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Dark Holler
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The Vine and Vein Collection CD Hand/Eye h/e035Jessica Constable sings written texts or stream-of-consciousness lyrics that she uses to explore resonance and texture, sometimes using electronic filters, echoes and modulation to transform her voice. Jessica also plays as a duo with New York sound artist Andrea Parkins; tours regularly with Ellery Eskelin, Andrea Parkins and Jim Black (with whom she has also recorded two critically acclaimed cds: ten which also included guests Marc Ribot and Melvin Gibbs and Quiet Music). She has composed for dance and theatre and performed in recent years with French Jazz Patriarch Francois Jeanneaus Pandemonium big band, has recorded albums and/or toured with amoungst others Jeff Sharel, Soulreactive, The Flow, Tellemake. track listing: Crow Tongue
"Ghost Eye Seeker" CD Hand/Eye h/e034Crow Tongues first full length finds them summoning distant howls from the fog of night. Fingerpicked strings and Eastern instruments recall Crow Tongues musical heritage (the acid-folk of Stone Breath), but here they are layered with primitive homemade instruments, circuit-bent electronics, and mantric drones. track lsting: Stone Breath
"A Silver Thread to Weave the Seasons" (expanded edition) 2CD Hand/Eye h/e033Hand/Eye proudly presents the second in our series of expanded Stone Breath reissues. Originally released in 1998, A Silver Thread to Weave the Seasons, is now expanded to two CDs with essential bonus material. The first disc presents the original album, long out of print, in all its acid-forest-drone-mantra-folk glory. These songs are of earth and spirit love, sunlight splitting open threatening clouds, trees and birds that talk, the smell of wet earth and the sting of rain on an upturned face, firebrands scattering columns of sparks into the red twilight. The second disc returns some lost songs to Stone Breath, adds some rare songs from compilation appearances, and presents a previously unreleased track featuring Fit & Limo. 27 tracks total over 2 CDs. track listing: Robin Crutchfield
"For Our Friends in the Enchanted Otherworld" CD Hand/Eye h/e032A tiny treasurebox from a lost garden, For Our Friends in the Enchanted Otherworld, finds Robin Crutchfield further exploring his unique world; one of delicate harp compositions, glissando, and deep drones. Soundscapes for daydreamers of this and other worlds. track listing: Stone Breath
"Songs of Moonlight and Rain" (expanded edition) CD h/e031 Presaging the free/freak/acid-folk boom by almost a decade, Stone Breath carved a unique place in what was then a very lonely neighborhood. Songs of Moonlight and Rain, the first Stone Breath album, struck a spectral note somewhere between Syd Barrett singing nature poetry and The Incredible String Bands more lonesome moments; blended with experimental graveyard-songs and acoustic drones into a brew of darkness and hope; nature and supernature; love and loss. track listing: The Trees Community
"The Christ Tree" CD Hand/Eye h/e030The Trees Community was a musical group as well as a community. We started out as disparate individuals who were just looking for the truth. In the summer of 1970 we stumbled upon a semi-abandoned loft in New York City with no locked door and through it, entered a collective life in the service of God. The language of our service was original music played on 80 instruments from around the world. The Hand/Eye version of The Christ Tree is the ONLY official version, licensed from and approved by The Trees themselves. 8 panel digipak reissue with notes on the creation of the Trees, musical influences, and commentary on the individual tracks. track listing: * previously unreleased, not included on the box set Crow Tongue
"Ditch Mix" volume 3 3"CDr Hand/Eye h/e029The third installment of the "ditch mix" series finds Crow Tongue flying somewhere between the looped rhythms of the first two "ditch mix" volumes and the free-form devotional drone of "Ghost Eye Seeker." This, and all future volumes of the "ditch mix" series will only be available directly from Dark Holler Arts, Crow Tongue, and a few select mail-orders. This will not be available through standard distribution channels. A limited edition 3" CDr, the third in a series by Crow Tongue. track listing: Shane Speal
"Stealing the Fire" CD Hand/Eye h/e028It could be a modern incarnation of the old blues scenario: A man sits in his single-wide mobile home with a primitive guitar (made from a cigar box, stick and 3 guitar strings) and belts out mean murder ballads and dark spirituals thruough a rusty harmonica mic. But it's not a "scenario." This is the real shit. Speal was living in the middle of a Pennsylvania trailer park. He plays a cigar box guitar. And he recorded this album on a simple 4-track cassette recorder.. track listing: Crow Tongue
"Ditch Mix" volume two 3" CDr Hand/Eye h/e027Continuing the "Ditch Mix" series with a second volume of deep root experimentalism using a home-made tape delay system, home-made instruments, broken effects boxes, and more. For this volume, Shane Speal provides some drums and Sarada provides some vocals. track listing: Crow Tongue
"Ditch Mix" volume one 3" CDr Hand/Eye h/e026The first release by this new project, fueled by tiMOTHy Renner/Revelator of Stone Breath. However, do not expect Crow Tongue to sound like Stone Breath. track listing: sold out / out of print Breathe Stone"Hex Thorn" CD Hand/Eye h/e025delayed until further notice. Crow Tongue
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On Old Christmas Eve and Old Christmas Day, January 2006, Timothy, Revelator, having had on his mind thoughts of the death of Time; and in his ears and eyes, great gatherings of crows wherever he went; and in his heart his twin children; sat down, put pen to paper, and wrote "Hoofbeat, Caw, & Thunder." In two days' and two nights' time, thoughts and hopes and fears began to spin together like a spider's web, and he produced what is perhaps his most personal work to date. Biblical and personal revelation blend as animist apocrypha is reconciled to Catholic Apocalypse, disappointment to hope, past to future. All these thoughts of ENDING blending with the demise of Stone Breath (Timothy's now defunct band), and the fact that he has not released an album in well over a eighteen months' time, lent this material a sense of urgency and he began to put it to music immediately (perhaps, in his mind, before The End).
