Messages – “After Before” – [De Stijl Records]

victoria west   8/2/2011   12-inch, A Library

Messages is NYC duo Tres Warren of the Psychic Ills and Taketo Shimada. Spencer Herbst joined the jam bam for After Before as the percussionist. On their debut album for the De Stijl record label, you will find three tracks that were recorded in one session. Each track is simply titled the same name as the featured instrument on each track. “Shruti Box” is around 17 minutes long of groovy ambient and excellent mediating drones. It has a very slow crescendo, but I feel it works positively well. “Tambura” and “Ukelin” are much shorter tracks but equally peaceful. Besides the 3 classic drone instruments, Messages include guitar, bass, hand drums, tambourine, cymbals and more. I thoroughly enjoyed After Before and listened to it numerously amount of times. Play this album and provide some positive vibes to your listeners.

-victoria west*