I was really stoked on czechin’ the new Lindsey Buckingham joint the other night, as L-Train and I are both huge Fleetwood Mac fans. And after listening, we were very sad about it. Now that Lindsey isn’t scoring blow and beating up his girlfriends, his tunes are slowly waning in smooth rock quality. I don’t even remember what it sounds like now, my mind has repressed that shit really fast. My brain’s fast like fast actin’ Tenactin.
So I was in a very bad way before pumping proper on the new Magik Markers jam hive. It’s a recently dropped, limited release, comically titled EP called Gucci Rapidshare Download, part of Three Lobed Recordings’ Oscillations III series (with artwork by my friend Robert Beatty). Within two minutes, I had endorphins kickin’ in, the spunk came back, and I was in such a good mood, I was ready to rake some of my neighbors’ leaves as a random act of kindness. Continue reading ‘Feelin’ Groovy with Magik Markers’
You’re more than welcome, of course, to read my additional commentary on this matter, but if you just want the gist of it, all you need to know is that Hush Arbors‘ new eponymous record is a scorcher! It laid my ghetto blaster to waste.
I already expected Keith Wood’s (a.k.a. Hush Arbors) debut for Ecstatic Peace to valiantly score from the three-point line. I had a chance to see him play a great opening set for pal and collaborator Six Organs of Admittance circa late 2005, so I thought I understood what I was getting into. Turns out I was wrong. I did not expect Hush Arbors, just released Tuesday, to be a comprehensively destructive force of mysticism replete with melodic beauty and modal explorations.
Hush Arbors, as far as the whole freak folk/New Weird America thing goes (I begrudgingly use this term), has always struck me as the obvious choice for ambassador of the aforementioned movement, as he offers the perfect median point for the disparate sounds found therein. Wood’s take on psychedelic folk demonstrates that it is not necessarily his intent to destroy strong structures, nor is it his intent to play it straightforward and traditional. However, Hush Arbors has gone above and beyond comparison to similar artists. It’s no longer fair to say “this is a great offering from the New Weird America camp,” it’s only befitting to describe this self-titled record as a monumental collection of music that stands up against any album, anywhere. I’m not trying to overhype this really, but Hush Arbors rules so hard. Hush Arbors’ adventurous, wide-ranging sonic paintbrush invokes the past whilst thrusting the very notion of folk rock into future territories. In short, Keith Wood just dropped the type of album that separates the men from the boys. Continue reading ‘Hush Arbors Releases a Scorcher’
Of course it’s no surprise that the new Religious Knives full-length is good. Like Smuckers, if it says Ecstatic Peace on the label, it has to be good. With that said, The Door is still a nice surprise, considering how different it sounds from Resin released earlier this year (though the latter is a collection of older material and some live renditions).
The most noticeable and significant difference between The Door and Religious Knives’ earlier drone trips is that the band, sometime between then and now, got really funky. This is established in the first few seconds of opening brain burner “Downstairs.” If the low end were of a higher tempo, you could easily lay it against a blaxploitation film score. No foolin’. Continue reading ‘Religious Knives’ Gnarly Magical Mystery Tour’
