The vinyl LP version of SPIRES' "Curse The Traced Bird" is now out of print. The CD version is temporarily sold out -- a second pressing will be available in September 2008... soon...

AVARUS are working on another upcoming Secret Eye LP release... stay tuned...

SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE are featured in the BEST OF CHICAGO 2008 issue of the Chicago Reader. Sweet. Here's an excerpt: "...this all-female freak-folk band is something different under the sun. They play goose-bump-inducing music that sounds like the ancient oral tradition of a culture of their own invention, and they play it with a sort of primordial shamanistic elegance and economy of purpose. Still, I was having a little angst over this decision, until “Black Earth” from their latest, Curse the Traced Bird, shuffled up on my iPod. I froze stock-still in haunted wonder, as if I were hearing it for the first time—and did I mention I was crossing State Street in traffic at the time? The band that can override your survival instinct wins." The link is here.

Feature Artist: KATHLEEN BAIRD - both of her amazing solo CDs are on SALE and we put up new MP3s too - check it out...

New MP3s are also now online for BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA and KEMIALLISET YSTÄVÄT. Click away.

BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA -- just back from Terrastock in Kentucky... BF/BS performed as a quartet: Miriam and her sister Margot along with Jeffrey and special guest Geoff Mullen. It was sweet. Ned Raggett reviews the set: "Black Forest/Black Sea — a beautiful fragmented glow. This has always been the case with Black Forest/Black Sea, and this afternoon is one of their best. Working without a PA and letting their voices and spindly, crackling performances set the tone, and we’re all duly enraptured. A highlight."

The BF/BS 10" vinyl release "Portmanteau" is reviewed in this Pittsburgh City Paper feature. Nice one. Be sure to pick up this release soon - copies are running low...

Secret Eye quietly releases an exclusive KEMIALLISET YSTÄVÄT CD - pressed up just in time for their May 2008 USA tour. We still have copies of "Harmaa Laguuni", so order NOW! Very limited... and NOT AVAILABLE IN STORES. Get it here. Do it. Now.

SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE recently completed a short USA/Canada tour and they just killed it, as usual. Our favorite band out there. It's true. Copies of the latest CD/LP "Curse The Traced Bird" are also running quite low...

The NALLE CD-R is now out of print.
TERRASTOCK SIX compilation CD is also out of print.

Hi there. We left Providence. Hello Pittsburgh!

Hey - new Secret Eye releases out NOW:

SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE - Curse The Traced Bird CD or LP [AB-OC-38]
BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA - Portmanteau 10" LP only [AB-OC-37]

and also two NEW limited CD-R releases, also out NOW:

NALLE - Live CD-R [AB-OC-39]
MU CHILD - Giant Kingdom CD-R [AB-OC-31]

Check out the CATALOG page for more info.

Yes, we hate Myspace as much as anyone, but we've found it to be a necessary evil in order to book live shows at many venues and clubs. Such a shame. So, yeah, we signed up to book shows. Ugh. http://myspace.com/secreteyebooking

NALLE (from Glasgow) is coming over for their first-ever USA tour!
Here are the dates...

Mar 16 New Haven, CT - BAR with Eric Carbonara
Mar 17 Providence, RI - AS220 with Eric Carbonara, Eyes Like Saucers
Mar 18 Boston, MA - PA's Lounge with Eric Carbonara
Mar 19 Portland, ME - TBA
Mar 20 Northampton, MA - The King St. Manor with Defneq, Viking Moses
Mar 21 NYC, NY - Knitting Factory with Spectre Folk, Vert
Mar 22 Philadelphia, PA - Brickbat Books with Eric Carbonara
Mar 23 Baltimore, MD - warehouse show with Dan Conrad, Susan Alcorn
Mar 25 Columbus, OH - Skylab
Mar 26 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle with Paul Metzger, The Zoo Wheel
Mar 27 Cleveland, OH - All Go Signs with Black Forest/Black Sea, Paul Metzger
Mar 28 Pittsburgh, PA - Secret Eye House with Mike Tamburo, Tradition
Mar 29 State College, PA - Schlow Library with Black Forest/Black Sea, Evening Fires
Mar 30 NYC, NY - Glasslands with Begushkin
Mar 31 Jersey City, NJ - WFMU session

Check out NALLE sounds here and, oooh here's a video.

Also, while we were moving to Pittsburgh, we found copies of the out-of-print AVARUS LPs from last summer! Both regular versions and the elusive interactive versions!

AVARUS "Rasvaaja LP"... and also
AVARUS "Rasvaaja LP, interactive edition" - WTF? Yes, limited to only 32 copies, that's it, EVER. Hand numbered with the blood of chigger bites. ALL NEW OUTER SLEEVES, individually decorated, adorned with noisemaking items, so that you can join in. Yes, music PLUS one. Will you be one of the lucky 32 people? Better part with your cash now! $25 USA; $30 World (airmail shipping and careful packaging already included) Paypal to: secreteyeweb [at] gmail [dot] com ASAP. Do it! Super limited, way way RARE. ohhh boy.


more later.
welcome back.

Achtung ! We are moving...

Secret Eye MAIL-ORDER will be shut down for the first two weeks of January 2008. You can still place orders, but we won't be able to ship anything until after all the boxes are unpacked at our new digs.

Thanks and uh, Happy New Year

Whoa.

Winter 2008 and it's time to slooooow down, Mr. Chris Last Visible Dog Moon says that "Slow does not equal Dead". This is true. Secret Eye Records is scaling back big time. Record labels and mail orders are dropping like flies, but instead of throwing our little label onto the heap with the others, we are slowing to a glacial pace. Secret Eye has always been a hobby anyway, so what-evs.

Two new releases coming up early 2008:

BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA - "Portmanteau" - 10" (vinyl only)
SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE - "Curse The Traced Bird" - CD/LP

Plus some CD-Rs here and there, but that's pretty much IT.

