Odds and sods…

I have a couple of reviews up at PureMusic (http://www.puremusic.com).

One is of the Mr. Lonely Soundtrack, scored by Jason Pierce of Spiritualized and Spaceman 3 and the Sun City Girls. I called it “Strange, beautiful, but curiously truncated, these songs hint at a fuller experience, which can, perhaps, only be gotten through the movie.” The full review is here: http://www.puremusic.com/87mrlonely.html

Here’s a video trailer for the movie:


The other is even odder, a review of a new record by a Scottish folk/drone outfit called Nalle.

“Nalle, the experimental folk trio led by Hanna Tuulikki, taps into the weird multiplicitous loveliness of the natural world, visiting not just the prettiness of flowers and sunshine and baby animals, but the primitive power of howling winds and pitchblack nights, wild seas and sharp teeth. In The Siren's Wave, their second album, madrigal harmonies and waltz time laments morph into wild keenings and improvisatory abandon. You may hear a trace of birdsong or gypsy tunes, alongside guitar, clarinet, violin, and a Finnish zither called the kantele. But what you will not hear is any kind of sentimentality about the past or the woods or anything else. These are folk songs that take the earth seriously and with awe. ‘In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous,’ Aristotle observed, and these British folk improvisers would agree wholeheartedly, I'd guess.” The full review can be found here: http://www.puremusic.com/87nalle.html
There’s an mp3 at Locust Music:
http://www.locustmusic.com/Audio/05%20alice's%20ladder.mp3

And I missed this one when it went up last week, but it is yet another record from the Hydrahead label which is worth checking. It’s the self-titled from Pyramids…which I described thusly: “Denton, TX-based post-metal foursome creates frightening, beautiful soundscapes with the majesty of Jesu, the proggy lyricism of Radiohead.”

The full review is here: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/59939/pyramids-pyramids/

You can stream the whole album (just the originals, not the remixes) by going here:
http://www.pyramids-selftitled.com/