Vibracathedral Orchestra

by Martin Walters   British avant garde collective Vibracathedral Orchestra was formed in 1998 by Julian Bradley, Neil Campbell, Bridget Hayden, Adam Davenport and Michael Flower. The groups aesthetic is based on long-form drones coming straight out of the '60s tradition of eastern inspired rock and folk music exemplified in the musings of obscure hippie collective ensembles Third Ear Band and Hapsash and the Colored Coat and Velvet Underground. Touching bases with the early classical minimalism of Terry Riley, LaMonte Young and Tony Conrad along the way, the Vibracathedral Orchestra create trance music from other dimensions. Their recorded music is strictly played live, in the home or in concert, recorded direct to two-track tape with guitars, violins, cello, banjo, mandolin, tanpura, clarinet, recorders, flute, whistles, trombone, various home-made instruments, percussion, organ, toy piano, an arsenal of casio toy organs.   Leader Neil Campbell 'was a veteran of the U.K. underground drone music scene having been a member of the mystical lo fi act A Band and worked on numerous collaborations with the extraordinarily talented Richard Youngs, noise acts Prick Decay, Simon Wickham Smith, Smell and Quim and The Universal Indians. Julian Bradley was half of the ultra-obscure duo The Negative Kite and released a string of cassettes as Scorch.   Vibracathedral Orchestra started releasing music in 1999 with a CDR label of their own making which put out a number of obscurities that made their way to underground noise and avant garde circles the world over. By the middle of 2000 the group had releases popping up in ultra limited editions, with American labels VHF and Giardia both putting out albums their work became available a little more widely. Their affiliations with U.K. underground heroes Richard Youngs and Simon Wickham Smith, Skullflower and Sunroof! got college radio and press looking to the U.K. indie scene again for inventive free-form music in the shadow of an electronica overdose to which the Vibracathedral Orchestra's organic music offered the perfect antidote. The CD Lino Hi appeared on Giardia records in 2000 and Versatile Arab Chord Chart on VHF while Freedom From and Roaratorio released limited vinyl only releases of their low-tech jamming.   The ultra obscure self-released 10" EP Falling Free You and Me/Filling Sacks With Colored Scraps- although not officially a Vibracathedral Orchestra release- is one of the stellar recordings of the group members in different incarnations doing cosmic improvisations that sound similar to some of the early John Cale experiments released on Sunblinded Music.   Fans of the underground scene that spawned the likes of the Dead C., Richard Youngs, Organum and Nurse With Wound will hear a logical progression in the sound of Vibracathedral Orcrestra who carry the mantle of noise and Minimalism into a new century.