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Seth Olinsky Sparrow Trout Heart Sprout
A three-disc set from Seth Olinsky of Akron/Family.
Words from Seth…
“Best of Everyone”
Like a sparrow trying on a fedora in a bonfire, or a trout finding his pants in the sky, it is easy to romanticize what has passed. Boredom translates as quiet simplicity, difficulty translates as growth–it is so easy in fact that sometimes you catch yourself and realize that this remembered happiness never truly existed at any present moment. It is only a present moment fabrication of happiness past.
But,
then there are times/periods in life that are truly sweet. An in-between or going-to brief space that simply and wonderfully characterizes itself of itself and by itself.
Best of Seth came from such a time.
Multi-lifetime momentum aligned to bring old friends and ideas together in such a way that my newly acquired MBox could capture the subjective subtle soundshot of my brain’s happy interpretation of all being right in the world. This as my heart a baby born into a new and beautiful ground blossomed into song like just-awake and singing scratchy flemy out of tune a love song to the divine found RIGHT here in my bedroom surprise!!!!!
( the themes are not one and not two! )
It was a quiet fall/winter in between the summer/fall period when we recorded the first Akron album and the Angels of Light’s ” Sing Other People” and our first tour that spring. I worked at a newly opened and then quiet coffee shop one block from my house, distilling the essentiality from coffee beans and annoying the few costumers I was not friends with by playing the marching band Ayler or trying to figure out Dylan over and over again, or various other annoying too loud noises.
And I when off would just goof off on protools enjoying the mess that could be made with so many tracks at home where there was no engineer or producer to say that you should not spend so much time close-micing freshly opened Perrier or these ends are too loose, or songs are too long, or this is not a good place for a 3 minute guitar solo. I enjoyed all that was wrong about it. I indulged in multi-track hilarity for fun, and then, with the help of friends certainly more weird than I, decided it would be only right to release in a hilarious 3 CD set. I stayed up all night for three nights before we left for that first tour, mixing and throwing together all this material. The last day before tour, spending all day and night gluing and coloring and stuffing a run of 25, 3 CD Best of Seths. They looked like a backwards psychedelic 2nd grade home ec project gone wrong.
And then is now, finally a break from tour, and two friends at Achord interested in helping me make a few more, perhaps make them look and sound slightly better, reach a few more ears then my coffee shop friends and that avant-garde tap dancer we played with in a basement made of aluminum foil in Boise, Idaho. My hope is that there is something in the music that communicates the intent beyond the small circle of friends from which it was born, I hope the themes translate. I hope it is not mistranslated as my attempted genius statement, but that the fun and innocence that went into the words and sounds comes through, transformed by your cognitive Chinese spleen as pleasure, warmth, joy, dancing, and baking many wonderful things for friends.
The trouts swim off and
Crisscrossing follow
Sparrows into the sun.
Best of Everyone!
Love,
Seth
Dirt Cloud Road Of Light
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Sun Comes Up
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Rainbow Trout
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Death Sparrow Blues
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Buy It
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Kath Bloom West Coast Tour: thanks for coming out!
After four great shows spanning the length of the West Coast, Kath Bloom is now, sadly, en route to her home in the far East (Coast). Naturalismo is extremely proud to have presented Kath’s first West Coast tour, but we’re also really thankful to (((folkYEAH))) and everyone who came out to support Kath’s incredible return to performance. I had a great time at the McCabes show; it was really fun running into and talking with some readers there. I hope to see you all again soon at the next event.
=tyler=
The First Poppy Seed See-In
Arthur Magazine Presents:
THE FIRST POPPY SEED SEE-IN
Saturday, March 7, 2009
4 pm
Eat Records
124 Meserole Avenue
Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York
At the First Poppy Seed See-in we will gather together to look into what is called “the hidden dimension of the public sphere.”
For free distribution at the event will be the famous Poppy Seed Programmes: 200 pamphlets containing poppy seeds and illustrated by Michael Curtis Hilde with integral texts by Arthur “Weedeater” columnist/blogger Nance Klehm. Here’s an excerpt from her text:
“The hidden dimension of a public sphere is the sphere of imagination. How we locate disorder and remedy it is how we imagine our body and mind.”
Also available will be silkscreened prints of the Arthurdesh poster signed by artist Arik Roper. Posters are $5.
Come eat, drink, pick up poppies, talk and listen to records– support autonomous local businesses like Eat Records, haven to thinkers, practitioners, artists and free people alike– re-imagine, see-in.
Organized by michael curtis hilde.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
If you can’t make it to Eat Records this Saturday, we are setting aside 70 poppy seed-loaded Arthurdesh programs for sale online. These are for sale only in US ($6 postpaid) and Can ($8 postpaid).
Paypal your order to
First come, first seeded.
=tyler=
Peter Walker
Peter Walker is an American guitarist best known for two his two highly influential albums of the late sixties, Rainy Day Raga and Second Poem To Karmela. As Ben Chasny stated, “Peter Walker was actually a bigger influence on my acoustic playing than John Fahey or Robbie Basho.” The names of the Takoma artists seem to get pinned onto guitar players and musicians all too often. Perhaps lazy journalists are to blame, or maybe exaggeration is just intrinsic to retrospect.
