Sleep Whale – “Summer Sick”
Houseboat
Mostly into instrumental post-rockish stuff, yet not falling into the usual traps of that sort of music, Sleep Whale is the rare post-rock/organic electronica band that creates something that is both original and listenable. Good instrumentation, good rhythm, and being perfectly happy to just make something nice and beautiful makes for good music.
Mice Parade – “Logic (Parts 1 & 2)”
Ramda
Mice Parade has always been a bit difficult to nail down. More recently, Adam Pierce (of whose name Mice Parade is an anagram) has been collaborating more and creating more easily palatable music, but it still has a lot of the old feel to it. Ramda, Mokoondi, and The True Meaning Of Boodleybaye will always be my go-to albums for him, though. “Logic” definitely starts out slow, but let it build and form itself the way it’s obviously meant to. I find it has a nice payoff if you just let it do its thing.
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Tarentel – “Ursa Minor, Ursa Major”
From Bone To Satellite
My favorite Tarentel song, from before they got really, really weird (We Move Through Weather). This nearly 18-minute epic has some of the best guitar tone I’ve ever heard – those first few plucks at the strings send shivers up my spine every time. And of course when it blows up, it’s beautiful and huge. Goes on for a bit after that, but it’s more expansive and ambient. (buy)
Colleen – “I’ll Read You A Story”
The Golden Morning Breaks
When I reviewed it earlier, I called it a mermaid’s music box. That’s about right.
Colleen – “A Little Mechanical Waltz”
Mort Aux Vaches
This is a beautiful piece, done as far as I can tell on a componium, that reminds me of my other favorite track by Colleen, “I’ll Read You A Story” from The Golden Morning Breaks, which I’ll put up next.
Dump – “On The Right Track Now”
Plea for Happiness
This record was pretty spotty, in my opinion, but it was also home to a few gems. This is one of them; “Made for it” and “My head in your hands” were the others. I still listen to them years later (one was even in a Ben Stiller short).
Lupine Howl – “Sometimes”
The Carnivorous Lunar Activities of Lupine Howl
I never listened much to the rest of this album, but “Sometimes” is one of the few one-off tracks I still regularly listen to that I got during my great college music expansion period. I love the lines “The universal gift must always be returned/and everything can be unlearned.” It’s long but broken into three parts, which helps the pacing.
My Education – “Snake in the Grass”
Italian
You have to listen to this one all the way through. It sneaks up on you and the payoff is at the end. These guys have a great ear. I’m getting to know their other albums; they’re shockingly little-known as far as I can tell. If you see this, guys, come to Seattle and play with Kinski.
The Lovely Feathers – “Photo Corners”
Hind Hind Legs
Got a new love for this album over the weekend, having usually turned it off after “Wrong Choice” for no particular reason and not getting a chance to love the later tracks. The half-major, half-minor singalong feel of this song is pretty unique to The Lovely Feathers. It’s like the best possible cross between the Libertines’ Up the Bracket and The Unicorns.
Tiny Vipers – “Eyes Like Ours”
Life On Earth
Life On Earth is a darker and much more spare album than Hands Across The Void, focusing more on Jesy’s voice and guitar, and with a bit more of a bleak and minor-key a feel to it. It doesn’t have the rawness of her self-titled EP or the mystical flow of Hands, but she sounds more confident in her writing and certainly performs it admirably.
