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LP
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FTR 739LP
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"Vinylization of the splendid 2021 cassette, issued by Garden Portal. The music was recorded partially out west in San Francisco and Point Reyes (hence the title), as well as in Jeffrey Alexander's current locale of Philadelphia. An instrumental addition to Alexander's canon, the music was mostly generated on guitar, but other sonic elements include -- bass, pebbles, fake mellotron, waves, moog, shells, fife, magnetic tape, and talking book phonograph. The results are a sweet, rural stroll through the kind of mind gardens the various off-shoots of the Youngbloods explored back in the Raccoon Records era, when they were based in Point Reyes as well. Reyes's other main counter-culture avatar was Philip K. Dick, who lived there for a few years in the late '50s and early '60s. But Jeffrey's music displays none of the red-hot paranoia that flashed through PKD's work of that time. If anything, the mood is paranoia's antidote -- a rolling, casual float through cheeb-scented air with lots going on around the edges, but none of it in the least bit threatening. Given the loud sluice of Alexander's recent work with the Heavy Lidders, Reyes feels laid back and reflective, but there's nothing wrong with that. Indeed, there's everything right with it. In times like this, when the cultural shit storm shows no sign of abating, we can all use a record that allows us to lay back and center ourselves. Reyes is just that kind of record, and man is it ever perfectly timed for just such a moment as this." --Byron Coley, 2023
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CD
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FTR 695CD
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"Jeffrey Alexander is one of those guys whose brain and hands are constantly in motion whether working with bands, doing solo stuff, installations, paintings, label shit... whatever. Anyway, he's always a pleasure to work with, and we have done so on many occasions. That said, I sorta feel as though this new CD might be closer to taking a walk through Jeffrey's head than anything else I've heard. Flutterings was done using guitars, keys, percussion, electronics and gimcracks of all descriptions. The pieces were created specifically to be used inside the Tactile Dome at San Francisco's Exploratorium, which is one of the more delightful places yet invented by humans. The Dome itself is almost like a sensory deprivation maze, pitch black, through which you feel your way before being popped back out into the light. This music was broadcast inside the darkness, so that folks would have a way to orient themselves via sound. Cool idea, and cooler music. Although they don't really share any common construction details, this music puts me in mind of Ned Lagin's Seastones project (IMPREC 479LP), maybe with a little Hooteroll stirred in. What they all share is a sense of occupying middle ground between 'serious' music and purely stoned improvisation. Even though you understand on some level this shit is being done with compositional intent, there's a looseness to the details that makes it a very fine album to just space out to. Melodies aren't the point so much as harmonics and a general flow that will not be stanched. It is a very fine soundtrack for losing your ego, if you know what I mean. The material on Flutterings was recorded in the mid-Teens, but only really got assembled for release during the Lockdown. Proof again, that lots of good things have been happening in the background, no matter how dire the foreground can appear. A lesson worth remembering." --Byron Coley, 2022
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LP
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FTR 470LP
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"Welcome to the second solo vinyl album by Jeffrey Alexander, best known these days for the lysergic guidance he provides for SF's Dire Wolves. But Alexander has underground roots that go far beyond his work with the Wolves. Back in the '90s, when still based in Providence RI, he ran the Secret Eye label, helmed a couple of superb acid-folk units and was the person most responsible for bringing not one, but two editions of the Terrastock Festival to the city Lovecraft built. Since relocating to the Bay Area, Alexander has spent a good bit of time turning Dire Wolves into one of the most elegantly psychedelic bands on the scene, and has also managed to lend an occasional splash of sound to Jackie O Motherfucker. And all of these different arcs make themselves felt on Meditations for Beowulf. Buttressed by two tracks with vocals, there are six instrumentals that explore many nooks and crannies of experimental logic, running from the doodly keyboard larking of 'Turn Your Lights Down Low' to the crackly, throbbing space-wheeze of 'Iridescent Clouds.' The two vocal tracks have the lyrics printed on the back, so you can sing along if you like. 'Beowulf's Trip' has a stoned vibe that will make fans of the MVEE sound tingle deep down in their souls. And 'Sunsplash Your Mind' is a sort of answer song to the well-known question, 'What was it like to do acid with John Lennon?' The answer is especially intriguing because it posits that Lennon was able to predict the names of Hüsker Dü's three LPs for SST. And also that he could distinguish between and actual LP and a mere mini-LP (Metal Circus) when doing his augury. Pretty damn hep. As is rest of this splendid face full of smoke. Breathe deep. You'll be glad you did." --Byron Coley, 2019 Edition of 250.
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