Triple Bardo Pond Record Store Re-Treat

Record Store Day Trilogy is the new offering from Bardo Pond, an amalgam of their last three RSD EPs (2013's Rise Above It All, 2014's Looking For Another Place, and this year's Is There A Heaven?) that Fire Records is collating for us all. Rise Above It All was a two-hander, featuring covers of Funkadelic's 'Maggot Brain' and Pharaoh Sanders' 'The Creator Has A Master Plan.' Apart from loving Bardo Pond for years, and their set a couple years ago in Brisbane blowing my psych-addled mind, this EP is monumental for me for finally making me indulge in Sanders' work. An article in The Wire on him not long after this had me delving into the free jazz genius' back catalogue, and I've been lost ever since. And the version of 'Maggot Brain' sees the band drift off into the stratosphere for 22 glorious minutes. Looking For Another Place saw the Philly five-piece turn their attention to Eno (a harsh squall rendition of 'Here Come The Warm Jets' that with Isobel Sollenberger's vocals plays out like a dream pop song stretched to sixteen minutes) and Velvet Underground ('Ride Into The Sun', which is wonderfully messed up). And then the triptych was completed back in April when Is There A Heaven? - and for me their best cover yet, Bryan Ferry's 'In Every Dream Home A Heartache'. I am a closet Roxy Music fan already, but the devastating 14-and-a-half version here slays me with its slowburn menace - it's almost unhinged but not quite (one thing about this band - they let go but are always in control). The other offering is Albert Ayler's 'Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe' which is even further in the bottom end of the psych doom spectrum.

If you haven't heard these songs, you must. Check out 'In Every Dream Home A Heartache' below, and pre-order Record Store Day Trilogy here.

Pining For The Harshest Of Blackouts

Remember No Anchor? The brutalist Brisbane trio who reckon they aren't together much anymore? Donnie Miller records music and is in Sonic Masala-affiliated shoegaze band Roku Music; Alex Gillies cuts wood and is in metal throwbacks Greig; and Ian Rogers elocutes about music and plays in Shaking Hell. But Ian isn't done with flaying his vocal chords or our eardrums, as new side project Black Pines (joined by Rational Academy alum and the Pale Earth duke himself, Ben Thompson) attests. In the most obvious move yet from excellent outre outsider label Wood & Wire will take any risk, they have put out Harsh Out, six tracks of psych - but not as you know it. The duo want to scrape the underbelly of the 60s psychedelic dream with rusty knives, before diving straight in and letting the intestinal truth shower down. With comparisons of Bardo Pond, Boris, Swans and Unsane (circa 89-92) bandied about, you know that this is atonal obliteration of the most delicious kind. The red-eyed tint of a man driven insane by demons both without and within; swastikas etched through the skin, through sinew, through bone; nightmares real in Giallo Technicolour, an ecstatic mess, before spiralling into a pastiche of Korine-helmed dirt and Noe-driven madness. All done without preamble, without compromise, without apology. If you thought The Golden Bridge saw an upswing in Ian's temperament, with tongue embedded in cheek, then Black Pines is here to irradiate those memories beyond reproach.

As always, Wood & Wire are offering Harsh Out as a free download here. Let's hope there is some sort of physical release of this soon, yeah?

Bardo Pond Bring Peace Upon Venus

I finally got to see Philadelphian psych lords Bardo Pond a couple of months ago, and it was as mindblowing as I had always expected - Isobel Sollenberger was spellbinding; the Gibbons brothers were killer, undulating and weaving in and out of each other's guitar strokes; and watching Clint Takeda on bass was the closest I've been to zen without extensive narcotic use.

I thought that, combined with their Record Store Day EP Rise Above It All, would be enough to sate my Bardo Pong thirst for the year; but upon finding out about the imminent release of a new BP record, I realised that such a thirst can never be quenched. What's even better is Peace On Venus is just as killer as you'd expect, and is the best thing they have created since Ticket Crystals. The album is stripped back and crystallises into the most base of riffs, grooves and psychedelic jams. The true key is the musicality of the band as a whole; whilst Sollenberger is a bewitching presence at the front, her voice and flute otherworldly, the rest of the band are measured in finding space amongst the coalescing noise; providing a cacophony in the gaps and silences. Each listen gets better than the last, and with the songs recorded live as a full band, it truly captures the Bardo Pond experience.  And finally I know what that is.

