Liking this second album from Wooster-Ohio-by-way-of-California based Haunted West, which, as you'd expect from the title is mournful and ghostly and (loosely) tied to Americana styles. it reminds me a lot of R.E.M. and a little of (similarly named) True West...it came out very late last year on what looks like the band's own Haunted West label.
Showing posts with label R.E.M.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label R.E.M.. Show all posts
Monday, June 10, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Woolen Men
We had a little best of 2013 so far discussion a week or two ago on the Dusted board, and one of the albums that came up repeatedly was the self-titled debut from the Woolen Men, out since early March on Woodsist. I'd gotten a promo, but hadn't put it on yet, so I checked it out, and it's excellent...kind of teetering on the edge between super-punky early R.E.M. and the most melodic bits of Mission of Burma. (And if this seems like an odd place to find common ground, you should check out R.E.M.'s cover of "Academy Fight Song".
Anyway, I kind of like early R.E.M. and, if you've been paying attention, you know I LOVE Burma...you can also hear little echoes of Wire and the Buzzcocks in here, all the good stuff as far as I'm concerned.
Check it out
Anyway, I kind of like early R.E.M. and, if you've been paying attention, you know I LOVE Burma...you can also hear little echoes of Wire and the Buzzcocks in here, all the good stuff as far as I'm concerned.
Check it out
Friday, November 18, 2011
Amen Dunes
I had a pretty big week at Dusted, three reviews, including this one of the drony, folky, Velvet Underground evoking Amen Dunes, whose album Through Donkey Jaw is out now on Sacred Bones.
Again, I'm just going to give you my favorite paragraph.
"The main thing with Through Donkey Jaw is texture, a haunting, indeterminate mesh of sounds — usually electric guitar, sometimes keyboards, often shaken percussion — that coalesces around a dreaming, haunted mood. The primary colors vary — 'Not a Slave' is 'Venus In Furs' style Velvetiana, 'Lower Mind' evokes acoustic Kurt Vile, 'Baba Yaga,' the folkier elements of Michael Yonkers — but they are all smudged and strung out and attenuated to the point of dissolution. Even the more abrasive outings, nightmarish 'Jill,' endless, static 'For All,' are falling apart as you look at them. Decay is not just part of the sound. It is the sound. This is a boy in his bedroom fighting against entropy, dropping fragile observations about love into the roar of an abyss."
The rest of the review.
Amen Dunes - Christopher by sacredbones
In other, far less cool and acceptable news, I was listening to an NPR report on the demise of R.E.M. and decided that I just had to hear those songs again, so I have loaded Murmur, Green and Automatic for the People onto the iTunes. Because of my own OCD mental illness tendencies, that means I will have to listen to all of them at least three and preferably four times over the next couple of weeks, so expect to see the last.fm tilt noticeably towards Athens. Weirdly, my husband and Bill Barry were almost exact lookalikes roundabout Murmur, so looking at the photos in the expanded reissue are kind of like looking at the guy I decided to marry, all those years ago. No idea if they still look the same.
Also, I'm going to Chicago for the weekend and will probably not be around to post and/or respond to comments. (though who knows, I'll have an iPod touch with me and I do get bored....)
So have a good weekend and go Northwestern!
Again, I'm just going to give you my favorite paragraph.
"The main thing with Through Donkey Jaw is texture, a haunting, indeterminate mesh of sounds — usually electric guitar, sometimes keyboards, often shaken percussion — that coalesces around a dreaming, haunted mood. The primary colors vary — 'Not a Slave' is 'Venus In Furs' style Velvetiana, 'Lower Mind' evokes acoustic Kurt Vile, 'Baba Yaga,' the folkier elements of Michael Yonkers — but they are all smudged and strung out and attenuated to the point of dissolution. Even the more abrasive outings, nightmarish 'Jill,' endless, static 'For All,' are falling apart as you look at them. Decay is not just part of the sound. It is the sound. This is a boy in his bedroom fighting against entropy, dropping fragile observations about love into the roar of an abyss."
The rest of the review.
Amen Dunes - Christopher by sacredbones
In other, far less cool and acceptable news, I was listening to an NPR report on the demise of R.E.M. and decided that I just had to hear those songs again, so I have loaded Murmur, Green and Automatic for the People onto the iTunes. Because of my own OCD mental illness tendencies, that means I will have to listen to all of them at least three and preferably four times over the next couple of weeks, so expect to see the last.fm tilt noticeably towards Athens. Weirdly, my husband and Bill Barry were almost exact lookalikes roundabout Murmur, so looking at the photos in the expanded reissue are kind of like looking at the guy I decided to marry, all those years ago. No idea if they still look the same.
Also, I'm going to Chicago for the weekend and will probably not be around to post and/or respond to comments. (though who knows, I'll have an iPod touch with me and I do get bored....)
So have a good weekend and go Northwestern!
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