Pandelindio Interview! / Entrevista Pandelindio!

Harking from over the hills and far away (Argentina to be precise), Pandelindio's shamanistic blend of meditational drone and invigorating Indian and Middle-Eastern currents provides a gateway to the Susurrus like no other. Employing a flute set up unique to the group, Pandelindio have a sound distinct from others, with a softer, more introspective edge than contemporary drone bands. Wishing to find out more, we caught up with the band to discover the roots, composition, and future of this most distinctive South American act. - Interview conducted by Daniel Sharman. 

Q.) Who is in the band and who plays what?

A.) At the moment we’re playing live as a trio. 

I play Bansuri, N’vike, Hulusi, Pythagorean harp and Bamboo clarinet. Juan Manuel Claro plays Dilruba, Duduk and Bawu and Corina Inveninato plays Tambura, Shruti box, Didgeridoo, Tibetan bowl and Citarina.

We’ve been playing kind of the same set with those instruments this year, but there are many other friends who participate in the recordings and have participated in previous gigs of Pandelindio.

Q.) It's great to interview a South American band, can you tell us more about where you are located?

A.) We're from Buenos Aires, Argentina and we live in Quilmes city. Quilmes is at the shore of the "Rio de la plata”, known as the widest river of the world. But in my opinion the most important thing in the city are friends and family. Besides that and sadly to say it's not much more interesting.

Q.) Pandelindio is an interesting name. What does it mean exactly?

A.) Pan del indio (Indian Bread) it’s an edible mushroom from the Patagonia. Its scientific name is Cyttaria harioti and it grows on trees, it’s orange and spongy like a tangerine,  I ate a few and it doesn't have much taste. The native tribes Yámanas o Mapuches they used to eat it fresh or elaborate an alcoholic beverage with it.

Q.) Who influences you as a group musically?

A.) Musically the album “Accordion and Voice” from Pauline Oliveros was a great influence at the time I discovered it and “Ayahuasca” from Pelt was another one. 

Also sharing time and playing with my friends like Golondrina Alfa (http://golondrinaalfa.bandcamp.com/) and O+yn (https://omasin.bandcamp.com/) gave me the shape of how to approach the improvisation.

Then, on a conceptual level of experimental music the documentary of the band “Reynols” Influenced me a lot. I believe it’s great, essential. (http://www.cinemargentino.com/films/914988456-buscando-a-reynols - English subs)

Q.) Your music focuses strongly on drone and drawn-out repetition. What attracts you to this compositional style?

A.) The hypnotic state that creates. To me the repetition it is fundamental to develop the melodic composition and sometimes the drone variations are enjoyable enough.

Q.) Are any of your songs ever pre-written or do you produce them on the spot as you play?

A.) I personally like to set up the scale or tonic in what we’re going to play and what instruments. The song or composition comes out always from an improvisation and then we develop that melody or form.

Q.) What part does Nature play in the creation of your music?

A.) A big one.

Some of my best experiences were listening to birds, crickets and toads singing altogether like a psychedelic trance orchestra or the bass drone of the water going down the creek bouncing on the walls. The natural environment always inspires me to listen deeply.

I enjoy a lot to do field recordings and use it in songs.

Q.) I noticed you described your music as meditational. Would you say music can ever help humans transcend the self?

A.) I don’t know if our music fits in the traditional genre of meditational music but it’s kind of my meditation. It helps me transmute emotions or quiet the mind but to transcend the self or take awareness I believe it takes more than music. Shamanic plants for instance, are a great ally of music and they work more intensive and deeply to take consciousness on the "self". But everyone has their own path so I couldn't say for sure.

Q.) Your music is incredibly rich in texture, can you tell us more about the instruments you use to create this?

A.) I'm a big fan of ethnic instruments, mostly from hindustani classical music. I don't have a musical heritage or try to represent any culture so I like to explore the combination of instruments from different places. For example, sometimes we mix the Mbira (African) with a drone-based Tambura (India) or we play the N'vike, which is a bowed string instrument from the indigenous "Toba" people, with the didgeridoo (aboriginal trumpet from Australia) and the Indian's violin Dilruba. Whatever sounds good to us, we try it.   

