classic noodlanding

# 2 & Yet & Yet

DoMakeSayThink (Cnstl. 2002)

After seeing the 8-piece play again the other night I feel ridiculous for waiting this long. Some of the most gorgeous instrumental songs/textures with flourishes of psych.,jazz, dub, and space rock. Ear candy to the max. Each instrument is its own earful, and taken together I find sheer loveliness.

sad & warm

# 3 Gold

Starflyer 59 (tooth&nail, 1995)

This album came out right after I got my license and found a home in several places; my/grandma's '78 Malibu and in my headphones as I lay down for sleep. In my post about Silver I talked about my introduction to shoegaze. Well, this album has defined shoegaze and rock for that matter since I first heard it. Following on the heels of Mercury my ears did in fact get lucky twice in the same year, but in a 'messed up' way. Boy did I Need this album at the time and still do today. I just can't believe I put the walls of feedback and overdrive into my ears night after night as I tried to fall asleep. I was 16 years old and though a lot of things were indeed a mess all around me, I wasn't supposed to acknowledge it.

Well J. Martin wrote about 'feeling the mess' and being miserable in a most naked way. Supposedly he spent a month pretty much alone in the studio making this and at one point didn't see the sun for a week. Much like Dungen's Ta Det Lugnt, rock genius seeps out in times of turmoil (and heavy drug use). 11 songs of feeling down because old friends have gone, times have changed, and no one seems to care. But he did put out the invite for those feeling miserable to take a walk his way (2 of my grandparents died in '95). Alright then... right there was my home, in amongst the sweetest overdrive, feedback, tremelo, solos, and dead drums I have ever heard.

I've never heard a more menacing song than 'Dual Overhead Cam' with its dynamics and bass and soloing and ear-splitting feedback. As with most of my favorite albums, there is mystery aplenty within the lyrics and even in the tones of the solos as well. No song is bombastic in that he tries to outdo himself; no, the freakouts are lazy and thick. And when he again hits the stompbox, the melodies are gorgeous. What else? This track order is my bench mark for how to make an album seamless, and I haven't listened to much noise/rock since then because of it. I had the original cd and always thought there was a perfect 1st half (1st 5 songs) and even better 2nd half (last 6). Then he released it on record with the division b/w those songs and I knew I had a treasure.

It was the first record that I bought as I didn't even know that bands still made records. My dad soon after gave me his record collection and Gold is the only record of mine that holds a place in his record box. Family members then starting asking me and C.Ultra in a 'you know they make cds now' tone; ''who still makes records?' Thats where that love began. It's odd that as much as I can't stand 1 word song titles, 'Indiana' with its "baskin in the blue skies of your eyes" takes the cake. At this point I can't really say anything. Do I need to mention how the last song 'One Shot Jaunita' is the best closing track ever and how strange it is and how at the 3:10 mark the 3 soloing guitars....This was my favorite for a decade, and if you ask me on the right day, I'd have to say it still is.

And Behold...

# 4 A Charlie Brown Christmas

Vince Guaraldi Trio (Fantasy, 1965)

Good Grief. Such spirit through the year? Well, I only want what I have coming to me, I only want my fair share. That is...such Beauty Everywhere.

all the old ghosts will let you know

# 5 Mercury

The Prayer Chain (Rode Dog, 1995)

Acid, middle eastern, kinda hard to describe euphoria. Cousin C.Ultra and bro Lucky have already told us about their having been mesmerized by this album at some point as well. Talk about nostalgia, little E had just gone up to get ready for bed and so I was lying down listening to the last few tracks and just like when I was 16, fell under the spell. Something jarred me and I realized I been staring at the ceiling for close to 3 songs, totally immersed. I wasn't near sleep, I wasn't thinking about the day, responsibilities, etc., I was just being taken from earth and was brought abruptly back again. I still believe that was their intention...too far out for the label, the lead singer, the market. And too bad it still hasn't been heard by loads of people. When I put it on during dinner tonight, Sugar said '() Sigur Ros?' I made her wait for it and then she noted how the album isn't dated one bit. From that first minute of drone I remember thinking what? I thought they were grunge and by the end of the album I realized my little ears were getting lucky twice in the same year. I didn't need to listen to much else the rest of that year and thus began me being somewhat choosy with my albums moving forward and let down with what I was used to. The main thing that struck me, drew me in, and has influenced me ever since was the sheer fact that they took the time to let things unfold and crawl and seep in...the length of songs...namely two 9 minute tracks... that was the topic of one night's conversation on the front porch between Lucky and me 12 years ago. Oh, I forgot about the background vocals...Captain?

