The Active Listener Sampler 39

You've been waiting a little longer than usual, but we're confident that you'll think it's been worth the wait for our latest sampler. It's our first (and hopefully not last) to feature artwork by the very talented Nick Taylor. You should all check out his other works here.

As always, you're welcome to download and stream for free, or make a small Paypal donation to show your support for what we do - these are put towards our running costs.

This month we're featuring the following stellar tracks:

1. Kontiki Suite - My Own Little World 04:28 2. Gareth Davies - Slumbering Green 03:14 3. Wax Machine - Watermelon 02:38 4. The Most - Gatecrashers 02:29 5. Peter Stringer-Hye - Throw Away The Day 04:19 6. Juleah - Sommertraum 05:16 7. Exiles - Search Lights 03:20 8. Klaus Johann Grobe - Baby lass uns sein 04:35 9. Lejonsläktet - Den Enda Historien II 09:20 10. Jack Ellister - A Hunter Needs a Gun 05:57 11. Kosmo-0 - Just Let Go 05:40 12. Red Cosmos - Ode To A Beatnik 04:17 13. Royal Atlas - Lost Landlords 02:26 14. Das Raumpiloten - La Situation Dangereuse 07:19 15. Merrin - Outro (End Credits) 05:39

Get it here!:

Lejonsläktet - Den Enda Historien EP

Reviewed by Nathan Ford

Swedish duo Lejonsläktet first came to our attention with their Trouble in Mind 7" "Väderkvarn", although they've been recording together since 2008, with their quirky psych-pop / acid-folk debut "In och ut" also freely downloadable on their Soundcloud page. But before you head off there, you should really check out their most recent EP which is really the place to start.

"Den Enda Historien" was recorded especially for the opening ceremony of the 2015 Urkult festival in Näsåker, Sweden, and is also available as a free download, although it's begging for a physical release.

Where earlier releases have been characterised by the duo's fragile Swedish-language vocals, the three tracks that make up "Den Enda Historien" comprise an instrumental suite of sweeping kosmische, designed to be listened to in wide-eyed wonder. Solar winds are effortlessly summoned by waves of vintage synths, while sequencers emulate the twinkling of stars in a way that conjure half-forgotten, nostalgic images of shoddy spacecraft from 1970s BBC productions.

The ambient Radiophonic washes of the first track give way to a propulsive Krautrock groove for the EP's main section, before those stars are reawakened for the closer's hypnotic calm.

It's a lovely, short EP, brimming with ideas, and a perfectly executed example of a lot of the things that we LOVE about the seventies here at the Active Listener. Aperfect synthesis of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, vintage Krautrock and "Force Majeure" era Tangerine Dream, without ever sounding like it's borrowing too heavily from any one source. Wonderful.

Free download / stream here:

Our Solar System - In The Beginning of Time Premiere

Dungen's Mattias Gustavsson is a busy chap. Aside from his activites in Dungen, he has his fingers in a number of other pies, the most interesting of which is the enormous psychedelic / kosmische / prog ensemble Our Solar System (or Vårt Solsystem in the Swedish tongue).

Our Solar System is following up its excellent 2013 debut on Beyond Beyond is Beyond with "In Time", a brand new full length due on March 25 (which you can pre-order here).

Today we're premiering the epic, side-length track "In The Beginning of Time". Have a listen through the Soundcloud widget below while you read what Ryan Muldoon from Revolt of the Apes had to say about the band's new project:

"There would seem to be something playful, and possibly deceptive, about the title of Our Solar System’s second album, “In Time.” It’s a phrase that, whether in a musical or even an appropriately astrological sense, indicates confines and regular rotations, even the absence of the abnormal. Yet “abnormal” could be the axis around which all planets in the Our Solar System galaxy revolve. For an album that so effortlessly delivers trance states in sound, the effect of “In Time” on the listener is likely to be one of orbiting far beyond those confines and regular rotations, toward a delirious detachment from the ticking trap of time.

“In Time” is essentially the work of thirty hands, creating two side-length tracks and forty-four minutes of sonic energy that serves as a vehicle to reach peak experience, alternately arriving and departing from control and abandon.

