611 and Velvet shows....
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Nicki P.
May 28, 2008, 12:29:08 PM5/28/08
to The Hosiery
TONIGHT, first 611 show since December!
Wednesday, May 28
611 Florida Ave NW WDC
http://www.claviusproductions.org
8pm, $5 suggested donation
202-360-9739 for info
BYOW!
Pod Blotz (solo noise from Oakland)
Harrius/Seventh Surface (Baltimore, mem. of Metalux, Ehse Records)
Bill Nace (solo electric guitar improv, mem. of Sunburned Hand of the
Man/Vapire Belt/Buddies)
Rainbro (Providence solo noise)
James Amoeba (Providence solo noise)
Pod Blotz
http://www.myspace.com/podblotz
RELEASES: Radar and Nest- Chocolate Monk 2008, Time Zones 2008,
Obeying Scum-Teenage Whore Tapes 2008, Pod Blotz/Phantom Pains 2008,
Art Book w/CD Vestiges 2007, The Swamp Command-LP- on Fish Pies-2006,
Art Book Nature Mutation, ,Agents of Froth-CS- on HLAH?!-2006, Art
Book-MartianCarnival w/CD- 2003, Dust from the Isotropic Chamber-CD-
Crippled Intellect-2003, Black Vapo! r-CD- 2002 Comps:, String of
Artifacts on Fish Pies and Recipicent, Out Muzz Vol2, Halloween Comp
on Thunder Recordings. INFO: Solo act started in a theatre in Chicago
during 2001= Rotating members have been:Soozee, Loachfillet, Fatty
Jubbo, Drew Ziegler, Shannon, CaT. Pod Blotz now lives in Oakland
originally from Detroit, Michigan.
Sounds like: Demented Organ Music coming out of a broken radio gone
bezerk. Futuristic ballads in a swamp and drone undercurrents from an
exploded ship dragged through a tube that landed perfectly balanced on
a tincan.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14295099@N02/artwork:http://www.suzypoling.com
Harrius
http://metalux.cc
This brand new epic by Jenny Gräf Sheppard (of Metalux) and Chiara
Giovando sits quietly for its real audience in the ages.! Both an
alarmingly intense and hushed "noise" record and totally whacked
"songwriter" record, if it needed a catagory, Enter the Cotton Ring is
an exploratory mack truck of left-hemisphere-manifestation-in-time.
Unlike the majority of vocal-noise hybrids bubbling up lately, Gräf
and Giovando refence neither sound poetry, nor metal (for the dudes)
or jazz balladry (for the ladies) but instead a novel hybrid of dream-
incantation, lieder and effects that electronics might achieve but
how? An unsettling mix of vocal wrenching and melifluousness, effected
guitar twang fuckery and intuitive anti-system electronics, it'll send
you on a rapid shuttle-ferrey on the space-time straits compells you
to keeping chewing slowly. No CD issue or promotional tour on the
horizon, just a psychedelic Western recently shot in the Badlands (no
joke) for this will be part-soundtrack. ! Grab while you can. Twelve
stars. (Ehse Records)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+
Show of the year contender:
Friday, May 30
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com
202-462-3213
$8, doors at 9pm, 21+
Jack Rose w/ the Black Twigs
http://www.myspace.com/jackrosekensington
http://www.vhfrecords.com/jackrose
Jack Rose has been going places lately, and the evidence is all over
this splendid record. The names of six of its eight tunes refer to
places, some easy to find on a map "Calais To Dover", some harder to
pin down "Cross the North Fork". ! Another brings up the journey we
all must eventually take "Flirtin with the Undertaker". The guitarist
has toured like a demon in the year that preceded this recording, and
it shows in the best possible ways. Every track is a first take, and
each radiates the confidence of a man who knows he can just sit down
and nail it, no problem. Rose has never sounded better; some credit
must go to engineer Mike Chaffin for an exceptionally bright and
present recording job, but more must go to the artist for the clarity,
strength and purposefulness of his finger picking. He also forges
ahead in his material, sometimes by turning back the clock. Working
backwards is part of his MO .. remember that he recorded crumbling
rock, acoustic trance, and full-on noise with Pelt for half a dozen
years before he laid down his first finger-style performances.
Kensington Blues includes a couple delightful ragtime tunes, his first
compositions in that ancient but honorable style. It also features
several winding, quasi-narrative fantasias, pieces that will lose you
in the sheer gorgeousness of their sound without ever really getting
lost; go ahead, try and stay rooted in this time and place whilst
listening to "North Fork" or "Cathedral et Chartres" (forgive his
French .. you'd do the same for Chic). If you do, you've got some
serious karmic baggage weighing down your soul. "Now that I'm a Man
Full Grown II", his latest Indian-style slide piece, picks up where
Rose's side of the By The Fruits You Shall Know The Roots compilation
left off. It accelerates slowly, affording plenty of time to
appreciate his voluptuous tone on the lap steel before he builds to a
thrilling breakneck climax and elegant denouement. Rose also travels
to the mountain. He's dedicated music to John Fahey, but here he
finally records one of the man's compositions. His version of
"Sunflower River Blues" sounds regal, unflappable and complete in the
way that, say, Rose's pleasant but somewhat hurried cover of Blind
Willie Johnson's "Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground" on his
first album was not. Truly he is a man full grown, and this is one of
the best albums in any genre to come out in 2005. (Bill Meyer)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
discography: Hung Far Low, CD-R, ed. 10 (Klang Industries) 2001; Red
Horse, White Mule, LP, ed. 500 (Eclipse) 2002; Dr. Ragtime, CD-R, ed.
120 (Tequila Sunrise) 2002; Opium Musick, LP, ed. 1000 (Eclipse) 2003;
Two Originals of..., CD (VHF) USA / (Beautiful Happiness) UK 2004;
Raag Manifestos, CD, ed. 1000 (VHF) 2004; Raag Manifestos, LP, ed.
1000 (Eclipse) 2004; Kensington Blues, LP, ed. 500 (Tequila Sunrise)
summer 2005; Kensington Blues, CD (VHF) USA August 2005; Kensington
Blues, CD (Beautiful Happiness) UK September 2005; Dr Ragtime-
Buckdancer's Choice/Dark was the Night 7" (Sacred Harp Library) ed.