With a host of instruments at hand (guitars, banjos, dulcimers, harmonium, lute, and something Timothy calls the motheart), he began to compose songs and drones to marry to his text. Besides bowed strings and blown harmonium reeds, Timothy created drones from field recordings he made of steam engines and whistles from various antique engine shows (another anachronistic interest of Timothy's); as well as recordings of the loudest instrument in the world, the factory steam whistle in York, PA, which is played every Christmas at midnight and heard for many miles around. He recruited friends Sarada, whose silvery vocals have graced many of Timothy's previous albums, and Shane Speal, the King of the Cigar Box Guitar, to help. Sarada sang with Timothy while Shane played a double-necked bass/guitar cigar box and a fretless electric bass.
"Hoofbeat, Caw, & Thunder" was meant to be taken as one piece (though divided into tracks for the convenience of the listener) and the sound weaves elements of Timothy's past with hints at his future musical direction. Not steampunk exactly, but steamdrone and folk (wyrd or otherwise), sometimes with distorted dissonance, and other times in quieter, acoustic lead settings. In this, Time has turned in on itself; where sounds of medieval lutes meet 1970's tube-driven recording equipment, and 1880's steam whistles are sampled, reconstructed, and looped by modern devices. "Hoofbeat, Caw, & Thunder," with sonic leaps back and forth through Time, becomes a meditation on the end of all things, or perhaps of just one man, and on love, and family, and what we leave behind.
9 tracks, 58 minutes.
forthcoming
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Thieves Among Thorns features Nick Grey, Jasmine Pinkerton & Nicholas Davis (from the semi-romantic act Nick Grey & The Random Orchestra). This new collection of songs, stripped bare of the Orchestras usual members, reveals a quieter, sadder aspect of their work, and was recorded after Nick dreamed of commiting suicide with a Bible in a Geneva first-class hotel.
As a result, Thieves Among Thorns is all about forlorn piano lullabies, insecure percussions and torpid classical arrangements, eerie ballads and numbing rythms, terminological inexactitudes and sleepy hyperboles. Ten desolate tracks where Nicks laptop arrangements and quiet, inconsolable vocals interweave with pianist Jasmine Pinkertons eastern-Europe sensitivity and Nicholas Davis' precise guitar.
A sound shaped by various failures, breakups and periods of intense doubt : perfect for heartbreaks and codeine addicts.
Track listing:
1 Tammuz
2 Hail Heart! Clouds Upon Clouds!
3 Failure (Is A Lonesome Bitch)
4 The Endless Pink
5 All Lives Revolve in Bright Circles of Quiet Light
6 Spa Diva
7 Montreal (Vue Arienne)
8 Devolun Inis
9 End of All
10 The World Mountain
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New Zealander, Craig Williamson's Lamp of the Universe project has brought forth two albums since its inception in 1999, "The Cosmic Union" and "Echo in Light" (three albums if you count his first solo album, "Lotus of a Thousand Petas" released under his own name). However, "Earth, Spirit, and Sky" finds the Lamp of the Universe shining brightly in a more heartfelt, song-oriented, and stripped back effort.
Earth, Spirit, and Sky reaches the heights of psychedelic folk driven by sitar, acoustic and electric guitars, flute, and voice into epic zones inhabited by the likes of The Incredible String Band and Fit & Limo. Earth, Spirit, and Sky is beyond new weird america or some 60s nostalgia it lies within the heart of timeless psychedelia and explorative music.