“In the Beginning of Time” is the title of side one, and appropriately, the twin engines of jazz and kosmische that power Our Solar System’s flight are apparent from the very start. Saxophone merges with synth, as a bass line slowly, stoically stands behind, ready to assist the emerging journey. “In the Beginning of Time” feels like an invocation, and to be clear, it is absolutely nothing less. Our Solar System seem interested in building bridges between worlds, and not just the already quite connected worlds of jazz, progressive rock and psychedelia – labels that represent the previously mentioned confines and regular rotations to which “In Time” pays little heed. Twelve minutes in to “In the Beginning of Time,” such barriers have fallen away, scorched by the altitude and free trajectory of Our Solar System’s flight. “At the Edge of Time” is the album’s cosmic co-conspirator, slightly longer, slightly odder, and slightly more seductive, in part given the mantra-like vocals that provide calm contrast to the musical meteor shower that’s crashing around them. This is the sound of Our Solar System at their astrological apex – exploratory, transcendent and joyous.

Within the confines of time, it’s appropriate to refer to “In Time” as an interstellar jazz-rock album, and an extraordinary one at that. Despite it’s title, you may come to believe that the true home of “In Time” is a place outside time’s confines, floating in space, surrounded by infinite stars and sounds, projecting an indefinable sound that’s boundless and beautiful."

Prana Crafter - Rupture Of Planes

Reviewed by Grey Malkin (The Hare & The Moon)

From the superb Deep Water Acres label (also home to recent splendid albums from United Bible studies and Raising Holy Sparks ) comes the sophomore album from Prana Crafter, essentially Washington Woods guitarist William Sol. As with Prana's impressive self-titled début this album is mostly entirely written and performed by the man himself, this time around aided by Chris Shealy on drums and with additional lyrics by Tara Sol. Recorded in the vast forestlands of his home, the album bleeds rustic charm and backwoods magic; Sol is a highly accomplished and deeply emotive artist who deserves a wide audience for his fusion of acoustic wonder and fearsome blasts of acid tinged psych guitar, 'Rupture Of Planes' should surely be the album to afford this much deserved recognition.

'Forest at First Light' opens the album with delicate, finger picked acoustics, Sol's plaintive and warm vocals entering to add a shimmer of Mercury Rev and early Neil Young to proceedings before the familiar fiery bursts of fuzz guitar enter and send the song skywards. It's a heart stopping moment and encapsulates the sheer vibrancy and life that is inherent in Prana Crafter; this music breathes, bleeds and lives. Closing with Sol's fragile voice repeating the refrain 'one can never really stay' it is a hugely evocative opener to an equally atmospheric album. 'Diamond Cutter of the Jagged Mountains' merges melancholy and solitary acoustic notes with swathes of burning, molten guitar that hovers crackling and twisting over the steady rhythm of the drums and the growing synth strings. Echo and feedback shimmer around massed waves of six string attack, recalling both Tenderness of Wolves era Six Organs Of Admittance and Arc/Weld period Neil Young. This is a guitar album, make no mistake. Next, title track 'Rupture of Planes' is a reflective and highly melodic piece of classic psych that soaks up the darkest of Americana and adds the heartbreaking sheen that Prana Crafter effortlessly cloak their music in. Following this, 'Moksha of Melting Mind' starts with waterfalls of cascading notes over which heavily distorted guitar and insistent bass drive ever forward into a swirling psychedelic dream, guitar lines spiralling and echoing through the woods, across the hills and into the forests. There is almost something ritualistic about Prana Crafter; something of a ceremony around their music as it builds into both fury and beauty.

'Tara, Do You Remember the Way' by contrast is a gorgeous reverb drenched, late night ballad. Both haunting and affecting, one can almost picture the vast star filled skies overhead; this music conjures pictures and landscapes. 'Treasure In A Ruin' begins with carefully picked, chiming notes and an ominous, deep and distorted guitar melody; the veritable calm before the storm, something approaching in the air and the rustling of the trees. Keyboard and strings glisten and layer, building the sense of controlled tension and anticipation as the storm passes by with shudders of guitar and growing, unsettling drones. In amidst the fury and the tension however, as always with Sol's music, there is an overarching beauty, just as there is in the nature he surrounds himself with when writing and recording his music. 'Dharma Dripping Lotus' is a meditative and gentle flickering candlelight; acoustic guitar cascading and looping around melodic runs and a hazy, oscillating background of strings. The skies darken with synth notes and hugely exciting, corrosive bursts of guitar until the sun appears again with organ and a Floydian sense of warmth and reflection.