# 6 Glow

The Innocence Mission (A&M, 1995)

Probably the one and only true 'pop' record on my list this younger album from Karen and Don Peris comes in six notches higher than their Befriended mostly because of time and my nostalgia. Sugar Mama purchased this album before we were together but while we were friends in Bristol, TN. The more we hung out, the more I heard the album; becoming ever more curious of its contents and origins. As I mentioned in my #12, they hail from near Lancaster, PA. Well, all of the myths surrounding that place and its way of life coupled with Sugar coming from PA set up in my mind some idealic pastoral community where people actually lived the stories in these songs. As my list has probably shown, the music I enjoy most is highly personal and that which hopefully (for me) will stand the test of time.

'Keeping Awake' opens the album with a song about Karen not being able to fall asleep because someone (a relative) she loves has come over and she hears them from upstairs. A quarter of these songs reference relatives and family members coming over, going on picnics, taking trips, etc., and while it's not clear who these people are it really doesnt matter. She seems to have a heightened spiritual sense and usually uses nature and the weather as backdrops for many songs. Her anticipation for what each new day can bring and the way in which she wraps those moments into a four minute song is why I like all of it. And Don's guitar is dripping with reverb and wobbling with tremelo the whole way through. They choose to bring Light into the world... and as I allowed myself a 30 sec. listen of a track off their forthcoming album I asked myself how? make music? with children?

# 7 Feel

Nagisa Ni Te (Org, Jagjaguwar, 2002)

Utamono is the so-called Japanese genre which has been translated as 'a sweet lovely song sung at a harsh noise meeting.' That's what Nagisa Ni Te (On the Beach) is all about. Simply put, Feel is avant garde for the simple moments with a little fuzz mixed in. Main man Shinji Shibayama has been crafting these lovely psychedelic songs now for over 20 years but it wasn't until about 10 years ago that he found his inspiration in the fleshly form of Masako Takeda (cover). As I would later come to find out, Shinji sang a lot about Masako on the first Nagisa album and by this time was now singing with her (not always harmonies, but beautiful call and response).

During a late night trip to Radiofree Records about 4 years ago I had put a few albums on the counter before Viva to purchase. Based on what I was buying and what we were talking about at the time (can't recall) he led me over to the two Nagisa albums on the shelf. He thought I'd like this one a little more than their first- On the Love Beach (barely, and for one reason, no Masako), and maybe its because it was the first one I heard and how it had that dream effect on me that led it up the charts immediately.

'The New World' starts things off slower than slow with Masako singing "your soul can light me up any time." I have to add that these songs are indeed so delicate and sometimes innocent that if they were sung in English they may be deemed embarrassing. With titles like 'We', 'Strength of the Waves', and 'Strength of the Wind' you can rightly assume nature is the backdrop for these tales of togetherness. The chorus of 'Song about a River Crossing Song' translates like this: "Ah, we will cross the river/me and you together/ looking out for the sharp rocks below." It's just heavenly they way they join forces, and there are so many instruments played so sparsely and sometimes purposefully awry that it has made me almost despise rerecording takes, with of course that note or that timing being forever lost with a retake. For them, nothing will be infinitely swallowed up, because the waves or the wind will bring it all back. "All you rushing animals that do not know the words for green grass/Come home with us."

sweet, like an apricot

#8 Holiday in Rhode Island

The Softies (K, 2000)

I don't know if it's the purity of the voices or the honesty in the tales that effects me more. Where else can I find the words hem and apricot used in pop songs? These tiny ballads are wrought with the complexities and mysteries of Love... companionship, solitude, blindness, and clarity. The songs just make me feel, well..., swell, especially when they mope-"Me & the Bees." Another heavenly track 1 side 1, "Sleep Away Your Troubles" whose harmonies and wishes are enough to bring tears right out of the gate. But the final song "My Empty Arms" is so haunting and of course full of glockenspiel, it's my favorite. Just don't confuse this with twee, cause it ain't cute.
'Take it downstairs/no one here cares.'

