mr. franklin
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Folk. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Folk. Mostrar todas las entradas
jueves, febrero 18, 2010
miércoles, abril 15, 2009
martes, noviembre 04, 2008
In Gowan Ring x 4
"This is one of only a few recent releases that might genuinely be called inspired. As a songwriter and musician B'eirth is easily the equal of psychedelic folk legends Robin Williamson (Incredible String Band) or the late Nick Drake. Comparisons to virtually any other musicians exploring similar territory would simply not do this justice." - Joshua Buckley for TYR Journal
"A unique synthesis of folk, mediaeval and psychedelia that could only be In Gowan Ring. Listening to this album is like sliding into a warm bath infused with oils and perfumes. Mellow and beautiful, B'eirth's gentle voice and music are a delight. The lyrics are obscure, but still suggestive and a source of inspiration and contemplation for those who make the effort to listen to them." -RIK for Flux Europa
"There is a depth to these songs that is revealed only upon repeated listens. It is this natural gift for creating multi-layered compositions that is so attractive about In Gowan Ring's work in general and Hazel Steps through a Weathered Home in particular. Quite simply, one of the half dozen or so best releases of the year." -Jeff Penczak for FakeJazz.com
"It's been worth the wait everyone. This album is B's best work, and my words, plain as the farmboy I am, can not do it justice. B', you've mastered the art of song my friend. My heart swells and my head swirls! I'm in awe." - Tim Renner, Some Dark Holler
"In Gowan Ring's "The Glinting Spade" is as beautiful as any psych-folk album can be without completely materializing. "Hazel Steps Through A Weathered Home" as a whole, is a more stripped down effort. However, that doesn't really diminish the album's preternatural feel. The songs are much starker and darker than on "The Glinting Spade", but they also have more gravity and substance. It can easily ensnare the unsuspecting listener in its magical folds."-J. M. for Opuszine
"The music of In Gowan Ring is rather timeless, archaic perhaps but not from a clearly-defined period. The lyrics are rather introspective but most images evoked by the texts are quite clear. The songs are really a pleasure to listen to and the album as a (very coherent) whole is very moving, solemn and melancholic, but it does not make me sad - I get the feeling that spring must be near... Really a recommended album." - HD for FunProx.com
"Very poetic release of intimate mystic songs, more minimal as earlier releases, sparsely arranged, towards the core of an essential expression. The album has the richness and calmness of an introspective vision. The style is minimal without being repetitive with a rich sound through its poetic vision. The whole album is beautiful and recommended." -Gerald for Van Hett PSYCH FOLK
____________________________
-Glinting Spade (1999)
Though arguably the best In Gowan Ring experience is live -- B'eirth plays the medieval troubadour quite well and mysteriously, but doesn't forget humor or the fact that the Industrial Revolution has in fact happened -- The Glinting Spade is quite a lovely listen indeed. Anyone captivated by folk that either consciously explores its very early roots or the acid folk approach that psychedelia let in will find something to like here; B'eirth's approach suggests Edward Ka-Spel as much as it does the mythical figure of Ossian, say. His generally acoustic bent is more carefully seasoned by low-key experimentation throughout The Glinting Spade -- extended tones, strange echoes, and buried sounds expand the palette of his work to an intriguing degree, with "In the Dream of the Queen" being an especially striking example. That said, the choice of instruments tends to be tried and true -- everything from church organ to zither is credited, along with more esoteric choices of fire, chalice, bow and arrow, even oats! Quite what the role of everything is meant to be is unclear, but if the effect is to create a sense of a shadowy ritual out of time past, In Gowan Ring succeeds quite well. B'eirth isn't one to shout or scream -- what's the point, after all? -- and his style of singing is very, very restrained, avoiding the sometimes tiresome drama of similarly minded revivalists who apparently think they really are about to summon up the Horned King and the Great Hunt. Songs like "To Thrum a Glassy Stem" and "Bow Star" are quiet beauties, while the lusher approach of "Cipher's String on the Tree" suggests a great lord's minstrels performing a late-night service. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
_____________________
In Gowan Ring - From the land of little Osmonds, comes this nomadic bunch of sprites and pot-headed pixies, led by the enigmatic B'eirth and wielding such modern day contraptions as sackbut, cornetto, cittern, psaltry, zither, timbrel, whistles, bells, gongs and tons of other weird sounding shit too numerous to mention. Epic lengthed drones are nestled comfortably amidst some of the finest acid/psych/wyrdfolk on this (or any other) planet.
_____________________
-Exists & Entrances vol. 1
"Am I the only one here who has these moments where you've fallen asleep in the chair, and when you "wake up" you feel like you've got no control over your body but you can watch while your limbs move & haul you around the room and? Really? Well anyway that's what the finer moments of this disc feel like ... as the tree ears sprout from between my toes and I keep whispering, "it's only a cd-r, it's only a cd-r". "
_______________________________
"The songs have a somber feel, as though the innkeeper let the lyre player have a little too much mead, and now the whole room is treated to his many laments on nature and love." -Brainwashed
____________________________
"The American neo-hippies from In Gowan Ring produced a fragile and melodic atmosphere. Pantheistic odes to the forgotten beauty of nature – the great in the small. " -Medusa's Head
website
"A unique synthesis of folk, mediaeval and psychedelia that could only be In Gowan Ring. Listening to this album is like sliding into a warm bath infused with oils and perfumes. Mellow and beautiful, B'eirth's gentle voice and music are a delight. The lyrics are obscure, but still suggestive and a source of inspiration and contemplation for those who make the effort to listen to them." -RIK for Flux Europa
"There is a depth to these songs that is revealed only upon repeated listens. It is this natural gift for creating multi-layered compositions that is so attractive about In Gowan Ring's work in general and Hazel Steps through a Weathered Home in particular. Quite simply, one of the half dozen or so best releases of the year." -Jeff Penczak for FakeJazz.com
"It's been worth the wait everyone. This album is B's best work, and my words, plain as the farmboy I am, can not do it justice. B', you've mastered the art of song my friend. My heart swells and my head swirls! I'm in awe." - Tim Renner, Some Dark Holler
"In Gowan Ring's "The Glinting Spade" is as beautiful as any psych-folk album can be without completely materializing. "Hazel Steps Through A Weathered Home" as a whole, is a more stripped down effort. However, that doesn't really diminish the album's preternatural feel. The songs are much starker and darker than on "The Glinting Spade", but they also have more gravity and substance. It can easily ensnare the unsuspecting listener in its magical folds."-J. M. for Opuszine
"The music of In Gowan Ring is rather timeless, archaic perhaps but not from a clearly-defined period. The lyrics are rather introspective but most images evoked by the texts are quite clear. The songs are really a pleasure to listen to and the album as a (very coherent) whole is very moving, solemn and melancholic, but it does not make me sad - I get the feeling that spring must be near... Really a recommended album." - HD for FunProx.com
