Thursday, July 10, 2008

Sun Araw-"The Phynx" CDR (2008) Edition of 155

Front Cover
Insert
Sun Araw is the solo project of one Cameron Stallones, who is also a member of the Long Beach quintet, Magic Lantern. For those not in the know, Magic Lantern are riding the crest on the current wave of Californian psychedelic space-explorers. Sun Araw, on the other hand, is a more meandering beast, dwelling in a foggy delta and attacking only when the time is right.

The opener, Fog Wheels, is a 15 minute slow, shamanic tromp through that foggy delta, accompanied by chimes, vocals reverbed out of distinction, and the continuous drone of keyboards and guitars, eventually all of which ends in up in a cycling whorl of phased out drone that ends abruptly. Second track, Harken Sunshine, starts off as an overdriven blues riff before settling into a twangy hop-a-long via the warped vision of Spacemen 3/Loop, and is easily the most formal track on the disc. Hive Burner is the beast finally rearing it's ugly head. Ominous bass plucking coupled with random, searing guitar assaults inevitably pick up speed in the last few minutes, paralyzing the listener into sheer fear. The Phynx, the final 15+ minute jam is a slight continuation of the terror but with a nice, buzz-drone comedown. Fans of the buzzed-out side of The Goslings will definitely find themselves at home here. The Phynx is one of my favorite releases so far this year and a serious contender for the top 10. Also, if anyone is innarested, I actually have a few copies for sale. Not Not Fun is officially out of copies. Good news though, NNF will be issuing a full length on vinyl later this year.


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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you still have copies of The Phynx for sale?

best wishes

Fat Fez

Mark E. Rich said...

Just sold my last copy earlier this week. Sorry, man. Cheer up though, the album is being reissued on vinyl by Not Not Fun next year. Keep an eye out for it...

Anonymous said...

Excellent news! I look forward to that re-release.

Thanks so much

Fat Fez

IRH said...

just curious, is there any Filipino member in this band?

Mark E. Rich said...

Not sure. Sun Araw is one guy... Cameron Stallones. Pretty sure he's a whitey. I could be wrong though.