STAG HARE

Spirit Canoes (2011)

It's time to open up the gates on an artist who, in certain ways, inspired the creation of Obstacle Illusion. We've received so much good energy from his music that it's time to pass back some vibes. After all, he recently made all his music free to download, and we'd like to point as many people as we can towards it.

"In Utah there are such large flat expanses surrounded by these mountains. I have spent a lot of time riding in a car watching out the windows as these landscapes roll past. I think everything I love to create is in these landscapes, texture, story, time, vast slow changes......natural shapes, you know?" - Stag Hare, in an interview with foxy digitalis.

It's something you hear straight away in all of Stag Hare's music;  the geological and ecological progression of time, the ground-swell of radiating guitar drones, almost raga-like in their languor and meditative drift, and the way all the sounds together feel as if they are being inhaled and exhaled rather than played. Vocals play out like mantras for concentrating the mind, and the occasional upsurge of rattling bells and chimes feels like an invocation or ceremonial welcoming for spirits, echoing vibes and other unknown energies to pass through, swirl around and generally synchronise with you wherever you are. 

Black Medicine Music (2008)

Black Medicine Music (2008) is exactly that; sound-based medicine for the whole being. The album art reveals some of the alchemic ingredients at work; two hands give us a human factor, but it's grounded in the material substrate of nature - there is no separation, but instead, we see nature shining through two sheer human paws. The rainbow-filled vessel feels like an offering, but also a source of nourishment. Stag Hare's music is like a warming cup of yerba mate, keeping us ever alert and aware of the magic inherent in all our surrounds.

On 'Holy Quinn' it feels like waking up, but by the end we've moved from sweet morning tranquility to an excitable, playful rain dance reminiscent of the flute-charmer intro to Herbie Hancock's Watermelon Man. Energetically speaking, 'Crystal Dust Dream' takes us even further, perhaps on eagle-back soaring through mountain chasms and redwood forests. The harmonica calls down rain and triumphant thunder and gives life to the land, while solar-currents run through the guitar strings and drench the listener in simmering layers of chest-soothing drone. The percussive elements throughout all of Stag Hare's music are essential; the rhythms are deceptively simple, always hypnotic and feel as if they're tuned to the rhythm of hiking footsteps or the migration of reindeer.

Ahspen (2007)

While we've been focusing on Black Medicine Music (perhaps because it was his first release to ever find us), every Stag Hare release is equal. If every song was collated onto a single album they would still make perfect sense. They grasp with similar ideas, explore similar territories, and evoke that same sense of peacefulness, joy, radiant energy and calm ease which has made Stag Hare, for us, an essential beginning, set and setting to all our inner explorations, backyard gatherings and outer journeys across the various nooks and vistas of the natural world. 

ARICA - HEAVEN (1971)

1971; Journeys east, west, north, and south, making trails over rocks, thru rivers, on clouds and in heaven. Sounds from an earlier time which, echoing out of Time, resonate with our new millennial soundrealms. Pieces like 'Lake' evoke circadian rhythms and interspecies communications. Others, like 'Wind,' eschew traditional structure and instead mimic the formless ebb and flow of atmospheric processes. On 'Ocean,' piano's wake up to the sound of distant  drums, rolling layers of reverberating cymbals and the peaceful exhalation of rattling chimes. This album is a lost treasure, and an ideal guide for reestablishing a calm and centered spirit.

Download it here.

- Sneeks

∜♡MDISCS 2K13 COMPILATION (AMD2K13)(❤❤,)∜♡

Future hope is a theme here on Obstacle Illusion and I feel like the ∜♡MDISCS: Futures Reserve Label is a definite pathfinder on this trail -- they usher in a consistent and glittering stream of future-gazing, -exploring, and -unveiling sounds from every glazed angle of the electronic hypersphere and do so with a real healthy mix of playfulness, humour, and joyful sincerity. What also sets them apart is the aesthetic cohesiveness they create across all their releases while still wrangling in a massive diversity of sounds, conjuring everything from slick HD technicality and precision-beats to lo-fi pop dreamhazes to sludge-wading yet glimmering hip-hop to so many indescribable mongrel genres that it's hard to keep up. Their latest compilation is a mind-opening testament to all of this; 73 tracks moving over 4.4 hours in length and spread across two discs. I've enjoyed every track here and wish I could give some words to every single one, but truly, the task to describe even half of what is contained here in these compilations is monumental enough!