Track listing:
1 As We Unfold in the Skies
2 Enlighten
3 My Princess
4 Mystic Soul of Heaven
5 Earth, Spirit, and Sky
6 Call of the Ancient
7 Existence
8 Zion
sold out / out of print
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The 20th release on Hand/Eye finds us offering a work from one of our favorite bands and an influence from a young age, Eyeless in Gaza. 1995s BITTER APPLES saw Eyeless In Gaza shifting the balance away from the many areas of spontaneous improvisation explored in earlier collections. BITTER APPLES saw the re-investigation of their own peculiar brand of song and avant-folk. Geared towards a live performance bias, BITTER APPLES focused on the vocal/ bass/ guitar/ drum axis - albeit very much in a distinctive individualistic EYELESS mode, perhaps closest to the DRUMMING THE BEATING HEART period in approach. Drawing on folk, imprpvised and European traditional musics, and also with a distinctive take on their own personal backrounds of pop and art-punk ethics, Eyeless In Gaza evoke a paradoxically uplifting nourishment from amongst the eclectic blend of melody and rich lyrical uplifting sound that is BITTER APPLES.
Track Listing:
1 Bushes and Briars
2 To Cry Mercy
3 Year Dot
4 No Further than the Shore
5 Jump to Glory Jane
6 Dear Light
7 Returning Over
8 Dust Alphabet
9 To Listen across the Sands
10 Likeness of Summer
11 Sorrow Came
12 Earth (Legend of Two Daughters)
13 Guide this Night
14 Bitter Apples
15 Sunset 1903
16 Harps in Heaven
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Originally released in 1995, Mystery Seas (Letters Written #2) sees MARTYN BATES exploring further the seeds of ideas contained within his first solo work of some thirteen years earlier, the legendary 'Letters Written' collection. Comprising songs composed during that period (circa 1982) together with brand new songs in the idiom, this collection of highly personal letters -organ based songs and performances - is entitled 'MYSTERY SEAS (LETTERS WRITTEN #2). Haunted, richly melodic, and lyrical these new recordings are most emphatically SONGS, and as such they veer away from the more experimenlal' areas in which Martyn has been known for working. Recorded at AMBIVALENT SCALE in 1995 (by EYELESS IN GAZA's PETER BECKER), this music is drenched in the myriad resonances of FOLK, whilst simultaneouslv circumnavigating any rigid and limiting definition (FOLK = the 'folk soul', the collective unconscious). With voice/ lyrics lo the fore, and with a (for the most part) skeletal, simplistic instrumentation, MYSTERY SEAS evokes a music of creaking ships, echoes, of distant sea-shanty, light thru' broken stained glass windows, blighted misfortune, morning light, searching glances, of each story running thru them, of salt water, clear rhyme and reason, of each mask, of a night sky - tall wall of no more, of floods of thought / unsettling fetters, of tears or words seeming to rip the surface alerting and dumbfounding at one and the same time, songs of a beautiful secret to own
MYSTERY SEAS (LETTERS WRITTEN #2) is released on Hand/Eye via A-Scale.
Track Listing:
1 You, Looking to Me for a Sign
2 Shorepoem
3 Calm of Dark
4 Imagination Feels like Poison
5 Trade Winds
6 Over the Waters
7 Everywhere theres Rain
8 Empty Pages
9 Midday Coming Misty
10 On the Beach at Fontana
11 Sky after All
12 Fragment (Little Star #1)
13 If I Could See in Everyone
14 Of Night
15 Gift
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The first U.S. issue of a full-length solo album by Martyn Bates, the stunning vocalist and founding member of Eyeless in Gaza - originally released mid 1997 to accompany the similarly titled book of lyrics and has been unavailable commercially until this HAND / EYE release.
Comprising new interpretations of songs extant 1982-1995 hitherto unheard, Imagination Feels Like Poison is primarily a collection of songs (occasionally threaded through with fleeting illustrative atmospheric sketches); a music brightly bittersweet, conjuring up ghostly and vivid invocations of folk/psych. Voice and, perhaps surprisingly, Banjo (an unusual choice for Martyn Bates), are the principal instruments that carry this music, a skeletal, simplistic music, deftly coloured and fleshed out by inventive use of Autoharp, Percussion, Whistles and Pump Organ.
Constituting totally solo recordings (co-produced and engineered by Eyeless In Gazas Peter Becker), this collection bears the distinct air of the highly personal/autobiographical, with dedications and references to the authors family. Luxuriously melodic, easily side-stepping lazy characterisations of genre, the album extends and elaborates upon Martyn Bates previously explored musical endeavours
quiet fire; filigree and mercurial, silvery images.
