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Jefre Cantu Ledesma of Tarentel has a new label, Root Strata. Perhaps the most anticipated release on the label is Home Ruckus, the first in a series of 12"s documenting home and live Tarentel recording sessions, however, the first three releases are CDRs of various Tarentel side projects. The Alps combines Ledesma with Alexis Georgopoulos of Tussle and Scott Hewick of a little known San Francisco band Troll, and Jewelt Galaxies is a 40 minute ride on a gypsy caravan as rumbling, rattling percussion creates a thick dust cloud around soft folk guitar trances and odd woodwind and electronic incantations. The four and a half minute first track sets the stage, filling the room with pipe smoke from a thick, wobbling wall of keyboard and pensive beats on a kettledrum as shakers and bells dance around. The 18 minute second track clears the clatter to leave space for a guitar raga, droning on for five solid minutes before adding a few improvised, playful mutations as the song builds up to its shamanistic, ritualistic second half. During this half of the song, clarinets skronk trilling micromelodies, guitars blare streams of feedback up towards the heavens, and cymbols crash to beckon the spirits closer. While this song gets heavy, the 16 minute third track is a tiny, quiet drone, celebrating the tingling of senses that quiet brings after a nice, good bit of loudness. Against a backdrop of soft, choppy electric guitar and persistent bell twinkling and shaker shaking, a keyboard squiggles a few droning phrases, quieting the mind and awakening the senses. Recommended for fans of free rock communes like No Neck Blues Band.

Alps at Amazon & Insound