LITHA (21 June 2011)

The musick dedicated to this Sabbat is:

HOFFMAN KAY

FLORET SILVA


Original Issue: 1985 Belle Antique (BELLE 8502 )

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Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

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from Tinymixtapes :

The tumultuous history of Kay Hoffman's 1977 progressive folk opus Floret Silva is perhaps widely known among aficionados of underground psych folk and Italian prog, but it does indeed bear mentioning for the uninitiated, at least for the purposes of this review. Hoffman was an Italian composer who endeavored to set parts of the legendary Carmina Burana basically a Thirteenth Century Northern European manuscript containing a series of mostly anonymous religious and spiritual poetry to music.

Assisted by the Italian progressive rock band Pierrot Lunaire (and most notably the vocals of singer Jacqueline Darby), Hoffman composed and produced Floret Silva, an ambitious recording that combined elements of psych folk, psychedelic rock, and Italian prog with overtones of Medieval choral music.

Due to a number of factors, including deadlines not met, and possibly the passage of the Seventies psych folk zeitgeist into the void, Floret Silva was not released in 1978 as was Hoffman's original intention. Instead it was released in 1985 on a small Japanese label, Belle Antique, where it received precious little in the way of international exposure.

Finally, three decades later, Floret Silva has been issued in remastered and impeccably packaged form on Robot Records. Now that psych folk and wyrd folk artists such as Jan Dukes de Grey have begun to achieve renewed popularity among the indie rock/free folk scene, the record is finally being reissued to greater fanfare that Hoffman could have perhaps imagined.

Sounding at times like the precursor to the music of Dead Can Dance, Floret Silva contains eerie passages of instrumental rock and medieval folk, and has the somewhat unusual distinction of featuring lyrics sung entirely in Latin, courtesy of the aforementioned Jacqueline Darby. Although the record is heavily informed by progressive rock and even a healthy dose of jazz at times, it falls firmly within the purview of what is commonly known as psych (or acid) folk.

Replete with flutes, harpsichord, strings, and melancholic acoustic guitar, Floret Silva is a druggy synthesis of traditional music, medieval chants and somewhat dated-sounding Seventies musical ornamentation. But despite Hoffman's tendency to push the limits of the genre via her experimental and highly unorthodox arrangements (Hoffman's métier was composition in a minimalist style), the album's pastoral pieces sound entirely as suitable for romps around the maypole as those of, say, Clive's Original Band. On most of these tracks, particularly on the vocal pieces, there is a palpable and frequently unsettling Wicker Man vibe at work here.

Unlike the more definitive progenitors of the psych-folk genre Fairport Convention, Comus, Incredible String Band et al. Kay Hoffman's album is unfortunately marred by both its late emergence into the scene and its Seventies musical affectations. The production values on Floret Silva would not have been sorely out of place on one of Creed Taylor's CTI records.

The muffled drums, noodly, acid-laced guitar leads, and reverb-drenched Fender Rhodes accompaniment right out of a Chuck Mangione album have the overall effect of dulling Hoffman's medieval atmosphere, rendering it distractingly anachronistic. But all criticism aside, Floret Silva is a strange and intriguing release that gives the listener a welcome insight into a different, more electric, aspect of the genre. And truth be told, it's at times a hauntingly beautiful album that will leave certain passages resonating with the listener for considerable length of time.

IMBOLC (02 Febrary 2011)

The musick dedicated to this Sabbat is:

SEPI KUU

RANNAN USVASSA


Original Issue: 1980 Heliander (Help 703)

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Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

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An amazing find... intense droning Finnish vocals and searing fuzz guitars with hand percussion. Sounds like the more serious tracks on Walter Wegmuller's "Tarot" album. Or even Sergius Golowin's "Lord Krishna Von Goloka". Comes completely out of left field, and is pretty much one of a kind, especially considering the time and place.

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from New Gibraltar :

Rannan Usvassa (Heliander HELP 703) may be the most obscure Finnish progressive rock album. In fact, even the identity of the musicians behind the pseudonym Sepi Kuu is unclear. Stylistically Rannan Usvassa (In the Mist of the Shore) is actually more late-in-the-day psychedelia than progressive rock, as most of the album's twelve short tracks build on a few chords strummed or arpeggiated on acoustic guitar, over which an unsonorous voice more recites than sings blank verse about existential angst and mysticism by the numbers. Organ, oscillators and flute gather their modal mist around these structures, while a fuzz guitar occasionally snakes up to thicken arrangements with background growls or, in the case of "Puhukaa mitä puhutte" ("Say What You Will") and the title track, understated solos, in a style remotely comparable to early Jade Warrior. Bass and percussion also make appearances, played with the same homespun plainness and lack of technical boasting that marks the whole project - for better or worse.

There is a decidedly amateurish air about the monotonous staccato thrum of "Tämän linnoituksen on kestettävä" ("This Fortress Must Stand") or the stop-start, kindergarten-variety proto-industrial-metal muck that accompanies the vicious circle of amateur-philosopher homilies in "Ajatus" ("Thought"). And yet "Muuratut kasvot" ("Bricked Faces") digs up surprising lyricism from its dusky vocal melodies, ringing guitar arpeggios and meditative keyboard solo, while the one instrumental "Manvantara" cleverly flanks its centre-position solo flute with asynchronous sets of drums panned to the opposite sides of the stereo field, each coupled with a feedbacking guitar or synthesizer. As a small-time psychedelic album Rannan Usvassa is quite acceptable, but any aura of lost classic obscurity may have furnished it with is totally unwarranted. And obscurity was a fact in 2004, for the original vinyl was very rare and no CD release existed (the Tachika pirate-CD-R edition does not rate as one).

Kai Karmanheimo

FULL FLOWER MOON (27 May 2010)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

ÄLGARNAS TRÄDGÅRD

Framtiden Är Svävande Skepp, Förankrat I Forntiden



Original Issue: 1972 Silence (SRS 4611) Buy it here!!!