Track listing:
1 Mock Sun #1
2 I Cant Look for You
3 Bones of Your Face
4 Years of Salt
5 I Forget You
6 The God on the Tree
7 Full Sail
8 Flanaghan
9 Fully Bright
10 Mystery Seas
11 This Wayward Love
12 Fantacinni Playground
13 Ellen Massey
14 Letters to a Scattered Family
15 Silvery Images
16 No-One Spoke
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"Beneath the Bleeding Moon," the first volume in Timothy's "Lost Gospel Music" series was recorded at Unreal House, direct to tape (yes, analog) over the course of a few nights in September 2004. With the exception of some overdubbed bowed-dulcimer on two tracks, all songs were recorded live with vocals and ent-banjo, an instrument of Timothy's design.
Here are moon-songs to God and the green wood, and secret songs to night angels - drawing influences from east (Ostad Elahi, Abdelah
Ghania) and west (Buell Kazee, Derroll Adams), Timothy blends the Middle Eastern/African roots of the banjo easily with its American descendant. Improvisation is blended with structured songs. Timothy's music is blended with Richard Crashaw's words (Crashaw was a Catholic metaphysical poet, 1613-1649, 4 of his poems are set to music on this release). The end result of these mixtures is "Beneath the Bleeding Moon," an album unique in both concept and sound.
Copies of the first edition each come with a different holy card. Copies ordered direct from Dark Holler will come with prayer cards,
green scapulars, and/or inspirational texts (if you do not want such items, just let us know).
track listing:
1 The Weeping Eye of God
2 Petals on the Arms of the Wind
3 On the Still Surviving Markes of Our Saviour's Wounds
4 Blessed of the Holy Trees
5 In Silence and in Shadow Keep
6 Upon the Infant Martyrs
7 Song Upon the Bleeding Crucifix
8 Within Your Halo
9 A Song
10 Angel of the First Dream
11 Another Eye
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Timothy, Revelator and Alicia have worked together in the past (Mourning Cloak, Breathe Stone), but never so extensively. Moth Masque finds them with room to stretch out, explore, and experiment over the course of an entire album.
Moth Masque was concieved from the beginning as an experiment. After completing work on Stone Breath's "The Silver Skein Unwound" CD, on which Timothy plays a large variety of Eastern, western and home-made instruments, Timothy decided to focus and create something using only one instrument and vocals. This was, however, the only rule.
All of the music on Moth Masque is played on a Joseph Rickett banjo from 1880. It was played in the clawhammer, 2-finger, and 3-finger styles. It was played with a slide; a bow; it was beat like a drum; strummed; and sung through. Alicia and Timothy added vocals to this musical bed, and the entire album was then processed via aetheric engineering creating a true mix of sounds culled from the 1800s through today.
Moth Masque is an album of love songs through the eyes of moths. Or, perhaps, moth songs through the eyes of love. It features 11 all new compositions by Alicia and Timothy as well as a new version of "Wisdom on the Moth's Wing," which originally appeared on Stone Breath's first CD, "Songs of Moonlight and Rain" (out of print). Comes in hand-stenciled black digipaks black-on-black or glow-in-the-dark (randomly inserted).
track listing:
1 Hope Beneath the Stars
2 Beneath Wing Shadows
3 Flutter
4 Kindred Moth
5 Staring into the Stars
6 A Moth History / Moon Under Moon
7 Wisdom on the Moth´s Wing
8 The Dance
9 Moth Rest
10 Skeletonizer
11 Moth Angel Chant
12 More Symbols Thrown
sold out / out of print
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This 4CD set included a CD reissue of the rare collectors item LP, The Christ Tree from 1975 (remastered from original tapes), a CD reissue of the even rarer cassette release A Portrait of Jesus Christ in Music (originally issued at the wrong speed presented here at the proper speed for the first time), as well as live tapes, practices, and many previously unreleased songs.. Complete with lyrics, a history of the group, photos, and much more. A simply stunning set of music and a must-have for fans of psychedelic-folk, commune jams, psalmody, and experimental-folk. Includes liner notes by David Tibet of Current 93.
The Hand/Eye version of The Christ Tree is the ONLY official version, licensed from and approved by The Trees themselves.
