Here's my review of Fain, published in today's Dusted.
Wolf People
Fain
Jagjaguwar
Since the beginning, Wolf People has been dogged by Jethro Tull references, a comparison that was easier on the last album, Steeple, when the band still had a flute player. (Indeed “Tiny Circles,” the single from that record, sounds like Ian Anderson wandered into Yes’s “Roundabout” sessions.) It’s still not an invalid reference. There is certainly something about the wiry guitar licks, the modal, folky melodies that ties Wolf People not just to Tull, but to other Celt-drenched British rock bands – at the softer end Fairport Convention, at the louder one, Led Zeppelin.
Still, it’s interesting how these comparisons fall apart on closer inspection. Spend 10 minutes watching late 1970s Tull videos and you realize that Wolf People is a whole different endeavor, more complicated, less theatric, built on twining dual guitar lines, intricate, jazz-leaning rhythms and, yes, the half-stepped melodies of misty Britain.
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This video was the one that gave me a little bit of a Tortoise vibe...
Showing posts with label Wolf People. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wolf People. Show all posts
Monday, April 29, 2013
Friday, February 19, 2010
Hey, i'm blogging from the Millburn hotel in New York City
Yeah, couldn't stay away...pathetic really.
Anyway, I have a review up at Dusted today of Wolf People's Tidings:
Wolf People’s Tidings sounds an awful lot like a reissue the first time through, a letter-perfect rendition of the freaky interstices between Cream and Hawkwind, with the Incredible String Band’s campfire folk songs floating through Jeff Beck’s borrowed electric blues and Jethro Tull’s panpipes tootling over Syd Barrett’s damaged faerie gardens. You might easily mistake it for a missive from the late 1960s, maybe early 1970s. Except it’s not; it’s completely contemporary, and only subsequent listens let you glimpse the post-modernist scaffolding on which this trompe d’oiel façade has been constructed.
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“October Fires”
Also, while I was over at Jagjaguwar linking the mp3 above, I noticed this live video of Oneida at Sonic Boom in Toronto…well worth checking out if you love Oneida as much as I do (but you don’t, no one does).
Anyway here’s the show
We're having a really good time in NYC. We saw Christopher Walken chew up the stage and spit it out in big chunks on Wednesday at a preview of "A Behanding in Spokane". I love Christopher Walken and he was totally, totally on, so that was good. The play was kind of implausible, though, and also relentless with the language (it would be interesting to count how many times the phrase "motherfucker" recurs -- i'm guessing high 70s, maybe 100 times). We also drank wine in the afternoon at Otto, which was fun, have seen some old friends and did a little shopping (I bought a knit dress which I am wearing right now at a Filene's BAsement which is going out of business for $12, down from $60 I think, good times.)
Tinariwen played last night and has another show tonight, but it is sold out and anyway in Brooklyn, so no go on that, though I would like to see them. Back home tomorrow, that'll be a drag.
Anyway, I have a review up at Dusted today of Wolf People's Tidings:
Wolf People’s Tidings sounds an awful lot like a reissue the first time through, a letter-perfect rendition of the freaky interstices between Cream and Hawkwind, with the Incredible String Band’s campfire folk songs floating through Jeff Beck’s borrowed electric blues and Jethro Tull’s panpipes tootling over Syd Barrett’s damaged faerie gardens. You might easily mistake it for a missive from the late 1960s, maybe early 1970s. Except it’s not; it’s completely contemporary, and only subsequent listens let you glimpse the post-modernist scaffolding on which this trompe d’oiel façade has been constructed.
More
“October Fires”
Also, while I was over at Jagjaguwar linking the mp3 above, I noticed this live video of Oneida at Sonic Boom in Toronto…well worth checking out if you love Oneida as much as I do (but you don’t, no one does).
Anyway here’s the show
We're having a really good time in NYC. We saw Christopher Walken chew up the stage and spit it out in big chunks on Wednesday at a preview of "A Behanding in Spokane". I love Christopher Walken and he was totally, totally on, so that was good. The play was kind of implausible, though, and also relentless with the language (it would be interesting to count how many times the phrase "motherfucker" recurs -- i'm guessing high 70s, maybe 100 times). We also drank wine in the afternoon at Otto, which was fun, have seen some old friends and did a little shopping (I bought a knit dress which I am wearing right now at a Filene's BAsement which is going out of business for $12, down from $60 I think, good times.)
Tinariwen played last night and has another show tonight, but it is sold out and anyway in Brooklyn, so no go on that, though I would like to see them. Back home tomorrow, that'll be a drag.
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