2014 Music Recommendations? What ya got spinning?

[Davey]

I've been in kind of a musical rut lately, I guess. I haven't found any new bands I really like and new albums from established bands usually don't measure up to their past albums.

Wow, tentoze even stopped by! Last time I saw him was in response to a once-every-few-years post I made at Audio Karma about last years great Willard Grant Conspiracy record in an old thread that he was alerted on ...

Anyway, hey, looks like this board's software is working again, I can actually see that people have responded to a thread. Not that there are many out there to respond, but still an improvement

So, someone in that thread I linked above mentioned the debut record from John Schmersal (Enon and the great Brainiac) and Christian Beaulieu under the name Vertical Scratchers, Daughter of Everything. So I just hunted down a copy (yea, I know, not much of a hunt in the modern world) and listening now and this is pretty fun stuff. Still lots of Kinks sound around the edges, not quite as quirky and spastic as some of Enon's and Brainiac's best, but Beaulieu really has a good rhythmic sense on the drums, and the songs are over and moving on in 2 minutes or less! May be worth a listen, I mean, unless you like moping around in your rut ...

Vertical Scratchers: Daughter of Everything | PopMatters

[Davey]

My tastes have been a bit more loud and heavy lately but I'm really struck by the new Grouper album, Ruins. She (Grouper is just Liz Harris) has typically created very ambient atmospheres thru layers of reverbed guitar and her beautiful voice acting as an instrument more than vocalist. This new one is mostly piano with the lyrics much clearer but just as darkly atmospheric and emotive as anything she's done. It also makes great use of the spaces she recorded in - a small house in South America - with frogs and cicadas filling in the empty spaces and the occasional rumble of thunder and rain.

That is a nice record, I do really like the sound, very lofi recording with the piano pretty closely miked, as you say it has a great ambience. I can't really understand anything she's singing, though from reading some about it, the words match the somber sound. Not sure how much I really like it, getting some great reviews but I'd be reluctant to recommend it to anyone. I've only listened a couple times, and not all at once, which it probably needs.

[Davey]

On a little different note since this is at heart a "what ya got spinning" thread ....

The one I'm listening to right now, and I think one of my most listened to albums this year, is from 1993 but I really only discovered it this year. I mean, I've had it for a few years, but never really listened to it. If I recall, it came out of a post I made on obner many, many years ago when a few of us wandered over to that site for a while during another of the many down times around here. Some good people there, but I didn't stay too long for one reason or another. There were some that had a great knowledge of modern obscure music though, and so when I made a post about my love for Laika, and especially Sounds of the Satellites, someone came back and said Insides Euphoria is better. Wow, and so it went on my wishlist, and I eventually grabbed a copy but never really got to know it ... until this year. And then I discovered it is a great record, even predating the first Laika record by a year or two, while Margaret Fiedler was still with Moonshake this British duo put out a very nice record, a little darker and more sexual than Laika, and not as twitchy, maybe a little more of the 80s, but a similar feel overall and really good. Not better than Laika, that part was silly, but still very nice and one of those albums that just seems to float by, and if time is there, floats by again. The late 80s to early 90s was quite a time for 4AD bands. Pretty nice sounding CD too, DR 12 and well recorded.



There's a nice review at AMG ... Euphoria - Insides | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic.

[tentoze]

Wow, tentoze even stopped by! Last time I saw him was in response to a once-every-few-years post I made at Audio Karma about last years great Willard Grant Conspiracy record in an old thread that he was alerted on ...

And, btw, I bought that WGC, and wasn't as impressed with it as you were. The songs all sounded....unfinished, like demos left un-fleshed out. But hey, that's just me.

Anyway, if there's anyone who still gets knocked out by REAL 60's-era soul music, that St. Paul & The Broken Bones is your new drug. Those young boys from Birmingham will get your attention.

[Davey]

And, btw, I bought that WGC, and wasn't as impressed with it as you were. The songs all sounded....unfinished, like demos left un-fleshed out. But hey, that's just me.

