THE TERRASTOCK NATION
   

   

An ongoing project to document every one of the 147 bands & artists (so far) to have appeared at a Terrastock festival

Compiled by Phil McMullen, with help from Jeff Penczak. Mats Gustafsson, Lee Jackson, Kevin Moist and Nunu Robles. Latest update: August, 2008.

   
Key: T1 = Terrastock 1 Providence, RI, USA April 25-27, 1997 / T2 = Terrastock 2 San Francisco, CA, USA April 17-19, 1998 / T3 = Terrastock 3 London, UK, August 27-29, 1999 / T4 = Terrastock 4 Seattle, WA, USA November 3-5, 2000 / T5 = Terrastock 5 Boston, MA USA October 11-13, 2002 / T6 = Terrastock 6 Providence, RI USA April 21-23, 2006 / T7 = Terrastock 7 Louisville, KY USA June 19-22, 2008
   
  Abunai! Acid Mothers Temple Air Traffic Controllers Alchemysts Alva Amber Asylum Thee American Revolution Antietam Arco Area C Autumn Leaves Avarus Azusa Plane Bablicon Bardo Pond Martyn Bates Bevis Frond Black Forest / Black Sea Bridget St John Bright Broken Dog Brother JT Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood Charalambides Children of the Rainbow Clockbrains Loren Mazzacane Connors Crome Syrcus Cul De Sac Damon & Naomi Richard Davies Dead Maids Delicate AWOL Dipsomaniacs Donovans Brain Elf Power Elephant Micah The Entrance Band Helena Espvall & Masaki Batoh Essex Green Ethereal Counterbalance Mick Farren Fifty Foot Hose Flying Saucer Attack Freed Unit Fursaxa Alastair Galbraith Ghost Grails Green Pajamas Green Ray Grimble Grumble Hilkka Hood Hopewell Hovercraft Hush Arbors Hushdrops Iditarod Ignatz Insect Factory Glenn Jones Makoto Kawabata Kemialliset Ystävät Kinski Kirk Lake Kitchen Cynics Kohoutek Sharron Kraus Landing Larkin Grimm Lilys Linus Pauling Quartet Lhasa Cement Park Lightning Bolt Lockgroove Mary Lou Lord Lothars Loud Family Lucky Bishops Mac Macleod The Magic Carpathians Project Magic Hour Major Stars Man Barbara Manning Country Joe McDonald Medicine Ball Minus 5 Monkeywrench MONO Roy Montgomery Motorpsycho Mountain Goats Mudhoney MV & EE with The Bummer Road My Drug Hell Marissa Nadler Neutral Milk Hotel NonLoc Olivia Tremor Control Oneida Tara Jane Oneil Orans Paik Pat Orchard Papas Fritas Parlour Pelt Petrocat PG Six The Photographic Piano Magic Plastic Crimewave Sound Pop Off Tuesday Primordial Undermind Tom Rapp Jack Rose Salamander Sapat Science Kit Rob Sharples Silver Apples Simply Saucer Six Organs of Admittance Kendra Smith Azalia Snail Sonic Youth Spaceheads Spacious Mind Spires That In The Sunset Rise ST37 St. Joan Stone Breath Subarachnoid Space Sunshine Fix Supreme Dicks Surface of Eceon Tadpoles Tanakh Tarentel Thee Hydrogen Terrors Thought Forms Moe Tucker JoeTurner & The Seven Levels United Bible Studies Urdog V Majestic Voyager One Warser Gate Greg Weeks Wellwater Conspiracy White Hotel Windy & Carl WitchHazel Sound Wooden Shjips Young Fresh Fellows Doug Yule
   

 

ABUNAI!

 

"Abunai's second long-player Mystic River Sound extends the Krautrock-meets-noise-folk-meets- space-pop mix of their debut, in the process forming a veritable encyclopaedia of guitar bliss directions and neo-psychedelic intrigue. ‘Tomorrow’ kicks the album off with a folk-inflected bass line leading into a pop song that looks wistfully back at the paisley underground as well skywards at a kaleidoscope of stars. The lads scratch the Fairport Convention itch with pulverizing versions of ‘Barbara Allen’ and ‘Sweet William’, which traverse the landscape of traditional balladry like mythical behemoths, kicking over thatched huts and standing stones on their way to share several kegs of ale with the Goddess. ‘Learning To Ask’ recalls the best of late 80s UK dream pop, and wouldn’t be out of place as a classic Creation label 7". ‘To Think That You Knew’ and ‘Vanishing Point’ have their genesis in lysergic improvisation, and most closely recall the freewheeling jams of the first record, as does the 7 minute ‘hidden’ MP3 format data track ‘Lockjam’. The biggest surprises come with the sci-fi rock of ‘Mechanical Kingdom’ and the proto-metal ‘Rock Song’, which invokes a garage chord sequence not dissimilar to that of Black Sabbath's ‘Paranoid’ to form a framework for some of Brendan Quinn most emphatic riffing. After the record concludes with the anthemic signing-off song ‘Toast’, most folks are going to be in little doubt that they have really been somewhere Mystic."

found at: http://www.eclipse-records.com

Abunai! broke up in mid-2002. The band's final recording, a 12" entitled "Two Brothers", was released on 02 Feb 03.


Abunai! upstairs at the Middle East, 04 Dec 1997, with Nick Saloman guesting on guitar.

Found at: http://www.cameraobscura.com.au/Bios/cambios_ab.htm

From:  Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Performed at: T1, T3, T4

Featuring:

Dan Parmenter – Bass

Brendan Quinn – Guitar

also played Theremin and Violin with The Lothars [T1]. Ex-Ritual Silence; currently in The Squall (with ex-Bright bassist, Jay Dubois; the band played for assembled Terrastockers at the "T5-1" launch party the night before Terrastock 5 in Boston) and Giants Dance

Kris Thompson – Keyboards

ex-Jasmine Love Bomb, Nisi Period. Brother of Olympic gold-medallist swimmer Jenny Thompson. Kris is also in The Lothars

Joe Turner – Drums

Joe is also a solo performer, and was prime co-ordinator of T5 in Boston. Parmenter and Turner were both in Cinnamon and The Forever People. Quinn and Thompson were in Cloud Furnace together.

 

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE
In 1996, Makoto Kawabata banded together with a bunch of communal friends, musicians, farmers, dancers and fisherman from the Acid Mothers "soul collective" to create what he thought would be a non-continuing outlet for his musical freak-outs. Dubbing the group Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (Underground Freak Out), Kawabata decided to unveil his astrophysical clatter with a 1997 self-titled release on PSF. Although the first release was basically a Kawabata solo record replete with overdubbed group jams, it garnered plenty of international press and paved the way for a full-blown group tour in 1998 and more albums for PSF. Since then, what began as a one-off trip has turned into a full-scale lysergic ride into the noise cosmos.

found at: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/interviews/a/acid-mothers-temple-02

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From:  Japan

Performed at: T5, T6

Featuring:

Cotton Casino - vocal, synthesizer

 

Cotton left the band in December, 2003 to pursue a solo career and work on other projects

Tsuyama Atsushi - bass, vocal

ex-Omoide Hatoba. Also in Risu (“Squirrel”) with his brother, Yamamoto Seiichi of The Boredoms

Higashi Hiroshi - synthesizer, guitar

 

Uki Eiji - drums

 

Kawabata Makoto - guitar, bouzouki

One of the world’s most prolific artists, Makoto has recorded over 100 albums in the past ten years, both solo and as a member of many side projects, including Baroque Bordello, Erochika, Hedeik [aka Headache, with several members of The Boredoms],  Floating Flower, Father Moo & The Black Sheep [sort of a Japanese version of cult weirdies, Ya Ho Wa 13], Water Planet Band, Inui, Guy Unit [including all of AMT except Eiji], Shogo-Nari, Zu-Kanku, Karma, Splendor Mystic Solis and Boomerangs. Is also a member of Johari, Toho Sara, Musica Transonic, Ohkami No Jikan, Mainliner, and Seventh Seal [all with Nanjo Asahito of High Rise]

Makoto and Casino joined Daevid Allen’s Gong [briefly renamed youNgong) in 2003 and toured the US (with Allen) as Guru & Zero; they also formed the duo, I & Makoto and recorded an album as Rebel Powers. Acid Mothers Gong (AMT and Gong) performed together with Damo Suzuki (Can) and Incredible String Band in London in October, 2003

 

Makoto and Hiroshi are also in Uchu and Tsurubami; the latter, like AMT, formed from Tenkyo No To.

 

Makoto and Atsushi are also in Zoffy, Nishinihon, Dere Devil Band and Seikazoku

 

Makoto, Hiroshi and Atsushi are also in Kawabata Makoto & The Mothers of Invasion

 

Casino and Hiroshi have also recorded several albums together as D-Pardons-X (aka Pardons), which disbanded in September, 2003

 

AMT has toured several times (and recorded a split LP) with Kinski

 

Makoto has recorded an EP (and guests on a solo LP) with Mason Jones (SubArachnoid Space)

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS

 

A collaboration between U.S. guitarist Gerard Cosloy, and London-based drummer Jon Steele, previously heard as a member of State River Widening. 

Taking inspiration from This Heat, Flowers Of Romance-era PiL, and Last Exit, 'Whisper Number' is the most ambitious Air Traffic Controllers recording to date. While the album features more than its share of interplay between guitarist & drummer, many of the album's most intriguing moments result from a soundclash taking place between dueling samples, many of which are mutated beyond recognition from performances that have occurred mere seconds earlier. Whether this machinery presents itself as a compliment or competition, is for you to decide.

While upcoming performances seem unlikely --- at least until Gerard finds someone who sounds exactly like Jon Steele and or at least has the same initials (no sense in wasting all the monogrammed stagewear), new recordings by yet another version of Air Traffic Controllers will continue to emerge, as will periodic mp3's on the Parallelism website.

found at: http://www.parallelism.com/about.html

From:  London (UK)

Performed at: T3

Featuring: Gerard Cosloy – Guitar

Founder of the influential Matador label, although all of Air Traffic Controllers' output has been released on Parallelism, which he also runs. Gerard once shared a bill in New York with Loren Mazzacane Connors.

Jon Steele – Drums

ex-State River Widening

 

ALCHEMYSTS

 

Treading the thin, jagged orange line that meanders between the savage squall of punk rock, 60's garage, psychedelic rock and tripped out feedback sculpted improvisations, the Alchemysts have existed as a handsome and well groomed power trio for 10 long years. Hidden away in the wild mushroom covered hills and forests of rural Somerset they have watched musical trends come and go, laughing in the face of almost everything, kicking out the jams and ploughing their own lonesome furrow towards sonic guitar absolution. Ignored and unknown except by a select few their many influences include the likes of the MC5, the Stooges, Sonic Youth and the Thirteenth Floor Elevators as well as a host of other bands that you've never heard of or are far too uncool to mention. They have spent their valuable time constantly gigging, touring, writing and recording material for their own satisfaction and maybe yours. Over the years they have released two full length albums, a number of e.p.'s and have featured on numerous compilations. They recently collaborated with Simeon from cult 60's electronic duo the Silver Apples from which a whole album of material was recorded and released. The Alchemysts would like to stress that they embrace the spirit of punk rock but freely admit that they are unafraid of guitar solos. They are very approachable but find communication with people from 'towns' and 'cities' kind of scary in an amusing way.

found at: http://www.rubricrecords.com/bands/alchemists.html

photo of Alchemysts at T4: not sure, but probably by Scott Sterbenz

From:  Bridgwater, Somerset (UK)

Performed at: T1, T2, T3, T4, T5

Featuring:

Jon Guard – Bass, Vocals

ex-Free Spirit, The Fur Coats, Merlyn The Happy Pyg

Mat Love – Drums, Percussion

ex-Tribal Laughter, Soup

Paul Simmons – Guitar, Vocals, Harmonica

ex-Free Spirit, The Fur Coats and Merlyn The Happy Pyg, also member of The Bevis Frond and has performed with Ethereal Counterbalance, Tom Rapp and Silver Apples

 

ALVA

 

Alva are rather a rare bird. Three women, classically trained, performing whimsical avant garde compositions, with a ratio of tongue in cheek. Keyboards, violin, flute, saxophone: these are not twee or vapidly pretty "songs" but challenging, accomplished compositions. Fans of twentieth-century classical take note.

found at: http://www.aural-innovations.com/issues/issue3/terra2.html

Photo of Alva at Terrastock One by Sally Irvine

 

 

From:  Tampa Bay, Florida (USA)

Performed at: T2

Featuring:

Aida Ruilova – Keyboards, Toys and other instruments

Michelle Anderson – Saxophone, "Blud curdling screams," Toys and other instruments

Appears on Neutral Milk Hotel's 'In The Aeroplane Over the Sea' LP

Liza Wakeman – Violin

ex-Chocolate USA (with Neutral Milk Hotels Julian Koster and Olivia Tremor Control’s Bill Doss and Eric Harris, who is now a member of Elf Power), November Foxtrot Whiskey; now records as a solo artist

Band was formerly known as "Home"

AMBER ASYLUM
AmberAsylum...a filmic fusion of modern classical and post-rock...where arias and Art Songs meet in a pale field of electronic disturbance. Equally at home in the opera house or the smoky, raucous din of an underground nightclub, AmberAsylum plumbs the crevass between noise and beauty. Lyrical, confessional, dark yet aspirant, their strings, vocals, and spare percussion billow like furious mists across your consciousness...

Dark as it is beautiful, spare as it is complex, its supernaturally decadent powers will overtake you in the remote reaches of your imagination. There's no escaping the Asylum. And no reason you'd want to.

found at: http://www.neurotrecordings.com/catalog

Photo of Amber Asylum at T4 by Jerry Lombardo

From: : San Francisco, California (USA)

Performed at: T4

Featuring:

Kris Force – Guitar, Samples, Violin, Voice

also in Culper Ring with Mason Jones (SubArachnoid Space) and Steve Von Till (Neurosis). Has also recorded with Swans, The Body Lovers and Matmos

Wendy Farina – Drums

ex-Towel; also in Red Shark, Condor

Jackie Perez Gratz – Cello

Erika Stoltz – Bass

also lead singer in Lost Goat

Thee American Revolution
It’s official: Thee American Revolution will be playing this year’s Terrastock Festival in Louisville, Kentucky. If you’re not familiar with the group, let me explain it in flash cards: Robert Schneider (The Apples in Stereo) + Craig Morris (Ideal Free Distribution) + “Billy Shears,” an anonymous psychedelic rock legend from the 60’s who has been known to sit onstage upon a throne so that Robert can humbly ask for his approval after performing each of his songs.

 Their sound can best be described as “loud.” Also as “really amazingly fun.” With his New Magnetic Wonder promotion wrapped up, and the Apples rarities comp Electronic Projects for Musicians about ready to hit stores (April 1st on Yep Roc), Robert’s had more time lately to concentrate on launching TAR, including mastering the band’s first record, Buddha Electrostorm–originally planned as an EP, but with enough songs now to support a full-length.

Found at: http://opticalatlas.com

From: USA

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

Robert Schnieder - guitar, vocals

Craig Morris

Bill Doss (ex Olivia Tremor Control and Sunshine Fix) was to have performed with them, but was hospitalized.

ANTIETAM

 

One of the great secrets in the American underground, Antietam arose out of the same fertile scene that spawned indie guitar rock luminaries such as Yo La Tengo, Come and Eleventh Dream Day.  Based in Louisville and anchored on the throaty, androgynous voice of singer/guitarist/songwriter Tara Key, Antietam can be seen today as one of the few remaining links to American’s noted Paisley Underground.  Though Antietam formed a few years after said scene’s heyday and came from more removed environs than either coast, its combination of wiry guitar dissonance and post psychedelic dreaminess plants the group firmly in the pantheon of great noise pop bands.  After the release of the classic Rope-A-Dope for Homestead Records it was feared that Antietam might be fading from the scene, but 2004 onward has seen much activity with live shows and two excellent new studio albums for the Carrot Top Label, including the fantastic 2CD Opus Mixtum, featuring acoustic vignettes worthy of Nick Drake right alongside blistering post punk eruptions.  Fans of the above groups, Throwing Muses and The Dream Syndicate will not want to miss this most excellent ensemble.  Key albums: Rope-A-Dope (Homestead), Victory Park (Carrot Top), Opus Mixtum (Carrot Top).

from the T7 festival program, written by Lee Jackson

From: New York (USA)

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

Tara Key – Guitar, Vocals

x – Drums

x - Bass

 

 

ARCO
When Arco play live their small band of loyal, knowing supporters edge politely to the front of the stage. They do this not in preparation for some abandoned slam-dancing ritual or anything so energetic. They do it because Arco play so quietly that if you're more than a few feet from the stage the chances are that the clink of glasses at the bar will drown out their exquisitely fragile laments. What Arco do is the antithesis of 'Rocking Out'.

Arco are unusual in a number of ways. Ask Chris Healy about his musical influences and you very quickly realise you're not talking to the archetypal record obsessive. Chris is in his mid-30s, and Arco is his first shot at being in a band. He didn't start writing songs until a few years ago. In fact, only David falls into the the category of serial band-member, drummer Nick having just dabbled a bit when at college in the 80s. Chris does mention Nick Drake though, and that gives some indication of the restrained, quintessentially British explorations of sweet melancholy that Arco specialise in.

(from a feature in The Ptolemaic Terrascope)

Photo of Arco at Terrastock III Aug 99 by Chris Gillis

From: London (UK)

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

Chris Healey – Guitar, Vocals

Nick Healey – Drums

David Milligan – Bass, Melodica

 

AREA C

AREA C was formed in 2003 by Erik Carlson in order to turn sounds created by guitar, organ, percussion, field recordings and other analog sources into manipulated but recognizably organic soundscapes. Largely based around improvisation and the recording medium as compositional tools, AREA C explores both extremes -- severe sonic manipulation within computer and/or tape deck, and the live creation of both subtle and overloaded rooms of sound in live show settings.

 

Erik Carlson lives in Providence, RI. He also performs and collaborates with Joel Thibodeau in Death Vessel. Prior to forming AREA C, he was a founding member of Purple Ivy Shadows ('92 - '02) and Seeland ('00 - '01, with I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness's Ernest Salaz).

 

Joel Thibodeau lives in Brooklyn, NY and IS Death Vessel. He plays guitar, violin, persussion and sings in AREA C. Prior to all that, he was in Stringbuilder with his brother Alec.

 

Jeff Knoch is currently travelling in the southwest with Parmalee, his dog. He plays Farfisa and harmonium with AREA C, and is a founding member of Providence's Urdog.

 

Found at: www.areacmusic.com

 

From: Providence, RI USA

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Erik Carlson

Joel Thibodeau

 

 

 

 

AUTUMN LEAVES

 

Autumn Leaves Grimsey Records debut (Grimsey 005), "You Didn't Say A Word (The Ballad of Plum Tucker)" b/w "Magic Red Raincoat," was released in November 1995. Both tracks appear on the band's full length release (September 1997), "Treats and Treasures." The collection highlights a sterling melodic sensibility tinged with just the right dose of psychedelia, resulting in a quintessential collection of vital pop songs. The album rings with a crisp, clean sound classically influenced by greats like the Beatles, Hollies, and Byrds.

found at: http://www.grimsey.com/autumnleaves.html
 

 

 

 

 

 

From:  Minneapolis, MN (USA)

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

David Beckley – Vocals, Guitar

ex-Sedgwicks, Glow

Matt Gerzema – Guitar, Vocals

ex-The Legendary Jim Ruiz

Bryan Hanna – Drums

currently in The Orange Peels

Keith Patterson – Bass

ex-The Spectors, The Funseekers, The Conquerors

AVARUS

Unhinged psychotic madness, wildly propulsive psych-folk and Krautrock grooves move into a forested world of dream abstraction, ambience and moonlight trance that reveals a blurred close-up of a band that’s all about freedom, intuition and passion. Beauty is placed right next to chaos; order only a stone throw away from disorder. This is one of very few bands that can take their Ash Ra Tempel, Amon Düül, Tangerine Dream, Godz and Pärson Sound influences and somehow make them sound their own. Despite often investigating the eerie depths of late-'60s/early ’70s psychedelia there is something very modern and demented about all this that feels especially relevant these days. A fucked-up world is typically the birthplace for surreal musical journeys, and boarding Avarus’ vessel through history and into the present day certainly offers a different projection of all that madness.-Mats Gustafsson

found at: http://www.digitalisindustries.com

 

Avarus photographed at Terrastock 6 by Scott


 

From:  Finland

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Roope Eronen - keys, effects
 

Markus Mäki - bass guitar
 

Tero Niskanen - keys, effects
 

Arttu Partinen - drums, voice
 

Lars Mattila - electric guitar
 

 

THE AZUSA

PLANE

 

Contrary to popular belief, the Azusa Plane is one man. The Azusa Plane creates climates. Remember the last time you drove a very long distance alone and found yourself watching low flying clouds form off the edges of mountains only to disintegrate minutes later? Have you been in the quiet dusk of the eye of a hurricane? Do driving rains and thunder lull you to sleep? Jason Diemilio may or may not use the Azusa Plane to explore these experiences, but if you want a more accurate explanation of what his mostly improvised droning guitar noise sounds like you'll just have to find out for yourself. Initially, the mission of the Azusa Plane was to release a 10 volume series on vinyl. Having reached that goal four times over, the Azusa Plane now threatens to halt operations and resume anew under the guise Spires of Oxford. But before this was to happen, I had the chance to make my way to see the Azusa Plane play with Roy Montgomery, Silver Apples, Neutral Milk Hotel, Bardo Pond, and countless others at the three-day Terrastock benefit in San Francisco.

I made it to Terrastock to hear the final moan of feedback from you guys. That was fairly annoying, as I planned my arrival time so that I could catch Roy Montgomery and then Azusa Plane, but the times kept getting switched around. So, since I still haven't seen you live, how is it different from your recorded material?

Well, in a live venue, we focus on being a loud guitar improv rock band. I have found that the quiet subtle guitar ambiance isn't always the most entertaining show to watch, so what we have done is set up the pounding rhythmic tribal drums and just play through our guitar amps with massive amounts of distortion/volume/effects. Lately we have added some other players such as clarinet/violin/4-track/organ/keyboards/second drummer to fill in some of the empty spaces and just give it some added depth. We like to let loose and wail on our guitars.

How were you approached to do it?

Phil McMullen has supported the Azusa Plane since day one until now (not many people have), and as soon as I heard about Terrastock 1, I asked Phil if we could play, and he obliged. He also invited us to Terrastock 2. I would have been very disappointed to miss them...

I haven't written anything on Terrastock, so hopefully you won't mind going into some detail about that weekend...

A weekend which was very strange and emotional for me. Sadly, our timeslot was messed up, and we were really off-kilter when playing, so we didn't really play the way we should have, and considering it will be the only time we make it to San Francisco, that was kind of a let down, but it was as amazing an event as Terrastock 1. The fact that you can bring all those wonderful musicians and people together is amazing. I don't know how Phil McMullen could pull it off, but it is pretty surreal when you are sitting and watching Alastair Galbraith paddle out into the bay in a little blow up raft. All I can really say it is a special event and the fact that it happens is a minor miracle.

Was Galbraith in the bay right out back of the concert place? What was he trying to do?

Yeah, it was pretty damn great. He went and bought a blow up raft because someone said they wanted to go boating.

That was the first time I saw most of those bands, and in most cases that was the first time I heard those bands. Seeing Neutral Milk Hotel was bordering on surreal. Mazzacane Connors' set was just elegant. Mountain Goats was funny and got me thinking about a bad relationship. Major Stars hurt my ears. Galbraith confused me.

All amazing...and all some of the greatest bands/musicians in the world. That is why the whole thing is nuts. All these amazing people left to toil in obscurity, and let's face it, most of them will toil in obscurity the rest of their lives. Alastair should be on 60 Minutes .

Why should Alastair Galbraith be on 60 Minutes ?

I can't explain it, really, Alastair just has this amazing spirit around him, he is a wonderful musician and painter. He lives in obscurity and squalor, and he should be a star.

Which musicians did you enjoy the most?

Neutral Milk Hotel.

Neutral Milk Hotel: wow. That was something. I loved how Mangum started on stage by himself and one by one the horn section crept onto one side of the stage and then the whole band crept on and that freak with the motorcycle helmet instrument was wandering around the stage in a haze. Did you get to talk to those guys about the show? It looked pretty exhausting.

They rule, they rule, they rule. I can't praise them enough. The new record Aeroplane... will go down as a life changing record for me. Jeff Mangum has a special talent. Live they just project it all perfectly. Every time I see them it's like a traveling circus -- two vans, a bunch of bands, and a million instruments. I dream of being in a band that great.

by Chad Bidwell

found at: http://www.ink19.com/issues_F/99_03/

 

From:  Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania (USA)

Performed at: T1, T2, T3

Featuring:

Jason DiEmilio – Guitar

also records as The Spires of Oxford and plays in Mazarin’s live incarnation

Jason Knight – Guitar

ex-Mariner Nine. Both Jasons joined Gibbons Bros. (Bardo Pond), Dave Pearce (Flying Saucer Attack) and Carl Hultgren (Windy & Carl) in "Drone Summit" in the Rogue Lounge at Terrastock 1 - subsequently released as a CD by Little Army Records entitled 'Providence 27.4.97'

Quentin Stoltzfus – Drums

ex-Therisphere. Also plays guitar in Mazarin with Brian McTear who was in Mariner Nine with Jason Knight and who ran Minor Street Studios where most of Azusa Plane and Bardo Pond’s records were recorded.

The Azusa Plane CD 'Result Dies With The Worker' on Colorful Clouds for Acoustics includes material recorded live at both Terrastock 1 and 2.

Tragically, Jason DiEmilio ended his own life on November 1st 2006 following a lengthy period of deteriorating health and hearing loss.

BABLICON

 


Photo by Jim Newberry
 

From left to right: The Diminisher, Blue Hawaii, Marta Tennae
 

 

 

Bablicon was formed in Chicago in 1996 by The Diminisher (Dave McDonnell), Marta Tennae (Jeremy Barnes), and Blue Hawaii (Griffin Rodriguez). Each member is a writer, as well as an improviser. Plus each member can play an arsenal of instruments. In A Different City, their first album, has both material which is highly composed and wholly improvised. It was recorded by the band in an abandoned machine shop. The roar of Chicago's elevated train (whose tracks ran only a few feet away from the shop's walls) continually interrupted the proceedings.
After completing the album, Dave worked on finishing his degree in music composition, and Griffin set out to India to study the Veena, a South Indian relative of the sitar. Jeremy went on tour in Europe with Neutral Milk Hotel, and spent time living there as well.
In May of 1999, the band got together again for the first realization of its "painticons." 400 blank LP covers were placed on the floor and painted by the audience while the band performed. These covers were then used for the vinyl version of In A Different City. The record was released in the US by Misra and in the UK by Pickled Egg.
June 2000 saw the release of the Orange Tapered Moon EP. The main bulk of the recordings were done in a long, late night session at the WFMU studios in New Jersey in November 1999 with more additions/edits done at home. Again all the LP covers were hand-painted.
The group's third record, A Flat Inside A Fog, The Cat That Was A Dog, was released in June 2001. After its recording, Dave went off to study in China and Jeremy took up residence in France. Griffin began work on his new project, Icey Demons, and finished recording a record in 2003.


found at: http://www.elephant6.com/bands/bablicon.html

 

From:  Chicago, Illinois (USA)

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

Blue Hawaii (aka The Bageler) – Bass, Vocals, Piano, Sampler

also in free jazz outfit, Fransis Locrius (with The Diminisher), H.I.M., Toe, Toe 2000

(Kaiser) The Diminisher – Piano, Tenor Sax, Theremin, Organ, Bass, Sampler

also in free jazz outfit, Fransis Locrius (with Blue Hawaii)

Marta Tennae – Drums, Piano, Kazoo, Voice, Sampler

aka Jeremy Barnes from Neutral Milk Hotel [T1,2], The Gerbils, Circulatory System, Guignol, Music Tapes, Now It’s Overhead,also records solo and as A Hawk and A Hacksaw

Marta's been recording albums with Guignol, Hawk & Hacksaw and they all appear on the Need New Body LPs
 

BARDO POND

 

The world's most essential psychedelic rock experience should defy rational explanation and scholarly deconstruction. No tablature can define for you what these latter day cosmic couriers bring to the table, no lyric sheet will give you access to their text; you put the music on, close your eyes, and dream your equivalent of the pond into existence. Bardo Pond has the outward specifications of a rock band — guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, occasional but crucial flute and violin and vocals — but the rivers that converge into the band's oneiric flow have their headwaters in the outlands of ecstatic jazz, free noise and the avant-garde. Their slow-motion avalanches of churning instrumentation and voice suggest drugged states but don't necessarily require them. They alter brain chemistry by the alchemical effect of distressed sound alone, aspiring to become engineers of the soul's passage to alternate states of consciousness. At the foundation of the pyramid, the drums of (originally) Joe Culver and (now) Ed Farnsworth and the bass of Clint Takeda lay down a sinewy, sexy and hypnagogic bottom end. At the centre of the pyramid, the twin guitars of John and Michael Gibbons send out emissaries of fire, flaying flesh from bone in a storm of holy liberation. Isobel Sollenberger inhabits the place where the pyramid meets the eye of their storm, weaving fibres of voice, flute and violin through the din.

Photograph: C. Taylor Crothers © 1999

 

 

 

 

 

 

I heard someone comment recently that the limits of music have now been defined, bracketed by John Cage's silence at one end and Merzbow's maximum noise at the other, leaving only the option of filling the spaces in between. Bardo Pond demonstrate how much scope there is to innovate within that continuum. If rock music is to have any relevance in the new millennium, it is bands like Bardo Pond that will make it so.

(by Tony Dale, from a feature in The Ptolemaic Terrascope)

From: Philadelphia, Pennslyvania (USA)

Performed at: T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7

Featuring:

Joe Culver – Drums

John Gibbons – Guitar

Michael Gibbons – Guitar, Synths

The Gibbons Bros. joined Jason Knight and Jason DiEmilio (Azusa Plane), Dave Pearce (Flying Saucer Attack) and Carl Hultgren (Windy & Carl) in "Drone Summit" in Rogue Lounge at Terrastock 1, highlights of which were issued on Enraptured’s “Providence” 10” EP (issued on CD by Little Army)

Isobel Sollenberger – Voice, Violin, Flute

Clint Takeda – Bass

band also records as Hash Jar Tempo with Roy Montgomery, and performed two songs with him at T2

Bardo Pond had a song included on the Terrastock 5 7" EP, Time-Lag 2002. (Part of a 5x7" EP boxed set which also featured Stone Breath, Sonic Youth, Charalambides, and The Iditarod)

Makoto Kawabata of Acid Mothers Temple became an honorary member of Bardo Pond for their T7 performance

MARTYN BATES

 

After releasing experimental/industrial tapes of Antagonistic Music/Dissonance (as Migraine Inducers), Martyn Bates formed Eyeless In Gaza in 1980 as a duo with Peter Becker. Eager to explore musical territories that veered crazily from filmic ambience to rock and pop, industrial funk to avant-folk styles, the duo steered hungrily and rapidly through several albums that culminated in the reflective swan songs of Rust Red September and Back From the Rains. Citing a need to explore fresh territories and musical configurations/situations, Bates suspended Eyeless In Gaza activities in February 1987, leaving behind an eclectic legacy and influential body of work that has yet to be fully acknowledged by the press. Contributions to the soundtracks of Derek Jarmans’ The Garden and The Last of England followed, along with a series of solo albums that saw Bates armed with a 12-string acoustic guitar investigating traditional troubadour stylings whilst moving further and further from that particular context with each successive release... 1996 saw the long overdue first appearance of Martyn Bates work on the printed page, with a Stride Publications book entitled ’Imagination Feels Like Poison: Selected Solo Lyrics 1982-1995’. A companion release (going by the same title) convincingly threads together several strands of Bates’ past work, whilst adamantly embracing further new developments – a haunted, mesmeric ”folk” music, quite unlike any other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

found at: http://www.eyelessingaza.com/mbbio.html

 

From: Nuneaton, Warwickshire (UK)

Performed at: T4

Featuring:

Martyn Bates - Guitar, Vocals

ex-Eyeless In Gaza, Migraine Inducers, Hungry i; also in Twelve Thousand Days and has recorded with Anne Clark and Mark Harris

THE BEVIS

FROND

"The Bevis Frond was Nick Saloman, a neo-psychedelic renaissance man and the sole writer, performer and producer behind the cottage industry bearing the Frond name. The head of his own label (Woronzow) as well as publishing the highly regarded Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine, Saloman was a quintessential English eccentric, a frighteningly prolific talent and a true anachronism purveying an archaic musical genre while simultaneously pioneering the lo-fi aesthetic. Saloman cloaked his formative years in mystery; according to legend, he formed his first band, the Bevis Frond Museum, during his school years, and after the group disbanded he performed solo acoustic sets throughout the London area known as Walthamstow. After founding the Von Trapp Family, later known as Room 13, Saloman was sidelined in 1982 following a motorcycle accident. With the money he received as compensation for his injuries, he revived the Bevis Frond name and during his recuperation period assembled 1986's Miasma, a slice of twisted, latter-day psychedelia issued on Woronzow in a pressing of 250.
Much to Saloman's shock, the record sold out; realizing an audience existed for his brand of time-warped pop, he quickly issued Inner Marshland, another underground success which encouraged him to raid his extensive archives for more material. With the floodgates opened, new Bevis Frond material — much of it written and recorded at Saloman's home long before it ever saw release — appeared constantly; in 1988 alone, Woronzow issued three separate collections, Triptych, Bevis Through the Looking Glass and Acid Jam, all spotlighting his surreal wit and acute social commentary. Beginning with 1990's Any Gas Faster, Saloman was secure enough financially to begin recording in an outside studio; as the new decade dawned, he also made his live debut, appearing sporadically with an ever-changing group of backing musicians. After 1990's Magic Eye, a joint collaboration with former Pink Fairy Twink, the Bevis Frond issued its acknowledged masterpiece, 1991's double-LP set New River Head; erratic and eclectic, Saloman's output continued on without concession to trends or consumer tastes, with new albums appearing with clocklike precision: 1993's It Just Is, 1995's Superseeder, 1998's two-disc North Circular and 1999's Vavona Burr, plus the excellent concert recording Live at the Great American Music Hall, San Francisco. Valedictory Songs followed two years later."

