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 gary higgins 		there are 3 titles featuring daniel a.i.u. higgs in stock.
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 high on fire 
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$12.48

new to stock as of
april 3rd, 2008

threads:
guitar-themed
minimalism-drones
lo-fi
free-improvisation

open mouth (usa) #om 18 cd

daniel a.i.u. higgs “plays the mirror of the apocalypse and other songs” compact disc

  • (5:33)
  • (10:59)
  • (6:58)
  • (3:41)
  • (3:36)
  • (15:03)
  • (4:58)
  • (9:29)
  • (1:16)
click the play button to hear an excerpt of "(15:03)"
... kinda really excellent set of lo-fi soul-baring raga-guitar & found-sound / weirdness studies from the recently very prolific daniel arcus incus ululat higgs, recorded on what sounds like a 4-track cassette deck buried under hot, volcanic ash for a good decade/two ... higgs’ playing here is confident, of the reckless-abandon variety &, frankly, quite exhilarating throughout, pausing only to flip the tape or talk to his friends (i imagine this was recorded, again, davey-graham-style, in someone’s bedroom / basement / attic, largely whilst mr. higgs was on tour ...)

possibly, to my own sensibilities at least, the best thing i’ve heard from higgs yet (been on the fence about a few of the recent ones - the “solo jew’s harp” record listed below most certainly being one of them ...) - if you’ve been feeling the woolier end of the recent “sir” richard bishop oeuvre - this meets the technical flair of that halfway with all of the chutzpah & a more pylonic sense of the eastern-guitar modus ...

highly recommended !!!
open mouth press release...
daniel higgs, of lungfish and the pupils, is one of the very few contemporary artists who we would absolutely consider a sort of modern day shaman. a musical alchemist, an artistic cypher, an abstract philosopher, a strangely charismatic, yet disarmingly humble master of any artistic endeavor he puts his mind to. a legendary (but now retired) tattoo artist, an incredible painter, whose paintings are at once hallucinatory and gorgeous (one painting adorns the cover of leviathan's tentacles of whorror record) and of course an incredible musician, whose sonic experiments range from the mesmeric riffrock of his band lungfish, to an entire record of solo jew's harp.

but in addition to being an incredible lyricist, an amazing vocalist, and a master of the jew's harp, higgs is also a seriously mean guitar player, with a style and sound as familiar as it is totally alien. a gorgeous buzzing steel string drift through the cosmos. lengthy droning ragas, that drift hypnotically from deconstructed appalachia to john cale like slow-shifting skree (joined on those tracks by violin), to moody melancholy crawls, to thick serpentine swirls of snake charmer melody and reverberating steel string shimmer. raw and lo-fi for sure, but so darkly emotional, and dreamily hypnotic. we've been listening to this non stop since we got it and it continues to unfold more and more on each listen, we're thinking seriously about grabbing a boombox, taking a ton of peyote, blasting this tape and laying in the thick grass, sprawled naked on a hilltop in the middle of nowhere, beneath a sparkling moonlit sky.

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$12.96

new to stock as of
may 23rd, 2008

threads:
modern-psych
folk
guitar-themed

thrill jockey (usa) #thrill 184 lp

daniel a.i.u. higgs “atomic yggdrasil tarot” long playing record

  • luminous carcass ornament (3:34)
  • cocoon on the cross (11:40)
  • spectral hues (5:45)

  • subatomic yggdrasil tarot (3:07)
  • creation moan (4:42)
  • hems and seams (9:18)
... i’m guessing this is a re-press of the vinyl edition of the higgs book/cd set (i was backordered upon ordering this on its release date last year) ... nice silkscreened thing ; one of higgs’ better bedroom-psych outings ...
thrill jockey press release...
atomic yggdrasil tarot
by daniel a.i.u. higgs
thrill jockey
thrill 184 • 2007

the lp version is limited to 900 copies and comes in a silk screened lp jacket (black ink on white jacket). the music is the same as on the cd. it comes with a black and white booklet featuring the poetry/anagrams from the book. the book does not come with the lp.

