Ron Thomas and John Swana - Serenity

The deep groove of these sounds come from a future time. A place where cosmic wisps speed past, sending tingles through the consciousness. Rhythmic bass lines propelling the fascination, reaching giant totems that part aside, opening to a weightless jungle. A place of beauty, alien flora and fauna living within a gem of the emptiness. The sojourn touches roots here. This could be the fabled Eden, where tranquility gains its meaning. But with peacefulness, a feeling of uneasiness also lingers. The duality of all things brings awareness and knowledge. Serenity ushers us away, smoothly and delightfully, a round trip journey that needs to be taken many times.

Ron Thomas and John Swana must channel tunes from afar. After repeated listens, still not sure there are descriptive words ready for what is being heard. Four lengthy tracks, the first delivering listeners to Serenity and the last bringing those anointed back. The journey pushes forward with stellar beats, sublime bass and trailing debris. The second track "Rainforest" pushes on the ambient connections from the past. And this thought is even more true for Serenity's longest track "Foundation".  Ron Thomas and John Swana are on their own path, but there seems to almost be a homage for artists like Alio Die and Robert Rich for the terrestrial sounds, maybe Vidna Obmana for the more ethereal. It is also interesting to note the juxtaposition of "Rainforest" and "Foundation", the center of the composition, light and dark, Serenity is different for all. And with this, the last track and also the cassette title, flies off. Bass lines vibrating like heartbeats, thoughts connected to a place only Ron & John can take us.

Released on the GALTTA label from Brooklyn, New York. Serenity must have been on the shelf for a little while, the recording date says 2007. Thank you GALLTA for the work on bringing this one out. Both Ron Thomas and John Swana have extensive experience with their own careers and pairing with many others. Found an album from 2006 with Ron, John and also percussionist Joe Mullen. Titled Cycles, there are correlations to Serenity. The GALLTA release is the more ambient.

In a cassette edition of one hundred and twenty five, copies are available.

Links
GALTTA site - bandcamp - facebook

Storm Ross - Home

Listen deeply, through more than half a century of amplified sounds. Storm Ross inking a point on this timeline, connecting what has come before to the unheard future. This composition titled "Home", feels far from these origins. More attuned to the distant stage of a stadium concert or the sounds filling corridors of a guitar Hall of Fame exhibit. A complete plunge into technical virtuosity, Storm Ross' only respite are polar moments of proficient classical interludes. These sounds are the inner workings of ticking consciousness, countless components working together connecting heritage and imparting energy.

Recorded at home, denoted as a living room romance in eight parts, all over the course of forty minutes. Maybe the home theme is extremely fitting for the style Storm Ross conveys. His ability, creativeness and technique are founded in many many hours practicing and discovering. "Sam Ascends The Invisible Path" is a track that exemplifies this thought in both sound and title. A straight forward progression of playing with the ideal tempo to discern Storm Ross' expertise. Each side of this cassette has a long piece as well, both submerging into intense deluges of guitar riffs. These are mesmerizing affairs, drone like guitar ballads for the excited spirit. "Half Our Lives" is one of these lengthy selections, Storm Ross patiently building an epic sojourn through reverberating strings. This track also includes guest Jeremy Edwards adding drums to the intensity. One thought on the string tone on the third track "Playtime", sounding like the opening to "Seventh Dream of a Teenage Heaven". Storm Ross has all the facilities to make small connections like this, given each listener their own experience. 

Released on Already Dead Tapes and Records in July of this year. In an edition of one hundred and twenty five with copies currently available. This is the second release by Storm Ross on Already Dead, the previous cassette titled Welcome, Sunshine is fortunately described here on Lost in a Sea of Sound too.

