Drunken Fish

Magic Carpathians

Nytu: Ethnocore II

Drunken Fish

***Their third album, the first available on a domestic label Magic Carpathians are centered around the duo of Anna Nacher and Marek Styczynski, he a founding member of the now defuct Polish ethno-folk group Atman. Following the disbanding of Atman, Anna and Marek continue to create forest music, although the Magic Carpathians benefit from an infusion of traditional rock instruments and electronics, and a host of guests. Recorded and mixed at the Krakow Radio Station Recording Studio by Aleksander Wilk between May and November 2000, Ethnocore 2: Nytú was composed and arranged by Anna and Marek, with Tomasz Radziuk (ex-Atman), Jan Kubek, Ramunas Jaras, and Wadada and Marek Miczyk (both of the European festival group Suns of Arqa). Also figuring into the composition are field recordings made by Anna and Marek during their travels to India and Nepal in autumn 1999. Traces of nytú - a mythical, archaic technique of vocalization given in the language of Slavonic rituals, nowadays almost completely lost and forgotten - can be found in the remnants of ancient Carpathian culture and some archaic pagan rituals which have been stored within the folk religious tradition among the Carpathian villagers. The important common tradition of singing across Eurasia makes similar the vocal technique from Mongolia, the Altai region, Central Asia, Ukraine and the Balkan region. Anna has been working on reviving the tradition of nytú through individual research and "Reclaim the Voice" workshops, run for women exclusively (which have garnered enough attention in Poland that Cosmopolitan published...

Children's Television Workshop

Presents The Polyamorous Love Cult

Drunken Fish

***Gavin Shaw of New Zealand’s Sferic Experiment and recent King Loser hanger-on cooks up a dirty spoonful of fuzz and coughs out his first solo LP. Recorded during “the summer bedroom of love” (Our Winter ‘95-’96). Previous comp track on Trinder’s Does It Float, and a double 8-inch lathe cut EP on Crawlspace. Very nice folded paper sleeve.

Birchville Cat Motel

Siberian Earth Curve

Drunken Fish

***Campbell Kneale is a New Zealander with an impeccable ear for layering feedback, recorder, cymbals, and electronic squall. Does the stillness of a Thomas Köner piece get you there on a regular basis? Maybe Aube-acious high-end volume sweats stir your coffee? Pull into the BCM parking lot. Validation upon request. Sonic.

Brother Jt

Come On Down

Drunken Fish

***Original Sins founder John Terlesky releases his second Drunken Fish solo album. Previous releases on Twisted Village, Siltbreeze, Bar None and AuGoGo; Tyrannasuarus Rex-period Bolan strained thorough Pretty Things and soaked in bongwater, beer and choice microdot. Placid stupor never sounded this...stupefying. From 1997.

Brother Jt

Rainy Day Fun

Drunken Fish

Tyrann. Rex-period Bolan strained through Pretty Things and soaked in bongwater, beer and bathtub microdot.

Jason Bill & Jack Rose

Via St. Louis

Drunken Fish

***Charalambides and Pelt guys swap war stories. A weekend spent staring into the white dot at the center of the sun or a cosmic gunfight at the 4-track corral? Both, you say? Not since Frank Marino and Ted Nugent had their coffee spiked with paregoric and MDA has there been a such a tense showdown of the 6-stringed minds.

Rhband

First Tone

Drunken Fish

***Pack your pipe and loosen your jaws - the California-based improvising collective known for their extended explorations of the ur-drone are coming to town. Hide your cracked electronics and homemade long-stringed instruments, because that’s what these inhalers crave. Once you hear how much better than you they play ‘em, you’ll be an avowed stamp-licker. Kiss my tabla.

Rhband

Third Order Parasitism

Drunken Fish

*Improvisational California electronic quartet fucks with Fred Mills' head. Alien autopsies, indeed.

Sferic Experiment

Eight Miles

Drunken Fish

***From 1989. Improvised Dunedin artrock that probably won't alienate fans of Dead C.

Southerning

Templates Made Or Found

Drunken Fish

The debut recording from Andy (Jessamine) and David (husband of Jessamine vocalist/bassist) is inspired by the early works of cluster and tangerine dream, composers Gyorgy Ligeti and Terry Riley, and contemporary experimentalists like Aurobindo and Thomas Koner. They use an eclectic blend of undiscernible sources and technologies to mold a variety of textures and moods. Starting with several layers of electronic meditations, the results range from amorphous underwater soundscapes to lilting jetstream journeys.