MMMMMMmmmmm, Winter 2008. Hibernation. Relocation. Sale.

Yes, SALE !
Not a limited sale, but for ALL TIME:
BUY ANY TWO CDS GET A THIRD CD FOR FREE. Do it.

Secret Eye is leaving Providence. Yes, buy CDs - HELP US MOVE.
Exciting plans for the future. More on this soooooon...

SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE - on tour in EUROPE NOW - YES!

Yipee!

Oh my yes - not many updates these days, yeah, well, it happens. Thanks to the dude who commented on the last post:

The Great Baarsini said...
It's been very quiet here...
You probably know this already but the BF/BS VPRO DWARS session is online http://www.vpro.nl/programma/dwars/artikelen/36871782/
And rather lovely :) I saw you guys play in Amsterdam at the time so this brings back good but very cold memories ;)

awesome, thanks for pointing out that link. Check out the live BF/BS tunes from nearly 4 years ago, whoa. Speaking of which:

New BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA record on Secret Eye - due very early 2008. 10" vinyl-only format with hand-screened sleeves. Very swank.

Also, new stuff from SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE coming soon, as well.

Did a small CATALOG update today, a few things sold out. We found a small batch of AVARUS - INTERACTIVE LPs - get one today! (Scroll down a bit to see the posting about these from a few months back...)

Another new development around here, SECRET EYE BOOKING.

cool.

Hey - the AVARUS - "Rasvaaja" LP is now SOLD OUT.

Right now there are less than 10 copies left of the red-sleeve interactive edition - ACT FAST. (see the 7/25 blog post below for info...)

SPIRES get a nice review in Bodyspace (from Portugal):
http://www.bodyspace.net/album.php?album_id=1082

There is a pretty funny man-on-the-scene review in Blastitude of the MANBEARD, AVARUS, SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE show in Chicago. Ahh, Chicago, capital of the Midwest, center of the world.

Well well, the AVARUS tour has drawn to a close. Times were had by all including, but not limited to: chiggers, Manbeard fever, sunburn, vomit and house fire. Yay, America. You really know how to show a Finn a good time. Hey, here is an AVARUS interview in The Cleveland Scene.

The tour ended with a BANG at AS220's FOO FEST - an amazing all day street party with thousands of people having fun! Members of Manbeard played (and threw into the audience) kazoos, lip-whistles and inflatable American flag guitars from the stage during AVARUS. (this was - in fact - a preview of the "Avarus LP, interactive edition" yet to come! scroll down a bit...) SPIRES also played a ruling set... other faves were Stinking Lizaveta, Pwrfl Power, Neptune and The Eyesores. There was a nice preview of the fest in The Phoenix... AVARUS and SPIRES were both highlighted:

AVARUS
An ever-shifting Finnish freak-out psych collective that includes members of like-minded Kemialliset Ystävät. Plenty of humor animates this music, chiefly a Dadaist love of delightful nonsense. At times, the group sounds like an orchestra of Rube Goldberg contraptions, all wheezing, clanging, and chirping in perfect harmony.

SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE
Sounding uncannily like the Slits by way of Comus, this complex, chameleonic Chicago-based four-piece constantly trades off on instruments (an impressive array of harps, guitars, cello, drums, harmonium, banjo, mbira, spike fiddle, bul bul tarang, and bells) and vocal duties. (They also favor otherworldly, complex harmonies.) The results are playful, dark, and complex — even discomfiting — but they’re never anything short of thrilling.

The Providence Phoenix also ran a feature on Secret Eye records - HERE.
It was written by Andrea Feldman and she also posted a more complete interview with Miriam HERE. That second link is a real nice interview. Check it out... thanks Andrea!

The new AVARUS LP "Rasvaaja" is reviewed in the Siltbreeze blog:
Also from Finland, Avarus is got a new lp in tandum w/a current US tour that's makin it's way around the eastern US. 'Rasvaaja' is more of the patented lunar surface orgasmos-core that I have come to expect from these swilling shamen of earth 'n electricity. Live set I witnessed the other night was easily one of the highlights for my year thus far. Only 300 pressed & they's got'em on hand. Or try http://www.secreteye.org/ & see all there is to know.

AVARUS "Rasvaaja LP, interactive edition" - WTF? Yes, limited to only 32 copies, that's it, EVER. Hand numbered with the blood of chigger bites. ALL NEW OUTER SLEEVES, individually decorated, adorned with noisemaking items, so that you can join in. Yes, music PLUS one. Will you be one of the lucky 32 people? Better part with your cash now! $25 USA; $30 World (airmail shipping and careful packaging already included) Paypal to: secreteyeweb [at] gmail [dot] com ASAP. Do it! Super limited, way way RARE. ohhh boy.

AVARUS / MANBEARD - TOUR POSTERS ! FREE with every order if you don't mind the poster being folded. (or $3.00 USA; $6.00 World shipping if you want a poster roll)...Only a handful left. 4 colors - silkscreened by Mike Taylor. 15"x18" ...check it here: http://secreteye.org/avarus_manbeard_tourposter.jpg

SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE - "This Is Fire" - NOW ON LP ~!! We have A VERY LIMITED QUANTITY of the latest Spires LP version, which we licensed to Daffodelic Records in Holland. ACT NOW, oh yeah. $25 USA-only (careful packaging already included) Paypal to: secreteyeweb [at] gmail [dot] com ASAP.

SPIRES caught here live in Philadelphia - nice video!

-

AVARUS + MANBEARD - Tour dates UPDATED. Sunburned Hand Of The Man added to the July 13 show and a new end-of-tour-BBQ party announced in Olneyville. This is at the same joint that hosted the late-late-night Terrastock dance party, mmmK? Starts in the afternoon - BYOB, BYO-grillables, enjoy music from Abe Vigoda (California), Lief and Erin's new Crude Hill jammmz, and more!