Starting with the first slab we encounter a i r s p o r t s exquisite 'Dubbed in 3D', the sorta .wav perfect for cruising high and happy over a floating ecopolis, wrapped up like a bird man and slicing through the air in a state of perfect bliss. Straight after, LINGERIE's 'KIMI KIWI' evokes a wired VR-disco for spaced romantics to boogie down with one another, a kaleidoscopic mirror-room which wobbles like jelly with every kickbeat and treble-sharp handclap. Climbing the ladder we reach 'Pizza Man' by Golden Axe; because even pizza men will be respected heroes in the future. Blast this out of your space-cruiser speakers while traversing the neon streets of New Mars. A couple tracks later we hit a personal fav of mine, 'Works' by Dreams, composed of beautiful heartbeat snare roll ups, happy pitch-high stammers and enthusiasms, subtle Yoshi samples, funkdafied bass and disco stabs, all woven together at the end of each section with a chorus-like flotilla of upwards-ascending synths and atmospherics…  beautiful.

The hits keep coming; Jogging House's 'You Don't Talk (feat. Kat Kaufmann)' sends me aboard a train weaving through alps and snow-encrusted forest. From lilting atmospherics we shift very suddenly into 'GOOD ANNA DA BAD' by POORSCHE which is like a cerebral wormhole cyber voyage through a 90s happy hardcore rave spliced with Mount Kimbie at 20x speed. Apart from hyperfuturistic electronics there are plenty of more traditional vocal- and pop-oriented tracks spread across these two discs and 'What v.2.0 Do' by Gabriel White is one of my favourites along that line. 

Another side to ∜♡MDISCS and featured on this comp are some next-phase vapourwave sounds which, for me, sound like vapourwave's younger and less cynical bro/sister, less bitterly ironic and simply more chill, and not very concerned about impressing you or your friends. You don't quite understand their mannerisms, their clothes or anything they are saying, but you feel as if everything they do is coming from a much more honest and joyful place than you could ever muster up when you were their age. This is a sign of the times; growing up with the internet means instant exposure to a multiplicity of realities, and it tramples that homogeneity which schools try to impose generation after generation. The internet abolishes one-truth systems and explodes the levee with mind-shaping levels of variety. ESPRIT空想's 'cruiser' pushes aside the half-speed dirge which can make so much vapourwave feel like a chore and replaces it with unapologetic sax-driven 80s funk mash. Infinite Frequencies 'The Sultans Garden' is the glimmering digital landscape you reach after the bad trip you experienced in the 'corporate elevator.' QUILTLAND brings us 'TIME PHRASE,' a lush and positive trip with percussion submerged in an echochamber of quilted synth-layers. Ramzi's 'Pou Yon Mond Nouvo' unsurfaces scuba-dived water beats from plaintive dimensions all chopped and diced for optimum textural enjoyment. This is just the first side, and it ends with 'The Patriot' by 333 Boyz , a track which is just too great and too bizarre a mix of mysteriously harmonious elements that to describe it would ruin the sheer enjoyment one gains from encountering it for the very first time. Really, to describe in detail every track I love even on the first disc is quite a task -- much more could be written for Giraffage's 'Computer City (Go Dugong Remix)', the misty cool vibes of 'The Elsa' by Jaaska, and the endless bliss-drift of 'Grid Life' via Coolmemoryz.