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

One of the most incredible psychedelic albums coming out of the '70s!

ESSENTIAL LISTENING

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1 Two Hours Over Two Blue Mountains With A Cuckoo On Each Side, Of The Hours... That Is 13:13
2 There Is A Time For Everything, There Is A Time When Even Time Will Meet... 6:10
3 Children Of Possibilities 3:12
4 La Rotta 1:41
5 Viriditas 2:59
6 Rings Of Saturn 7:15
7 The Future Is A Hovering Ship, Anchored In The Past 5:06
8 5/4 10:26
9 The Mirrors Of Gabriel

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from Forced Exposure:

Älgarnas Trädgård's name translates as "Garden of the Elks" and this debut album has always stood as one of the pinnacles of underground psychedelic rock -- comparable to early Pink Floyd, Group 1850 and other world masters of space-out genius.

The title translates as The Future is a Hovering Ship Anchored in the Past. The group employed an instrumental array made of: violins, rebec, cello, guitars, sitar, piano, zither, organ flutes, zinks, jew's harps, tablas, percussion, Moog-synthesizer & VC-3 Putney-synthesizer.

Recorded at Studio Decibel in 1971, this CD reissue adds two bonus live tracks from 1972. From Dan Söderqvist's notes: "We have known each other since 1968, when we met in our home neighborhood Västra Frölunda, Gothenburg.

We listened to everything; Perotinus heavenly choirs from the 13th century, Messien's heavy works for orchestra, Beefheart's Safe as Milk, with it's surreal lyrics, King Crimson's endless string of chords, the beautiful acoustic Third Ear Band, Terry Riley's minimalism and above all the psychedelic music of early Pink Floyd.

Sometimes we played our 'dägga-däng-music', crazy rhythmical plays with acoustic guitars and hysterical giggles. Sometimes we just sat and listened to the sounds slowly disappearing into space ... We experimented with getting strange sounds out of our instruments, started to use amplifiers and played with echoes ... We constantly expanded our possibilities to get new sounds, with organs, mouth harps and pedals ... We got our hands on the first Moog module system that just about had reached Sweden. We mixed Middle Age instruments such as zinks and rebecs, sound effects, church bells, fragments of both Bach and The Beatles and improvised our way through the first album.

FULL HARVEST MOON (04 October 2009)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O.

LA NÒVIA


Original Issue: 2001 Swordfish (SFAMCD2D)

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Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

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1 La Nòvia 40:40
2 Bois-Tu De La Bière? 3:49
3 Bon Voyage Au LSD 17:26

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from BBC Music:

The Acid Mothers Temple discography seems to be expanding weekly with limited edition vinyl and CD-Rs cropping up on obscure labels all over the place. When you record live and have a band that's pretty much incapable of playing anything under 20 minutes long, there's a lot to release. No-one's complaining though, as guitarist Makoto Kawabata and friends seem to be on a roll at the moment in their quest to unite the drive of psychedelically fuelled rock with a deeper, more spiritual aesthetic.

The sprawling 40 minute title track is based on an Occitanian folk tune, and the unearthly acoustic opening with its overtone singing sounds like something that might have made its way on to a Werner Herzog soundtrack. Indeed once the guitars come in and the band stoke up their mighty drone, the effect is that of an amped up Popul Vuh, the German band who soundtracked many Herzog films. Ashra Tempel or Amon Duul are other reference points. At times, it's impossible to believe that this wasn't recorded in Berlin in 1972, such is the authenticity of the enterprise. But Kawabata's crew aren't merely K-tel Krautrockers; La Novia shows a deep respect for the traditional folk form and integrates it completely with the long forays into deep space that the leader's fuzz

"Bon Voyage au LSD", though a mere 17 and a half minutes long makes up for in intensity what it lacks in length, building up from a stark montage of synth cries and guitar shrieks to a bludgeoning trainwreck of a riff. Likely to send even your Granny on a trip to the outer regions of the known universe, this record should be handled with care.

Peter Marsch

FULL HUNTER'S MOON (14 October 2008)

The Musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

VELVET UNDERGROUND (THE)

APRIL 1966, SCEPTER STUDIOS (NORMAN DOLPH ACETATE)


Original Issue: 1966

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

Dedicated to all my dear male followers...from Margot, your "Venus in furs" ;-)

shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather

whiplash girlchild in the dark

comes in bells, your servant, don't forsake him

strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart


downy sins of streetlight fancies

chase the costumes she shall wear

ermine furs adorn the imperious

severin, severin awaits you there


i am tired, i am weary

i could sleep for a thousand years

a thousand dreams that would awake me

different colors made of tears


kiss the boot of shiny, shiny leather

shiny leather in the dark

tongue of thongs, the belt that does await you

strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart


severin, severin, speak so slightly

severin, down on your bended knee

taste the whip, in love not given lightly

taste the whip, now plead for me


i am tired, i am weary

i could sleep for a thousand years

a thousand dreams that would awake me

different colors made of tears


shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather

whiplash girlchild in the dark

severin, your servant comes in bells, please don't forsake him

strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart

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1 European Son
2 The Black Angel's Death Song
3 All Tomorrow's Parties
4 I'll Be Your Mirror
5 Heroin
6 Femme Fatale
7 Venus In Furs
8 I'm Waiting For The Man
9 Run Run Run

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from the E-Bay auction:

This auction is for a unique 12" LP acetate whose unearthing has been storied in several underground/label international news features, periodicals and a documentary over the last several years including Rolling Stone Magazine (December 30, 2004), Mojo Magazine (May 2005), U.K. Record Collector Magazine (May 2005), Goldmine Magazine (December 8, 2006), The Globe & Mail (May 28, 2005 and January 14, 2006), and the 2006 Documentary "Velvet Underground Under Review (An Independent Critical Analysis)".

