Posts Tagged ‘Thrill Jockey’

Album of the day: Eternal Tapestry & Sun Araw – Night Gallery

Posted on Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Praise for Eternal Tapestry & Sun Araw‘s Night Gallery from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: Recorded live in 2010 at South By Southwest, in Austin Texas, in a large empty TV studio and then broadcast on the radio, this psychedelic summit matched up long time pals Sun Araw (aka Cameron Stallones) and Eternal Tapestry for a single improvised performance, 45 minutes of dreamy psychedelic drift, spaced out krautrock, and full on freaked out heaviness!

Presented here as played, without overdubs, the only edits being those that separate the jam into 4 tracks. The ET&SA band quickly settle into a lysergic drift, a whirling shimmery haze, laced with fluttery flute, cymbal shimmer, and spidery guitars. A slow build to some seriously explosive spacerock swirl, a chaotic cacophonous crescendo, before settling back down into another stretch of hushed drift, this time heavy on the whirring organ, and still laced with plenty of flute. A little bit jazzy. A lot free and drifty, leading directly into the second movement.

Movement two finds the band immediately locking into some krautpsych hypnorock, some saxophone audible for the first time. The multiple guitars all tangled up in constantly shifting harmonies. The sound mesmerizing and hypnotic, simultaneously ramping up, but also blissing out, vocals swoop in, wreathed in echo and delay, eventually everything fading out but the whirring synths, the shuffling drums, the sax, and some wailing vocals buried in the mix.

The third movement is the shortest of the four, and is another slow build, but this time as the sound blossoms it also gradually grows more minimal, the arrangement more spacious and spare. The guitars and sax drifting in an expanse of shimmery thrum and muted horns, washed out and dreamlike.

Finally, the band unfurl the 14+ minute final movement. A swirling shimmering expanse of warm layered keyboards, subtle guitar shadings, and even more subtle sax. The bass offering up deep pulses, everything hazy and crystalline. The drums finally kick in and the band launch into a woozy lumbering space-drone groove. The guitars getting more crunchy, the effects thicker, never truly exploding, instead just cranked up a notch, letting the guitars howl and wail. A druggy dirgey chunk of psychedelic kraut-drone blooz. Nice.

Vinyl version includes a download coupon, fyi.  Listen to Night Gallery – Movement III HERE, courtesy of Impose Magazine.

At 40 years old, Aquarius is the oldest independent record store in San Francisco. We try to only carry music we love, and we’re always searching for more new, cool, weird and wonderful music. All of which we then share with you, our loyal customers.

Tags: Album of the day, Aquarius Records, Cameron Stallones, Eternal Tapestry, Night Gallery, psychedelica, Sun Araw, Thrill Jockey
Posted in 2011, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended | 1 Comment »

Album of the day: Pontiak – Comecrudos (EP)

Posted on Monday, July 11th, 2011

Lovingly pinched from Tiny Mix Tapes: Few bands are able to move between moods and styles as flawlessly as Pontiak. Comecrudos, their latest Thrill Jockey release, showcases this elusive transitional ability. Recorded as a soundtrack to the drive from Phoenix through much of Texas without the aid of distortion or ...read more

White Hills: H-p1 Full Album Stream at Vpro 3voor12

Posted on Monday, June 20th, 2011

H-p1, the new album from New York cosmonauts White Hills , is available for streaming in its entirety at Vpro 3voor12, which is the leading cultural media network in the Netherlands.  

Album of the day: White Hills – H-p1

Posted on Monday, June 20th, 2011

Praise for White Hill‘s H-p1 from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records:  Latest blast of psychedelic space rock from these NYC sonic assassins, and like all the previous White Hills jams, it’s a good one, but in some ways, it’s actually a lot different. Still present are the usual space rockisms, swirling ...read more

Album of the day: Liturgy – Aesthethica

Posted on Sunday, April 3rd, 2011

Lovingly pinched from Lurker: Let’s set the record straight: Putting limits on what metal can or should be spells disaster from the start, despite it being a lifeline for many. To maim the possibilities of music with rudimentary definitions ought to be seen as a horrifying prospect, yet we all ...read more