THE TREES COMMUNITY play The Christ Tree (Dark Holler/ Hand/Eye) CD
Not long after the start of 2007 this long deleted record was re-issued. I had heard about this record but had never actively chased it up. As it turns out a friend of mine (dawg!) had burnt me a copy of the original lp which lay somewhere in the piles of cdr’s that once lay mostly neglected in my Clifton Hill pad. I never did listen to this which reflects my frequent bouts of goose-dom. This was a scenario whereby the hyperbole spread by blog and forum dorks had excited me enough to purchase, ear unheard.
A wise decision as it turned out.
This release flipped my bones on initial listen and I have continued to devour on a regular basis since. In this current musical climate, the folk has made itself quite a joke. The quality of the endless unheralded obscure re-issues is wearing thin, if one more monkey picks up an acoustic guitar and a bottle of single malt in homage to John Fahey I will freak (nb: an awful Jack Rose gig in Bristol witnessed in May as opposed to the continuing genius of Sir Richard Bishop).
As you may have determined dear human, there is no need to fret, this sucker has carved a niche in my psyche and sits way outside the bunyan/fahey axis of photocopied authenticity. The fact that this was a ‘Christian’ group is certainly novel, my collection was bereft of any such documents prior to this purchase. I have since explored other ‘weird’ Christian records and despite killer tracks here and there this still stands shoulders above the brethren as it is a complete vision and although kitsch and wacky has a sincere thread throughout that is at once beautiful and good ole fashion strange.
The basis for this record being a wonderful oddity may reside in that it is not a platform to convert the listener into the arms of the artist permanently known as Jesus Christ. Rather, it’s a series of stories as songs, psalms as wigged out wordly psych. Tales from the good book (replete with all the biblical hysteria, misery, elation and general oddballnesss) set to music by some freewheeling long hairs armed with a significant array of exotic instrumentation and substantial skills to play the lords bills. Being good audio missionaries The Trees Community took it upon themselves to step beyond standard Western approaches to music incorporating musical quotation from a wide variety of non American/European countries, communities and societies.
With an acknowledged nod to Charles Ives (the have cited him as an influence) they quote various musical phrases, incorporating them into their own unusual compositions. A strange brew indeed. "Balinese chant, American folk music, Indian raga, African rhythm, Tibetan ritual gong, and Mexican bell wheel Sanctus" all feature within this biblical soup.
Think about it, myre, oud’s and sitars. The Master Musicians of Bethlehem!
The music is a wonderful mix of melancholic folk, angelic harmonies, sacred hymns and deranged hysteria. Often appearing as a cross between resplendent divinity and a high school musical the Trees Community, whether they intended it or not somehow managed to create one of the most singular recordings in the entire canon of history of 20th Western music. I am not aware of any (un)popular audio document that sounds quite like this. The gospel is a catalyst for their ideas. Having come straight out of the political, social and creative upheaval of the previous decade one can speculate that they had to combat the relentless rooting and drug shooting that had been running rife since the mass consumption of ideas assimalated from far thinking evil doer’s like Aldous Huxley and William Burroughs.
As a result this is a unique document, a snapshot of time and place as filtered through a stained glass window and put forth by some enthusiastic visionaries. On surface level this is a kitschy folk record incorporating a fair share of la, la, la’s and ‘jesus, jesus, jesus’ chants. The good news for us cynical listeners is you simply can’t have yr heaven without yr hell, bucko ! The end of psalm 46 reminds me of the staggering choral part in Cornelius Cardew’s ‘Greater Learning’, Holy Seed’ creeps me out far more than any generic doom or mummy’s boy nihilism black metal boredom that has been churned out ever since the glory days in Oslo (les legion noir and moevot in particular most certainly excepted!).