CD1
The Christ Tree
1. Psalm 42
2. The Parable of the Mustard Seed
3. Psalm 45
4. O Little Town of Bethlehem
5. Village Orchestra
6. Jesus He Knows
7. I Will Not Leave You Comfortless
8. Chant for Pentecost
9. Psalm 46
Bonus Tracks: "The Christ Tree, Live"
10. Holy Seed
11. Psalm 42
12. Bird Song
13. Eastern Sky
14. The Parable of the Mustard Seed / Trees' Chant
15. Psalm 45
16. Village Orchestra
CD2
"A Portrait of Jesus Christ in Music"
1. Eastern Sky
2. The Birth (Isaiah 9)
3. Lift Your Weary Hand
4. Hosannah
5. Daughters of Jerusalem
6. Fervently We Pray
7. Raga / Fervently We Pray (reprise)
8. I Wander
9. Bird Song
10. Jesus He Knows
11. Elijah
12. How Long is a Little While / Crucifixion Trilogy
13. Kyrie
14. Mary's Song
15. The Captain
16. Our Father's Beard
17. Lamb of God
18. I Will Not Leave You Comfortless
19. Pentecostal Chant
20. Christ Will Come Again
Bonus Tracks:
21. Kohoutek
22. Psalm 44
CD 3
April 15, 1973 at The Abbey of Gethsemane, Part 1
1. Introduction / Benediction
2. Eastern Sky
3. Birth
4. Your Name
5. The Trees Chant
6. Baptism
7. Lines Scribbled on an Envelope while Riding on the 104 Broadway Bus
8. Fervently We Pray
9. I Wander
10. Bird Song
11. Jesus He Knows
CD 4
April 15, 1973 at The Abbey of Gethsemane, Part 2
"The Passion"
1. Introduction to the Passion
2. Come All Ye
3. Such a Love
4. Annunciation
5. Salve Regina
6. Singing in Tongues
7. Such a Love (reprise)
8. Daughters of Jerusalem
9. Elijah
10. How Long is a Little While
11. Lord Have Mercy
12. Lamb of God
13. Comfortless
14. Chant
15. Glory Be to Jesus
Bonus Track:
16. Chance Chord
sold out / out of print
single CD version available now, see h/e030 above
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the does return with a heavier, rawer, but no less fantastic dose of their sludgey blues-rock-goth-noise. This limited edition CDr comes in one of 3 different hand-sewn, silkscreened bags - it looks amazing.
track listing:
1 1-4
2 Serves You Right
3 Stray Cat Blues
4 AC/ST
5 ...And the Fog Rolls In
sold out / out of print
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Skye Klad has always been known for working without a net, and this latest effort is no exception. After nearly eight years pushing the envelope of the darkest psychedelic/occultic noise rock imaginable, the group has once again confounded the faithful by returning from the cocoon of a long hiatus with a new album stemming from an approach most unexpected by anyone who has followed them in the past, and sure to intrigue and entice new listeners as well.
Their fascination with the ancient and the esoteric has not waned in the slightest, but the approach and instrumentation is utterly different from past efforts, while maintaining their adventurous and singular vision. Where past efforts pushed listeners through the sonic vortex and past the threshold of pain via dense, fuzzy, post-apocalyptic metallic sheen and pulsing, flowing rhythm, "Skye Klad Plays the Musick of Cupid's Orkustra Asleep in the Magick Powerhouse of Oz" seeks to reach the same end by much more meditative and organic means. Acoustic instrumentation is at the fore, augmented by field recordings, french horn, tribal percussion and a mantric sensibility. There are guitars and basses of course, but there are also more exotic stringed instruments such as saz and the custom, sitar-like "witchfynder" as well as flutes and a variety of unsettling found sound and echo effects. Not willing to completely eschew the loves of the past, there is still the occasional transcendent fuzz guitar, but in a much subtler fashion. Group leader Jason Kesselring's vocal style and lyrical sensibility have matured considerably since past efforts, and the lyrical motifs that he explores will certainly appeal to the shuttered bibliophiles among us; those who know the risks of their interest and forge ahead despite the consequences of their actions.
Musically, Skye Klad have always shown a knack for wearing their influences on their sleeves while amalgamating them successfully into a unique and modern aesthetic. Listeners to this latest effort will detect the influence of Bert Jansch and the ghosts of Davey Graham and Robbie Basho, as well as more modern influences such as early Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen, AntiGroup and others. In short, another adventurous album by this unique group, delivering the unexpected once again. Welcome to the new dawn.
Track listing:
1 The Wolf that Follows the Faun that Flies
2 The Cross of Lorraine
3 Fleeting Faunus and the Prophecy of the Fields
4 Mary Magdalene
5 Beyond the Ice and Storm
6 The Sleeper
7 Wildes Heer
8 When the Hounds of Spring are on Winters Traces
9 Rex Mundi
10 The Windy Tree
11 They Will Come from the North
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the does (as in female deer, pl.) play music that is dirty, dark, and hazy. Singer Carol Anne and guitar player Neddal were brought together by their shared love of sleaze, sloppy rock n roll, and feedback. Originally, the idea was to sound something like a cross between the Rolling Stones and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Things didnt work out as planned. Carol couldnt quite shake her goth background. (She refers to herself as a recovering goth. Neddal says theres no such thing.) Neddal couldnt quite get the sludge out of his system. They wrote some songs. They went into the studio. When they came out they had three songs that didnt sound anything the songs theyd been rehearsing. On the way to the studio theyd shanghaied Carols band mate Jim (Carol and Jim play in Torontos Nice Cat. Check them out, theyre sludgilicious!) to sit in on drums. What started out as moody, minimal blues/punk ended up as a brooding, psychedelic, not-quite-so-minimal mix of Pussy Galore, ZZ Top, the Melvins, and My Bloody Valentine.
