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top artists from the spiritual, minimalist, folk, psychedelic and noise undergrounds come together to contribute long-form pieces based on the theme of alchemical transmutation.
includes exclusive tracks from birds of delay, son of earth, keenan lawler, the zoo wheel, the opera glove sinks in the sea, bird show + lichens, bruce russell, the gray field recordings, white/light, and of...ohv (loren chasse + christine boepple). released april 2006.
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tracks
disc one
1. isa's ball by the zoo wheel
2. the rocks will open by of...ohv
3. cherubim wheels by the gray field recordings
4. the finesse of limitation by son of earth
5. burning bright ember by birds of delay
54 minutes
disc two
1. monadnock by white/light
2. time subjugator by keenan lawler
3. {(music=time)=(time=music)}3 by bruce russell
4. goldener hour by bird show / lichens
5. inverted house by the opera glove sinks in the sea
60 minutes
reviews
The second collection of “long-form works” from Chicago label Rebis centers on the theme of alchemy. The results can certainly be viewed as magical processes- attempts to convert dense, 'leaden' sounds into rare musical currency. Most cuts are ten-minute-plus drones that mix field recordings with unknown sounds. There’s a tense current of darkness and even terror. Of…Ohv (Loren Chasse and Christine Boepple) chill the air with a sandy hum "recorded in an enormous athenor and elevated by fire". Massachusetts trio Son of Earth start with windy, metallic clatter, then add sirens, lonely string plucks and animalistic roars. Scariest is “Cherubim Wheels” by The Gray Field Recordings, which melts bowed guitar into the eerie speech of children, and Keenan Lawler’s “Time Subjugator”, whose ‘resonator guitar’ revels in screeching horror, like a dozen slasher movie climaxes played simultaneously.
Lawler’s title is instructive: all these pieces treat time as something to be expanded and contracted rather than metronomically marked. Only two artists rely on conventional rhythm: The Zoo Wheel builds a Reichian loop out of chiming bells and staccato violin, while a collaboration between Kranky acts Bird Show and Lichens forges ascending atmospheres with percussion and chants. The sole anomaly on Lead Into Gold comes from Bruce Russell of A Handful of Dust and The Dead C. Hard-cutting drones with noise loops, guitar chords, and scratchy movie soundtracks, his schizophrenic "[(Time=Music)=(Music=Time)]" is the exception that proves this compilation’s implicit rule that time is a moving target.
-Marc Masters, The Wire 268, June 2006
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The year of 2005 was the year of massive compilations of highest possible caliber. Lead into Gold is not a new Invisible Pyramid (Last Visible Dog) or Gold Leaf Branches (Digitalis) as it’s only a two-disc compilation, but in terms of sonic qualities and far-reaching ambitions it’s almost as inspiring. If I understand things correctly this release should be seen as a new addition to Rebis’ "long-form works" series. We get ten acts that can be found all over the minimalist, folk, psychedelia, drone and noise map to contribute pieces based on the theme of alchemical transformation-- so either pieces that start in one place and end somewhere radically different, or pieces that substantially alter their source material.
The Zoo Wheel AKA Liz Payne kicks things off with a bell-laced composition packed with microscopical details, but the overall picture remains somewhat repetitious and static. Of…Ohv continues to explore stretched out notes but “The Rocks Will Open” has more of an organic vibe to it, which probably doesn’t come as a surprise as Of is the moniker of Loren Chasse, an integral member of the Jewelled Antler collective. Another highlight from disc one is Son of Earth’s “The Finesse of Limitation” which provides slowly unfolding waves of claustrophobia tucked in blankets of darkness. The whole experience is much like waiting for something frightening that probably never will happen but you just never know.
The second disc starts with a full-on synapse meltdown from White/Light but as “Monadnock” evolves it’s actually more about fluttery bliss and billowy trance than power. Keenan Lawler’s scattered resonator guitar finds a secret vista firmly tucked away from all things real and human before Bruce Russell dives deep into a lake filled with all sorts of collage-like tape manipulations and digital processing. As a matter of fact this is one of the finest solo pieces I’ve heard from Mr. Russell in a very long time. Add to all this contributions from the Gray Field Recordings (which have received ample praise here before), Birds of Delay, Bird Show /Lichens and the closing, ocean deep theremin/computer drone from The Opera Glove Sinks in the Sea and you got yourself one of the finest compilations of 2006.
- Mats Gustaffson, Broken Face, May 2, 2006
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If you would add up all songs on recent free folk/drone compilations, you would end up with something like five days of continuous meandering and dislocating music . There was the two-disc Pseudo Arcana compilation, the three-disc “Gold Leaf Branches” on Digitalis and last but not least the gigantic six-disc “Invisible Pyramid: Elegy Box” on Providence´s Last Visible Dog label.