Links
Already Dead Tapes site - facebook - bandcamp
Storm Ross - bandcamp - facebook

Fuck Lungs - 2TH

Ears straining to hear what almost sounds like meditative flute music from somewhere up the hill. Don't concentrate and stay in one place to long, there are a couple of fellows up there dressed in robes, kicking rocks down and laughing. Their strange chant or mantra gets caught in thoughts, something about the number two. More mysterious and enthralling sonic bliss, then some heavy boulders rattle the consciousness. If there was only a way up there, to be close to the oracle of understanding. There is a deep rooted feeling this would be to no avail, the two playing instruments would be beyond comprehension. Another slide of aural disturbance sweeps any ideas of this epiphany down with it, a reflection lasting for a brief second before the landslide.

Fuck Lungs with fourteen tracks, all two minute long. These sounds are so diverse, the two minute listening realization gets lost in rapid bombardment of selections. Curt Oren and Joe Hess let go of the sonic fire hose. The massive weight of sounds freely whipping everything within range. The gamut extends from playfulness to critical, their sounds breaking windows with the heavy pressure that is Fuck Lungs. Musical styles traversing from total noise to drone in one hundred and twenty second intervals, enough diversity to really get lost. After many listens to 2TH, this description is only a brush against aural translucence. Hearing more clearly for a couple of minutes before the sounds grow opaque in their origins.

Released on Already Dead Tapes And Records in an edition of one hundred and twenty five. Physical copies selling quickly, down to a current remainder of only twelve. This is the second Fuck Lungs release described on Lost in a Sea of Sound. The first titled Honeysuckle was over a year ago, there are a few copies of this cassette still available as well. 

Links
Already Dead Tapes site - facebook - bandcamp
Fuck Lungs - bandcamp

Ross Malcolm Boyd - Clouds

In 2005 Hurricane Wilma turned in a north eastern direction and headed towards the Florida peninsula. Living in the north part of central Florida, there was serious concern since this was the most intense tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin on record. Also Hurricane Charlie had battered the area the previous year, so the memory was still vivid. As Wilma made the trek across the southern Gulf of Mexico another meteorological event was occurring. A cold front was moving down across the states. The morning started off overcast and humid, moisture associated with the tropical low.
As the day moved on, a battle unfolded in the sky above. Patches of blue sky opened and dispersed. Within hours, the clear sky had gained area, now fast moving clouds and cooler temperatures took stage. Have never seen this before, time of day, location, the atmospheric conditions, all variables coming together. Seems like a side tracked opening paragraph for a description on Ross Malcolm Boyd's Clouds composition, but both music and nature have strong roots together.

Clouds is an ambient piece with a dash of momentum. Seven tracks in total combining for over an hour of music. Like the day described above, there is a motion filled serenity to many of the selections. A pure orchestra defined by the cascade of currents through passing time. Tones sometimes resembling sustained chimes gently fluttering in the breeze or river flow at perfect levels producing gentle shoals. There is excellent diversity across all of Ross Malcolm Boyd's pieces on Clouds. At the same time, a well thought out congruent circulation from start to finish. A description that holds throughout, but the last three tracks serve as the best example. The title track "Clouds" feels like the turning pages in old photo albums. Sparkling nostalgia filling in thoughts of infinite contingent of past experiences. "Room For Ghosts" is the sound of a forgotten symphony, where eloquent dance held precedence. The final track "Parting Ways" is the closest approach to drone and the slip from conscious processes.

Clouds is self released by Ross Malcolm Boyd and is also in a different musical direction than his preceding work. Ross is currently on the road with his wife Jamie Feinberg, together playing singer/songwriter music about grins, sighs and all feelings in between. Their next show is at Substation in Seattle, Washington on August 11th. The compact disc is available here.

Links
Ross Malcolm Boyd site - facebook - bandcamp - twitter

colin andrew sheffield & james eck rippie - exploded view

The manipulation of traditional sound causes an infinite array of responses. The most common is just turning it off or leaving the room. This would be for patterns or harmonies that are not quickly understood and immediately enjoyable. Where does the path of removal or extraction lead? To classic rock music still being played on the radio for fifty years, country and rap music caught in a time capsule that allows only subtle changes. Listeners press the arrow for the next song, thinking there is something better than the time-worn piece they are hearing now.... Another overplayed track always on cue. And the repackaging of seventies soft rock as Yacht Rock, that is brilliant.  

