Hey kidz,

 

So the big news I guess is a new mini-comic called Worms with artwork by Kimberlee Traub.  It's a nice little surreal/claustrophobic adventure story.

 

Below are some recent reviews.

 

hrt
Brian John Mitchell

 

VLOR: A FIRE IS MEANT FOR BURNING
Vlor was originally the duo of Brian John Mitchell (Remora) and Russell Halasz, who formed the band to do acoustic guitar covers of Cure and Bauhaus songs, though they went on to record experimental guitar works. Halasz has since moved to Florida, through in 2005 Mitchell recorded 90 minutes of guitar riffs and arpeggios which he sent to various friends to complete as songs, and resulted in the 10 collaboration tracks on A Fire is Meant for Burning. Contributors include Jon DeRosa (Aarktica), Nathan Amundson (Rivulets), Jessica Bailiff, Jesse Edwards (Red Morning Chorus), Paolo Messere (6P.M.), and Mike VanPortfleet (Lycia).
The CD opens with "Trust in Weapons", a duo guitar piece with Jon DeRosa that has a nice melody but plods along a bit too much. Things get more exciting with the next track, "Wires", which nearly everyone contributes to. I love the mixture of dark intensity, trippy psychedelic vibe and spacey electronics on this tune. "Potential New Sound" is somewhat similar but far less intense. It's dark and foreboding, but at the same time light and dreamy, and includes multiple layers of instrumentation with an interesting variety of textures and effects. "Houses Not Homes" and "New Machine" are duo pieces with Paolo Messere that are like lo-fi rock 'n drone tunes. The former is a simplistic rock instrumental but nicely embellished by atmospherics and effects, while the later is far busier and involved, in part due to the interesting use of percussion. "Suncatcher" is a short song that I enjoyed with vocals by Jessica Bailiff. Just a really nice guitar and piano tune. I've not heard of Jessica before but a web search revealed that she's got a few albums out on the Kranky label. I'll have to seek out some of her music. "Days Like Smoke" is a another dreamy atmospheric piece with slow moving guitars that drive the piece over a cool howling meditative backdrop.
There are a number of tracks along the lines of "Trust in Weapons", that according to the promo sheet Mitchell would probably describe as minimalist guitar experiments, but they didn't really hold my attention. However, the strong tracks are very good and I suspect that most fans familiar with the contributing artists would find much to enjoy here.
~ Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations

 

Vlor began almost 15 years ago, when Brian John Mitchell and Russell Halasz began experimenting with natural reverbs, as they couldn’t afford electronic equipment to create the same effects. (Perhaps the money would have flowed a bit more easily if they hadn’t spent their time messing around with reverbs and experimental guitar, but who am I to make such speculations?) By 1998, Vlor had a few releases under their belt, but ultimately folded when Halasz relocated. Fast forward to last year, when Vlor was resurrected in a fit of nostalgia, its corpse dusted off and straightened out. Mitchell invited six of his friends to dress it up real nice, adding whatever they saw fit to make Vlor into a presentable zombie. Now, dressed handsomely and with what’s left of its hair slicked back, A Fire Is Meant For Burning staggers into the light.
For the Vlor redux, Mitchell enlisted the help of some fairly respectable names in the experimental guitar world, such as Jon DeRosa of Aarktica, Nathan Amundson of Rivulets, and members of Red Morning Chorus. After recording some initial riffs and arpeggios, Mitchell just mailed (or e-mailed) them around, each participant successively adding their contributions until Mitchell felt the track was complete. Interestingly, Halasz was not among those invited, or perhaps declined his invitation. Most of the collaborators added more ambient, droney guitar to the mix, but interspersed throughout are the occasional violin, keyboards, hand percussion and even some Indian instruments. No one song on the album contains all seven possible players, but most contain a healthy three or four, and others are an intimate two member trade-off.
So what were the results of such an experiment? It’s hard to say. Inconclusive? Not statistically significant? A Fire Is Meant For Burning is definitely in the upper tier of ambient guitar work, but it’s still a result that could have been accomplished by one person, as it often doesn’t raise its voice enough to make it apparent that six people are lending their guitar-strumming hands. Some tracks certainly work better than others, the most notable songs being “Wires” and “Horses in Deserts,” both of which build into subdued crescendos that have a lot more going on in them than the first listen betrays. Many of the other tracks don’t stand as solidly on their own, however, and because the album is so consistently low-key, it’s advisable to take it all at once, as it truly embodies the proverbial notion that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
A Fire Is Meant For Burning is a solid ambient album, perfectly suited for a lazy morning or a night slipping away to approaching slumber. While it hardly seems like a seven person collaboration, perhaps that’s actually its strong point: these seven friends were aligned enough with a central vision of the project to keep everything to a dull roar. No one takes advantage of their freedom, and the music maintains a somnambulistic shuffle throughout. Still, such exercises in restraint are always a balancing act, and A Fire Is Meant For Burning can teeter dangerously at the brink of boredom. It’ll be interesting to see what Mitchell does with this project in the future. In the meantime, A Fire Is Meant For Burning is the perfect mental bubble bath to relax in while dreaming up your own all-star casts for a Vlor-type endeavor.
~ Dan Sorrells, Delusions of Adequacy

