This isn't brand new, but we just managed to get a bunch, and if this isn't just about the perfect compilation for you free-folk, psychedelic, new weird America fans we don't know what is. The track listing should be enough to convince you: Acid Mothers Temple, Kemialliset Ystavat, Amps For Christ, Greg Weeks, Pelt, Martyn Bates, Currituck County, Fursaxa, Dead Raven Choir, Alasdair Roberts, Stone Breath, the Iditarod, Mason Jones, and more!
Who kicks ass? The true rockin' country maverick Wanda Jackson, that's who!!! And what could be a more fitting tribute than to assemble 21 covers of her songs performed by a crowd of fiery ladies (and some fellers too) cut from the same cloth? The compilation kicks off with a visit from Canada's country sweetheart Ms Carolyn Mark dishin' out a suitably rousing version of one of Jackson's trademark songs "Hot Dog, That Made Him Mad", and the good times just keep on rollin' from there. Also dropping by to tip their hat are many familiar faces from the past and present Bloodshot Records stable as well as some new faces: Neko Case (delivering a rollicking rendition of "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man" with Jon Rauhouse and Joey Burns), Robbie Fulks, Trailer Bride (who completely transform one of Jackson's other musical calling cards "Fujiyama Mama" into a druggy, delirious dirge), Kelly Hogan (aah, as dreamy as ever!), Rosie Flores, Wayne Hancock, Laura Cantrell, Bottle Rockets with Sheri Hurst, Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, Nora O'Connor, Candye Kane, Anna Fermin & The Trigger Gospel, Kristi Rose, The Cornell Hurd Band, Jane Baxter Miller, Kim Lenz, Asylum Street Spankers, Gina Lee & The Brisket Boys, Jesse Dayton, and The Ranch Girls & The Ragtime Wranglers (from the Netherlands). Another fine compilation from the Bloodshot ranch.
Paying tribute to one of the greatest musical beings of our lifetime is a pretty hefty challenge but luckily M. Ward, who put together this comp, did a really nice job of bringing together artists who have been greatly influenced by Fahey's guitar playing and legacy. You can hear in the these covers how deeply felt Fahey's music has been to the next generation of musicians who use guitar as their tool of expression. This is one of those rare tributes that doesn't feel like a haphazard hack job. Fahey's music is so spiritual and pure that there is no doubt everyone on here was honored to pay their respects and came through with excellent versions of Fahey originals. With people like Devendra Banhart, Lee Ranaldo, Howe Gelb, Sufjan Stevens, Calexico, Pelt, Cul De Sac, Currituck Co. and more all contributing covers, it's so nice to hear how they each came to a Fahey song with their own aesthetic at hand. Released on Vanguard who put out many of Fahey's classic albums, the packaging is really nice with each artist contributing a blurb about their relationship with Fahey's music. Tribute records aren't usually this thoughtful and well executed and we're so glad that for John Fahey it was done right because he deserves nothing less then excellence in his honor!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Newest offering from Germany's Trikont label. Yet another genre spanning collection of music, this time devoted to Hank Williams. Featuring covers by such disparate artists as The Residents, Hasil Adkins, Killdozer, Isaac Hayes, Link Wray, Freddy Fender, Mekons, Al Green, Buckwheat Zydeco, Jad Fair, Charlie Feathers and much more!
It's a Mint Records family gathering of holiday sorts! This disc includes the five songs by Carolyn Mark, Duotang, David Carswell (who along with New Pornographer John Collins co-runs JC/DC Recording Studios) & Megan Barnes, the Evaporators and their offshoot Thee Snowglobe-lins originally released on the Team Mint Xmas Vol. 1 compilation that came out four years ago on 7" vinyl only. Adding to the festivities are eight more songs by country folks, diverse popsters and instrumental combos galore -- Ms Carolyn Mark (yes, she appears again!), Tennessee Twin, John Guliak (covering a Commander Cody song), the positively dreamy Young And Sexy, garage rawk party kings the Smugglers, the newwave-twangin' Buttless Chaps (covering a Johnny Cash song), the Ramblin' Ambassadors (members formerly of Huevos Rancheros), and Atomic 7 (ex-Shadowy Man From A Shadowy Planet Brian Connelly).
Plus a bunch of the Vancouver based members of the abovementioned groups got together with members of Beans, Maow, The Gay and The Organ and beat the Brits to the punch with their new rendition of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" There's even a video clip included on the cd. But we wonder... being Canadian and all, why didn't they remake the Canadian counterpart from back then "Tears Are Not Enough"? Y'know the one with Bryan Adams, Anne Murray, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot and Burton Cummings! Note: Keeping with the spirit of the original project, $3 from each cd sold will go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation, which was established by the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa.
To commemorate their 100th release, Bloodshot Records put out this release which is loaded with out of print or hard to find singles. There's plenty of lively covers (of Funkadelic, Loretta Lynn, Poison, and Madonna to name a few) and a handful of previously unreleased treasures too. Tracks include: Waco Brothers "Harder They Come", Kelly Hogan "1,000,001" (previously unreleased), Ryan Adams "Goodbye Honey" (previously unreleased from the "Heartbreaker" sessions), Andre Williams & 2 Star Tabernacle "Lilly White Mama/Jet Black Daddy", Moonshine Willy "Complicated Games, The Meat Purveyors "The Madonna Trilogy", Neko Case & the Sadies "Rated X", Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", The Sadies "Little Sadie", Moonshine Willy "George Set Me Strait", The Volebeats "Maggot Brain, Parts 1 & 2", Kelly Hogan & the Mellocremes "Hanky Panky Woman", Ryan Adams "To Be Young" (previously unreleased acoustic version), Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights", Kelly Hogan & John Wesley Harding "It's Only Make Believe" (previously unreleased), Andre Williams & 2 Star Tabernacle "Ramblin' Man", Moonshine Willy "Alone", and Jonboy Langford "Nashville Radio".
Artists such as Grandaddy, The Handsome Family, Sparklehorse, Evan Dando and Mark Eitzel doing some covers of classic country tunes by the likes of Hank Williams and Kris Kristofferson, along with some old 'n dusty sounding originals.
