Four Raga Moods
(Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers) Used CD $15.00 (Out-of-stock)
There are indeed four untitled tracks from 1997 here, the first of which clocks in at a monolithic 41 minutes. “Compared to other Ashtray indulgences from the same era, it’s downright minimal,” observes Outer Space Gamelan, “Based around what I’d approximate to be harmonium, guitar, cheap percussion, field recordings, effects pedals, violin.... The only two general constants are a hazy pool of tape buzz, static and a woozy hand-drum rhythm…. At times it sounds like Phil Todd is trying to communicate a greater whole through an impenetrable wall of static, like a busted Walkman picking up alien satellite feeds or a shortwave radio station occurring just beyond the limits of the dial.”
ASHTRAY NAVIGATIONS / UNIVERSAL INDIANS
Ashtray Navigations / Universal Indians
(Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers) Used split CDR $12.00
“In the welter of home recording releases, it has to be said there is nobody quite like Phil Todd and his splendid Ashtray Navigations,” promises Sound Projector. “No other music sounds as chronically symptomatic of a week-long influenza fever, fraught with hallucinogenic visions of discomfort.... [S]tarting off with a whimpering puppy of a toy organ loop [the CD follows] the corridors of sound-leakage, ambient room recordings and noisy clutter with a suite of metal guitar solos…. Universal Indians … play very loud guitar and drums…, turgid and slow…, while the vocals are wrenched from the chest cavity of the singer as though he’s being given the Heimlich maneuver by a masked wrestler.”
Tonal Harmony
(Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers) Used CD $5.00 (Out-of-stock)
Rat Bastard, Ben Wolcott, Tom Smith, with guest guitarists John Morton (Electric Eels, X___X) and Bill Orcutt (Harry Pussy, Hall & Oates), and Silver Apples’ Simeon on oscillator. From 1997