2008 May | Know Phase

May 30th, 2008

Sigur Rós – Gobbledigook

Click for video

I’m feeling very visually inclined this week and Sigur Rós beautiful new video for their song Gobbledigook feels like the perfect way to start summer. The song is accompanied by the stunning visuals of the previously mentioned Ryan McGinley, who I think has done an amazing job at reviving the (sadly) now nostalgic concept of insouciant nudity once again- breathing in a playful life to the natural inclinations of the human body. It’s refreshing to see the post-modern constructs of nudity either being taboo or an over-exposed blase’ canvas not enough to shock or enthrall being broken down. Such is life in America in the latter half of the first decade of the 2000′s I suppose. The song itself recalls Animal Collective’s (in my opinion) most ambitious and strongest album to date Sung Tongs.

If you’re in the San Francisco area Ryan McGinley’s “I know where summer goes” is now open at Ratio 3, here’s a map of how to get there. It is FREE admission and runs until June 21. Wed-Saturday from 11am-6pm.

Tags: animal collective, music video, Ryan Mcginley, sigur ros, video
Posted in 1 | 1 Comment »

Comments (1)

May 29th, 2008

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy in italiano

Will Oldham just keeps the surprises comin’. The mercurial and prolific songster, whose new album Lie Down in the Light has been on steady rotation – er, has had a high iTunes playcount – throughout the past week, has lent his his trademark croon to the Italian band Numero6. Better still, he sings in Italian. I have no idea why, how, or where this song was recorded. I’m guessing Italy, but who can tell in this flat world of ours. I do know, however, that it’s always a sonic blessing to hear new material from Mr. Billy.

[download] “Da piccolissimi pezzi (Feat Bonnie Prince Billy)“

More dates after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: bonnie 'prince' billy, drag city, numero6, palace music, palace records, Will Oldham
Posted in 1 | 4 Comments »

Comments (4)

May 28th, 2008

The Fall

Immediately upon viewing the trailer for Tarsem Singh’s upcoming film ‘The Fall’ I was reminded of the intensely rich surreal and psychedelic landscapes that Jodorowsky painted upon his cinematic masterpieces. While it’s quite a stretch to evenly correlate the two, I have high hopes for “The Fall.” Both Spike Jonze and David Fincher have put their necks out on the line to see that the Fall gets proper distribution, which I can only assume means that good things are in store for the film. I’ve been trying to avoid reading too much about the film after watching the simply awe inspiring preview for it, but I was able to grab this brief synopsis of the plot: “In a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman (Pace) begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm (Untaru), a fantastical story about 5 mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale”. I really cannot recommend enough to check out this preview:

Go to: thefallthemovie.com for more info, the film started showing in some places last week but it opens in most theatres next week.

Tags: Film, Movie, preview, The Fall, trailer
Posted in 1 | 2 Comments »

Comments (2)

May 28th, 2008

Marissa Nadler reveals new information on upcoming full length

Photo by Joana Linda

No new material to hear yet, but Marissa Nadler has just announced some more details about her new album:

“This is just a bit of updating on my new record. I begin tracking for it this Monday, June 1st, at the Carriage House in Stamford, CT. The lineup will be Me, Myles Baer will be on theramin, electric guitar, bass, and additional instrumentation. Simon Pace will be on drums, percussion, and Farmer Dave Scher on Pedal Steel. The record will be produced by Chris Coady, out on Kemado Records in October of 2008.

xo marissa”

[download] “honey of the bee” (Unreleased demo)

Posted in 1 | No Comments »

Comments (0)

May 28th, 2008

Video Naturalismo: Celebration at Big Sur

youtube.com/watch?v=STJdwZ5H3Yg]

“In 1971, everyone did it. And they did it for love. Filmed at the legendary West Coast philosophical retreat The Esalen Institute (which gave birth to EST and which counted Henry Miller as a regular guest), the very rarely-screened Celebration At Big Sur is a terrific document of this formerly annual concert, featuring the sounds of CSNY, Joan Baez and her sister Mimi Farina, Dorothy Morrison, John Sebastian and Joni Mitchell, all performing on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Like Woodstock, the Celebration was a free festival that had major quirks, which in turn made for great filmic moments. Highlights include Steven Stills getting into a fight with a heckler, experimental Jordan Belson-like bits during Joni’s piano playing, and David Crosby skinny-dipping with Carl Gottlieb (the film’s producer and the co-writer of Jaws) in the infamous Esalen baths while chanting up a storm. Purify yourself at the sea of madness!”

