#Heron Oblivion

[omegaremix]

Omega Radio for September 24, 2016; #122.

Summer Hits, The Stony Creation

Neaux “Make Me Stay”

Deep Throats “Dirty Secret”

Sun Days, The “OOO”

Milk Lines “Suicide Note”, “Can I Stand In Your Sun”

Adult Books “Suburban Girlfriend”, “Nihilism For Beginners”

Nots “Entertain Me”

Doe “Corin”

Kitten Forever “200x”, “Static Static”

Teen Brains “In A Haze”

Salad Boys “No Taste Bomber”

Happy Diving “Holy Ground”

Sauna Youth “Monotony”, “Transmitters”

Foreign Resort, The “Skyline”

Allah Las, The “Better Than Mine”

Heaters “Honey”, “Propane”

Surveillance “Death”

Fate Vs. Free Willy “I Am A Fire Extinguisher”, “Make-Up Song”

Titus Andronicus “My Time Outside The Womb”

Black Panties “Prophet Of Hate”, “(I’m A Goddamn) Trash Can”

Heron Oblivion “Faro”

Dirty Nil, The “Bury Me At The Rodeo”, “Bruto Bloody Bruto”

Weird Womb “Tanned Tits”

La Casa Al Mare “Sunflowers”

Jezabels, The “If Ya’ Want Me”

Deluxe broadcast; indie and garage.

[rastronomicals]

Heron Oblivion

[tratadista]

Heron Oblivion - Rama

[sinceileftyoublog]

Six Organs of Admittance Interview: More Than a Couple Chairs

Photo by Kami Chasny

BY JORDAN MAINZER

When Ben Chasny dives into something, he usually dives deep. Upon answering the phone in February, when I called him to talk about his new Six Organs of Admittance album Time Is Glass (out today on Drag City), he seemed a bit scattered. Despite mentally preparing himself all day for the interview, he got distracted by a "What are you digging lately?" Bandcamper compilation Drag City asked him to put together to advertise his record release. (A music fan with a voracious appetite, Chasny was rediscovering music he had purchased a couple years prior and forgot about.) Six Organs records often occupy the same dedicated headspace, Chasny setting aside blocks of time to think about nothing else. That is, until Time Is Glass. On his latest, Chasny blurs the lines between his outside-of-music life and the music itself, the album a batch of songs that reflects on the magical minutiae that sprout during a period of needed stasis.

The last time I spoke to Chasny, he and his partner [Elisa Ambrogio of Magik Markers] were still settling in from their move to Humboldt County in Northern California. "When Elisa and I first moved here, we didn't have any friends," Chasny said. "But there's a group of us that live in Humboldt now. A bunch of my friends moved up since the last time I talked to you." That includes fellow Comets on Fire bandmate Ethan Miller and his partner, fellow New Bums musical partner Donovan Quinn, and folk singer Meg Baird and her partner. "Every New Year's Day, if it's not pouring rain, we take a walk on the beach," said Chasny. One such photoshoot on January 1, 2023 yielded the album cover for Time Is Glass: That's Miller and his poodle, along with Baird's Heron Oblivion bandmate Charlie Saufley. This unintentional artistic collective meets up often, whether for coffee or as Winter Band, a rotating cast of area musicians who form to open up for musician friends when they come through town, like Sir Richard Bishop of Sun City Girls. As such, according to Chasny, Time Is Glass is a celebration of community.

Perhaps the supportive strength of his artistic family gave Chasny the willpower to incorporate elements of his daily life into Time Is Glass, something he couldn't avoid. He didn't share with me exactly what in his personal life made it impossible to separate the two, though he mentioned his dog, a difficult-to-train puppy that was a mix of three traditionally stubborn breeds. Said dog inspired "My Familiar", a song that uses occult language to inhabit the mind of his obstinate canine companion. "And we'll burn this whole town / No one says there's good," Chasny sings, alternating between his quintessential hushed delivery and falsetto, his layered vocals atop circular picking exuding a sense of sparseness. Indeed, you wouldn't expect a Six Organs record about home life to sound totally blissful; Time Is Glass is at once gentle and menacing. The devotional "Spinning In A River" portrays the titular carefree act as lightly as the prickle of Chasny's guitar or as doomily as the song's distortion. "Hephaestus" and "Theophany Song" imagine their respective mythological characters as gruff and voyeuristic. "Summer's Last Rays" indeed captures a sense of finality, Chasny's processed guitar and warbling harmonium providing the instantly hazy nostalgia before the fade-out. The album is bookended by songs more straightforwardly hopeful, the opener "The Mission" a dedication to friends falling in love with their new place of residence, the closer "New Year's Song" a twangy ode to dreaming. But it's the moments in between that Chasny was forced to capture on Time Is Glass. And thankfully, what was born out of necessity yielded, for him, new ways to interpret the same old, same old.

Read my conversation with Chasny below, edited for length and clarity. He speaks on domesticity, mythology, playing live, and Arthur Russell.

SILY: You've lived in Humboldt County for a bit. Is Time Is Glass the first Six Organs record in a while you made while situated in one place?

Ben Chasny: I did do a couple records here before. The first one, I was in the process of moving here, so I wasn't really settled. The second was at the beginning of lockdown. This is the first one I felt like was recorded at a home. Everything was settled, I have a schedule. When I was doing the first one, I didn't even have furniture in the house. I had a couple chairs. [laughs]

SILY: Do you think the feeling of being recorded at a home manifests in any specific way on the album?

BC: I started to incorporate daily domestic routines into the record, more often. A lot of the melodies were written while taking the dog for a walk, which I've never done before. There was always stuff to do as I moved in. The times weren't as separate. Before, it was, "Now I'm recording, now I'm doing life stuff." There was a merging of everything here. I would listen to it on my earbuds while taking walks and constantly work on it for six months.

SILY: It definitely has that homeward bound feel in terms of the lyrics and the sound, like you've been somewhere forever. There are a lot of lyrics about the absence of time, and there's a circular nature to the rhythms and the guitars. Does the title of the album refer to this phenomenon?

BC: A little bit. Time does seem, in general, post-lockdowns and COVID, different. The lyrics on the record have a bit more domesticity. It always seems like there was something that had to be done, that would normally keep me from doing music, that I tried to incorporate here. Maybe I'm just getting older, too. I'm getting more sensitive towards time. I'm running out. [laughs]

SILY: Was there anything specific about your domestic life that made you want to include it in your music?

BC: Just that I had to include it in order to do anything. It was no longer separate. The way life ended up working out, I could no longer separate my artistic life from other life. I had to put the artistic aspect into it in order to work. Instead of getting frustrated, I brought [music] more into the house.

SILY: Did working on the record give you a new perspective on domesticity?

BC: I don't know. A little bit. I was just trying to come to terms with basic life things. Let me look at the record, I forgot what songs are on it. [laughs] The song "My Familiar" is about my dog. I got this book called Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits, which was sort of taken from transcriptions of witch trials from Scotland in the 1500's. A lot of dealing with things like witches' familiars and demon familiars. I found a very strong similarity between that and my dog, which seemed like it was maybe a demon. She's a Husky-German Shepherd-Australian Shepherd mix, so as a puppy, she needed a lot of work. So that became a song. That's a more humorous way everyday life made its way into the music.

[With regard to] the last song, "New Years Song", Elisa and I have a contest on New Year's Eve when we're hanging out where we go in separate rooms and have one hour to write a song. We come out at 11 or 11:30 and play the song for each other. We've done it for a few years now. This was the song I wrote for New Year's Eve going into 2022.

SILY: You talk about God on Time Is Glass and delve a little bit into mythology. Was that something you were thinking about on a day to day basis when writing?

