Finally the green explodes, and we hit the strides of early Summer. Soon we'll be fireside, digging deep into fresh soil and gently treading freshly sprouted shores. This round we explore vintage dream strum, classic folk-psych splendor, inspired modular kinesis, neo-kraut floatation, supra-spectral improvisation and beyond!
Non-stop music on the program, so we’ve included a few words along with the full playlist below.
Check the archive.
We kick off with a slow burner from The Stratfords, who left a short string of solid syrup singles through the mid 60's, with the track "Never Leave Me" on O'Dell probably ranking as one of their hardest hitting. It's been pressed up a few times, and can be usually found on the cheap. None of the kids seem to have gone on musically beyond the group, except ex-Stratford Ernie Berger, who went on to cut a few tracks with 60's groups The Persuaders, and The Nunsuch.
Architect, poet, author, and artist 音羽信 Shin Otowa self-released his legendary private press folk / psych opus "わすれがたみ" aka "Forget It" in 1974, which has now thankfully been rescued from the archives to see a beautiful new cassette and digital reissue made available from the great Eye Vybe Records. Otowa was a part of the underground psychedelic movement in Japan at that time, collaborating with friend Makoto Kubota of Les Rallizes Denudes in recording the work. The songs are backed by a savvy band, with snaky in-pocket grooves and hip heady melodies. Some precious jewels are still out there, thanks be for the preservation of this prime prismatic artifact.
Philippe Deschamps is a French composer and multi-instrumentalist, with a considerable body of work spanning various scores and soundtracks for films and independent features. Regarding his own work, the artist has provided this lovely quote -
"He likes the refrains that seem to have been there forever, like a passage to an older place..."
The dusty minimalist gesture "Dalles" is from the soundtrack to the film "Habitations Légèrement Modifiées", a documentary by filmmaker Guillaume Meigneux. The film follows the transformation of the Bois le Prêtre tower, which took place while the residents continued to live in the building. As a stand alone work, the score is subtle, but expansive, with a quiet hushed sense of shadow spread across the spaces between. Take the time to explore Deschamps' Bandcamp for more remarkable work, and discover a wealth of accomplished and refined musics worth smearing across your fevered brow.
"Carmen Miranda's Ghost" is the brainchild of Leslie Fish & Vic Tyler, a sweet, sugary nugget. The track "Bomber" is sourced from the singular self-released cassette from the duo in 1989. Did you know there is a genre called Filk Music? Can't say we didn't warn you. Weird in the greatest ways, CMG has got that tidy balance of self-taught space-rock mysticism and hard-hitting WTF concept moves. So sweet! Fish is still making music, with the album "Sea of Dreams" coming out earlier in '22, but it seems Tyler never went to record any other tunes beyond these. Great solo on this one too, a gem of the cassette underground.
Tarotplane has released one of the best LPs of the year with the new instant classic "Light Self All Others". The zero-gravity style is alien but instantly comfortable and feels perfectly placed, like a finding a familiar oxygen tank while floating through an otherwise barren wasteland. The sounds span a post-progressive ambient with an inspired rockist drift, bringing a glowing gulp of air for starving spacemen everywhere. The packaging design is at first a bit befuddling, with a curious hole drilled through the center of the sleeve, but upon reflection, this could be seen to suggest a passage directly through space itself, or a portal through which to project ourselves to manifest our own respective destiny. Thanks for everything Tarotplane. Never come down, my friend, never come down.
Emil Klotzsch is a sound designer, field recordist and composer based in Köln, Germany, with a career spanning the soundtracks of several original motion pictures and independent films, as well as the release of several of his own more personal works. The piece featured here "Wenn ich spazieren geh" is from the album "Lieder der Vergangenheit" or "Songs of the Past", which was created using eurorack modular synthesis systems in combination with the artist's voice and controlled process. Klotzsch creates an eerie cloud of tension and release, a breathing life through electronic osmosis. It isn't completely uncomfortable, this hissing expansion, this breath of life, of death itself. A voice from somewhere without, within. Where are we now? His work is fascinating, go exploring here.
Cyrus Pireh used to swing his axe around the Twin Cities, so we were sure to scoop up the new cassette on Astral Editions the very moment it manifested. The title track "Still Here, Still Ripping" is a brief but crystal window into the workman's woodshed, covering more ground in three minutes than some careers touch full sprawl. A clawfoot jackhammer, well strapped on. With this new album, Pireh has offered an inspired vision of obtuse angles, filmed in widescreen acous-matic splat mode. Ripping indeed, thank you sir!
The "Drommon" LP from UK's Smote has been getting regular spins since touchdown, with their cosmic dust drifting across the ocean. The project is credited to be entirely the vision of Newcastle-upon-Tyne artist Daniel Foggin, but the band seems to have expanded for live formations, recently hitting the Roadburn festival as what looks to be a 5 piece lineup. "Drommon" takes the greatest parts of heavy psych, and folds in aspects of blazing krautrock, meditative flutes, and earthy drone, crafting a massive, memorable statement impossible to ignore. Like a huge fresh salad, totally delicious. Their Bandcamp yields a few more hidden delights. Thanks to Rocket Recordings for birthing the tunes onto vinyl for our collective physical satisfaction. Scoop a copy while you can, these guys are destined for even higher heights.
Sleepwalkers unite, the new dream team duo of Rose & LaJoie summons super-soporific forces to offer the shimmering voyage "On the Crystal Seas". We've included an excerpt from the long form work, but in full it's a deeply rewarding journey, spanning vast imaginary oceans of refracted light. The gauzy reach of Rose's electronics seem a natural compliment to LaJoie's expressive guitar technique, each expanding upon the other's voice, floating upwards now at full velocity. Theirs is a semi-transparancy; a transmission luminous, but obscured by certain opacity, bringing an intimate sense of privacy and direct connection. Cassettes will be shipping from Flower Room, digital offerings from the Jewel Garden. A fresh blossom floating on the surface.
We're longtime fans of Sashash Ulz, so we're happy to see some unpublished archival work emerge via Arvo Zylo's Chicago based label No Part Of It. The album collects years of varied vignettes from the amorphous project, but the selection included here, "Bétula" or "Birch" carries a lush lurching exotica vibe, a luxuriant wake up call for our seasonal defense systems. Still copies available on pro CDR, well worth grabbing.
Artist Nick Keeling of Ohio has got that special wonk that wins hearts, an elegant crumbling echo of something far greater beyond. The album "Queensgate" is split into two long pieces, but the work spans several voices and movements, a distant piano growing to eventually melt into a beautful magnetic goo, worth scraping to save for that rainy afternoon. Torn Light supports some of the greatest experimental artists of the day, with releases by Crazy Doberman, Limbs Bin, and Sterile Garden, go swimming.
The new album "Curious Music" from the duo of Grossman / Morris-Smith is a fascinating stand out of recent months, a totally compulsory grab from the always excellent Astral Spirits family. The entire work was created using only the electric guitar, which boggles the mind and gets more difficult to understand as the album goes on. Over the course of the work, we hear imaginary reeds, harps, and percussion, each a distinct figment. We let this selection gently close out the show, with the full "Curious Music I" Parts 1 Catalogue of Dreams, and part 2: Miles Beneath Antarctica played in the 13 minute entirety. Enjoy!
FULL PLAYLIST:
THE STRATFORDS - "Never Leave Me" (O'Dell, 1964)
SHIN OTOWA 音羽信 - "風 (Wind)" from the album わすれがたみ "Forget It" (Eye Vybe Records, 2022)
PHILIPPE DESCHAMPS - "Dalles" (Bandcamp, 2020)
LESLIE FISH & VIC TYLER - "Bomber" from the album Carmen Miranda's Ghost (self-released, 1989)
TAROTPLANE - "A Fraught Parallel" (Impatience, 2022)
EMIL KLOTZSCH - "Wenn ich spazieren geh" from the album Lieder der Vergangenheit (Bandcamp, 2021)
CYRUS PIREH - "Still Here, Still Ripping" from the album Still Here, Still Ripping (Astral Editions, 2022)
SMOTE - "Hauberk" from the album Drommon (Rocket Recordings, 2021)
ROSE & LAJOIE - "A Horizon Purified" (excerpt) from the album On The Crystal Seas (The Jewel Garden, 2022)
SASHASH ULZ - "Bétula" from the album PINGVINIA (No Part of It, 2022)
NICK KEELING - "Queensgate - Part 1" (excerpt) from the album Queensgate (Torn Light, 2020)
GROSSMAN / MORRIS-SMITH -"Curious Music I" from the album Curious Music (Astral Spirits, 2022)
Portions of this program have been sourced from vinyl and cassette formats.
Thanks for listening!
Originally broadcast at 11pm CET on May 24th, 2022 via CAMP Radio.
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