If you live in the LA area, don’t miss a RARE screening of this amazing film tonight at the Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax. Arthur Magazine has been doing an amazing series of folk-related films. More info here.

The rest of the movie, after the jump (only for those non-LA people out there)!

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: big sur, CSNY, david crosby, Dorothy Morrison, graham nash, henry miller, joan baez, John Sebastian, Joni Mitchell, Mimi Farina, steven stills
Posted in 1 | 4 Comments »

Comments (4)

May 23rd, 2008

Natural Snow Buildings – The Snowbringer Cult

To think of snow is to conjure all the crestfallen majesty of loneliness, of stillness, of plaintive surrender to isolated introspection. It’s a bleak, blustery place where the wind is as relentless as the mind is restless. But in that plain of being, that frost-clenched tundra, there beats a warm, human heart: the lone survivor of winter fallout.

Natural Snow Buildings, the progeny of French duo Solange Gularte and Mehdi Ameziane, is probably the most aptly titled musical project I’ve heard in a few moons. At first striking me as a routinely absurdist exercise in indie irony, the name wrapped itself around my head slowly, like yearning vines. As I listened to the songs of their new double album The Snowbringer Cult, I was struck with the profundity – or at least the appropriateness – of their collaboration’s wintry moniker.

In fact, each of “Natural Snow Buildings’ ” three words accurately represents the mood and tone of the album as a whole. Lo-fi, crackling acoustic songs represent the natural. They are the human soul, the honest expression of the artist’s solitude. Yet, even these acoustic songs are cold, stark, desolate. The voice and guitar speak an apathetic, dolorous tongue that, in their omission of histrionics, represent more aptly the atmosphere of their expression. However, with the majority of the palette comprised of droning yet fragile synthesized atmospherics (in the vein of Broken Social Scene’s first album Feel Good Lost), the album also feels bolstered by human invention. Theirs is a world where melancholy is a man-made construct and they are its prisoners. And, in the very impossibility of a “natural snow building”, the futility of escape becomes palpable.

[download] “the spears of the wolf” + “inuk’s song” + “gone“

[bio and ordering info here]

Tags: isengrind, Mehdi Ameziane, natural snow buildings, Solange Gularte, the snowbringer cult, twinsistermoon
Posted in 1 | 3 Comments »

Comments (3)

May 22nd, 2008

Naturalismo Presents: Fern Knight Unplugged

youtube.com/watch?v=mbKfkuJbb74]

I had the amazing pleasure of meeting Fern Knight‘s Margie Wienk and Gillian Chadwick (of Ex Reverie as well) and hearing them play a beautiful, unplugged version of Fern Knight’s “Magpie Suite: Parts II & III.” I shot an interview too, but the dumbass that I am botched the footage. So alas, it is lost, and my forehead is thoroughly bruised from kicking myself on it. But even in darkness there is light, no? We’re left with a rare treat: a haunting, poetic, achingly delicate communion of two voices and one guitar, all captured in the waning twilight of Los Angeles…

Thanks and much love to Margie and Gillian. “Screw Esalen!”

Also, I’ll be posting an exclusive live performance of Ex Reverie in the coming weeks…

[download] “Magpie Suite Part II” + “Magpie Suite Part III“

Tags: ex-reverie, fern knight
Posted in 1 | 1 Comment »

Comments (1)

May 22nd, 2008

…listen for the sound of your friends singing.

I’ve been slowly made aware of a collection of artists who have been quietly plugging away on some fantastic indie folk. I’m not sure when or where this movement started, and I guess it’s not surprising that in the internet age they are geographically spread out yet (more-or-less) aesthetically cohesive — and they all seem to know one another. Some of the bigger names are Phil Elverum’s The Microphones and Kyle Field’s Little Wings, but there are plenty of fantastic and lesser-known musicians in this movement.

