microphones in the trees: September 2008

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

maailma

"Debut record for this free folk trio collaboration between Laura Naukkarinen from Lau Nau and Kristian & Matti from Vinter, featuring out-of-tune meandering, slow paced walking-tunes, and folk songs of a tradition invented on the spot, with delicate female vocals over plucked, bent, bowed and hammered strings: from the fragile lyricism of "Saa puu" or "Pimeyden viimeinen säde," over the insect battle grounds and lonely wanderlust of "Pitkä matka," to the eerie, desolate wastelands of "Ishavets sång," where lonely, ghost-like voices drift over the frozen bass strings of the dampened piano, sounding "...as if already drifting under the ice," as someone said of the poet Heym. Vinyl edition of 133 copies, with paste-on art on recycled paper, hand-drawn labels and an insert." tjärnen

Monday, September 29, 2008

muffin

una chica que susurra en un japonés que parece finés, percusiones finesas que parecen brasileñas, pianos, flautas, algo de lula cortés & zé ramalho, de flaviola e o bando do sol y de kuupuu. acogedor y calentito, hay que hacer esfuerzos para no escucharlo a todas horas, y además me ha recordado lo muchísimo que me gustaba valerio sartori. gracias a nico y caracoles por tan bonito regalo

"Tremendous fragile folk and pop songs with gentle hints of psychedelia by this female Japanese singer/songwriter. Lonesome late-night transmissions from a bedroom somewhere in Tokyo. 80 copies." sloow tapes

Friday, September 26, 2008

second family band


listen



qué alegría al escuchar el nuevo proyecto de Clay Ruby (abajo a la izquierda con gafas y pelo rubio), el gurú de una cadena que empieza con Davenport y sigue así...: The Davenport Family, The Grass Magic, Thee Botanical Shrine Band, Zodiac Mountain, All Do Gather, Organon, Candiru, The Crowned and Conquering Children, A Mercury Ensemble, Orthodox Blood Orchestra, The Midwestern Mudslide Hootenanny and Free Pentecostal Family Jams, Outlet, Jesus Balls, Mirror Man and th' Oshun Oxtra...

ahora, en Second Family Band, una jam band en toda regla, le acompañan William Lee, T Endless, Nico Kain, Clay Ruby, Woodman, Theresa Behnen, Tyler Olsen, Jonathan Matthews, Clay Kolbinger, Lyx Ish, db Pedersen, Mansfield, Nic Stage, Karen Eliot, John Gould, Justin May...y un larguísimo etcétera
futuras grabaciones: Second Family - Unlimited Devotion LP (ourecordings) {{someday}}, Second Family - Harihara River b/w Bram Stoked Her (Funeral Folk) {{soon}} , Second Family meets Anla Courtis - Gangun Guru (Chocolate Monk) {{ soon}} , Second Family - Dirty River b/w Chhinnamasta Cuts Through Mind Jam (sloow tapes) {{soon}}, Second Family - Wisconsin Gospel (ourecordings) {{soon}}

de las seis canciones que se pueden escuchar en su página ya tengo favorita: "4 and 4 is", otra canción-mantra vibrante y maravillosa al estilo no-neck blues band. escuchadla e imaginad cómo podrá llegar a ser el disco entero...

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

painting petals on planet ghost

"Second full-lenght album from Italy's Painting Petals On Planet Ghost, aka Maurizio & Roberto Opalio (My Cat Is An Alien) and vocalist Ramona Ponzini. 'Fallen Camellias' is a tribute to one of the greatest poetess ever, Japanese Yosano Akiko, whose work in literature in the early 1900's is considered as manifesto of the Japanese Romanticism. Imagine a Vashti Bunyan or a early Marianne Faithful singing sweet melodies in Japanese language, and you can have an idea of the musical and poetical universe of Painting Petals On Planet Ghost...The songs of 'Fallen Camellias' are built on acoustic guitar melodies and are made of the same pure, melancholic essentiality of the legendary Nick Drake... In the heart of winter covered by snow, let 'Fallen Camellias' be your warm blanket, as well as the promise of a new future spring. Here's a special Painting Petals On Planet Ghost's dedication: 'For those who drink the wine of love springtime is forever'." a silent place

