Bardo

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
For two decades, musical director-dancer Gabrielle Roth and her ever-changing group the Mirrors have specialized in organic, cross-cultural, tribal trance music with a wide spectrum of instrumentation. Bardo is no exception. Indeed, it may be the group's best recording yet, featuring the serene lead vocals of Russian rocker Boris Grebenshikov (for whom this is the second collaboration with Roth) and the skills of string player Allison Cornell, percussionist Joe Bonadio, flautist David Weiss, and fretless bass player Dassi Rosenkrantz-Cabo, among a cast of dozens. From the laid-back vibe of "Infinite Sky" to the dramatic march of the title track to David Sancious's beguiling electric guitar work on "The Crossing," this album showcases the type of classy music that shatters New Age stereotypes and proves how rich the genre can be. --Bryan Reesman

Bardo,Gabrielle Roth & the Mirrors,Raven,Adult Alternative,Ethnic Fusion,Mystical rhythmic chanting set to world beat percussion. Perfect for yoga, massage and meditation.,New Age,New Age / Meditation,Pop

Bardo

Tracks:

Time Is The Enemy
Rag B/B
Personae
Heretics
Hell Is Other People
Rice With The Angels

Customer Reviews:

Visceral Electric Jazz Fusion.......2005-08-24

This album has the power and imagination of vintage Mahavishnu and Lifetime. The band really burn on this one. Simply superb.

Shaw Lane was the the unsung hero of jazz rock guitar. Technically as facile as a Mclaughlin or Corryell, with the visceral sonic power of a Sharrock or Hendrix

IT DOESN'T GET BETTER THAN THIS.......2004-06-13

When Shawn Lane died in 2003, only the most esoteric reaches of the guitar world recognized what a contribution he had made to the instrument. Here he is teamed up with just about the only other bass player and drummer you could ever imagine him with. Hellborg and Sipe compliment Shawn so uncannily, it's almost a match from another universe, and it adds up to a mindblowing musical experience. These guys create musical excitement that very few bands can ever achieve. When they lock in together, you find yourself lunging for the volume control because you want to be more and more blasted away by their mastery. You can't stick a credit card between these guys, they are so tight, and keep in mind this is a live recording. Some people have mentioned that Shawn might have been the fastest guitarist ever, and when you hear him on Rice with the Angels, you very clearly see why they would say that. He lets loose with such an absolute hailstorm of notes it almost seems impossible someone could be producing these sounds. I don't know if Joe Satriani or Steve Vai ever asked Shawn to join them on the G3 tour, but my guess is they would think it wasn't helpful for their job security. Anyway, if you want to hear the superlative power fusion trio of our time, don't miss this album!

Amazing!.......2003-02-19

I was first introduced to Hellborg with his "Octave of the Holy Innocents" album. I have learned to love the creativity and pure insanity of this fusion artist. This album is shred-fest 2002. Everyone of the musicians are top notch and play with such perfection. For anyone out there who is into Fusion/Prog/Shred, this is a definite must for your collection!
One of my first thoughts on this c.d was that the music wasn't that organized and it was kind of improv. The more I listened to it, the more I realized how organized the construction of every song actually is. BUY THIS ALBUM!!!

Jazz/Metal, not for the faint of heart.......2002-12-22

Hellborg is a wizard on the bass, fondling it sweetly one moment and slapping it silly the next, while keeping a solid foundation for Shawn Lane's warp 10 fretwork.
As I've heard Hellborg & Lane on Michael Shrieve's "Two Doors", a couple of the tracks on Personae were familiar to me. They still kick [...], but I was looking for some fresh territory.
After I got over that, I was very pleased with the CD.
"Rice With The Angels" has Lane doing some incredibly fast and consistent runs that knock me for a loop every time I hear them.
A definite must hear for any rock guitarist. It'll take you places you've never been to.

This is an amazing disc!.......2002-09-17

Well...where do I begin. Well, for starts, I will claim this disc a treasure. Thru both persistance and curiousity I have aquired something that is truly inspirational. It has the right blend of attitude, rawness, and that extra special chutzpah that puts it into that special pantheon of other recordings that have had a similar effect on me. The select guitar albums in this pantheon are, Zappa's 'Shut Up N' Play Yer Guitar', Holdsworth's 'The Sixteen Men Of Tain' & Vai's 'The Ultra Zone' & 'Passion & Warfare'. 'Personae' is included with these pivotal and amazing recordings. It honestly does. These select recordings make me really wanna play. I definately can't carry a conversation or do anything else when listening to these and they suck my 'guitar-freak' mind into a unexplainable vortex. I've listened to the album more than a dozen times in a 3 day period. It was pricy but worth every cent. It hit me big time. It's theory may be heavily rooted in jazz improvisation but it totally rocks and rips with grace and beauty. I'm really glad I got this. 2 Big thumbs UP.

