Yesod: The Pure Intelligence

Within the multitudinous volumes of pure nothingness separating the disparate particles of physical reality, there exists a medium. A medium not of rational science or ecstatic spiritualism, nor of any other mode of sentient thought, yet surrounding all and becoming, by way of pure reflection. This aether of the vacuum emanates from the victorious love of Netsach and the mercurial force of Hod as Yesod, the Astral Light. A realm of pure change and stability and thus the very soul of dynamic equilibrium, Yesod provides the foundation upon which the physical world rests. Yet the colors and sounds, the entire spectrum of quantum possibilities, refract through Yesod's surface in strange ways, bending at impossible angles, vibrating in cacophonous modes, and oscillating at imaginary frequencies. As the moon reflects the light of the sun, Yesod reflects conscious existence and the perceived stability of sensual reality. Of this world and not, explored by mystics, psychonauts, and the insane, Yesod shimmers in the potentiality of everything.

The binary core of the Sungod sound-ship has spent the past terrestrial cycle exploring this dimension of energetic flow and generative emptiness. Stripped of all satellites, the duo traveled further into the reaches of their collective inner space than ever before. In the abstracting passages through strange corridors of the astral plane, the known forms of Sungod's solar musick were expanded, enhanced, and distorted into rituals of unexplainable origin and often terrifying power. Interstellar islands of teutonic psychedelia surrounded by nebulous seas of droning experimentalism, for the duo's familiar magickal method expanded into transcendent twilit sessions of improvised delirium. Drug-state instant compositions melding with spherical explorations of kosmische singularity; atonal mesmer shimmering around cores of riffing fire. These revelatory experiences were documented upon magnetic tape and edited into a non-linear and continuous exposition of Yesod's vacuous vortex. Disparate threads woven together in a five moment suite of universal adoration and cosmic exaltation.

And so we present Sungod's Crash Galactic. Ethereal Mother Tapes has graciously pressed this excessive wandering into the post-modern abyss. Though we've been spiritually aligned for many, many years, this marks the first collision between the Rainbow Bridge and Ethereal Mother bio-ships. One hundred stereo compact discs imprison seventy minutes of digitized wave fronts, and reside in a DVD style amaray sleeve. A full color and hand numbered insert contains release information and a declaration of artistic intent.

Crash Galactic also marks Sungod's third collaboration with visual artist Justin Grove. His exceptional work has previously decorated our First Matter LP and Cuts from the Ether CS. The Crash Galactic spread seems his most powerful yet. A seamless expanse of cool atmospherics, blinding spiritualist white light, and stardust fields of gloomy murk.

Movement I:

1. Constellation of Ions

2. Breechclout

3. Bounded Hessians

A gentle static hiss emerges from the electromagnetic vacuum as rolling waves of six string ambiance crash gently upon a primordial shore. Warbly, woozy synth patterns invert the threads of reality and mystical wind instruments dance in a physical sea of soothing hypnotism. Opiated bop percussion and horror-themed bass pulses take control, driving the body of sound into subtle spheres of grandeur as simulated horn swells speak to a heavenly symphony. As the rhythm suddenly departs, space age drones decay into a primitive wall of harmonium flame. Decrepit laser beams signal a crumbling spaghetti western crawl, as emotive and increasingly engaging acoustic guitar scratches lines into the sun-baked desert sand. Amid the atonal fallout of a nuclear Moog-cloud, robotic pulses pull the brain across the stereo spectrum, until a sudden crash of propulsive drumming tears into an instrumental kraut-pop romp. Liquid slide guitars glide over descending synth melodies and jangly strumming; trap-kit soaring into the sky. A pause...alien snickering and in-fading analog percolations...explode into melancholic arcs of electro-slide, four-four power, and atmospheres of bubbling electronics.

