“West Coast psychedelic folkie Nick Castro is currently making some of most dynamic and truly original sounds to emerge from the much-ballyhooed new folk movement. As “freak-folk” and assorted hairy-fairy type labels grab the headlines in the underground, Castro strives for a solemn, serene sort of beauty, summoning utterly melodic incantations in song and sound. Gracefully immersing 60’s/70’s British Isles acid balladry with Middle-Eastern traditional music and heady, pan-cultural communal jams, Castro succeeds in reaching otherworldly vistas and ocean-spanning folk transcendence.
Following up 2005’s lauded Further From Grace, Castro unfurls his sprawling third album Come Into Our House, easily his most far-reaching and deeply molecular outing yet.
Previously backed by The Poison Tree, which included Josephine Foster and members of Espers, Nick Castro has assembled a new band of players under the moniker The Young Elders – a truly stellar cast of musicians whose combined resumes include folk and avant rock ensembles Current 93, In Gowan Ring, Damo Suzuki’s Network and Cul de Sac. Castro has found a lineup in The Young Elders that fully articulates his vast and grandiose visions, and subsequently Come Into Our House shimmers brightly in sound and scope.
An East-meets-West melting pot of instrumentation – from acoustic guitars, upright bass and piano to Celtic harp, Moroccan tabla and nyabinghi drum – Come Into Our House is at once primitive and polished, elaborate yet elusive, effortlessly mating Bert Jansch-style folk song (“Winding Tree”), psychedelic folk rock (“One I Love”), Middle Eastern traditional music (“Attar”) and Bay Area acid-raga (“Lay Down Your Arms”) to a kind of organic studio Musique Concrete that Can forged on albums like Tago Mago. The results are astonishing, challenging and utterly psychedelic … A modern acid-folk masterwork.” – Strange Attractors Audio House
Friday, July 21, 9pm, $6: NICK CASTRO & THE YOUNG ELDERS w/ special guest Ken Reaume
Soundlab (dedicated to the music, media & performance of Big Orbit Gallery) * 110 Pearl St, corner Pearl/Swan (entrance behind building) * 716.440-5907 * http://www.bigorbitgallery.org