Release title: Birds of Appetite
Catalogue number: CAM037LP
Format: Dbl 220g LP with colour gatefold cover
Length: 9 tracks, 63:37
Release date: 16 April 2001
(Out-of-print)
When we heard the third Salamander full-length release, we had a vision of it as a deluxe audiophile vinyl double LP housed in a gatefold sleeve. Madness? Maybe, but these all new recordings seemed ideally suited to being cut into giant slabs of black vinyl bliss. So here this our tribute to psych and progressive fans, collectors and geeks everywhere.
The material on "Birds of Appetite" is the quintessential Salamander mix of psychedelic folk and drone-rock improvisation. Side one kicks off with the passage-of-form mysticism of "Vessel is Vacant", which marks the vocal debut of guitarist Erik Wivinus on the Salamander material, although he has sung with the side project Gentle Tasaday. The band then hit the space trading routes with the fluent jamming of "Ithsmus" (yes, they do know it isn't spelt that way). A fine Sean Connaughty folk-song called "Minutae Divine" caps the first side, echoing his work with Vortex Navigation Co. Most of side two is taken up by "Sadhu" which the band describe as a "slow-burning longwinded exotic pseudo-raga jam piece". The side also contains "Yomin", which has some fun with samples of Leonard Nimoy reading Ray Bradbury. The tropical storm build-up and release of "Trench of Fire" completely fills side three, It's is an extraordinary two-stage improvisation, with a second session being overdubbed on the first. The fourth side is dominated by the cinematic "Wreck of Old 99", in which another fine band workout creates a setting for samples of actual radio transmissions recorded 9 March 1948 in New Brunswick, Canada, between a railroad control tower and the engineer of a runaway train.
Salamander are:
Sean Connaughty - Guitars, loops, percussion, shenai, space whistle & voice
Erik Wivinus - Guitars, hammered dulcimer, E-bow, samples and voice
Doug Morman - Electric Bass
Matthew Zaun - Drums
CAM008CD
- Salamander - Red Ampersand
CAM017CD
- Salamander - Red Mantra
CAM070CD
- Salamander - Bent Hemlock
An
MP3 from this release can be found on this page
All material in this web page is copyright 2006 Camera Obscura Records