Someone tell me something about Fursaxa.

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I read an article about Fursaxa in a recent issue of Wire and was sufficiently intrigued, but I've been unable to track down any mp3s. Can anyone who's heard them describe their sound and/or make recommendations?

― Nick Mirov (nick), Monday, 14 April 2003 19:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Haven't heard, but the woman who is Fursaxa was in UN, a pretty good mid-1990s noisy-ish band that put out some records on Siltbreeze.

― hstencil, Monday, 14 April 2003 19:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Really! I wasn't aware of that -- saw them once, they were good. I have a collection of her stuff that I think the Stone Breath people put out, or maybe it was a tour EP? Pretty good regardless.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 14 April 2003 19:30 (twenty-two years ago)

fursaxa is tara burke from philadelphia. she's released four things that i'm aware of so far:

_mandrake_ cdr (acid mothers temple label)
s/t cdr (self released)
s/t lp (ecstatic peace, i think it's a straight reissue of the s/t cdr)
_trobairitz are here from venus_ (live) cdr (self released, i think)

i don't really know how to categorize her music - it's otherworldly drones from farfisa and keyboards, some acoustic guitar and tara's unique vocals. you could call it 'psychedelic folk' and that wouldn't be off the mark. or on it, exactly, but it's as close a description as i can think of. i've seen her live a few times (including having her perform on my radio show once) and every time it's been mesmerizing.

more information here, including streaming audio and some of her great artwork.

― your null fame (yournullfame), Monday, 14 April 2003 19:31 (twenty-two years ago)

ned, don't think tim/stone breath has put out any fursaxa stuff yet - i think there are vague plans to do so.

is that _trobairitz_? i think she put that out herself.

― your null fame (yournullfame), Monday, 14 April 2003 19:32 (twenty-two years ago)

she has a full length LP on ecstatic peace that is really good. there is also a live cd-r (on e.p. as well, i think) that is good. her first album was with makoto kawabata and was on the acid mothers label. it is out of print and i cant find it anywhere. she played breifly in another philly band called clock strikes 13.

the live cd is really spooky and great. very church-y sounding organ and her high voice on top, with occasional other guests playing guitars, etc.. the e.p. album is more textured. very cool as well.

have been looking in vein for old UN 7". cant find any of them!

― marcg (marcg), Monday, 14 April 2003 19:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, _Trobairitz_ -- I was thinking Stone Breath because they were the ones selling that disc at Terrastock 5.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 14 April 2003 19:34 (twenty-two years ago)

oh, and the streaming audio doesn't work on that page. great.

nick, have you tried adding fursaxa to your wishlist on soulseek? i ripped the first two CDRs a while back and i've seen them floating around occasionally (would offer to re-rip them but my drive is flaking out and i'm not really using slsk lately).

― your null fame (yournullfame), Monday, 14 April 2003 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)

in vain, i mean. yod would have stuff, maybe slightly expensive...

― marcg (marcg), Monday, 14 April 2003 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)

marcg, www.eclipse-records.com has that un 7" listed. it's pretty great, too, better than the album.

― your null fame (yournullfame), Monday, 14 April 2003 19:37 (twenty-two years ago)

null fame--thanks for the tip! been lookin all over for it...

― marcg (marcg), Monday, 14 April 2003 19:39 (twenty-two years ago)

i dig the s/t lp a lot... it's in my regular listening lp bin...

psych-kraut-drone... lovely. fans of fey folk and older stereolab will probably approve highly.

― msp, Monday, 14 April 2003 19:44 (twenty-two years ago)

nick, have you tried adding fursaxa to your wishlist on soulseek?

I tried finding a usable Soulseek client for Mac a while ago, but gave up pretty quickly. Sigh, sometimes being a Mac user suXX0rz.

― Nick Mirov (nick), Monday, 14 April 2003 19:45 (twenty-two years ago)

nick--if you have limewire or something i could rip the live cdr for you.

― marcg (marcg), Monday, 14 April 2003 20:04 (twenty-two years ago)

she's very good. The best thing I heard from her was on a Sound Collector comp.

As far as Un goes, I think they only had one 7" (Trans-missions). They were my favorite band for a while. That LP is insane. Two of them are in Double Leopards now (who are great in a whole different way).

Last time I talked to Marcia (it was about a year ago) she was talking about a new project with Helen Rush of Tower Recordings, but I'm not sure anything came of it. Shame - that woulda been awesome.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 04:35 (twenty-two years ago)

i think that's GHQ you're talking about - they just played with scorces and bardo pond (acoustic) in philly...supposed marcia from DL, one or two tower recordings people and someone from pelt. wish i could've been there.

― your null fame (yournullfame), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 07:34 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

Been listening to the Ecstatic Peace LP a lot lately and finding it quite a refreshing change from all the accoustic guitar wankery and noisy noise I usually listen to. I'd like to see her live, but I imagine it would be less enchanting. As I mentioned on the noise board, I don't think it would come off so well without the overdubs she uses on record.

― Ian c=====8 (orion), Monday, 23 August 2004 19:48 (twenty-one years ago)

a lot of people dont like tara live, which i dont get because i think its when she's most potent. i find her recordings great but they dont hold a candle to her performances.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Sometimes when I'm seeing solo folkie types live, I feel a wee bit embarassed, especially if they're grown men and women. I'm wondering how long until I outgrow the plinking acoustic guitar/droning/field recording/sissy phase of life... maybe i'm just high, i dunno.

― Ian c=====8 (orion), Monday, 23 August 2004 20:14 (twenty-one years ago)

fursaxa live isn't terribly different from the recordings, in my experience. she frequently uses tapes (via walkman) of her voice and extras to add layers.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Monday, 23 August 2004 22:31 (twenty-one years ago)

six months pass...

When I saw her do a live music improv to a couple Brakhage films, she had a backing track that was plugged-in and crunchy as hell, VERY different than Mandrake and Cult Mountain, like the Los Bros. Gibbons rubbed off on her. Has she released anything that's comparatively heavy?

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Monday, 7 March 2005 05:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't know about comparatively heavy (though the Un stuff described up thread sounds promising; I havent heard any of it.)

the last track on Mandrake fuckin rules.

― Ian John50n (orion), Tuesday, 8 March 2005 03:18 (twenty-one years ago)

fursaxa is pretty awesome -- def. an accquired taste. we did a ladyfest philly benefit with her a couple years ago where all the cool kids in the crowd hated her. three years later they're totally sucking "new beard america" dick and thinking she's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Tuesday, 8 March 2005 03:22 (twenty-one years ago)

COOL KIDS ARE DOUCHEBAGS.

― Ian John50n (orion), Tuesday, 8 March 2005 03:23 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, i know. im happy to see tara finally getting the credit she deserves, though.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Tuesday, 8 March 2005 03:25 (twenty-one years ago)

four years pass...

Obsessed.

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Thursday, 11 June 2009 04:22 (sixteen years ago)

Very good set at T6.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 11 June 2009 04:29 (sixteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24etu-3Z5Ko

I must have missed them, I don't remember this. Did they play the first day while I was at the Opry instead?

― what u arrestin me for, innit (╓abies), Thursday, 11 June 2009 04:44 (sixteen years ago)

T6, not T7. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 11 June 2009 05:02 (sixteen years ago)

http://promote-my-site.com/images/foreheadslap.jpg

― what u arrestin me for, innit (╓abies), Thursday, 11 June 2009 06:20 (sixteen years ago)

one year passes...

mycorrhizae realm is amazing. maybe the best since lepidoptera? she is so consistently overlooked it's a shame

― kamerad, Monday, 5 July 2010 23:40 (fifteen years ago)

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