5/31/13

Majical Cloudz - Impersonator


This one's going on the list of favorite records for the first half of 2013.  

5/10/13

Ólafur Arnalds - For Now I am Winter


Like fellow Icelandic band Sigur Ros, you could add about any imagery to the sound of Ólafur Arnalds and it becomes steeped in perceived emotional meaning. No exception here, on the official video for "Only The Winds" off of Arnolds most recent record For Now I am Winter.  
Stream the whole record below. If you like this sound, I cannot recommend the label that puts Arnald's music out highly enough.  Check out Erased Tapes here.

5/6/13

Doyeq - Never Back

Really really lovely jazz infused neo-classical beats from Doyeq. Pay what you want for this beauty over at Fuselab's bandcamp page (pay something, it's worth it). The soundcloud link below is a nice sampler of the whole thing, or hit the bandcamp embed and dive a little deeper.   

5/2/13

Steve Gunn - Time Off

One of my current favorite artists, Hiss Golden Messenger (his new record Haw is great, older one Bad Debt still gets me every time), just posted about label mate Steve Gunn on FB, and this song just instantly hooked me with a beautiful take on bluesy psych folk.  Pre-order here, record drops June 18.  

5/1/13

Jim James - Regions of Light and Sound of God


Initially this record kind of missed the mark for me - perhaps the depth of this cosmic swamp party left me grasping at air trying to get a handle on it. A fair amount of background listens made for a nice atmosphere, but nothing that really sunk its hooks into me. Until I caught his set this past Monday at Webster Hall. Holy smokes. James proved himself a true entertainer, running the stage like some kind of evangelical rock'n'roll maniac, with face melting guitar solos and svengali saxophone weird-outs. I think, somewhere during an extended psychedelic jam, I tweeted something along the lines of "Jim James is taking me to the dark side of the moon. Remind me to pick my face up off the floor when this is over". 

The best live shows leave me wanting to return to the recordings, finding new life in them as I relive what the artist was able to breath into the music live. The best live shows prove my initial assessment of an album wrong (i love being wrong, especially when it's because something opened me up and allowed me to hear a record through a new lens). As such, here's a post about Regions of Light and Sound of God, a couple months too late, but what the heck, when it comes to great music, I'd rather be late to the table than never sit at it at all.