Following is excerpted and adapted (with the author's approval) from the article written by Eric Isaacson of Mississippi Records in Portland Oregon which is featured in the December 8, 2006 issue of Goldmine Magazine currently on news-stands through mid December:

THE MYSTERY OF THE VELVET UNDERGROUND'S "REAL FIRST RECORD" (AND HOW THE ONLY EXISTING COPY WAS BOUGHT FOR 75 CENTS)

In September of 2002 Warren Hill of Montreal Canada was perusing a box of records at a Chelsea, New York street sale when he happened upon a nice Leadbelly 10" on Folkways, a water damaged copy of the first Modern Lovers LP on Beserkely, and a brittle 12" piece of acetone-covered aluminum with the words "Velvet Underground. 4-25-66. Att N. Dolph" written on the label. He purchased the three records for 75 cents each.

As I have a small knowledge of records and am an old friend of Warren's, I got a call from him the next day in which he described the acetate. Because of the date and the unique type of pressing, we both agreed that it was probably an in-studio acetate made during the recording of the first Velvet Underground LP back in 1966 (I had heard that they occasionally would have a vinyl cutting lathe in the studio to cut records of the day's recordings for the artists and/or producers to take home for review). Warren didn't want to play the mysterious platter due to the fragile nature of acetates, and the cheap nature of his record needle, so we agreed that the next time he was visiting me in Portland we would check it out together. If it turned out to be what we thought it was, maybe we could sell it at Mississippi Records, the small neighbourhood record store in Portland that I work at. Sight unseen and sound unheard, I assumed that it was likely an acetate pressing of the recording which would be eventually be released as the group's first album, "The Velvet Underground & Nico".

It took awhile for Warren to visit, but when he did he brought along the acetate. We cued it up and were stunned -- the first song was not "Sunday Morning" as on the "Velvet Underground & Nico" Verve LP, but rather it was "European Son"- the song that is last on that LP, and it was a version neither of us had ever heard before! It was less bombastic and more bluesy than the released version, and it clocked in at a full two minutes longer. I immediately took the needle off the record, and realized that we had something special. Between the two of us we had heard many Velvets outtakes on both official and less than official releases, but the present material had never been heard by either of us.

The next few days found us scrambling for clues and information about what to make of this find; calling every record collector/historian we knew and reading everything we could find concerning the early recordings of the VU. We pieced together that this was probably a surviving copy of the legendary Scepter studios recordings which had been regarded as lost (hence the epic moniker "the lost scepter studios recordings" applied to these unheard sessions over the years). The recording is comprised of the primitive first "finished" version of the LP that Andy Warhol had shopped to Columbia as a ready-to-release debut album by his protege collective "The Velvet Underground".

This acetate, which is possibly the only surviving copy, represents the first Velvet Underground album as Andy Warhol intended it to be released.

Though the same compositions and even a few of the same "takes" (albeit in different mixes) were used on the subsequent commercial release, that which was eventually issued as their debut album on Verve, "The Velvet Underground & Nico", was a significantly different creation. I had heard of these nascent recordings before... it was said by some that the master tapes had burned in a fire, by others that all of those recordings ended up being on the released album, and still by others that the only existing copy of that material was on an acetate owned by David Bowie, and that he was known to tout it as his most prized possession.

The truth about what we held was fuzzy until Warren managed to track down the N. Dolph referred to on the label for an interview.

Norman Dolph was a perennial in the New York art & music scene of the 1960's. He worked as a sales representative at Columbia Records through 1967, and was deeply involved with different facets of the independent music world on the side. Andy Warhol, who was managing the Velvets at the time, contacted Dolph & offered him a painting in exchange for services as "ghost" (uncredited) producer for the Velvet's first recording session. Warhol wanted to record a Velvets album before they had a record company behind them as this would tend to minimize meddling label executives' mobility in compromising the musical arrangement's distraught primal force, not to mention the unprecedented taboo lyrics which openly address sex, drugs, and depravity. Warhol's plan was to have Dolph record it and then shop it around to labels (first & foremost Columbia) as a finished recording.

...and so Dolph rented out Scepter studios, and with an engineer named John Licata by his side, they recorded the Velvets for four days. At the time Scepter studios was between reconstruction and demolition with walls falling over and holes in the floor. Velvets' bass & viola player John Cale would later recall the environment as "Post-Apocalyptic".

Dolph took the master tapes made during this session to the Columbia building, which still had an in-house pressing plant, and cut the acetate "after hours" with people he knew on the inside. Dolph then sent the acetate to Columbia to see if they were interested in releasing it. It was returned promptly with a note that said something akin to "do you think we're out of our f**king minds?" Dolph then gave the acetate to Andy Warhol or John Cale, he cannot remember which.

Six of the songs recorded during the Scepter session made it on to the "Velvet Underground & Nico" LP, albeit with radically different mixes. The other four songs were re-recorded in LA by Tom Wilson. As far as we know, the only listenable copy of the original versions of Heroin, Venus In Furs, I'm Waiting For The Man, and European Son exist on the acetate that Warren found. (A Japanese bootleg of the same material did appear, but in poor, arguably ‘unlistenable' sound quality. It is possible that the source tape for the Japanese bootleg was made from this very acetate decades ago when it was in different hands. Who knows?) We have since realized that we are in possession of a likely one of a kind artifact - the first recordings by one of the most influential rock bands of all time!

After establishing the authenticity of Warren's find we photographed the item and made a high quality digital back-up copy of the material. A media frenzy ensued, with articles appearing in Rolling Stone, Mojo, Record Collector, The Globe & Mail, and many other news sources. Calls started flooding in from people interested in buying the acetate, as well as record companies interested in releasing the songs on it. After much consideration, we decided that it would be best to release it to the highest bidder through an auction facilitated by our good friends at Saturn Records in Oakland, California (a store that has a well-established presence in the international vinyl collecting community, and an excellent reputation on the internet).