Let's face it, most tribute albums suck. I can count on one hand the number of tribute albums I have *loved*. (Well, actually on one finger, namely the Roky Erickson trib.) Now along comes this FANTASTIC collection of songs performed by a perfectly-chosen array of alt country musicmakers, all paying their respects to Kris Kristofferson with achingly gorgeous renditions of his songs. I'm hard pressed to even name highlight tracks, because *all* of them are lovely. The mood is consistently downer, the performances retain the flavor of the individual contributing bands, but let the brilliance of Kristofferson's songwriting show thru. And who doesn't love "Me and Bobby McGee", "Help Me Make it Thru the Night", and my personal fave "Sunday Mornin' Coming Down"? If you're not a Kristofferson fan (yet), get this anyway -- it serves as a wonderful intro to the perpetual outsider with the progressive politics who mopped floors at a Columbia's Nashville studios just so he could slip Johnny Cash tapes of his songs! (The liner notes go into his life story a bit -- quite fascinating -- he was involved in the Central American conflicts, visited the Sandanistas, is working to free Leonard Peltier, etc.)
Participants include Souled American, Calexico, Radar Brothers, Zmrzlina, Virgil Shaw (Dieselhed), Richard Buckner, Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), Grandaddy, Deanna Varagone (Lambchop), Court and Spark, Califone, Handsome Family -- all artists already established as wonderful. Hear them pay tribute. Take it from me, the picky tribute listener -- this one is GREAT. It will make you love Kristofferson while also providing a stunning snapshot of the current alt.country scene. Highly recommended!
A wonderful compilation of the -- until recently -- under-exposed world of female bluegrass music featuring the lovely, familiar voices of such artists as Hazel Dickens, Alice Gerrard and Alison Krauss. Nineteen rich, rootsy numbers in all (18 taken from the
Tribute to The Knitters, the country offshoot of L.A. punk greats X. Featuring tracks by: Whiskeytown, Robbie Fulks, The Old 97's (with John Doe), Handsome Family, The Rock*A*Teens, and even an unreleased track by The Knitters themselves. Me thinks it funny (much as I like the Knitters) that this could be considered to be a tribute to The Knitters when over half the songs on the album were not even written by The Knitters. Oh well, what'r ya gonna do?
The latest compilation from Arthur Magazine's Bastet imprint wears that magazines politics on its sleeve on this collection of obvious and not so obvious protest songs. A lot of familiar names on this one -- Devendra Banhart, Feathers, Diane Cluck, Pajo, Josephine Foster and Matt Valentine. While the less obvious protest songs including Meg Baird's sublime "Western Red Lily" will probably resonate longer over time, there is something extremely exhilarating about the urgency of songs such as Charlie Nothing's "Fuck You and Your Stupid Wars", and Andrew Bar's "Don't Trust That Man". Play this often and loud!
The New Pornographers, Duotang, Neko Case, I Am Spoonbender, Nardwuar The Human Serviette (and his combos Thee Goblins, Thee Skablins and of course, The Evaporators)... sound like an unusual gathering? Hmmm, not really. Y'see, they're all on Vancouver's Mint Records, and a sampling of their songs have been collected together - along with those of sweet-twang Tennessee Twin,
The new Bay Area label Tell-All Records have hit the ground running with a bunch of new releases from a bunch of new artists. Nicely varied but mostly keeping within the gentle, hazy realm -- evoking pastoral scenes or drifting about in outerspace or an abandoned old concert hall with a forgotten cobwebbed piano -- the label strikes a balance between ambient soundscapes and song-based music. This label sampler compilation, their first official release, clearly shows, it all fits together wonderfully. Twelve songs by Liam Singer (who is one of the young gents running the label), Peter Surla, 28 Degrees Taurus, St. Rosa, One Umbrella, Dave Zohrob, Kallikak Family, Keith Negley, and Carrier (whose dreamy Home Movies cd-r we carried a couple of years ago) for under five bucks!
Other releases from this label include a solo full length from Singer, Kallikak Family's May 23rd 2007 album and One Umbrella's 8-song cd Solve.
Those frisky, fine folks at Bloodshot Records sure aren't the kind to leave anybody out in the cold. The proof is in the pudding, and the pudding is this CHILDREN'S album! They've even enlisted the help of non-Bloodshoters like Neko Case's pal and fellow Corn Sister Carolyn Mark to join in the tykes' merriment. Much in the way of storytelling and singalongs abound. I know firsthand that while hanging out with your favorite baby, toddler or child, the music that they usually have, and sadly are programmed to like, sucks. It could drive a well-meaning mom or caregiver nuts! Disney and 'We Sing Silly Songs' and such. This release is a pleasant change in that it is fun for kids and easy to listen to for adults (psst... another choice pick in the kids' category is They Might Be Giants' "No!" from earlier this year). Robbie Fulks' "Godfrey" ("the sickly unemployed amateur children's magician"!) is worth the price in chuckles alone. Plus I think it is our duty as musically tasteful people to introduce our children to music that doesn't suck from early on. Right?
Bloodshot Records hits you with a double whammy of their anti-death penalty compilation Executioner's Last Songs... Volumes Two and Three! Most of the usual Bloodshot roundup appear here in a variety of combinations -- Sally Timms & Edith Frost, Alejandro Escovedo & Jon Langford with Dave Alvin, Kelly Hogan, Jon Rauhouse, Rico Bell, the Meat Purveyors, but perhaps one of the most expressive and enjoyable of these twenty seven songs is the one by gravelly snarlin' Lu Edmonds called "Gulag Blues". Well worth checking out! Also appearing are American Music Club's Mark Eitzel, Jesus Lizard's David Yow, Old 97s' Rhett Miller, Spinanes' Rebecca Gates, Califone's Tim Rutili and many more! One question though: how many times are we gonna hear "Long Black Veil" covered?
Oh wow. It's here, though not for long. You may have seen it announced on our blog or elsewhere, and really should have preordered one... we've already sold most of the copies we got (which was a lot, as many as we could afford, really). But at the moment we still have, like, a dozen. And possibly will be able to restock a few again next week, though we don't know that for sure. The label only pressed 1000 copies, and we know they're going fast. So perhaps listing it here is just for posterity's sake.