 

ALAN SPARHAWK: SOLO GUITAR
If Low offers pop grace with the darker slices tucked in behind the harmonies and slipped in the lyrics, then this solo album by ALAN SPARHAWK is its conjugate. On the surface torn, ragged, thrashed, icy and harsh, but as your ears stare at it, the cracks and gashes unveil more radiant patterns. Not as majestic as NEIL YOUNG’s soundtrack to “Dead Man", but not far off that territory.  Some titles here beckon an oceanfaring documentary, but the overall sea change is not so far off “Secret Name” and “Songs for a Dead Pilot.” Here SPARHAWK has a tossed in a lot more maneuvers than Shakey’s wake for Blake. Fog horn drone notes, ripcord string whammy, digi del digital lay de digits. There is even “Eruption by Eddie Van Halen” which makes it sounds like an upscale perfume, but I think that is meant to be an “emotional” cover; if not a whispered message for Eddie to release a solo album of his own, and try and be half as experimental, half as naked, half as honest. And with “How It Ends", a short warm sweep, you get the sense that ALAN still lives in hope, through solo winters and high LOW summers.
~ Thurston Hunger, KFJC

 

Roiling with sounds of heavy atmosphere and drenched in distant echoes, "How the Weather Comes over the Central Hillside" is the sound of Low's Alan Sparhawk as he attempts to photograph the forces of nature with his guitar. "Sagrado Corazon de Jesu" is represented twice; first as a shimmering prelude, and then as a "second attempt" which unfolds over thirteen minutes. The cavernous spaces between notes speak volumes, followed by pealing guitar that lashes out with mournful gravity. Listeners will be reminded of Ennio Morricone soundtracks, but not in the soothing aspect of guitar instrumentals favored by Henry Frayne's Lanterna. Sparhawk's foreboding mood is closer in spirit to David Eugene Edward's apocalyptic Wovenhand. "Eruption by Eddie Van Halen" shows some cheek, answering an uneasy stillness with unfettered guitar squall.
~ Jeff Elbel, The Big Takeover

 

It's always strange to hear someone whining about a certain piece of music being self-indulgent.  Even if it were possible to divorce a performer's ego from the music he or she makes, who would want to listen to it?  In truth, sometimes ego is about the only thing that carries an album, or makes it palatable at all.  Case in point: Alan Sparhawk's Solo Guitar, an instrumental live recording wherein Low's ostensibly reticent frontman hogs the spotlight to narcissistically caress his fret board & effect pedals.  Only this is the guy from fucking Low.  There's just no way to imagine a man who's made a career out of ascetically sculpted minimalism really & truly jacking off his ax.  And sure enough, he doesn't.  Each song begins with pinpricks of arpeggios that are then looped, smudged, dilated, & then layered with, uh, more notes & drones in some massive orchestral accident.  But due to the fact that this is a live recording, its immediacy is more than an empty adjective on a press release.  It's palitable, scaldingly raw.  You can hear echoes raining from eaves, snowflakes sublimating, maybe rhinos dying.  A cover of Van Halen's "Eruption" isn't recognizable as such, but it's a palate cleansing break from the rest of the set's sour austerity.  Not that Solo Guitar isn't a fully captivvating listen -- it overwhelmingly is.  It's just that, you know, you'll never fully enjoy it as much as Sparhawk himself did.  But maybe that's just you being selfish, not him.
~ Jason Heller, Sky Scraper

 

Solo Guitar is the first solo album from Alan Sparhawk of Low, recorded live in Duluth, Minnesota, using guitar loops and reverb. The album consists of several shorter pieces and a couple of lengthier stretch out tracks. The 13 minute "Sagrado Corazon de Jesu (second attempt)" is one of the longer tracks, starting off with a basic, almost Spanish inspired theme, with much care put into the expression and execution of each note. Slowly pulsating drones soon emerge and begin to wander along an ever winding path while Sparhawk continues to jam on the guitar and add layers of looped patterns. But the highlight of the set is what I'll call the "Freighter Suite" of tunes. It kicks off with the 18 minute "How a Freighter Comes into the Harbor", which begins with guitar notes that are spot on for a foghorn sound, creating the image of the freighter chugging slowly along. The entire piece is subtle and sparse, yet highly image inducing. I could easily close my eyes and imagine a foggy evening and the hero freighter slowly approaching the harbor. Things get a bit noisy in the last minutes and I started to worry that our hero freighter crashed into the dock or something. But then I saw that the next few tracks continue the story and learned that it's just a spell of bad weather prior to pulling into the harbor.
I enjoyed the reverb and drone laden atmosphere and soundscape sections of the album, though Sparhawk particularly impressed me on the Freighter tracks, creating vivid imagery and a variety of well crafted effects, all the while amply demonstrating how less can be so much more when in capable hands. And rounding out the set is a good fun cover of Eddie Van Halen's "Eruption".
~ Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations

 

This solo release by guitarist Alan Sparhawk offers a closer look at some of the sensibilities upon which his band Low is built.  Solo Guitar goes right to the heaty of the sounds that inform the trio's reductivist compositions & arrangements.  With a rhythmic countenance that (depending on one's metabolism) can be described as either glacial or sluggish, but always clearly defined, Sparhawk has long experimented with drones, echoes, & reverb.  Here, loops add breath to his sonic pallet, allowing him to play off of his own previously strummed chords & minimalist note modulations.  Recorded live, with no overdubbing, the disc's centerpiece is an eighteen minute piece titled "How a Freighter Comes into the Harbor" that effectively captures what the title describes.  Curiously, the nine pieces are each given only a number in the letterpress packaging, though they have evocative & poetic titles that are printed on a sticker affixed to the plastic wrap.  It''s a strange omission of permanence from someone who always carefully crafts the entirety of his artistic vision.
~ David Greenberger, Signal to Noise

 

There is a dark side to Alan Sparhawk, front man-singer-guitar player for the well-known beautiful slow-core band Low. Those who know most of the Low-oeuvre will have noticed some hints of that darkness throughout the years. Early Low wasn't exactly the happiest music, nor was it radio-friendly in some cases. The 14-minute drone of Do You Know How To Waltz of one of their early, and best, albums The Curtain Hits The Cast was a first sign of the hidden and haunting darkness Low possesses. A darkness that comes back from time to time... The EP Songs For A Dead Pilot was a surprisingly experimental and dark record, some songs like the heavy and almost Swans-like Don't Understand from the album Secret Name, or some of the tunes on the Trust-album... And Low-fans will surely remember the message Alan posted on the Low community board explaining in an open and honest way why the band had to cancel some show last year. It was a message of a man in doubt, questioning himself and his surroundings, asking how to go through with the things he was doing. The answer came with The Great Destroyer, an a-typical Low record, a reinvention of the band and its main man.
Solo Guitar, Sparhawks debut album as a solo artist, is not the kind of record you would expect from this polite, kind of shy man. And it also proves that he still has some demons to exorcise. Solo Guitar is exactly how it is titled: a man playing his guitar, no vocals, no rhythm section, just guitars and effects and loops. And the result sounds fantastic. There are two central tracks on the album, adding up to 30 minutes of this 43 minutes long album. If it had been up to me, I would have limited the album to these tracks, because the other seven guitar experiments on the album sound like starts without endings, half tries, unfinished business... not that they are bad, but I felt like they have more potential. For instance, the last tune How It Ends is very much like a small promise of a glorious song.
But let's get to the centre of this record, the two long tracks at the beginning of the album. First there's Sagrado Corazon de Jesu (second attempt) - yes, there's also a first attempt. As its title suggests there is a certain Latin, exotic feel about this track. It starts off with different melodic riffs with long gaps of silence in between, Sparhawk improvising around the same theme, and after about 4 minutes a guitar loop starts running upon which he tortures and beats his guitar (with a bit of imagination one could hear echoes of guitar heroes such as Yngwie Malmsteen or Steve Vai). Then the drone gets more to the foreground and I can imagine Alan Sparhawk standing with his eyes closed waiting for the right moment to release new noise.
The second track, How A Freighter Comes Into The Harbor, clocking in at 18 minutes, is even more impressive, because it shows in a remarkable way that, even when improvising, Alan Sparhawk is an excellent songwriter. The track starts with single dark notes, again with the long gaps of silence. Sparhawk builds the song layer upon layer, starting off with a high pitched ringing drone floating its way into your mind. At times it reminded me of those drone druids Growing, but this is even more intense. While the Growing sound is comforting and quiet, Sparhawk's sound is uncomfortable, dark and desperate. Again he waits for the best moment to pull out a riff on top of the drones, and as the song evolves the drones are de-layered again, disappear, and what is left is the sound of a buzzing amp. Impressive stuff.
I usually have trouble with improvised guitar playing, but Solo Guitar is worth the struggle through the drones. The result of this struggle is a thrilling and exciting journey down the mind of Alan Sparhawk.
~ Semtex

 

