November 2007

Tax is a record with a political theme. How much tax we all pay? Usually we think of income tax only, (which incidentally was introduced in England to pay for Napoleonic wars and was and is collected ever since). But we also pay tax on all purchases and services. It is a lot of money and proportion of it goes on war. More in some countries, less in others. In global economy we all pay for all the wars everywhere. Example: Parts of this computer were made in China, by giving Chinese government some of my money I also pay for weapons that Burmese government uses to brutalise it's population.

Now what is war? Bunch of people dressed in costumes (uniforms) killing another bunch of people dressed in different costumes. These costumes enable them to behave in a fashion that would be considered criminal under different circumstances. The military costume wearers do not know anything about the other costume wearers; some of them might be perfectly nice people. But they wear different clothes so "KILL THEM!" Insane or what? And my (and your) tax is paying for this. In concept the record is fairly original in that it treats one theme and it's aspects, a bit like an oratorio on the theme "lament about human stupidity". What can we do? I do not know, Maybe we can start thinking about demanding different approach by our leaders; after all it is our money.

Tax is available now from Aranos and costs 12 Euros (which includes global shipping).

Mother of Moons Bathing covers a lot of ground, and refuses to be categorized, unless "Aranos" can be its own category. It opens with "Awaking Horns", a minimalist piece built around a simple repeating click track containing absolutely no horns whatsoever. "New Boyfriend" begins as a jaunty ode to new-found love, but the conversation between mother and daughter turns dark as it's revealed that the new boyfriend has a dodgy past with little girls. "Some Clowns Are Not Funny" and "Almost Pulled Through" are a pair of scary electro-acoustic roller coaster rides that sound like they might have escaped from Steve Stapleton's little shop of horrors. The fifth song, "Legs Thighs Splits" returns to the gently fun whimsy started with "New Boyfriend", but trades literal meaning for delicious texture and experimentation. "I saw Women's Rising Fry" is a song of fearlessly eccentric lyrics married to complex, brain-tingling instrumental arrangements. "Ta-taa-ta, Taah merged" is a side dish of looped, sampled vocal minimalism leading into the the longest track on the CD, "Towards Glittering Warm Dumplings", a rolling trance-dance weighing in at more than 21 minutes. "Invisibility Cloak of Time", another minimalist electro-acoustic instrumental, closes the album. The total length of "Mother of Moons Bathing" is 71 minutes 41 seconds, and it's sheer bliss from start to finish.

In the face of a market dominated by increasingly bland visuals and dire throw-away packaging, this album stands apart. In the tradition of other Soleilmoon releases, the presentation for "Mother of Moons Bathing" is second to none. This time the CD comes in a hand-made silk-screened soft-textured folder with a pair a sparkly screen-printed inserts backing up the disc inside. The costly and stunning materials have work together to produce a pleasingly harmonious package that will appeal to music fans and serious collectors alike. "Mother of Moons Bathing" is limited to 400 copies.

After his child was taken away and sent to slavery Carlos resigned himself to becoming low to medium quality moon fodder. Spending his days in rearranging surface molecules with his broken arms and dislocated shoulders while filling his eyes and lungs with yellow dust. All the while pondering impermanence of the unpredictable his reward was flow of hill magic and stunning sunsets. Too much knowledge gathered over the years was proving to be a mixed blessing. Change of timbre in his diabetic movement master's voice clearly indicated a forthcoming constriction of coronary arteries, but there was nothing Carlos could do. Certainly not over the distance of four and a half thousand miles. The only thing was to accept all. Child slavery, master's coronary, yellow dust, beautiful sunsets, flow of magic...

Mother of Moons Bathing can now be purchased from Soleilmoon.

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