Master Musicians Of Bukkake, the excellent Seattle psychedelic experimentalists, recently released a new album, Far West (artwork above), out now via Important Records. It’s their first since the final instalment of their Totem trilogy in 2011, and we’re hugely excited to be able to host a stream of the record in full below.
When we first reported on the news of the album, we pointed out the apparent influence of the revered Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, specifically in the titles of the album’s final two tracks, ‘You Are A Dream Like Your Dreamer – The Dark Peace’ and ‘Circular Ruins’. Wanting to know about his impact on the album, we asked Master Musicians’ Randall Dunn to tell us more: "When conceptualising Far West we talked about the metaphorical journey of a seeker moving so far east they find themselves west again, completing a sort of cycle in the after life in the present in the delusional mind state? It’s unsure. Borges’ story ‘The Circular Ruins’ illustrates an anonymous conjurer who "creates" a being, molding him from the mud and clay and animating him though intense fever dreams. In the end the wizard realizes he has created himself, dreamed himself into existence. Possibly many times over.
"The use of a 33-note round in Far West‘s ‘Circular Ruins’ was an experiment in simulating the cyclic sensation of self-realisation, reflection, "existence mania". The uneven number of notes and randomising of recapitulations creates an almost infinite cycle of polyphonic cascading. It can go on forever because of its asymmetrical foundations, but unfortunately a record can only be so long!
"Borges is a storyteller and if anything, at its core, we try and tell stories with our records, ones that bear up to many interpretations. The magic/reality of Borges is always a great place to find multiple layers of inspiration."
Have a listen to the album below, with the video for LP cut ‘White Mountain Return’ following, and have a read of our In Extremis interview with Dunn from the Totem period:
