ILX Gonna Shine in My Backdoor Someday (new post-Fahey folk for ppl posting in Takoma/Tompkins Square threads Pt II)

yeah, i do like that one better... ironically (?) that one is harder to find, i think it's OOP.

Speaking as a fan of Fahey and a fan of Christmas music, I don't listen to them much either - they sound too dry, austere to bring me much joy.

i th ink of them as being more conventionally pretty but less engaging than other fahey albums.

it's also sort of jarring to hear a lot of fahey's 'tricks' and picking techniques applied to something so straightforward as a christmas song you've heard a million times

"christ's saints of god fantasy" is a legit great piece, I like the slightly ridiculous russian christmas overture on the second album a lot too. all the best fahey duets are on old fashioned love imo but the ruskin ones aren't bad. I like some of the standards esp silent night on slide guitar, that's so gorgeous. the last piece on the second album is a bizarre mix of fahey in brooding bola sete mode and festive cheer that's my kind of christmas tune

^Agreed about "Christ's Saints of God Fantasy". From what I can recall, there were more than a couple moments that I do dig on the New Possibility. Maybe it's that all those moments came from this tune + "Silent Night".

The New Possibility (1968)
Christmas With John Fahey Volume II (1975)
Christmas Guitar - Volume One (1982)
Popular Songs of Christmas & New Years - with Terry Robb (1983)

I've always confusingly stared at inclusion of "Volume One" on the 1980 release, maybe it's because Varrick envisioned an entire series of "Christmas Guitar" on their label? Come to think of it, I've never listened to the 1983 release with Terry Robb. Not exactly a Christmas album, but "Yes, Jesus Loves Me - Guitar Hymns" (1980), could be included in this vein as well, and I'd say it's a pretty good one. Fahey is probably the only Christian music I've loved this much, hah! Imagine if his only recorded output was the Christmas albums and albums of hymns. What would our contemporary look like?

**I've always confusingly stared at inclusion of "Volume One" on the 1982 release

IIRC the playing can get a little sloppy (or "goopy" IMO) on yes, jesus loves me, but it's still somehow one of the better fahey albums, just because he draws a lot of inspiration from those old hymns.

i wonder why the 2nd christmas LP hasn't been properly reissued/remastered.

I was taking a look at discogs for that post and noticed Takoma & Rhino combined both Christmas volume 1 and 2 for a CD and cassette reissue in 1993. Then in 2012 Burnside Records cropped melodies and combined material from what looks like all the Christmas albums for a compilation generically titled "The John Fahey Christmas Album"... and in the process used a variation on the "Yes, Jesus Loves Me" album art for the cover of their comp. Man, if his catalog isn't one confusing thing after another.

Another bit of odd info is that Fahey used one of Ragtime Ralph's (credited as Ralph Johnston) compositions on the "Christmas Guitar - Volume One" album. I've always been bummed that Ralph's work still remain's officially unreleased at this point in time. Thankfully he used the resources of the internet though and has shared all his stuff with us that way. He says he's got a new album "Delta Slider Blues" ready for next year on his self-release label Empty Square.

I guess I'll be the one to stump for the New Possibility, where I can understand why people don't like it as a great Fahey record, and it is very autere and fairly unadventerous for him but I guess I sort of grew up going to a Lutheran church so I kind of find some kind of odd power in those fusty white key hymnal melodies and I think something in them resonates w.Fahey as well, whether it was greed driven or not it certainly wouldn't be the first or last time someone created art while trying to make a buck

but yeah it's very stately and sort of mournful to me, which i guess could be gloopy or overly staid to another's ears but something about it resonates w/me

it's definitely one of the most "uncool" Fahey records, maybe aside from the corny parts of Old Fashioned Love (which I kinda like too actually)

but yeah xmas hymns sort of resonate in some way back part of my mind being a little kid and going to "candlelight" xmas eve services w/my grandma or mom, where they turn the lights down and everyone gets to hold a candle which seemed really eerie to me in a way that stuff can only seem when you are very little

but yeah xmas hymns sort of resonate in some way back part of my mind being a little kid and going to "candlelight" xmas eve services w/my grandma or mom, where they turn the lights down and everyone gets to hold a candle which seemed really eerie to me in a way that stuff can only seem when you are very little

I have the same exact resonance with tunes like "Silent Night" and childhood church experiences. Can remember some seriously extended versions (that would be primarily instrumental) that would go as long as it would take for the candle-lighting to make its way to the back of the room. I got lost in that moment for sure, both eerie and beautiful and heavy all at once. Still love that tune (as evidenced by the cover I posted last year).