Colin Andrew Sheffield and James Eck Rippie probably listen to some of the style of music for-mentioned above, we all do. However the creative path they have chosen has little to do with it. Their sounds push on the consciousness, asking for patience and endurance. These tones and anti rhythms are challenging. Like a two thousand piece jigsaw puzzle with similar color tones, you will need high constitution to put Exploded View back together. A task probably impossible to do. The beauty or special quality is how all fragments tether back to the core. As disjointed as Exploded View may seem, there is a magnificent flowing current of all flotsam in one mass. The first time through is easily overwhelming, but with each subsequent listen, all sonic debris becomes increasingly individualistic and more distinguishable. This is the true reward Colin and James share with all who spend time with their sounds. They take us down a path only known by experience guides. Hearing new vistas and experiencing moments to make the conscious churn. When free of daily routines and responsibilities, Exploded View is a key to augmenting spiritual vibrations. Thank you for pushing me once again.

Released on elevator bath from Austin Texas. In an edition of two hundred, this is one of the coolest looking presentations out there in this format, but elevator bath is well know for attention and love to all details. From the the tediously mastered sounds to simply beautiful artwork, this composition follows the established suit.

Links
elevator bath site - bandcamp - facebook - twitter

Carey - The Driver

In a distant land where the spectacles of spires and arches are equal to the fanfare of sound, the Driver fills both great halls and courtyards. Harmony stretching through the width of time, these sonic passages hold keystones made of both marble and unknown alloys. Pulsating rhythms work through thoughts as dreamlike voices convey their stories. How can written words fixate with so many facets of sound? The task is still jumbled and in process, an aural glimpse is all that can be offered.

Carey manipulates all sonic fields to defy the gravity of genres. The Driver has tethers to the mysterious early seventies tripped out beginnings of sounds, bands like Popol Vuh and albums like A Saucerful Of Secrets. This connection has seamless transformative qualities, in a blink displaying driving dreamlike rhythms of more recent bands like Stereolab. Carey effortlessly traverses styles and decades. The Driver's eight tracks spin the listener's perspective like a child on a swing. Playful buoyancy of back and forth rearranging into subtitle dizzying frenzies. The complete foray of Carey's depth gives thoughts of many musicians working together, but Dan Carey Bailey is the only person responsible. On this composition he has guest Jenn Beierle helping with vocals on some of the tracks, and mastering by Michael Potter. A small group making a flat out heavy weight contender. A thought exemplified best by side B's opening track The Dimmer The Light. A long groove of beats and rhythms perfectly balanced with vocals, this track alone assuages the spirit, providing the sonic skeletal structure similar to the title track The Driver on the first side. Diverse and fluid, this composition is worth some time in the tape deck.

Released on Already Dead Tapes and Records in a larger edition of one hundred and fifty. Currently there are only fourteen copies remaining. Last years The Great Southeastern Dissatisfaction on \\NULL|ZØNE// is completely sold out, The Driver is following on the same road very quickly.

Links
Already Dead Tapes site - facebook - bandcamp
Dan Carey Bailey - bandcamp - facebook

Michał Turowski - Wormwood And Flame

Noise followed by silence. A world warping in response to a single event, all unable to be measured. Both living and inanimate objects going through unique mutations. The emptiness ensues then continues on, remaining through time. The only condition of any perpetuity has been displayed by all ancient civilizations, be made of stone. The people who made this place their home are gone, vacated or deceased, nostalgia left behind decays then disiapates beyond recognition. Some living things do survive, thriving without control or constant manicure. This change in residence is beautiful and serene, without anyone left to document until now. Michał Turowski has channeled the sonic battle of woven molecules against the steady decay of time. 

