kinetic shapes

Something else well worth checking out is the first in a monthly series of broadcasts hosted by Lykanthea and aired by Radio 1 Chicago. ‘kinetic shapes’ seeks to reach out and pick at the rich seam of artistic talent currently to be found on the Chicago scene. This debuting hour long show finds the classically trained worlds of Carolyn O’Neill – better known to observers of these pages as Rasplyn invited into the studio along with ambient folk alchemists Laughing Eye Weeping Eye, a duo drawing the collective talent of Rebecca Schoenecker and Patrick Holbrook who aside crafting hypnotic slices of pagan ambient folk also run the hairy spider legs imprint. The remit is easy though just slightly different – play records and chat – except the chat finds both invited parties set the task of interviewing each other in a gamekeeper turned poacher type way. Of course Rasplyn needs no introduction here, her debuting solo album due for Summer release is I must admit one of the most eagerly awaited sets of the year that already been previewed by the recent ‘priestess of the Goddess’ outing featured here incidentally along with the adorable ’circle round’ – the former a mysterious mystical mistral blending arabesque chamber drone with poise, drama and a darkening beauty whose stately and formidable tension racked bouquet is sand scorched and forged upon a timeless tongue of classicist musicality whilst the latter finds itself taking its cue from Ex Post Facto’s lost and much loved ’oceanic explorer’ and psychotropically itself blending it onto a Dead Can Dance mainframe. As to Leye Weye, well what can we say about their wonderfully fog bound ‘wild night’ – well for starters wheezing harmoniums and monastic chorals which if we didn’t know better we’d be saying it was the haunting campfire union of preterite and broadcast, edging it in the fondness stakes ’knight’ very much tunes into the sublime twilight shimmered gothica grooving of dead can dance. Elsewhere there’s the deliciously smokily stoned and blissed out freak psych ‘cool in the sun’ by Bowl of dust and co who we suspect we need to hear more of before we are very much older. Equally endearing and again something worth investigating is the gorgeously radiophonic lunar transmissions found on matchess ’the need of the greatest wealth’ which unless our ears do deceive plots musical trajectories veering into aural orbits at times occupied by the warm digits and the duke st. workshop mind you that said towards its closure it does get a tad wiry and shed its skin into something not unlike the kind of platters emanating out of the NZ underground scene in the late 80’s – notably Bruce Russell. http://www.lycanthea.com/kineticshapes