Breathe Stone come with an impressive pedigree. Formed on October 31, 2002 by Mr. Timothy Renner, Breathe Stone is an extension of well-known acid/psych/wyrd-folks Stone Breath. Breathe Stones mandate is to take the dark, haunting, acoustic folk of Stone Breath in a more electric (literally), experimental direction. Timothy is joined on these recordings by his Stone Breath band mate Sarada, Alicia of Funeral, and guitarist RA Campbell. Using such instruments as electric banjo, slide banjo, glasstamboura, dumbek, and squeezebox, along with the electric guitar, Breathe Stone conjure images of crumbling farmhouses, empty glades, overgrown paths, and lonely silhouettes in the moonlight.
Track listing:
the does
1. four am
2. five over three
3. sleep deprivation blues
Breathe Stone
4. Rara Avis
5. Crow Omens
6. Maria Walks Amid The Thorn
specially priced - double ep! 2eps on 1 CD!
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Hand/Eye is pleased to announce the release of "The Transparent World" by the Minneapolis-based instrumental improv trio Barlow/Petersen/Wivinus. "The Transparent World" is effectively the group's first proper release (aside from a live-to-cassette, self-titled CDR limited to 100 copies and released last year on Stick It To The Man/Asymmetry to good responses on both sides of the Atlantic), and contains ten tracks encompassing a wide range of mood, texture and instrumentation. Whereas their earlier disc explored the ether via electric guitars, feedback and the multitude of sounds that can be derived from a variety of effects pedals, "The Transparent World" finds the group working exclusively with acoustic instrumentation to achieve a sonic landscape that is at turns lush and austere, meditative and menacing. All tracks on the disc are improvised at their core and utilize a wide variety of instruments and techniques, creating many sounds not normally associated with "acoustic" recordings. Of course there are guitars (both six- and twelve-string), but often unusually tuned and occasionally bowed. Piano, dulcimer, mandolin (occasionally augmented by e-bow and slide) bowed cymbals, the Freeman Monostring (played with a ballpeen hammer) the "rattletrap," bagpipe chanter and various other peripheral devices are all used to create a very singular and evocative whole.
Musically, the disc ranges across a wide variety of styles and influences, but still retains a unified vision and a cohesive sound. Any number of genres can be seen in fleeting glimpses throughout the recordings: menacing blues from the deepest edges of a swamp swimming with spirits and psychosis (as seen in the opening cut, "Buried Under Crows"), avant soundscapes conjuring images of a creaking old house with a will all its own and possible ill intent (the chillingly abrasive "That Night"), long and languid soundtracks toward the horizon at the end of a lengthy and perhaps lucid dream (as exemplified by the echoing piano-laden closing track, "Retribution"). This release rests somewhere between the experimental avant-garde, the darkest psychedelic folk music and the epic 360 degree horizons of pure drone/dream music. Fans of Third Ear Band, Makoto Kawabata's "Inui" project, Six Organs of Admittance and select movie soundtracks will surely find something to appreciate here.
Rich Barlow is a prolific musician and acclaimed visual artist in the Minneapolis area. He has released several recordings (mostly under his own Stick It To The Man imprint) with his amazing Eno-influenced psychedelic pop group The Pins over most of the last decade to a good amount of critical acclaim. In addition to the Pins and B/P/W, he is half of the art/soundscape duo Molloy (also released by Stick It To The Man) and is actively involved in local fringe theater via his sound design/soundtrack work and his partnership in Flaneur Productions, whose efforts help bring much-needed exposure to the wealth of excellent experimental theater in the Minneapolis area.
Jesse Petersen is something of an institution in Minneapolis' wide-ranging and sprawling avant garde scene, known for his jaw-dropping solo performances (as well as his involvement with the group Viaticum) which range from the quietly percussive to the most extreme redline noise imaginable. His extraordinary approach to the guitar and the sounds he manages to coax out of his instrument have caused many witnesses to simply stand and stare wide eyed and slack-jawed, earning him favorable comparisons to the likes of Derek Bailey, and Rudolph Grey. He has shared the stage with such groups as Sonic Youth and Kinski, and has also released a fantastic LP of guitar solos entitled "I Just Collided With A Tricky Shade Of Dark," a united release between Jesse's Asymmetry label and the well known underground labels SunShip and Freedom From.
