Pores In The Porch And Puddles Beneath (CD-R)
by Spiral Joy Band with John W. Fail

"Pores In The Porch And Puddles Beneath" is an excursion into the hybrid heart of an imaginary hillbilly-asian culture offered by Virginia, USA's Spiral Joy Band (featuring Mike Gangloff and Mikel Dimmick of the now-defunct psych-folk legends, Pelt) with special guest John W. Fail (Lied Music, John W. Fail/Ben Reynolds' Uncabineted Duo).

The opener, "Elegy For Wooden Ladders", is the most dissonant piece in the album, with apparently random flashes of esraj and violin which gradually evolve and interlock, bringing the track to an agitated outcome.

"Down From The Skies" clocks in at almost 40 minutes, and is a perfect combination of the twin guidelines of Spiral Joy Band's music: a long hillbilly fiddle intro by Gangloff is gradually overridden by dissonant drones from Dimmick and Fail on electronics, prayer bowl and esraj, until the americana elements that originated the track are all but submerged in a wave of asian-sounding drone and clattering esraj, with a majestic wave of sruti box rounding off the track.

The final track, "Impercetible, Unwavering" brings matters to near stasis, a thick sruti box drone supporting the strings, who constantly go in and out of phase with each other; about a minute from the end, the drone bedrock is suddenly removed, leaving only the throbbing strings, which eventually fall into silence.

Spiral Joy Band was formed in 2001 as a hook up between Pelt Members Mikel Dimmick and Mike Gangloff, and Karl Precoda (Last Days Of May, The Dream Syndicate).

On "Pores In The Porch And Puddles Beneath", Dimmick and Gangloff are joined by Glasgow-based american expatriate John W. Fail for three lenghty excursions into dynamic drone structures, with thick layers of violin, esraj and sruti box interspersed with occasional punctuations on prayer bowl and electronics.