Braden Balentine: Electric Guitar, Recorder, SCI Six-Trak, Harmonium, Acoustic Guitar, Slide, Echo
Mike Sharp: SCI Six-Trak, Electric Guitar, Drums, Acoustic Guitar, Moog Opus 3

Movement II:
4. There's Hell in That Girl
5. Haze Stations
6. Days of Amnesia

Lazy, hazy strumming and shambolic clanging metal; a dust-caked, whiskey soaked improvised blues exploration. Ever circling a structure, yet seeking never to find it, the six-stringer claws a way towards peace over a sea of bells and achingly beautiful saloon piano. Amidst the wandering American twilight, surprising moments of clarity emerge as the guitar and piano sing together a mourning for something lost. The sun sets and the sky washes over with an unnatural fog of echo-bathed sequencing. Full bodied and blissful electric strumming controls a flow towards euphoric landscapes of gentle intoxication. Twinkling piano emerges, playing with and against the blue glow of guitar ambiance. Kinetic and subdued free-jazz percussion oozes into the sound field, mesmerizing the senses with endless motion. The end an echo-rift, sudden absence giving birth to noise squalls of feedback fury. Distorto-phased riffadelics into the heart of the cave-mind, pounding the Earth with percussive fury. Wah-Wah theatrics explode over psycho-vocalizations, warping into an endless climb across level ground.

Braden Balentine: Sleigh Bells, Noah Bells, SCI Six-Trak, Moog Opus 3, Piano, Electric Guitar, Wah-Wah, Fuzz, Echo
Mike Sharp: Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Whiskey, Electric Guitar, Drums, Fuzz, Shakers, Voice

Movement III:
7. Inda's Net and Bell's Theorem

Wake into asteroid caverns in the deepest space, torturous liquid dropping from the inner surfaces of skulls. Disembodied spirits discuss the purpose of thought, language, love...a cruel colloquy amidst the alien solitude. Synth-spirits condense into solid forms of abstract terror. Piano-mallet malevolence growing under increasingly discordant screams across a black sky. Climbing arpeggiated madness in the fight against undulating waves of dissonant drone-walls, waning to a buzzing coda of hyperborean stillness.

Braden Balentine: Samples, SCI Six-Trak, Moog Opus 3
Mike Sharp: Piano

Movement IV:
8. Shimmering Light (Pure Religion)
9. Crash Galactic
10. The Infinite Regress

A vaporous expanse of lo-fi sequencing; a future-scape in the gardens of pharaohs. Echoing guitar runs and picturesque piano phrases under diaphanous veils of reverb murmur, the whole stream flowing over a reversal of itself, stabbing the surface with time-lag contradictions. A hypnotic sway into the beauty of  galactic genesis, fading away into percussive bolts of squelching square wave flux. Crowd chattering amidst buried synthetic orchestration and bending pulsations of electro-guitar skitter. Ascendent streaks of radiant strings and eddying sci-fi oscillations merge with turbulent walls of fuzz destruction and pulsar beam canons. Mutating loops of analog electronics fade into a slumbering, smoldering core of dark strength. As twin guitars circle the singularity in so many spirals, sapphire swathes of futuristic synths bring a climb towards cohesion. Drums and strums emerge to guide the various echoes into a march towards the stars, howling into a roaring cascade of massive rock fury. Organ screaming, unhinged drum smashing over rippling fuzz walls. Solar flare eruption as fuzz-fried leads climb with abandon, setting ablaze the corridors of the mind.

Braden Balentine: SCI Six-Trak, Moog Opus 3, Electric Guitar, Echo, Fuzz
Mike Sharp: Piano, Electric Guitar, Moog Opus 3, SCI Six-Trak, Acoustic Guitar, Drums

Movement V:
11. Reggie's Best Phosphate
12. Ion Ecstacy

The dying breaths of some wooden beast, the portentous footsteps of a doomed gigantic sentience. Bells rattle and clammer over soul-shaking low end thunder and wheezing walls of reedy ambiance. Breath fades away into radial streaks of metallic singing; into the prayers of metal concavity. Creeping piano chords underly a haunted choir of Appalachian spirits, until the tranquil, smoldering embers flash into a deep wall of organic iridescence. Tibetan bowls sing over lysergic pads of escalating astral warmth and harmonium pyramids glowing in Moog starlight, fading into the emptiness of silence.

