did some re-arranging on the main page. the image at the top is from the criterion dvd of “sword of doom” . . . additionally, the recent playlist page features a background photo taken by my wife of the fall foilage of pittsburgh, pennsylvania - a spectacular accompaniment to the buggy tracklisting on there right now. hopefully that will get sorted soon.
well folks, quite a lot of new stuff coming in lately.
the mendoza line is one band that i’ve been exploring lately. their newest material, full of light and full of fire, is an interesting blend of country folk and velvet underground-ish indie rock. decent stuff, really. i had read a review that put this as a modern masterpiece on the line of springsteen/dylan etc, and while i don’t hold those guys in nearly as high a place as most, i will say i don’t know if this is quite there.
one downfall of doing the station is that i tend to listen to a lot of albums in a random order and mixed in with other stuff. one thing i’m really hoping turns out better than the couple of tracks i’ve heard so far is the self-titled Valley of Giants release. this is basically the supergroup comprised of supergroup members — godspeed and broken social scene members, to be specific — and honestly, it comes off a bit jackie o’motherfucker covering friends of dean martinez. i know, i know. but it’s GODSPEED AND BSS!!!!! ahhhhhhh . . . the track “westworld” comes on now and honestly, this is where i expected us to be. nice.
i’ve also been very recently (as in the last 24 hours) been turned on to joel rl phelps and the downer trio. this stuff is great. phelps is generally referenced as having a “unique” vocal delivery, and, while i agree with that, i will say that it is not used to score gimmick or novelty points. instead, phelps uses his voice to convey emphasis — at times almost to the point of invoking the idea of musique concrete — while being backed by a competent, albeit not necessarily revolutionary, blend of indie rock and americana.
on the electronic front, i’ve been listening to a lot of boy robot, which reminds me a lot of the stuff coming out of toronto lately. it’s almost the junior boys of 2005, with about half as much of an english pop influence as they, and seasoned with the same salt as releases by pan/sonic and panthia du prince, which always seems to be showing up on some great dj mix out of that fair city.
speaking of canadian techno releases, the marc leclair release Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes probably flew right by most people (ok, at least it did me), that is until its recent inclusion in philip sherburne’s summation of the year in techno. you might be more familiar with leclair under the name akufen, but this is not an akufen record by any means. most of this album hearkens back to the days of ambient techno, with layered synth pads flowing over delicate rhythm patterns.
oh yeah, and thanksgiving - the band, not the holiday - has been destroying me lately. i’m really glad he’s worked with phil elverum, who covered “do not be afraid” on the recent mt eerie album, because otherwise i’d have to point out how similar the two are and question just how much of an influence each is on the other. but with this arrangement, i can rest easily knowing that both of these guys’ universes revolve around related centers.