"Black Forest/Black Sea is primarily Jeffrey Alexander and Miriam Goldberg, an unusual folk styled duo who sound
straightforward enough on first hearing, until something unexpected turns the simply plucked banjo song they are
playing upside down. Backwards backwoods playing, electronic effects, a shortwave radio and some knob twiddling are
all incorporated into their sound, which twists from traditional folk Americana to beatbox Improv and back again.
Nothing, however, is quite what it seems, and this constant sound shifting gives Alexander and Goldberg's musically
metamorphic contribution to the New Weird America cult an edge over the competition. For BF/BS are genuinely strange."
- The Wire, UK
"When I heard the name of ex-Iditarod member Jeffrey Alexander's new band I immediately knew that I would love them. Just think about what sort of feelings and images a name like Black Forest/Black Sea brings to mind and I'm sure you have a rough idea of what I mean. BF/BS is the duo of Alexander and Miriam Goldberg which just as their name suggests occupies a rather dark corner of the kind of psych-folk territories the majority of the Broken Face staff digs so much. What sets these guys apart from the rest of the gang is the willingness to move towards improvisation and free music in the old sense of such words. Fingerpicked and bowed guitar string massage tie up beautifully with Goldberg's pitch-shifted and ring-modulated cello playing. The ample use of cello is something that makes this record truly uniqueand it adds a bit of a chamber music flavor to the mix which is always an unexpected and pleasant addition to the otherwise traditional instrumentation. After a break of something like seven hours I'm now back to wrap up this review. My dilemma is that I spent this time at four different pubs and I can't even recall how many pints I had at each place. But fuck it, I don't care because what I am listening to right now on the commuter train back home is pure magic. I suddenly realized all this with a smile into the wide open of the passenger car and none of the other passengers dare respond. That attractive woman right across the aisle obviously needs to listen to BF/BS to see the beauty in life. I want to hand her my headphones but the courage is not with me today. Luckily you need my bravery to heed my advice and pick up this mesmerizing recording as soon as possible."
- Mats Gustafsson, Broken Face, Vagnhärad, Sweden
"Make what you will of the weather, the economy and the crumbling infrastructure, but for me, Eastern Europe has a distinct edge on its western counterpart. If you're lucky enough to ever find yourself in Warsaw or Budapest (not Prague, unfortunately -- German tourists have rendered it a hell of trinkets and cheap beer), ditch your guidebook for an afternoon and just wander the streets aimlessly. That melancholy you feel is a collective eulogy for the passing of the old order, a statelier, more honorable time that vanished with the First World War. It seems to spring from the very stone of the city streets, and duo Black Forest/Black Sea have managed, miraculously, to translate it into pure sound on their self-titled debut.
A beguiling, mysterious record composed of equal parts Eastern European and Jewish folk, classical music, drone and free improv, Black Forest/Black Sea is, like the best art, rather difficult to pin down. Little is known about its origins, except that Jeffrey Alexander (formerly of The Iditarod) and Miriam Goldberg recorded it in Providence in a room full of instruments -- acoustic and electric guitars, cello, banjo, effects pedals, short-wave radio, drum machines and an old reel-to-reel. Occasionally, Goldberg's lilting voice enters the mix (as on album highlight "Blackbird on Gray Sky"), but the proceedings are mostly instrumental. Old World melodies enter on fingerpicked guitar and are buffeted by experimental breezes; classical figures become penetrating drones, tone clusters alternately support and obfuscate the main theme. This is the music of decay, but it maps out a dignified decline. Song by song analysis becomes irrelevant; this is an album meant to be consumed as such. Like the Hungarian bridges straddling the Danube, it has a foot in two worlds: the old Eastern Europe of myth, and the new, real, slightly uncomfortable modern age. It is exceptional and highly recommended."
- Ben Hughes, Splendid, Downers Grove, IL
Here's a jpeg scan of a recent BF/BS review from Blow Up Magazine, Italy
Here's a jpeg scan of a recent For The Dead In Space, Volumes II & III review from Blow Up Magazine, Italy
"Dark, intense and painfully sweet. I like them even more than the Iditarod."
- Enrico Ramunni, Rockerilla, Italy the next issue of Rockerilla Magazine features Black Forest/Black Sea as one of their top ten releases of 2003 - along with discs from Fred Frith, Robert Wyatt and the Magic Band!
