Alto!

Played a show with these dudes last night at the exquisite Ella Street Social Club. They kicked out a mind-melting cacophany of tribal percussion and screeching no-wave noise guitar, with an old drum machine holding the beast together. Impressively ritualistic, these guys were taut and focused, unusually powerful. Alto! sounds like Neurosis jamming with Sumner Crane after a Benzedrine all-nighter.

This free download, available from their Bandcamp, is a faithful reproduction of what they sound like live. The drums are full and rich, the guitar is sci-fi, there are textures of tones and ambiance. You can have a late-night drum freak out in yr ears, on demand.
Isn't the internet wonderful!

It was a real pleasure to play on a legit noise bill for the first time, a dream come true. Holy Filament, from Vancouver, Wa, freaked out some squares on a date, and 3 moons channeled Brion Gysin's servitor for the occasion, overcoming technical difficulties to summon the trance, as always.

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(calm inferno archives) - joining you (Den Of Dead Trees Recordings)

(calm inferno archives) is the solo project of Ryan Tomatsello,  from San Jose drone architects Blood Into Water. He creates drone movements to break down religious mindsets and have a direct spiritual experience without contradictory rules and dogmas interfering. With song titles like "Drones For God" and "Cathedral Side Stepper," what we have here is the sound of a new cosmology, contemplation of the empty spaces, vastness and creation, full blown sonic mysticism.

Joining You is short and sweet, clocking in at a scant 25 minutes, which is a minor miracle for a drone record. Like Oscar Wilde said about smoking, a short drone record is a;perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. It shows consideration and self-restraint, it indicates that Ryan Tomatsello knows what he is trying to say, and ruthlessly self-editing, mandatory instincts in this day and age of media deluge. What we are left with is a type of Dark Ambient music that does not rely on boring New Age pads and Lustmord pastiche. Instead, Joining You is a modern take on musique concrete, with hypnotic tones perfectly poised in the stereo field, ricocheting around the room to create a mesmerizing, ritualistic atmosphere, made with an early 80s industrial sensibility. One imagines a mad scientist's laboratory, with sparking Tesla coils and spinning reels spitting out esoteric data. It sounds like a radio telescope, pontificating on the boundaries of space.


Den Of Dead Trees is a noise label run by Andrew Consiglio, from Vancouver, Wa. Its a non-profit labor of love, dedicated to spreading the gospel of noteworthy experimental musicians that he knows, which allies him with the mission over here at j's heaven. Just trying to put good art out into the world. Just trying to make something holy and pure. What was once subterranean and unknown comes to the light of day, ripe for the picking, and those with a curious mind can find such riches, such wisdom. With (calm inferno archives) talk of sonic mysticism and wide-eyed wonder, the Den of Dead Trees roster seems like kindred spirits and worthy of yr attention.

My band Meta-Pinnacle is playing with Andrew's solo project, Holy Filament, (previously discussed here) at Ella Street Social Club, this coming Wednesday. Its an honor and a pleasure to be participating in an honest-to-god noise happening, which is a rare event in Portland. Come on out and experience the weirdness.

dt013 Joining You (free download)

Den Of Dead Trees

Holy Filament Sounds

Holy Filament Sounds is the experimental/noise project of Andrew Consiglio, damaging ear drums and providing soundtracks for avant-garde dreamscapes since 1999. I became aware of his work through the message boards at Noise Guide, and i was quite ecstatic when i figured out that he was my neighbor to the north, right across the river in Vancouver, Wa.

With tracks dedicated to Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson, Jandek, Tom Waits, and Harley Quinn, and a whole slew of music for free download, i knew i had found a kindred spirit. Anyone that can hear the commonalities of Consumer Electronics terrorism, freakish free folk jazz, and Tom Waits is family; i began a tireless listening campaign, providing the soundtrack to any number of misty, somnambulent northwestern rainy afternoons, staring out the window at featureless grey skies. This is always my favorite kind of music, where you feel like you've slipped into some nether-dimension, or a lucid dream. Like yr a ghost, haunting yr own house. Everything is quiet, the rain falling on the porch outside, the computer is making some infernal shriek, and there's a peace here, a meditative quality.

This is music to be listened to, appreciated. It will never be on the radio, anytime before 3 a.m. anyway. It is a mystical transportation device, and its very format, its instrumentation, the way it is distributed, ensures that it will be pure of heart and intent.

When i was younger, and just getting into the noise scene, it was so esoteric, so hidden, like Marco Polo's middle-east, with me drunkenly stuck and stupefied in rural Indiana. The ability to know, to correspond, to help spread the work about quality artists, and have them living so close, geographically, is endlessly invigorating; it keeps me up at night, listening to Pierre Schaeffer collages and sharpening my literary claws. It keeps me driving, and biting, and fighting.

'Black Holy Ceremony - Approaching the Altar of Baal' and 'The Throne of Belial at Dusk' are good places to start, for a dreamier, drearier vibe. 'All My Neighbors Hate Me' is a quick powernoise sugar bump for yr day. 'The Piano Has Been Shooting Ketamine (Not Me)' is an eloquent free jazz excursion that is bumping into john cage/twelve tone territory, and shows that Holy Filament Sounds can play, has chops, and is well versed in tradition.

This music makes me ache, makes me crave, leaves me wanting more; it unfolds like a hallucinogenic indigo lotus in my frontal lobe, the visions are starting to flicker even as i type. The fact that he gives it away for free astounds me! Go pounce!

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