Friday, June 8, 2007

Daniel AIU Higgs Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot CD


Arcus: A dense, horizontal, roll-shaped cloud sometimes occurring at the lower front portion of a cumulonimbus.
Incus: An anvil-shaped bone between the malleus and the stapes in the mammalian middle ear. Also called anvil. or a Thunderhead Cloud
Ululat: Possibly Latin for howl, wail, screech, or cry out.
Well that really clears that up.....

An ambitious release from Daniel Arcus Incus Ululat Higgs, the interdimensional song seamstress and corpse dancer of the crags. A 6 song CD with accompanying hardcover book of paintings and poems.
The art much like his music and lyrics seem to be variations on a theme
calling attention to different attributes of the same thing. Creation,
Biology, Religion,etc all combined. The anagram based poems seem to cover the same intersection of biology and religion. The intention is for the art to be viewed with the music as a Tarot like experience.
Recorded live to cassette gives it a real "hot" sound as Aquarius likes to
say, I would settle for distorted and/or overdriven. Guitar,Piano,Banjo,
Jew's Harp, and random noises.
Starts off with a noisey blast full of random sounds. Much less focused at first listen than the 10" or his last record, Higgs continues to push into the Appalachian Ragga style he has been working with. At 11 minutes 41
seconds, Cocoon on the Cross gives him plenty of time to stretch out. I
feel some what cheated without lyrics because with a title like that I can
only imagine what the words could have been. "Creation Moon" brings some more feedback into the mix-some serious heavy metal parking lot fret work. "Hems and Seams" brings this to a close which is the most manipulated track on here. Jew's Harp in full effect. If you a are a longtime Higgs disciple, you will love it. Any fan of outsider art or oddities should enjoy as well. On his last 10" there was one side of spoken word and one side of music. On this release, words are reserved for the book and the music is strictly instrumental. With a man of Higg's caliber, I can't help but wonder if there is an unspoken reason for this dichotomy?
Thrill Jockey is the label for this transmission.

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