Average customer rating:

Great East meets West fusion with pioneer players
Indo-Jazz Fusion at its most sublime
Fusion fission
Stunning musicianship
Hellborg still improves

Good People in Times of Evil
Jonas Hellborg , Shawn Lane , and V. Selvaganesh
Manufacturer: Bardo Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Icon
Personae
Time Is the Enemy
Paris
Kali's Son

ASIN: B000050I2S
Release Date: 2000-11-10

Tracks:

Aga of the Ladies
Savitri
Leal Souvenir
Bhakti Ras
Who Would You Like to Be?
Uma Haimavati

Amazon.com

There are strong links between this group and John McLaughlin's recently reconstituted Shakti. Bassist Jonas Hellborg was once a member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and percussionist-vocalist V. Selvaganesh is a member of the current Shakti. Like that group, this trio--with Hellborg's regular partner Shawn Lane on guitar--plays an accelerated fusion of Indian and western elements with a mix of amplified and acoustic strings and subcontinent drumming. Given those similarities, though, the trio finds terrain of its own, from the country drawl of Lane's guitar on the opening "Aga of the Ladies" to the spy film insinuations in "Who Would You Like to Be?" Technique and rhythmic interplay here are consistently at an extraordinary level. Lane, sometimes suggesting McLaughlin, has done a remarkable job of mastering the pitch-bending intricacies of raga. On "Savitri," he even combines it with his own Southern rock flavor. "Little Souvenir" includes a duet between Hellborg and Selvaganesh in which the bassist manages to extend funk-slap electric bass playing to the complex, high-speed metrics of Indian music. An impressive technical feat, it's also a creative one. "Bhakti Ras" provides a striking change of pace. Recorded in concert in India, it has Ustad Sultan Khan joining the group on sarangi, an Indian bowed string instrument. He uses its keening metallic resonance to create a mood of striking depth. The playing here is always impressive, as is the way these musicians speak their hybrid tongue, but it's the spirited interplay and occasionally welling calm that endure. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews:

Great East meets West fusion with pioneer players.......2006-03-31

Ive been a fan of all 3 seperate musicians from this recording. Shawn from Black Oak Arkansas, Jonas from the revamped Mahavishnu, and Salvaganesh from the recent Shakti. Suffice to say I was really excited to open this and listen. From start to finish this recording reeks of great tones from all. Everyone shines in their solo spots and the songs themselves are rhythmically sophisticated. This is the kind of stuff that great musicians are made from. Ive since gotten the dvd and its just as incredible. Go out and get this, a wealth of learning material and good sounding too.

Indo-Jazz Fusion at its most sublime.......2005-08-24

This album is startling - and is the best in its genre save, Shakti's Natural Elements. The individual virtuosity never once compromises the integrity of the ensemble.

A must buy for anyone who's a fan of Shakti, Trilok Gurtu and the rest.

Fusion fission.......2003-10-27

A great collection of tunes from Jonas Hellborg performed with masterful assurance by Hellborg, musical comet Shawn Lane on guitar and the V.Selvaganesh on percussion. The instrumentation by it's very nature sets this group a litle apart from say Shakti. The mix isn't the best i've heard but i really don't care because the music reaches through it. Personally I could do with a little less of the vocal-percussion thing. Many western musicians are so fascinated by this ancient Indian technique that renders any rhythm through the voice itself with no need for an instrument, that they include large segments of it that are quite unnecessary, and there is one of those on this album. That's about all the negatives I can think of! On the other side, the players are simply smoking, the renditions are live, and the interplay between the Memphis guitarist, Swedish bass player and Indian percussionist just smashes the illusion of music having any sort of boundaries or cultural barriers. Of course the music is based on Hellborg's study of Indian classical music, mainly the Carnatic tradition, but Lane's chameleonic improvisations morph into a myriad shapes, colors and styles sometimes in the same line! Like no other player I've heard, he is able to bring focus his tremendous vocabulary into improvised bursts that really transport the tunes someplace else. When you think of how simply constructed both the ganjira and the ghatam are, the life Selvagenesh breathes into them is extraordinary. Of course, Hellborg is in a class by himself among contemporary musicians. The thing I admire most about this album (like other Hellborg Lane collaborations) is that it was obviously conceived without even the slightest thought of so much as a market, let alone sales, charts and the like. This gives it a quality of integrity that is rare. An exceptional release.