BC: The “Hephaestus” song was just a character. That was a rare song for me in that I was trying to make sounds that particularly evoked a mythological figure. I've made nods to mythology in the past, but the titles were almost an afterthought. This particular song, I was trying to make the sounds of that character in their workshop with the fire and anvils. I was trying to evoke that feeling. That was kind of a new one for me.

SILY: Maybe I'm reading into it too much, but you also seem to talk a bit about your state of mind on "Slip Away".

BC: It's funny you caught onto that, because I wasn't really expecting to bring it up during interviews. I wouldn't say that I came close at times in the past couple years to schizophrenia, but I could see way off in the distance and horizon what that would be like. I...was trying to write about that. At the same time, the lyrics that have to do with two minds and the splitting of the mind are also somewhat of a reference to the idea of a celestial twin or Valentinian gnosis, how you have a celestial counterpart. That idea [is behind the concept of] someone's guardian angel.

SILY: On a couple songs, you sing to someone or something else. "The Mission" you've mentioned is for a friend and their new partner. What about on "Spinning in a River"?

BC: Maybe it was more of a general idea. It wasn't so much to a person as to a general concept of Amory.

SILY: What were all the instruments used on the record?

BC: I had some guitar, I was singing, and there's some harmonium on it, which I did a lot of processing on, lowering it octaves. I've got some really basic Korg synths. Electronic-wise, there's a program called Reactor I like to use a lot. I do it a little bit more subtly than electronic artists. I use it more for background.

SILY: I picked up the harmonium on "Summer's Last Rays"! I feel like you never truly know when you're hearing a harmonium unless it's in the album credits. Sometimes, that sound is just effects.

BC: There are two different harmoniums. When the bass comes in, that's also a harmonium, but I knocked it down a couple octaves and put it through some phaser. It has a grinding bass tone to it. This is actually one of the few Six Organs records with bass guitar on it. Unless it's an electric record with a band, there's never really been bass guitar. I was really inspired by Naomi Yang's bass playing in Galaxie 500 and how it's more melodic. I told her that, too.

SILY: On "Theophany Song", are you playing piano?

BC: Yeah, that's at my friend's house. I just wanted to play a little melody.

SILY: Was this your first time using JJ Golden for mastering?

BC: I've worked with JJ before. He did Ascent and a few others. I particularly wanted to work with him this time because I had just gotten that Masayuki Takayanagi box set on Black Editions and saw he had done that. I have the original CDs, and I thought he did such an amazing job that I wanted to work with him again.

SILY: Is that common for you, that you think of people to work with and you dig a record they just worked on and it clicks for you?

BC: That's the first time I had just heard something and thought, "Oh, I gotta work with this person." I usually have a few mastering engineers I work with and think, "What would be good for them?" or, "What does this sound like?" I usually like to send the more rock-oriented stuff to JJ, but I was just feeling it this time.

SILY: Have you played these songs live?

BC: The instrumental "Pilar" I have been playing since 2019. That's the oldest song on the record. I did do one show last September where I played a couple of these songs live. I have some ideas on how to work it out. It will be a solo acoustic show, but I [hope] to make some new sounds so it's not so straightforward. One thing about this record is I tried to write songs in the same tuning. On previous records, I used a lot of tunings, and it was a real pain to try to play the songs live. I did write this record with the idea that most of these songs would be able to be done live.

SILY: What have you been listening to, watching, or reading lately?

BC: I just got the Emily Robb-Bill Nace split LP. I just saw her live a couple nights ago. The latest one on Freedom To Spend from Danielle Boutet, which is awesome. Freedom To Spend is a go-to label for me. Also, this split with Karen Constance and Dylan Nyoukis.

I've been reading Buddhist Bubblegum by Matt Marble, about Arthur Russell and the systems he developed, which I knew nothing about. His compositional systems have almost a Fluxus influence. The subtitle is Esotericism in the Creative Process of Arthur Russell, so it's also about his Buddhism as well. When I first heard about the book, I didn't know if I needed to get it, but I heard an interview with Matt about the detailed systems Arthur Russell came up with. It gives me a whole new level of appreciation for him. It's so good.

SILY: Did you listen to Picture of Bunny Rabbit?

BC: It's so good, especially the title track. It seems like when he has us plugged into some kind of effects or delay, he's switching the different sounds on it, but it makes the instrument go in so many different areas. To me, the title track is worth the price of the entire record, even though the whole thing is good.

SILY: What else is next for you? Are you constantly writing?

BC: This is gonna be a very busy year release-wise. I have a couple more things coming out. It's hard to write stuff because I always think it'll take so long for it to come out. I'm halfway working on something, but I have no idea when it will come out.

[seekers-who-are-lovers]

Top 10 lists are gradually coming out now that New Year is upon us. From Spotify Wrapped to even Crunchyroll arc. In Japan they are churning out lists of anime works that the audience likes for the year 2024.

Numan, for example, made a survey and this is the result.

A personal favourite and it seems to be the most favourite among the Japanese viewers is “Bang Brave Bang Bravern.” It is placed on No. 1. Isami and Lewis and friends, you guys bag the topmost award.

2. Oblivion Battery (it was fine and saw the appeal, besides another Youhei Azakami character, so yeah!)

3. Touken Ranbu Warriors

4. Oshi no Ko (just started to watch it on Christmas Day but I saw the live action first and it was good!)

5. Delicious in Dungeon

6. Wind Breaker

7. Delico’s Nursery (dropped it after three episodes, might start again.)

8. Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler(Boarding School/Weston School arc) (another fave)

9. My Hero Academia

10. A tie of the following three works:

Demon Slayer

Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose its Master (am devoted to this, throughly understand why the book series keeps on winning literary awards.)

Red Cat Ramen

So there it is. The top 10 anime list from the Japanese viewers.

MY TOP 10 for 2024

Brace yourselves!

1. Yatagarasu : The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master (so obvious)

2. Kamonohashi Ron no kindan suiri (again, it is also obvious)

3. Bang Brave Bang Bravern (yep!)

4. Black Butler (no doubt about it)

5. The Apothecary Diaries (curious of the next season)

6. Cherry Magic: Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!

7. Train to the End of the World

8. Twilight Out of Focus

9. The Boy and the Heron

10. Baku Neko Anzu-Chan

Honorable mentions:

Tadaima, Okaeri

Grandpa and Grandma Turn Young Again

Oblivion Battery

Oshi no Ko

Dororo (I know it was released in 2019, but I binged it this week and I love the fact that Hiroki Suzuki is Hyakkimaru and the story is so beautiful that I cried at the end…)

How about yours? What anime works are you curious of for next year?

I am looking forward to the Emerald Witch arc of Kuroshitsuji next year especially.

Anyway, a Happy New Year to all of you. May 2025 a much better, kinder one and all our wishes (or some of them) will come true.

[the-heron]

buying nice things . is nice <3

Remembered that I don't need a special occasion to buy myself nice things and the world got ten times brighter

[dustedmagazine]

Dusted Mid-Year 2024, Part I (Oren Ambarchi to Loma)

Oren Ambarchi and crew

Half the year is gone already, and how did that happen? At Dusted, we’ve spent six months listening to good records and bad.  We’ve picked our very favorites, the top two from this year’s pile.  And now, in an annual tradition, we turn them on our fellow writers.  Hah, take that!   

Some of our Mid-Year switcheroos have been highly contentious.  We may have lost a writer or two in the aftermath.  Others have been remarkably collegial and full of positive discovery.  This one falls more or less in the middle.  Only a couple of reviews are notably grumpy.  A slightly larger (but still not large) number show evidence of newly awakened fandom.  For the most part, we came out with the same favorites we brought with us, though perhaps a little wiser about the music that we’re missing. 

For this reason, it is harder than ever to identify winners.  There’s no universally admired album we can call “this year’s Heron Oblivion.”  Rosali and Winged Wheel each got four votes, as close to a sweep as this year brought.  Oren Ambarchi’s Ghosted II notched three.  There were lots of lone pics—which is fine.  More music to check out. 

