Morton Lauridsen – “O Magnum Mysterium”
Lux Aeterna
Choral music gets better the louder you play it. My neighbors probably think I’m a very religious man. Performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
For Stars – “Calm Down, Baby”
It Falls Apart
This album is pretty melodramatic, but when it’s not being overwrought it can be pretty charming. “Calm Down, Baby” is great for the most part, though you’ll probably understand my objections right off the bat — “Frieeends again. I’m just your… friend again.” The lyrics are about a 7th-grade reading (and emotional) level, but if you’re feeling indulgent, it can be compelling music.
The Ivytree – “The Book Of Job”
Winged Leaves
This album is beautiful from start to finish, and in a murmured, lo-fi fashion that few artists are able to effect. When people talk about Bon Iver isolating himself to make For Emma, Forever Ago, I think: sure, that’s what it sounds like when you leave and you come back. But what if isolation is your natural state? That’s what I’ve always felt must be the case with The Ivytree and other bands that share its members. I spent forever trying to decide which track to put up; just get the album, I guarantee you’ll cherish it on some lonely, rainy day not long from now.
Crime in Choir – “Women of Reduction”
Trumpery Metier
Let this be your theme song tonight. I feel like if the scene from Blade Runner where that replicant is running through the glass displays was three minutes long, they would just have this for the background music. I love me some Crime in Choir. (insound)
Tulsa Drone – “Chiaroscuro”
No Wake
It’s past midnight and you’re driving alone on a rural highway with a body in the trunk. This is what’s playing on the radio. (more)
Jason Molina – “Pyramid Electric Co.”
Pyramid Electric Co.
This album, post-Songs:Ohia and pre-Magnolia Electric Co., is a solid piece of work. It’s not as dark as the incomparably bleak Ghost Tropic, nor as transcendent as his 17-minute Travels In Constants track, but Pyramid’s spare beauty is something almost anyone can appreciate. Molina is an excellent songwriter and knows just how much accompaniment his voice and words require — usually no more than a single guitar or piano. (insound)
Skygreen Leopards – “Parallel shadows (part 2) – Mad lion (part 7)”
Child God in the Garden of Eden
With the same simple and beautiful instrumentation as “The Heron,” this song, off a lesser-known companion piece to their disappointing (I thought) Life and Love in the Sparrow’s Meadow, channels the same mystical, pastoral beauty of their debut. I have two versions, this being the newer and clearer, but I keep the old version because it has a soft and indistinct quality that I grew to like. Chalk it up to variations in vinyl ripping.
Black Forest/Black Sea – “These Things”
Forcefields and Constellations
On their earlier self-titled album, Black Forest/Black Sea were more like Rachel’s, but when this album dropped, it was clear they had other things in mind. It’s the strange delvings of Charalambides married to the electronic hammock of Tape. Fully half the tracks are throwaway, but then you get a weird, sparkling gem like “These Things” and you’re reassured that they know what they’re doing.
Comets On Fire – “Dogwood Rust”
Avatar
What can I say? Simply one of the best tracks of all time, and the standard by which I now measure all medium-length rock songs. Listen to it all the way through; it’ll put hair on your chest. I’m proud to say I saw these guys in a place about the size of my apartment, and they killed it. Too bad the cops came like five minutes later and actually arrested the guy who lived there.
Tanakh – “Stereognosis”
Villa Claustrophobia
Tanakh’s debut album is still by far their strongest, and from start to finish there is hardly a weak moment. The haunting, wordless opener and its closing echo; the languid pace; you get the feeling that you are at once being serenaded in a lonely temple and floating far above a field of carnage. “Stereognosis” is the meat in an instrumental sandwich, between the sparse “Tallis” and droning “Tells,” which if joined to the center would create a single piece of music over 10 minutes long. Simply amazing. This album is most highly recommended. And you can buy the whole ball of wax for $5.