Photo of Bevis at Terrastock 2: Erik Auerbach http://www.aquariusrecords.org/exhibits/terra2.html

found at: http://www.allmusic.com

 

From:  Walthamstow, London (UK)

Performed at: T1, T2, T3, T4, T5

Featuring:

Nick Saloman - Guitar, Vocals

also in Magic Muscle; ex-Dune, Nick & Dick, Von Trapp Family, Room 13, Outskirts of Infinity and Oddsocks

also recorded as Fred Bison V, Dr. Frond, Nick & Nick & The Psychotic Drivers, The Bizaardvarks, The Conrad Hopkins Set, The Parthenogenetick Brotherhood and The Vacant Plot and appears on many of the (other artists’) releases on his Woronzow label

Nick appears on the Primordial Undermind track on the 7" EP "If I Could Hear You I Would Hit You"

jammed with Alchemysts [T2], Magic Muscle and Tom Rapp (various)

backed daughter, Debbie Saloman in Petrocat [T3]

Adrian Shaw - Bass, Vocals

Also in Magic Muscle; ex-Hawkwind, Crazy World of Arthur Brown, J.P. Sunshine, Rustic Hinge, Ad Nauseum, Dobbin, Atomic Rooster, Steve P.Took, Zarabanda, Keith Christmas Band, Deep Fix, The Vox Bros, Red, White and Blues and many others too numerous to mention. Several solo album releases as well, the first of which, Aerial Dance, was self-released on his own Cyborg label. The others are available on Woronzow, the label he helps run with Nick Saloman.

Andy Ward – Drums

ex-Camel, Caravan of Dreams and Marillion.

Ade and Andy were also honorary Deviants with Mick Farren

 

BLACK FOREST / BLACK SEA
Black Forest/Black Sea is the duo of Jeffrey Alexander and Miriam Goldberg. They formed the band in April of 2003 in Providence, RI where both currently live and work. Miriam primarily plays cello and sings, while Jeffrey primarily plays guitar, although both also employ various electronics, omnichord, live sampling tools, strumstick, and whatever they can get their hands on. Since forming, BF/BS have toured extensively, travelling around the US for six weeks in the summer of 2003 and in Europe for three and a half months in winter and spring of 2004.

BF/BS have toured with Fursaxa, Christina Carter (of Scorces, Charalambides), Gravenhurst and in Poland with the Magic Carpathian Project. They have also collaborated on recordings with Kemialliset Ystavat, Christina Carter, Glenn Donaldson (of the Jewelled Antler Collective), Gravenhurst and German psych-folk duo Fit and Limo.

Before forming this new project, both Jeffrey and Miriam were members of the acid-folk group Iditarod. the Iditarod (BlueSanct / Secretly Canadian, Elsie and Jack, Time-Lag and Camera Obscura labels) toured extensively in the USA, Canada, and Europe over the past six years and have been featured repeatedly in magazines like the Wire, Broken Face, Mojo, Rockerilla, Copper Press, Magnet, Dream Magazine, Ptolemaic Terrascope and Rolling Stone. They performed at the 5th Terrastock Festival in Boston, where a 5x7" box-set was released featuring the Iditarod, Sonic Youth, Bardo Pond, Stone Breath and Charalambides. Jeffrey also operated the Magic Eye Singles record label and he currently runs the Secret Eye record label.

Article found in: http://www.secreteye.org/b/bio/

Photo: www.lotsofnoise.com

From:  Pittsburgh, USA

Performed at: T6, T7

Featuring:

Jeffrey Alexander - guitar, effects, sleep

Miriam Goldberg – Cello

Margot Goldberg - violin

Jeffrey Alexander was the principal organiser of Terrastock 6.

 

BRIDGET

St JOHN

Imagine hearing Nico's dark, smokey voice beautifully in tune and you'll touch the melodic tip of what's so gorgeous about British folkie Bridget St John. Originally Bridget recorded for John Peel's short-lived Dandelion label (1969-1972), which promptly gave her the well-deserved label of "chanteuse". Critical acclaim did not equal commercial success, and St John seemed to vanish, only to re-emerge in the New York City area with some live performances. Bridget's recent sets are aided and embellished by guitarist Mick Gaffney.

Article found in: the Terrastock 6 festival program

Photo of Bridget at T6: Phil McMullen

From: UK

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Bridget St John - Guitar, Vocals

Mick Gaffney - Guitar

 

 

BROKEN DOG

 

 

Broken Dog formed in the summer of 1994, when Clive Painter and Martine Roberts met and began to record and develop their songs on a worn out reel to reel machine.
Influenced by the spirit of such American luminaries as the Grifters, Swell, Pavement, Smog, Will Oldham and Guided By Voices, they set about recording what became their debut album, discovering along their colourful way a penchant for dark, brooding undertows.
Big Cat Records signed them, and their critically acclaimed self-titled album was released in November 1996.
clive

To date Broken Dog have released four albums and five singles/eps.
After the release of Zero, Broken Dog released Sleeve With Hearts on the Piao! label, and have since signed to The Kitty Kitty Corporation.

 

Clive also works on instrumental tracks which are released on various labels under the name 'Wolf'.

Clive and Martine spend some of their time collaborating and producing records for other bands. Most prominently, they co-wrote with Paul Anderson for his project Tram, producing a handful of singles and the much acclaimed debut album 'Heavy Black Frame'.

The Broken Dog live band is possible with the help of the brilliant Mark Wilsher on drums, and some other of their musical friends: Sean Newsham from Quickspace on bass, and the occassional assistance of Andrew Blick of Blowpipe.

found at: http://www.brokendog.fsnet.co.uk/frame.html

From:  London (UK)

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

Andrew Blick – trumpet

also in Blowpipe

Alex Morris - acoustic guitar and keyboards

Clive Painter – Guitar

Martine Roberts - vocals, bass and acoustic guitar

Clive & Martine both ex-Monograph and Tram

Mark Wilsher – drums

ex-Faith Over Reason

 

BROTHER JT

 

The name is John Terlesky, (born in Easton, PA.,USA) but people have been calling him JT for as long as he can remember. BROTHER JT since the early 90’s (suggested by a music writer/benefactor who felt some of his ramblings resembled those of a defrocked monk). It’s not easy to write to have the blessing for an official ‘ bio ‘ as John Terlesky admits himself because he does not feel he has achieved the notoriety to warrant it. What he has done is written a lot of songs. His first group the ORIGINAL SINS (1987-1998) put out some 10 albums and the same number as BROTHER JT as of 1991 onwards. As he himself describes " … To me it’s always been about the songs anyway. I think I only really feel in my element when I’m putting melodies and rhymes together, which could account for all the time I’ve spent doing it without much compensation. "

For a while when the Original Sins started it seemed like they might be going places: They got great reviews from Rolling Stone, Sounds and Creem magazines, did some tours of the US and Europe and even got a few videos played on MTV’S " 120 Minutes ". But their version of Garage pop never really fit in with either the 60’s purist or indie rock camps and they kind of fell through the cracks the Grunge scene created. The same could be also said for the BROTHER JT output, despite being labelled " psychedelic " or whatever, it’s either been a little too lo-fi and trippy for some and too poppy for others. Nevertheless it seemed just right for him at the time of writing and recording it. John Terlesky believes the reason he has never gained much acceptance is because he always " … wanted to reconcile the popular with the experimental ". The music he loved most (early Stooges, John Coltrane, 13th Floor Elevators, Beach Boys, Velvet Underground) all possessed both elements: light and darkness. In a way he is still trying to come up with just the right balance.

Strangely enough, despite the doubtful prospect of profit-making, people keep wanting to put out his records. He would have probably just kept writing songs anyway, so the fact that some value them enough to let them see the light of the day makes him feel pretty successful after all.

found at: http://www.tonguemaster.co.uk
 

From: Pennsylvania (USA)

Perfomed at: T2

Featuring:

John Terlesky – Vocals, Guitar

also in Original Sins. ex-The Creatures (NOT Siouxsie’s band!), Suffacox (with Vibrolux’ Wayne Hamilton). Also recorded as Fuzzface, Brother JT3 and many other aliases, and has released material on his own label, Bedlam.

Performed additionally at T2 as Brother JT & Vibrolux, featuring:

Jon Boothman – Bass

Fearless leader, limo driver and tour manager on The Bevis Frond's 1999 North American tour. Ex-Gelcaps and member of Naked Movie Star

Wayne Hamilton – Guitar

ex-Suffacox

Dave Frank – Drums

also joined by Joe Turner (Abunai! – T1, 3)

BROTHERS OF

THE OCCULT SISTERHOOD

Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood is centred around Michael Donnelly who resides in Kyogle, a tiny Australian town that stands in the middle of one of the country's largest rainforests. The stunning mountain scenery, the rainforests surrounding the town and the remnant magma chamber of an extinct and enormous volcano that can be found nearby are apparent when listening to their music. That being said, these people provide a diverse trek through the outer regions of acoustic improvisations, tribal folk eruptions, forested drones, roaring psychedelia, strangely fractured folk-scapes; and even then there's still a unifying cohesion to what's going on here.

Text found at: Terrastock 6 festival program

Photo of BOTOS at T6: Phil McMullen
 

From: Australia

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Michael Donnelly

Not the same Michael Donnelly as the one who performed with Lhasa Cement Plant at T1, or the same Michael Donnelly who played with Delicate AWOL at T4 and T5.

 

 

CHARALAMBIDES

 

 

"Charalambides are among the most beautiful and mysterious groups to have emerged from the American desert. Formed in 1991 in Houston, Texas, they have created a glowing template of humanist/mystical improvisation that has kneaded brain muscles from here to Kokomo."

Photo of Charalambides at Terrastock 5 by Avril Wine

found at: http://www.southern.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Originally From:  Austin, Texas (USA)

Performed at: T4, T5, T6

Featuring:

Christina Carter – Vocals, Guitar

also solo and in Scorces (with Murray)

Tom Carter – Vocals, Guitar

also solo; ex-Mike Gunn; also recorded with Pip Proud and Primordial Undermind

and at T4 and T5:

Heather Murray – Organ, Guitar, Vocals

also in Scorces (with Christina); ex-Ash Castles on the Ghost Coast

Charalambides had a song included on the Terrastock 5 7" EP, Time-Lag 2002. (Part of a 5x7" EP boxed set which also featured Stone Breath, Sonic Youth, Bardo Pond, and The Iditarod)

CHILDREN OF

THE RAINBOW

 

Kate Biggar and Naomi Yang with "Rainbow Eyes" - photo: Richard Booth (from the private collection of the Editor)

The only tribute band ever to have played a Terrastock festival - the Magic Hour line-up pays homage to Merrell Fankhauser and Mu.

"We ride a white horse, our message is true / And our magic works in the daylight / Could it be that we've been searching for you / Come go with us into the sunshine / Come go with us over the rainbow...."

from the Terrastock Four festival program notes

 

From: Boston, Massachusetts (USA)

Performed at: T4

Featuring:

Damon Krukowski - Drums

Kate Biggar - Guitar, Vocals

Wayne Rogers - Guitar, Vocals

Naomi Yang - Bass, Vocals

Same band as Magic Hour, but wearing cunning disguises...

 

CLOCKBRAINS

 

Clockbrains have been playing live and recording as a band since 1989. Holding true to their DIY independence, their latest CD The Other Side of the Sky is the fourth of a series of self-released titles on the Fancy Basket Toy Co label. The first LP Everything You Want was an extensive foray in studio experimenttation - an eclectic blend of spacey psychedelia, carnival ride keyboards and drowsy swing, all overlaid with tuneful pop. With bassist Lynne Porterfield's part-time move to 12-string guitar the band added the complementary bass/guitar talents of Matt Appleby. The power hitting of new drummer Mark Hutchins, together with the melodious guitar work of Alleyne Rogers and the occasional spooky violinery of John Ettinger combine in The Other Side of the Sky, the result of Clockbrains' 5 year evolution in defining their own brand of noisy, melodic rock.

from: a Fancy Basket Toy Co press release

 

 

From:  San Francisco, California (USA)

Played at: T2

Featuring:

Matt Appleby – Guitar, Bass

Mark Hutchins – Drums

Lynne Porterfield – Bass, Vocals

her solo debut 7", "3 Foot Stonehenge" launched the ArtStorm Record label in 1997

Alleyne Rogers – Guitar, Vocals

Lynne and Alleyne are believed to have been in Caroliner.

Clockbrains' performance at Terrastock 2 proved to be their final gig. Their album was reissued in 2005.

LOREN [MAZZACANE] CONNORS

 

Loren MazzaCane Connors was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1949. Best known as a composer and improviser, Connors has released over 30 albums on record labels across the globe. Music has always been a part of Connors' life. As a child he studied violin (which he credits with shaping his vibrato technique on the guitar) and trombone and guitar during his teens. Though in 1966 he began playing bass guitar in a rock band. Early on Connors was heavily influenced by his mother's singing as well. She often performed Johann Sebastian Bach pieces at funerals. This exposure to classical music led Connors to investigate the music of Giacomo Puccini and Frederic Chopin. Blues, particularly the works of Robert Pete Williams and Muddy Waters, also appealed to him. Instead of concentrating on music Connors decided to study art at Southern Connecticut University and the University of Cincinnati in the early 1970s. Though he quickly decided his music was more original than his painting. He moved back to Connecticut in 1976 and lived in a warehouse artist community. In 1978 Connors began releasing his first LPs -- an eight volume series of improvised acoustic works on his own Daggett imprint. Around 1981 he shifted from this style of free improvisation to a more structured style, performing mostly traditional and original folk music with singer Kath Bloom, which he recorded on his Daggett and St. Joan labels. Then from 1984-1987 Connors abandoned music and it wasn't until the end of this hiatus did he turn to electric guitar.

By this time Connors had ceased Daggett and was releasing his (and Robert Crotty's) work on St. Joan and recording regularly with vocalist Suzanne Langille. He also recorded under numerous names: Loren MazzaCane, Loren Mattei and Guitar Roberts before settling on Loren MazzaCane Connors in 1993. The 1989 LP "In Pittsburgh," managed to gain a growing interest in Connors. After moving to New York City in 1991 Connors released his most heralded album at that point, "Hell's Kitchen Park," on yet another label of his own, Black Label. Since 1991 Connors' profile has risen dramaticly. Portland, Oregon's Road Cone label became one of the first to issue Connor's albums for him. Since that time Connors has performed across the United States (including Alaska), Ireland, England and Sweden. He has performed with Keiji Haino, Alan Licht, Jim O'Rourke, Chan Marshall, Darin Gray, Rafael Toral, John Fahey, Thurston Moore, Henry Kaiser, Dean Roberts and numerous others. Suzanne Langille has continued to appear on many of his recordings as vocalist and songwriter, and has also edited and arranged many of his solo recordings. Currently, Connors often performs with his band, Haunted House, which includes Langille, guitarist Andrew Burnes and percussionist Neel Murgai.

Connors' recorded output has gained momentem during the '90s, making him possibly the most prolific guitarist in music. There are over 50 records of Connors' on his own imprints and on over two dozen other labels: Road Cone, Table of the Elements, Union Pole, P-Vine, Halana, Ecstatic Peace!, Father Yod, Drag City, Dexter's Cigar, The Lotus Sound, OO Disc, Hat Noir, Secretly Canadian, Family Vineyard, Megalon, Menlo Park, Persona non grata, Forced Exposure, Gyttya, Drunken Fish and more.

found at: http://www.fvrec.com/lorenmazzacaneconnors/info.html

 

From: Chicago, Illinois (USA)

Performed at: T2

Featuring:

Loren Connors - Guitar

has released many of his albums on his own Daggett, St. Joan and Black Label imprints, several under  pseudonyms, including Haunted House (with his wife, Suzanne Langille), Guitar Roberts, Loren MazzaCane and Loren Mattei.

 

CROME SYRCUS

 

 

 

One of the staples of the Northwest [USA] psychedelic rock scene in the '60s, Crome Syrcus released a fabulous album in 1968 entitled Love Cycle. After many accolades and a move to San Francisco, the band split up and the members went off in various different musical and career directions. Their show at Terrastock 4 will be the first reunion of the band in many, many years.

from the Terrastock Four programme notes

photo credit: http://www.cromesyrcus.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From:  Seattle, Washington (USA)

Performed at: T4

Featuring :

John Gaborit – Guitar

Lee Graham – Bass

ex-Seattle Jazz Quartet. Now known as Yakima Lee; also records solo and as member of The Decrees and KriyaShakti

Jim Plano – Drums

ex-Grandma’s Cookies

Dick Powell – Keyboards, Harp

leads the award-winning blues project, The Dick Powell Band

Gaborit, Powell and Plano all ex-The Mystics

Ted Shreffler – Keyboards

Powell continues to gig and record with his band and I believe Yakima Lee Graham also records and gigs as KriyaShakti

CUL DE SAC

 

Of the many adjectives that have been lavished upon Cul de Sac's utterly original, trans-genre instrumental sound over their thirteen year tenure, "cinematic" has certainly been a common one. Perhaps the band instinctively realized that their music was a perfect compliment for the moving image, for in their early days Cul de Sac would perform live with experimental films as a backdrop, and often have created live musical accompaniment to many screenings of classic silent pictures. So when Cul de Sac were commissioned by Boston's Cityscape Motion Pictures in 2001 to compose the original score for The Strangler's Wife - a low budget, feminist-leaning slasher film made for New Concorde, the production/distribution company owned by "King of the B's" Roger Corman (Little Shop of Horrors, The Masque of the Red Death etc) - their cinematic music became positively widescreen. The Strangler's Wife is the original motion picture score by Cul de Sac, a soundtrack album that also happens to be one of the most diverse and musically vivid recordings of Cul de Sac's career.

Cul de Sac outside Jon Williams' Vermont recording studio.
l-r: Jake Trussell, Jon Proudman, Jonathan LaMaster, Glenn Jones, Robin Amos.

In the middle of what was to become Cul de Sac's fifth studio album (2003's critically heralded Death of the Sun), the band switched gears to lend their unique avant/psych-rock atmospherics to The Strangler's Wife. Thoroughly absorbed in the script and rough cuts of the film, the band began composing music specifically for key scenes. Glenn Jones came to the studio offering one of the best songs of his career - "Mirror II (Mae and Elena)", a yearning, Fahey-esque acoustic ballad (heartstring-tugging courtesy of Jonathan LaMaster's emotive violin melodies). Samples and electronic compositions were brought in by Cul de Sac electricians Robin Amos and Jake Trussell, exactingly constructed for certain scenes. The rest of the music was either composed in the studio or improvised on the spot, as the film was running. The resulting score unfurls a sonic scene-by-scene recreation of the movie as Cul de Sac heard it. From the film's opening sequence "First Victim (Apple)/Main Titles", Cul de Sac offer up a dose of their idiosyncratic Kraut-vibe, with a touch prog that brings to mind Goblin's 70's Italian horror film scores…but from there, the musical plot is anything but predictable. Sentimental/ominous acoustic-fueled compositions, horror show sound paintings, visceral drum 'n' bass meltdowns, ambient tonal soundscapes - all are revealed through the course of the recording, with remarkably dramatic effect.
In the spirit of classic Italian horror film scores of the 70's and film soundtracks scored by avant rock bands such as Nosferatu (Popol Vuh), More (Pink Floyd) and Zabriskie Point (Various), Cul de Sac has concocted music of a tremendously detailed, dynamic scope. The Strangler's Wife is a silver screen moment for one of the most expressive experimental rock bands of the last decade.

found at: http://www.strange-attractors.com/catalog/saah017.html

From: Boston, Massachusetts (USA)

Performed at: T1, T2, T5, T6

Featuring:

Robin Amos – Synths, Electronics

ex-The Girls and Shut-Up, Mommy

Chris Fujiwara – Bass

ex-10 Stolen Vibes; author of the book 'Jacques Tourneur: The Cinema of Nightfall'  (1998)

Glenn Jones – Guitar, Contraption (i.e., "prepared" guitar), Bouzouki

ex-7 or 8 Worm Hearts and Shut-Up, Mommy. Also played solo at T6.

Michael Knobloch – Drums

Michael Bloom – Bass [T2]

Jon Proudman – Drums [T2]

Cul de Sac aditionally played a storming set for assembled Terrastockers at the "T5-1" launch party the night before Terrastock 5 in Boston

 

DAMON & NAOMI

 

 

The music of Damon and Naomi is hard to pin down with words. Slow and mysterious, their transcendent folk songs have an intangible glow. Both their own web site bio and their label bio essentially say "Damon and Naomi play instruments and make music," giving no clues and instead pushing you toward the music itself. But that's mainly what I can do too…if you haven't heard any of their recordings, I suggest you do so as soon as possible. Since 1991, they've released four studio albums, an EP and a live album/DVD. The group started as a side project under the name Pierre Etoile, while both Damon and Naomi were members of the now-legendary dream-rock band Galaxie 500. After that band broke up they tentatively moved towards making music on their own, eventually getting comfortable enough with the idea to record a series of exquisite albums. Their most recent two recordings both highlight the group's continual collaborations with the great Japanese psych-folk band Ghost. In 2000 was the album Damon and Naomi With Ghost, which has a full sound perfect for laying your ears upon and dreaming the day away. This year saw the release of the live CD/DVD Song to the Siren, an audio and visual document of a tour they undertook with Ghost guitarist Kurihara as a third member. In an interview with the magazine Ptolemaic Terrascope described the tour in a way that, to me, is about as apt and description of their music in general as you'll find. He said, "During the tour I was gradually able to grasp their unique sense of timing and breathing. Particularly from around the middle of the tour on there were a number of amazing moments when we got this real synergy between the vibrations of the audience and the vibrations that we on stage were putting out. I guess that's what people mean when they talk about 'magic'."

Damon: We've actually ended up playing every Terrastock so far -- it's a special event, because it's so rare that you get to be with a lot of other bands, and still be in a comfortable environment for music. Industry events, like CMJ or SXSW, are really more about business than they are about music. And huge festivals -- not that we're experts, but we did play a couple once upon a time -- are just impossible situations for music. Terrastock is basically a chance for freaks to get together, both music fans and musicians -- it's like hanging out for a few days in a very good, living record store.
 

found at: http://www.erasingclouds.com/01oct.html

From: Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA)

Performed at: T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7

Featuring:

Damon Krukowski – Guitar, Vocals

Naomi Yang – Bass, Vocals, Drones

both ex-Galaxie 500, Pierre Etoile. Also played with Tom Rapp and appear on his tribute album, 'For The Dead In Space'. Additionally  members of  Magic Hour [T1] and Children of The Rainbow [T4] and played with Masaki Batoh [T7] and Michio Kurihara (from Ghost) [T2] and Ghost (full band) [T4]

RICHARD

DAVIES

 

Not too many people have heard of Richard Davies, but he regularly gets compared to some of the greatest songwriters of all time, people like Burt Bacharach, Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson.

The 34-year-old Australian, who lives in upstate New York, says that while magazines may attempt to place him in such lofty company, he's not concerned with chiseling a spot on pop's proverbial Mount Rushmore.

"It's pointless to try and measure music along those lines," Davies says on the phone from his home near Woodstock. "Music is one of the few things in life where you can be free, man."

Davies is free these days, and he's taken advantage of his liberty to create two memorable and important albums of unabashedly melodic music: 1996's There's Never Been a Crowd Like This and the recently released Telegraph (Flydaddy).

The singer-songwriter first earned notice as leader of the Moles, a Sydney, Australia, band that spent the early '90s churning out abstract garage-pop tunes. Davies then teamed up with Gresham's Eric Matthews to form Cardinal, which issued a self-titled 1994 record that The New York Times called "the most brilliantly understated album" of the year.

Originally published: Willamette Week - April 15, 1998

From: Sydney (Australia)

Performed at: T1

Featuring:

Richard Davies – Guitar, Vocals

ex-The Moles, Cardinal

Brendan O'Brien –  Vocals, Guitar

ex-Flaming Lips

Joe McGinty – Keyboards

ex-Psychedelic Furs

George Rush –  Bass

Clem Waldeman –  Drums

ex-Blue Man Group

 

DEAD MAIDS

Building from a whisper to a roar might not seem like the most original sonic formula in the world, but UK’s Dead Maids (formerly Monster Bastard Project) offers a stylistic twist to the proceedings that makes them extremely rewarding.  From the deep end of the ocean softly meandering guitar lines and bass rise to the surface and quietly explore the inner space of your mind, before morphing into massive cascades of Kinski-like guitar cacophony.  What sets them apart from many in the genre are two things, first of all the spectacular handling of the skins and secondly the trio’s predilection for stoner rock and angular post punk.  This all adds a raw and heavy element to the mix that makes the end result sound like a cross between Kyuss and Explosions in the Sky.

 

found at: http://www.dayrelease.com/delnews.htm
 

From: Bath (UK)

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

 

 

DELICATE AWOL

 

 

"Delicate AWOL torch the low-ambition ethic of the indie ghetto: their tight song structures are played with free-wheeling spontaneity, squaring the enigmatic circle of controlled anarchy. The vocals evoke another contradiction, sounding entirely liberated and utterly assured at the same moment: the guitars conjure memories of Truman's Water; and the songs match timeless pop motifs with post-rock aggression...."

found at: http://www.dayrelease.com/delnews.htm
 

From: Scotland (UK)

Performed at: T4, T5

Featuring:

Michael Donnelly – Bass

not the same Michael Donnelly who performed with Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood at T6, or the same Michael Donnelly who performed with Lhasa Cement Plant at T1.

Tom Page – Drums

Caroline Ross – Guitar, Vocals

Jim Version – Guitar, Vocals

also recorded as Forty Shades of Black, and tours and records with Rothko (Mark Beazley). Caroline and Jim are in the band Tells.

DIPSOMANIACS
Dipsomaniacs on stage at T5 - Thomas Henriksen conjuring with the Theremin. (Photo by Amy Nyman)

 

 

 

Norwegian band The Dipsomaniacs have been active since about 1997, devastating all in their wake with a particularly right-on take on the classics codes and curlicues of 60s psychedelic pop. From his base in Trondheim, Øyvind Holm and collaborators have written, recorded and released a masterful series of three albums and numerous singles, starting with the raw four-track cassette recordings that became 1997's "Bumblebee Eyes", which had echoes of everything from Lennon to Gram Parsons to Guided By Voices. This was followed in the same year by the wonderful "Subterfuge" EP, consolidating on material, style, and recording technique. 

1n 1998, Holm released the widely acclaimed "Reverb No Hollowness" LP and CD on the Norwegian Progress label. The record showed increased confidence vocally and instrumentally, and was recorded on eight-track, resulting in more layering and punch to the sound. 

In 1999, an expanding line up took in a fourth member, Thomas Henriksen, on keyboards and harmony vocal duties, and by late summer Holm had written all the songs that were to become the Dipsomaniacs' third album. The "Braid of Knees" LP was intended by Holm to be symphony for turntable and headphones, and it succeeded beyond all expectations, being one of the finest psychedelic pop LPs of the past 10 years.

2000 was a year of consolidation for the band. They appeared at the LA International Pop Overthrow Festival, and released the "Burn Brightly" single on Camera Obscura. "Stethoscopic Notion", was released on Camera Obscura in October 2001 to great acclaim on both sides of the pacific. Byron Coley in Arthur described the album as "rich, full, and quivery - a smoosh of wonderful influences, blended in new ways - a triumph of some sort". In August 2002, the band released "The Tremolo Of Her Mind/The Strings Of Her Soul" on Free City Media Records allowing progressive rock jam itches to be scratched.

found at: http://www.cameraobscura.com.au/obscura.htm
 

From:  Trondheim, Norway

Performed at: T5

Featuring:

Arve Gulbrandsen – Drums

 

Thomas Henrickson – Keyboards

 

Øyvind Holm – Guitar, Vocals

 

Robert Skjærvik – Bass

 

DONOVAN'S

BRAIN

 

 

Donovan's Brain has been around in ever-shifting form since the late '80s, more of a loose collaborative than a set band. Early recordings were collected on the Get Hip release Carelessly Restored Art (1998). Eclipse And Debris and Tiny Crustacean Light Show built on the basic Donovan's Brain sound while keeping the songs diverse and eclectic by involving many different musicians and singers. The line-up the most recent Donovan's Brain release The Great Leap Forward includes Ron Sanchez (guitars, vocals, keyboards), Colter Langan (guitar, vocals), Jeff Arntsen (bass, vocals, guitar), Ron Craighead (drums, vocals), Deniz Tek (guitar, vocals), Richard Treece (guitar), and David Walker (vocals, guitar, piano) plus appearances by Seth Lyon (drums), Kels Koch (bass), Malcolm Morley (keyboards) and Megan Pickerel (vocals, e-bow). The album is a triumph of loose soulful early '70s rock informed with a more modern post-punk sensibility.

The Great Leap Forward was the first release from the new label Career Records, co-founded by Ron Sanchez and Australian singer/guitarist Deniz Tek. To date, the label has also released the thrashing rock and skate punk of Deniz Tek and The Golden Breed and two brand new CDs by outstanding female rock singer/songwriters: Angie Pepper's Res Ipsa Loquitor and Penny Ikinger's Electra. Angie Pepper punks up girl group styles and sometimes sounds like Chrissie Hinde in her prime. Donovan's Brain backs Pepper on a few more psychedelic songs as well. Penny Ikinger has more of an indie Nico vibe featuring haunting passages of whispered vocals shrouded in walls of feedback. All of the Career Records CDs (as well as the Donovan's Brain back catalog on Get Hip) are highly recommended.

found at: http://www.freecitymedia.com/BigRonFrameSet1.html

From: Bozeman, Montana (USA)

Performed at: T4

Featuring:

Jeff Arntsen – Bass

Richard Booth – Vocals

Ron Craighead – Drums, Vocals

Colter Langen – Guitar, Vocals

Scott McCaughey – Keyboards

also played with Young Fresh Fellows [T2] and The Minus 5 [T4]

Ron Sanchez – Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals

also played with The Green Ray [T3]

Richard Treece – Guitar

ex-Help Yourself. Also played with The Green Ray [T3]

 

ELF POWER

 

Elf Power Elf Power was formed by Andrew Rieger and Laura Carter in 1994 in Athens, GA where they emerged as part of the second wave of bands linked to The Elephant 6 Recording Company: a coterie of like-minded, lo-fi indie groups which includes The Apples in stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel and The Olivia Tremor Control. The band initially began as a recording project when Andrew and Laura recorded the first album "Vainly Clutching At Phantom Limbs" at home, which they pressed a limited edition of 50 copies on vinyl to give to friends.