As to the most interesting mystery brought up by the appearance of this item - how did such an important artifact disappear for 37 years & end up at a Chelsea New York yard sale priced at 75 cents? ...We have no answer.

The track differences between the acetate versions and the commercial recordings on "The Velvet Underground & Nico" are detailed as follows:

1.European Son- completely different version,. Guitar solo is much bluesier. Less noisy and experimental. Longer by 2 minutes or so.

2.Black Angel's Death Song-Same take as released version. Different mix.

3.All Tomorrow's Parties- Same take as released version. Different mix.

4.I'll Be Your Mirror-Same take as released version. Radically different mix. No echo on Nico's vocals. Background vocals on end of song are more subdued.

5.Heroin-Completely different take than released version. Guitar line is different. Vocal inflections different, and a few different lyrics. Drumming is more primitive & off kilter. There is a tambourine dragging throughout the song.

6.Femme Fatale- Same take as released version. Radically different mix. Percussion more prominent. Alternate take on background vocals. Much more "poppy".

7.Venus In Furs- Different take than released version. Vocal inflections completely different. Instrumentation more based around Cales' violin than the guitar as in the released version.

8.I'm Waiting For The Man- Different take than released version. Guitar line is completely different. Vocal inflections different, and a few different lyrics. No drums, just tambourine. Bluesy guitar solo.

9.Run Run Run- Same take as released version. Different mix.

STONED MOON (pscikadilik musick)

PÄRSON SOUND

PÄRSON SOUND

Original Issue: 2001 Subliminal Sounds (TILCD02) Buy it here!

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

One of the most incredible aural artifacts coming out of the 1960s.

This ranks quite high in Margot's top ten albums of all times!

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01 - Intro (0:53)
02 - Tio Minuter (10:30)
03 - From Tunis To India in Fullmoon (On Testosterone) (20:29)
04 - India (Slight Return) (13:06)
05 - A Glimpse Inside The Glyptotec-66 (6:02)
06 - One Quiet Afternoon (In The King’s Garden) (10:33)
07 - Sov Gott Rose-Marie (13:18)
08 - Skrubba (28:57)
09 - Milano (7:57)
10 - On How To Live (7:26)
11 - Blåslåten (5:41)

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from Subliminal Sounds homepage:

Defying the world to ignore the psychedelic shamanism and intense spirituality of their music, the battle cry of late 60s Stockholm underground quintet Pärson Sound was "We, Here and Now!". Unfortunately, up to now their music has been a well-kept secret, despite such high profile appearances as supporting The Doors, and being personally invited by Andy Warhol to open his 1968 exhibition at Stockholm's Museum of Modern Art (Magnus Haglund mentions them in his feature on the Swedish avant garde, The Ecstatic Society, in The Wire 210). Compiling unreleased live and studio recordings, Pärson Sound is an astonishing find that successfully buckles all notions of how rock, jazz and experimental music should behave. The first CD opens with a lulling guitar drone that fools you into thinking that the remaining nine minutes or so of 'Tio Minuter" ("Ten Minutes") will be equally laid-back and hypnotic. It turns out that the intro is a short musical fuse setting off a cacophonic hard rock explosion that owes more to the psychedelic Metal brutalities of 60s heavyweights Blue Cheer than the minimalistic tone patterns of La Monte Young and Terry Riley (whose ideas Pärson Sound were also strongly attracted to; indeed they met in an ad hoc ensemble put together to perform Riley's music). Rather than just endlessly chipping and hammering at rock's surface noise, however, the group carry out complex sound experiments, whose full richness only emerge with several patient replays. On "From Tunes To India In Fullmoon (On Testosterone)», a live recording from 1968, the group bring into play their love and understanding of free jazz. Bo Anders Persson's looping electric guitar, Thomas Ticholm's aggressive sax and Anne Ericsson's howling electric cello supply the swifling black center for a sonic tornado. The main members of Pärson Sound went on to form the equally short lived International Harvester, who recorded one album for Love Records called Sov Gott Rose Marie (Good Night Rose Marie). Disc two opens and closes with works from this period, both of which plunge head on into a rock filled swamp of strange sounds, devotional drones and amplified abstraction. – EDWIN POUNCEY/WIRE, UK

If this one is not gonna be number one in the 2001 Droneon poll, I'm gonna grow myself a beard and eat it, cuz a more sublime marriage of drone and rock has yet to be invented. Pärson Sound was a Swedish communal drone-sludge assemblage that preceded International Harvester, Harvester, and Trad Gras och Stenar. These are archival recordings, the band never released an album at the time (we're talking 1967/68). Imagine a reverb-drenched pact of the Godz and Sabbath jamming on "Sister Ray" played at 16 rpm, with Terry Riley dumping some time-lag-accumulated sax on top, while someone else is sawing a cello in two Cale/Conrad-style. And that's just the (approximate) scenario of the first couple of tracks. There are also some non-rockin' tape-drone experiments by bandleader BoAnders Persson, plus, on the second disc you'll find embryonic versions of songs that would later turn up on International Harvester's sole album Sov Gott Rose-Marie (I've heard there's a Korean CD of this one floating around, but haven't seen it yet), only these early takes even surpass the "better known" versions. A friend of mine exclaimed: "now Bardo Pond can go jump off a cliff." Now I'm not for violent imagery like that, so lets just say that Pärson Sound out-psychs all and everything. God-like!...Swedish rock rules. – Droneeon/USA