"Jeffrey and Miriam move on from the Iditarod with a short but perfectly formed release of haunted Eastern European flavoured songs and instrumentals that place icy fingers around the heart like the music Keislowski used for his Dekalog. It's all morose in a way that is curiously uplifting. Great Bah Humbug music." (listed as one of Tony's top releases of 2003)
- Tony Dale, Camera Obscura, Australia
"On their debut, Providence-based Black Forest/Black Sea offer seven chilly field recordings placed within a half-improvised framework of guitar, cello and sundry accented glitches. After piecing together a magnificent patchwork tent of bark, calico fabric, twisted vines, and fallen stars, the duo-- featuring ex-members of experimental folk troupe Iditarod-- sets up an austere camp in the enchanted psych-folk glen also inhabited by Ghost, Charalambides, Six Organs of Admittance, Fursaxa, and the Jewelled Antler Collective. In addition to Jeffrey Alexander's guitar (finger-picked and bowed) and Miriam Goldberg's cello (pitch-shifted and ring modulated), Black Forest/Black Sea incorporate hissing short-wave radio, omnichord, haunting vocal melodies, saxophone, rusty percussion, 8-rpm phonograph, reel-to-reel noise, drone, feedback, fireside crackles, and some general knob turning. Catchier, darker, and less composed than their Iditarod forebears, Black Forest/Black Sea's diminutive freak-outs are surprisingly addictive. "Sevastopol", which reverences the Ukranian Black Sea fishing port, is an autumnal patch of creepy chamber-music woven with repetitious arpeggios, sturdy cello, backward loops, and the scent of a woodsy bacchanalia. The heavily-plucked "Blackbird on Gray Sky" employs female vocals and swirling instrumentation to lock into its groove, a straightforward troubadour piece until the vocals double and crunchy percussion begins to accompany what sounds like a warped singing saw, bird calls, spectral voices, and shimmering electronics. "Beautiful Here", meanwhile, is more trebly and compressed, a muffled sonic effect like the strains of Medieval bards leaking to your eardrum from someone else's headphones. The lyrics capture the deceptively simple remembrance of a forestal epiphany: the song ends with a field recording of birds, breezes, trees. Here and elsewhere, Black Forest/Black Sea tweak a silvan melancholy; even when the players are happy, it's depressing. Though each song is successful in its own small way, on "Sunday Market", the acid-folk finally explodes outward with a jangling astronomy. Locating the bedroom version of Magic Hour's transcendent density, a quick Casio beat and snowballing of layered sounds-- alto sax, jarring spring reverb, and caterwauling feedback pretending to be a pack of crows-- catapult the listener into quaking treetops. If every track reached these heights, this record would be required listening; triple the length of "Sunday Market" and godhead is not simple hyperbole. The finale, "Lump in Throat", neatly brings the vibe back down to earth; its organ drones and synthesized drum beat lay a foundation for end-time stargazing, intuitively capturing the fragile rhythms of cracked branches: place a pillow over your head, grab your water-damaged copy of The House of The Seven Gables, and await your next personal witch hunt. Regardless of the modest earlier tracks and the brevity of the whole affair, there's plenty of beauty shot through this old-world sleepwalk. Especially impressive as a debut, at this point Black Forest/Black Sea offers a gorgeous snapshot of the free psych underground, one of the purest spaces of otherworldly terrain in the current musical landscape. I look forward to future incantations." - Brandon Stosuy, Pitchfork Media, Chicago, IL
"Black Forest/Black Sea's track reminds me of both "Drifters of the Grand Trunk" by Sun City Girls and, gosh, I think Sandy Bull . . . . . really good, too short . . . . . obviously, you should check out this comp if you're looking for a fully stuffed introduction to today's various strains of New Millenium Psych." (excerpt from a review of the Invisble Pyramid)
- Larry Dolman, Blastitude, Chicago, IL
