01 April 2017

RECOMMENDATION #180 - SOMESURPRISES | PRANA CRAFTER

latest batch from EIDERDOWN is a doozy

SOMESURPRISES - SERIOUS DREAMS
eiderdown 2017, edition of 100

"Blowing in like a delicious night fog, curls around your brain like a spectral cat, lulling you into a state of bliss. What was once a mainly solo act by singer/guitarist Natsha El-Sergany, somesurprises has now morphed into many forms of collaboration and presently a full band. On this duo recording, El-Sergany's dream-gaze guitar and somnolent vocals are augmented by Josh Medina's deft hand of atmospheric guitar tones- 'serious dreams' is the late night sound epitomized...true hypnagogic odes to the spaces in between dreams and reality, form and fiction. A perfect soundtrack to late-night drives down coastal highways or astral travelling from the safety of your eiderdown-padded nest." - EIDERDOWN

hazy ambient drone dream pop with an alluring dimly lit bedroom folk tint, reels me in with its measured pace and rich yet reigned in sound, zoned atmospherics and honed flourishes, something about this kinda makes me think of BELONG's left turn evolution from OCTOBER LANGUAGE's ambient oblivion to COMMON ERA's shoegazing post punk reconstruction, like if you took that trajectory and plotted a similar course from GROUPER circa mid 2000s you might very well wind up here, completing a triangulation with CAT POWER's MOON PIX and HAROLD BUDD & COCTEAU TWINS' MOON AND THE MELODIES - for some right here right now contemporary comparisons consider EKIN FIL, PHIPPS PT and RAAJMAHAL, and criminally underrated favorite CHRISTINE SHIELDS' IN THE SUN, with some impressive drone-outs in the style of WINDY & CARL and NATURAL SNOW BUILDINGS




PRANA CRAFTER - MINDSTREAMBLESSING
eiderdown 2017, edition of 100

"electric mantra from the deep heart of the Pacific Northwest woods, beckons you to relax and crack open your mind for a little while. Prana Crafter is Will Sol, practitioner of fine guitar spell-casting and audio fortune telling. A heady brew of guitar, drums, and organ that traces its majestic lineage from both the wayward strains of a cosmic Americana blues and the rustling sunshine daydreams of a future primitive past. The tunes contained herein drift and sway through the windmills of your mind, leaving the sweet aftertaste of pine and ocean mist. Accept this as a balm for these troubled times" - EIDERDOWN

it's tough to distill or expound on EIDERDOWN's write ups because they are always to the point and on the money, leaving a breadcrumb trail of keywords like "relax and crack open your mind" and "fine guitar spell-casting" to have me drooling before i even press play, and then i find myself unable to provide a better description - usually i feel like i'm providing a primary "get down to it" blurb, but in this case i can only supplement

i hear some ILYAS AHMED's mideast by way of northwest psych folk fusion overlapping spheres inhabited by major heads like RAFI BOOKSTABER, SIX ORGANS and MATT VALENTINE, cranking up the amp as these guys are wont to do, sometimes more distinctly parallel to JENKS MILLER & ROSE CROSS NC - i suppose to some extent all of these could be understood as intertwined vines sharing a singular sonic root system - if you dig one you're sure to dig em all, and this is the latest progeny on that "cosmic american" lattice, indeed tracing a "majestic lineage" as PRANA CRAFTER sounds proudly raised on a diet of CROSBY's IF ONLY I COULD REMEMBER MY NAME and LIVE/DEAD with bold imported flavors of SHANKAR and TANGERINE DREAM folded into the mix



EIDERDOWN tapes seem to move quick for editions of 100 so best get em while they're hot and might as well snag that ZETA ONE tape [REC #76] while you're at it if you don't already have it