Braden Balentine: Piano, Sleigh Bells, Harmonium, Prayer Bowl
Mike Sharp: Harmonium, Prayer Bowl, Voice, SCI Six-Trak, Moog Opus 3

Portals of Acquisition:
Sungod Bandcamp (Digital Streaming/Download)
Ethereal Mother Tapes (CD now sold out, digital streaming available)
Aquarius Records (CD Sold Out)
Norman Records (CD Sold Out)
Midheaven Mailorders (CD)
Clear Spot (CD)
The Archipelago Rises (CD)

Reviews:

"We've been meaning to review something from these Texan psychedelic space-kraut heavies for ages now, this one is as good a place to start as any, their latest, a super limited cd-r that finds Sungod traveling the astral plane, and offering up a pretty fair (and extremely varied) sampling of what these guys are capable of, their sound all over the map, but all held together by an underlying kosmische drift, the opener, is a hushed brooding slow build, that wreaths subtle low end shimmer, in clouds of swirling space-aged blips and bloops, total planetarium show trip out, until part way through, when the drums come in, transforming the sound into something much more dense and driving, but still plenty abstract. The second track is a lush expanse of harmonium like drones, pulsing beneath swirling FX and acoustic guitar Appalachia, haunting and meditative, before slipping into the next track, a swirling retro synth groove that would sit pretty perfectly alongside the current crop of retro futuristic synth wranglers. Krautrocky and cosmic!

The sound shifts dramatically after that, a sort of slow slithery acoustic blues, all slippery slide, laced with piano, and peppered with empty tin can percussion, which gives way to a heady slab of pulsating spaced out synthscapery, all droney, and Necks-like with skittery free jazz drumming, and delicate piano, under clouds of swirling synths, and from there on out, all bets are off, the band slipping easily from super distorted fuzzy kraut flecked garagerock groove, to super abstract collaged ambience, to blown out blissed out freeform noise, to heavy Hawkwind style spacerock freakout, to hazy, druggy musique concrete, to heavy cosmic synthdrone mesmer."

(Aquarius)

"Aha. Something cosmic for my ears. Nice! I never heard the cassette by these guys on Expo 70’s label that came out a while back but rest assured I wanted to. After a quick scan on the site I can see our Mike heard it and reviewed it! Well here’s a new CD that’s just landed courtesy of Patrick Park aka Kosmonaut on his Ethereal Mother Tapes imprint. As you’d expect it’s ludicrously limited to 100 copies and it comes in a DVD style case.
So on this CD you get 70 minutes of krauty kosmische-style dronings with some nice repeato kraut rhythms, some stonking psychedelic riffy rock, some jazz, some ambience, some blues and more than likely some other things I’m too lazy to think of/list. It’s a funny one as there are so many genres touched on here you’d think it wouldn’t work. The chuggy krauty rhythms of ‘Bounded Hessians’ go straight into a blues laden ‘There’s Hell In That Girl’ complete with tinkly sleigh bells and piano. The latter is a gorgeous piece of music by the way. And then before you know it there’s acoustic guitar and cosmic synth sounds. So if you’re into cosmic things then this would be an excellent thing to pick up."

(Norman)

.......

We have removed the price requirement on Cuts From the Ether, so feel free to download this at no cost. In other news, we have completed mixing and received the artwork and master for the follow up to Crash Galactic. More information on that in the future. Otherwise, we continue mixing on the next LP (tentative) and as always, working on new material.

.......

The thirty spokes join in their nave, that is one; yet the wheel dependeth for use upon the hollow place for the axle. Clay is shapen to make vessels; but the contained space is what is useful. Matter is therefore of use only to mark the limits of the Space which is the thing of real value.

Star Souls & Deuterium Waves

Over the previous two lunar cycles, radical shifts in the cosmic continuum have left black holes in the physical form of the Sungod energy-ship. In other words, two former participants in the magick ritual have receded into dimensions unknown. As all systems in dynamic equilibrium must, the Sungod orchestra has adapted to the randomness of the universal flow, and shall present a new mode of incantation in the coming days.