Although a good deal of them work well within the “indie folk” sonic framework they often have wonderfully idiosyncratic voices and incredible songwriting talents. If you have a minute I highly recommend you check these guys out.

I’m going to try to get on the ball with this whole blogging thing and give you some more band-oriented posts but I’d like to start off what will (hopefully) be a series of related posts just providing some links and tracks to explore.

At Night [myspace]
Aaron Schmidt, the one man behind At Night, is by far my favorite musician. His lyrics have a penetrating and serious quality that I can’t pin down. His musical aesthetic has also taken some interesting turns, transforming from more-or-less traditional indie folk (on Sing out to the Sun) into a thick sonic deluge of fuzzed out melodies not unlike a lot of Neutral Milk Hotel’s work (on Man Up Moon and his upcoming album). While I am really into everything he does, Sing out to the Sun is by far my favorite album.
Track: At Night – Hand Me Down

Vollmar [myspace]
I am far less acquainted with Vollmar (and the rest of these artists) than I am with At Night, but what I have heard so far from Vollmar are simple, well written lyrics and melodies. The track I am providing has been on repeat for the past few days.
Track: Vollmar - Who Have You Never Spoken With (Spilled Upon The Ground)

A Drum and an Open Window [myspace]
A Drum and an Open Window’s music is wonderfully lighthearted. I’ve only heard two songs from them but both of them appeal to my life-often-appears-to-be-depressing-but-it’s-wonderful-if-you-appreciate-your-friends moods. So, yeah, that’s that.
Track: A Drum and an Open Window - Psalm 27 Or 38

Redbear [myspace]
Again, I’m woefully unqualified to write about this artist — I’ve only heard a single track. I just heard it yesterday and his voice blew me away. I love musicians with significant vocal idiosyncrasies and Redbear certainly fits the bill. Without a doubt I’m going to be exploring Redbear’s catalogue and as I discover more about him I’ll try to make some posts, but, for now, I highly recommend downloading this track.
Track: Redbear – Life On A Map

Toby Foster [myspace]
I would group Toby Foster in with A Drum and an Open Window’s “cute-folk.” It’s all very well written and sentimental.
Track: Toby Foster – Baseball Caps

…and I guess I’ll stop pretending that I know what I’m talking about for these last two musicians, just check out these excellent tracks and their respective Myspace pages.

Dustin and the Furniture [myspace]
Track: Dustin and the Furniture – No Secrets

Cameron And The Friendly Ship [myspace]
Track: Cameron And The Friendly Ship – Song of Wind

[photo courtesy of Jeffrey Swanson, he takes fantastic photographs -- check him out too while you're at it.]

Tags: a drum and an open window, at night, cameron and the friendly ship, dustin and the furniture, little wings, redbear, sweet now records, the microphones, toby foster, vollmar
Posted in 1 | 3 Comments »

Comments (3)

May 21st, 2008

Children of the Sixth Root Race – Songs from the Source

This is probably what Chuck Manson’s cult would’ve become if the darn fool had just been more interested in health food than murder. Just sayin’.

The mystical sages over at Drag City have gotten their delightfully idiosyncratic hands onto a lost (or at least shelved) recording of Father Yod’s Children of the Sixth Root Race. The album, Songs From the Source, was apparently recorded in 1973 as a rehearsal for a show they’d booked at the Whisky in Los Angeles. DC will be dropping the album on June 17. If you’re not familiar with the YaHoWa13 story, it’s certainly an interesting one. Although, in my opinion, this was just another example of how human beings are amazingly capable of infusing ego/dominance games even in the context of “utopian” communal living. Journey to the woods (or your own bedroom) and learn to love and understand your own consciousness if you want to melt into the universal. You are your own guru. Sorry for the rant. This bio was taken from YaHoWa’s website:

“In 1969 To Baker, a middle aged follower of the Yogi Bhajan a Kundalini yoga master and health food prophet who came to the US on the heels of the Maharashi. When Bhajan declared that he was not God, Baker assumed the mantle himself. He gathered a group of acolytes who became known as The Source and opened a health food restaurant, The Aware Inn, in Hollywood’s Laurel Canyon. Eventually dubbed Father Yod (later changed to Yahowa), Baker espoused a philosophy dictating kindness to animals, a raw fruit and vegetable diet, wearing the white cotton clothes, and sex without orgasm. Apocryphal stories about The Source’s practices abound. The most persistent was based on the similarity of the spelling between god and dog. Among the faithful who toiled at the Aware Inn were a number of musicians, whose talents Yod enlisted when the tapes began spooling.”