Wormwood And Flame is an ambient warning. A siren or alarm reverberating in both directions of time. Disaster and death lingering in sonic space, resonance diluted but still quite pungent. The shrill of horror becoming the astonishing beautiful aural pageant. With any intuition, what is being transmitted has an undercurrent of foreshadowing regarding possible futures to unravel. Wormwood And Flame has depth in sound and girth in length, over an hour of music divided over eleven tracks.
Maybe best described as eerily tranquil, a sonic landscape filled with desolation. Like monument valley in the western states, monoliths surviving millions of years of erosion. Physical violence by nature leaving stoic relics to tell the story. Wormwood And Flame bestows a similar message, the unoccupied emptiness resonating with a new harmony. Distantly alien but still very much part of our construct, these sounds convey a feeling of abandonment and loneliness. Somehow in this solitude a natural warmth flows evading description, mesmerizing sonic brush strokes by Michał Turowski. An event where all things dissolve and become one again.

Working together, Mozdok and Positive Regression have released this composition in a limited edition compact disc recordable in a production run of one hundred. Beautiful artwork on a four panel fold. A composition deserving your time and thoughts.

Just noticed Positive Regression has this in a cassette edition as well with only three copies remaining.

Links
Gazawat - bandcamp
Mozdok - bandcamp
Positive Regression - bandcamp 

Michael Potter - Rain Song

Back through the channels of guitar tones, thoughts slipping to the continual undercurrent of musical beauty. The notion solidifies concerning the gifted talents of Michael Potter, connecting the nostalgia within sounds to a creative path of all things new. Rain Song is the well worn comfortable place to sit, where feelings of warmth flush through the skin and the entire spirit is charged in delight.

The first side consists of one track, the cassette title, called Rain Song. Slowly growing melodies that hang like Spanish moss in the serene bliss. A well planned crescendo awaits, but the patience to get there is perfectly timed. This also gives a moment to begin the understanding how steadfast Michael Potter's techniques are. Using a construct of many facets, usually highly guitar driven, the diversity is significant while the overall vibe is impeccably fluid. Rain Song follows a path like all afternoon shower experiences, unparalleled beauty coming unexpected and dispersing without fanfare or notice. Only now becoming a long thought asking to be retraced.

The second side is filled with three live tracks and starts off with a mood change. The first two selections emphasizing guitar, bass and drums with Michael, Web Hughes and Steven Ledbetter. Like a mini Penguin Cafe Orchestra that morphs into a grooved out blues band. The only difference in the mutation, these three musicians achieve the genuine aura without launching over the top. The last track is Rain Song played solo and live by Michael, an abbreviated version of the first side. One thing of note from the first side, the string tone prompted thoughts of the guitar tone on the 1984 song Real Life by Tones on Tail. This is a big stretch and the music is nothing alike, but the song following Real Life on the Pop album is titled Rain. This is probably just amusing to me....

Released on cassette by Already Dead Records And Tapes in an edition of one hundred and fifty. Less than twenty percent of this run is currently available and with good reason. Rain Song is excellent and these sounds are both sublime and radiant. Also the cassette version includes the B side which you can not hear on bandcamp.-

Links
Already Dead Tapes site - facebook - bandcamp
Michael Potter - bandcamp - facebook

Coven Tree / Tadzio Split

A few months ago Tadzio's The Sick Room was on the repeated listening plan. This is an incredible well composed album, and describing it was on the list.... But there is a heaviness to it that a short synopsis of words can not rise too, at least the efforts here at Lost in a Sea of Sound. Would like to go back and try again, but the sadness is real, the words clear and exacting, and the instrumentation pulls on your thoughts. To all involved with The Sick Room, incredible work, thank you for fueling emotions and contemplation.

This is a side tracked opening for the new split cassette by Coven Tree and Tadzio, but there was no way to start if the earlier body of work was not addressed. And with this touched upon history, Tadzio finds themselves at the core of another body of similar work. Folk, classical and experimental fused into an entirely new medium. The balance on this split, between both projects and sides they contribute, is the most striking feature. One side all instrumental and the other music and poetry caught between storytelling and song.

Coven Tree fills side A with an ambient pull through the centuries. Classical instruments, viola and cello, combine with keyboards to create a drone like atmosphere. The first track "No Land" floats like a wisp of a cloud across lush green mountain views. The sky is grey and white, keyboards in rhythm with intermittent falling rain. The heaviness of the moment is pierced by timeless factors of beauty, each existing for reasons yet to be fully understood. Maybe this is key to understanding the two artist making up Coven Tree, Alexia Kauffman and Hannah Burris have found the sonic pathway to a world of music shrinking away. A bright radiant point on an aural landscape of forgotten composers and the souls of incredible artists.

Side B holds two tracks by Tadzio. There is some similarity to The Sick Room, maybe this is a continuation along certain veins of interest or artists involved. Either way, Tadzio is extremely adept at creating their unique experimental folk like sounds. With the opening track "Death and the Lady", a timeless story of trying to bargain with Death unfolds. "Give me time in the light and air" is all the Lady asks for, but Death has heard this before. Even when offered earthly goods include castles and crystal stairs, Death is only interested in the soul of the moment.  The Lady realizes she can only leave words of advice, "Oh Lady's make much of your time, here lies a young girl cut down in her prime". Tadzio weaves the sonic threads of this telling tapestry with modern creativity. Their conceptualization of instrumentation fits impeccably to the stories being told, songs being sung. The second song extends reaching branches and touches another genre entirely. "Absence" has a pop hook that repeats in thoughts, "I'm doing alright, how you doing?, I'm doing alright". Doing good after listening to this split...

A lot to say for four tracks on a cassette. Very deserving though, balanced beauty all the way through. This BLIGHT. Records release is still in the pre-order phase. The scheduled release date will be near the beginning of the third week in August. Not sure how many in this edition, one hundred is a number BLIGHT. records has used for cassettes before. The opening Coven Tree track up on bandcamp and is currently listenable. If you like it, know the entire release is that good.

Links

BLIGHT. Records - bandcamp - facebook

Tadzio - facebook - bandcamp

Coven Tree - facebook - bandcamp

Sex Funeral - All Teeth

The aural haze is thick. Somewhere in the mist a cacophonous barge of sounds churns the murk. A cargo of harmony or clamor soon to be unfurled. The sonic contents slowly explode, a carnival of mysterious fragments begin their arc like path. Some listeners find themselves transfixed while others flee in haste. Sex Funeral does not take sides, these sounds emanate from talents spread far, this is a creative implosion. A return to a conscious core, a place where concord is chewed apart by All Teeth.

Three years ago Lost in a Sea of Sound described Sex Funeral's - Eradicator. Much has surfaced by the project during this lengthy duration. Line ups and instruments have changed although the menagerie of anti patterns still persists. The one constant connecting All Teeth and Eradicator together are all sounds emerging from a droning nexus. A sonic dimension that traverses space in one direction. Investigation into theses origins results in only darkness. Percussion, keyboards and saxophone blurring in and out of clarity. A hypnotic ruckus, debris from the cosmic droning dirge of decades past. These are the sounds of Matt Crowe and Bob Bucko Jr. Both artists with a ship's hold full of experience and projects. Together as Sex Funeral now, All Teeth is a tempered discharge of non conforming erudition. A place that could easily be overwhelming, but is held together by the beauty of patience.

Released on the Lincoln, Nebraska label Gay Hippie Vampire in June. The label used recycled tapes for this edition and the run is very limited. Read on discogs there are only thirty in all. You can currently order a copy from the label's bandcamp page or Sex Funeral's bandcamp page.

Links
Sex Funeral - bandcamp - facebook
Gay Hippie Vampire - bandcamp  - facebook - twitter