So, what's all the excitement about you ask? If you're a fan of San Francisco's acclaimed Jewelled Antler collective of psychedelic/drone/improv/nature folks you should know, some years back (2003), they decided to release a series of 3" cd-r eps, once a month or so, with entries from JA regulars like Thuja, likeminded folks such as Dead Raven Choir and Antony Milton, and also odd, one-off quirky projects like Loren Chasse's frog-sounds disc dubbed Green Laughter. The idea was to release stuff that stood alone in twenty-minute doses and didn't need to be padded out to full-cd length. These cute lil' 3"s proved quite popular here at AQ, and of course are now long, long out of print like all Jewelled Antler cd-rs. Apparently a set will put you back about $100-120 on eBay nowadays, or until recently anyway... Well there'd been talk for some years now of these wonderful eps getting reissued on cd, in a box set or something, and lo it has finally come to pass thanks to the enthusiasm (and deep pockets) of Porter Records.
The Jewelled Antler Library box contains 4 discs in cardboard sleeves, Books One to Four, comprising all 12 original entries in the approximately-monthly 3" cd-r ep series plus some extra bonus material! 59 tracks, four hours and forty minutes in all. It breaks down like this... Book One: Loren Chasse/Tomes/The Ivytree/Hala Strana, Book Two: Dead Raven Choir/The Famous Boating Party/Uton, Book Three: Claypipe/The Muons/Thuja, Book Four: Fursaxa/Kemialliset Ystavat/The Ways Of God To Man. And interspersed between each of the thirteen volumes are twelve "Footpath" tracks of brand new field recordings by Loren Chasse, up-close-and-personal documents of rain and wind and other evocative textural cracklings and rustlings from the natural environment. The box also contains individual, full-color cards with the cover art and credits from each ep.
We reviewed all of them when they originally came out (or almost all of 'em, not sure what happened to the last few). Waste not, want not, so what follows is a conglomeration of our reviews of each library installment, slightly edited for clarity and to eliminate redundancies. Note how several of the entries in the series may have been the very first time we'd heard from a particular artist, such as Finland's Uton for instance, now well known to us and AQ customers...
Volume 1: Frogs!!! Can AQ-customers resist frog recordings? We think not. Certainly we can't. Green Laughter is primarily frog field recordings made and edited by Loren Chasse (Thuja, Id Battery, Of, Blithe Sons, etc.). It's twenty minutes of the call of the wild (featuring frogs, cicadas, and perhaps birds), starting off as a fairly straight documentary and then blending into a computer-processed drone-wash constructed by Chasse from his original recordings. It's like wandering in a dense creature-inhabited forest back East somewhere in the summertime, your ears overwhelmed by the natural sounds, you getting dizzy and almost passing out, the ribbitting and chirping and buzzing and tweeting taking over your mind. But it eventually dissolves back into a blissful background ambience. Real nice. And many of the sounds on here that sound insect-like or electronic Loren assures us are in fact frogs. It's nature's electronic music, the sound of a laptop computer overwhelmed by heat and long grasses and the green laughter. Just the thing for when I (Allan) get homesick for Pennsylvania.
Volume 2 is the debut recording from a group called Tomes, who are, as it turns out, basically Jewelled Antler flagship group Thuja (Rob Reger, Loren Chasse, Glenn Donaldson, absent Steven R. Smith), letting themselves get a little bit louder and noisier than they usually do in Thuja, harking back a bit to precursor band Mirza in fact. Probably the main reason this wasn't put out as a Thuja release is because Tomes' title and artwork are in fact the Jewelled Antler collective's knowing nod to a black metal aesthetic (which has fascinated Glenn particularly of late). But while intended as a tribute of sorts to black metal, the psychedelic drone music found here only holds subtle echoes of dark Nordic woodlands and burning churches. The twenty minutes of abstract heavy improv of The Dreadful Gift is darn good stuff regardless of the tangential conceptual framework. With noisy phantoms clanking chains, groaning drones, tell-tale heartbeats and and distorted freeform guitar feedback, this does achieve a dark n' dirgey but beautiful atmosphere. Too beautiful perhaps to leave the black metal hordes quaking in their corpsepaint, it still could be a Jewelled Antler Halloween soundtrack of sorts - I wonder why didn't they wait 'til the October Library installment for this? Definitely recommended.
Volume 3 comes from The Ivytree, a solo project of one of the Jewelled Antler's chief protagonists, Glenn Donaldson (who can also be found in Thuja, The Blithe Sons, Knit Separates, The Birdtree, etc). Donaldson has publicly announced an affinity for creating different monikers to accompany the innumerable variations of his musical productions, so The Ivytree may be just one in a number of upcoming 'tree' projects from Donaldson. Certainly this 18 minute ep has a lot in common with his previous 'tree disc, The Birdtree album, which garnered high praise from us. Centered around a plaintive, elliptical finger-picking guitar technique which renders every note full of melancholia, The Sun Is The Lamp weaves in and out of harmonium drones, field recordings of birds, and Donaldson's evocative vocals. As strong as the best Richard Youngs projects that might be the closest comparison we can make, this is another fantastic recording from Jewelled Antler!
Volume 4 is by Thuja's Steven R. Smith, who has taken up the Hala Strana moniker for his Eastern European-folk music inspired meditations. Karst continues down the path of his previous Jewelled Antler production Kohl, with a more ramshackle production for his dense acoustic arrangements for guitar and scratchy violin, which often hints at Eastern European timbres but as played by Nikki Sudden. In fact two of Smith's tracks are versions of traditional Polish and Romanian folk songs. Often beginning with a clutter of loose sounds, Smith coaxes his orchestrations into melancholic melodies and has smothered everything with an unusual patina of crunchy vinyl static, giving these 18 minutes a distinctly antiquated feel. A great entry in a great series...
Volume 5 is by Dead Raven Choir, the Texas-by-way-of-Poland based folk/improv one man project that the Jewelled Antler powers-that-be seem to be totally in love with of late - this was their 3rd DRC release of 2003! As with his previous Jewelled Antler cd-rs, DRC here conjures up some eccentric vocal theatrics and sparse, haunted acoustic guitar playing, like some sort of Eastern European Jandek. And his black metal obsession with wolves continues in the title here as well. Scarily beautiful, with atmospheric piano and unknown other sounds providing a hissing soundscape for his vocal, all three tracks here featuring macabre poetry by Paul Verlaine.
