5 Rue Christine
2005
Qvaris
About This Album
The ever-swathed-in-mystery No-Neck Blues Band are back with another CD to enter into their catalog (and a double LP for you vinyl freaks). Based in Harlem, the anonymous collective has been together for a decade and put out more recordings than one can find or list. Qvaris is a continuation of their spooky blend of guitars, drums, strings, keyboards, and who knows what else (typical of their releases, no credits are given) that results in improvisational swirling psychedelic darkness. This one seems to be themed, and a statement of sorts. The band continues from its fine Intonomancy offering, which blended everything from Indian ragas, Native American ritual music, free improvisation, folk, and rock to postmodern experimentalism, and moves into a suite of sorts. The tunes are shorter, intentionally more focused, and somewhat direct. This is individualistic music that reflects, refracts, curdles, screams, and whispers from the various traditions, legacies, and lineages not just in music, but in the artistic freedom of the 19th and 20th centuries as it is brought to bear in the 21st. "The Doon," at a little over five minutes, is a droning, open-ended chant-like piece where electric guitars, percussion, shakers, and atmospherics snake around one another, meandering, it seems, around one theme.
Track List (try tracks 1,4,7 and 10)

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