"Very poetic release of intimate mystic songs, more minimal as earlier releases, sparsely arranged, towards the core of an essential expression. The album has the richness and calmness of an introspective vision. The style is minimal without being repetitive with a rich sound through its poetic vision. The whole album is beautiful and recommended." -Gerald for Van Hett PSYCH FOLK
____________________________
-Glinting Spade (1999)
Though arguably the best In Gowan Ring experience is live -- B'eirth plays the medieval troubadour quite well and mysteriously, but doesn't forget humor or the fact that the Industrial Revolution has in fact happened -- The Glinting Spade is quite a lovely listen indeed. Anyone captivated by folk that either consciously explores its very early roots or the acid folk approach that psychedelia let in will find something to like here; B'eirth's approach suggests Edward Ka-Spel as much as it does the mythical figure of Ossian, say. His generally acoustic bent is more carefully seasoned by low-key experimentation throughout The Glinting Spade -- extended tones, strange echoes, and buried sounds expand the palette of his work to an intriguing degree, with "In the Dream of the Queen" being an especially striking example. That said, the choice of instruments tends to be tried and true -- everything from church organ to zither is credited, along with more esoteric choices of fire, chalice, bow and arrow, even oats! Quite what the role of everything is meant to be is unclear, but if the effect is to create a sense of a shadowy ritual out of time past, In Gowan Ring succeeds quite well. B'eirth isn't one to shout or scream -- what's the point, after all? -- and his style of singing is very, very restrained, avoiding the sometimes tiresome drama of similarly minded revivalists who apparently think they really are about to summon up the Horned King and the Great Hunt. Songs like "To Thrum a Glassy Stem" and "Bow Star" are quiet beauties, while the lusher approach of "Cipher's String on the Tree" suggests a great lord's minstrels performing a late-night service. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
_____________________
In Gowan Ring - From the land of little Osmonds, comes this nomadic bunch of sprites and pot-headed pixies, led by the enigmatic B'eirth and wielding such modern day contraptions as sackbut, cornetto, cittern, psaltry, zither, timbrel, whistles, bells, gongs and tons of other weird sounding shit too numerous to mention. Epic lengthed drones are nestled comfortably amidst some of the finest acid/psych/wyrdfolk on this (or any other) planet.
_____________________
-Exists & Entrances vol. 1
"Am I the only one here who has these moments where you've fallen asleep in the chair, and when you "wake up" you feel like you've got no control over your body but you can watch while your limbs move & haul you around the room and? Really? Well anyway that's what the finer moments of this disc feel like ... as the tree ears sprout from between my toes and I keep whispering, "it's only a cd-r, it's only a cd-r". "
_______________________________
"The songs have a somber feel, as though the innkeeper let the lyre player have a little too much mead, and now the whole room is treated to his many laments on nature and love." -Brainwashed
____________________________
"The American neo-hippies from In Gowan Ring produced a fragile and melodic atmosphere. Pantheistic odes to the forgotten beauty of nature – the great in the small. " -Medusa's Head
website
"the seer and the seen"
lunes, noviembre 03, 2008
Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane [2008]
"No one knows where go when we're dead or when we're dreaming."
After powering through most of God Is Not Great on the plane yesterday, it's hard to immediately change gears and spend time questioning what happens after you die. That being said, when the questions come courtesy of the beautiful songs Chad VanGaalen wrote for Soft Airplane, the experience is a rewarding one. Chad has always written tales of death, murder and rage, but in a way that forces you to start asking the same questions and feeling the same emotions.
I read an interesting review of the new Okkervil River record on Rawkblog where Dave mentioned that "critics as musicians are failures, much more often than not; they know too much to fuck up, which is unfortunately a preventative measure to playing rock 'n' roll music." If that statement is true, the other side of the coin would indicate that only when a musical soul is secluded from the shouts and whispers of the critical public can true greatness or incredible failure occur. Such is the case for VanGaalen.
I hesitate to rely on the easy play of labeling him as a musical recluse riddled with insecurities when I talk about his songs, because that cheapen the success of this record. Even if it's only subconscious, those words force the reader to think the sounds were contrived by luck or simply good timing; the result of someone stumbling upon the combination of sounds without much thought and that couldn't be less true when it comes to VanGaalen.
He's obviously a unique man with social anxiety and an unquenchable thirst for creative expression and as a result Soft Airplane is incredibly spontaneous and challenging, but at the same time multiple listens show how well the record is thought out. Sound effects, textures and emotion are nestled into the folds and corners, and until you can listen to the complete song, you aren't really hearing Chad's visions.
source
After powering through most of God Is Not Great on the plane yesterday, it's hard to immediately change gears and spend time questioning what happens after you die. That being said, when the questions come courtesy of the beautiful songs Chad VanGaalen wrote for Soft Airplane, the experience is a rewarding one. Chad has always written tales of death, murder and rage, but in a way that forces you to start asking the same questions and feeling the same emotions.
I read an interesting review of the new Okkervil River record on Rawkblog where Dave mentioned that "critics as musicians are failures, much more often than not; they know too much to fuck up, which is unfortunately a preventative measure to playing rock 'n' roll music." If that statement is true, the other side of the coin would indicate that only when a musical soul is secluded from the shouts and whispers of the critical public can true greatness or incredible failure occur. Such is the case for VanGaalen.
I hesitate to rely on the easy play of labeling him as a musical recluse riddled with insecurities when I talk about his songs, because that cheapen the success of this record. Even if it's only subconscious, those words force the reader to think the sounds were contrived by luck or simply good timing; the result of someone stumbling upon the combination of sounds without much thought and that couldn't be less true when it comes to VanGaalen.
He's obviously a unique man with social anxiety and an unquenchable thirst for creative expression and as a result Soft Airplane is incredibly spontaneous and challenging, but at the same time multiple listens show how well the record is thought out. Sound effects, textures and emotion are nestled into the folds and corners, and until you can listen to the complete song, you aren't really hearing Chad's visions.
source
Chad VanGaalen - Molten Light
Megapuss - Surfing [2008]
Devendra Banhart brings us a new musical project with Gregory Rogove (Priestbird/Devendra’s live band) and Fab Moretti (drummer of The Strokes) as well as Noah and the usual suspects in Devendra’s live ensemble called Megapuss. We have to question the naming of the bad and the reason to include Banhart and Rogove naked on the cover — but the music goes from jazz inflicted folk to garage rock to psychedelic, all with spacey vocals a la DB, leaving for a throughly enjoyable affair on Surfing.