Volume 6 is something a bit different, yet familiar too to Jewelled Antler aficionados. It features the Blithe Sons (Glenn Donaldson and Loren Chasse, both also of Thuja and much else besides) joined by Eleanor Harwood on vocals. This trio's music is totally inspired by '70s art rock ensemble Slapp Happy, it's actually an intentional tribute of sorts. Eleanor is the heart of this, and we must say that for an untrained vocalist in an improvised setting, she's very impressive! Singing lyrics taken from a book of Kenneth Patchen poetry that was near to hand, "The Famous Boating Party", she totally inhabits the Dagmar Krause role, her vocals all wonderfully warbly and birdlike and lovely. She reminds us of Bjork at times too, no bad thing! Backing her up/leading her on, Glenn strums melodically on his 6 & 12 string guitars and adds comforting keyboard coloration, while Loren's "percussion & noises" both provide a steady beat and contribute the usual detailed, natural Jewelled Antler ambiance. It's very hazy and folky and fairytale like, a summer's afternoon encapsulated in a magical music box. Maybe not to everyone's taste (Slapp Happy certainly isn't either) but for some this will be a highlight in the Library series.
Volume 7 is also from outside the immediate ranks of Thuja and company. Although they've had a couple of cd-r releases popping up from tiny labels around the globe, this was our introduction to Uton. This anonymous, acoustic-noise-drone band hails from Finland, although they seem far more at home within the New Zealand community of Birchville Cat Motel, Anthony Milton, and Handful of Dust. Zwuiji is a bit more grating than most entries in the Jewelled Antler Library series, which typically opiate themselves with hazy improvised psychedelia and obtuse folk renderings. Rather Uton revels in mistreating their electric gear in order to fill up the audio spectrum with buzzing drones that swarm out of their amplifiers like angry wasps. Scratchy violins and atonally shifting wind instruments hover behind these gritty walls of vibrating feedback which comes across more as a misaligned engine block rattling all of those tones inside your head than as a typical trick with a couple of effects boxes. Certainly the fans of cd-r labels Celebrate Psi Phenomenon or PseudoArcana will like this.
Volume 8 hails from New Zealand's Claypipe. It seems Jewelled Antler have found some kindred souls Down Under, no not Gandalf and Frodo but in this case Antony Milton (who runs a cd-r label himself, Pseudoarcana) and Clayton Noone (C.J.A., Armpit) who together are known as Claypipe. Repetition and drone and field recording grit coexist with lovely acoustic guitar - it's real nice. With wistful, earnest vocals, some distorted and layered, this is neither indie-pop nor environmental ambient, but a hybrid that totally fits with Jewelled Antler 'groups' like the Blithe Sons and Child Readers, while possessing that special New Zealand magic we all adore. Seven tracks, 20 minutes, and you're left wishing it were longer.
Volume 9 is a disc from SF's Muons, not a Jewelled Antler band per se, but in those guys' orbit. There's five songs here, just under twenty minutes of fragile, psychedelic folk recorded live, where they really shine. Inspired by traditional British folk music, but made soooo minimal and spacey that they've been called the "Bernhard Gunter of space-folk", the Muons make forlorn lullabys for adults. For this performance, the Muons were just the duo of Greg Bianchini and Rickey Reneau. Greg, who has played with Jewelled Antler acts Franciscan Hobbies, Thuja and Blithe Sons, is an gifted instrument maker, and on this recording plays a home-built 14-string electric lute as well as sings. Rickey plays an electric dulcimer, probably also built by Greg. Greg's languid strumming and melancholic vocals seem to drift out of the smoke and mist of another era, and could be from a lost UK psych-folk comp, although this is so slow and sad and desolate that no hippy could have made it - they'd be too bummed out. We're also reminded of some Galaxie 500, or old NZ stuff like the Chills. Certainly this is a bit different than much else in the Library series - it's got to be the most 'composed' set of songs found on any of these 3" discs. But we think JA fans will like it, a lot. It has a 'flowers in the rain' vibe that's just lovely. And the loveliness extends to the paintings Greg did for the 3" cover. Very nice.
Volume 10 is from Thuja. With the series getting close to the end, it's about time for these guys to finally make an appearance (unless you count the almost-Thuja entry by black metal inspired alter ego Tomes). 20 or so minutes, 2 tracks. Again, the Thujans (Loren Chasse, Rob Reger, Steven R. Smith, and Glenn Donaldson) make some of the most beautiful and mysterious abstract instrumental improv we've heard. All we're told is that Fable was "recorded at night in the Garden of Kains, August 30, 2003". There could have been weird old hippies sitting in, or magical woodland beasts (of the past), or academic dronologists gone a bit strange on natural pharmacueticals...but probably it was just Thuja, and their music is conjuring these imaginary visitors not the other way around.
All those above reviews from our archives get us up to book/disc four, volumes 11, 12, and the previously unheard by us quasi-volume 13 in the Library series. We'll briefly describe 'em here (as if you needed us to...):
Volume 11 is from Fursaxa, and consists of one haunting track, "Harbinger of Spring". Nearly 18 minutes of wordless vocal drone, tumbling tribal drums, and other mysterious atmospheres. Good music for the next time you're trapped inside a Wicker Man.
Volume 12 comes from Finnish freaky forest folks Kemialliset Ystavat, who always seemed like Jewelled Antler soulmates. Five tracks here of their moody, magical improvs. Primitive, krauty jams we love.
And then the "bonus" Volume 13 is by Jewelled Antler act Ways Of God To Man (Christine Boepple, Kerry McLaughlin, Loren Chasse and Glenn Donaldson). It was originally released in a very limited edition on a NZ cd-r label in 2004. Despite featuring 2 former AQ employees, we never even got any... Three tracks ("Nothing", "Everything", and "Anything") of dark psychedelic throb and abstract, distorted melodic murk, over 28 minutes total. It sounds to us like Jewelled Antler's tribute to Ya Ho Wa 13! Even if you already have the other 12 volumes of the library on the original 3"s cd-rs, and getting them again on the more durable medium of actual compact disc isn't a compelling enough reason to buy this box, we'd imagine that getting to hear the Ways Of God To Man could sweeten the deal considerably.
All right, considering we KNOW we're gonna run out of these right away, this review is quite long enough! Just one more paragraph to go...
