Monday, January 25, 2010

Eden Express

Kip and Kelly Uhlhorn are old friends of mine, so I recently took a trip to go visit with them in Memphis, TN. They didn't have to work hard to make me feel comfortable in their home as it is already cluttered with just the sort of things I like.

My first night in town they played a set live on the radio, and asked if I would be Mr. Tamourine Man for the evening. I agreed.

Have you ever seen ridiculously priced psychedelic records from the 70s? I expect this to be one in 30 years.

Kip had the following to say about this record:

"Alright so, we started recording the Eden Express LP at the end of 2007, I think that we worked on it for about six months (November 2007-March 2008). I am listening to it as I write this for probably the first time since then. It actually sounds really positive, which I like. Anyway, so John Whitson and I always joke around about types of records I should make and I thought it would be fun to make what he described as 'outdoor breakfast music'. Kelly and I had been listening to a lot of Pan Regaliz, Marconi Notaro (who is from some other obscure psych group, that collector boners go nuts for that I can't think of) and maybe say like, the first Caetano Veloso LP. We had also gotten into ingesting things and chilling while watching things like Endless Summer. Anyway, this was the first time that Kelly had sung lead on anything much less a whole record. I think she did really great. I also got to fufill some weird aspirations that I had to put sitars and hammonds on some jams. I think we were all hoping to have Kelly play the role of a chanteuse similar to maybe like Jane Birkin. The cover actually mimics this Gainbourg cover with the two of them. It was supposed to have this reissue kinda feel. We briefly considered releasing the record anonymously and pretending it was a reissue (I think Jan Jelinek does that). Whitson wanted Kelly to be on the cover eating a steak and wearing high heels I think?? I have no idea what that is about, except I do know that there was some concept. Kelly's lyrics mostly came from Paul Bowles or The Devil's Dictionary -- both seem appropriate I guess. I do wish that the percussion was a little more fleshed out as well as maybe the bass. I read people speculate about how this was recorded, and how it sounded so retro -- however, it was recorded direct through one reverb pedal. The entire thing!

Anyway, our friend John David was home for christmas break and we did this mainly with him. However, we did enlist some friends to play stuff on occasion. It was fun just to do something like this that was totally different than anything we had done previously."

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Eden Express.



Que Amors Que (Holy Mountain)

1. Skin de Sol
2. On The Beach
3. Kaleidoscope
4. Lonliest Person
5. Corazon
6. Swelling Moon
7. Marble In Blood
8. Bushels Of Briar
9. Ocean Samba (Tristeza)

1 comment:

Intercoastal artists said...

BJ,
Unfortunately our record will never be "from the 70's."
Sorry about that.
Best,
-Kip