Stunning musicianship.......2003-10-20

"Technique and rhythmic interplay here are consistently at an extraordinary level." This statement is absolutly true. Another one is false, I suppose. This music was not recorded live in India but in an Italian studio, in Spoleto. Anyway, the music contened in this cd is exceptional. It is quite similar to the kind of fusion between indian and western music played by John McLaughlin's Shakti. I think you have to love this kind of musical situation to fully enjoy this compilation. The music you can find here is really indian in a sense. The form is raga, a modal kind of music where you have a pedal (a single gravitational note, a single fixed chord used as base) running for the full lenght of the track. The kind of rhythms are sure indian but with some kind of western flavour here and there. On this "statical" base musicians improvise melodically but more than anything else rythmically on a certain scale. The thing that is really important to listen to is the interplay going on between the musicians, here at an extraordinary level. For what concerned the single musician, Hellborg has developed a stunning slap technique on the bass to fully render this kind of music. Selvaganesh is absolutly outstanding both on vocals and percussions. He is a one man band. The things he can do rythmically and melodically are unbelievable. He is probably the best indian musician in the world. Shawn Lane, well, he belongs to a separate category. He's one of my all time favourite musician. I can't do justice to his guitar playing with simple words. Some people say Petrucci is a master. If this is true, how should we call Lane? God? The only complaint, for what I am concerned is in the mixing. Lane is often mixed too far, his lines are not always perfectly audible. He is not really in front of the listener when he is soloing. He is a little too far ... the rythmn section is too loud. Anyway, apart from this, this album contains a spectacular collection of improvisations.
Ciao Shawn, I'm so sad you're gone. Stay in peace.

Hellborg still improves.......2003-07-29

Sweedish bass player (or bass guitarist) Jonas Hellborg has been picking up from where Jaco left off years ago. Showing how the electric bass can be used to play huge chords, accompany itself, and drive the melody of a song. More intelligent use of the bass then even Jaco dreamed of Hellborg continues to astound on this disc. His playing is smooth, virtuosic, intelligent, and original. He's no mindless showoff like Wooten, and he plays better. Shawn Lane finally learns that other musicians play on these albums and offers his best playing since Temporal Analogues of Paradise, the solo on the final track is truly inspired. Like a funky, blues inpired, jazz fused Indian, if you can imagine such a thing. Selveganesh plays absolutely amazing and shows this rockin' couple that a Ghatam can easily replace a drum kit. This is what Shakti should of done when they came back. It is true world fusion, not just a visit to things that have been done before with new instrumentation. Hellborg is still the best composer that fusion has ever seen. This is the first time I have truly understood why Hellborg chose to play with Shawn Lane. The next album with these three, Icon, showed me why Shawn may be the best alive.

Average customer rating:

look no further
Encyclopedia of Shred
Everything of Shawn's is10 stars

Time Is the Enemy
Jonas Hellborg & Shawn Lane
Manufacturer: Bardo Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Personae
Temporal Analogues of Paradise
Good People in Times of Evil
Icon
Paris

ASIN: B000095J8H
Release Date: 2004-03-30

Tracks:

Heretics
Wherever You Walk
Space Time Continuum
Kings Letter
Barua a Soldani
Time Is the Enemy

Customer Reviews:

look no further.......2007-06-27

I bought this based on reviews I've read regarding Jonas Hellborg's playing. This line up, Hellborg ,Sipe and Lane is quite simply the best you will ever hear. This is improv and interplay at it's zenith. Buy this and you will end up buying everything by them you can get your hands on.

Encyclopedia of Shred .......2007-03-31

Make no mistake about it, this album is a fusion masterpiece and "Time is the Enemy" itself is maybe the ultimate Shawn Lane track and one of the most mind-blowing demonstrations of guitar virtuosity ever. Two other versions of this track exist on official albums that I know of (a slightly faster but more out-of-control and metal-sounding one on "Personae" and an excellent early one on the Michael Shrieve "Two Doors" album) but this one is by far the best.

At a breakneck tempo with Sipe & Hellborg behind him raising the heat and slow-burn controlled intensity to a level mere mortals would spontaneously combust from, Lane takes off and starts flying, soaring, unleashing nearly every lick in his formidable arsenal in lightning fast, endlessly creative patterns and runs and with consummate taste and a tone that's one of the purest he's ever achieved on any record. Just when you think the solo couldn't get more intense and there couldn't be any more thousand note runs to play or that maybe Shawn would simply get exhausted and lose control from all that non-stop shredding, he ups the ante and keeps going and then does it again, time after time, with such perfect control that would make even Frank Gambale's or Allan Holdsworth's jaws drop to the floor. Now, Shawn has always had incredible speed, even back when he was a member of Black Oak Arkansas at 16 years of age (for a demonstration check out the you-tube videos) but the level of his playing and especially his musicianship once he hooked up with Hellborg jumped up about 10 notches from the already high place it occupied.

To me this one, "Abstract Logic" and "Temporal Analogues of Paradise" are the masterpieces of Shawn's electric fusion-period output with Hellborg and Sipe (and Kofi Baker, Ginger Baker's son on Abstract Logic). I also love Lane's acoustic playing on the Indian fusion albums "Icon" & "Good People in Times of Evil," those are both classics. These albums are Shawn's real legacy and truly represent his most mature output as an artist and telepathic improviser. They will ensure the spread of his fame and legend as the years go by. His post humous fame will far exceed his lifetime recognition.