Starfuckers

Infratumi

Drunken Fish

A cosmic ride through all twelve sexual positions of the zodiac from this O-where Italian collective that revolves around the trio of Manuele Gianini, Roberto Bertacchini and Allesandro Bocci. Composing what they describe proudly as "concrete rock" - music that is at times so severely disconnected and minimal the listener must mentally piece together the fragments to even get near the dimensional planes these guys so easily lounge around in. Dimensional planes where This Heat and Oval are gettin' it on dog-style. Plow one for me.

V/a

Fit For Kings

Drunken Fish

***A series of fuzzy, warm and extended New Zealand moments: collected limited-edition 8" lathecut polycarbonate discs by the likes of Paramentier, Witcyst, Crude, the Aesthetics, Children's Television Workshop, the Pointsman, Casagrante Apparatus and White Saucer.

Jefferies, Peter / Jono Lonie

At Swim 2 Birds

Drunken Fish

***Stunning instrumental album recorded in '87 and released in micro ed. by F. Nun/Xpressway. Piano, violin, guitar.

Montgomery, Roy

324 E. 13th Street #7

Drunken Fish

***New Zealand native and world class guitar tunesmith ROY MONTGOMERY returns to center stage with a beautiful collection of sixteen tracks taken from now out-of-print singles released by the Drunken Fish, Siltbreeze, Roofbolt, Ajax and Varispeed labels. Laid down primarily in two separate bursts of recording on either side of the United States, these songs are a testament to Montgomery's elegant and somber use of guitar and voice, usually dreamy and always beautifully heartfelt. Features guest musicians BILL DIREEN, BARBARA MANNING, M.S. ARGO and MARK HENEY, and includes four additional previously unreleased songs.

Montgomery, Roy

Allegory Of Hearing

Drunken Fish

***After the success of last year's Roy Montgomery album on Drunken Fish And Now The Rain..., and the first installment of Roy's singles compilation 324 E. 13th St. #7, The Allegory Of Hearing is set to bring even more adoration upon New Zealand's true "guitar hero." Recorded in Montgomery's harbor cottage in Lyttelton, NZ, during October 1998 on his trusty Tascam Porta One and mixed in January 2000, Allegory is a return to an instrumental palette first witnessed on his debut DFR CD Scenes From The South Island and Temple IV CD (Kranky). Armed with newly acquired Rickenbacker 12-string and vintage Farfisa electric organ, plus his usual Teisco, e-bow, and Quadraverb arsenal, RM has created eight short soundtracks of a particularly meditative nature. All, save one, clock in at under six minutes, making this a slightly more digestable dish for those with smaller appetites, but fans of Montgomery's high-profile contribution to Harmony of the Spheres collection will be pleased with the exception, "Resolution Island Suite," which clocks in at over 17 minutes, premiered at Terrastock II in San Francisco 1998, and appears here reworked in an instrumental form. Glorious.

Hash Jar Tempo

Under Glass

Drunken Fish

***Hash Jar Tempo is the rather descriptive moniker assigned to a meeting between Philadelphia freak flag freedom fighters Bardo Pond and New Zealand's six string vagabond Roy Montgomery. Their second album together, Under Glass is the long wished-for follow-up to their first meeting in March of '95, documented on the Well Oiled CD.  Montgomery and Bardo Pond met again during a whirlwind visit to San Francisco in the spring of '98 to perform at the widely publicized Terrastock II music fest, where the sequel plan was hatched. Off to the east coast the HTJ did perambulate, where, in Bardo's newly christened in-house eight-track studio, great slabs of guitar and keyboard drift were churned, bass grooves were deepended and staggered rhythms were topped with a kiss of flute and quiet mumble. The fog quickly lifted, plane schedules were met and respective lives were resumed. End result: 56 minutes at five miles per hour. Absolutely massive.