Erik Wivinus is involved with several prominent Twin Cities psychedelic and Space Rock bands, notably Salamander and Gentle Tasaday (both of which have released several albums on the Australian label Camera Obscura to considerable critical acclaim in Italy, the UK, Belgium, Sweden, Japan, Brazil and the USA), as well as the heavy space rock group Skye Klad, whose high decibel sounds and visual onslaughts have garnered the group considerable notice both locally and internationally. Skye Klad is currently recording the followup to its debut CD from last year on Mutant Music, and their bombastic live reputation has led to opening slots for many prominent acts, including High Rise, Spectrum and The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Erik can also occasionally be seen sitting in on a live set with his friends in Stone Breath.
track listing:
1 Buried Under Crows
2 Boatman
3 An Unmarked Trail
4 Husk
5 Death's Door
6 Flintlock Tincture
7 That Night
8 Creation Myth
9 Ray of Daylight
10 Retribution
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The Hand/Eye label has been bringing the world modern experimental-folk and psychedelic music since the early 1990s. Hand/Eye has forged a unique and varied catalog which, along with parent label, Dark Holler, has given the world everything from deep-space astral explorations to traditional fiddle tunes.
For the 10th Hand/Eye release we've gathered friends and associates from the world over, hand-picked for this celebration of music. All of the artists have provided exclusive material for this compilation. There are no convenient names for this gathering of music: Psychedelia, wyrdfolk, acid-folk, experimental, astral-folk... call it what you will, it cannot be bottled under one small label. The music shall speak for itself:
track listing:
CD1 "hand"
1 AMPS FOR CHRIST "False Knight on the Road"
2 IN GOWAN RING "On the Butterfly´s Wing"
3 PETER SCION "Cynthia"
4 SARADA "The Darkest Path"
5 ALASDAIR ROBERTS "Willie-O"
6 THE IDITAROD "The Rowan"
7 STONE BREATH "The Blood of the Woven-Vine Divinity"
8 GREG WEEKS "Night Must Fall"
9 CURRITUCK COUNTY "Paid for Grace"
10 RING "The Sun is Behind"
11 WITCH-HUNT "Two Magicians"
12 ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. "Le Satyre"
13 PRYDWYN "Hermit Song (Ianitrix)"
14 FIT & LIMO "Oh Sphinx"
CD2 "eye"
1 MARTYN BATES "Seven Yellow Gypsies"
2 KEMIALLISET YSTAVAT "Leikattu Nurmikko"
3 DREKKA "In Tension"
4 TINSEL "Random Books Floating"
5 FURSAXA "Porpoise Wings"
6 TIMOTHY THE REVELATOR "Always All One, All Ways Alone"
7 SKYE KLAD "Widdershins"
8 PELT "Actias Luna Chase, or Moth Navigation"
9 DIANA OBSCURA "West Wind"
10 DEAD RAVEN CHOIR "We will not Whisper"
11 MASON JONES "Can't You See"
12 SALAMANDER "Ghost Riders in the Sky"
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The second disc of mantra-folk mysticism from the absolutely unique Stone Breath. For "A Silver Thread
", original member Timothy Renner, responsible for 1997's glistening "Songs of Moonlight and Rain", cast his net about for another sympathetic soul to expand Stone Breath's vocal and instrumental canvas, as well as casting an eye over the best of the golden period of progressive folk from 1967 to 1972 to enrich the aesthetic base of the Stone Breath muse. Prydwyn from fellow acid-folksters Green Crown is now on board the astral-acoustic dream vessel, adding sublime colourations on flute, oud, harp and percussion. Ghostly forest-folk and acoustic-acid-experimentation.
This is the official CDr issue which comes with the original booklet and insert.
track listing:
1 Seed
2 The Silver Thread
3 The Rainbow-Gilded Leaves of Autumn
4 Peppermint and Clover Honey
5 The Clouds of Red Twilight>
6 Evening Air
7 Summer's Night
8 My Heart is an Acorn Buried in the Black Earth
9 Odalisque
10 Fleance
11 Rain of Days
12 Listen, Listen, Listen
13 Leaves about Our Feet, We Reached for the Moon
14 Devotional One
15 Devotional Two
sold out / out of print
see above for a 2CD expanded reissue of this album!
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An limited card-sized CDr used as a giveaway and mailorder promotion. Containing one sad folksong.150 copies only.
track listing:
The Song of the Last
sold out / out of print
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This CD was compiled by the artists to celebrate their 2001 tour of the same name. It contains music from all 4 bands as well as side-projects and solo recordings by many of the participants. Many of these songs are unavailable elsewhere.