This is most definitely something any fan of psychedelic freak rock weirdness would want to be aware of. Pärson Sound would achieve wider acclaim a couple years later when it changed its name to International Harvester and Träd, Gräs och Stenar (Trees, Grass and Stones). Before then this Swedish ensemble specialized in an especially atonal form of trance or drone rock, a large sampling of which has been compiled here from various rehearsals and live recordings. I'm not sure if any of this has ever seen the light of day before now, but I'm thinking not. I can see why, as this isn't exactly dripping with commercial potential. Still the Pärson Sound proves to be just what the doctor ordered when it comes to expansive, wall of sound guitar drone hypnotism, especially considering this stuff was recorded in 1967-68, a good two years before the Krautrock explosion would really kick in. Similar trajectories could be found at the time in the works of the Grateful Dead, the early Velvets, and of course Floyd, the free-form improvisations of AMM, but the Pärson Sound brought something uniquely glacial and incredibly heavy to their sound. The massive guitar jams that comprise this double CD are the sort that Amon Duul II would take to monumental heights on their first two albums. But even then there's something intrinsically minimal and relentlessly repetitive going on here, no doubt inspired by several members of the band joining Terry Riley for some of his performances when he visited Sweden in the Spring of '67. Many of these tracks average 10 minutes or longer in length, but that hardly matters. Once you hear the first glistening rays of atonal violin screech of the intro on disk 1, such concerns simply evaporate. Violin and synth drones give way to the earth-shattering doom sludge of opener "Tio Minuter" (Ten Minutes), which rings and drones like some medieval church bell for a good six minutes before veering off into a mellower free jazz cul-de-sac for its remaining four. The very next track "From Tunis to India in Full Moon (On Testosterone)" is 20 minutes of blasted acid-destruction that screams for bonfires and naked virgins covered in streaked body paint, and acid.lots of acid. The similarities between what these people were doing then and Bardo Pond is doing right now are striking, only this is decidedly more Swedish, and primal. This is tribal improve/drone rock that you can bury your head under for hours at a time, but it's the mellower, and more minimal asides thrown in along the way that keep it interesting. This one's for fans of seriously damaged psychedelic excess only (that's everybody reading this, right?).
– mats gustafson/Broken face, Sweden

"I might as well go ahead and divulge a tidbit or two upfront: Pärson Sound is a musical outfit with Swedish origins and a predilection for psychedelia. Depending on the take, it's a concoction capable of sending you on a run to the nearest exit or reaching for the knob to crank the volume. What's more, prior to this year, the majority of the music world had never heard the name, much less encountered any of the music. Hence, a little rundown is in order: For a brief period during 1967-68, Pärson Sound was a frontrunner in the burgeoning Swedish music scene, leading to a few shows accompanying Terry Riley, an opening gig for the Doors and an invite from Andy Warhol to play an art exhibit in Stockholm. Regrettably, no album was ever cut and the band's activity ended almost as soon as it began-- although later manifestations would emerge and continue under the names Harvester (sometimes known as International Harvester) and Träd, Gräs och Stenar (translation: Trees, Grass and Stones).

Up until this recent release, Pärson Sound was basically just a blip on a musical roadmap, their name appearing sparingly in Warhol articles or Swedish musical histories. So I'll let you in on a little secret. As January rapidly approaches, I can say this two-disc set is by far the most unexpected surprise of the year. Serving up a platter of archival recordings (rehearsals, studio and live cuts), this Pärson Sound collection is drug-addled psychedelic mindfuckery at its best. And that's just the beginning. Successfully marrying the ideas of rock, jazz, and drone experimentalism, this Swedish quintet sounds like it wasn't just trying to break free of the limitations inherent in each genre; at times, it sounds like they were trying to blow the doors off the hinges.

Opening the first disc, "Tio Minuter" ("Ten Minutes") starts out quietly enough, beginning with a hushed guitar atop distant vocal chants. Don't let it fool you. It's a ruse. One minute in, the band forsakes the mesmerizing guitar for an intense, cacophonous clamor. Sounding as if someone suddenly set the stage on fire, Pärson Sound unleashes a grinding series of brutal guitar riffs. Stretching out beyond ten minutes, the band isn't content to remain in one sound territory. The track builds from a mammoth sludge-fest into a ringing guitar drone backed by the screeching sounds of Arne Ericsson sawing away at his electric-cello. Everything settles into a glacial pace near the end as the sounds of ghostly tape-lagged voices glide over each other, an invocation for the ether-regions (which makes sense-- séance is a credited instrument in the liner notes).

The blissed-out trance work continues with "From Tunis to India in Fullmoon (On Testosterone)," a miasmic sound orgy that drips with ecstatic energy. It's a Bacchanalian noise festival, an acid-drenched lunar ride in which everyone is whipped into rapturous primal frenzy while Pan taps his hoof and bleats out the age-old hypnotic spell. Driving forward into free-jazz, "Tunis" finds Pärson Sound openly and aggressively exploring ideas through improvisation. The entire track is a swirling sound-world, held fast by Thomas Mera Gartz's pounding percussion. Guitarists Bo Anders Persson and Ericsson immerse themselves in locked drones, enticing out a series of resonating vibrations, while saxophonist Thomas Tidholm reels off a series of rasping moans and pain-filled squeals. Coalescing into a tight-knit entity near the end, Persson hammers out a delirious buzzsaw solo over the increasing urgency of Gartz's percussion. The resulting din is pure astrophysical beauty.

"A Glimpse Inside the Glyptotec-66" leaves the instruments behind, abandoning them for tape-looped guitar and Persson's lagged-voice experiments. Recorded for 1966's Young Nordic Music Festival, "Glimpse" is a surprisingly early collage for guitar and voice that places Persson alongside contemporary minimalists Terry Riley and Steve Reich. Having captured several glittering guitar drones and sequencing them on tape, he slowly adds pre-recorded tapes of voice mixed with his live moans and vocalized syllables. "One Quiet Afternoon (In the King's Garden)" is a massive squall of noise. Again toying with pre-recorded tape experiments, Pärson Sound creeps along, drowning everything in a rumbling clatter (much of it produced from the feedback-saturated tapes). Howling, pre-recorded voices amble over each other while the tapes are either accelerated to furious speeds or slowed to a dazed crawl.