Surfing opens up with Crop Circle Jerk ‘94 — a sure sign that there is going to be a lot of goofy elements to this album. After all, the liner notes are covered with Devendra/Gregory’s penises, drawings of them naked, a dude with a penis nose, etc. The song opens up with horns, before falling into a very infectious opening that sounds a bit reminiscent to Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon’s Lover. Luckily, it gets better quick.
To The Love Within sounds like a lost track from Nino Rojo — minimalistic acoustic handclaps and percussion make this a perfect camp fire song. Adam & Steve is a psychedelic gem, with eclectic vocals that match the guitars, weird little time changes, and a Santana-esque lead guitar line in the middle of the song. Theme From Hollywood sounds like another perfect single for the album — it’s hard not to sing along to the jangly chorus: “Too much fun in Hollywood, were havin too much fun.” Elsewhere, Hamman is Mega’s attempt at The Doors, Chicken Titz (goofy again) plays with ’60s-inspired soul beats, and Sayulita is a seven minute piano led piece with Banhart’s extraordinary lyrics and vocals.
indieducky
Surfing opens up with Crop Circle Jerk ‘94 — a sure sign that there is going to be a lot of goofy elements to this album. After all, the liner notes are covered with Devendra/Gregory’s penises, drawings of them naked, a dude with a penis nose, etc. The song opens up with horns, before falling into a very infectious opening that sounds a bit reminiscent to Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon’s Lover. Luckily, it gets better quick.
To The Love Within sounds like a lost track from Nino Rojo — minimalistic acoustic handclaps and percussion make this a perfect camp fire song. Adam & Steve is a psychedelic gem, with eclectic vocals that match the guitars, weird little time changes, and a Santana-esque lead guitar line in the middle of the song. Theme From Hollywood sounds like another perfect single for the album — it’s hard not to sing along to the jangly chorus: “Too much fun in Hollywood, were havin too much fun.” Elsewhere, Hamman is Mega’s attempt at The Doors, Chicken Titz (goofy again) plays with ’60s-inspired soul beats, and Sayulita is a seven minute piano led piece with Banhart’s extraordinary lyrics and vocals.
indieducky
"Crop Circle Jerk 94" Hammer Museum - UCLA
Pumajaw - Curiosity Box [2008]
A brand new album from Pinky Maclure and John Wills, Curiosity Box finds Pumajaw faithfully replicating the post folk revival fusions of the early '70s with a little help from fellow Brit folkers Alidair Roberts and James Yorkston. While the songwriting and vocal delivery is very much shaped by traditional folk values, the sort of instrumentation Pumajaw utilize defies convention, having more in common with Six Organs Of Admittance than Shirley Collins, something demonstrated ably by the trance-inducing psychedelia of 'Visiting Hour Pt. 2'. The relatively faithful harmonium-driven balladry of 'Mother & The Two Trees' shows that the duo can adhere to old-fashioned values when they want to, although it's not long before the almost inevitable close call with Wicker Man-style wyrdness crops up on 'Buds', which in no small way resembles an electronically enhanced 'Willow's Song'. Curisosity Box has a lot going for it - it's a highly enjoyable and gratifyingly unpredictable alt. folk outing with all the right leanings towards gothic storytelling and pastoral melancholy.
boomkat
boomkat
PuMaJaW
Dreamend - The Long Forgotten Friend [2008]
Dreamend is the main musical output of Ryan Graveface, Graveface Records' owner/sole employee and part time guitarist for psychedelic oddballs Black Moth Super Rainbow. Since its’ inception in 2002, Graveface has released albums by Monster Movie (ex-Slowdive), The Loose Salute (Mojave 3 side project), Kid Dakota, Appleseed Cast, Art in Manila (ex-Azure Ray), Octopus Project, BMSR and many more.
The Long Forgotten Friend's 14 songs (10 songs on the cd version) are loosely based on stories and memories of a relative from the far past, whose tragic life has metamorphosed into legend over the course of time. This is music to listen to while driving through abandoned cities and ghost towns, imagining their disintegration. Rather than drums making the melody as on their previous efforts, banjo and vocals are at the foreground of the landscape. The drumming is minimalist, almost spastic and, as always, the guitars are the ghosts. Dreamend has taken a darker, folky, more nightmarish road than before. Some evidence of this can be found on the tracks Your Kiss, Scratch and Deathwatch Carnival 1965. Conversely, they have found themselves with more poppy, almost sing-alongs than ever before (see Are you Waking and The Tulip Staircase).
Appearances by Toto of the Octopus Project and Darren Jackson of Kid Dakota add some outside sounds, while Darren and John Congleton's (see Explosion in the Sky, Modest Mouse, etc) mixing bring them all together.
source
The Long Forgotten Friend's 14 songs (10 songs on the cd version) are loosely based on stories and memories of a relative from the far past, whose tragic life has metamorphosed into legend over the course of time. This is music to listen to while driving through abandoned cities and ghost towns, imagining their disintegration. Rather than drums making the melody as on their previous efforts, banjo and vocals are at the foreground of the landscape. The drumming is minimalist, almost spastic and, as always, the guitars are the ghosts. Dreamend has taken a darker, folky, more nightmarish road than before. Some evidence of this can be found on the tracks Your Kiss, Scratch and Deathwatch Carnival 1965. Conversely, they have found themselves with more poppy, almost sing-alongs than ever before (see Are you Waking and The Tulip Staircase).
Appearances by Toto of the Octopus Project and Darren Jackson of Kid Dakota add some outside sounds, while Darren and John Congleton's (see Explosion in the Sky, Modest Mouse, etc) mixing bring them all together.
source
"Cant Take You {Dif}" live - SXSW 2007
Faun & The Pagan Folk Festival [2008]
Faun combina los instrumentos antiguos con influencias modernas para crear una atmósfera encantadora y de gran alcance.
Su música es de raíces claramente europeas. Exploran y profundizan en estas raíces básicamentefolk, medievales y renacentistas que de tan creativa inspiración les sirven dándoles, a la vez, un espíritu de contemporaneidad con un resultado muy sugerente. Es por su interés y su amor a la pluralidad cultural europea que cantan en alemán, francés, italiano, portugués, occitano, etc.
Los funcionamientos que la banda incorporan a su sonido incluye hasta tres voces y emplean diversos instrumentos. Por ejemplo: La arpa céltica, el nyckelharpa, los varios lyres, las gaitas, los tambores japoneses grandes del taiko, el cister, la cítara Pagan, las flautas e incluso los instrumentos orientales tienen gusto de dombra, del rebab, del riq, del oud, del darabukka y del bendir.
Las influencias de la gente céltica, de la música medieval y de los tonos rítmicos levantinos fundiéndose con conducir golpes dibujan a muchedumbre siempre de crecimineto rápido de seguidores.
