Plankton Wat
"Crystal Wizard" CDR
Stunned Records
Genre: instrumental folk,
improv folk, American Primitive
Portland, OR
Dec 6, 2008 |
Plankton Wat's Dewey Mahood (Eternal Tapestry)
plays complex and prickly guitar instrumentals drenched in an
indefinable psychedelic haze. Crystal Wizard, his second solo
release out under the Plankton Wat moniker (following a DNT
Records debut earlier this year), is a relaxing yet
acid-tinged journey in the American Primitive tradition. This
is steel string so pure you can actually hear the steel. Whether
stoned or not, Mahood's music is made for a dimly-lit room and
a fine cup of tea.
Although their foundation is built from the guitar up, Mahood
has also overdubbed these tracks with occasional bells, sparse
percussion, and even some chanted vocals. The melodies have a distinct
Middle Eastern vibe, vaguely reminiscent of work by Steffen
Basho-Junghans but considerably less structured. Especially
impressive is the drearily magical "Serenity Boundless in Black
Night," an atmospheric mood piece heavy in overdubs and reverse
sampling. However, it is the sprawling, ten minute finale,
"Refelections [sic] of Crystal Wizard," that
takes the cake; it is a slow-building mini-epic that gradually becomes
more and more cluttered before it reaches its climactic breaking
point. Crystal Wizard may not be what you think of when you
think of psychedelic music, but Dewey Mahood's brand of
abstract instrumental guitar is like an acid trip of its own. And as
it has been limited to 100 copies by impressive
CDR label Stunned Records, you'll want to track this sucker down as
soon as you can.
plankton
wat's myspace
82%
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 6 tracks, ltd to
100 copies, distributed by
the
label,
released 2008] |