'Vessel' is a beautiful and heartrending slice of autumnal magic (Sol's voice is a large part of this; the man can bring tears to your eyes with a simple line or sentence) whilst 'Birth Of Blooming Thunder' evokes the sound of standing under a thundercloud as the sky and land crackles and vibrates around you, various guitars employed in seamlessly layering the growing hubris and storm. Next, 'Fog Has Lifted' reassures, another late night gem of gentle, nostalgic and warm melancholy which is then followed by 'Prana Crafter's Abode', a seriously atmospheric, twinkling mood piece that drifts and flows carefully and deliberately towards a lovely, light of dawn ending. The album closes with 'Mudra Of The Mountain Throned' which combines solemn and processionary guitar arpeggios and organ with huge flares of Earth style acid guitar in the most thrilling and, again, alive ending to an album that as a whole stands as a significant achievement; very few people are making music as ambitious, genuine and essential as this.

Echoing from the forests of Washington this then is the sound of Prana Crafter; your life and record collection is all the poorer for not seeking this out. Take a walk into the trees and inhale the smell of the pines and the evergreens, surrender to the Rupture Of Planes.

Available now as a CD in a beautiful gatefold sleeve from Deep Water Acres and to stream at Prana Crafter's Bandcamp page:

Lunar Grave - Mirror of the Woods

Reviewed by Joseph Murphy

Portland, Oregon’s Lunar Grave is purposefully mysterious; the little social media they use will testify to that, if the album art or names of their albums and songs don’t imply it strongly enough. Rarely is the purposeful mystery equal to the listening experience, but, since my first listen a few years back, Lunar Grave has only deepened the intrigue; I know little more about them now than I did then – and not for lack of looking.

Almost entirely instrumental throughout their catalog – “NAGRA 2” has sparse vocals on a track or two – Lunar Grave has thrived since 2010 at building frenetic, free form communal rock that feeds directly off the fervor with which its rotating members strain their instruments. Currently, Lunar Grave boasts only two members and a long list of past members – which only adds to the mystery – but, no matter how many are or were involved, they’ve never disappointed. Their latest, “Mirror of the Woods” is no different. However, it is their longest release (considering number of tracks, at nine) and one of their most dynamic.

The songs here feel a bit different from earlier works, more coherent and aware of the arc of each composition while still holding onto that ambiguity between polished and improvised. There’s a sense of immediacy, too, when album starter, “House of Domber,” kicks in. The players waste no time building to the leads; so by that notion, their implied improvisations take on a more polished and edited feel. Whether song or album came first, the eponymous track is a telling track choice to summarize (if that’s what eponymous track are supposed to do) the scope and goal of this particular album. The song spends its last half meditating upon a comparatively simple riff with muted flourishes. It could merely be coincidental, but the lull is central – at half the album’s length – I think, to the album’s success. Lunar Grave is very much a tailored, improvisational band. Songs often seem to start in medias res – and, so, this calm, meditation must be there for a reason. Whatever its purpose, it serves as respite to the album’s exuberant halves.

Lunar Grave rides high upon the same wave of behemoths like Carlton Melton, Dead Sea Apes, Evening Fires and the Cosmic Dead, but, especially in their early albums, they have favored a rural, lo-fi and experimental element that rarely appears in the heavy psych genre.

Most of Lunar Grave’s releases appear in digital or tape format only, but you can get a recently pressed CD copy of the excellent “Prismatic Earthship” (2013) from Paradigms Recordings. “Mirror of the Woods” is available from the band’s Bandcamp page, where you can listen to and purchase their entire catalogue – all of it at once for a very fair price.

Highly recommended.

Dogbowl – Zone of Blue

Reviewed by Todd Leiter-Weintraub (Hop On Pop)

Simply put, Stephen Tunney is a surrealist. For decades now, the artist also known as Dogbowl has been employing his finely tuned and carefully cultivated sense of the absurd to create works of art that are positively sublime. Previous efforts, such as “Tit! An Opera” and “Flan” had their own librettos; each album telling stories that were simultaneously affecting and horrifying.

“Zone of Blue” is Dogbowl’s first album in a decade and it is once again an opera of sorts. And while the story of an astronaut crash landing on Saturn is a bit more convoluted and fragmented than previous efforts (the liner notes tell the details), as a whole it is more than satisfying and a very welcome return by one of the great oddballs of the 80s and 90s underground.

