RE: (idm) spheres of harmony (not idm, tho)

From Bob Bannister
Sent Fri, Dec 11th 1998, 07:14

<Kind of post-rock/droney, but it's remotely related:
Spheres of Harmony box set on Drunken Fish. Is this particularly rare;
thought I remembered it being mentioned as so on this list before. It's at
a local shop for a mid-range price, is this what I think it is (i.e. rare
and good, worthy of buying?) - Brock>

I didn't see any replies on this - sorry this is long.

It's called "Harmony of the Spheres" and US $22-25 would be a good price.
I don't think it's super rare, but I haven't thought about getting one recently - 
my impression was that it didn't become rare quite as quickly as the people 
who spent rather a lot of money manufacturing it might have hoped.

Here's what I wrote on another list two years ago when it came out
(with interpolations and second thoughts in square brackets):

It's a triple-LP with one side each by six bands and each side is more or
less one continuous piece - I'm guessing the label intended it
to be something that would work as a whole if you listen to the whole thing all
the way through - it's certainly an extended trip through intra-synaptical space
if you do. 
Plus the very nice silver on black packaging has extensive liner
notes and complete discographies for the contributors.

The Bardo Pond side was recorded about 18 months ago [in mid-95]
and has their signature sound from the "Bufo Alvarius" and "Big Laughing Jym" period
 - a blurry two-chord drone that takes you on an oddly static ride to nowhere -
my favorite stuff of theirs is the second side of "Big Laughing Jym" and most of "Amanita"
[this was written before the release of "Lapsed" which might be the best place for the rock-inclined 
among you to start] and this one doesn't break new ground, but it's a nice piece of the puzzle.

Flying Saucer Attack might single-handedly justify getting the record - I'm not
familiar with their whole *oeuvre* so maybe they've done this before
[I subsequently bought "Further" which wasn't as good] - no trace
of songwriting, pop or otherwise, is left behind and instead (sorry this is
going to sound pretentious), they've created an electro-acoustic symphony in
four movements - #1 is a big amorphous, slowly shifting cloud of pink noise with
a big heartbeat thumping through it, #2 is, to my ears, sort of La Monte
Young/Tony Conrad-ish - oddly tuned strings playing long drones with no vibrato
- it's a little hard to pick out which sounds are purely electronic and which
are from acoustic instruments.
[In retrospect, I'd say it's not dissimilar to some Basic Channel stuff]

I've never heard Jessamine before [or since] so I can't make any comparisons, but their
(22-minute) track is dominated by a throbbing keyboard and bass drone with drums
dropping in and out and some over-dubbed vocals in the middle - they could have
used a little editing, I think, as it's a bit slow going at the beginning but
picks up nicely.

New Zealander Roy Montgomery's side is inspired by Sandy Bull's mid-60s Vanguard
records - it's a continuous raga/drone melodic invention (raga more in structure
than sound - no phoney Indian scales in evidence) for several layers of
4-tracked guitar - it doesn't blow my mind all the way through, but it reaches a
highly engaging density by the end - makes you realize that what Sandy Bull did
(does?) isn't that easy (not that anyone said it was).

I don't mean to slight Loren Mazzacane Connors or Charalambides, but I'm
beginning to bore myself - LMC's side sounds like his LP "Hell's Kitchen Park", i.e.
the more distorted/discordant end of his spectrum and Charalambides sound like
the little of them that I've heard, which is good.

Bob Bannister