Altered Zones

By Michael Powell

Earlier this year, Woodsman released Rare Forms, a full-length in which the band explored both the grimy industrial labyrinth of '70s German experimentalism and the rustic, bucolic light flights that resemble sunshine-saturated psychedelia. During my interview with the band in early April, Trevor Peterson revealed that Rare Forms did not, conceptually speaking, represent where Woodsman is now-- the culmination of the gestation period required to properly release a record and the band's never-ending creative stream. That was no hyperbole, as just nine months later, Mystic Places establishes Woodsman as a very different act.

Mystic Places is, in some ways, a harsher, less fluid effort, with more attention to texture, rigid song structures, and rhythmic intensity. The new sound careers into dark chasms at remarkable velocity while punching at the cave walls-- best evidenced on "In Circles," the first single from the EP. But as always with this band, that's only one side of the story. These more concise songs also beget a stronger sense of pop accessibility. More importantly, though the bliss-outs of Rare Forms are all but negated on the EP, the totemic quartet has perfected the type of aerodynamic, soaring choruses that would do early Floyd and Spiritualized fans quite well.

Some of Mystic Places is certainly a recognizable extension from Rare Forms, such as "View From the Vision Hand"-- a perfect complement to "Inside/Outside," a driving, tension-filled, mostly instrumental piece interspersed with telescreen-evoking vocal snippets. "Parallel Minds" and "In Circles" showcase a well-established dichotomy in Woodsman's music: one between ambient narcotic mystery tours and pummeling, skyward neo-kraut. The EP's highlight is "Specdrum," a four-minute interstellar overdrive that combines all of Woodsman's key elements in utterly top form-- snaky guitar melodies, celestial ambience, primordial dual rhythms, and gorgeous, shimmering canyon calls. Woodsman has always crafted arresting tribal motorik, but "Specdrum" takes it to some other, intangible level. They've hit a stride.

What hasn't changed throughout Mystic Places is Woodsman's metaphysical flavor. Like their previous albums, Mystic Places draws conceptual inspiration from with various mysterious American southwest environs-- the Earth Hum, the Marfa Lights, Roswell, and that oddity that is the Denver International Airport. With Rare Forms, Woodsman becomes both more enigmatic and easier to grasp. A monumental effort.

Woodsman: Mystic Places

Mystic Places is available now from Trevor Peterson's own Fire Talk

Denver/Brooklyn psych quartet Woodsman probably spend a whole lot more time on the road-- and a lot less time on the Internet-- than most of their contemporaries on the American basement show circuit. "In Circles," a track from their forthcoming Mystic Places EP, leverages a basic motorik framework as a showcase for the kind of subtly shaded, high energy band chemistry that can only come from playing night after night on a stage. --Emilie Friedlander, Altered Zones

MP3: Woodsman: "In Circles"

Mystic Places EP is out October 25th on guitarist Trevor Peterson's own Fire Talk Records

--Previously:

MP3: Woodsman: "Tone Cloak"

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As previously reported, two of Denver's most psychedelic acts, Woodsman and Tjutjuna, are about to hit the road on a huge Spring tour, from the Midwest to the Northeast then back down South and to Texas for the Austin Psych Fest. To fund this massive excursion and the van to carry them the way, the bands have set up a Kickstarter project. With 13 days to go, the project is about 75% funded, but the bands still need your help with those last couple hundred bucks. To whet your pledging appetite further, Tjutjuna has handed over a download of "Rise/Set" from their self-titled album to share with all you potential pledgers out there. The track's a huge, nine-minute onslaught of pounding drums and shimmering guitars that bursts into sprawling fits of shredded noise. Download the "Rise/Set" MP3, check the KickStarter vid below, and kick a few dollars into these guys' pockets. Oh, and don't forget to check 'em out this April at a town near you.

MP3: Tjutjuna: "Rise/Set"

[Woodsman]
It's hard to take your rig on the road when you don't have wheels to get you there. Thanks to the democratic self-empowerment of the Interweb, there may be a solution to this all-too-common band conundrum. Woodsman and Tjutjuna are prepping a national tour together April, and are raising money via Kickstarter for a van big enough to haul 8 guys and their equipment. For a number of different pledge amounts, you get a bundle of Woodsman and Tjutjuna items, ranging from cassettes and LPs to handmade art booklets and personalized tour documentaries. That's a lot of psychedelica.

