A few months ago I really wanted to share this incredible song with you and found, to little surprise, that it was streaming exactly nowhere on the internet. So I put my copy on youtube because everyone deserves to experience this distilled observation of profound humane love.
I forgot to share this immediately after my first listen. I really should have.
Tim Hecker is widely acknowledged as a master of his own blend of melodic drone (whom I’ve shamefully never written in depth about) while Daniel Lopatin is better known as Oneohtrix Point Never, hands down one of my favorite artists working today. The fact that he’s collaborating with Hecker has, to put it mildly, assuaged my fears about Lopatin’s distinct lack of a new LP this year.
It’s late and I’m tired and I don’t know what to say. If you like either of these artists, you will certainly enjoy this song. Let’s hope the full album is just as good.
[I’m not seeing it yet but the release should be here for preorder soon.]
I was aimlessly browsing and came upon the Ghost In The Shell original score on CD. Loving the film, though having not seen it in years, I knew it would at least conjure some nostalgia for a time long gone. Nostalgia is achieved within 5 seconds of the opening track. Beyond that, it gets very interesting.
My list of connected blogs should change more frequently, and now is a great time to start. There are a couple I have in mind, music blogs with vast knowledge and interesting subjects. I need more. Not only to spread the word here, but for my own benefit. I find it easy to slide into routines and some fresh perspective is a necessary punctuation. So:
Any type: essays, reviews, videos, original material, file sharing, etc.
Please leave a comment and then listen to this absolute stunner from Robbie Basho, Blue Crystal Fire.
This song resides at the center of Visions Of The Country (1978), the only Basho album I have. Having discovered his music this month I’m not experienced enough to convey much more than the notion that this is an essential listen for fans of guitar music and/or incredible voices. It is. I literally cried during my first listen.
Great cover artwork, too!
Just because.
This has been out over a week and the leak for half that, but tonight, alone, listening to the proper stream on NPR, my excitement is reborn. There are details, sharp edges and vocal snapshots bursting out at me, entire stretches brimming with instrumentation I haven’t noticed. I listened to the leak ten times and haven’t heard the album like this. My thought confirmed: the vinyl leak is muffled, distant and compressed sounding. Everything’s in there, buried then rendered in high fidelity. I kept wanting to lean inward and focus on the elements I knew were inside. It’s a treat to know that what I’ll be receiving in a couple weeks is even better than what fans have been going nuts over.
Stream the entire album here:
Thanks, NPR. Also a question: why can’t your player embed?
Also here is the video for first single Putty Boy Strut. Regardless of how you feel about this song, remember that with this man’s work, it’s all about context.
[Pre-order the album from Bleep, especially if you want the ridiculous collectors edition like I do.]
This is fun and fantastic. Psychedelic, hypnagogic, sampledelic. As I said to a friend yesterday: It’s what I listened to when I was in an Ash Ra Tempel mood. Yet actually, thanks to the external memory I can see that I actually said, “I’m in an Ash Ra Tempel kinda mood but this fits perfectly. Even though it’s more like Avalanches.” So there’s that.
So I made another mix. Close friends have heard it, and I feel it’s time I shared it here. This was an attempt to capture my outlook right now. Or then, rather. There are distinct first and second halves, and I feel that the latter could be a “healing” side. It’s definitely a warmer, rising sensation. There’s more than that, but the sound is what matters.
It’s called In Heaven.
Optimistic Underground 