Wow. Ok, it's been two full months since I've made a post here, how sloppy. So much to re-cap, to much to pre-cap, where to begin? Let's go down the list in no particular order, mmmK ?

AVARUS have a brand new Secret Eye LP called "Rasvaaja" - limited to 300 copies - vinyl only - hand-screened 7-color fluorescent covers - direct metal mastering to 160 gram vinyl - SUPER COOL ! AVARUS and MANBEARD have a new Secret Eye split-CDR - exclusive tracks - sleeves designed and printed by Mike Taylor. Be sure to CHECK OUT AVARUS AND MANBEARD ON TOUR TOGETHER - http://www.secreteye.org/avarus2007.html - Pick up these limited new releases at a show this Summer! Say hello! Enjoy our party favors! Grab one of our tour posters too - another Mike Taylor masterpiece (image above)... MANBEARD, for those inquiring minds, is the brainchild of Dave (Urdog) and Aaron (Landing) and has been around for more than a decade and still rings in the ears after all these years -- a long line of revolving door characters appear and vanish again - over and over and over - bbbBEARD. This AVARUS tour version of MANBEARD features members of Lazy Magnet, Xerxes, Kites, Ninja vs Wrestler, Dreamhouse, Black Forest/Black Sea and Urdog. Whoa.

SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE are also playing some shows this Summer - including a few with AVARUS and MANBEARD! Check out the DATES. The most recent SPIRES, "This Is Fire" is now available on LP from Daffodelic Records in Holland. SPIRES are working on a new album now with Greg Weeks of The Espers... to be released on Secret Eye this Fall. YEAH !

THE ONE ENSEMBLE have had a bunch great reviews lately... Here's one, oh hai dere - here's another. Ooooh, this one is in French. Bonjour, another French review. And, hold on, it's Dutch review time...

BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA are very excited about their new LP on Music Fellowship. Yay. They are playing on July 28 in Northampton, MA - what an ideal opportunity to pick up the new LP, wouldn't you say? BF/BS have also recently been heavily active in the lucrative French compilation market, see hear... ITEM #1: Exclusive BF/BS track on a new comp from the French label Crier dans les Musées. ITEM #2: Exclusive BF/BS track on a new 3-disc comp (all about France!) from the French label Ruralfaune. ITEM #3: Exclusive BF/BS track on a new comp from the - wait - sorry - Belgian label Nothing Out There. This label is, however, based in the French-speaking part of Belgium, ok?

BF/BS - related news: the "Kleine" cassette from Jeffrey's former band, The Iditarod, has been recently re-issued on CD by the Belgian label Morc. This was lo-fi "psych folk" that happened about 5 to 7 years before it was trendy and profitable - bummers... More info here and here.

LARKIN GRIMM has been on a bunch of radio shows lately, including Sérgio Hydalgo's cool show in Portugal. Also, VPRO radio in The (cool) Netherlands and on WNYC, public radio in the coolest of cool cities. Larkin is working on a new record now to be released on Young God.

EYE SECRETIONS - the short-run, hand-packaged, coolie-pants sub-sub-sub label of Secret Eye has some really cool shit coming up... hopefully we'll find the time to dub TAPES, burn CD-Rs and press VINYL after this AVARUS tour. Soon... Here, friends, are a few things on the Summer 2007 horizon: ELEKTRONAVN (Denmark)... MUCHILD (Taiwan)... BLUE SHIFT (Providence)... TASTIC (Providence)...

LARKIN GRIMM is on WNYU - New York Public Radio - hot poop! Listen to the session and view photos here.

THE ONE ENSEMBLE and SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE share a 3/4 page review in the Spring 2007 issue of Signal To Noise. Check it out - Click on the image above.

SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE are now working on their next Secret Eye release in Philadelphia - recording with Greg Weeks of Espers.

LARKIN GRIMM is playing more shows in Europe now - go see her. LARKIN's vocals are featured on the upcoming Angels Of Light release...and the next LARKIN GRIMM disc will be released by Young God Records. Be sure to get her first two discs on Secret Eye while you still can!

THE ONE ENSEMBLE also has a bunch of European shows scheduled - check em out.

Secret Eye is bringing AVARUS to the USA for their first proper American tour - all dates with Manbeard. Hot damn. There will be a new AVARUS LP-only release (Secret Eye #AB-OC-35) in time for the tour, as well as an AVARUS/MANBEARD split-CDR. This will be a good summer.

More great reviews for THE ONE ENSEMBLE:
9-out-of-10 in Foxy Digitalis!
"At times turbulent and at others sombre: the music of Daniel Padden and his One Ensemble covers a lot of emotional ground. Formerly a solo venture, Padden – himself a key member of the hydra-headed Volcano the Bear – is now joined by Chris Hladowski, Peter Nicholson and Aby Vulliamy. Hladowski and Vulliamy, together with Hanna Tuulikki (who lends her voice to this recording) also release music under the moniker Nalle. Together, this topsy-turvy Glaswegian quartet put together tiny symphonies that incorporate elements of Eastern European folk, minimalist drone and string-laced chamber psych. The One Ensemble’s humbly haunted, multifarious tales look back to post-WWII Europe, following displaced settlers voyaging across the Atlantic towards the unknown. Cello, bouzouki, clarinet, guitar and piano all play a key role in reciting the woeful tale of humanity’s uncertain future. The most prominent and effective instrument however, is Padden’s plaintive wordless vocal, which at times evokes spirits formerly unearthed by Jeff Mangum. The intoxicating brew crafted by the deft hands of The One Ensemble is not difficult to swallow; its complex palette is cleverly disguised with beautiful melodies and a healthy dose of hopefulness. Padden and his band of minstrels have created a truly unique and engaging record, one that should be celebrated for the rare beauty contained within. Highly recommended!" - Byron Hayes

