With a vibe that is both down-home and whimsical, Blau grafts parts of winsome folk-rock onto lazy jamming blues, vintage rocksteady reggae, high 70's soul harmonies, and ceremonial-sounding flutes in his unpredictable and shifting mixture of elements. FANTASTIC. srsly.
The sister of Animal Collective’s Avey Tare joins First Nation and they become Rings, a female trio good at making melodic noise from very little. Black Habit is filled with mystery, ambience and sprinkles of sorrow. The change of name from First Nation to Rings makes a lot of sense upon listening. Bare instrumentation, layers extremely thin if there at all, and a reliance on echoed, emphatic vocals are all used to encircle you in their delicate, menacing way. Instruments glide past as if cutting the air with razors, leaving a sharp, eerie breeze blowing through your bones. The vocals range from high pitched keening to impassioned choral chanting. A must have for a freak. Like you.
Kemialliset Ystävät (English translation: Chemical Friends) is an ever changing group of free form pilots who have been sending murky audio clouds from their basement in Tampere, Finland to the people of the world since 1995. They work in short, spooling instrumentals, building layers of simple repetitive riffs into laminal mudcakes and weaving ghosts of folk song into huge tunnels of drone. They utilize a wide spectrum of moldy acoustic instruments and almost broken electronics to create their joyful noise but the recording studio in itself might be their single most important instrument. Members of Kemialliset Ystävät are involved with other projects such as The Anaksimandros, Avarus, Islaja, Kiila, Es and Päivänsäde.
Noah Baumbach's 2005 film The Squid and the Whale deals with a divorce and its unlikely ramifications in a listless Brooklyn of 1986. You might recognize the heady, detached feel of its soundtrack from Wes Anderson films like Rushmore or Royal Tenenbaums -- Anderson produced this film, and music supervisor Randall Poster worked on all three pictures. But the similarities don't curtail Squid's effectiveness. Folk music and overcast East Coast days are the central themes here, with sleepy British folk from Bert Jansch -- all three of his songs conjure images of cloud blankets and belted cable-knit sweaters -- as well as the aching twine of Kate & Anna McGarrigle's 1975 gem "Heart Like a Wheel." Meanwhile, both "Swimming Song" and "Lullaby" are great examples of how Loudon Wainwright III can sing superficially about happiness while simultaneously trolling the depths of cynicism (a position that could double as the adolescent condition). "Hey You," the cerebral Pink Floyd ballad that plays such a role in the film, appears here in cover form from Dean Wareham; Wareham and frequent collaborator Britta Phillips also wrote two pieces for the film's original score, "Park Slope" and "Family Conference," and both tow the foggy line between dry Luna-ish style and that winsome daze so common to Anderson's (and now Baumbach's) films. It's only a matter of time until one of these guys' soundtracks taps Mission of Burma; The Squid and the Whale doesn't, but it has the almost-next-best-thing in the Feelies' "Let's Go." The Cars' "Drive" continues the East Coast feel, and the title track to Lou Reed's 1978 record Street Hassle finishes the dovetail. An epic, 11-minute New York City portrait, "Street Hassle" is The Squid and the Whale's "A Quick One While He's Away," the classic Who mini-opera that skirted the middle of Rushmore's soundtrack.
Released online at pay-your-own prices the same day that Radiohead set In Rainbows loose, Journey in Caldecott is Chicago duo The Lickets’ fourth album. Featuring a transcendental mini-orchestra, Mitch Greer and Rachel Smith deliver a trippy journey through mythical lands and lush sonic forests. After all, Journey in Caldecott is more than just the album title, it’s the entire concept behind this work. This IS a journey, from the opium drenched “Crowd of Pimps in the Rain,” to the unholy temples worshiping the “Rabbit Moon,” ending with the quiet celebration of a quest finished with “The Beekeeper.” Haunting, eerie, and altogether unique, The Lickets pull from numerous influences—at one point sounding like an Old World procession and an Indian throne room the next. With tracks like “Smoking Hippie” and numerous self-references to ‘60s psychedelia, there may be a suggestion that this music is better experienced with the aid of some sort of (ahem) medication, but no such enhancement is needed. This is indeed a mystical trek of an album, one that you’ve never experienced before and never will again. To sample the music, The Lickets even provide a literal journey through Caldecott on their website (it’s sort of like a Victorian Myst), complete with their music as a soundtrack. Take a sample, don’t be afraid to get hooked—all the cool kids are doing it.
This was Raccoo-oo-oon's first record (well tape to be more precise) recorded back in 2005, and originally released in an insanely small edition that was unsurprisingly swallowed up by an eager public. The music is an odd mix of shamanic work-outs and tainted indie rock with a slightly catchy rhythm under pinning most tracks. A smearing of tune that wobbles uneasily in the half-light with guitars, drums and choruses that are never too far from the ritualistic. A splattering of quirky/mystical electronics wraps it all up nicely.
Björk's 6th studio album is promising to be a ten track eclectic mix of beats & vocal, reflective of Björk's visit to Aceh, one of the hardest hit areas of the 2004 tsunami. It also hits hard on Bjork's anger with what is happening in the world right now. According to her interview with Pitchfork, Bjork admits Volta is a “sort of reaction to the state of the world today.” She explains, “I mean, the human race, we are a tribe, let’s face it, and let’s stop all this religious bullshit. I think everybody, or at least a lot of my friends, are just so exhausted with this whole self-importance of religious people. Just drop it. We’re all fucking animals, so let’s just make some universal tribal beat. We’re pagan. Let’s just march.” Her vision is worth the price of submission.
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