For the most part, arrangements are basic: guitar, bass and drums. Complexity is more implied by a haze of reverb and the occasional weird guitar effect. But mostly it’s Dogbowl’s way with a melody, his singular delivery, and his weird, playful lyrics that pull the listener in to this very peculiar world.

For instance, “I Love You, I Love You” gushes childlike imagery that seems to spray from the same vein tapped by Syd Barrett and Robyn Hitchcock:

“You have a propeller attached to your hat 
It spins around and I like that 
The way you fly in the sky 
I’m such a lucky guy to have a helicopter girl…”

In “Saturnian Soap Opera” the narrator crash lands on Saturn where he encounters “A girl with a megaphone head (who) wore a dress that was ruby red…” as a wobbly saxophone weaves through the verses. The overall effect comes off like a 10-year-old David Bowie who has heard about sex, but isn’t really sure what it is.

Another highlight is a cover of the classic Robert Johnson blues song "Love In Vain." It’s given a sparse, percussive arrangement that, ironically, doesn’t feature any percussion instruments; just what sounds like a single guitar being played by tapping the strings with a drumstick or some such thing. It’s a technique that brings out lots of beautiful, subtle harmonics and helps underscore some of the anxieties in the lyric.

For those of you who are already fans, this is the Dogbowl you already know and love. And if you’ve never heard the man’s music before, “Zone of Blue” is actually a good place to start. Dip your toes in here before diving headlong into any of his classic (and sadly underheard) Shimmy Disc releases.

The LP comes with a CD version, some snazzy artwork, and a booklet, which contains both notes from Canadian poet J.C. Brouchard, and the very surreal story of the album (as alluded to above) written by Dogbowl, himself.

You can stream or purchase here:

The End - From Beginning to End (Four Disc Box Set)

Reviewed by Nathan Ford

Though they only released one studio album in their short lifetime, UK psych pop outfit The End were unusually prolific in the studio - prolific enough to warrant this attractive, new four disc box set chronicling their complete (or near complete) studio activities.

The End's sole album "Introspection" constitutes disc two of this set and is now regarded as a minor (major to many) classic of UK psych, despite being virtually ignored on its original release. It's been written about extensively elsewhere by writers far more eloquent than I, so all I'll say about it here is that it's one of the very best of its ilk, and if you haven't discovered it already, you're missing out bigtime. Presumably the majority of you are familiar with "Introspection" though, so let's turn our attention to the contents of the other three discs here, "In The Beginning", "Retrospection" and "The Last Word". Originally compiled and released (on vinyl only) by Tenth Planet between 1996 and 1999, the majority of material on these three discs is officially on CD for the first time here.

"In The Beginning" sounds like the early works of a lot of bands of the era. Searching for their own identity in a rapidly evolving scene that sees them try their hand and beat, mod and R&B, these early recordings are promising but unspectacular. Glyn Johns liked what he heard though, and called in Rolling Stone Bill Wyman who took the band under his wing and produced the works contained on discs two through four here (as well as co-writing the band's classic single "Shades of Orange"). "Retrospection" contains unreleased material recorded during the "Introspection" sesssions, as well as sundry singles from the same timeframe, and shows a much more confident band with even the most casually off-the-cuff performances here boasting superb harmonies and interesting arrangements. It certainly doesn't sound like a disc of offcuts, with plenty of strong material and only a few overlaps with "Introspection" tracks, which are alternate mixes that are intriguing enough to warrant their inclusion.

Things really heat up with "The Last Word" though. Consisting of tracks recorded between 1969 and early 1970, this really does feel like a lost album, and a particularly good one at that. Opener "Son of Lightning" has a great late Beatles feel to it, along the lines of the Tremeloes circa "Master" and "(Call Me) Number One" with flurries of flute that suggest Traffic as another influence. It's also much heavier than anything found on the previous three discs, with some nice doomy proto-prog moves on the dramatic "Second Glance" incorporating the band's strong vocal harmonies comfortably, with a claustrophobic, multilayered climax that reminds this listener of the Pretty Things' "Parachute". As a propsed album, it's perhaps one or two tracks short of meeting the consistent high quality found on "Introspection", but those are some very big shoes to even consider filling, and compared to other artists of the era's released work, this is very, very fine indeed.

