Valley of Ashes - Cavehill Hunters' Attrition 3xLP (Black Velvet Fuckere, 2006)
Mythical 3xLP of untethered heaven's gate-style avant jazz/folk/free-improvisational storm chasing from some (er, many) of Louisville's known and unknown living dead.
Buy the ticket. Take the ride...
"While we was cruisin up I65 on the way to our new home in Philadelphia, me & MG decided we was gonna spend a night in Louisville, Ky. Neither of us'd been there in forever; I think the last time for me was some Tubes concert in the late 70's & she said she'd once come there to stalk somebody from Circle X cause she wanted to steal his soul. Whatever! We get off the interstate & start lookin for a motel. Unbeknownst to us, a Piggly Wiggly convention was goin full tilt in the city & had a gridlock on everything. Howard Johnston's, Super 8, Best Western...you name it, it was booked. So we figured we'd bite the bullet & head downtown to the Seelback & the lap of luxury for a night. But when I asked about a room the sweet smellin, lavender scented man behind the front desk got one look at us & pointed his finger back the direction from where we'd came. I was fit to be tied & frustrated like a motherfucker. So I said "Hey mister can you tell me where a man might find a bed?" He just grinned & shook my hand. "No" was all he said.
But to hell with all that. There's plenty that's top notch about Louisville. They make a fine baseball bat, there's the Kentucky Derby, mint julep's & that cemetery where George Rogers Clark is buried. I think the Flavor Flav fella from Pavement make's his home there too. Well, you can add to the A list a collective who call themselves Valley Of The Ashes & whose entry into a certain exclusive club is a debut triple lp entitled 'Cavehill Hunters Attrition'.
To my recollection this is only the 3rd time I've encountered such a preposterous introduction. Chronologically (to me) the 1st was 1/2 Japanese's 'Half Gentlemen/Not Beasts' then Zweistein's 'Trip, Flipout & Meditation'. Of course the Zweistein thing is a concept so I guess you could say it needs the 6 sides to properly convey the head to toe experience. As for the 1/2 Jap box, there are those who will tell you the Fair Bro's should've condensed it into a single lp. But I can't imagine that release as anything other what it is; a 6 headed monster of unbridled, full tilt, spasmic beauty. And the same can be said for this VOTA package. I'm sure they had their detractors but they turned a deaf ear. As well they should. The languorous journey of 'Cavehill Hunters' glides through the mist of Nippon avant loner psych, across & beyond the fjords of cracked Scandinavian DIY folk & down through a fog where they are at once embraced by the continental space whisper of Gilli Smyth & the singular, non-industrial Anglo creak of early Nurse With Wound. All this while bein planted somewhere between a corn bin near the outskirts of Jefferson County & a liquor barge docked on the Ohio River. It's as marvelous & powerful as a bottle of Woodford Reserve & were you to mix the two, then you've got a party without boundaries. Which says to me 'chaperone'. You got my email. Drop me a line. I'd gladly man a tumbler for such a momentous event. Hell, I'd even crush some ice if ya asked me!" - Tom Lax (Siltbreeze)