MoonJune stalwart https://bandcamp.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3c07501397b9c268ae7e10756&id=34b40d6ae2&e=120b190db7" rel="nofollow - DENNIS REA (Moraine, Iron Kim Style, Zhongyu) continues his series of “musical travelogues” with Giant Steppes, a boldly unconventional exploration of Central Asian music that follows on from his acclaimed 2010 MoonJune release Views From Chicheng Precipice. The album also comes with Rea's companion book Tuva and Busted, available as a free download from Blue Ear Books at https://bandcamp.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3c07501397b9c268ae7e10756&id=c97b08db13&e=120b190db7" rel="nofollow - blueearbooks.com/books/tuva-and-busted
Recorded over several years in Seattle and Siberia, Giant Steppes is the ever-unpredictable guitarist/composer/arranger's most ambitious album so far, interpolating Silk Road desert airs, Russian choral songs, Tuvan throat singing, and mutant Tibetan pop with a gleeful yet respectful disregard for genre purity. The album is all over the map both geographically and sonically, mingling jazz, heavy prog, krautrock, surf, electroacoustic soundscapes, and field recordings and showcasing such formidable musicians as Tuvan singer Albert Kuvezin (Yat Kha), celebrated Russian choral ensemble Juliana & PAVA, wonderful bassist Wadim Dicke, trumpet mage Greg Kelley, Rea's 1970s Earthstar bandmate Daniel Zongrone, and Seattle treasures Steve Fisk, Doug Haire, Stuart Dempster, Dick Valentine, Don Berman, Greg Campbell, Brian Oppel, and Greg Powers.
What's more, Giant Steppes is paired with Rea's new companion book Tuva and Busted, a joint publication made available for free by MoonJune Records and Blue Ear Books. In the manner of his previous book Live at the Forbidden City, this richly illustrated account relates the improbable tale of how an early interest in Tuvan music eventually led, via two MuzEnergo tours of Russia, to Rea performing in the remote republic, collaborating with distinguished Tuvan musicians, and even acting as a judge in a throat-singing competition. The book includes expanded liner notes for Giant Steppes that detail each album track’s origin and making. |