White Rainbow (2007)

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Music
Genre:	Childrens Music
Artist:	Prism of Eternal Now

Seperti sebuah meditasi epik dalam dunia mistik yang berkabut. Tetapi disini, dunia mistik bukanlah dunia yang dibangun oleh mantra dan cerita folklor yang disampaikan turun-temurun melalui keintiman komunikasi verbal. Adalah ambiens yang menjadi power dalam mengonstruksi makna dalam dunia White Rainbow yang disuguhkan Prism of Eternal Now. Ini semua hanyalah masalah resonansi yang statis dan meditatif: minim bisikan, minim lenguhan, minim vokalisasi verbal.

Dalam dimensi White Rainbow, mungkin sudah saatnya manusia menjadi penjelajah dari imajinasinya sendiri. Mengarungi jagat kekacauan yang melodius. Terbawa larut dalam tabla, synth, delay, string dan layer-layer tebal dari sebuah ambiens...untuk kemudian mengarungi galaksi psikadelik seorang diri secara eksistensial. Ada baiknya juga bila asap herbal hijau itu dibiarkan mengepul dan memasuki otak. Biarkan urat syarat mengendur karenanya, dan mulai rasakan sensitifitas inderawi mencoba menyentuh tepian alam semesta.

Di sini, White Rainbow ibarat menjadi sebuah perjalanan meditatif yang berdurasi 71 menit. Bahkan menjadi perjalanan meditatif yang juga memiliki makna spirituil, bila dibekali oleh asap herbal hijau. Dengan begitu, mungkin akan lebih terasa seperti apa struktur rohani dari sembilan lagu yang ada di White Rainbow.


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Prism of Eternal Now merupakan proyek solo dari Adam Forkner. Seorang 'scenester' dari Portland, AS, yang bergulat dengan musik-musik beraroma 'spacey psych'. Sebelumnya beliau pernah aktif juga di band Yume Bitsu dan Surface of Eceon. Lalu, pernah juga menjadi engineer dan produser dari artis-artis yang berada di bawah perusahaan rekaman bertitel K Records Dub Narcotic Studio. Salah satu artis yang pernah ditangani oleh Forkner adalah Kinski, sebuah band psychedelic/noise/ambient yang berasal dari Seattle.

White Rainbow ini merupakan rilisan Forkner yang ketiga dibawah nama pseudo Prism of Eternal Now. Dan entah proyek apalagi yang diprakarsai oleh beliau...

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Track List:

1. Pulses - 7:48
2. Middle - 5:02
3. For Terry - 6:22
4. Mystic Prism - 5:14
5. April 25th 11:14PM - 14:45
6. Warm Clicked Fruit - 9:07
7. Guitars - 6:29
8. Waves - 6:44
9. Awakening - 9:38

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i promise will let my self floating in the great sky with shitload of green herbal smoke fullfil my heart: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=G6PJ9NN1

Suarasama - Fajar di Atas Awan

Oleh: John Mulvey

2008/07/08 - It begins with a flutter of guitar, a dusting of cymbals. Then a female, faintly ethereal vocal arrives, accompanied by bells. At first, it sounds like she might be distant kin to the acid folk scene which still percolates away in the US; there’s a very vague resemblance to Meg Baird and Espers, perhaps. But then again, she’s not singing in English, and there’s something discreetly exotic about the song, “Dawn Over The Clouds”.

That’s the English translation of the song’s title, I should say. Actually, it – and its parent album – are called “Fajar Di Atas Awan” – and they are the work of a bunch of ethnomusicologists from Sumatra called Suarasama. Since it turned up about a week ago, I’ve been obsessing over “Fajar Di Atas Awan”, and also wondering how I would describe this incredible, tranquil, deep record on Wild Mercury Sound.

Given my dilettante-ish knowledge of global music, I can’t pretend to have much experience of the sounds of Indonesia, let alone the specific ones of Sumatra. I could say, in a generally rather crude way, that the beauty of this record is that it has a mystique, a spiritual imperative, that aligns it to other ‘world music’ (rotten patronising phrase, but you know what I mean) which can be appreciated by fans of psychedelia; I’m thinking of Tinariwen here, for a start.

According to the sleevenotes, “Irwansyah Harahap is the main composer in the group. In his compositions he has explored various different musical concepts and aesthetics in world music, such as African, Middle Eastern, Indian, Sufi Pakistani, Eastern European, Southeast Asian, as well as North Sumatran (the Bataks and Malay) traditional music.”

