Villages - Procession Acts (Bathetic, 2015)

The decade long evolution of Villages (William Ross Gentry) has been a fascinating one. It's been a privilege to watch this personality unfurl. At an impressive fifteen releases, each has growth that is very apparent, one that is indicative of hard work, and a discerning ear.

His initial offering, the lovely and delicate "The Last Whole Earth" in 2010, seems homage to his heroes, a cold yet delicate droning piece that calls to mind artists such as Eno, Stars of the Lid, and Labradford. As his palatte refined, Villages moved in a less ambient / drone direction. At each moment, there is a subtle maturity. The Spilling Past showed leaps and bounds in production, Theories of Ageing sees a shift, not only to cinematic frontier, but a more rhythmic direction with clean piano, acoustic guitar, and banjo, signifying an attempt to distinguish his motif as an accessible music separate from the drone genre. He escaped the pigeon hole only to be dubbed "Appalachian Drone" by several writers.

With "Procession Acts", the ten year oeuvre seems to reach a pinnacle of emotion and individual characteristics. with a production excellence that would inspire all who make music themselves.

If you're a fan of classical music, you know that often it is possible to recognize imagery and incidents the writer was contemplating during the creative process. Gentry's subtleties and nuances are full forward, and he wears his influences on his sleeve: Jonny Greenwood, Cliff Martinez, and Nick Cave & Warren Ellis scores, Type Records artists such as Peter Broderick and Goldmund, western guitar drone and blues from Steven R. Smith to Mississippi John Hurt. All of these elements combine to make a perfect album, and the culmination of an excellent repertoire.

Act One

Beginnings in Dust
Devouring the Whole
The Luddite
Tell the Butcher
Coat of Arms
Pillars in Half Light

Act Two

Open in Reverse
Out of the Mines
Predecessors
Slow Successors
Endings in Rust

Purchase your copy from the wonderful Bathetic Records HERE. Vinyl will go fast!!!

Stream on Spotify HERE.

Listen to a mix he made of his influences for the latest album HERE

R.I.P. Pete Seeger, this is you hanging out with Johnny Cash.

We lost an icon today. I chose the Johnny Cash video for obvious reasons. Theyyyyyyy
Lord!

Chris Head - Songs (Unreleased Material, 2011)

Its not often I connect with country music these days. Of all the genres that seem tired and unbelievable, its country. In fact, every time I hear a current act I like, I'm shocked. It happened again when I heard Chris Head's songs. A longtime and prolific member of the Asheville, North Carolina punk scene, Head writes heart-wrenching, melancholy and unassuming lyrics about love and loss. Not only that but every song has a classic hook, at least one of which will stick in your head after you walk away.

Sit down and give it a listen. I dare you to shrug it off.    

Jaye Bartell - Elation EP (Self-Released, 2013)

There are some musicians that cannot be casually heard. And background listening just will not do with the music of Jaye Bartell. His is an ethereal sounding folk aesthetic with a misleadingly simplistic charm. And if your lazy ear is not careful, the result may be a plague upon your house. This haunting baritone vocal and its poetic delivery derives more from literary sources than musical ones. Combined with the slow and pensive song structure, the overall feel calls many ideas to mind. There is anything from romance, beauty, trust and hope; to fear, envy, sexuality and violence. That elaborate conflict is the very essence, and why his music holds such a mystique. This is outsider folk with an original approach.

Along with his own guitar, vocals and drums, Jaye is joined here by J Seger on piano and drums. Look for a full-length LP coming this summer on Headway Recordings.

For information on purchasing this and other albums, visit Pilgrim Bandcamp

F.J. McMahon - Spirit of the Golden Juice (Private Press, 1969)

Last week I stumbled across this gem. Since I'm always looking for a particular softer side of psych / folk / country / pop vibe (particularly of the outsider vibe) , I'm quite excited about this man's music.

McMahon returned from a tour in Vietnam with something to say. He recorded this, his only output, a masterpiece for some reason swept under the rug. What's presented here is a mesmerizing voice singing plaintive, melancholy and romantic lyrics. He plays somber minor key guitar tracks, accompanied by bass and a delicate yet strong drum kit.

This is an extremely underrated, one off album that should no longer be slept on. Fans of Tim Hardin, Jim Schoenfield, Scott Walker, and Rodriguez would be wise to snag this.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, "The Golden Juice" is the name of a bourbon.