THE ONE ENSEMBLE
Wayward the Fourth (Secret Eye)
"Had this one a while and been trying hard to summon the words to fully capture it's strange beauty. Daniel Padden is one fourth of the always fascinating Volcano the Bear. He's also released some delectable solo albums under the One Ensemble of Daniel Padden name for the last four years. What he did then was a kind of minimal free jazz/prog folk response to what folks like Robert Wyatt and Brian Eno were doing early in their careers with multi-tracks and instruments all performed by Padden. As with the recent Live at VPRO CD-R (Brainwashed), Wayward the Fourth is the work of a genuine ensemble, quartet to be exact, captured in a studio. The songs are gorgeous, twisted amalgams of European and American ethnic musics, free jazz, chamber music, minimalism and experimental plateaus rarely glimpsed in the western world, dispersed with just the right emotional -- ranging from giddy to somber -- intensity. There's vocals on a few tricks, a few bizarre deconstructions on some others, but what strikes me most about this is the sheer musicality, the deliberate attention to space, detail and compositional structure. One Ensemble albums have always sounded like this, but just as with Volcano the Bear's brilliant Classic Erasmus Fusion (Beta-Lactam Ring), the ensemble approach has reached new depths of cinematic, multi-hued brilliance. Easily one of the best '07 has coughed up so far." - Lee Jackson in Womblife

NEWS! Tourdates for Secret Eye artists, updated - here.

Upcoming in 2007 - new stuff from AVARUS, SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE and more... stay tuned.

A buncha recent reviews:

Dutch magazine Kinda Muzik loves THE ONE ENSEMBLE.
THE ONE ENSEMBLE – WAYWARD THE FOURTH (CD/SECRET EYE), reviewed by Hans van der Linden for KindaMuzik (translated excerpt): "An impressive cocktail of Eastern-European folk, classical music, psychedelia and light drones. ...Every note falls in the right place and The One Ensemble succeeds in molding their broad pallet of influences into an exciting and organic whole. Which makes Wayward The Fourth, apart from an accessible yet renewing record, one of the first musical highlights of 2007." Full review.

THE ONE ENSEMBLE reviewed for KFJC:
"Daniel Padden, hibernating from Volcano the Bear guides this ensemble, removing his titular insignia, but nonetheless leaving his stamp well intact. By and large, the string is the thing for this 4-piece string ensemble, with some ghost-on-the-rocks playing at various parts. Vocals when added on help to really make this a superb release. On “Berlinda” a whine on a broken telephone line help to pull chalky fingernails on a violin that is swiped from a bizarro Masada. Slow motion gypsies on that and other places. Great see-sawing violin and cello, love when the violin hits those kind of kink frequencies too. “Neither One Thing” sounds like it is lifted from some Indonesian healing ceremony. “Smok” wafts with the same sort of medieval error that V the B can do so well. And it does so via a droning clarinet chanty! “Horsehead Waltz” has a saloon soused piano, squinchy strings and problematic tape recorder that it takes to cotillion. Rachels had a way of making chamber music that didn’t feel like it vacuumed all the air out of the quarters, so does this release. If anything most of the pieces are cut off too quickly, hell I could have spent 30 minutes doing the “Fog and Tumble.”"

THE ONE ENSEMBLE also reviewed in this Italian magazine.

Scottish magazine 'Is This Music' reviews THE ONE ENSEMBLE:
The One Ensemble, Wayward The Fourth (Secret Eye)
"This newly released album from Daniel Padden, noted Glasgow based TV and film scorer, is both beautiful and challenging. He and his fellow group of wonderfully talented musicians between them utilise bouzouki, bow, clarinet, piano, guitar viola and cello to create compositions of fresh textures and sounds. Drawing upon classical European folk and the more far flung aspects of experimental music the world over and beautifully realised minimalism, in “Wayward The Fourth” the One Ensemble have created an otherworldly record that unfolds like a myth, allowing the listener to experience thirty nine minutes in this enchanted world."

THE ONE ENSEMBLE gets some more reviews in Dutch:
ONE ENSEMBLE – WAYWARD THE FOURTH (CD/SECRET EYE), reviewed by Tommy Denys for Ruis (translated excerpt): "...echoes from American folk, but also hybrids of Balkan, Klezmer and classical music..."
ONE ENSEMBLE – WAYWARD THE FOURTH (CD/SECRET EYE), reviewed by Henk for Folkforum (translated excerpt): "Improvisation is a steady part of their intriguing, experimental, acoustic freefolk. At the same time it’s clear where they get their inspiration: East-European folk, North-African music, French musette, The Incredible String Band, Balkan music, Robert Wyatt, circus tunes, Captain Beefheart, The Residents, Moondog... (8.5/10 rating)"

Byron Coley reviews the new BF/BS for Harp Magazine:
BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA, Black Forest/Black Sea (Music Fellowship)
"The eponymous fourth album by this Providence-based, improv-volk duo is their best yet. Guitar, cello, electronics and various small rackety sounds collect themselves into a haze of infinite possibilities. At certain points there’s a sparseness to their approach recalling Charalambides’ quiet explosions; at others there’s a weird and wooly organic depth closer to some of the contemporary giants of the Finnish underground. Either way, it’s a stunner."

Jeffrey from BF/BS and Secret Eye interviewed here.

Ok, thank you, later hosen.

Holy crap! We're having a S A L E S A L E S A L E S A L E S A L E S A L E S A L E- download our current mail-order PDF list with the sale items included. Email us for serious shipping breaks for ordering multiple titles.

In early 2003, Jodie Jean Marston released this CD on Secret Eye. Four years later and now it's in heavy rotation on WFMU, go figure. This very CD is part of the aforementioned sale!

AVARUS is touring the USA this Summer! Info will be periodically posted/updated here.