[download] “Godmen” from Songs from the Source, out June 17 on Drag City

Tags: children of the sixth root race, father yod, songs from the source, yahowa13
Posted in 1 | 1 Comment »

Comments (1)

May 20th, 2008

Album Review: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – Lie Down in the Light

Whenever a new Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy album is released, it creates a feeling in me not unlike what my Mom probably feels when I tell her I’m coming home: excited, yet deeply concerned. For, who knows what unexpected changes may have taken place?

Now, I love the Billy. I admire the frank depiction of human sexuality, I appreciate the loyalty and adherence to tone, and I take sick delight in the wry sense of humor. And above all, I love the honesty. It transcends lyrical content and even the music itself to create unique listening experiences on each album. This honesty, this effortless self-expression, has produced an oeuvre that is eclectic as it is coarse. To me, 2003’s Master and Everyone is Oldham’s true masterpiece (every fan will pronounce a different album to be his best). But the beauty of Oldham’s catalog is that, like every human being, it is not static, not sedentary. It’s schizophrenic, torn, unsure – constantly vacillating in the tide of his experience.

Lie Down in the Light, Billy’s newest album of original songs, is certainly a departure from anything he’s produced before, yet still bleeds the same plainspoken wisdom of his back catalog. Echoing the sunny disposition and country/folk influence of American Beauty-era Grateful Dead, Crosby Stills, and to some extent late Byrds, the album sounds like an afternoon skinnydip in a sunkissed lake. Dragonflies rest on lilypads in the lazy light, but the crickets aren’t quite ready to chirp yet. It’s a summer album – full of all the sentimentality, hope, and inevitable betrayal that the season implies.

[download] “Easy Does It” + “(Keep Eye On) Other’s Gain” from Lie Down in the Light available for purchase now on Drag City

Tags: bonnie 'prince' billy, drag city, lie down in the light, palace music, Will Oldham
Posted in 1 | 4 Comments »

Comments (4)

May 20th, 2008

New Beck: "Chemtrails"

People have been crawling all over themselves to attempt to describe the new sound Beck has ventured into on his new song “Chemtrails,” descriptors ranging from Barrett era Floyd to the gossamer pop of the Beach Boys, unfortunately to my ears it sounds more like straight Caribou. It’s not the end of the world, Caribou is one of my favorite contemporary musicians, so to hear his influence on another one is welcome if anything. It’s just that I can’t help but recall back to a moment at a Coachella a few years back where an unannounced Beck show was underway in one of the small tents. I’d been warned before hand of it, so I was front and center for the show. As Beck segued into another song from Sea Change he caught wind of the next stage over insanity of a Jr Senior show-stopping mid song he announced that he wanted to rock out, it was easy to forget the upbeat sample heavy sound of his heydays. It wasn’t long after that that I read a quote about Guero’s progress stemming partially from a fan walking up to Beck and yelling, “Man, Why don’t you ROCK any more?” I think that Becks been doing some sound searching after Sea Change. It was a landmark achievement in his career, which I think shortly after sparked his point as an artist coping with evolution and maturation of his sound and then artificially attempting to go back and relive his previous sound starting with the album Guero. I’m still highly anticipating his new release and think this new song sounds great, but I am still curious of how direct of an influence I think Caribou sounds to be. Of course I’ll leave my full decision off until I can hear the entire album.

[Download] Beck -- Chemtrails

[stream] Beck -- Chemtrails

For Reference: Caribou -- “She’s the one”

Note by Edvard: I think they both both owe some credit to Child, Skip and especially Lothar and the Hand People.