Psychedelic/experimental/acid folk music of the highest order. Comes in official tour booklet.
track listing:
1 The Iditarod: Cold, Drafty Castles With Absent Masters
2 In Gowan Ring: Dandelion Wine - 1999
3 Drekka: L2+s=?
4 Stone Breath: the Long Lost Friend - Cobweb'ed Version
5 The Iditarod: Thierna Na Oge
6 Timothy Renner: Elzick's Farewell
7 The Eyesores: Shopping Cart
8 Prydwyn: Raven Hair
9 In Gowan Ring: Swan Song - Instrumental
10 The Iditarod: Nottamun - Dubh
11 Stone Breath: Man Should Surrender
12 Prydwyn: Late Night
13 Static Films: Under the Maude Moon
14 Timothy Renner: Jesus Gonna Make My Dying Bed
15 Drekka: Minute Prologue
16 In Gowan Ring: Two Towers
17 Ganesh Prosession
sold out / out of print
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Solo songs recorded during the "Lanterna Lucis Viriditatis" sessions and released on All Hallow's Eve 2000. Timothy's album of love and tears dedicated to his beloved wife, Alison. Includes a cover of a Derroll Adams song and a Donovan song.
track listing:
1 A Soft Blade of Grass for a Ring...
2 Windsong Streamsong Cloudsong Dreamsong
3 The Heart and Star of Sacred Memory
4 I Shall Breathe Your Tears
5 Of Bloody Wings and Sleep's Death
6 Footprints Filled with Rain
7 I am but a Flower at Your Feet
8 Love Song
9 Goodnight Alison
sold out / out of print
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CD issue in the year 2000. 1000 copies.
CDr reissue is currently available.
The third CD from Stone Breath, Lanterna Lucis Viriditatis, finds the band journeying further down the darkened paths they first showed us on their other CDs, Songs of Moonlight and Rain and A Silver Thread to Weave the Seasons(both from Australias Camera Obscura label). The darkened deep woods folk and acoustic experimentalism Stone Breath conjured on their earlier recordings is here refined in a cauldron of sound that may well define wyrdfolk (a term coined by Stone Breaths Timothy Renner to express the music that he and his friends make).
For Lanterna Lucis Viriditatis, Stone Breath founding member, Timothy Renner, is again partnered with Prydwyn (who appeared on the
Silver Thread
CD) and new members Ra Campbell, and Sarada. The diverse instrumentation that Stone Breath has been known for is here continued with acoustic guitars, banjos, flutes, whistles, sitar, dulcimer, harmonium, and many others being melded together by the band in their trademark ghostly earth songs. Strange new tunings, and beautiful harmony vocals have only added to Stone Breaths magic bag.
With a darker sound than past albums, Lanterna Lucis Viriditatis finds Renner tracing a theme throughout the record: a silver thread weaving together such elements as St. John the Baptist, Osiris and Isis, John Barleycorn, Templar Knights, King Solomon, and Jesus Christ all shown in the light (or shadow as the case may be) of Renners ever present nature poetry/observations. This is a theme record in that every song was chosen to fit within the framework of the album, says Renner but I also happen to think that its our best collection of songs to date. I think it works on the level of the theme, which is a bit esoteric, and also on the level that our past CDs worked a personal expression that people who identify with the sounds or words can enjoy, even if they know nothing about me or, in this case, the theme of the CD.
The songs will speak louder than words: from the mysterious opening track to subdued tones of COBs Solomons Song, to the medieval dance, Estampie (actually a traditional Appalachian song somehow made more ancient by Renners clawhammer banjo and Prydwyns deft recorder and percussion), to the epic closing track, Lanterna Lucis Viriditatis will lead the listener on a journey through the night shadows of forgotten truths.
Track listing:
1 Sunshine in the Eyes of Death
2 The Eyelit Path
3 Sword Baptismal
4 Solomons Song
5 The Way of Green Osiris
6 John Barleycorn
7 The Red Crossed Knight
8 Its Hard to Dance with the Devil on Your Back
9 Sleep then, with the Incense of Orchids around You
10 The Face of God
11 Estampie
12 Moongazer
13 The Lantern of the Greening Light
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Germany's greatest psychedelic export, and one of our favorite bands here at Dark Holler, Fit & Limo, share this record with Stone Breath. The bands have been mutual admirers for a long time, so it was a natural progression to share this record. Each band presents two songs of previously unreleased psych-folk. Essential. Limited edition of 500 total copies, with 100 copies on white vinyl (randomly inserted).
track listing:
Side A:
1 Treehugger / Decay (Stone Breath) 2 Lapis Theme (Fit & Limo)
Side B:
1 Stein (Fit & Limo) 2 The Unbinding String (Stone Breath)
sold out / out of print
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Ring is the audio project of Filip Andersen from Norway. Filip, who also runs Krank Records, writes touching, gently experimental, personal
folksongs, with dark psychedelic undercurrents. Here Filip is joined by some friends who flesh out his guitar and vocals with cello, accordian, pedal steel, piano, and more.
track listing:
1 A Song to My Friends