I'd guess there's probably a lot more people that are like you than me, at least when it comes to music

But yea, I do really like it, you can tell it's very personal music for them, and I feel a pretty strong connection too. Kind of unconventional in song structure and instruments, but I don't have that unfinished feel. Very nice sounding recording too. Not surprising, we've diverged in the past on other records that tend toward the experimental side. Nothing wrong in that regard with either of us, we just like a lot of the same stuff, but not all the same stuff.

I made a post about it over on SH forums too, and it went down the same as just about all of my posts over there ...a pretty quick trip to the archives ... Willard Grant Conspiracy | Steve Hoffman Music Forums

[noddin0ff]

I'm going to have to find that WGC. I like the unfinished, maybe deconstructionist feel of the albums as they waltz their way along. I have to agree that many songs come up short of their potential. However, there's always a couple tracks per album that just blow me away. I put them in that category of artists I want to listen to because they have something to say and say it differently from everyone else, even if the music's got some warts--Sun Kil Moon, Jason Molina, Lucinda Williams, Phosphorescent, Howe Gelb, Bill Callahan...

I'm still exploring this branch of Americana. Any I'm missing?

[noddin0ff]

Hmmmm. Just got inspired to troll my library. I think I'm going to make a massive shuffle playlist of favorite, forgotten, and sometimes unlistened to, artists I've collected that fit a *theme* rattling in my head now. Not sure how this will work as I have tons of some (Tom Waits, e.g.). Guess I'll build it, let it rip and annoy my family.

16 Horsepower
Bill Callahan
Califone
Father John Misty
Feist
Fink
Fleet Foxes
Giant Sands
Heartless Bastards
Hem
Howe Gelb & Band of Gypsies
Jason Molina
Jessica Hoop
Julia Holter
Laura Marling
Lucinda Williams
Magnolia Electic
Mutual Benefit
Phosphorescent
Real Estate
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
Silver Jews
Smog
Songs:Ohio
Sun Kill Moon
The Antlers
The National
Tom Waits
War on Drugs
Willard Grant Conspiracy
Wooden Wand


[walks away for a bit; comes back]

heh. 1154 songs, 3.4 days according to iTunes. I'm sure there's some duplicates in there, but still a bit of a surprise.

[Davey]

I'm still exploring this branch of Americana. Any I'm missing?

That's a big topic to hide down at the end of this slowly dying thread, this board could surely use some interesting topics like this on the front page.

That said...

Richard Buckner had a string of incredible records in the mid 90s, especially the trilogy of Bloomed, Devotion + Doubt and Since. There's a lot I've said over the years, still a huge favorite even without new records that quite reach those peaks.

And Califone continue to put out good records in that dirty country folk blues style, including one of my favorites from last year in Stitches. Not quite as dirty or country anymore, but everybody gets old sooner or later. There's been an ongoing vinyl reissue program over the last couple years bringing back some of those beloved records from Red Red Meat, and Califone, and some of the family bands. Mostly really well done and appreciated. Just put in an order for There's a Star Above the Manger Tonight a few days ago. Love that CD, be great to have in a big vinyl package. Bunny Gets Paid to follow next.

The amazing Court and Spark (listen to Bless You for the evidence of their greatness) morphed at some point in the last few years into the also amazing Hiss Golden Messenger, and continue to make some of the best swampy gospel funky country blues around. A few of us around here had Haw as one of the best of the year for 2013, and Lateness of Dancers is one of the best of 2014, and the Hiss Golden Messenger/Steve Gunn Golden Gunn record from last year is one of the best in a long, long time. If you don't get anything else out of this rambling list of records, write down Golden Gunn and find someplace to download. It was a RSD vinyl release, and digital download is available. The vinyl can still be had, but it's scarce. Not enough people really know about it to make it too costly yet, though.

Silver Jews have a few great ones, but nothing to overshadow American Water from '97. Lots in the archive on this modern classic.