Q.) You're an instrument maker yourself. Can you tell about what that is like to do as a career, and how it impacts your music?

A.) I started to make instruments for myself. I made Didgeridoos for my friends and a couple of Bansuri (traverse flute from India) in pvc and later in bamboo. Luckily I found a passion in making instruments and I keep doing it since then. It's a great pleasure to make an instrument for someone, who's probably a musician or a music therapist. I'm very happy and grateful to make a living of it. I play mostly the instruments I made so it has a big impact on my music.

Q.) What is next for the band? Any upcoming albums or live shows?

A.) We have a new album coming out soon named "Mount Analogue". We recorded it with Pablo Picco and he also work very hard on the mix. And the amazing collaborations of musicians that I admire like Ulrich Rois from Bird People, the guitarist Mariano Rodriguez and my partner Corina Inveninato that was sick with fever when she recorded the piano tune. I'm very happy and excited and probably released it on tape next month. We're playing live this month on saturday 24th with Dario Dubois Duo (https://darioduboisduo.bandcamp.com/) an amazing drone-kraut band from Buenos Aires. And on november 6th we're playing next to Diente de Madera, one of my favourites band right now (https://dientedemadera.bandcamp.com/releases) and Nicolas Melmann too, I believe. He (http://melmann.bandcamp.com/) is a great minimal-ambient composer.

Do You Even Psychedelic? would like to thank Pandelindio for taking the time to complete this interview!

Make sure to like the band's Facebook page, and thus stay up to date, here.

Make sure to check out the band's work here. 

By Daniel Luke Sharman

Brian Lucas Interview: Exploration of a Painter-poet's Mind!

Quite a few of us play an instrument, in a group or by ourselves. Some of us are painters, and have at least some past work to prove it. Fewer still of us are poets, least of all with enough work to fill even one anthology. Brian Lucas is all three. Playing bass in both psychedelic explorers, Dire Wolves, and the group of numinal frontiersmen known as Cloud Shepherd (our interview here), Lucas has his musical aspect locked down. A prolific abstract artist, specifically in the medium of painting and ink-work, he also boasts a lengthy back-catalogue of work, which have enjoyed presentation at the gallery level. Lastly, Lucas is a published poet, including several full-length works and chapbooks also. Safe to say there was no shortage to discuss when we corresponded in the following discourse. Enjoy. Interview by Daniel Sharman.

Q.) How and why did you first get into crafting poetry?

A.) Like many adolescents I listened to a lot of music. Once I got out of Top 40 radio I started paying more attention to the lyrics. I liked Bob Dylan and Crass. A lot of dark, lyrical music. There was a mention of the Beat poets in my US History textbook so I went to my high school library and found a Ferlinghetti book. I read Poe and Plath, the Songs of Solomon, and  William Carlos Williams. A close friend loaned me The Young American Poets anthology so I had exposure to the NY School poets as a teen. I was pulled into the mysteries of poetry. I moved to Santa Cruz and read a lot of contemporary, experimental poetry, most of it typified by Nate Mackey’s journal Hambone, which is still going strong.

Q.) Who are your main influences as a poet?

A.) No main influences. Lately I’ve been reading Julien Poirier’s new book, “Way too West,” and Frank Lima, Aase Berg. All my poet-friends continuously blow my mind. Octavio Paz. Philip Lamantia and Barbara Guest, as always.  Cesar Vallejo. Joseph Ceravolo. Norma Cole. Will Alexander. Spicer and Duncan.  I like City Lights Books’ Spotlight Series of contemporary poets.  Aime Cesaire.  Artaud. So-called “visionary poetry.” There’s so much world literature that I miss out on, so I am thankful for translations. I’m curious about what’s happening in Latin American poetry especially. I’ve read some Venezuelan poets that are amazing.

Q.) You're a prolific abstract artist. What motivates you towards the abstract?

A.) I started painting non-figurative, non-realist paintings as an adolescent. I made deranged figurative works in my early 20s then crept back into doing more abstract pieces a few years later.  I find it the ideal mode. Photorealism or figurative work doesn’t appeal to me. I find it didactic mostly. The micro and macrocosmic, the biomorphic…some of it is what I call “eye-embroidery” … It seems natural for me to paint the way I do. I’m not interrogating myself about what motivates me and why. It feels innate. I’m self-taught, non-pedigreed, so I didn’t go through art school or a writing program where one has to defend what they are doing, bend it to someone else’s taste or expectation.  