Whichever the case may be, Peter Walker is a truly singular guitar player. His style combines elements of Indian raga, flamenco, American folk, and jazz. Beginning with simple melodies, the songs slowly build into energetic passages that blissfully carry the listener away. In the time since his first two releases, Walker has immersed himself in flamenco and continued to study and play music. In 2008, he released a new album entitled Echo Of My Soul on Tompkins Square. For more information about Peter check out the biography / interview from Dusted Magazine.
[download] White Wind (from Rainy Day Raga)
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[download] Gypsy Song (from Second Poem)
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[download] Cante Gitano (from Echo Of My Soul)
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Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Debuts "I Am Goodbye" Video
Looking like some kind of sublime Turkish Santa Claus, Mr. Oldham just released a perambulatory music video for “I Am Goodbye” off his forthcoming record, Beware, set to drop March 17 on Drag City. Click the image above to watch.
US & Canadian tour dates after the jump:
Vetiver- Everyday b/w Pay No Mind
Bella Union, Vetiver’s label in the UK and Europe, have printed up a limited run of 7″s for the song “Everyday”, with a cover design by Nathaniel Russell. It will be available March 9th, and only 500 are being made.
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More on The Black Dirt Sessions
From Three Lobed…
let’s get the dirty work over with first. the black dirt sessions is, all hyperbole aside, jack rose‘s most complete and telling work to date. those who have been following this philadelphia wanderer’s development and growth as a solo artist (both live and on record) know that such a statement is strong praise, as rose’s catalog is certainly not devoid of unqualified classics.
the album takes its title from the studio where it was recorded – jason meagher‘s black dirt studios located in westtown, new york. old friends rose and meagher developed a good working relationship and full understanding of each other’s work habits and styles over the course of a spring 2008 joint tour between rose and one of meagher’s bands, d. charles speer & the helix. rose, that eternal road warrior, booked some time at black dirt between tours in august, september and october of 2008 to lay down some new and fully realized material. this album is the complete result of those sessions.
rose’s prior albums have tended to both pick and remain true to a musical theme. the black dirt sessions excels by displaying fully honed examples of all of rose’s various styles and themes – traditional, raga and ragtime. central to the album’s spirit is the absolutely epic “cross the north fork.” this thirteen minute revisiting of a track first laid down on the great kensington blues is a winding, thoroughly engrossing journey. this new version is the product of rose’s perfectionist streak which constantly pushes him to re-explore and re-visit his prior works. as presented on the black dirt sessions, the “new” track is full of rich nuances from rose’s years of additional scrutiny of the original composition. much like rose himself, “cross the north fork” is certainly comfortable in its skin and helps make it a welcome neighbor to the album’s other splendid joys ranging from the jaunty and infectious “fishtown flower” (featuring a guest appearance from d. charles speer & the helix’s hans chew on ragtime piano) to the pensive and appropriate melancholy punch of “box of pine.”
the album’s artwork is somewhat of the yin to the yang of rose’s 2008 release on three lobed, i do play rock and roll. bearing the same overall design aesthetic as that prior release albeit presented in a contrasting white with black print, the black dirt sessions features a photo of rose performing in new york in 2006. the lp is pressed on 180g rti vinyl and housed within an “old style” high gloss stoughton cover. the record will be from a one-time pressing of approximately 2000 copies. the black dirt sessions is targeted for a late march/early april release.
You can pre-order a copy here for $19.
[download] Fishtown Flower
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Kath Bloom Kicks Off First West Coast Tour!
(((folkYEAH))) & Naturalismo are overjoyed to announce that Kath Bloom’s first ever West Coast tour is going to be launching this Thursday in Santa Barbara, CA. From there, it’s down to the quaint, backwoods town known as Los Angeles, where my weary bones will stand slack-jawed at McCabes. Once the applause has died down, the vans will haul ass up to the bucolic paradise known as Big Sur, where the Fernwood Resort will be blessed to have a kindred spirit share her space. Finally, the tour caps off with a San Francisco treat, so to speak, at Cafe Du Nord. All in all, it’s four days of incredible music that’s never been heard live on the Western seaboard. Let me know if you’ll be at the LA show!
See below for more details about the show in your town.
=tyler=
Linda Perhacs: Parallelograms
I wonder why there are so many female singer-songwriters that emerged in the late 60’s and early 70’s, only to release one album of incomparable beauty, then disappear as abruptly as they arrived. From Sibylle Baier to Vashti Bunyan, many of them found their musical inspiration diverted into the humbler pastures of family, love, or responsibility. Some, like Anne Briggs, found the musical hustle too burdensome to bear. It was a different time, that’s for sure. Though the times were a-changin’, women were still gripped by the vice of gender expectation in a way that today’s woman has, to some extent, been relieved of. Regardless of why their output ended, mourning their limited discographies is futile, selfish even. I give thanks that I have the opportunity to listen to even one or two albums by the aforementioned artists and, more recently, Linda Perhacs’ sole release Parallelograms.
Combining fragile and beautifully melodic acid folk with perfectly-rendered electronic effects, this remarkable album consists of what its creator describes as ‘visual music’. Parallelograms has gone on to become one of the most legendary and well-loved recordings of its time. Enjoy.
[ download ] Paper Mountain Man
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[ download ] Moons and Cattails
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