Edward Ka-Spel "Tanith and the Lion Tree" 2xLP Flesh Eating Ants Records FEA-00 2002
Side A (17:40)
"O" From The Great Sea
Tanith and the Lion Tree
Interference
Four Out of Ten
Loop 1
Side B (24:13)
Loop 2
The Bakersman
Prithee
Prisoners of War
Three Times Daily
Hotel X
Epilogue
Side C (15:27)
Phoney War
Old Man Trouble
Diary 11th
Side D (15:29)
Diary 12th
Diary 13th
With their debut release Flesh Eating Ants have thrown their hat into the Pink
Dots and related re-issue ring. "Tanith" was originally
intended for vinyl but stopped short at CD. Now over a decade later it
has arrived in a most admirable fashion: remastered on two 220 gram
Direct Metal Mastered gray platters in a dazzlingly colorful sleeve, hand
numbered up to 512. The first LP is "Tanith" proper, slightly
re-worked for the format, and the
second the extras: the two CD bonus tracks and three
new demos written and recorded in the wake of 9/11. As with much of
Ka-Spel's solo work, the music is mostly comprised of keyboards and an almost
found sound sort of miscellany (guitars, radio,
percussion, melodica) and involves members
of his extended musical family of the time. The album plays out like a
patchwork of disparate lyrical novellas and instrumental passages. It
flows rather well despite some fairly drastic changes: a pretty piano
ballad here, a cantankerous synth fit
there, a soothing sound loop here, a cutesy
harpsichord ditty there, an overdriven vocal here, a not quite a capella lullaby
there, etc. Ka-Spel's gift at imaginatively setting a scene or sweetly
serenading a lover with a minimal amount of
poetry is nothing short of genius, proven
several more times over with some of these songs.
But quoting bits is criminal as each in their entirety tells the
stories. The finale "Hotel
X" is one of the loveliest songs in the whole back
catalog, a sort of hallucinogenic travelogue for Edward and his tired eyed
partner. Sides C and D complement "Tanith" well. "Phoney War"
and "Old Man Trouble" were written during the Gulf War and are on
the more frantic end of the spectrum while "Diary 11th", "Diary
12th" and "Diary 13th" begin at and progress further toward the
opposite end. By the 13th it seems that Ka-Spel was at a loss for words
as the overwhelming sadness had fully set in. About all that remains is
ten somber minutes worth of slow moving sound cloud, reminding me of the
unforgettable images of massive walls of dust and debris filling the streets
of NYC. Well, it just doesn't get much better than this. Kudos to
Ka-Spel and Flesh Eating Ants for the royal re-issue treatment: it looks
great, it sounds great and it's greatly expanded. Exactly what pink
dotted analogue enthusiasts are looking for ...
Flesh Eating Ants Records
The
Legendary Pink Dots
Where did I get this LP? - promo