We all need our solo projects. Sea & Cake guitarist/illustrator Archer Prewitt falls squarely into that camp of quiet contributors who impress with a side career of well-drawn pop daydreams. Nothing earth-shattering, but a useful outlet for creative ideas that might otherwise get subsumed into weird dinner recipes or other pursuits that would be of no benefit to me. Glad he's not that selfish. Archer Prewitt - I'm Coming Over
Feeling drained from a busy work week, which makes me susceptible to mysterious stringy noises leading me down equally mysterious mental paths. I'm not sure if it's light or darkness in the distance, but I can't resist the slow momentum toward it. Nels Cline - Friends Of Snowman
I've been in a serious Genesis rabbithole. It spans all stages of their career, from the baroque-iest to the beardiest to the Miami Vice-iest. It also spans all segments of my listening life way back to early teenage discoveries. And I'm not even gonna be bothered with allegations of cheesiness. No reason not to be fascinated by exquisiteness even when found in fundamental mistakes. So where to begin? A mixtape is probably warranted. Maybe it'll come to that, but meantime, here's a B-side from what consensus views as the low point. And yet, despite the unlikely stadium rockers they'd become, [...]
There comes a time when it's hard to make distinctions between A-list, B-list, and even lesser bands of the post-punk era. I wasn't around to make those judgments first hand anyway, so it's all retrospective evaluations of other people's memories. And aren't we all in the same gang in the end? Listening to this track, I'm happy to imagine Medium Medium were the most innovative mofos in the UK. I might even be willing to believe they invented the slap bass and dour vocal posturing. Medium Medium - [...]
I wonder if the song that gets stuck in your head right before vacation is a function of where you were or where you're going. Some weeks' distance hasn't made the matter any clearer, but I still find myself humming the verses of this funky German obscurity (made available by the always excellent Growing Bin ). The chorus makes me wish I hadn't cut my hair. And then a few days of crippling heat come along and I'm happy to remove all barriers to the air. [...]
Whining is intolerable. Especially whining about the state of your heart as a stand-in for emotional distress, not an actual medical condition. Unless you put it to a backing track that soars and swells with the verve of a heart that functions just fine (with bells even). Irony or fakery — you tell me. Loney Dear - My Heart
One Stanley deserves another. And another dark corner of the room, long exhalations, etc. Another way to fabricate the small hours. I see no reason to pick up the pace today. And I will make every attempt to burrow into these piano chords. Stan Tracey Quartet - Starless And Bible Black
It's great to get away. Essential, refreshing, re-energizing, but never enough. Time away just reinforces the reality of what you're getting away from. And so you end up staring down the last few moments before returning to your day-to-day. Not that I'm complaining. I'm happy for the day-to-day I get to have today. But still there is a blueness, telegraphed in a face that stuggles to keep its muscles relaxed while concealing anxiety over rejoining its familiar environment. Which makes this as good a time as any to give oneself fully over to the near-ridiculous nitetime soul jazz cues of [...]
They're not letting me go without a struggle. The powers that be seem intent to keep the stress on until the last minute. Not that I absolve myself of internalizing the frantic vibes in the air. Which I appreciate in a song like this, though not necessarily in life situations. But forget all that panic for now. I'm headed out for vacation, and this track can double as my getaway soundtrack. Meanwhile, I'm going to try desperately not to allow this terrifying album cover to take up space in my mind. See you back around Memorial Day. [...]
I can feel it coming...vacation time, that is! My brain has already begun to climb out of the head that sits atop a neck knotted with stupid stresses. It has gotten on the plane and is now doing a little dance over the Atlantic, accompanied by this tune, and damn right is singing along with every note of scatting that starts at 2:50. Can't wait for the rest of me to catch up. Airto Morerira - Romance Of Death
Oh hypnagogic wonderland/nightmarescape. It's almost too easy to fall lifelessly into its arms, so specific is the pull of the repeat-play-damaged Betamax quease. When sensory overload is your square one, how can adult terrors not feel a little anticlimactic. James Ferraro - Buffy Honkerburg's Answering Machine
What's your punk rock? Lifestyle toys aside, you've got what you bob your head to, and that pounding needs no cherry on top. Which takes the thing outside of time and genre. Just a few basic moments of intense momentum. Maybe it's a barely articulate paean to your hometown. Maybe it's something even dumber. Here's a possible template. La Dusseldorf - La Dusseldorf
Sometimes I wish I was living a life where the approaching Friday sunset promised a world transformed. A license to expel accumulated tensions. Or an identity taken out on short loan with a nasty interest rate. If I did, the first moments breathing that air would sound a lot like this. Barclay James Harvest — Love On The Line
It's the nature of music scenes to come and go. For improvising musicians, the last thing you'd expect is for them to linger too long in proven configurations. It's sad to see things dissipate, but that's what makes the moments meaningful. As long as the gigs keeps coming, I'm all for moving on to the next thing. Which made it fun to catch this trio a few weeks back, reunited after about a decade, picking up right in the groove where they left off. For an evening anyway. [...]
Going deeper into Tangerine Dream's soundtracking heyday and finding more and more to love. I remember being disturbed by Firestarter as a kid, and yet the musical cues made no lasting impression. Funny how serene, gauzy, and un-fiery these themes are. And yet, they do capture the spookiness of a kid with destructive supernatural powers. Tangerine Dream - Crystal Voice Tangerine Dream - Testlab
Yikes, pardon the lack of 'blague prolificness! Let's put it down to a mix of distraction, fatigue, and selectivity . Not sure if the pace will pick up, but at any rate, I'll aim to double up on quality — as I define it, at least. Here's one from a band whose stunning pop nuggetry made its way onto this space a good while back. I finally got ahold of their first 2 full albums proper, and I do heartily recommend. No shortage of pop, and no [...]
Sometimes you have to go put yourself into an imaginary '60s place. I remember getting into these guys a few years ago, when I was apt to snatch up any album if someone told me it was a forgotten classic lovingly/belatedly reissued. Or maybe a rare specimen of exquisite artifice that the masses just didn't get around to appreciating, and then its moment passed. Well, I've still got that instinct, and I still believe all those possible futures are worth pondering. Here are a couple fine examples. The [...]
Found myself on a little business jaunt to Philadelphia yesterday. And with a beautiful day on my hands, I felt obliged to walk around aimlessly with all the free time I could steal. In my mind, this is what such a walk sounds like, irrespective of season or weather. And no amount of grim faces and neck tattoos can take the soul out of that fantasy. Bibio - Jealous Of Roses
Wow, could the emergence of "balearic" music really be more than 5 years old already?! Somehow, the sounds of this Studio escaped my ears while I was getting floated on all that ambient, propulsive, hummy groove stuff. I'm happy to report that jams like this have not aged nearly as badly as some other trends from just a few years ago. The band may be blandly named, but the beachy escape is sweet and succulent. Studio - Origin
A national freakout comes to something like resolution. And while I suspect the collective tweakage will more likely find a new expression than just dissolve, a nice healthy exhalation is in order. I offer this tune to color in that mood. Also good for arriving at the street you call home, preferably if you have a vehicle to cruise onto it with. Meanwhile, does this guy look like a young James Caan or what? Javier Bergia - [...]
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