While I’ve always enjoyed Grouper’s recorded work, she’s a whole other beast live. The first 15 minutes of her performance at last month’s ATP festival *slamming head on desk for not going* is nothing but the most epic nature music ever. Flying over mountains, exploring oceanic trenches – her live shit is stratospheric and aquatic. I can’t stop listening to this excerpt. Thanks WFMU for winning at everything.

You can grip the entire bootleg here.

MP3 :::
Grouper – Live @ ATP [excerpt]

Pumice, aka Stefan Neville or that band from New Zealand who aren’t Flight of the Conchords, has been quietly releasing a steady flow of bittersweet fuzz-folk over the past decade. His insular output fuses lo-fi pioneers like Tall Dwarfs or Guided by Voices with the enigmatic drone craftsmanship of C. Spencer Yeh.

This month, Neville split a new 7″ with current tour mate Grouper on Soft Abuse. Joined in sunken optimism, each side beautifully contrasts the unique approaches of both artists. The art-damaged garage rock of Pumice’s contribution, “Twin Neck Double Kick Bum Chin,” is punctuated by creeping nostalgia. Having gradually abandoned the jeering sense of humor that characterized early efforts like I’ll Take No Chances Near a Volcano, this feels like a natural place for Pumice to be twelve years later.

It’s hard to predict what the next full-length will sound like. Middle-career albums like 2000’s Raft traded off coastal drifts with warm level-peaking explosions, chasing each idea to its polar destination. Since finding a new home on Soft Abuse, Neville has begun to funnel his eclecticism into a concise persona. No less Pumice than the day he kicked things off, the scattered charms were highly concentrated on albums like 2007’s Pebbles and last year’s Quo.  Sometimes, they even resembled the veiled, isolated spaces of The Microphones, like on Quo’s smokey rambler, “Thermos in the Studio”.

Against the tyranny of distance, Pumice has remained tragically under-discovered outside of his homeland. We can only hope Grouper will return the favor and invite him stateside for another tour, but until then, we have a more than sufficient back catalogue to revel in. You can explore Pumice’s albums through Soft Abuse and Last Visible Dog.

MP3 :::
Pumice – Thermos in the Studio
Pumice – Twin Neck Double Kick Bum Chin

An intense ice storm swept over Louisville this week.  Something like a quarter million people around Louisville are still without power.  Things are apocalyptic.  And my car has a branch on it. 

It makes you think.  I can remember, lucidly, what he was like before he had a huge fucking branch on him.  He’s a 1996 Toyota Camry.  He’s got four doors that open, as well as close.  The “y” is missing on the rear end, so when you ghost ride up from behind, my automobile reads more like “Camr.”  That’s where he got his name – Camr’on – named after one of my favorite songwriters (though the apostrophe is in a different place than the actual Cam’ron for logistical purposes).  Camr’on and I shared good times and bad.  He trudged on like a fucking champ all throughout the holiday pilgrimage quest.  He takes me to and from work.  He was excited to take us to camping trips in the spring, as well.

Camr’on was efficient – usually scoring 28 to 30 MPG highway.  He’s top of his class.  Camr’on has a V6 and does not fuck around.  It’s not easy being green, but Camr’on pulls it off well.  Under some light, he looks blue.  And under other light, he looks happy.

Though I will also cherish the memories that I had of Camr’on before he had a branch on him, I will love and accept this new Cam’ron.  It’s just like when my grandfather got Alzheimer’s.  You learn to love the new person just the same.  I’ll miss you Camr’on Sans Branch, but I’m ready to help you (and I as well) learn to accept your new branchful life, Camr’on.

MP3 :::
Incredible String Band – Swift As the Wind
High Places – The Storm
Grouper – Wind and Snow
Swirlies – Park the Car By the Side of the Road
Mayo Thompson – Around the Home
Can – Swan Song
United States of America – Coming Down

Long time no write.  I’ve been too busy sorting through the copious amounts of hate mail I’ve received for calling the new Animal Collective record slightly disappointing.  Anyway, I figured that there hasn’t been much Super Swingin’ Mix action happening as of late, so that seemed  fitting for the first entry of the year.

Quite a lot of winter left to go for those of us living in the humid continental climate zone who experience four distinct seasons.  I dunno about you, but I enjoy expansive, sparse, spacey, folk-inclined music during frigid winter evenings, when there’s a shimmering blanket of frost on the ground and a stillness in the air.  Maybe you don’t.  If so, too bad, because that’s what this evening’s mix is about.  Eight club bangers carefully sequenced and best enjoyed after dark.

MP3 :::
Broadcast – Unchanging Window
Jessica Bailiff – Evidence
Grouper – Stuck
Chef Menteur – Europa
Faust – Giggy Smile
Red House Painters – Mistress
The Byrds – Draft Morning
Marmoset – Winter