foto: smarsham

Monday, September 15, 2008

little country girl



01. onnellisten saari ~ sala~arhimo
02. who ~ castlemusic
03. threshold of a man ~ viking moses
04. the red river ~ micah blue smaldone
05. be my host ~ larkin grimm
06. spring song ~ bowerbird
07. coo coo bird ~ shelley short
08. grace ~ super xx man
09. everyone ~ small sur
10. owl and the pussycat ~ lesser gonzález álvarez
11. ai quant de temps! ~ albaialeix
12. palmyra ~ jolie holland
13. duty free ~ vic chesnutt
14. this is the early game ~ castanets
15. graduation day ~ messes
16. last glimmer on a hill at dusk ~ boduf songs
17. las vegas town ~ brendon massei
18. look now ~ smog
19. drop and roll ~ breathe owl breathe

foto: marie ek

Sunday, September 14, 2008

twi the humble feather

"Twi the Humble Feather is the perfect soundtrack to: a) moonlit treks through the woods, b) Christmas nights when mom and dad don’t fight, c) taking baths in rosewater. Rhythmic and breathy, the music has an organic feel that hushed up Glasslands in Williamsburg November 21. The acoustic trio focuses on the sound’s ebbs and flows and acts as a live-action tape-loop, repeating soft riffs as they build to a chorus of crescendos that luxuriously slink away into whispers. Twi the Humble Feather don’t tell stories, instead they set the stage with each song connecting to the next with quiet crooning to create an evening of delicately-crafted soundscapes." Erin Roof
"...there is legend and rumor of a new interstellar adventurer, by the name of twi, who came to be by the will of an ancient sorcerer forest existing unknown in a nameless galaxy. those aware of this rumor say twi seeks the wisdom of vast green worlds, as well as the sating secrets of sound. inspired by the adventures of this new mythical character, the trio 'twi the humble feather' compose guitar and vocal based music depicting environments recently visited by twi; such as magical castles and forests, and various realms of the uncharted cosmos..." brooklyn vegan

Friday, September 12, 2008

donovan quinn & the 13th month


"The son of Dave Carter, bassist & vocalist for legendary 60's psychedelic group Country Weather, and named after Mr. Leitch, Quinn grew up on a horse ranch in Walnut Creek, and began writing songs at an early age. Donovan's growing reputation as a first rate darkly romantic penman (thanks to contributions to The Skygreen Leopards and solo as Verdure) has culminated with his latest endeavor, a new solo vehicle known as Donovan Quinn & the 13th Month.

Rather than aping or ducking genres, Quinn has crafted a bright spectrum of songs best described as 'American.' Folk, languid pop, loner country, and west coast psych are touchstones, with Quinn's singular lyrical abilities & taste for sun-baked song. Ever the flower bed romantic, Quinn has, at the risk of over-simplification, written a classic "break-up record;". Though not exactly lost in a sea of scarves, Quinn is indebted to the vulnerability, humor and bitterness present in the works of Ronnie Lane, Skip Spence, Nikki Sudden, Gene Clark and Basement Tapes-era Dylan. Weaving earthy melodies around Quinn's characteristically hazy vocals is The 13th Month: a small rotating cast of players that includes Jason Quever (Papercuts), Karl Bauer (Axolotl), Hélène Renaut, and Jess Roberts." soft abuse



Thursday, September 11, 2008

castanets

reaparece Raymond Raposa…y hay que ver cómo reaparece: City of Refuge es el disco que me gustaría haber escuchado después de Cathedral. los coros de Jana Hunter en Glory B, un gospel delicado llamado I'll Fly away, el clima general, tan desértico y ambiental que podría ser una banda sonora de cualquier spaguetti western, y After the Fall, que es la joya de un disco muy muy bonito, en el que, por fin, no sobra nada. ojalá que su próximo homenaje a Hank Williams siga la senda de City of Refuge

"The result of three weeks alone in a Nevada desert motel room, City of Refuge blazed into Ray Raposa's mind with the rising sun...Far from distractions and infused with the sense of isolation explored by the songs he'd written for the album, it proved the optimal backdrop. Minimal overdubs by friends Jana Hunter, Sufjan Stevens, Dawn Smithson, Scott Tuma (Souled American, Boxhead Ensemble), and co-producer Ero Gray were added later, but the silence of the sparsely populated region underscores the sounds of Raposa's voice and instruments.

