New American Folk Hero Mike Tamburo : Language of the birds and other fantasies -7cdr- (US,2007)***'
This box contains 7 black CDRs and one DVD. I constantly delayed reviewing these discs seriously. It simply is too much music to find a gap of time for, big enough to listen and review in one stroke, so I decided to review one album at a time instead. It was already clear to me how Mike Tamburo masters a great guitar playing and combines this often with harmonic drones.
CD1, “A Fine Line on the Throne Of Time” (2CDR)***°
1. **** Using additional “harmonic drones” is a much too simple a description compared to what exactly happens here in this release. Mike Tamuro beautifully blends all kinds of ideas coming forth from harmonic vibrations from strings, amplified, resonating or acoustic, to blend this neatly, like shadows that follow the improvisations with the pickings (arpeggios and melodic evolutions) and slides. Some accompanying sounds are like stretched in time variables of string sounds and noises, there are sounds of irons and bells and delays, but all very intelligently evolve from the organic environment of what has been played. One small sound improvisation created a soundscape of string sounds, new music that could accompany a moody part in a science fiction movie, a new world with machine-like organic movements, just like a small experimental music part. There’s a passage with dulcimer improvisations, where John Fahey and old blues just looks here and there over the shoulder, and around the corner. An album alone worth the purchase & publication on a full release. Even the experimental part shows much more quality and vivid variation compared to the average release in the field.
2. *** This second disc sounds more improvised and experimental, more like a giant bonus track in different sections, built from resonating guitar mostly, which are at one time becoming like flutes, echoing a lot, with hypnotic and slumbering parts, and with several picking assemblations, some slide ideas to complete the sonic explorations.
CD2, "Language of the birds" (CDR)***'
This second 8-track album consists of solo 6-string compositions and improvisations recorded in three different places. At first listen, I felt a bit lost with them, being not technical enough to understand all moves, and not being sure what they are really expressing, except for being just themselves, pickings that are constantly changing and developing and moving, walking endlessly, continuing to bring me further and further, with no restrictions. There is almost a constant change (with little theme repetitions & turns to make more clear orientation points). There are some brilliant moves but as content in the composition it remains as having the effect of a grey veil over the expressed area, when not showing clearly its conscious directions or change or underlying structure that uplifts this obviously talented game to a sort of more human reality to visualize. Also a second listen didn’t give me this yet, but I still very much appreciated the dreamy trance-walking effect of it. I shouldn't try to figure out the language of the birds too much. It doesn’t need any effort to just enjoy their presence of the moment. There’s wasn’t any moment that didn’t maintain the same sort of listening attention. It is as if John Fahey just stopped adding any references in his music and just tripped out...
CD3, "Don't leave your bones in my back yard" (CDR)***
Like the previously reviewed CDR, also this album hangs in sound well together, and sounds as if it is intentionally built up this way, the 5 tracks (of which some are pretty long) are recorded on 4 different occasions. This time it is an experimental album, which is based upon moody droning string soundscape improvisations mostly (6-string guitar, chime, bow, tuning fork, gamelan wind, chimes, metal objects, electric guitar, bow, effects) as well as dulcimer. I will describe a bit what happens. Track 1 is built from oscillating amplified guitar mixed with harmonic drones of strings (high notes as well as bass), like a moody intro. The second track is divided in sections where each time different instruments are used : echoing strings forming loops, then cowbell-like sounds played as if on windchimes, then hammered dulcimer with some bell tones, then droning echoing baritone vocal mumblings that become waves of sounds, with some additional higher toned drone sounds that become an abstract world, then echoing guitar notes, slowly adding new moody tones, a sphere that becomes a new organic mood, with two layers, to end with some oscillating sounds, like on the first track. The third track more is like echoing sounds that are mixed with changed speeds so that the effect becomes like an abstract sound of ghosts and windy & watery moving rivers in tubes with some loose material drained with it. Then it moves more rhythmically, but remains a sonic format of organic blurry water. The 4th track is a dulcimer solo, loosely played, then with more clear picking notes, softened and more loose again, before returning to a drone area with some notes involved. The fifth and last track returns thoroughly back to the world of sounds with which the album started. It consists of small and slow echoing notes on amplified guitar and droning notes on the same guitar, which note for note finds its soundscape, adds some oscillations, and with two layers of recordings finds a world of its own.
CD4, "In the present the past keeps haunting" (CDR)
no review
CD5, "Of Faith and Joy and Happiness" (CDR)
no review
CD6, "Jade is the color of my true love's fate" (CDR)
no review
DVD : "Persistent Visions Volume One" (DVDR)**°
I also watched the DVD, with 5-6 abstract art-soundtrack movies and two direct live recordings. On these art-soundtracks, this is mostly a play with light effects. On the first one, the images pass by like an old film with stripes, scratches and light effects, in colour, as if this also is a painting in motions. Another movie was based upon an irregular metallic plate that reflects light. A third movie showed simple and simplistic kaleidoscopic visions. Another movie showed a colour negative of a person who scratches his body, then moves slightly off screen, while the camera vision is positioned directly on a wall, just above a person’s presence. Last two live tracks, seeing Mike Tamburo perform, gives more vision and insight on how he builds up his music and how this looks like during a live concert. Now it is much clearer to me how he adds all these effects, on this occasion to an acoustic/amplified guitar mostly. Of course the tendency of such an approach that it becomes one-minded linear, happens this way very easily. My earlier comments saying that I missed a more clear compositional structure in the pickings, still remains present. Also, sounds like drones at a live concert seems a lazier creation, than just hearing the results on CD, when not being distracted by the limitations of movements with the material, while on the other hand the material at hand actually also increased the possibilities of its production.
Limited to 250 copies.