Today in Dusted:
Artist: Black Forest / Black Sea
Album: Black Forest / Black Sea
Label: Music Fellowship
"Providence-based duo Black Forest / Black Sea have spent the past five or so years hovering on the fringes of a psych scene that has seen its popularity expand exponentially. Fronted by Jeffrey Alexander and Miriam Goldberg – they run the free-folk gathering ground Secret Eye Records – the group has seemed content to hone its sound from the sidelines. Goldberg and Alexander got their start plucking strings in the Iditarod, one of the first bands to mine the field of post-Tom Rapp folk balladry that eventually kick-started the freak folk scene – and provides most of the inspiration for the Secret Eye catalogue. When the Iditarod fizzled prior to the release of the excellent 2xCD Yuletide, Goldberg and Alexander started recording as Black Forest / Black Sea. The 2003’s self-titled debut BF / BS disc, jointly released by Secret Eye and Last Visible Dog, found the band stripping the Iditarod’s wintry dirges bare and recasting them as eerie, gothic gusts of cello and guitar. Follow-up studio release Forcefields and Constellations, the live Radiant Symmetry disc and a live split with Christina Carter found the band reaching deeper into the world of free-drone and experimental clatter. Tireless gigging across North America and Europe and the influence of friends such as Carter and Italian guitarist Stefano Pilia helped to tighten and elongate the group’s sound. The band’s new release, curiously their second self-titled effort, is the next step of an evolution begun with Forcefields. This time there are only two lengthy tracks – “Side I” and “Side II” – and each unfolds at a predictably glacial pace. Pilia is back in sideman role, as are two of Goldberg’s sisters, Margot and Gillian. The music is a backwoods cauldron of disparate elements bled together into one seamless fabric. Teary cello moans and steel-string guitar scrapes are augmented, then washed away by percussive clatter and feedback. Electronics mutate the hum of strings into a dense gale before collapsing into clear swathes of crystalline folk. This is demanding, yet not entirely difficult listening, as somehow the mass manages to hold up – the whole clearly becoming greater, and stranger, than the sum of its collective parts. Once again, Black Forest / Black Sea have pushed themselves deeper into their craft and in the process produced something fantastic and wholly other." (Ethan Covey)

LARKIN GRIMM recorded live over the telephone here.

THE ONE ENSEMBLE reviewed, in Dutch, here.

BF/BS reviewed in Aquarius:
BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA - "s/t" (Music Fellowship)
"Moody n' beautiful fourth album of improv-folk-drone from this Providence duo (plus some friendly guests, as usual, including Italy's Stefano Pilia). The two long tracks here incorporate mellow, meandering folkish melody and haunting old-tymey female vocal holler amid gentle psychedelic guitar drift and sometimes-harsher electronic feedback textures. If there's a leafy glade in a mystical, musical forest where you can find the Jewelled Antler posse jamming, and another clearing occupied by a picnicking Kemialliset Ystavat, then for sure a winding path through that same forest will eventually lead you to the campsite wherein Black Forest/Black Sea are so calmly, lovingly, free-form-freaking out. Quite nice! By the way, BF/BS's first album, released in 2003 on the Last Visible Dog label and now out of print, was *also* self-titled -- this one's all new."

Also, in Foxy Digitalis:
Black Forest/Black Sea
MusicFellowship
"There's something to be said for old Krautrock albums. I'm thinking of Ash Ra Tempel's debut with its two side-long astral projections of acid fuzz bursts and third eye meditations, all unencumbered by those pesky little track breaks. It was music made for a headlong plunge into the vinyl void. "Black Forest/Black Sea" (the second self-titled album by the duo of Jeffrey Alexander and Miriam Goldberg, not to be confused with their first album released on Secret Eye some years ago) comes in such a vein, and thankfully a vinyl edition should hit the shelves any day. These two 20 min tracks are epic glimpses through alien prisms of electronic squiggles, voices and hums all melting into the steady backdrop of Alexander's drifting guitar and Goldberg's haunted cello trills. All in all, this is the most satisfying BF/BS album I've heard yet. Its aural tentacles spread out and engulf the listener in waves of dark melodic spirals and dissonant fuzz washes, ebbing and flowing like night tides. Some percussion and other effects lend things a creaky free (electronic) jazz vibe that only adds depth to the proceedings. After years of working out any bugs and playing dozens of live gigs all over the world with some of the most respected folk in the avant rock scene, Black Forest/Black Sea has reached a creative peak that touches on all of this while remaining virtually unclassifiable. I guess chamber psych still works, but even that's pushing it. This is close to murk-tronic-live-kraut-mantra-surrender. And it's one of the most darkly hypnotic albums I've heard all year. These dark waters engage the listener every second of the albums 40 minutes, and like those side long blasts of old, it's is one for the ages. Just wish I'd gotten mine on vinyl." 8/10 -- Lee Jackson (20 February, 2007)

THE ONE ENSEMBLE anonymously reviewed in the Muze database for record stores:
"Scottish musician Daniel Padden built the One Ensemble from an idiosyncratic solo project into a going concern featuring acoustic guitar, strings, and a variety of subtle sound manipulation. Expanding on a variety of eastern European-sounding themes, which often morph into serial sounding pieces reminiscent of Philip Glass or Steve Reich, the Ensemble assembles a patchwork quilt of influences that blend the avant-garde, gypsy instrumentals, and folk and classical music."

THE ONE ENSEMBLE
reviewed by Gerald Van Waes, a DJ for Radio Centraal, Antwerp (excerpt):
"This One Ensemble release hangs well together as if it is a live concert. In our modern times with slight decay, groups like The One Ensemble are like the chamber orchestra related cream of expressions of this time : with waltzes to amuse themselves, and, while classical in nature, it still falls section-wise apart with atonal pleasures, thus expressing these times recognisably well, surreal as this reality is, in the total freedom of our being now... A very enjoyable release that is a great presentation for the band." Full review here.

THE ONE ENSEMBLE in heavy rotation at WFMU. Cool.

XERXES playing tonight at AS220 in Providence. Nice.

More on the way...too cold to think right now.

