Canartic - Turn On the Blacklight - out -6/13/15 |
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Remastered single from the out of print Blacklight Days EP |
Canartic - Modulotion - out now |
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click here to buy modulotion cds and mp3s
This guitar-based and electronic-backed offering of totally dubbed out and lathered
down psychedelic downtempo from Canartic is everything an album name like “Modulotion” promises. Beginning with
the title track, the release is at once breezy and rippling, crackling and glitchy, yet liquefied in a heady brew of smooth
bass vibes. With the epic “Cleveland (Buzz)” as prime example, the dub and funk guitars that rule these ultra-slow
motion numbers are buoyed by warm tones and orchestral shimmers, bubbling funnels of sound and trippy reverberations. It is,
in short, a salve for the senses. Much of “Modulotion” swims in this soup of melted bass flecked with flavors
of jazz and funk, yet over the course of seven tracks Canartic’s subtle intuitions effectively banish any sense of sameness.
Though song structures come across as similar, each breathes its own mix of elements so that, taken individually, the differences
might as well be profound. The intoxicating atmosphere of “Spring Reverb”, backed by a warm symphonic buzz, is
quite something else when placed alongside the syrup-drenched and spacey “Pod Bai”. The latter’s disembodied
voices encourage imagery of long-haul space flight and the associated sensory deprivation. While aforementioned “Cleveland
(Buzz)” leans toward funky and loose, “Aux 1” is a masterful but sedate jaunt into the fringes of paranoia,
employing dense passages and a feverish, amped-up guitar. One could say that “Hueman”, on the other hand, is downright
seductive, its jazz overtones mixing with honeyed bass to form a potent and sensual cocktail. Though the bass that permeates
this album might as well be a weapons-grade sedative, there exists just enough glitch in the electronics on “Modulotion”
to keep the senses prickling; loose circuits popping on and off, little reminders that floating in a purple haze is always
more interesting with a bit of unexpected texture. Canartic’s casual and grooving sound, free from formality and expectation,
lets the listener pick the destination, but with just one caveat – sit back and relax. –
Dutton Hauhart - connexione bizzare....
Canartic,
Modulotion (Dank Disk)What is it with Texas and outsider psychedelia? Ever since
Roky Erickson and his Thirteenth Floor Elevators became the first band described in print as ”psychedelic”, there
has been a special, rainbow coloured noise emananting out of the Lone Star State that seems to have no rational explanation
attributable to habitat (peyote buttons excepted), the proximity of the Mexican border, or the weather. Perhaps it´s
an Austin thing, that urban boehmian aberration deep in its Republican heart. The local motto is, after all, ”Keep Austin
Weird”. Ten years ago a surprising dub/psychedelic hybrid emerged in the
form of Sub Oslo´s ”Dubs in the Key of Life”. That eight-man effort shares a similar meandering, patient
pace in big space with Canartic. However, the duo of Jon Coats and Randall Peterson have a tighter grasp on their trippy reins
which, as paradoxical as it sounds, gives the mind more room to move around within the music and vice-versa. Impeccably steady drumming worthy of Style Scott anchors a soaring electric guitar speaking many
tongues, all of them perfectly intelligible, and synthesizers that hum and ripple like wings cutting through the air or bubble
like tropical fish swimming round the coral reef. It´s a perfectly seamless
jam that lays you down comfortably while it lifts your spirits. As one of the samples whispers, "it´s so fabulous". Posted by Stephen Fruitman
Canartic – Modulotion – Review by Steve Barker in The Wire - Imagine Pink Floyd shooting off on an alltogether different
tangent after 1972’s
Obscured By Clouds. They too could have ended up in the deserts of New Mexico sounding like a cross between Black Sun Ensemble and early On U Sound, just like Jon Coats and Randall Peterson aka
Canartic. Wisely,there
are no voices encumbering the mix or meaning here, other than the occasional disembodied ghost, subordinated to the soaring guitar that sometimes approaches the ecstasy ofTisziji Munoz and the continual space drones
lapping at the bubbling
rhythms. It’s difficult to conceive of this album coming from anywhere other than the American South West –there’s a strong temptation to start rereading Carlos
Castenada using tracks
like the mushroom - influenced nine minutes plus“Cleveland (Buzz)” as a looped accompaniment, or the dubbed slo-mo guitars of “Spring Reverb”
as an aural backdrop for driving
by buttes and through canyons.
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canartic live @ cranium club |
email dank disk
praguedren - stax of bass (phase shifting the sun mix) - ddl single -
out 7/4/2014
Praguedren
- Earz to Earth - ddl single - out 1/3/2014.
