Black Sun Ensemble is serious ghost-dance psychedelia, starring the agro-raga guitar of leader Jesus Acedo"
-David Fricke, Rolling Stone
Live at KXCI Volume II
limited edition pressing released on SlowBurn Records December 2004
Jesus Angel del Paz - electric sitar-guitar
Eric Johnson - kick drum, hi-hat, bass, banjo
Brian Maloney - sax
John Paul Marchand - percussion
This second volume of stoned rockers wandering the desert in an ‘El Topo’-styled hallucinatory haze was recorded on the March 22, 2004 edition of the ‘Locals Only’ programme on Tucson, Arizona’s KXCI-FM. Like its predecessor, it mixes interviews with a terrific set of live interpretations of songs from BSE’s back catalogue (and a couple of new teasers from the forthcoming studio album) and marks the band’s 20th anniversary together. Guitar maestro Jesus Angel del Paz (aka Acedo – it seems each release is accompanied by a name change!) whips his Eye of Horus Sitar Guitar into a frenzy on the lengthy opener, ‘The Shining One,’ which finds him joined by Brian Maloney’s skronking sax and Eric Johnson “on everything else,” although KXCI DJ John Paul Marchand is also on hand (replacing Brian Kohl, aka Otto Terrorist, who relocated to New York just prior to this recording) to pound the odd hand drum and shake the maracas. ‘Rosemary Lane’ (not the Bert Jansch song) and ‘Lillith’ (featuring Maloney’s romantic, serpentining sax fills) cocoon the audience in a warm blanket of heavenly vibes and smiling faces, elevating them to that great floating cumulous burrito in the sky. Fans of The Bevis Frond’s Nick Saloman and Sun Dial’s Gary Ramon will bow down in “We’re not worthy” reverence at Acedo’s brainfrying fretwork on the two tracks from ‘Hymn Of The Master,’ the lengthy Middle Eastern-flavoured ‘Captain Wormwood’ and the tearfully gorgeous ‘Song For Precious.’ One of my personal favorites, their mesmerizing ethni-delic signature song, ‘Dove of the Desert’ wraps up the set on a high note (pun intended) and whets the appetite for their eleventh album, ‘Bolt of Apollo,’ due later this year. (Jeff Penczak)
(SlowBurn Records 2004, SBR044)
From Aural Innovations #31 (June 2005)
This live recorded sequel to the first volume features the same blistering line-up but finds the group inhabiting an altogether different space, including performances of more traditional raga-inspired pieces and some feverish modal exercises. A number of classic Black Sun Ensemble songs are well represented, with particularly excellent versions of "Dove of the Desert" and "Cherokee Mist." Jesus Acedo is clearly the instrumental fire power that drives BSE, though stellar performances are turned in by Eric Johnson on bass, banjo and percussion; Brian Maloney on tenor sax; and John Paul Marchand on an assortment of percussive instruments. Here Acedo plays sitar-guitar in his own uniquely self-realized style, though some obvious comparisons can be made to "Kashmir"-era Zeppelin, the early Mahavishnu Orchestra, as well as to both Hendrix and Santana. Alternately meditative and fiery, pieces like "Lilith" and "Dove of the Desert" amply illustrate Acedo's considerable talents and an ability to make his axe both sing and shred, sometimes within the same measure. There are times though when Acedo indulges himself too much, producing nothing more than self-absorbed guitar tangents that verge on the histrionic; fortunately, however, Maloney's plaintive tenor sax effectively counterpoints Acedo's leads and usually brings them back down to earth before they spiral out into infinity. This is especially the case on "Lilith," which manages to frame Acedo's middle-eastern interventions with a beautiful jazz-fusion patina that recalls McLaughlin and Santana at their most mystical and devotional. "Dove of the Desert," the disc's concluding track, is archetypal Black Sun Ensemble, with Acedo's guitar burning through the scales like a phoenix rising from its pyre. As the molten feedback cools, we're brought back down to terra firma with the chiming reverence of sacred tones that drift into the silence like desert nightwinds on a mesa. Executed with both subtlety and sincerity, Live at KXCI, Volume II, will no doubt appease fans of intelligent, if sometimes indulgent, fusion music.
Reviewed by Charles Van de Kree
Factory pressed CDR of live radio recordings from this impressive instrumental psychedelic band, who combine various world musics such as Spanish, Indian and Middle Eastern with elements of jazz and folk and a particularly untamed brand of psych-rock. There are sections that sound improvised, but instead of just sounding like a noisy mess, as is often the case with improvisational music, this band manage to pull it off, creating a mindbending, atmospheric musical experience. Along with the actual music, there are a series of interview segments, making this an interesting artefact for fans, as well as providing background knowledge for those new to the band.
-Bliss Aquamarine