Spacetime Coordinates:

[29th Street Ballroom, 2012-09-28 (9:00 post meridiem)]

Lineup:

Braden Balentine - Synths, Sequencing, Electric Guitar
Nick Lombard - Drums, Synths
Kristine Reaume - Flute
Mike Sharp - Electric Guitar, Drums

This event marks the first public collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Nick Lombard and the second with Kristine Reaume and her celestial aerophone. In keeping with our typical oscillatory frequency, the musical presentation will feature a novel and unheard duo of perhaps our most astral excursions yet: One, a sparkling, melodic, echo-guitar and flute lead ambient drone-scape climaxing in pounding distorted fury. The other, a sequence driven paean to Messrs Göttsching and Schulze, layering propulsive rhythms, harmonizing flute/guitar leads, and soaring analog strings.

However, Sungod shall not invoke mother sky alone! Witness also the towering, oppressive electro-pounds of Pinkish Black, the synth-driven and prog-inflected post-punk of Nervous Curtains, the pastoral and atmospheric ukele-folk of Emily Scott, and the multi-faceted, introspective singer-songwriter stylings of B.E Godfrey. An adventurous night of ultraviolet vibrations, shimmering air, and the far reaches of mind-musick.

Magnetic Moments

We received a transmission from sunship Ethereal Mother that confirms genesis of the Crash Galactic energy discs. Sungod's electrosonic declaration of universal illumination will enter attainable zones of space and time within 20 passages of the Sun across the sky. Full details to follow closer to that event.

To celebrate the eminence of attainment, we first present Justin Grove's valiant, grandiose, and hauntingly expressive visual abstraction of the soundfields currently being written into optical rainbows:

Following this, we offer another vibration ritual for early consumption. "There's Hell in that Girl", beginning with a door emphatically closing and a sense of shutting out the here and now, initiates the second movement of the Crash Galactic flow. An improvised blues guitar stomp, anchored by a sea of bells, and starlight shimmers of piano counter-melody, gives a sense of endless windswept meadows under a deep blue sky; of the bored stares of cattle grazing along a lazy summer stream; of the narcotic escape of shade from the dominance of a swollen mid-afternoon sun. Drift on the flows of arcadian bliss.

Mike Sharp: Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Whiskey
Braden Balentine: Sleigh Bells, Noah Bells, Door


Pre-order's for Crash Galactic remain available through the Ethereal Mother Bandcamp for 8 bio-survival tickets.

More information coming soon regarding a new release on Holodeck Records and a show on 2012-09-28 with Pinkish Black and Nervous Curtains.

Sungod/August 4th Show Update

A quick heads up, Sungod will NOT play the aforementioned Red 7 show on August the 4th.
Finding no significance in the "why", I'll merely state that the hypno-priests shall reincarnate nearer to the autumnal equinox. Stay tuned for more informative transmissions in the eminent future.

Heat Visions

In the coming days, the tetra-variant form of Sungod shall create worlds within air, exploding color waves onto the feverish Austin night. Heavily oriented toward the somatic timbres of four and six string electro-generators and pounding hypno-drums, the set aims to present three distinct pieces of soulful and rockin' psychedelia.

Spacetime Coordinates:

[Red 7 Outside Stage, 2012-08-04 (9:00 post mere diem)]

Lineup:

Tyler Taylor - Electric Guitar

Mike Sharp - Drums

Alex Hughes - Electric Bass Guitar

Braden Balentine - Electric Guitar, SCI Six-Trak

Into Hessian Spheres: Release and Pre-order Information for Sungod's Crash Galactic

Among the drug-addled and philosophic fog of previous transmissions, we have hinted at a certain gargantuan offering in progress, a far-reaching voyage into the many realms of Great Cosmic Music. For a time, we see a conclusion to our Great Work:

Edited together from a years worth of compositions and improvisations, Sungod's Crash Galactic presents a 70 minute, near continuous study in sequenced kraut forms, avant-garde sound design, transcendent blues, tenebrous ambiance, riffadelic drug rock, and supernal jazz. 

http://ssssssungoddddd.bandcamp.com/album/crash-galactic

The Rite in Twelve Parts:

1. Constellation of Ions

2. Breechclout

3. Bounded Hessians

4. There's Hell in that Girl

5. Haze Stations

6. Days of Amnesia

7. Indra's Net and Bell's Theorem

8. Shimmering Light (Pure Religion)

9. Crash Galactic

10. The Infinite Regress

11. Reggie's Best Phosphate

12. Ion Ecstacy

Participants:

