The waning days of sunshine and natural warmth have been spent with ‘Pure Phase’ swirling in my head. As an early record in Jason Pierce’s Spiritualized project, it tends to be overshadowed by albums he created before it (with Spacemen 3) and after (namely ‘Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space’). A shame, considering it is a crowning achievement in Pierce’s discography with lush, shimmering, and intricately layered pop songs that are as glorious as the band names suggests.
At its core, ‘Pure Phase’ is a juxtaposition of minimalist intent – Steve Reich is a clear influence – with maximalist execution. Rippling with sine waves and tremolos, Spiritualized seemingly layers a dozen or so melodies on top of each other on a variety of instruments – organ, strings, trumpets among them – to ecstatic effect. It’s a beautiful technique that in lesser hands would easily careen into clumsy disarray. Instead it remains thoroughly composed, multifarious, and invigorating.
Hear ‘Lay Back in the Sun’ below and grab the recently reissued 2xLP.
Anything under the resume of Adam Wiltzie will gain my entire focus and attention, usually for weeks at a time. He has earned that honor for providing a few of music’s most revelatory moments through his work with Brian McBride as Stars of the Lid. The debut album by A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Wiltzie’s duo with composer and pianist Dustin O’Halloran, proves to be nearly as accomplished and gorgeous as the best of Stars of the Lid. Even if I can’t quite equate the two projects just yet, the album triumphs over most everything else in the neo-classical and drone canons in this year or any other.
A Winged Victory for the Sullen begins with the familiar, thick washes of slow strings, reverb clouds, and static harmonies. Yet the template is punctuated with subtle, but very noticeable, adjustments: O’Halloran’s clear and deliberate piano melodies, intermittent shades of hope and optimism, and a concision of execution. There will not be a better soundtrack for this early autumn season.
Hear ‘Steep Hills of Vicodin Tears’ below and purchase the LP through Kranky.
It’s a wide-eyed folk tune, a reverie spun into song. And I would be hard-pressed to conjure a 2011 track that I have listened to more than ‘Swim Club’ by the Cave Singers. Like the best of them, it feels utterly effortless, as if the instruments beat, plucked, and bowed themselves. But that would be a disservice to the trio as well as the rest of their exceptional third album, ‘No Witch.’
The signposts for this record are not uncommon: the hot-blooded passion of the blues, the rawness of rock ‘n’ roll, and the breezy melodies of country folk. In fact the best selling indie record of the year (‘Helplessness Blues’) could be categorized as such. But ‘No Witch’ triumphs with a bolder, more adventurous – and, you know, better – take on what Fleet Foxes attempted. It also genuinely recalls the Rolling Stones’ ‘Beggars Banquet’ with lively fiddle additions and gospel-tinged backup vocals. Certainly quite a claim since I count ‘Banquet’ among my favorite albums of all-time, but ‘No Witch’ is the closest thing I’ve heard to that enlivened sound in years.
Hear ‘Swim Club’ below and check out the LP at Jagjaguwar.
Unbridled joy is often a difficult emotion to capture in instrumental music. Maybe it’s just the hangover left from brooding ‘90s post-rock, but wordless songs often arrive in tandem with adjectives like dour, cinematic, and gloomy. There are many reasons to be excited about ‘Giving,’ the new Collections of Colonies of Bees album, but one of them certainly is because of how exuberant and joyous the material is.
Each new release by the Bees – whether it is in tandem with Justin Vernon as Volcano Choir or a one-off 12” with Table of the Elements – is noteworthy as the sextet always finds ways to fold numerous ideas and concepts into a seamless work. This time around ‘Giving’ offers an album as rich and sonically deep as anything they’ve done with a sharper, more obtrusive rock edge. They have altered their sound considerably since 2004’s ‘Customer’ LP (a personal favorite of mine), but they still find ways to effectively reinvent themselves. Part of this is because ‘Giving’ ripples with so activity in both the foreground (the bright, open electric guitar vistas) and background (the minimalist piano and textured electronics) that it’s difficult to feel anything but stimulated and enthralled. And part of this is because Collections of Colonies of Bees are just such a joy to listen to.
The astoundingly well-packaged LP (pictured above) can be purchased now through Hometapes. Hear ‘Lawn’ below.
She may now be better known for the hundreds of square feet her name has occupied in the tabloids, but for me I’ll always remember Amy Winehouse for her impeccable musical taste and peerless vision in pop music. Of course, that voice – booming, soulful, and with as much swagger as James Brown – is a close second.
Winehouse was merely 22 years old when she released ‘Back to Black,’ but it displayed a wealth of musical understanding that outstripped her young age. It did much more than mine the glorious ‘60s girl group and northern soul eras; it effectively lifted a timeless pop formula into a new decade. But all of this wouldn’t have mattered had Winehouse not had the voice to execute it and the wisdom to recruit the Dap-Kings and their blasts of well-worn soul to provide the musical backbone. She joins Robert Johnson, Kurt Cobain, and Brian Jones on the list of musicians who pass away at age 27. Far, far too young.
Hear ‘Back to Black’ below. Listen to one of her last recordings – a cover of Lesley Gore’s ‘It’s My Party – here.
