TK Webb & The Visions – “Closed Captioned Slang”
Ancestor
One of the standouts from a surprisingly strong album, this guitar fest shows what TK Webb is capable of with electric as well as “The Devil’s a Dork (The Sea Told Me)” shows off his acoustic skills. I love the sparkling and atmospheric coda.
And here we must observe that men must either be cajoled or crushed; for they will revenge themselves for slight wrongs, while for grave ones they cannot. The injury therefore that you do to a man should be such that you need not fear his revenge.
The “Lord God” Bird, or Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, so known because observers were known to cry that phrase out upon seeing this magnificent bird. (Plate by Audubon)
The For Carnation – “A Tribute To”
The For Carnation
One of the first offshoots of Slint, The For Carnation put out a few albums leading up to this one, but none, I think, effect the same fusion of menace and melody quite so well as this self-titled release from 2000. The softly-spoken vocals of Brian McMahon are indeed very Slint-like, but the pacing and subtle instrumentation are much less abrasive – though that doesn’t mean the band is incapable of bursts of noise like that at the four minute mark. An excellent album.
The splendors of human pomp and prosperity seemed rapidly vanishing in the distance. In the temporary depression of his spirits, he experienced feelings somewhat akin to those of the heart-sickened exile, whose fond eyes are riveted upon the mosques and minarets of his native city, glittering in the soft sunlight of evening, where are the cherished objects of all his tenderest thoughts and feelings; while his vessel is rapidly bearing him from it, amid the rising wind, the increasing and ominous swell of the waters, the thickening gloom of night— whither?
In the name of all that is manly and generous
Wilfred Satty
Fieldhead – “This Train Is A Rainbow”
They Shook Hands For Hours
Listen to it all the way through. The closest reference point I have is perhaps Arovane’s earlier and more abstract albums, Autechre’s most accessible ones, or perhaps most closely, Tim Hecker’s excellent and atmospheric Haunt Me, Haunt Me, Do It Again. Fieldhead seems hard to pin down, but it’s a thoroughly enjoyable album for anyone with the patience for, well, this sort of thing.
You may say it is not so easy to be wicked without ever being found out. Perhaps not; but great things are never easy.
Neither famine nor disaster ever haunt men who do true justice; but light-heartedly they tend the fields which are all their care. The earth bears them victual in plenty, and on the mountains their oaks bear acorns upon the top and bees in the middle, and their sheep’s fleeces are heavy with wool.
We must endow our man with the full complement of injustice; we must allow him to have secured a spotless reputation for virtue while committing the blackest crimes; he must be able to retrieve any mistake, to defend himself with convincing eloquence if his misdeeds are denounced, and, when force is required, to bear down all opposition by his courage and strength and by his command of friends and money.
Jan Ladislav Dussek – Sonata for harp
Anna Lelkes, Harpist
There are other harp sonatas by Dussek (I believe), but this is my favorite. I can’t for the life of me figure out its opus number or whatever. It’s almost like an ultra-simplified tone poem — it evokes a lot of images but is light and enjoyable, not trying too hard.
Sir, no man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.
Nudge – “Two Hands”
As Good As Gone
This atmospheric but slightly funky album reminds me of Rio En Medio’s Frontier, but a little less mysterious. It can be too background-y at times but I think that the flow of the music and its lack of jarring and unexpected sounds is to be credited for that.
Doré, for Tennyson’s Idylls of the King. Look at the detail in the big version.
Foma – “Seraphim Succubi”
Inverness
The best song off an uneven, but interesting album. These guys have a knack for changing their songs up subtly but meaningfully about halfway through, and this one is no exception. It’s also the song where the singer’s breathy voice and the traditional but well-wielded instrumentation hits the mark most completely.
Part of this experiment.
Cave – “Gamm”
Psychic Psummer
The rest of the album is harder to recommend, but “Gamm” proves that instrumental psychedelic rock has plenty of life in it. Good all the way through. The closer of this album, “Machines and Muscles,” is also excellent (and totally different).
Charlie Brooker on Creationism
“This is perhaps the most arrogant belief a human skull can contain without exploding. After all, God has far better things to do than creating self-important little species such as ours. He’s got wars, deaths, disasters and diseases to ignore for starters.”