As always, we’re breaking the mid-year into three parts.  This one covers the front of the alphabet, a second will deal with the back.  The third, as always, provides longer lists from participating writers.  We hope you enjoy it. 

Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin —Ghosted II (Drag City)

Who recommended it? Bryon Hayes

Did we review it? Yes, Tim Clarke said, “They cleave closer to the meditative, exploratory grooves of The Necks, laying down intricately detailed and gradually evolving parts… Sublime.” 

Bill Meyer’s take:

Count me among the Dusted writers who hold this trio in high esteem. Ghosted II strikes so precise a balance of texture, stillness and motion that it’s easy miss how fragile it is; one misplaced note or beat could bring it all down in a second, but the trio sustains each of the album’s four tracks for ten minutes or thereabouts. While it’s easy to appreciate the tidal flux of Oren Ambarchi’s guitar>>table of boxes>>Lesley speaker signal chain, and Johan Berthling’s immovable bass presence, if you are about to put this record on the hi-fi for the first time (PLEASE listen in stereo), consider focusing on the infinite mirror effect of Werliin’s percussion. Your third eye will thank you.

Olivia Block — The Mountains Pass (Black Truffle)

Who picked it? Bill Meyer

Did we review it? No

Ray Garraty’s take:

This has actually none of the pretentious stuff you expect to find in a work by somebody who has been dubbed a “media artist.” The second part of The Mountains Pass is especially stunning where ‘f2754’ has clearly a Giallo-esque feel to it, fast paced and a tad prog rock-ish. “Violet-Green,” perhaps the best composition on the album, brings in mind those creepy soundtracks, with synths and bells, which we usually hear on bad horror movies. And even when Olivia Block, on the same track, begins to sing, her voice is outlandish enough to think that she was abducted by the aliens. 

Camera Obscura — Look to the East, Look to the West (Merge)

Who Picked it? Andrew Forell

Did we review it? Yes, Andrew said, “Campbell writes movingly about memory and friendship. Looking at what was rather than regretting what might have been with an honesty that goes directly to the heart of things.” 

Bryon’s take:

This record makes me realize that I should listen to more Camera Obscura. The Glaswegian indie pop group is a delight to take in, especially Tracyanne Campbell’s lovely voice. Look to the East, Look to the West is a comeback album, the band’s first since they went on hiatus following the death of keyboardist Carey Lander in 2015. The most striking aspect here is the use of pedal steel and organ, which lend the album a country and western flair. This seems to be a new development for Campbell and company, but they pull it off well and the new sounds really suit the band. Similarly effective are the digital drums that the band employ on tracks like “Liberty Print.” Camera Obscura have altered course slightly but retain the loveliness that lies within their core.

Chief Keef — Almighty So 2 (RBC)

Who nominated it? Patrick Masterson

Did we review it? No.

Jennifer Kelly’s take:

Six years in the making and continually delayed—a fact the artist refers to several times during the run-time—Almighty So 2 is massive and ambitious, with operatic hooks and wall-shaking, body-pummeling beats. A mountainous swagger rocks, “Grape Trees,” the cut with Sexyy Red, a machine-gun ratatat thundering under brutal lyrics about gender relations. The politics are embedded in the subject matter, in the screaming sirens, the South Chicago gangland scenarios, the profanity, rage and cynicism. “Jesus Skit,” though, gets a little more explicit about it, positing a sliding reparations scheme that depends on skin color; light skinned rappers like Drake and Chance the Rapper lose out big time, while darker ones, like Sosa, get millions. The violence comes in the shattering beats, as in “1,2,3,” a slow-motion eruption. Here the artist sketches the bleak world that made (and continues to make) him, chanting, “I always believed I was gon' get paid/When I got to hustlin' up in sixth grade/You ain't givin' off that nigga, you won't get laid/Sleep for the weak, I been up for six days.” The track, like the rest of Almighty So 2, is gritty and nihilistic and undeniably powerful. So glad I got to hear this, non-expert though I am.

Cindy Lee — Diamond Jubilee (Realistik Studios)

Who nominated it? Patrick Masterson

Did we review it? Nope (and shame on us…)

Jonathan Shaw’s take:

Diamond Jubilee commences with three dazzling songs: the title track, “Glitz” and “Baby Blue.” Even if the rest of the record weren’t so excellent (it is, and at over two hours, there’s a lot of it), the strength of those three songs would propel it into frequent rotation, on my various devices and in my head, and likely onto the year-end list I will eventually compose. “Baby Blue” is the crucial track: it’s one of those songs (along with Warren Zevon’s “The French Inhaler,” Townes Van Zandt’s “For the Sake of the Song” and a few others) that is so ruthlessly fine in its execution and so suited to some of the least comfortable angles in the emotional furniture in my head that it requires a kind of commitment to listen to. Beyond that irretrievably subjective response, Diamond Jubilee commits, as well: to gorgeous melody, without entirely smoothing out the sharp edges that distinguished Lee’s What’s Tonight to Eternity (2020); to the reverb-saturated aesthetic of fading girl-group harmonies, clubland at 3 am, spangled cocktail dresses of motheaten satin and the pleasures of the last cigarette in the pack when there’s no money for another; and, it seems, to love, in social conditions that make love nearly as unthinkable as it is completely necessary. The surreal, in its modernist avant-garde iteration, emerged in similarly extreme social conditions, after the slaughter of the Great War and amid fascism’s rise. Those forces were enough to distort human relations into monstrous shapes nigh irrevocable. Lee’s music has strong relations to the dreamlike quality of the surreal, and we have our own terrors now: climate’s awful and furious change, social media’s psycho-social poisons and fascism, once again. Those terrors’ spectral presences are audible all over Diamond Jubilee, but they can’t blunt the sharpness of human longing in songs like “All I Want Is You” or “Don’t Tell Me I’m Wrong” or “Government Cheque.” Love’s intensities may not be sustainable, or even particularly livable, but they won’t be denied. Cindy Lee captures that set of truths with that aforementioned dazzle, and with depth.

DIIV — Frog In Boiling Water (Fantasy)

Who picked it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes. Tim Clarke said: “Despite the music’s dense layering and the overall feeling of frustration and confusion, Frog In Boiling Water thankfully leaves the listener with a feeling of hope and eventual redemption.”

Ray Garraty’s take:

If I were given this with no title and artist’s name I’d say this was written by a no name indie band circa 2016. It’s the same shoegazy guitars and sweet and melancholy vocals we’ve been hearing since when, 1994? The songs like “Reflected” got things moving but it’s far from boiling temperatures, merely lukewarm. It’s been written somewhere that the DIIV’s album is about “coping with capitalism,” yet it’s evident that it’s feeding the same capitalism, giving the fans the same thing over and over. And that is how capitalism works. 

Nomi Epstein — shades (Another Timbre)

Who picked it? Christian Carey

Did we write about it? Yes, Christian said, "Epstein’s music is unfailingly attractive and elegantly paced. Shades is an excellent introduction to her work."

Bill Meyer’s take: 

Since Nomi Epstein leads the Chicago-based new music ensemble a.pe.ri.od.ic, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to hear her guide performances of other people’s music. But shades is only the second album devoted to hers. Its three long pieces are, like the Wandelweiser and minimalist composers that a.pe.ri.od.ic has often supported, sparely arranged and deliberately paced. She puts intriguing sounds — some prepared piano notes, or a barely-there vocal tone — just far enough inside the frameworks of the music to invite one to listen in. Once your consciousness is inside the music, the slow movement of what surrounds you mesmerizes. Music this reserved and respectful is a welcome respite in a world where reality smacks you upside the head every day and even that influencer babbling on the phone belong to the person sitting next to you on the train insists on staring you in the eye.

