April 30, 2006
SC photos part 3
there are many many many more to come. these are all stolen from other people's cameras. and someday i'll get around to scanning warWick's analog photos, which are 100% drunk people and 0% musical artists performing.
April 11, 2006
Records
I wonder if I'll ever be able to put out a record again???
Digitalis gave the Nalle disc a great review. It sure would be great if I could actually get the US release into production!
The new Sparks album is good. A few tracks are even great, on par with their best 70's work. But I've mostly been listening to the new Scott Walker album, The Drift. It is fascinating and obtuse, even more than Tilt.
November 16, 2005
Animal Collective
Are Animal Collective the best band of this generation? I succumb to hyperbole often, yes, but after loving essentially every second they've recorded I can't help but come to this conclusion. They manage to assimilate a lot of the strands of thought going on in underground music today - ramshackle folk, electroacoustic improv, noise/drone/minimalism - and structure it all around brilliant pop songs that keep me coming back to listen to the same records, over and over. And over. The first time I heard Danse Manatee it was like a revelation - like hearing the music that I always wanted to make, but realized in a form that is ten times beyond what I could dream of. Here Comes the Indian, Sung Tongs and Feels have followed in the brilliance, with the music becoming somehow more challenging and more accessible at the same time. I have seen them live maybe five times, and every time I've seen them they've blown me away by their ability to move forward, reinventing themselves and never falling into a rut. Some of their performances have been extremely challlenging, in that they develop their ideas at the audience's expense, but I've never once been bored, even during the 90+ minute set in Lexington earlier this year. This is a band that I love and cherish and I am nothing but delighted by everything they do, and their success has provided them with more opportunity to do more, and that is also wonderful. One day I may think back on the past few years and just be glad that I was able to see them and know them in this time and enjoy some of the most unique, unparalleled music I have ever heard. While there is much that I love, I'm not sure if anything happening right now is quite as special as Animal Collective.
Austin, TX's Weird Weeds are becoming another favorite. Their only release is Hold Me, apparently quite a bit different than what they are doing now, but it has grown on me immensely. After the first listen it sounded like nothing special to me - just another band descended from 90's guitar-based indie lineage. Or so I thought. After about five more listens, it's revealed itself as a subtle, strange hybrid of singer-songwriter, folk/blues and even 20th century classical music, though that doesn't even begin to describe it. Perhaps they are carrying on the Texas deconstructionist tradition started by the Red Krayola, only while being totally different than the Red Krayola? This is a real sleeper that I also highly recommend.
November 05, 2005
Invisible Pyramid: Elegy Box
Last Visible Dog released a 6 CD box set last month called "Invisible Pyramid: Elegy Box". I bought it a few weeks ago but only tonight cracked the shrinkwrap. There is something intimidating about sitting down to listen to 7 hours and 36 minutes of music. Perhaps it's my short attention span - even though I know I don't have to listen to it all at once - or maybe I'm just unsure of where to begin. I'm going to try and sit down and listen to it, maybe forcing myself to post about it on here so I can actually form some thoughts on it.
It seems like great compilations define what is going on in a certain scene in music at a certain time - Harmony of the Spheres, No New York, Wanna Buy a Bridge?, Fast Product, Tard and Furthered, Hey Drag City, etc. The recent "By the Fruits You Shall Know the Roots" set on Eclipse/Time-Lag captured the folkier side of the American underground, though it sold out before I was able to get a copy. "Invisible Pyramid" has a much wider geographic field, and a somewhat more experimental angle.
Thoughts to follow. It is good to force myself to write about music, even if it's just to articulate my own thoughts.