New Music Recommendations 2012


We have a wealth of musical wisdom here and it seems many enjoy having an ongoing thread were we can share new music finds with the rest of the forum. Here we go!

If you're enthusiastic about a new album you've picked up feel free to tell us about it. Post, discuss, inform....but be civil:)

No genre limitations, anything goes as we have all sorts of interests here. Classical, Jazz, Indie, Folk, Rap, R&B, Blues, Techno, Ambient, Modern Classical and on and on....post em all..

Let the music play.......
richard_stacy

Showing 15 responses by richard_stacy

Some recommendations above for Damien Jurado's latest, I'd like to also mention his 2006 release And Now I Am In Your Shadow (Folk Rock). This for me is a much better record and what he does best. I appreciate the growth and willingness to expand as an artist, Maraqopa is almost progressive rock but his darker, slow and hazy folk stuff is the guys wheelhouse. Not trying to discourage that record, I actually do like it quite a bit.

I've had Where Shall You Take Me for a few years and always love it. I recently got ...Your Shadow and have to say it's his best work. A great record in every way. It's also a real nice recording as are most of his releases.
Rok2id...Didn't mean for the thread to be limited to 2012
releases, more just new music to us that we wanted to
recommend to others. I just put a year on it thinking we'd
start one every year. Thanks for the contribution!

Obrown...Hope you enjoy it too, love that record. Also good
to know you're enjoying the music these days:) I think this
forum has helped many of us experience some great new music.

And...another pretty cool album going here. Jason Simon
(S/T} (Folk Rock/Stoner Rock). He's only released one solo
album, this self titled on Tee Pee Records in 2006, the rest
of the time he's with a band called Dead Meadow that I'm not
as fond of. This album is really growing om me. Some of it
reminds me of Jason Pierce with a folk country twang, it's
got that psychedelic vibe to it like Spiritualized. Anyway,
I'm really digging on it so thought I'd post.
The Black Swans "Occasion For Song" [Folk/Rock]

I confess, I root for my home town. Most prolly don't think
of Columbus, Ohio as a music town but man back in the day
there were guys/bands that should have rocked the
world...and sure as hell rocked some bars here. Bands like
Great Plains, Gaunt, The New Bomb Turks, Scrawl, Bassholes,
Cheater Slicks, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, The
Haynes Boys. Legendary artists (some still at it well into
their 50's)...Ron House, Don Howland, Marcy Mays, Tim
Easton, Derek Dicenzo just to mention a few. I could write
volumes on those guys both personally and professionally.
Quietly, many of them have been major influences to popular
music today (The White Stripes would not exist if not for
Don and The Bassholes and on and on).

So many late nights at Staches/Little Brothers.....but that
was a long time ago, now. I stopped following local music as
time wore on and staying out till 4am was/is just not
happening anymore. Other than our annual visits to Comfest I
have no idea who the local bands are nor have I for a
decade.

I'd heard of The Black Swans, occasionally written up in the
Dispatch or Other Paper here in town and even on Pitchfork,
Mojo and some other music sites. Recently I came across some
press raving their new record and picked it up on a whim. At
first listen I new this was special. It's simple music with
gentle banjo, warm organ in the background and a solid
country/folk rhythm section. Timeless and American at heart.
But it's Jerry Dicca's words and voice that makes this a
record with depth and soul. I highly recommend this album
and will be off to find their others today. Easily one of
the better records I have heard this year, regardless of
where they hail from.

Link to Portsmouth Ohio from the new album on Soundcloud:
http://soundcloud.com/misrarecords/the-black-swans-
portsmouth

Link to Pitchfork review:
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17091-occasion-for-song/

DeepChord "Sommer" (Field Recording, Techno, Dub Techno, Ambient)

We've been inundated with Echospace releases lately with last months "Silent World" releases, "Sommer" and the upcoming "Summer Night Versions" and lucky for me as this is easily one of my favorite artists. They have yet to disappoint and the bar is set sky high. Rod Modell continues to grow and demonstrate why he is at the forefront of electronic music. His sound is immediately distinguishable with analog warmth, atmosphere and beats that seem to rise and fall from places that only he is capable of pulling from. He creates those rare sonic spaces that transport, that breathe with life and posses a soul.

I'll spare y'all any attempt to describe this record and only offer my absolute highest recommendation. This is a desert island record for me.

Evening Hymns "Spectral Dusk" (Folk Rock, Folk)

Real nice record. Pretty, well played and well written.

Bandcamp: http://eveninghymns.bandcamp.com/

From their Bandcamp page:

Evening Hymns are sung from the cathedrals of tall trees. They capture the spirit of moments, of friends around a bonfire on a foggy beach, the crunching of snowshoes in the silence of a winter night and memories of tribal boys growing up with pellet guns, fishing rods, and handmade forts.

Spectral Dusk covers very personal issues, and takes Evening Hymns to the next level, musically and lyrically, from their acclaimed debut record‚ Spirit Guides (2009). A study of loss, pain, and hope and a pathway drawn out of the dark into the light, Spectral Dusk finds Jonas Bonnetta dealing, through music, with the loss of his father three years ago. This record spills its guts out on the floor, and yet so softly it leaves the listener no option but to reflect on their own mortality. An album as dense as it is spatial, Spectral Dusk moves from droning bliss (Irving Lake Access Road) into anthemic chants (Cabin In The Burn). A record to be experienced more than listened to. An environment to exist in for an hour. A small retreat from the world.

