Jewelled Antler Collective

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Thuja / Loren Chasse / Mirza / The Knit separates / The Child Readers / The Skygreen Leopards / Blithe Sons / Franciscan Hobbies

man, is this another Elephant 6 or what? i keep hearing about all these bands. i guess they're local [SF] even? but haven't heard any of the music. sounds cool -- droney, folky, psychedelic, experimental.

from the small clips i've heard, it sounds kinda No Neck Blues, Jackie O Mutherfucker-ish, but w/o hearing a full album, didn't seem to do it for me

anyone got the goods and care to comment?

― JasonD (JasonD), Wednesday, 19 March 2003 03:55 (twenty-three years ago)

they're the wire-friendly elephant 6 if nothing else

i really like jackie-o, a lot.

and the nnck "crossover move" album was pretty good too.

but seriously, how many chiming, semi(or fully)improvised free-jazz/folk hybrid combo bands do you need?

― jess (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 19 March 2003 04:00 (twenty-three years ago)

the answer is one or fewer

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 19 March 2003 04:04 (twenty-three years ago)

it's too early to say 'classic' but they're doing some admirable things... the guy sent me the "heat and birds" compilation and there's some great stuff on it - field recordings, folk songs and beautiful combinations of the two. i'm not hearing the jazz influence on much of it, unless it's indirectly by way of taj mahal travellers or something. it's beautiful, dammit.

also: dead raven choir is great... bizarre eastern european folk music with weird black metal sensibilities buried deep inside.

― your null fame (yournullfame), Wednesday, 19 March 2003 05:45 (twenty-three years ago)

so,,,,,,,, i'm wondering,,,,,,, do you think that Aquarius records, also based in SF, is just promoting their friends?

cause they're the only place i've ever really heard about any of these bands

― JasonD (JasonD), Wednesday, 19 March 2003 06:37 (twenty-three years ago)

dead raven choir sounds cool. is it anything like that whole Neo Folk thing? bands like Empyrium, Naervaer, and Wind of the Black Mountains?

― JasonD (JasonD), Wednesday, 19 March 2003 06:40 (twenty-three years ago)

i would say it's more like aranos, if anything - bizarre, gravelly vocals over dirgy folk music, doesn't have that death in june-clone vibe most of those bands have. _grand ravishing extravaganza_ (10 points for anyone spotting the subtle references to certain black metal albums of the past few years) is totally different - basically hyper-distorted black metal noise with more standard shrieking vocals.

wind of the black mountains, btw, are pretty much straight ahead black metal - their first album "sing thou unholy servants" is one of the best examples of american black metal in it's kind of delightful absurdity - huge amounts of keyboards, some classical guitar, terrible cover art, a kind of lurking sense of humor most bands don't seem to have... and a cover of 'white rabbit.'

as for aquarius promoting their friends, yeah, probably. i don't think they're selling shitloads of records off of it, but the aquarius people seem genuinely enthusiastic about their local bands and labels - tumult also gets a lot of (justified) attention on their list and it's run by andee who works at aquarius.

you probably won't hear much about jewelled antler stuff anywhere else (excepting the eclipse records list) because no one wants to distribute limited-run CDR editions...

― your null fame (yournullfame), Wednesday, 19 March 2003 07:22 (twenty-three years ago)

dead raven choir mp3s at http://www.mp3.com/deadravenchoir by the way. the first track is fairly typical of their sound, but sparser than usual.

― your null fame (yournullfame), Wednesday, 19 March 2003 07:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Aquarius Records...

P-p-p-promote their friends' (or their employees') bands?????!?!?!?!

Why I never.....

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 19 March 2003 07:25 (twenty-three years ago)

Hahahahahahahaha

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 19 March 2003 07:42 (twenty-three years ago)

the child readers cdr is ace.

― bob snoom, Wednesday, 19 March 2003 12:04 (twenty-three years ago)

eight months pass...

I can honestly say that, IMHO, Jewelled Antler is classic. Haven't heard anything I disliked yet, although I'm having a bit of trouble with Dead Raven Choir. Mirza, KNit Seperates, and Blithe Sons are especially good. Thuja is great, but perhaps a notch behind them. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, several bands from Finland are doing similar eccentric things with the folk/tribal idiom. Avarus and Kemialliset Ystavat are particularly good. Is MCMS in either of those scenes? They're great too.