Get it HERE

And order the LP re-issue over at Sacred Bones HERE

Dirty Three - Toward the Low Sun (Drag City, 2012)

The reviews I've read about this record so far really puzzle me. This is the ninth record by this act and apparently folks want to hear the same thing they've heard from the other eight albums. To the untrained ear, their entire discography could sound the same, all being avant garde western-tinged wanking with the "pulling of the heart strings" twist. Ahh yes, let's be greedy, let's ask for even more! Let's long for them to be pigeon-holed a decade after their inception. Well, I say Fuck that. These guys have been around, playing live in various projects for thirty years and then some. Let them grow! They've evolved in a really gorgeous way and the critics are stifling them for no good reason. Yes, I'm ranting. I'm sorry. I suppose it also pushes my buttons that much of the negative criticism over this record is due to the free improvisation it presents. These veterans are actually pushing boundaries. Maybe not boundaries as you see them, but imagine playing with the same couple guys for fifteen years and trying to break out of your mold.

At its inception, its blistering. Jim White finally takes the reigns and leads the band into uncharted territory with his brilliant sense of nuanced percussion. In fact, for the first five tracks, he seems like a pied piper, orchestrating a deconstruction of everything that was Dirty Three. Whatever you thought is no more. Its like manna from heaven, as far as I'm concerned. There's a nonlinear presentation here. Its almost as if everything we're hearing is raw and unedited. I can't help but imagine the feeling of freedom that this process must have given them. And just when it gets a bit too intense, "Rain Song" brings us back around to the gospel truth that is the spine of this band's career, gorgeous in its depression, conflicted in its narrative, and hopeful in its intended resolve.

Toward the end of the album, the element of orchestration slips in, no doubt due to Ellis' film scoring with Nick Cave in the past few years, but I feel that the group only benefits from this environment.

Everything about this record feels new and I'm once again excited about this act. They're one of my favorite bands ever, and this is incredibly refreshing.

I don't know much, but I know this.... Never ever doubt a Bad Seed...



Download HERE and / or listen on Spotify

Peter Walker - Long Lost Tapes 1970 (Tompkins Square, 2009)

Reasons to like Peter Walker:

#1. Virtuoso guitarist in the John Fahey / Robbie Basho raga style.
#2. Timothy Leary's musical director for a time.
#3. Recorded albums released by Vanguard.
#4. The tapes were recorded at Levon Helm's house by Eddie Offord (producer of early YES)
#5. Sick, sick, sick drummer on this record making his sound even more psychedelic.
#6. I can't get enough of it.

Tashi Dorji - Improvisations for Guitar (Headway Recordings, 2012)

Bhutanese guitarist Tashi Dorji is an exceptional musician, and a multi-instrumentalist who happens to excel on guitar. Live you can expect either an intense avant garde onslaught of Derek Bailey style electric or beautiful experimentations mostly on the acoustic, which is what is presented on this cassette release.

Over the course of about forty minutes, Dorji runs the gamut of his instruments possibilities. From pastoral pieces to John Fahey-inspired americana to Indian raggas to stabbing primal aggression. All of this is provided with a constant sense of grace and humility.

In the new school of experimental guitarists, Dorji fits well alongside Bill Orcutt and Glenn Jones.



Purchase the cassette here

Padang Food Tigers - Ready Country Nimbus (Bathetic Records, 2012)

This record is so relaxing that I feel its actually in the bath with me, so meditative that it seems to have become a part of my breathing, and so reflective that it could never be background music. What is most striking is that it never fails to lose the aesthetic of pure art.

 Absolute beauty shrouds this release by two thirds of the drone folk project "Rameses III". The duo intertwines processed field recordings, acoustic guitar, bells and a divine sounding banjo, always in the driver's seat on this recording. What in the beginning sounds like it could be background music quickly draws the listener into a thorough introspection.

 I was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure. This album has been the first effective tool in remedying that situation. The pastoral instrumentation drones alongside chirping birds and children playing, creating an avant garde sound that actually comes across as accessible.

 Padang Food Tigers has been released on Bathetic Records. You can listen / purchase the LP HERE and it is available in the itunes store.


 

Jozef van Wissem and Jim Jarmusch – Concerning the Entrance Into Eternity (Important, 2012)

I must admit, its been many years since I’ve been really pleased with a Jim Jarmusch film. I was an obsessive fan of his work in the 80′s and 90′s. From Stranger than Paradise all the way through Ghost Dog, I anticipated each release. Although I don’t care for his film work these days, I was excited to hear about his musical endeavors with the Dutch Lutist and composer, Jozef van Wissem.

Most might be surprised to hear that this is not Jarmusch’s first musical outing. It is a continuation of the work he did with Wissem on last year’s The Joy That Never Ends album. Not only that but he was keyboardist for the understandably ill-fated early 80′s New York art punk band “The Del-Byzanteens”. Knowing the latter, you may question his musical abilities, but due to his outstanding curating of his own film scores as well as ATP 2010, I do not.