SPIRES have a show on Monday February 12 at Schubas in Chicago - here's the "pick blurb" from the Chicago Reader:
SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE When I first heard Spires That in the Sunset Rise about three years ago, I thought they were Chicago's most likely candidate for induction into the emerging freak-folk scene. But on their third album, This Is Fire (Secret Eye), they make it clear they're content to dwell in their own cracked universe. They take what sounds like a completely intuitive approach to such nonrock instruments as the spike fiddle, mbira, harmonium, autoharp, and bowed banjo, rendering their sounds almost unrecognizable without the aid of electronics. Brittle strings slide, twang, and snap over primitive, hypnotizing beats, and surprising sonic details constantly jump out, then recede just as quickly into the gurgling, ominous din. I don't always understand what these women are doing, but I'm always beguiled. They open for the 1900s and Singleman Affair. --> 8 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, 773-525-2508, $6.

XERXES have a show in Providence next week - with Mudboy, the amazing Primordial Undermind and more - check it out.

THE ONE ENSEMBLE is reviewed here in the Italian Velvet Goldmine.

Here's another Spanish best-of2006 list. SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE at #5, AUTO DA FE at #6, LARKIN GRIMM at #17, KATHLEEN BAIRD at #27. Whew.

Flashback to 2005 - URDOG live in the basement of a Dutch squat - whoa.

LARKIN GRIMM - The Last Tree, Secret Eye CD [AB-OC-29] - reviewed in the fine Italian magazine Blow Up. Yessss.

As of today - February 6th - the FAMILY UNDERGROUND release 'Black Hole' is totally sold-out. Sorry dudes, but you had yer chance, heh. Better ACT NOW to pick up your copy of XERXES 'The Persian Advance' and also the TERRASTOCK SIX COMPILATION - both of these releases are nearing extinction! Check the Secret Eye Catalog before its too late...

The new BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA reviewed in the January 2007 issue of Blow Up (Italy). The CD is out now on The Music Fellowship - they will be releasing the LP version in just a few weeks. Hell yeah.

Stéphane (http://www.setantchaussee.tk) sent us this pic of BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA performing on the boat Sonic in Lyon, France - Dec. 12, 2006. Thanks again Stéphane!

THE ONE ENSEMBLE, reviewed by Mats Gustafsson in the Terrascope:
"The same goes for The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden, which I’ve praised in these (and other) pages before. For this release Padden has decided to drop the last part of the name, as this is more of a group effort than a solo affair. Here we see Padden teaming up with members of Nalle and Scatter and the somewhat burlesque results fascinate. Intoxicating folk from Eastern Europe is an element that’s visible throughout, but this Glasgow-based quartet approaches the style in as many different ways as there are tracks. You’ll find psychedelia, free jazz, chamber music, drones and general sonic goofiness riding the melodic waves of this equally joyous and saddening aural journey. The one looking will likely find a whole range of different influences but the outcome still holds together amazingly well and strikes me as the perfect soundtrack for a script yet to be written by Emir Kusturica’s unknown cousin. Dreamy haunted carnival songs that are surprisingly danceable and catchy. Perhaps not as intensely beautiful as Padden’s solo music but nonetheless incredibly charged music that’ll circle over your head long after that imaginary film of yours is over."

More praise for THE ONE ENSEMBLE, courtesy of Gayle from Boa Melody Bar:
"I’ve been a fan of Daniel Padden’s skewed and intriguing songwriting for some time but the interplay between the 4 players on here lifts it onto a truly magical level…Influences include heavy doses of Eastern European folk music, music hall, 20th Century chamber music and Robert Wyatt but no-one else puts these elements together or sounds quite like The One Ensemble. One of the contenders for album of the year."

Two of our newest Secret Eye releases have been licensed for vinyl release by Daffodelic Records in The Netherlands - yay! We'll have copies here for USA mail-order when they are ready. We're super-psyched that both THE ONE ENSEMBLE "Wayward The Fourth" and SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE "This Is Fire" will soon be on 12" LP. Stay tuned.

The first two releases in our EYE SECRETIONS series (FAMILY UNDERGROUND and XERXES) are both facing extinction. Copies are dangerously low - you better act now before they are gone forever!

...and now, some more reviews:

SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE – THIS IS FIRE (CD/SECRET EYE)
reviewed by Steve Marreyt for Ruis, here's an excerpt, translated from Dutch:
"On ‘This Is Fire’ the four ladies do exactly what may be expected from them, but even better. Songs in the best possible tradition of Comus, with great vocals, mostly by Kathleen Baird and Taralie Peterson.... To be played by full moon."

SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE – THIS IS FIRE (Secret Eye 2006, AB-OC-28)
reviewed in Aural Innovations - excerpt:
"The music is still filled with creepy, brushing string sounds; complex, shifting structures; dissonant tones and dreamy and nightmarish imagery. You can't help feeling like you're lost in some mist shrouded forest at night, and you've just come into a clearing where four mysterious women sit on the rocks in ragged robes, acoustic instruments in their hands, singing to the moon and the spirits of the night. Fans of bands like Comus and Current 93 will love this stuff...Amidst the burgeoning psych/folk scene, these women are true originals, with certainly one of the most adventurous sounds of the genre."

LARKIN GRIMM - THE LAST TREE (Secret Eye 2006, AB-OC-29)
also reviewed in Aural Innovations - excerpt:
"The Last Tree takes us back once again into Larkin Grimm's organic, acoustic world of mystery, wonder, and even brutality. Employing a wide range of instruments including dulcimer, acoustic guitar, flute, chimes, drums, and bells, with guests adding such sounds as organ, fiddle, banjo, and tabla, Larkin weaves a sparse, loosely knit tapestry of music, as unconventional as it is compelling, though as spare as the arrangements can be at times, there's still a lot there between the notes. The music drifts and meanders like a lost river, and you find yourself floating in it, listening to the thoroughly unique, often cleverly multi-tracked voice of Ms. Grimm, as she sings of ancient forests and waterfalls, demon lovers, and sometimes the shocking violence of nature, both human and otherwise."