Praguedren - Lit Up - Single - ddl - out 9/13/2013. Filtered drones take you out into the Fall landscape.
out 6/1/2013 - Praguedren - Air Chair (Simon Scott Remix) watch video for simon scott's
atmospheric remix on the video page
more ddl releases from dank disk:
Praguedren - Slower Motions EP download only -
out now - released 7/13/2012. Praguedren's beatless exploration of effects bliss.
Praguedren - Into Another Place download only single out 5/1/2012. Praguedren's new
single delivers what the title promises, transport into another realm. All the moody beauty that you'd
expect with plenty of space for your mind to stretch out. Another place indeed .
Praguedren - The Expanding Universe (Lab RAZ Mix) download only single out
now , released 3/13/12. Expanding the universal headspace.
new canartic download only single - inner space
(live vs teenager) out 2/17... canartic remix a classic psych track by australia's teenager while playing live on the
air in austin tx. 60's psych vs psydub.
Praguedren releases - Aurora
Australis and new EP - Head Cleaner - out now. Both available in CD and download.
Praguedren - Head Cleaner EP
Wire review
by Steve Barker
Praguedren's quick follow up to Aurora Australis offers more of the same fuzzy drone
psyche dub, but not from the dark recesses of a damp Prague night -- this set is a result of a stay in old east Berlin. The
closing track "East Berliner (3am mix)" recaptures the experience of Tomas Effliger and Sector Seventeen spending
time in city blocks open to the sky. No beats: just a stretched shimmer pulled across its four minute duration; any expectation
of beats is thankfully not fulfilled. The original "East Berliner" mix is as near to funk as the duo are ever likely
to get, with a beautifully shifting drum pattern draped across the beats and little other embellishment. Whereas the menace
of "Stairwells" returns them to the eerily threatening style which they are best known for.
sonic curiosity review:
PRAGUEDREN: Head Cleaner (CD EP ). This release from 2011 offers 18 minutes of smooth ambience. Inspired
by a trip to the old Eastern section of Berlin, with its roofless buildings, this music explores a beat-infused flavor of
electronic ambience. Airy texturals generate an atmospheric backdrop for
additional drones which evoke a realm unfettered by conventional limitations (evidenced by the band's introduction of
electronic beats to their flowing ambient sound). The electronics are soft
and fluid, harmonic structures that establish a vaporous milieu of alluring definition. This gaseous environment pulsates
with rich depth as the oscillations ebb and surge in a fragile manner. Auxiliary electronics lend peripheral activity. The rhythms are gentle and excellently suited to enhance the dreamy electronics. The compositions serve as a perfect soundtrack to escape the real world and retreat into
the subconscious void where introspection makes anything possible
New Praguedren single
- Eyelid Dreamachine - Out now. Available in download only form from all major download providers. Hear it on the sounds
page.
Out Now. New Praguedren download
only single. Mission To The Sun (We'll Go At Night Praguedren Remix Of Stress Test) is an epic aural trip using elements
from NYC's Stress Test release The Rocket Thing. This recording has been maximized for earbud and headphone use.
out 6/1/2013 - Praguedren - Contrails EP soundscapes to dissolve into the summer
sky
New Praguedren release
- Kartography - out now in cd/ddl released - 2/2/2013..
On Kartography, Praguedren take a trip. Earbud on foot, horizontal in room or imagination through history will all be satisifed.
Sonic excursions into the traveldelic mindset
Praguedren - Serfs Of The Plant Kingdom - out now in CD and download. Watch
vid for title track on video page now.
Praguedren - Serfs of the Plant Kingdom - Hypnagogue review: Because Praguedren’s
Serfs of the Plant Kingdom is only 28 minutes long, and because it’s quite good, and because it’s very
easy to get lost in, there’s absolutely no reason not to just put it on loop and let it trip its ambient-psychedelic
way through your head two, three, four times. The duo of Tomas Effliger and Sector 17 pull together seven dream-like drifts
gently dusted with slight dub effects. Echoing rim shots snap across cool yawns of sound, drum pulses quietly wobble off into
the distance, and the whole time the duo spin out warm, unhurried clouds of ambient. I like the way this disc works its way
down into its quieter environs. The title track, which kicks off the disc, is the most beat-driven piece, riding in on a standard
backbeat that gets tricky with a little stutter-step here and there. Its followup, “Helical,” spreads out like
ripples on a pond, packing smoothly undulating waveforms designed to bring on a little low-level hypnosis. From there, as
the drifts get more and more vaporous, as in the nearly ethereal, spectral tones of “Plant Castles,” the touches
of beat become your lifeline back to solidity–but drift, my friends, drift, safely encased in this very plush cocoon
of sound. The duo reconnect with the real world on the closing track, nudging the softer tones to the back. It borders on
being a little interruptive after “Plant Castles,” the chords in that fall into the foreground feeling a little
harsh and metallic in spots. It’s a wake-up call, but it could be gentler. Don’t let it stop you from going around
again. The ride is brief, but the ride is so very deep.
