Some might argue that every Bardo Pond release has sounded like a transcendent jam session, but did you know that the Philly-based band actually has an ongoing CD-R series in which they (we’ll take the band’s word for it) actually take things to a DIFFERENT improvisational level — a level with a perimeter of constantly blooming flowers and an apparitional Allen Ginsberg following you around and urging you to “marinate”?
The improv series started in 2000, and almost all of the releases (which were given inconspicuous titles named after their volume number) have been self-released with little fanfare. This year marked a new Bardo Pond release of the less freewheeling variety, but February 8 of next year marks the release of an album somewhat between the two timelines. It’s like the LP equivalent of a “bardo,” one might say!
Naturally — being that it’s the next edition in the series — the forthcoming release is called Volume 8. But it’s also being propagated through Fire Records on vinyl and CD, which is a noteworthy change from volumes 1-7. Volume 8 is being described as a “euphoric transcendental journey to a mountain top nirvana, a psychedelic tapestry that slowly unwinds as they travel onwards into the inner mind.” That’s pretty much par for the pond.
Listen to opening track “Kalish” down below, and pre-order the Volume 8 here. Hey Isobel, hit me with that flute outro!
Volume 8 tracklisting:
01. Kailash
02. Flayed Wish
03. Power Children
04. Cud
05. And I Will
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