Failure of all Psychedelia

Reviews of Paura, Obscuress/Christina Carter, Uton, and Zmnwa

Paura - Baladas (Artsy)

It’s been awhile since I checked in with Psychedelic Finland. I had many penpals from there back in early ‘00s, trading cassettes and CD-R’s, as was the custom. I used to get surprise packages full of colorful, folk-influenced drone collage and improv psych from labels like LAL LAL LAL and 267 Lattajjaa. By all means, get on Discogs and explore that era, or just dip into this current label doing a similar thing. This brand new cassette release grabbed my attention immediately, with aforementioned improv elements, but here thrown into the context of post-No Wave rock like Dustdevils or Dead C. I hope they are trading tapes with The Blurries outta Portland. The bass swings like a dead tree trunk, the drums repeat and push it forward, the guitar chimes and thrashes, while some loose vocals like you might hear on a Beme Seed record tie it all together.

Obscuress - Maltha (Uni) and Christina Carter - Maltha Demos (Self-Released)

I am the world’s biggest Christina Carter fan lately. This is CC’s duo with multi-instrumentalist Spencer Dobbs. They had a gorgeous CD-release that I mentioned last year, but here’s a newer cassette that is maybe even better. I’m hoping something they do lands on vinyl. I love everything about this project: intense story-telling, raw vocal performances and sensitive minimalist arrangements. Some of it is quite harrowing, like a very gentle folk take on Suicide’s “Frankie Teardrop”, while other pieces, are meditative and can roll with Pauline Oliveros’ monumental “Horse Sings from Cloud”. RIYL deep and beautiful music. You can also hear the equally wonderful solo demo versions of some of these tracks via Christina’s own page.

Uton - Ancestral Projections and Zmnwa - The Spirit of the Desert Lizard (Self-released)

Uton is another one of those psychedelic Fins who can’t stop making weird sounds. I picked this work at random, because there is too much to choose from. It’s collage, noise, improv, folk, post-industrial junk shop rituals, a sea of sound to dive into. I also stumbled on a CD-R recently, that he sent me decades ago. I think it’s on his page, under the name Znmwa, and it’s the rawest caveman acoustic atonal music, absolutely mesmerizing and ridiculous in equal measure. Of course most of my CD-R’s have disc rot, including this one. It was a terrible format for longevity, with many interesting releases ruined by fluttering sounds after sitting in boxes for years. Cassettes are marginally better. Thankfully Uton has put most of his work online, and there is so much to hear. He also runs a label or two brimming with lo-fi confections by other artists.

Speaking of the golden age of CD-R’s (roughly 1997-2005 for me). I have a very large box of them, most of them probably unplayable. I wonder if anyone is doing any kind of archiving or writing book about that era, so much of it has been lost to time…