500 2005; Dr Ragtime-Alap/Flirtin' with The Undertaker 78 (Life is
Hard) ed. 6 2005; Untitled part 1/part 2 7" (tequila sunrise) ed. 500
2006; S/T-CD (archive) ed. 1000 2006
The! Black Twigs
http:///www.blacktwigpickers.org
http://www.klang.org
Starting in a dark alley between the campers at the 1999 Galax Old
Fiddlers Convention and named for an archaic apple variety from
founding fiddler Ralph Berrier Jr.’s family orchard, the Black Twig
Pickers’ fiddle/banjo/ guitar/washboard/whatsis racket has sounded in
dives, barns, streets and dances from Amsterdam to Atlanta. Black
Twigs cds are available through our site below, at vhfrecords.com or
midheaven.com, at itunes, emusic and at your finer establishments of
the brick-and-mortar variety.
Check out songs on this page, at www.blacktwigpickers.org and at
www.vhfrecords.com.
Schedule, news, promo/booking material and info on other Klang
Industries family bands at www.blacktwigpickers.org and www.klang.org.
Midnight Has Come and Gone is the third CD by this Southwest Virginia
group, and is another set! of classic old-time, country blues, and
Appalachian folk. Since 2003's Soon One Morning, the Black Twig trio
of Mike Gangloff, Ralph Berrier, and Isak Howell has expanded to a
quartet with the addition of bassist Mike Gayheart. Midnight Has Come
and Gone is made up of mostly of original material, road tested at
gigs and festivals along the Blue Ridge. Topical stormers like "Fire
in the Stove" and "Blood Red Clay" are live staples, belted out here
in a virtuoso hail of guitar, fiddle, banjo, and rough harmony. In
contrast to the more trad sounding fare, the grungy and twisting "Bent
Mountain Drag" recalls "Beggar's"-era Rolling Stones. Continuing the
Black Twig tradition of beautiful instrumentals, "Twilight on the
Radford Army Ammunition Plant" is another hymn-like meditation outside
the showy-offy bluegrass tradition. "Original Natural Bridge Blues" is
a song from 1941, which has been recorded in an incomplete fashion by
many groups over the years. Ralph's discovery of the original 1940's
sheet music in a family photo album (detailed in the liner notes)
revealed a lost verse, presented here for the first time. (VHF
Records)
Fern Knight
http://www.fernknight.com
http://www.myspace.com/fernknight
Fern Knight is the eponymous third full-length release from this
fixture on North Philadelphia's internationally renowned musical
community. As the primary cover for Margaret Wienk's singing and
songwriting, this record fully unleashes her style of melding acoustic
and electronic sounds, her careful orchestration alongside the
improvisational strengths of the quartet, well-placed strings and
crystalline vocals. Displaying her classical roots and psychedelic
leanings, Fern Knight will be released into the world by the VHF label
on May 5, 2008.
The new recording highlights the sonic cohesion of the quartet,
featuring longtime member Jesse Sparhawk on harp and electric ba! ss,
Jim Ayre on Flying V and drums/percussion and noted Sun Ra scholar
James Wolf on violin. The album was produced by Wienk, skillfully
captured on 24-track analog tape by Greg Weeks at Hexham Head and
mixed by Brian McTear at Miner Street Recordings. The calm surface of
harp, cello and violin are juxtaposed against the perfectly timed
distorted squalls of a Flying V with the grounding blanket of electric
bass underneath. All throughout is a dark undercurrent of lyrical and
vocal mystery. The overall effect is a lush and pastoral ode to all
things living, a running theme that winds through the lyrics: "All is
lost / and all will run / over graying ground / to the rays of the
sun," sings Wienk in the album's closing track "Magpie Suite: Part
III." The spirit conveyed on Fern Knight (vhf #110) is that of a
beautiful green age in an apocalyptic landscape about to be laid to
dust and its struggle to escape this end. Some of the songs depicting
this green age on the album were written while in Ireland, "...We got
stranded on one of the Aran Islands due to high seas. One day we
amused ourselves by following the numerous and circuitous signs around
the island pointing the way to the author Synge's Chair, a landmark;
after a few hours of circling we gave up, never finding it, hence the
song 'Synge's Chair,' which depicts our journey, the things we saw
along the way and the conclusions we drew about the fate of said
chair. I tried to stage it in a vaguely folkloric context and
structured the song like a traditional folk tune with lots of verses
telling a story." (Wienk)
Picture of Fern knight
Other songs were written as odes for stateside landscapes like the
bogs of the NJ Pine Barrens, while the album's closing three tracks
are an apocalyptic song cycle called "The Magpie Suite: Prelude, Part
II, Part III." The Prelude's lyrics are taken from Milton's 'Paradise
Lost' and features exquisite overlapping male and female vocal lines
sung by Wienk and Greg Weeks, setting the stage for what is to come.
Part II is a lullaby for the green age being laid to dust, while Part
III instills some hope that there will still be life, and that maybe
the beauty exalted in the other songs on the album will survive human
folly. The album's closer is built around a Baroque-era ground bass
line on the cello with a repeating vocal melody and harmony. The
triumphant boys' choir part (sung by Orion Rigel Dommisse and Ex
Reverie's Gillian Chadwick) swoops in from above to deliver the final
statement.
Born in Wisconsin and raised in upstate NY, Fern Knight's guitarist/
cellist/singer Margaret Wienk grew up in a household that cultivated
literature and music, and where on a given day one could hear the
sounds of Allen Ginsberg reading "Howl" on cassette, a scratchy LP of
Bob Dylan and someone practicing the piano. It was therefore no
surprise when Margaret headed off to music school as a teen with her
double bass, and it was there that she melded her love of poetry and
music together in the form of songwriting: "I gravitate towards
melancholic music, so I draw heavily from influences such as medieval
and renaissance music, folk music from France and the British Isles
and Indian classical music," says Wienk of her songs. These influences
are easy to discern on Fern Knight's second full-length Music for
Witches and Alchemists (vhf #101) on "Song for Ireland," with its
Eastern rhythmic underpinnings, and on Fern Knight , "Silver Fox" and
"Synge's Chair" feature narrative verse and repeated refrains, as in
traditional folk song structures.
After moving to Philadelphia two years ago, Fern Knight has evolved
into a solid touring and recording quartet, playing on local bills
with legends like Vashti Bunyan, Gary Higgins and Joe Boyd and
contemporaries Vetiver and White Magic. During this time Fern Knight
was written and recorded. Driven by Wienk's acoustic guitar, cello and
crystal vocals, their cohesive sound rests upon the core quartet's
tasteful combination of acoustic and electronic instruments, providing
the perfect vehicle for Wienk's unique songwriting and string
arrangements.