The positive response to the record led to the formation of Elf Power as a live band, and since then, they've gone on to record 4 more albums (When the Red King Comes, A Dream in Sound, Winter Is Coming & Creatures), as well as several ep's. The band has toured the U.S., Europe, and Japan many times with bands like Wilco, Guided By Voices, R.E.M., and Neutral Milk Hotel. They have worked with producer Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev), and have attracted a rabid cult following worldwide.


found at
: http://www.spinartrecords.com/bands.php?b=elfpower

Photo: http://tiger.towson.edu/~adebru1/elfpower.html

 

From: Athens, Georgia (USA)

Performed at: T2

Featuring:

Laura Carter – Guitar, Vocals

also in Dixie Red Moustache; ex-Buzz Factory

Adrian Finch – Violin (left in 2002)

ex-Masters of The Hemisphere, Summer Hymns, Great Lakes (with Rieger)

Eric Harris – Guitar

ex-Olivia Tremor Control, The Late B.P. Helium (with Poole)

Bryan Helium –  Bass, Vocals

ex-Of Montreal; also played keyboards with Olivia Tremor Control prior to joining Elf Power. Left in 2001 to form The Late B.P. Helium (with Harris)

Andrew Reiger –  Guitar, Vocals

Ex-Fablefactory, Great Lakes (with Finch), Major Organ & The Adding Machine,

Aaron Wegelin –  Drums, Vocals

Joined by Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel) and assorted members of Elephant 6 Orchestra

ELEPHANT MICAH
Elephant Micah is the name of a music collective led by lo-fi/indie musician Joe O'Connell. He has recorded for BlueSanct Records and Time-Lag Records. In addition, he has released work on his own LRRC (Luddite Rural Recording Cooperative), which has also released work from collaborators Justin Vollmar and Jason Henn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(from Wikipedia)

From:  (USA)

Featuring: Joe O'Connell

Performed at: T7

 

THE ENTRANCE BAND

Currently residing in Los Angeles, California, The Entrance Band started out as the solo project of Guy Blakeslee (formerly of The Convocation Of…) under the more solitary guise of Entrance.  Across its three albums Entrance weaves a world of narcotic blues and desolate loner folk with tasteful psychedelic flourishes reflecting a traditional take on the outsider perspective of life.  Blakeslee’s plain spoken, deeply soulful vocals fall somewhere between the bluesy histrionics of Devendra Banhart and the down home folk country of Will Oldham, while relating traditional and often quite stoned narratives of devotion and heartbreak, love and loss over a wandering acoustic blues psych backdrop in the finest tradition of stripped down acid-kissed country blues.  The occasional feedback burst knocks things off kilter on a brilliant way with a nice 60s West Coast glaze, but through all The Entrance Band maintains a convincing almost traditional vibe.  2006’s darkly transfixing full band affair, Prayer of Death, marks further progressions with a deeper big band sound and supporting live players.  Hence the current name, The Entrance Band. Key albums:  Wandering Stranger (Fat Possom), Prayer of Death (Tee Pee).

from the T7 festival programme. Words by Lee Jackson.
 

From: Los Angeles, CA (USA)

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

Guy Blakeslee – Guitar, Vocals

 

HELENA ESPVALL & MASAKI BATOH

Terrastock has always been about building connections across the global psychedelic underground, and probably no act on this festival’s roster embodies that ethos more than this unique duo. Masaki Batoh is of course the lead shaman of the long-lived Japanese psychedelic-prog-folk masters Ghost; his occasional past solo works have continued that group’s spiritual earth-psychedelia in a quieter but no less mind-expanding vein. Helena Espvall is best-known as cellist for Philadelphia acid-folk royals the Espers; however, the Swedish native has played in an incredibly diverse range of musical situations, from improvisational to classical, traditional to avant-garde. This is not the two’s first collaboration – Espvall played some Japanese concerts with Ghost in late 2007, and the duo have recorded an album due out later this year – but it will be the first chance for listeners to hear them weave their magic together on these shores.

 

from the T7 festival program. Written by Kevin Moist.

From:  Japan and USA

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

Masaki Batoh - guitar & percussion

 

Helena Espvall – everything else

See also Ghost, Sharron Kraus

 

THE ESSEX

GREEN

The Essex Green are loyal and proud residents of Brooklyn, New York. The group consists of present and former members of the erstwhile Vermont outfit, Guppyboy, and The Ladybug Transistor. They are also a band that once recorded an entire album under a completely different name – The Sixth Great Lake. It's a veritable musicologist's fantasy.

People say Everything Is Green is merely an authentic replica of psych-folk records from the 1960s-- that the band isn't just influenced by that sound, but they actually are that sound. But the difference between The Essex Green and folks like the Apples in Stereo is that The Essex Green make no attempt at twee-pop. You'll find no Wolfie-style, three-chord fluff here. The melodies echo the more complex pop structures of the 60s made popular by bands like the Mamas and the Papas, The Doors, or a darker Byrds.

found at: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com

From:  Brooklyn, New York (USA)

Performed at: T5

Featuring:

Tim Barnes - Drums

 

Jeff Baron – Guitar

 

Mike Barrett – Bass

 

Sasha Bell – Keyboards, Vocals

Also released a solo album as Finishing School

 

all of above ex-Guppyboy (from Burlington, Vermont)

 

Chris Ziter – Guitar, Vocals

 

Last four (Baron, Barrett, Bell and Ziter) also in The Sixth Great Lake

 

Baron and Bell are also in Ladybug Transister with Gary Olson, who’s recorded with both Essex Green and Azalia Snail

 

ETHEREAL COUNTER-BALANCE

 
Ethereal Counterbalance is the pseudonym of Rustic Rod Goodway, formerly of Magic Muscle. The debut EC album was recorded for Woronzow records while Rod and Bevis Frond maestro Nick Saloman were playing and touring together and Nick Saloman plays keyboards, bass, guitar, drums, etc. on the album. The music is fair - particularly the Eastern influenced pieces At The Oasis and Holy Smoke - and very psychedelic. The best track is Inside Out where a sitar intro develops into a powerful guitar and bass dominated song. However, the production is rather muddy and Rod's distorted vocals don't bear up to repeated listening. It only had a very limited release and it has since become a collectors' item.

The second album, Mellifluous Confluence initially had an even more limited release, being limited to just 1,000 copies, although a CD reissue has made it slightly more widely available. For this album, Rod played most of the instruments himself with an old friend and former Scratch Band colleague, Phil Smith, behind the drum kit. It's a good, if strange, album with competent, if unspectacular, guitar playing, Rod's distorted vocals and an array of effects. The stand out tracks are the lengthy Splashed with its wah-wah overload and hint of eastern scales and the hard edged, dark psychedelia of The New Koran. Aching Cellar is a more laid back piece with a hint of Pink Floyd detectable in the backing and guitar soloing, though not in the heavily distorted vocals. There's some pretty weird stuff as well, such as the Beefheart influenced In (which I guess is a reworking of a Magic Muscle track, Inside Out), the warped rock and roll of Bo Ties and The Old Lady Gets It which is a cut up of various snatches of dialogue from Hollywood movies and British soaps, adverts and variety shows with weird noises in the background.  He contributed a track, Let It Fly to the Ptolemaic Terrascope benefit compilation, Succour.

found at: http://www.borderlinebooks.com/80s90s/e0010.html

 

From:  Calne, Wiltshire (UK)

Performed at: T3, T4, T5

Featuring:

Rod Goodway – Guitar, Vocals

ex-J.P. Sunshine, Magic Muscle, The Pack, Rustic Hinge, Alehouse, Third Ear Band, House of Dreams and many others

Ade Shaw – Bass

Nick Saloman – Guitar

Paul Simmons – Guitar

also in Alchemysts

Andy Ward – Drums

Shaw, Saloman, Ward and Simmons are also in The Bevis Frond

 

MICK FARREN & THE DEVIANTS
The Deviants were only minimally competent instrumentalists when they made their debut album, Ptooff, in 1967. They had only worked up a bare handful of original tunes. But they had managed to synthesize their wildly diverse influences (Frank Zappa, the Who, Charles Mingus, the Velvet Underground, the Fugs, and more) into an album that transcended the group's limitations into something of a minor masterpiece. While very much of its time, it also anticipated the pre-punk thrash of the Stooges and MC5.

Was it psychedelic music, blues-rock, avant-rock, proto-punk, or comedy? All of the above at times; none of the above all the time. What Ptooff! offered was a combination acid trip/horror show. The roller coaster ride went through maddeningly repetitive metallic bone-crunchers, beautiful flower-power ballads, Cagean experiments in musique concrete, deliberately offensive comedy, solemn poetry, and sound collages that referenced Jimi Hendrix, Bo Diddley, and Swinging London nightlife. The Deviants may have been aligned with the hippie/underground movement. Yet if this was flower-power and free love, it was delivered with a sneer that had no patience for mindless flight from reality, with an anarchic energy that looked forward a full decade to punk.

The Deviants went on to release a couple of more conventional, far less impressive albums before disbanding at the end of the 1960s. Lead singer Mick Farren has been involved with several reformed versions of the Deviants that have made intermittent recordings from the late 1970s to the present. He's far better known today, however, as an author, both of non-fiction (including a critical Elvis Presley guide that he co-wrote with Roy Carr) and science/fantasy fiction. He has also worked as a rock critic, on and off, over the last few decades.

found at: http://www.alive-totalenergy.com/deviants.html

From:  London (UK)

Performed at: T1, T2

Featuring:

Mick Farren – Vocals/Raps

also solo, Tijuana Bible; ex-Pink Fairies (with Colquhoun)

Andy Colquhoun – Guitar

also solo; ex-Pink Fairies (with Farren), Warsaw Pakt

Adrian Shaw – Bass

see also The Bevis Frond

Andy Ward – Drums

see also The Bevis Frond

The Deviants Have Left The Planet CD on Captain Trip Records includes material recorded live at Terrastock 1, 1997

FIFTY FOOT

HOSE

 
An experimental San Francisco-based group, Fifty Foot Hose comprised: Nancy Blossom (vocals), David Blossom (guitar/piano), Larry Evans (guitar/vocals), Terry Hansley (bass), Kim Kimsey (drums) and Cork Marcheschi (electronic effects). Their lone album offered an unusual mixture of styles, including a version of Billie Holiday's God Bless The Child, which were treated by Marcheschi's synthesized accompaniment. The set also featured Nancy Blossom's haunting vocals and invited comparisons with another unit, United States Of America. However Fifty Foot Hose provided a less scholarly perspective—Marcheschi had previously fronted the Ethix, a renowned local garage band—and thus appeared purposeful and exciting. Unfortunately the sextet failed to secure success and broke up in the early '70s. Larry Evans later joined the Hoodoo Rhythm Devils, while David Blossom established Blossom Studios. found at: http://www.centrohd.com

 

Photo of the band on stage at Terrastock 2: Steve Burton, http://www.aural-innovations.com

 

Colour photo of Eliza Park (above) - not sure, but thought to be by Scott Sterbenz

 

From:  San Francisco, California (USA)

Performed at: T2

Featuring:

Lenny Bove – Bass, Vocals

ex-Tripod Jimmy, The Peens

Dean Cook – Drums

Walter Funk III – Jokers, Ulesys, Vocoder and other Cool Stuff

also created the “Holographic Funkalizer, a performance system that produces real-time hologram-like images along with live music.” This exhibit ran throughout the T2 festival.

Reid Johnson – Guitar, Electric Drill, Tuba, Aluminum Tube Resonator, Vocals

Eliza Park – Vocals

Cork Marcheschi – "The Stuff," including Saw Blades, Spark Gaps, Echolette, Loops, Squeaky Box, Microphones, Audio Generators and Theremin

ex-The Ethix, Gene & The Ethix, Stephanie and Her Boyfriends and The Hide-a-ways

 

FLYING SAUCER ATTACK

 
Flying Saucer Attack's early records combined Popul Vuh's shimmering, open-ended soundtracks, the early Jesus And Mary Chain's wedding of melody and noise, and the downbeat, recorded-in-a-shed aesthetic of New Zealand's Xpressway collective to hand craft compelling psychedelic music that evoked rural English landscapes as much as those behind the eyelids.

Flying Saucer Attack began almost accidentally when Dave Pearce, a record store clerk, and his girlfriend Rachel Brook, recorded a couple songs on her brother's new four track tape machine. He played them around the store and got so many requests that he pressed the songs onto a single. Brook has since left to play in Movietone, and Pearce has made seven albums and played a few concerts, most notably at the Terrastock psychedelic festival.  Flying Saucer Attack
found at: http://www.inkblotmagazine.com

 

 

 

 

From:  Bristol (UK)

Performed at: T1

Featuring:

Bill Kellum – Guitar

Also in Doldrums, and runs VHF Records

Dave Pearce – Guitar

ex-Linda’s Strange Vacation, Mexican Embassy, Ha Ha Ha, The Distance, The Secret Garden, Third Eye Foundation; also joined Gibbons Bros. (Bardo Pond), Jason DiEmilio and Jason Knight (Azusa Plane) and Carl Hultgren (Windy & Carl) for "Drone Summit" in Chill Out Lounge.

Jim O’Rourke – Guitar, “Clown Joke”

ex-Gastr del Sol, Indicate, Red Krayola, Brise-Glace, Yona-Kit; also many solo/collaborative releases

Dave also records with Jessica Bailiff (as Clear Horizon - s/t LP on Kranky 2003)

FREED UNIT

 
"...here come Leicester's The Freed Unit, antique Moogs aloft, to show the shamed New Numanite wankers how the raiding of the '80s electro superstore should have been done. What they needed all along, it turns out, was several tons of invention, a strong whiff of Nectarine No. 9, and a lo-fi button. Oh, and the small matter of tunes, choruses, and talent. Simple, eh?"

found at: http://www.ecstaticrecords.com/freed_2.html

 

 

From:  Leicester (UK)

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

Colin Altuccini – Guitar, Moog

Gary Gilchrist – Bass, Moog

ex-Blue Smarties

Jonathan Kerry – Vocals, Guitar

Matt Kerry – Vocals, Moog, L.I.F.E

The Kerrys were also part of Ectoplasm United and Supereight and are currently also members of The Serpent with Will Sargent (Echo & The Bunnymen/Glide) and John Lawrence (ex-Gorkys Zygotic Mynci)

Jeremy Wiltshire (Globe-Headed Player) – Tambourine

FURSAXA

The world of Tara Burke is a place I'd like to visit. Throughout her career, she has made original, psychedelic tinged music. Using a farfisa organ as her trademark, her music flows from her fingers like honey from a beehive. It is an integral part of her, and it seems so natural. Burke, like many other artists in the genre, finds inspiration everywhere. Nature is life, and life is inspiring. Fursaxa has put out LPs on Ecstatic Peace, Time-Lag, and Eclipse in addition to a 3" CD-R release as part of the Jewelled Antler Library. Add in two brilliant self-released CD-Rs and Burke's discography is extremely impressive. Having toured and worked with the likes of Six Organs of Admittance and Acid Mothers Temple, Burke is hitting the road this autumn with Black Forest/Black Sea and Christina Carter.

text found at: Foxy Digitalis

Photo of Tara (foreground) chatting at the Taqueria while awaiting Lightning Bolt at T6: Phil McMullen

From: Philadelphia, USA

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Tara Burke - voice, organ, bells, recorder

 

Sharron Kraus - bells, voice
 

Helena Espvall - cello, voice

 

Helena is also a member of Espers
 

 

 

 

ALASTAIR GALBRAITH

 

Photo of Alistair Galbraith at Terrastock 2, 1998: Erik Auerbach

An accomplished violinist and a naturally talented song-writer who cut his teeth in his mid teens with the brilliant but under-recorded The Rip, Galbraith has quietly gone about producing a number of excellent solo albums through a long, consistant career.

found at: http://www.fraew.orcon.net.nz/reviews/g.htm#

From: Dunedin (New Zealand)

Performed at: T2

Featuring:

Alastair – Guitar, Vocals, Tape Loops, Violin

ex-The Rip, Plagal Grind. Also in A Handful of Dust. Has joined on stage: Tom Rapp, The Lothars and has recorded with The Mountain Goats

 

GHOST

 
Across their catalog (mostly on Drag City), Ghost's aesthetic has the painterly feel of monochromatic magic reality; a heightened awareness of the calm, the rests, that gray which inhabits each explosive note, screeching or soft. Ringleader/singer/guitarist Masaki Batoh preaches eerie, spiritualized psychedelia and nature-strewn Dada-ism. From their eponymous 1991 effort through to 1999's dueling druid-eries Snuffbox Immanence and Tune In, Turn On, Free Tibet up to last year's duet with touring pals Damon & Naomi, Ghost is the chicken-hypnotizing, mind-expanding sound of being lost in clouded sunstreaks.

found at: http://citypaper.net/articles/2002-10-03/music.shtml

photograph of Ghost at Terrastock 2, 1998: Dianne Jones
 

From: Tokyo (Japan)

Performed at: T2, T4, T5, T6

Featuring:

Masaki Batoh – Guitar, Hurdy Gurdy, Vocals

also solo; ex-Sweet & Honey

Michio Kurihara – Guitar

also solo; ex-Ha-Za-Ma, Marble Sheep, White Heaven and Damon and Naomi

Batoh and Kurihara also in Cosmic Invention. Batoh and Kurihara also played with Damon & Naomi [T2]

Kazuo Ogino – Keyboards, Flute, Recorder, etc.

 

GRAILS

Portland, Oregon quintet Grails share our love for Eastern psychedelia, organic Krautrock ambience, space and high-octane riffing. The results presented on last year’s Burning Off Impurities (Temporary Residence) is an instrumental rock album with shiploads of dynamics that unlike a lot of other bands in this genre never gets predictable. On the contrary this is a disc, or dbl LP, that continues to surprise all the way through its eights tracks. This might very well be one of those rare occasions when something truly great actually gets hyped. Just like with any Agitation Free album this is music that is ideal for long train rides or for laying down at the deserted beach staring at the ever-changing sky.

From the T7 festival program. Words by Mats Gustafsson.
 

From: Portland, OR (USA)

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

GREEN PAJAMAS

 
Some "cult" bands are described as such simply because they're not very popular; the Green Pajamas, on the other hand, truly merit the label. Quietly churning out psychedelic pop gems for a small but fervent international following since 1984, the Green Pajamas release their music sporadically and rarely perform live. Their just-released EP In a Glass Darkly (Parasol) - a collection of songs based on the writings of Victorian horror writer J. S. Le Fanu - is strange and otherworldly even by their standards. Those unfamiliar with the band should take this opportunity to see them, but be warned: You may leave a cult member.

   

found at: http://www.pixievision.com/greenpajamas/

Photo: Scott Sterbenz / Carrell McCarthy, Terrastock 3 1999

From: Seattle, Washington (USA)

Performed at: T2, T3, T4, T6

Featuring:

Jeff Kelly – Guitar, Vocals

also solo; Goblin Market (with Weller); ex- Larch

Eric Lichter – Keyboards, Percussion, Vocals

Joe Ross – Bass, Vocals

ex-Capping Day, 64 Spiders, Yummy; also recorded as Pontious Sky Pilot.Also runs his own Endgame label, which co-released the "Strung Out" EP with Camera Obscura

Karl Wilhelm – Drums

Laura Weller – Guitar, Vocals [T3, T4]

also in Goblin Market (with Kelly); ex-Capping Day (with Ross)

 

THE GREEN RAY

 
Green Ray are a London based instrumental quartet who were known originally as The Archers. As The Archers, they produced just the one obscure 12" single. They made use of the twin lead guitar sound characteristic of the sixties San Francisco sound. They have been compared to Quicksilver Messenger Service, although to my ears they lack the melodiousness for such a comparison and sound more like Frank Zappa in fret melting mode. Despite a lack of structure to the compositions, the two guitarists are excellent musicians and Brown Rice is a bit of a psychedelic classic, working up from gentle beginnings into an awesome guitar workout.

found at: http://www.borderlinebooks.com

Richard Treece of the Green Ray (pictured right) with Ron Sanchez of Donovan's Brain. Photo copyright Richard Booth.

 

 

 

 

From: London (UK)

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

Simon Burgin – Guitar, Vocals

Sadly, Simon passed away of a brain hemorrhage on the eve of Terrastock IV [Seattle, 2000]

Simon Haspic – Guitar, Vocals

Simon Whaley – Drums

Richard Treece – Guitar, Vocals

ex-Iceberg with Deke Leonard & Martin Ace (Man), Help Yourself (which briefly included Deke Leonard – see Man), Flying Aces (with Martin Ace – see Man), Splendid Humans, Neutrons, Tyla Gang. Also played as a member of Donovan's Brain [T4] and appears on several of their releases

Ken Whaley – Bass

ex-Ducks Deluxe, Man, Growth, Bees Make Honey, Help Yourself (which briefly included Deke Leonard – see Man), Flying Aces (with Martin Ace – see Man), Tyla Gang. Also played during Man’s final encore. Also appears on several Donovan's Brain releases

The Green ray were formerly known as the Archers

GRIMBLE GRUMBLE

 
Chicago-based Grimble Grumble is Christine Garcia on bass & vocals, Josh Hudson on guitar, Mike Bulington on drums & percussion, and Saleem Dhamee on guitar.

They are named after the gnome in a Pink Floyd song. They have toured with Windy & Carl, and also played the Terrastock festival. An attendee there described Grimble Grumble as "one of the unexpected highlights of the festival. this is a band to watch. beautiful, dense, swirling guitar noise that brought slowdive, fsa and 'meddle'-era pink floyd to mind, grounded by a solid rhythm section, and just the right combination of chaos and melody for my taste."

found at: http://www.pehrlabel.com/grimblegrumble/#bio

 

 

 

 

From:  Chicago, Illinois (USA)

Performed at: T2

Featuring:

Mike Bulington – Drums

also in UHR (with Rios)

Saleem Saeed Dhamee – Guitar, Farfisa, Acetone

also in Salomé, Language of Feedback and UHR

Christine Martinez – Bass, Vocals

Reuben Rios – Guitar, Moog

also in UHR (with Bulington)

HILKKA

 
Rochester, New York's Hilkka are students in the Slint school of wandering, fractured guitar-driven indie rock. Their tightly woven mostly instrumental songs stretch through space like luminescent spider webs of sound. Nuuj Von Rock's guitar is always front and center, meandering from free jazz-style improvisations to tasty pop melodies to math rock aggression. Alex Schmidt's bass follows, heavy and subterranean, like the reflection of Rock's guitar parts in dark waters. Drummer Joe Tunis provides nervous, skittery rhythms as well as occasional Slint-like esoteric spoken word lyrical fragments.

Hilkka has been a force in the Northeast since the mid-'90s, sharing stages with numerous quality indie and math rock acts, appearing on compilations, putting out seven-inches and putting out a couple of full-lengths -- 1999's The Beautiful Aesthetician and 2000's Escalation/Objective. That latter effort includes the featured track, "I Think It's the Majic in Me." Hilkka is complex, difficult, powerful stuff that should appeal to fans of late '80s/early '90s Chicago and Louisville underground bands like Slint, Big Black, and Gastr del Sol.

found at: http://www.epitonic.com/artists/hilkka.html

From:  Rochester, New York (USA)

Performed at: T1

Featuring:

Robert Nuuja – Guitar

also solo and in Pengo with Joe

Alex Schmidt – Bass

Joe Tunis – Drums

also in Joe + n (“n” represents the number of Joe’s collaborators), Pengo, and runs Carbon Records.

 

HOOD

 

 
    Hood make mope rock for the laptop era. This British quartet are survivors of a brief early - '90s moment of mingling between U.K. indie rock and techno. Reared on the guitar haze of A. R. Kane and My Bloody Valentine, these groups had their heads flipped around by Aphex Twin. While some of them, like Seefeel, gradually went all the way into abstract electronix, other, like legends-to-a-few Disco Inferno, remained attached to the song and the voice. Updating this dream pop-meets-electronica formula, Hood offers glitch with a human face, their sound poised between the Jack Frost fragility of New Zealand jangler the Chills and the faded-photo poignancy of Boards of Canada. Crunchy filtered beats jostle with bright acoustic guitar, crestfallen analog synths waver alongside mournful horns. But just as you've got Cold House pegged as a way-underground cousin to Kid A and Vespertine, another element comes in from far left-field: hip-hop. Abstrakt-to-the-max rhymes from Doseone and Why? of Bay Area crew Clouddead feature on three tracks, ranging from surreal lines like "sometimes the sun doesn't want to be photographed" to stuff that's more like a braid-of-breath than actual decipherable words.

As Cold House's title suggests, the dominant mood is desolate (Hood come from Leeds, the infamously bleak north of England). On "The Winter Hit Hard," gale-force winds of dubbed-out drumming buffet a frail sapling of a vocal melody, and the entire album teems with images like "there's coldness in this sky" or "your cold hand in mine." This dearth of heat is as much a matter of internal affect as climate, though. chris Adams' fallible voice recalls too-sensitive-for-this-world folk minstrel Nick Drake, and the lyrics manage to stay just on the right side of "precious" as they flick through snapshots from what seems to be the drawn out death throes of a relationship. Pained insights flash by concerting regret, the oppressive weight of the past, dreams "snatched from your grasp," and the way the world seems dead, stripped of all enchantment, after the love had gone. For Hood, life's a glitch, and then you cry.

found at: http://www.hoodmusic.net

From:  Wetherby, West Yorkshire (UK)

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

Chris Adams – Guitar, Vocals, Bass

also in Downpour

Richard Adams – Guitar, Bass

Gareth Brown – Sampler

Matt Robson – Drums

 

HOPEWELL

Hopewell live at mercury lounge (© Dino Perrucci)

Hopewell's core members grew up in Hopewell Junction, NY: A small town north of New York City that went from farmland to strip malls in the space of two decades. The music is a visceral combination of rock and roll and romantic psychedelia. Underneath a flirtatious experimentation there is classic songwriting and a wistful sense of longing. An attitude undoubtedly fed by the notion that you can never go home again. When Jason Russo was twenty years old he found himself touring the world with the now legendary Mercury Rev. This profound experience led him to formulate ideas about music's ability to transport people out of their normal circumstances. For the next several years his brother Justin and his involvement with their upstate NY mentors punctuated Hopewell's early endeavors. It wasn't until the 2001 release of Hopewell's critically acclaimed The Curved Glass that the two decided to devote all of their attention to making their own music.

    Hopewell's combination of rock bombast and psychedelic hooks quickly caught on overseas. In the UK, the band played the Reading/Leeds festival, recorded a Peel Session, had XFM and BBC1 airplay and toured extensively. Extensive touring through the rest of Europe followed en suite. In the United States they enjoyed success on the college radio charts and received glowing press in a number of national publications. When the two year tour/promotion of The Curved Glass finally ended, Hopewell regrouped, rethought and resumed the pursuit of their musical Holy Grail: a subtle alchemy connecting songwriting and chaos. The album is appropriately titled: Hopewell and the Birds of Appetite.

   Produced by Dave Fridmann and Bill Racine at the infamous Tarbox Road Studios (home of The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev and Longwave) with mastering by Greg Calbi (Bob Dylan, Interpol and The Strokes) at Sterling Sound, Hopewell have been showcasing their new material in and around New York City. With new members Jay Green on drums, Rich Meyer on bass and Phil Williams on guitar/perc, Hopewell's live performance is stronger then ever. Recent notable events include a sold out bill at the Knitting Factory with Elefant and a CMJ performance with the Brian Jonestown Massacre that garnered a great deal of attention.

found at: http://www.tindrum.com/hopewell/

 

From:  Poughkeepsie, New York (USA)

Performed at: T5

Featuring:

Dalia Garih – Bass

 

Jason Merritt (aka, “Whip”) – Drums

 

Jason Russo – Vocals, Guitar

 

Justin Russo – Keyboards, Vocals

also has a solo project, The Silent League, whose live incarnation includes upwards of ten musicians on various horns and stringed instruments. Is also a member of Grand Mal, whose leader, Bill Whitten plays with The Silent League and was in St. Johnny with Tom Leonard (Major Stars)

The Russo brothers are also in Mercury Rev, Harmony Rockets and The Golden Crickets

 

Band released a split 7” with Windy & Carl

 

Band played with Mary Lou Lord on a cruise ship circling the Statue of Liberty as part of the Rubric Records Cruise, October 24, 2003

 

HOVERCRAFT

 

Hovercraft's unique musical vision veers between industrial noise, ambient sounds and the soothing lull that comes with repetition. If that sounds like heavy going, fear not--the ride might be abrasive at times, but that doesn't mean it's not enjoyable. Sometimes raucous and bumpy, sometimes serene and hypnotic, Akathisia has no lyrics to get in the way--just drums, bass, and assorted electronic gizmos.

Hovercraft is language, specifically the communication between three individuals, each in a hyperfocused state of mental and physical struggle, filtering into music the world around them. Abandoning accepted musical structure and utilizing traditional and modern tools, these three individuals, Campbell2000, Sadie7 and Dashll set out to find what they feel are proper combinations of frequency, pitch and tone, to express what they would otherwise put into words. Their language is their own, and to see Hovercraft perform is to voyueristically peer into their minds and witness a complex and extremely personal conversation about their findings and their confusion. By no means is the music solely an experiment, although the experience of the musician and listener very much is.

found at: http://www.mute.com/mute/links.htm#Hover

 

From:  Seattle, Washington (USA)

Performed at: T1

Featuring:

Campbell 2000 (Ryan) –  Guitar

Karl 3-30 (Dave Kruzon) –  Drums

has since left to form his own band, Unified Theory with ex-members of Blind Melon

Sadie 7 (Beth Liebling-Vedder)  –  Bass

Beth vedder is married to Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, who has occasionally performed live with Hovercraft.

Hovercraft also collaborated with the late Mary Hansen (ex-Stereolab) as Schema.

 

 

HUSH ARBORS

Lines from poems, tidbits of letters, a grainy photograph, a drawing or painting, the colors in the sky at sunset, drives along the parkway, hikes, all things psychedelic in nature, from leaves to the moss covering a tree:  These are the elements of one man folk/psych/drone ensemble Hush Arbors. Hush Arbors AKA Keith Wood delivers music that accompanies dreams, as it organically flows across the sky when you’re walking to work and creeps up on you when you least expect it to. There’s something equally chilling and spiritual about it, like an imaginary meeting of the Blithe Sons and Six Organs of Admittance in an attempt to describe various memories, and tell each other previously hidden histories. This is free folk bristling with rare invention and spirit, and the results are well on par with the undisputed masters of the genre.

from the Terrastock 7 festival program. Words: Mats Gustafsson

From:  London, UK (originally from USA)

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

Keith Wood –  Guitars, vocals

Keith is also a regular member of Current 93 and Six Organs of Admittance

James Jackson Toth, aka Wooden Wand

THE HUSHDROPS
John San Juan (vocals, guitar, piano) and Joe Camarillo (vocals, drums, guitar) formed the group in their native Chicago sometime in the mid-90s. Though both Camarillo and San Juan have found plenty of work (often together) with various groups over the years (among them Material Issue, The Webb Brothers, The Waco Brothers, Pruno, Ness, and Kevin Tihista's Red Terror), it has always been the Hushdrops that best captures the musical chemistry between the two. Chief among their collective attributes are an ability to write "inevitable" songs that seem like they've always existed, an uncanny knack for equally obvious (yet neither "clever" nor ineffective) vocal harmony, an experimental streak that never seems to rob the music of it's most basic impact, and an ensemble dynamic that recalls the powerful yet subtle aesthetic of groups like the Who or Led Zeppelin at their best. Their earliest work can be heard on such singles as "Summer People" (later covered by the Webb Brothers with some international success), and "Miami Rap". Though their first long player was recorded as a duo, any number of bass players came and went before the arrival of Jim Shapiro (ex-Veruca Salt) shortly after the completion of Volume One. the boys owe an enormous debt to acts like The Who (the Hushdrops' recent performance of Tommy was, dynamically, not atypical of their concerts), My Bloody Valentine, Led Zeppelin, The Descendants, The Smiths, The Buzzcocks, Joni Mitchell, The Zombies, Pink Floyd, Broadcast, Black Sabbath, Todd Rundgren, Lush, Cheap Trick, The Beach Boys, The Soft Boys, Stereolab, The Beatles, Cardigans, Burt Bacharach, Sonic Youth, NRBQ, as well as many a lesser known talent.

found at: http://www.subspaceplatform.com/hushdrops.htm

From: Ilinois (USA)

Performed at: T5

Featuring:

Joe Camarillo – Drums, Vocals

 

Also plays in Pruno and sat in for Steve Goulding at several Waco Brothers gigs

John Forero San Juan – Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals

Also played and/or recorded with Apocalypse Hoboken, Made To Fade, Ness, Thunderwing, Triple Fast Action, Veruca Salt, Webb Brothers

 

Both also play in Zack Schneider’s band on “Let The Record Spin”

 

 

THE IDITAROD
 "Few words can describe the gorgeous sounds and sparse complexity of Providence, RI's the Iditarod. Spacey, yet medieval, the Iditarod suggest the past while embracing the promise of the future. Mixing lovely female vocals over an aural backdrop painted from acoustic guitar, bass and found sounds, the Iditarod craft mysterious songs that are as elusive as they are personal. Live, the band is a wonder to behold - few can convey the honesty and emotion that Carin & Jeffrey do while performing their songs - and their 1998 Baltimore appearance with Alastair Galbraith and the Mountain Goats still ranks as our favorite live show of all time." Tina and Jeff, Washington, DC

from http://www.theiditarod.org/


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From:  Providence, Rhode Island (USA)

Performed at: T5

Featuring:

Jeffrey Alexander - Guitar, Electronics, Vocals, Phonograph Tapes, Vocals

See also Science Kit. Jeffrey also Backed Tom Rapp on finger cymbals [T1]

His labels (Magic Eye Singles and Secret Eye) have released three volumes of the Tom Rapp tribute, “For The Dead In Space,” featuring many Terrastock performers

 

Organised two Poor Minstrels of Song world tours with Timothy Renner (Stone Breath)

 

Organised the Quiet Music Series at the AS220 club in Providence, RI; past performers included Terrastock veterans, Charalambides, Landing, Mark Dwinell (aka Nonloc) and the Iditarod

 

Jeffrey and Miriam subsequently lived in the Rogue Lounge warehouse space where Terrastock I was held.

Tara Burke – Vocals, Casio, Tamboura

also performs/records as Fürsaxa

Miriam Goldberg – Cello

 

Alec K. Redfearn – Accordian

Alec performed with Sharron Kraus at T6

William Schaff - Drums

 

Carin Wagner – Guitar, Vocals

 

Alastair Galbraith appears on their “Kleine” release.

 

The Iditarod disbanded in April, 2003 when Wagner married and left the music business; Alexander and Goldberg continued with their new project, Black Forest/Black Sea.

 

The Iditarod had a song included on the Terrastock 5 7" EP, Time-Lag 2002. (Part of a 5x7" EP boxed set which also featured Stone Breath, Sonic Youth, Bardo Pond, and Charalambides)

IGNATZ

Ignatz is the nom musical of Belgian cartoonist Bram Devens, and his raw and hypnotic roots-driven music sounds like little else on the current scene. Named after the brick-hurling mouse in George Herriman’s 1920s/30s comic strip Krazy Kat, Ignatz brings a similarly surrealistic worldview to bear on musical roots drawn from early-20th century American folk blues forms. Starting from a deceptively primitive guitar base, Ignatz takes the implied drone at the heart of country blues and stretches it into the mesmerizing extended spaces associated with minimalists like LaMonte Young, interjecting ghostly vocal wails and psychedelic effects processed through a rough and fractured lo-fi sensibility. As heard on his two “official” recordings on the (K-RAA-K)3 label (cleverly titled Ignatz and Ignatz II) and a handful of limited releases, Ignatz’s music exists in a world all its own, one just off to the side of consensus reality – both old and new, neither roots nor avant-garde, simultaneously accessible and otherworldly, primal and sophisticated all at once.

 

From the Terrastock 7 festival program. Words: Kevin Moist

From: Belgium

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

Bram Devens - guitars, vocals

Bram was driven to and from T7 by David Lifrieri from Urdog!

 

INSECT FACTORY

One of the most enjoyable aspects about Terrastock festivals is the combination of already established underground heroes and new names. The Insect Factory is admittedly a new name to me, but after exploring Silver Spring, Maryland guitarist Jeff Barsky’s deep oceans of drone and contemplative waves of sound it goes without saying that he fits nicely alongside any other Terrastock combo. The glistening sound clusters are brought forth in a tidal wave of tonal constancy, displaying a static, yet detailed drone tunnel that’s always moving but does so in a glacial style. Barsky sculpts a beautiful aural “rainbow in curved air” that reminds me of some of the finest minimalists and static drone-drifters. If you're getting tired of the legendary artists of this genre as companions for staring out the window at nothing in particular, here's a new one to hold on to.

From the Terrastock 7 festival program. Words: Mats Gustafsson

From: Maryland, USA

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

Jeff Barsky - guitars, vocals

GLENN JONES
Most people know Glenn Jones as guitarist extraordinaire from Cul de Sac, in which his idiosyncratic blend of surf, Middle Eastern, Americana and acid guitar innovations are a signature of the band's much-ballyhooed sound. Across the better part of a decade, electric guitar (and the effects hybrid of his own creation, The Contraption) has been Jones' weapon of choice, but few people are aware that long before Cul de Sac was born, Jones played the acoustic guitar exclusively for many years. From the time his father bought him his first axe at age 14, Jones never even picked up an electric until the wave of punk rock broke over his consciousness at the ripe age of 29. Although eventually seduced by electricity, Jones never escaped his roots.

Photo of Glenn at Terrastock 6: Phil McMullen

From: USA

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Glenn Jones - guitars, vocals

Glenn is also a member of Cul De Sac

 

 

MAKOTO KAWABATA

Perhaps no one in the past couple of decades has epitomized the dedication of the international underground scene quite like Makoto Kawabata, whose tireless energy and breadth of vision have unified a dizzying array of bands, projects, and musical forms. Best known for piloting the Acid Mothers Temple mothership from its base in 1970s cosmic progressive acid-rock, his other work has encompassed everything from ethnic trance sounds to screaming hair-flailing power-rock, from free improvisation to delicate folk music, to avant-garde minimalism to post-noise maximalism, as documented across many dozens of releases from all corners of the globe. Kawabata’s sensibility combines a deep knowledge of the history of outsider music with a psychedelic spirituality and a sense of the postmodern absurd, all of which has garnered him a much-deserved reputation as one of the intergalactic standard-bearers for all things freakout.

From the Terrastock 7 festival prgram. Words: Mats Gustafsson

From: Japan

Performed at: T7 (as a solo artist)

Featuring:

Makoto Kawabata - guitars, effects

Kawabata also performed at T7 with Bardo Pond, Kinski

Kawabata is also a member of Acid Mothers Temple

 

KEMIALLISET YStäVäT

Kemialliset Ystävät is the drunken bird's dream, the mouldy instrument, the song of half past four am joy, people bathing in fairy's pee and releasing the enchanting sound and the tantalising sound. They have been active movers in the Finnish underground for over a decade now, slowly building their own castle of sound. Someone wrote that is was like "landscapes glimpsed from a train: marching band melodies scored for duck calls and bells, huge fields of teleporting percussion, accordion-led music box refrains and heartbreaking almost-songs carried on tides of wordless vocals". With members coming and going, the music of Kemialliset Ystävät is always moving to new and unknown territories.

Text found in the Terrastock 6 festival programme

Photo found at http://www.digitalisindustries.com/

 

From: Finland

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Jan Anderzén - keys, tapes, effects, voice

 

Niko-Matti Ahti - keyboards, percussion, recorder, mandolin

 

Markus Mäki - electric guitar, pennywhistle

 

Miriam Goldberg - cello, phonorgan
 

KINSKI

 

Kinski is a (mostly...) instrumental rock quartet from Seattle. By turns melodic, swelling, roaring, propulsive, spare, and delicate, Kinski walks the margins of avant-rock with nods to Krautrock and a penchant for noisy psychedelia. And, they're certainly of a musical tradition, synthesizing influences from Neu! and Can, to Spacemen 3 and My Bloody Valentine, to Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo, to High Rise and Fushitsusha.

The band self-released their first album, SpaceLaunch for Frenchie, in 1999 as a three-piece: guitar, bass and drums (courtesy of Chris Martin, Lucy Atkinson and Dave Weeks, respectively). In early 2000, the band added Matthew Reid-Schwartz on guitar and 2001's Be Gentle with the Warm Turtle (released via Pacifico Recordings) shows the four hitting a new stride. Seattle's The Stranger commented, "Highly emotive and aggressive, the aural rushes Kinski generates are unlike those of any other band currently playing in Seattle. Kinski routinely stupefies audience members with its passion and overarching force." And, Alternative Press weighed in with, "The disc makes one of the few strong arguments against the claim that rock is dead." The website fakejazz.com put it a bit more succinctly: "Kinski is fucking massive."

And they've spent their fair share of time in the van too. Kinski has toured with Hovercraft, Silkworm, Acid Mother's Temple (both in the US and in Japan), played packed rooms at the CMJ New Music Festival, Terrastock IV and V, and South by Southwest. They headline sold-out shows regularly at home in Seattle, and share bills with like-minded bands, such as Bardo Pond, Mouse on Mars, Black Dice and Mono (Japan). All of which is lucky for us, because Kinski is electrifying live: a lockgroove, hypnotic rhythm section surrounded, intertwined and metamorphosed by guitar dynamics. Theirs is an exercise in sonic tension and release; variations and explorations on themes more typically attributed to jazz artists; guitar texture and wash more easily described in visual terms. But, they're indisputably a rock band and their appeal is at least as visceral as cerebral. We're here to get our ya-yas (and/or yo-yos...) out, not our slide-rules. In Spring 2002 Kinski recorded their third album, Airs Above Your Station, working again with producer Kip Beelman. Shortly after recording the new record, drummer Barrett Wilke took over the drum stool and proved his mettle with a festival highlight set at Terrastock V, and subsequent tour home with Acid Mothers Temple.

found at: http://www.kinski.net/bio.htm

From:  Seattle, Washington (USA)

Performed at: T4, T5, T6, T7

Featuring:

Lucy Atkinson – Bass, Vocals

Chris Martin – Guitar, Vocals

ex-Beat Nothings (produced by Donovan’s Brain leader, Ron Sanchez). Records solo as Ampbuzz

Matthew Reed Schwartz – Guitar, Keyboards

Dave Weeks – Drums

Kinski were joined on stage by Makoto Kawabata at T7

 

KIRK LAKE

 

 

"... Over the course of two years, one album, one mini-album and one single, KIRK LAKE, writer and musician, has been striving to find a feasible accommodation for both disciplines, without getting closer either to wealth or a simple job description. "I do two things," he considers over Beck's and Embassy. "I write and I do readings of that stuff, or I do music-based things. It wastes my time as much as anyone else's to turn up and do a reading at a rock venue, 'cos that's not what a rock audience wants." His first album, 1995's 'So, You Got Anything Else?', was essentially a collection of spoken-word pieces backed by music from a variety of friends (Sonic Boom), or kindred spirits (Martin Carr, a fellow devotee of Charles Bukowski).

Though claiming compositional and arrangement credit, he is sanguine about his musical abilities. "I don't play anything and I have no knowledge of instruments. It seems to me a horrific concept playing in a band with the same people playing the same songs over and over again."

Kirk Lake got that band thing out of his system ten years ago in a self-confessed "shit" outfit called Shakedown, featuring one Simon Gilbert on drums. Simon has since gone on to pop stardom with Suede.

found at:http://www.hooligandevelopment.com

From:  London (UK)

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

Kirk Lake – Vocals

ex-Shakedown. Also recorded with Roy Montgomery

Tom Hodges – Sax, Musical Saw, Flute

Stuart Smith – Computer

 

THE KITCHEN CYNICS

Kitchen Cynics is the project of one man: Alan Davidson. During the years Davidson has released tons of LPs, tapes, CDRs and CDs on countless small labels all over the world. Albums that are filled with highly personal lo-fi folk songs with a slight touch of psychedelica here and there. Melodious songs with poetic texts in which Davidson muses over everyday events in his home town Aberdeen, Scotland. Tranquil songs that read almost like a diary. Nothing is what it seems in Kitchen Cynic’s universe, for under all those beautiful and sometimes naïve melodies darker secrets hide.

text and photo found at http://www.digitalisindustries.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

From: Aberdeen, Scotland

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Alan Davidson - guitar, vocals

guest "musicians":

Jesse Poe - backing vocals

Clint Marsh - finger cymbals

Phil McMullen - finger cymbals

Alan also appeared at Terrastock 5, on stage with Tom Rapp along with Damon Krukowski (of Damon & Naomi) and Masaki Batoh (of Ghost). There he met met Jeffrey and Carin of Iditarod / Secret Eye Records. Jeffrey subsequently released Alan's album 'Parallel Dog Days'. The cover was designed by Will Schaff (who has also done covers for Godspeed You! Black Emperor, among others). Will played drums with Iditarod at T5.

KOHOUTEK

People interested in music that defies the pop song convention, music that challenges that part of your brain that lies dormant during most aural experiences, need a band like Washington DC’s Kohoutek. This quintet began their wildly meandering journey across the more peripheral realms of free-form psych rock a few years back and from the very beginning they seemed determined to try to cross swathes of interstellar drone, guitar squall and loose, slowly evolving improvisations of drum and bass grooves and squelchy electronics with tapestries of gravitationally flowing darkness. What we get is a sonic bag that is raw, gorgeous, loud, dreamy, dissonant and mystical at the same time, somehow managing to transcend all sorts of seemingly limited genre barriers. Dedicated followers of bands such as the Spacious Mind, SubArachnoid Space and Ash Ra Tempel will for sure want to check these cats out, with a musical style that at its best rarely goes wrong in the live setting.

From the Terrastock 7 festival program. Words: Mats Gustafsson

From: Washingston DC, USA

Featuring:

 

 

Randy Hammon - guitar

Randy Hammon is the lead guitarist with psych legends The Savage Resurrection

SHARRON KRAUS
Sharron Kraus is a singer / musician & songwriter who creates music rooted in the folk traditions of England and Appalachia. Her work is characterised by soil-rich vocals, haunting banjo, fine acoustic guitar and visionary word-craft. Her songs are populated by a carnival array of fatally charismatic characters, telling tales of enslavement, perversion, incest, obsession, love and death. Sharron's live performances are stark, compelling and delicate.

Text found in the Terrastock 6 festival program.

Photo by Phil McMullen

From: Oxford, UK

Performed at: T6, T7

Featuring:

Sharron Kraus - vocals, effects

Alec K. Redfearn – Accordian

 

The drum-kit on stage 2 at Terrastock 6 (pictured left) originally belonged to V. Majestic, who played at Terrastock 1!

LANDING
Landing are a group of friends that met in Provo, Utah in 1998, where most of them were attending college. After playing together for a year, Aaron and Adrienne asked Dick (formerly in the post-rock band Perth Amboy), and Daron (of the avant-rock band Forty Nine Hudson) to join what at that time was just a home recording project. Dick started played bass, even though he was a guitar player and Daron played drums, although he was a bassist. They started to put on house shows at Aaron and Adrienne’s home (dubbed the Manbeard Towne), toured the country in their beat up van, recorded and released some cassettes on their own label, Treat Lane Tapes, and the Centrefuge EP on Daron’s label, (the Music Fellowship), did their own artwork, and had a strict “anywhere, anytime” live show ethic.

In December of 1999, the band all moved to Aaron’s home-state, Connecticut, and by late 2001, they’d recorded and released their first two albums; Circuit (Music Fellowship) and Oceanless (Strange Attractors Audio House). Eventually, they founded a studio called Hi Mid Recording and began a stretch of recording activity that ranged in sound from improvised ambient music, to intricate, vocal rich songs, including a split tour CD with Windy & Carl (Music Fellowship), their third full length, Seasons, (Ba Da Bing!), a Tour 2002 EP (Vast Arc Hues), the Fade In/Fade Out EP (Strange Attractors), and New Found Land, and a three-way split CD with Yellow6 and Rothko (Music Fellowship).

By late 2002 Landing had toured five more times (once with the incredible Windy & Carl), were featured in the Ptolemaic Terrascope, played at Terrastock 5, and were asked to join the K records family. In January 2003, Aaron, Adrienne, Dick and Daron finished recording Passages Through, their fourth full-length album.

Dick, Aaron, and Daron from Landing are all also in the band Surface of Eceyon with Adam Forkner (of Yume Bitsu), and Phil Jenkins.

From:  Connecticut (USA)

Performed at: T5, T6

Featuring:

Dick Baldwin – Guitar, Bass

 

Daron Gardner – Drums, Bass

ex-Forty Nine Hudson. Also runs the Music Fellowship label, which released several Landing recordings

Aaron Snow – Guitar, Vocals; Synths

 

Baldwin, Gardner and Snow are also in Surface of Eceyon

 

Adrienne Snow – Synths, Vocals

 

Mr. & Mrs. Snow also have a side-project called Paper

 

Landing allegedly formed after being inspired by Windy & Carl’s performance at Terrastock I; they have since toured (and released a split CD) together.

 

 

 

LARKIN GRIMM

Larkin Grimm, based in Providence Rhode Island, was born in a Memphis, TN commune and grew up in Dahlonega, Georgia in the foothills of the Appalachians with a family of singers and fiddlers. 'Harpoon', her debut CD on Secret Eye, reflects these rustic influences through a modern, psychedelic filter. Larkin's intense, ecstatic voice with swirling multi-tracked patterns recalls the richness of Illuminations-period Buffy Sainte-Marie and the sparkle of Linda Perhacs. Her instrumentation includes dulcimer, pennywhistle, bells, drums and guitar. Larkin was previously a member of the Dirty Projectors (Western Vinyl) where she astounded audiences with her mesmerising voice.

Text found in: the Terrastock 6 program.

Photo of Larkin Grimm at T6: Phil McMullen

From: Providence, RI USA

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Larkin Grimm - voice, guitar, dulcimer
 

Annelise Grimm - voice
 

Antonia Dixon - voice
 

Sophia Dixon - voice
 

Lara Polangco - autoharp, voice
 

THE LILYS
Kurt Heasley has gone through a number of musical incarnations since the early '90s. His group, the Lilys, has been a sort of barometer of what is hip in indie. Nearly ten years ago, he was a disciple of all things shoegazer. The Lilys debut, In the Presence of Nothing, bore a distinct My Bloody Valentine bent. By the mid '90s, Heasley had turned to the Kinks, the Monkees, and the Zombies (much like his pals in the Apples in Stereo had done). Consequently, in 1996, Better Can't Make Your Life Better, was a Davies brothers tour de force, including mod riffs and resplendent hooks.

The Selected EP is a stylistic mix of the best of the '90s. Some tracks on the disc were staples of early Lilys sets, but never made it onto record. Here, they appear in full glory. At times it's as if you're listening to a confused super group, featuring members from Ride, the Kinks, XTC, the Byrds, MBV, the Apples in Stereo, and the Stone Roses. Unusual, but very appealing.

 

found at: http://www.ink19.com/issues/december2000

 

From:  Pennsylvania (USA)

Performed at: T5

Featuring:

Kurt Heasley – Guitar, Vocals

Kurt and his wife, Peppermint Scott, have three children: daughter, Tayt Kay (named after their “Tayt Overture”) and sons, Aeroll Douglas and Karger Tulk

Quentin Stoltzfus – Drums

also played (T1-3) as a member of Azusa Plane

Art DeFuria of The Photon Band appears on (and named his band after) their 1994 “Eccsame: The Photon Band” album!

THE LINUS PAULING

QUARTET

 

 

Over the course of their 14 year (non)career, this five(-to-seven) member quartet of post-graduate miscreants named after a world-famous chemist has waved the flag of wasted higher than just about anyone else. Previous album titles such as Ashes in the Bong of God and Killing You with Rock have eloquently testified to the group’s philosophical orientation and collective motivations… Drop the needle on one of those albums, and you’re equally likely to encounter a Hawkwind-via-Butthole Surfers freakout about being abducted by aliens, a country-rock ode to the synapse-destroying joys of malt liquor in 40 oz. bottles, a punk rock number about Tex-Mex food, or a post-Sabbath sword-and-sorcery epic (and these are all just from their most recent LP, 2007’s All Things Are Light (Camera Obscura). Like so few of their peers (if indeed they have any), LP4 understand that “stoned” is not a mere adjective, but also a noun, a verb, heck, a whole way of being; that “Rock” in its purest form always involves a healthy blast of the ridiculous; and that the only direction really worth going is right over the top.

From the Terrastock 7 festival program. Words: Kevin Moist

Photo of the Linus Pauling Quartet at Terrastock 4 by Richard Booth, from the personal collection of the Editor

From:  Houston, Texas (USA)

Performed at: T4, T7

Featuring:

Charlie Ebersbaker – Guitar, Tenor Sax

also in The Last Bastions

Stephen Finley – Bass

Clinton Heider – Guitar, Vocals

Larry Liska – Drums

Ramon Medina – Guitar, Vocals

also runs the Worship Guitars label/website

Flip Osman – Keyboards, Synths

The Linus Pauling Quartet released a compilation CD to coincide with their appearance at Terrastock 4 in Seattle

LHASA CEMENT PLANT

 

Led by the warped guitars of Brian Doherty and Donald Miller from the noise jazz band Borbetomagus, I Am Providence consists of one very long, very twisted jazz/rock/skronk workout. Building off the solid foundation of straightforward, no-nonsense jazz drumming, Miller and Doherty attack their guitars with something close to inspired malice. Both men strangle inspired and surprising sounds and textures from the necks of their guitars, producing an astounding experience that is both out-jazz like and deeply psychedelic.

from a review on Amazon.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From:  New York, New York (USA)

Performed at: T1

Featuring:

Brian Doherty – Guitar

ex-Sick Dick & the Volkswagons (the name comes from Thomas Pynchon’s novel, The Crying of Lot 49), The Free Jazz Constitution, The Qurks, Nikola Tesla (small world dept.: they covered Mick Farren’s Pink Fairies tune, “I Wish I Was A Girl”), Secrets of Lonliness (45, “Make Me Some Love,” 1982), The Love Manual, The Great Scouts and Violet Sand Factory (the last three with Chuck Marcus, who is also a member of Soporific with The Loud Family’s Alison Faith Levy [T2] and was once a member of Lhasa Cement. Is also in Borbetomagus (originally known as Industrial Strength), and runs the Warpodisc label.

Donald Miller –  Guitar

also solo, many collaborations and with the Donald Miller Trio, whose 1999 LP, 'Here Below' was released on Pelt’s Klang Industries label. Also in Borbetomagus, and ex-The Qurks, Sick Dick & the Volkswagons, Nikola Tesla.

Michael Donnelly – Drums

ex-Violet Sand Factory with Brian. Not the same Michael Donnelly as the one who played with Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood at T6, or the same Michael Donnelly who played with Delicate AWOL at T4 and T5.

Philip Smith – Bass

A CD of their performance at T1, 'I Am Providence: Live at Terrastock '97' by Lhasa Cement Plant, was released 02/1999

LIGHTNING BOLT
Lightning Bolt is an experimental noise rock duo from Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1994 while Brian Chippendale (drums) and Brian Gibson (bass) attended the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Chippendale heard about "a new kid" who was a whiz on the bass. At the same time, Chippendale was preparing to set up Fort Thunder, a disused warehouse space in the Olneyville district of Providence that housed a number of different artists and musicians, now luxury lofts and strip malls - and originally the setting of the now legendary Terrastock 1 festival.

Text from: the Terrastock 6 festival program

Photo of Brian Gibson at Terrastock 6: Phil McMullen

From: Providence, RI USA

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Brian Chippendale (drums)

Brian Gibson (bass)

 

LOCKGROOVE
Lockgroove burst onto the Boston music scene with their outstanding debut ep "Rewired." Lockgroove floored everyone in their path, shattering eardrums and blowing minds in the process. Not content with the humdrum club scene in Boston, lockgroove teamed up with local musicians and video artists for a series of eclectic "happenings" dubbed "Deep Heaven." Soon bands from across the country and around the world such as Acid Mothers Temple, Bardo Pond, Brother JT and Vibrolux, and Tono Bungay were taking part in these Warholian multi-media gatherings.

Landing between the ecstatic droning of Spaceman 3 and the powerful simplicity of the Velvet Underground, Lockgroove creates dramatic soundscapes that range from gale-force neo-psychedelia to subtle one-note minimalism. Mixing 24-track layers of sound with basement-8-track recordings, lockgroove create soundscapes that defy origin and leave their destination up the the listener's ear. Lockgroove was formed in 1996 by identical twins Marty (drums) and Ryan Rex (guitar/vox) as a vehicle to fully-realize their large catalog of basement tape musings. with Adam Brilla (guitar), Daniel Finn (keyboard), and Dave Goodman (bass/vox) rounding out the sonic attack, lockgroove is capable of mesmerizing displays of musical gymnastics. Whether they're exploding into simultaneous sonic cacophony, changing directions on a dime, or crashing a towering wall of sound down to a whisper, the band possesses a music-telepathy that borders on the supernatural.

found at: http://www.lockgroove.com/wordscontl.html

 

 

From:  Boston, Massachusetts (USA)

Performed at: T5

Featuring:

Adam Brilla – Guitar

 

Daniel Finn – Keyboards

 

Dave Goodman – Bass

 

Martin Rex – Drums

 

Ryan Rex – Guitar, Vocals

Marty and Ryan are identical twins!

 

MARY LOU LORD

 

Boston folksinger Mary Lou Lord has been in and out of the spotlight throughout the last decade. Coming off a publicity hiatus due to the birth of her daughter two years ago, Mary Lou got back to performance basics, spending the time busking in the street after her 1998 major label release "Got No Shadow". Mary Lou is now ready to emerge. She has recently provided the music for a Target commercial. She tackles songs by legends like Bob Dylan, Richard Thompson and Bruce Springsteen as well as newer "indie" oriented artists such as Elliott Smith and the Magnetic Fields.

found at: http://www.rubricrecords.com/bands/maryloulord.html

 

 

From: Salem, Massachusetts (USA)

Performed at: T1

Featuring:

Mary Lou – Guitar, Vocals

The first artist signed to the Sony subsidiary, Work. Also, according to Mary Lou, "the first artists DROPPED by Sony subsidiary, Work!"

Joe Ranieri – Drums

John Sprague – Bass

Joined by Nick Saloman  (The Bevis Frond) – Guitar

THE LOTHARS

 

"Maybe not quite what Leon Theremin had in mind when he demonstrated his wonderful new device in the presence of V.I. Lenin back in the days when a new art for the masses required new instruments, The Lothars conspire to create a monstrous edifice of noise. Ramona Herboldsheimer’s purposeful electric strumming just about manages to hold together the joyfully bizarre arrangements of audio squiggles and deep space scrawls which Kris Thompson, Jon Bernhardt and Brendan Quinn produce on their theremins."
by Ken Hollings, The Wire

found at: http://www.wobblymusic.com/lothars/index.html

 

 

From:  Somerville, Massachusetts (USA)

Performed at: T1, T2, T3, T4, T5

Featuring:

Jon Bernhardt – Theremin

Ramona Herboldsheimer – Guitar

ex-The Wild Stares, New Parts From Old, Twig, Orans

Brendan Quinn – Theremin, Violin

also played as a member of Abunai!, jammed with Carl Hultgren (Windy & Carl) at T3

Kris Thompson – Theremin

ex-Jasmine Love Bomb, Nisi Period; also played as a member of Abunai!

Mike DiMilla – Accordian, Theremin [T2]

Jon Hindmarsh – Theremin [T3]

Dean Stiglitz – Theremin [T4]

'Windy & Carl & The Lothars' (pictured) is a live collaborative CD between the Lothars and Windy & Carl (duh!) which features the 28 minute Lothars & Carl jam from Terrastock 3, plus two songs from Windy & Carl, and one by The Lothars, all recorded live at Terrastock 2.

THE LOUD FAMILY

 

Scott Miller, veteran California popster and patriarch of the Loud Family, counts Jacques Derrida among his favorite writers, but he also loves all six albums by the original Monkees. That isn't as much of a contradiction as it might seem -- like much postmodern lit, the Monkees' big-screen movie Head is mostly about its own process -- and it goes a long way toward explaining Miller's songs, which embrace the pop craftsmanship of the psychedelic 60s even as they aggravate its artifice. His first band, Game Theory, emerged in the early 80s in the same burst of west-coast retro that produced the Dream Syndicate, the Bangles, Rain Parade, the Long Ryders, and the Three o'Clock. But like former dB's guitarist Chris Stamey, Miller has grown progressively more interested in subverting the sound with experimental electronics, avant-garde flourishes, and just plain weirdness. Attractive Nuisance (Alias) is the fifth album by the Loud Family, and its moderately catchy tunes are cut with all manner of strange noises: eerie horn samples fade in and out of "Soul D.C."; the trippy interlude of "720 Times Happier Than the Unjust Man" includes the sound of a skipping CD; an out-of-sync, gradually accelerating drumroll introduces the verse in "Nice When I Want Something"; and "Save Your Money," a quiet meditation propelled by a four-note piano figure, is decorated with a string of electronic blips, percussive blasts of guitar noise, and a spiky piano freak-out courtesy of Loud sister Alison Faith Levy.

Loud Family photo by Robert Toren

from http://www.loudfamily.com/nuisrvu.html

From:  San Francisco, California (USA)

Performed at: T2

Featuring:

Kenny Kessel – Bass, Vocals

Alison Faith Levy – Keyboards, Vocals

also in Chore and Sonoptic, solo; also in Moth Wranglers with Ken Stringfellow (Minus 5); ex-Indian Bingo

Scott Miller – Guitar, Vocal

ex-Game Theory, Alternate Learning, Lobster Quadrille. Also appears on Young Fresh Fellows' 'Electric Bird Digest' LP

Gil Ray – Drums

ex-Game Theory

LUCKY BISHOPS

 

The Lucky Bishops are a 4 piece band from the West of England. Formed in 1996, they have taken the classic Hammond organ/guitar/bass/drums format and re-vamped it as a sound for the new Millenium. A combination of skillful songwriting, superb 4 part harmonies, inventive arrangements and outstanding instrumental work insured that they wouldn't remain unsigned for long. As a result of a demo tape the band sent to Nick Saloman at Woronzow Records, London, The Lucky Bishops played support to the Bevis Frond at a sold-out show at the Garage. They were so impressive that Nick and his partner Adrian Shaw signed them to Woronzow immediately.

found at: http://www.rubricrecords.com/bands/luckybishops.html

From:  Dorset (UK)

Played at: T3, T4, T5

Featuring:

Luke Adams – Drums, Vocals, Trumpet, Flute

ex-Orange (with Strawbridge)

Tom Hughes – Organ, Vocals, Piano, Mellotron, Trumpet, Guitar, Harmonica

Richard Murphy – Guitar, Vocals, Trumpet, Bass, Violin

Alan Strawbridge – Bass, Vocals, Guitar, Drums, Xylophone

ex-Orange (with Adams). Also in The Bitter Little Cider Apples

MAC MacLEOD

Mac Macleod's incredible musical journey starts in the smokey folk clubs of the early sixties, where he appeared alongside Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Maddy Prior (as Mac & Maddy), Mick Softley (as Soft Cloud) and Donovan. He moved on to garage rock and full blown psychedelia, in groups such as the Other Side and The Exploding Mushroom.
Showing his friend Donovan some finger-picking guitar techniques, they busked around the West Country in 1964, before accompanying the tousled troubadour during his Pye years, and playing the NME pollwinner's concert in 1965. In 1968 Donovan repaid his friendship with a song, Hurdy Gurdy Man, written specially for Mac and his group Hurdy Gurdy. They performed their power version for Donovan at his Hertfordshire home, influencing the bard who adopted their electric fuzz for his next single.
Mac's journey was to take him around Britain, and across Sweden and Denmark, where he first formed Hurdy Gurdy. The group became an underground favourite and went on to headline at Middle Earth, supporting Pink Floyd at the same venue. The forthcoming anthology contains all of Mac's rare recordings, from the acoustic folky beginnings through a succession of one-off groups, the sitar-drenched Amber, two previously unheard blistering tracks from Hurdy Gurdy themselves, and even a guest appearance with a fledgling post-Zombies Argent.

found at: http://www.rpmrecords.co.uk

From:  St Albans, Herts (UK)

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

Mac – Vocals, Guitar

ex-Soft Cloud, The Other Side, Amber (NB: NOT the band with British DJ, Mike Read), Hurdy Gurdy, The Exploding Mushroom; also worked with Donovan and Maddy Prior (as the duo, Mac & Maddy)

Steve Rodford – Percussion

 

THE MAGIC CARPATHIANS PROJECT
The Magic Carpathians Project was established in 1998 by Anna Nacher and Marek Styczynski, previously the leader of the ethno psychedelic/acid folk group known worldwide as Atman. Styczynski and Nacher use a plethora of ethnic instruments from Asia and Europe. Performing as a duo, Nacher and Styczynski occasionally enhance the sonic spectrum of their music with a didgeridoo, bass guitar, tabla or electric guitar. The Magic Carpathians Project is known for skillful improvisation built around the patterns of traditional music of Central and Eastern Europe.

Text found in the Terrastock 6 festival program

Photo: from http://terrascope.co.uk/Features/Magic_Carpathians.htm

From: Poland

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Anna Nacher

Marek Styczynski

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAGIC HOUR

 

Magic Hour formed in 1993 and disbanded in 1996 -- it was a free-form freak out quartet with Damon & Naomi in the rhythm section, and Wayne Rogers and Kate Biggar (of Crystalized Movements/Vermonster/BORB fame) on guitars. Magic Hour released three albums - No Excess Is Absurd,
Will They Turn You On or Will They Turn On You and Secession '96
- all of which are available on Twisted Village Records, which is run by Kate and Wayne.

     

 

 

 

 

found at: http://www.subpop.com/bands/damon+naomi/website/magichr.html

Photo: Mike Lim

 

 

 

 

 

 

From:  Boston, Massachusetts (USA)

Performed at: T1

Featuring:

Kate Biggar – Guitar

Also in B.O.R.B., Wormdoom, Heathen Shame and Major Stars; replaced Eric Arn (Primordial Undermind) in Crystalized Movements

Damon Krukowski – Drums

ex-Galaxie 500; also a member of Damon & Naomi  

Wayne Rogers – Guitar, Vocals

Also in B.O.R.B., Wormdoom, Heathen Shame and Major Stars; ex-Crystalized Movements, which also included Eric Arn (Primordial Undermind); solo

Naomi Yang – Bass

ex-Galaxie 500; also a member of Damon & Naomi. All four also performed as Children of The Rainbow at T4

MAJOR STARS

 

Combining an interest in mid-60's folk rock, free jazz and Hendrix-oid guitar riffage, the Major Stars create tuneful compositions that rapidly lift into the stratosphere on the waves of guitar amperage supplied by Wayne Rogers and Kate Sunshine. Wayne and Kate have been purveyors of obscure musics for over a decade, first off in the bands Crystalized Movements and Magic Hour, then as operators of the Twisted Village label and store.

"Wayne & Kate come to Major Stars straight from Magic Hour, whose quick ascent from snarly West Coast-influenced rock band to all instrumental thugs brought many a tear to helpless Galaxie 500 fans. Bassist Tom Leonard has been at one time or another a member of every non-Magic Twisted Village ensemble, and Dave laid down the big beat in Vermonster. Now that these four have reconvened, they are taking their LOUD polystructural ROCK to the people...Major Stars aim to take higher-key improvisational wizardry and clobber you on the head with it while simultaneously caressing your mind."-Forced Exposure

found at: http://www.squealermusic.com/catalog/majorstars.html

Photo of Kate & Wayne at Terrastock 4 by Richard Booth, from the private collection of the Editor.

From:  Boston, Massachusetts (USA)

Played at: T2, T4, T5, T6, T7

Featuring:

Kate Sunshine – Guitar

aka Kate Biggar. Also in B.O.R.B., Heathen Shame and Magic Hour; replaced Eric Arn (Primordial Undermind) in Crystalized Movements. Played with Damon & Naomi as Magic Hour [T1] and Children of The Rainbow [T4]

Tom Leonard – Bass, Vocals

Also in B.O.R.B. and Luxurious Bags

Dave ("not the director") Lynch – Drums

Also in Vermonster

Wayne Rogers – Guitar, Vocals, Harmonica

Also solo; B.O.R.B., Heathen Shame and Magic Hour; ex-Crystalized Movements (which also included Eric Arn of Primordial Undermind). Played with Damon & Naomi as Magic Hour [T1] and Children of The Rainbow [T4]

All of the above also in Wormdoom

T6 update: Major Stars play their most recent tour of the USA in May of 2003, return in June to make their definitive studio record (Major Stars 4), and then head to New York City a week later to records the 'Live in Europa' split LP with Comets on Fire. They unexpectedly lay low for the next eighteen months, losing long-time drummer Dave Lynch along the way and ending up with an empty bass spot when Tom Leonard joins Kate Village and Wayne Rogers in the guitar frontline. Casey Keenan (drummer turned guitarist of local pop heroes Carlisle Sound) is roped into resuming his place behind the drumkit. Dave Dougan, already a veteran of the band as bass understudy (he was the unfamiliar figure on stage at their Terrastock '02 performance), returns to claim the position permanently. The new sextet is completed by the arrival of lead singer Sandra Barrett, formerly of local art-punk legends LA Drugs. 'Syntoptikon' LP released March 2006.

MAN

Man are one of Wales' most enduring groups, formed in 1968 and still going strong today.
Hailing from Swansea, Man evolved from a Merthyr Tydfil-based harmony-vocal pop group called The Bystanders, of which Micky Jones and Clive John were members. Deke Leonard defected to them from fellow Welsh group The Dream, and in 1968 Man was born.

At the time, Swansea was enjoying a healthy music scene. Man signed to Pye, and in 1969 released their debut album Revelation. It was perhaps most notable for the song Erotica, which received a UK ban due to its simulated orgasm sounds.

Revelation was followed by Two Ounces Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle, which further honed their American West Coast-influenced sound. But when acid rock gave way to prog in the 1970s, Man gained increasing fame and renown on the festival circuit at home and in Europe.

They spent the first half of the decade touring virtually non-stop, and yet also managed to release at least an album a year. And yet, like the Grateful Dead - to whom they have often been compared - Man never sounded their best on record, and came into their own in their many concerts.

Such a sustained and prolific work ethic took its toll on the group, and Man heralded the end of their first phase in December 1976 with a farewell gig in Slough. But you can't keep a good band down, and Man came back in April 1983 with a performance at London's Hope And Anchor. As before, they spent much of the 80s and 90s on the road, in both the UK and Europe.

Over the years, the Man line-up has changed many times. Indeed, Deke Leonard once drew the Man Family Jungle on the sleeve of their album Be Good To Yourself At Least Once A Day: it turned out to be an enormously complex web of band relations, with dozens of offshoots and collaborations over the years.

Notable past Man members include Terry Williams, who left Man to play with Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe and Dire Straits; and John Cippolina, leader of the Quicksilver Messenger Service, who played on the 1975 live album Maximum Darkness.

The vast number of Man releases can be daunting for newcomers to the group, but the best way to experience them is by seeing them play live. Man are still going strong today, touring regularly and releasing albums occasionally, to the delight of their solid fanbase of dedicated Manfans.

found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music/profiles/pages/man.shtml
 

Photo of Man (Micky Jones, Deke Leonard and Martin Ace - Bob Richards out of picture at back) at Terrastock 3 from the private collection of the Editor by: unknown, but thought to be by Jerry Lombardo

From:  Wales (UK)

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

Martin Ace – Bass, Vocals

ex-The Dream, Iceberg, Flying Aces (with Richard Treece and Ken Whaley of Help Yourself – see Green Ray)

Micky Jones – Guitar, Vocals

ex-Bystanders

Deke Leonard – Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals

ex-The Dream, Iceberg, Help Yourself (briefly replaced Malcolm Morley); solo.

Bob Richards – Drums

Ken Whaley (currently of Green Ray, ex-Help Yourself and Man) stood in for Ace on the final encore at T3.

 

BARBARA MANNING

 

Barbara Manning is considered one of the leaders of the independent rock scene. During her multi-album career, beginning in Northern California with the highly acclaimed neo-psychedelic group 28th Day; San Francisco's semi-legendary edgy pop band, World of Pooh; Matador recording artist, SF Seals; her numerous solo albums, and now with the power trio, The Go-Luckys!, Manning has consistently collected praise from respected and cutting edge magazines as well as her own peers.

Barbara has played worldwide with such rock notables as Yo La Tengo, Giant Sand, Pavement, Calexico, the Replacements, Richie Havens, Donovan, Television Personalities, Stuart Moxham (Young Marble Giants), Jon Langford (Mekons), Faust, Urge Overkill, Gary Lucas (Captain Beefheart), and Sonic Youth.

(http://www.barbaramanning.com/biography.html)

From:  San Francisco, California (USA)

Performed at: T1, T5

Featuring:

Barbara – Guitar, Vocals

ex-Tablespoons/S.F. Seals, 28th Day, World of Pooh, Glands of External Secretion.

Also performs with The Go-Luckys, brothers:

Fabrizio Steinbach - Guitar, Bass

Flavio Steinbach - Drums, Percussion

 

COUNTRY JOE McDONALD

 

After 31 albums and more than a quarter century in the public eye as a folksinger, Country Joe McDonald qualifies as one of the best known names from the '60's rock still performing. 

But McDonald also remains a thriving, working musician who travels the world and continues to sell records. McDonald released the first Country Joe and the Fish record, containing an agit-prop folk version of "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag" on Rag Baby in October 1965, in time for the Vietnam Day Teach-In, a massive anti-war protest organized in Berkeley, California. Within months the nascent folk group had exchanged their acoustic instruments for electric, plugged in and were playing the burgeoning San Francisco psychedelic ballroom scene at the Avalon and Fillmore.

With the release of "Electric Music for Mind and Body", the band's 1967 Vanguard Records debut, Country Joe and the Fish joined the front ranks of the international psychedelic rock movement.The band's second album contained the rock version of "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag", one of the great anthems of the era. In August 1968, on the spur of the moment, the infamous "Fish Cheer" was invented to introduce the song at a performance in Central Park's Wolman Rink. The following year, McDonald led an audience approaching a half-million at the Woodstock Arts and Music Festical in the cheer.

found at: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Links/Comm/vvm/about/joebio.html

Photo: "Country Joe and The Bevis Frond Jam Again at the Aberdeen Alternative Festival" Left to right: Country Joe, Andy Ward, Aaron Shaw, Adrian Shaw, Nick Saloman. found at: http://www.ragbaby.com/magazine
 

From:  Berkley, California (USA)

Performed at: T4

Featuring:

David Cohen – Guitar, keyboards

Country Joe McDonald – Guitar, Vocals

Nick Saloman – Guitar, Vocals

Ade Shaw – Bass

Andy Ward – Drums

The latter three also appeared as The Bevis Frond and supported Rod Goodway [Ethereal Counterbalance]; Ward and Shaw also played with Mick Farren  [T1,2]

 

 

MEDICINE BALL

 

Hailed by the late Raygun magazine as "one of indie rock's sadly overlooked groups" and praised by now-defunct Option magazine as a band that "scratch(es) an itch that Television and the Stones only tickle," MEDICINE BALL have been perfecting their unique brand of guitar rock for the better part of ten years. Fresh Ape marks their 4th full-length album. At times punk, at times psychedelic and at times both and neither, Medicine Ball exists to flesh out the 3 distinct songwriting styles of Don Sanders, Mark Stone and Evan Williams. An almost total lack of indigenous record labels and limited homespun press makes Providence, Rhode Island a tough place for a band to get noticed, yet over the course of 3 full-length albums, 2 film scores, compilation tracks, singles, and hundreds of live shows, Medicine Ball has captured the attention of critics both in the states and across the pond. Even when not playing or recording, Medicine Ball remain dedicated to bringing psychedelia to the masses; the band was instrumental in organizing the first Terrastock, a music festival celebrating the music championed by the long-running magazine The Ptolemaic Terrascope.


found at: http://www.rubricrecords.com/bands/medicineball.html

From: Providence, Rhode Island (USA)

Performed at: T1, T2

Featuring:

Bruce Moravec – Drums

Don Sanders – Guitar

Mark Stone – Bass

Evan Williams – Guitar

ex-Plan 9

Mark Stone was instrumental in laying the foundation stones of Terrastock 1.

THE MINUS 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Minus 5 is a loose aggregation rather lazily led by Scott McCaughey (pronounced McCoy), in between trips to Spain with his long-time rock combo The Young Fresh Fellows and his joyous recent duties as a support musician with R.E.M. Other members of The Minus 5 generally include whoever's around at the time, but most often Peter Buck, plus Ken Stringfellow and/or Jon Auer of the Posies (and the revamped '90s Big Star line-up). Live appearances are sporadic and unpredictable (o.k., even unrehearsed); most recently, Buck and Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees, Mad Season, Tuatara) bravely joined Scott on stage, standing tall when projectiles rained. Others who have fulfilled Minus 5 duties on stage or on tape include: Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Christy McWilson (Picketts), Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Mark Greenberg (Coctails), Mary Lou Lord, Mike Mills, Dennis Diken (Smithereens), Chris & Carla (Walkabouts), Tom & Terry (NRBQ), Amy Denio (Billy Tipton Memorial Quartet), John Ramberg (Model Rockets), John Moen & Jim Talstra (Maroons), etc., etc.

found at: http://imusic.artistdirect.com/showcase/modern/minus5.html

Photo of the Minus 5 at Terrastock 4 by Richard Booth from the private collection of the Editor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From: Seattle, Washington (USA)

Performed at: T4

Featuring:

Jon Auer – Guitar

solo, also in The Posies and Alex Chilton’s reformed Big Star (with Stringfellow)

Kurt Bloch – Guitar

also in The Fastbacks

Peter Buck – Bass

also in R.E.M., Tuatura (with Martin)

Tad Hutchison – Drums

also in Chris and Tad

Barrett Martin – Drums

also in Tuatura (with Buck); ex-Screaming Trees, Skin Yard

Scott McCaughey – Guitar, Vocals

also in Young Fresh Fellows [T2], and  played keyboards with Donovan's Brain [T4]

John Ramberg - Guitar

Jim Sangster – Bass

also in Young Fresh Fellows [T2]

Ken Stringfellow – Guitar

solo, also in The Posies and Alex Chilton’s reformed Big Star (with Auer); also in Moth Wranglers with Alison Faith Levy (The Loud Family)

Martin, McCaughey and Stringfellow have also played in R.E.M. (with Buck)

THE MONKEY-WRENCH

 

After a seven-year hiatus, this trash rock supergroup (featuring Mudhoney's Mark Arm and Steve Turner, Poison 13's Tim Kerr, Gas Huffer's Tim Price, and Aussie drummer Martin Bland) is back with a vengeance. With their newest record, Electric Children, they pick up they left off in the early '90s, sounding like a late '60s Rolling Stones- and New York Dolls-worshipping garage band whose members are still reveling in the paisley and diamond wonders of LSD. Hard blues riffs percolate in the firewater of the Monkeywrench's overall psych-punk fury as Arm does his best vocal impersonation of a deranged street corner priest. Reportedly Steve Turner's inspiration for the title track, "Electric Children," came in a message (and melody) from God; however that track does not appear on the album because Turner was too terrified to write the music.

The hard and dirty "Solar Revelations" and the eight-and-a-half minute psychedelic opus "In the Days of the Five" do appear, however, and you can listen to both right here to discover how out there the Monkeywrench's crusty feedback-blues really is.

found at: http://www.epitonic.com/artists/themonkeywrench.html

 

 

From:  Seattle, Washington (USA)

Performed at: T4

Featuring:

Mark Arm – Piano, Vocals

previous and current bands include Green River, Mudhoney , Bloodloss, Thrown-Ups, Mr. Epp and the Calculations, Jack Klugman and the Ice Picks,  Limp Richerds, Bushpigh, Wylde Ratttz; also released a solo 7" covering Dylan's "Masters of War" on Sub Pop in 1990.

Martin Bland – Drums

ex-Lubricated Goat (with Guy Maddison of Mudhoney), Bloodloss (with Arm), Bushpig (with Arm, Turner)

Tim Kerr – Guitar

ex-Bad Mutha Goose & Brothers Grimm, The Big Boys, Jack O’Fire, King Sound Quartet, Lord High Fixers, Poison 13

Tom Price – Guitar

ex-Gas Huffer, U-Men

Steve Turner – Bass, Vocals

previous and current bands include Green River, Mudhoney, Thrown-Ups, Fall-Outs, Ducky Boys, Spuui Numa, Doggs with Dreadlocks, Limp Richerds, Bushpigh, Love and Respect, Sad & Lonely(s), Mr. Epp and the Calculations. Also runs the Super Electro Records label.

MONO

Mono is the quartet of Tamaki on bass, Takaakira "Taka" Goto and Yoda on guitars, and Yasunori Takada on drums.  The Tokyo ensemble has released four studio albums to date as well as a steady stream of collaborations, remix projects and EPs, all marking a progression and refinement which resulted in the release of two fantastic albums in 2006, You Are There and, in collaboration with sonic experimentalist World’s End Girlfriend, Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain.  There are other more popular bands that Mono could be compared to, but the young quartet has already shed any vestiges of idol worship and struck out on a singular path of distorted melodic transcendence, and in the process established itself as one of the finest ambient psych noise bands on the planet.  Be it a gentle rustling wind or a torrential sonic downpour, Mono’s soul-stirring melodies and massive rhythmic intensity coalesce to reveal some of the most visceral and hypnotic walls of sound heard anywhere in the last 20 years.  Call them shoegaze, epic noise psych, post-rock—what have you.  We prefer the term thrashgaze for sensitive souls.  Key albums: Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined (Temporary Residence), New York Soundtracks (Temporary Residence/Rykodisc), You Are There (Temporary Residence), Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain with World’s End Girlfriend (Temporary Residence).

from the Terrastock 7 festival program. Words: Lee Jackson

From: Japan

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

Tamaki - bass

Yasunori Takada - drums

Takaakira 'Taka' Goto - guitars

Yoda - guitars

ROY MONTGOMERY

 

Experimental guitarist Roy Montgomery was born and raised in Christchurch, New Zealand, forming his first band, the teen garage combo the Psychedeliks, in 1971. After serving out the remainder of the decade in similarly obscure outfits including Compulsory Fun and Murder Strikes Pink, in late 1980 he co-founded the seminal Kiwi post-punk trio the Pin Group; their debut single "Ambivalence" was also the first record ever issued on the now-legendary indie label Flying Nun, its echoing, darkly melodic guitar sound foreshadowing the evocative sonic approach Montgomery would continue to pursue for the remainder of his career. After the Pin Group disbanded in 1982, a year later he received a $750 National Arts Council grant to form the Shallows, their lone 1985 single "Suzanne Said" further honing Montgomery's expansive drone aesthetic. However, he then spent the next five years largely removed from music, instead balancing his studies of Russian language and literature with his interests in cinema and avant-garde theater.

Montgomery returned to performing in 1990 after a chance meeting with fellow Pin Group alum Peter Stapleton led to an invitation to join the fledgling noise-pop band Dadamah. After a handful of releases the group splintered in 1993, with Montgomery resurfacing the following year with his first solo effort, Scenes from the South Island; with fellow guitarist Chris Heaphy, he also formed the duo Dissolve, issuing their LP That That Is...Is (Not) that same year. Montgomery then spent the next year and a half travelling through the U.S., England and Latin America, during that time recording a wealth of new material which found its way onto a series of singles for labels including Ajax, Siltbreeze and Drunken Fish. The full-length Temple IV followed on Kranky in 1996, while the following year he collaborated with the members of Bardo Pond in Hash Jar Tempo, issuing the album Well-Oiled; also in 1997, Montgomery appeared on the Flying Saucer Attack EP Goodbye.

found at: http://www.allmusic.com

Photo of Roy Montgomery at Terrastock 2 copyright 1998 Erik Auerbach

From:  Christchurch (New Zealand)

Performed at: T2

Featuring:

Roy – Guitar, Vocals

also records with Chris Heaphy as Dissolve; ex-The Pin Group, Dadamah, Shallows, The Psychedeliks, Compulsory Fun, Murder Strikes Pink, The Blanking Machine. Is also a member of  Hash Jar Tempo with Bardo Pond

Darren Mock – E-bow

Owner of Drunken Fish label which has issued material by several Terrastock artists including Montgomery, Bardo Pond (separately and together as Hash Jar Tempo), Flying Saucer Attack, Loren Mazzacane Connors and Brother JT.

 

MOTORPSYCHO
Motorpsycho was founded in October 1989 in Trondheim, a small industrial city on the mid-western coast of Norway. The first line-up was Bent Sæther (vocals, bass), Hans Magnus “Snah” Ryan (guitar, vocals) and Kjell Runar “Killer” Jenssen (drums). They came up with their band name while watching a Russ Meyer triple-feature in London. Two of the film titles (“Mudhoney” and “Faster Pussycat”) were already taken by other bands, the name “Motorpsycho” was still available. Their first album was “Lobotomizer” in 1991, after which Killer quit and Håkon Gebhardt took over on drums, forming the nucleus of Motorpsycho still existing today. But it was the release of their third album “Demon Box” which finally brought them acknowledgement and amazing reviews all across Scandinavia and Europe. Demon Box contains everything from brutal pop to long, gliding progressive themes and industrial terror visions. It was voted best album by the norwegian press and was later nominated for a Grammy.

Motorpsycho toured extensively across Germany, Benelux and Italy, gaining fans wherever they went. They released two EPs (Mountain and Another Ugly EP), each showing an amazing diversity of styles, Motorpsycho’s trademark. After playing big-name festivals like Roskilde and Lowlands, the band went into the studio to record the follow-up album to Demon Box, released on EMI/Harvest in Norway and on the newly-founded Stickman Records for the rest of the world. “Timothy’s Monster” contains almost two hours of passionate rock, heavy psychedelia and even a couple of sweet pop ditties. Due to it’s monster-length it was released as a double-CD and a three-LP box-set with a full-color poster and a vinyl etching on the sixth side.

Since the release of Timothy’s Monster, Motorpsycho switched from EMI to Sony Records in Norway. And they’ve written and recorded such an amazing amount of music as to be almost frightening. You can set your clock by these guys: every year they release an album (or in the case of Trust Us, a double-album), countless singles, tracks for compilations, even entire country-n-western-soundtracks! And their perhaps strangest release to date was their split-single with old-school-rocker Alice Cooper on Musical Tragedies Records.

As if that isn’t enough, Motorpsycho has also started up a series of live albums, under the name of “Roadwork”. Volume 1 with the wonderful sub-title “Heavy Metall iz a poze, hardt rock iz a laifschteil” was released in March 1999. Volume 2, “The MotorSource Massacre”, was released at the end of 2000 and is a recording together with The Source and Deathprod at the Kongsberg Jazzfestival in 1995.

The year 2000 started off with a bang, with their album “Let Them Eat Cake” going into the norwegian charts at #1 as well as entering the german charts – a first for both Motorpsycho and Stickman Records. The same thing happened in 2001 with the release of their latest album Phanerothyme: from 0 to #1 in Norway, and another german chart entry, this time three spots higher than the year before.

2002 continued in an upward spiral, with two tours and the international success of their September release, “It’s a Love Cult”, this time charting in 4 european countries and licensed in Japan. The US is also finally starting to pay attention to Motorpsycho, as proved during their short east coast tour in October of 2002.

 

Motorpsycho at Terrastock 5 - photo Jeanette Gustavus

found at: http://www.stickman-records.com/
 

From:  Norway

Performed at: T5, T7

Featuring:

Håken Gebhardt – Drums

ex-Mental, Defender, JAH and Hegreduo

Hans Magnus “Snah” Ryan – Guitar

ex-The Spitfires, Egge Gospel, Pestilence, Beyond Structure and Secret Fish

Bent Sæther – Bass, Vocals

ex-Breakfast, Worrier, Lazy, Flippa Hormoner and Aural Blow Job (with original Motorpsycho drummer, Kjell Runar “Killer” Jenssen)

Bård Slagsvold – Synths, Vocals

 

 

MOUNTAIN GOATS

The Mountain Goats are a one-man band, masterminded by indie mainstay John Darnielle. Though Darnielle’s buddies occasionally widen their sound, two constants have remained with the Mountain Goats since their inception. The first is that Darnielle will be playing his guitar and singing the songs. The second is that the band will record on a ghetto blaster purchased at a department store. Both of these charming qualities have been ubiquitous on Mountain Goats records, and they are equally responsible for the Mountain Goats’ sound.

found at: http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/116

From:  Ames, Iowa (USA)

Performed at: T2

Featuring:

John Darnielle – Guitar, Vocals

Has recorded with Alastair Galbraith. Bob Durkee (the chap who owns Durkee Studios where Primordial Undermind record all their material) has engineered/sequenced several of their/his releases.

MUDHONEY

 

Mudhoney line upNirvana may have been the band that put an entire generation in flannel, and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden both sold a lot more records, but Mudhoney was truly the band who made the '90s grunge rock movement possible. Mudhoney was the first real success story for Sub Pop Records; their indie-scene success laid the groundwork for the movement that would (briefly) make Seattle, WA, the new capital of the rock & roll universe; and they took the sweat-soaked and beer-fueled mixture of heavy metal muscle, punk attitude, and garage rock primitivism that would become known as "grunge" to the hipster audience for the first time, who would in turn sell it to a mass audience ready for something new. Though Mudhoney never scored the big payday some of their old-running buddies did, their importance on the Seattle scene cannot be underestimated, and their body of work -- big, loud, purposefully sloppy, a little bit menacing, and even more funny -- has stood the test of time better than their well-known colleagues.

found at: http://www.unofficial-mudhoney.com/mudhoney.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From:  Seattle, Washington (USA)

Performed at: T2

Featuring:

Mark Arm – Guitar, Vocals

previous and current bands include Green River, Monkeywrench [T4], Bloodloss, Thrown-Ups, Mr. Epp and the Calculations, Jack Klugman and the Ice Picks,  Limp Richerds, Bushpig, Wylde Ratttz; also released a solo 7" covering Dylan's "Masters of War" on Sub Pop in 1990

Matt Lukin – Bass

ex-Melvins (with Peters). Left the band in 1998, replaced by Guy Maddison [ex-Lubricated Goat (with Martin Bland of Monkeywrench), Bushpig (with Arm and Turner), Bloodloss (with Arm)]

Dan Peters – Drums

previous and current bands include Screaming Trees, Bundle of Hiss, Feast, Nirvana, Love Battery, Sad & Lonely(s), Melvins (with Lukin), The Headcoats, Fastbacks (with Kurt Bloch of Minus 5 [T4]), Valis, solo

Steve Turner – Guitar, Vocals

previous and current bands include Green River, Monkeywrench [T4], Thrown-Ups, Fall-Outs, Ducky Boys, Spuui Numa, Doggs with Dreadlocks, Limp Richerds, Bushpig, Love and Respect, Sad & Lonely(s), Mr. Epp and the Calculations; also solo. Runs the Super Electro Records label.

Band has also performed live as Beneath the Valley of the Underdog, named after the song of the same name on the album 'Tomorrow Hit Today'

MV&EE

Still orbiting the earth in Vermont is Matt "MV" Valentine, one of the founders of the Tower Recordings, and Erika "EE" Elder. Together with their dog Zuma they run the Child  of Microtones Terran Library of Exploratory Music and sing songs with the pro Mel Lyman combo 'The Bummer Road'. Sometimes their own lunar blues, sometimes fingerstyle noise/space, sometimes lonesome frontier folk... always environments. You will find many are one (MV/EE, Mo'Jiggs, Samara Lubeliski, Sparrow Wildchild and Nemo Bidtsrup) and they are kinda proficient on guitar/banter, lap steel/uke/theramin, harp/percussion, violin/bass, flute/ukelin, tambura/oscillator/guitar respectively, and yours hanging loose.

 

Text found in: the Terrastock 6 festival program

Photo of Matt and Erika (above) by Phil McMullen

 

Photo of Nemo Bidtsrup (right)

found at Foxy Digitalis

 

From: Vermont, USA

Performed at: T6, T7

Band: The Bummer Road (T6), The Golden Road (T7)

Featuring:

Matt Valentine - guitar, vocals

Matt Valentine was previously a member of Tower Recordings

Erika Elder - guitar, vocals

 

Samara Lubelski - violin, bass

Rachel Sparrow - flute, percussion
 

Mo' Jiggs - harmonica, percussion

 

Zuma the Dog - teeth, fur

 

Nemo Bidstrup - guitar, tambura (T6)

Nemo also runs Time-Lag, one of the most consistently spectacular labels on the planet. From the packaging down to the music, there are few better. Nemo also has an excellent solo project, Drona Parva. He moonlights as a member of the MV&EE Medicine Show.

 

The "By the Fruits You Shall Know the Roots" 3 LP compilation album co-released by Nemo and Ed Hardy of Eclipse records was initiated by Ben Chasny of 6 Organs when all three of them met at Terrastock 5. It features Six Organs of Admittance, MV/EE, Dredd Foole, Jack Rose, Fursaxa and Joshua Burkett with Kemiallset Ystävät. Sleeve design by Erika Elder

MY DRUG HELL

 

My Drug Hell got their name from an English tabloid that reported an alleged romp by Oasis's Liam Gallagher with a screaming "My Drug And Sex Hell With Liam" headline. Not that My Drug Hell don't deserve some coverage of their own. The surface of their poppy psychedelia is pocked with reminders of the Doors and the Beatles. And lead singer Tim Briffa croons with a tantalizing wail, a tone his slinky guitar work opposes at all costs.


The end result is 40 minutes of fresh, powerful pop. "Girl at the Bus Stop" steals a few bars from the Steve Miller Band's "Space Cowboy" and turns them into the backbone of a chilling meditation on rejection. But overall the album teems with frantic mood swings. "You Were Right, I Was Wrong" is twangy and smart; "2am" is murky, and it depresses the Stones' "Get Off of My Cloud" chorus into a slow crawl. Briffa floors the wah-wah peddle in "For Your Eyes"; "Not Quite What We're Looking For" (the obligatory "hidden track") takes shots at American music. "This could be a hit . . . if it were a little more grunge, a little more Pearl Jam," Briffa smirks, in his best A&R accent. Fortunately, nothing on this album takes that advice.

found at: http://www.worcesterphoenix.com/archive/music

From:  London (UK)

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

Tim Briffa – Vocals, Guitar

Raife Burchell – Drums

Paul Donnelly – Bass, Vocals

 

 

MARISSA

NADLER

Marissa Nadler grew up in Boston, and lived in Providence, RI for a five years while going to painting school. There, she started recording records, with three or four unreleased full-lengths to date. With the support of a couple of special friends, she was convinced to try to put some music out. She did, and lately has been travelling and touring. From her earliest incarnations, her music has always been unique and gorgeous, skilfully and simply hinting at the songs of the sea, the haunting chansons of maidens, the cowboy ditties of ranchers, and the funerary processions of mourners.

Text found at: the Terrastock 6 festival program.

Photo: from a feature in Terrascope Online

From: Boston, MA USA

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Marissa Nadler - guitar, vocals

Marissa was also scheduled to perform at T7, but was pulled out at the last minute in order to finish recording an album.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL

 


NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL
Like many of its Elephant 6 counterparts (Olivia Tremor Control, Apples In Stereo), Neutral Milk Hotel has its origins in the small town of Ruston, Louisiana. The Elephant 6 collective was formed there by a group of childhood friends who shared a love for music that no one else in Ruston seemed to know (much less care) about.