BLACK HAPPY DAY: IN THE GARDEN OF THE GHOSTFLOWERS
Black Happy Day is a collaboration between Tara VanFlower (Lycia) and Timothy Renner (late of Stone Breath) from the always intriguing and exhilirating Silber imprint. From a capella versions of such traditional tales as “The Leaves of Life” to the dulcimer-driven title track, Renner and VanFlower merge centuries of traditional tales, making them sound as fresh as if they were written yesterday, while making their own ballads (murder and otherwise), seem as if they were written in Appalachia at the turn of the 20th century. The chronological dichotomy is matched by the vocal disparaties between VanFlower’s soft, litling soprano and Renner’s gruff, monotonic moans.
Like a wyrdfolk version of Fairport Convention, Black Happy Day breathe new life into centuries-old ballads like “Edward” and “A Lyke Wake Dirge,” which are so perfectly blended with the duo’s originals that you’d swear the album consisted entirely of original compositions. VanFlower’s childlike, wordless vocals and Renner’s Glitchgear music box sends chills through the spine on the terror-stricken “Of The Wind and Loneliness,” which ultimately sounds perfectly suited to one of Dario Argento’s classic horror tales.
“Oh How They Weep and Moan” is another shitstorm of a horrorshow, with Renner and VanFlower assuming the roles of lost souls aimlessly roaming the depths of Purgatory or one of Dante’s circles of Hell, wailing and gnashing (or, more acurately, “weeping and moaning”) for all eternity. There are more haunting, wordless vocals from Tara and spooky, backward-looped electronics from Timothy, which add a mystical, almost liturgical aura to “How Many Hours ‘Til The Spider’s Work Is Done?” where you can almost smell the incense burning. It’s all very soothing and dreamy, at times halllucinatory and refreshingly at odds with the nightmarish qualities of the other material. Just don’t drive to this too late at night for fear of ending up dazed and confused in a ditch on the side of the road! Finally, “Hand In Hand” is a lovely folk duet with a litling, poppy lullabye melody, making it the album’s most accessible track, let alone its most beautiful. It ends the album on a hopeful note, providing solace from its more gruesome surroundings.
Overall, a mesmerizing trip through three centuries of Americana and old-tyme folk ballads, ambient horror tales and psychedelic wyrdfolk that should appeal to more than just the fans of the artists involved. In fact, I would highly recommended it to fans of dark Americana, ambient wyrdfolk from the likes of Nurse with Wound or VanFlower’s Lycia project, and especially fans of the essential-viewing “Songcatcher” film from a few years back, which explores the origins of Appalachian music and one woman’s efforts to rescue it from obscurity. This will also appeal to fans of Lycia’s darker releases and Renner’s work with The Spectral Light and Moonshine Firefly Snakeoil Jamboree, as well as his recent effort as the Revelator, “Hoofbeat Caw & Thunder.”
~ Jeff Penczak, Foxy Digitalis

 

Described by the label as 'ambient roots music' this is in fact a crossroad creative combination of styles from Timothy Renner (Stone Breath,..) and Tara Vanflower (Lycia,..). While Timothy’s music usually was rooted in a kind of neo-folk style, with some experimentation, Tara Van Flower used voice with ambient music, with a not too deliberate Gothic association with an individual choice of style. In this melting pot, both talents were often deeply mixed with the extra phoenix-factor derived from creativity. There were also chosen four traditionals of which some of them were an inspiration before by Timothy, but in a different way. I think also previously used songs by Timothy were used to receive a complete new arrangement and sound. This new sound is in fact a whole new style inspiration for both artists who have assembled all what they’ve done before into a new marriage of style. The collection is mostly weeping songs with the theme of death and destiny. None of the grieving in the songs comes too much forward in real emotions-on-the-moment; the songs are more like ghosts of these lost and unattended cries, carried away by the wind (this is like “how the weep and moan" is described).
"The leaves of life" sounds like a death ballad, with some echoed distortion on the voice, hung-over of where and why the cry was set. "In the garden of ghostflowers" is sung in acid folk styled duet with picking guitar. Even with lots of feedback on the voice, like on “whore”, another story of sad destiny, lead by Tara, the folk flavour is also never too far away, like on “Edward”. "Of the wind and loneliness" is like a musical box lullaby from a left alone and unattended child’s (or person’s) grief. Also "A lake wake dirge", which is arranged with various harmony vocals, carries a similar cry, -do I hear oud here (?)-. "How many hours" has an Indian flavour. The background vocal arrangements by Tara here come very close to the way Amelia Cuni experimented with Indian singing overdubs. We hear here also some Indian flavoured drone instrument, caused by effects on the instrument recording, and by the specific droning instrument sound (?). On “Hand in Hand" I recognise Tara's style of voice loops and water. This has a second part of guitar by Timothy, with wa-wa-like effects echoing around, and the actual song. "Wolf and hare” is another nice and simple folk duet with guitar. These last few songs lead almost unconsciously to a spiritual solution of the darkness of its themes. Last song "Be thou vision" is therefore also like a happy ending, in a gospel psychfolk style, an expression as if the voices of these ghosts one day will gather and unite in harmony. Like the series of pictures of a wolf and rabbit in the booklet, united in themes of death, trying to find peace, the concept of this release is surely a successful expression of a black happy day. An interesting collection and succesful concept.
Instruments used were vocals, guitar, motheart (?), water, ektara (?), relevator-guitar (?), ministrel banjo, glitchgear musicbox, dulcimer, saintbanjo (?), harmonium, feedback.
~ Gerald Van Waes, Psyche van het folk