daniel arcus incus ululat higgs is a musician and artist from baltimore, maryland on whose behalf superlatives are destined to fail. it’s not that his artistic output – spanning three decades, numerous albums, books of poetry and collections of drawings – simply eludes classification, it defies it. often we hear that a true work of art is meant to speak for itself, and with the work of daniel higgs the maxim rings truer than ever. his art is of the cosmos, we on earth merely lucky that it happens to be confined to our atmosphere, in our lifetime.

higgs is known primarily for his work as the sole lyricist and frontman of the band lungfish, a four-piece dedicated to charting, in this listener’s estimation, nothing short of the evolution of all species, known and unknown. that the band has undertaken this pursuit in the guise of a humble rock outfit, in the absence of any public relations fanfare, meta-narrative, or manifesto has been enough to endear them to tens of thousands. they are enshrined as one of america’s last true folk bands, and higgs anointed as a patron saint to artistic purity.

in recent years, higgs has released a number of solo outings that can only be described as the ultimate in isolation, worlds away from the hypnotic, communal rock of his band. on atomic yggdrasil tarot, higgs weaves meditative, casually ruptured drones using acoustic and electric guitar, upright pianos, banjo and jew’s harp, recorded entirely at home on cassette recorder. he pairs the music with a series of paintings that call to mind religious iconography passed through the disfiguring surrealism of miro.

higgs has wedded his music and his visual art into a singular being, meant to be encountered as a conjuring force similar to that of the tarot experience. the yggdrasil is the great tree of norse myth that connects all worlds of cosmology. passing into christian folklore, the tree is said to connect heaven and earth. in his relentless pursuit of the indivisible, higgs travels up and down this spine and hatches a new transubstantiation of sound and image into life-form.

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$13.68

back in stock as of
may 23rd, 2008

first in stock on
september 7th, 2007

threads:
modern-psych
folk

thrill jockey (usa) #thrill 184 cd

daniel a.i.u. higgs “atomic yggdrasil tarot” book and compact disc set

  • luminous carcass ornament
  • cocoon on the cross
  • spectral hues
  • subatomic yggdrasil tarot
  • creation moan
  • hems and seams
thrill jockey press release...
atomic yggdrasil tarot
by daniel a.i.u. higgs
thrill jockey
thrill 184 • 2007

cd version is limited to 4,000 copies - a full color 48 page 6x8" hard cover book featuring the paintings and poetry of daniel a.i.u. higgs. the cd enclosed with the book is a full length album recorded in his home and is intended to be experienced with the book.

daniel arcus incus ululat higgs is a musician and artist from baltimore, maryland on whose behalf superlatives are destined to fail. it’s not that his artistic output – spanning three decades, numerous albums, books of poetry and collections of drawings – simply eludes classification, it defies it. often we hear that a true work of art is meant to speak for itself, and with the work of daniel higgs the maxim rings truer than ever. his art is of the cosmos, we on earth merely lucky that it happens to be confined to our atmosphere, in our lifetime.

higgs is known primarily for his work as the sole lyricist and frontman of the band lungfish, a four-piece dedicated to charting, in this listener’s estimation, nothing short of the evolution of all species, known and unknown. that the band has undertaken this pursuit in the guise of a humble rock outfit, in the absence of any public relations fanfare, meta-narrative, or manifesto has been enough to endear them to tens of thousands. they are enshrined as one of america’s last true folk bands, and higgs anointed as a patron saint to artistic purity.

in recent years, higgs has released a number of solo outings that can only be described as the ultimate in isolation, worlds away from the hypnotic, communal rock of his band. on atomic yggdrasil tarot, higgs weaves meditative, casually ruptured drones using acoustic and electric guitar, upright pianos, banjo and jew’s harp, recorded entirely at home on cassette recorder. he pairs the music with a series of paintings that call to mind religious iconography passed through the disfiguring surrealism of miro.

higgs has wedded his music and his visual art into a singular being, meant to be encountered as a conjuring force similar to that of the tarot experience. the yggdrasil is the great tree of norse myth that connects all worlds of cosmology. passing into christian folklore, the tree is said to connect heaven and earth. in his relentless pursuit of the indivisible, higgs travels up and down this spine and hatches a new transubstantiation of sound and image into life-form.

previous artist:
 gary higgins 		...and that's everything in stock featuring daniel a.i.u. higgs.
(why not take a look at the previous and next artists?)		next artist:
 high on fire 
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