Charlemagne Palestine & Grumbling Fur Time Machine Orchestra Ggrrreeebbbaaammmnnnuuuccckkkaaallloooww!!!

Vinyl document of a mind-blowing collaborative set from the legendary brandy swiggin’ Teddy Bear man and Alexander Tucker and Daniel O’Sullivan’s Grumbling Fur. Recorded at their 2013 performance at the Transmissions Festival, Ravenna, the trio sound like they opened up a portal into alternate dimension. Glassy drones, harmonium, processed strings, haunting piano work, tape manipulations field recordings etc. combine with mesmerising effect to create something that’s occasionally terrifying but for the greater part remarkably beautiful.

Charlemagne Palestine’s falsetto sounds like he’s channeling spirits from some ancient culture, recalling Keiji Haino’s Nijiumu - Era of Sad Wings. The addition of animal recordings and what sounds like a child in distress add a Nurse With Wound absurd/ surrealist feel while some of the processed vocals and general weird/ spooked/ occult vibes recall Coil. Things become extremely intense half way through the second part, leaving me almost gasping for air. Finally things settle down into what sounds like a fun drunken church sing along, with Charlemagne Palestine leading the way with tongue partly in cheek. Definitely a keeper.

8/10 Andreassyr Customer review, 28th May 2015

This one is hella lysergic. Great to hear Palestine play some piano on this aside from his thing-a-ma-jigs. At some point it all turns into a kind of rural f**k-fest, but incredibly (and perhaps disturbingly?) it still retains a sense of childish glee. Like a lot of great psychedelia, this stuff is constantly negotiating the thin line between joyous intuition and fear-of-the-dark terror. Palestine & Grumbing Fur takes you to a strange and wondrous place - with even weirder things lurking in the shadows. It's a place well worth your while visiting.