Braden Balentine: Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Moog Opus 3, SCI Six Trak, Piano, Noah Bells, Sleigh Bells, Harmonium, Singing Bowl, Echo, WahWah, Fuzz
Mike Sharp: Drums, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Piano, SCI Six Trak, Moog Opus 3, Human Voice, Echo, Fuzz, Shakers, Singing Bowl

An amaray DVD case will house a stereo audio disc with an expressionistic and highly engaging full cover spread by resonant starchild Justin Grove. 

100 copies are set to be pressed by fellow astral traveler Ethereal Mother Tapes. Expect release before the vernal equinox. 

Pre-orders are available through the EM Tapes Bandcamp for 8 bio-survival tickets.

"Bounded Hessians" culminates the first movement of Crash Galactic's hallucinatory unfolding. One can expect a concise, kaleidoscopic trip exploring Germanic sequencing through the lens of 1960's psychedelia, mashing together robotic synth pulses, strummed acoustic, motorik percussion, electric slide, and kosmische arpeggiators.

Head over to the Ethereal Mother Tapes Bandcamp for an additional album preview in the form of "Haze Stations". Percolating galaxial electronics generate a cloud of ambiance over which warm and round guitar chords and twinkling piano dance in cinematic interplay. Skittery, cymbal laden percussion boils under the surface, progressively growing more intense as the celestial metal work evolves into animalistic, yet restrained free jazz intensity.

Hod: The Absolute Intelligence

As great winds of energy in forms both known and unknowable blow across the seas of existence, as all things whatsoever dance in rapturous cacophony to the blind metronome of an illogical metaphysical mechanics, the will of the cosmos is executed: extension, multiplication, and force. This creative drive inherent in the blind procession of the ages, this sparkling aether of multiplicity, variety, and change emerges from the bosom of Hod, the Hermitic Splendour. Hod is the realm of the solar primates, the ape like entities seemingly primitive, yet possessing souls in constant communion with Godhead, Manasaputras, the Mind-born Sons of Brahma. And thus the humans, material reflections of these solar-beings, possess energy centers in dynamic conversation with the intuitive weave of consciousness that is not conscious. Mere surrender to the connection, the recognition of the void within all, yields ways to the very heart of creative generation.

Ever seeking the paths toward expanded awareness, and un-fearingly trusting in the health and sustainability of the divine connection within the human-vessel, the distinct energy fields comprising Sungod enacted a ceremony of vibrations in an attempt to open a gate to Hod for all who would participate. The space-time coordinates of this event were [KVRX Austin, 20110821] and the energy fields materialized as Braden Balentine, Mike Sharp, Tyler Taylor, and Alex Hughes. Boarding the archaic conveyance vehicles from this period of Earth's time-travel and armed with various means of pressure wave genesis, the Four traveled to a dwelling possessing the necessary connections to the satellite-field comprising unseen orbitals...the communication net of the Earthship. 3.27 meter wavelength E/M waves were the employed form of sonic distribution and the guardians of the satellite uplink captured a binaural rendering of the ceremony via conversion of the source waves to discrete impulse signals. Ingesting the Anhalonium Lewinii, the Four guided along vibrant color rings, employing forms of space, drone, and jazz to ebb and flow towards an infinite spiral of light and sound. The actual unfolding of the vibration ritual achieved an unexpected potency, requiring the eventual mass duplication of this musical incantation for preservation and dispersal.

Thus, in cooperation with Dusty Grass Imprint, we present Sungod's Cuts from the Ether:

A1 - "Gas is Better than Gas"
A militant technoid sequence anchors a contained explosion of post-krautrock forms. Interweaving threads of metronomic acid guitar glide over teutonic percussive destruction and sparse, yet vivacious low end patterns lock in and out of the rhythm-storm. Rising and falling in tumultuous cycles, yet steadily decaying from a bombastic glory to a muted stretch of chilled ambience, it is a study in the motion of stasis, ever guided by dynamic cymbal strikes and alien synth squelches.