Need we say, pretty darn recommended. But do we have any complaints? Well, musically, not really, of course some volumes will appeal more that others but that's the deal, and you can't get 'em individually anymore anyway. Also, just in terms of physical production, any ambitious, unique project like this is bound to have a few flaws. Will the metallic foil debossing of the Jewelled Antler logo on the box top IS quite handsome, the box itself is a bit of a disappointment. It just a bit flimsier than we were expecting ("heavy chip board stock" it's not), apparently due to the difficulty of debossing on heavier cardboard. Also it's bigger than it needs to be, leaving empty space inside for the cds and cards to rattle around. Had each one been stuffed (in true Jewelled Antler style) with twigs and moss and suchlike, that would have solved the problem, unfortunately that probably proved to be impractical, but you could do it yourself once you get this! There's also just a couple of proofing errors we noticed, nothing serious (Hala Strana got left off the back of the box, alas) but it's still too bad. However, the overall presentation is still pretty nice and of course it's the music that matters. So, that said, we can only reiterate: pretty darn recommended!
The always awesome Sutro Park label strikes again with another impeccable reissue, this one focusing on a type of music that, sadly, too often slips through the cracks of history when discussing blues or early modern styles. Not because it isn't awesome - oh, it is - but because the stuff on this platter resists easy categorization. As indicated by the title, the focus here is on "Negro Fife And Drum Music From The Deep South". This unique hybrid style brought together African polyrhythms and syncopation with fife and drum routines from the American and British militaries, resulting in a sound that wasn't quite modern OR antiquated. Rather, it was both... or maybe neither. The liner notes bring up the fact that most of the songs "conform roughly to the 'Bo Diddley' beat", which is apt for music that seems both primal and ready to stomp through the twentieth century. One thing is certain, the heavy rhythms presented here can be seen as a spiritual and literal precursor not only to blues and eventually rock n roll, but also jazz, disco, and hip hop just to name a few. And we certainly couldn't neglect to mention the priceless reaction of one customer who came in and wondered if we were listening to Einsturzende Neubauten! Which, actually does make sense if you were just wandering into a record store with incessant militaristic marching rhythms blasting out of the speakers.
The fifes (and some Sonny Terry-styled vocal whoops) are generally the only accompaniment to the rhythms, adding a vocal quality that carries the majority of the melodies, though the drumming itself is also strangely melodic and enveloping. Some of the earliest songs here were recorded in 1942 while the majority are from 1970, and it's interesting to note a strict adherence to the form with very little, maybe even nothing changing in those years. A few of the names here are familiar to us - Otha Turner, R.L. Boyce, and the legendary Sid Hemphill - and the recording sessions took place locally in Mississippi and Georgia, though some of the musicians made their home in Tennessee, making this a uniquely regional phenomenon. The music represents a distinct fusion of African and African-American cultures, with the emphasis obviously on rhythm, even when handling traditional folk songs. As many of the musicians were old enough to remember life in the late 1800s, they were basically the lone adherents of what might have been perceived as a lost or dying art which had never been recorded commercially, having been performed mostly at picnics, dances, and parties. The notes make mention of how the younger drummers preferred playing instrumental pieces as they allowed for greater improvisation than the older minstrel pieces with their fairly rigid patterns, which in a way sounds like the beginnings of modern music as we know it, where tradition and style are used as a springboard to something else entirely. The results are not only interesting from a historical standpoint, but also a pleasure to listen to and an excellent tutorial on the progression of rhythmic music in the twentieth century.
Another vinyl only release from the Tower Recordings' Matt Valentine and it's a doozy. Two massive sides of druggy, psychedelic drone folk clatter. Side A starts with a dreamy smear of reverbed banjo, very gorgeous and thick. Quickly gives way to an extended spaced out clattery free form jam, definitely informed by No Neck Blues Band and the like. Side B is a hazy, shimmery raga of sonic swirls and buzzing melodies, very reminiscent of Vibracathedral Orchestra or Sunroof!.
Pressed on gorgeous swirled green vinyl and of course limited.
From John Fahey to Jack Rose, we've reviewed loads of amazing modern Appalachia, from straight folk / bluegrass to buzzing droning acoustic ragas. But this just might be the perfect mix of the two, and thus may be the nicest chunk of acoustic / Appalachia / Raga / drone / avantfolk EVER. Really. Tower Recordings' Matt Valentine and Erika Elder give us nine tracks that slip smoothly back and forth between delicate, fingerpicked acoustic bluegrass and almost straight folk workouts, to snarling swirls of dense acoustic drones, with thick buzzing melodies, that wrap you in thick layers of shifting overtones and prickly hum. The vast (and unlikely) instrumentation: guitar, cumbus, oscillator, harmoniaca, big muff, carhorn, dogs, tamboura, kecapi, wood flute, Indian flute, pennywhistle, kazoo, percussion, sruti box, and siren help make the sound super dense and super rich and totally all enveloping. Limited, sorry.
Solo effort from Deanna Varagona of Lambchop. Country songs with bluesy vocal lines with throaty vocal growls - a lot like a No Depression version of Cat Power.
Ahhh, the lonely ballad of the singer songwriter. A lone troubadour, pouring out their heart and soul, naked and alone, with no band to hide behind, no crashing guitars and pounding drums to shield their delicate psyche.
There was a time when being called a singer songwriter was a badge of honor. But now, we might just as well turn tail and run. Sure the legacy of singer songwriters is a mighty one, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Gordon Lightfoot, Janis Ian, Cat Stevens, Jim Croce, James Taylor, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Donovan, Bruce Springsteen, but you'll notice a serious dearth of more -modern- musicians in that league. That's not because there aren't singer songwriters anymore, it's just that now, we typically equate singer songwriters with commercial radio, faceless pap, bad top 40, coffee houses, guys who couldn't start a band so decided to just 'do it themselves'. We're definitely generalizing, sure. There have definitely been some notable exceptions, Iron And Wine's Sam Beam, Damien Jurado, Edith Frost, Elliott Smith, Joel Phelps, Devendra Banhart, Cat Power's Chan Marshall, Simon Joyner, Fiona Apple, Jeff Mangum, Sufjan Stevens, Will Oldham, and now you can add Rocky Votoloto to the list. Now the funny thing is, as we mention again and again and again, if Votoloto had chosen to release this record under the name Waxwing (the name of his previous band) it probably wouldn't get lumped in with the singer songwriters at all, and might eeven get a bit more attention, even if it sounded exactly the same. That's why it's always better to make up a band name even if it's just you. We've said it before, we'll say it again. No matter how cool you think your name is, unless it's Van Halen or something like that, think again! Try this out: "I'm going to see John Smith". Or "I'm going to see Black Dungeon Firefly". Or "Strangle Flanger". Or whatever. You get the idea.