"It seems the Last Visible Dog label can do no wrong of late, now bringing us this wonderful album of mellow, melancholy music full of folkish, creaky ambience from Black Forest/Black Sea. It's tailor-made for the Terrastock Nation, if you know what we mean. If you read Broken Face 'zine, or scarf up Jewelled Antler cdrs, or dig what the Wire calls "The New Weird America", or liked their track on the "Invisible Pyramid" compilation, well then this disc of psych-folk action ought to suit you like that shaggy beard suits Kawabata Makoto. Black Forest/Black Sea are the Providence, RI duo of Jeffrey Alexander and Miriam Goldberg (is one the forest and one the sea? dunno). Jeffrey plays guitar and Miriam plays cello, primarily, but there's more than just guitar and cello in the mix. We know a couple of their friends help out at times with some shortwave, sax, and general knob-twiddling. But these songs mostly start with melodic guitar picking, oftimes unaccompanied, that may then be joined by doleful cello drone, wavering electronic organ, or perhaps some slow, steady percussion rhythm -- even, on one track, primitive electronic beats from a Casio or something -- always stirring echoes of old world folk and underground '70s kraut jamming. Much of this is instrumental, with what vocals there are -- it must be Miriam singing -- being quite haunting, sometimes simply lurking in the background, wordlessly, melding with the glitchy reel-to-reel tape noises and other non-instrumental, extra-musical textural effects this band employs that add depth and mystery to their simple but effective songs. From spacious droning, possibly improvised passages to downright tuneful 'folky' hooks, this works and works well. We can't see how any of AQ's psych/folk fan customers would want to pass this up. Recommended." - Aquarius Records, San Francisco, CA
"Durante seus curtos quatro anos de existência, o grupo norte-americano Iditarod manteve a freqüência de um álbum por ano. Explorou avidamente o folk inglês, de Incredible String Band a Pentangle. A execução perfeita trazia os requintes medievalistas redescobertos pelos britânicos. Ponto final. Em 2003, Jeffrey Alexander se juntou a Miriam Goldberg e nascia o Black Forest / Black Sea. Haviam trilhado caminhos parecidos, mas estavam prontos para mudar seus destinos. Essencialmente, um duo de violão e violoncelo. Abaixo da superfície escondiam-se pedais de efeito, gravações de campo, samples, baterias eletrônicas precárias, ruídos e ondas de rádio. Tomando o folk como ponto de partida, alternam-se pela música de câmara e o improviso. Como se isso não fosse estranho o suficiente, o auto-intitulado disco de estréia ainda brinca com extremos, fundindo o antigo ao contemporâneo, o silêncio ao ruído, o sofisticado ao simples, atingindo assim um resultado também antagônico, estranho e familiar."
- Guilherme Barrella, Four Hearts In A Can, Brazil
"Mellow and melancholy music full of creaking ambience from this Rhode Island duo (featuring one member of the great Iditarod). Mostly instrumental, cello and guitar, knob twiddling…"
- Rough Trade, UK
"Wat loop je nou te grienen JW? Hububububub lijkwitte sneeuw, dood. Iditarod-lid Jeffrey Alexander doet het nu gewoon met een andere vrouw, Miriam Goldberg. Cello en tokkelgitaar-duetten met wederom engelenzang en soms zware percussie. Winterplaten om je schaatsen voor in het vet te laten."
- Jan Willem Broek, Subjectivisten, The Netherlands
"Black Forest/Black Sea is the new duo featuring former Science Kit/Iditarod member, Jeffrey Alexander. As former head of Magic Eye Singles and current stringpuller at Secret Eye, Jeffrey is responsible for all three wonderful Tom Rapp tribute disks, and his beautifully romantic collaboration with Miriam Goldberg on "Wizard of Is" is a welcome addition to his discography." (excerpt from a review of For The Dead In Space, Volumes II & III)
- Jeff Penczak, Fake Jazz, New Haven, CT
"Black Forest/Black Sea are the duo of Jeffrey Alexander (on guitar and effects), most known as part of the folk-psych group the Iditarod, and Miriam Goldberg (on cello). Their performances are about half-improvised, often working off live instrumental loops created in real time. Their 2003 self-titled debut album, with contributions from a few friends, mixed varying parts of folk, classical, and ambient-trance rock in both vocal and instrumental settings. Falling somewhere between folk, classical, and ambient music, Black Forest/Black Sea's self-titled release combines sawing cellos, delicately-picked guitar and banjo, and some slightly more dissonant textures on both vocal and instrumental songs. The mood is often pensive without quite striking a morbid note, like the soundtrack to stumbling across benign, pagan, back-to-the-land holdouts in the middle of the woods. It's appealing melancholy mood music. Miriam Goldberg's somber, haunted, folk vocals make "Blackbird on Gray" one of the better pieces, while background, short-wave radio and knob-twiddling push the otherwise characteristically folk-classical "Banjo Song" into the record's most experimental territory. It's not all pastoralism, with drum machines and heavily fuzzed guitar making some appearances, and varispeed electronics and ghostly Pink Floyd-like swoops gracing the trance-rocky "Lump in Throat."
- Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide, Ann Arbor, MI
"This release has been out for a month in America, but as of yet with no British distribution. I like to regard them as my secret band - but their mix of eastern folk with modern electronica and sound experimentation really deserves attention. Black Forest/Black Sea merge old and new styles with devastatingly beautiful consequences. 'Sevastopol' opens in a deceptively simple manner, cello ebbs with picked guitar, it sounds like the Rachels dancing with The Dirty Three - until detuned electronics and backwards distortion give it a dark foreboding feel, like a folk band on acid (but nothing like The Grateful Dead). 'Blackbird On Gray Sky' has cellist, Miriam, singing over a banjo motif, the melody is gorgeous, then ultra loud, DIY as fuck drums smash in. It's scary (in a good way). Black Forest/Black Sea experiment with music, the instrumentation lies within the classical school, reminiscent of chamber pop and slow-core bands such as Low. But they also play with sound; broken drum machines and ambient hisses initially seem to jar with the music, then fall behind it creating warmth and diversity, 'Banjo Song' sounding like a lullaby amidst a power surge. With 'Lump In Throat' electronic keyboards and omni chords establish a beautiful, slow, warm progression whilst delayed Hawaiian guitar glistens over it. Then parts slip out of tune, the guitar gets lost in its own delay, only to re-emerge under a warm blanket of noise. It's beautiful, when Brian Wilson was simultaneously trying to write Smile and slowly breaking down, I'd imagine these were the sounds he heard in his head. That really is the highest compliment I can pay a piece of music." - Jonathan Falcone, Do Something Pretty Fanzine, UK
"Ever heard ‘glitchy improv-chamber-folk’? That’s what Rhode Island’s Black Forest / Black Sea brings to the table. Two ex-members of acid-folk troupe the Iditarod employ bowed guitar, cello, omnichord, found sounds, and an 8 rpm phonograph to craft an austere musical cocoon." - Austin Chronicle, Austin, TX
"Black Forest / Black Sea inhabit a murky, chilly corner of the modern psychedelic folk scene. their primarily instrumental music, constructed on cello, acoustic guitar, and occasional damaged electronics sounds like what could have happened had Nick Drake or Marc Bolan dedicated themselves to experimental music. Alongside bands like Acid Mothers Temple, Fursaxa (who they've toured with), and Ghost, BF/BS are a substantial creative force in the folk music world." - Tentacle, Seattle, WA
"I desperately wanted to hear a solo album from Jeffrey Alexander of the Iditarod, and this (in places) is somewhat how I imagined such a treasure would be. But in another way it’s how I’d have dreamed a perfect Iditarod album would sound, which is almost a sacrilegious thing to say -- we have here a lady named Miriam Goldberg on vocals and cello... eastern-flavoured cello moans & drily cries its haunted tones while Jeffrey adds his magical touches of fried ambience. And this is a beautiful album. A haunted dreamscape. Much too short … but then I’d say that if this were a 6 disc box set. I can’t get enough of this music. MORE !!" - Rod Goodway, Aching Cellar, Wiltshire, UK
"Imagine you are sitting in an Internet café, in Cincinnati or something. All of a sudden, the doors kick open and in comes a band of roving Gypsies. They have the whole kit and kaboodle; the dancing bear, the knife jugglers and the lutes and stuff. They gather around one of the open PC's and plug their tinkered instruments into the machine. The music that follows, all through the evening, would sound like Black Forest / Black Sea. The pair, members of the Iditarod and keepers of the sacred flame that is Secret Eye Records, play such a variety of instruments that you almost feel like this is a chamber orchestra or something. The music does retain a great sparseness though, even with the long laundry list of instruments. It is this sparseness that lends this album much of its import. There is room for all the different sounds to grow and get under your skin, to create this pleasantly odd mixture of foreign and fuzzy music. It is not often that a record has cellos and lutes and mandolins as well as drum