Big Blood is the free psych folk project of husband-and-wife duo Caleb Mulkerin and Colleen Kinsella of Cerberus Shoal, set up while their main band remains on hiatus.

Magical, astonishing, absolutely hypnotic, Big Blood produce performances of a timeless charm with a vaguely pop flavor, while the sound, like a Möbius strip, oscillates between moments of transcendent stasis and slightly more animated passages. Overall, a hallucinogenic atmosphere looms, one that makes even those faint echoes of non-American folk traditions feel estranging. All of it in keeping with rural memories, using instrumentation limited to banjo, guitar, harmonica, percussion and little else.

As of today there should be (though the conditional is a must) at least 4 CD-R recordings available of shows held between late 2006 and early 2007 during a kind of roaming tour, often alongside kindred spirits such as Arborea and Marissa Nadler: the titles are "Big Blood", "Strange Maine", "Space Gallery" and "Sew Your Wild Days Volumes 1 and 2". The hand-drawn artwork is designed and produced directly by Kinsella.

How do you find the records? Initially available only at shows, they can now be requested directly from the couple (www.myspace.com/bigblood24), or through Time Lag Records (http://www.time-lagrecords.com/) or North East Indie (http://www.northeastindie.com/bigblood.htm), which have started handling a modest amount of distribution for them

Bottled Smoke – (CD-r, 10th copies of each disc, Digitalis Industries, 2007)

An interesting initiative from Digitalies Industries, which released a series of extremely limited cd-rs, just 10 copies, to support the Digitalis "Bottling Smoke" festival, held in Los Angeles between May 25 and 27. Among the artists involved: Brothers Of The Occult Sisterhood, Tarentel, (VxPxC), Seht, Alligator Crystal Moth, Thousands. The works of Clayton Noone, under the names Cja and Futurians, are especially intriguing. As Cja, Nooney has fun steering the Dead C gospel into lands of pure unlistenability, deconstructing the already deconstructed, on top of a strict adherence to the most obtuse lo-fi style. Futurians would like to be post-punk, and in its own way it is, if only because sulphuric acid can hardly pass for music. As ever, the dark free folk of Brothers Of The Occult Sisterhood is flawless.

Ettrick – “Sudden Arrhythmic Death vol. 2” (Cd-r, 100 copies, Not Fun Fun, 2007)

Tenor sax, alto sax and double drums in the hands of Jacob Felix Heule and Jay Korber turn the free jazz of Borbetomagus and the earliest, Zorn-inflected, barely noisy Flying Luttenbachers of Constructive Destruction into something cathartic. Powerful yet fluid sounds that, despite unmistakable and traceable influences, still wear a certain distinctiveness of their own. Grind leanings are almost absent, despite claims to the contrary found here and there, save for a fairly pronounced percussiveness that edges toward Chris Corsano and Brian Chippendale territory.

The sound plays above all on the infernal interweaving of the saxophones, which in truth build tough but never overly cerebral structures, to the benefit of a certain fluidity.

Hailing from San Francisco, Ettrick show their full potential especially live, and Sudden Arrhythmic Death vol. 2 takes stock of the situation by collecting a performance held in Pasadena. Released in just 100 copies, it's still worth taking a trip over to Not Fun Fun's way — who knows, there might still be one left.

Fantastic Ego – “Trips The Light” (Cd-r, 90 copie, Panthom Limb, 2007)

Ged Gengras of Antique Brothers hides behind the moniker Fantastic Ego for one of the most intriguing releases of the first half of 2007. Not lacking a healthy pinch of reworking attitude, but without ever aping anyone, he transfigures into an even more rarefied sound — though still guitar-forward — the apocalyptic folk of Current 93 and the acid visions of Six Organs Of Admittance. Here too, a fundamentally pop-wave underlying structure makes for quick assimilation, even if a couple of tracks lean self-indulgently into psychedelic noodling.

In short, to give you as direct a reference point as possible, we'd call it (VxPxC) stripped of its cosmic trappings, or perhaps some of the Beta Lactam Ring roster, given the peculiar fusion of freakedelic leanings and dark memories, drawing on a listening background that speaks for itself among the already mentioned Current 93, Coil, Comus, Groundhogs, plus the inevitable Pearls Before Swine. Released on Panthom Limb in just 90 copies, this cd-r deserves attention, and given the premise, as well as his young age, we can only wish young Ged an even more significant artistic future, perhaps beyond the niche.

Grouper – “Cover The Windows And The Walls” (Vinile, 300 copie, Root Strata, 2007)

Compared to the other artists discussed here, Liz Harris is practically a superstar. Proof of this comes from the praise woven by underground critics the world over, not to mention the extra visibility gained from last year's split with Xiu Xiu. There's really little to say in this case, except that “Cover The Windows And The Walls” induces an epiphany of moving sensations — like the slow flow of a river, the sinuous flight of a flock of swallows, a weeping willow swaying its limbs supplely in the breath of the wind. Seven tracks of post-Velvet Underground/My Bloody Valentine trance, reaching heights never even imagined by many of the drone-oriented projects of recent times, where Doldrums, Low, Dissolve, Windy & Carl, Flying Saucer Attack and few others speak to the universe on first-name terms.

Released on vinyl via Root Strata for just 300 lucky fans, a reissue shouldn't be long in coming, given the stature of the artist.

