Take A Trip
A whirlwind guide through the undefined world of American:
psychedelic, trip-rock, stoner, grunge, drone, shoegaze...
investigated by Alan Freeman
Not the usual Tom Carter...
I'd mentioned Tom Carter in the Bardo Pond section, he's a
musician that seems to get all over the place: Abrasion Ensemble, Badgerlore,
Eleven Twenty-Nine, Friday Group, Kyrgyz, Mudsuckers, Sarin Smoke, Spiderwebs,
Turnstone, Zaika are all bands listed on Discogs that I've never heard of! I
wonder if any are of interest?
The only solo Tom Carter I've encountered to date is his
Train Kept, the B-side of the Barn Owl / Tom Carter split LP (Blackest Rainbow
BRR 080) issued in 2008, which has him in totally abstract explorative mode
reminding me more of the guitar experiments of Fred Frith, G.F. Fitzgerald or
Keith Rowe (of AMM), and is amongst the better examples of this sort of thing.
Tom is best-known as half of the male/female duo
Charalambides (who did expand to a trio) a typical band of the Kranky label,
although they didn't get releases on Kranky until their later years. Think
Windy & Carl, low-fi pop, Velvet Underground, some moments of noise and
sludgy dirges, the average Charalambides was always unclassifiable. But, for my
taste three albums stood out as different from the rest, these being largely
improvised 2001 and later releases: BRANCHES (Eclipse), ROSE/THORN (Klang
Industries) and UNKNOWN SPIN (Kranky KRANK 061) all so sublimely ethereal and
twisted.
The free-rock of Eternal Tapestry...
These are a Portland-based psychedelic rock group,
involving: Dewey Mahood (guitar), Jed Bindeman (drums), Nick Bindeman (guitar)
and others. A lot of their releases don't document who is on them, so it's hard
to establish a history. PALACE OF THE NIGHT SKIES (Three Lobed TLR-069) from
2009 was the first I heard, and I was hooked and had to seek-out more! Almost
as though they were destined to fill the gap left by Escapade, these heady
Hawkwind like trips only hinted at the variety of invention and other styles
explored before and after.
The very first Eternal Tapestry release I've not found as
yet, a cassette (yes, some bands in the USA still release cassettes for sale on
tour) VIBRATIONS NEW DAWN I've only heard via a cruddy low-fi mono download, so
it's not possible to comment on that, but everything else I've heard by them is
excellent. I think a full article is needed to do them justice. Next Audion?
Web note: I've heard all Eternal Tapestry meanwhile.
Web note: I've heard all Eternal Tapestry meanwhile.
Expo 70, who know no bounds...
Covering almost every genre I've discussed in this article
so far is Expo 70, chiefly the project of guitarist Justin Wright, and whoever
he's working with. Expo 70 can be just scuttling guitar noise and froth, they
can on occasions be a tad boring too, and can also be pretty awesome inventing
new cross genre hybrids.
One of the best live documents is JULY 18 2004 (Kill Shaman
KS9) which is the closest to primordial Cluster, and in a similar field is
ANIMISM (Kill Shaman KSR22) a 2007 outing of mostly guitar based fuzzes &
distortions. In sharp contrast to those are: EXQUISITE LUST (Kill Shaman KSR15)
from 2006, a much more varied outing with a more notable ambient edged
Krautrocky feel. This one features one McKinley Jones (guitar, sitar, Moog),
and because of that feels more like a band project. MYSTICAL AMPLIFICATION
(Kill Shaman KSR18) is also a shade Krauty, but is more of the guitar noodling
with echo/delay and electronics variety. WOOLGATHER VISIONS (Gold Soundz GS#89)
a 2009 cassette, I noted as vaguely Heldon-esque froth, and there's some of
that in what I'm listening to now: DEATH VOYAGE (Dead Pilot DPRCD03) which
could often be the product of some obscure French indie guitar/electronics
outfit of the late 1970's. Also here is one Matt Hill (bass, acoustic guitar,
synthesizer) the second most regular Expo 70 member, on at least a dozen
releases.
There are at least 42 Expo 70 album releases to date, and I
guess everyone will have different favourites. Those above, and THE VANISHING
WORLD WITHIN (Solid Melts SM-008) 2010 cassette, are amongst my favourites.