As for Hellborg, the man is a rock of indestructible integrity and despite the irreplacable loss of Shawn, still keeps putting out incredible albums one after the other, the most recent ones being "Kali's Son," (electric, groove-oriented and meditative Indian fusion) and the "Paul Hanson, Jonas Hellborg, Jeff Sipe" album which is a trio fusion album featuring the scariest sounding, most intense Bassoon licks played in the history of the instrument. That album has been out for a while and for some reason is not for sale at amazon. Do yourself a favor and go pick it up at the fusion-specific abstractlogix site. While you're there, you might also want to pick up the Jeff Sipe "Art of the Jam" album, another furious and unrelenting barnstormer Hanson and Hellborg play on in addition to a great guitar player named Shane Theriot.

Everything of Shawn's is10 stars.......2005-08-11

What can i say? Even though I don't like every second of every album the good parts make up for it 10 times over. The ripping solos are just beyond belief as usual. If you get Shawn you know what I mean so nuff said. 10 Stars

Average customer rating:

(sigh) sad
Hellborg is awesome
Jonas stop!! Your Ruining every up and coming Bass Player!!!
Nothing short of phenomenal
Jonas does it again !

Kali's Son
Jonas Hellborg
Manufacturer: Bardo Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Paris
Personae
Good People in Times of Evil
Abstract Logic
Icon

ASIN: B000BMSY46
Release Date: 2005-11-08

Tracks:

Kalis Son
War Games
Shri Shri Vikkuji
Plastic Puja
Kali Ghat
Brightness

Customer Reviews:

(sigh) sad.......2007-03-05

I've liked Hellborg's other musical endeavors, but his newer album's have something wrong with them. The word 'lame' comes to mind. 'lackluster' is another. 'Monotonous'. Ok, it's boring. The stuff with Shawn Lane and Shrieve is great. Get it.

Hellborg is awesome.......2006-10-02

This is the first time I listen to a J. Hellborg album. He is simply amazing: fast, accurate, melodic. This cd should be considered and listened by anyone who appreciates music in general. Most of my cd collection is composed by prog rock or metal, and I found in this album the same emotions, complexity and energy. The music here is complex, wonderful and misterious. The zitar (or sitar) sounds so different from what I am used to. For prog rockers and metal fans, if you want to hear an exotic, indian version of Gordian Knot check this one out.

Jonas stop!! Your Ruining every up and coming Bass Player!!!.......2006-05-02

Yea, the Sweedish guy does it again. I am listening to this right now, and I can't beleive it. The last song is sick. I love the background effects in the album. Bass Player magazine and others of that elk simply have no idea about what this man (Mr. Hellborg) is up to. The music industry (T-Rex) has hidden music like this and other great fusion from the ears of the people of the world. This is real talent. Oh yea, Shawn Lane RIP.

Nothing short of phenomenal.......2006-02-06

This album is nothing short of phenomenal, as is all of Hellborg's work. If you find his earlier albums worth buying, you won't be disappointed. I don't like to judge music in terms of musicianship, because it comes with practice, to anyone. On this, Jonas and his two exceptionally talented collaborators manage to come across as both passionate and thoughtful. It is a rare case when mind-boggling virtuosity meets with deep feeling and thought.

Jonas does it again !.......2005-12-14

Bassist Jonas Hellborg returns strongly on his own label Bardo Records with his latest effort Kali's son. His travels to India in the last few years has made Jonas increasingly interested in Indian Music. Jonas & co-composer percussionist extraordinaire Selva Ganesh churn out 6 meaningful tunes @ just under 60 minutes. This album is quite special as it features talented sitar player Niladri Kumar who plays his instrument with lot of flair and uses a distorted tone for some of the tracks coupled with guitar flanger effects which often sounds like an electric guitar ! The piece Shri Shri Vikkuji seems to be the group's tribute to one of the greatest Ghatam players (south indian clay pot)T.H.Vikku Vinayakaram who is incidentally the father of Selva Ganesh. All the pieces are fairly uniform in melody, rhythm & style making this a consistent album. A commendable feat from the three musicians.

Average customer rating:

3 and 1/2 stars : Good stuff but in my opinion somewhat unfinished
if you're here,you'll like it!
Fuzak Evolution
Hellborg's Masterpeice
Jonas Hellborg with Buckethead ! Get it now !

Octave of the Holy Innocents
Jonas Hellborg , Buckethead , and Michael Shrieve
Manufacturer: Bardo Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Secret Recipe
Pieces
Personae
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Kaleidoscalp

ASIN: B000274TR6
Release Date: 2003-12-26

Tracks:

Rana and Fara
Death That Sleeps in Them
Past Is a Different Country, I Don't Live There Anymore
Child King
Kidogo

Customer Reviews:

3 and 1/2 stars : Good stuff but in my opinion somewhat unfinished.......2006-09-22

The playing of Buckethead is rather minimalist on this album, i wish he had played more on some of the tracks ; i like especially the dance-avant-garde sounds of 'Rana and fara' and the melancholic and ethereal 'Past is a different country, i don't live there anymore' ; the record is full of moorish ('Child King') and exotic sounds especially coming from North Africa and the eastern part of the world, which is a good thing because it allows these musicians to experiment with a wider range of sounds and music ; there is some hints of jazz too ('Death that sleeps in them'); in my opinion, some of the tracks lack of musicianship and seems to be too minimalist ('Kidogo'), in other places, the minimalist playing of Buckethead is rather effective like on 'Past is a different country'; maybe this is not a masterpiece and one or two of the tracks are just average without being bad but it is a solid effort and clever music.

if you're here,you'll like it!.......2006-05-31

if you enjoy the music of all these great musicians by all means do yourself the favor of picking this up. you will treaure it for a lifetime.