 

Sometimes a little strange can be very delightful. And when you listen to “In The Garden Of Ghostflowers” you’ll get a good example of this. Black Happy Day is a collaboration between Tara Vanflower (Lycia) and Timothy Renner (Stone Breath). I’m not familiar with these projects so the fact that ‘when you know both of these artists, it sounds exactly like you might think’- which can be read on the infosheet – does not profide me any information. Without prejudice I started to listen to this release.
Delivered with beautiful artwork, “In The Garden Of Ghostflowers” brings us eleven songs in which a combination is made between old folklore texts, folky music and ambient/soundscapes. A strange, but notwithstanding a successful combination.
The singing of mister Renner is annoying but the singing of Tara is fitting, so the songs in which only she delivers the vocals are nicer to listen to. Also the songs in which more attention is paid to the ambient sounds are better worked out than those with the folky instruments. There aren’t any highlights on this album, but there also aren’t very irritating tunes. So I can easily concluded that with “In The Garden Of Ghostflowers” Black Happy Day has made and interesting album.
~ Gothtronic

 

Black Happy Day describes their music on In The Garden Of Ghostflowers as "ambient roots music". As with all ambient music, Black Happy Day's amorphous, drifting sound often leaves the listener with very little point of reference. But unlike the typical ambient approach, which leaves the listener within a somewhat blissful place, Black Happy Day leaves the listener smack dab in the middle of a foreboding, constantly shifting environment.
The duo's vocals are layered and shifted slightly out of phase with normality thanks to generous portions of reverb and echo. Adding to the harrowing, dreamlike tone are exotic drones, amorphous metallic tones, and shuddering walls of dripping sound that ooze, reverberate, and shimmer within and throughout the duo's sculpted vocals.
Such an approach can be intriguing and even enthralling at times, but it can also become tedious. In The Garden Of Ghostflowers has a very solemn, plodding air about it, which is only enhanced by the often portentous lyrics sung, chanted, and intoned by Vanflower and Renner.
Not surprisingly, In The Garden Of Ghostflowers's strongest moments come when the album is at its most roots-y. Here, the band's sound warms up slightly and strands of more traditional instrumentation (guitar, banjo, dulcimer, harmonium) drift within hearing range, offering something a little more solid and substantial to lean on.
But Vanflower and Renner certainly don't adopt a purist approach to the traditional ballads and hymns that appear on the disc. The same drones and other haunting sonics that permeate more abstract songs such as "Whore" and "How Many Hours 'Til The Spider's Work Is Done" are still present on "The Leaves Of Life" and "A Lyke Wake Dirge".
This approach to traditional, beloved hymns and ballads, an approach that "roots music" fans would probably characterize as "odd" (at best), does bring with it a certain authenticity. It seems appropriate that an ages-old hymn, or a medieval text calling for repentance, should sound removed from modernity. Such songs should, in some ways, sound like they're relics; as if they're cracked and weathered, missing pieces, barely holding together as the years go on, and coated with the same sort of patina that casts old photographs with a golden haze.
"Edward"'s Appalachian tale of bloodshed, brothers killing brothers, and guilt becomes especially affecting thanks to the droning guitars and dulcimers, while the gloomy, reverb-laden call and response between Vanflower and Renner makes them sound like the ghosts of two old lovers separated by oceans and guilt (Renner's stark voice is aptly chilling for a man recounting a tale of murder).
This "odd" approach results in the album's high point, the eerie rendition of "Be Thou My Vision" that comes at the end. The song has a warmer, more intimate tone than the rest of the album, thanks to Renner's rich acoustic guitar and the more subdued dronework. But as the duo winds their way through the beloved hymn, the many echoes of Vanflower's voice take on a life of their own, drifting upwards to form a strange little spectral choir that continues on after the duo is silent. It's a lovely, albeit unsettling piece, these disembodied voices chanting fragments of the hymn on top of eachother, until all of the words blur together and become one sacred sound.
For all of the pretense that often characterizes In The Garden Of Ghostflowers, there is something that Black Happy Day seems to understand almost intuitively at times. When the duo's love for antiquated tunes meshes with their ghostly drones, effects, and vocals, the results can be mighty affecting. The duo's cold, disconcerting sound is given the warmth and humanity that it may not otherwise contain, and the otherworldly sonics tap into and highlight the mystic weight that old ballads and hymns often possess, but which is often forgotten.
~ Jason Morehead, Opus

 