El conjunto Faun fue fundado a principios de 2002 en Munich y se ha realizado en más de 300 ocasiones en festivales, mercados, salones de conciertos e iglesias a través de Europa. Por ejemplo: El festival de Mèra Luna, fantasía del duende justa (Holanda), onda Gotik Treffen 2002, 2003, 2004 y 2005, fiesta Celtica Biella (Italia), Zillo al aire libre, Folkwoods Folk.
http://www.lastfm.es/music/Faun
Su música es de raíces claramente europeas. Exploran y profundizan en estas raíces básicamentefolk, medievales y renacentistas que de tan creativa inspiración les sirven dándoles, a la vez, un espíritu de contemporaneidad con un resultado muy sugerente. Es por su interés y su amor a la pluralidad cultural europea que cantan en alemán, francés, italiano, portugués, occitano, etc.
Los funcionamientos que la banda incorporan a su sonido incluye hasta tres voces y emplean diversos instrumentos. Por ejemplo: La arpa céltica, el nyckelharpa, los varios lyres, las gaitas, los tambores japoneses grandes del taiko, el cister, la cítara Pagan, las flautas e incluso los instrumentos orientales tienen gusto de dombra, del rebab, del riq, del oud, del darabukka y del bendir.
Las influencias de la gente céltica, de la música medieval y de los tonos rítmicos levantinos fundiéndose con conducir golpes dibujan a muchedumbre siempre de crecimineto rápido de seguidores.
El conjunto Faun fue fundado a principios de 2002 en Munich y se ha realizado en más de 300 ocasiones en festivales, mercados, salones de conciertos e iglesias a través de Europa. Por ejemplo: El festival de Mèra Luna, fantasía del duende justa (Holanda), onda Gotik Treffen 2002, 2003, 2004 y 2005, fiesta Celtica Biella (Italia), Zillo al aire libre, Folkwoods Folk.
http://www.lastfm.es/music/Faun
Faun & Pagan Folk Festival (1 of 2)
MV,EE and Gabriel Walsh - Temptation To Zoology [2003]
Un impulso de sus reflejos han capturado las escenas mágicas que abstractas dan forma a esta obra "Temptation To Zoology" bajo la cuna de Children of Microtones en el año 2003, Matt Valentine, Erika Elder y ahora la colaboración de Gabriel Walsh.
Historia orgánica custodiada por las hievas, es medicina natural, cual es el similar efecto que se riega en amor a la distancia para emerger en los colores de su isla?, en continuidad sonora y sensorial profunda de oídos atentos, observando las frecuencias que activan el baile de la mar, un paso en el cielo que mantuvo con fé, ahora estas preparado para flotar!.
El formato de video en el cual lo he subido es avi.
The format of video in which I have raised it is avi.
Matt Valentine Interview / Dream Magazine
Matt Valentine has made some of the most enjoyable acoustic based psychedelic improvisational music ever recorded, both in his several solo albums (usually with Erika Elder aka EE, pictured above with MV), and work with the band Tower Recordings (with folks like: P.G. Six, Helen Rush, Erika Elder, and Tim Barnes among others). Matt’s solo albums tend towards the more spare and spectral end of the spectrum; acoustic explorations that show their Fahey roots as well as a deep love of Indian classical music and much more. The music he makes with Tower Recordings fuses a Takoma Records acoustic based organic folk sensibility with a spaceman/caveman psychedelic tribalism that employs: various (mostly) acoustic and electric guitars, percussion, marimba, tin whistle, Wurlitzer electric piano, ring modulator, shakuhachi, cello, piano, tapes, primitive electronics, autoharp, oscillator, drums, and more with a sense that they are also playing the acoustics of the given space they are reverberating within. There is some Incredible String Band in the mix as well; along with, the earliest recorded blues, ESP Disk outsider vibes, and clouds and clouds of smoke. Some of Matt’s finest solo outings include: Tonight! One Night Only! MV & EE in Heaven (originally issued on Matt’s Child of Microtones imprint, and later on vinyl by Time-Lag), Space Chanties (Fringes Recordings), and Glorious Group Therapy (Ecstatic Yod). A couple essential TR releases are: Furniture Music for Evening Shuttles (Siltbreeze), and Folk Scene (Communion).
source
Historia orgánica custodiada por las hievas, es medicina natural, cual es el similar efecto que se riega en amor a la distancia para emerger en los colores de su isla?, en continuidad sonora y sensorial profunda de oídos atentos, observando las frecuencias que activan el baile de la mar, un paso en el cielo que mantuvo con fé, ahora estas preparado para flotar!.
El formato de video en el cual lo he subido es avi.
The format of video in which I have raised it is avi.
Matt Valentine Interview / Dream Magazine
Matt Valentine has made some of the most enjoyable acoustic based psychedelic improvisational music ever recorded, both in his several solo albums (usually with Erika Elder aka EE, pictured above with MV), and work with the band Tower Recordings (with folks like: P.G. Six, Helen Rush, Erika Elder, and Tim Barnes among others). Matt’s solo albums tend towards the more spare and spectral end of the spectrum; acoustic explorations that show their Fahey roots as well as a deep love of Indian classical music and much more. The music he makes with Tower Recordings fuses a Takoma Records acoustic based organic folk sensibility with a spaceman/caveman psychedelic tribalism that employs: various (mostly) acoustic and electric guitars, percussion, marimba, tin whistle, Wurlitzer electric piano, ring modulator, shakuhachi, cello, piano, tapes, primitive electronics, autoharp, oscillator, drums, and more with a sense that they are also playing the acoustics of the given space they are reverberating within. There is some Incredible String Band in the mix as well; along with, the earliest recorded blues, ESP Disk outsider vibes, and clouds and clouds of smoke. Some of Matt’s finest solo outings include: Tonight! One Night Only! MV & EE in Heaven (originally issued on Matt’s Child of Microtones imprint, and later on vinyl by Time-Lag), Space Chanties (Fringes Recordings), and Glorious Group Therapy (Ecstatic Yod). A couple essential TR releases are: Furniture Music for Evening Shuttles (Siltbreeze), and Folk Scene (Communion).
source
miércoles, octubre 29, 2008
Larkin Grimm - Parplar [2008]
You proposed to raise this disc, the wait I end, now it can enjoy, do not forget to comment!.
