lost in a sea of sound

Sitting on the beach in Kekaha, Kauai, the sun has a few more hours before it rises away from view. Sleep has settled like a fog, all is quiet, only the crash of waves can be heard. In the distant horizon, a silhouetted land mass holds firm focus. This is the island of Niʻihau. Protected, forbidden, a place only natives can travel to and from. There are satellite views, also select trips to the northern uninhabited part of the island, beyond this, there is extremely limited knowledge of the small village residing there. Tonight is special, the ocean is relatively quiet and the wind pushes from there to here, throwing a sonic pass exactly on target. Traveling the seventeen miles without corruption, beautiful melodies are heard with welcome. They are clear and magical. Instilling images of old growth palm trees gently touched by a western breeze, their green luster sparkling from the moonlight's reflection. Sandy paths leading down to the beach where long lines of waves produce crys…

The fifth tape from Betwixt & Between Tapes follows format with another split. Amazingly both sides are live and sound absolutely gorgeous. These artist reach into the mysteries of improvisations and drone like tranquility. The fifth edition includes a special treat from Jacken Elswyth and Alula Down. Each sharing there own renditions of Sweet Lemeny, both holding on to the folk roots but growing in directions never traveled. 

Jacken Elswyth continues to display an extraordinary prowess in banjo playing and unruffled creativity. East meeting west one hundred years ago. Classical like ragas as framework for improvisation then toggling to Appalachian melodies. An all instrumental version of Sweet Lemeny reaching across time, both bowed banjo drone and English folk style playing. The three tracks on Jacken's side pull on the love of music. Thought provoking beauty in sound and done live. A unique style harnessing great understanding of music that has come before, helping with th…

The harmony within everything around us can go unnoticed. Fast paced lives glaze over serene beauty in so many moments of each day. The landscape radiated by multiple angles of the sun, changes pace and purpose through every planetary rotation. A light wind through trees, water cascading over the Earth, insects and animals both making noise from movement and calls. Looking through the car window or from a sealed air conditioned environment, only the view can be absorbed. Like watching a orchestra play but not hearing the music, at some point we need to connect to the world that has been before us and will be after. Inner Travels newest release titled Nature Spirit helps us understand. We need this union, like photosynthesis for our thoughts, the spirit requires nurturing, understanding and patience. 
Nature Spirit is a composition of three tracks divided over forty minutes. Each selection starting with recordings of both flora and fauna in the countryside they exist. Steve Targo who …

There is pressure on this planet. At sea level the pressure is 101.325 kilopascals or one atmosphere. In everyday life, the weight of one atmosphere goes unnoticed. The human body has evolved to be comfortable in this environment. Just a little deeper than ten meters underwater, the experience will be equivalent to two atmospheres. A heaviness similar to these new sounds by Ashan. Sonic tranquility pacifying thoughts, something listeners gravitate to and hold special. This is the ambient one atmosphere. But here is the connection, these sounds compress upon the consciousness. Not in the sense of an onus weight, more of a focused force, causing the mind to seek deeper meanings.

Transfigurations is six tracks divided through forty five minutes. These selections set the listener far into open oceans, fifteen meters down with full sunlight exposing the expansiveness. The weightlessness holding complete serenity like a child in supportive arms. Sounds traveling from distant origins arrivin…

The melodic and methodical jet of water in cyclic motion. Intense heat causing almost dreamlike stasis. Severino Pfifferling extracts the circulatory sounds of the Spülmaschine (dishwasher) and provides them with an orchestra via synthesizer. This is a long awaited union, fortunately finally available from the Cologne, Germany label Strategic Tape Reserve.

Yes, this combination does sound far fetched and almost incomprehensible. The genuineness though, is within the sounds of this composition. The listening experience for this description started without knowing definition the German word Spülmaschine. Just pressed play on the cassette and sunk into the mysterious world of Severino Pfifferling, there was never a correlation between the sounds recorded from the washer. After reading Strategic Tape Reserve's bandcamp description and listening again, almost all of the intricacies of this kitchen work horse could be understood. Severino's synthesizer adding alien notes to a rum…

Exceptional music can happen instantaneously or take a circuitousness journey. For this new release on Strategic Tape Reserve, the long path is complete. A new composition by Nicholas Langley, one of the musicians who plays with the improvisational group The Vitamin B12. This group has had different members over it's long history including Nicholas, but the artist Alasdair Willis has always been the denominator. The first connection is easy,  Nicholas Langley has played in the same group with Alasdair Willis. In the years centered around 2010, Alasdair Willis composed a thirty track solo work titled "Rock Formations". Not sure if this was ever physically released, but "Rock Formations" is available to listen and download on The Vitamin B12 bandcamp page.

The second connection is Nicholas Langley's new arrangements of selected tracks on Alasdair Willis' "Rock Formations". With so much music available to digitally listen to, comparing Alasdair&#…