loops, theremins, and short-wave radios. Here, in this beautifully constructed folk world of the future, all of these disparate parts live in a perfect harmony. From the low growling distortion rising through "Blackbird on Gray Sky" to the cello and faraway radio buzz of "Banjo Song" to the haunting voice and pop cello (reminiscent of Eleanor Rigby) on "Beautiful Here", this album serves as the perfect soundtrack for the Gypsy campgrounds outside that Starbuck down the road. Just watch out for their curses and their loose morals… the Gypsies, not Black Forest/Black Sea. I don't know what their curses or morals are like…" - Grant Capes, Indie Workshop, Clive, IA
"Esistono diversi modi (vie) della liberazione. Quella intrapresa da questo
combo, in bilico tra tradizione indiana e sperimento d'avanguardia, fa luccicare
una possibile alternativa ed il viatico verso i lidi dello splendore si
annuncia trepidante di risvegli albeggianti d'aura sacrale, per quanto le
melodie ed i contenuti timbrici del lavoro in oggetto recuperino l'odore
acre del progressive di maniera. Danze sacrali imbastite coi clangori
dell'avvento,
montagne d'anelito all'illuminazione gestite coi ritmi sussurrati dell'incenso,
acque splendenti ed ascese transuraniche dilatate dalle spore della coscienza.
Assai simili ai cantori On the Shore dei Trees, il misconosciuto combo post
folk americano affattura coi violincelli antropologici di menestrelli in
libera uscita da Christiania, non mancando di sorvolare la chiesa sulla
spiaggia di Skagen. E se il paragone con lo Jutland vi sembra azzardato,
basti ricordare che la veste della figura femminile della splendida copertina
del CD riecheggia le venditrici dell'ambra del Baltico pre-sovietico e le
aliene 'marcite' dal celtico viraggio di una stagione appartenuta ai Penguin
Cafè Orchestra. Accenti mediotarantolati e piogge acide da deliquio
pre-desertico,
tamburi accordati dai bioritmi dell'intimo, banjos dodecafonici e visioni
arabesque, suggellano lo straordinario episodio."
- Antonio Amodei, AAM Terranuova Magazine, Italy
"From the ashes of the Iditarod rises this remarkable new musical vehicle. Jeffrey Alexander plays a plethora of instruments, when there are vocals they are mostly by Miriam Goldberg, who also plays some omnichord, drums, and employs her cello to great effect throughout. Black Forest / Black Sea are at once darker, and warmer than the Iditarod, Miriam's voice is much less chilly. The former band's more folky overtones have been replaced by a much wider and more complex musical vocabulary that spreads it's wings to include; free improvisation, field recordings, chamber music, ghostly atmospherics, psychedelia, drone, pop, early Brian Eno, ancient euro folk roots, and much more; to be truly beguiling on this all too brief introduction." - George Parsons, Dream Magazine, Nevada City, CA
"Jeffrey and Miriam from the latest Iditarod line-up: the roots of the sound are still in darkwoods psych-folk but exploratory wings are unfurled into Eastern European sounding laments with Miriam's cello to the fore, strange undulating drone-pop, the rich yet simple voice and cello tapestry of 'Beautiful Here' ... recommended." - Gayle Brogan, Melody Bar, Hartlepool, UK
"This American duo plays melancholic, plain and psychedelic crossbreeding of folk and chamber music. The group is formed of Jeffrey Alexander (guitar etc.) and Miriam Goldberg (cello, vocals etc.). This is their first album (just over 30 minutes long), before this they we're involved in The Invisible Pyramid compilation that also included the Finnish Avarus, among others. BF/BS creates very atmospheric, dark music with very few instruments, and their music would be very suitable for the soundtrack to some art movie. In fact, they have been involved in a film project. Soundwise they have a rather lo-fi approach, and have been backed with for example some ancient drum machine and radio noise. The album is mostly instrumental, only on two tracks ("Blackbird on Gray Sky" and "Beautiful Here") we get to hear the celestial voice of Miriam. So, the most important instruments are guitar (acoustic and electric) and cello, but there's also some saxophone, for example ("Sunday Market"). My favourite track is maybe the last, long drone called "Lump in Throat", where the band succeeds in creating an unbelievable atmosphere. Jeffrey and Miriam have also gigged quite a lot, and are coming for a European tour early in 2004. They will also play at our club on the 31st of January along with Kemialliset Ystävät, so feel welcome to check them out! More info can be found from www.blackforestblacksea.com." - Santtu Laakso, Psychotropic Zone, Helsinki, Finland