"Larkin Grimm is a force of nature, a self-made woman with an elemental voice from somewhere under the earth. Depending on her mood, she moans like a woman-in-full, wails like a banshee, or coos like a crazed little girl. Born 26 years ago in Memphis, Tennessee, to hippie devotees of the religious cult The Holy Order Of MANS, raised by multiple “parents in the commune environment of the cult until age six, Grimm spent the remainder of her youth in the Appalachian mountains of Georgia after the cult disbanded. With five siblings and challenged economic circumstances, she won a full scholarship to Yale to study art. During her time at the Ivy League university, she also traveled in Thailand, Guatemala, and spent a few months hitchhiking and living by herself in a tent in Alaska. After temporarily dropping out of school to hang out for a couple years with eco warriors, vagabonds, and sexual deviants in Olympia, Washington, Grimm returned to Yale, where she was a member of Dirty Projectors for a while. Upon graduation, she moved to Providence, where she was an active participant in the city’s noise scene and made a few albums of improv/free-form songs for Secret Eye Records. Grimm books her own tours, travels light by herself, and lives in a tent during the warmer months. She has no permanent address and doesn’t want one. Grimm’s taste for music comes from her old-time fiddler and singer father and her folksinger mother. She naturally developed into an absolutely gifted singer, fingerpicker, and multi-instrumentalist. She’s shared bills with Devendra Banhart,Spires That In The Sunset Rise, Espers, Brightblack Morning Light, Entrance, Viking Moses, The Microphones, and Old Time Relijun. Parplar was co-produced by Michael Gira and was recorded at Old Soul Studio in Catskill, NY, and Seizure’s Palace in Brooklyn, and mixed at Trout Recording. Grimm truly rises to the occasion on the album, which features absolutely stellar vocal performances of songs that are soulful, whimsical, sensual, and bizarre. The production is as varied and unpredictable as Grimm herself. The list of guest musicians includes Young God’s new luminaries Fire on Fire, members of Boston’s Beat Circus, and Old Time Relijun, as well as various revolving members of Angels of Light."
boomkat
boomkat
The Last Tree
Horse Feathers - House With No Home [2008]
It’s funny how music you’ve never heard before can elicit overwhelming nostalgia. From the moment you hear Portland-based Horse Feathers singer Justin Ringle’s croon on their latest album’s opener “Curs in the Weeds,” it’s hard to forget times of serene happiness in your life. It’s hard to forget times of youthful bliss, and it’s downright disturbingly difficult to forget the impact of young love — or maybe it’s just me.
Whether or not the lyrical content of House With No Home matches any of these memories is irrelevant — Ringle’s mumble conjures up surreal scenarios of Tracy Chapman doing Sam Amidon, minus any vocal enunciation; rather, it’s the otherworldly music that causes one to get lost in cerebral trauma while driving home alone at night. To be direct, the sound of this album is nothing short of beautiful. Peter and Heather Broderick’s string arrangements mimic Aaron Copland’s most tender moments, and over Ringle’s guitar strumming, the impact is enough to cause the White Witch’s icy heart to melt.
Listen to “Rude to Rile” and you’ll find a masterpiece of violin, cello, and percussion. I’ve listened to this track over and over again, and I felt as though my life story was being told: "He just waits/ And he hopes and he prays/ But the more she is loved she hurts." It makes me wish I had written it, because it feels like I mean it. Yet strangely, it still feels like it could be an old Appalachian folk song; I don’t know how, but it does. And it’s not as though love lost is my life story, but for a few minutes I’m convinced that it is.
source
Whether or not the lyrical content of House With No Home matches any of these memories is irrelevant — Ringle’s mumble conjures up surreal scenarios of Tracy Chapman doing Sam Amidon, minus any vocal enunciation; rather, it’s the otherworldly music that causes one to get lost in cerebral trauma while driving home alone at night. To be direct, the sound of this album is nothing short of beautiful. Peter and Heather Broderick’s string arrangements mimic Aaron Copland’s most tender moments, and over Ringle’s guitar strumming, the impact is enough to cause the White Witch’s icy heart to melt.
Listen to “Rude to Rile” and you’ll find a masterpiece of violin, cello, and percussion. I’ve listened to this track over and over again, and I felt as though my life story was being told: "He just waits/ And he hopes and he prays/ But the more she is loved she hurts." It makes me wish I had written it, because it feels like I mean it. Yet strangely, it still feels like it could be an old Appalachian folk song; I don’t know how, but it does. And it’s not as though love lost is my life story, but for a few minutes I’m convinced that it is.
source
Horse Feathers: Live at Pop Montreal
Ignatz - III [2008]
With his third full album ‘III’, Bram Devens alias Ignatz, has once again surpassed himself.
In his usual brain-melting futuristic blues folk psych, he’s calling the ghosts of Bukka White, Sleepy John Estes and Robert Pete Williams, as seen by a adolescent Lou Reed.
‘III’ suggests a fictional, unclear and vague story about the deaths of musical genres. It’s breath cold, raw made of carbon and gas. The smell of a wet dog or a badly dried towel. The musical assiociations are reduced to a minimum, unless they contribute to the fictional line, where the tragic is enclosed in the crackling, atonal and repetitive melodies.
This album breathes a more sentimental atmosphere than it’s predecessors by Ignatz’ wailing voice, not unlike Skip James. A tormented soul that after the last song is over; liberates the listener from a personal journey and leaves him dazzled. ‘III’ projects the times of the Alaskan Klondike gold rush and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog to the modern times, dominatd by technology. So, this album bears testimony to a sincere melancholy that popmusic these days hasn’t know in a while.
Ignatz forces us to look at the pure essence of his music: to translate raw emotion into sound and to reach an essential beauty.
text by K. Berckmans
www.ignatz.be
In his usual brain-melting futuristic blues folk psych, he’s calling the ghosts of Bukka White, Sleepy John Estes and Robert Pete Williams, as seen by a adolescent Lou Reed.
‘III’ suggests a fictional, unclear and vague story about the deaths of musical genres. It’s breath cold, raw made of carbon and gas. The smell of a wet dog or a badly dried towel. The musical assiociations are reduced to a minimum, unless they contribute to the fictional line, where the tragic is enclosed in the crackling, atonal and repetitive melodies.
This album breathes a more sentimental atmosphere than it’s predecessors by Ignatz’ wailing voice, not unlike Skip James. A tormented soul that after the last song is over; liberates the listener from a personal journey and leaves him dazzled. ‘III’ projects the times of the Alaskan Klondike gold rush and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog to the modern times, dominatd by technology. So, this album bears testimony to a sincere melancholy that popmusic these days hasn’t know in a while.
Ignatz forces us to look at the pure essence of his music: to translate raw emotion into sound and to reach an essential beauty.
text by K. Berckmans
www.ignatz.be
Ignatz: The Water
Buena Vista Social Club - Live At Carnegie Hall [2008]
Review by Michael Quinn
13 October 2008
With sales of more than eight million copies of their eponymous 1997 debut, Buena Vista Social Club must be a strong contender for the most popular World Music act ever. Admirers of the crack Cuban collective will have encountered substantial parts of this recording before in Wim Wenders' acclaimed documentary profile of the group. Even so, this two-disc release of their only visit to New York is not to be missed.