Q.) Who influences you as a painter?

A.) Enduring influences are the Dynaton painters, especially Onslow-Ford and Lee Mullican; Francesco Clemente (an early inspiration), Hilma af Klint, Agnes Pelton, Forrest Bess, Brion Gysin; the artists around Semina, Leo Kenney, Mark Tobey, Paul Klee, William Burroughs, Sigmar Polke, Charles Burchfield, Philip Taafe. Filmmakers like Stan Brakhage, Harry Smith, Maya Deren,  and Jordan Belson. I’ve recently discovered Chris Martin, whose work I like a lot. Fred Tomaselli’s epic collages. There’s also tons of art being produced here in Oakland; it’s a very dynamic and motivated urban art scene. Amazing murals and graffiti works. I try to get out and see what’s going on as much as I can.

Q.) Building on the last question, what connections do you see between your art/poetry and your musical work, such as with Dire Wolves and Cloud Shepherd (whom we recently interviewed, see here)?

A.) Making music in a band is a collaborative effort—both CS and DW traffic in improvised music, though both are completely different. Writing and painting are very solitary activities. They orbit around each other, but rarely do they ever touch for me.

I’m interested in the marvelous, the numinous, and the undomesticated. I think my output in these three mediums reflects that. I like rough edges and a bit of placenta to remain. “Good taste” and clean lines are for commercials.

Q.) You upcoming work, Eclipse Babel (link here), combines both your art and poetry. What do you see as the links between these two mediums?

A.) Most of the drawings were done in Spain and Morocco in September 2014. The text came about a month or two later back home. There aren’t any inherent links between the two. The text doesn’t serve as captions to the images, and the images don’t illuminate the text. Of course there is a long tradition of the two being fused…Blake, Rene Char and Miro; and Henri Michaux, of course. A year or two ago I did a couple artists books called POETBOOK where I handwrote poets’ works and did very spontaneous watercolors along with them. That was probably the genesis for doing Eclipse Babel, along with doing the drawings for Andrew Joron's chapbook, Force Fields (link to that here). 

Q.) I've been following you on social media for a while now, and noticed your inclination towards the esoteric, the occult, and the bizarre. What do you feel causes this? (Zardos!) 

A.) I think I was unknowingly initiated into some esoteric order as a child. Ha! Fringe ideas and Fortean type phenomena intrigue me. I have witnessed and experienced totally bizarre occurrences, especially while living in Thailand. Reality is a highly debatable concept.

The world is irrational, fragmented, disorderly, and can’t be explained adequately. I think it beneficial to have multiple tools at our disposal to help navigate this morass. Thinking there is only one way to explain or define the world is a mistake. There is a lot of insight, a lot of teachings that shouldn’t be overlooked because they’re unfashionable or unsupported by academia or “the establishment.” With that said, I am also a sceptic.

Q.) What are you upcoming projects, and what dates should people be watching out for?

A.) Dire Wolves has been in the basement recording recently. We play Sept 5th in San Francisco at the Lost Door Gallery. Nov 7th at The Hemlock in SF. There’ll be a reception on Sept 15th at Bird & Beckett bookstore (SF) for Eclipse Babel. I’ll be reading on Oct 3rd at Unnameable Books in Brooklyn and Oct 4th somewhere in Philadelphia (tentative?). I’ll have another art exhibition with Derek Fenner and Ava Koohbor in February 2016 here in Oakland. Cloud Shepherd is still alive!

Make sure to keep up to date with Brian's artistic output here.

Also check his music for Dire Wolves (here) and Cloud Shepherd (here). 

DYEP? would like to thank Brian Lucas for taking the time to complete this interview!

Solvitur Ambulando: Great Philosophers and Walking (Editorial)

Walking.