"This is a side project of Jeffrey from The Iditarod with Miriam Goldberg. It fits perfectly on the Hand/Eye label's interests. Miriam Goldberg plays cello, ring modulator, pitch-shifter, omnichord and sings occasionally. Jeffrey Alexander plays acoustic guitar, electronics, strumstick, omnichord, and sings as well. I also heard a musical saw at one track, and what seemed to be a banjo on another one. The style is somewhat dark, minimal, moody, acid and a bit experimental neo chamber folk. We hear an improvisation of moods, mostly with cello & electric or electrified guitar with some added layered second cello, some electronic noises, and other textures, in a very relaxed and laid down mode. Fine music to listen too. I also heard some live recordings, which were darker. The group will come to the "Psyche van het Folk" radioshow and will have a live performance on 2004, March 10th during their Europe tour." - Gerald Van Waes, Radio Centraal, Antwerp, Belgium
"the Iditarod’s guiding force Jeffrey Alexander has a mind-frying new band called Black Forest / Black Sea, which I believe fits perfectly into the post-klezmer acid-folk-krautrock genre. Some dude I met took issue with this, arguing that Black Forest / Black Sea clearly sits more comfortably on the wyrd folk/balkan-prog axis given it's eastern european nomenclature, but seriously, the guy's a prick and his opinions are complete fucking toilet. BF/BS feature on the Last Visible Dog compilation 'Invisible Pyramid', a mind-mashing 2 cd set featuring the creme of the current lo-tech drone-rock crop." - Nick Talbot, Choke, Bristol, UK
"And like Marduk, Black Forest/Black Sea do not remind me of Slayer. At all. They played at KTRU last Friday afternoon during Chiffy's shift, and then at Sound Exchange later that evening. Jeffrey and Miriam have the (shimmeringly) droney, (somewhat) folky, and (mildly) psychedelic thing going, and they've got that thing going well. We only stayed for one song at the Sound Exchange gig, but that one song (Robert Wyatt's "Sea Song") was nothing short of magical. Jeffrey sang through some sort of headphone microphone that was fed through a guitar amp, and he played an omnichord while Miriam played processed cello. They were really, really, really great (despite having no overt links to Slayer or decapitation). Their music should be played in chapels with granite walls (flying buttresses optional, although I think that's more of a cathedral-ish feature). And they have an album out which is quite folky in that post-post-post-Fairport Convention sorta way, but I guess that's a lot to do with Jeffrey and Miriam being involved with the Iditarod (the post-post-post-folk-rock band, not the sled race). Oh yeah. They're from Rhode Island. Closer to Sweden than Texas, but still pretty fucking far from the fjords. Do they have fjords in Sweden, or is it a Norwegian thing?" - H.K., KTRU Radio, Houston, TX
"Black Forest/Black Sea s/t CD on Last Visible Dog/Secret Eye, a self proclaimed chamber psych/electronics duo which features Jeffrey Alexander from the Iditarod and Miriam Goldberg. This is a step deeper into the foggy wood, somewhere between Incredible String Band, early Eno and Rachels, but a lot weirder than all that (or not quite as weird as you'd imagine). Really it's a fairly straightforward listen, but there's a nice analog lather rubbed into things to help it go down easily enough, and a positively archaic bass drum sound. It's a direction that I'd like to see more "chamber psych" bands take. I guess the Tower Recordings are a fair comparison, and the Iditarod of course." - Lee Jackson, Austin, TX
Forcefields and Constellations CD cover
Black Forest / Black Sea CD cover
photo by Michael Torres
photo by Arden Stern
photo by Arden Stern
photo by Arden Stern
photo by Arden Stern
photo by Arden Stern
photo by Michael Torres
photo by Carin Wagner
photo by Michael Torres