Salamander



	Band name: Salamander Release title: Birds of Appetite Catalogue number: CAM037CD Format: CD Length: 9 tracks, 65:13 mins Release date: 27 June 2003 (US$15.00 shipped anywhere)
The double LP "Birds of Appetite" was Salamander's follow-up to the highly-regarded "Red Ampersand" and "Red Mantra" CDs, released by Camera Obscura in 1997 and 1998 respectively. Previous releases contained a mixture of new and archival recordings, whereas "Birds of Appetite" was the first Salamander release to contain all newly-recorded material, which had been worked on from 1998 to 2000. "Birds of Appetite" is still Salamander's most consistent and definitive work to date, refining their mix of eastern-influenced acid folk and giant Ash Ra Tempel-ish cosmic improvisations. It marked the end of a trilogy that documented the first phase of the band. New recordings are being planned for release in 2004. All tracks have been remastered for this CD issue. This timely CD release of the double LP is made in response to many requests to make the material available in the CD format. 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 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 on this release were: 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
Other resources: CAM008CD - Salamander - Red Ampersand CAM017CD - Salamander - Red Mantra CAM070CD - Salamander - Bent Hemlock An MP3 from this release can be found on this page

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