Fuzak Evolution.......2005-12-10

The Depths Of Fuzak are continually getting deeper these days. While most other types of music are going backwards, fusion is really evolving & endlessly refining despite what detractors say (there is fusion music being made right now as good as anything in the 1970s but already way beyond it) and it is the freest musical format for combining compositional & improvisational experimentation currently available. Fusion players are now writing complicated Zappaesque compositions which require strong music-reading abilities to play and combining that with free-form superjams. This album with Hellborg and Buckethead is more of the latter. The compositions grow organically from amazing hyperactive-yet-laid-back telepathic free-form jams. The first two tracks are fine efforts, they are very energetic and driven but with no real pay-off and too much repetition of similar grooves. On the last 3 tracks, however, everything comes together and you have a transcendent bliss of combined ultra-virtuosity & a meditative minimalism with Buckethead going against type and doing most of the minamalism. This is really a Hellborg solo album with support by Shrieve and Buckethead since Hellborg is the busiest of the 3 players here.

Some of the best new Hellborg isn't even being carried by Amazon yet and has to be purchased from fusion-specific websites like abstraclogix and such. For example, the mind-blowing "Paul Hanson, Jonas Hellborg, Jeff Sipe" album. Hanson is a classically trained bassoon player with ungodly technique on his instrument & the ability to improvise like a maniac who must be heard to be believed! That whole album is a new classic which will be played for decades to come. Also "Art of the Jam" by Jeff Sipe featuring Hellborg, Hanson, Shane Therriot & a host of others is a great batch of tunes that jam hard and also has the best recording of Sipe's drum set yet on record. Aside from these directly related to Hellborg my online search and research at abstractlogix website has led me to the following great fuzak evolution albums which all fans of "Octave of Holy Innocents" should also check out :
Ben Monder "Oceana"
Fareed Haque Group "Cosmic Hug"
Colaiuta, Kotikoski, Kleautgens, Tavaglione "Cave Men"
Ahmad Mansour "Short Cuts" & "Nightflight"
Tony Grey "...moving"
BPM (Bozzio, Preinfalk, Machacek) - "delete & roll"

Hellborg's Masterpeice.......2005-10-06

Just simply amazing. I love acoustic music, and this has that with some keyboards. Jonas Hellborg is one of my favorite bassist of all time. I got this album this year and was kind of reluctant after Shawn Lane passed. It stayed in my cd player for a few months. This is the first time I had an album with buckethead, and I am impressed. From beginning to end you will just love it. Awsome compositions, nice solos as well, Shrieve is good as well.

Jonas Hellborg with Buckethead ! Get it now !.......2005-09-07

Independent release by bass giant Jonas Hellborg. I never heard acoustic guitar and acoustic bass guitar(not upright) rock so damn hard.Buckethead in a totally different setting. Warning though, the first tune builds up slowly. Amazing improv. The sound is very good, but not pristine, but it does not detract from the music.This release is in my opion much more enjoyable than the Buckethead collaboration with Les Claypool.By the way, you can not go wrong with Jonas H. His work with the late Shawn Lane is everything music should be, sublime, dangerous, moving, beautiful. Stop reading! Get this now!

Average customer rating:

Fusion at its best
There is no other album quite like this one.

Temporal Analogues of Paradise
Jonas Hellborg , Shawn Lane , and Apt. Q-258
Manufacturer: Bardo Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Time Is the Enemy
Personae
Good People in Times of Evil
Icon
Octave of the Holy Innocents

ASIN: B00008A7WB
Release Date: 2003-05-13

Tracks:

Temporal Analogues of Paradise: 1st Movement
Temporal Analogues of Paradise: 2nd Movement

Customer Reviews:

Fusion at its best.......2007-07-15

I bought 'Icon' several months ago and i have mixed feeling about it, Shawn Lane doesn't play enough on this album and i'm a little bored by the indian voices, the vocals take an important place on 'Icon' and i personally prefer to listen to the playing of the trio than some vocals - but i guess it is a matter of taste; on this album however, Shawn Lane plays an extraordinary (but very sad) guitar solo on 'Mirror'; that being said, i prefer to listen to by far 'Temporal Analogue of Paradise', the music is more joyous (there is a sad feeling going on throughout 'Icon'), the melodies are complex and hence, support repeated listenings where you always discover new interesting musical ideas; the album introduction also benefits from one of the most galvanizing guitar solo i have ever heard from a fusion record, turning thereafter into sweet melodic lines; the rhythm section is solid and the two tracks swings between experimental abstraction and melodic themes.

