The Heliotropic Sounds of Sun Araw

January 21, 2012 11:27 PM

Let's take a brief detour into the strange sonic labyrinth of Sun Araw.

Sun Araw's main instigator is one Cameron Stallones. Cameron also played in the defunct LA psych drone band Magic Lantern.

Releasing 6 albums (2 2xLPs) in the last four years, along with tapes, live recordings, and other one-offs with fellow NNF bands, Stallones is nothing if not proliferate.

Some have described his mercurial style as "dubedelia". Certainly there are heavy krautrock, dub, and afrobeat influences, although Sun Araw has covered Neil Young and Teenage Fanclub too.

Some videos for tracks off the latest record, Ancient Romans: At Delphi; Impluvium and some live footage.

posted by SomaSoda (16 comments total)

Having never heard of anything in this post, I feel the need to express my uninformed opinions on the internet. This solo work, or new project, or whatever, I'm not sure the timeline here, is not so good to me. My ears, they reject this as "wannabe" drone music (is that a thing? not sure). Like if Sounds of the Lid threw a really great sex party that required all who attended to remain perfectly silent except for humming and the, you know, various sex noises. But that Magic Lantern, hooboy now! That is something new to me! Oh my. My teeth felt like they were on fire with the jungle sounds of Gong crossbred with Explosions in the Sky while reading a really nice op ed piece by that guy from the Village Voice, you know, that one guy. The smug one. I like his jazz. Srsly, good stuff.
posted by gideonswann at 2:18 AM on January 22, 2012

Well, I wouldn't mind taking part in a Stars Of The Lid sex party...
posted by WalkingAround at 2:21 AM on January 22, 2012 [3 favorites]

Mush.
posted by troll at 2:22 AM on January 22, 2012

I liked the video for Impluvium. It was like the history of dance only without any of the history.
posted by blaisedell at 6:08 AM on January 22, 2012

I love the music of Sun Araw, so will lend my wholehearted support to this post, and the "listen to Sun Araw" sentiment in general. I think On Patrol is the best place to start (so Deep Cover, the second youtube link, or anything else from the album), the first time I heard that album was a total happy dance moment for me. And gideonswann, while I am sure that "wannabe" drone music is a thing, this is not that thing! I quite like boomkat's descriptors of "pyschedelic sci-fi dub" or "kosmische psychedelia". Then again, if the first thing you think of when you hear Deep Cover with that beat and that guitar is drone, either you need to listen to a lot less drone, or i need to find out where you get your drone music from! Thanks to SomaSoda for the post and for spreading the Sun Araw love...
posted by los_aburridos at 6:42 AM on January 22, 2012

Love this
posted by lakersfan1222 at 8:51 AM on January 22, 2012

I am not sure that 'wannabe drone music' is a thing.
posted by box at 9:41 AM on January 22, 2012

Er, isn't that name rather too close to Sun Ra? Close enough that if you walked into a record store and asked for one, you might get the other?

And this Sun Ark - isn't this name very close to Sun Ra's "Solar Myth Arkestra"?

Sorta creepy if you ask me...
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 11:02 AM on January 22, 2012

Also creepy: Sun Circle.
posted by box at 11:30 AM on January 22, 2012

Oh, shit, and the Sun City Girls. I think I'd better sit down.
posted by box at 11:31 AM on January 22, 2012

released a steady torrent of EPs, LPs, remixes, and singles unto the world

That's just what happened after Switched-On Bach.

Antiquated mysticism wrestles with foggy electronic futurism

Weather or not you're prepared for it.
posted by Twang at 12:28 PM on January 22, 2012

I find my undying devotion to Prince Rama most apposite to this thread.
posted by Kandarp Von Bontee at 12:45 PM on January 22, 2012

I'm listening to some samples from Ancient Romans and I'm really impressed! It's got this great synthesis of late 60's long meandering electronic psych rock sounds, ancient mysticism/relics/stonecircles, and outerspace voyaging. Thanks for making me aware!
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 1:56 PM on January 22, 2012

Great FPP— just thought I'd mention that you can listen to Ancient Romans, in its entirety, on youtube.

And thanks Kandarp Von Bontee for the Prince Rama!
posted by a halcyon day at 5:12 AM on January 23, 2012

box: are you claiming that "The Sun City Girls" sounds like/could be mistaken for for "Sun Ra"? Or "Sun Circle"?

On the off-chance you aren't snarking, go to someone who knows about Sun Ra and ask them, "Ever heard of Sun Araw"? I tried that experiment, trying hard to emphasize the difference, and both times had people raise their eyebrows and say, "Of course!" - because they heard "Sun Ra". And they both laughed and thought it was a rip-off when I let them know...

I'll stick with "creepy" and "trying to steal someone else's name", thanks.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 12:25 PM on January 23, 2012

I'm just trying to point out that there are more than a couple people playing drone-ish music with 'sun' in their name (Hey, Sunn O)))).

But no, I don't think that Sun Araw is trying to steal Sun Ra's name. (There was a battle DJ affiliated with the X-ecutioners named 'Johnny Cash.' There was also a trance DJ named 'Mike Love.' In both of those cases, as with Sun Araw, I do not think that the artist is expecting anyone to confuse them with The Man in Black, the Meditating Beach Boy or the Man From Saturn.) This is something about which reasonable people might reasonably disagree.
posted by box at 1:18 PM on January 23, 2012