Fuera de Sektor — Juegos Prohibidos (La Vida Es Un Mus Discos)

Who nominated it? Jonathan Shaw

Did we review it? Yes, Jonathan wrote, “It’s a singular sound, by turns compelling and bewitching—like the beautiful face you can just about discern across a dim and crowded room, a set of lines and textures briefly lit up by occasional drags on a cigarette. Not quite (or not just) postpunk, pop or dance music, the songs on Juegos Prohibitos itch at your hips and scratch into your brain.”

Christian Carey’s take:

Barcelona band Fuera de Sektor released a demo in 2022, but Juegos Prohibidos is their first full length recording. No Wave is a significant influence, particularly in the fiercely intense sing-shout vocals from Andrea Jarale. If you visit the band’s Instagram, it includes an amateur video that is an homage to Richard Hell, replicating a 1970s comic from NY Punk Magazine in which he starred. But there are many more reference points. The guitars channel the chops and soloing of eighties New Wave, and the rhythm section provides relentless uptempo playing. The defiant demeanor of the songs themselves depicts an unstoppable wall of intensity.

Daryl Groetsch — Above the Shore (self-released)

Who picked it? Andrew Forell

Did we review it? Yes, Andrew called it “a 75-minute floating symphony that insinuates its way into your subconscious with almost imperceptible stealth.”

Ian Mathers’ take:

Whether approvingly or not, works like this 75-minute composition/album are often described as if they were very static in nature; as if even when there are changes they happen in rigid, predictable ways. It may be that if you poke around under the hood of Above the Clouds enough you might be able to diagram out the way elements meld, progress, and separate again, and possibly under that light the whole thing looks regular. But in terms of the way it feels when you listen to it, there’s something quite different going on with Groetsch’s work. The whole thing does feel quite immersive, almost environmental. But as opposed to any number of ground-level or even underwater vistas that come to mind with similar works, here I feel suspended in the air, very far above any shore indeed. The listening experience feels akin to endlessly falling, eventually not so much above as through softly glowing clouds. It’s somehow soothingly vertiginous, and more captivating (and attention-rewarding) than most of its peers.

Icewear Vezzo — Live From the 6 (Quality Control Music)

Who picked it? Ray Garraty

Did we review it? No.

Patrick Masterson’s take:

Chivez Smith has been a familiar name to anyone keeping an eye on Detroit rap for the last decade — longer than you might think and long enough, now, to make him an elder statesman among the city’s spitters. What better time, then, to take a step back and assess not just how far you’ve come, but what all that hustling has amounted to? So goes Live From the 6 (not a Drake reference, in case you were momentarily confused; Vezzo’s from 6 Mile on McNichols north of Hamtramck), which isn’t quite a career retrospective but carries the themes of one. Vezzo’s in a reflective mood over the course of these 13 songs, his slightly frayed vocals forever unhurried and his beat selection consistently nodding to the high West Coast era; you could put Ice Cube or Snoop (or, for that matter, YG or Nipsey) over most of these productions and it wouldn’t throw you off. It’s not totally insular bars-wise, either; a questionable DaBaby feature aside — his double-time admission that he sees a therapist is heartening given how deservedly he got shunned by the establishment just as he was fixing to peak — Memphis artist YTB Fatt also shows up. Fellow Motor City emcees Babyface Ray and Chuckie CEO provide the remaining color, but end to end, this is Vezzo’s show and he shows up. There’s no lack of entry points to Icewear Vezzo’s discography by now, but if you were hesitant before, Live From the 6 is merely the latest display of his acumen. Hear why he’s the one.

Loma — How Will I Live Without A Body? (Sub Pop)

Who picked it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes, Tim wrote, “Yes, this is a heavy album, but luxuriously so. It’s music that stares death in the face and instead of running, hunkers down and gets comfortable.”

Alex Johnson’s take:

Listening to How Will I Live Without a Body? is like eavesdropping on a collage of someone else’s thoughts. Contemplation or confusion or a eureka one moment to the next. It’s theatrical, passionate music that, to me, shares a heavy sensibility with the operatic post-rock on Portishead’s Third. Like an unsettling daydream, the lyrics blur the mundane and existential. In “Affinity,” the narrator stares “into the dark,” finding herself multiplied but disconnected – “my shadows move/with and without me.” In “I Swallowed a Stone,” a“kettle boil[s] forever” and she “can’t live this feeling anymore.” Given the song’s tense, foreboding percussion and muted guitar “can’t” sounds like “might have to.” 

Might, but not necessarily will. Despite the doses of dread, How Will I Live Without a Body? never feels resigned. You’re treated to interjections of sound, instrumental and otherwise —  flashes of illumination, portals to enter. “Unbraiding” fits sheets of strings, bird song, and burning punches of guitar fuzz around a simple, repeated piano, illustrating the line “bring somewhere out of nowhere.” Loma is working with a robust sonic palette here, but the album’s ethos seems grounded in a DIY curiosity. That “Broken Doorbell” features what sound like actual broken doorbells and then ends with waves hitting a shore is emblematic. It’s a lovely, if perhaps temporary, moment of arrival, having followed the shadows wherever they led.

[princesszelda]

howdy! i took a picture of a juvenile black crowned night heron today that reminded me of the aesthetics in your blog(s). think it's mostly the colors of the bird and the little flowers in front of them, but i think tumblr's gonna compress them into oblivion... anyway have a good evening!

how lovely !! thank you so much~

[mycological-mariner]

🌤️ for the fic asks!

Cutting out descriptions etc. So I know the original ask said “PIECE of dialogue…” but it’s not. This is for a short fic I came up with, just kicked around the idea. I’ve not posted it, it’s just on my laptop.

Spoilers for The Flight of the Heron.

“Has he gone?”

WHO?

“Ardroy, did he get away?”

I HAVE NOT CROSSED PATHS WITH HIM YET.

“I see. That’s good. He’ll be safe, now.” […] “May I ask, sir, who you are?”

GUESS.

“Oh. Oh, yes, I see. I suppose there are some tells. […] Was it worth it, in the end? Was it an honourable death?”

[…] FEW HAVE THE PRIVILEGE TO DIE IN THE ARMS OF THEIR GREATEST FRIEND. BUT THAT IS JUST IN MY EXPERIENCE, OF COURSE.

“Friend… […] Are those mountains on the horizon?”

I AM AFRAID SO.

“They might almost look like… like the ones surrounding Loch na h-Iolaire. They can’t be, surely?”

NO, IT IS LIKELY THEY ARE NOT.

“Well, what is beyond this desert? Surely you can answer me that.”

I CANNOT.

“I have to walk there on my own?”

YES. ALTHOUGH, I HAVE KNOWN SOME TO HAVE WAITED.

“Waited for what?” […] “I don’t know if I’m ready, just yet. It has been a long night.”

I CAN IMAGINE.

“May I wait here a little while?”

WAIT FOR WHAT?

“A friend.”

TIME DOES NOT EXTEND TO HERE. YOU MAY WAIT LONGER THAN YOU EXPECT, MAJOR WINDHAM.

“Good. I hope it is a very long time indeed. […] “I do not know what lies beyond this desert, nor do I know for how long I must walk until I have discovered it. Perhaps it is oblivion. I should like to walk alongside my friend. We never had a chance to simply walk together before…”

EVEN IF THERE IS NOTHING?

“Yes.”

VERY WELL. YOU MAY STAY HERE FOR AS LONG AS YOU WISH. AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, I AM QUITE BUSY AT THE MOMENT AND MUST LEAVE YOU. […] YOU ARE AN HONOURABLE MAN, MAJOR WINDHAM. GOOD DAY TO YOU.

“Good day.”

[iviarellereads]

The Eye of the World, Chapter 33 - The Dark Waits

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Heron-marked sword icon) In which the timeline gets hecky but it's okay, we're all grownups and able to handle that, right?

