
As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it’s creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosphere hopes to pull back the curtain on a wealth of sights and sound from luminaries such as Sean McCann and Matthew Sullivan . Sean McCann and Matthew Sullivan have blown up the conventions of modern avant-garde composition. Neither are strangers to classically [...]

MP3: Sean McCann & Matthew Sullivan - Vanity Fair The latest from consistently great euphoro-drone artist Sean McCann is out on his new Recital imprint. Working this time with Matthew Sullivan, it's a collaboration based "mainly around cassette playback", setting a signature crumbled grandeur in an earthy, antiquated statis. Keep yr ears on that for new CDrs from Radiant Husk and Troy Schafer. buy
ElevenElevations II by Albient on Mixcloud At the risk of overplaying the 50s riff, here's notice of another 50 - this being the sum of tracks selected from LMYE's Festive 50 + 50 (lookee here and here ) and spun into three assemblages for LMYEers' listening (pl)leisure. Here's the first, ElevenElevations I . [...]

1. Clams Casino - All I Need / I'm God from Instrumental Mixtape ( Type ) Even if both these beats technically came out last year beneath Soulja Boy and Lil' B raps respectively, it wasn't until about half way through this year that the full mountainous weight of these instrumentals really hit me. And just out of Imogen Heap samples, I mean shit! 2. James [...]

Imagine that as the night begins to take hold, you set out on a journey. It is a frigid evening, and you are very much alone, but you feel the urge to venture out. Fresh snow is on the ground, and the blocks around your dwelling are desolate. At moments like these, you feel like you are the only living organism left on Earth. Your mind is almost entirely blank, but little hums, fidgets, and crackles invade your mental state. Is someone or something lurking, carefully placed out of view? Your imagination runs wild, but you simply press on. Inevitably, [...]

Hit us up with a number between 1 and 1000 for a chance to win tickets to see psych instrumental group Cave play at The Satellite tomorrow night, November 29th. Silverlake's premiere institution hosts the Chicago rockers who display methodical structures mixed in with killer solos, music with an inner peace much unlike da Bears' QB conundrum at the moment. Cave's 2011 LP, Neverendless , delivers with the same quality as 2009's Psychic Psymmer . So get in for free, buy a pint of Newcastle and play a game of dollar eight ball. Just give us [...]
It's probably about time you got up to date with new periphery label Orange Milk Records . Last week we spotlighted their most recent release, Sean McCann's Open Resolve , and we really didn't imagine it could get any better than that. But after test-driving their stacked list of recent and upcoming releases, we were proven wrong. Good thing, too. Now you get to reap the benefits of our cherry-picking, because we're cluing you in on some of the best sounds from an experimental label that's jumped quickly (and quietly) to the front of [...]
from the upcoming lp / cd "sincere world" to be released november 2011 by amethyst sunset .

Re-up for aggregation... Clearly you can't compare a compilation with a single release like the astounding Peregrine . But even if it necessarily lacks the same coherence & singular artistic vision the new Experimedia label sampler (which includes a chunk of Lawrence English 's instant classic, incidentally) is still one of my albums of the year. I don't even know if the sampler 'exists' as a formal release. Perhaps its only life is digital - as an online [...]

Clearly you can't compare a compilation with a single release like the astounding Peregrine . But even if it necessarily lacks the same coherence & singular artistic vision the new Experimedia label sampler (which includes a chunk of Lawrence English 's instant classic, incidentally) is still one of my albums of the year. I don't even know if the sampler 'exists' as a formal release. Perhaps its only life is digital - as an online curation of streams [...]

All the way f rom Yann Novak 's lovely diaphanous tranquillity to Sean McCann 's analogue storm freak-out, seven more or less exceptional recent pieces to pass along after they lodged in these ears. Also featuring Machinefabriek (sultry slo-mo solo [made still more pungent by an epic Earlabs remastering], X-raying sea shanties in his slow-burning Piiptsjilling collab with Jan & Romke Kleefstra & [...]

Here are photos taken at the Ottawa Folk Festival on Sunday August 28th. Part I will be focused on the the day shows that happened. Playing at the festival were: The Riot Police Anders Drerup Pepper Rabbit Royal Wood [...]

MP3: Sean McCann - Broken Replicator This is up over at AZ already and I always post about Sean McCann but seriously grab a copy of this. Open Resolve came out quite a while back now on cassette (and a super limited CD run) but I feel like its space age drone maximalism and general synthetic feel find a much better home on (purple) vinyl where that sublime density of his is even richer. Keith Kawaii's putting it out on his new Orange Milk label and [...]

Sunday was the last day for the Ottawa Folk Festival . The weather changed from hot to cold due to the incoming of Hurricane Irene. Luckily it didn't hit Ottawa but gutted parts of the USA. Mostly it was cool and windy. People braved the weather and came out to the workshops that happened at the festival. The workshops I attended were: Intro to Harmonica Cigar Box Guitar [...]

C30, C60, C90, Go! Well, sort of, since Matthew Sullivan's Ekhein ( SoundCloud ) has yet to exceed 60 minutes on what is now more than a half-century of cassette releases - & has brought them in as short as 12, despite seeming to traffic mainly in billowing, meditative long-form drones & other excursions. The label releases Sullivan's own output ( Earn , Privy Seals ) & that of [...]

A hopeful refry of LMYE's ultimately unsatisfying earlier attempts (also this ) at 'curatorial' posting: an aide-memoire compilation of 10 mostly new releases ( plus one for luck) that I've yet to hear but want & mean to, by artists I - &, in some cases, we - rate or am interested in hearing - fixed here against the relentless onward rush of time & tasks, preserved for chewing over later ... [...]

I don’t usually do things like this, but since I explicitly asked for it in my review early last year (which will remain poorly written and unedited), I feel I’m duty-bound to share that Open Resolve , Sean McCann’s masterpiece among masterpieces, is to be reissued on vinyl by Orange Milk Records. It remains one of the best albums on the earth. For realz. Pre-orders happening here .

RIYL = Stars of the Lid, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Greg Davis Change is good. That said, Sean McCann’s decision to abandon (for this release anyway) the vibrant crystal-clutter dissonance/beauty that’s made so many of his recent releases ( Midnight Orchard , Open Resolve , Chances Are Staying , The Capital , etc.) essential has freed me from my previous Sean McCann reviewing policy : all-gushing-all-the-time. That’s right, no more freely positive reviews Mr. McCann, no more. Well, at least no more over-the-top gushing. Prelusion may stray from multi-layered [...]

Looking for quality amid a slew of Nu-New Age Psych-drone Backwoods Ambient? Look no further than Sean McCann . Prosaic-sounding, maybe, in a world of wilfully mystique-laden monikers, but you can keep yer Bee Mask , Sparkling Wide Pressure , Pine Smoke Lodge , and whatnot, The Artist Currently Known As Sean McCann is the man for music-driven transport. Most recent release, The Capital , outstrips them all for sheer ambition and genrecidal sleight of hand. The Capital from sean mccann on [...]

RIYL = Axolotl, Yellow Swans, Caboladies I’m contractually obligated to review anything Sean McCann releases in the following way: Gushingly. In said reviews, it is outlined that I must reference McCann’s extensive back catalog. In referencing his previous wok, it’s important I remark that, despite the usual pitfalls plaguing overly ambitious/productive artists, McCann’s work is consistently of the utmost quality. I’m then to explain why McCann’s most recent release may just be the best thing he has produced to date. This followed by some abstract explanation of the sound of his new work – said explanation containing expertly [...]