has sparked so many great moments from the likes of Thuja, The Blithe Sons, Softwar, and of course his main solo guise, Of. For years this project has evolved into something of absolute magical grandeur. "Rocks Will Open" is the latest opus in Chasse's catalog. The music on this album is as organic as it gets. Each tone, each sound feels like it has been culled directly from the Earth's crust. Gentle drones arc toward the hazy sunlight, flickering like distant birds sailing out over the sea. Between the ghostly echoes rises a cacacphony of plucked strings dancing toward oblivion. Loren Chasse's vision is perfectly expressed on "Rocks Will Open." Limited to 500 copies. Special Edition limited to 100 copies and includes exclusive cassette, "Morphological Echo.

Mainstay of Thuja and the Jewelled Antler collective, Loren Chasse is the man behind this album, and it's a wonderful distillation of the San Franciscan's art. In part reminiscent of his work for the Naturestrip label, these compositions draw heavily from environmental sounds and recordings made in the field. Chasse's proven himself a skilled sound recordist on releases like The Air In The Sand, and Rocks WIll Open finds him incorporating these abilities into a more sculpted, more 'musical' context. 'Trail Of Hornfel' is a wonderfully illustrative piece of music, placing you in some imaginary sonic wonderland filled with creaking environmental texture, endless sustaining tones and chiming bells. Next up, 'Coal Seam' draws on quiet yet massively resonant filtered acousmatics, followed up by the more openly melodic 'The Paper Raft' which makes clear its use of instruments to carve out melodic routes. Dulcimer figures jump out from a cavern of muted reverberations and singing on 'Agate Cups' and 'Oolitic Feelings', but it's during the album's rich centrepiece 'Violets In The Mountain Have Broken The Rocks' that Chasse is at his best, unfurling dense, unpredictable soundscapes that are as grounded in mysterious concrete sound as they are in subtle, supplementary instrumentation. Highly recommended.

Apr 8, 2009

scott tuma & mike weis


Scott Tuma made his triumphant return earlier this year with "Not For Nobody" and continues to answer the call with this new, exquisite offering in collaboration with Zelienople's Mike Weis. "Taradiddle" is a new journey down similar terrain, searching out something new in a landscape that's been visited before. Take Tuma's capable hands and add the fantastic percussive talents of Weis and it's like the wheel reinvented. These two play off one another beautifully, with Weis creating layers of havoc beneath Tuma's pastoral missives. It's beautiful and dissonant.

Weis is the perfect foil for Tuma's brittle sound world. The music breathes underwater, building and building on itself until it's risen into this majestic monument of glass. Archaic drones spit bombastic blasts of fire while the resulting sparks flicker into a million directions, flourescent in the night sky. Acoustic guitars drenched in reverb ring hollow with pianos echoing in the distance. Weis creates a river with swishing cymbals puncuated by fragile bells. Everything is bright, vivid, and new on "Taradiddle." Everything is perfect.

LP comes in fold-out silkscreened poster-style sleeve and is strictly limited to 300 copies.

El el que fuera miembro de Souled American regresa tras el cautivador 'Not for Nobody'. Disonancia y belleza, dos palabras son suficientes, paisajes subterráneos, poesía en desorden, Scott & Mike crean su propio mundo al son de drones y percusiones, uno tan bello y utópico que no puede existir. Jamás Digitals publicó algo tan ensoñador, no quiero salir de 'Tried'. En estos momentos algo más que el disco del año.

Apr 1, 2009

matt elliott

Matt Elliott, Valladolid, 14/03/09

Hace un par de semanas Matt visitó un sábado noche Valladolid, yo me acerqué hasta la ciudad y junto a unas escasas 50 personas, asistí a uno de esos conciertos que no se olvidan. Enseñé la entrada, y una vez en la sala, me senté en uno de los bancos que había a los laterales, a mi lado estaba Matt quién sonrió, cuando ya estábamos todos comenzó: la primera fue 'Our weight in oil' para sorpresa y regocijo personal a la que ya le siguió todo Howlings Songs: una magnífica 'The kübler-ross model', la resquebrajante 'Something About Ghost, 'I name this ship the tragedy, bless her & all who sail with her', 'A broken flamenco'... y la apoteosis final recordando a Third Eye Foundation.

Gélido e impasible ese es el Matt Elliott que se vislumbra en el escenario en esa búsqueda de la tradición eslava y de si mismo en la que se ha sumergido con su trilogía. Un continuo enfrentamiento entre el folk y el ruido, entre sus miedos y secretos. Matt se confiesa desde lo más profundo sin ningún ápice de grandeza o pretensión, se expresa con tal naturalidad y frialdad que su viaje sin regreso a través de soundcapes, ecos y rasgeos de guitarras es de lo más verdadero que he podido experimentar.

Ya fuera del escenario me acerqué, cruzamos unas palabras y es una persona encantadora, cercana, con esa naturalidad que le caracteriza y agradecido con aquellos quienes valoramos su trabajo, hasta tuvo un detalle. Gracias Matt.

Pd.: aquí está la
sorpresa -no muy favorecedora-.