Yeah, it looks good on the wall.

here we come Mr. airplane

#9 Sung Tongs

Animal Collective (FatCat, 2004)

I was waiting on this one like a cat for... . After Spirit (#18), a live show that hurt, Campfire Songs, and Here Comes the Indian all within 5 months time, what was one more? I couldn't get enough. Deacon told me at that show to be ready for a seamless brand of folk/pop unlike any other. I had no idea! Here we have just Avey and Panda again and by now they can do no wrong. Warning: this is the copycat album of the decade (in other words, will be attempted to be remade over and over and over)...'we can do this 'freakfolk' thing too', 'and/or make a weird, scary (says Efrim), or organic cover that will make people believe... .'

A late spring release that was indeed the freshest breeze to grace these ears maybe ever. Soon after it came out we went to San Diego for 3 weeks and it went with us up and down the coast. A few weeks later we were in the mountains of Pennsylvania staying with family, and it road up, down, and around the mountain for 3 more weeks as the june bugs glistened. Not that it's only a summer album, but it for sure boasts of romps of the natural sort. Avey and Panda's harmonies are rough and angelic at the same time while their tireless strumming reminds me of our family bonfires where nothing can go wrong. What makes this album huge though is that while the freedom and creativity blossom between the two in their respective parts, the mixing desk and found sounds are utilized as instruments themselves and add a depth and playfulness that surprises me at every listen.

If we ranked top 1st tracks of our favorite albums, "Leaf House" would be in the running. Full on bellowing with 'meows' at the end. Two longer repetitive strumming numbers ("The Softest Voice", "Visiting Friends") evoke memories of Campfire Songs and are evidence that these guys aren't out to just please those seeking immediate gratification. But built around those are sometimes very short/fun songs that again run the gamut with the vocal cords. "Winter's Love" starts as a mono Beach Boys outtake and then goes aggressively off into a strumming pattern that I can't help but imitate every time I pick up the acoustic. "Kids on Holiday" is my favorite song on the album and is a story about kids hanging out in the airport waiting to board while noticing/making fun of all kinds of people. Oh, and there is a message contained in "College" that some of us may or may not want to here. This album plays...

#10 Abbey Road - The Beatles (Apple, 1969)


My Dad had about 5 Beatles albums and of course I heard them a lot growing up being played on his record player. This one is stuck somewhere inside me. I don't know how much he put it on, but when he gave me his record collection in 1996 and I put it on on my mom's player it was like I had just heard it yesterday even though it had to have been a minimum of 7 years since I had last experienced it. Most of us know all about it, so I'll just speak as to why it's my #10.

To start an album so laid back and bluesy is sick. "Come Together" has so much great tom work (Ringo had finally changed his heads for the whole recording sessions) and the outro. with the soloing is so lazy good. The album is just full of space and room for some of my favorite guitar work ever. The tones, the attacks, the solos are just mind bending. The first side has some classics and then ends with another one of my favorites "She's So Heavy" with it's 7min. of jazz and then repetitive blowout and moog fuzz.

But side 2 is where it's at for me. After "Here Comes the Sun" and the full-on harmony/wall of vocals that is "Because" they pieced together unfinished songs and put some of their best 2min. vocal and guitar work ever into the 7 song suite from "You Never Give Me Your Money" - "The End". From "You Never..." -'oh that magic feeling/nowhere to go' and then their harmonies= other worldly. On the outro. '1234567, all good children go to heaven', the first tambourine hit is how I wish I could get my recorded tam to sound. Silence....crickets....and the most sexy guitar begins the "Sun King" with its Spanish and made up vocals. Ringo's tom work and John's dirty vocals get me off my ass and bring "Polythene Pam" into a dance freak out number with the soloing and tams. Then splash, "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" with arguably my favorite guitar tone ever scratching the skies while Paul's bass gets muddier and muddier. Its just a fun side that stands the test of time for me. I can finally listen to the whole thing without being solely reminded of childhood.

