Thursday, March 22, 2012

Hands of Hydra and Janina Angel Bath Duo - Stargazer (Sloow 2012)




tasty nug provided by fellow travelers, ourweed

The latest batch from Sloow tapes is among the finest they have released.  This new batch is comprised of 3 tapes: Peter Lamborn Wilson; Hands of Hydra and Janina Angel Bath Duo; and The Lone Garage Massacre.  Whereas the Wilson tape presents bucolic poetry, mellifluous sitar and vocals are prominent aspects of the other two.  Eclipse records is incredible!  Buy these tapes from Ed at Eclipse - one of the nicest guys in the biz.  As always, beautiful artwork adorns each Sloow cassette.  

Hands of Hydra is Adam Krakow, who is also a member of Plastic Crimewave Sound.  Adam's command of the sitar is conspicuously heard throughout Stargazer, a 30 minute meditation that combines his adept, devoted playing with the sweet, gentle, awe-inspiring voice and tambura playing of Janina Angel Bath.  Janina Angel is worthy of high praise.  The Sloow description referred to her voice as, "celestial nectar dripping from astral spheres ready to awake the inner kundalini serpent from its slumber." - the most accurate description I can imagine. Her angelic voice radiates sunlight, nourishing areas which have been blighted by neglect.  An extremely talented woman, this precocious multi-instrumentalist and vocalist has studied North Indian Classical Vocal Music with Sri Karunamayee, Joan Allekotte, Michael Stirling and Terry Riley - all are disciples/students of Pandit Pran Nath of the Kirana Gharana.  Also, she appeared on the psyched, baked out grooves of Eternal Tapestry's 2008 NNF opus, Mystic Induction.   Her latest release is Gypsy Woman, available here

As the sitar strings reverberate, Janina Angel's majestic voice illuminates the room with spiritual smoke - a haze that engulfs all who travel through.  She is a goddess and her voice resonates with fidelity.  Illnesses and pain can dissipate in the face of such illuminating beauty. The shift in tone of her voice and the reverberations of the sitar represents legs of a ladder, climbing higher until we have fused with the august sun.  Her vocals have a unique depth that echo in the mind. 


As Blake once wrote, "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite".  Janina Angel's voice provides a refuge to the horrific realities of life in this world.  Her voice is like a magic carpet, allowing one to perceive life from above, promoting peace and lucidity. I trust in her voice... see you on the other side.

Peace, my friends