Originally released in November of 2019 as a limited run of 60 cassettes on Baked Tapes.
From Baked Tapes —
When Robert Hunter, the poet and writer who provided the Grateful Dead with many of their vivid and enduring lyrics, passed away on September 23rd, 2019, many took to the internet to grieve, but for William Sol (Prana Crafter) and Joel Berk (ragenap), their sorrow required a wholly different outlet. Unknown to each other, they both respectively took to the solitude of their jams to express their mourning privately. The following morning, happening to compare notes, they discovered how they had both similarly sought and drank from the same fountain waters as tributes to such a pronounced loss.
Each side of this release consists of one long track by each artist taking a very different approach to a similar concept. which is layered guitar drones topped with expressive guitar work.
Prana Crafter’s piece “Beggar’s Tomb” is based on a synth drone loop. On top of the loop we hear some heavily processed guitar work creating a type of fever dream atmosphere. Mid way through some distorted guitar kicks in to amp up the atmosphere eventually adding more layers until we eventually until we start to unwind to some more murky depths. 18 minutes of droning guitar perfection. I recently attended the Drone Not Drones show in Minneaoplis and this would have fit right in.
Joel Berk’s piece as ragenap called “Nightfall” takes a bit of a different approach.by slow building up with guitar chords. About 5 minutes in he picks up the pace and builds up a backing distorted guitar drone as a sub layer to his frantic strumming creating a very textured piece. Again another solid piece.
While admittedly I don’t have a clue how and if in any way these pieces actually in any way represent the work of Robert Hunter, I suspect this is more the case of an introspective reaction to his passing would be more accurate description, but that would be for the artists themselves to explain. i can however say that each piece offered is a profound listen for fans of guitar drones. While I am new to the work of ragenap, and look forward to exploring further, Prana Crafter has been a welcomed presence on my record shelves over the last couple years and this is another fine addition.
Released on Centripetal Force Records and Cardinal Fuzz.
