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LINKS [AB-OC-24] AUTO DA FE - The Spectre  CD only SALE! $9 USA; $12 World 1. Past Times [MP3] 2. Little Alili 3. Mao Meow 4. Child of Typhoon 5. The Spectre 6. Bao Ba Cha [MP3] 7. Ne'er Do Will 8. Undun 9. Just Now 10. Huar Weishenme 11. Tea House Tragedy 12. Amanda Blaine 13. Monkeyking 14. Dynasty of Drums 15. Sophie 16. Neptune Society Ball 17. Urum li St. 18. Haricot Vert Secret Eye is very happy to release the debut full-length from the fabulous Auto Da Fe! "The Spectre" spans a wide range of sounds from trad-flavored freak-folk to Middle Eastern raga to 80's gothic minimalist rock. Guest appearances include Joel Connell, Aaron Kenyon and Henry Barnes from Man is the Bastard. Fans of Amps For Christ will revel in its unique beauty. REVIEWS "Martin Kvisvic and Tara Tavi of Amps for Christ teamed up in Auto Da Fe to mess up with the geopolitics of our planet. Using a brilliantly mismatched arsenal of traditional instruments, the two of them shatter cultural and political frontiers. Through the course of the 18 tracks, the listener is treated to guzheng (a Chinese zither), Tibetan cymbals, tambur, balalaika (a Russian lute), bouzouki, and various bowed instruments, in addition to Gothic harp and tablas (performed by guest musicians), and more conventional (i.e. Western) instruments. The songs -- all original, it seems, but there are no songwriting credits -- mimic folk styles to add to the cultural confusion. For instance, 'Past Times' sounds very much like an old English song, except that Tara's voice is backed by guzheng. Following a similar logic, 'Ne'er Do will' could be a skiprope rhyme, 'Huar Weishenme' would be a Jewish lament, and 'The Spectre' might be a frantic East-European instrumental tune. But the instrumentation always sends such issues out the window. What is left is this duo's unbridled creativity, their knowledgeable disregard toward tradition, and Tara Tavi's voice, at times charming, haunting or scary ('Undun'). Several guests contribute to the sound palette, including members of Man is the Bastard. The overall attitude is definitely that of the underground folk scene, but ignores its improvisational/jam aspect; The Spectre is thoroughly composed and focuses on catchy -- if unpredictably arranged -- tunes. A find to treasure and one of the truly surprising albums of 2006." - Francois Couture in All-Music Guide "The title track rolls slowly out like a Chinese dragon, breathing out fiery bouts of bowed strings and clashing cymbals, before it is slain by a surfer, riffing on a balalaika through an echo-plex, while "Ne'er Do Will" tells a story that is almost at home with the Decemberists, if they ever got out of Northern Europe. That is the charm of this record, it tells a familiar story but in a completely different way, using tools from other cultures, but enforcing a universality to the music. This record is what happens when a duo of forward thinking musicians take these exotic instruments, master them, and then lay down a twisted new type of music with it� somewhere between the gothic edge of This Mortal Coil, the cracked Appalachia of the Books, and the gypsy fervor through busted distortion pedals of Black Forest / Black Sea. Add to this Tara Tavi's hypnotic and powerful voice and you really can't go wrong with any of the eighteen tracks on this record. I can only hope that they continue their journeys into these foreign lands more and more (making them hopefully less foreign as they go)." - IndieWorkshop 
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