The Valerie Project (Drag City): In June 2007, Margie and two other
members of FK went to London for the Meltdown Festival, performing an
original live soundtrack to Jaromil Jires' Czech New Wave film Valerie
and Her Week of Wonders as the Valerie Project. Wienk, Greg Weeks and
others scored a new soundtrack and have performed four sold-out shows
in Philadelphia and New York. A west coast tour happened in November
2007. This new soundtrack was released on Drag City in November 2007,
and there are plans for this soundtrack to be released as an alternate
soundtrack for a new DVD release featuring a fresh 35mm transfer of
this classic film.
Discography:
2008: Silver Summit, Water's Edge , CD, Language of Stone
(Philadelphia, PA)
2008: Ex Reverie, The Door Into Summer , CD, Language of Stone
(Philadelphia, PA)
2008: Ilya Monosov, 7 Lucky Plays, Or How to Fix Songs for a Broken
Heart , CD, Language of Stone (Philadelphia, PA)
2008: Make A Rising, Infinite Ellipse and Head With Open Fontanel, CD,
High Two (Philadelphia, PA)
2007: Ptolemaic Terrascope Magazine, Issue #36, included CD features
the song "Hawk Mountain" (home recording)
2007: The Valerie Project, self titled , CD/LP, Drag City (Chicago,
IL )
2007: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Ask Forgiveness , CDep/12"ep, Drag City
(Chicago, IL)
2007: Damon & Naomi, Within These Walls , CD/LP, 20/20/20 (Boston, MA)
2007: Orion Rigel Dommisse, What I Want From You Is Sweet, CD,
Language of Stone (Philadelphia, PA)
2007: Mountain Home, self titled, CD, Language of Stone (Philadelphia,
PA)
2007: Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores, The Blind Spot , CD,
Cuneiform Records (Silver Spring, MD)
2006: Fern Knight, Music for Witches and Alchemists, Full-length CD,
VHF Records (Fairfax Station, VA)
2006: Alec K. Redfearn And The Eyesores, The Smother Party. Full
length CD, North East Indie (Portland, ME)
2005: Currituck County : Sleepwalks in the Garden of the Deadroom,
Track & Field
2005: Fern Knight, Blithewold, EP, self-released (Providence)
2005: Greg Weeks, Blood is Trouble, full-length CD, BaDaBing! (Leonia,
NJ)
2005: Alec K. Redfearn And The Eyesores, The Quiet Room
full-length CD, Cuneiform Records (Silver Spring, MD)
2004: Alec K. Redfearn And The Eyesores, Every Man For Himself and God
Against All, full-length CD, Corleone Records (Providence)
2004: Aroah, The last laugh, full-length CD, Acuarela Records (Spain.)
2003: Fern Knight, Seven Years of Severed Limbs, full-length CD,
Normal Records (Germany)
2003: Espers, self-titled, full-length CD, Locust Music (Chicago, IL)
2002: The Eyesores, Bent At The Waist, full-length CD Handsome Records
(Providence)
2002: In Gowan Ring, Hazel Steps through a Weathered Home, Lune 004.
2001: String Builder, self-titled, full-length CD, Handsome Records
(Providence)
1999: The Eyesores, May You Dine On Weeds Made Bitter By The Piss Of
Drunkards, full-length CD, Magic Eye Singles (Providence/Baltimore)
Glenn Jones
http://www.myspace.com/glennjonesguitar
Since 1989, Glenn Jones has led Boston’s “avant -garage” instrumental
rock band, Cul de Sac, whose musical adventures are documented on nine
albums to date, including a soundtrack for cult-director Roger Corman,
and collaborations with guitarist John Fahey and former Can vocalist
Damo Suzuki.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A 30-plus-
year devotee of the so-called “Takoma school,” Jones has written
extensively on the steel-string guitar’s leading lights: John Fahey,
with whom he was friends for nearly 25 years, and Robbie Bash! o, who
befriended Jones during the five years before his untimely death in
1986. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With
former Takoma label guitarists Peter Lang and Michael Gulezian --
along with Loren Mazzacane Connors, Henry Kaiser, Gary Lucas, Tony
Conrad and others -- Jones performed at sold-out concerts honoring
John Fahey, in NYC and San Francisco, shortly after Fahey’s death in
2001. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In
2004, Jones stepped out of the long shadow cast by Takoma’s guitar
visionaries and offered his own "new possibility" -- This Is the Wind
That Blows It Out -- for Strange Attractors Audio House. Its release
was followed by a month-long tour of Europe with guitarist Jack Rose.
Jones has since shared bills with Steffen Basho-Junghans, Max Ochs,
Matt Valentine / Erika Elder; along with Rose, he’s toured with Peter
Lang, and with some of the best! of the new breed of solo guitar
upstarts: Harris Newman, Sean Smith, and James Blackshaw, among
others. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jones'
second album -- titled Against Which the Sea Continually Beats — will
be issued by Strange Attractors in March 2007. The new album MAY be
followed by a tour of the U.S., with Steffen Basho-Junghans, in
March / April of 2007.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reviews of
This is the Wind that Blows it Out:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “. . .
gorgeous luminous settings . . . scored across a series of open
tunings, which he threads with beautiful rolling melodies, his slide
work soundings like the flutter of tiny metal butterflies . . . one of
the best of the recent deluge.” --David Keenan, The Wire
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “. . . a
lean and lively hound among the sheep.” --Bill Meyer, Dusted
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “. . . done
with a natural, unforced feel devoid of flash and etched in slow
detail so every nuance of his vibrato and tone can be absorbed.
