Drifting through the endless woods of John Davis' music video for Barn Owl's "Turiya" leaves one with the same spiritual calm that enveloped us in our initial listen a few weeks ago. --Matt Sullivan, Altered Zones
Lost in the Glare is out now on Thrill Jockey
On Saturday, September 17th, Visitation Rites and Vibes Management present a night of deep moods and maximalist simplicity at Brooklyn's Shea Stadium. Witness a rare East Coast appearance by drone-driven San Francisco guitar duo Barn Owl after hearing the Branca and Chatham-inspired Noveller (New York's Sarah Lipstate) loop a single guitar into the sound of a dozen. Former GHQ guitar slinger Steve Gunn brings his minutely colored, raga-inspired blues-folk to the stage with drummer John Truscinski of X.O.4. renown, and Los Angeles singer/songwriter Universe opens the night with a mystery backing band. Visit Facebook for more info. --Emilie Friedlander, Visitation Rites
Noveller: Glacial Glow (Album Preview)
MP3: Gunn-Truscinski Duo: "B38"
By Max Burke
Since meeting as students at San Francisco State in the mid-2000s, Barn Owl's Evan Caminiti and Jon Porras have carved out a unique swath of the modern American psychedelic underground for themselves. Extensive touring in Europe and America and a rigorous release schedule have established them as seasoned purveyors of an idiosyncratic brand of dark, guitar-based drone. The group's latest is Lost in the Glare, their second full-length for Thrill Jockey-- following their Shadowland EP earlier this year, 2010's career-high Ancestral Star LP, and a slew of solo and side project releases. The new record finds the core duo of Caminiti and Porras augmented by percussionist Jacob Felix Heule on select tracks, further expanding the bounds of their moody and minutely detailed sound universe.
AZ: How did you begin your collaboration as Barn Owl?
Jon: We met in class at college. I saw Evan from across the room and saw another bearded long haired fellow and figured we might get along. At the time we were both looking to play music with someone and we were into solo guitar fingerpicking [in the vein of] Sandy Bull and John Fahey. We also were both interested in taking that Americana tradition and expanding it, using other experimental elements-- drone elements-- and fusing in a whole minimal-classical angle.
Evan: Around the time we met, stuff like American Primitive Guitar finger style with open tunings, and minimalists like Terry Riley, La Monte Young... we were discovering these things and it was a big epiphany at the time, and it inspired us to work toward fusing these elements.
Lost in the Glare, Barn Owl's forthcoming album, rides on the heels of their 12" EP, Shadowland, and three immense offerings from the boys' respective solo and side projects-- all put out within the past 6 months. But the massive walls of sound that shaped these recent releases have been knocked down to make way for an extension to the edges of desert psych. On "Turiya," phosphorescent doom riffs float over a bed of finger-picked harmonics, anchored by the heavy-hitting percussion of Jacob Felix Heule. --Ian Pearson, Altered Zones
Pre-order Lost in the Glare from Thrill Jockey, out September 13th
After a few solo excursions working out their own demons, Caminiti and Porras return to the beast they've forged together as Barn Owl. Larger in scope than The Conjurer, Ancestral Star, their latest siphon from the infinite abyss is a blackened earth opus to a dead land. In an age when most artists conjure fleeting whims, Barn Owl carve epics out of ash. The band writes albums meant to be digested, pored over, infused from and the months spent honing this album in the studio seem to have paid off well; vaulting it alongside forerunners like Earth's Hex or Stephen R. Smith's work as Ulaan Khol.
MP3: Barn Own: "Light From The Mesa"
In addition to the album the band have created a video with Paul Clipson that perfectly encapsulates the fever dream desolation of the track "Light From the Mesa". (via Raven Sings The Blues)
Ancestral Star is out 10/19/2010 through Thrill Jockey
- Most Liked All Time
- Contributors
- Features
- Zoned In
-
Our favorite records in the world right now
-
Quilt: Quilt
- James Ferraro: Far Side Virtual
- Woodsman: Mystic Places
- Rangers: Pan Am Stories
- Out There
-
- Acid Marshmallow
- Animal Psi
- Aquarius Records
- Avant Ghetto
- Awesome Tapes From Africa
- Beachtapes
- Blissblog
- Boomkat
- Cassette Gods
- Coco's OCD
- Dayvan Zombear
- DIS Magazine
- Dublab
- Dummy
- Dusted Magazine
- Ekstatic Vision
- Experimental Etc.
- Fact
- FMLY
- Foxy Digitalis
- Great Pumpkin
- Grrrizzly
- Hartzine
- Impose Magazine
- Life: Aquatic
- Mapsadaisical
- Mutant Sounds
- Motherboard
- Naturalismo
- Noisey
- No Conclusion
- No Fear of Pop
- No Modest Bear
- No Pain in Pop
- OMG Vinyl
- Part-Time Music
- Pixelhorse
- Pop Jew
- Resident Advisor
- Salad Fork
- Schmooze Blog
- Self-Titled Magazine
- Stadiums and Shrines
- Still Single
- Sup Mag
- The Quietus
- Vibes4Life
- Volcanic Tongue
- Waves at Night
- Weed Temple
- Weird Canada
- Weird Magic
- WFMU's Beware of the Blog
- XLR8R
- YVYNYL
- Contact Us