Quetzolcoatl - Up And Down Dream Valley Thruway (American Grizzly, 2007)

1 Birth Fumes 5:24
2 River Is A Killer Brother 6:22
3 Links Awakening 7:35
4 Golden Sun 6:24
5 Totem Mountain 8:58
6 Up And Down Dream Valley Thruway 8:49
7 Bloody Paw Prints 13:38

Up and Down Dream Valley Thruway is probably the most varied Quetzolcoatl album I’ve heard to date and also one of the best. “River is a Killer Brother” features the rare occurrence of a backbeat, minimal and slightly irregular, but a backbeat nonetheless. The track has a real nice contrast of ethereal vocals and a chaotic jumble of different rhythmic loops and sounds. When this idea of combining disparate elements is tried sometimes the result is disjointed or ill-fitted; not here though, the track feels cohesive even with it’s slightly fractured rhythm. “Links Awakening” kicks out the hypno-dreaminess with mounds of vocals heaped upon a gently flowing keyboard loop. It’s a very lush and full sounding track and an excellent addition to Quetzolcoatl’s burgeoning back catalog of hypnotizers. More dreaminess comes with “Golden Sun”. The track is pretty simple there is a shimmering background loop underneath a vocal refrain so pretty you can’t even zone out to it. “Totem Mountain” is less blissful but no less magnificent. A melancholy choir of vocal loops drifts through until a clanging percussive loop begins grinding away and a heavy drone begins swelling all around everything meeting with brief tribal drumming. It all blurs into the sound emanating from a faraway spirit ritual just out of sight. The title track is the most aggressive I’ve heard the Quetzolcoatl project get. It still has the signature heavily reverbed sound but there are faster, rougher loops circulating and a lot more distortion and feedback coursing through its veins. It’s not harsh but it is certainly blasted, or maybe blasting is a better descriptor. Either way, it’s a nine minute rocket ride up and down dream valley thruway. “Bloody Paw Prints” is the epic closer and is the murkiest cut on the album. It’s a pretty good mind zoner, if a little bit long. The vocals aren’t laid on as thickly and the grumbling field recordings come through a bit more, making it a little woozy almost. It’s nice, slight change-up to end the album on. I’m really impressed with the balance between sonic variation and consistency here; despite tweaking the approach each time out, the album still pretty much feels like one fantastic whole. The foldout artwork comes with a few hints as to how Tim makes his sounds. Vocals, keyboards, a floor tom and field recordings from Australia and Hong Kong are listed as instruments so there’s a piece of the puzzle. I still don’t how he is able to pull those elements into a thing of such beauty, but I'm better off not knowing and just listening I’m sure.
Auxiliary Out blog

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Bonecloud - Drawing Spirits In Crystals (DNT Records, 2007)

01 Drawing Spirits In Crystals (39:59)

Drone improvisé réminiscent des Disintegration Loops de William Basinski...

‘Drawing Spirits into Crystals’ is a 40-minute epic by Irish couple Bonecloud, from my vantage their best work to date. Front to back the track is veiled behind the static of disintegrating tape reminiscent Basinki’s ‘Disintegration Loops’, though with spacious improvised drone/spirituals replacing those tightly wound little loops. Accompanying a shifting array of metallic instrumental-weaponry, a vast howling mediates each leg of this track with regional vernaculars to identify the terrain like a map. Whether spooked or stoned from this way-out voyage, the high notes of the track’s last quarter begin to resemble horns playing some dust-laced jazz with the growling menace of electric guitar beneath the heavy fog leading to the question, where am I? Well, that’s what love songs often do. Sprayed and stamped CDr comes bagged with nice paper insert. Limited to 100 copies. Sold out for a while now, but maybe you can try some of DNT’s distro-pals.
Animal Psi

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Quetzolcoatl - Where Are We Going Sister (Ikuisuus, 2006)

1 Kneel Like A Wooden Cougar In The Earth (7:12)
2 Secrets Of The Distant Mountain (3:14)
3 Burning Lungs In Snowstorm (3:33)
4 Where Are We Going Sister (12:16)
5 Night Flight (10:02)
6 Vivid Garden Dream (9:06)
7 Ruins For A Lightning Child Heart (6:20)

Drones aux paysages sonores envappés...

Best release so far from this member of Bonecloud. Shrill shrieks writhe and slither in a morass of unholy ecstasy on the opener. Other tracks shroud violin, organ, vocals and other indistinguishable sounds in the cavernous echo, reverb and ominous atmosphere of a haunted subway station. The title track sounds like an eerie serenade from beyond the grave, a melancholic lullaby swims in a pool of echo, barely discernible. Great stuff.
Boa Melody Bar

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Quetzolcoatl - Sleeping Within the Sun (Phantom Limb, 2005)

Quickly becoming our go to guy for late night dreamy drones, Tim Hurley, aka Quetzolcoatl, offers up another gorgeous collection of slow burning drifters. Based in Ireland, and also doing time in modern day Taj Mahal Travellers Bonecloud, Hurley's Quetzolcoatl is one of the most consistently satisfying crafters of ethereal dronemusic going these days. Which is definitely saying a whole lot. This latest suite of untitled songs are all drawn from bits of piano, both short and long recorded over the span of several years, although except for a few places here and there you'd be hard pressed to pick out actual piano, instead the sounds have been blurred and smeared, twisted and layered, mixed with other sounds, vocals, field recordings, everything a gorgeously whirling collage of sonic ideas, that Hurley is somehow able to alchemically mold into utterly moving soundscapes, looped and hypnotic, long drawn out stretches of melodic whir, tinkling harmonics, slow smoldering chords pulled apart into long looping notes, stretched out over wide expanses of dark shimmer. Not sure what else to say other than this is absolutely lovely. And thus obviously totally recommended. And you probably couldn't get a better endorsement than the fact that the writer of this review has fallen asleep to this disc the last three nights in a row...

www.aquariusrecords.org

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