Again, I’m struggling to parse this. I can spot a little of the Sufi Pakistani tradition in there – if that refers to qawwali singers like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. But the acoustic guitar leads, the graceful melodies and so on, seem incredibly close to Western folk tradition, at times, though it’s impossible to tell whether that’s by accident or design.

But in general, the whole thing blends so harmoniously that trying to separate the trace elements seems not only unnecessary, but even a little vulgar. The Drag City press release references Sandy Bull (who we’ve been listening to a lot of late), John Fahey and the collaborations of Ravi Shankar and Andre Previn, which all make certain sense: there’s that same elegant elision of Eastern and Western scales and techniques, providing a really enveloping, devotional music. I’m reminded, too, of some of the Anatolian psych collected on the Turkish edition of the “Love, Peace And Poetry” compilation series; artists who delicately adjust Eastern melodic and rhythmic strategies, rather than the appropriation of them that we’re more used to.

The press release also references Ghost and Six Organs Of Admittance, and I can definitely see affinities with the latter. It should be noted, though, that “Fajar Di Atas Awan” was first released ten years ago, and that this reissue is coming out on the same label as Six Organs. Knowing Ben Chasny’s voracious appetite for music, it’s certainly plausible that Suarasama might have been a potent, semi-secret influence on the whole generation of fingerpickers, underground mystics and so on in the free folk/psych world.

But I can’t recommend this record enough. I’ve just taken a cursory trip round the web to try and find anywhere where you can hear Suarasama, with no joy. But if you do manage to track it down (the reissue isn’t due ‘til August), let me know what you think, as ever.

(Sumber lihat di sini)

All the Rage

Sometimes i think about the rage that printed on mass media based on profit-making isn't "rage" after all...it's more like an attractive icon that have a possibility to attract bigger audience and advertiser for mass media itself in order to expanding the capital. There is no such thing as rebellion when it printed in headlines or whatever. Rage is only prevail on the streets. When all the particulars and workers around the globe: united.

the Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Music
Genre:	Indie Music
Artist:	the Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Ini mengingatkan saya pada era kejayaan shoegazer awal semacam Ride, Pale Saints, dan (tentu saja) yang begitu disanjung: My Bloody Valentine. Seperti layaknya musik-musik pop di era itu, kamu akan mendengarkan struktur lagu yang straight forward. Bermain tanpa tetek bengek apa-apa. Hanya distorsi yang kadang raw menjurus noise. Dan disisi yang lainnya, ada juga itu kocokan-kocokan ala Swedish pop yang soundnya clean. Terus, tidak dilupakan juga, vokal yang datar, mengawang-awang, dan kadang hampir tidak terdengar, karena tertutup oleh layer-layer distorsi gitar. Haha, gaya yang sangat klasik! Tapi saya suka. Gaya-gaya yang tidak dipusingkan oleh apa-apa. Hanya bermain musik.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (TPOBPAH) adalah band yang datang dari New York scene dan didirikan pada tahun 2007. Mereka terdiri dari Kip Berman (guitar vocals), Peggy Wang (vocals keyboards), Alex Naidus (bass), dan Kurt Feldman (drums). Album self-titled ini sendiri keluar di tahun 2009, setelah sebelumnya mereka mengeluarkan EP bertitel Higher Than the Stars di tahun yang sama. Di album self-titled ini ada sepuluh lagu yang ditawarkan. Seperti yang kamu harapkan dari band-band tipikal indie-pop/shoegaze, tentu ada melankoli dan noise disana-sini. Dan gaya-gaya seperti inilah yang bagi saya jadi kelebihan dari TPOBPAH (terlepas dari tipikalitasnya). Saya kira, saya tidak perlu mendeskripsikan satu persatu dari setiap lagu yang ada di album ini. Hoream. Tapi, secara umum, bolehlah saya katakan, kalau musiknya bisa dikategorikan bagus, dan layak didengarkan. Indie pop that blend with shoegazing noise and raw distortion.

With TPOBPAH all you have to do is just relax and shine :D

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the Pains of Being Pure at Heart song title:
1. Contender 2:40
2. Come Saturday 3:17
3. Young Adult Friction 4:08
4. This Love Is Fucking Right! 3:15
5. The Tenure Itch 3:46
6. Stay Alive 4:56
7. Everything With You 2:59
8. A Teenager In Love 3:24
9. Hey Paul 2:03
10. Gentle Sons 4.32

you can visit: http://www.mediafire.com/?tnngzjmwmmy