"From Beginning to End" is an essential portrait of a band that could have made it big if things had aligned slightly differently for them, and it's an absolute steal for the single disc price being asked. Available here (UK/EU) or here (US).

Rare Tintern Abbey Acetates Turn Up On YouTube

Here's a fascinating YouTube discovery.

Tintern Abbey's "Vacuum Cleaner / Beeside" single on Deram has long been regarded as one of the UK's finest psychedelic singles. Nothing else was released by the band during their short lifespan, but rumours persisted of further acetate recordings made by the band. Thanks to YouTube user Mick Rathe, these acetates are now available to be enjoyed by all. No idea how Mick came by these recordings, but it'd be great to know!

It'd be great to see an official vinyl / CD / digital release of these, but in the absence of such a release, it's a real pleasure to be able to hear these at all - thanks Mick!

These are all of the know recordings by Tintern Abbey, recorded in 1967 and 1968 - eleven tracks in total, and something of a treasure trove.

1. Beeside
2. Vacuum Cleaner
3. How Do I Feel Today
4. Do What You Must
5. It's Just That The People Can't See
6. Naked Song
7. Black Jack
8. Snowman
9. Tanya
10. Snowman (Alternate Take)
11. Busy Bee (Demo Version Of Beeside)

Stream here: (some users have encountered problems on mobile devices, but no such problems seem to exist on desktop computers).

Baron - Torpor

Reviewed by Joseph Murphy

While not the first full length release for British four-piece Baron, “Torpor” for many, will be an introduction. And it is quite the handshake. Self-described as “Neo-Monastic Byzantine Pastoral Kraut-Drone-Lettuce Rock” – at least in part, seriously – Baron is a powerhouse of sprawling, long-form songs, each tinged with a brand of old world gothic and baroque arrangements. There’s a peculiar tinge to each track here that simultaneously sounds contemporary (think post rock, prog, and doom) while channeling an older philosophy, classicisms.

In everything I’ve read around this album, the reviewer or promoter mentions Talk Talk, who in much the same way maintained a balancing act between the old and the new. Likewise, Baron has done so incredibly, maintaining a rigorous standard of full builds and orchestral arrangements.

The longest track on “Torpor,” “Stry” (which features Wolf People’s Joe Hollick on guitar), is a masterpiece of atmospheric rock. Free form and ambient at first, “Stry” culminates in unabashed heaviness that retains its logic and melody. Alex Crispin’s ghostly, baritone vocals recall a devotional hymn in its simplicity and plaintiveness. The balance of impressionism – airy organs and light rhythms – and spaced out riffs is precise, coming on perfectly near the album’s middle.

In part secretly record in Purton Green, one of the few standing medieval halls in the UK, Baron has certainly tapped into a timeless eeriness that can only be present in old buildings, ruins and graveyards. 

After so many wonderful listens, I cannot withhold a high recommendation here. Highly recommended.

Available here (UK/EU) or here (US).
 

Paolo Spaccamonti - Rumors

Reviewed by Nathan Ford

Paolo Spaccamonti is a new name to me, but with collaborations with Ben Chasny and Damo Suzuki to his name, he clearly has some pedigree, and his third solo album "Rumors" is a very interesting listen indeed.

An instrumental album that broadly straddles post-rock, experimental and psychedelia without sounding like it really subscribes to the conventions of any of these genres, "Rumors" is one of the most diverse and effective instrumental albums that I've heard in a long time, a skulking malevolent presence with moments of surprising beauty and humanity.

The opening / title track is one of the more immediate moments here, with a simple piano part (reminiscent of Mogwai's "Les Revenants") underpinning a memorable, creepy bass line. "Bonnie & Bonnie" is similarly carried by its bassline, although this is warmer, maintaining a playful sense of mystery before being swallowed whole by a crescendo of guitars which segue straight into "Croci / Flamme"s semi-industrial maelstrom.

There are moments of quiet contemplation here too, with the mournful strings on "Io ti Aspetto" being particularly lovely. It's a perfectly paced and sequenced album, allowing the mood to ebb and flow at just the right times to maintain and release suspense. I often find that instrumental albums get a little repetitive, but there's a lot going on under the surface here which keeps me coming back for more, and I'm still uncovering new layers on each listen.

Not one for listeners who are looking for an immediate fix then, but if you're looking for something with a little more substance that you can really spend some time with, this is outstanding.

Vinyl and CD available here, or stream here: