Posts Tagged ‘Shadow Of the Sun’

MOON DUO – ” Creepin “

Posted: December 13, 2016 in MUSIC
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Moon Duo is a psych-rock/drone/krautrock band from Portland, Oregon by way of San Francisco. The project started in 2009 when Wooden Shjips guitarist Erik Ripley Johnson wanted a side band. He and Sanae Yamada (keys, vocals) joined forces, playing with programmed drums behind them. A couple of years ago, they hired drummer John Jeffrey to round out the band. Apparently, they had never met him, and they didn’t even audition him. He was hired after he met the band’s manager in Berlin. Things have worked out really well for them so far.

The band’s first album Mazes came out in 2011, followed by Circles in 2012. After that, they toured a lot. Not wanting to do that “write the new record on the road” thing, they waited until there was a big gap in their touring schedule to write and record Shadow of the Sun.

Moon Duo’s Occult Architecture Vol. 1, the first installment of a two-part album by the Portland psych heroes. The albums were inspired by the occult writings of Mary Anne Atwood, Aleister Crowley, Colin Wilson, and Manly P. Hall, as well as the Chinese theory of Yin and Yang. The darker Vol. 1 is being released in the dead of winter in the Northern Hemisphere (February. 3rd), and it represents Yin, or “the shady side of the hill.” Vol. 2 will follow in warmer months. Note: The limited edition LP of Vol. 1 comes housed in a deluxe box, which includes a space for Vol. 2 should you wish to purchase that when it comes out

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You can get some of the krautrock flavor in this song. The buzzy synths, the motorik-style drums, the delayed vocals. I love it. And of course it’s a little drone-y. It’s infectious, and I love it. It’s actually a little dark and gothy.

Here’s the official video for the song, which features Australian skateboarder Richie Jackson using all sorts of things including a pitchfork, a computer keyboard, and a car’s front bumper to make improvised skateboards. He also walks along in a ridiculously exaggerated gait, which spotlights the motorik beat. Make sure you watch the video all the way to the end.

What’s left to say about Moon Duo – not much, except that they continue on that cyclical drone path into musical nirvana. Divine.

MOON DUO – ” Shadow Of The Sun ” Best Albums Of 2015

Posted: November 25, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Moon Duo‘s third full-length LP, ‘Shadow of the Sun’, was written entirely during one of these evolving phases – the results are off-kilter dance rhythms, repetitive, grinding riffs, cosmic trucker boogies and even an ecstatically pretty moment.

The highest apex of psychedelia, be it art, music, drugs or literature, is to induce a prolonged consciousness shift that affects the consumer far beyond the time that they were privy to the act. Working in a rare and uneasy rest period for the band, devoid of the constant adrenaline of performing live and the stimulation of traveling through endless moving landscapes, offered Moon Duo a new space to reflect on all of these previous experiences and cradle them while cultivating the new album in the unfamiliar environment of a new dwelling; a dark Portland basement. The effect was akin to the act of descending from a train after a long and arduous trip, only to see it (and all your subsequent realities) speed off into the horizon without you. It was from this stir-crazy fire that Shadow of the Sun was forged.

Evolving the sound of their critically acclaimed first two full length records, Mazes (2011) and Circles (2012), Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada have developed their ideas with the help of their newly acquired steam engine, Canadian drummer John Jeffrey (present on the band‘s last release, Live in Ravenna. Moon Duo used the creative process as a flickering beacon of sanity in an ocean of uncertainty while in these land bound months. The unchartered rhythms and tones of this album reflect their striving for equilibrium in this new environment, and you can hear that Shadow of the Sun is the result of months of wrangling with this profound, unsettling way of being. Exploring the record, a listener will perceive the song “Night Beat,” with its off-kilter dance rhythm, as an attempt by the band to find meaning and acceptance in this new, shifting ground, while “Wilding” delivers a familiar Moon Duo sound, taking refuge in a repetitive, grinding riff-scape. Elsewhere on the record, the band recognizes that no journey is possible without being on the road, paying tribute to the cosmic trucker boogie saint in “Slow Down Low” and “Free the Skull.” From the narcoleptic dancefloor killer “Zero,” the record spirals perfectly into a resplendent daydream, the ecstatically pretty “In a Cloud,” which is a spectacular moment to witness.

In a nod to a great pop tradition, the lead single, “Animal,” will appear as the A-side of a 7-inch, packaged with each copy of the vinyl edition. The song has an early West Coast punk viciousness to it that is entirely unique to the Moon Duo catalog, and it will also appear as the last track on the CD.

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The result, at the end of the trip, is the album Shadow of the Sun.

MOON DUO – ” Shadow Of The Sun “

Posted: February 27, 2015 in MUSIC
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Many bands look to breathe life into old riffs, but Moon Duo seems to put more thought into it than most. The band’s third album, “Shadow Of The Sun”, is another collection of cyclical songs based on the simple, repetitive riffs of singer-guitarist Ripley Johnson and singer-keyboardist Sanae Yamada (with the assistance of, alternatively, a drum machine or auxiliary drummer John Jeffrey). That approach has never been a drawback and Moon Duo’s previous albums are visceral yet dreamy, and “Shadow Of The Sun” follows suit beautifully. What makes this the best Moon Duo record to date is the way Johnson and Yamada have plumbed ever deeper into their droning, elemental of psychedelia.

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This is druggy music, but there’s nothing flowery about it. In “Wilding” and “Zero,” propulsive beats and an eerie atmosphere are sweetened by sugary whispers. “In A Cloud” is more mesmerizing; Johnson and Yamada seem to want the title to be taken literally as their voices drift languorously across a spacious, aching soundscape. The kerosene-drenched hymns kick back in with “Thieves,” a spiky, off-kilter shiver of chilled menace. But it’s also the album’s least compelling song: Moon Duo’s music works best when it’s hypnotic, and the stuttering tension of “Thieves” breaks the spell, while lacking the chant-like hooks that help make the rest of the record so alluring and fresh.

Still, there’s a haunting familiarity to much of Shadow Of The Sun. Yamada’s cascading, carnivalesque keys in “Night Beast” recall The Seeds, while the throbbing pulse of “Wilding” alludes to both Suicide and Spacemen 3. Neither track suffers from these obvious touchstones; in fact, the influences Moon Duo flaunts throughout Shadow Of The Sun make it feel like part of a continuum rather than a pastiche. Most thrillingly, “Slow Down Low” evokes the throbbing romanticism of early Jonathan Richman as filtered through Can’s krautrock even the song’s name seems like a playful response to The Modern Lovers’ “Roadrunner.”

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Granted, most of these inspirations jell perfectly with Moon Duo’s mantra-rock methodology. The band shakes things up, however, in “Ice,” a shimmering, cinematic oscillation of synths that pretends Giorgio Moroder produced The Stooges’ self-titled album — and somehow makes that odd combination work. But the album’s most startling moment comes when “Animal” rears its head. A feral, fuzzed-out anthem crawling with ghosts and cobwebs, it hearkens back to the ’80s death-punk of 45 Grave. Moon Duo wears its pedigree proudly on its sleeve, but thankfully, Shadow Of The Sun doesn’t coast on the past.