Black Happy Day is the collaboration between Tara Vanflower (Lycia) & Timothy Renner (Stone Breath). This project inhabits the same creaky attics and bleak basements as Moodring (the Rollerball side project of Mini Wagonwheel & Mae Starr). The combination of traditional songs and modern technology make an interesting amalgamation.
I will be honest. On first listen, the music of Black Happy Day can be quite off putting, especially the first track. It is a reworking of the traditional song “The Leaves of Life.” It is mostly an a cappella duet between Tara’s unaltered vocals and Timothy’s heavily delayed and manipulated ones. At first, I found the mixture of delay and reverb of Timothy vocals distracting and unnecessary. After many listens, I have found that this odd combination provides necessary preparation for all the strangeness that follows on the rest of the record.
The more traditional folk title track “In the Garden of the Ghostflower” is pleasant after the disturbing opening track. “Whore” uses whistling feedback and odd electronic gurgles. Tara’s heavily delayed vocals sound like they are encased in amber. The vocals seem to be played backwards despite moving in a forward direction. I found the use of just feedback as the main instrument on this track very interesting. “Edward,” another traditional tune, is reworked so it sounds practically medieval with a Middle Eastern tinge.
The hilarious “How they Weep and Moan” seems to poke fun at all the dourness on the rest of the record. Tara does an impression of a possessed evil chipmunk that is overdubbed over her own sobbing and moaning. The press sheet describes the traditional songs such as “A Lyke Wake Dirge” as Americana, but it seems to me that such songs are far more ancient.
My favorite track of the disc is the minimalist “How many hours ‘til the spider’s work is done?” It opens with what sounds like a backwards playing sitar before being joined by Tara’s ghostly moans. Then Timothy’s deep baritone joins the mix along with Tara’s slightly delayed vocals. The song builds in complexity, becoming denser towards the conclusion. “Neither can I sleep or wake. But still I lie and still I wait. And how many hours ‘til the spider’s work is done?”
“Hand in Hand” is the most traditionally rendered of the traditional songs on the album. It is stunning in its simplicity and beauty. The album ends with another traditional hymn “Be Thou My Vision.” The juxtaposition of old traditional songs and modern musical technology makes for a fascinating arrangement. While this record is challenging, patience is rewarded with each repeated listen as more of the audio artistry is revealed.
~ Dan Cohoon, amplitude equals one over frequency squared

 

How I love goth music! Truly, I do. The only problem is that I've been "away" on holidays for the last couple of decades while the world of goth music has morphed behind my back. Black Happy Day is a new collaborative effort between Lycia's vocalist Tara Vanflower and Timothy Renner of Stone Breath. The music they make on their debut is shimmering with as much warmth as it is full of dark abandon. Starting off with an ominous black-mass chant of duelling vocals from the two leaders, "The Leaves of Life" leads us into a world that is dark, cool while at the same time being inviting. This is folk music for the goth in you. This is goth music for the folkie in you. At times, it even splurges into the ambient territory, comfortably walking the line into quiet atmospherics. Title track features some tightly knit feedback that is surrounded by both vocalists' eerie vocal chords. Tara is all baritone wonder, while with his balmy vocals, Timothy Renner is a perfect balance. An almost ten minute long "How Many Hours' Til The Spider's Work is Done?" features waves of dulcimer, harmonium, modified banjo. This whole mess sounds more like a meditation of sorts, rather than an actual song. Next track over, "Wolf & Hare" features a further meditation accompanied by sampled rainfall and deeply buried spoken passages from Tara. This is where Black Happy Day shine. In extended audio form, they get plenty of opportunity to stretch and put out as much of their experimental foot forward. It's a scary journey. But don't be afraid. These two don't bite. Fact is, the atmosphere is as warm as a boiling pot of water.
~ Tom Sekowski, Gaz-eta

 

Black Happy Day does seem a perfect name for this duo. Tara Vanflower and Timothy Renner perform a handful of traditional folk songs, hymns, and dirges along with seven of their own compositions. Otherworldly vocals and production effects –sometimes, but not always, subtle– color the material. Old, religiously-themed songs are accompanied by simply-played acoustic instruments such as guitar, banjo, and dulcimer, then displayed in settings of overdubbed voices, loops, and sound processing. Vanflower’s vocals cover a lot of bases, from angelic (#2) to bluesy like Billie Holiday (#3) to the haunted wail of the dead (#6). Renner’s voice stays low and gravelly, providing a nice contrast to hers. Ear-catchers for me: #8 uses a backwards tamboura for a cool drone effect. On #9, the juxtaposition of two simultaneous spoken word parts over a noisy watery background is quite disturbing, after which the track moves into a calm guitar-based piece. #10 is a charming, bittersweet acoustic duet. I love this CD.
~ Max Level, KFJC

 