It struck me from the first moment I saw it on a design-oriented aggregator, jumping off the screen with its gorgeously marred physicality. I quickly learned it was the work of Danish photographer Mathias Vestergaard, whose art was wide-ranging and thoroughly invigorating, and the photograph was titled ‘Dendrites Imposed by Terror.’ It was as if the encompassing picture frame could not stop the image itself from crumbling and disintegrating. Yet the bold yellow color contained a bright vitality that should be at odds with its utterly destroyed quality. Instead it harmonized perfectly.
With its dichotomy of vibrant color and sense of destruction, ‘Dendrites’ was an image I returned to many times throughout the creation of my upcoming Aquarelle album ‘Sung In Broken Symmetry.’ It left such a deep impression that it was unequivocally my first choice as cover art. An email of effusive praise was sent to Vestergaard several months ago, dancing around the idea of asking permission to use it for the album artwork. Much to my dismay the answer was yes as he even created an exclusive crop of the photograph for the cover. I couldn’t imagine it any other way.
Once you amass double digit releases from certain artists it can be difficult to justify attaining more. Though a deep and engaging artist, Richard Skelton’s trademark style is so distinct that he rarely varies his approach and unfortunately gets filed away under such label. *AR, a project he shares between himself and Autumn Richardson, his new wife, proves just how futile such a theory can be as her addition of mostly wordless vocals transforms Skelton’s layered string work into emotionally-rich vistas.
“Vocals” bring to mind many things, but rarely does a human voice emote how Richardson does on ‘Wolf Notes.’ Her voice is more akin to the wind blowing at dusk, eliciting visions of drapes flapping in ever-darkening rooms and shadows stretching over wooded landscapes. An odd description, perhaps, but one that suits Skelton’s rusted strings and languid melodies perfectly. A balance of the expected and unexpected meet in perfect harmony on ‘Wolf Notes,’ successfully moving the resonant violin work I have come to know and love intimately into exciting new territory.
The original version of this album was released on Skelton’s Sustain-Release imprint, but the LP has since been reissued by Type. Hear ‘Rise’ below.
Not wanting to find a “real” job Frank Fairfield turned to busking a few years back. I would say the decision was a wise one: he has since found a manager, was linked to a Fleet Foxes tour, and united with the great purveyor of old sounds, Tompkins Square. ‘Out on the Open West,’ the young musician’s second album, is rife with folk stylings, backwood blues, and murder ballads. All genres that place Fairfield firmly in the past. But regardless of time period, ‘Open West’ simply triumphs where any true musician should: in the quality of its songs.
Sparse acoustic guitars, traditional instrumentals, plucked banjos, and murmured rural poetry make up the majority of ‘Open West.’ In the middle of the album sits the stunning song ‘Poor Old Lance,’ a track that feels at once mournful and optimistic, weary and uplifting. Three fiddles and a solitary cello weave a wistful, melodic arc through the song that, when joined by Fairfield’s earnest vocals, feel essential and elemental, as if ‘Poor Old Lance’ deciphers the code of all great, classic storytelling. It’s a song that simply cannot be outdone by Fairfield – or nearly any folk musician, for that matter – but the rest of the album folds nicely around it, making a complete and fully-realized statement on age-old folk traditions.
Hear ‘Poor Old Lance’ below and purchase the album at Tompkins Square.
To say that ‘The Tree of Life’ was highly anticipated would be an understatement. The release of any film by Terrence Malick has become something of a holiday for me, and not just because this is only is fifth feature in 40 years. He possesses a voice unparalleled in film, a vision undaunted by convention, and a gift that yields a result more akin to poetry than what usually saturates theatre screens.
So, what is it about, exactly? To begin with: dreams, the universe, evolution, grace, violence, spirituality, nature. The narrative is loose and impressionistic, with the majority of the film set in Waco, Texas during the 1950s as three brothers explore their childhood as it burgeons into adolescence. Most of the film is presented as a recollection from Sean Penn’s character and, fittingly, ‘Life’ feels like a mosaic of emotional expression rather than a retelling of straightforward plot. But when thinking back on the film – as I have often done since its Toronto premiere – an odd thing has happened where the movie itself feels like a memory of my own. Not a memory of watching the film and viewing it from afar, but actually living it and reminiscing on an experience of my own. And I can think of no higher praise for such a beguiling and essential work.
Visit the official website and view the trailer. It is set for wide release on July 8th with limited showings until then.
At first glance the names and titles that checker Darlene Love’s resume are highly questionable: she appeared in all four ‘Lethal Weapon’ movies, sang back up for Cher, and was introduced by Bette Midler at her very deserving Rock and Roll Hall of Fame entry. She also was the voice behind several of the best songs from the ‘60s, including the Goffin/King-penned song ‘Long Way to Be Happy.’
I’ve made no secret that Phil Spector helmed many of my favorite moments in music. While he erected the incredible arrangements and vast instrumentation for vocalists with louder voices (Tina Turner) and more distinct styles (Ronnie Spector), he never worked with anyone who possessed as natural a singing talent as Darlene Love. I always thought her voice sounded both smooth and impassioned – qualities somewhat at odds with each other. That disparity is also matched in the way the melancholic lyrics of ‘Long Way’ are snuck inside an upbeat melody, like the only way for Love to forget the heartbreaking lyrics is to make pulse of the song irresistible and booming. It was one of the last songs she worked on with Spector and remains underappreciated to this day.
news