Jozef van Wissem has been releasing albums for the past twelve years. He is known for a conceptual and minimal style of arcane and non-linear progressions that bridge a gap between 17th century ideas and the improvisational and cut and paste tactics of the now. Specializing in experimenting with Baroque and Renaissance forms, he somehow never compromises the traditional sound of the lute, and this is the most impressive aspect of his formula.

All that being said, how did he end up playing with Jim Jarmusch? Was it a marketing tactic or a stunt? Not in the least. Jarmusch is a competent and interesting minimal guitarist. The duo calmly work through five lengthy numbers on this record. Baroque sentiment, warm pastoral folk tomes, strong yet unspoken themes of meditation and even a track with the droning and distorted electric guitar weave a quilt of spirituality similar to the Zen ideas presented in Jarmusch’s classic film, Dead Man, yet, this time around, the Zen is replaced with a similarly subversive religious element, Gnosticism. Three titles are named after Christian mystic Emanuel Swedenborg’s work. In fact, the closing track contains a reading that seems to summarize all of the ideas they have instrumentally presented.

“He is hanging by his shiny arms, His heart an open wound. Set your eyes on the cross, Set your tongue to speak of his passion.”

Get it Here

This article originally appeared at: Adequacy.net

Adem - Takes (Domino, 2008)

Adem Ilhan is not a household name like his bandmate in post-rock band FRIDGE, Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet) is, but after listening to this album, you'll probably remember him.

This is the best pop cover record I've ever heard. I'd like to talk so much about it but I'd prefer you hear it the way I did, listening to each track play and slowly recognizing the songs as they come. Its exciting and quite emotional.

I will say this: Imagine trying to transcribe acoustic guitar for an Aphex Twin song.

Get it Here

V/A - Pomegranates: Persian Pop, Funk, Folk and Psych of the 60s and 70s (B-Music, 2010)

Finders Keepers has impressively researched the exciting and turbulent political times of Iran's 1960's - 70's. The compiler, Massha Taghinia is an American born of Iranian parents and many of these tracks come directly from his mother's record collection. Because of this connection, we receive a rare glimpse of the superstars of that country's Pop, Folk, Funk, Proto-Disco and Psych. Not only is every track delightful but the overall experience is enhanced by the idea that all of this music happened under the Shah's reign. A curious experience ranking with Sublime Frequencies collections of rock n' roll tracks from Cambodia during the period under the Khmer Rouge. We are privileged this has have fallen on Western ears.

Get it Here

Sybille Baier - The Colour Green (Orange Twin, 2006 / recorded 1970-73)

Fans of director Wim Wenders' first knew Sybille Baier's face from the 1973 film Alice in the Cities. Her music has been featured in Jochen Richter's Umarmungen und Andere Sachen(1975) and in Wim Wenders' Palermo Shooting(2008).

Much the same as Nick Drake, it was decades after the fact that her music gained general notoriety. With one of the most charming voices I've heard, she sang brave and honest pastoral folk songs that she composed in her dark, bleak manner. I'm reminded of Sylvia Plath every time I listen. Unlike the hippie psych folk popularized by Vashti Bunyan, Baier didn't need any gimmicks, bells or whistles. This fraulein kept it simple but somehow elegant with production akin to the atmosphere of early Leonard Cohen recordings. I only wish there was more.

Paul Giovanni and Magnet - The Wicker Man OST (1973, Trunk, 1998)

With Robin Hardy's 1973 film "The Wicker Man" a different method was employed for the score. Instead of the typical startling and abrasive strings striking fear into the hearts of watchers, Hardy chose Paul Giovanni to write pastoral Celtic-style folk songs conducive to the setting of the film, Summerisle. These songs are probably more effective at making the watcher feel uncomfortable as they don't initially seem creepy, however, the deeper one gets into the plot of the film, the more disconcerting these ancient pagan sounding odes become.I'm imagining Pentangle and Sandy Denny as psychotic pagans bent on bloodletting of innocents.

One of many favorite terrifying horror film scenes would not have been as disturbing without the music. This is really powerful stuff.