There is no other album quite like this one........2007-03-14

Well actually, it IS like ONE other album - this is the remastered Bardo Records version of the original 1996 Day Eight Records cd with Mao Tse-tung's picture hanging behind the three group members. Anyway, here you have three virtuosos so confident in their ability and vision that they have the canasters to put out a cd with just two long (32-minutes and 27-minutes) improvised jams done in a live setting. And it all works beautifully. The album art is stark, the booklet notes are practically nonexistent, yet the title is this precocious and cerebral "Temporal Analogues of Paradise" which focuses the listener's attention on the MUSIC, and nothing else. For good reason. Drummer Jeff Sipe (aka Apt. Q-258) has an eclectic background, with influences from Carl Palmer to the great jazz masters, and he's magnificent in this type of setting. Bass player Jonas Hellborg (arguably the most famous of the trio) has a great arsenal of styles and sounds, venturing from soft melodic to bop to growling fury - he's quite a talent. Together, they form a solid and knowing rhythm section that's not shy about taking their turns in the soloing spotlight. After those two, one might be tempted to slight Shawn Lane as just "icing on the cake". But the former Black Oak Arkansas guitar wunderkind from Memphis takes what is already GREAT to...well, EXCEPTIONAL. I'd love to have a video of him playing, as he tended to sound like two (or even three!) guitarists at once in places. He could fly as fast as a neo-classical metal shredder, or alternately add beautiful background colors to the other soloists. For many of us, it was the unique sound and talent of the late Shawn Lane that originally drew us to this cd. Tastefully done all around, this is phenomenal improvised jazz/rock fusion of the very highest order.

I value interesting music that is played and recorded well. This cd's rating was based on:
Music quality = 9/10; Performance = 10/10; Production = 9/10; CD length = 9/10.
Overall score weighted on my proprietary scale = 9.3 ("5 stars")

Average customer rating:

Something wonderful and different
the Eternal signifier
Simply amazing music
ICON not get into some of this
Stunning Musicianship! But the Music is...........

Icon
Jonas Hellborg , and Shawn Lane
Manufacturer: Bardo Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Good People in Times of Evil
Personae
Time Is the Enemy
Paris
Kali's Son

ASIN: B00007FZHY
Release Date: 2003-01-21

Tracks:

Anchor
Mirror
Vehicle
Escape

Customer Reviews:

Something wonderful and different .......2006-01-22

I suggest that you listen to parts of this album before you purchase it-its not like anything ive heard before so description is a bit difficult-try Indian jazz for a concept-and thats not enough .............

if you are open minded and somewhat eclectic in your musical taste - it should be a great reward - it is structured music but has the feel of a wonderful mix of traditional Indian music as a basis for a jam session-ie free spirited virtuosity-yet with a hint of club mix at times-the interaction between the musicians is wonderful-typical of Indian music as well as jazz-you can hear the 'conversations' and its super

this is a wonderful mixture-i happen to love music, indian music and guitar - Lane's guitar work is wonderful-tight yet soaring-multi faceted in ways Ive not heard before-guitar into sitar at times, the tracks are relatively lengthy-so it really is an unfolding story-good for a serious listen or as a wonderfully stimulating ambience as well

i am familiar with some of the style of "racket" presumably referred to by an earlier reviewer-(a description which leaves me at a loss-)

The first track opens with an Indian style of vocal in which sylables are used as a percussive technique-like Sheila Chandra-its actually pretty cool IMHO -but thats ony a portion of the first track...theres so much more....good for dinner with friends, headphones, relaxing, and more intimate settings as well.........this is like trying to describe a rainbow -words cant do it...after all it is music...

the Eternal signifier.......2004-07-17

rarely does music overcome the laberynth of signs, of language. when it does, it reaches into an abyss of void that we cannot begin to classify with mere words or scales or laws. perhaps it is something we forgot after the fall. perhaps it is god. perhaps we do not know at all, but in the solidarity of knowing it is there we find Solace. ICON precisely seeks this point of transcendence, where different scales and language and signs melt into an icon of fiery peace, an icon for a thing that burns inside us all. this is art that must be lived, art that exlodes the Will into the voices of musicians from different corners of this small earth. A must for students of Benjamin and Schopenhauer. josedelhorno@yahoo.com

Simply amazing music.......2004-07-11

This is possibly my favorite CD I own. The musicianship, as well as the music, is simply stunning. Shawn Lane does some of his most beautiful playing on Icon. If you enjoy Indian fusion music, this CD is a must have.

ICON not get into some of this.......2004-05-18

I like the tracks "Mirror" and "Vehicle" very much in fact and listen to them at work on my PC. On these two tracks Lane and Hellborg are prominent and the reason I bought the CD. Haven't tried it yet, but was wondering whether it's worth trying to meditate to "Vehicle", if I can remember to take it home; I do not like the other two tracks "Anchor" and "Escape" however. The percussionists' verbal play mimicking their instruments is tiring to me, it's the reason I gave "Good People in Times of Evil" only two stars. I read an interview with Lane once about singing his leads like the like these Indian percussionists sing their parts, and so to me anyway, it seems like an endless over-indulgent exercise in "practicing", if it had been kept to a minimum, it would have been OK.

