About Me
..Aquarius Records (SF)BELL, NATHAN @2640 (West Main Development) cd-r
Another solo outing from a member of the mighty Lungfish, and another disc of looped repetitive transcendental mesmer. First Daniel Higgs, then Asa Osborne's Zomes, and now Nathan Bell, how these guys ever put together an actual ROCK band we'll never know, we'll blame it on the drummer for now, at least until he comes out with some insane raga drone solo record, then we just give up.
It makes sense though as Lungfish songs weren't like normal songs, they were like minimal loops writ large, expanded into hypnotic epics, the band locked into an incredible groove, while Higgs does his thing over the top. But it becomes more and more apparent, that all the various members of Lungfish had a thing for minimalism, for drones, ragas, for repetition, and thus we have Nathan Bell's Banjo. Recorded in a massive crumbling old cathedral, plugged into a blown out amplifier, these four tracks, while played on the banjo, don't sound country, or bluegrass, or even remotely twangy, in fact they don't really sound like they were played on a banjo. The notes have a sharp attack and a quick decay, but the massive space helps them stay afloat a bit longer than normal, Bell's arrangements and compositions offering nods to Reich and Riley, the pieces nearly static, a simple melody wound up within the endless repetition. So simple and gorgeous and absolutely mesmerizing. If you dug the Higgs solo records and the Zomes, you pretty much need this too.
Limited cd-r, in a hand screened fold over cardstock sleeve with a printed insert. And of course, as always LIMITED!new release of live songs via the West Main Development label 2008
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?
id=285453827&s=143441white wings is a musical journey thru banjo composition's. the vessel is not important. the music and the journey are. white wings is orbital, translucent, prehistoric but new. It's mindful, thoughtless. An invisible opera never to be heard. A silent scream where a chorus is docile. It's an inverted thought on a horizontal plane. A clue in a book of facts. A truth in a coloring book and a warning for false prophets. A recording of mental reincarnation, and an exclamation of social retardation. It's a chair with a view, all speeds are portable! Those of us who choose to recline may be refined, repackaged and resold for other lost patrons. It's a free thought....check out this whole video and others on 3EMUSICTV.com.