Louise Landes Levi - IKIRU or The Wanderer

Whereas the previous solo albums of experimental music priestess Louise Landes Levi (here and here) had a more soothing and meditative effect, this one sounds more dramatic and dystopian; this is due to the theme of the album being the monarch butterfly, a species whose numbers have greatly plummeted in recent years. There is an immense feeling of loss and mourning in Louise's wailing sarangi, while in Ira Cohen's poem she recites at the beginning of the second she juxtaposes the strength and resilience of a creature whose brain is the size of a pinhead but knows how to fly to Mexico against the imminent extinction brought about by human negligence. On this album she is accompanied by Bart DePaepe of Sloow Tapes (who had released From The Ming Oracle) and Timo Van Luijk (both members of Ilta Hämärä) who recorded/mixed the album and probably had a hand in the instrumentation too, as there are drones and instances of some sort of dulcimer apart from the sarangi. Proceeds from this album will go to a buttefly conservation center, and since this album is supremely beautiful, I strongly recommend you offer some sort of financial aid straight through Oaken Palace. 2018 LP on Oaken Palace.

Download

Louise Landes Levi ‎– Kinnari & Padma

At the request of a reader, I'm posting two more releases by Louise Landes Levi, whose amazing From the Ming Oracle lp was posted here. The one is Kinnari, originally released in 1986, and Padma, originally released in 1988. Both were self-rereleased by LLL in 2015, while her 2011 tape City of Delirium on Sloow Tapes, contained spoken words over excerpts from both works. Expect great Indian classical music with LLL on sarangi, and other musicians on sitar and tabla, along with the sounds of birds.

NOTE: These two haven't been ripped by me. I found them somewhere online (don't remember where), and I'm just re-posting them. Unfortunately, all files are in 128 kbps, which sucks, but I just obliged to the fellow reader's request. Sorry.

Kinnari

Padma

Louise Landes Levi - From The Ming Oracle LP

Louise Landes Levi is an American poet and musician who played with the Floating Lotus Magic Opera Company, collaborating there with Angus MacLise, Terry Riley, as well as with LaMonte Young and Marian Zazeela in the Theatre Of Eternal Music. She went on to study Indian raga music with top masters and she plays the sarangi, a bowed harp-like Nepali/Indian instrument. On this lp she is accompanied by Hilary Jeffery, trombone player in the Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble. This is amazing meditative raga drone that must be heard. 2014 LP on Sloowax (vinyl sublabel of Bart DePaepe's Sloow Tapes).

Download