http://www.hellridemusic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11522
Band: Robert Ryan
Album: American Cloud Songs
Format: CD
Label: S/R
Time: 51 Minutes
Year: 2006
Track List:
Mangal Arati
Chime, Crash, Color, Sound
Apocalyptial
Rise Beloved Rose
Eye See You in the Sky
Another Sign, Another Song
Coward in a Courage Tent
Gate, Gate, Paragate (Gone Gone Gone To the Other Shore)
Sitar Wars
To the few cognoscenti that care, the fact that New Jersey's Lord Sterling ended this past summer will be dismaying news. Their lineup featured Monster Magnet's Jim Baglino as well as Sterling impresario Robert Ryan, and recorded some of the stoner/doom community's most interesting music. In fact, the stoner/doom genre was just a point of departure; frequently, the band ended up in parts unknown. Their music was an aggressive, eclectic mix of influences both well known and obscure, from Can to the MC5 to Pink Floyd, and it was not always easy on the ears or the mind.
Not one to sit idly by wringing his hands and moaning, Sterling sitarist, vocalist and harmonium player Ryan has hit the ground running.....or rather, it might be more accurate to say he's now floating two feet of the ground in the lotus position. He's taken the spiritualty that was inherent in Lord Sterling's music and developed it to the next level. Gone is the heaviness, replaced by psychedelia, eastern modes, drones, and a musical line to peace through devotion. And since we're dealing with a Lord Sterling alum, you'd best believe there's a solid patina of weirdness over the whole thing as well, an avante flava with an evil curl to the upper lip.
To be honest, the intro, 'Mangal Arati,' is a bit too long and disjointed. The album really gets going with the hard-core eastern psych of 'Chime, Crash, Color, Sound.' One of the strongest songs on the album is ''Apocalyptical,' an atmospheric tune seemingly inspired by the likes of Fripp & Eno's 'Evening Star' or the quieter pieces from Eno's 'Before and After Science.' 'Rise Beyond Rose' is the album's 10+ minute centerpiece, a sitar raga fleshed out with some beautiful cello, ideal for meditation after a difficult night of chemical over-indulgence. 'Eye See You in the Sky' is a slightly disjointed, distorted song based on a simple piano figure, with emphatic, almost drunken vocals. 'Gate, Gate, Paragate..,' with its dissipated pop sensibility, sounds the most like Lord Sterling to these ears.
Ryan is clearly on his own program here. If you have the ears to decode the spiritual content latent - or obvious - in the likes of Sonic Youth, Damo Suzuki-era Can, OM, The Sabians, 'Ummagumma'-era Floyd, or even YOB, then you've got what it takes to fly with 'American Cloud Songs.' Word is that Ryan is now working with veteran reed man Daniel Carter, virtuoso on sax, trumpet, and flute. He's a veteran of sessions with heavyweights varying from Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra to Thurston Moore and Yo La Tengo. Who knows where this will end up? One thing's for sure, its love over gold.
Kevin McHugh
Band: Robert Ryan
Album: American Cloud Songs
Format: CD
Label: S/R
Time: 51 Minutes
Year: 2006
Track List:
Mangal Arati
Chime, Crash, Color, Sound
Apocalyptial
Rise Beloved Rose
Eye See You in the Sky
Another Sign, Another Song
Coward in a Courage Tent
Gate, Gate, Paragate (Gone Gone Gone To the Other Shore)
Sitar Wars
To the few cognoscenti that care, the fact that New Jersey's Lord Sterling ended this past summer will be dismaying news. Their lineup featured Monster Magnet's Jim Baglino as well as Sterling impresario Robert Ryan, and recorded some of the stoner/doom community's most interesting music. In fact, the stoner/doom genre was just a point of departure; frequently, the band ended up in parts unknown. Their music was an aggressive, eclectic mix of influences both well known and obscure, from Can to the MC5 to Pink Floyd, and it was not always easy on the ears or the mind.
Not one to sit idly by wringing his hands and moaning, Sterling sitarist, vocalist and harmonium player Ryan has hit the ground running.....or rather, it might be more accurate to say he's now floating two feet of the ground in the lotus position. He's taken the spiritualty that was inherent in Lord Sterling's music and developed it to the next level. Gone is the heaviness, replaced by psychedelia, eastern modes, drones, and a musical line to peace through devotion. And since we're dealing with a Lord Sterling alum, you'd best believe there's a solid patina of weirdness over the whole thing as well, an avante flava with an evil curl to the upper lip.
To be honest, the intro, 'Mangal Arati,' is a bit too long and disjointed. The album really gets going with the hard-core eastern psych of 'Chime, Crash, Color, Sound.' One of the strongest songs on the album is ''Apocalyptical,' an atmospheric tune seemingly inspired by the likes of Fripp & Eno's 'Evening Star' or the quieter pieces from Eno's 'Before and After Science.' 'Rise Beyond Rose' is the album's 10+ minute centerpiece, a sitar raga fleshed out with some beautiful cello, ideal for meditation after a difficult night of chemical over-indulgence. 'Eye See You in the Sky' is a slightly disjointed, distorted song based on a simple piano figure, with emphatic, almost drunken vocals. 'Gate, Gate, Paragate..,' with its dissipated pop sensibility, sounds the most like Lord Sterling to these ears.
Ryan is clearly on his own program here. If you have the ears to decode the spiritual content latent - or obvious - in the likes of Sonic Youth, Damo Suzuki-era Can, OM, The Sabians, 'Ummagumma'-era Floyd, or even YOB, then you've got what it takes to fly with 'American Cloud Songs.' Word is that Ryan is now working with veteran reed man Daniel Carter, virtuoso on sax, trumpet, and flute. He's a veteran of sessions with heavyweights varying from Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra to Thurston Moore and Yo La Tengo. Who knows where this will end up? One thing's for sure, its love over gold.
Kevin McHugh