Yes! THE ONE ENSEMBLE's Wayward The Fourth CD is in stores this week! Check out some early reviews:

from Brainwashed:
"The One Ensemble's music comes in waves: smokey ones that dance and weave in and out of audible frequencies until they fabricate a space all their own with rules that don't exist for other compositions and definitions that betray the very term. The exotic brew of the east and Padden's own Volcanic whimsy allow the music on Wayward the Fourth to go any direction it pleases and often the instruments and voices employed take sudden turns and execute acrobatic maneuvers that'd make the most talented contortionist wonder about their constitution." full review here.

from Vital Weekly: THE ONE ENSEMBLE - WAYWARD THE FOURTH (CD by Secret Eye)
"The One Ensemble used to be The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden, the solo project of, well, you guessed it, Daniel Padden from Volcano the Bear. After having released two solo albums, Padden was joined by Chris Hladowski, Peter Nicholson and Aby Vuliamy (the latter two being members of Nalle) and the name of the project changed. The Ensemble's sound is like a fast turning merry-go-round of warped fragments of traditional music, fake folklore and minimal drones, all played on a whole bunch of acoustic instruments (bouzouki, clarinet, cello, guitar, piano, voice and viola) and amalgamated into organically flowing pieces." full review here.

THE ONE ENSEMBLE in All Music Guide:
"Having shortened its name to reflect a new group identity, the One Ensemble, founded by Volcano the Bear member Daniel Padden, finds the quartet in good form on its formal debut Wayward the Fourth. With an instrumental lineup resembling acts like Clogs or Rachel's more than a rock band as such -- two players handle cello and viola, the rest everything from bouzouki to clarinet -- the One Ensemble is far more suggestive of chamber music or small avant-garde groups, and the songs very much fit the lineup. While Padden does contribute both guitar and vocals throughout, Wayward readily shows that this isn't meant to be the center of the experience; opening song "Joker Burlesque" shows as much, given how his singing is set back in the mix, a distanced, half-audible signal, while the strings and bouzouki take much more prominence. Another sign of the One Ensemble's defiantly independent streak comes in the sequencing -- running ten minutes, "Joker Burlesque" takes up nearly a quarter of the album's length, with the remaining pieces mostly split into fairly brief numbers. There's a pleasingly tactile feeling to the performances, often evocative of a never-never land of music of earlier centuries without specifically interpreting older songs -- clarinets play high parts almost like bagpipes while the strings set a dark, mournful tone down low, guitars sketch out stately mantras while descending viola adds an unnerving edge. That there's a theatricality to many of the songs isn't surprising; indeed, one number, "Horsehead Waltz," was written for a theater production and very much sounds like the type of thing played at a formal ball going distinctly wrong. Guest vocalist Hanna Tuulikki's part on "Neither One Thing" creates the effect of slightly demented elves having a dance in Tudor England -- something Neil Gaiman would be proud of, at the least!"

Every month the UBER INDIE program chooses five new releases to highlight with radio airplay and in-store listening booths. The titles are voted on by the radio stations and record shops that make up Uber Indie -- and for FEBRUARY 2007 the program features THE ONE ENSEMBLE and the new BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA. Yay.

Speaking of BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA, here are some reviews for the new CD on the Music Fellowship label:

from Vital Weekly: BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA - S/T (CD/LP by Music Fellowship)
"Black Forest/Black Sea is the duo of Jeffrey Alexander and Miriam Goldberg from Providence, RI with releases on labels such as Last Visible Dog, Time Lag and their own Secret Eye imprint. Their latest work, which comprises two pieces of about 20 minutes each and includes contributions from Stefano Pilia and Miriam's sisters Margot and Gillian, starts out with free, harmonic cello playing, that is soon joined by a soft electronic drone. At this point you could think you are dealing with the soundtrack of a nature documentary, full of overexposed and multilayered images. However, as the music progresses these images blur and the associations multiply with the music shifting back and forth between rumbling drone passages and dreamy guitar and cello playing, embedded in semi-naïve Casio melodies, decaying electronics and obscure concrete sounds. The roots of this music are in the sensibilities of traditional loner folk, which are inscribed into the aesthetics of fuzzy improvised drone, with results that are as dense, floating and highly organic as they are expressive. So, to sum it up, it is a thoroughly pleasant manifestation of the current (as it seems decidedly not post-modern motivated) interest in hybridizing folk music, with those passages being the most intense that merge traditional notions of personal expression with the affective impact of free-form playing or of thick blankets of organic sound and noise." full review here.

from Paper Thin Walls:
"While noise-improv appears easy to concoct from the outside, BF/BS exhibit an intimate knowledge of how to balance unhurried unfurl and cosmic clench. Maybe the sisterhood accounts for that extra dash of mental arrowroot, the players coagulating discordant sounds into something that slithers down easy. Shrill analog winds, rattles and bows, meandering guitar figures and creaking stools breathe like embers, but also have space to flare up. Elemental, Black Forest/Black Sea emit some fine sparks into the night air." full review: http://www.paperthinwalls.com/singlefile/item?id=414

More new BF/BS reviews in French and Spanish.

Some pics from the recent BF/BS tour - Hasselt, Belgium and Paris, France.

Here is a PDF of the December issue of Ruis Magazine (Belgium) featuring a BF/BS interview.
http://www.kraak.net/ruis/ruis_2006_12.pdf

BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA, LARKIN GRIMM, SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE, AUTO DA FE, KATHLEEN BAIRD and AVARUS are all featured in this BEST-OF-2006 list:
http://calmintrees.blogspot.com/2006/12/discos-favoritos-del-2006.html

While we are on the subject of BEST-OF-2006 lists... here are some more:
SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE on the year-end Womblife list. SPIRES also on this one. LARKIN GRIMM on this WFMU best-of-2006 list. LARKIN listed as the best folk album of 2006 here. AUTO DA FE are on this year-end list, and also this one (in Russian). AUTO DA FE is also on the best-of-2006 list from Delire Musical radio in Quebec. AUTO DA FE, SPIRES, LARKIN are all in this Spanish best-of-2006 list.

