Artist : Jon Porras
Album : Black Mesa
Year : 2012
Genre : Ambient
Quality : 234kbps / 44.1KHz / Joint Stereo
Source : CD
Playtime : 0h 47m
Size : 84.54mb
Label : Thrill Jockey
Catalognr : thrill 304
Tracklist:
01. Into Midnight 9:25
02. Blue Crescent Vision 6:00
03. Candlelight Mirage 5:30
04. Desert Flight 5:22
05. Embers At Dusk 5:46
06. Into The Black Mesa 8:53
07. Beyond The Veil 6:53
Releasenotes:
Recorded by Jon Porras (otherwise known as one half of Barn Owl) at home and in
his practice space, Black Mesa is intended as a reflection on desolation and the
search for light in a barren land. Featuring seven composed tracks of meditative
electric guitar embellished with improvised atmospherics and white light
feedback, the album follows an outlaw wanderer who ventures deep into the desert
only to discover the Black Mesa, a bridge between worlds (as related to string
theory or multiverse theory). It's the desert counterpart to David Lynch's Black
Lodge, an entrance into cavernous mystery. Musically inspired by Sandy Bull,
Popol Vuh, and Neil Young, Black Mesa explores the depths and expands the
boundaries of ambient and drone music.
Through the haze of tremolo and twang, Porras hopes to bring a dark edge to the
sunny, "far out" sentiment that is usually associated with West Coast guitar.
Also, in combining Americana with the gratuitous fuzz and feedback
characteristic of modern Japanese psych guitar, he intends to take from the
past, in order to move forward, and to create a sound that draws from the dark
shadows cast under the romantic notion of California as an open expanse, the
final frontier.
As opposed to going into a studio and working within a concentrated time frame,
Black Mesa unfolded gradually over the course of ten months. Each song began
with a composed guitar passage, and, over time, layers of improvisation and
additional instrumentation were added. Wanting to step away from the long-tone,
soundscape material Porras had explored in the past, he chose to focus more on
composed instrumentals that balance improvisation with arrangement. The end
result is a record of dark beauty, like a brightly smoldering ember in the cold
desert night.
http://www.thrilljockey.com/thrill/Jon-Porras/Black-Mesa