"Songs of the Forest", the Castles' first release on the Moon Glyph imprint, is a study in delicate psychedelia. Throughout the album, the group harnesses sounds that harken to the mid-Sixties experimentalism. From beginning to end, it is a collection that houses surprises, such as the killer organ riff buried deep in "The Mole People" and the unexpected trombone in "Songs of the Forest" to name only a few. Recorded between the witching hour and three a.m. over the course of several months, this autumnal record is a revivalist showcase that straddles audacity and restraint with aplomb. Play it and float along.
Ed. of 100. Art by Suzanne Pfutzenreuter

jason edmonds - guitars, fuzz bass, keyboards, percussion & vocals
jeremiah doering - guitar, bass, drums, vocals on "Katie Crow" & "Wayne-O"
noah skoagerboe - leslie organ on "Herbs of Life", vocals
duane 'birdman' mcdowell - trombone on "Songs of the Forest" & "Wander"

foxy digitalis review

The peaceful side of the word 'primordial' is not often mentioned when discussing music, but it does exist and if it didn't exist before, it will with the release of Daughters of the Sun's Ancient of the Ancients. Texturally, the two swathes of music splitting this album evoke an antediluvian pre-dawn, when wildness and stillness were on in the same. The Daughters begin and end Ancient with passages constructed with flutes, chimes and ostensible field recordings that tend to teem and effervesce around the throbbing tribal eruptions at the heart of the cassette.
Ed. of 100.

foxy digitalis review

With four of its five members hailing from South Dakota, the bossanova/light psych sound made by the Buffalo Moon would be one wicked curveball even in this epoch of transculturalism. But when you discover that their guitarist/harpist/main vocalist, Karen Freire is originally from Ecuador, their superbly titled Wetsuit begins to make sense. That is not to say that the record isn't without its curveballs. You wouldn't find track names such as "Iowa's Got A New Strip Club" and "Money, Pussy, Weed" on an Astrud Gilberto album nor would expect such adept levels of musicianship, but its there in strokes. Wetsuit is in turns beachy and cosmopolitan, slyly experimental and a lot of fun.
Ed. of 100.

karen freire - guitar, harp & vocals
sarah darnall - bass & vocals
preston holm - clarinet, keys & percussion
joel schmitz - guitar & trumpet
jon wetzler - percussion & rhodes