PRAGUEDREN: Serfs of the Plant Kingdom Sonic
Curiosity Review This release from 2012 offers 29 minutes of mellow electronic music. Praguedren is: Tomas Effliger and Sector Seventeen. This music combines the elements of deconstruction, dub and drone to produce a selection of dreamy
tunes. With the first track, percussion bestows the textural flow
with a touch of oomph, generating a terrestrial connection with the otherwise celestial atmosphere. There's a hint of
grittiness underlying the tonalities that enhances that oomph. The
second piece pursues a more astral milieu with waxing and waning pulsations amid a pool of vibrating diodes. The next track features more percussion (a plodding tempo this time) that lends
a funereal flair to the otherwise high altitude seesawing electronics. This
is followed by a piece in which dub sensibilities are applied to the ambient electronics. There's a touch of vibrating
strings buried in the mix, and minimal beats (of a slushy nature) contribute an understated edginess. In the fifth composition, a stability is achieved with tones that mesh to form a breathing cosmic
presence The next piece injects a sequence of sharp impacts to
delineate a soothing soundscape of divine character. There's a strong sense of impending greatness just around the corner. And that portentous premonition can be found in the last track, as keyboards
contribute fleeting chords which enhance a recurrence of those plodding beats in tandem with sighing texturals that elevate
the listener to a lofty portion of their subconscious. These compositions
illustrate what can be done by combining divergent genres into an ambient template--with highly entertaining results.
Trippy dub duo Praguedren launch themselves into space on their recent release, Aurora Australis,
and the result is…well, trippy space dub. Having gotten used to their resin-coated, smoke-shrouded psychedelia, hearing
Praguedren take on softer ambient drifts came as a very pleasant surprise. The dub trappings certainly haven’t been
dispensed with entirely–the title track vibrates and wobbles with tremolo and wavering echo in a pleasantly head-messing
way. But it does get cut loose in spots in favor of beat-free, dreamy flows like the closer, “Falling Upward.”
This track shows, in classic soft ambient style, that these two can step well out of their comfort zone and still pull it
off. A warm, inviting track of horizon-stretched pads. The real draw, though, is on those pieces when the two sides mesh easily
together. Check “Neon Green Skies,” which moebius-twists its way smoothly from long, pipe-organ-feeling pads into
a clubby/dubby vibe with snappy beats and back again. It’s a cool, nicely orchestrated blend that clearly marks Praguedren’s
course for this release. The next track, “Polarity,” shows both sides but strips it down to a perfectly simple
backbeat keeping time over big, long pads. When the beat drops off halfway through, you’re just left to coast back to
earth on pure, relaxing clouds of ambient. And it’s a gorgeous ride down. I
have a great appreciation for artists who can vary up their stuff to show some versatility, and especially those who do so
while keeping a grip on where they’ve been before. With Aurora Australis, Praguedren readily prove themselves
to be those guys.
Praguedren - Painting Over Scenery - out now |
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click here to buy painting over scenery cds and mp3s
Praguedren, Painting Over Scenery
- Hypnagogue review: There's something about the slow, sexy dub on Praguedren's new disc that makes me want to put
on my 70s-style late-night-DJ voice, lean into a mic and purr, "Awwww, yeah...this one goes out to anyone who's gonna
get down with gettin' down tonight. Solid." This Czech duo lay down some serious funk-laced sounds, thick with sweet
and chewy bass lines and dripping with smooth grooves. I like this disc as a backdrop for winding down in the evening. It's
trippy without going overboard, and stands up to a close listen, but when it's just allowed to sort of lope around the
room, quietly filling the space, its downtempo ease becomes absolutely infectious.You're paying it no real mind and then
you realize your head's bobbing to the beat of a track like "House Built of Dub" (one of my favorites) or your
body's been taken over by the cool flow of the disc's highlight track, "Stax of Bass." (You want a bass
line you could eat with a fork? This is the track for you, served with a side order of psychedelic guitar.) I know this isn't
always what musicians want to hear about their work, but the thing about Painting Over Scenery is that it's just plain
nice. Easy on the ears, loungey without being pretentious, smoothly played and expertly built, all but demanding repeat play.
If you're looking for rhythmic tracks with an authentic funk vibe and unmistakable dub cred, slide on over to Dank Disk
and check this one out. You'll be gettin' down with gettin' down in no time. Awww, yeah. Available from Dank Disk.
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