Really, the right word is ‘felt,’ since these instrumental
compositions all have genuine emotional resonance, no slight
accomplishment.” --Ted Drozdowski, Boston Phoenix
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Jones
dispenses with the modern aesthetic, and instead delves deeply into
the traditional, and comes up with a beautiful, haunting, and indeed
poetic album. . . .” --Jeff Fitzgerald, Aural Traditions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “. . .
sensitivity and power that instantly communicates . . . demonstrates
that his mastery of his instrument goes well beyond the speed of his
fingers and lies in the investment of his mind and soul in his art." --
Michael Pat! rick Brady, Brainwashed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Fahey
gathered in the blues, traditional folk, experimentalism, slack key,
and a dozen other strains to birth a whole school of thinking about
acoustic guitar. Jones is a worthy student, especially because he both
incorporates doctrine and gently plays against it. Moments can feel
downright epic (‘Sphinx Unto Curious Men’), gleeful (‘Linden Avenue
Stomp’), and believably melancholy (‘Doll Hospital’). . . . Solo
displays can often feel labored or too demonstrative but Jones conveys
a profound pleasure in excavating this music that dispels any thoughts
of scholarship or technique. This is what one person can do with one
instrument and it is a beautiful thing.” --Dennis Cook, Jambase
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “. . . in
light of modern trends in fingerstyle (anti-structure exemplified by
Jack Rose and Six Organs of Admittance), Jones conce! ives his songs
with a degree of competence and sensitivity unparalleled by any of
today’s musicians . . . the first non-Fahey fingerstyle album worth
buying in years. . . .” --Matthew Baldwin, Monterey County Weekly
Alexander Turnquist
http://www.myspace.com/alexanderturnquist
Faint at the Loudest Hour is the astonishing solo debut by guitarist
Alexander Turnquist, part of a young generation of guitar players who
have taken their incredible virtuosity and turned it into something
actually worth listening to. Like James Blackshaw, Jack Rose, Glenn
Jones, etc, this could roughly be described as “raga” guitar, with its
long, modal compositions and hypnotic overtone play. Unlike most of
his peers, Alex employs a variety of extended techniques ala Hans
Reichel, grappling the strings with both hands and using a variety of
approaches and attacks o! n both the steel and wood. There’s also a
distinct lack of audible “roots” influence here, with Alex
sidestepping the Fahey-isms that dominate so much current acoustic
guitar music. Along with the 6 & 12 string acoustics, Alex makes
subtle use of electronic textures, such as the surprising Fennesz-like
dissolve that occurs midway through “amongst a swarm of hummingbirds.”
The CD was recorded by Scott Solter (Mountain Goats, Liam Singer, many
others) with cinematic depth and detail. In full color digipak with
photos by Alex. (VHF Records)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday, May 31
Velvet Lounge
$8, doors at 9:30pm, 18+
Suishou No Fune (amazing Japanese psych, Holy Mountain/Important/Lotus
Sound/Archive)
Alasehir w/ spec! ial guests (mem. of Bardo Pond, Siltbreeze/
Important)
Dark Sea Dream (DC psych/shoegaze/noise-rock)
Suishou no Fune
http://suishounofune.web.infoseek.co.jp/suishou.eg.html
http://www.myspace.com/suishounofune
Suishou no Fune was formed by Pirako Kurenai and Kageo in Tokyo, July
1999. Basics of their music are formed by twin guitars in duo. Twin
guitar players are influenced and create songs.
Kageo's guitar work establishes the basics of a song in the case of
most. Pirako plays a lead guitar mainly, and often receives
inspiration from free-style playing, and sing a song ad lib.
The artistic so! und is the psychedelic rock that twin guitars work
that is ful! l of sen sitivity by the freedom that is not bound by
stereotype.
Suishou no Fune usually make much songs by ad lib, sing the song which
make the best use of the Japanese poetic beauty. The songs of "Spirit,
Light and Darkness, Soul, Love and Hatred, Shamanistic, Life and
Death" will touch your heartstrings. You will enjoy the sound of
Japanese verse and their psychedelic world, if you don't understand
Japanese.
Suishou no Fune is magic music.
Formed in 1999 as a duo of female guitarist Pirako Kurenai and male
guitarist Kageo, Suishou no Fune have been making some of the most
charmingly chaotic dream music coming out of Japan. Their sound
contains subcutaneous elements of no-wave energy mixed with
psychedelic rock a la early Fushitsusha or Kousokuya. Other songs
approach balladry with oddly beautiful twinned vocals and distorted
guitars. They have performed around Tokyo with a list of people who
could succinctly be described as everybody and were even invited to
play Scotland's Weekend festival in 2005.
The group's sound runs from massively distended nod-outs that recall
parts of the first Fushitsusha album through weird duo tracks that
orbit a parallel universe where late-period John Fahey was the prime
influence on Charalambides, infernal Dead C/Gate style guitar abuse
and achingly beautiful comedown ballads. The twin vocalists are
massively different in their approach, with Pirako singing in a high
wayward style that's all throat and no lungs while Kageo works from
the other end of the pipes with a ripped Father Yod/Jim Morrison/Keiji
Haino polyglot. Simply one of the greatest out-of-nowhere groups to
come out of the Tokyo underground in years and the undisputed stars of
PSF's recent Tokyo Flashback 5 compilation. (Volcanic Tongue)
* Featured on PSF's recent Tokyo Flashback 5 comp and Durtro Jnana's
5xCD Not Alone benefit disc
* For fans of Fushitsusha, Kousokuya and Les Rallizes Denudes
Alasehir
http://www.bardopond.org
Alasehir is the project of Bardo Pond brothers John and Michael
Gibbons with drummer Jason Kourkounis (ex-Mule/Delta 72/Burning Brides/
Hot Snakes). Unlike the Gibbons' project Alumbrados, also being
released on Important at the same time, Alasehir is more rock-
oriented, establishing a heady, heavy groove and jamming on it
throughout.
"The ear of the musician detects a certain musical note in every city
which is different from that of another city. He hears in each street
a new melody, and to him the sound of wind in the treetops of
different forests gives a varying sound. In the Desire World,
seemingly, SOUND PROCEEDS FROM FORM. But in the music of ALASEHIR it
is different, for while each form occupies and obscures a certain
space there, form is nonexistent when viewed from the standpoint of
ALASEHIR. Where the form was, a transparent vacuous space is
observable. FROM THAT EMPTY VOID COMES A SOUND which is the "keynote"
that creates and maintains the form whence it APPEARS to come, as the
almost invisible core of a gas-flame is the source of the light we
perceive." (Michael Gibbons)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sunday 6/1: The Carrots (Austin girl-group pop, mem. of Finally Punk/
Gene Defcon), The Male Gaze $7, doors at 9pm, 18+
Monday 6/2: Insect Factory, Animal Hospital (Boston solo guitar
loops), Corpus Colosseum (mem. of Field Shaman, ex-VOG/Piasa) $7,
doors at 9pm, 21+
Tuesday 6/3: Shot x Shot (Philly avant-jazz quartet, High Two
Records), The Cutest Puppy in the World $8, doors at 9pm, 18+
much more at www.velvetloungedc.com...