I will also rep for New Possibility, my mom would play that during the holidays when I was young and I've always loved it, it is certainly a different beast though

i dig the new possibility, austere is a very good word for it though

http://www.discogs.com/artist/1846960-Ralph-Johnston

Over the past day or so I went all in and submitted all of Ralph Johnston's Ragtime Ralph/Blind Brand X projects to the Discogs database. Good lord is that a tedious process. But I wanted to make sure his solo guitar discography is noted alongside his past efforts as a member of various surf (!) and experimental bands. Then, when I visited the profile page for the surf band he founded in 1989, I came across this gem:

Vancouver’s The Surfdusters were founded in 1989 by lead guitarist Ralph Johnston and rhythm guitarist Rich Hagensen. The played their last live appearance in November 2001.
Eleven of their instrumentals, all from the ‘Save The Waves’ CD, have been featured in various episodes of SpongeBob Square Pants.

haha wow! good work too. had no idea he was into surf guitar too, glenn jones too of course, anyone else?

degrees of separation between spongebob and skip james just shrunk considerably

Sorry to break topic here, but what is the opinion on Alexander Turnquist? I just picked up Flying Fantasy. It's very orchestrated Leo Kottke-ish on acid, kind of. Does he fit in with this crowd?

I say he fits. I enjoyed Flying Fantasy but I think I liked the previous one Hallway of Mirrors more.

yeah got to see him play last year at the Old Famliar Chime fest, def fits....I like Flying Fantasy a lot, he almost verges into Steve Reich/Glass type territory but for guitar at times....like him a lot

Ryley Walker signs to Dead Oceans for new album

Title track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=96qBM4LL2ps

wow that cover is vintage early 70s haha

is that a step up from tompkin's square?

heh heh gotta be going for this
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0003/591/MI0003591918.jpg
i like that new song a lot! totally cool sound...

Ryley seems like the most marketable of any of this stuff in a lot of ways, he seems to have quite a personality on twitter and he obviously sings as opposed to wm. tyler or bachman

yeah i don't know if dead moon is a step up from tompkins necessarily, but it might get him in front of a somewhat different audience.

Dead Oceans has much better reach / PR / visibility / money, and doesn't have a terrible reputation, so I'd say it's a good move for Ryley.

Definitely a step up visibility-wise but for some reason when artists I like sign to DO they seem to start sucking so I tend to be wary of this label now. BUT I do like this song a lot so maybe he'll be the exception to the rule.

ha does tompkins have a terrible reputation? my only issue is that they are awful at tagging their promo mp3s #firstworldproblems

i have heard some kinda sideways comments about the proprietor of certain labels that were similar in tone to jimmy's from others in the know

(but yeah i guess i like the shit they put out a lot....fwiw i've heard the nvm3r0 gr0vp dude is completely insane)

Chuck Johnson got some new stuff too

http://i.imgur.com/6gj2Gne.png

woah fred frith dudes

nice! date palms record from last year is great, too.

JAMES BLACKSHAW: Summoning Suns CD (from Forced Exposure newsletter)
IMPORTANT RECORDS (United States) / IMPREC 407CD
release date: 2/17/2015
https://soundcloud.com/jamesblackshaw/confetti

DESCRIPTION
Summoning Suns is James Blackshaw's tenth studio album and the first recording to feature his voice and lyrics. Drawing inspiration from '60s and '70s singer-songwriters, baroque and orchestral pop, and folk music, while still sounding contemporary, Summoning Suns is Blackshaw's foray into more traditional forms of songcraft. Blackshaw sings in a gentle but assured voice while his words combine his personal experiences, neuroses, and fantasies through many layers of abstraction, poeticism, and dark humor. While the deft acoustic guitar fingerpicking of Blackshaw's previous recordings is still a prominent part of the sound, the songs are lushly and intricately arranged for drums, bass, piano, violin, flute, and pedal steel guitar and feature contributions from Simon Scott (Slowdive), Annie Nilsson, and Japanese musicians Mori Wa Ikiteiru and Kaoru Noda (with whom Blackshaw duets in Japanese on one song). LP pressed in a first edition of 500 copies.

TRACKLISTING
Disc 1 (Disc 2 isn't indicated)
01.Averoign
02.Confetti
03.Failure's Flame
04.Nothing Ever After

05.Summoning Suns

06.Towa No Yume

07. Winter Flies

not new by any means but i have really really been digging that pelt album "pearls from the river"

Yeah man that Pelt album is great!