Starving Weirdos, what a band name!...
Quite by chance, in a batch of part exchange discs was a
disc by this curiously named outfit: INTO AN ENERGY (Bo'weavil weavil38CD) from
2009, by the quartet of: Brian Pyle (guitar, vocals, flute, percussion,
electronics, etc.), Gregg Devaney (horns, vocals, ocarina, bells), Merrick
McKinlay (saxophone, violin, cello, percussion, keyboards, sampler), Steve
Lazar (clarinet, violin, keyboards, etc.) playing a wondrous abstract music
that was not too far removed from some of our own Endgame live recordings, with
an edginess that also reminded me of Faust and This Heat in their early days.
But that was a mite misleading one to start with, as they
started in 1989 and have something like 30 odd releases that I know of. They
are more often a duo as well, just Brian Pyle and Merrick McKinlay - but on
what instruments? Well, very few of their releases actually document who is on
them, let alone what they play! Some albums to recommend? Well, certainly the
cosmic sprawling THE PATH OF LIGHTNING (Weird Forest Weird 49) 2LP set from
2009, and okay I'll just list them: FIERCE ABILITY, LIVE AT THE ACCIDENT!,
SEANCE AT LUFENHULZ, SELF-HYPNOSIS, SHRINE OF THE POST-HYPNOTIC, and many more.
I don't think I've come across a duff one, although some are a bit too abstract
and empty I guess.
Starving Weirdos are certainly one of the most creative and
original of the bands discussed in this feature.
And there's more!...
Emeralds are another prolific outfit, although they most
often fit more in the synth field. Main man is guitarist Mark McGuire, also a
prolific soloist. I've had dozens by him, all good I guess though often a mite
one-dimensional and noodly. His TIDINGS / AMETHYST WAVES (Weird Forest
WEIRD-051) is amongst his finest. With Emeralds, I've also had lots of good
ones, but by far the best are two live ones: LIVE CD-R (Gneiss Things 05)
documenting bits of 2007-8 gigs in Cleveland, New Haven, and Amherst - a crammed
79 minute disc of excellent cosmic music, often in the realms of Fripp &
Eno, early Ashra, et al., and THE OVERLOOK (Wagon) cassette from 2009 -
sounding like some lost Ash Ra Tempel circa 1975, or maybe Spacecraft or Lard
Free even. Wonderful!
There are dozens of other projects interlinked with
Emeralds, various solo projects, collaborative works, etc., a lot of them on
the Wagon label, like Outer Space (analogue electronics), Quiet Light Water Gap
(melodic synth), Mist (space music), Imaginary Softwoods (minimal ambient),
etc.
example
example
Maserati are another post-rock / space-rock outfit, who've
apparently changed a lot over the years. The first one I got was the best, and
quite obviously Ash Ra Tempel "Inventions" inspired, right down to
the album title: INVENTIONS FOR THE NEW SEASON (Temporary Residence TRR 120)
from 2007, which also has a Godspeed You Black Emperor edge and Porcupine Tree
/ Ozric Tentacles touches too. Others that I've encountered, whilst good,
didn't really get to such highs. They've done at least 7 albums to date.
Plante is guitarist Andrew Plante, whose TEMPLES ON HIGH
(Sweat Lodge Guru SLG004) cassette also features Expo 70's McKinley Jones on
synthesizer. It's nice fuzzy drone stuff, obviously influenced by Robert Fripp
and Richard Pinhas.
example
example
White Hills have to be one of the most schizophrenic of all
the bands discussed here, as they can range from really dreadful thrash metal
through to awesome acid Krautrock. - so tread carefully unless your taste is
that wide! Amongst their finest are STOLEN STARS LEFT FOR NO ONE (Thrill Jockey
12.45) which although under 30 minutes is some of the finest stoner space-rock
akin to some stuff by the Gibbons brothers & co. A LITTLE BLISS FOREVER
(Drug Space Records Dosage 101) from 2008 sounds closer to Eternal Tapestry,
with just two LP side long tracks. And best of their earlier ones is NO GAME TO
PLAY (White Hills Music) containing 5 more varied trippy excursions.
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