!
Wednesday, May 28
611 Florida Ave NW WDC
http://www.claviusproductions.org
8pm, $5 suggested donation
202-360-9739 for info
BYOW!
Pod Blotz (solo noise from Oakland)
Harrius/Seventh Surface (Baltimore, mem. of Metalux, Ehse Records)
Bill Nace (solo electric guitar improv, mem. of Sunburned Hand of the
Man/Vapire Belt/Buddies)
Rainbro (Providence solo noise)
James Amoeba (Providence solo noise)
Pod Blotz
http://www.myspace.com/podblotz
RELEASES: Radar and Nest- Chocolate Monk 2008, Time Zones 2008,
Obeying Scum-Teenage Whore Tapes 2008, Pod Blotz/Phantom Pains 2008,
Art Book w/CD Vestiges 2007, The Swamp Command-LP- on Fish Pies-2006,
Art Book Nature Mutation, ,Agents of Froth-CS- on HLAH?!-2006, Art
Book-MartianCarnival w/CD- 2003, Dust from the Isotropic Chamber-CD-
Crippled Intellect-2003, Black Vapo! r-CD- 2002 Comps:, String of
Artifacts on Fish Pies and Recipicent, Out Muzz Vol2, Halloween Comp
on Thunder Recordings. INFO: Solo act started in a theatre in Chicago
during 2001= Rotating members have been:Soozee, Loachfillet, Fatty
Jubbo, Drew Ziegler, Shannon, CaT. Pod Blotz now lives in Oakland
originally from Detroit, Michigan.
Sounds like: Demented Organ Music coming out of a broken radio gone
bezerk. Futuristic ballads in a swamp and drone undercurrents from an
exploded ship dragged through a tube that landed perfectly balanced on
a tincan.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14295099@N02/artwork:http://www.suzypoling.com
Harrius
http://metalux.cc
This brand new epic by Jenny Gräf Sheppard (of Metalux) and Chiara
Giovando sits quietly for its real audience in the ages.! Both an
alarmingly intense and hushed "noise" record and totally whacked
"songwriter" record, if it needed a catagory, Enter the Cotton Ring is
an exploratory mack truck of left-hemisphere-manifestation-in-time.
Unlike the majority of vocal-noise hybrids bubbling up lately, Gräf
and Giovando refence neither sound poetry, nor metal (for the dudes)
or jazz balladry (for the ladies) but instead a novel hybrid of dream-
incantation, lieder and effects that electronics might achieve but
how? An unsettling mix of vocal wrenching and melifluousness, effected
guitar twang fuckery and intuitive anti-system electronics, it'll send
you on a rapid shuttle-ferrey on the space-time straits compells you
to keeping chewing slowly. No CD issue or promotional tour on the
horizon, just a psychedelic Western recently shot in the Badlands (no
joke) for this will be part-soundtrack. ! Grab while you can. Twelve
stars. (Ehse Records)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+
Show of the year contender:
Friday, May 30
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com
202-462-3213
$8, doors at 9pm, 21+
Jack Rose w/ the Black Twigs
http://www.myspace.com/jackrosekensington
http://www.vhfrecords.com/jackrose
Jack Rose has been going places lately, and the evidence is all over
this splendid record. The names of six of its eight tunes refer to
places, some easy to find on a map "Calais To Dover", some harder to
pin down "Cross the North Fork". ! Another brings up the journey we
all must eventually take "Flirtin with the Undertaker". The guitarist
has toured like a demon in the year that preceded this recording, and
it shows in the best possible ways. Every track is a first take, and
each radiates the confidence of a man who knows he can just sit down
and nail it, no problem. Rose has never sounded better; some credit
must go to engineer Mike Chaffin for an exceptionally bright and
present recording job, but more must go to the artist for the clarity,
strength and purposefulness of his finger picking. He also forges
ahead in his material, sometimes by turning back the clock. Working
backwards is part of his MO .. remember that he recorded crumbling
rock, acoustic trance, and full-on noise with Pelt for half a dozen
years before he laid down his first finger-style performances.
Kensington Blues includes a couple delightful ragtime tunes, his first
compositions in that ancient but honorable style. It also features
several winding, quasi-narrative fantasias, pieces that will lose you
in the sheer gorgeousness of their sound without ever really getting
lost; go ahead, try and stay rooted in this time and place whilst
listening to "North Fork" or "Cathedral et Chartres" (forgive his
French .. you'd do the same for Chic). If you do, you've got some
serious karmic baggage weighing down your soul. "Now that I'm a Man
Full Grown II", his latest Indian-style slide piece, picks up where
Rose's side of the By The Fruits You Shall Know The Roots compilation
left off. It accelerates slowly, affording plenty of time to
appreciate his voluptuous tone on the lap steel before he builds to a
thrilling breakneck climax and elegant denouement. Rose also travels
to the mountain. He's dedicated music to John Fahey, but here he
finally records one of the man's compositions. His version of
"Sunflower River Blues" sounds regal, unflappable and complete in the
way that, say, Rose's pleasant but somewhat hurried cover of Blind
Willie Johnson's "Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground" on his
first album was not. Truly he is a man full grown, and this is one of
the best albums in any genre to come out in 2005. (Bill Meyer)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
discography: Hung Far Low, CD-R, ed. 10 (Klang Industries) 2001; Red
Horse, White Mule, LP, ed. 500 (Eclipse) 2002; Dr. Ragtime, CD-R, ed.
120 (Tequila Sunrise) 2002; Opium Musick, LP, ed. 1000 (Eclipse) 2003;
Two Originals of..., CD (VHF) USA / (Beautiful Happiness) UK 2004;
Raag Manifestos, CD, ed. 1000 (VHF) 2004; Raag Manifestos, LP, ed.
1000 (Eclipse) 2004; Kensington Blues, LP, ed. 500 (Tequila Sunrise)
summer 2005; Kensington Blues, CD (VHF) USA August 2005; Kensington
Blues, CD (Beautiful Happiness) UK September 2005; Dr Ragtime-
Buckdancer's Choice/Dark was the Night 7" (Sacred Harp Library) ed.