Braden Balentine: Electric Guitar, Wah Wah, Tonebender, Echo
Alex Hughes: Bass Guitar
Mike Sharp: Drums, Synthesizer
Tyler Taylor: Electric Guitar, Echo

A2 - "Plasma Frequencies"
Pulsing oscillations from the heart of the Earth climb and thicken over soft textures of nebulous synth. The harmonium maintains a universal hum as bells and subtle guitar swells magnify the textural diversity. Slow, hypnotic synths emerge just as the track fades into a false discontinuity.

Braden Balentine: Harmonium
Alex Hughes: Noah Bells, Sleigh Bells
Mike Sharp: Synthesizer, Cymbals
Tyler Taylor: Electric Guitar, Echo

B1 - "Constellation of Ions"
Emerging from the vacuous rift of a sudden fade in, the hypno-synth climbs in intensity as guitar swells mutate and contort into a black web of celestial drone. Crashing and narcotic bop-percussion leads the journey to a moment of sudden climax, as omnipresent waves of electro-haze and thundering funk pulses announce a sphere of reality wholly shimmering in a moody, blue glow. All thoughts, all emotions, are drawn to this sphere, and the cosmic-jazz dances and cascades into and around the surface, working into a dense fog of transcendental galactic sound.

Braden Balentine: Synthesizer
Alex Hughes: Bass Guitar, Noah Bells, Sleigh Bells
Mike Sharp: Drums, Synthesizer
Tyler Taylor: Electric Guitar, Echo

B2 - "Kraut Schulze"
A monumental charge of domination, drums pounding all thought into silence, leading a charge into fearful dimensions of power. Regal chords seemingly work towards some prog majesty, yet the forms flow instead into an electro-surf voyage. Rippling echowave guitar sequences and lysergic synth lines soar over streamlined interlockings of low end rhythm, rising intensely and suddenly to a howling distorto-rock fury. Riff upon riff tearing through a muscular propulsive attack as noise clouds rain down in unstoppable multitudes. As quick as it began, all falls into an agitated motorik Tempel-groove, eventually tearing its way into a driving climax. But the heart of the dark must be faced, and so the bowels of every hell open and absolute sonic destruction reigns.

Braden Balentine: Electric Guitar, Wah Wah, Tonebender, Echo
Alex Hughes: Bass Guitar
Mike Sharp: Drums
Tyler Taylor: Synthesizer

Portals of Acquisition:
Dusty Grass Imprint (cassette)
Sungod Bandcamp (digital streaming/download)
or
Sungod Live Performances (cassette)

.......

To conclude, we have added all of Sungod's "Laurentide & Cordilleran + Others" to the Sungod Bandcamp. Available for streaming and free download to any and all who would like to hear this collection of shambling acoustic minimalism and extended kosmische exploration. As well, note the new appearance of the Sungod Bandcamp, portending in its own subtle way the next port of call for the Sungod starship.

.......

When soul and body are in the bond of love, they can be kept together. By concentration on the breath it is brought to perfect elasticity, and one becomes as a babe.

By purifying oneself from samādhi, one becomes whole.

In his dealing with individuals and with society, let him move without lust of result. In the management of his breath, let him be like the mother-bird. Let his intelligence comprehend every quarter; but let his knowledge cease.

Here is the Mystery of Virtue. It createth all and nourisheth all; yet it doth not adhere to them; it operateth all, but knoweth not of it, nor proclaimeth it; it directeth all, but without conscious control.

Subtle Oscillations

As Taurus gives way to Gemini (according to the Sidereal Zodiac), so shall musical abstractions materialize into a physical presentation of acoustic wave generation. The coordinates [29th Street Ballroom, 2012-06-16] mark an event in space-time, a striving for the oneness by The Young, Spraypaint, and Sungod. Of particular note, this marks the release for The Young's DUB EGG on Matador Records.

Four individuals guiding the Sungod starship shall employ a continuos stream of disjoint psychedelic forms, moving through the gaseous vapors of gentle blues, the black hole terror of droning noise, and the salvation of supernovae eruptions of low frequency kosmische jazz. 