The second disc in the set both opens and closes with nascent versions of songs that would appear later on International Harvester's debut. Stretching to thirteen minutes, "Sov Gott Rose-Marie" is centered on a reverie-inducing guitar solo, but builds gradually into a frightening full-band chant of the title. With three members repeatedly intoning the title phrase, other instruments begin to pile up, climbing over each other and saturating the space. The result is a haunting, claustrophobic grumble filled with battered organ keys, pummeled bass strings and the fading remains of an earlier guitar drone.

A track that starts with smoldering embers, "Milano," moves at an increasingly rapid piece as time elapses and Pärson Sound stoke the fire. Subsumed within the booming percussion and electrically charged cello, Persson leisurely constructs a guitar solo that moves swiftly from rattling mess to drifting murmur. Moving in a recurring pattern, Persson's guitar workouts are sprawling meditative journeys-- shifting repetition often giving way to gradual movement and pulsing breath. With only five tracks per disc, the average length of each song is easily ten minutes or more, occasional stretching to the half-hour mark (the lengthy spiritualistic drone "Skrubba") and once or twice staying in the seven-minute range (the acoustic "On How to Live"). In spite of this, any concerns related to length tend to dissipate once your head is fully submerged in the band's constantly inventive surroundings.

During their brief stint, Pärson Sound had a rallying cry of "We, Here and Now!" that embraced their musical philosophy of a defragmented universal language. The time elapsed since their active years have seen a number of acts such as Amon Düül, Acid Mothers Temple, Bardo Pond and Taj Mahal Travelers traverse the same paths, garnishing accolades and international success. For a fan of any of these bands, or anyone fascinated by psychedelic, acid-blasted madness, this is ground zero. Rating: 9.3 – Luke Buckman/Pitchforkmedia

STONED MOON (pscikadilik musick)

JAN DUKES DE GREY
MICE AND RATS IN THE LOFT

Original Issue: 1971 Transatlantic (TRA 234)

Reissue: 2005 Breathless (BSS52001) Buy it here!!!


Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

01 - Sun Symphonica
02 - Call Of The Wild
03 - Mice And Rats In The Loft

from Progarchives:

Every time I find one of hidden/lost early 70's gems, I find myself always carried some 30 years back even if I discover them now. Of course only a small percentage of those gems turns to be diamonds, but I believe this is one of them. How is it possible that such grandiose masterpieces are still not common knowledge among progheads? Because we are dealing with one of those masterpieces of Folk Prog to be classified along with other pearls such as Comus or Algarnas Tradgard.

The music is of an incredible and highly original nature that bond high vocal prowesses ala Tim Buckley with a rather sombre timber reminding you of Audience's Howard Werth (Hammill is not far away, either and so is Van Morrison) and outstanding musicianship so much that both original members Noy and Bairstow play multiple instruments and apparently with great ease. The third member, drummer Conlan has his hands full accompanying his comrades and I believe he also plays congas, although this is not mentioned on the credits. The only outside help they got are additional strings for the last 12 mins of their magnum opus Sun Symphonica.

And what a masterpiece this tune turns out to be!! If the first six minutes develop a good mix of folk rock somewhere between the Comus and Jethro Tull (circa Brick album), the strings come in and the music plunges into a deep madness likely to sink you into insanity if the strings were not to bring you back to the surface for a breath of fresh air every so often. The melange between the 12 string guitar strums, superb drumming all underlined by a swirling cluster of wind instruments and the strings (it does not mention the size of the orchestra, but my guess is a quintet) is one of the most perfect blend ever achieved far from the many catastrophes of the era (I will not name the guilty groups but only Procol and Caravan fared correctly). As Travis/Con Safo mentions in his excellent review below, the lyrics become intensely disturbing also, but do not reach the eerie call for murder and rape that Comus does in their song Drip Drip but they do curdle the blood. The beautiful atmosphere is completely different than Traffic's John Barleycorn Must Die masterpiece but one cannot help thinking about it as those wild and sombre ambiances are driving you to the outer edges of reason. Nevertheless, the superb 12 min finale is completely spine chilling, hair raising, shivers and goose bumps being also on the menu as the abrupt end leaves a empty feel that can be assimilated to the last glass of wine of a 1947 Grand Cru Cos D'Estournel is emptied.

The second side pales a bit in comparison, but by no means are those two tracks anything else than gems themselves. Call Of The Wild is probably the folksiest of the three tunes, starts off with a great acoustic 12-string guitar beautifully underlined by a splendid yet serene flute. Again Comus is not far away from the mind even when the track moves through a series of wild tempo changes sometimes hinting at Indian Classical music. Yet another perfect call! A strange siren alerts you that the third and final track (the title track depicted by the strange artwork sleeve) just got under way, and that you are not yet through with madness as comes in a psyched guitar and great sax and insane vocals. The last part of the track is dedicated to improvisations on that theme and they come out grandiosely successful at it.

This is the kind of album I will personally make sure more people will know within the following months - a bit the same as I did for Comus, Circus and a few other gems. Run, walk, fly to your first vendor and order it (it is distributed by Sanctuary Record - a fitting name for such a masterpiece), because your life cannot be complete without having heard this. A pure moment of intense orgasmic pleasure!!!!!!

Sean Trane

Those who are familiar with Comus’ First Utterance will be delighted to learn that First Utterance has a twin brother in Mice and Rats in the Loft, the magnum opus of Jan Dukes de Grey. A similar psychedelic folk release (even down to the mildly disturbing lyrics, especially on the title track), Mice and Rats in the Loft is every bit as good as First Utterance. And for those who don’t know Comus’ disturbed music, Mice and Rats in the Loft might be a better place to go, given the lyrics aren’t nearly so harsh. Really, though, what it comes down to is the simple fact that Mice and Rats in the Loft is a monumental progressive folk release, one of the very best there is.