#11 Whole Numbers Play the Basics - Casino versus Japan (Carpark, 2002)


On several occasions during my first full year of teaching I would stumble into Ooh La Latte, the lovely but short lived coffeehouse/retro outfitter in Durham, needing a fix. I had been in enough to befriend the barista (Caesar) and find out that we indeed shared similar loves for slow, ambient, moody music by the fact that when he was working some loud shoegaze was permeating the room. One day I noticed Slowdive's Soulvaki sitting on the counter and asked him if he was gonna put it on. He stated that he already had but that he'd spin it again if I wished. A cup of joe, a couch, 5 min., and 'Allison' later I'm in the most satisfied state in weeks...A few months later Sugar and I are in again for the deep black goodness looking for old furniture. As I'm meandering around I'm hearing some fuzzy beats, walls of synth, and just brooding ambiance continually coming from the speakers. After a few minutes I had to go up and ask who we were hearing. I mean it was freakin dreamy. A girl was working the counter with Caesar and she was like yeah, my friend made me this cd weeks ago and I can't get it away from me. I went home and did a search for CvJ and found this site of sweetness playing. A few days later I was foaming over at Big Cougar's house and Sean b. was there as well. I don't recall them feeling the same and I didn't care.

Somewhere in the dusty depths of cd alley I found the vinyl and that was 2 falls ago. Sugar was pregnant and I was wondering what was about to happen with our lives. So, most nights for reflection and enjoyment I/we listened to this album. I would soon track down their/his Go Hawaii cd that preceded Whole #'s and found it definitely to be more of a 'sunny' album. But this album was for the evening when it would float out of the speakers up to a gathering point at the ceiling and them come dripping down in a haze of warmth and comfort.

I later did some review searches of the album and found the comparisons to all the 'big players' in the electronica scene. But this album seemed to get little if any notice. Thankfully, Erik Kowalski is not the genre defining master that Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada seem to be. His synth sounds, the waves, the filters, and the scratchy sometimes hip-hop beats seem so unassuming yet are so full of depth, warmth, and playfulness. There is enough time to get into that dream state but before you know it, its gone. It's a perfect album in that regard; not saying here, hear this, by cramming it in your ears over and over. But it's the held notes, the brooding arpeggios, the mournfulness, and the sequencing that makes it a wonder. And part 2 of 'if i could be a song' is contained here- 'Making Lake Park in the Sun'.

"some low sinking clouds, become reindeer..."

#12 Befriended - The Innocence Mission


The piano sounds make me think of the old Berea Baptist Church that I would attend with my grandparents during some innocent times. And it makes me think of them, when things seemed to be together, and our family was full of people-breathing.

This couple (Don and Karen Paris) have been putting out records for 15 years and this is their latest and most delicate. They recorded the songs at home in Pennsylvania after the kids were in bed. I don't know what to call Karen's voice, but it's not singing. Don's guitar has been a big influence on my playing; swells of tremolo and reverb with spacey/scattered accents. One of the songs is a hymn. The best part is that they don't sound as if they are performing, its just stories of lives lived and listening to them actually makes life slow down for me. As on most of their records, remembrance and purity and light are interwoven in the stories told. Little things abound. "Beautiful Change" is where it's at.

"two soft voices, blended in perfection"

#13 Quiet is the New Loud - Kings of Convenience (Astralwerks, 2001)


Sugar and I were in Cape Cod on our honeymoon 5 years ago and had stopped into a Borders to get some new music for our trip up to Vermont. We separated and I came back with some "sad bastard music" (Belle&Seb) and one of "5 copies of the Beta Band 3 eps". She met me with only this album saying you're gonna love it. And love it I/We have. The harmonies and acoustics hit me like a breath of fresh air as we ascended into the Green Mountain State. Every song is so delicately delivered and accented perfectly with the piano. I can't not see and feel the lush landscapes, the streams, and the peacefulness that that state offers each time this record plays. Of course sharing it with my new bride was something too...one day we'll see you again Vermont, one day...

