Bolt of Apollo
SBR 045
licensed to Camera Obscura Records
songs- The Shining One, Heart of the Master, Parfedia's Nest, The Mecurial Incense of Melquiades, Scarlet Woman, Long Days Journey Into Tonight, King of the Locusts, Baphomet's Curse, Audio Valencia, St. Cecilia
SlowBurn Records is proud to celebrate Black Sun Ensemble's 20th anniversary with the release of their 11th studio release, Bolt of Apollo. A mostly instrumental album, Bolt of Apollo effectively fuses the sun-baked, raga-esque qualities of the Ensemble with other influences ranging from British Invasion, progressive rock and ambient music. As always, the common thread is the electrifying guitar work of Jesus Acedo.
Recorded and mixed at SlowBurn studios, Black Sun Ensemble takes another giant step forward with this all instrumental recording. Members of Tucson's Sun Zoom Spark return with guitarist/honcho Jesus Angel del Paz (a.k.a. BSE founder Jesus Acedo) to follow up 2003's Starlight CD, licensed to Camera Obscura Records. In addtion to the returning line-up , Bolt of Apollo features power-house drummer Ernie Mendoza and some guitarwork by former Sidewinder's guitarist, Rich Hopkins, in addition to several other guest artists.
The material presented in Bolt of Apollo is extraordinary. From the middle-eastern meditations of The Shining One and The Mecurial Incense of Melquiades to the progressive explosiveness of Heart of the Master and Scarlet Woman, to the ethnic-rock fusion of St. Cecila, Bolt of Apollo showcases firey performances from the Ensemble while, as always, featuring the mind-blowing fret work by guitar wizard Acedo. This synthesis of styles led one writer for the Austin Chronicle to describe Black Sun Ensemble as "...absolutely, amazingly, singular in the world of rock music."
Bolt of Apollo is also an enhanced CD with a video encoded onto each disc to be played in any PC or Macintosh computer. The video for Jewel of the Seven Stars, was directed by former Cesare's Dog vocalist Jonathan Levitt and shot on location in Beijing China.
Bolt of Apollo's layout was created by Chicago artist Ben Johnston. The layout tells the story of the Daphne who is kidnapped by the trickster Baphomet. The sun-god Apollo hears her cries for help and vanquishes Baphomet with an arrow, the Bolt of Apollo. Before Baphomet dies, he curses Apollo with an eclipse -turning the sun black! The layout also features poetry by Acedo to accompany each track of the album.
Bolt of Apollo CD
slowburnrecords@aol.com
Black Sun Ensemble at www.blacksunensemble.com
Otto Terrorist and Eric Johnson (from left), 2005
John Paul Marchand, Eric Johnson, Lelia Lopez, Jesus Acedo,
Brian Maloney (from left)
Opening track, “The Shining One,” rhythmically captures the thrusting and gyrating hips of a belly dancer adorned in deep purple and gold; the licks of a fire’s flames are compelled to follow the song’s cadence. It’s a middle-eastern vibe resonating with the sounds of sitar guitar, bass, Belzuki, Tibetan chimes, guitars, tenor sax and more. The doozy of a tune clocks in at over nine minutes and loosely sets the musical parameters of the LP.
The other nine tracks encapsulate prog rock, psychedelic, jazz, experimental, jam band and testosterone baking in the Sonoran Desert.
BSE’s core band members – leader/guitarist Jesus Acedo (Jesus Angel del Paz), multi-instrumentalist/engineer Eric Johnson, and tenor saxophonist Brian Maloney share in songwriting credit and prove to be a dynamic trio.
Music is the language they speak, and they speak it fluently and eloquently. Accenting and highlighting the compositions include Ernie Mendoza on drums, Rich Hopkins on guitar, plus a myriad of other local luminaries.
It’s an absolute gem and must-have for times of cosmic contemplation – and otherwise""
--Downtown Tucsonan
The album’s opener is the peacefully starting, over nine-minute-long “The Shining One” that in the true BSE tradition is a rather meditative, mystical and a bit oriental masterpiece. The mid-tempo, rather heavy “Heart of the Master” is also traditional BSE stuff and at times very percussive. “Perfedia’s Nest” features a little bit of vocals and is a pretty exciting, rocking and groovy number. Bolt of Apollo is an exceptional BSE album because it has three tracks that do dot feature the maestro Jesus Angel del Paz himself. The first of these is ”The Mercurial Incense of Melquiades” that is a peaceful and relaxing track that also has some sax. The faster “Scarlet Woman” starts off right away with a massive guitar assault by Rich Hopkins. At times they also go in a slower tempo. The second track without Jesus is the dreamy, beautiful and a bit mystical ”Long Days Journey into Tonight” that gets heavier after three minutes. This one has some excellent, rather progressive going and also some Fender Rhodes. Then follows “King of Locust” that is a mid-tempo rock blast and “Baphomet’s Curse”, a nice, fascinating track that is a bit esoteric in mood. The short and very minimal “Audio Valencia” is a couple of minutes long experiment with samples, flute, sitar guitar and bell by Eric Johnson, after which the magnificent and heavy ethnic rock fusion “St. Cecilia” ends this CD in a great way.
The paintings in the booklet and poetry by Jesus tell the story of Daphne who is kidnapped by Baphomet. The sun-god Apollo hears the cries for help and vanquishes Baphomet with his bolt. This is the reason why Baphomet before his death curses Apollo with eclipse. Cosmic and mythical stuff! This album will for sure go down well with all the fans of the band. There is also a ten-minute-long video that was shot in China for the last album’s track “Jewel of the Seven Stars”.
www.blacksunensemble.com
15.11.06 by Dj Astro
[CD - Camera Obscura]
The latest from Tuscon, Arizona based Black Sun Ensemble arrives as the band celebrate their 20th anniversary. Well... founding member and guitar-guru Jesus Acedo has been around that long anyway. The band was on hiatus for several years in the 1990's as Acedo battled drugs and mental demons, until reconstituting the band with members of local ensemble Sun Zoom Spark in 1999. Since then the band have released several albums on the great Australian psych label, Camera Obscura, all of which prove this to be the best BSE lineup in the band's history.
BSE are the masters of guitar driven Middle Eastern / Ethnic / Raga fused Psychedelic jams and intense acidic rocking bliss. "Bolt of Apollo" is all instrumental and includes lots of great jams. Sitar, acid guitar and saxophone all come together for a tripped out rocking good time. But what makes the band so great is the perfect middle ground they achieve between free-wheeling jams and a linear, goal oriented compositional sensibility.
Acedo is an incredibly expressive musician, as are all the band members, making Power and Passion the keywords throughout the entire set. "Bolt of Apollo" is a must have for long time BSE fans. And if you've never heard the band before, this is a hell of an introduction to their brand of acid raga psychedelia.
-Jerry Kranitz
Aural Innovations
George Parsons
Dream Magazine #8
By Ron Bally
Harp Magazine
First printed in June 2007