Under a leaden sky the high-wheeled cart bumped east along the Caemlyn Road. Rand pulled himself out of the straw in back to look over the side. It was easier than it had been an hour earlier. His arms felt as if they might stretch instead of drawing him up, and for a minute his head wanted to keep on going and float away, but it was easier.(1)

Rand and Mat are riding in a cart belonging to a Hyam Kinch, suspicious of any and all passers-by, particularly merchant carts. Mat's still light-sensitive after staring straight at that Power-strong lightning, wearing a scarf over his eyes to dim the light a little. He asks if Rand is feeling better. Rand worries that feeling better so fast might not be a gift of the Light.

Thirty two men on horseback pass them by, nodding respectfully at Master Kinch. Rand asks who they are, and Kinch says they're Queen's Guards, keeping the peace and the Queen's laws. Where are they from, that they don't know what Queen's Guards look like? Rand slips and says the Two Rivers. He's still not thinking clearly, after his illness.

Kinch stops and tells them this is as far as he goes. He offers to let them rest with him for a day or two, they won't miss much in that time and he and his wife have had near about every illness before. Rand thanks him for the offer, but they do have to get on, and Kinch tells him where his farm is, and that nothing's like to find them there.(2)

Flashback to escaping Four Kings. Mat is nearly blind in the darkness after the lightning strike, and can barely walk upright. They make it out of town, far enough to hide in a bush and sleep. Rand dreams of Baa again, who shows him a dead-looking Gode figure, and says Rand belongs to him, one way or another. Rand says no, he belongs to himself, not the Dark One, not ever. Baa rewards the Gode-shade with oblivion to make a point that he has more control over death than life, but even if Rand dies, one way or another, he'll be in Baa's hands eventually.

Rand and Mat wake, Mat crying that Baa took his eyes, and Rand comforts him, that he can't hurt them.

About an hour's walk outside of town, a farmer stops to offer them a ride. Rand was too distracted to hide, and can't refuse without possibly offending him, so he helps Mat up beside the farmer up front, and Rand in the back. The farmer, Alpert Mull, mostly just wants some company on the ride, and someone to talk to. When he has to turn off the Caemlyn Road, he gives them two scarves, saying it's hard times, you never know who to trust, he's not a good man and can't offer them a place to stay, but he can give them something to keep the dust out of their mouths. Rand tells him he is a good man, and they part ways.(3)

That night they do stop at an inn, but they don't offer to play flute or juggle. The price is steep, but they need the food and the rest. In the morning, all's well, and Mat can see a little again. They're eating breakfast, when a young man comes in and asks to sit with them. When he says this isn't his idea, and he doesn't want to be here, Mat growls "Darkfriend." They tell this Paitr to leave them alone, and tell his friends to leave them alone, too. Paitr yells that the Shadow will swallow them, and the innkeeper drops his broom, finally hearing the conversation. The boys get out of the inn, and Mat worries that they knew they were there. Rand says if Baa knew they were at that inn, he wouldn't have left the job to some snivelling kid like Paitr.(4)

They hear rumours about the incident from each of the six short rides they get through that day, never realizing that these two are the ones who exposed the Darkfriend, and each rumour more ridiculous than the last, some even saying that if the Queen won't stop the Darkfriends, maybe the Children of the Light should be asked.

They reach another village, with just one inn, and Mat says he's up for a juggle as long as he doesn't get too fancy. Rand's getting really tired, so they offer their performances to the innkeep. The inn's full but he'll do what he can.

The cook and his helpers ignored Rand and Mat. Mat kept adjusting the scarf around his head, pushing it up, then blinking at the light and tugging it back down again. Rand wondered if he could see well enough to do anything more complicated than juggle three balls. As for himself. . . . The queasiness in his stomach grew thicker. He dropped on a low stool, holding his head in his hands. The kitchen felt cold. He shivered. Steam filled the air; stoves and ovens crackled with heat. His shivers became stronger, his teeth chattering. He wrapped his arms around himself, but it did no good. His bones felt as if they were freezing. Dimly he was aware of Mat asking him something, shaking his shoulder, and of someone cursing and running out of the room. Then the innkeeper was there, with the cook frowning at his side, and Mat was arguing loudly with them both. He could not make out any of what they said; the words were a buzz in his ears, and he could not seem to think at all.

Mat leads Rand outside and explains that if the innkeeper kicked them out, Mat promised to lead Rand through the common room, and show that someone sick had been there. So they've got accommodations in the stable, at least. Rand cycles through fever and chills. Mat runs off, and comes back with some food and water. There's no Wisdom here, but the woman who's their equivalent is off birthing a baby somewhere.

Rand has nightmares and hallucinations. First he sees Baa and some Myrddraal. Egwene saying they're all dead because he abandoned them. Moiraine telling him he has no choice but to go to Tar Valon. Thom telling him he should do anything but trust Aes Sedai. Lan asking if he's worthy of the blade. Perrin, the people from Baerlon, but the worst vision was Tam, just staring at him, frowning.

In the morning, Rand's fever has broken. He wakes to a woman(5) coming into the stable, she says to look at her horse, but… is he ill? She has some knowledge. Her manner doesn't belong here, and he doesn't trust her, but he can't stop her coming near, feeling his forehead. She says he was sick, but still weak as a kitten, and if not for Mat waking at that moment, she'd have killed Rand easily. Mat restrains her, and Rand notes that her dagger is burning the wood it dug into.

Mat threatens her with his own dagger, and she doesn't move as he retrieves her knife. Rand tells Mat no, as he realizes Mat means to kill her. Mat argues that she's a Darkfriend, and Rand says that's so, but they're not. Mat pushes her into the tack room as she talks about why they need to give in, etc etc. When she mentions a Myrddraal, Mat closes the door in her face and bars it.

Mat pulls Rand to his feet, and between them they make their way out of town, nobody paying them much attention, with all the other strangers making their way to Caemlyn, too. Just a mile out of town, though, Rand's strength gives out. That's where Hyam Kinch picks them up.

=====

(1) So, Rand definitely Channeled and his sickness is probably intense because that was a real big'un. (2) There are good people in the world, even in dark times, and even when all seems lost. (3) A lot of people get a little confused here, because that's exactly the line Rand thought of when the scarves were first mentioned in the first page of chapter 31. There's a little timeline wibble here, but I believe RJ wanted to play with our sense of time on this long stretch of road, the same way Rand's channeling sickness and Mat's dagger taint are playing with theirs. It's fine, it's vibes, don't worry about it too hard. (4) Rand is smarter than some folk give him credit for. (5) Every Darkfriend in Andor seems to have been put on alert to keep an eye out for these two, poor souls. I'm gonna have to tag it, so: despite us not being told her name in this chapter, the truly obsessive about the series know this is Mili Skane. She gets her own entry in the encyclopedia and everything. (We're a thorough bunch, even with 2700 characters to keep track of.)

[rastronomicals]

1:32 AM EDT March 25, 2023:

Heron Oblivion - "Seventeen Landscapes" From the album Heron Oblivion (March 4, 2016)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

--

[gandalfthegreyt]

The Boy and The Heron

2025 was delivered smoothly by the fast hands of a flamboyant young physician, and he held it proudly in a distinctly midwestern style, screaming triumph for all witnesses present. The girl beside me, just a girl, strong and brilliant, brushed off my awkwardness twice before reaching in for a celebratory kiss. My sobering sheepishness won the exchange, lips sealed beneath my bushy mustache meeting hers, a weak pop fly to first, but that I played the game at all, in Athens no less, brims me with pride.