Since the dawn of time, man has used his bipedal faculties to achieve physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Even in the modern world, so often profaned by the fumes and visuals of mechanical monoliths, the humble domain of walking remains relatively unperturbed. Indeed, even after decades of technological advancement, we are all still blessed to inherit the same simple pleasure afforded to the greats of far-off antiquity; Socrates' divine capability resides gracefully within us to this very day.   

Given this rich heritage, it is of no surprise that the power of walking is enshrined within the suitably eloquent Latin phrase, Solvitur Ambulando (simply translated as 'it is solved by walking'). I recently stumbled (metaphorically) across the adage in a sublime article by the Art of Manliness (see here), which details the main benefits of walking accompanied by thoughtful quotes on the subject.

Now my regular readers (if any such exist) will hopefully have some inkling of my affection for philosophy. Indeed, as the blog has developed, I have attempted to intertwine the philosophical in proportion to the musical, hashing out a more unique resource for myself and readers alike. 

It was due to this affection that I started to wonder which of the great philosophers utilised walking in their own lives, and if so, to what end? I have forever been curious about the routines of history's great men, but was greatly disappointed to see no such literature collated the walking habits of any of the prominent philosophers.

It is in this vein I have chosen to compose this article, hoping to remedy the aforementioned disappointment whilst also inspiring the men of today. I have written of five philosopher's bipedal endeavours here, but may return to complete more if supply proves sufficient.

Socrates (470/469 – 399 BC)

Depiction of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David painted in 1787

Indisputably one of the most important thinkers of the entire Western canon (and otherwise for that matter), Socrates is a name universally recognised. The indefatigable questioner was mentor to Plato and Xenophon, and marked the formal beginning of rational discussion. The once distinguished solider of the Peloponnesian War was also said to be a fervent rambler. Some say he would walk around Athens questioning the day-to-day beliefs of his fellow citizens. Indeed, in many of Plato's dialogues, such as Republic, the pupil of Socrates chooses to show his teacher ambling through the streets as he discusses ground-breaking concepts and ideas. Ironically, it is thought in the course of his being officially executed by the state of Athens for corrupting the Athenian youth, Socrates consumed poisonous hemlock and proceeded to walk around until he felt heavy, laying down to die.

Immanuel Kant (22 April, 1724 – 12 February, 1804 AD)

Immanuel Kant painted on an unknown date

Another monumental figure of Western thought, Immanuel Kant became a giant of 18th century thought when his works revolutionised philosophical thinking and turned once-cherished concepts and notions upside down. However, despite the explosiveness of his thinking, Kant actually lead a rather ordinary, orderly existence in the other aspects of his life. For instance, he would get his servant to wake him at 5:00 am everyday without fail, even though he was self-confessedly bad early riser. Regardless, it is in this strict routine we find Kant took a regular walk each day at around 1:00 pm, after working on his most famous and compelling philosophical works. Thus showing that even one of the most sophisticated and brilliant philosophers of all time still indulged in the fantastically simple pleasures of walking, perhaps even if it was just to blow off steam.

Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862 AD)

Henry David Thoreau in 1861

These next two philosophers come as a sort of duo set, and are amongst some of my favourite thinkers of all time. Thoreau is revered for his infinitely insightful naturalistic and political works, which have gone onto influence and embolden a huge range of people: socialists, liberals, anarchists, libertarians, conservatives, and more. Given Thoreau's fondness for wildness, it is of no surprise he had a huge admiration for the act of walking. Indeed, one of his most delivered public lectures was simply titled 'Walking'. Moreover, Thoreau's most famous work, Walden, is an even greater ode to walking. In the book, the thinker recounts how he opted to do away with the technologies of the train and cart, in turn for the simple act of travelling afoot - it not only saved him money, but provided him with a more priceless kind of felicity. Thoreau loved nothing more than a simple stroll through his native Massachusetts woodland, famously remarking "If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen". Watch out for our upcoming review series on Walden (more infor-mation here).

Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882)

Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1857

Friend and (debatably) mentor of Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson pursued many of the same objectives as the previous philosopher, becoming one of the main pioneers of the transcendental movement with his ground-breaking philosophy and literature. Similarly to Thoreau, Emerson was enthused by what he saw as the sublimity of nature. Indeed, his essay of the same name is forever rooted in the annals of history, his superb prose only matched by the profundity of his account of the interconnectedness of humans with the rest of Creation. Unsurprisingly, infatuation of this kind and degree inevitably led Emerson towards ambulphilia ('love of walking'), and he often expressed it within his works. He had this to say on the topic:  “Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humour, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much”. Another quote of Emerson's on walking that is a particular favourite of mine, quoted in the previously linked Art of Manliness article, follows thus:  "A vain talker profanes the river and the forest, and is nothing like so good company as a dog". Both of the above lines come from Emerson's essay “Country Life”, published in 1857.

Friedrich Nietzsche (15 October, 1844 – 25 August, 1900)

The date of this photo is unknown

There are few people currently alive in the West who wouldn't be familiar with at least one of Nietzsche's popularised sayings. Most intellectually-minded people, no matter where they live, should undoubtedly be familiar with the man. Although on par with Kant in terms of his momentous insight and influence, Nietzsche employed a much more ferocious zeal in his writings, at odds with the mild-mannered Prussian philosopher. However, despite this revolutionary vigour, the philosopher still involved himself in the same quotidian walking as Kant himself, and was a known admirer of Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose books still remain in Nietzsche's personal library in Weimar, Germany, available for public viewing. Of all on this list, we know Nietzsche to have regularly walked by far the furthest: 

"After working until 11:00 each morning, he would go for a "brisk, two-hour walk through the nearby forest or along the edge of Lake Silvaplana (to the north-east) or of Lake Sils (to the south-west), stopping every now and then to jot down his latest thoughts in the notebook he always carried with him" 

And then: 

"After luncheon, usually dressed in a long and somewhat threadbare brown jacket, and armed as usual with notebook, pencil, and a large grey-green parasol to shade his eyes, he would stride off again on an even longer walk, which sometimes took him up the Fextal as far as its majestic glacier. Returning ‘home’ between four and five o’clock."

I hope you have enjoyed this article on the walking habits of great philosophers. Do you know of any more? Please feel free to email or comment below.

Written by Daniel Luke Sharman

Title picture credit: Winslow Homer

Nietzsche biography quotes credit: Friedrich Nietzsche by Curtis Cate

Bird People Interview with Ulrich Rois!

The Forward Path, closing song of the Myrrors' latest Arena Negra LP. A mesmerising desert rock slow-burn lasting a fully-realised 20 minutes and 42 seconds. Although I loved the track, it left a deep yearning for more sonic odysseys cut from this same drone-based cloth. Well, in accidentally stumbling upon the brilliant music of Bird People, this hunger was immediately satisfied, and to this day they sustain me in a state of wilderness folk satiety. I caught up with the multi-instrumentalistic, organically-reared mastermind of the project, Ulrich Rois, to find out more. - Daniel Luke Sharman.     

Q.) When it comes to musicians on the current scene, Austria isn't always the first 

place people think of. Can you tell us a bit more about where you from, and who is in 

the band/plays what?

A.) I'm originally from Waidhofen, a small town about two hours southwest of Vienna but I moved here in 2001. Not so easy to answer who's in the band as we have a rather loose and fluid line-up. It's usually me and a number of other people, who exactly changes from show to show. Open door policy, if you dig. Some local regulars are Roy Culbertson III, Themsen, Eric Arn, Steffi Neuhuber and Lucas Henao Serna but I also consider friends in other places, who we sometimes jam with on tour as being part of the Bird People tribe. Some players usually stick with one instrument while others tend to switch around a lot. Between us we play banjo, cello, fiddle, shruti box, sitar, esraj, alto sax, bass recorder, organ, guitar, bansuri, conch shells, Tibetan bowls, gongs and whatever else is around.

Well, actually there is quite a lot going on in Vienna and I guess there always has been, it's just that the scene here might come across as a little closed off at times but I think it has really opened up in recent years, there are a lot of good people doing cool stuff. I can't really speak for the situation in other Austrian cities.

Q.) Bird People is a undeniably unique project. How did such an esoteric group manage to about?