Wiping away the sweat and joyful tears we move to the second side. 'Hot*DOG…' by Gunge is a damn nice dance wash soaked in bubbling electronics, streaming synths, handclaps and old diva vocal echoes moving in from a past realm somewhere. Feels like I'm at a pool party with 3D holographic waterfalls instead of fake fireplaces - the ending sounds like the speaker system fell in the pool but kept on chugging anyway, with the MC in snorkels and everyone too busy dancing to notice. Lockbox's 'LUST 2.0' is a righteously splayed skittering phased-out beat hurricane whose musical heritage is so diverse that it leaves you in a kind of Socratic aporia. Myrrh Ka Ba calms things down with the serene and steady galactic bounce of 'Astral Disco', expertly-diced vocal samples perfect for a late-night dancefloor meditation, or an even later-night bike ride home to bed. Things turn 4/4 with PARTY TRASH and FERAL LOVE, and like Myrrh Ka Ba they chop their vocals with sushi-sharp knifework, glazing the rest in reverb and overdriven bass for future preservation. Then there's Krusht's remix of 'Just My Imagination' by The Temptations. The way Krusht carefully stretches out the chorus is simple yet masterful - truly and utterly serene, a flood of peaceful energy perfect for any hour of the day.

There is just so much ingenuity across these two discs in terms of production and structure. On the production side of things we have songs like "Heard-Crashed" by Shisd, where some sort of reverse crash or hi-hat takes the foreground while the rest of the kit is buried in faraway reverb; the vocals sit somewhere in-between, oozing mellow vibes despite the enfolding racket. MEWL's 'Stop Caring' is structurally fascinating, anchored the whole way through via one very simple (but never tiring) guitar loop. Free-wheeling drums crash over the top with no obvious purpose - yet, in their spontaneity, they suit perfectly.  Finally, with the guitar loop playing anchor it's the vocals, reassuring and carefully escalating, which act as the lifeline, urging you along blissfully throughout.

It's interesting that the final track ('Voodoo in The Afternoonn,' by Kikiilimikilii) is also one of the darkest, making it something of a rarity amidst the previous explosions of light. On this finale it feels like the sky is being torn apart, but it's the kind of apocalyptic storm that one senses is completely necessary, as a kind of catharsis for all sentient life. Many times humankind has had to undergo these worldwide historical experiences in order to shed the deadweight of old, unjust ideologies and power structures. We are in a similar age where much tension is occurring alongside beautiful waves of relief and realisation. The last 16 or so seconds feels like a tribute to that relief, and a symbolically eloquent closure to 4.4 hours of mind-altering sound vibrations.

You've heard enough from me, stream it below!

You can also head here for download options and other tings.

MOUNTAINS - AIR MUSEUM (2011)

Mountains are one of my favourite bands: every offering they send out into the world contains transmissions which, for me, evoke a sensation of such raw, sweet, slow and organic growth; blissful tones which resonate somewhere deep within my chest, and then in a calm and liquid outward movement, trail into my toes, fingers, neck, brain and mind. In Air Museum, the oft-sampled freefall of weather and natural cycles and warming guitar drones meld with new and rich waves of bubbling synthesizer tones, painting valleys in my mind of bluegold crystal lakes and long eons of meditative languor. This is music for the cultivation and celebration of a calm, peaceful world.

Listen below or stream here.

- sneeks

SOUND MIX: TIMECRAWL LIVING

‘Think that you are not yet begotten, think that you are in the womb, that you are young, that you are old, that you are dead, that you are in the world beyond the grave, grasp all that in your thought at once, all times and places.’ – Hermetica.

‘The formless moves to the realm of form; the formed moves back to the realm of formlessness. This all people alike understand. But it is not something to be reached by striving. People everywhere debate how to reach it. But those who have reached it do not debate, and those who debate have not reached it.’ – Chuang Tzu, Taoist sage.