Natural Snow Buildings – “The dance Of The Moon And The Sun” (Cd-r, 20 copie, self released, 2006)

Although it appears to have come out in mid-2006, we can't help but flag this great, truly great record, which went almost unnoticed given its criminally tiny, homemade pressing. In fact, talking about a self-released Cd-r, it almost feels ridiculous to even mention a pressing run. Be that as it may, Natural Snow Buildings is a mysterious French duo who seem to have already produced other music before this small, great gem.

“The Dance Of The Moon And The Sun”, a mammoth double release of almost 160 minutes, lays bare the best that weird music has produced in recent years. Lethargic folk delivered by a mesmerizing voice, somewhat like the early Espers, but also electronics in a post-rock vein veering toward A Silver Mount Zion. And then echoes, dreamlike atmospheres, ambient surges, pauses and melodies drowned in deep pools of psychedelic sludge, all forging a sound that is never heavy-handed or self-referential. We can only hope some well-meaning label notices them soon, so as to make this beautiful, intense album available — one that's certainly essential for fans of certain sonic textures, but with a scope broad enough to win over just about anyone.

TwinSisterMoon – “When Stars Glide Through Solid” (Cd-r, 30 copies, self released, 2007)

The fairy tale continues with TwinSisterMoon, the solo project of Mehdi Ameziane, the male voice of Natural Snow Buildings, precisely. The ingredients don't change much qualitatively speaking, though they're certainly mixed in different proportions. What emerges is yet another great record of dreamlike music, here mainly folk-oriented but with pronounced melodic veins. We're not too far from the sound of Big Blood, and Fursaxa and the inevitable Vashti Bunyan are also among the influences. The mood, sad if not downright dark at times, is well conveyed by a handful of truly remarkable compositions, among them the over-ten-minute Vampire of Suburbia, which starts out like any old folk-pop tune before evolving into a hypnotic, Indian-tinged raga, or again “When Stars Glide Through Solid“, which brushes up against Loscil's modern space music.

Here too we're talking about a self-produced cd-r in around thirty copies, so, while hoping for a reissue, all that's left is to turn to the web.

Riftmusic – “St” (Cd-r, Sustain Release, 2007)

For Richard Skelton, art must be a matter of rebirth. Spurred on by the tragic death of his wife Louise in 2004, the British guitarist has given life to a series of shape-shifting creative outlets (A Broken Consort, Carousell, Harlassen), all sharing a common goal: to move the listener. To be in emotional correspondence with this music means, in a way, sharing the pain it expresses, as well as rejoicing in the slow catharsis whereby the transcendence of sound overwhelms the anguish of earthly suffering. Rifmusic fully lives up to the expectations that every Skelton record, in its own small way, is able to raise. A single 20-minute track, between drone and minimalism, revives Il Teatro Della Musica Eterna, where just a handful of notes are enough to stir a variety of moods that shift continuously, beyond any control. Within the avant music scene, few artists like Skelton know how to open the intellect to the demands of feeling, in this case perhaps too overflowing to be caged in.

You can order the cd.r directly from Sustain Release, and you should, because it's really worth it.

Total Life – "St" (Vinyl, 500 copies, Animal Disguise, 2007)

Originally released on cassette in 2005, "Total Life" is now reissued on vinyl, in a total run of just 500 copies. It's the solo project/work of Kevin Doria, the other half of Growing. In short, without rambling on too much, know that while it doesn't stray too far from the style of the main band, Total Life conveys quite well the hypnotic power of drone music when conceived with a certain sense of purpose. Two tracks, the first nearly 15 minutes long, the second 20, with no sensationalism for its own sake, but rather an ease of listening driven by clearly intelligible elements; that is, melodic lines guiding the listen beneath a disorienting blanket of layered distortion that advances dynamically. The new edition is out on Animal Disguise.

X.O.4 – "Cataracts" (Vinyl, 500 copies, Ecstatic Peace, 2007)

This Massachusetts trio, made up of Bill Nace (already known from Vampire Belt with Chris Corsano), John Truscinski and Jake Meginsky, shows a solid command of improvisation, without giving in to the temptation of stringing together sonic scraps in slapdash fashion — a risk that looms large with music of this kind. No tricks of the trade, then, no collage-like banality; rather, compositions -two, to be precise- that maintain an admirable internal coherence throughout their entire length. In the first, metallic shadings and percussive outbursts enrich a drone that drags on for 19 minutes, while the second takes on a more meditative tone, with forays into the dark ambient of Organum.

A record full of ideas that should appeal especially to fans of Peeesseye.

Anyone wishing to have a complete picture of certain genres cannot help but follow, as far as possible, these tiny, minuscule phenomena. Whether or not you own the physical release remains a matter of primary importance, and there's really no debate about which alternative is preferable. But between enjoying a record found online and not enjoying it at all, because you don't have the original edition that sold out immediately, I believe the former is, in my opinion, to be preferred. Not exactly self-evident, at least judging by various "eminent scientists of new media" who keep proclaiming the death of music. Baudrillard is dead, and we like to mess around.

A quip: among the many amusing consequences is the mocking irony of future enthusiasts, who within a few years will be pontificating on the reissue of some supposed forgotten masterpiece, myopically overlooked in its time. And in an age of galloping file sharing, both the sheer abnormal amount of music being produced and, proportionally, the little time available for attentive listening, will probably be rather flimsy excuses — unless one goes around flaunting a hypo(critical) sort of purity - along the lines of 'I want the original record because, unlike everyone else, I'm a true music lover' - which, now more than ever, would smack of an utterly sterile fundamentalism.

(06-2007)

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Antonio Ciarletta, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition