Volume 4 & 5/Gatefold

Description

A double LP by Bardo Pond, bringing together for the first time on vinyl two of their super rare jam volumes. A new edition of this famous series, 'Volume 4' and 'Volume 5' feature more freeform improvisations from the hypnotic Philadelphia group. They capture the raw essence of the band, whose fearless exploration blurs the lines between structure, chaos, melody, and noise. Bardo Pond's music traverses space rock, acid rock, post-rock, shoegaze, noise, Krautrock, and psychedelia. 'Volume 4' comes from sessions recorded in January 2002. Its five tracks include the heavy trippy "K2" and the disorienting "New Drunks (Revisited)" featuring the exquisite and frankly unsettling voice of Isobel Sollenberger. These are shorter sound inquiries, in Bardo's terms, almost succinct in their hypnotic riffs and off-kilter arrangements. In contrast, 'Volume 5' consists of two long mantras recorded between 2000 and 2004. 'FUFO' sounds like a tangle of Cluster with a Merzbow mix, a post-industrial trail of hypnotic proportions, while 'Monarch' starts as a neo-folk ambient piece reminiscent of Current 93 before evolving into a wailing slice of Americana infused with drone, akin to a jam by the Velvets.