Jeff Mangum has always been Neutral Milk Hotel’s central figure, and he’s used that moniker for everything from his own solo excursions to marching band-like musical happenings. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea marks a new phase for Mangum and his namesake. The group’s debut album, On Avery Island, was a wonderfully dense hodgepodge of song and sound, an ambitious, eclectic work that reflected the nomadic lifestyle that Mangum and his friends shared at the time. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea contains even more solo acoustic compositions than its predecessor. But, in a nice turn of irony, it’s also the most collaborative NMH offering to date.It possesses an intimacy, and a sense of purpose, that only comes from shared experience. It’s even more conceptual than its multi-layered predecessor, taking on history, faith and spirituality as some of its central themes. But the group’s aim was not as much to reinterpret these themes as to rediscover them. The result is a very personal, and not always pretty, stream-of-consciousness account of what was gained from the experience.

found at: http://www.mergerecords.com/bands/nmh/bio.html

 

 

From: Ruston, Louisiana (USA)

Performed at: T1, T2

Featuring:

Jeremy Barnes – Drums

AKA Marta Tennae (see Bablicon; is now in A Hawk & A Hacksaw)

Julian Koster – Saw, Accordion, Bass, Banjo

Also in The Music Tapes; played with Elf Power during an early incarnation; ex-Miss America/Chocolate USA (with Liza Wakeman from Alva); also connected with Major Organ & The Adding Machine; also played with Olivia Tremor Control

Jeff Mangum – Guitar, Vocals

ex-Maggot, Cranberry Life Cycle, Clay Bears, Synthetic Flying Machine, Olivia Tremor Control; also involved with Major Organ & The Adding Machine

Scott Spillane – Trumpet, Euphonium, Flugelhorn, Guitar

ex-Smilin' Joe Fission, Clay Bears; also in The Gerbils, Olivia Tremor Control

Above-named also performed a supporting role to The Supreme Dicks [T1]

 

NONLOC / BRIGHT
Nonloc's Mark Dwinell has been wowing Northeastern audiences for years as the driving force behind the band Bright, purveyors of a potent brand of psychedelic space-rock. Dwinnel has branched out on his own, and returns now with an acoustic juxtapositioning of Fahey-esque drone-psalms and Drake-like finger-picked emotional odysseys. Dwinell, under the moniker of Nonloc, will be debuting this material on The Plague Tour. Bright has released numerous records on such labels as Ba Da Bing! and Darla.

found at: http://www.tindrum.com/sunshineplague

 

 

From:  Rhode Island (USA)

Performed at: T5 (as Nonloc), T6 (as Bright)

Featuring:

Mark Dwinell – Guitar, Vocals

ex-Bright, whose bassist, Jay Dubois formed The Squall with ex-Abunai! guitarist, Brendan Quinn after their respective projects disbanded.

Mark also toured with Greg Weeks as part of The Sunshine Plague Traveling Revue, and played guitar with Joe Turner and the 7 Levels at T6

OLIVIA TREMOR CONTROL

 

Olivia Tremor Control was much anticipated! The stage was absolutely cluttered with gadgets and instruments, resembling a musical curiosity shop. A very appropriate image.

For those not familiar with this outfit, they have an absolutely uncanny grasp of pop and psychedelia, sounding often like outtakes from "the White Album" or "Good Vibrations" era Beach boys (every reviewer says this) but never sounding either retro or imitative. The harmonies, the intelligence, the theremins!

There was so much coming and going of guest musicians from the E6 empire, and so much switching of instruments that I cannot hope to give you any account of movements. Plain and simple, these people are geniuses, and from an incredible pool of talent, unmatched anywhere. To me, they represent one of the finest bands in the world, of all time. Really.

Stretching out in the comfort of playing to the converted, they did less pop and more experimentation for this appearance than you may see at a normal gig. A long extended freakout, a natural bookend to "Revolution #9" or something, brought the show to a crescendo. One wag leaned into my ear and said "they musta figured this was a good chance to get high!" The thing is, they do it so much better than anyone else, it never loses its beauty or musicality. Joe Ross, of the Green Pajamas - himself a master of pop-psyche, said "man, that's the closest to "I am the Walrus" you are ever going to see!" I cannot recommend these ARTISTS highly enough!

(http://www.aural-innovations.com/issues/issue3/terra2.html)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From: Athens, Georgia (USA)

Performed at: T1, T2

Featuring:

Bill Doss – Guitar, Vocals

ex-Cranberry Life Cycle (with Hart), Synthetic Flying Machine (with Hart and Fernandes) and Chocolate USA (with Liza Wakeman from Alva); currently in The Sunshine Fix, named after a song on OTCs debut EP, “California Demise;” has also released records as Je Suis France, Call & Response, and The Sleeping Flies

Peter Erchick – Keyboards

ex-The(Wiffen)gwens, Of Montreal (with Harris and Fernandes); recorded with Summer Hymns (with Adrian Finch of Elf Power) and Pipes You See, Pipes You Don’t

John Fernandez – Violin, Clarinet, Bass

ex-Synthetic Flying Machine (with Doss and Hart), Of Montreal (with Erchick and Harris)

Eric Harris – Drums, Theremin, Guitar

ex-Chocolate USA (with Liza Wakeman from Alva), Of Montreal (with Erchick and Fernandes), Swales, Yeti; recorded a solo project as Frosted Ambassador; currently in Elf Power

Will Cullen Hart – Guitar, Vocals

ex-Maggot, Cranberry Life Cycle, Synthetic Flying Machine; also has two solo projects, Always Red Society, which is namechecked in the lyrics to "Define A Transparent Dream" on Dusk at Cubist Castle and Circulatory System (with assistance from Erchick, Fernandes, Harris, and Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum)

Scott Spillane – Trumpet, Euphonium, Flugelhorn, Guitar

ex-Smilin' Joe Fission, Clay Bears; also in The Gerbils, Neutral Milk Hotel

ONEIDA

In the ten plus years since its inception, Brooklyn based Oneida has built a solid reputation for propulsive post punk psychedelia.  Combining the raw intensity of New York City no wave and art punk with the minimal space of prime Krautrock (especially early Can), proto-punkers Rocket From the Tombs and other more progressive bands, Oneida is responsible for one of the most satisfying catalogs in underground rock today.  Glam rock stompers, proto punk garage assaults, sophisticated prog folk workouts and more are all present and accounted for across the span of their eight albums, most of which are available on respected indie, Jagjaguwar.  Oneida is guaranteed to deliver one of the most high energy punk psych sets of the festival.  Key albums:  Each One Teach One (Jagjaguwar), Secret Wars (Jagjaguwar), The Wedding (Jagjaguwar), Happy New Year (Jagjaguwar).

 

from the T7 festival program - words by Lee Jackson

 

From: Brooklyn, NY (USA)

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

 

TARA JANE ONEIL

 

Louisville’s Tara Jane ONeil has an impressive musical background as a member of seminal combos such as Rodan, Retsin and the Sonora Pines. From 2000 onward she’s been focusing on her solo career, and the intimate results can be heard on about half a dozen albums. ONeil often plays many of the instruments herself and has a variety of supporting players rather than a consistent line-up. Her music often works so successfully because of her great voice, strong and soothing, warm from the experience of life, deftly portrayed in her lyrical content.  The guitar playing is delicate but pointed, harmoniously layering several guitar tracks on many of her songs. There is most certainly further exploration of different instruments and sounds, but the voice and guitar playing is often what sets the mood so brilliantly. She has a defined style and her records reflect this consistency. O’Neil is also a notable painter. Her paintings grace each of her solo albums.

 

from the T7 festival program - words by Mats Gustafsson

 

From: Portland, OR (USA) (originally from Louisville, KY)

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

Tara Jane Oneil - guitars, vocals

 

ORANS

 

Orans is a band whose origins began some years ago when Julie (guitar) and Ramona (drums) met at a Moving Targets show in Boston and decided to start a project tentatively called Kicking And Screaming. Tentative was as far as the project ever got however, as the rigors of finding a suitable bass player and overcoming stage fright caused them both to seek more established and populated bands. Ramona played with New Parts From Old, and Julie joined Fertile Virgin. Reunited for a four year stint with the band Twig, they now find themselves back at the beginning, still without a bass player but lacking the paralyzing self consciousness of youth. They are accompanied in this venture by Jerry Kyn, borrowed from the band Toe Tag, who furnishes sonic guitar sounds.

found at: http://web.mit.edu/jonb/www/bands/orans.html

 

From: Boston, Massachusetts (USA)

Performed at: T1

Featuring:

Julie – Guitar

ex-Fertile Virgin, Twig

Ramona Herboldsheimer – Guitar

ex-New Parts From Old, Twig, The Wild Stares; also ex The Lothars

Jerry Kyn – Guitar

 

PAT ORCHARD

 

   Photo: http://www.davesag.com/shambala2002

Pat Orchard is a member of that rare breed of musicians, a singer/songwriter who cannot only sing but who writes real songs that means more than the obvious. Add to that the type of dexterity on the guitar that is only granted to a gifted few and you have the recipe for success. Born in Devon, England, he was, however, raised in Africa, principally Ghana and Zambia. He recalls how local musicians with their inherent feel for rhythm would play anything that came to hand; hollowed sticks, old pots and oil drums. Even if they couldn't blow or twang it they would hit it, "If they had a guitar it would invariably have the wrong strings on it" says Pat, "and would be tuned any which way but normal". Ten years later this complete disregard for the conventions of guitar playing and natural percussive feel would emerge in Pat's almost unique style of guitar playing.
His music has now developed to a degree that it crosses traditional borders of singer songwriter, acoustic and electric rock. His imaginative use of echo pedals and altered guitar tunings produce a huge and exiting sound from his acoustic guitar; some audiences mistaken in the belief that he is using backing tapes or guitar synths. In Pat's words, "I think songs should reflect the nature of the emotions they are attempting to express. If the songs are dreamy or melancholy, then I use long echoes to help the picture - if they are social or angry in statement, I'll use the guitar face board as a percussion instrument. I've never been interested in fad or fashion, writing in one particular style is uninspired and lazy!"
Pat Orchard has toured extensively in Europe and played many of the major festivals and venues, including Montreux Jazz Festival, Reading, Glastonbury, Terrastock and Phoenix. He has toured with artists as diversified as Annie Lennox, Johnny Cash, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Richard Thompson, Spiritualized, John Martyn, Bert Jansch, and Randy Crawford - a testament to how his music crosses over the borders of so many styles of music.
(Interview by Phil McMullen / Ptolemaic Terrascope)
 

found at: http://www.patorchard.com

From:  London (UK)

Performed at: T3, T4, T5

Featuring:

Pat – Guitar, Vocals

ex-Veni Vidi Vici. Also runs his own label, Sad Tiger records.

PAIK
Detroit space-rock trio Paik is ostensibly named for the Korean-born artist Nam June Paik, an early champion of video as a relevant artistic medium. Much of the Fluxus artist’s early work was generated by the Paik-Abe video synthesizer, a device that abstracted luminescent images into what Paik called “an electronic watercolor for everybody to see.” The band from Detroit generates an aural version of this electronic watercolor, but they pierce it with a jackhammer. The resulting sounds are among the most gigantic and pummeling of the crowded space-rock set, but they’re also among the most beautiful.

The Orson Fader is Paik’s third full-length, and it makes good on the promise of both their earlier records and their fantastic live show. Opening with a burst of feedback and a cymbal roll, “Detroit” quickly establishes just how enormous a guitar can sound. Each reverberating note is unfurled at languid intervals and matched beat for beat with bass kick and thunderous, echoing timpani. The texture is grim and grainy – like an orchestra of coughing, backfiring engines that feels rooted in the cold industrial skyline of its milieu – but the bottom layer of the song’s strata boasts a seductive trace of melody. It’s an alluring combination – a wispy haze of purple smoke tangled with the acrid, heavy exhaust of industrial machinery. One imagines stumbling around the Ford Motor plant high on fumes, the repetitive grind of machinery and irregular flash of sparks bouncing off corrugated aluminum siding, all things nightmarishly pleasant.

Fuss over Paik tends to center on how much noise they manage to generate with three sets of hands, but the fact that one guitar line is distinctly buried under all of the reverb and distortion is key to their sonic clarity. Similar to a band like Explosions in the Sky, Paik drive relentlessly forward, unwilling to bathe for long in their washes of sound. Much of their momentum is generated through churning, accumulating repetition, stretching The Orson Fader’s best tracks to the seven- or eight-minute mark, but no farther. “Ghost Ship” is among the finest, arising out of an unusually quiet opening of chiming guitar and bass-driven melody. When the drums kick in, they’re high in the mix, offsetting the rich bass end with high snare and cymbal before being drowning in the whirling guitar maelstrom. Even here – the closest Paik comes to a sound one could tag as pastoral – there is that harsh, metallic sourness to the guitars; Paik’s “Ghost Ship” feels less like a Spanish galleon than a naval tanker corroded with rust, yet is no less haunted.

The Orson Fader’s title track is probably the best of the lot. It opens enormously with a ringing, repetitive guitar note and aching bass line before exploding in intervals over the course of eight minutes. Its pixilated bursts of sound seem incapable of growing larger, but they swell and swell with a cathartic roar of combustion. Every machine in Detroit seems to grind, every gasket to belch steam, but the roar is strangely autumnal. Industry rarely sounds this sublime.


Reviewed by Nathan Hogan for Dusted Magazine
found at: http://www.clairecords.com/orsonrev.html

 

From: Michigan (USA)

Performed at: T5, T6, T7

Featuring:

Anthony Petrovic  – Bass

 

Ryan Pritts – Drums

 

Robert Smith – Guitar

Ryan also played drums with Windy & Carl (T5)

Graphic found in: the Terrastock Five festival programme

PAPAS FRITAS

 

pApAs fritAs was formed in Somerville, Massachusetts in late 1992 by three Tufts University undergraduates. Mere kids at the time, the band's three members - guitarist Tony Goddess, drummer Shivika Asthana and bassist Keith Gendel - have watched each other grow into adults over the intermittent 7 years. During that time they've also released two stellar pop albums, made videos and television appearances, recorded a slew of singles and compilation tracks, toured with the likes of Blur, The Cardigans and The Flaming Lips. Unforgettable experiences, all. But it is this passing of youth in the face of an inherently youthful artform that most informs their current perspective and latest album, Building and Grounds.

found at: http://www.mintyfresh.com/pap.html

From: Somerville, Massachusetts (USA)

Performed at: T1

Featuring:

Shiva Asthana – Drums, Vocals

Keith Grendel – Bass

also in The Faraway Places, Kiara Geller Experience

Tony Goddess – Guitar, Vocals

 

 

PARLOUR

What began in the mid-90s as the moniker of multi-instrumentalist Tim Furnish has in recent years morphed into a seven-headed sonic beast that drifts off in all directions. We find Krautrock-inspired grooves, delicate guitar work, jazzy pulses and slow beats tucked in under a comforting blanket of warm drones. Their sound could probably be filed somewhere in the outskirts of the whole post rock gang, but what’s more important is we get a spiraling sound that’s all about textures and capturing a specific mood. Parlour is melodic, emotive, and deliciously epic in the best ways.

 

from the T7 festival program. Words: Mats Gustafsson

From: Louisvillle, KY (USA)

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

Tim Furnish – Guitar, Vocals

 

PELT

 

I'll embarrassingly admit that I was a little late to pick up on Pelt. My first exposure came in June of 1998 as they opened for Sonic Youth in Raleigh, NC. When Jack, Mike and Patrick came out with their homemade hurdy-gurdy, prayer bowls, and other toys in tow and then lit two sticks of incense on stage, I was completely unprepared for what I was about to experience. The boys picked up their instruments and proceeded to launch into a 40-ish minute freeform drone session. They abruptly ceased the noise at the exact moment that the incense sticks were extinguished. I picked my jaw up off the floor, changed forever, and tried to prepare myself for Sonic Youth. I failed. My fascination with the band grew, and I would religiously flock to each and every one of their shows whenever they came to my area. Their festival-ending performance at Transmissions 002, including the powerful and legendary (to anyone who saw it) closing chant of "John in Africa," still brings me shivers when I think about it.

found at: http://www.fakejazz.com/reviews/2001/pelt2.shtml

 

 

 

 

 

From: Richmond, Virginia (USA)

Performed at: T2, T7

Featuring:

Patrick Best – Organ

also in Ugly Head (with Rose)

Phil Bonham – Bowed Acoustic Guitar

Mike Gangloff – Guitar, Cassette Tape Loops, Beat Frequency Oscillators

also in Black Twig Pickers

Jack Rose – Tamboura

also in Ugly Head (with Best), and solo (played at T6, T7)

Amy Shea – Drone Fiddle

Best, Gangloff and Rose also in Keyhole. They were joined by Bill Orcutt (of Harry Pussy) for “Burning Man” Benefit in Flambe Lounge.

PETROCAT

 

A stunning performance by Debbie Saloman, the [then]15 year old daughter of Nick, performing under the name Petrocat. Debbie has a very powerful voice and she sings like a mature woman with great passion and drive. She sings Dusty Springfield songs like a Dusty Springfield, and Grace Slick songs like a Grace Slick (in her hey-day). So watch out for Debbie Saloman and her Petrocat, she has a great future ahead of her. An album is in the pipeline, and if you want to catch the spirit you should get a copy of the Woronzow sampler Like it? It's Yours. It has a great Petrocat song on it written by her dad.

found: http://members.rott.chello.nl/cvanderlely/terrastock/terrapc.html

 

From: Walthamstow, London (UK)

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

Debbie Saloman – Vocals

also in Hex

Nick Saloman – Guitar

see The Bevis Frond

 

PG SIX
Continuing many of the themes introduced on 'Parlor Tricks and Porch Favorites', PG Six's well-received first record, 'The Well of Memory' makes nods towards 60s folk artists like Bert Jansch, Pentangle, Incredible String Band and John Fahey, while also fitting in with contemporary musicians like New York psych folk poster-boy Devendra Banhart, Anglo-folk traditionalist Alasdir Roberts, and West Coast psych guitarist Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance. Pat's lyrics draw on narrative force, spinning mythology in abstract patterns that stretch moments of clarity between dreamlike sequences. His music, composed away from the bustle of the city in upstate New York, breathes as solemn spirituals. With 'The Well of Memory', P.G. Six transcends mere revival carving a permanent spot amongst contemporary singer/songwriters.

 

 

 

found: band submission to Terrastock 6 festival program

From: NY, USA

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Pat Gubler - vocals, guitar, wurlitzer
 

Bob Bannister - guitar

Bob Bannister also records as a solo artist

Robert Dennis - drums
 

Stephen Connolly - bass

Stephen is also in Pothole Skinny

Debby Schwartz - vocals; also projectionist
 

THE PHOTOGRAPHIC

The Photographic is an instrumental rock duo out of Louisville, KY comprised by Jamie See Tai and Chad Blevins. They have been around since 2003 but their first widely available album didn’t hit the stores until a few months back. It was well worth the wait as Pictures of a Changing World (Galaxia) shows that the band is very adept at crafting emotional instrumental soundscapes and dynamic epics steeped in hope and longing. Waves of splintering chords and ringing harmonics rain down these sessions, and the Photographic's live show is something even grander with Jesse See Tai’s video images intertwining with the bands cinematic sounds.

from the Terrastock 7 festival program. Words: Mats Gustafsson

From: Louisville, KY (USA)

Performed at: T7

Jamie See Tai

Chad Blevins

Lights: Jesse See Tai

 

PIANO MAGIC

Piano Magic are based in London and consist of Glen Johnson (English), Miguel Marin (Spanish), Alasdair Steer (English) and Jerome Tcherneyan (French). Though they compose and perform throughout their new album "Writers Without Homes", they suppress the desire to stick to the same instruments or even to play on every track. The result is a striking fluidity and a refreshing diversity.

"Writers Without Homes" began life in March 2001 and was completed in January 2002. Along the way, there were 3 studios, two producers (short-lived), two engineers, miles of home recordings, and a menagerie of guests.

Simon Raymonde (ex-Cocteau Twins and now head of the Bella Union label) plays piano on 3 tracks; Paul Anderson from Tram (Setanta Records) sings on "Already Ghosts"; Tarwater guest on "Modern Jupiter"; John Grant from The Czars adds his voice to "The Season Is Long"; Life Without Buildings guitarist Robert Johnstone plays on "It's The Same Dream", which also features vocals from Suzy Mangion of new Manchester unit George. But the real coup came when the band coaxed long-retired 60's folk starlet Vashti Bunyan out of retirement to sing on her first recording in nearly 30 years ("Crown Of The Lost"). Alongside these appear Piano Magic regulars Caroline Potter (voice), James Topham (viola) and Charlotte Marionneau (voice) from Poptones' Le Volume Courbe.

Piano Magic released their first record in 1996 and since then have recorded for over 15 labels with over 30 members subscribing to its union.

After walking into a Barcelona record store and hearing a Piano Magic track playing on their soundsystem, Spain's best (and second best known) film director, Bigas Luna, knew exactly who he wanted to score his next movie, 'Son De Mar'. The director of 18 films (including 'Jamon Jamon', 'The Tit & The Moon' and 'Golden Balls') instantly recognised that they were making music for films that existed only in flickers at the back of the listener's mind and decided it was time to give them a 'real film' to work on.

The soundtrack was recorded over a five day studio stint, is divided into 6 untitled sections and features the band's core members. Apart from their music, Piano Magic are also noted for their 'revolving door' membership policy - some 30 members have passed through the band over the past 3 years including Darren Hayman (Hefner) Pete Astor (The Wisdom Of Harry) and David Sheppard (State River Widening) but 'Son De Mar' features only the one addition, James Topham, on Viola.

found at: http://www.4ad.com/artists/pianomagic/biography.html
 

From: London (UK)

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

John Cheves – Guitar, Electric Percussion

Glen Johnson – Vocals, Guitar, Electronic Percussion, Tapes

also in Textile Ranch (named after a Felt song) and runs Tugboat Records

Miguel Marin – Drums

Gabe McDonough – Bass

 

PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE SOUND

It's not surprising that Plastic Crimewave Sound has toured with Acid Mother's Temple, Oneida, Black Dice, Bardo Pond and played with loads of Japanese psych rock legends. It's somewhere in these nether regions that their sludgy take on violent acid punk and mondo heavy scuzz rock can be found. If you like squealing guitar lines laid over hypnotic rhythms, stunning walls of primitive, monolithic garage-punk, more f/x pedals than you really can handle at once and to stare at the at the sun without protective eyewear, then there's no reason you should miss these cats. Add to the hard rocking a tinge of cosmic pop and rhythmic psych-folk thrown in for good measure, and you have yourself a band that unquestionably will disturb your neighbors but at the same time is capable of kicking some serious ass. The hand-drawn artwork by bandleader Mr. Plastic Crimewave that often adorn the band’s albums is also something to behold.  Those of you in the know probably recognize his name from the quite amazing Galactic Zoo Dossier, the hand drawn comic/acid/psych journal published by Drag City. In both cases it goes without saying that you owe it to yourself to check them out.

From the Terrastock 7 festival program. Words:Mats Gustafsson

From: Los Angeles (USA)

Performed at: T7

Steve Krakow - acid rock guitar damage

 

Oneida and Plastic Crimewave Sound released a split single on Jagjaguwar in 2005

POP OFF TUESDAY

 

Pop Off Tuesday were formed in 1995 while Hiroki ("machines") and Minori ("guitar/vocal") were classmates studying English in London---"We had been to go to English school and enjoyed a moratorium. We played gigs twice." Where did the name come from? "We really don't remember how we named it."

They recorded a single for Origin Music, "This old lady", which John Peel heard and liked but, by the time he tried to book them for a session, they'd been forced to return home to Osaka as their visas had expired. Undeterred, Peel managed to track them down in Osaka where they recorded the session which was broadcast in July 1997.

"See My Ghost has in effect taken all the best bits from 60s pop, 70s krautrock, 80s synth-pop and 90s electronica and made a timeless collage of sounds that is a pure pleasure to listen to. It's a sound that's most definitely not of this world; rather, it comes from some other very cool place whose name no-one knows. I suggest you buy this as soon as you can lay your hands on a copy" ....The Satellite fanzine

found at: http://www.pickled-egg.co.uk/pop-off-tuesday.htm

From: Osaka, Japan

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

Hiroki Miyauchi – Machines

Minori Odaira – Guitar, Vocals

 

PRIMORDIAL UNDERMIND

The Primordial Undermind story begins in the fall of 1988, when Eric Arn parted company with Connecticut's legendary Crystalized Movements and moved to Pasadena, CA for grad school. Eric recorded some solo 4-track demos, and sent them to penpal Nick Saloman of the Bevis Frond. The subsequent favourable response and directive from to "go forth and form a band" resulted in the recruitment of some fellow scientists to record 10 full-band demos. Saloman was signed up to produce an LP for the nascent psychedelicists, now known as Primordial Undermind, but an inability to get more than one planet in place at a time resulted in Arn flying to London to do the album-length recording with Saloman on bass, and Martin Crowley (Bevis Frond) on drums. Bits and pieces of these sessions appeared over time, such as the track "Swimming the Ultramoon" on the 1991 7" compilation "If I Could Hear You I Would Hit You" from the Baby Huey label.

Arn [later] relocated to Boston, retaining Craft on guitar and adding the Estes Rockets rhythm section of Bill Huss and Jason Marcoux. This lineup performed extensively, including sets at the first three Deep Heaven festivals (which the band in large part initiated), and the Ptolemaic Terrascope's Terrastock festival in Providence, RI. By 1998 it was back again to the West Coast for the band, this time to the SF Bay area. A hybrid of the LA and Boston line-ups came together for Terrastock II in '98, prompting the formation of a working SF line-up. The tenacious Brian Craft remained, and a heavy rhythm section was recruited in the persons of Bret Holley and enigmatic skin-pounder Grawer as well as the addition of Doug Pearson on violin and electronics. KFJC radio overlord Steve Taiclet also joined the band for a crucial stint on guitar. This line-up recorded PU's third full-length "Universe I've Got" in 1999. The release of this disc prompted the band's first major tour, the Camera Obscura Rolling Psychedelic Circus. They were joined by Salamander of Minneapolis and Tokyo, Japan's Overhang Party for a manic jaunt from west to east coast and back. Late 1999 found Eric making yet another move, this time to steamy Austin, Texas.



Austin has proved to be fertile ground for growth and change, with a rotating Undermind lineup at various times including Tom Carter, Dave Cameron, Courtney Cater, BC Smith, Otis Cleveland, Jared Barron, Johnny Mac, Matt Martinez, Travis Weller, Joe Volpe, Elizabeth Warren, and even Vanessa Arn on the Triwave Picogenerator. A relatively spare quartet of these folks recorded the Undermind's all-instrumental expansive fourth album "Beings of Game P-U" for Camera Obscura in summer 2000. Various combos of the above players have appeared at the SXSW fest (four times), and completed a west coast tour with Seattle's Kinski in late 2001 and an east coast/midwest tour with Portland's Davis Redford Triad in spring 2002.

found at: http://www.cameraobscura.com.au/Bios/cambios_pu.htm

Primordial Undermind photo found at: http://www.perkypat.com/LiveReviews/st37_aug_5th_2003.html

From: San Francisco, California (USA)

Performed at: T1, T2

Featuring:

Eric Arn – Guitar, Vocals

ex-Crystalized Movements (with Wayne Rogers -  Major Stars, Magic Hour, Children of The Rainbow), Outsideinside, UFO Dictators, Oar

Brian Craft – Guitar

Bill Huss – Drums

Jason Marcoux – Bass

joined by Jonathan LaMasters (Saturnalia; ex-Cul De Sac) on violin for one song

Charlie Saccouch – Keyboards [T2]

Dave Stankowski – Guitar, Vocals [T2]

 

TOM RAPP

 

For those of you who don't know, and I doubt if there are many, Tom Rapp was the leading light behind the legendary PEARLS BEFORE SWINE. A mysterious band, whose fragile psychedelic folk tapestries enchanted a host of admirers in the late 60s and early 70s. Such classic albums as 'One Nation Underground' and 'Balaklava' were never far from any self-respecting freak's turntable. Tom also went on to record a selection of lovely solo albums after the demise of 'The Swine'.

However, as the 70s progressed, people, perception and the scene changed, and Tom decided to withdraw from the music world. More or less turning his back on music, he put himself through law school and became a civil rights lawyer, and actually put into practise that which he and so many of his contemporaries had preached in the 60s.

Sometimes you get an opportunity to do something you've only dreamt of. On the rare occasions that this happens, you have to move quickly or the chance may be gone, never to re-appear. One such opportunity presented itself to us last year, while Ade and I were touring the States with The Bevis Frond. We'd met Tom Rapp for the first time in the Spring of 1997 at the first Terrastock festival in Providence, Rhode Island. His performance there (his first for over 20 years) was, for many including us, the highlight of those magical three days.

Our paths crossed again at Christmas 97, when Ade and I did an acoustic show in Tom's hometown of Philadelphia. He and his wife Lynn insisted that we stayed with them, and we were bowled over by their kindness and generosity. A few months later, while the band was on tour, the Rapps once again looked after us. This time for several days. While we were staying with them, Tom played us a batch of new songs. We were blown away by their beauty and lyricism. Since Ade and I were planning to give our Woronzow label a much needed boot up the arse, it seemed too good to be true that it coincided with Tom's rekindled songwriting efforts. We asked Tom if he'd consider letting us put out an album of his new stuff, and to our utter delight, he agreed. 'A Journal Of The Plague Year' will be the first Tom Rapp album for 25 years, and we can assure any doubters that it is at the very least as good as anything he's done before. It was recorded at Damon & Naomi's studio, with contributions from them, and also Prydwyn of Mourning Cloak as well as Ade and myself. (Nick Saloman of Woronzow Records, on the album 'A Journal of the Plague Year')

found at: http://www.woronzow.co.uk/tomrapp_biog.html

Tom Rapp is a veteran of the 60's psychedelic folk outfit Pearls Before Swine, and much loved by PT regulars and many of the bands of the [Terrastock 2] festival. Not being familiar with his earlier work, I have no reference point here. I can tell you he was the absolute heart and soul of the festival however, his gentle and relaxed bonhomie defining the general mood.

He was joined on stage by his son, ex-wife, Paul Simmons of the Alchemysts, one of the Stone Breath fellows [Prydwyn, on harp], Phil McMullen (the festival organizer and all-around nice guy) and Masaki Batoh (who both clinked wine glasses in absence of finger cymbals!) and...am I forgetting anyone? Gentle folk-psyche.

found at: http://www.aural-innovations.com/issues/issue3/terra2.html

 

From: Florida (USA)

Performed at: T1, T2, T3, T5, T6Featuring:

Tom – Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals

ex-Pearls Before Swine

Elisabeth - harp [T2, T3, T5]

ex-Pearls Before Swine

Wayne Harley - Vocals [T2]

ex-Pearls Before Swine

Plus Guest Musicians including:

David (Shy Camp) Rapp - Guitar, Vocals [T1]

Damon & Naomi  - Guitar, Vocals

Phil McMullen - Finger Cymbals

editor of Ptolemaic Terrascope

Jeffrey Alexander - Finger Cymbals

Science Kit, the Iditarod, Black Forest/Black Sea

Masaki Batoh - Finger Cymbals

of Ghost

Olivardil Prydwyn - flute, harp, recorder, vocals [T2, T5]

of Stone Breath

Sherona Gibson – Djembe

of Stone Breath  [T3]

Paul Simmons  - Guitar [T2, T3, T5]

of Alchemysts and Bevis Frond

Nick Saloman  - Guitar [T2]

The Bevis Frond

Alastair Galbraith - Guitar [T2]

Plus: the Spacious Mind (T3)

 

JACK ROSE
With each successive record, Rose has stepped further from the Mount Rushmore-sized shadows cast by John Fahey, Robbie Basho and Sandy Bull. Sure, you can hear their influence in his choices of instrument and material; and like them, he plays steel-stringed acoustic guitar, and blends American blues and folk styles with Eastern and Western elements.
But Rose, unlike the rest, came to finger picking fairly late in his personal musical evolution. He grew up listening to classic rock and graduated to punk without ever cutting ties with his old school. Pelt, the band in which he came of age as a player, used the punk’s anything-goes ethic as permission to use Indian instruments, as well as minimalist forms, without going through any lengthy dues-paying process.
 

text found at the VHF Records website

From: USA

Performed at: T6, T7

Featuring:

Jack Rose - guitar, vocals

Jack Rose was formerly a member of Pelt, who played at T2

Guest musician at T6:

Glenn Jones - guitar

Performed at T7 with The Black Twig Pickers

 

SALAMANDER

Minneapolis outfit Salamander began as a duo in the summer of 1992 featuring Erik Wivinus and Sean Connaughty on guitars and vocals. Doug Morman joined on bass in early 1993. The recorded and played gigs as a drummer-less trio until Bryce Kastning joined on drums and keyboards in early 1994. With this lineup they honed their twin obsessions with longform psychedelic improvisation and moody song-craft, slowly building the archive that would reveal itself in their first two CDs on the Australian Camera Obscura Records label.