Recorded in a log cabin in Northern Ontario with the band’s closest friends, it features members of The Wooden Sky, Timber Timbre, City and Colour, and more.

Spectral Dusk is being released in Canada on Shuffling Feet Records (distributed by Outside), in Germany on Strange Ways Records and in France on Kütu Folk Records, and will be supported with tours in Canada and Europe later this year.

Angel Olsen "Half Way Home"

Beautiful stuff. Think female Will Oldham with a timeless voice.

Grizzly Bear "Shields"

Wow. I'm not too big on indie bands these days but I ran across a pre-release (actual release 9/18) copy of this and it's very special. Like I said to start...wow! Very highly recommended. Very. I really hope this is available in high rez.
I posted Angel Olsen's latest here last week. Very glowing review this morning on Pitchfork:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17154-half-way-home/
http://soundcloud.com/sonic-pieces/sets/greg-haines-until-the-point-of-hushed-support
The Mountain Goats "Transcendental Youth"

Johon Darnielle does it yet again, the guy is a machine.
Another brilliant record, highly recommended as are each and
every record in his catalog.

[https://www.google.com/url?
url=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DEUYOFTBD120&rct=j&sa=
X&ei=DExoUIy_KafV0QH8j4GQCw&ved=0CCEQuAIwAA&q=The+Mountain+G
oats+white+cedar&usg=AFQjCNE6XLMdOu6yLaYD3CKHpU00K2WUwg]

and...one of my favorite TMG songs as well as one of my
favorite song titles, Ezekiel 7 and The Permanent Efficacy
of Grace. Not from the new record but sure is a hell of a
video... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ-
zZJu6LKI&feature=player_detailpage]
Rbrowne - Some beautiful music there. I have all of those except the Pjusk and Ex Confusion which I'll check out. Thanks!
A couple I have really been enjoying recently and highly
recommend:

Juju & Jordash "Techno Primitivism"

"Staggering new album of fusioneering 'Techno Primitivism'
from the A'dam-based Israeli ex-pats, Juju & Jordash. It's
fair to call this their debut album proper - following their
eponymous set of singles and an early digital collection
with this striking mission statement, a mazy and immersive
sound distilling elements of dub, jazz and psychedelia in a
tactile house and techno framework. It's testament to both
their nuanced skills as live musicians and studio boffins
par excellence, a mind-melt moire of analogue hardware
knowledge and hands-on vibes rendered with a diffuse sense
of synthesised space. We could be here all day picking out
highlights, but if you're only gonna check a few then the
unfathomably wide mixing trickery applied to 'Stoplight
Loosejaw' is a great start, as is the Mark Ernestus-meets-
Sun Ra vibes of 'Backwash', or the Augustus Pablo-in-Chicago
styles of 'Shakshuka Dub', while you can't go wrong with the
stoned descent of 'Dr. Strangepork' (great name!) and the
pensile, Carl Craig-like Detroit romance of 'Track David
Would Play'. It's kinda hard to believe these guys aren't
praised more widely, but with 'Techno Primitivism' now out
there, we suspect that's about to change. Outstanding."

Memotone "I Sleep. At Waking"

"Following a slew of 12”s, avant beatmaker William Yates has
finally rustled up this delicious full length for the Black
Acre label. Blending a passion for experimental classical
music with a clear understanding of bass music, Yate’s
vision is quite strikingly unique, fitting somewhere between
James Blake’s pointed piano experimentations, Demdike
Stare’s murky atmospherics and late-period Third Eye
Foundation. Yates’s talent is finding a connecting thread
between the sounds he’s obsessive about, and this makes for
an an absorbing full length."

I couldn't really describe either one so I included the
summary from Boomkat.com. I'll just say I concur and love
them both.
Andy Stott "Luxury Problems"

Ok, this one is 10/10 for me and if you liked "We Stay Together" and "Pass Me By"....you'll love this. The master of totally f**k*d bass, beats and twisted vocals weaving in and out of rhythms from some dark warehouse in the wee hours. Playing this is a physical experience. Your innards will pulse and vibrate from the depths of the bass. Wicked or downright nasty.

Vatican Shadow

"Atta's Apartment Slated For Demolition"
"Ghosts Of Chechnya"
"Jordanian Descent"
"Ornamented Walls"

Yup, four releases over the past couple of weeks. Dominick Fernow's been quite the busy man and I'm quite happy about that. His VS work always leaves me at a loss for words when I think about describing it. There is nothing quite like it out there. All I'll say here is that it's one of my go to artists, this stuff sticks. Military, Middle Eastern balance of noise + rhythm that drones from attack to religious to orchestral. Brilliant work.

Old Apparatus "Alfur"

Electro acoustic bass beauty from another unique artists. As brilliant as his other work, highly recommended.
Ejlif...is that available anywhere?! I saw it was coming and have looked around on the web but no luck so far. Feel free to PM me some directions. That has the makings of a great one on paper.
Terrence Dixon "From The Far Future Part 2"

Tresor release that had been on my list for a while and I finally got around to picking it up. I'd sure been missing a fine one. Real nice bit of dark tech/house with lots going on under the hood, just how I like it.

Changing musical gears....

I've been listening a lot to the older J. Tillman release, Vacilando Territory Blues so I picked up a few of his other older records. Singing Ax, Cancer And Delirium, Minor Works and Year In The Kingdom. All just outstanding albums, especially Singing Ax. Very highly recommended.