Purple Bottle...Blue Collar

#15 Feels - Animal Collective (FatCat, 2005)


The most recent offering from the collective was the second straight album in my countdown that I was too counting down the days till its release. The most recent release on my list is to me a modern masterpiece of psych, folk, and pop all turned on its head and splattered in purple. Passion is dripping from the cover and living on the inside. "Flesh Canoe"; 'And talk to your breath, And we enjoy the air, And I creep on your chest, To the how I love where, Pluck a few notes, On the strings of your hair, And I'm singing to you, What to do, If I asked you to make funny faces with me in the mirror of the bathroom.' As opposed to Spirit, these stories are taking place now. Avey's lyrics are playful and erotic though one gets the sense he's been burned before. But in the end its like, at some point you have to bare it and just dive in and frolic. From my favorite piece "The Purple Bottle"; 'sometimes you hear me when others they can't hear me hallelujah, sometimes i'm naked and thank god sometimes your naked well hello.' All four members' voices groan and chant and Kristin from mum gets reacquainted with her piano and adds delicate noodling on most of the songs, which for me takes them to the heavens. This is my only album that I can recall listening to for 7 straight days without listening to anything else. Um... this album just makes me love music.







#14 Silver - Starflyer 59 (T&N, 1994)


There's too much to tell here. My first shoegaze album and the first time my virgin ears had heard anything of the sort.

Lucky and I used to peruse our youth leader's office for those albums that were 'christian' but didn't sound like it. We used to stay up late to hear 'christian' grunge, punk, metal, rock, and then this sound came blister bombing through the speakers and I happened to catch on a tape who and what it was. We all used to tape the radio, that was our i-tunes. So, we'd have the tapes locked and loaded hoping to catch something cataclysmic and new. "Sin for a Season", their song off the Steve Taylor tribute album is the first SF59 song I ever heard and caught on tape. The next week I reel to reeled 2 from this album and just hit rewind over and over for weeks. What was he saying anyway? How many guitars could be stacked on that wall of drone? It was so downer-as a lot of us were in high school, and yet so immediate and hopeful. And Jason Martin's guitar tone will forever be embedded in my being.

The next logical thing to do was get mom to take me down to the bookstore... all I could find was a white tape called She's the Queen EP. What's an EP? Come to find out this was released just after the stuff I had been dripping into my ears for weeks. Some of the songs were 'lounge' versions of tunes off of Silver. Who in the 'christian' market was reworking and reinterpreting their own stuff? nevermind. Anyway, a d.c.talk freak at church had Silver, wasn't that geeked on it and let me borrow it for awhile. It takes the silver in the Starflyer catalogue. Sorry and thanks to my sis Lynn for enduring the squall during the long rides to school. If I was a song, and I don't want to limit it to just one, you can find me in "the zenith".
"now you're turning blue....the time i spent with you" Blue Collar Love

'Jag tror du förstår...'

#16 Ta Det Lugnt - Dungen (Subliminal Sounds, 2004)


A little over 1 year ago through a series of events I discovered that there was going to be this portal opening at a certain time on a specific day at a definite locale, a gap in the space-time continuum lets say. Well, one other person from this blog happened to be in town that night and was in a desperate mood to take a trip...................where?....................We came back through as time once again aligned an hour and a half later. We had gone back 35 years and ended up in Sweden of all places.

We moved to our current house a little over 2 years ago and the first music related thing I did after hooking up the computer was to check out this Swedish psych/folk band led by one Gustav Ejstes. I heard a couple clips off their Stadsvandrigar ('city walks') album which had been released 2 years prior and it seemed to set a scenery of a land full of greenery and flutes. I tracked down the import for a big chunk of change and knew they had another album coming within the next month. After a month of frolicking with this release I was foaming waiting for another import.

Well, Sugar Mama and I love the '70's Swedish psych band Trad Gras Och Stenar but this guy was too much. Ta Det Lugnt ('take it easy') was like the best of the Beatles pop thrown into a Swedish Prog-Rock anarchy gathering in the woods. Most of the albums on my list can stop me in my tracks either bc of the music or nostalgia or both but when I got home and put this on with little light to see I was speechless. I kept getting up and pacing around...this was made today? Are you kidding? I didn't know what the next track would bring. Jazz drumming freakouts ('panda'), beautiful strings and pop for 4 min. that would turn into him going total fuzz/soloing and blowing out his amp for the final 4min. ('du e for fin for mig'), organ riffs with more fuzz and huge drum rolls for another 4min. then a sax/jazz outro ('ta det lugnt'), to a 'skating'-(charlie brown christmas) clone with gorgeous delayed piano (det du tanker...').