Pilots:

Braden - Synths & Electric Guitar

Mike Sharp - Drums & Acoustic Guitar

Alex - Bass Guitar, Drums, Bells, Shakers

Kristine - Flute & Wood Flute 

.......

CUTS FROM THE ETHER UPDATE
Dusty Grass Imprint has Sungod's CUTS FROM THE ETHER to hand. Visit the Dusty Grass blog to purchase a copy. We'll have them for sale at the show mentioned above along with the Laurentide & Cordilleran + Others tape and the few remaining copies of the First Matter LP. A shot from the shipment:

A very detailed presentation of the release will follow later this week once we have the tapes.

.......

One more quick note. We have completed the mixing (and possibly mastering) of Sungod's next epic and have a label confirmed for a typically limited pressing. Much more information to come on this soon but it stands as our longest and most diverse outing so far, crashing in and out of a galactic mix of jazz, drone, avant-garde soundscapes, bubbly krautrock, free blues, and riffing space rock.

Netsach: The Occult Intelligence

Thus we land on the seventh Sephirah. The completion of the upper and middle triads begins the full projection of the divine intelligence onto the forms of matter. How fortuitous then to fall on an update bringing news of our own projections onto matter of the creative will. Victory, eternity, triumph. Upon the wings of Nicé comes the bounty of a creative harvest begun over a cycle ago of this orb's keplerian trajectory. And so presented, in inertial totality, the Sonic Meditations press of Sungod's "Laurentide & Cordilleran + Others"!

Several portals of acquisition:

Sonic Meditations Webstore

Norman Records

or

Directly at shows (more on that below)

Full information concerning the music and production resides here.

As well, Norman Records's staff review:

"We’ve got this Sungod tape in from Justin Wright’s Sonic Meditations label this week. In it Braden Balentine and Mike Sharp multi-instrumentalise their way around a variety of tones from electric guitar and synthesiser through to bells, bowed symbols, prayer bowl and the like, drawing out heady mystical drones with subtle underlying melodic and textural flourishes that mix the crunchy and physical with the smooth and cosmic for a bonged out space drone voyage with a marvelous thickness and clarity of tone quickly marking it out as a spacious and luxurious psychedelic treat. It’s concordant and melodic and the tunes are well paced to reveal themselves over prolonged and in-depth listening, and there’s so much going on texturally that I’m totally transfixed. Unsurprisingly it’s reminding me a little of Expo 70. Beatless, languid psychedelic drifting which is busy without seeming imposing, big-sounding but not in your face. Cosmic ambience it may be, but it’s more than background music. It’s music to listen to in close detail after you’ve got so high you’re starting to worry you might be stuck that way forever."

.......

The great victory of the sky continues. Sungod has two appearances within the next 7 degrees travel along Earth's gravity-path. These will feature the maxima of magickal energy as Alex Hughes and Tyler Taylor respectively contribute sub-sonic groove fields and riffadelic acidity to the communal search for the sky-eye. If I may momentarily step outside of the mystical crap, these are KILLER shows.

20120424AD

Spacetime Coordinates: The Mohawk - Austin, TX. 730/1030 post meridiem
Biosurvival Cost: 12
Procession:
Sungod (1230)
White Hilles (1115)
La Migra (1030)

Outside, earlier:
Sleepy Sun (900)
The Saint James Society (815)
Hidden Ritual (730)

20120428AD

Spacetime Coordinates: Club Dada - Dallas, TX. 800 post meridiem

Biosurvival Cost: 13

Procession:

Disappears
Lotus Plaza
Nervous Curtains
Sungod

.......

As the cow Goddess departs, the last of the fruits of harvest are as such: labor continues on the proper follow up to First Matter. We move further and further into the mixing stage with various small odds and ends still left to magnetically imprison. What's more, a structure has emerged giving the whole process the necessary goal towards which we approach ever faster, ever surer. As always, more news to come on that as appropriate.

Lastly, the Dusty Grass press of Sungod's "Cuts from the Ether" works towards completion and will attain form (with hope) within the transition from Taurus to Gemini. Be well brothers and sisters.

.......

