Monday, September 29, 2008

+ i have no instruments...

...i'm using yours.

bloody prodigious 21 year olds. they have the gall to release several albums in the last couple of years that not only show their well-honed musical talents but also breadth and range. i mean seriously, how is it possible to even be this... introspective? diverse? skillful? prolific AND consistently great?! i'm looking at you kids --> peter broderick. keith kenniff. thomas meluch. connor kirby-long. isn't time for you to be young slackers or something?

the new Peter Broderick album is breathtakingly gorgeous. i was actually quite surprised to learn that he was born in 1987, not 1967. amazing for the output (and genre-hopping) that he's managed in the last couple years, such as the instrumental post-classical releases on the Type label (alongside fellow boy-genius Keith Kenniff who I've already lavished much praise for his Goldmund/Helios output and Canadian wunderkind Connor K-L as Khonnor), his arranging collaborations with Justin Ringle in the folk band Horse Feathers and touring work with Efterklang. and now this Home album, just come out on the PDX based Hush label (and on Bella Union in the UK).

there is the occasional dip into the dronier elements of his Type stuff, and even a toe in postrock expansiveness but the minimal instrumentation of just guitar and vocals keeps it well in the folk arena, albeit of a haunting, ethereal kind with the layered ahhhs of his lovely voice and the quiet eeriness of the instruments he's not using. it's a good mix of the sounds of his fellow youthful maestros mentioned above (tom meluch is otherwise known as benoit pioulard) and more well known strummy types like bon iver and jose gonzales.

get yr hands onto:
myspace
home album sampler (from the Hush website)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

+ rest easy, age kindly

lymbyc systym live set on dublab.com
this really blows me away and captures the amazingness of the band's live capacity. whilst their records are beautiful and sweet, the bell brothers really do explode in a live setting. more expansive and captivating, you can hear jared's passion on the organs and mike's drumming just pops out at you. my heart feels like bursting whenever i listen to this dublab set and as a few other reviewers have previously noted, the lymbyc systym can say so much without saying anything at all. great recording from dublab too, top work they're doing recording sessions from folks like why?, holy fuck and matthew david.

other lymbyc systym goodies to explore:
+ myspace
+ website
+ tape relay podcast in which they are featured
+ a video i made with a lymbyc soundtrack and footage of them at an off-sxsw show

Monday, September 22, 2008

+ tape relay updates

i'm moving all my archived segments and interviews slowly to mediafire.com/taperelay now since i am getting no love from both the podomatic and last.fm sites, both of whom insist on compressing and downgrading the sound quality. so screw you both! i'm leaving tape relay segments in all its 192kbps glory.

the latest segment, and one that i'm most excited about, is going to air tomorrow. Texas native Lee Gillespie records a semi-regular series with me called A,TX where we talk about Texan sounds (predominantly Austin music) and this upcoming one is sort of the non-rock deal with music from 60s funk band Mickey and the Soul Generation (DJ Shadow's favourite funk band wouldn't ya know), Tree Wave (8-bit chip tunes/synth pop), Yppah (instrumental shoegaze-flavoured hiphop on the Ninja Tunes label) and my new favourite band, Lymbyc Systym (electronic styled post-rock).

But what makes it so great is the fact that the conversation takes us all over the place with me learning about Tejano and Conjunto music that is native to the lone star state, as well as about 8-bit music AND about Houston's chopped and screwed hip hop tendencies. There is awesome stuff to be learnt on Tape Relay my dear friends, and you can't have a better guide than the incredible Lee who is perceptive, knowledgable, personable and really quite entertaining. okay /end gushing. just get onto it will ya!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

+ tell the people what you found, dear friend

9.45am do make say think - winter hymn, country hymn, secret hymn
i've been pretty slow coming onto the do make say think boat but boy, am i good at making up for lost time. quite possibly the prettiest and most melodic out of all the post rock bands that ever were.

10.51am lackthereof - your anchor
been spinning this one alot in recent weeks so i should mention just how sultry i find danny seim's vocals are. not absolutely loin-tingling but throaty for sure. lackthereof is the solo project for danny who otherwise drums in the band menomena (according to wikipedia, menomena actually began as the side project for lackthereof).

being a drummer, there's occasionally interesting rhythms and percussive sounds in what would otherwise be a relatively straightforward lofi buzzy indierock record (akin to any lou barlow-related project), though i would've expected even more percussive experimentalism. or maybe i'm just spoiled with the amazing far out-ness of zach hill's recent solo debut (drummer extraordinaire best known for his work with mathrock supergroup hella).

any misgivings aside, this is a really solid record with plenty of hooks and warm sounds, that sits both comfortably in the 90s era but also in no-era's land, which means that it may not necessarily generate excitement about a sound of the moment, but neither will it grate in a year's time. comfort music etc. and did i mention how sexy his vocals are?