500 2005; Dr Ragtime-Alap/Flirtin' with The Undertaker 78 (Life is
Hard) ed. 6 2005; Untitled part 1/part 2 7" (tequila sunrise) ed. 500
2006; S/T-CD (archive) ed. 1000 2006
The! Black Twigs
http:///www.blacktwigpickers.org
http://www.klang.org
Starting in a dark alley between the campers at the 1999 Galax Old
Fiddlers Convention and named for an archaic apple variety from
founding fiddler Ralph Berrier Jr.’s family orchard, the Black Twig
Pickers’ fiddle/banjo/ guitar/washboard/whatsis racket has sounded in
dives, barns, streets and dances from Amsterdam to Atlanta. Black
Twigs cds are available through our site below, at vhfrecords.com or
midheaven.com, at itunes, emusic and at your finer establishments of
the brick-and-mortar variety.
Check out songs on this page, at www.blacktwigpickers.org and at
www.vhfrecords.com.
Schedule, news, promo/booking material and info on other Klang
Industries family bands at www.blacktwigpickers.org and www.klang.org.
Midnight Has Come and Gone is the third CD by this Southwest Virginia
group, and is another set! of classic old-time, country blues, and
Appalachian folk. Since 2003's Soon One Morning, the Black Twig trio
of Mike Gangloff, Ralph Berrier, and Isak Howell has expanded to a
quartet with the addition of bassist Mike Gayheart. Midnight Has Come
and Gone is made up of mostly of original material, road tested at
gigs and festivals along the Blue Ridge. Topical stormers like "Fire
in the Stove" and "Blood Red Clay" are live staples, belted out here
in a virtuoso hail of guitar, fiddle, banjo, and rough harmony. In
contrast to the more trad sounding fare, the grungy and twisting "Bent
Mountain Drag" recalls "Beggar's"-era Rolling Stones. Continuing the
Black Twig tradition of beautiful instrumentals, "Twilight on the
Radford Army Ammunition Plant" is another hymn-like meditation outside
the showy-offy bluegrass tradition. "Original Natural Bridge Blues" is
a song from 1941, which has been recorded in an incomplete fashion by
many groups over the years. Ralph's discovery of the original 1940's
sheet music in a family photo album (detailed in the liner notes)
revealed a lost verse, presented here for the first time. (VHF
Records)
Fern Knight
http://www.fernknight.com
http://www.myspace.com/fernknight
Fern Knight is the eponymous third full-length release from this
fixture on North Philadelphia's internationally renowned musical
community. As the primary cover for Margaret Wienk's singing and
songwriting, this record fully unleashes her style of melding acoustic
and electronic sounds, her careful orchestration alongside the
improvisational strengths of the quartet, well-placed strings and
crystalline vocals. Displaying her classical roots and psychedelic
leanings, Fern Knight will be released into the world by the VHF label
on May 5, 2008.
The new recording highlights the sonic cohesion of the quartet,
featuring longtime member Jesse Sparhawk on harp and electric ba! ss,
Jim Ayre on Flying V and drums/percussion and noted Sun Ra scholar
James Wolf on violin. The album was produced by Wienk, skillfully
captured on 24-track analog tape by Greg Weeks at Hexham Head and
mixed by Brian McTear at Miner Street Recordings. The calm surface of
harp, cello and violin are juxtaposed against the perfectly timed
distorted squalls of a Flying V with the grounding blanket of electric
bass underneath. All throughout is a dark undercurrent of lyrical and
vocal mystery. The overall effect is a lush and pastoral ode to all
things living, a running theme that winds through the lyrics: "All is
lost / and all will run / over graying ground / to the rays of the
sun," sings Wienk in the album's closing track "Magpie Suite: Part
III." The spirit conveyed on Fern Knight (vhf #110) is that of a
beautiful green age in an apocalyptic landscape about to be laid to
dust and its struggle to escape this end. Some of the songs depicting
this green age on the album were written while in Ireland, "...We got
stranded on one of the Aran Islands due to high seas. One day we
amused ourselves by following the numerous and circuitous signs around
the island pointing the way to the author Synge's Chair, a landmark;
after a few hours of circling we gave up, never finding it, hence the
song 'Synge's Chair,' which depicts our journey, the things we saw
along the way and the conclusions we drew about the fate of said
chair. I tried to stage it in a vaguely folkloric context and
structured the song like a traditional folk tune with lots of verses
telling a story." (Wienk)
Picture of Fern knight
Other songs were written as odes for stateside landscapes like the
bogs of the NJ Pine Barrens, while the album's closing three tracks
are an apocalyptic song cycle called "The Magpie Suite: Prelude, Part
II, Part III." The Prelude's lyrics are taken from Milton's 'Paradise
Lost' and features exquisite overlapping male and female vocal lines
sung by Wienk and Greg Weeks, setting the stage for what is to come.
Part II is a lullaby for the green age being laid to dust, while Part
III instills some hope that there will still be life, and that maybe
the beauty exalted in the other songs on the album will survive human
folly. The album's closer is built around a Baroque-era ground bass
line on the cello with a repeating vocal melody and harmony. The
triumphant boys' choir part (sung by Orion Rigel Dommisse and Ex
Reverie's Gillian Chadwick) swoops in from above to deliver the final
statement.
Born in Wisconsin and raised in upstate NY, Fern Knight's guitarist/
cellist/singer Margaret Wienk grew up in a household that cultivated
literature and music, and where on a given day one could hear the
sounds of Allen Ginsberg reading "Howl" on cassette, a scratchy LP of
Bob Dylan and someone practicing the piano. It was therefore no
surprise when Margaret headed off to music school as a teen with her
double bass, and it was there that she melded her love of poetry and
music together in the form of songwriting: "I gravitate towards
melancholic music, so I draw heavily from influences such as medieval
and renaissance music, folk music from France and the British Isles
and Indian classical music," says Wienk of her songs. These influences
are easy to discern on Fern Knight's second full-length Music for
Witches and Alchemists (vhf #101) on "Song for Ireland," with its
Eastern rhythmic underpinnings, and on Fern Knight , "Silver Fox" and
"Synge's Chair" feature narrative verse and repeated refrains, as in
traditional folk song structures.
After moving to Philadelphia two years ago, Fern Knight has evolved
into a solid touring and recording quartet, playing on local bills
with legends like Vashti Bunyan, Gary Higgins and Joe Boyd and
contemporaries Vetiver and White Magic. During this time Fern Knight
was written and recorded. Driven by Wienk's acoustic guitar, cello and
crystal vocals, their cohesive sound rests upon the core quartet's
tasteful combination of acoustic and electronic instruments, providing
the perfect vehicle for Wienk's unique songwriting and string
arrangements.