You can pre-order Peace On Venus here.

A Solemn Prince And Marquis

My insides are a bit bruised and battered today - not because I'm hungover, but because the Bardo Pond/Dreamtime/Pale Earth show at the Zoo last night was that good. I could have watched Clint Takeda on bass for hours whilst Isobel wails and wigs out, the Gibbons brothers keeping the cosmic sine waves a-flowin'. So today I need a cruisy placebo, to lull me out of my shell and back into the world again.

Cue yet another collaboration from eminent folk visionary Bonnie "Prince" Billy, this time fusing with le Marquis de Tren. WHO? I hear you ask? Well a quick glance at the artwork will give it away - that would be Mick Harvey's brushstrokes at play. The duo are joined by fellow Dirty Three-er (and one of the most underrated drummers on the planet) Jim White, and current Billy junkies Angel Olsen, Emmett Kelly (AKA The Cairo Gang) and Van Campbell (Black Diamond Heavies). Put out by Drag City, Solemns is a three-track EP that threatens to erupt without truly doing so. The final track is worth the price along - Olsen and Billy trading anguished vocals as Turner's iconic guitar lines take us in strange realms (Primal Scream's Bobbie Gillespie described his playing as being like "the way that stars are spaced out in the sky" - spot on man), White's drumming the pitter-patter of falling fire coals, the apocalypse is nigh...before the maelstrom dies away, the trees right themselves, and the end of times holds off for yet another day. It's subtle, almost non existent at times, yet Solemns is a curio that is worth taking a dip into.

You can buy Solemns from here.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy & the Marquis de Tren - Solemns 119

No Positive Visitors To These Dreams

Finally, I'm going to bed. It's been a sweet day - a long day at work, followed by my first university lecture gig, followed by some sweet Vietnamese (both brew and food), and finalised with Bardo Pond, supported by my friends in Dreamtime and Pale Earth. I even spoke to Isobel from BP about how they used my entire post about the UK reissue of Ticket Crystals verbatim for their PR - so yeah, sensational day.

And now I'm in bed, drifting off, with Quttinirpaag's No Visitors in my ears. Not only is it an absolute syntax nightmare, and it has the acronym for the university I'm working at in it, BUT this LP from the Austin noise marauders slays. This is what synthetic nightmares are made of - glacier of glass breaking down as an avalanche of sonic shards, barbed wire, silicon coffins, morphing membranous contusions, monotonous dark hallways, shadows that shudder frame by frame. Motorik contortions rise from the swamp, offering relief in electrified sleep, before static explosions rend everything asunder. Quttinirpaag list Skullflower, Drunkdriver and Twin Stumps as flickering guideposts in their headlight-void drive down a lost highway, so you know exactly what to (or what not to) expect.

Not really the best sleeping material, sure, but it's working for me. Let the Sandman come - he'll have a fight on his hands...

You can buy No Visitors (on deep purple vinyl) here.

Brought Back To Pale Earth

Ben Thompson (of The Rational Academy, currently on indefinite hiatus after the release of their incredible Winter Haunts record earlier this year) has been tinkering in the solo electronica realm for some time now - first as Star Lion, now in his current guise as Pale Earth. It amazes me how far he moves forward with every live performance - despite his affinity with the guitar, Thompson creates amorphous soundscapes here that continue to expand and grow, a sonic universe seemingly without borders.

Pale Earth has been a little quiet of late, and there is good reason for that. Thompson relocated to Emerald after his younger brother Shaun suddenly died due to complications with asthma, and he has been picking up the pieces since. It has been six months in the making, yet Prelude to Dust is what has been borne out of this traumatic, soul-searching experience (it comes as no surprise that the release is dedicated in Shaun's honour). Rather than complete the album he had underway, Thompson cut them up into a collage of sound that somehow embodies the exact emotions he found himself inhabiting - the hope of new life and starting anew, the trauma of sudden separation and irretrievable loss, and the struggle to claw together the strands of strength necessary to carry on. There is almost a nostalgic quality to the two tracks here too, a contemplation of parallel lives that don't quite intersect, but constantly influence. And it is on these two tracks that Pale Earth moves from being a mere experiment in the development of sonorous sonics, to being in control of the creation, defying the initial cut-and-paste montage of Prelude to Dust's genesis. There may be a heavy weight underscoring these tracks, but this is outweighed by the searing hope that emanates from within.