I’ve waged wars on many fronts against the axes of my humanity: ambition, hope, desire, acceptance, joy, and the pretty girl with the quick and easy smile was evidence of those now shifting battle lines. We sat and laughed freely in the diner. She invited me into her kingdom for a glance, her best friend draped across the bridge of our legs. Our return to the venue was equally light with humor, and our crash course in Pylon a shared opportunity to learn a secret of Athens’ past. I managed to stand my ground that night, spoke with confidence about who I am rather than lamenting what I’ve been, and I wore positivity not as a mask but as a promise of the coming spring. I still feel my lip burrowing into the soft brush of her hair, seeking the drum that sounds her carefree laugh, the strident ecstasy of hardcore swallowing everything else. I’ll study that night for a long while.

Wilbur Larch reminded me on the drive home that remorse is the poison of life. I wish I’d held her hand that night, felt those intelligent fingers mesh with mine, though I won’t confuse that longing with regret. Time was not on our side those final hours of 2024, and we surely made the most of it. Remorse is indeed the poison of life, and in her glow I sucked a mouthful from the snake bite in my arm and spit it onto the Washington sidewalk.

It’s true that I’ve taken my time in becoming a man. Thirty three years is a long time to look at your feet, to swallow oblivion and resent the light of day. If there are wounds so great as to forfeit the gift of living for a man without his consent, I cannot say I’ve personally endured them. That I’ve wallowed in fear and self loathing for so long must become a footnote on a fresh page of acceptance. It is with great relief that I find my courage more every day, and time, no more enemy than friend, mustn’t be ignored at the negotiation table any longer.

I was proud to look Athens in the eye last night. No doubt the confident girl at my side was a cane, but perhaps more ornamental than crutch. The tragedy of my youth, the origin story for the shame that slowly drove me mad before the whole of my peers, will lose perspective in the many lights I continue to turn on.

To the grey ash of Venus who’s starry sparkle blew magic into these blind eyes, I bow to you past your cute goth girl skirt, past HIM, right through the danced down floor of the 40 Watt to the ancient core of life where you were surely formed. With surgical precision you carved at the edge of my shadow and left your initials on my heart, M.G. Perhaps our meeting was too brief to ascribe love to your memory of me, but your reverence for life certainly left its print on me. I pray we cross paths again one day, be it on this plane or another. Until then, keep flying high beauty. The sun casts spells through your wings.

Waker Houser

[odukora-lore]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

✧ OC MASTERLIST ✧

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

↓

Genesis Era

The Goddesses

✧ Revontulet

❀ Borealis

Before the Fall

🕯️ Lightcatcher

💎 Elouise

Rulers of Cloud Cliffs

🌧️ Lufiere Hyetal Seraph

⚡ Raiko "Kaori" Fragor

Royal Assistants

-Halo

-Murk

The Guardian Guild

🪐 Airiwn Fylios

🏔️ Kimoru Serenity

☕ Dusleth Nocturne

🍰 Rurene Pekoe

💐 Meraki Amaranth

🍄 Kahdeina Luster

Former Keepers of the Empyrean

-Azimuth/Aerolite (Marzipan)

-Cliff (Zingiber)

- - - - - - -

Medieval Era

[Swan Feather]

🌨️ Heron Solstice

🗡️ Dulcet Plumehart / 🍊 Tangelo "Tangerine" Yuzu

-Lychee Kasturi

-Gyoza Enoki

-Jay Warren

-Cayenne Cassia

-Marimo

-Falene Sonnet

-Anise Azolla

-Pomelo Yuzu

-Hyacinth

-Bonsai

The Last Monarchs

🌕 Gandoline Lunaris

🦋 Mariposa Solstice

Ancestors of Elwood

-Rogue

-Aurrea

- - - - - - -

War Era

[Sundowner]

-Budgie

-Enoki

-Lentil

-Puddles

-Daffodil

-Carvin

-Keybolt

-Pretzel

- - - - - - -

Modern Era

[The Eternal: Fallout]

🌻 Helio Gaharu

🌷 Jingle Tinsel

🪶 Truffle Elnath

🌙 Sereina Skyscape

🍀 Clover Rowan

🌿 Lyrin Tinsel

🌲 Juniper Penzai

☄️ Pepper Flint

🌼 Mallow Cassia

🌟 Orion “Rigel” Skyscape

🪵 Oak Elwood

🍃 Birch Elwood

🔮 Etamyal / 🕯️ Atcher Lucerne

💫 Asteria Polaris/ 🪷 Eureka Elnath

👑 Eridani/Cygnus Polaris

🧊 Conifer Penzai

🍁 Maple Elwood

🍂 Red Elwood

🌳 Cedar Elwood

🍯 Chamomile Cassia

-Harper Tinsel

-Marmalade

-Crimson

Team Pets

🍬 Toffee

🥖 Churro

---

[Paradigm of Empyrean]

☁️ Cinnamon Swirl

🪴 Bramble Carver

🌖 Nyxium Lunaris

🗻 Aaron Reneirre

🔖 Reese Dominique

🌀 Zephyr Whirlwind

🌸 Whisper Himiko/Lullaby Larkspur

🌋 Topaz “Shade” Reneirre

🌒 Mythical Lunaris

🌾 Peachi Fernweh

📜 Aspen Elwood

🌹 Ashling Crimson/Hawthorn Oblivion

🌱 Aichi Fylios Serenity

🌺 Amber Reneirre

🪨 Slate Brickedge

🪽 Feather Brooke

🍒 Cherry Parfait

Team Pets

🖍️ Crayon

---

[Where Time Meets Destiny]

🫐 Sparklyn Neptune Dreams

🍪 Koru Choco Pudding

🍈 Honeydew Droplet Springs

☀️ Horizon Dusk Skies

🧁 Macaroon Chiffon Cake

❄️ Winter Southwest Snow

🍮 Caramel Flairne Ryunashi

🌰 Gingersnap Ralfie Breeze

-Ace

-Carrots

-Snowball

-Snowdrop

-Shamrock

-Slither

-Marigold Dawn Skies

-Daisy Dawn Skies

-Simnel Chiffon

-Suzette

-Madeira

-Archer

-Estrella "Star"

- - -

[Cupid's Serenade]

🎀 Angie "Cupid"

🎵 Azalea "Siren"

-Whitney

-Erina

-Berry

- - -

[Cabbage Peak]

-Zest

-Basil

-Mace

- - -

[Weather Headquarters]

-Snowfall

-Sunshine

-Raindrop

-Windbreeze

-Cloudskies

-Thunderstorm

-Lightstrike

-Moondust

-Aeris

- - - - - -

Future Era

[The Sun is a Star]

🫧 Marble Meredith

✨ Skylar Altair

-Soleil Altair

🚀 Cirrus

⚙️ Periwinkle "Vinca"

-Crocus

[Tales of Iridescence]

🫐 Sparklyn Neptune

☘️ Arctic "Bonbon" Marlowe

🐾 Gale Luscinia

🍨 Vanilla Sundae

🌑 Shadow Lune

- Wisp “Auster” Chronos

- - - - - - -

[ Misc ]

Liru's Explorers of the East

-Drake Verano

-Matthew Agaros

-Nemui Kou

-Heather Aki

-Gray Brickedge

-Solar Bituin

-Thunder Raiden

-Faye Miyako

-Elaine Trinidad

-Echo Chronos

-Lukas Eunil

-Celine Meowth

-Katsuri

-Bluebell

The Youngsters

-Tirami Tinsel

-Jayde Penzai

-Parsley Flint

-Dahlia Gaharu

-Autumn Skyscape Elwood

-Melody

-Creampuff

-Crystal

-Beatrice

-Hope Miraclella

-Fauna Lavendery

-Meadow Juniper

-Dreamy Cottontail

-Penelope Blossom

-Amber Crystalline

[cheatsykoopa98]

Thanks for tagging me!