The Valerie Project (Drag City): In June 2007, Margie and two other
members of FK went to London for the Meltdown Festival, performing an
original live soundtrack to Jaromil Jires' Czech New Wave film Valerie
and Her Week of Wonders as the Valerie Project. Wienk, Greg Weeks and
others scored a new soundtrack and have performed four sold-out shows
in Philadelphia and New York. A west coast tour happened in November
2007. This new soundtrack was released on Drag City in November 2007,
and there are plans for this soundtrack to be released as an alternate
soundtrack for a new DVD release featuring a fresh 35mm transfer of
this classic film.
Discography:
2008: Silver Summit, Water's Edge , CD, Language of Stone
(Philadelphia, PA)
2008: Ex Reverie, The Door Into Summer , CD, Language of Stone
(Philadelphia, PA)
2008: Ilya Monosov, 7 Lucky Plays, Or How to Fix Songs for a Broken
Heart , CD, Language of Stone (Philadelphia, PA)
2008: Make A Rising, Infinite Ellipse and Head With Open Fontanel, CD,
High Two (Philadelphia, PA)
2007: Ptolemaic Terrascope Magazine, Issue #36, included CD features
the song "Hawk Mountain" (home recording)
2007: The Valerie Project, self titled , CD/LP, Drag City (Chicago,
IL )
2007: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Ask Forgiveness , CDep/12"ep, Drag City
(Chicago, IL)
2007: Damon & Naomi, Within These Walls , CD/LP, 20/20/20 (Boston, MA)
2007: Orion Rigel Dommisse, What I Want From You Is Sweet, CD,
Language of Stone (Philadelphia, PA)
2007: Mountain Home, self titled, CD, Language of Stone (Philadelphia,
PA)
2007: Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores, The Blind Spot , CD,
Cuneiform Records (Silver Spring, MD)
2006: Fern Knight, Music for Witches and Alchemists, Full-length CD,
VHF Records (Fairfax Station, VA)
2006: Alec K. Redfearn And The Eyesores, The Smother Party. Full
length CD, North East Indie (Portland, ME)
2005: Currituck County : Sleepwalks in the Garden of the Deadroom,
Track & Field
2005: Fern Knight, Blithewold, EP, self-released (Providence)
2005: Greg Weeks, Blood is Trouble, full-length CD, BaDaBing! (Leonia,
NJ)
2005: Alec K. Redfearn And The Eyesores, The Quiet Room
full-length CD, Cuneiform Records (Silver Spring, MD)
2004: Alec K. Redfearn And The Eyesores, Every Man For Himself and God
Against All, full-length CD, Corleone Records (Providence)
2004: Aroah, The last laugh, full-length CD, Acuarela Records (Spain.)
2003: Fern Knight, Seven Years of Severed Limbs, full-length CD,
Normal Records (Germany)
2003: Espers, self-titled, full-length CD, Locust Music (Chicago, IL)
2002: The Eyesores, Bent At The Waist, full-length CD Handsome Records
(Providence)
2002: In Gowan Ring, Hazel Steps through a Weathered Home, Lune 004.
2001: String Builder, self-titled, full-length CD, Handsome Records
(Providence)
1999: The Eyesores, May You Dine On Weeds Made Bitter By The Piss Of
Drunkards, full-length CD, Magic Eye Singles (Providence/Baltimore)
Glenn Jones
http://www.myspace.com/glennjonesguitar
Since 1989, Glenn Jones has led Boston’s “avant -garage” instrumental
rock band, Cul de Sac, whose musical adventures are documented on nine
albums to date, including a soundtrack for cult-director Roger Corman,
and collaborations with guitarist John Fahey and former Can vocalist
Damo Suzuki.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A 30-plus-
year devotee of the so-called “Takoma school,” Jones has written
extensively on the steel-string guitar’s leading lights: John Fahey,
with whom he was friends for nearly 25 years, and Robbie Bash! o, who
befriended Jones during the five years before his untimely death in
1986. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With
former Takoma label guitarists Peter Lang and Michael Gulezian --
along with Loren Mazzacane Connors, Henry Kaiser, Gary Lucas, Tony
Conrad and others -- Jones performed at sold-out concerts honoring
John Fahey, in NYC and San Francisco, shortly after Fahey’s death in
2001. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In
2004, Jones stepped out of the long shadow cast by Takoma’s guitar
visionaries and offered his own "new possibility" -- This Is the Wind
That Blows It Out -- for Strange Attractors Audio House. Its release
was followed by a month-long tour of Europe with guitarist Jack Rose.
Jones has since shared bills with Steffen Basho-Junghans, Max Ochs,
Matt Valentine / Erika Elder; along with Rose, he’s toured with Peter
Lang, and with some of the best! of the new breed of solo guitar
upstarts: Harris Newman, Sean Smith, and James Blackshaw, among
others. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jones'
second album -- titled Against Which the Sea Continually Beats — will
be issued by Strange Attractors in March 2007. The new album MAY be
followed by a tour of the U.S., with Steffen Basho-Junghans, in
March / April of 2007.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reviews of
This is the Wind that Blows it Out:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “. . .
gorgeous luminous settings . . . scored across a series of open
tunings, which he threads with beautiful rolling melodies, his slide
work soundings like the flutter of tiny metal butterflies . . . one of
the best of the recent deluge.” --David Keenan, The Wire
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “. . . a
lean and lively hound among the sheep.” --Bill Meyer, Dusted
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “. . . done
with a natural, unforced feel devoid of flash and etched in slow
detail so every nuance of his vibrato and tone can be absorbed.