Richmond Fontaine is another band with a string of great records that hardly anyone has heard. Post to Wire is a really nice starting point, with a great mix of rock and country. Kind of a modern classic in my mind. New one early next year, and the debut of Willy's other band, The Delines Colfax Avenue that I mentioned above is excellent too.

Sixteen Horsepower was another 90s band that rocked the alternative gospel dark country sound, Low Estate from '97 with producer John Parish may be my favorite of those 90s records, but they are all good. The last one, the amazing Folklore, is indispensable, full of Southern gothic anthems built upon harrowing soundscapes.

Could go on and on, this kind of music is where I spend a lot of my time in the modern life....

And Jason Molina, yea, can't say enough, I really miss him, nothing released in the last 20 years stands above Black Ram for me. And he's got at least a couple others that are just as good on different days.

[3LB]

anyone check out this band

Phantom Limb

Phantom Limb - The Pines - YouTube

[Slosh]

So, someone in that thread I linked above mentioned the debut record from John Schmersal (Enon and the great Brainiac) and Christian Beaulieu under the name Vertical Scratchers, Daughter of Everything. So I just hunted down a copy (yea, I know, not much of a hunt in the modern world) and listening now and this is pretty fun stuff. Still lots of Kinks sound around the edges, not quite as quirky and spastic as some of Enon's and Brainiac's best, but Beaulieu really has a good rhythmic sense on the drums, and the songs are over and moving on in 2 minutes or less! May be worth a listen, I mean, unless you like moping around in your rut ...

Vertical Scratchers: Daughter of Everything | PopMatters

Gave it a listen, not doing it for me. Songs just never go anywhere. Sounds to me like a lot of ideas for songs that never got fleshed out. High Society is still one of my most-listened-to albums so I had high hopes for this.

[Davey]

Gave it a listen, not doing it for me. Songs just never go anywhere.

Yea, I guess, but how far do you expect to go in 2 minutes?



I know, it's easy to start feeling that way, maybe I just don't have as many expectations so I still get taken by a lot of new bands, even when they're not all that original sounding, or a little unfinished, or unpolished. I was listening to the debut from Alvvays earlier this morning, sunny indie pop from Canada, and it kinda falls in that category too. Fun record, sounds kind of crap, but I guess that blown speaker sound is what they wanted. No masterpiece, but sometimes I just want to hear music that I've never heard before, doesn't matter if it reminds me of someone else, I tend to turn off that sense until later.

But getting back to what I like without any thought to others, now playing is the fairly new record by Emma Ruth Rundle Some Heavy Ocean that has me pretty enchanted lately, can't remember if I said anything above, but completely on the opposite side of the world from Alvvays. Very dark and somewhat experimental. She's pretty amazing. There's live session footage from audiotree on youtube for most of the songs, and it's just her ... voice, and guitar, and a bunch of effects, sounds great. The song below closes the record, and I've listened to this video more times than I'm gonna say right now ...





On another unrelated but all inclusive note, wonder if our old buddy Jim C ever stops by anymore, nice to see that the Moonbabies have some new music out, and a new record on the horizon. Double single at their site, first side by Ola and second side by Carina.

1# 'CHORUS'/'RAINDROPS' ? MOONBABIES

[unleasHell]

Recently bought the new CD release by MY BROTHER THE WIND: Once There Was a Time When Time & Space Were One.

You can get it on Amazon, and read about the band here: MY BROTHER THE WIND discography (top albums), MP3, videos and reviews

It is all instrumental, so for those of you who need lyrics to enjoy your muzak, i guess pull out an old Dylan cd. But for those who miss the days of yesteryear when MUSIC was about MUSICIANSHIP, then this disc will amaze...

If I had to describe their style, I would say they are a blend of progressive and psychedelic, with a dash of Space & Post Rock for good measure...

They also recent released a Live recording, available only on LP and Download, which is also very goooood...