Anyway, before this review loses any more of its momentum, let's just say this is one of the most beautiful records we have heard in ages and mere months into the year has most definitely secured a spot on some of out 2006 top ten lists!
Votoloto has a gorgeously husky, whiskey soaked voice, and has an amazingly deft touch with melody and harmony. The first track is a dead ringer for Iron And Wine, delicate steel string guitar, hushed breathy vocals and sweet sweet harmonies, but the rest of the record is not nearly as restrained. Votolato's vocals are too rough and raw and powerful to be tiptoe-ing and shuffling sad boy style. No, the rest of the record sounds more like that Nirvana Unplugged record, Votolato's vocals the centerpoint, raw and ragged, but thick and warm and completely intense and emotional, more raspy and sandpapery like Cobain or Spoon's Britt Daniel or even Pete Searcy from Squirrel Bait. Not to say that he can't get all smooth, cuz there are plenty of dark and delicate tracks, where the vocals glide smoothly over sweet mournful melodies and hushed melancholy moments. But as with all "singer songwriters" (sigh) it's all about the songs, and this record is so chock full of amazing songs. Dark and dreary, warm and weary, folky and twangy, hushed and indie, a perfect mix of Iron And Wine, Ryan Adams, Elliott Smith, Uncle Tupelo, Spoon, and all that stuff we love. Acoustic guitars, harmonica, lapsteel, organ all woven into perfect chunks of dark and dreamy pop and twang.
Accurately described as "Cash meets Clash", Chicago's Waco Brothers bestow their fifth release on the world. A twangin' country party of a band featuring Mekons leader Jon Langford along with members of Pine Valley Cosmonauts, KMFDM and Jesus Jones(!), Waco Brothers actually sound a lot like a more focused Mekons -- which is a very good thing, especially if, like me, you think the Mekons started to suck right after their amazing early albums "Honky Tonkin'" and "Rock 'n Roll". Lots of sublime pedal steel and mandolin augment the bright electric guitars. Full of whiskey-soaked energy!
Although this band is made up of Jon Langford, Steve Goulding, Alan Doughty, Deano, Tracey Dear, and Marc Durnate... aka members of Mekons, Pine Valley Cosmonauts, Graham Parker & The Rumour, Jesus Jones, Dollar Store, Wreck and KMFDM (!), more that a few folks around here have commented about just how much this actually sounds like ol' AQ faves Uncle Tupelo. It really does!! The contrasting male lead vocals even resemble those of U.T.'s Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar. Midway through the proceedings though they veer towards Social Distortion goes honky tonk (about which we're not quite sure how feel). Either way, we're sure some stiff shots of whisky, a string of broken hearts and many pairs of well-worn cowboy boots were involved.
Oh how the mighty have fallen. We were secretly psyched for this, a country solo record from ex-Carcass guitarist Jeff Walker. How cool would that be, Carcass country!! But the actual end product is not quite what we had hoped. In fact it's sort of embarrassing. The arrangements are pretty cool, a bunch of countrified covers of badass classic tunes, rock, country, whatever, but Walker is just not a very good vocalist. In fact we might go so far as to say he is really really bad. And since it's the vocals that are front and center, a lot of this is a bit tough to stomach. We almost wish he had sung these Carcass-style, a harsh raspy shriek over acoustic guitars and fiddle would have been pretty dang weird. But alas... Carcass freaks might just need to own this cuz it's Walker, but not sure who else we could recommend this to.
Killer Cherry Poptart cover art though, if you're into that...
Some releases go in and out of print with remarkable and frustrating frequency. Such was the case with the early M. Ward album Duet For Guitars #2. It was first released in 1999 by Co-Dependent Records. Then Howe Gelb took a shine to it and re-released it on his own Ow Om label in 2000. 'Twas quite the perfect place for it to be! Seems Mr. Gelb was absolutely overcome by Ward's music, and chose Duets For Guitars #2 to be the first non-Giant Sand release on his label. Perhaps, it'll have the same effect on you!
Now pretty much a decade since it was originally recorded, Mr. Ward has settled into the comfy label home of Merge Records. This early album is getting its re-re-release into a stable environment to an eager, adoring and ever-growing legion of fans.
To get y'all caught up... yes, this wonderful album actually predated M. Ward's 2001 'debut' full length End Of Amnesia which we loved so much. Duet For Guitars #2 was a set of instrumentals and vocal numbers which he recorded back in 1997. If you like the somber, gruff deep voiced Americana beauty of Gelb's band Giant Sand or that of Tom Waits, Neil Young or Bob Dylan even, well then, M. Ward is definitely not to be missed.
After releases on Howe Gelb's Ow Om label and Future Farmer Records, M. Ward finds his new album a welcome and fitting home on Merge Records, and what a splendid one it is! It might get filed under "country/folk/Americana", but Ward doesn't stay within the confines of these genres. He's much more of a vagabond, bringing a great deal more to his slightly skewed aural canvas - very akin to Tom Waits or the aforementioned Gelb's Giant Sand. For example, lend an ear to the warm rollicking pop of "Vincent O'Brien" with its plinky piano and driving tempo or the creeping, almost funereal cover of David Bowie's "Let's Dance". Pretty darn fine! Vocally, Ward has drawn comparisons to the weathered, emotive pipes of Waits, Vic Chesnutt and Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous. It can go from hoarse and near-spoken in one song to gentle and sweetly pleading in the next. He's backed up by The Old Joe Clarks with some extra field recording input from Grandaddy's Jason Lytle. So timeless, otherworldly, and intriguing. Recommended.
MPEG Download: "Vincent O'Brien" [/audio/mwardvincent.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Vincent O'Brien" [/audio/mwardvincent.m3u]
A new album from this popular local combo who play a full, polished brand of shadowy twang. Delving into the darker side of country music a la Cowboy Junkies and Trailer Bride with layers of sliding, spidery reverbed guitar and gritty organs. The melancholic female lead vocals bring to mind the subdued yet powerful delivery of Hope Sandoval or Carly Simon. They're backed by higher, more angelic vocals. Their decision to include a tripped out cover of Blondie's "Heart Of Glass" seems very strange and out of place. The over the top warbly wah-wah guitars and plodding rhythms totally distracts from the brooding, languid Waycross atmosphere they've so carefully crafted. Instead, it comes across as an alienating, druggy blues rock rendition. Seems like they should've made it either a hidden final track or preferably just reserved it for the live setting in which it's surely a crowd pleaser. That said, if you can program your cd player to skip track 9, you'll have a cohesive, pleasing listen.