11.26am {{{sunset}}} - the glowing city
this will take me up to lunch time (and a new haircut) nicely. from austin, tx but might as well have come from athens, ga. and i mean in the best possible way! led by the youthful-looking blonde-haired bill baird (dare i mention it almost looks like ringlets?), this is psychedelic-tinged folk rock that updates my beloved elephant 6 sound for 2008, bringing to mind bands like olivia tremor control and ladybug transistor, but with an extra sprinkling of romance, purpose and urgency (and er, electronics).

the world is awaiting is particularly wondrous. there's a touch of the sax of freedom in this too, low enough in the mix to avoid turning into the sax of kenny but prominent enough to inject the dab hand of soul into this white boy rock music. oh look, you can even stream the album in its entirety on last.fm or imeem.

2.47pm great lake swimmers - ongiara
not to be confused with kindercore/e6 band great lakes. neo-folk/americana. it's pretty nice but they're all starting to sound the same (and rather sam beamish) after a while, and frankly none of it even comes close to my favourite in this genre which is the bowerbirds record.

2.58pm bowerbirds - hymns for a dark horse / daytrotter session
so obviously it's prompted me to go back to bowerbirds. i think phil moore's delivery is just about perfect. an exercise in patience (especially for my restless ears), he'll cast a sensuous word or melody and then just let it linger in the air, for you to snatch and hold dear. one of my favourite records of 2008.

fittingly my favourite song on the album is 'the ticonderoga'. at the same time as i was getting into bowerbirds, lee was hooking me up with ticonderoga records. which, you guessed it, was the band prior to bowerbirds. ahhh it all comes around no? the self titled debut from ticonderoga is actually very similar to bowerbirds, only with less pastoral, and more electric, instrumentation. well worth checking out, as are the bowerbirds videos on la blogotheque and the 'birds daytrotter session, which features some older songs from an out-of-print ep.

3.58pm steve reich - music for 18 musicians
this will take me nicely to 5 o'clock and closes the circle started by the gang gang dance piece 'retina riddim' which kicked off today's listening odyssey. this 56 minute piece composed by reich in 1978 of pulse, chord exploration, pulse (rinse, lather, repeat?) is highly melodic and richly toned and complements nicely brian dewar's 24 minute collage of rhythms, loops and samples that soundtracks the accompanying gang gang dance dvd footage.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

+ oh, i just like the sound of your voice

10.30am Pattern is Movement - All Together
a weird combination of mathrock meets showtunes. like if tomlab's avant pop went to chicago and decided to make a record for the thrill jockey crowd. an operatic tenor that veers in the falsetto ranges of say dirty projectors' dave longstreth and is reigned in by angular polyrhythms with the same organ tones of broadcast. there's also a lightness of touch, almost fanciful whimsy, despite these aforementioned rhythms, which i appreciate. anyway it's dense enough without being exhausting to warrant a second listen straight after the first.

11.15am Mom - Little Brite EP
electroacoustic folk ... yet another oxymoronic genre perhaps but pretty apt. an instrumental duo from denton, tx that combine the pastoral folk textures of the acoustic guitar and cello with electronic glitches and samples. less beat heavy than say talkdemonic but not unlike that kind of woodsy modern electronica, perhaps a touch of the efterklangs or icelandic namesakes mum. in any case, worth checking out the myspace

2pm The Remote Viewer - I Can't Believe It's Not Better
ambient? check. little bit of drone? check. nicola hodgkinson (of empress fame) on vocals? check.

2.33pm Inquiet - Ing Beyong
This dude from Melbourne, Sam, plays as inquiet (pronounced in the vaguely British fashion as "in qui et" or "ann ki et"), channelling this kind of homemade experimental folk pop occasionally bordering on animalistic ... ala grouper, lichens, high places etc. nice stuff but! thanks to alex ii for hooking me up with this.

4pm Porn Sword Tobacco - Explains Freedom
current mood dictates that this album be listened to over and over again coz it's all making perfect sense now (and by current, i mean last couple of months, and by mood i mean shithouse). not that this is shithouse, no sir. it is sublimely gorgeous and the relatively short lengths of music of this nature is an added bonus for my short attention span. boomkat says it best, "microscopic found-sounds, wildlife-documentary vignettes, de-tuned midnight chimes and ageing celluloid lullabies". dude's got a sense of humour too. ahh scandanavians, so much more human than your teutonic and anglo counterparts.