White Rainbow is cool and all, but I really, really miss Yume Bitsu. Like, I miss Yume Bitsu more than I miss some of my dead pets. The psychedelic rock band from Portland (whose name translates to “dream beats”) hasn’t released any new material since 2003, so we’re approaching ten years without any space-y goodness from the minds of Adam Forkner, Franz Prichard, Alex Bundy and Jason Anderson. Forkner currently focuses on the aforementioned White Rainbow (and has also contributed to Surface Of Eceon, who have been featured on this website before). Prichard if I remember was earning a degree for a while (which was part of why Yume stopped performing), but I don’t know what he’s up to now. Jason Anderson records for K. Oh Yume, how I loved you.
“Tentacles” / “Dryystonian Dreamscapes, Volume One” was a limited edition (500 copies) split 12″ featuring one side of music recorded by Yume Bitsu and one side recorded by Andrew Rieger of the band Elf Power. Planaria Recordings (Dead Meadow, Upsilon Acrux, Ida) released the split. Rieger contributes one track, “Tentacles,” an epic drone piece filled with lush, repetitive (raga-like!) acoustic guitars and slowly decaying electronics that goes on for eighteen minutes. The Yume side kicks off with one of the greatest songs the band ever recorded, the lo-fi drone-psych monster “Be Afraid,” which is one of the more ethereal post-rock songs you will ever encounter. The second track on Team Yume’s side is the motorik exercise “Glider Flight Over The Outer Reaches Of Dryystn.” Delicious Kraut-into-drone goodness. In these two tracks you can clearly hear a lot of what made The Golden Vessyl Of Sound one of the best albums of 2002, and maybe even one of the best albums of the ’00s. Unless of course you prefer Auspicious Winds, and there are many who do. In 2003 the band recorded the single-sided (lovely etched) 12″ called Wabi Morning (released by Burnt Toast Vinyl), and after that…well…I’m still waiting.
Yume Bitsu / Andrew Rieger
Tentacles / Dryystonian Dreamscapes, Volume One
MediaFire DL Link
A1 – Tentacles
B1 – Be Afraid
B2 – Glider Flight Over The Outer Reaches Of Dryystn