Lauded alt.country singer's second album produced by T-Bone Burnett. It's Allan's favorite of her several fine albums so far.
Debut release from this amazing country singer songwriter, an all time AQ favorite.
Why do I love Ms. Welch SO much? I dunno. Love is like that. Maybe 'cause of her careworn, exquisite voice, which she puts to such good use on songs that channel Appalachian woe and slacker angst. Maybe because she's so smart and charming and talented. Maybe 'cause she's so funny in concert... Ah, yes, she's wonderful. And so of course people like me are gonna be thrilled to hear her new album. While the title "Soul Journey" might sound corny this record isn't. Much of this sees Welch with a full backing band (including one guy from Son Volt), but it still sounds real intimate. And don't worry, Welch's partner, guitarist David Rawlings is on board too. From slow, rocking numbers to old timey ballads, Welch, Rawlings, and co. mesh rootsy "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" stuff with an indie-rock, alt-country perspective. Her songs are sad and forlorn, but also so gorgeous and comforting. What a treasure.
Who doesn't love alt-country songstress Gillian Welch and her musical partner David Rawlings? I kinda feel sorry for you if you don't. Anyway, chances are you're a fan, it seems most AQ-customers are. And fans should be pretty happy with this release, a DVD featuring the three videos shot for Welch's last release "Time (The Revelator)", plus nine songs filmed live in concert last year, five of which don't appear on any of Welch's albums! It's about an hour's worth of music total, and best of all -- it's in black and white! That's just perfect. Welch and Rawlings are wonderful live performers, so charming and funny that they make what they do seem easy, when of course it's not. Rawlings' impressive guitar solos, the duo's lovely vocal harmonies, Welch's brilliant lyrics...so good. See 'em live if you can -- checking out this DVD should definitely inspire you to do so. If it's not too early to start thinking about Christmas gifts, this seems like an idea...
The third album of (alternative is it?) country-folk from singer/songwriter Gillian Welch, following up 1998's "Hell Among The Yearlings", which became a big favorite here at Aquarius (and elsewhere too of course!). Primarily focused on lonely acoustic
There's a certain kind of voice that we're just sucker for. That frail, fragaile, about to crack keening sad boy, dusty, dusky, twangy croon. You know it as well as we do. Will Oldham (Bonnie Prince Billy, Palace), Jason Molina (Songs:Ohia), Joel Phelps, Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), Chris Grigoroff (Souled American). Take any of those voices, back them up with just the barest of instrumentation and you've got a dark and devastating, soul baring smear of ultrapersonal songcraft that just breaks your heart. A few years back, we stumbled upon a group called Timesbold, who trafficked in the same sort of dark twang as the above mentioned artists and ended up becoming a huge favorite around here. One member of Timesbold was and still is moonlighting as the sole member of Whip, taking Timesbold's sound in an even more spare and ultra personal direction. Hushed acoustic guitar, banjo, jaw harp, clanking clattery Tom Waits-y junkyard percussion, delicate brushed drumming, haunting theremin, strange ambient loops, and that anguished, whiskey soaked, sweet and sorrowful drawl. If you didn't know better you could certainly be forgiven for thinking this was some lost Palace or Songs:Ohia record. Fans of those guys, as well as groups like Rex, Calexico, Sparklehorse, Red Red Meat and like minded mournful twang will have yet another perfect record for those long and lonesome nights.
Ryan Adams took a few years off from his band Whiskeytown, and made quite a splash during that time with his solo album "Heartbreaker". I wonder if it was fun dating Winona Ryder. Now he's reconvened the quintet for their fourth full-length of
Gosh there's a lot to say about this record.
[1] THE MUSIC: The sonic trajectory Wilco seemed to be on with their last album, Summerteeth, led us to believe the new one would be even more perfect pop-like. But they've gone and thrown us a curve ball. That's right, this is Wilco's weird experimental record. OK, it isn't *that* weird; and if you're an AQ customer then you have far more experimental records in your collection, but it *is* unusual for Wilco. Like a mix between the doleful Giant Sand and the fanciful Latin Playboys (Los Lobos' weird experimental side project), this new Wilco record doesn't have half as many hooks as previous efforts. While it certainly has the tried and true strummed acoustic guitars, lyrical piano, sad fiddles, and alterna-country tone that the group is famous for, they make you wait and wait and wait for the hooks and the melodies, or else they bury 'em in a scattered, cathartic wash of melancholy. Jeff Tweedy, leader of the band and one half of the late great Uncle Tupelo, is a-wanderin' and a-thinkin' out loud and he's a-lettin' the songs write themselves, so they meander a bit, but it's ever so heartfelt. If you can handle the assorted odd sonic elements that pop up all over -- wooden bonks 'n clonks, piano plinks, toys, static and scrapings, feedback, stereo separation novelties, strange rumblings that threaten to overtake the music, etc -- then you'll like this record. (Rumor has it several members of Wilco *couldn't* handle the weirdness, and quit the band.) And even though the ubiquitous Jim O'Rourke mixed the album and you'd think he brought in all random noises, actually the band claims the record was way more weird *before* O'Rourke worked on it. Huh.
[2] THE EXTRAS: Comes with stuff you can play on your computer: a video for one of the songs, plus links to the trailer for the upcoming doc being made about 'em, plus special access to a hidden webpage that's only for folks who've bought the album.
[3] THE SAGA: Wilco's shortsighted major label Reprise decides that sales of 162,000 copies of Wilco's last album isn't enough, and they don't like the new album, so they want the band off the label. Wilco buys back the masters for less than it cost to record them, and sign with Nonesuch (who btw also signed Magnetic Fields). In a nice example of corporate stupidity, Nonesuch and Reprise are owned by the same corporation, so in effect AOL Time Warner paid for the album twice. Ha. Before they signed with Nonesuch, Wilco made this new album downloadable from their website, and thus it even showed up, without ever having been officially released, on a few rockcrits' top ten lists from 2001. Ironically enough, now that the album's saga has been latched onto by the NY Times and NPR, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot will sell more copies than all of Wilco's previous albums, and someone at Reprise will get fired.
