JTB – ‘Copenhagen’ C34 $6.25
West Coast psychedelic stalwart John Trevor Benson is no stranger to the sonic realms where spaaaaaace and time are bent like whipping stars around the edges of the black hole. As a member of both A-Minor Forest and Hale Zukas, these modes revealed themselves via the rock setting over the past 15 or so years. As a solo endeavor, however, we see a much more confidential and expansive aesthetic at play, giving these recordings an inviting bedroom tone, without ever feeling overindulgent. Weather it’s giving teenagers(like myself in the mid-nineties) a floor to crash on or touring the country in a vegetable oil powered venue/bus/rolling microclimate, John Benson has been at it a long time, with no signs of stopping anytime soon. This tape was recorded on a fourtrack cassette over 18 years ago in a ghost town out in the dessert. JTB is the only person on the tape, except the wind blowing wind chimes and air filling the air tanks in his bus. Other natural ambient noises were created by spirits he does not controll. Edition of 100.
TASHI DORJI – ‘Hills Rose Up…..’ C39 $6.25
I found myself out in the gardens’ July sun pencil scratching onto an old receipt. All about friend and improvisational guitarist Tashi Dorji and how wonderful he is and how much I adore his music. Thinking about the time we were jamming and some sound I made on the guitar caused him to outright belly laugh. And some scrawl about the story he once told me, about how the King of Bhutan had asked him to play some Elvis songs in Thimphu , and Tashi declining the request. Or the countless times that we shared a meal together, or a fire. And how Tashi showed up at my job once, dragging me away because I was overstressed and needed food. “I’m way too hungry to cook now…..and plus, all the food that I have at home would take far too long to make, “ I whined. He calmly demanded that I list the things I had lying around. Next thing I knew we were eating the most toothsome dish of something so simple. Potatoes, tomatoes, a little oil and some spices. Maybe one more ingredient? His presence and his music is like this too. Bare of pretension yet full of newness and uncompromising inertia. Seemingly quick, sharpened and then mellowed, presenting an intensity to fall into the moment and nourish oneself with the ingredients at hand. Reminiscent of the rythmn experiments of Derek Bailey, the lavish east leanings of Robbie Basho’s playing and the intensity of Bill Orcutt’s attack. Featuring the artwork of Amy-Moon. Offset printed. Edition of 100.