More LARKIN GRIMM news + reviews...
LARKIN is scheduled to play the Festival Motel Mozaique in Rotterdam (April 14) along with Akron/Family, Deerhoof, A Silver Mt. Zion and more... Nice! Many more European tourdates coming soon - check the TOURS page. LARKIN is interviewed in the new DREAM MAGAZINE #7 and she has also had some recent reviews in Dutch: here and here.

LARKIN GRIMM and SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE both reviewed here in Italian:
http://velvetgoldmine.iobloggo.com/archive.php?eid=284

LARKIN and SPIRES also reviewed together in the Swedish Broken Face:
"Spires that in the Sunset Rise did an amazing performance at Terrastock 6 and everything I’ve heard from these eclectic, pagan-inspired and oh so damaged free folk queens have been top class. That’s very much the case with their most recent outing for Secret Eye as well. Although This Is Fire bears traces of their experimental past this one strikes me as richer, more traditional and direct. Probably a great place for newcomers. The same goes for Larkin Grimm’s The Last Tree, another potent contribution to a folk scene where it’s becoming harder and harder to find the true treasures among all the trash. Rustic and fierce folk all draped in moss and forested morning mist."

and some more SPIRES for ya:
SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE – THIS IS FIRE (CD/SECRET EYE)
reviewed by Bart de Paepe for Gonzo Circus (translated excerpt from Dutch):
"The ladies from Chicago on this third album evolve further towards gloomy, desolate places surrounded by mysterious foggy atmospheres."

another SPIRES review, again in Dutch...
reviewed by Jurgen Boel for Goddeau (translated excerpt):
"Those who want to revel in an different, pagan-like, world, may very well find a truly inspiring oracle within ‘This Is Fire’."

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Both LARKIN GRIMM and SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE getting HEAVY airplay on WFMU: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/12/wfmu_heavy_airp.html

LARKIN GRIMM live review from her Bristol, UK show with Viking Moses:
http://rottenmeats.blogspot.com/2006/12/morvern-callar-viking-moses-and-larkin.html

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LARKIN GRIMM and SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE, both reviewed in Rockerilla (Italy) - click on the image for a larger version.

SPIRES also in this French blog and here they are in a Spanish blog. Yet another SPIRES review in Dutch.

SPIRES are also featured in Dusted. Here's an excerpt:
"While there’s nothing overtly occult about their music, it’s probably best that Spires That in the Sunset Rise weren’t inhabitants of Salem, Mass., in the 1690s. The Chicago quartet play folk-informed music that’s both atavistic and distinctly modern, strangely affecting all the while. To call their music creepy would do it a disservice, as the atmosphere it builds is richer than a simple goosebump-raising chill… but there’s something about Spires’ sound that is unquestionably unsettling. This is Fire is Spires’ third full-length, and their second on Secret Eye; a collection of burnt-out campfire songs far more evocative of the dark night on a windswept prairie than the group’s metropolitan home."
Full review here:
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/3280

The newest Secret Eye release is the Scottish group, ONE ENSEMBLE, due out January 2007. There are two posts about this release in Brainwashed - here and here.

KATHLEEN BAIRD is reviewed in The Perm + Skullet.

Here's a live review of LARKIN GRIMM's set in Lyon, France:
http://linfinir.blogspot.com/2006/12/grrd-zero-lyon-111106.html

LARKIN GRIMM is also featured in Womblife:
"Larkin Grimm The Last Tree (Secret Eye) - Sweet pixie dust and fairy butterflies tinkling and dancing through the green yellow fields. Larkin is a star, regardless of if anyone is paying attention or not. She's a good songwriter, and she manages that rare gift of grafting her traditional folky sensibilities with philosophical underpinings that embrace independence and emotional rawness above all else. That she does it and makes her songs so incredibly infectious and accessible at the same time is just the gravy on the chicken fried steak. Delicious."

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BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA is going on tour next week with FURSAXA - check it:

BF/BS TOUR!
12/8-9-10/06 - Somerset, England - ATP Festival (BF/BS/Fursaxa collab)
12/12/06 - Lyon, France - Sonic with Fursaxa
12/13/06 - Mogliano Veneto (TV), Italy - Filanda Motta with Fursaxa, Mudboy
12/14/06 - Rome, Italy - Sinister Noise with Fursaxa, Nora Keyes, Madame P
12/15/06 - Düdingen, Switzerland - Bad Bonn with Fursaxa
12/16/06 - Hasselt, Belgium - KC Belgie with Fursaxa, My Cat Is An Alien
12/17/06 - Paris, France - La Générale with Fursaxa, Magik Markers, Black Egg (members of Sunburned Hand Of The Man & Jackie O Motherfucker, apparently)

Be sure to check out the NEW BF/BS release on The Music Fellowship, yeah.

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TOUR UPDATES:

LARKIN GRIMM
11/17/06 - Pegognaga (Mantova), Italy - Casbah/Circolo ARCI
11/18/06 - Mestre (Venezia), Italy - Villa Franchin
11/19/06 - Verona, Italy - Malacarne/Circolo ARCI
11/27/06 - Barcelona, Spain - Sala-Apolo with Espers, Edith Frost
11/29/06 - Paris, France - La Générale with Nalle
12/2/06 - London, England - Shush Festival at Spitz Gallery
12/3/06 - Brighton, England - West Hill Hall
12/4/06 - Bristol, England - Seymours Family Club
12/5/06 - Cardiff, England - Buffalo Bar
12/6/06 - Sheffield, England - Red Deer
12/8/06 - Leeds, England - Cardigan Arms