HELLER MASON: MINIMALIST & ANCHORED
Nothing quite beats the sound of rain on my roof accompanied by the sound of Nick Drake's "Five Leaves". Now, there's a new classic rain album on the horizon by Todd Vandenberg, whose band is collectively known as Heller Mason. His new record is an unabashed reflection on his mental state, whatever state that may be at a given point in time. Breezy vocals that seem weighed down by today's burdens are what these songs express best. While the majority of the songs are bleak in a country-folk kind of way, there's a ton of real, haunting beauty to be uncovered here. On "Barreling Towards Nowhere Like There's No Tomorrow", Ashlee Gene Krull sounds like one haunted character. His vocal chords accompanied by a lonely guitar and a sad rhythm section is a perfect example of what folk music should be when it keeps to its bare necessities. "So, This is How it Ends?" features some haunting cello playing that meanders around Ashlee's vocals. Washes of lap steel guitar make for some interesting contrasts to the sad beauty that envelops the record from its beginnings. I don't know whether this is music that I should recommend for those suffering from depression or whether this may be a dangerous move after all?
~ Tom Sekowski, Gaz-Eta

 

A fine collection of songs by Todd Vandenberg, aka Heller Mason. The tracks are built on Vandenberg’s voice and acoustic guitar, with tasteful backing by bass & drums, while other guests add equally tasteful female vocals, electric guitars, lap steel, cello, piano, and trumpet. Much of this material would be at home in the KFJC country music library, and indeed that’s where I’d file this CD if it wasn’t so heavily weighted toward pleasantly melancholy folk-pop songs reminiscent of Nick Drake, Mark Kozelek, and Mark Eitzel, all cited in Silber’s press blurb as reference points for this music, and all good calls in my opinion. (Neil Young has been mentioned too, but I’m not with that one so much; if anything, this material leans more toward the well-polished, non-ragged end of the scale.) Heller Mason’s debut release is a strong combination of sad, melodic ruminations and gently uptempo country-ish rockers. Clean playing and first-rate recorded sound too. Nice job all around.
~ Max Level, KFJC

 

Heller Mason’s Minimalist & Anchored is a logical continuation of Silber Records’ predilection for highly articulate, moody singer-songwriter pop with enough folk and country twists to make it difficult to place in any given genre. Contrary to some of the label’s previous releases by folks like Jamie Barnes and Rivulets this is music that despite its sparse tone is based in some rather wide arrangements, including among other things electric guitar, drums, bass, cello, vocals, Wurlitzer, piano and trumpet. The album screens a downcast but kaleidoscopic sound, spanning depressive folk as well as bittersweet slow pop. Not unique but very nice.
~Mats Gustafson, The Broken Face

 

Heller Mason is more mainstream than most artists on North Carolina's esoteric Silber label. Rather than presenting atmospheric sound or eerie progressive rock, this band plays surprisingly smooth and accessible soft Americana pop. The group is centered around the songwriting skills of Todd Vandenberg...a young man with a soft soothing voice and a real flair for writing meaningful lyrics. The tunes on Minimalist & Anchored are subdued and subtle...and yet there is an odd strength present in the delivery of these compositions. This is the sort of album that was obviously created out of a love of music rather than a desire for commercial success. Vandenberg is certainly on the right track here. These soothing pensive tracks get better the more you hear them. Intriguing cuts include "After All is Said and Done, More Was Said Than Done," "I Hate Drama and You're Being Dramatic," and "So, This is How it Ends?"
~ Babysue

 

In college, I was voted the most depressing DJ @ WMWM in Salem, Massachusetts. This début album by Heller Mason would have fit in well with my crying in the beer arsenal. During that time I played the heck out of a seven inch by Whiskeytown. The song “The Strip” really got to me. (This was before Ryan Adams became such a jerk. Wait, let me rephrase that, this was before I discovered that Ryan Adams was such a self absorbed asshole). These songs really remind me of that seven inch. They are country tinged, sad & sweet.
I nearly wrote this band off when I went to their Myspace page and saw the dreaded self- applied “Emo” tag. Originally, this term was used only as an insult, and in my opinion, this is the lone way it should be applied. Thankfully, I looked past the grievous error of using such an offensive word and found that I really did enjoy this disc.
Heller Mason is the name of the group and not a person as I first thought. Todd Vandenberg is the main songwriter and vocalist. His vocals have the same warm-hearted quality of Mark Kozelek’s from the Red House Painters. Like the Red House Painters, Vandenberg is clearly influenced by Neil Young’s more acoustic and country-inspired tunes.
Vandenberg has the nasty habit of making one feel old. I still remember listening to Karate sing about being nineteen and not yet being that age. When Vandenberg sings about the sadness and desperation of being in one’s mid-twenties, the problems now seem sweetly quaint.
Some of Vandenberg’s lyrics are cringe worthy, but endearingly so. On “Drown the Villages on the Maine Coast,” he sings, “I got mint tea, mint tea, with honey. But it did not do anything for my throat. All it did was burn my nose.” Fortunately, the slight lyrical missteps are brief. The music it self is fantastic, with sparkling acoustic guitars, swelling violins, wails of steel guitar, and crisp percussion.
Over all this is an excellent debut. The music of Heller Mason is both hopeful and poignant. With time, the band’s music will develop into something wonderful.
~ Dan Cohoon, amplitude equals one over frequency squared