Caught live at the city's legendary Carnegie Hall in July 1998, this truly historic concert marked the American debuts of the band, all of them at the time well into their 70s, 80s and 90s. A decade on, the impact of musicianship as considered, consummate and casually thrown off as this remains magical and mesmerising. This is the real thing, and how – music-making of a standard rarely achieved in any genre that communicates with a joyous, life-affirming vitality that is simply impossible to resist or refuse. It's a shot of pure musical adrenalin that hits the mark every time.
Produced by Ry Cooder, the Carnegie Hall concert thrillingly caught the Buena Vista Social Club at the very height of their powers, and at the very end of their colossal achievements. The band never played together again and within all too short a time, key contributors like Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González and Company Segundo had died.
But the legacy left behind remains vividly alive, as this 16-strong collection of the group’s most popular pieces amply demonstrates. Yet while tracks like Chan Chan, Orgullecida, Candela and Veinte Años retain the capacity to leap vibrantly out of the speakers, what continues to amaze and astonish in equal measure is the sheer technical virtuosity of the playing, the impeccably attuned sense of ensemble, and, above all, the unfettered and infectious joy in making music.
We may never see or hear the likes of Buena Vista Social Club again, but what relatively little we have on disc will endure and abide. This startlingly good, beautifully recorded one-off provides a covetable reminder of a peerless musical phenomenon at its glorious peak.
Caught live at the city's legendary Carnegie Hall in July 1998, this truly historic concert marked the American debuts of the band, all of them at the time well into their 70s, 80s and 90s. A decade on, the impact of musicianship as considered, consummate and casually thrown off as this remains magical and mesmerising. This is the real thing, and how – music-making of a standard rarely achieved in any genre that communicates with a joyous, life-affirming vitality that is simply impossible to resist or refuse. It's a shot of pure musical adrenalin that hits the mark every time.
Produced by Ry Cooder, the Carnegie Hall concert thrillingly caught the Buena Vista Social Club at the very height of their powers, and at the very end of their colossal achievements. The band never played together again and within all too short a time, key contributors like Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González and Company Segundo had died.
But the legacy left behind remains vividly alive, as this 16-strong collection of the group’s most popular pieces amply demonstrates. Yet while tracks like Chan Chan, Orgullecida, Candela and Veinte Años retain the capacity to leap vibrantly out of the speakers, what continues to amaze and astonish in equal measure is the sheer technical virtuosity of the playing, the impeccably attuned sense of ensemble, and, above all, the unfettered and infectious joy in making music.
We may never see or hear the likes of Buena Vista Social Club again, but what relatively little we have on disc will endure and abide. This startlingly good, beautifully recorded one-off provides a covetable reminder of a peerless musical phenomenon at its glorious peak.
bbc.uk.
Buena Vista Social Club - Candela
martes, octubre 28, 2008
Wondrous Horse - Cavallo Meraviglioso [2008]
Para distinguir la real naturaleza de los elementos que Wondrous Horse presenta en vías del trayecto recorrido dentro de las atmósferas llenas de implementos que se interponen en una danza sonora con la propiedad de traer consigo diversidad en los detalles impresos del unisono, folk de la tierra bajo el eclipse de sol, palabras de espíritu errante, ritmos y rituales minimalistas que evocan desafíos importantes de la conciencia sin prejuicios, y, paralelos los pies del usuario a los del congelador en torno al perfecto ciclo orgánico residido, se alejan por diferentes estados de vigilia bajo el efecto narcótico que representa la voz mágica invitándolo a frenar su galope y disfrutar del etéreo dilatado de imágenes de su bosque.
Welcome one and all to the world of Wondrous Horse! Cavallo Meraviglisio is the debut offering of the transatlantic (Italy/U.S.) duo of Vanessa Rossetto (Pulga, The Mighty Acts of God, etc.) and Salvatore Borrelli ((etre) & Harps of Fuchsia Kalmia). These two musicians continue to evolve in fascinating ways, and the sounds to be found on Cavallo Meravigliso may come as a surprise to some, which makes it all the more exciting to hear.
An avant folk tour de force combining elements of electroacoustic music, glitch and many other experimental forms, Cavallo Meraviglisio gallops upon the scene assured and ready. Performing with an arsenal of instrumentation at the ready (violin, viola, balalaika, theremin, guitar, dulcetina, concertina, autoharp, bells, xylophone, voice, baritone guitar, tablas, darbukas, turkish saz, xylophone, esraj, dulcimer, resonant ukulele, celtic "droned" harp, banjo, kalimba, shruti box, irish bouzouki, lap steel guitar, toys, & drum machine since you asked) the duo have crafted a recording that successfully combines the myriad of influences of its creators into an organic and unique whole.
It takes a wondrous horse such as this to take the intelligent listener on a trip through such a unique and appealing sonic journey, so hop on and ride away today!
Special Guest on “Questi Orizzonti Scomparsi”: Valerio Cosi
museumfire
An avant folk tour de force combining elements of electroacoustic music, glitch and many other experimental forms, Cavallo Meraviglisio gallops upon the scene assured and ready. Performing with an arsenal of instrumentation at the ready (violin, viola, balalaika, theremin, guitar, dulcetina, concertina, autoharp, bells, xylophone, voice, baritone guitar, tablas, darbukas, turkish saz, xylophone, esraj, dulcimer, resonant ukulele, celtic "droned" harp, banjo, kalimba, shruti box, irish bouzouki, lap steel guitar, toys, & drum machine since you asked) the duo have crafted a recording that successfully combines the myriad of influences of its creators into an organic and unique whole.
It takes a wondrous horse such as this to take the intelligent listener on a trip through such a unique and appealing sonic journey, so hop on and ride away today!