“What a wretched state I am in, I am lost, I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell amidst the people of unclean lips and yet my eyes have seen the king…”
…Until towns have been laid waste and deserted, houses left unattended, countryside made desolate and the lord drives the people out. There will be a great emptiness in the country and though a tenth of the people remain, it will be stripped like a tree, of which once felled, only the stock remains. The stock is a holy seed”.
This is a beautiful ride of which (strangely enough) in a musical sense sits most comfortably next to the Pagan soundtrack to the Wicker Man and the satanic folk of Comus’ genius debut ‘First utterance’. If you have a hankering for true acoustic weirdness of which precedent and influence remain obscured by vision than this is the bomb that will help you get through this fruity Christmas period.
NB: This was originally re-issued as a 4cd box set (folding out into a cross) including the above ranted ‘play the Christ Tree; release along with their first album and 2 live recordings which is now out of print. ‘Play the Christ Tree’ is currently available as a single cd with some of the best bonus tracks and to be honest this is all you need.
BOBB TRIMBLE Iron Curtain Innocence / Harvest of Dreams (Secretly Canadian) CD
Oh lordy here’s an odd cod. Another rare psychy re-issue I chased up based on net rants and hard sells from hipster underground mail order outlets (who more often than not are way off the mark for my current personal taste). The various mentions of a grief stricken singer-songwriter lost in time, psych weirdness, apocalyptic imagery and sweet, sweet pop had me scratching my nog and dipping into the paypal account to score this sucker. What arrived was far more perplexing (and better) than anything such rants (including this one) could do justice. On surface level (like the Trees Community release) this is a sacharine set of cornball 80’s pop songs with a nod to 60’s ‘psychedelic’ techniques. Oh no my friends, listen to this shit! Listen to the production – playful oddball concrete provides a bed for most tracks. Bob’s voice itself makes Jimmy Scott sound like Barry White – no one believes me when I play and query them with regards to the gender. The songs themselves are unlike anything I have encountered. Listening to ‘Glass Menagerie Fantasies’ from ‘Iron Curtain Innocence’ - I am floored that he put music together in this way. Last time I was buzzing this high from off kilter ‘pop’ tunes was on discovering Van Dyke Parks essential ‘song cycle’ some 7 years ago.
The lyrics are steeped high in anxiety, our man Bobb is a romantic, no mistake about that. He seems to have been in love or have had serious love lost. I doubt the cat could have crafted this madness otherwise. The songs sit on the edge of breakdown, heavy lament. I do not usually partake in music that is so overtly emotional but Trimble’s take is so convincing and simultaneously unfamiliar I have listened many times to try and gauge exactly which emotions he is expressing, maybe this is one of the ultimate charms about this weirdo daddio rekid.
It’s not all cardiac crumble. ‘Night at the Asylym’ is one of the great ‘out’ pop numbers of the 80’s. Listen to our man Trimble squeak in a quasi chipmunk meets presley manner “Well I’m not destitute, I’m just homeless’ and I’m not desperate, I’m just homeless', mmmmm, maybe it IS all tears and pain after all! If yr after good, good times – please exit the building. As 'heavy' as humans get. It’ is not overtly dark, soiled or lost but it does project these feelings in a most unusual manner.
‘Night at the Asylym’ is also from ‘Iron Curtain innocence’ but the follow up ‘Harvest of Dreams’ is the bomb wax out of the 2 re-issues, a record where the skewered vision of Bobb Trimble comes together as a solid whole. It’s a strange one, not as fried or ‘dark’ as the debut, but total killer nonetheless.
A superficial breakdown:
Track 1 ‘Premenitions – A Fantasy’ is repeated as Track 5 ‘Premonitions – The Reality’ and I mean repeated – it’s exactly the same track, no re-working, no reprise, the track re-appears. AND, somehow it works! Repeated listens do not alter the impact of this acoustic jam which sips from the spiked drink of Dylan, Donovan and lordy knows what.
Track 2 ‘If words were all I had’ takes us deep into Trimbles heartbreak. The kind of pain that makes this an uncomfortable listen in the prescene of other humans. We suggest yr good self and Bobb tackle it together.
