Bardo Pond - On the Ellipse (2003)

https://bardopondmusic.bandcamp.com/album/on-the-ellipse

My first Bardo Pond album. In the early 2000s, I was hungry for new music. I was reading review after review, constantly listening to a lot of music, and at some point I discovered this. I think it was a review on tonspion.de (no longer online). I was totally in love with post-rock in 2003, so it was a nice coincidence that the tonspion review had classified the album under post-rock :) I mean, they weren’t entirely wrong, there are elements of post-rock, but “On the ellipse” is so much more. The singing of Isobell Sollenberger and her flute play, the distorted guitars - it’s just pure bliss, once you get the hang of it.

It’s not Bardo Ponds most accessible album but still worth listening!

It was my first encounter with what I would call “heavy psychedelic” music, and I think it opened my mind to all the other stuff I listened to later - doom, stoner, psychedelic stuff. So thank you, tonspion.de, for the review. It made me buy the CD at the WOM store at Alexanderplatz, and it made me fall in love with Bardo Pond :)

It’s not my favorite Bardo Pond album, but it still has a place in my heart <3

It’s not a very fast-paced album, you have to be in the right mood for it - it’s quite “druggy” and introspective. Best listened with headphones.

Recommended track for listening first:

“Night of Frogs” - https://bardopondmusic.bandcamp.com/track/night-of-frogs

#BardoPond, #HeavyPsychedelic, #PostRock, #Flute,

#AdventOfMusic 2/24

Hash Jar Tempo - Well Oiled (1997)

A collaboration between my beloved #BardoPond and Roy Montgomery.

Seven tracks (all “untitled”), instrumental, heavy psychedelic, introspective, druggy. All tracks were improvised (!).

I fell asleep to this album a lot of times during a certain period of my life. I’ve never done a lot of drugs, but I wonder what this music would feel like, if I did :) Even without adding drugs, this album is the drug. It’s absolutely no party music. It’s music to be alone to :) I am still in love with it, after all these years.

It’s hard to recommend a single track, but check out the first track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aEtkSLf9hY&t=0s

Sadly, i’ts not available digital for buying :( And since it was only released on CD on a now extinct label (Drunken Fish Records) I don’t think that it will be re-released anytime soon. Good thing I have my CD ;)

The Wikipedia article is also interesting. I didn’t know that the album got quite the good reception worldwide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_Oiled_(Hash_Jar_Tempo_album)

#HeavyPsychedelic, #instrumental,