That simple truth is due to three long and complex compositions, whose lengths will remind potential buyers of this other famous CD (released one year after Mice and Rats in the Loft), Close to the Edge. The music bears little similarity, however. Whereas Close to the Edge is tight and firm, Mice and Rats in the Loft is a sprawling CD, mixing composition with improvisation, capitalizing on strong songwriting skills to build room for extended folk jams that truly make the CD, particularly on the track “Sun Symphonica” (the “Close to the Edge” of Mice and Rats in the Loft). At nearly nineteen minutes in length, “Sun Symphonica” is the centerpiece of the CD, and it’s a marvelous one at that. It has some symphonic touches (as the title suggests), but it’s mostly folk jamming. Again, as the title suggests, it’s quite light-hearted and happy, and it’s a stellar opener.

Even more stellar, though, is the closer, “Mice and Rats in the Loft.” The shortest of the bunch at eight minutes, the title track builds around a massive riff positively drenched in psychedelia. Every time the main riff kicks in, it feels fresh and new, bringing the song full circle from its jamming nature, taking it back to the land of sane in order to close out the CD. Sandwiched between these two epic songs is “Call of the Wild,” which is another track full of great songwriting and better jamming, though it’s not quite as good as the two around it.

Mice and Rats in the Loft is one of those releases that is unfairly obscure, and it definitely deserves more respect than it gets. Anybody looking for an excellent progressive folk experience should look no further than this hidden gem. Fans of Comus will delight in its psychedelic madness; everyone else will find they can’t help but do the same. An essential purchase for anyone with even the slightest interest in progressive folk music, or even folk music and psychedelic music in general. It’s a trip you won’t soon forget.

Finnforest

ALCHEMICAL MOON (transformation musick)

Alchemical process courtesy of Mr. Jim O'Rourke

FAUST
RIEN

Original Issue: 1995 Table of the Elements (Cr 24)


Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

THE RETURN OF A LEGEND...
THE RESURRECTION OF MARGOT'S FAVORITE '70s BAND...
THE MIRACLE OF Mr. JIM O'ROURKE!!!

01 - 0
02 - Rien
03 - Long Distance Calls in the Desert
04 - Eroberung der stille, teil I
05 - Listen To The Fish
06 - Eroberung der stille, teil II
07 - Fin

from The Wire:

The packaging for Faust's first fully-fledged studio recordings since reforming five years ago is artfully cryptic: no credits save for those on a spine card and a business card carrying the tell-tale x-ray motif (both easily lost!), and the album title is burnished grey on the matt silver CD.

With Rien, Faust, the German avant-rock legend of the 70s whose savage Rienelectroacoustic forays helped sharpen Euro-rocks cutting edge and paved the way for post-punk experimentalists, 80s Industrialists and 90s Ambient artists around the globe, have rediscovered the mystique that was an essential part of their creative being; a Dadaist bent that manifested itself in both performance and packaging alike. (Remember that intriguing transparent package that was their debut album?)

Anyone listening to the raw documentary footage of Faust's 1993 London comeback gigs (both rather ho-hum performances, if the truth be told) released as The Faust Concerts 1 & The Faust Concerts 2 (Table of The Elements), would have been hard pushed to discover what all the fuss was about. Never mind that the antics with jackhammers and chainsaws were now run of the mill fare; what irked was Faust's apparent air of nostalgic importance, something which ran counter to the searching, iconoclastic forays of yore.

Rien, however, is rattlingly contemporary, thanks to the production hand of Jim O'Rourke, who has taken the rudiments of Faust's adventurous spirit and transplanted it into a wholly modern context. The influence of this most exacting sound sculptor has effectively created something akin to a dialogue between the contrasting experimental apparel of 70s Prog rock and 90s purveyors of the Ambient aesthetic There are Industrial mantras of almost crushing intensity, neo-psychedelic jams, concrete interludes, even a passage of bitter-sweet irony in the plundering of Gorecki's Third Symphony (the additional chorale of Industrial noise serving only to heighten the tragic air of Gorecki's original) This is Faust resharpened and revitalised; no longer part of rock's dinosaur parade, but a reshaped, refreshing, challenging voice in 90s experimentalism.

David Ilic

SACRIFICE MOON (offering musick)

kindly donated by Rob Vomit

MÓDULO 1000
NÃO FALE COM PAREDES

Original Issue: 1970 Top Tape (TT-1000)

Reissue: 2004 World In Sound ( WIS-1025) Buy it here!!!


Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

1 Turpe Est Sine Crine Caput
2 Não Fale Com Paredes
3 Espêlho
4 Lem - Ed - Êcalg
5 Ôlho Por Ôlho, Dente Por Dente
6 Metrô Mental
7 Teclados
8 Salve-Se Quem Puder
9 Animália

from Aquarius Records

Super fuzz wah guitar and organ jamming stoner psych-prog from Brazil, circa 1970. Nine tracks packed with sinewy jams, trippy fx, weighty grooves... definitely appealing to the same head-space as contemporaries like Iron Butterfly, Dug Dug's, Captain Beyond, Speed Glue & Shinki, Hendrix, Flower Travellin' Band, etc.

Here's a quote from one of the band members, the organist, that ought to give some flavor of what they were all about: "The music of Modulo 1000 had its own appeal to an audience that wanted a heavy, raw, experimental, psychedelic sound. Our kind of music did not make it to the radio stations. It was too wild. The distribution of the record was done in a very limited way. The record label directors, which probably didn't understand or even didn't like our music, did zero promotion for the LP." Thus, one darn heavy, weird, and utterly rare record!

from Progressive Homestead

What makes their sound so unique are the musical experiments within the style of the harsh sounds of heavy psychrock. Just listen to the keyboards combined with guitar in rhythmic psychedelic pulses on several tracks, like on the strong opener, “Turpe est sine crine caput” (=”hairless head is ugly”), sung in a distorted voice. Here is shown a clever inventiveness of the organist using a dead simple idea to a level of psychedelic effectiveness by lifting it up to a combination with rhythms and guitar playing, in a very original way, and with some wah-wah effects. Elsewhere roaring guitar solo’s and complex changes in rhythms and very small improvised free forms uplift the genre of the already effective psychedelic rock genre to something different with an extra originality.
The album gained much later a legendary status amongst collectors, and also a musical historical value for progressive and psychedelic music in Brazil. The album at that time did not receive any promotion and was not understood by radio or commercial music promoters. So it became almost impossible for the group to survive in the long term with their sound, even when they had their own followers who were looking for such a deeper-down-into-rock psychedelia, a certain rawness combined with creativity.