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Saturday, 29 November 2003 17:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Overall, classic. I like or love everything except Dead Raven Choir (too maudlin) and Mirza (aimless). But The Blithe Sons, Thuja and Child Readers are all excellent. One would be wise to stock up on their limited edition stuff. Most of it owns.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Saturday, 29 November 2003 22:40 (twenty-two years ago)

This stuff is very cool. I found it through Aquarius too, but have enjoyed all the stuff I bought.
Especially - Blithe Sons, Sky Green Lepoards, Thuja & the comps.
My family even digs the Blithe Sons (Waves of Leaves and Grass) cause it is so relaxing and yet still slightly melodic

― hector (hector), Sunday, 30 November 2003 02:43 (twenty-two years ago)

<...i>cause they're the only place i've ever really heard about any of these bands.
Search: The Broken Face, Dream Magazine, R&EB's, and The Ptolemaic Terrascope.
Welcome home.
V
― Venus Glow (1411), Sunday, 30 November 2003 05:13 (twenty-two years ago)

i like the sound of Dead Raven Choir... can you really get too maudlin?
― Matt O'Malley (matthew omalley), Sunday, 30 November 2003 06:44 (twenty-two years ago)

knit separates could be an american version of the clientele if they were better recorded. the singer's voice is more fragile though, so maybe nevermind.
― keith m (keithmcl), Sunday, 30 November 2003 07:04 (twenty-two years ago)

two months pass...
Jewelled Antler continues its largely flawless cavalcade of releases, with the recent Jewelled Antler Library series of 3" CDs containing some surprises like Tomes & Green Laughter. Even when the stuff doesn't knock me out, I have to apply kudos for effort. I would rather hear somebody experiment & fail, than hear somebody in a rut.
― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Sunday, 1 February 2004 19:28 (twenty-two years ago)

failure should be free

― keith m (keithmcl), Sunday, 1 February 2004 20:55 (twenty-two years ago)

lots of info in the broken face, as someone mentioned upthread. current ish has lots of jewelled antler reviews.

where should i start with this stuff? someone want to make me a comp? (i'll trade!)

― Ian Johnson (orion), Sunday, 1 February 2004 20:59 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

which Dead Raven Choir release do i need to hear first? i am making a shopping list.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 09:01 (twenty-two years ago)

depends on what you want to hear - if you think you might be into the droning, noisy, black metal inspired stuff then _sevenfold songs of death_ is bestest. i can't wait to hear _sturmfuckinglieder_, man, leonard cohen and townes van zandt covers in that style.

the 3" cdr in the jewelled antler library series is really sparse and quiet and kind of atypical. just about everything i've heard with "wolves" in the title is good. "sky of rose and wolves," "armoured wolves," etc.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 09:26 (twenty-two years ago)

this is the original guitarist in deerhoof (m.1), unless i'm confusing him with another guy... (uh, msp?)

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 20:58 (twenty-two years ago)

five months pass...

Finally got around to listening to Dead Raven Choir; this is some pretty weird stuff. Some have pointed to a Jandekian sound, but this is much more melodic & structured than the average Jandek, but still weirder and more dissonant than Blue Corpse. Here and there he mumbles out sections of the Iliad.

I'm pretty sold on the Blithe Sons after seeing them live, though their more field recording focused pieces can be a bit of a bore. I quite like Thuja (only heard the first album though), and I'm very pleased with the little Hala Strana I own (just the 3" CDr.)

― Ian c=====8 (orion), Monday, 23 August 2004 06:19 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

got teh Hala Strana full length; very awesome. part of the violin melody in "streets of raised platforms" reminds me a lot of the chorus to Vitamin C...

― Ian c=====8 (orion), Sunday, 26 September 2004 17:57 (twenty-one years ago)

four months pass...

um, is the mirza of jewelled antler collective, the same mirza that stephen r smith was in?

― charltonlido (gareth), Tuesday, 8 February 2005 12:59 (twenty-one years ago)

yes.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Tuesday, 8 February 2005 13:15 (twenty-one years ago)

haha, it only just clicked today.

ok, maybe i'll investigate some of this stuff, i only have a stephen r smith solo lp

― charltonlido (gareth), Tuesday, 8 February 2005 13:42 (twenty-one years ago)

He's in Thuja too IIRC.

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 8 February 2005 13:45 (twenty-one years ago)

He does Hala Strana, as well.
MCMS were a psychedelic group from Nebraska. One of the guys involved runs Last Visible Dog, which has released some Jewelled Antler stuff.
I've got the three cd MCMS anthology, it's all over the place. Some great and some not as great sounds.

― Trip Maker (Sean Witzman), Tuesday, 8 February 2005 14:20 (twenty-one years ago)

The Hala Strana records are worth checking out esp. if you like Smith's solo stuff.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

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