A.) I've started the project in 2010 but it was more song-based at first. We also had kind of an open band structure back then but it mostly involved other people then now. Then I did it as a solo project for a number of years, toured and released a lot and had some good times but last year I realized that both the music and myself really need the input of other people to go any further. So now it's pretty wide open and I'm diggin' the ride. This open band structure allows us to do  a lot of stuff that’s not so easy with a regular band. We can play way more shows this way because not everybody has to have time for all of them. Nobody needs to feel any obligation, the only thing that’s important to me is that when you’re there, you’re REALLY there.

Q.) From the various photographs and suchlike I've seen, it's clear you're an accomplished multi-instrumentalist. What do you think has driven/drives you to partake in such a wide range of instruments, and what is the total you can actually play?

A.) I enjoy playing a range of instruments, yes, but I'm far from an accomplished player on most of them. Learning to play an instrument is one of the most rewarding experiences for me, so I don't think I'll stop any time soon. I originally learned guitar and later had some sax lessons but at the moment I consider banjo, fiddle and esraj my main instruments. I'm definitely more of a stringman than anything else. The total of instruments I use is hard to tell. Whatever is around will be played.

Q.) Much of your work, including with Bird People, favours long, droning instrumentals (only clocking in at around 30 minutes). What leads to chasing these forms over more conventional, shorter structures?

A.) Oh, basically I just love this sort of music and enjoy making it. A lot has been said about the musical and spiritual properties of drone music by people like La Monte-Young, which I don't need to repeat here but anyway I agree with some of it but not all. I definitely like the fact that this kind of music can really mess with your temporal sense. Then on a quite simple level, some things just take time to develop. You can't cook a gumbo in five minutes, you know? And I also think that in this super-fast world of instant gratification that we live in, it can be quite nice to just sit and listen to one or two fluctuating notes for an hour or so. Playing or listening to drone music can be a grounding, calming experience, if you can get into it.

Q.) In the past, DYEP? has published articles exploring the links between the natural, wild world and psychedelic music. What links would say your music shares with natural wilderness?

A.) Well, I love to be in nature, it's a big source of inspiration for me. Playing music outside, jamming along with the sounds of the wind and the birds, crickets, etc - that's one of my favorite things in life. But we humans are a part of nature too and a lot of us happen to live in cities, so I think there shouldn't be this dichotomy. They're just different environments like the jungle is different from the desert. For me, what we do with Bird People is all about vibing with different places and people, so I see a similarity to natural processes there ... try to adept, keep it sustainable and so on.

Q.) Due to the rough and wild nature of your sound, your albums are usually less-polished than usual studio fare. What do the recording sessions of your LPs usually entail?

A.) I actually think a lot about how I want things to sound and I've gone through many different phases of how I approach studio work. There were times when I was really into overdubs and studio trickery while right now it's all about recording live without any overdubs or edits. So both with Bird People and for my solo stuff the sessions usually just involve setting up some mics and pressing "record". Then in the mixing stage I only use a little bit of compression, EQ and limiting. The recording process is pretty much straightforward documentation. Most " studio" sessions happen at my place but we're mobile. I just don't like to be in too sterile studio environments because, as I've said, the space where we play has a big impact on how we play, I think.

Q.) Arguably, some of the best drone comes about when natural instruments meet with the technological tools we have at our disposal today. What are some your favourite music-creating gadgets?

A.) Actually both with Bird People and solo I'm predominantly focused on using acoustic instruments without any sound processing right now. But I've also gone through phases of pedal overkill. A Boss looper and some EHX pedals like the Memory Man Deluxe and the Superego were some of my go-to tools. With recording I'm pretty pragmatic and tend to use what's available. At home I use a Focusrite audio interface and record in Logic using some condenser mics of wildly varying quality but I also use handheld devices, tape decks, etc for recording. Would love to get my hands on a reel-to-reel! We had a 16-track Fostex with an earlier band but sold it.

Q.) DYEP? readers often tell me how they enjoy hearing about various gear specifications. Can you tell us a bit about some of your favourite instruments? 

A.) At the moment I mostly use a Fender 5 string banjo, a shruti box without any visible manufacturer's name, a really cheap fiddle made by Menzel, some singing bowls and gongs.  Concerning  guitars I've used several different ones on Bird People albums including a Fender 60s Stratocaster, a Gibson SG a Flying V and a Firebird VII. Sometimes I also use a Doepfer Dark Energy synth, mostly just for a bass drone.