I have that but never clicked w/it, will try again

I looove Ayahuasca and Empty Bell

Definitely a fan of both of those too sleeve, but yeah give "pearls from the river" another shot. Maybe doesn't hit the weirdo highs as much as "Ayahuasca" or some other tracks, but really dig "Road To Catawba". Any folks looking to do some digging in can hear some here:

http://www.vhfrecords.com/catalog/pelt-pearls-from-the-river-cd-vhf76

yea i like those other two albums a lot, though i've always found 'pearls' more immediately accessible and engrossing than 'ayahuasca', if due to nothing else than its length tbh, 2 hours is a long record! i definitely need to listen to ayahuasca more.

i think the 2nd and 3rd tracks of 'pearls are especially spectacular - the title track just maintains such a wonderful tension in its drone with all this sadness and fear just simmering throughout, it's really great. 'road to catawba' is just so reflective and peaceful and becomes really joyful at the end, the guitar just interacting with the drone just wonderfully

Yep

those pelt records are kind of perfect music.
kind of on topic, here's the official word on the upcoming gunn/black twig pickers LP
Steve Gunn and The Black Twig Pickers are key figures in the current resurgence of American traditional and folk music. Gunn’s songwriting and inventive guitar playing are driven by his restless mind, having released 9 solo and collaborative albums and appeared as a guest on nearly as many since his debut in 2007. The Black Twig Pickers play a fervent form of traditional music from their Appalachian homeland. The group performs often forgotten traditional songs, especially from their Virginia stomping-ground, creating a living history of old time music. They also have an ongoing residency at the legendary Floyd Country Store. Their individual works have received extensive praise from Rolling Stone, NPR, the BBC, Mojo, Uncut, Maverick, Elmore, and Pitchfork. Seasonal Hire, their first full-length collaborative release, combines Gunn’s circular, meditative guitar playing with the Twigs’ energetic mastery of old time instrumentation in a purely acoustic environment resulting in a warm,
energetic, and exceptional album.

Seasonal Hire collects four original tunes and one traditional piece, with Gunn and The Black Twig Pickers’ Mike Gangloff and Sally Anne Morgan all taking turns with lead vocal and songwriting. Like all of the Twigs’ albums, it was recorded live, without overdubs or amplification. Gunn fell right in with this aesthetic and threw down guitar parts like he’d been sparring with banjos and fiddles for years. The majority of the album was recorded at Joseph Dejarnette’s Studio 808a in rural Topeco, Virgina, where Gunn and Gangloff recorded Melodies for a Savage Fix, an improvisational masterpiece of pan-cultural meditations. Echoes of Melodies can be heard on Seasonal Hire’s titular b-side, an extended, beautiful ramble equally indebted to old time music and Indian ragas. Additional recording was done closer to Gunn’s New York home at the famed Black Dirt Studios. Black Dirt has been the home for many groundbreaking records by artists such as Charlie Parr, Jack Rose, Bill Orcutt, Expo 70,
and Tom Carter. The album was mastered by Patrick Klem. Seasonal Hire shows the impressive range of some of the most talented and imaginative musicians that have made a name for themselves experimenting in folk forms today.

Steve Gunn and the Black Twig Pickers will continue to perform throughout 2015, and hope to carve out time for some collaborative tour dates. Nathan Bowles of the Twigs is currently on tour with Steve Gunn as his drummer and banjo player.

Oh man, definitely looking forward to this but would love to see a live incarnation!

^^ sounds great

love pearls on the river. that, effigy, and stone for... have been my main pelt listening. suppose i've gotta dig into ayahuasca next. feel like i need to listen to those records in an empty house on a quiet afternoon.

marcus from DFBM posted this on FB today, pretty cool spin on this style (a lot of chops on display, but always in the service of the song):

https://samuelgrayedmondson.bandcamp.com/album/suite

pelt fans will be very pleased with the 16-minute title track from this gunn/pickers LP.

Nice! I imagine that this record will be pretty close to the Gunn/Pickers Natch stuff, and if so I am gonna be happy indeed.

pearls from the river is close to a jack rose album but ayahuasca is much 'heavier'/hard drone, love them both though

another good player apparently living in the same city as me & global! followed me on soundcloud and i followed back, v stately i like this

http://soundcloud.com/marcus_eads/snowsquall

yes those pelt albums are perfect music. i find them so deeply spiritual. i think i am gonna burn some incense tonight and put on ayahuasca, lol, light some candles! my son's asleep and my wife's at work. i need that right now. you really do need a quiet house for this kind of droney stuff, or else a good long walk.

i had this amazing commute to work when i first got into all this post-fahey stuff. rose, pelt, basho-junghans. it was this perfect 30 minute walk along a reservoir, in the middle of winter everything would freeze over and it was so perfect to put on these sparse reflective drones and take a good walk.

where to start w/pelt?

you could jump right in w/ ayahuasca, but as mentioned above i did find pearls from the river an easier entry point. you listen to a ton of this kind of music though so ayahuasca might not seem overwhelming to you.

you know who i have really been digging and find a wonderful complement to 'pearls from the river' and other pelt (and no doubt a major inspiration for those albums)? zia mohuiddin dagar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zia_Mohiuddin_Dagar