You can (and most definitely should) buy Prelude to Dust here. Pale Earth is playing tonight, supporting seminal Philadelphian psychers Bardo Pond (Dreamtime is also onboard). You can still get tix here or on the door - I strongly recommend it. He is also playing the third instalment of Sonic Masala's Campfire Tales at The End on Thursday September 12 (you heard it here first!) with Kahl Monticone in support.

Sonic Masala Presents A Double Whammy Of Shows!! EXHIBIT B

The second Sonic Masala show this weekend takes place on Saturday at the Grand Central Hotel, in conjunction with Trainspotters. It marks the triumphant return of local psych lords Dreamtime, fresh from their US jaunt where they ruled Austin Psych Fest, grace the pages of Impose Magazine, and spent all the hard earned. The trio (sometime foursome) just announced they have snagged the highly coveted local support slot for the legendary Bardo Pond when they come to Brisbane in August too which is further cause for celebration. They are supported by the bucolic excellence of sibling androids Multiple Man, and the cantankerous merchants of phosphorous sneers Gazar Strips. It promises to be another killer showcase of burgeoning talent, plus its free entry, and it's right next to the train station. No excuses then. Check out more on the event here.




Multiple Man : Whipping Boy, (Film Clip By #459) from = ) #459 on Vimeo.

Sun(ny) Day Cover Up - Crystal Tickets Make Beatles Cry

It's been three years since Philadelphia’s psych surgeons Bardo Pond gave us something new – not that we need anything new necessarily, because their back catalogue is pretty exemplary. I've always thought the five-piece has been one of the most underrated bands of its ilk in the past decade. Fire Records can only bolster that claim, by lovingly reissuing 2006’s Ticket Crystals in a LP-only edition. Double vinyl and adorned with Joy Feasley’s new artwork, the album typifies the calculated yet fluid doom template that unrelentingly drives their sound, yet also showcased the pastel undercarriage that lightens the load enough for it to become immensely immersive rather than bludgeoning.

I realise this is a Sunday, but seeing as this is a stellar reissue I thought I’d give a special edition of “Friday Cover Up” to include the cover of the Beatles’ ‘Cry Baby Cry.’ Originally recorded for and broadcast by the BBC as part of their commemorations of the 25th anniversary of John Lennon’s death, it exemplifies the whole point I crafted the Cover Up segment in the first place. Taking great music and imbuing it with their own personality to craft a unique vision, this is Lennon in an iron lung filled with cryogenic fluid and absinthe.

Bardo Pond – Cry Baby Cry (Beatles cover)

And here is another Ticket Crystals classic…

Bardo Pond – Destroying Angel

 

Pre-order Ticket Crystals here. The band aim to release a new record in the latter stages of 2013, whilst also planning to release an exclusive 12” covers record for Record Store Day, so we haven’t heard the last of this stellar band.

Sonic Masala Becomes Acolytes To Zond

Warning - this review has been done by a person whose head has been totally blown...

Zond are an Australian band that I didnt even know existed until about a month ago. Admittedly I have been out of the country for about three years, and a lot can spring up and die away in that time. Nevertheless I was surprised when I heard their debut, self-titled LP. Why? Because its a fucking brilliant aural assault, all aggression, squalling distorted guitars and distanced vocals. Its not new, but it does sound fresh - as if the early Blonde Redhead maintained the Simone Pace vocals and Sonic Youth no wave leanings, then stole Kevin Shields' amplifiers and hooked them up to an imploding power plant. Zond opens ubiquitously - 'Io' spend half of its five minute duration meandering through an ambient, grey soundscape - before we are hit with bolts of sonic blasts barely reined in by guitarists Marney Macleod and Justin Fuller, as if the track had a mind of its own - and this continues with tracks like 'Choam' and 'Blue Haze'. The engine room - anchoring bassist Stephen Thomas and eight-limbed drummer Tym Krasevac - could let this all become a reverb-drenched mess, but it is their manic yet measured interplay that pins down the Zond sound, thus rendering it irresistible. There are more pop-sensible song structures in songs like 'Stupid Gods' and 'Dunvegan Castle', whilst the coalescing phoenix that is 7 minute 'Blind' places all of these elements together into a prolonged schizophrenic orgasm.