Hash Jar Tempo

Well Oiled

Drunken Fish

Hash Jar Tempo is the rather descriptive moniker assigned to the limited partnership of Philadelphia freak flag freedom fighters Bardo Pond and New Zealand’s six string vagabond Roy Montgomery. Well Oiled is a document of their March ’95 collaboration, the first of two meetings. Together, Montgomery and Bardo Pond create great slabs of guitar, tectonic keyboard drift, deep bass grooves and staggered rhythms. Absolutely massive.   “Consider for a moment the beauty of a lava flow - it’s a riot of ceaselessly changing colors in inexorable motion. Hash Jar Tempo’s music is a lot like that; it flashes with momentarily glimpsed hues and persistently mutating textures that flow with implacable force and radiate an immolating heat.” —Bill Meyer, Inkblot Magazine  

Back Off Cupids

S/t

Drunken Fish

*** Back Off Cupids is the solo project of a gentleman named John Reis. Having fronted the highly respected Pitchfork and later the hugely influential Drive Like Jehu, Reis is best known as the front man for Rocket From The Crypt, whose Paint As a Fragrance, Circa Now!, and two volumes of singles collections All Systems Go have helped pay your rent many, many times. Recorded and mixed on and off between 1994 and 1999 between RFTC tours and recording sessions, Back Off Cupids places all his previous musical ideas along with his strongest influences (Neu!, ELO, Gories) in a blender with purée engaged. That's one frothy shake.

Ranaldo, Lee

Scriptures Of The Golden Eternity

Drunken Fish

***REISSUE. Solo recordings, live to tape at the Knitting Factory in late '88 and '89. Guaranteed sonic salvation in the form of great slabs of feedback drift, tape delay, and the voice of a lone storyteller in the midst of a storm. Co-release with Father Yod; check out Lee's other releases on the Starlight Furniture Company (carried by Midheaven) and Atavistic labels.

Montgomery, Roy

And Now The Rain Sounds Like Life Is Falling Through It

Drunken Fish

The highly anticpated third solo album from New Zealand guitar coaxer Montgomery continues his alluring numbnal drone and float-away soulful quasi-folk songwriting. A stunning amalgam of soft-spoken isolation and soul-searing higher mindedness - Fichelscher/Fricke (Popul Vuh) arrangements filtered through a post-Velvets third-eye mind. E-Bowed guitar, piano and the unmistakable Montgomery strum. Elegantly serene and worthy..

V/a

Harmony Of The Spheres

Drunken Fish

***The musical offspring of prototypical stoner and ancient guide to all seekers of consciousness expansion, Pythagoras now reissued on CD. Originally released by Drunken Fish in November of 1996 as a specially designed triple-LP boxset produced in an edition of 3,000 (which quickly sold out its one and only pressing and has remained unavailable since). Featured are six exclusive, extended tracks (none of which is less than eighteen minutes in length) from this generation's spacerock elite: BARDO POND, FLYING SAUCER ATTACK, JESSAMINE, ROY MONTGOMERY, LOREN MAZZACANE-CONNORS and the CHARALAMBIDES. Includes a lovely eight-panel foldout booklet. Stand up for spacerock, because artrock is dead.

Atman

Tradition Featuring Anna Nacher

Drunken Fish

One of Poland's most astounding musical collectives, Atman have spent nearly two decades quietly releasing tapes on their own FLY (Freak Living Yourself) Music label between conducting workshops in instrument building and forestry. As you might expect, Atman's "forest music"—created with Tibetan liturgical instruments and acoustic instruments such as guitar, dulcimer and indigenous lutes—is the most masterful swirling paleo-delic ethno-folk hybrid in existence.  Tradition features guest vocalist and long time collaborator ANNA NACHER, joining the core members of the group MAREK STYCZYNSKI, MAREK LESZCZYNSKI, and PIOTR KOELCKI, all multi-instrumentalists bringing life to a range of implements (from Slovakian pastoral fujara to baby rattles and zithers). Atman have expanded even further to include THOMASZ RADZIUK (bass guitar), TOMEK GULINSKI (vocals, harmonium, hand drums) and many other guests throughout the 65 minutes. Tradition ranges from green-blood-culling, acoustic dulcimer forest magic to blinding moves through rock territory, most brilliantly illustrated on a cover of HENDRIX's "Third Stone From The Sun," all capped off by the wailing punctuation of Anna Nacher (who sounds like Liz Frazier and Patti Smith rolled into an Eastern European forest mother). Ready to sign?

Montgomery, Roy

End

Drunken Fish

***Three gorgeous new songs from our dream hero. The a-side unloads most beautifully with "Elegy For Nick Drake" released to coincide with the twenty-fifth anniversary of his death. The b-side delivers some stellar super-effected guitar shimmer along with Montgomery's rich vocals on one cut, and a shimmering strummer with guest bass and vocals by Lisa Siegel. Recorded last January in New York. Some copies are on blue vinyl intermixed with the black ones.