Track 3 ‘The world I left behind’ is 1:14 of silence. Why? I have no idea!! This is no means a cage referance, I never thought I could be surprised by silence on a record ever again, alas, Trimble ya nutbag – you win! Why is this here?
Track 4 ‘Armour of a shroud’ is a pearler… you will find out. Currently my favourite Trimble track.
Track 6 and 7 are two more slow warm drift into heartbreak and psychosis, via a commericial pop template.
Track 8 is a curve ball – 30 seconds of backmasking leads into a rock track played by The Crippled Dog Band. A band made up of local 15 year old kids that was Bobb's 'band' for a short period. The story is the parents got worried about what was going on and pulled the plug on the kids playing with Bobb any longer. Bobb's website reports, "Bobb recruited a 15-year-old rhythm section and formed the short-lived Crippled Dog Band. The Crippled Dog Band’s shining public moment came at a 1983 Worcester rock festival, when Bobb came on stage decked out in a top hat, green satin coat, bunny ears and bunny tail". Erm, check it:
I mean really, what?
The track by Crippled Dog on the Harvest album is just the band, no Trimble, a rock song which is totally out of place amongst Trimble's tremble. It's a total hoot - love it!
Track 9, 'Paralysed' launches right back into Bobb’s head as if the previous track never actually occurred and the whole thing finishes up with Track 10 ‘Another lonely Angel’ where our man is cracked, our heads are cracked and the whole thing is over. Despite all these elements it works as a whole, it all fits together like a jigsaw puzzle which on first glance looks impossible but towards the end starts to take on a logic all of it’s own which finally completes itself as a whole.
Really, I ask, who on earth has made a record like this? The flipped production of Joe Meek or White Noise, the heartbreaking damage of Skip Spence are two junctures, but this sits unto it’s own. Totally incredible Drop all pre-conceptions and enter Trimble’s world – listen – to his voice, to the lyrics, to the production, to the songs! It’s singular baby – yr friends will look at you weird, yr partner will smile politely, but if you delve deep in this world and listen, repeatedly, you will know, oh yes, you will certainly know. Records can be amazing artefacts of individual humans on occasion. And what a fine, fine thing this is.
Oh and to finish these 2 lp's have amongst the finest lp covers scooped by these peepers. 'Iron Curtain' has him seated holding a guitar and gun (!) whilst 'Harvest' has a aslightly blurred poorly framed shot of our man Bobb standing with a goat dressed up as a Unicorn, erm, of course.
TEIJI ITO Tenno / Songs for Maya (Tzadik) CDSome threads have become apparent when putting together this list. A preferance for non-western instrumentation and a focus on music from non-western trajectories, Teiji Ito was initially burnt into my brain following repeated viewings of Maya Deran’s ‘Meshes of an Afternoon” – the film itself is always a pleasure, I saw this again recently as it was playing at Tate Modern. The soundtrack is unique for an experimental film, it avoids western developments in experimental music. Ito references traditional Japanese music but also incorporates the avant garde in ways not so familiar to others working in a similar field (Toru Takemistu springs to mind).
I find it difficult to elaborate on the music contained within this double cd set. It sits so far outside my frame of reference. Tenno sits more firmly in the tradition of the avant garde with a plethora of sonic manipulation, multi-layered voices, tape fuckery; a good old sonic stew.
The Music for Maya disc is more perplexing with a restraint that is uncommon (less so in japan I guess) – the elements are familiar but the timing is unique. Silence is used is the best possible manner – to highlight the events prior and following. adding impact to these that would otherwise have been non-existant. Ito’s music for Maya Deran’s films are basic, primitive, spacious, delicate and absorbing. Tribal percussion, melodic winds, gutter bound horns and gamelans. I often wonder how things would be different in the 20th Avant garde if the music of Ito and Takemitsu had taken more of a foothold than the tight grip that Cage and co secured.
