A couple of double-helpings in this week’s Mixtape, starting with Owen Shiers aka Cynefin, a palimpsest of a Welsh word meaning animals’ trails in hillsides and the sense of familiarity and belonging. His music bookends the Mix, opening with a track from his latest album Shimli. As Glenn Kimpton shares in his review, as well as making music, Owen is a cultural historian, researcher and grain grower, the latter directly linking to the album’s title, meaning a gathering of farmers, telling stories and singing songs as their oats baked around them. This old practice continued well into the twentieth century. We end on ‘Dole Tefi / Lliw’r Heulwen’, two traditional Welsh folk songs set to a great double bass line and some wonderful trombone playing by Michel Padron, from his 2020 album Dilyn Afon.
The second double comes from Trá Pháidín‘s last album: An 424 – we’re looking forward to their new album, Cloch ‘s Claí (Stone & Wall) which drops on 25th September via World of Echo.
…the album is in part a reaction to the pioneering psychogeographical work of author, artist and cartographer Tim Robinson, who famously wandered the shores of Connemara, creating a hyper-detailed visual and written record of the area as he went. Using Robinson’s working practice as a kind of guide, Trá Pháidín travel South Connemara’s 424 bus route, creating a musical map that incorporates elements of Irish traditional music, earthy psych, ambient, kraut, free jazz, post rock, field recording and just about anything else you care to mention.
I went off hunting through the KLOF shelves for much of this Mixtape so you can hear older tunes from the likes of Thom Ashworth, David O’Dowda, Espers, Eliza Carthy & Tim Eriksen, as well as ambient and experimental offerings from Berangere Maximin, Glåsbird and Stein Urheim.
There are also three tracks taken from a John Fahey tribute album ‘I Am The Resurrection’ released in 2006 on Vanguard Records.The tracks I chose include Fruit Bats with “Death of the Clayton Peacock”:
I met this guy once who supposedly had John Fahey play at his wedding. When he went to meet with him at Fahey’s apartment in Salem, there was barely any furniture. And the only stereo was a little cassette boom box. He sort of lived like a monk. He was this legend and didn’t really seem to care about living like on. And he would still play at a stranger’s wedding.
Eric Johnson (Fruitbats)
His spartan lifestyle was born out by photographs we shared from Betty Herzner for the 2023 release of ‘Proofs & Refutations’:
Also from that album you can hear Pelt performing Sunflower River Blues featuring Patrick Best on bass, Jack Rose on guitar, and Mike Gangloff on banjo. It was recorded by Miekl Dimmick in 2003.
John Fahey’s music has always been a beacon, a landmark of raw beauty and originality.
Mike Gangloff
For the final one, I chose Lee Ranalado, joined by the Lazy 8 Chorale, recorded in Brooklyn New York at the Theodore Roosevelt Bird Sanctuary. Sub-subtitled The Coelcanth, he shares:
…this ancient prehistoric fish that still lives in the depths of the seas was a subject John and I spent time discussing on some late night car drives when I had the pleasure to briefly tour with him in the ’90s…somehow I rather likened him to that ancient fish-still swimming about, still (at least theoretically) out there cutting through the deep seas…
Lee Ranaldo
Playlist
00:00 Cynefin – Cwm Alltcafan
04:58 Thom Ashworth – High Germany
07:18 David O’Dowda – Wait
11:17 The Hermit – Old Woman
13:39 Espers – Cruel Storm
18:47 Eliza Carthy & Tim Eriksen – Bottle
22:43 Trá Pháidín – fear Liatroime páirt 2
26:53 Pelt – Sunflower River Blues
30:05 Fruit Bats – Death Of The Clayton Peacock
32:57 Berangere Maximin – Boudmo, for voice & tape
38:06 Glåsbird – South Fen Pine
44:11 Stein Urheim – Speilstemt
48:02 Lee Ranaldo Feat. The Lazy 8 Chorale – The Singing Bridge Of Memphis, Brooklyn Bridge Version/The Coelcanth
50:45 Trá Pháidín – m’anam go b’ea
55:37 Cynefin – Dole Teifi/Lliw’r Heulwen
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