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CD
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KRANK 117CD
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"It appears there is a second 'kosmische musik' period in full bloom around the world at the moment, not so much 'kosmische' as in 'Krautrock' but instead 'cosmic.' At Kranky they have the celestial symphonies of Stars of the Lid, the guitar circle prog-psych of White Rainbow, the astral folk explorations of Lichens, the cut and splice electro-motorik of Andrew Pekler, the alien space-blues of Valet, and now the half-German, half-American duo Cloudland Canyon, who actually bring the full-on 'Krautrock' on. You can play pick the influences if you like, but you can do that with any group. Cloudland certainly owe a debt to the German underground of the '70s, but they have also added flourishes of baroque pop and even a tinge of the '80s New Zealand scene into their sound. That they have ingested these influences and then delivered something as dynamic as this album without sounding like rote imitation is what impresses. The album is anything but one-dimensional, as they traverse a wide swath of territory. From the lock down groove of the opening track 'Krautwerk,' to the dense buzz of 'White Woman,' through the pastoral pscyh of 'Heme' and on to the gentle wash of the closer 'Mothlight,' Cloudland Canyon have created an eclectic and rewarding listen."
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LP
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KRANK 117LP
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LP version, gatefold sleeve.
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CD
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KRANK 111CD
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"The first Cloudland Canyon release for Kranky was recorded in Brooklyn, Germany and Memphis. It follows on the heels of the well-received Requiems Der Natur 2002-2004 album released on the Tee Pee label. Silver Tongued Sisyphus is a secular call to prayer with humming, looping and loping ambient passages interspersed with bursting rhythmic energy and agitated guitar lines. Recent live shows have sounded like an unauthorized soundtrack to netherworld versions of The Swimmer or The Scorceror. Pulling influences from the foggy ether of generations past, Cloudland Canyon has staked their claim to the shadows of cult musical culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s German underground scene."
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TPE 069CD
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"Spanning three years of studio work, Cloudland Canyon was born when Uhlhorn, touring Europe with Panthers in 2002, met up with German multi-instrumentalist Simon Wojan. Tapes were exchanged, and a handful of improv performances across the Atlantic forged a promising creative pairing, one that would take shape when Wojan made the trek to Brooklyn later that year. Through a week's worth of 12 hour days in the recording studio, armed with as many instruments and computers as they could find, the two assembled the basic tracks for Requiems Der Natur: rattling, sprawling experiments that fused their musical discoveries, which take the shape of its container, then rapidly spill out and fill whatever size of space they're given. Within, strictures of German new age and electronic music of the '70s haze into field recordings mottled with analog burble and echoes of woodwinds. Shambling, modal organ ruminations detour browned-out meditation hang sesh. Blue-eyed drunken soul collapses upon swarms of meticulously composed synthesizers into a yellowed, rejoicing howl. Bulkheads of battleship-grey sound are dry-docked and meet the sun for the first time, then the solitude of night. Smoky Mountain fingerpicking rests for seemingly connected moments against an ever-changing backdrop of technology. Contributions by The Double's Jacob Morris, Turing Machine/The Juan MacLean drummer Jerry Fuchs, and Uhlhorn's wife, Kelly Winkler, fortified the sessions with further points of view." For fans of: Boards of Canada, Animal Collective, The Dead C., Ash Ra Tempel, This Heat, Gong.
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