Text found in the Terrastock 6 festival program

Photo: Salamander (plus 12-year-old vocalist Madeline Westby) by Daniel Corrigan

From: Minneapolis, USA

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Erik Wivinus - guitars, vocals

Erik previously performed at Terrastock 4 with Stone Breath

Sean Connaughty - guitars and vocals

Doug Morman - bass

Bryce Kastning - drums

 

SAPAT
Louisville’s own Sapat have been burrowing away deep underground for some time now, though only recently have they begun to poke their heads above the surface outside of their hometown. Part of a much larger outsider musical scene operating under the Black Velvet Fuckere label/umbrella (including groups like Valley of Ashes, Virgin Eye Blood Brothers, Son of Earth, Kark, and many others), Sapat began as a massive revolving-door collective that went through some 70 members in just a few years’ time. However, as heard on their 2007 debut album Mortise and Tenon (released on the recently-resurrected Siltbreeze label), the group’s current eight-member multi-instrumental lineup has pulled in the reins quite a bit and focused its efforts on mining a narrow but deep seam of improvisational drone-rock. Imagine a jury-rigged Ozark rewiring of the cosmic earth-psych of legendary Swedish group Pärson Sound, or a hill-country post-punk update of the primal art-crunch of Mooney-era Can – and then forget about all that and just feel the sound…

From the Terrastock 7 festival program. Words: Kevin Moist

From: Louisville, KY USA

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

 

SCIENCE KIT

 

"People have been experimenting with chemicals for hundreds of years. Thousands of different experiments have gradually helped people to understand the world of chemistry. Chemicals can change in many different ways. Compunds can be split into elements, and elements can join to make compounds. Two compounds may change by swapping elements with each other to make different compounds. When chemicals change like this, a reaction is said to have taken place.

This Science Kit will help you to understand the world of chemicals, of compounds and reactions."

from the Terrastock One festival programme notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From: Providence, Rhode Island (USA)

Performed at: T1

Featuring:

Jeffrey Alexander – Guitar, Analog Synth, Tapes

ex-Half Calf, the Iditarod; currently in Black Forest/Black Sea. Formerly ran the Magic Eye label; now runs Secret Eye label, both of which have released Tom Rapp tribute albums featuring several Terrastock performers. See also Black Forest / Black Sea.

Craig Bowen – Guitar, Bass, Vocals

ex-Pedge

Adam Cooke – Drums

ex-Helikopter (with Davis); also in Roads to Space Travel

Cullen Davis – Guitar, Vocals

ex-Helikopter (with Cooke); left to join Lux Aeterna (1997), who released a full length on Magic Eye

Jamie Panzer – Guitar, Bass

ex-Candy Machine; also in Beautiful Losers

ROB SHARPLES

Bath-based Rob Sharples is a young British guitarist and songwriter whose brooding and stark take on the singer/songwriter tradition owes a debt to the music of folks like Nick Drake and John Martyn, but he has definitely found his own distinctive voice. Sharples’ music is an exercise in restrained but heartfelt moodcasting that makes you feel cold and warm inside at the same time.  Literate lyrics are delivered with soft god-sent vocals over beds of intricate guitar plucking that is melodic, yet complex. There’s not much out there in terms of official releases but I am guessing that won’t be for long as what we have here is an aural net of brilliant songcraft made up of sorrow and hope that has me thinking that Sharples has to be one of our times’ most talented musicians occupying the songwriter/folk spectrum.

 

From the Terrastock 7 festival program. Words: Mats Gustafsson

From: Bath (UK)

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

Rob Sharples - guitar, vocals

SILVER APPLES

 
Formed in 1967 as an electronic rock duo featuring Dan Taylor on drums and Simeon on a homemade synthesizer consisting of 12 oscillators and an assortment of sound filters, telegraph keys, radio parts, lab gear and a variety of second hand electronic junk, the band quickly gained a reputation as New York's leading underground musical expression. First full-length album was released in 1968 on KAPP Records. The self-titled album rode the Billboard Magazine Top 100 list for 10 weeks. The first cut on this album, Oscillations, was released as a single, and made the Top Ten list in numerous cities. One music critic wrote, "What's so amazing is that they make absolutely mind shattering music with all this junky equipment."
The second full length album was released in 1969, titled CONTACT. A national tour was launched by the band's recording popularity.

A third album was recorded in 1970, but not released when KAPP folded. Without a record label the band disbanded, and, except for an occasional bootleg release, was not heard from again.
 


In 1996, Simeon re-activated Silver Apples, recording and performing with many musician friends and admirers. Some of the projects included a release of a 7" vinyl on Enraptured Records of London which included on the A side FRACTAL FLOW, the first new song by Silver Apples in 26 years.

found at: http://www.silverapples.com/

 

From: New York, New York (USA)

Performed at: T1, T2, T3

Featuring:

Simeon Coxe III– Oscillators, Electronics, Keyboards, Vocals

ex-The Random Concept, The Overland Stage Electric Band. Performed with Alchemysts [T2,3]. Also owns the Whirlybird label (named after the b-side of the first Apples' single).

Xian Hawkins – Drums

ex-Mobius Strip; also records for the Emanate label as Sybarite

Joe Propatire – Drums [T2]

Assumed drum duties for The Bevis Frond's 1999 North American tour

 

SIMPLY SAUCER

Hamilton, Ontario’s Simply Saucer never really received the wider recognition of many of their peers.  Bridging the gap between the first Pink Floyd album, The Stooges’ Funhouse and The Velvets’ White Light/White Light, the original quartet essentially wrote the book on high velocity psychedelic garage punk.  The reverberations of their brilliant first album Cyborgs Revisited -- co-produced by a young Daniel Lanois, long before he’d become one of the most sought out producers in rock -- can still be felt in the punk psych assault of modern bands like Comets on Fire and Major Stars.  The trick lies in the lacerating eruptions at the center of Simply Saucer’s compact and accessible pop nuggets, manifest as screaming guitar blasts shot into orbit by whirling electronics over a fierce proto-punk rhythm section.  Besides that Simply Saucer is simply the master of the extended raveup in the classic Brit Invasion style.  When these lads stretch out and open up the throttle, buckle up tight.  Things are sure to get bumpy. 

 

Despite a variety of lineup changes and little to no recognition beyond critical acclaim outside their home town, Simply Saucer was active throughout the 70s before calling it a day.  Luckily for us, all of the founding members -- Edgar Breau on lead guitar and vocals, Kevin Christoff on bass, Neil DeMerchant on drums, and Ping Romany on electronics -- have reconvened in recent times and released an excellent new album for the Sonic Unyon label and started playing live shows again.  Fans of vintage garage psych will not want to miss the mighty ‘Saucer in action during their first Terrastock appearance.  Key albums: Cyborgs Revisited (Fist Puppet), Half Human, Half Live (Sonic Unyon).

From the T7 festival program. Words: Lee Jackson

From: Hamilton, Ontario (Canada)

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

Edgar Breau - lead guitar and vocals

Kevin Christoff - bass

Neil DeMerchant - drums

Ping Romany - electronics

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE

 
"Six Organs of Admittance were next, and Ben Chasny began by playing a few songs solo on acoustic guitar. As he was soundchecking, he pounded on the floor with his foot once or twice, later telling me that he does this at every soundcheck to determine how much thump he can muster when stomping during his songs. His set began very quietly, but once he got comfortable, he really began to get into the music. He played a song I recognized from Dark Noontide and then one I didn't know, but both were absolutely compelling. His voice is rich and soothing, warm yet dark, but more than anything it's extremely mesmerizing. There's just something about it that you can't tear your attention away from it, no matter what is going on around you. As his singing increased in intensity, so did his foot stomping on the wooden stage. As he realized the volume encompassed in just one stomp, he began to beat his feet more fervently, choosing different sections of the stage below him to strike with his boot. The result was a constant thundering bellow to accompany his tight guitar playing, effectively creating an even spookier atmosphere. During his third song, he continued humming the melody while putting his guitar down, rattling a few items on the floor with his hands before settling on a tambourine. Continuing to carry the acappella notes, he shook the tambourine while channeling the song with greater force, pounding on his knee, shaking his fist, as if pulling the tune from another place, a netherworld, slyly stealing a sacred spirit's soulful sounds. Nancy later commented that this part of the show genuinely scared her, and I must admit I agree. I wasn't sure if he was going to leap out his chair at people in the audience or not. But when the song ended, he simply said thank you and picked up his guitar again, as if the spirit had slipped away unnoticed. He was joined for the next two songs by Ethan Miller from Comets on Fire, and together, they did songs that were as enchanting as they were ferocious. The first began rather mellow, descending single notes played in unison, but at the bridge Ethan cranked up the amp and blasted a mighty sonic assault for a few minutes, writhing and twisting his guitar to pull amazing sounds from the equipment before letting it fade away, rejoining the descending single notes of the chorus in time for the song to end. The second was a little darker but equally beautiful, again punctuated by Ethan's outbursts that were the perfect compliment to Ben's agile and fantastic playing. This was absolutely one of the highlights of my weekend".

from: http://www.fakejazz.com/articles/terrastock5_ps.shtml

 

 

 

From: California (USA)

Performed at: T4, T5

Featuring:

Ben Chasny – Guitar, Vocals

also in Comets On Fire; ex-Plague Lounge, Badgerlore

Utrillo Kushner – Hand drums [T4]

 

Tara Burke – Vocals [T5]

Also in Fürsaxa, and played with the Iditarod [T5]

Joshua Burkett – Acoustic guitar, Vocals [T5]

also solo [played on the Rolling Psychedelic Circus tour (sponsored by the Australian label, Camera Obscura], which featured Primordial Undermind); played sax with Vermonster and Wormdoom [see Major Stars]. Josh also had a trade stand at T7.

Gery Davis – Bowed guitar, Percussion [T4]

 

Ethan Miller – Electric guitar, Vocals [T5]

Belcher, Chasny and Miller also in Comets On Fire

Steve Quenell – Prepared guitar [T4]

 

Russ Waterhouse – Electric guitar [T4]

also in The SB (aka Shy Brick); formerly worked at Matador Records, which is co-owned by Gerald Cosloy (Air Traffic Controllers); also runs his own label, White Tapes

Greg Weeks – Hand Drum, Vocals [T5]

Greg Weeks is now in Espers. He also performed a solo set at Terrastock 5.

KENDRA SMITH

Kendra Smith at Terrastock 2, 1998 - photograph: Erik Auerbach

Floating serenely through the ether, Kendra Smith has inhabited many hues of psychedelia, from the primary paisley feedback scrawl of the Dream Syndicate (which the onetime bassist co-founded with Steve Wynn in 1981) to the swirly translucence of Opal (a group with ex-Rain Parade guitarist David Roback that transmuted into Mazzy Star upon her 1988 departure), the stonewashed pale Velvet folk-rock of the informal Guild of Temporal Adventurers to the shiny, thickly applied pop art surfaces of her solo album. Although the Californian has, on more than one occasion, followed the logic of drop-out music to its ultimate conclusion and withdrawn completely, she keeps coming back, a beguiling semi-precious stone in the not-quite-here and the not-quite-now. Smith and Roback initially formed Clay Allison with drummer Keith Mitchell (ex-Green on Red/Romans) and guitarist Juan Gomez. Gomez and the moniker (borrowed from a Western film character) lasted for one 7-inch single, after which the remaining three recorded two new songs to flesh out the lovely and understated Fell From the Sun — on which Smith's vocals meld handsomely with the subtle mood music, a pleasant drone of translucent elegance that resembles the Velvet Underground at their most restrained — and then renamed themselves Opal. Clinging to neo-psychedelia even as many of their Los Angeles scene compatriots moved on to other fads, Opal recorded a 1985 12-inch, one full album and enough leftovers to fill the posthumous Early Recordings.

Northern Line offers the gorgeous acoustic folk-blues of the title track and "Empty Bottles" backed with "Soul Giver" (also on Happy Nightmare Baby), which is eight-plus minutes of spacey organ and feedback guitar.

Happy Nightmare Baby has its share of nostalgic organ-colored drone contemplations, but adds an unexpected and amusing item to the repertoire: a stripped-down T. Rex imitation ("Rocket Machine") that drifts towards Television. Criticisms: Smith's laconic singing can become arduous, some of the instrumental work is self-indulgent nonsense and the pace is too slow. Qualities: the songs are there, the ambience is affecting and the performances offer enough texture and dynamics to make Opal's debut album ultimately satisfying.

Smith exited the group in the middle of the Happy Nightmare tour, which prompted the posthumous Early Recordings. It gathers outtakes, the four Fell From the Sun tracks, plus "Northern Line" and "Empty Bottles" from the three-song 12-inch. Draining away much of Happy Nightmare's pseudo-mystical fiddle-faddle, Early Recordings concentrates on Opal's acoustic side; the spare production adds a chilling closeness to Smith's vocals, and Roback's guitar noodlings feel loose and uncontrived. The previously unissued tracks, especially "Empty Box Blues" and "My Only Friend," have a casual, unrestrained grace. The CD appends "Hear the Wind Blow."

By '91, Smith seemed to have made her back-to-rustic-life hippie move permanent and was through with even gentle rocking and rolling. The Guild of Temporal Adventurers put paid to that assumption. Recorded as a trio of Smith, Jonah Corey and A. Phillip Uberman with four aides-de-weird, this spare and lovely 10-inch of folky electric pop wraps the persistent Nico/Velvets element of Smith's music — underscored by her adoption of pump organ as a primary instrument — around mild mysticism and a subtle intrusion of atmospheric sound effects. (To get to Smith from the sound of Nico, hold the accent and raise the room temperature about fifteen degrees in tone and passion.) Smith does most of the singing — the lullaby-like "Stars Are in Your Eyes" and the droney "Earth Same Breath" ("All the Next Day's Parties"?) are especially pretty — but co-writer Corey joins her on two of the six songs, including the Eno-esque "Wheel of the Law."

found at: http://www.trouserpress.com

From: Northern California (USA)

Performed at: T2

Featuring:

Kendra – Guitar, Vocals, Pump Organ, Harmonium

ex-Dream Syndicate, The Suspects (both with Steve Wynn), Clay Allison, Opal, Rainy Day, (last three with David Roback), Savage Republic. Also a member of The Guild of Temporal Adventurers.

Alex Philip Uberman – Guitar

also in Ejaculating Buddhas, Guild of Temporal Adventurers

 

 

AZALIA SNAIL

Azalia Snail is a freeform music maker who has released over 10 albums of hallucinatory "space folk". Azalia has traveled the world over, turning the provinces on to her fascinating sui generis soundscapes. She has released music on Sub Pop, Dark Beloved Cloud, Candy Floss, Albertine, Normal (Germany), Garden of Delights (UK), Anyway, and other labels. A critical darling, she has jammed with the likes of Beck, Sebadoh, Low, The Black Heart Procession, Trumans Water, Supreme Dicks, The Apples in Stereo, and The Asuza Plane, among others.

found at: http://home.earthlink.net/~radiantmedia/abio.htm

"There was a third stage area [at Terrastock 3] where people could sign up for and do their own spontaneous sets or weird collaborations. Audience members could come and check out the list and see their favourite bands twice - or just enjoy the total non-organisation of it all. Performers on this stage included Pat Orchard, Warser Gate w/ Steve Hanson (doing "Can of Stella Overdrive"), the impromptu Staff Party (with members of Fuxa, Azusa Plane, Azalia Snail, Piano Magic, Warser Gate, and a guest spot from John the stage manager), Petrocat (Nick and Debbie Saloman), Autumn Leaves, Jamie Owen, Brendan (of Abunai) and Carl (of Windy), Lothars and Carl, Bevis Frond and Friends (Saloman, Shaw, various Alchemysts and Rod Goodway), and Tom Rapp with Prydwyn."


found at: http://www.terrascope.org/t3.html

From:  Los Angeles, California (USA)

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

Azalia - Guitar, Vocals

Azalia won the L.A. Weekly Music Award in 2000 for “Best New Genre Artist”

Azalia’s albums have featured Dan Oxenberg (Supreme Dicks), Gary Olson (member of Essex Green side-project, Ladybug Transister) and Gary Ramon (Sun Dial)

 

Azalia, Gary Olson and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore guested on Trumans Water’s “Milktrain To Paydirt” album

 

Azalia’s now legendary Staff Party improv project was unleashed at T3 (London, 1999), featuring Azusa Plane; subsequent Parties have included jam sessions with Beck, Supreme Dicks, Low, Sebadoh, The Grifters and PG Six

 

SONIC YOUTH
Sonic Youth rose triumphantly out of New York's early 80s No-Wave scene. Originally fueled by the ripping guitar of Glenn Branca alumns Ranaldo and Moore, Sonic Youth grew into - and maintain their stature as - a rock 'n' roll aural-experimentation unit beyond compare. Sometimes melodic, sometimes atonal, but rarely boring, the band have covered a lot of ground in its nearly 20-year history. From the early scene-splashing Confusion is Sex (1983) to the more polished EVOL (1986), the band's early evolution is apparent. 1988's epic Daydream Nation secured Sonic Youth's status as a legendary, visionary band which would forever leave its mark on rock 'n' roll. Subsequent albums and tours have served to bolster the band's popularity, even when not establishing any new plateaus of creativity. More recently, offshoot releases (like 1997's Perspectives Musicales series) have shown evidence of a continuing interest in experimentation. A perpetually active band, Sonic Youth will surely entertain and challenge for years to come.

found at: http://www.inkblotmagazine.com

Photo of Sonic Youth at Terrastock 5 by Avril Wine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From: New York, New York (USA)

Performed at: T5

Featuring:

Kim Gordon – Bass, Vocals

Kim has directed several videos by The Breeders. She's also modelled in several Calvin Klein advertisements, and

co-produced Hole’s “Pretty On The Inside”.

 

Also ex-Harry Crews (with Lydia Lunch) and Free Kitten

 

Thurston Moore – Guitar, Vocals

Thurston appears on the ½ hour track “MCC/M/M Trio” on Loren Connors’ “A Possible Dawn” album and (with Ranaldo) on Connors’ “MMMR” album

 

co-owns the Ecstatic Yod imprint with music journalist Byron Coley; together they re-issued Loren Connors’ nine-volume “Dagget Street” series as a 4xCD box set

 

ex-Dim Stars (with Shelley)

 

recorded an album with Roy Harper and Wizz Jones (“English and Moore”) and remixed a Yoko Ono album (“Rising”) as well as songs by Can (“Spoon” from “Sacrilege”) and Blur (“Essex Dogs” from “Bustin’ + Dronin’”)

 

also recorded over two dozen solo albums, singles and EPs, and performs on Glenn Branca’s first three Symphonies, as well as R.E.M.s “Monster” (“Crush with Eyeliner”) with Peter Buck of The Minus Five

 

Kim and Thurston became Mr. and Mrs. in 1984; their daughter, Coco Hayley was born in 1994.

Lee Ranaldo – Guitar

ex-Plus Instruments. Has recorded over a half dozen solo albums and also performs on several Glenn Branca albums, including “Symphony No. 3” (with Moore).

 

Has also recorded several albums with William Hooker (as has Moore), including a live collaboration with Roger Miller (Mission of Burma); Hooker, in turn has collaborated with Daniel Miller (Lhasa Cement Plant, Borbetomagus), whom Moore replaced on the Borb’s “Barefoot In The Head” album

 

A respected producer as well, Lee co-produced several Babes in Toyland albums

Steve Shelley – Drums

ex-Dim Stars (with Moore)

 

also plays on Ranaldo’s and Moore’s solo albums

Band also recorded a tribute album to Madonna (of sorts) with Mike Watt (Minutemen, Stooges, Wylde Ratttz – with Mark Arm/Steve Turner from Mudhoney/Monkeywrench) as Ciccone Youth; band also perform on Watt’s “Ball-Hog or Tugboat?” solo album

 

Moore and Gordon (“Sitting On A Barbed-Wire Fence”) and Ranaldo (“Mama You’ve Been On My Mind”) appear on the Bob Dylan tribute album, “Outlaw Blues”

 

Moore and Shelley were also members of the supergroup, Dim Stars with Richard Hell, Robert Quine and Don Fleming

 

Band backed Moe Tucker on her “Life in Exile After Abdication” album and Moore played guitar on the “Talk So Mean” remix on Moe’s “Hey Mersh!” EP

 

Band started their own SYR imprint to release some of their more avant garde sonic experiments; six releases have emerged as of 2003

Sonic Youth had a song included on the Terrastock 5 7" EP, Time-Lag 2002. (Part of a 5x7" EP boxed set which also featured Stone Breath, Bardo Pond, Charalambides, and The Iditarod)

 

SPACEHEADS

 
Based on live trumpet loops, drums, and assorted electronics, the Spaceheads reside in their own musical realm; not quite jazz, not quite electronica, and not quite rock, but deftly hovering somewhere between the three. Low Pressure hangs on lazy grooves and thick harmonized trumpet chords, sleazy deep beat bass and crushed-up metallic drumbeats. Spaceheads mix the raw emotional sound of breath with the banging of wood on skin, pushing both through the blips, crackle and distortion of pixilated electronic noise.

Thematically, Low Pressure is about impending danger, the coming storm. We live in uneasy times, in a world with invisible enemies. Environmental destruction is no longer just a dangerous possibility but is happening now. Our weather systems have been turned upside down. Science and technologies’ potential to liberate us grows greater by the day; contrasting more and more with its use to manipulate and control us. Can new technologies save us? Or is it a case of old technologies offering us all a hope for the future? The trumpet and the drum are ancient sound machines, herein battling their way through electronic webs. The hot-wired, super-charged, electro-panic of modern living.

found at: http://www.mergerecords.com/bands/spaceheads/bio.html

From: Manchester (UK)

Performed at: T2, T3

Featuring:

Andy Diagram – Trumpet, Harmonizers, Echo Loops

ex-James, Pale Fountains, David Thomas & Two Pale Boys

Richard Harrison – Drums, Pots, Pans, Sheets of Metal

also in God is My Co-Pilot; ex-James Chance & The Contortions, Stereolab.

Both originally in Dislocation Dance and both toured/recorded with Nico. The Spaceheads personnel were also in a group circa 1990 called "The Honkies".

 

SPACIOUS MIND

 

 

"I looked around and people's faces were distorted... lights were flashing everywhere... the screen at the end of the room had three or four different films on it at once, and the strobelight was flashing faster than it had been... the band was playing but I couldn't hear the music...people were dancing...someone came up to me and I shut my eyes and with a machine he projected images on the back of my eyelids...I sought out a person I trusted and he laughed and told me that the kool-aid had been spiked and that I was just beginning my first TSM experience..."


Formed in 1991, The Spacious Mind have since become known as one of the world's leading psychedelic bands. Their music owes as much to the acid haze of the San Francisco ballrooms in the late 60's, as it does to the unknown areas of space, heart and time. The twin guitars are battling over a steady drums/bass background, while the atmospheric keyboards are swirling in and out of your mind, and together they create a melancholic tapestry of sounds that should please anyone into consciousness raising or simply the message of LOVE.

 

found at: http://www.delerium.co.uk/bands/spaciousmind/

From: Umea (Sweden)

Performed at: T3, T5, T6

Featuring:

Thomas Brannstrom – Guitar, Vocals, Whistles, Glockenspiel

David Johansson – Drums

ex-Backfish , Popundret

Mårten Lundmark – Bass

ex-Balanga

Henrik Oja – Guitar, Vocals, Whistles, Glockenspiel

ex-Heed

Brannstrom, Johansson and Oja all ex-Vilhelm Fort

Lundmark and Oja both ex-Garp

Jens Unosson – Synthesizers, Electronics, Atmospheres

also solo, Cauldron, Holy River Family Band

Niklas Viklund – Guitar [T5]

Band also joined Tom Rapp [T3 and T6]. Have also recorded as Sons of the Space Tribe

 

SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET

RISE

 

Spires that in the Sunset Rise is the musical collaboration of Kathleen Baird, Taralie Peterson, Tracy Peterson and Georgia Vallas. Steeped in primal experimentalism, the music is a repellant and magnetising swarm of harps, guitars, cello, drums, harmonium, banjo, mbira, spike fiddle, bells and vocals. Their eclectic, outsider folk has drawn comparisons to Comus, Current 93 and The Raincoats.

Text found at: the Terrastock 6 festival program

Photo: http://www.secreteye.org/se/spires.html

From: Chicago, USA

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Kathleen Baird

Taralie Peterson

Tracy Peterson

Georgia Vallas

 

 

ST37

[from a review of Down On Us] ... just one week after this release ST37 were blowing minds at TERRASTOCK 5, and I ( for one ) was well impressed. I tell ya, THIS is a guaranteed psychedelic rock masterpiece, full of lysergic pop songs that float straight thru your head …and on … to the stars !! Over the years this Austin, Texas band has released a score of LPs, CDs & tapes but, frankly, have rarely sounded this bullheaded and sonically splendid. Includes a Pip Proud song ( the man himself was there at T5 to hear it, too) called "Sweet Thought," plus the Black Metal-on-helium nugget "Caves of Ice" and a 14 minute, echo-drenched space /prog/dub EPIC!
 

found at: http://www.achingcellar.co.uk

photo of ST37 at Terrastock 5 by Avril Wine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From: Texas (USA)

Performed at: T5

Featuring:

Dave Cameron – Drums

No relation to Matt Cameron from Wellwater Conspiracy

A veteran drummer of many bands, including Brave Combo, Glass Eye, Three Day Stubble and Roky Erickson’s  backing band [he quit after Roky “said he was gonna shoot me in the head.”] Band went on to perform at several Erickson benefit gigs (2001, 2002)

Joel Crutcher – Guitar

ex-Tulum

Mark Stone – Guitar

Not the same Mark Stone from Medicine Ball

Scott Telles – Bass, Vocals

ex-Vast Majority, Elegant Doormats, solo

The band’s first four cassette-only releases were on Scott’s Blue Circle label

 

The legendary Arthur Brown produced several Elegant Doormats’ tracks

 

Scott released several cassette-only solo works under the name Ignatious Telles IT

 

Telles, Eric Arn (Primordial Undermind) and Fleece Records head Kurt Brennan helped organise the first regional Terrastock, the Texas Psych Fest, held in Houston (July 26-27) and Austin (August 10-11), 2002; Linus Pauling Quintet and Charalambides were also on the bill.

 

Band was joined onstage by Pip Proud for a cover of his “Sweet Thought” and appear on his “Oncer” (along with Alastair Galbraith) and “A Yellow Flower” albums

 

Actor Rip Torn’s son, Jon played keyboards in an early incarnation of the band

 

Band played with psych legends, Silver Apples at a local gig in 1998 and with Bardo Pond in Philadelphia in 2000

St. JOAN

"...this group has a wonderful British take on the glow of post-jangle California strum-pop.... it sounds great. And if you were ever in the Paisley scene (no need to 'fess in public), such a slice will serve you well" written by Byron Coley in Wire magazine

Saint Joan are inspired by stream-of-consciousness prose, like James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, by the "darkness on the edge of town", flawed beauty and black comedy. We listen to anything from Nick Cave and The Tindersticks, to Jonathan Richman, The Velvets,Tom Waits and Galaxie 500.

We are five musicians originally from Mohacs in Hungary, Strasbourg in France and the suburbs of West Bridgford in Nottingham, England. A few musicians have come and gone much like the English summer but we have settled as we are and call on the odd flautist, cellist, vibraphonist (?) etc when the mood takes us.

found at: http://www.saintjoan.co.uk

Photo:Phil McMullen

From: UK

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Christophe Dejous - bass

Krisztina Hidasi - violin

Ellen McGee - vocals, guitar

Matthew Williams - guitar

Matt Harms - drums

The drum-kit used on stage 2 at Terrastock 6 by St Joan (pictured left) originally belonged to V. Majestic, who played at Terrastock 1!

STONE BREATH

Stone Breath is not a part of any collective, or any commune. Stone Breath is not a part of any scene. Stone Breath is part of the earth. Metal, hair, wood, skin, flesh, leaf, and bone make our songs.

Stone Breath is not new. It is cracked. Broken. Imperfect. Hidden. Weathered by the seasons.

Stone Breath began in 1995. Stone Breath is Timothy the Revelator, Prydwyn, and Sarada, aided by RA Campbell and the occasional efforts of sympathetic friends.

found at: http://www.cameraobscura.com.au/Bios/cambios_sb.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From: Pennsylvania (USA)

Performed at: T4, T5

Featuring:

Sherona Gibson – Djembe

also sang backing vocals with Tom Rapp [T3]

Olivardil Prydwyn – Flute, Tinwhistle, Percussion, Vocals

also in Green Crown and The Spectral Light and Moonshine Firefly Snakeoil Jamboree; solo. Ran Lordly Nightshade and Harvest Queen labels with Sherona. Played with Tom Rapp [T2,3]

Timothy Renner – Guitar, Banjo, Vocals

ex-Cloud; also in Breathe Stone (electric Stone Breath), Mourning Cloak and The Spectral Light and Moonshine Firefly Snakeoil Jamboree; solo (as Timothy Renner and Timothy the Revelator). Runs Hand/Eye, Dark Holler and ArgoKnot labels with wife, Alison, who is also a member/partner in the recorded versions of Mourning Cloak and Stone Breath.

Timothy Renner has designed 4 of the 5 Terrastock T-shirts to date.

Michael Anderson – Guitar [T4]

also in Drekka

B'eirth – Guitar, Vocals [T4]

also in In Gowan Ring

Erik Wivinus – Guitar [T4]

also in Salamander, Skye Klad and Gentle Tasaday

Stone Breath had a song included on the Terrastock 5 7" EP, Time-Lag 2002. (Part of a 5x7" EP boxed set which also featured Sonic Youth, Bardo Pond, Charalambides, and The Iditarod)

SUBARACHNOID SPACE

 

Subarachnoid Space was formed in the winter of 1995 as a casual, improvisational trio aimed at creating free-form psychedelic noise-drone. Since then, it has grown and changed as these things do. Today, the band has become a foursome, whose playing has developed collectively into a group who continue to improvise within loose structures, taking inspiration from groups like Fushitsusha, Sonic Youth, Shizuka and others who share some similar feelings and aesthetics.

Endless Renovation's tracks are mood pieces, instrumental sojourns that explore both density and delicacy via slowly-building structures of beauty and dissonance. The organ on "Will You Make My House a Carnival?" sets the tone for the record's somber combination of sound effects and psych-rock. "Square Wheels" shows the band in noise-rock mode, while "Good Grief?" moves slowly from dark melancholy to cathartic outburst. "Stereo Saturation" is a dub-ish exploration of atmospherics. "Safety in Numbers" and "Twilight Sleep" conclude the album as companion pieces, a half-hour psychedelic journey through rock, strings, waterphone textures, beautiful guitar interplay and eerie sound effects.

Endless Renovation also marks the debut of the band's current lineup, with the founding guitar duo of Mason Jones and Melynda Jackson being joined by new drummer Chris Van Huffel (also of Gay Barbarians) and bassist Andey Stephens. This lineup has been playing together since late 1997, and were grateful participants at the Terrastock II festival in San Francisco on April 17-19, 1997, which featured nearly 40 of today's best drone-psych acts...

found at: http://www.relapse.com/high/release/subs/bio_ss.html

SubArachnoid Space live photo by David J. Grossman

From: San Francisco, California (USA)

Performed at: T2, T4, T5

Featuring:

Mason Jones – Guitar, Vocals

also solo, Flue, Culper Ring (with Kris Force of Amber Asylum); ex-Trance; retired from the live band in 2003

Chris Cones – Guitar (replaced Jones)

Diego Gonzalez – Bass

Melynda Jackson – Guitar

also in Property of Thieves

Stoo Odom – Bass [T4]

Andey Stevens – Bass

Chris Van Huffle – Drums

ex-Gay Barbarians

Subarachnoid Space released a special version of their album 'Endless Renovation' to coincide with their appearance at Terrastock 2 in San Francisco

THE SUNSHINE FIX  

Photo of Bill Doss: Kelly Ruberto

The Sunshine Fix is the recording project of Bill Doss. He began using this moniker back when he was still in high school, long before forming The Olivia Tremor Control.

In August 2000, Kindercore released an EP called The Future History Of A Sunshine Fix. Bill himself played most of the instruments, but there were also contributions from John, Will, Peter and Eric (all members of The Olivia Tremor Control and The Black Swan Network), Scott Spillane and Jeremy Barnes (The Gerbils and Neutral Milk Hotel), Derek Almstead (Of Montreal) and John D'Azzo (The Gerbils).

A full-length album, entitled The Age of the Sun, was released in January 2002 on Emperor Norton. Some of the contributors were Derek Almstead & Jamey Huggins (both of the band Of Montreal) and Neil Cleary (Essex Green).