Special Guest on “Questi Orizzonti Scomparsi”: Valerio Cosi
museumfire
lunes, octubre 27, 2008
Windy & Carl - Songs For The Broken Hearted [2008]
songs for the broken hearted
Cover Imagethis is an album about love. everyone has known love, and everyone has known loss. love is not just about warm fuzzy feelings, although that would be the part people say they like the best. and in any span of time, love changes and means different things to different people.
i never thought this would be an album. we started these recordings the same weekend i started I Hate People. it was a dark time, and when the tapes were taken off the reels i really thought that was the end of them. they were just going to sit and rot away somewhere.
but between christmas and new year of 2007, carl pulled them out and decided to finish them. he became obsessed with them somehow, i suppose in much the same way i had become obbsessed with finishing my own album earlier in the year. he worked every night for weeks, and as i wandered around the house i heard those songs everytime they played. and some of them made me cry, everytime. they sounded sad to me, because they were started in such a sad time. carl kept talking about wanting to have a new record out for 2008, and i told him only if it was named Songs For The Broken Hearted. he said fine, he just wanted it done.
so in early 2008 he gave me a cdr with what he felt were finished tracks, and asked me to write words for them. i had no ideas, i just kept crying when they were on. it really did not seem important to me to get them done because they only reminded me of things..........and then, one night, i started writing. i wrote words for 4 or 5 songs that night, and started singing the next evening. and we did rough mixes that i listened to for a week or so, and then i pulled out my journals, the gang of them that i had been filling since the fall of 2007, and i picked a few pieces that seemed like they would go with the music. i rerecorded some of the tracks with the new words, and resang some vocals i thought could be better. and the songs went from being all sad to being a reflection of how love works. how we are affected - by ourselves and others. how love makes you swoon and lonliness makes you cry. how when you love someone in this world you love them no matter where they are, and the connections you feel to and with them. love can make you blind, both when things are good and when they are not, and how do you react to being blind? what choices do you make and how do they change the world around you............
source
Cover Imagethis is an album about love. everyone has known love, and everyone has known loss. love is not just about warm fuzzy feelings, although that would be the part people say they like the best. and in any span of time, love changes and means different things to different people.
i never thought this would be an album. we started these recordings the same weekend i started I Hate People. it was a dark time, and when the tapes were taken off the reels i really thought that was the end of them. they were just going to sit and rot away somewhere.
but between christmas and new year of 2007, carl pulled them out and decided to finish them. he became obsessed with them somehow, i suppose in much the same way i had become obbsessed with finishing my own album earlier in the year. he worked every night for weeks, and as i wandered around the house i heard those songs everytime they played. and some of them made me cry, everytime. they sounded sad to me, because they were started in such a sad time. carl kept talking about wanting to have a new record out for 2008, and i told him only if it was named Songs For The Broken Hearted. he said fine, he just wanted it done.
so in early 2008 he gave me a cdr with what he felt were finished tracks, and asked me to write words for them. i had no ideas, i just kept crying when they were on. it really did not seem important to me to get them done because they only reminded me of things..........and then, one night, i started writing. i wrote words for 4 or 5 songs that night, and started singing the next evening. and we did rough mixes that i listened to for a week or so, and then i pulled out my journals, the gang of them that i had been filling since the fall of 2007, and i picked a few pieces that seemed like they would go with the music. i rerecorded some of the tracks with the new words, and resang some vocals i thought could be better. and the songs went from being all sad to being a reflection of how love works. how we are affected - by ourselves and others. how love makes you swoon and lonliness makes you cry. how when you love someone in this world you love them no matter where they are, and the connections you feel to and with them. love can make you blind, both when things are good and when they are not, and how do you react to being blind? what choices do you make and how do they change the world around you............
source
Undercurrent
Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping + Id Engager EP [2008]
Kevin Barnes is a married white man whose alter ego is a black transsexual named Georgie Fruit. Transformations come easily to the Of Montreal frontman: Over the past 11 years, he's seamlessly morphed from low-fi indie rocker to quirky prog-pop star, and now on Skeletal Lamping he's a glam-funk warrior, drenched in the sounds and sexuality of Prince, Freddie Mercury and Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie. ("We can do it soft-core if you want/But you should know that I go both ways," he trills on "For Our Elegant Caste.") A soulful romp through psychedelic melodies and sprawling noise-scapes, Skeletal is also a whimsical, Girl Talk-style pastiche, with 15 tracks that consist of a multitude of song fragments. The nine-part "Beware Our Nubile Miscreants" opens with peaceful strings before jolting into a tuneless vamp, then snapping into an echo-soaked wail. And Barnes' lyrics are just as seductively schizophrenic: "I want to ... make you paranoid and say the sweetest things," he sings on "Gallery Piece." And somewhere in the glorious friction between these contradictions, he's in ecstasy.
rollingstone
rollingstone
of Montreal - "Suffer for Fashion" Polyvinyl Records
Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power, The Amorphous Strums - Dark Developments [2008]
Vic Chesnutt is somewhat of a dark horse. One of those that races like beer bubbles beneath the radar. The Southern-fried songwriter has released competent material for over a decade, despite few people noticing. Last year, Chesnutt released a beast of an album with post-rock legends A Silver Mt. Zion titled North Star Deserter and no one noticed; same goes with his influences on scores of artists, including Michael Stipe. But throughout his career, a few simple syllogisms have carried through each album, regardless of its context. Despair is one, usually coerced by drugs or alcohol of some sort, and another is political disenchantment. But few are better than Chesnutt at coiling stories together from these black muses, and Dark Developments is no different. Yes, we have fellow Athens, Georgia/Elephant Six members Elf Power and sometimes accompanying band The Amorphous Strums contributing here, but start-to-finish this is a Vic Chesnutt sonic dystopia. And if you’re familiar with the man at the helm, this collaboration will excite. If this Georgian songwriter is foreign territory, best not start with Dark Developments (suggestions where to start are welcomed in the comments below).
source
source
Vic Chesnutt with Elf Power "Everything i say"
domingo, octubre 26, 2008
Sun Kil Moon - April [2008]
Is there such a thing as closure? Crime writer James Ellroy’s mother was murdered when he was 10 years old, and Ellroy has spent his entire career writing his way out of it with no expectation of emotional settlement. It’s made him who he is. Chances are Mark Kozelek—formerly of Red House Painters, currently of Sun Kil Moon—will also write his way through memory and fate until the end of his days. His Ohio childhood, his classic-rock album collection, his love for the guitar, his friends and especially the death of loved ones—including the tragic passing of an important early muse—have made Kozelek the songwriter he is. He takes solace in the beautiful landscapes that surround him. He travels to faraway cities and dreams of home, and then he comes home and dreams of elsewhere.
