Electric Esoterica by Sunn Trio

Phoenix is where Twenty One Eight Two Recording Company are from, but it isn't where they are at. The scene is essential to nothing, but that doesn't mean the musicians here aren't essential. Music attempts to appeal to as large an audience as possible, but composition attempts to engage the listener in something different. Enter Sunn Trio. A punk trio that is influenced by Middle Eastern psych, free jazz, and improvisation. While not recorded in a traditional studio, these recordings represent the first studio-produced sounds from this group. The group is built around Joel Robinson and has had as many as eight-to-ten members in recordings and live performances, but more recently has been focused on a trio that composes music that challenges every notion of what rock, punk, or psych can be; however, at the same time, the music is crafted with improvisational focus and middle eastern influence that should be the basis for this generation's new music. Robinson makes his melody maker sound like an oud, rabab, and even at times a gamelan when he isn't using these instruments to generate the lead lines to the compositions. The music has an import that shows a deference to eastern music, while expressing a freedom that isn't present in any modern music. We stood idle during the Arab Spring; we decimated Iraq and Afghanistan; and now we retreated from Syria as the Kurdish people struggled to survive. Sunn Trio creates music that responds to these atrocities and works to build a bridge to these people. Urgent music for urgent times. Electric Esoterica is the third album from Sunn Trio. It is the third in a series of records that revolve around Alan and Richard Bishop, Charles Gocher, W. David Oliphant, and Joel Robinson called the Mount Meru Anthology. These sounds are rooted in a history of creation in Arizona that involves people that were inspired and supported by people who do things differently. Sunn Trio wants you to listen, but don't be fucking passive.

"There's a woozy, heatstroke feel to the band's innovative blend of surf rock, free jazz, mystical drone, and world music. Consistently recording and releasing material via self-distributed cassettes, the Trio's sound mutates in concert, with fantastic flurries of distorted guitars butting up against mantric psychedelic saxophone runs and looping bass." - Jason Patrick Woodbury

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