[4] CONET PROJECT ALERT: Hey all you fellow Conet lovers! Didja notice the title of this record? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Yankee... Hotel... Foxtrot... Yes folks, this record was named after a track on the infamous Conet Project, the 4cd set that collects mysterious shortwave numbers station broadcasts. (We're kind of proud to have sold more copies of this than any other store -- 387 and counting!) And yep, there's a Conet Project sample buried near the end of the record. It's uncredited, which is kind of lame -- I mean if Wilco are such ardent fans of the Conet Project, wouldn't they want to turn other people onto it? Nor did we find Conet credit given on Boards of Canada's Geodaddi, for that matter, but the makers of Vanilla Sky did!
The composer of the alterna-country hit "Passionate Kisses" is back after long hiatus with new album featuring her trademark rough warble of a voice, which some fans find addictive. Hear why Emmylou Harris considers Lucinda Williams one of country's finest songwriters.
We've had difficulty with Ms Lucinda's past albums for being overly slick. While we loved many of her songs, the smooth AOR production has left much to be desired, often obliterating the immediacy of her fine songwriting. So this live recording is certainly welcome for its grittiness, but it's an unexpected sort of grit. In fact, this is a totally transformed Lucinda Williams. We caught a startling glimpse of her in a raucous duet with Elvis Costello on his Delivery Man album last year, but thought it to be an isolated excursion. This 2003 performance here at the Fillmore proves otherwise. It comes across as much less melodically inclined and more snarlingly aggressive -- her voice bristling with a near-Tom Waits throaty, throttled hoarseness. In fact, the very first time we played this in the store, three of us separately exclaimed, "Holy shit what is this?!" To boot, her early faves are sorely absent (y'know the ones you look forward to in live encores such as "Passionate Kisses"), but then again those songs aren't really suited to her new singing style as is made apparent in the lone oldie here "Changed The Locks". On a sticker attached to the front of the shrinkwrap, Costello compares her "rock and roll vocal style... to Keith Richards' guitar playing". We're not so sure about that. Perhaps a more direct and appropriate comparison would've simply been between their voices. However, while we're on the subject of guitars, there's plenty of lengthy solos and 'break-it-downs' (prime time for a spoken word interlude that we think she could've taken more advantage of). Nonetheless, the fans in attendance don't seem to mind one bit, fully captivated by her blistered and blistering bluesy Americana, and maybe you won't either. Approach with caution.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Quite possibly Lucinda Wiliiams' best album. It contains her alterna-country hit "Passionate Kisses". Despite the slick production (which seems very oddly out of place with the grit and yearning of her voice), this is simply wonderful, rootsy and earnest.
Country-livin' girl Victoria made this record out in the desert with husband Mark Olson of the Jayhawks, and with the musical contributions of Joey and John from Calexico and Wendy & Lisa (we kid you not.)
This is Aaron Calvert (of the L.A. band Evergreen) and Mikel Garmendia of Cars Get Crushed. Which is why I was surprised by this cd. I was expecting that post punk late 90's sort of thang. Instead I found some good ol' Americana with a healthy dose of No Depression with interesting production, at times reminiscent of Tom Waits or Vic Chestnutt. EP length at 35 minutes.
There is nothing groundbreaking here but it's done really well. Totally captivating and charming. The vocals are slurred and lazy and drunk sounding, maybe even a bit too much... Really pretty nice.
Seems like only moments ago, my favorite record of last year came out. Maybe that's just because I still listen to it almost every day!! It's that good. If you read the AQ list you know I'm talking about the totally amazing Woven Hand record, a solo project of David Eugene Edwards from Sixteen Horsepower. Let's quickly recap for those who don't know what the hell I'm talking about. Sixteen Horsepower make weird backwoods gypsy folk, augmenting normal instrumentation with fiddles, accordions and mandolins. Dark and swampy tales, campfire stumps and lugubrious dirge folk crawls. Sound good? Well that's 'cause it is!! A huge AQ favorite. We weren't sure what to expect from Edwards solo record. We certainly weren't expecting it to surpass 16HP in every way, but it did!! Darker and creepier, tales of apocalyptic doom and Biblical salvation rendered in dreary, droney folk, lit by the fire of a bayou campfire. SO SO SO GOOD!!! One of the few records that really moved me. Seriously, like to tears. It's so gorgeous and passionate and sinister and perfect. Yes, PERFECT. So here we are a year later and a new record from the Woven Hand. Blush Music is music composed for a modern dance performance by the Belgian dance troupe Ultima Vez. It's about half re-worked songs from the first record and half new material. At first I was a little disappointed that it was different versions of old songs, until I heard the new versions. GOD!! This record perfectly complements the songs on the first record. One of the highlights from the first record was the cover of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine", a perfectly gut wrenching, tear jerking slow motion valentine to lost love. On Blush Music, "Ain't No Sunshine" reappears as the 12+ minute "Animalitos", with the original stretched out into an entirely new shape, complete with dark, mornful ambient passages, wheezing organs, bombastic percussion, rumbling drones, bird calls, and forest sounds, with the vocals and melody occasionally surfacing only to be immediately overwhelmed by the turbulent soundscape. A couple songs from the first record get this treatment and the results are sublime. The new tracks, while not as immediately catchy as a lot of the tracks on the first record, still capture the same dread and dark hope. A good way to imagine this record in relation to the first, is imagine the first record as the -soundtrack- to an epic biblical southern love story equal parts Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, Southern Comfort and All The Pretty Horses. Now imagine that Blush Music is the -score-, all the incidental music, the theme reworked and stretched out to hover emotionally beneath dialogue, or to guide the viewers emotions. I think this record works better if you already own the first one (thankfully the first one was just released domestically), but that isn't to say Blush Music is not a perfect slice of dark and droney, fire and brimstone, forlorn and forgotten, gorgeously damaged, gypsy psych-folk. 'Cause it is!
Despite the jarring loudness suggested by this release's title, Corbi Wright's music is utterly hushed and contemplative. Her voice swoops from a withery whisper to a raw PJ Harvey-esque emotiveness. The loose weave of her barebones, unstructured folk sits well alongside the recent likes of Wooden Wand & The Vanishing Voice or The Alps. We know this to be true 'cause we've played them back to back a few times, and it made for a very enjoyable listen that flowed exceptionally well. So there. And to tie things neatly together, AQ pal Mr. Jefre Cantu (member of The Alps, Tarentel among many others) assisted Ms Wright in the recording of these songs. Very nice.