This is the dark, dirty, dirgey kind of shoegaze that I am particularly fond of - and is not expected from the island continent. The fact that these guys excel is an even greater admirable feat.

So if, like me, you hadnt heard of Zond before, become very acquainted. This album is just their stepping stone. Furthermore, in June last year Lou Reed himself invited the band to join him at the Vivid Live Festival at Sydney Opera House (yes, that's right, Bardo Pond were there too...). I can see the connection - laconic, wasted, acerbic, austere, nihilistic, nebulous. If My Disco, another amazing Melbourne band, were to do the opposite of their intensely reined in minimalist miasmas, Zond would be the result.

Im a convert - join me.

Zond is out now on RIP Society Records.

Zond - Choam

Zond - Stupid Gods

Fully Submerged In Bardo Pond

I cant believe we have been around for almost a year, and this is my first Bardo Pond reference! Wow. Ok, here goes...

I came to Bardo Pond a few years ago, pretty much purely because the guys from Mogwai kept banging on about them. This was the mid '00s, when I was still a fat mid-twentysomething in Australia, tutoring rich kids at a school that bred faux intellectuals, thugs and the very occasional stand-up good guy, turning my back on my education career, struggling to get noticed with my writing and wondering what was the point in life... Ahem. So anyway, I also saw Bardo Pond's name floating about on various ATP lists, which piqued my interest even more. I found Dilate in the bargain area of the local record store, Rockinghorse, and - whilst not as mesmerising as hearing My Father My King for the first time - Bardo Pond were etched into my musical soul.

Therefore, Im massively excited and happy to tell you all that Bardo Pond's latest LP -the first in four years if you dont count the epic Batholith, which is a major departure for the band's once prolific nature - monikered, funnily enough, Bardo Pond (came out on Dec 8th through Fire Records) is fantastic. I noticed a few people included it on their best of 2010 lists. The reason that Bardo Pond didnt figure for me was because I didnt get it until Christmas. And because I listened to it for the final three days of 2010 right into the New Year, and we had already posted our best of 2010 lists before Christmas Day, it feels very 2011 to me. OK?

So, the album opens up with 'Just Once', an incredibly beautiful woozy jam, augmented by clearer production enhancing Isobel Sollenberger's slightly husky, warbled vocals, a great space odyssey, before blasting in with concise and gritty 'Dont Know About You'. The chamber oscillating rhythms of 'Sleeping' then lulls you into familiar terrain, wearing the Pink Floyd schtick firmly on the sleeve. All so Bardo Pond - all so good. Then we hit the middle of the album. 'Undone' warbles into existence, somewhat like a foal taking its first erratic steps. Then when its finished, 21 minutes later, you know you have ridden that horse down the rabbit hole into a dark rift in time and space that gets more chaotic yet cathartic with every passing light year, until you find yourself imploding, a dead star. Totally self-indulgent, totally fucking awesome. The rest of the album - the insistent sneer of 'Cracker Wrist', the wistful yet hopeful soaring 'The Stars Behind' and meandering trip 'Wayne's Tune' - help to accentuate the fact that after 20 years and basic anonymity, Bardo Pond are still very much the master of their own domain. I was bummed when I heard they joined the likes of Lou Reed for a very special festival at the Sydney Opera House mid-2010 - whats worse, I couldnt go see them support The Dead C in December due to a prior engagement (I think Im OK, just take deep breaths...) - now, with Bardo Pond by my side, I have them all to myself.

I can still claim this as a 2011 release, right?

Bardo Pond - Dont Know About You

Bardo Pond - Cracker Wrist