The freakiest thing about this music was the fact that he wrote all of it and played most of it himself. After about 2 weeks of this I said to myself this is going to be one of my favs until I cant dance anymore, so I went out and got the vinyl and actually thought about getting 2 as I knew they only pressed 500. They've since been signed stateside-for better or worse. My dad was recently here and he wanted to hear what was going up on my list. He had just finished spinning records and blowing out my/his speakers (from college) with The Beach Boys Shut Down Vol. 2, Clapton, the Moody Blues, etc. After I played an album that has yet to appear on this list he took a front row seat and sat through the whole thing and dug it. I dig but can't put it higher bc its so young and such a sin to listen to unless you're willing to lose a little more of one of your senses.

#17 The Violet Hour - The Clientele (Merge/Pointy 2003)


As we scribble towards the loneliest number, this album reminds me that I'm never alone if my memory is alive and kicking. This trio from England uses the mind/memory as the key to turn out some seriously hazy pop gems. The past comes alive again in a charmingly lovely, delicately hazy, tenderly charmingly lovely fashion. Alasdair MacLean's voice is seriously saturated in reverb throughout- I'm talking dripping wet. And so the album has an 'old' feel to it, or it's like he's broadcasting from somewhere else.

I first heard 2 songs as I was doing my courier route in downtown Durham listening to WXDU in '03. I had to call the d.j. and find out what I was hearing. I ended up soaking it up for the entire fall. And what a great time to first hear it. My dad and I used to take long walks, sometimes without much said. This album seems like it could be drawn from those aimless meanderings where you're not thinking about or noticing anything, but after awhile you realize you're noticing everything and playing games with the surroundings in your mind. The title after all is The Violet Hour, and so most of these memories come easily cascading down with the haze of an early morning or dusk. Alasdair remembers everything from the sunlight in an empty house, to sitting in a girlfriend's mother's waiting room, to pressing his face against the car window watching the lampposts, to watching the moon coming up through the trees, to spending a day with a girl- who's disappeared by the end of the song , to finally noticing a policeman getting lost in the fog. My favorite tracks would be 'Missing', 'House on Fire', and 'Everybody's Gone'...

#18 Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished - Animal Collective (Animal 2000, FatCat 2003)


After hearing one song of their '03 Here Comes the Indian I had to go out and hunt down some of this psychadelic/psychotic bands offerings. I would later to come to find out the one song I heard off of Indian was nothing like the rest of the album, but what I found in the meantime mezmerized, enchanted, and disturbed me. Although the Collective is 4 guys proper, not every release features Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Deakin, and Geologist. This album is their 1st and features only the first 2. They would prefer to change their name with each release, but something know as greenbacks urges otherwise.

During the first months of listening, I couldnt believe what I was hearing from 2 people-mostly just one...as "Panda played perfect percussion." It was like I was forced to get on one of those carny fun-rides knowing that some of the nuts and bolts were loose/missing, but in order to hear the whole thing as told by the guy standing at the bottom of the first drop next to the carousel, I had to stay on for ride after ride after ride. And I guess when I put it on today its still the same thing, kinda.

Thinking on childhood can be a wonderful and at the same time horrific experience. Well, thats what this album does in 1 hour (if you stick around), and in a highly specific way. Things were better then; we want our innocence back, and can't we just frolic in that state forever? I've never heard anyone try and put these experiences to such unique and garbled sounds before. Magical electronics, tape effects, piano, and screaming about a time lost forever. I needed to go there, especially since I was then being surrounded by kids all day who got to experience this stuff for the first time. It was all flooding back to me...

'Wave them home, As the childhood ends, Turn it fast, As one mild day steals, Someone's soul, Into 20 years, In spirit they've vanished, And I'll show you why, They'll make you take elderly paths by this time, If we would just dump it, In the sea and fly, It's hard to just kiss our Child games goodbye.' "Spirit They've Vanished"

So Avey, or people he knows, gets tripped by the bully, goes out in nature and gets tripped by sex, enters school and sits in soilded clothes, meets an angel in the bathroom, and longs for the day when the ice cream man will again save the day. (he still scares me) We were gonna get here some way or another, just not too fast now...

