Levity Disc (2011)

A very strange gem indeed. It is said that if you could 'see' though someone else's eyes for just a moment the vision that would greet you would be so unlike what you perceive with your own eyes that it would possibly push you 'over the edge'. Almost certainly you would recognise little of the world that is familiar to you now, it would be a very strange place indeed that would greet you. Well this album presents one of the strongest recent opportunities I can think to step into to an alternate reality via someone else's ears - and we're definitely not in Kansas anymore. One-off pressing of 500 in stylish slip-case. I believe the proceeds from sales are going to the Native Endangered Project - but I'm not sure what that is yet.

The track that is of immediate interest here on this web-site is the first one which features daevid's lyrical and vocal contribution to the whole affair. It's been a long time since I was so enchanted by a track and in a way I find quite hard to describe. It is the musical/lyrical track that has made most sense to me in months and months of these strange times, a bit like a life-belt thrown to a floundering man - and yet it also it makes no logical sense whatsoever. That of course may actually say more about my current state of mind than I would usually care to admit to, but what the heck. Composed by daevid, Deborah and Jwa in one other-worldly improvised session, sprinkled with Prof. Searle's backing vocals from across the ocean and mixed on divine inspiration - it's a miracle I tell you. Too many answers - Ignore them. - daevid allen

So entranced was I by the first track that it took a while before I ventured deeper into the album. But I need not have worried about being let down after the initial high of the track one. The ethereal mind-trick ("These are not the droids you're looking for") atmosphere established from the beginning increases with each subsequent track. I must admit to having no real idea what the tracks are actually 'about' (sift the notes below for clues… maybe), but it doesn't matter a jot, all I know is this album changes the atmosphere in a room in a very good and intriguing way.

A category of music? How about Trans-dimensional Mind-meld Avalonian Ambient with smile, or Glastafari Time-slip Vibrational Melodies - it doesn't actually matter what you call it, invent your own gendre. As I frequently and most happily am able say about much of the music on orbiting Planet Gong - there's nothing out there quite like it. Step this way - welcome to the edge.