Subterrestrial - 2011 - Pre-Colombian Exposition

Quality: 4.25 out of 5

Trip-O-Meter: 5 out of 5

So, here's another one of those mind-blowing, movie-length drones. You know, the kind that Jeff Bridges 'Dude' would go for while getting stoned in the bath tub. This one got the hooks in my nose straight way from the concept. I've got a history degree in my back pocket, and I've always got an eye out for books documenting the pre-Colombian civilizations of the Americas (ask me about the Mayans sometime!). The same motif drew me to the recordings of Jorge Reyes a few years back, but this disc may very well be better. Although sometimes teetering on the brink of new age (find the wooden flute around 48 minutes in for your litmus test), I think the sound here mostly sticks to the 'musical shaman' aesthetic.

You have one track here, and it runs for the entire length of the CD. Most of it is walls of synth sound, but you'll find your bird noises, rain sticks, and aforementioned wooden flute adorning things here and there. Again, half of my readers will probably find this massively absorbing, while the other half may want to file this along with the pan pipes of Zamfir. I'm going to go ahead and vouch for the thing, though, and declare it a 'song of psychedelic insanity' (maybe 'psychedelic meditation' would be a better nomenclature). I have to admit, however, that I used to spend a fair amount of time trolling around in places like The Nature Company and The Discovery Store back when I was a young buck. You can't tell me that you don't like screwing around with the rain stick, though. Can you?

Go hang with the Subterrestrial feller and listen to more music over yonder:

http://subterrestrial.blogspot.com/