Stunning Musicianship! But the Music is..................2004-02-04

Let me put it this way, I think this music isn't music. In fact, I think most of this album is noise and racket. I really hated this album. I don't like Indian music at all. The only reason I bought this album was because this was guitar virtuoso Shawn Lane's last album. I didn't particularly care for his musical direction in the end, but I will say this: he was truly one of the most amazing guitar players I have ever heard and will probably ever hear. The reason I gave this album two stars was because Lane simply played an incredible guitar solo on the second song "Mirror." His tone and delievery were astounding on this song. Anyway, like I said I got this album because it was Lane's last album and I am a collector of Lane's music no matter how bad it is. Lane's passing and the fact that his music is unbelievably hard to find are the reasons why I bought this album.

Average customer rating:

listen to gratefulshrink!
Still Messed Up After All These Years
Waaaay beyond "heavy"...just...BEYOND
As good a place to start as any
no backward-looking psych, this...

Lapsed
Bardo Pond
Manufacturer: Matador Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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Bufo Alvarius Amen 29:15
Ticket Crystals
On the Ellipse
Selections, Vols. 1-4
Under Glass

ASIN: B0000036WL
Release Date: 1997-10-21

Tracks:

Tommy Gun Angel
Pick My Brain
Flux
Anamdamide
Green Man
Straw Dog
Aldrin

Amazon.com

Without the decidedly screwed-up and reverb-murky mix that echoes across vast expanses of Lapsed, Bardo Pond's third album could at times pass for Sonic Youth's second cousin or Dinosaur Jr.'s strung-out sister. To some ears Bardo Pond's free-wheeling psychedelia is nothing more than wankery, but, for those with an appreciation for sonic experimentation and noisescapes, Lapsed delivers a smothering wall of distortion, feedback and ethereal vocals. Bardo Pond craft sludge more pungent and thick than the dregs in the bottom of a hippy's bong. --Adem Tepedelen

Customer Reviews:

listen to gratefulshrink!.......2006-12-14

you pretty much said most of what i was going to say, so i'll just support on here another vote.

this is the first bardo pond album i bought, i recommend it as a great starting place if you want to get into a type of neo-psychadelia literally from somewhere else. so distorted yet so bliss. this band is absolutley one of kind

if you already know what they're about & were purchasing your first bardo pond album, i'd personally recommend lapse or set & setting, both have some very memorable tracks(or as i like to call them, "experiences") & as a whole are nothing short of wonderful.

definately one of the best bands that i've heard in awhile. their on my top 5

Still Messed Up After All These Years.......2006-07-28

If any band (including the great shoegaze acts of past and present) throws up a bigger, more ferocious wall of sound, I've not heard them. There's not much here in the way of Ash Ra Tempel/Acid Mother's lead guitar jamming; the emphasis is on the virtuosic, monolithically heavy rhythm guitar of the Gibbons brothers and Isobel Sollenberger's processed, disembodied rants and chants. Tommy Gun Angel and Flux are much more intense, distorted and messed up than you can begin to gather from the 30 second clips above. A lot of early psychedelic music seems to be based on the premise that you can change the world if you walk around putting flowers in all the right places. The Pond' style of psychedelia seems to be based more on the premise that you can change the world by running over all the jerks in it with a dump truck. Drive On!

Waaaay beyond "heavy"...just...BEYOND.......2002-04-11

Well, after doing a review of their latest "official" release Dilate, I decided to toss my two cents in the ring for Lapsed as well, mainly because I think that, as someone elsewhere stated, this is a perfect starting point for people whose ears haven't been exposed to the Pond. Lapsed is somewhat shorter than either Amanita or Dilate (two absolutley essential albums in their own right) and offers up a nice blend of sounds including some acoustic guitar.
The album kicks off (I should say KICKS OFF!!!) with "Tommy Gun Angel", a song that is so amazingly heavy it still rings in my ears. Completely elevates the tuned in listener to another realm of consciousness. I am not exaggerating. These guys (and girl) have hit on some sonic formula that I hope carries them through the next couple of decades of output. As another reviewer wrote, this is psychedelia completely devoid of nostalgia for a bygone era. It is the NOW SOUND, kiddos. Don't let another day go by without owning this one.