...With an uneasy, asymmetric weave of sung songs, chants, electronic noise solos and spaghetti-western guitar interludes, City suggests a film soundtrack. Possibly a nocturnal, black and white contemporary desert western with characters real and imaginary, a failing motel on a little-used old highway, gas-well flares flickering far off in the night, the spirit-body of Lee Van Cleef watching from the shadows, a sliding eidetic road seen with closed eyes, the disturbing memory of an encounter that may or may not have been a dream, fallen bare wires crackling somewhere in the desert, the mingled odors of sagebrush smoke, candle wax, warm beer, and an overheated amplifier, and the howls of coyotes..." asthmatic kitty

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

message to bears

"Instrumental acoustic guitarist Jerome Alexander releases his first ep, and it is quite a promising debut. Recalling Xela’s excellent 2004 album Tangled Wool, Message to Bears chooses to play drums, piano, and even a glockenspiel to complement his guitar work. More melodic than complex, this is an incredibly sharp debut and hopefully a tool to get signed and grace us with many more releases of similar quality." the music lobby

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

castlemusic

"...recorded in the spring and fall seasons of 2007 with Jeff McMurrich in Toronto, with the intention to make a record with attention to performance rather than perfection, You can't take anyone allows the graceful tangles of Castlemusic's songs to radiate without pretense. Here Jennifer Castle's meandering, beautifully misshapen guitar lines meet with her thorny/poignant, womanly lyrics and utterly disarming voice. With a desire to write music that, "lets me really play the guitar with no preciousness to structure and timing so I can really enjoy singing…the song becomes the bridge for both interests", Castle's addictive songs echo homespun greats like Johnny Cash and Elizabeth Cotton.
Of her song writing intentions and heartbreaking delivery, Jennifer says, "I wish to write with a dedication to imagination, poetry, meaninglessness, impossibility and honesty. Bad grammar and sloppy chord changes…to lyrically write in the often sad voice of a person who feels alone, while playing and singing like a person who reaps the uninhibited and beautiful benefits of this state...". blue fog
después de un disco tan especial y bonito como 'Live at Music Gallery' necesitábamos más y hemos recibido mucho más...folk y soul y country, coros preciosos, una voz que da ganas de llorar, elegancia en cada arreglo, en cada melodía. te hace perder la noción del tiempo y se puede escuchar diez veces seguidas...y seguir enganchada. empieza perezoso, como si acabara de despertar, pero de repente algo mágico sucede: your hand is a wing, y todo tiene sentido. !!
foto: maya bird
*download part I & part II*

Monday, September 08, 2008

beggin' your pardon miss joan

"Stunning second release from Strawberry Hill dwellers Beggin' Your Pardon Miss Joan. After recently having their debut self released album re-issued by Reverb Worship, Beggin' Your Pardon Miss Joan have further extended their twisted blues and drone folk stylings, hidden beneath layers of dust and haze, like the sun blazing through a cloud of smoke. Short, but oh so very sweet, a perfect summer adventure companion. Play loudly.

Packaged in hand stamped recycled card sleeve, with window for artwork and textured paper insert. Edition of 50." dead pilot records

Friday, September 05, 2008

the rural tradition

"As if the title of this album wasn't self-deprecating enough, Julian Poidevin, the sole member of The Rural Tradition, even goes so far as to declare its release last year as "spectacularly unsuccessful" on his myspace page. Well, the sales figures might not have been through the roof, but in creative terms this really is quite a find. Sounding remarkably like a down-and-out Nick Drake, Poidevin strings together an album's worth of beautifully dilapidated acoustic narratives, intercut with detuned instrumental interludes spun on xylophone chimes, accordion, melodica and of course, acoustic guitar. in the timid fingerpicked tracts like 'I thought i was intended for a country life' or the daydreaming, Syd Barrett-like 'The nightingale fund', The Rural Tradition's finest qualities really shine through the modest, unnecessarily humble presentation. An absolutely gorgeous album." boomkat

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

sandstorms

"I love her little brown hairs
every freckle every fold in her skin there
and the scent of her lifting
dancing up to my nose
so i got the idea
to dig a hole and watch all the life there
i said a lonley prayer and i left them
they're on their own oh
i want to be in heaven
i hope theres someone there when i hold her
bless her little heart, keep it going
willful and strong
and the sun beats down
it's hot as you know
and the sandstorms tear through skin as they blow
yes i understand fear
i get plenty of it built up right here
but when the sun goes down and the wind dies
we're left polished and clear"
foto: daytrips