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vhf#62 Pelt Ayahuasca dbl CD
A sprawling follow-up to 1999’s critical and commercially successful
release Empty Bell Ringing In The Sky, Ayahuasca represents
the most comprehensive survey of Pelt activities to date. Recorded over a
period of more than two years at various live and studio sessions, the
double CD shows the heavily-bearded trio broadcasting from some
lesser-known and newly-discovered corners of the drone-omniverse. Most
striking about the record is the inclusion of several traditional tunes,
arranged for the group’s eclectic instrumentation. While the band has
been performing some acoustic material for several years and let some
sneak out on the limited edition For Michael Hannas CDR, Ayahuasca
is the first release to fully explore this part of their repertoire.
"The Cuckoo" and ‘Deep Sunny South" are traditional
Appalachian numbers, played and sung with considerable skill and feeling.
The sawing bowed acoustic guitar on "The Cuckoo" and the rolling
banjo and Tibetan bowl accompaniment on "Deep Sunny South" draw
a direct line between raw/folk music traditions and the deep, visceral
drone music that Pelt have specialized in over the past several years.
Combining the two styles neatly, "A Raga Called John" features
Jack Rose’s very, very fine country-blues/Fahey-influenced fingerstyle
guitar over a shifting backdrop of hurdy-gurdy and concertina, before
giving way to tanpuras overrun by fretless banjo. Of course, on top of all
of this easily comprehensible music there’s plenty of ear-cleansing
ecstatic drone, from the two long flotation-inducing trios for bowed
electrics and Esraj to the wall-shaking electric hurdy-gurdy mania of
"Bear Head Apparition." Truly a record for our times, such as
they are. 10 Tracks, 134 Minutes. 2xCD $12
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