#34: Serpent of Dreams
Tuluum Shimmering | Melos Kapa | Gray/Smith | Wet Tuna On the Beach
Hey now, hey now, hope all is well out there. Welcome back to the Ambient Audiophile, your best source for hobbitwave.
A few of you upgraded from free to paid subs this week and this generous act does not go unnoticed, in fact, I have a special dance for it. No you can’t see it. Thank you so much though.
We returned to the air and net waves earlier this week with The Trailhead #145.
The program’s chill first set opened with a piece from Justin Sweatt’s masterful North Texas Electric on Aural Canyon before moving on to—among other wonderful jams—YAI’s excellent AKP Recordings debut Sky Time, Channelers’ new one on Inner Islands, Jordan Christoff’s great new Pyramid Blood release, Günter Schlienz’s Lighten Up Sounds’ debut and a killer cut from Scotland-based project Veryan on the always reliable Quiet Details.
Set two went deep and wide with a jam from the new BASIC album on No Quarter, fresh live jamming from Vermont’s Wet Tuna, and a little something something from Colorado trio Prairiewolf on Centripetal Force before diving headlong into a large chunk of Phish’s most excellent ambient/instrumental set from Mondegreen.
Have a listen to the show here and peep the tracklist below. And if you haven’t already, please make a free Mixcloud account and give us a follow over there and like and repost the shows. It really helps spread the word.
The Trailhead 145:
1. Justin Sweatt - Breath of Joy - North Texas Electric (Aural Canyon, 2024) 00:00
2. YAI - Meeting of Sun & Moon - Sky Time (AKP Recordings, 2024) 05:20
3. Jordan Christoff - Isabel - Divination Systems (Pyramid Blood, 2024) 09:26
4. Channelers - Think It's Gonna Rain - Ringing In An Open Sky (Inner Islands, 2024) 18:12
5. Günter Schlienz - Besinnungspfad - Kurpark (Lighten Up Sounds, 2024) 28:07
6. Veryan - Fair Lady Works The Shuttles - One Universal Breath (Quiet Details, 2024) 46:10
7. BASIC - For Stars of the Air - This Is BASIC (No Quarter, 2024) 1:04:20
8. Wet Tuna - I'd Rather Be Hayin' > Rolling in the Hay Now - Sweet Pond Nugs (Child of Microtones, 2024) 1:13:26
9. Prairiewolf - The Cold Curve - Deep Time (Centripetal Force, 2024) 1:25:33
10. Phish - Secret Set (Excerpt) - Mondegreen, Dover, DE, 8/16/24 (LP, 2024) 1:31:08
**If you haven’t done so already, please make a free Mixcloud account and throw us a follow and some likes on there. It really helps raise the program’s visibility! You can always buy me a coffee and support us that way!**
Speaking of Wet Tuna, they are playing a killer free gig in the Rockaways on Sunday, September 15 at Brothers. Western Mass psycho gang Sunburned Hand of the Man are gonna be there as well and the weather looks phenomenal for this outdoor gig. Well worth a choogle from wherever you are. See you in the pit?
It was great to get some new music from Tuluum Shimmering this week. The UK-based longform psychedelic folk project of Jake Webster has been treating fans to performing and recordings requested tunes the last couple of years. Yours truly got a stellar ‘Bird Song’ a couple years ago and other entries in the series includes music by Neil Young, David Crosby, Popol Vuh, Steve Hillage and many others.
This time out Jake gives us a sort of mash up of the Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder classic “I Feel Love” with John Coltrane’s interstellar cornerstone “A Love Supreme”. Typically slow burning and expansive, the new jam needs to be inhaled deeply and carefully for the full effect. Enjoy.
From a similar mystical folk orbit comes Melos Kapa, a quintet operating out of London. The group formed in 2019 and features David John Morris from the great modern folk rock group Red River Dialect along with Agathe Max (Abstract Concrete, Papivores, These Towns), Jem Doulton (Thurston Moore Group), & founder Tom Relleen (Tomaga) with directional production and mixing from Marta Salogni.
The group’s self-titled debut is out October 11 via Hands in the Dark and its lead single is the dizzying and hypnotic “Melos Rhythm”. The piece seamlessly traverses and weaves together outer rim folk, minimalism, gamelan and drone to thrilling effect. Fans of Angus Maclise, early Oregon, NNCK, and the Third Ear Band will be instantly smitten by the sound of Melos Kapa.
So stoked that Gray/Smith have a new record coming out in a few weeks. Heels In The Aisle arrives on October 4 via Blank Forms Editions and it’s the second long-player from the duo with roots in all manner of great underground jam units. Promo materials cite Meat Puppets and Traffic’s John Barleycorn Must Die as triangulation points for the Gray/Smith sound and I’ll add the somewhat obvious debt to Hot Tuna’s mid-70s acoustic/electric outings as well.
They just dropped a video (directed by Excepter’s John Fell Ryan) for the album and while I must admit I never ever ever watch music videos, I clicked on this one and dug that it features an area this born-and-raised New Yorker has never visited—Staten Island.
.
Thanks for the heads up about Melos Kapa--an incredible first track!! I was lucky enough to see Marta Salogni perform at Cafe Oto in 2023. I didn't know something like this was brewing.
Hot Tuna FOREVER! Thank you, Jeff, spot on as always, and we appreciate it so much.