Search - Ghost :: Tune in Turn on Free Tibet

Meditative and intense, Tune In, Turn On, Free Tibet is this Japanese act's most mind-blowing work to date. Formed in 1984 by guitarist and singer Masaki Batoh, Ghost showed on their first recordings their philosophical and musical debts to the ethereal ethnofusion of Popol Vuh and the tribal, improvisational pummel of classic Amon Duul. On this release, the band has clearly reached a subtler, syncretic, unusual mixture of sun-baked psychedelic drone, folky trance, and traditional Japanese sacred music. Free Tibet, with liner notes from the liaison office of the Dalai Lama, is not always easily listening, but how could it be considering its subject matter, the nonviolent resistance of the Tibetan people? The tone of the works range from exultant to gloomy; most of the music is slowly evolving and acoustic (voice, recorder, guitar, bells, strings), though arcane synthesizers and electric guitars are also thrown into the mix. The simultaneously released Snuffbox Immanence is also highly recommended. --Mike McGonigal