Fill not a vessel, lest it spill in carrying. Meddle not with a sharpened point by feeling it constantly, or it will soon become blunted.

Gold and jade endanger the house of their possessor. Wealth and honours lead to arrogance and envy, and bring ruin. Is thy way famous and thy name becoming distinguished? Withdraw, they work once done, into obscurity; this is the way of Heaven.

Mike Sharp, Apart

I meant to post this last week, so this doesn't give much notice but I hope that those who can go, will.

Mike, parallel to our communal path in Sungod, has worked diligently to develop his own voice in the fields of American primitive and traditional blues guitar. This, together with an increasing interest in percussive and groove-based musics (funk and jazz of note) and my own explorations into electronic and drone based sound fields, allows for ever-exciting developments in Sungod's creative trajectory. But beyond this, following his development as a stand-alone musician continues to reward deep interest. I sense genuine historical appreciation in the playing, but without weighty formalisms. Instead, pure inspiration and an intuitive connection to the instrument reign, diversified by a modern taste for the broad range of developments in avant-garde music. Simply put, fans of Fahey, Rose, Jones, Pelt, and a host of obscure blues players only Sharp could name would do well to keep an ear to the ground concerning Mike's development beyond the Sungod mothership. Tomorrow marks the first opportunity to do just that.

Happenings: SXSW

.......

Once again, amplified whisperings of the cosmic microwave background. Sungod, incarnate as the ever stable triangle, shall project onto silence sound paintings of electrified blues, deep motorik rock and jangly sunspots of the summer of love. We head out among the stars around 9:00 post meridian. Come join us for a sublime evening of cosmic music.

Friday, March 16, 2012
7:00pm until 2:00am
Hounds of Love Gallery
1138 Emmitt Run, Austin, TX 78721

The line-up for this set:
Braden Balentine: Electric Guitar, Synthesizers
Mike Sharp: Drums, Electric Guitar, Slide
Tyler Taylor: Electric Guitar

.......

artwork/flier credit: Hiromi Ueyoshi (http://goldtrianglebuffalo.blogspot.com)

Xander Harris (http://xanderharris.bandcamp.com/)
Sapphire Slows (http://sapphireslows.bandcamp.com/)
Cuticle (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvZLTPSReUk)
Samantha Glass (http://samanthaglass.bandcamp.com/)
Single Lash (http://singlelash.bandcamp.com/)
Sungod (http://ssssssungoddddd.bandcamp.com/)
Future Museums (http://futuremuseums.bandcamp.com/)

Constellation of Ions & Other Information

Fade in billowing clouds of guitar ambiance and swirls of electronic phasing. Burst through with Art Blakey soaked in codeine jamming with some metaphysical amalgamate of Czukay and Waters. Groove bombs dropping, rapturous synthesizer echowave fallout. Fade away bell meditation and alien jungle.

Mike Sharp: Drums, Synth

Alex Hughes: Bass, Bells

Tyler Taylor: Guitar

Braden Balentine: Synth

.......
As of this week, Sungod's "Cuts from the Ether" readies for production. All tracks now mastered and in transit to the label. If the workings of the universe permit it, we would like to have this available by SXSW...pure optimism. Preliminary information including tracklist and lineup:
Sungod's Bandcamp:http://ssssssungoddddd.bandcamp.com/album/cuts-from-the-ether
Dusty Grass Imprint:http://dustygrassimprint.bandcamp.com/
A detailed write up concerning the release and KVRX session will come as the tapes arrive to hand........

The Sonic Meditations repress of Sungod's "Laurentide & Cordilleran + Others" could potentially arrive by the end of this month. Soon anyway. A previous post stores all the relevant information concerning the release but we will keep in touch here regarding availability. 

Concluding, some short videos from two Sungod live performances. The first contains some cosmic drone from our recent set at the Carousel Lounge. The second captures a moment from our very first appearance and features some magnificent (and close up) cymbal work by Mike Sharp. Both shot by Brian Boeckman. Be well.

Psychotropic Elephas

In the absence of any significant news, I would like to share some excellent photographs from Sungod's recent evening of psychodrone at the Carousel Lounge. All photographs courtesy of Brian Boeckman.