To those attuned to their subliminally sublime properties, drones carry supernatural powers; they are conduits to mystical mind states, efficient vehicles out of this mundane world. Of course, not all drones are created equal. There's a fine line between tedium and transcendence. Much of my life's been dedicated to discerning the studs from the duds among drone-centric musicians, and then championing them in flowery prose. Somebody has to do it.

For the past dozen years, no other American label—save for VHF—has done more to promote drone-based experimental music than Kranky Records. Though it's garnered commercial success with Low and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Kranky has built its empire through brainy, microtonal lab work unloved by the masses.

One of Kranky's finest recent roster additions is Bird Show (Ben Vida of Town and Country). If you only know Vida from that bastion of humdrum Americana rock, you'd never suspect he had a sacred drone/field-recording album in him like Green Inferno. Like many modern dronemeisters, Vida has assimilated Terry Riley's soul-stirring organ tones and Jon Hassell's heat-haze ambience. But beyond those influences, Vida has digested percussive and rhythmic elements from Asia and Africa without diluting their organic potency, and filtered them into intense, hypnotic pieces. "All Afternoon Part #1" instantly submerges you in an alien, tropical miasma of mbira and cornet, signaling arcane primitive rites. The disc gets deeper from there.

Green Inferno's gilded oscillations shimmer like mirages on the highway to oblivion. Play it and watch time evaporate.

segal@thestranger.com