Q.) I'm of the understanding that the brilliant Feathered Coyote Records is of your making. Can you tell us a bit more about the label? 

A.) Thanks for the kind words! I've started the label in 2011, at first just to put out my own music in a DIY way. Then friends started to ask if I'd like to release their music and it kind of snowballed from there. I switched from CDs to tapes in 2012 and that has continued until now. I'm slowing down the release frequency of the label a little bit, just to be able to work more spontaneously again but I'm still enjoying doing it a lot.

Q.) DYEP? recently reviewed your latest solo single, Sunrise in the Valley. Can you tell us more about the upcoming album.

A.) Yes, thanks for the review! The solo album will come out sometime this fall, I reckon. Like the current Bird People stuff it is completely acoustic and recorded live, no overdubs. It's mostly solo banjo, one fiddle tune and some shruti/gong drones as segues. The album was recorded in my home studio (The Burrow) in Vienna and at my mom's house in Waidhofen/Ybbs. Those two places also informed the vibe of the album, I'd say. A lot of it was recorded with the windows open, so you can hear the sounds of the environment and they become part of the music - or the other way round.

Q.) Lastly, you have the Constellations tour planned to seen in the new record. Can you tell us about the tour, and what else is next for you and Bird People?

A.) Yes, we're about to hit the road for two weeks, very psyched about that! We'll be a core trio with Roy and Themsen coming along for the whole ride but we'll be joined by other Bird People at most of the shows. Let's see how that open door policy works out on the road, ha! Really looking forward to meet a lot of old and new friends and explore different musical constellations. We also have a new album coming out on Was Ist Das?. It's called "Constellations" too and should be ready in a few weeks. Hope to see you at one of the shows. Thanks for the conversation, Dan!

Do You Even Psychedelic? would like to thank Ulrich Rois (and Bird People) for taking the time to complete this interview.

Make sure to like the band's Facebook page here.

You can learn more about the dates of the current Constellations tour here.

Listen to a full discography of Bird People's work here (Bandcamp).

Find our review of Ulrich's single here.

By Daniel Luke Sharman

Literature Reviews (New Section!) - Introduction

“The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance and Other Essays

In the modern world, we can be awfully quick to consign ourselves to following the opinions of, as Heraclitus termed them, the 'popular singers'. Rather than engaging our own brains to deduce and analyse situations, we will defer our thinking to whatever or whoever offers the narrative of least resistance. Although this is an observation made by countless thinkers over the centuries, from the Ancient Greeks all the way up to the modern day, it is worth reminding ourselves that we should all strive to assert our intellectual independence. 

This realisation was most recently, and poignantly, brought to my attention after reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau. After I finished the transcendentalist classic, I was inspired to become more proactive in my own critical thinking when considering widely held beliefs and ideas. Whether it be economy, spirituality, philosophy, etc. or even music, it is always worth challenging the conceptions we currently hold on a position (no matter how personal or undeniably true they may seem to ourselves). 

It is in this vein that I endeavour to start a new section on Do You Even Psychedelic? pertaining to literature. I think it is reasonable, in a blog born from interest in psychedelia, to have articles which concern the conscious-expanding ideas of books (a powerful novel can prove more efficacious than a plethora of drugs). Hopefully, the ideas presented and reviewed will be everything from challenging to revelatory, and help us all journey further down the road of internal philosophical discovery. 

I intend to start this new section by reviewing the book which prompted it, Walden, and I will most probably break the analysis of the novel into six or seven thematic 'chapters'. These chapters will concern different strains of thought which I found within Walden to be particularly compelling and provocative, such as 'self-reliance' and Thoreau's 'theory of consumption'. When I finish that series of articles, I may move onto another thematic analysis of a text or several one-off reviews (similar to my album and single reviews). 

I hope I have successfully conveyed to you the excitement I feel for this new series, which intends to bring us all closer to new ideas, encouraging progression towards a lifestyle of a more greatly expanded conscious, or in other words, a psychedelic one.

Transcend!

Written by Daniel Sharman.