Get it Here

Guitars of the Golden Triangle: Folk and Pop from Myanmar and Beyond 2 - V/A (Sublime Frequencies, 2005)

This collection of music from one of the most foggy and mysterious places on the globe is a great example of western influence on eastern cultures. It is interesting that the title of this compilation is focused on the golden triangle aspect of the region rather than what the music itself is about. Although the Golden Triangle does lend itself to shape the culture that surrounds the Mayanmar region. This music comes from the Shan State in Burma, which is known infamously for it's heavy production of heroin. It was the leader in opium trade and production from the 1920's through the 1980's, due to it's elevation in the mountainous part of Burma and the nature of addiction, business, lack of human rights and laws. The elusive Shan State is barely known by it's surrounding communities of Mayanmar, so to be able to listen to this music, it is a wonder of an experience. This country has one of the longest running civil wars in history after gaining independence from British rule in 1948 and then remained under military rule from the 1960's to 2010. The military was dismantled after a general election in 2010 and then came the introduction of Burma's civilian government.

The reason I introduced this review with a perspective overview of this area's sociological history is because it is important to keep in mind the perpetual struggle this culture has endured. It is not only amazing that this music was created in such austere circumstances but also that fact that we even have access to it from the other side of the world. So be sure to give props to your fellow ethno-musicological detectives for digging deep.

Ok, now about the music. Much of these songs were recorded in the early seventies and due to the limited sources of access to this culture and the destruction of much of the music, the recordings themselves are a bit worn and faded. Cassette tapes onto cassette tapes have been the only source of documenting these sounds. But that doesn't take anything from the music and the quality of creativity. Much of the music is stylized in western pop, country and their native folk music. Lots of organ and dinky drum rhythms with twangy sharp guitar melodies fill this compilation. Four or so artist comprise the comp, and I say “or so” because there is one unknown artist featured. As the music is fairly standard pop, it definitely presents itself with the impression of a haphazardly drugged out culture. Since I don't understand the lyrics, I can only get an idea of what the songs are about through the English translation of some of the song titles. Such as Khun Paw Yann's “Hopes and Goals” and “You got what you got” as well as Lashio Thein Aung's “Mistake of a small bird” and “Don't say goodbye”. I like to think some of these songs are either about love or philosophical thoughts about gracefully dealing with reality. I am not sure but that's the feeling I get. This music is truly a rare glimpse into a mysterious and forgotten culture. By researching this album, I find myself wondering how western music was able to influence this isolated area. I have heard that truckers that would do deliveries in this region would be listening to music in their vehicles and would share music with the people and in return, the people were influenced and inspired. I am not sure of the reliability of this notion, but it doesn't seem impossible. I hope you can enjoy this as much as I have.

--Sean Dail

Get it Here

Akron / Family - Akron / Family (Young God, 2005)

You may know Akron/Family as a bullshit jam band because that's what they are these days. Well, before the bullshit they put out one of my favorite folk pop albums of all time. This sweet little record is genuinely honest freak folk that is sure to win you over. All you have to do is try to forget who you're listening to. I promise you its good.

Get It Here

The Mops - Iijanaika (1971, JVC)

The released their third album in the year that was Japan's triumphant time to shine, 1971 (according to Julian Cope's Japrocksampler.com . This is a solid journey through Heavy Psych, Garage, Folk and Blues.

Often overlooked, The Mops were a band that obviously emulated the U.S. hippie scene (Jefferson Airplane) as well as the UK heavy rock scene (Black Sabbath) but did it with their own charismatic personality. At times acidic, epic and gritty; and at other times over the top with its campy heartwarming tenderness, Iijanaika runs the gamut of historically strange Japanese musical affinities.

And dig that crazy cover art, man.

Get It Here

Twin Sister Moon - Then Fell the Ashes (2010)

The latest release from Frenchman Mehdi Ameziane (of Natural Snow Buildings) doesn't beat around the bush. The first cut, "Black Nebulae", launches into a tempest of perilous metallic drone but he changes course nicely afterward.

"1976" and "Ghost That Was Your Life" are brief but lovely folk songs reminiscent of Benoit Pioulard. Mehdi's androgynous vocals are just gorgeous. He has a knack for calling to mind the 60's British folk scene a la Sandy Denny and Vashti Bunyan.

"The Big Sand" is essentially a ten minute medley of frightening Ritual Drone, friendly and inviting Ambient and another acoustic ballad.

"Desert Prophecy" and "Trailer" are a couple of melancholy yet hooky folk pop songs culminating into the title track, a twenty-four minute drone treatice which could become a classic. This piece builds for twenty-two minutes of now familiar elements but also incorporates very gentle and tasteful piano. Eventually, and no surprise here, he wraps up the album with another somber but beautiful folk ballad.

Unfortunately, everything he releases is a very limited vinyl run so you'll probably have to be content with those nasty mp3's. Regardless, this is very intriguing and enigmatic music that requires a specific listener. I hope you're one of them.

Get It Here