Last song: oblivion by grimes (gf is listening to it by my side while I work)

Favorite colors: red, red, red! (orange is cool too I guess but mostly red)

Last watched: some youtube video about indie horror games, I like listening to them

Last movie: the boy and the heron, I really like ghibli movies but I remember I was extremely tired from work when I went to see it so I dozed off some times, I'm sorry

Currently reading: nothing much, I feel like I dont have enough time

Sweet, spicy, or savoury: sweet and spicy, actually I think sweet chili is my favorite sauce to put on food

Relationship: dating, living together with gf! lifes never been better. they're the first person who helped me get better from everything bad that happened in these last years I was away from here

Current obsession: tadc, I cant help wanting pomni to be happy. at least she deserves it

Last Googled: the boy and the heron, I had to remember the name of the movie in english

Currently working on: tadc art, commissions, some projects for work and translating my webcomic to english since I presented the idea to some american friends and they seem to like it, so I'll try translating all 80+ chapters I have so far

Tagging: @chelledoggo, @minittwastaken

A lovely mutual mentioned me in this challenge, so I thought I'd give it a go too.

LAST SONG: Let Me Through | By CG5 ft: Dolvondo

FAVORITE COLOR: Green and Pink

LAST WATCHED: The Old Internet : By BigTugg [I love this man so much]

LAST MOVIE: Bad Boys: Ride or Die (and it was so mid..)

CURRENTLY READING: Starting Today, We’re Childhood Friends (It's very cute I recommend)

SWEET, SPICY OR SAVORY: Sweet, cause I'm just that nice (or sour)

RELATIONSHIP: Single and not 100% ready to hit the town again(last relationship ended comically bad lol)

CURRENT OBSESSION: Amazing Digital Circus, Five Nights At Freddy's (always), Friday Night Funkin (can't escape) and Sonic The Hedgehog I guess.

LAST GOOGLED: Stuff for college

CURRENTLY WORKING ON: Inking all the characters for my TADC au. I'm almost there guys I swear-

Tagging: @gigizplay @gl1tched-r4bb1t @morotofu60nine

ᵀʰᶦⁿᵏ ᴵ ᵈᶦᵈ ᵗʰᶦˢ ʳᶦᵍʰᵗ⁻

[dustedmagazine]

Dusted Mid-Year 2023, Part One

Meg Baird photo by Rachael Cassells

It’s halfway through another year, and while that doesn’t seem possible, the trail of good-to-excellent releases argues otherwise. We celebrate as always by picking our favorites and then forcing them on unsuspecting colleagues. The Dusted Mid-Year Swap is almost entirely random, with assignments picked from a bowl and limited options for getting out of them. It’s also one of our most popular features, both internally and among our readers.

Although we don’t pursue consensus — and in fact, quite the opposite, we value the diversity of taste and opinion among our writers — some years we have a clear winner. Out of deference to our most dominant mid-year artist ever, we call them “this year’s Heron Oblivion.” In 2023, that’s especially appropriate since the artist that won the mid-year is also in Heron Oblivion. That’s Meg Baird, whose Furling captured the affection of a broad spectrum of writers. Yo La Tengo was the closest behind, with punkish The Drin and drone-experimental Natural Information Society also in the hunt.

But while we agree sometimes, at others we don’t, and you’ll notice that a good sprinkling of writers were not entirely on board with their assignments. That’s okay. It’s good for us to hear stuff we don’t like, too. It’s part of a balanced musical diet.

We begin with the first half of the alphabet with artists from Algiers to James Ilgenfritz represented. Check back tomorrow for the second half and the next day for our writers’ lists.

Algiers — Shook (Matador)

Shook by Algiers

Who nominated it? Andrew Forell

Did we review it? Yes, Andrew wrote, “Switching organically between punk, gospel, soul, hip hop, jazz and afro-futurism, Algiers speaks directly to a world under siege.”

Jennifer Kelly’s take:

On this tour de force, Algiers doesn’t so much blend African American musical styles as find the sinews and tendons and veins that connect them. “Everybody Shatter” alone morphs from minimalist techno beat to menacing rock to old-school hip hop shout-crossing call and response, and that’s just the opening salvo. The guests run the gamut from current hip hop phenom Billy Woods to DC punk mainstay Mark Cisneros to free-jazz sax experimenter Patrick Shiroishi, with a startlingly moving bit of poetry at the end from Glory Fires front man Lee Bains. “Comment #2” records an unnamed young woman wondering why the discourse about black America focuses so much on suffering, rather than the hope and joy and resilience that her community also manifests. Shook soaks up all elements of that multi-faceted experience, with fierce joy, unrelenting honesty and surges of pure musical exhilaration. Powerful stuff.

Arrowounds — In the Octopus Pond (Lost Tribe Sound)

In The Octopus Pond by ARROWOUNDS

Who nominated it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes, Tim wrote, “The sounds and how they’re treated go a long way towards mustering a unique, shadowy atmosphere, which is sustained throughout the album’s 45 minutes.”

Christian Carey’s take: 

Ambient’s revival has lasted longer than its initial incarnations and cast a wider net as to the music it encompasses. Releases like In the Octopus Pond by Arrowounds (Ryan Chamberlain) demonstrate why this can be all to the good. An example is the use of a repeated post-rock riff, sustained synth lines, and samples of water in “Spectral Colours of Science,” a standout. In another melange,“Phosphene Silver Abyss” pits a loping bass riff against glissando-filled distorted electric guitar and subdued keyboards. An engaging listen throughout.

Meg Baird — Furling (Drag City)

Furling by Meg Baird

Who picked it? Jennifer Kelly

Did we review it? Yes, Tim Clarke wrote, “Welcome to one of the first great records of the young year.”

Jason Bivins’ take:

I’ve actually been living with and loving this record for many months now. Baird’s got an extraordinary voice and a real knack for both songwriting and arranging. There’s a compelling argument to be made that Furling is her strongest recording. From the outset, it’s clear that this is music that is intimate and reflective and admirably uncluttered. Chords or arpeggios shine through without excess, with gentle strumming and a light touch on the snare making a nice slide for Baird’s angelic voice to glide down. Often she layers her voice, harmonizing way up there over gentle guitar, but she also sinks right in between the chords here and there. Some tracks, like “Star Hill Song,” dial into conventional song-form more than others, but there’s always a gorgeous blend of the earthy and the ethereal. Star-skirling guitars glide atop a tasty pulse, or spare piano grounding textural clouds, always focused on Baird’s somewhat breathy voice and distinctive vibrato. In all my listening, I don’t even focus too much on the lyrics, which only float up for me on occasion. I just allow myself to be hypnotized by the unpretentious beauty of this music.

Big Blood — First Aid Kit (Ba Da Bing/Feeding Tube Records)

First Aid Kit by Big Blood

Who picked it? Bryon Hayes

Did we review it? Yes, Bill Meyer said, “Their production has a steam-pressed quality, as though the background instrumental sounds had all been ironed onto the tape. Voices and drums, however, jump out of the mix, which suits the songs’ sturdy hooks.”

Ray Garraty’s take:

The opening track “In My Head” might fool you that this is a modern take on rockabilly and 1990s indie pop, something that is not easy to stomach in large quantities. But things change drastically after that, with “Haunted”, possibly the best track on the whole CD. A bit of Sparks, a bit of Kate Bush, a bit of your favorite bedroom pop band, Big Blood is a mix of all that but with a twist. First Aid Kit sounds lo-fi enough not to be too grandiose and tiring and clean enough not to fall into the category of bedroom rumblings made for a few friends. The choruses are haunting you, indeed, and stick in mind for days. It closes with a track called “Weird Road Pt. 1,” and it is a weird road for sure. Weird and just great.

BIG|BRAVE — nature morte (Thrill Jockey)

nature morte by BIG|BRAVE

Who picked it? Jonathan Shaw

Did we review it? Yes, Jonathan said, “The title of nature morte might reference death, but this music is frightfully, joyfully and overwhelmingly alive.”

