Author: David James

Atlas Sound – Quarantined

/ David James / 5 Comments

atlas-sound-bradford-cox

I am waiting to be…  changed

Bradford Cox is one of the only musicians working today who I feel, despite fronting a popular band and receiving wide acclaim, is less than fully recognized for his true genius.  My snobbier friends write off Deerhunter as indie/pitchfork ‘core’ while casual fans aren’t often bothered to delve into his often exquisite solo work as Atlas Sound, both on record and (more importantly) in the cornucopia of material he’s released free of charge over the years.

Debut Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, source of Quarantined.

My favorite pieces often combine a sharp nostalgic eye for the detail of pop songcraft with an otherworldly timbre.  On paper they’d make any head nod while in practice they alternately embrace and repel through a veiled fog.  Some display a truly off-kilter sense of place and time, pairing Phil Spector rhythms and shoegaze instrumentaion with lyrics about the inner terror of isolation and the damaged longing for freedom through metamorphosis.  For instance.

He’s covered Unchained Melody (seriously, listen) and recorded drone epics about tripping nuts all weekend with equal devotion and care. Cox most recently dropped a three hour, four volume slab of unreleased treasure on fans just because. Because he was neglecting his freebie-filled blog while touring and releasing multiple items with his main band? We certainly weren’t owed more; he is simply that prodigious and generous an artist.

After the dreamy debut masterpiece Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel (from which Quarantined sprang) and slightly more straightforward follow up Logos, and a two year break, Atlas Sound is about to treat us all to another official LP of celestial pop on November 8 with Parallax. Check the artwork below for a bit of weird fun and to listen to advance single Terra Incognita. While you’re there, click on a window in the far right building to hear a bonus ditty I won’t spoil here. You’ll know it when you find it.

Also, another special pre-release “leak” of which I’ve grown fond: Te Amo (right-click and ‘save as’ to keep the mp3).

[while you wait get the Let The Blind… 2LP at Insound, or Amazon – there’s a full bonus EP of equally worthy music included and like other 4ad releases the packaging is gorgeous]

The Durutti Column – Otis

/ David James / 6 Comments

durutti_column_haider_muhdi_a

Another sleepless night for me…

Continue reading →

Julian Lynch – Terra

/ David James / Leave a comment

Julian Lynch crafted the chillest album I’ve heard all year.

First off, watch the video. Starting off innocuously and traveling through the same dreamy territory as the song itself, it’s a perfect realization of Lynch’s fractured hazy diamond of a single. It should also induce an urge to go bicycling, now.

Continue reading →

Flying Saucer Attack – Further

/ David James / 3 Comments

I’m here to tell you about Further, by Flying Saucer Attack. Because it needed to be discussed.

Continue reading →

Seriously

/ David James / 4 Comments

I haven’t posted on here in ages and I feel terrible about this.

I’ve been busy, sure, but that’s no excuse; there is always something going on and I’ve made time in the past.  I woke up today with the resolve to change this.  I woke up with the notion of not only resuming writing about albums I want to share with the world, but changing the way I share on here.

So you’ll be seeing a few new things in the upcoming days and weeks.  You’ll be seeing a barrage of some of my favorite music discoveries this year along with new avenues of expressing myself and casting a light on worthy topics.

You’ll also see some HARD CORE NUDITY.

Okay, probably not.  Optimistic Underground has always been SFW and I imagine it should stay that way.  So, if you’re still here:  thank you for reading, thank you for your patience, and thank you in advance for coming back soon.

Moon Duo – Mazes

/ David James / Leave a comment

Here we go with another case of “heard it in aQuarius” and even better, the album comes from a San Francisco band.  Moon Duo played in the store on a day I visted; unfortunately it was an hour after I left.  Checking email at home, I realized that the band playing was one I’d heard on the PA already.  I got Mazes and realized the band packs a ballsy psychedelic punch, towering over their peers.

Knocking me down with a slab of jangle drone (or is it caveman trance?) like nobody else today, Moon Duo are probably the first to truly nail this headspace since the bluesier end of Spacemen 3.  If you’re into Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Warlocks or Black Angels you need to hear this immediately – it flies straight through the sweet spot these bands have been skirting around for years.  Storming the White Light/White Heat monolith, the band pares this vibe into direct bursts of machine gun immediacy.  There are almost no intros to speak of; they simply step right on the hypno-rocking point and ride hard for several minutes.

If you’re into the kind of motorik-infused scuzzy bangers The Velvet Underground hinted they were capable of before Doug Yule fell from the sky, just listen already.  If you miss the days when psychedelia had a ragged edge and a pulse, you know what to do.

Come on, you know you liked it.  If not, take a shot of whiskey and repeat.

[buy this bad boy direct from Sacred Bones Records or any fine shop in person or online]

The Psychic Paramount – II

/ David James / 9 Comments

So I know I’ve been sluggish this year with Optimistic Underground.  I relish being able to share the music enriching my life with you.  I hope to rectify this laziness starting now, with The Psychic Paramount and their (hopeful) breakthrough album II.

I had this whole through-line about jet engines and surgical instruments and LSD and This Heat and Les Rallizes Dénudés and Miles Davis and cathartic volume levels…  but I got caught up, slack-jawed and blasting this album again.  It’s almost like a psychedelic brillo pad, carving clear my thought channels and surrendering my body to oblivion.  A therapeutic breakdown of cogent narrative, this thing blasts away the outside world and disconnects me, sets me free in a way only the most blissed out Lovesliescrushing or hard droning Boris album can.  It strikes an unknown sweet spot, defying gravity while splaying my brain with crushing heft.  Crucial to this power is the flawless production, zooming in on every microscopic detail yet capturing the panoramic magnitude these songs inhabit.  A dizzying high wire act of wide-eyed clarity, this album satisfied me in places only a fellow Swans or John Coltrane or Fennesz fan would recognize.

Second track DDB, opening with one of the more gentle passages on II, grows like marshmallows in the microwave, devouring 9 minutes in a wild-fire.

While I’m dropping names, I should mention that if you like Boredoms, Eternal Tapestry, Lightning Bolt, Fushitsusha, or anything within orbit of those bands, you will find yourself punch drunk and melting to this album.

[Released by No Quarter, the album is available at the label’s page for only $11 on cd or vinyl.  So get it there.  Listen to the free stream while you wait.]