Archive for the ‘folk’ Tag
Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue
Filed under: music | Tags: ambient, electronica, experimental, folk, funk
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To me previously unknown British artist Stephen Wilkinson aka Bibio made one excellent album that’s, as all good ones, kinda hard to describe – it’s largely electronic music but at the same time it floats back and forth between folk and funk let’s say. Mellow but experimental, it grows on me on each listen. I don’t associate the music to a perfectly ordered street with identical cars parked on the side… rather to an afternoon out on a hill.
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The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
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My only fear before hearing this album for the first time was that perhaps The Decemberists‘ Colin Meloy has run out of good ideas, that the poetic moments such as those on Picaresque, which was my first encounter with the band, will begin to repeat in a parodic familiarity. None of this is fortunately the case, as The Hazards of Love sees them moving on and stretching in a brilliant… rock opera. Yes, and there’s nothing wrong with that, because it works. Totally recommended.
Vetiver – Tight Knit
Being in some fuss lately, I mostly spend time listening to old and familiar albums, however there has been something new that I found and keep returning to, and it’s this one from Vetiver, Tight Knit. They’re a folk/country-rock band, one dude named Andy Cabic writes all the songs, almost exclusively in a laid-back mid-tempo as if they were all created during some mythical slow summer afternoon. It goes from him being alone, occasionally touched by a distant slide guitar, to a full band dropping in for a short little celebration of simple life.
Beirut – March Of The Zapotec / Holland
Zach Condon aka Beirut returns with two short EPs, one recorded with a brass funeral band from Oaxaca, another being, er, indie synth pop. I think the first is more interesting, although to me it actually sounds like a second-rate Balkan brass band playing without a few members by the end of a wedding/funeral. This is probably a just a step in Zach’s hopefully long musical journey; it wouldn’t be fair to expect an album like Gulag Orkestar or Flying Cup Club every year.
Belle and Sebastian – The BBC Sessions
Of all Belle and Sebastian, I only listened to If You’re Feeling Sinister a few times before, but now I think I properly get their music. A nice companion to feeling … quietly awesome in a november fog.
Beck – Modern Guilt
Filed under: music | Tags: electronica, experimental, folk, minimalistic, pop, rock
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Dunno why I never posted about this; I often return to it these days. It’s such a juicy beat box with psyched vocals and vintage collage sounds. Yet it’s all very modern. It often happens with Beck, but I haven’t been into none of his albums this much. The important factor this time must be the album’s length – about half an hour, just right for each idea to have its own time and leave space for another, all equally good. Catchy and thoughtful at the same time.
Edit: this torrent’s track 6 can’t be played, it has a virus it seems. Somethign more awesome can be found on Demonoid, a vinyl rip.
Giant Sand – proVISIONS
Giant Sand have been making music for more than two decades without me ever noticing. Americana at it’s best, trasmitting sounds of human desires down the desert wind. All 13 songs deserve returning full attention.
Syd Barrett – Peel Sessions
It’s amazing how many people played a John Peel session. Even Syd Barrett.
‘Cause we’re the fishes and all we do
the move about is all we do
well, oh baby, my hairs on end about you…
Fleet Foxes – s/t
From the same city that brought us grunge, now come the Fleet Foxes with their fantastic debut album which blends together classic rock, 60s pop, folk roots and reverbed harmonies that often go to unexpected, yet so natural directions that you instantly feel this album like a familiar place you go to on sunday afternoons.