He’s always been obsessed by longing and desire. 1992’s accomplished Red House Painters demo-tape-turned-debut-album Down Colorful Hill was a Technicolor tragedy filled with tortured romances and aching childhood memories, a perfect fit for the boutique 4AD label that released it. The young man who composed that record has changed over the years. Nothing dramatic, no abrupt refutations of his past; just a deepening, a settling into the man he has become. Kozelek’s music is now warmer, more able to reconcile its classic-rock roots within its ethereal structures. The reverb canyons and domineering vocals have given way to richer guitar textures and sweet, anguished mumbles. His songs remain personal, as likely to express shockingly candid details as to wrap them in personal symbolism only he can unravel. When Kozelek sings “I promised always through me she would shine” on April’s 10-minute centerpiece “Tonight the Sky,” you picture the man alone, howling at the moon, shaking his fists in frustration at the universe.
source
He’s always been obsessed by longing and desire. 1992’s accomplished Red House Painters demo-tape-turned-debut-album Down Colorful Hill was a Technicolor tragedy filled with tortured romances and aching childhood memories, a perfect fit for the boutique 4AD label that released it. The young man who composed that record has changed over the years. Nothing dramatic, no abrupt refutations of his past; just a deepening, a settling into the man he has become. Kozelek’s music is now warmer, more able to reconcile its classic-rock roots within its ethereal structures. The reverb canyons and domineering vocals have given way to richer guitar textures and sweet, anguished mumbles. His songs remain personal, as likely to express shockingly candid details as to wrap them in personal symbolism only he can unravel. When Kozelek sings “I promised always through me she would shine” on April’s 10-minute centerpiece “Tonight the Sky,” you picture the man alone, howling at the moon, shaking his fists in frustration at the universe.
source
Sun Kil Moon - Moorestown
Okkervil River - The Stand Ins [2008]
The Stand Ins CD / LP (JAG124, released: 09/09/08)
OKKERVIL RIVER's new full-length album The Stand Ins is the sequel to 2007's critically acclaimed The Stage Names, which Pitchfork praised as "...one of the year's best," with The New York Times proclaiming, "This band's musical arsenal keeps getting fuller."
The Stand Ins was recorded in Austin and produced by longtime collaborator Brian Beattie and Okkervil River. The album features 11 songs and includes the track "Lost Coastlines," on which Sheff and recently departed Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater share a duet on the joys and hardships of trying to keep the band together. Of the process Will Sheff explains, "We had so many songs we were excited about that we briefly threw around the idea of just putting out a double record. Instead, we decided to take a group of songs that fit with each other and turn that into The Stage Names, setting the rest aside for a future release, a The Stage Names sequel." The Stand Ins is that sequel, part two of a staggered double album. Like artist William Schaff's embroidered artwork, which depicts what's happening underneath The Stage Names' front-cover quicksand hand,The Stand Ins picks up exactly where Part One left off but also delves deeper into the story and theme of The Stage Names. It is a full-length, fleshed-out, deeply ambitious labor of love.
"Sheff sings like he's on fire but writes like a novelist, reeling off memorable images with an ease that belies his craftsmanship." -- Harp
jagjaguwar
OKKERVIL RIVER's new full-length album The Stand Ins is the sequel to 2007's critically acclaimed The Stage Names, which Pitchfork praised as "...one of the year's best," with The New York Times proclaiming, "This band's musical arsenal keeps getting fuller."
The Stand Ins was recorded in Austin and produced by longtime collaborator Brian Beattie and Okkervil River. The album features 11 songs and includes the track "Lost Coastlines," on which Sheff and recently departed Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater share a duet on the joys and hardships of trying to keep the band together. Of the process Will Sheff explains, "We had so many songs we were excited about that we briefly threw around the idea of just putting out a double record. Instead, we decided to take a group of songs that fit with each other and turn that into The Stage Names, setting the rest aside for a future release, a The Stage Names sequel." The Stand Ins is that sequel, part two of a staggered double album. Like artist William Schaff's embroidered artwork, which depicts what's happening underneath The Stage Names' front-cover quicksand hand,The Stand Ins picks up exactly where Part One left off but also delves deeper into the story and theme of The Stage Names. It is a full-length, fleshed-out, deeply ambitious labor of love.
"Sheff sings like he's on fire but writes like a novelist, reeling off memorable images with an ease that belies his craftsmanship." -- Harp
jagjaguwar
Lost Coastlines
sábado, octubre 25, 2008
Lambchop - Oh (Ohio) [2008]
From the front, the house in the quiet Nashville suburb where Kurt Wagner has lived the last thirteen years looks the same now as it did when he first moved there. The pillared porch still faces out over a patchy lawn to a small industrial warehouse on the other side of the road. The chair in which Kurt has composed so many of his songs stands to the left, an ashtray overflowing with butts nearby. His beloved veteran pickup truck remains in the drive, while sounds from nearby traintracks occasionally punctuate the birdsong. Inside, though the front room is much as it was – shaded from the sun, comfy armchairs showing their age –back where the small kitchen used to lead through a rickety screendoor to a second porch and yard there’s now a whole new living area, freshly sanded floors reflecting the golden Tennessean light. What used to be a splintered deck is now a grand veranda. And while the staccato tap of their toenails on the boards sounds the same, his dogs are different too: Lucy and Jack long gone, replaced by Sydney and Louise.
So much has changed since Kurt first led LAMBCHOP out of the basement downstairs where they rehearse. Back then they were a ramshackle outfit, a charming drinking buddy collective taking the music they heard around them in Music City – the butt of jokes amongst the critical elite at the time – and mixing it with the music that they loved, Wagner topping it all off with his weird, abstract lyrics about a “soaky in the pooper” and cowboys on the moon. They were a curiosity: the fact that anyone would want to release the album they recorded as great a surprise to the band as anyone. Perhaps, if it had not been picked up by a small group of fervent fans and critics seduced by what the band archly called ‘The New Sound Of Nashville’, it would have been their only album.
Yet now, almost two decades later, LAMBCHOP return with their tenth, OH (ohio). The musical landscape could hardly be more different. Nashville is ‘cool’ again: Jack White has bought a home there, Kings Of Leon are a household name, Harmony Korine directs Budweiser commercials featuring LAMBCHOP’s William Tyler at Springwater (the legendary dive where LAMBCHOP and many other local bands cut their teeth), David Berman has revitalized his Silver Jews in the city (borrowing two members of LAMBCHOP, we might add) and Be Your Own Pet have cornered the teenage punk market.
more
So much has changed since Kurt first led LAMBCHOP out of the basement downstairs where they rehearse. Back then they were a ramshackle outfit, a charming drinking buddy collective taking the music they heard around them in Music City – the butt of jokes amongst the critical elite at the time – and mixing it with the music that they loved, Wagner topping it all off with his weird, abstract lyrics about a “soaky in the pooper” and cowboys on the moon. They were a curiosity: the fact that anyone would want to release the album they recorded as great a surprise to the band as anyone. Perhaps, if it had not been picked up by a small group of fervent fans and critics seduced by what the band archly called ‘The New Sound Of Nashville’, it would have been their only album.
Yet now, almost two decades later, LAMBCHOP return with their tenth, OH (ohio). The musical landscape could hardly be more different. Nashville is ‘cool’ again: Jack White has bought a home there, Kings Of Leon are a household name, Harmony Korine directs Budweiser commercials featuring LAMBCHOP’s William Tyler at Springwater (the legendary dive where LAMBCHOP and many other local bands cut their teeth), David Berman has revitalized his Silver Jews in the city (borrowing two members of LAMBCHOP, we might add) and Be Your Own Pet have cornered the teenage punk market.
more
is a woman
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