The band is currently working on their second record tentatively titled Green Imagination.
 

found at: http://www.elephant6.com/bands/fix.html

From: Athens, Georgia (USA)

Performed at: T5

Featuring:

Bill Doss – Guitar, Vocals

 

See Olivia Tremor Control for related Doss projects

 

Although invited to contribute a track to the Powerpuff Girls soundtrack (“Heroes & Villians”, Doss had to “bill” himself as “TheBillDoss” because the label felt Sunshine Fix “sounded too much like a drug reference”

Bill was to have played T7 with Thee American Revolution, but unfortunately had to pull out due to back surgery.

SUPREME DICKS

 

"Spawned in the 'Happy Valley', Massachusetts, fertile breeding ground for similarly heady bands - including Sebadoh, the Pixies, Dinosaur Jr and Gobblehoof - the Supreme Dicks emerge now to the fore. Following The Unexamined Life, their stunning and much acclaimed debut album on Homestead Records, Freek Records release the long-awaited 'Workingmans Dick', the Supreme Dicks' archival recordings 1987-89 - a shimmering reminder of what the Supreme Dicks once were, and could perhaps still be..." (from a Freek Records press release)

"some of the most delicately twisted psychedelia of 1992 comes courtesy of the atrociously named but hauntingly beautiful Supreme Dicks" (Alternative Press)

 

 

 

 

 

From: Northampton, Massachusetts (USA)

Performed at: T1

Featuring:

Mark Hanson – Drums, Vocals

Dan Oxenberg – Guitar, Vocals

appears on Azalia Snail's (T3) 'Soft Bloom' (1999)

Steve Shavel – Hawaiian Slide Guitar

Jon Shere – Guitar, Vocals

Mark, Dan and Jon – ex-The Loneliest Christmas Tree

The band were augmented on stage at T1 by members of Neutral Milk Hotel

SURFACE OF ECEON
In 2000, Dick Baldwin (guitar), Daron Gardner (bass), and Aaron Snow (guitar) from Landing, Phil Jenkins (drums), and Yume Bitsu’s Adam Forkner (guitar) formed SURFACE OF ECEYON as a unique opportunity to experience and achieve pure musical freedom and improvisation. In a rented practice space in New York City they made their initial tentative forays into these pathways. One of these first sessions birthed the final track on Crickets And Fireflies, a 29 minute opus absorbed in the light and sound of the vessyl depicting evidence of a mythic concert of stars.

found at: http://www.musicfellowship.com/mf011.html

Photo by Jeff Fitzgerald

From: Middleton, Connecticut & Portland, Oregon (USA)

Performed at: T5

Featuring:

Dick Baldwin: guitar, heavy trips and blosser

 

Adam Forkner: guitar, treatments and voice

also solo (as [[VVRSSNN]]), and of Yume Bitsu, who recorded a split LP with Andrew Rieger (Elf Power)

Daron Gardner: bass guitar, distortion and loops

ex-Forty Nine Hudson

Phil Jenkins: drums and percussion

 

Aaron Snow: guitar, synthesizer, signal processing units and voice

 

Baldwin, Gardner and Snow are also in Landing

 

SoE have released a three-way split CD with Kinski and Paik

TADPOLES

 

Tadpoles were formed as a home studio project in 1985 by guitarist/vocalist, Todd Parker. In 1990, Todd moved from Champaign, Illinois to New York City to form a live version of the group with collaborator/drummer, Michael Kite, who was already living there, attending NYU film school. Both shared a love for the classic psychedelia of artists like Love, Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd, the Stooges, the Velvet Underground and the modern styles of psychedelia being perpetuated by groups like the Butthole Surfers, Flaming Lips, My Bloody Valentine & Spacemen 3.

Their performance at the 1993 NYU Independent Music Festival led to the recording of their first album, He Fell Into The Sky (1994) with underground producer, Kramer of Shimmy Disc / Bongwater notoriety. The album was recorded and mixed in two days at Kramer's Noise New Jersey studio.

The group performed at the first Terrastock festival in April 1997 and their aggressively psychedelic set won them many new fans and led to a West Coast Tour in November of 1997 with fellow Terrastock veterans, Cul de Sac.

The Tadpoles' fourth and last studio album, Whirlaway, was released in 1999 to critical rave reviews on Australia's Camera Obscura Records. In February of 2000, Tadpoles performed their final live show, a sold-out bill featuring Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Half Japanese, at Maxwells in Hoboken, NJ. In May of 2000, Todd Parker announced that the group was disbanding and going on a hiatus of indefinite length.

found at: http://www.bakery-records.com

 

From: Hoboken, New Jersey (USA)

Performed at: T1

Featuring:

Adam Boyette – Drums

Nick Kramer – Guitar, Vocals

David Max – Bass

Todd Parker – Guitar, Vocals

Subsequently released a live album, "Tadpoles Destroy Terrastock!" - an unsuccessful claim as it turned out, as several other Terrastocks were to follow.

TANAKH

Tanakh is the name for music written and improvised by a collective of musicians; music that is focused towards beauty and experimentation within structure instead of towards a particular musical genre or style. In the last five years this revolving collective has included a large number of musicians headed up by principle songwriter Jesse Poe.

Text from: the Terrastock 6 programme

Photo of Tanakh on Stage 2 at Terrastock 6: Phil McMullen

From: Italy

Performed at: T6, T7

Featuring:

Jesse Poe - guitar, vocals

Accompanied at T7 by Makoto Kawabata

TARENTEL

 

Contrary to popular belief, the tide is not a gentle thing. It is strong and sweeping, slow and sure, a growing force that lulls on the surface as it ebbs, building in size and strength before pulling all things not tied down back out to sea with it. The forceful lull of the music of Tarentel is an ocean of blue-green sound that begins at low-tide and slowly envelops listeners with insistent rhythms and beatiful, repetitive melodies that swell with gentle yet unmistakable mass until the band decides to ease its captive out into the depths in the clutches of its gripping tonal undercurrent. Here is where Tarentel will either thrash them about like a whale tossing a fishing boat or where the band will take the willing listener under to drown them within the walls of their lugubrious and rich moonlit, glass-sky sonic excursions.

Water isn't even a necessity to lose one's self within Tarentel's music. The San Franciscan five-piece employs a gorgeous utilization of space and near-silence on their records, conjuring vast imagery and evoking thrilling emotions from simple, poetic means. Even the title of their first full-length, From Bone to Satellite is wildly evocative. Layers of atmospheric pressure and cinematic trilling from upwards of three guitarists reverberate across starry skies like streaks of slowed lightning, visible and dry, like a desert plain aglow. Or, to some, it all could represent a torrent of rain. It's wide open. By: Steve Brydges

found at: http://tarentel.theredtide.net

From:San Francisco, California (USA)

Performed at: T4

Featuring:

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma – Guitar, Keyboards

Daniel Paul Grodinski – Guitar, Keyboards

Jonathan Joseph Hughes – Drums, Percussion (left in 2002)

Jim Redd – Drums (ex-Sonna; replaced Hughes in 2002)

Trevor Montgomery – Bass (left to concentrate on solo project, Lazarus)

Jeffery Rosenberg – Bass, Laptop Computer (left to form Lumen in 2000)

 

 

THEE

HYDROGEN TERRORS

 

Let there be no mistake about it, Thee Hydrogen Terrors are a rock band. One, two, maybe three chords. Consisting of Nick Atocha, drums; Matt White, guitar; Chris Cook, bass; and Guy Benoit, sax and vocals, they summon up some spooky ass sounds that touch the primal surge of the evil rock beast while still giving you that sexy feel of your first time.

The band stretches out on the new Load Records release Terror, Diplomacy, and Public Relations with some of the urgency of the records the band listens to like the Stooges, the Creation, and the Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band. Its set to the backdrop of saxaphone squall, fuzz base, wall of sound guitar and story style vocal stylings of cinema-phile Guy Benoit. A lot of the songs deal with plane crashes, people with plates in their head, bike seats. You understand, uh...adult subject matter brought to the level of a child. This isn't lazy boy strumming.

The second record was recorded at Tom Buckland's studio, a warehouse (Fort Thunder), and a Cambridge radio station WMBR. The band toured numerous times for this record, going out for a month with Six Finger Satellite. People were amazed at the band. They toured the East Coast a few times, but eventually broke up. Guy moved to Los Angeles and Chris still lives in Providence. Nick Atocha and Matt White moved to Manhattan and Brooklyn respectively.

found at: http://www.loadrecords.com/bands/terrors.html

From: Providence, Rhode Island (USA)

Performed at: T1

Featuring:

Nick Atocha – Drums

Guy Benoit – Vocals, Sax

Chris Cook – Bass

ex-The Deterrents

Benoit and Cook also perform as The Bunyans Four with Frank Difficult (V. Majestic)

Dan St. Jacques – Bass (quit to form Olneyville Sound System)

Matt White – Guitars

THOUGHT

FORMS

"It's so refreshing to see a band that understands the meaning of the word original and does something constructive with it. Thought Forms have broken the rules of the typical band outfit and conceived something immense. Describing their experimental music as “Alternative / Psychedelic”, each musician is profoundly connected to their instrument creating an intense and haunting atmosphere that mentally lifts the audience to a higher plain. This deeply thought-evoking music, created by a guy and girl on harmonising lead guitars and a girl drummer, is primarily instrumental with occasional guiding vocals. Songs such as ‘Industry' and ‘Nothing Is As Easy As You Think' bleed longing and angst with echoes of Pink Floyd. Self-reflective, suspenseful and sophisticated"

 

Text found at Moles Club gig review - February 2006
 

Photo: Phil McMullen

From: Wiltshire, UK

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Deej Dhariwal - guitars and vocals

Charlie Romijn - guitars and vocals

Emily McMullen - drums

Emily is the daughter of Terrastock founder/curator Phil McMullen. She also sang lead vocals with the Green Pajamas at Terrastock 6.

Deej Dhariwal and Charlie Romijn also performed an impromptu set as "Sex Fist" at T7, accompanied by amongst others Jon Bernhardt from the Lothars, Joe Turner from Abunai! and Anthony Petrovic from Paik

MOE TUCKER

In the mid-sixties, Long Island native Maureen "Moe" Tucker replaced Angus MacLise as the drummer in the fledgling Velvet Underground. With a beat-up four-piece drum kit and minimalist aesthetic, Moe brought an important like-mindedness to the VU. She shared, among other things, a disdain for hippiedom and a hatred for hi-hats. Her distinct, cymbal-less drumming style propelled the Velvets' abrasive three-chord rockers, and anchored the band's free-form sonic mayhem.

Strictly self-taught, Moe drew on her Bo Diddley and African Olatunji influences to create primal, mesmerizing backbeats. Just audit her playing on anything from "Venus In Furs," to "Sister Ray," and its easy to understand how vital her contributions were. Moe inaugurated the very idea of the female-as-instrumentalist into the collective rock n' roll consciousness, and set a lasting precedent. Rrrriot Grrrls, Schmmrriot Grrrls. If it wasn't for Moe, they'd still be playing with Barbie dolls and filling high school detention halls. But in 1971, after six years as the rhythmic backbone of the immensely influential-- yet hardly successful-- Velvets, a frustrated Moe Tucker departed from the ranks of what had become the Doug Yule-fronted "Velveteens." Moe got a job, got married, moved to phoenix where she lived for 8 years, and, in 1984, moved to Georgia where she still lives. Moe worked at a Wal-Mart distribution center and in 1989 quit that job to do a tour of Europe with the able assistance of her friends, Half Japanese. Happily, she has been able to survive and support her family as a musician ever since.

found at: http://www.spearedpeanut.com/tajmoehal/bio/moebio.html

Photo of Moe Tucker at Terrasctock 4 by Richard Booth, from the private collection of the Editor

From: Douglas, Georgia (USA)

Performed at: T4

Featuring:

Moe Tucker – Guitar, Vocals

ex-Velvet Underground (with Doug Yule); also in The Kropotkins, Magnet. Recorded several songs for a Mark and Clay Harper children’s album. Played two songs with VU partner, Doug Yule

John Abbey – Bass

John Sluggett – Drums

ex-Half Japanese

A live CD of Moe's performance at Terrastock 4 has been released.

JOE TURNER & THE SEVEN LEVELS
Joe Turner has always sung and played a variety of instruments, so when his previous outfit Abunai! called it quits last summer after five years, he got off their drum stool and back to work on some new sounds of his own. After the small distraction of organizing the universally loved Terrastock 5 festival was over, he began to make a year and half of unemployment worthwhile by focusing on his new solo sounds. Between Two Seconds runs a length of wire between meditative gauze-rock and full-on rocking psychedelia. He's got plenty of inspired experience to draw on, having played onstage with The Lilys, Barbara Manning, Damo Suzuki (Can), Brother JT, and Nick Saloman (Bevis Frond), as well as performing several times with the Boston Rock Opera. Joe's song contributions to Abunai! had left a clue as to the layered, melodious urges that he'd been harboring, and now those urges are ripe for the rock harvest.

Found at: http://www.abunai.com/joe/about/

From: USA

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Joe Turner - drums, vocals

Mark Dwinnell - guitar

Kris Thompson

 

UNITED BIBLE STUDIES

This mysterious, mist-shrouded Irish collective has spent the past couple of years in gestation mode since the triumph of their 2006 release The Shore that Fears the Sea (on their own Deserted Village label), which garnered a large harvest of critical accolades and made appearances on many year’s-best lists. Fortunately for fans, 2008 finds United Bible Studies back on the move, with new releases (several “live” limited discs, plus an upcoming new studio album on Camera Obscura), and now their much-anticipated first American concert appearances. The group’s sound has always been characterized by an alchemical blending of improvisational folk music, expansive organic/electric experimental noise, lo-fi psychedelic songcraft and ambience, and confident dips into the well of tradition; more recently, they’ve also been developing a growing progressive sensibility that allows their sound to stretch into all kinds of unexpected areas while still channeling its central guiding spirit.

 

From the T7 festival program. Words: Kevin Moist

From: Eire

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

 

URDOG Urdog formed in the late summer of the year 2002 in the strangely besmirched, smallish town of Providence, Rhode Island. Two, by name of Jeff and Erin, equipped solely with aged and decrepit Farfisa minicompact and ramshackled drum "kit" and led by a fierce yet loveable dog by name of Parmalee, set out to form a progressive beat combo of sorts. After working their way through the entire repertoire of King Crimson (but in actuality, just one song), new little ditties strained to emerge. Yet something was missing... months later, Dave appeared, armed with Fender Mustang and a confusing array of pedals.

Text found in the T6 festival program

"Creepy space psych hasn't sounded this cool in a long time. Urdog is simply the most satisfying progpsych group to emerge from [the] US of A in many moons" (Lee Jackson, writing for Foxy Digitalis http://www.digitalisindustries.com/foxyd)

From: USA

Performed at: T6

Featuring:

Jeff Knoch - Farfisa

Erin Rosenthal - drums/vocals

David Lifrieri - guitars/vocals

David was also the tour manager  for Ignatz at T7!

 

 

V. MAJESTIC

 

 

 

Back in the shadowy days of '73, prior to the arrival of short hair and funny pants, the mighty men of V.Majestic raised figurative lanterns in the tree-lined suburbs, looking for honest, exciting and vital sounds in those subdued surroundings. They checked out Sparks and Can and Alice Cooper and Captain Beefheart. Everybody thought they were the strangest fucking cats and all the guys at the hip record store knew them by name.

But then, after years of toiling in obscurity, Punk Rock managed to jump out of the bushes and suddenly there was a whole new bunch of "weird music" to check out. The guys in V. Majestic ate it all up. Some dug the poppier stuff like the Buzzcocks and The Undertones. Others found Pere Ubu quite capable of raising the roof. One embraced The Contortions and Devo like long-lost brothers and sisters. Then strangely enough, in a maneouver rarely attempted by punk rock fans, they asked, "I wonder what Great Music these Great Punk Rock Bands listened to before there was Punk Rock?"

So they went and unearthed the Soft Machine, Faust and NEU! Tim Buckley and Moby Grape got the twice-over (at least). There were enquiries concerning the Seeds, the Gants and the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, As could be expected, the Stooges and the MC5 and the Velvet Underground and the Fugs were present and accounted for. V. Majestic said, "Wow - this is great too."

What the hell - they were on a roll. They took on John Barry, Yma Sumac and Pigmeat Markham - all at once. They lent an ear to field recordings of Hutus hurling insults at other Hutus in a bizarre wedding ritual. They grooved to Great Naval Battles and The Firesign Theater. And soon all the Punk Rockers thought they were the strangest fucking cats and all the guys at the store that sold 78s knew them by name.

Knowing that, one should realise that V. Majestic are a weird damned band. They're not a rock band. They're not a roll band. They're not a jazz band... they're a damned good weird damned band.... and they know Burt Bacharach is a genius.

(from the press-release for the album 'V. Majestic' on Edgy Records. Written by Guy Benoit, 1997)

From: Providence, Rhode Island (USA)

Performed at: T1, T2

Featuring:

Frank Difficult – Keyboards

ex-Difficult Brothers, an electronic noise duo that also hosted an underground radio program in Las Vegas in the late '80s; also performs in The Bunyans Four (with Guy Benoit and Chris Cook, both ex-Thee Hydrogen Terrors)

Gerard Heroux – Trumpet, French Horn, Vocals

ex-Meatballs/Fluxus (with Kellogg), Amoebic Ensemble, Smoking Jackets

Robert Jazz – Guitar, Vocals

ex-Camera Ready, Carrot Bread. Robert was the Band Coordinator at Terrastock 1.

Russell Kellogg – Bass, Vocals

ex-Meatballs/Fluxus

Stuart Powers – Drums

ex-Winston’s Diary, The Wish

Heroux, Kellogg and Powers were all in the Neo 90s Dance Band. V.Majestic were originally known as The Robert Jazz Quartet.

 

VOYAGER ONE

 

It's tempting to file the surging drone of Voyager One under the rubric of psychedelia, but that just wouldn't do justice to the sprawling vision of guitarist/singer/producer Jeramy Koepping and his band, which recalls an empyrean choir, or perhaps a flock of low-end and effects-pedal-wielding angels brushing your cheek. The Seattle quintet tends to draw God Speed You Black Emperor and Sigur Ros fans, but V1's moody slo-mo tsunamis on Monster Zero aren't the kinds of melancholic fugues that bog down those other bands; no, these "tracks" are pointed, unsentimental deluges of sensory overload that hit the head, the heart and the gut in equal measure. - Andrew Lentz, LA Weekly
 

found at: http://www.lovelessrecords.com

From: Seattle, Washington (USA)

Performed at: T4

Featuring:

John Hollis Fleischman – Drums

Jeramy Koepping – Guitar

Dayna Loeffler – Bass

Peter Marchese – Guitar, Vocals

Koepping and Marchese are also in Sirhan Duran, whose debut LP features Chris Martin of Kinski

 

WARSER GATE

"Our music is extremely varied. It has a definite unique sound from warped pop songs to crazed mayhem. The music has developed over the years. We work in a very long improvisational way and our music has a very live sound. Our music is generally in-your-face - we haven't really worked at developing a particular style - it has come all too naturally. We all have very similar tastes in music, hence the chaos and disorder we put out seems to somehow hold itself together and make sense. We never make a racket for the sake of it. There is always an underlying structure. Noise for the sake of noise is not what appeals to Warser Gate."

found at: http://www.blissaquamarine.net/warsergate16.html

From: Mapperley, Nottingham (UK)

Performed at: T3

Featuring:

Kev Flynn – Vocals

Rick Stokes – Drums

Keith Wardley – Guitar

GREG WEEKS
Over two full-lengths, two EPs and a not inconsiderable number of compilation appearances, Greg Weeks has assembled a wealth of material that, as ‘Slightly West’ (the second of those EPs) exemplifies, traverses and fuses styles classifiable as folk and psychedelia, but transcends such simple categorisation.


Emotive and vulnerable, Weeks’ voice relates tales that resonate with frailty and longing, but never fall prey to the pitfalls of the earnest singer-songwriter. Instead, with lyrics that strike a balance between occluded confessionals and a fragmented dream-diary, he is a master of evocative prose. Meanwhile the provocative incongruity of his musical canvas (which on ‘Slightly West’ consolidates the unnerving drones of his last album, ‘Awake Like Sleep’, and the sparse acoustic fragility of first EP, ‘Bleecker Station’), reminds the listener that this is no fairy-tale recitation, but more a soundtrack to the fitful sleep-state that follows.

found at: http://cwas.hinah.com/

Photo: Margo Silver

From: New York, New York (USA)

Performed at: T5

Featuring:

Greg Weeks – Guitar, Vocals

also in Espers, which toured with Damon & Naomi and Bridget St. John in 2004

 

also played with Six Organs of Admittance [T5]

 

Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine co-released Greg’s “Bleecker Station” EP

 

Surface of Eceyon’s Adam Forkner appears on Greg’s “Slightly West” EP

 

Victoria Croog – Keyboards, Vocals

 

Jesse Sparhawk – Bass

 

Josh Weill – Cello

WELLWATER CONSPIRACY

 

Wellwater Conspiracy is a mini-supergroup, its founding members brethren of two of the best known hard-rock and grunge bands of the 1990s.

But don't expect a leaden, guttural rock sound from this Seattle band featuring former Soundgarden — and current Pearl Jam — drummer Matt Cameron and ex-Monster Magnet guitarist John McBain. (Glenn Slater of the Walkabouts is also part of the Conspiracy). Instead, Wellwater Conspiracy has built a cult-like following with a sound that bridges psychedelic and classic rock with punches of pop.

While many artists and bands heavily promote each release, Wellwater Conspiracy rarely tours and records music on its own clock, in between Cameron's touring with Pearl Jam and the other members' individual projects. by Tina Potterf, the Seattle Times

found at: http://www.nowinvisibly.com/wwc/

From: Seattle, Washington (USA)

Performed at: T4

Featuring:

Matt Cameron – Drums, Guitar

also in Pearl Jam; ex-Soundgarden (with Shepherd)

John Paul McBain – Guitar

ex-Monster Magnet, Hater

Dan Peters – Drums (sat in for Cameron, who was touring with Pearl Jam)

also in Mudhoney [T2]

Zeb – Vocals, Bass

aka Ben Shepherd, ex-Soundgarden (with Cameron), Hater

Glenn Slater – Keyboards

also in The Walkabouts

 

WHITE HOTEL

 

Like all the best stories, White Hotel's is an improbable one. In 1988, Australian singer/guitarist Ken Low, Canadian bassist Colleen Browne and French drummer Jean-Marc Butty converge in London - and the result is a sonic narrative that evokes all the heat and drama of an imagined American West. (from a Piao! Records press release)

"An impressive blend of tense atmospherics, brooding dissolution and scalding musical invective. Eruptive, nerve-shredding guitars allow the psychosis and queasy terror to get hold. But there's discretion at work too, allowing occasional flashes of wide-screen euphoria to flourish. Seriously minded, starkly compelling and brimming with potential." (Gavin Martin, Uncut magazine, Dec 1999)

 

From: London (UK)

Performed at: T4

Featuring:

Coleen Brown – Bass, Vocals

recorded with Pale Saints, Warm Jets; ex-Heart Throbs

Jean Marc Butty – Percussion

recorded with PJ Harvey, Department of Crooks, and the late Marc Moreland [ex-Wall of Voodoo]; currently in Belgian band, Venus

Ken Low – Vocals, Guitar

recorded with Barry Adamson

 

WINDY & CARL

 

Carl Hultgren has been recording his own guitar pieces since 1992, Windy Weber joined him in 1993. The duo write during the recording process and Carl's mixing process adds layers of effects and distortion to the basic tracks. Windy sings and plays bass, Carl plays the guitar and both play the odd keyboard. Their debut full-length CD was a reissue of their cassette release "Portal," on the Ba Da Bing! label in 1995. "Drawing of Sound" came out in 1996 on LP from Blue Flea and on CD from Detroit's Icon label. Their two most recent full-length albums, 1998's "Depths" and 2001's "Consciousness" have been released by Kranky in Chicago. In addition to this, numerous singles and split singles have been released by labels Ochre, Burnt Hair, Enraptured and Darla Records.
    Windy & Carl often perform live but are rarely on tour and have performed at all the Terrastock Festivals to date.
 

found at: http://www.brainwashed.com/wc/info.html

Windy & Carl at Terrastock 4, photo copyright Richard Booth from the private collection of the Editor

From: Dearborn Heights, Michigan (USA)

Played at: T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7

Featuring:

Carl Hultgren – Guitar

also joined Gibbons Bros. (Bardo Pond), Dave Pearce (Flying Saucer Attack) and Jason DiEmilio and Jason Knight (Azusa Plane) in "Drone Summit" at T1, highlights of which appeared on the "Providence" 10" EP. Jammed with Brendan Quinn (Lothars, Abunai!) and the Lothars at T3

Windy Weber – Bass, Vocals

also own Blue Flea label (named after their dogs) and run a record shop in Dearborn, Michigan, USA named Stormy Records (not named after any pet in particular). Both ex-Once Dreamt, 5 Way Mirror.

The couple married on Thanksgiving, 2000; Landing played at their wedding reception!

 

WITCH HAZEL SOUND

 

American college football player Kevin Coral stopped butting heads about twelve years ago and turned to his real passion in life, music. It was everybody's gain. Equal parts studio rat and record-collecting junkie, Coral -- the main cog in Kent, Ohio's vaguely psychedelic Witch Hazel Sound - has devoured the music of film composers John Barry, Francis Lai, and Ennio Morricone like world explorers once studied their maps and charts. If you were writing advertising copy you might label the Witch Hazel Sound a "sumptous blend of Canterbury prog rockers Caravan and first-album Chicago Transit Authority with just a pinch of Arthur Lee's Love." But that would be as unsatisfying as reading the Nutrition Facts on a can of soup. Like songwriters Rodgers & Hart, Coral would rather leave you "bewitched, bothered and bewildered." Add the fey warble of vocalist/lyricist Mark F., the solid bass Mike Split and Jason Richardson's Miles Davis-like trumpet buzz to the swirling sonic tapestry created by Coral - hunched over a battery of vintage, jumble-sale synthesizers and guitars - and you have magic.  Jud Cost writing in Bucketfull of Brains

found at: http://www.parasol.com/labels/hiddenagenda
 

From: Kent, Ohio (USA)

Appeared at: T1

Featuring:

Dave Buterbaugh - Coronet

Ray Carmen – Drums, Backing Vocals

Kevin Coral – Guitar, Organ, Piano

also runs his own label, Bubblegum Smile and co-owns Waterloo Sound

Mark F. – Guitar, Vocals

Jason Richardson - Horns

Mike Split – Bass

WOODEN SHJIPS

While there are certainly plenty of psychedelic pretenders around these days, this San Francisco quartet seems to have found a lost stash of the real stuff, and has spent the past few years rolling it up and passing it around to an ever-growing number of appreciative listeners. In spite of their home town and band name (which references one of the iconic slices of classic SF psych, and adds an extra “j”… hmmm…), Wooden Shjips isn’t beholden to any one model, and effortlessly crosses the wires of several generations of psych action. One minute they might sound like the Doors gone scuzzed-out garage rock (hold the Lizard King, extra helpings of fuzztone and reverb), then without changing anything leap forward a couple of decades to channel the blissed-out drone of Paisley Undergrounders the Rain Parade or the mantric opiated repetition of Spacemen 3. Such reference points probably say as much about the listener as the band – as heard on their self-titled 2007 debut CD on the Holy Mountain label (and a few earlier limited releases), they’re also completely in tune with the contemporary crop of lo-fi lysergic explorers… which I guess puts them somewhere outside of time, right?

 

 

 

From the T7 festival program. Words: Kevin Moist

From: San Francisco, CA (USA)

Performed at: T7

Featuring:

 

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS

 

The Young Fresh Fellows were formed in 1982. The orginal line up was Scott McCaughy on bass and vocals, Chuck Carrol on guitar, and Tad Hutchison on drums. Scott had been in Dynette Set with his future wife when he decided to start a band with Chuck. Tad was Chuck's cousin and came from Colorado to play drums for the band. They recorded their first album a week after Tad arived, with Conrad Uno at Egg Studios. The album was called "Fablous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest".

They recorded their second album, "Topsy Turvy" in 1985. The album was reviewed in Rolling Stone and after their third album they moved to California indie label Frontier Records.

Upcoming is a new YFF album titled "Because we hate you" that will be packaged with the new Minus 5 album titled, "Let the war against music begin".

Scott McCaughey has been recording and touring with REM. He is also in Minus Five, The Squirrels, Tuatara, and a Nick Lowe cover band known as The Lowebeats.

Recently Scott joined Tom Price of Gas Huffer, Steve, Mark and Dan of Mudhoney and Bill Henderson of Girl Trouble in The New Strychinies (aka The New Orginal Sonic Sound), a Sonics cover band.
by: The Sara Monster

found at: http://www.angelfire.com/sk/seattlebands/yff.html

Young Fresh Fellows at Terrastock 2, 1998 photo copyright  Erik Auerbach
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From: Seattle, Washington (USA)

Performed at: T2

Featuring:

Kurt Bloch – Guitar

also in Fastbacks; ex-The Cheaters, Flop. Produced many artists, including Mudhoney

Tad Hutchinson – Drums

played drums on P.F. Sloan's comeback LP

Scott McCaughey – Guitar, Vocals

also solo and a member of Tuatara, The Lowebeats (a Nick Lowe tribute band) and REM (touring only); ex-The Woggles, Dynette Set. Played at T4 as a member of Minus 5

Jim Sangster – Bass

also in The Picketts, The Congratulators, Blunt Objects, The Lowebeats (a Nick Lowe tribute band!), The Infant Kings. Played at T4 as a member of Minus 5

Everyone also members of The Squirrels and Supersnazz

 

DOUG YULE

 

Late in 1968 The Velvet Underground left John Cale and New York City behind. The acrimonious split has been analyzed and explicated ad nauseum. Indeed, the attention and ink devoted to the infamous parting has overshadowed what became of the band in the post Cale days. The Velvet Underground not only survived but in many ways thrived without the rambunctious John Cale. Cales link to the avant garde all but guaranteed that the band would not achieve any semblance of mainstream success. Enter Doug Yule, the oft maligned, more oft forgotten Velvet. The Yule era VU has been attacked for becoming the vehicle for Lou Reeds soft side; a homogenous entity devoid of the white hot intensity which was fueled by the uncompromising spirit of John Cale. What the pundits fail to remember is that regardless of who played faster or louder or dirtier, the VU was always a vehicle for Lou Reeds songwriting. Venus in Furs, Heroin, Waiting for Man, are Lou Reed songs. What turns them into Velvet Underground songs is their performances.

Doug Yule did not replace John Cale. No one could. What Doug Yule did was allow the Velvet Underground to record songs like Pale Blue Eyes, Candy Says, What Goes on, Sweet Jane, and Rock-n-Roll, without fear. Without the Cale/art link, the band could prove to the world that they were not merely New York underground artsy faggot/junkie dahlings, but a real Rock-n-Roll band which could play the balls off of any other band. Of course they had to do this away from the rotting apple.

Boston and The Tea Party became the VUs home in their most productive days. Not exactly the sticks, but Boston's atmosphere is palpably sweeter than New Yorks. Besides, once you leave New York, you're out of town. As a road band, the VU found some friendly ports. Touring was a way to make some cash, certainly more than any record company was paying them. It also allowed them to develop and hone new material in the most effective way - in front of a receptive audience. The Velvet Underground found more open arms waiting for them in the clubs and auditoria than would ever embrace them via record stores. As a kid, relatively, playing a tough game, Doug Yule found himself, at times, in over his head. But he had the confidence, some may say arrogance, to try and keep up. The records show that he did much more than that. In a short time, Doug would become an important player contributing not only to some classic live performances as documented in 69 Live, but also in fully half of the VUs now revered recorded work.

found at: http://www.rocknroll.net/loureed/articles/yule.html

Photo: self-portrait, 1998 by Doug Yule

From: New York, New York (USA)

Performed at: T4

Featuring:

Doug Yule – Guitar, Vocals

ex-Velvet Underground (with Moe Tucker), Grass Menagerie, American Flyer. Played two songs with Tucker at T4

Dave Keppel – Guitar

Seth Warren – Violin

A CD has been released of Doug's performance at Terrastock 4, The Showbox, Seattle 2000

 

 

     
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