I’d like to pour a substance over the earth. It’d be an oozing, halting sap, as sweet as raw honey, and drawn from a secret and incredibly ancient tree embedded deep in the heart of a mist-drenched Japanese forest. I would mix this mystic sap in a cauldron with the clear and soothing goo of aloe vera, and then I would warm it to the temperature of freshly baked bread by infusing it with the superheated vapor of salvia divinorum. I would then add some magic crystals to ensure that the substance was highly absorbent and extremely colorful. After this I would place the giant bubbling cauldron of magic sap in an echo chamber and let it resonate with an array of sounds like the ones mixed above, gently simmering it together for twelve years straight. By then the substance would be fully imbued with an energy of raw healing slowness, and I would proceed to pour it over the planet. Clocks everywhere would melt into a highly nutritious and organic paste. Jobs everywhere would crumble into gardening and caring for cats. People everywhere would start thanking the sun. Kids everywhere would breathe a sigh of relief, and roads everywhere would give way to their living inner jungle. Cities would become playground skatepark canvasses, and offices would become homes. People would try and thank me, but I would wave my hand and say, “No, thank you for believing in the power of the sap!” 

Then we would all play a game of chinlone.

- Sneeks

01. WYLD WYZRDS - Forest Light (Free Magick, 2011)
02. Colleen - The Happy Sea (The Golden Morning Breaks, 2005)
03. Growing - Primitive Associations / Great Mass Above (The Soul of the Rainbow and the Harmony of Light, 2004)
04. Function - Shards (The Secret Miracle Fountain, 2006)
05. Brightblack Morning Light - Friend of Time (Self-titled, 2006)
06. Mountains - Add Infinity (Choral, 2009)
07. Animal Collective - Daffy Duck (Feels, 2005)

SOUNDS: LEAFY SUBURBS / SACRED FLOWER UNION SPLIT CASSETTE

What? A cassette/digital release, stream it here

Where? Western Australia, via Future Past Records.

Listenthru Count? Probably about ten to fifteen times.

Best when and where? Cycling around at night.

In the haze of “Glow Bugs / Pool” the fluorescent altershaping light ledges encrusting Council House are slowly awakening. The usually turbulent lawnmowers are being drawn down through the soil by the rippling tendrils of grass they once manicured. Cars rust, trees writhe, pavement cracks. Unraveling vines of synth bubble and summon the first patter of drums. The night is young and the lights on Council House, now alert, are gathering energy. They fire slow, highly-concentrated neon rays at whatever seems most resistant. Traffic lights melt under the pressure, their steel beams bending over like dank bits of licorice on an intense summer’s day. Human beings are transformed into whirling fireflies, and a bright array of steel drums chatter away in celebration. As the rays soak the streetscape a cloud of creatures burst from the ground, little nocturnal-eyed reptilian-monkeys interlocking in a saliva-drenched kicks and yelps. About 13 minutes and 15 seconds into all of this and the chaos of initial transformation eventually subsides, yielding to the feeding habits of a newly formed array of creatures with capes of liquid steel and lawnmower blades for teeth.

“Strange Eden” is the still-bubbling residue of “Glow Bugs” licked clean by a bus-sized, metallic panther. It slinks through the city preying on a stray car, diamond teeth puncturing tire and axle in an effortless crunch. “Sumertime” warps forward another few hundred years. Little remains of Council House save for a single undulating miasma of light, the coagulated remainder of a hundred years of oozing neon packed into a 3 x 3 cube. Everything within a ten mile radius of this cube is just quivering dust. You walk over this inert outstretched mass, towards the light… the twanging guitar and rigid, inwardly-collapsing percussion should be warning enough, yet you venture on. You are somewhere in the sleepy borderland of a confused and blurry-eyed dream; grey clouds roll together to form a nebulous halo around the emergent moon and from the west a raven-feathered embroidery of nightfall drowns out everything else. Your subterranean imagination unravels, accompanied by piercing stabs of Mediterranean synth. Everything fades to black.

You awaken to the clamorous chimes and stop-start guitar of “Up, Enenra,” feeling dazed yet at peace. You are in an enormous chamber, its ancient stone walls are the colour of fading sunlight and they stretch as far as you can comprehend. A youthful chorus of human voices echoes in from somewhere above and they guide your mind’s eye to a dimensional rift opening just ten meters from where you’re standing. The widening rift spits out reams of trailing and gurgling synth-lines whose energy is tangible and coils around your wrists and ankles, pulling you in. You don’t care. Your blood is warming. It’s very peaceful.

- Sneeks