A thread for excellent Arizona krautrock band Trees Speak

Alright, now that this duo has released their third very excellent record since October 2020, I think it's time for a thread. I seem to have made the only previous reference to the band on ILM that I can find, and that only to note their inclusion on a 2020 year end list, but I think this is something that a lot of ilxors would dig. It takes the motorik driven krautrock sound and filters it through a more American sensibility, you can definitely hear the wide open landscapes of the Southwest filter through at times.

Here's what their label, Soul Jazz, has to say (I don't disagree, but I do think the Suicide reference is oversold):

Trees Speak's new album 'Post-Human' once again blends 1970s German electronic and 'motorik' Krautrock instrumentals (think Harmonia, Can, Cluster, Popul Vuh, Neu!), Haunting and powerful 1960s & 1970s soundtracks (think Italian prog-rock Goblin and John Carpenter horror movies, Morricone and existential John Barry spy movies), together with a New York No Wave electronic synth and guitar analogue DIY-ness (think Suicide, anything on Soul Jazz's New York Noise series or Eno's New York No Wave)!

The new one, PostHuman just came out this summer and is my favorite yet.

https://images.roughtrade.com/product/images/files/000/217/231/original/trees.jpg?1620140601

They don't have a bandcamp, but you can hear samples at the Soul Jazz site: https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/sjr/product/fagltcyxx

Ah well, I thought this would be catnip for at least a few ilxors. Good stuff!

I really like them but (a) only just saw this thread and (b) don’t have anything illuminating to add about them!

Ha, no worries. Just sometimes tricky to figure out what newish artists get traction around here and which don't.

I thought Ohms was pretty decent, but that's the only one I've heard so far. I want to hear the new one for sure.

jvc, do you follow JR Moores' Columnfortably Numb feature in the Quietus? That's where I heard of them first. He tends to write about a lot of my recent favourites...

i've been listening to this band after discovering them on the end of 2020 lists for the 'ohms' album, the combo of synth rinsing electronics, post rock gloom and jazz elements are so up my street, love the whole ohms album, but here are some other earlier favs:

trees speak - tear kisser
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnUgdGgaKsI

trees speak - shadow forms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRoMoV4DIK8

trees speak - gläserner mensch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIJN7XRkblg

does anyone know much about their earlier/side project, blind divine - it's the main guy from trees speak, Daniel Martin Diaz with Paula Catherine Valencia, it's more gothy, downbeat trip hop? than trees speak, tracks like this

blind divine - something magical
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv47UR3Z-14

blind divine - soul supreme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFdH1pBnGfE

That record cover at the top does look like some lost Klaus Schulze album.

Thanks Swansswans, good response. I haven't heard their S/T from before they got signed by Soul Jazz, still on the lookout for that one. Definitely need to check out more Blind Divine, those are promising.

They've actually had two albums since this was last bumped, another 2021 record (Vertigo of Flaws: Emancipation of the Dissonance and Temperaments in Irrational Waveforms) and now a 2023 one, Mind Maze. Another great record, imo.

https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/img/UlhVWlRuWXBDYUNhTGtJUlYrLzRtQT09/trees-speak-mind-maze-front-cover.jpg

Sadly still no bandcamp for their Soul Jazz catalog, but well worth checking out.