Really, the right word is ‘felt,’ since these instrumental
compositions all have genuine emotional resonance, no slight
accomplishment.” --Ted Drozdowski, Boston Phoenix
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Jones
dispenses with the modern aesthetic, and instead delves deeply into
the traditional, and comes up with a beautiful, haunting, and indeed
poetic album. . . .” --Jeff Fitzgerald, Aural Traditions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “. . .
sensitivity and power that instantly communicates . . . demonstrates
that his mastery of his instrument goes well beyond the speed of his
fingers and lies in the investment of his mind and soul in his art." --
Michael Pat! rick Brady, Brainwashed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Fahey
gathered in the blues, traditional folk, experimentalism, slack key,
and a dozen other strains to birth a whole school of thinking about
acoustic guitar. Jones is a worthy student, especially because he both
incorporates doctrine and gently plays against it. Moments can feel
downright epic (‘Sphinx Unto Curious Men’), gleeful (‘Linden Avenue
Stomp’), and believably melancholy (‘Doll Hospital’). . . . Solo
displays can often feel labored or too demonstrative but Jones conveys
a profound pleasure in excavating this music that dispels any thoughts
of scholarship or technique. This is what one person can do with one
instrument and it is a beautiful thing.” --Dennis Cook, Jambase
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “. . . in
light of modern trends in fingerstyle (anti-structure exemplified by
Jack Rose and Six Organs of Admittance), Jones conce! ives his songs
with a degree of competence and sensitivity unparalleled by any of
today’s musicians . . . the first non-Fahey fingerstyle album worth
buying in years. . . .” --Matthew Baldwin, Monterey County Weekly
Alexander Turnquist
http://www.myspace.com/alexanderturnquist
Faint at the Loudest Hour is the astonishing solo debut by guitarist
Alexander Turnquist, part of a young generation of guitar players who
have taken their incredible virtuosity and turned it into something
actually worth listening to. Like James Blackshaw, Jack Rose, Glenn
Jones, etc, this could roughly be described as “raga” guitar, with its
long, modal compositions and hypnotic overtone play. Unlike most of
his peers, Alex employs a variety of extended techniques ala Hans
Reichel, grappling the strings with both hands and using a variety of
approaches and attacks o! n both the steel and wood. There’s also a
distinct lack of audible “roots” influence here, with Alex
sidestepping the Fahey-isms that dominate so much current acoustic
guitar music. Along with the 6 & 12 string acoustics, Alex makes
subtle use of electronic textures, such as the surprising Fennesz-like
dissolve that occurs midway through “amongst a swarm of hummingbirds.”
The CD was recorded by Scott Solter (Mountain Goats, Liam Singer, many
others) with cinematic depth and detail. In full color digipak with
photos by Alex. (VHF Records)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday, May 31
Velvet Lounge
$8, doors at 9:30pm, 18+
Suishou No Fune (amazing Japanese psych, Holy Mountain/Important/Lotus
Sound/Archive)
Alasehir w/ spec! ial guests (mem. of Bardo Pond, Siltbreeze/
Important)
Dark Sea Dream (DC psych/shoegaze/noise-rock)
Suishou no Fune
http://suishounofune.web.infoseek.co.jp/suishou.eg.html
http://www.myspace.com/suishounofune
Suishou no Fune was formed by Pirako Kurenai and Kageo in Tokyo, July
1999. Basics of their music are formed by twin guitars in duo. Twin
guitar players are influenced and create songs.
Kageo's guitar work establishes the basics of a song in the case of
most. Pirako plays a lead guitar mainly, and often receives
inspiration from free-style playing, and sing a song ad lib.
The artistic so! und is the psychedelic rock that twin guitars work
that is ful! l of sen sitivity by the freedom that is not bound by
stereotype.
Suishou no Fune usually make much songs by ad lib, sing the song which
make the best use of the Japanese poetic beauty. The songs of "Spirit,
Light and Darkness, Soul, Love and Hatred, Shamanistic, Life and
Death" will touch your heartstrings. You will enjoy the sound of
Japanese verse and their psychedelic world, if you don't understand
Japanese.
Suishou no Fune is magic music.
Formed in 1999 as a duo of female guitarist Pirako Kurenai and male
guitarist Kageo, Suishou no Fune have been making some of the most
charmingly chaotic dream music coming out of Japan. Their sound
contains subcutaneous elements of no-wave energy mixed with
psychedelic rock a la early Fushitsusha or Kousokuya. Other songs
approach balladry with oddly beautiful twinned vocals and distorted
guitars. They have performed around Tokyo with a list of people who
could succinctly be described as everybody and were even invited to
play Scotland's Weekend festival in 2005.
The group's sound runs from massively distended nod-outs that recall
parts of the first Fushitsusha album through weird duo tracks that
orbit a parallel universe where late-period John Fahey was the prime
influence on Charalambides, infernal Dead C/Gate style guitar abuse
and achingly beautiful comedown ballads. The twin vocalists are
massively different in their approach, with Pirako singing in a high
wayward style that's all throat and no lungs while Kageo works from
the other end of the pipes with a ripped Father Yod/Jim Morrison/Keiji
Haino polyglot. Simply one of the greatest out-of-nowhere groups to
come out of the Tokyo underground in years and the undisputed stars of
PSF's recent Tokyo Flashback 5 compilation. (Volcanic Tongue)
* Featured on PSF's recent Tokyo Flashback 5 comp and Durtro Jnana's
5xCD Not Alone benefit disc
* For fans of Fushitsusha, Kousokuya and Les Rallizes Denudes
Alasehir
http://www.bardopond.org
Alasehir is the project of Bardo Pond brothers John and Michael
Gibbons with drummer Jason Kourkounis (ex-Mule/Delta 72/Burning Brides/
Hot Snakes). Unlike the Gibbons' project Alumbrados, also being
released on Important at the same time, Alasehir is more rock-
oriented, establishing a heady, heavy groove and jamming on it
throughout.
"The ear of the musician detects a certain musical note in every city
which is different from that of another city. He hears in each street
a new melody, and to him the sound of wind in the treetops of
different forests gives a varying sound. In the Desire World,
seemingly, SOUND PROCEEDS FROM FORM. But in the music of ALASEHIR it
is different, for while each form occupies and obscures a certain
space there, form is nonexistent when viewed from the standpoint of
ALASEHIR. Where the form was, a transparent vacuous space is
observable. FROM THAT EMPTY VOID COMES A SOUND which is the "keynote"
that creates and maintains the form whence it APPEARS to come, as the
almost invisible core of a gas-flame is the source of the light we
perceive." (Michael Gibbons)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sunday 6/1: The Carrots (Austin girl-group pop, mem. of Finally Punk/
Gene Defcon), The Male Gaze $7, doors at 9pm, 18+
Monday 6/2: Insect Factory, Animal Hospital (Boston solo guitar
loops), Corpus Colosseum (mem. of Field Shaman, ex-VOG/Piasa) $7,
doors at 9pm, 21+
Tuesday 6/3: Shot x Shot (Philly avant-jazz quartet, High Two
Records), The Cutest Puppy in the World $8, doors at 9pm, 18+
much more at www.velvetloungedc.com...
!
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