In a similar sense to the old blues documentation as documented by Harry Smith, these recordings have a primitive sound which adds to the aura of the ‘otherworldy’ . A recording studio is the last thing that is conjured by these artefacts. They seem to have been made in a different time and place. Primitive Japanese avant garde folk soundtrack music simply does not get better than this, or maybe it does? Re-issues rule for lazy researchers like moi!
OMAR SOULEYMAN: Highway to Hassake (Folk and Pop Sounds of Syria) (Sublime Frequencies) CDPress release: "Born in rural Northeastern Syria, he began his musical career in 1994 with a small group of local collaborators that remain with him today. The myriad musical traditions of the region are evident in their music. Here, classical Arabic mawal-style vocalization gives way to high-octane Syrian Dabke (the regional folkloric dance and party music), Iraqi Choubi and a host of Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish styles, among others. This amalgamation is truly the sound of Syria. The music often has an overdriven sound consisting of phase-shifted Arabic keyboard solos and frantic rhythms. At breakneck speeds, these shrill Syrian electronics play out like forbidden morse-code, but the moods swing from coarse and urgent to dirgy and contemplative in the rugged anthems that comprise Souleyman's repertoire. Oud, reeds, baglama saz, accompanying vocals and percussion fill out the sound from track to track. Mahmoud Harbi is a long-time collaborator and the man responsible for much of the poetry sung by Souleyman. Together, they commonly perform the Ataba, a traditional form of folk poetry used in Dabke. On stage, Harbi chain smokes cigarettes while standing shoulder to shoulder with Souleyman, periodically leaning over to whisper the material into his ear. Acting as a conduit, Souleyman struts into the audience with urgency, vocalizing the prose in song before returning for the next verse. Souleyman’s first hit in Syria was "Jani" (1996) which gained cassette-kiosk infamy and brought him recognition throughout the country. Over the years, his popularity has risen steadily and the group tirelessly performs concerts throughout Syria and has accepted invitations to perform abroad in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Lebanon. Omar Souleyman is a man of hospitality and striking integrity who describes his style as his own and prides himself on not being an imitator or a sellout".
I remember immediately following the destruction of the twin towers in New York the Chicago based satirical paper The Onion put out an issue with front page that contained a photo of the event along with bold letters above this exclaiming “HOLY FUCKING SHIT!”. Since this period the world has spun into an endless doozy of confusion, demented decision making and amongst the positives a recognition of not as much a religion but a region which has often been off the radar by way of Western channels for far too long. Whether as a means of kinship, sympathy or simple guilt this is changing and we, the curious are much better for it. Alan Bishop’s ‘Sublime Frequencies’ label has had much praise since unleashing a plethora of recordings from around the globe obscure two years ago. Whether it’s the frustrating short attention span ‘Radio’ series or dvd’s of bizarre world rituals there is much to be explored amongst this vast and frustratingly limited catalogue of unearthed nuggets.
The Omar Souleyman release is the only one so far which is not a compilation. It’s a full length by a single artist and a recently recorded one at that. And fuck me sky blue if it ain’t a total freaking corker. Why on earth this does not make end of year lists is ridiculous (actually I just saw that many of the 'dusted magazine' writers have put this in their end of year top of pip lists). Folks have, however, cottoned on to the gold in this here cd as this is the only sublime frequencies cd to have been re-pressed. Again, the appeal of this cd may be in the fact that it lies so far out of my usual field of exploration that it throws my head into new ways of listening and understanding just how music can be put together.
There seems to be 2 sides to Omar’s coin; The fast and spazzy dance numbers with complex rhythms, hyper tinny keyboard along with chanty vox. There are some videos on you tube which show our man Omar cruising around in sunglasses, pimp'n and mack'n with Syrian gals by his side, our man Omar comes off like a Syrian Snoop Dog! It’s hella killer:
As one would expect S.Frequencies have compiled (for our ears anyway) the more 'foreign' spectrum of Omar’s output. The other side of Omar features long, slow, stripped back numbers. Track 12 alone is one of the most staggering songs these ears have encountered all year. It’s a big dark lurching number anchored by a thudding bass rhythm and propelled by an insane (guitar? ah ignorance shines bright!) melody. Chants creep in and an organ (?) provides the most apocalyptic ending imaginable – I beg anybody to inform of the instrument that is being played at the end of this track – PLEASE!!!
The essence of sublime frequencies is to tear up the established norms as to what was once crudely refered to as ‘world music’ can be. It’s human creativity in its multifarious forms – commercial, social, religious, ceremonial and personal. There is no hierarchy or distinction between musical forms or contexts, cheesy disco will be rub up against solitary chants. This is a key to the endless discovery in these releases. High art, low art, kitsch and the sincerity hold hands, track by track, wrapped in crudely collaged day glo booklets featuring rituals, lounge rooms, pop, magic, the arcane…"Highway to Hassake" is a great entry point to the weird world of Sublime Frequencies that will not scare off yr 'straight' pals and if you listen closely will take you far, far away from your ingrained pre-conceptions of commercial music. Hazzah!!
MONOTON Monotonprodukt 07 20y ++ (Oral) CDShazam! My man at work Costas (THE New Jack King) has put me on to loads of killer records since I started the job 8 weeks ago - but this, so far, is the shining pearl of the bunch. I had always heard about this release. The Wire had put it in the issue which covered "100 records that Set The World On Fire (while no one was listening)". This made mention of the Monoton record being the template for much of the experimental electronic techno that poured out of Europe (mostly the Berlin/Vienna axis) in the 90's. I was curious but suffice to say finding this number was nigh on impossible. Subsequently I put it in the back of my mind and until I saw this listed on my pals i-pod, "Man, you have that Monoton record, I wanna!!". This single move destroyed my Xmas and New Years - period! Whilst the world is rejoicing, laughing and praising the likes of Panda Bear here I was submerged in the dark pulsing void that is Konrad Becker's masterpiece. Fuck it, I would not have had it any other way. Following on from other recent obsessions: Ash Ra Tempel's " Jenseits" (from Join Inn), Sand's "Ultrasonic Seraphim" and other dark, murky, swirly, Deutsch dreams this sucker capped off a year exploring such paranoid head space.
This is the missing link between Krautrock and Berlin Techno experimental. To be crass this is like a cross between aforementioned " Jenseits" and the deepest of Basic Channel's fog with a dash of Suicide thrown in the mix (minus the angst). Press play on this number and immediately one is submerged in 'that world', the Monoton world. A world that is deep, dark and murkey, there is no escaping the headspace this release puts you into. This is not social music. I can't play this in my house, "It's too dark, mark, really!". But on headphones this is a finely tuned work of freaked pulsations which plunges the listener deeply in a realm seldom encountered within the wonderful world of 'audio'.
Let's talk templates, it's corny to speak like this, but really this shit is staggering for the time (1982). The various tangents of Pan Sonic, Oval, Mego, Basic Channel all reside here. The second release by Monoton 'Blau' is Burial - simple, it's fucking Burial circa 1980 ! Simon Reynolds and all these cats are flipping praise upon praise at Burial - "I can't believe he is making this kind of music", "how does he come up with this" etc ... well, ok I am missing the point, the current climate, the dislocated vocals etc... sure thing Burial has relevance today, but as far as sonic referances go - Monoton baby, Monoton!
The whole record shifts through a murky territory which is neither 'cosmic' or 'industrial'. A paranoid pulse which draws you into the void. One track is called "Water" and repeats the echo-ladden phrase "Fish in the Water" throughout. An apt metaphor regarding the perpetual monotony that resides within these sombre sequenced selections. So, So good!!
Love it!!
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