Bryon Hayes’ take:

There’s heavy music that attempts to pulverize your grey matter into oblivion, and then there’s nature morte. This is music that gets under your skin with its dual guitar wall of noise and its sludgy rhythms. What’s really arresting is the intensity of Robin Wattie’s vocals, and how she transitions from a measured attack into all-out screaming almost instantaneously. I don’t usually thirst for music on the heavier end of the spectrum, but I found myself strangely attracted to this record. Images of EMA covering Nirvana’s “Endless, Nameless” kept swirling through my head as I digested the record for the first time. The maelstrom conjured by the two guitars, the pounding of the drums, and Wattie’s almost pleading vocals coalesce into a near-crystalline molasses that somehow manages to flow with enough sweetness to appeal to all manner of listener. Even if you tend to enjoy softer sounds, you should give this album a spin. 

Cellow — Ghetto Takeover (Jugg$treet)

Who picked it? Ray Garraty

Did we review it? No

Jason Bivins’ take:

An EP should be concise, a marker of method and style on the journey to completing a larger project. Or, it should whet the appetite by introducing a new voice, the promise of distinction. Cellow’s six-song, eighteen-minute slice from earlier this year is, by contrast, somehow meandering. On the final track, he proposes: “Let’s do a tape in a fucking night.” Which, apparently, is actually how this project came together. And oof, does it sound it. The production is dated and drab, the beats pedestrian, and the rhymes predictably grandiose and misanthropic in equal measure. For example, he boasts, “that’s a 2012 Benz, not a spaceship” and “I just got $200 for an 8th of Splenda.” He fat-shames women, disses Obama and otherwise romps over his “clown-ass” competitors. If only he were actually compelling as a verbal stylist. But no: after yet another “Strange Fruit” sample on “Ain’t Come to Play,” he fumbles the attempted double-time spitting. It’s embarrassingly undercooked and awkward, especially the two tracks without Rio Da Yung OG.

Elkhorn — On the Whole Universe in All Directions (Centripetal Force)

On The Whole Universe In All Directions by Elkhorn

Who nominated it? Bill Meyer

Did we review it? No.

Christian Carey’s take:

For their latest recording, On the Whole Universe in All Directions, Elkhorn (acoustic 12-string guitarist Jesse Shephard and electric guitarist/percussionist Drew Gardner) explore each principal direction of the compass (North-South-East-West) on four tracks. The vibraphone is a new addition, and the textures created by vibes and 12-string in combination on “North” and “South” are mesmerizing. Splash cymbals and alternate scales provide a (perhaps inevitable) exoticism to “East.” Correspondingly, “West” shares minimal folk inflections and a winsome melody. Elkhorn has executed a successful transformation.

Robert Forster — The Candle and the Flame (Tapete)

The Candle And The Flame by Robert Forster

Who picked it? Jennifer Kelly

Did we review it? Yes. Andrew Forell wrote, “Forster’s observational directness and simple language are always in service to the deep feeling in his songs and few better imbue the quotidian joys of domestic life and the power of memory with such poetry.”

Patrick Masterson’s take:

Not being much of an ardent Go-Betweens fan, I went into The Candle and the Flame with little expectation beyond the notion that Forster would be chronicling the relationship with his wife, who was diagnosed with and got treated for ovarian cancer around the three years these songs were conceived. What I can’t help but admire is how he throws you akimbo right away with “She’s a Fighter,” which attacks the illness directly and immediately (with the help of the whole family, even!) in a rollicking folk-punk style. Duly done and dusted, Forster turns his attention to the deeper reserves of their personal history, reminiscing about meetings in Germany and walking to school in the ‘60s and the general weathering of life in a more relaxed, fittingly contemplative manner. You can tell without knowing anymore than I did that he’s been doing this long enough that songwriting comes naturally to him by now no matter the topic — an artist with an innate gift honed over decades that shines best at its most unvarnished.

Asher Gamedze — Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem/Mushroom Hour Half Hour)

Turbulence and Pulse by Asher Gamedze

Who picked it? Andrew Forell

Did we review it? Nope

Ian Mathers’ take:

This is a very good record that I feel like I got a few mistaken impressions of! The blurb on the Bandcamp page talks a lot about percussion in a way that made me think this was going to be more beat-centric, and then the opening almost-title track “Turbulence’s Pulse” does go in that direction, combined with a speech about the intersection of rhythms, history and politics. It kind of rules, and then the record pivots on “Wynter Time” to what sounds to my (admittedly not-super-genre-savvy) ears like a pretty straightforward jazz track. Not that Gamedze’s drumming isn’t vital to those proceedings, and it continues to be impressive throughout, but we get a lot more of that latter mode over these 80 minutes (including 20 minutes of live versions of tracks from this album, which may be catnip to real heads but to relative novice me don’t stand out enough to want both). But neither “it’s a bit long for me” or “it’s not exactly what I expected” are big complaints, and they’re more than outweighed by the quality of Gamedze’s playing and the rest of the ensemble, especially Robin Fassie on trumpet and Buddy Wells on tenor saxophone, who wound up drawing a lot of my focus. When things get moving on “Locomotion” and “Out Stepped Zim” the results are great, even if I could also love a record more directly in line with “Turbulence’s Pulse.” 

Jana Horn — The Window Is the Dream (No Quarter)

The Window Is The Dream by Jana Horn

Who recommended it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes; Tim wrote, “Horn weaves in an undeniable magic. Much like the soap bubble on the album’s cover, hold this music up to the light and it refracts a surprising array of beautiful colors.”

Jonathan Shaw’s take: The variety of wispy, delicate, singer-songwriter music that Jana Horn makes generally puts me to sleep—a fact for which I am grateful, since prolonged exposure to qualities like “wispy” and “delicate” isn’t a happy event for me. And to be sure, Horn’s mannered, near-expressionless alto—full of little gulps and breathy intonations that are simultaneously arch and bloodless—is mildly irritating. But setting those subjective responses aside, there are things to admire on The Window Is the Dream. Horn has a distinct compositional sensibility, which is affecting in direct proportion to its spareness. See the music of “Old Friend,” which skitters and halts, but maintains its sense of grace and composure. The arrangement builds some momentum, and when Horn cuts it all off, with peremptory force, it’s satisfying. Throughout the record, Horn demonstrates that musical sense for timing and mood; see especially the overlay of dissonances that emerges after the careful combinations and constructions of the opening three minutes of “In Between.” But for this listener, Horn’s singing cancels those urgencies and complexities. I get it: the contrast between her prettily blank vocals and the music’s by-turns dreamy and antsy textures will please some. But these precise, calculated gestures don’t make any magic for me.

James Ilgenfritz—#entrainments (Infrequent Seams)

#entrainments by James Ilgenfritz

Who nominated it? Christian Carey

Did we review it? No

Bill Meyer’s take:

Here’s a record that’s well within my wheelhouse, but which I had skipped over on account of there being a lot of music out there. It turns out that #entrainments deeply rewards investigation. It succeeds at being an engaging listen as well as formally creative. Bassist/composer James Ilgenfritz hasn’t just crafted some appealing melodies, he has made them part of a system of meta-responses that can be restructured on the fly. His combo, which includes drummer Gerry Hemingway, alto saxophonist Angelica Niescier and cellist Nathan Bontrager, is tuned into the multiple levels at which this music needs to work, and sounds equally persuasive realizing the cut-and-thrust of “#frontmatter,” which reminds me in a good way of old Henry Threadgill records, and the chamber combo with dissenting drums treatment of “#squarequotes.” A comprehensive review of this album would delve deep into its backstory of health travails and compositional strategizing, but since we’re keeping it brief, suffice to say that if you like your jazz sturdy, nuanced, and inclusive, #entrainments will deliver the goods, and follow them up with a bounty of bonuses.