Ahhh...there's nothing like starting a sunny Sunday morning with a mug of hot water, a stick of sweet incense, and some mood music. Jon Porras' new record Black Mesa wastes no time getting right to things; immediately our ears are met with a twangy, lush, and airy motif that sets the tone for the rest of the record.
The elders speak of the great Black Mesa, a mysterious and introspective space; a place seekers wish to explore in hopes of an initiation to a deeper plane of awareness. There is something up there, on or within the plateau...an organic mirror that reflects our true self with no bias. By way of the mirror we become the third person experiencing the extremes of both our positive and negative. Undulations of emotion trigger memories and dreams that move us, and move through us, until a stillness takes hold. Then through careful watching and breathing, our light and our shadow become one, and inseparable from the light and shadow of the world.
Porras captures the essence and ritual, not only of this figurative mirror, but also of the journey to discover it. Preparing ourselves for the spiritual rite, working our way to the top of the mesa, and following our instinctual guides to where we need to be taken. Our time on the Black Mesa is well spent in roaming and searching the dark corners of ourselves...and through an understanding of our cosmic composition, casting brilliant and boundless healing light into our own hearts.
The guys from Barn Owl are seemingly always working on something. Just recently John Porras released Black Mesa (review imminent), and Evan Caminiti will soon be gifting us with Night Dust. Important Records have tied us over with the heavenly droning enchantment that is Portraits.
This vinyl has been sitting, neglected, in my record bin now since its release in January (could it have be that long?!). Portraits was actually tracked more than two years ago in winter of 2009 by members and former members of Root Strata, Terentel, Higuma, Date Palms, and Barn Owl - and utilizes a fine array of musical instruments. I've finally set aside some music meditation time to give her a spin, and now I'm kicking myself in the ass for not getting to this sooner. Portraits is an amazingly energizing record with a depth of introspective atmosphere. At start our ears perk at the initial sitar (or perhaps tambura) drone, augmented by occasional sweet, ghost-like chimes. Soon following, layers of instrumentation from electronic oscillator to bass clarinet form a collective movement which is eventually peaked by smooth ringing gong hits. Side B opens with an earthy multi-voice chant, leads us carefully to a place of inner presence, and ends in a waking and reverberating subterranean rumble. Though it does feature some electronics, all are analog effects and real tape loops, providing a very warm and lively sound.
The packaging is a textured screen printed chunk of thick cardboard folded in half, which houses a quality vinyl disc. At $15 and limited to 500 copies, I highly recommend Portraits for those into atmospheric drone and to those seeking meditation music.
I had a very busy day Saturday, but did not let that stop me from making a visit to the wonderful Toadstool Sounds in lovely Peterborough New Hampshire for Record Store Day 2012. I must admit that I was fairly disappointed in this year's titles, however there were a couple that kept me content.
The faithful repress of Patti Smith's 1975 full length debut Horses takes the prize. The original audio has been tastefully remastered and finds itself now pressed to high-grade, medium-weight vinyl just for RSD. The last US vinyl pressing of Horses was in 1977, so this was long overdue. The remaster was performed with a great attention to detail; we get a bit more bass and the upper midrange distortion has been nearly eliminated. Because we also still get a little bit of the hissing S's, it tells me that rather than risking over-processing the original masters things were performed with a fairly light touch and a devotion to maintain the character of original recording. Arista also did a great job of keeping the classic look and feel of the record with detail right down to the labels on the disc. It has a sweet retro flavor, and I love it.
Be sure to look for Patti's new record, BANGA, due out this June!
When I first read the RSD 2012 list I thought someone may have made an error: a Mastodon/Feist split? Indeed, the Feistodon 7" just seemed too cool to be true yet here it is in my hand. Side A contains Mastodon's cover of Feist's A Commotion, from Metals:
Side B contains Feist's cover of Mastodon's Black Tongue, from The Hunter:
I rather enjoy when a cover is adapted into the performing artist's style and these two are great examples of just that. Here's to hoping that next year we see more interesting titles and/or limited represses of hard-to-find gems. Thank you to Patti, Leslie, and the men of Mastodon for making my RSD 2012 experience worth it, and thank you to Eric and Megan of Toadstool Sounds.