STONED MOON (pscikadilik musick)

MY BLOODY VALENTINE
TREMOLO

Original Issue: 1991 Creation (CRESCD085)

Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

1. To Here Knows When
2. Swallow
3. Honey Power
4. Moon Song

SIMPLY THE PERFECT MUSICK FOR MAKING LOVE...SENSUAL, DREAMY, STONED! ESSENTIAL LISTENING FROM AN ESSENTIAL BAND!

from Amazon:

On Tremolo My Bloody Valentine create a mini-album that would be played right after Loveless and sound like a continuation more than anything. Tremolo also is a great record all by itself, it grooves and moves in all the right places, and sounds like it was recorded through the same hazy druggy sensualness that graced Loveless. However at times the drums seem even lower in the mix than on Loveless, which adds to its' dreaminess, which I guess is the point, but really I think the drums should have been more prominent, but hey whatever, it still sounds great. All in all I highly suggest picking this up if you're a MBV fan and already have Loveless and Isn't Anything.

Karl Haikara

If you've just gotten in to My Bloody Valentine with "Isn't Anything" and their classic "Loveless", the Tremolo EP is absolutely one of the best places to look afterwards for new songs. Coming off like a series of lost songs that didn't make it onto "Loveless", Tremolo is slightly more accessible (albeit just as beautiful) than their albums, and contains the superior version of the song "To Here Knows When" (the outro to this version fits the song FAR better than the distorted heavy metal one on "Loveless").

"Swallow" is simply breathtaking. Far-Eastern sounding strings and percussion float gently across Bilinda Butcher's dreamy vocals to make this goosebump inducing collage of sound. I have no idea why this never made it onto any of their records.

"Honey Power" is more of a rock-oriented track, with it's catchy, driving grungy guitars, but around the 2/3 mark, it transforms into a sleepy acoustic section that also manages to give you goosebumps.

"Moon Song" is strange, even by MBV standards. It's cold, stark, and contains none of the other song's warmth, but is still stunning, nonetheless, with Kevin Shields melancholy singing that intertwines perfectly with the melody.

With their 3rd album expected shortly after this EP was released, one might expect a rush job. Instead, you get a miniature masterpiece from one of indie rock's most legendary bands. What an excellent surprise.

Kazuo

STONED MOON (pscikadilik musick)

INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER
SOV GOTT ROSE-MARIE

Original Issue: 1969 Love (LRLP 1005)

Reissue: 2001 Silence (SRSCD3614) Buy it!!!


Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

01. Dies Irae
02. I villande skogen
03. There is no other place
04. The Runcorn report on western progress
05. Statsministern
06. Ho Chi Minh
07. It's only love
08. Klockan är mycket nu
09. Ut till vänster
10. Sommarlåten
11. Sov gott Rose-Marie
12. I mourn you
13. How to survive
14. Skördetider (bonus)

This masterpiece comes from an era of european psych/prog musick that I love to call: The Swedish Krautrock.

Please do not forget to hunt for the other collectives revolving around the same musicians playing in this record: Pärson Sound, Harvester and Träd Gräs Och Stenar. More about the Swedish Krautrock in the posts to come!

from The Other Music:

Those of you who regularly read our update may actually be sick of hearing how fantastic these albums are… But, for those who are new to the delectable Swedish psych titles that Silence reissued in 2001 (which have been out of print for awhile now) or who have been trying to hunt down the pricey originals on LP, the time for rejoicing is upon you. These albums are filled with truly enlightening experimental communal music from late-'60s early-'70s Sweden: organic, acid-soaked, free jazz-influenced, heavy-on-the-psychedelia rock music.

My personal favorite of this batch is International Harvester's Sov Gott Rose-Marie, and it's more of a journey than an album. International Harvester is an incarnation of Parson Sound before they became Harvester (and later Trad Gras och Stenar). Much like the first track of the Parson Sound reissue, the opener on Sov Gott Rose-Marie is a mammoth to be reckoned with. "Dies Irae," a death hymn, bursts forth from hell. Its darkness, however, creates the contrast with which to recognize the shards of light within the murk -- you can hear the sunshine, as it's laced with soft voices and songbirds.

Then comes the Rock. The album's an amalgam of juxtaposed auras: at once improvised free jazz, folk, and heavily-structured hard psych. Tribal percussions are collaged amidst speeding cars and radio transmissions. Primitive vocal calls permeate a sweet ballad. Driving repetitive patterns slip you into a delicate coma, only to wake you abruptly when these dualities crescendo into a stimulating musical expression. Included is an outdoor improvised recording featuring flute, chanting, acoustic guitar, dogs, drums, children laughing -- 14 minutes long and transcendental.

from Amazon

I must still show praise for such an absolutely incredible hidden gem. The atmosphere and field recordings make this a truly organic experience. Sov Gott Rose-Marie literally manages to cleanse your soul. These were not just some crazy hippies on tons of drugs, but true innovators who will sadly never receive enough credit. Thankfully, now that psych-folk/rock groups like Six Organs of Admittance, Ceberus Shoal and Acid Mothers Temple are becoming more popular in the underground scene, International Harvester (as well as Harvester, Parson Sound and Trad Gras Och Stenar) will finally gain some of the notoriety they've been due for nearly 40 years.

Heidikakes