If that isn't enough of an incentive, listen to this Woodsman track from their recent Rare Forms LP on Lefse. The spindly guitar line at the opening of "Inside/Outside" wanders through a gauzy landscape of driving drums, incantations, and ebbing synths, exemplifying the rich instrumentation we've come to expect from Woodsman, and what you can expect from this awesome tour. --Daniel Gottlieb, Altered Zones

MP3: Woodsman: "Inside/Outside"

Woodsman's Rare Forms LP is out now on Lefse, and Tjutjuna's self-titled LP is out now Fire Talk, an imprint by Woodsman's Trevor Peterson

Forged in the wake of their upcoming Rare Forms LP (out January 25th on Lefse), "Time Lapse" is yet another one of Woodsman's expansive Kraut tinted sound collages. Riddled with subdued synth notes and a near breathless, distant vocal tracking, every moving part is organically unified into 4 minutes and 45 seconds of psychedelic humidity. Featuring Brian Marcus of Tjutjuna and Samurai Buck, this track is offered as the b-side on their newly released "Insects" 7" single.

MP3: Woodsman: "Time Lapse"

Available through the band's own Fire Talk Records on clear green vinyl, limited to 300

Late last month the delicious Chocolate Bobka premiered "Insects", the first cut off of Woodsman's upcoming album on Lefse Records called Rare Forms. TerrorEyes TV caught Woodsman performing the psych gem house jam on film, while also featuring live videos from recent Life's Blood artists Zach Hill and Pregnant, as well as indie rock heavyweights Deerhoof and Dirty Projectors. --Ric Leichtung, International Tapes

Colorado-based Woodsman were monsters during last week's CMJ music marathon playing a heavy, but not Surfer Blood saturated, number of shows across NYC. While the band was missing their dueling drummers (they had a single replacement), it was still blatantly obvious that Woodsman are traversing some seriously dark and pulverizing zones, cross fading between doom psych and cranial drones like a DJ with a really slow roll. Of course, one could have expected this if they'd heard any of Woodsman three prior releases; Humdrum, Collages or Mystery Tape. While their submersive psych has more in common with the artists that make up the Acid Archives, than any "jamband", Woodsman have tightened the reigns a tad on their sophomore LP, Rare Forms. As the opening track "Insects" implies, Rare Forms harnesses the strength of all-night jams fueled by medicinal treats, into entheogenic tunes artisanally crafted and tinkered with over time until everything is just right. Peep a live version of "Insects" below, then compare it to the studio version mp3. What you'll hear is sonic maturity. Rare forms, man. (via Chocolate Bobka)

MP3: Woodsman: "Insects"

Insects will appear on Rare Forms (CD and digital Lefse, vinyl Firetalk), as well as on 7-inch single, backed by an unreleased jam, on Firetalk.

A CMJ Showcase, co-presented by the blogs Microphone Memory Emotion, PIXELHORSE, and Visitation Rites at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn

MP3: Dent May: "Meet Me In the Garden"

Woodsman pass deeply rhythmic Krautrock memories through the ambiguous gauze of recollection. In this video for "When the Morning Comes", a track from their recent Mystery Tape EP, director Mark Demolar combines two of psychedelia's long-standing obsessions-- the utopia of nature and the simulated utopias of technology-- to appropriately indeterminate effect. After swinging around to the East for CMJ, Woodsman will be headlining a slew of shows on the other end of this wide land with fellow Denverites, Gauntlet Hair. Tour dates below.

MP3: Woodsman: "When The Morning Comes"

Mystery Tape EP is out now on Lefse

10/30 Denver - Meadowlark
11/5 Seattle - Cairo
11/6 Portland - The Artistery %
11/7 Olympia - House Show
11/9 Davis - Villanova
11/10 Oakland - Mama Buzz Cafe  #
11/11 San Francisco - Milk Bar #
11/12 Santa Cruz - TBA #
11/13 Los Angeles - The Bacchus #
11/14 Los Angeles - Origami Vinyl
11/15 Irvine - Acrobatics Everyday #
11/ 16 San Diego - Soda Bar  #
11/18 Albuquerque - The Kosmos

% w/ White Fang

# w/ Blackbird Blackbird