Various Artists - Songs of the Blood Moon // Limited to 100 Cassettes

RIYL: Neil Campbell, Willie Stewart, Delphine Dora, slÖ, Gregg Skloff, Kek-W, Lobes, Uli Rois, Karnak Temples, David Colohan, Tóla Custy, Natalia Beylis, Fraterhaus

Label: Sofia Records

Sofia Records has one more cassette to write about at the moment, and it’s this unique (to understate it) compilation. Sofia Records‘ boss, Natalia Beylis, was able to have 13 different artists/groups all agree to record a new track the night of the supermoon lunar eclipse that occurred in September of last year. What you have here ranges from spoken word, experimental classical, post-rock, ambient/drone, bluegrass and general lo-fi weirdness. What you also have here are portholes in to thirteen+ different consciences on the night of this worldwide event, and how they internalized it. Sometimes, you’ll hear heartbreak with no voice to scream and sometimes you’ll hear hope with its guiding light being the monstrous moon that loomed over the earth. Perhaps the moon wasn’t their inspiration, but a cataloguing of each artist/group’s events that happened to occur that night. To get existential, it makes you realize how ignorant we all are to the epic journeys that are unfolding in the billions of lives that inhabit this planet… I’ll stop now. If you want a bang for your buck, this is the right place. Listen to the Bandcamp stream of Songs of the Blood Moon below and see what you think of it. Cheers!

The Details

A compilation of tracks recorded under the Supermoon Lunar Eclipse on 27 September 2015.

"On the afternoon of the 27th of September 2015, I was sitting in my car along the roadside, tuning the radio in and out and starring at the clouds. The weather announcements came on to say the sky would be clear for viewing that night's eclipse of the superbloodmoon. The urge to write music beneath the moon took hold of me and I wondered if others were having the same temptations. So I wrote up on the usual social media outlets “Anyone else thinking of writing a song for the eclipse tonight?” and lo and behold, the lunar vibes were out there. Contributions were left up to the fates. All the songs on the compilation were written, recorded, mixed and edited on the one night beneath the gaze of the eclipse in places around the globe." - Natalia

Individually handprinted covers designed & ensembled by Natalia

REVIEWS

"This fine compilation from Ireland's Sofia Records has its contributors concede control of their compositions to the moon. It features thirteen lunatics from across the globe each of whom agreed to record a new track during the Supermoon lunar eclipse of September 27, 2015.

The concept gives the otherwise distinct offerings a neat temporal bond, as well as an attitudinal one in their collective willingness to spontaneously busk at night. This endows the compilation with a consistent sense of adventure with an esoteric edge, bringing to mind the oft reported strange effects of a full moon, all delivered by keen improvisational instincts.

Opening with a beautifully, yet lightly fried, shimmering on acoustic guitar, Yorkshire’s Neil Campbell (of Astral Social Club and Vibracathedral Orchestra) narrates a wry, self-deprecating tale of his attempts to get a good look at that night’s “bloody moon”. It sets an unusual tone, both refreshingly relaxed yet mysterious, that extends across the rest of the compilation. It is followed by a circulating raw drum solo from Woven Skull’s Willie Stewart, as much a textural treat as a rhythmic workout, while fellow ‘Skull, Natalia Beylis turns up on the other side with the longest and perhaps most affecting piece on the tape. Over almost quarter of an hour shifting cycles in her solo improvised piano seem to reveal ripples in time; imagined in a moonlit setting it’s as if its meandering possesses hidden meanings.

Other highlights include ‘Tetrad’ a hyperactive, acidic sci-fi barrage from Hacker Farm’s Kek-W, United Bible Studies’ David Colohan plucking over the invisible foliage of radio transmissions on ‘NASA Says Not To Worry’ and the fruity fiddle solo of Tóla Custy’s ‘Whoa! Stop You Horse You’. But, unusually for a compilation, each track feels essential, together building a unique, arcane structure bonded by moon-minded mirth and magic."
- Rum Music By Russell Cuzner at The Quietus
credits
released March 24, 2016

Price $8.84