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...a commanding, memorable argument for the
appreciation of prog-rock
jammers in the modern
era.... best of all, it showcases musicians making
new from old,
with few concessions for today. - Doug
Mosurock, Dusted
The album crawls through the molten blackness
stopping
only briefly to add chunks of rubble and debris to its
twisted
and tortured form. Underneath the undulating cloud form
that threatens rain at each minute, there lies a blues base that
lets itself through... Elsewhere though its pushed deeper
into
fuzz channeled nightmares and scorched sky lamentations.
Though its
old to the band its new to the world and rightly
secures Matta Llama's
reputation as
psychedelic innovators.
-
Raven Sings the Blues
...fleets of heavy drums and
sky-kissing wah-wah
guitar giving it a classic Guru Guru freak-out
feel – but it’s dusted down
with some seductively weird abstract
instrumentalism, with keyboards, fuzz
and drums building shadowy
shapes that add a beautiful layer of confusion
to the more
straighahead psych rock passages. And when I say straight
ahead I mean
High Tide, the Spectator label, Martin Weaver…
it’s that kinda bomb. -
Volcanic Tongue
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BD03
Matta Llama The Witch Channel
Sometimes,
throughout the process of creating a record, it is easy to forget
how much magic is involved. When one is surrounded
by wires, microphones, dials, tubes, screens, and stomp boxes there
can be a decided lack of mystery. These are the earliest Black Dirt
recordings, originally captured a mere few days after our humble
doors were opened. As a matter of fact, everyone involved approached
the experience as a sort of favor – you’ll be our guinea
pig and we’ll do our damn best to get a good document out
of it. Matta Llama dug in for a session and did what they do so
well... wordlessly picking up their instruments – and at certain
points, each other’s – and opening up that secret door
that allows access to a timeless wellspring of past and future sounds.
After the band had improvised more than an album’s worth of
music, something seemed off on playback. Another session was scheduled
and a different approach was taken. Oddly, the results were the
same. We placed the recordings on a shelf and high fived each other
before they rode off on their way back to the big, dark city. And
there the recordings sat. But a funny thing happened a few years
later after we received our Alchemist’s robe in the mail.
We went back to the them and realized that whatever was leaden about
the sounds Matta Llama had laid down so many months before was purely
a result of a young studio – and novice engineer! - and once
some of those problems were corrected, a blazing, golden, psychedelic
beacon shot out of the speakers. The band was immediately contacted
and at an impromptu meeting many things were discussed. Seeds grown
to trees, lead to gold, and finally the idea of this record. Now,
so many years later, this record glows with magic. It is hard to
believe that there were any of the mundane trappings of a studio
involved at all. It
is a swirling, mysterious, and dark record and the document of the
birth of Black Dirt and we’re proud to present The Witch
Channel to you.
Edition
of 500
Recorded at Black Dirt Studio
Westtown, NY
Mastered by Carl Saff
Chicago, IL
140g vinyl pressed at Brooklyn Phono
Brooklyn. NY
Covers silk screened by VGKids
Ypsilanti, MI
BD01
• BD02 • BD04
• BD05 •
BD07
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Side 1
1. Macropsia
2. PHALLIX
3. Medical Sex
4. The Witch Channel
Side
2
1. Ukiah Shade
2. Cellular Tramp
3. Relapsed Heretic
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