 

PLUMERAI: RES COGITANS
Plumerai’s latest release may only be a small four-track EP but to the band itself it marks big changes. Two years after their first release, Plumerai are much more defined and sturdy, having solidified their line up to four members and, perhaps most importantly, gained more artistic control over their production. All of which has given Plumerai an altogether more dynamic sound which is clearly evidential on Res Cognitans.
“Avernal” opens the EP and is a delightfully dreamy creation, the drums gentile and inoffensive (until the last two minutes that is) mixed with soothing guitars, all complimenting the arousing, sultry voice of Elizabeth Ezell.
While Plumerai have developed their own sound their influences are clearly defined, whether it’s the music compositions that share similarity in sound to new wave acts like The Smiths, to Ezell’s voice that is already being compared to PJ Harvey’s. “Linear” is a fine example of their influences hitting the mark perfectly, the catchy guitar work that is both pop and anti-pop simultaneously due to its melancholy feeling yet danceable beats. Mixed with the soft vocals of Ezell, “Linear” is a track that The Cure would certainly be proud of.
There is definitely a cabaret quality to Ezell’s vocals and throughout it suits the mood of the music perfectly as with “En Vole” a piece where even the accordion gets a little more prominence than before. It’s unsurprising however that the cabaret element is there as Res Cognitans was recorded live, copying to CD the true untouched elements of the band which makes for a much more interesting and powerful release than just another studio outing.
With retro electro rock (et al) being the big fad that it is at the moment, Plumerai will certainly have to put the hours in to ensure they don’t fall victim of its ephemeral and superficial charms. Yet if the four tracks on Res Cognitan are anything to go by, they are miles ahead of the majority in both sound and concept already.
(Plumerai release a full length album in 2007)
~ Michael Riley, Left Hip

 

Boston four-piece plays like a quintet with guitarist Martin Newman doubling up on keys as well. Elizabeth Ezell delivers excellent un-easy vox. She’s got that nano-sheep ba-a-a-a-a stutter that gets squeezed into tight spaces and syllables.  It kind of denotes anger and sorrow at the same time…the music behind her definitely drops back a couple of decades and a handful of hairdos. Hello phlanger, hello Joe Jackson, hello tie with the black-and-white keys on it. Nah, that’s too harsh…but the drums ARE tidy and timely, no mad dash eruptions. The guitar IS jingle-plinky and yes soaked in phlange. The synth sweeps ARE on vox presettica. Pseudo xylophone lights up “Illuminata.” A kind of ska gallop with arpeggio spurs winds up “Avernal.” UnEz E’s vocals are really the highlight, looming large with these tiny torments of lovelorn pop. Will the follow-up full-length to this song EP be called “res extensa” and feature an expanded use of more instrumentation and flavors? Or maybe dump the thinking altogether for a more passionate play towards raw emotional scorch and feedback.
~ Thurston Hunger, KFJC

 

GODDAKK: MONUMENT TO A RUINED AGE
Goddakk is a solo project from Boston based musician Martin Newman (burMonter, Plumerai, December Sundays) on guitars, bass, keyboards and voice, though the promo sheet notes that the dominant instrument is a Fender VI bass run through loops & effects.
I really enjoyed this album. From start to finish Newman treats us to a set of creatively constructed contrasts that bring together sound-art, a film soundtrack feel and an odd sense of melody and song. I love the blend of frenetic and off-kilter patterns (including an oddly song-like melody) laid over a steady, stone cold drone on "Opened". Ditto for "Kalifornia", with its machine-like sounds and textures combined with drones and a repetitive melodic phrase. "One Hundreds" is a strange piece that features a Robert Fripp styled guitar-scape in a completely NON-Fripp setting. I love the cool funky guitar grooves amidst the sound cacophony on "Your Guilty Prize". "Romeo Romeo" manages to glom together the Fripp fun and funk guitar into one avant-freaky mish-mash that culminates into a crazed symphony of looped patterns. "Unfortunates" struck me as a drugged avant-garde version of a Morricone soundtrack. "Human Beings" sees Newman travel into deep space, producing a cosmic piece that brings to mind early 70's Ash Ra Tempel meets modern day sound art experimentations. One of my favorites of the set. And the closing track, "Yto Nobogo", is the longest piece on the CD and winds things down nicely, bringing together all the elements that cropped up throughout the album into one experimental and aesthetically pleasing excursion.
Wow, LOTS happening on this album! Newman excels at assembling disparate elements of sound, ambience and melody into cohesive and thought provoking wholes. Call it ambient music for those who like to explore and experiment but don't need the meditational bits. This is one you can play over and over and find something new and exciting every time.
~ Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations