Floating Flower - 1st and 2nd
(Feathered Spirit of Mother) 09.14.06 by Eric Nielsen
The summer heat, the coastal fog, your mind, traffic, the imaginings of a Californian about India, this album takes you through a trip. There is something special about tablas that we can understand. Tablas and seemingly wordless vocal float this cd, this rerelease of music recorded by Kawabata Makoto, Yuki and Koneko Tetsuya in 1998 and 1999. Originally released on the Acid Mothers Temple label as 2 discs, it's classic old (sitar, tablas, violin, guitar) mixed subtly with new (electric guitar and electronicly effected sounds). Looking to get high and drive? Makes me wish I was back on the pipe. Kawabata seems to credit most of this record to Yuki and Tetsuya and seems happy to mostly add ambience and wonderful tweaked effected guitar sounds that are mixed deep in the acid raga stew.
Desert is a piece that stands out with acoustic guitar top (I'd love more of this acoustic guitar sound, maybe that's why the acoustic is so great, give 'em just a taste), a great break at the end with American Indian sounding wailing mixed with strings and tablas. It's a Japanese sweat lodge. Many songs seem to start with Kawabata's acoustic and melt into a freakfest of drums, wails and electronics that San Francisco would be proud of.
The liner notes mention that the Koneko and Yuki spend much of their time in India while their house is filled with "spongers". It also says they don't care if their records sell or not. Maybe that kind of karma led to this rerelease. This is the second pressing of this cd with the first being on Black Plastic Sound in 2002.
Long minimal acid drone pieces float under the vocals and go and go. Shamanic trip folk stars. Haunting, lo fi, drifting, meditative, repetitive like a walking tour through the mountains in the heat of summer, barren above the tree line, white like the sun scorched land effected by generations of time. Melted backwards guitar like a psychadelic 70's movie. Often unsettling, often comforting, often background, often in your face with squeeky tones and tweaky high pitched vocals, this disc draws you in. Rereleased on Feathered Spirit of a Mother. This looks to be the labels second release with artwork from the original two discs. Let's hope for more of this kind of thing from them in the future.