VENTIFACTS
Ventifacts
(2021 - self release - USA)

https://ventifacts.bandcamp.com/releases

YOU TUBE videos of band in process
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdhSHwY2GVM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtNwXe1Pbvw

An absolute boggle the mind of deep thought tunings (at least 4 different, and a 5th combined) in the microtonal world (making haste of  intervals smaller than a semitone, and sometimes bitcrushing them into new orbits) that without any sugar coating, brings forth a front brain experience that must accept the thinker in all listeners. This is a one of a kind package in a physical CD wax stamped booklet (9"x 6") *[ all ltd ed CDs are said to be handmade and different from one another] that surpasses all that you ever knew about experimental yet slippery accessible wondrous sparkle dotted mysterious invention in the music universe. The most advanced and lift-off release I have yet to ever witness, using melody, brains, division of tradition or peer pressure, and a brilliant display of the power that can turn over and twist the Western tuning of twelve equal intervals per octave, into a monster masterpiece of eargasms all or none.  

  Gather two forward thinkers Ben Spees (The Mercury Tree) with Damon Waitkus (Jack O' The Clock), and this is the godhead one gets. Massive exploration, all in what progressive music should be, and what new benchmark that is now set in stone to approach, if any others can. Ventisfact might be defined as  eye-catching natural sculptures, representing the most majestic and oddly created structures our earth has to offer, but that is too narrow for this sparling relishable galaxy bouncing temporal slice of indelible inklings. In other words, this is a superlative recording of treasures that only the lucky will take in, and with great faith, far more will follow and float among the stars with this unbelievable work. Even avant-rock, extreme art pop, or progressive rock to the edge lovers will not accept this in a moment, but just after the blast, they will hug the trunk of the tree this grows from, and never let go.

 Just where does this propagate?  Oh that question begs many hours of deduction. The music gains diameter as it plays, and each composition reveals more mystery, further depths, so deep in fact that all I ask at this point is you buy this singular CD package for the excursion of your life. Scared of a set of songs without melody?  Check list secures your fears, and adds a most investigative framework, all in the twilight of your mind's ear.  The artists : Ben Spees - vocals, electric guitar and bass guitars (10-, 17-, and 24-EDO), acoustic guitar (17-edo), keyboards, percussion / Damon Waitkus - vocals, hammer dulcimer, baritone and piccolo electric guitars, acoustic guitars (12- and 17-EDO), guzheng, flute, percussion, electric taishogoto, psaltery / Connor Reilly - drums / Oliver Campbell - bass on tracks 9 and 11 / Emily Packard - violin, viola / All words by Damon Waitkus except "Hidden Well" by Ben Spees / Recorded & mixed by Ben Spees & Damon Waitkus / Mastered by Myles Boisen. It is no secret the duo that came together here  (word is they have worked together since 2019 edging towards this feast) are front members of two of my favorite bands of the last decade. Damon Waitkus (multi instruments, vocals) has produced some of the most unusual mix of folk, avant-anything, and kitchen sink music ever put on tape, and Ben Spees (vocalist, guitarist, and composer of The Mercury Tree) has done quite the impressive microtonal platters even before this (see my reviews).

These two alchemists use the microtonal schematics of : TUNINGS: Azimuth of Sunrise: 24-edo / Pacific: 24-edo / Bonneville: 24-edo / Rest: 24-edo / Virga: free pitch / The Ballad of Hearst & Herriman: 10-edo / Hidden Well: 10-edo & 20-edo / Engine: 17-edo / Groaning Under The Evidence: 17-edo / It's Such A Long Time Ago Now: 24-edo / Dog Day Music: 24-edo.  No hidden agenda, just  beauty in motion, and a different kind of slant, far off the grid from the norm, yet so sweet the presentation. This is HUGE in the most global definition, pushing far into the black holes, and connecting all beings in a wonderland circle of smiles. A MOST ALMIGHTY HIGH RECOMMENDATION !!!!!!    

  ©Reviewed by Lee Henderson  10 - 13 -2021

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