Now, Chicago´s fairly young Rebis imprint puts out its second volume of Long-Form Works that has been enlarged from one to two CDs. If someone would have sold it to me as the missing two discs from “Invisible Pyramid”, I would have easily bought it. But for “Lead Into Gold”, the Rebis team designed a different concept than for “Invisible Pyramid”. Their compilation´s concept is not about extinct species, but about alchemical transmutation. As much as I like the idea of giving an album or song collection a concept, the one for “Lead Into Gold” doesn´t really get reflected in its contributions. Rebis is a drone label and drone music is pretty much always about transmutation. So the way the 10 drone pieces on the album work, I don´t see a whole lot of difference to non-conceptual drone pieces.
Regardless of the conceptual consistency, Rebis have managed to collect ten excellent compositions for their compilation. CD 1 starts with a solo piece from Liz Payne of Chicago´s Town & Country. Her band is one of the best on the planet anyway and what
Payne does solo under the moniker of The Zoo Wheel is at least equally amazing as her group work. Strummed viola, bells and chimes slowly evolve in pace and measure and get washed ashore from time to time by gently echoed harmonica. This piece is so atmospheric, relaxing and earth-bound that no matter in what situation you´ll hear it, the world will be a better place for ten minutes. Jewelled Antler´s Loren Chasse takes the alchemical transmutation concept more seriously than Liz Payne on his piece “The Rocks Will Open”, which is divided in two parts separated by a short break. Its first part (as Of) continues what he started on his 2005 Of album “The Buried Stream, i.e. dark drones with field recordings. For the second part he collaborates with Christine Boepple (as OHV) and heals the wounds opened by the first part with a harmonic lullaby.
“Cherubim Wheels” by Oklahoma´s The Grey Field Recordings is pretty disturbing and serious mind-fuckery. It starts with what sounds like a rusty and creaking scaffold in the wind. Then a child sings a church prayer and even though children voices usually represent peace and innocence, here it causes anxiety like in Nico´s “Le petit chevalier”. Next are Son of Earth whose contribution is a disappointment because it doesn´t transport any of the emotions of the previous three tracks. “Burning Bright Ember” by Birds of Delay from Leeds is much more interesting and closes the first disc with a symphonic drone piece that is moving at the pace of a snail and sounds like VU´s “Venus in Furs” stretched to infinity.
A short CD change and we´re back in Velvet Underground territory, this time from the aptly named band White/Light. Which VU album their point of reference is, is not hard to guess. Their contribution starts with screeching feedback à la “Sister Ray”, but transforms into a pulsating drone piece that ends in a beautiful acoustic guitar strum. More than alchemical transmutation, White/Light´s piece represents the birth of a butterfly to me. What follows are two not fully convincing tracks. Keenan Lawler´s “Time Subjugator” lacks direction and is just moving along with hardly any change in mood, tempo or harmony. His bowed guitar is nice to listen to for 3 minutes, but almost a quarter of an hour is too long. The Dead C´s Bruce Russell works with looped and backwards played prerecorded material on his contribution. I´m sure his piece has a deeper meaning, but it´s not easy to decipher.
It takes another Town & Country member to bring the Rebis compilation back on track. On Disc 2 you find a collaboration of Ben Vida (as Bird Show) and Robert AA Lowe (as Lichens) which is incredibly cosmic, yet might conjure all earth ghosts long forgotten. Based on mantric percussion, Lowe repeats his wordless chants over and over again, sometimes quiet, sometimes more intrusively. He sings and hums and howls while violins and electric guitars complete the spiritualistic séance. Their track is so out of this world that it´s hard to believe it was created by humans. The final one comes from The Opera Glove that Sinks in the Sea, an artist I´ve never heard of before. She makes inventive use of household gadgets, the sound of which she combines with shimmering washes of theremin drone and chirping birds. It might not be the invention of the wheel, but in terms of ambience it´s easily on par with the best moments of this compilation. The state of drone music should have been set now with “Lead Into Gold” and the abovementioned compilations, but I´m sure there´ll be more to come.- Stephan Bauer
- Stephan Bauer, Foxy Digitalis
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el año pasado tuvimos, entre otros, dos recopilatorios como dos soles: Invisible Pyramid (Last Visible Dog) y Gold Leaf Branches (Digitalis). este año tenemos el doble Lead into Gold, no tan exhaustivo pero sí igual de fascinante. dos aportaciones en especial, The Zoo Wheel, aka Liz Payne de Town & Country, y el bucle, una vez más, de Bird Show. siempre me atrae cualquier cosa que tenga que ver con Ben Vida, siempre lo escucho con más expectativas ¿sera la mejor canción del recopilatorio? ¿será sólo un pequeño interludio? ¿Otro tema más? y nunca decepciona. Isa's Ball e Inverted House son exactamente lo que pudimos ver en el Vade hace un par de años, un bucle infinito de campanillas rozando las alturas. con permiso de Field on water, dos piezas cumbre de toda la trayectoria de Town & Country, Bird Show y, ahora, The Zoo Wheel.
-Microphones in the Trees, May 10, 2006
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