As good a place to start as any.......2001-07-15

I have been listening to this band for only a few months, and I have managed to pick up about everything they have recorded (including stuff only availabe at shows, etc.). They are very consistent, so it's hard to really recommend one album over another. I would say this one, Amanita, Set & Setting, and Bufo Alvarius are the best. The music is thick, but it still somehow washes over you gently at the same time. Comparisons are often made to bands like Sonic Youth, but I think Bardo Pond has forged their own hybrid of psychedelia/soulfulness/sensuality. It's easy to get lost in the music.

no backward-looking psych, this..........2001-03-02

bardo pond's subaquatic, super-heavy psychedelia has kept me riveted ever since i chanced to track down their first LP, 'bufo alvarius' on the recommendation that it sounded like robert hampson's loop...well, that was an inaccurate comparison for the most part, but the album grew on me, and bardo seemed to be very focused and intelligent, in spite of having brains so drug-addled that they should all be vegetables...

i am not a fan of most psychedelia...i've laughed at sundial releases, with their 60s vibe and ridiculous lyrics and attempts to "rock"...i have no interest in the wankery and retro groovery of most psych-acts today...it's tired, stooopid in the dimmest rock n roll sense of the word, and hopelessly out of touch...

but bardo pond continues to somehow evade such traps record after record...'amanita' was a glorious trip, dark and dreamy and what one would hope a psychedelic band would sound like if they were aware of the decade (hear me, sundial??)

they followed that with 'lapsed', and fearlessly chucked the dreaminess of 'amanita' (see "tapir song") for the heaviest thing i've heard in a while (justin broadrick of godflesh would be impressed, methinks)...the songs on 'lapsed' are amazing slabs of sound, at turns terrifying, soaring, snarling, and downright beautiful...

you see, the pond has little patience for retro-fitting their sound, or staying with one idea...the monstrous "flux" is hypnotic, and so low-end you expect to accidentally soil yourself..."green man" is one the of loveliest instrumentals i've ever heard with guitars involved...the gibbons brothers are in love with wah-wah, distortion, and all that, but they are so damn savvy and in love with making FRESH music that any kind of stale flavor is eradiciated right away...

the hammering blues of "straw dog", in which isobel rants rather than murmurs (i like both) such pearls as "i f**ked myself" (goodness gracious!) is followed by an wonderful, long tripped out song called "aldrin" where the bardos revisit the lengthy "amen" from 'bufo alvarius' and manage to make a compelling ten-plus minute song, which erupts in absolute chaos and offers the best musical version of the moment before sexual climax i've heard...the music builds unbearably for just a little too long before isobel coos "swing back in..." (or something like that) and the song returns...the sex metaphor is tiresome, i know, but take a listen and maybe you'll see what i mean...

Tracks:

Limerick
Sentence
Tantric Porno
Wank
The High Frequency
Sometimes Words
Yellow Turban
Rumination
Be A Fish
Tapir Song
RM

Customer Reviews:

Unpardonable.......2007-07-25

Despite the many negative reviews of bad albums I've posted on Amazon, I am actually preconditioned to like the music I buy because I do try to research it beforehand and also because I've spent my hard earned money on it.

Despite that tendency, disappointments are not infrequent. Such was the case with Bardo Pond, which is so glowingly reviewed by others here. When I first listened to the CD it didn't grab me but I couldn't say why. Coming back to it now after a lengthy hiatus I understood the problem: this record is very dull. This is mostly because every track could be cut by 50% or more without anyone noticing. All that would be lost is more interminable, pointless droning on and on than you can shake a stick at. It's clear these guys really know how to milk a flimsy conceit of a song. So if you like incoherent mutterings masquerading as lyrics that go nowhere accompanied by super-grating guitar noise you should buy this CD. By the bye, track 2 is a blatant rip-off of the Breeders, only not nearly as good.

Tantric Porno.......2005-01-21

One of the most beautiful things I've ever heard in my life. But it's so sickening and ugly until you look past the noise. It's like looking into the Elephant Man's eyes and feeling his gentleness. Simply beyond description. Tantric Porno is the most amazing thing I've ever laid my ears upon. And the rest of the album comes close to that song. If you want to truly experience music, get this album. It takes you on a journey to the present.

Sounds like the psychoactive mushroom it was named after.......2003-06-22

While I haven't yet found a Bardo Pond album that I haven't enjoyed, Amanita tends to be my favorite. The singer, Isobel, mumbles and moans semi-coherently, her voice all but swallowed up by the thick/heavy/sludgy mass of guitars oozing around it. Listening to it brings a mental image of stumbling around a darkened room in a hallucinatory swoon. Compelling and delirious psychedelia that wraps you up in it's warm cocoon and leaves you reeling.

impossible to articulate............2001-07-17

i think this CD has only one other review, which is a shame. i can only hope that many people do actually know and love this music, but may be too "pharmacologically-challenged" to get their thoughts out. the music draws you in and keeps you there, and then stays with you days after it is over. it works best when played at very high volume, and with no articifical lights on. try their other stuff, too. if you like jessamine or flying saucer attack, you will proabably like this as well.

Swirling nebulae of lint deep in the hollow of my navel..........1999-07-30

The dopest shoegazer extravaganza yet, topped only by their concurrent contribution to Drunken Fish records' "Harmony of the Spheres" box. I have gotten lost in this album for days at a time, utterly unable to find my way out of the roiling, chittering labyrinths which Isobel's vocals and flute spin around those churning masses of concrete-supersaturated-with-electric-geetar. And just think: if Herod had had a copy, there wouldn't be any Christians today. Too bad.