AURA LEVEL FOUNTAIN

 

It's hard to write words about the release with out mentioning the label. Dub Ditch Picnic has been an under the radar favorite at TEHQ for several years, the kind of label that makes you feel comfortable parting with your dollars in exchange for new sounds because the imprint on the shell was a symbol of quality. Of confidence. The engine behind the label was Chris Jaques, who passed away at the tender age of 50 back in April....the catalog is still available digitally, the catalog is recommended, Jaques' efforts are (still) appreciated, and I'm still going to scoop up Dub Ditch Picnic releases whenever I come across them. As for AURA LEVEL FOUNTAIN....it's the sound of a fitting sendoff, honestly. Light and gentle sonic breath with a distant but determined ominous undertone. Three tracks that span nearly one hour. Sounds that you want to settle into and get comfortable....but sounds that will keep you on edge. Paying attention. Because even the beautiful sounds are warnings. 

TULAN TUALN AXCANPA

SHOOTING GUNS

Canadian instrumental space/psych kings with a 2014 cassette only offering for the Dub Ditch Picnic label. I came across their debut Born To Deal In Magic: 1952-1976 some years ago, and still take occasional dips into their swirling monotony from another time, but Street Rock reminded me just how much SHOOTING GUNS there was for me to sink into (including a recent foray into composing and perfoming film scores). If "Feelings (dub)" doesn't lure/lull you into submission, then edge the volume up for the raw bombast of "I Think I Can Taste It" as the closing statement of this masterpiece and feel yourself drift away. Taking cues from SLEEP, LOW, WOODEN SHJIPS, this band takes ownership of the sound and makes you simultaneously feel and forget everything. 

STREET ROCK

JLK // BABYSITTER

 

Gorgeous, spacey, numbing presentations on the first of a few collaborations between Montreal's BABYSITTER and Jane Kasowicz. Like a drug addled gospel conjuring, these three tracks meander and reach, and of course you can make early VELVETs comparisons if you are so inclined, but I feel like you'll be selling your listening experience short if you do. On "Don't Drop It," it's as if the guitar and the bass and the other sounds spend almost the entire seven minutes searching for each other, and then they journey out together for the mind melting "Wanderings" to close. Much of this tape feels slightly off, like an involuntary twitch that you finally submit to - at once disorienting and peaceful. 

JLK // BABYSITTER

There's more (lots more), but today just these three....the rest you should find on your own (links please)...and praise to Dub Ditch Picnic (again) for the work.