ajilvsga

AjilvsgaEarth LodgeNNF097—2 x CS ($8)Winter may be dead and gone (for now) but the haven of hibernation still calls out across the plains. And no landscape is more laid low by malevolent elements and psychic ice than the level-plane tundra of Oklahoma, which is where buffalo robed drone duo Ajilvsga (Brad Rose, Nathan Young) hole up/hibernate and eye the harvest moon. Earth Lodge is the soundtrack to a season spent in dirt shelters, hands in cold clay, amps bleeding out brown-green groans of bone OM and predatorial rapid eye movement. Riffs burrow through frozen soil, skull necklace percussion rattles under piles of pelts, inner spaces open up and unfold into invisible fields of blood and color and celestial imagining. Withdrawn and drawn out. Grey-sky tapes with printed labels in oversized cases with full-color double-sided antler mausoleum collage artwork by Manda. Edition of 100.www.notnotfun.comAJILVSGA “Thorazine to Infinity” (Peasant Magik)Another spool of fried magnetic tape by the Rose/Young Oklahoma guitar-corral duo, and this one’s got a killer exterior – exquisite black-on-black silkscreened art-paper slipcover plus a graphically designed J-card. Sound-wise, this is probably the lightest I’ve heard Ajilvsga be, buoyed up by loopy FX, soft-stumbling percussion, and gently jittery tinkering. Drifts by in a dazed-out fashion, which is fine, though the label description of “Soundtrack to a Cretaceous Period Apocalypse” and song titles like “I Am Your Charred Remains” and “Asphixiation” (sic) don’t really jive with the chill, sparse, unhurried, non-ominous jams they’re referring to. A more apt CS title might’ve been “Mood-Stabilizer to Infinity.” But medication specificity notwithstanding, it’s a pleasant enough excursion off the Ajilvsga heavy beaten path.From www.satanrulez.blogspot.com Ajilvsga “Earth Lodge” 2xCS (Not Not Fun, 2007): Decaying guitar lines, dark low-end electronic drones, black metal and field recordings converge for another trip down gloomy psychotropic paths. In lesser hands, this would conjure familiar results but Ajilvsga, the duo of Brad Rose and Nathan Young, combine rugged whirlwind electronics with a thrilling sense of drama and timing. Over the course of four sides, the band continually builds slow-moving horror scenes, changing methods and moods logically during the course of a tune. Each tune presents a desolate world filled with layered sound demons. Some slog with the satanic sludge riffs of modern metal mavericks. “Retribution” turns into a gloriously eerie steamroller of sound with an underpinning of bright synth music beneath its sinister surface. “Wolves Milk/Black Clouds Temple” brings to mind the best fourth-generation lo-fi black metal tapes, as the corrosive dubbing adds a decrepit layer of sound to the showcased metal riff. The cover art sums up the band’s style with its surreal collage of natural elements. Each picture on the cover—from goats to a little girl to an outstretched hand—smoothly transitions to the next, creating something wholly believable for the synapses. Conversely, the band throws multiple black psychedelic elements into their sonic casserole. Instead of sound chaotic, the band’s sound coherently evolves, growing on the listener as it grows.