#20 Agaetis Byrjun - Sigur Ros (FatCat, 2000)


Some guy named Captain Ultra kept driving through the neighborhood trying to get me to get into his suv. He wasn't offering candy though, only swells of guitar and made-up languages. I wished I had given myself up earlier.

This may still be the best selling album in Iceland's history, and well it should be. The recording is beauty. These guys exist to try and make the world right again for a minute or 7. From the first full track, the 10 min. "Svefn-G-Englar" to the last "Agaetis Byrjun" (or "a new beginning") time just stands still for me. This album, like some posts to come, is one where I wish that I had expressed my thoughts on tape or on paper the first few times I experienced it. After years of saturation, copycats, and just the flow of life it's difficult to express how uplifting and other worldly this album is.

Jonsi sings in both Icelandic and a made up Hopelandish-to let his voice soar with the same swells as his bowed guitar playing. Of the 8 proper songs, none clock in at less than 7 min. Epic, but in no way over the top, as his voice floats effortlessly through it all. The first time we saw these guys, tears were rolling after the first song sung off their ( ) album-which is mostly a repetitive vocal exercise (with strings). It was slightly ironic that after being treated to a night of dreaming, hope, and togetherness by a collective from a pastoral/peaceful land, we would leave the club in our nation's capital only to hear the sounds of 'shock and awe' broadcast from Iraq to our car on the invasion's first night.

But that did nothing to change the part of my being that knows that the moments afforded at a show or during the spinning of a record don't have to be imprisoned there. "Olsen Olsen" can make a whole day better by itself. And so can this "Glosoli" video from their most recent album Takk. Memories abound at the second show as well as ahemamen and Shawna and me made it into the orchestra pit at a sold-out show with some persistence and insider savvy.






#19 s/t - DoMakeSayThink (Constellation, 1999)


Same label as Godspeed, but different flavor. Still 2 drummers...but warm analogue synths, spacey guitar, and lots of lounge. This is their first of soon to be 5 albums and it got this guy and this house started on an instrumental frenzy. Because of these guys, 1 of every 3 record purchases is instrumental. 2 of my favorite musical components are exploited here (just not tender breathing): most tracks go beyond 7 min., and there is repetition aplenty. This collective would one day bring us Broken Social Scene and a host of Canadian side projects. Oh, and this album was my friend for 2 years while I was a courier. In my book this is not to be confused with 'other' post-rock. Their catalogue and diversity attests to that.

but can i eat it?

#21 Bavarian Fruit Bread - Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions (rough trade, 2001)



This album was indeed a gift from Captain Ultra almost 5 years ago now. (Big Cougar's memory of SF59 tapes leads me to remember the first time I heard Hope's voice on a now infamous BForbes mix tape that he made me that led me back and forth b/w campus and my country dwelling in Bristol, TN.) We were both Mazzy Star fans and together with Big Cougar and Shawna were going to soon be playing Mazzy's "fade into you" a couple times at shows.

So Ultra quietly passes me this record at the Christmas party at my mom's house. I put it on over the blaring "A Christmas Story" or "24 hours of Eastwood", I really don't remember. What I do remember is being drawn back again and again to the unassuming melodies and wondering where in the world is that voice coming from. Was she a Siren in the midst of those mad moments whilst wrapping paper was being tossed to and fro and 'thank yous' were being yelled? When the clamor died down, would I just hear a tender girl past her prime longing for the shoegaze/psych/folk of her 90's band? Lets just say she put the wind in the sails...

Bavarian Fruit Bread is a seamless album, you know what you're gonna get from the outset. It can seduce you or wrap you in a warm winter blanket, depending on the mood. It stands on Hope's sultry voice and lots of reverb. Colm O Ciosoig (My Bloody Valentine) his her main partner here and brings some of the warmest tones I've ever heard. I love putting this on and knowing there won't be any tempo changes, jarring percussion, or solos. Scratch that last part. There are solos but they are of the glockenspiel and harmonica varieties. I prefer to listen loud so as to hear the tender breathing, mallet washes on the ride, and the creaking of chairs as they record. For subject matter...some simple revelries "its a Clear Day to be out"...playing temptress/older sis "gonna teach her to sin cause i'm always knowing where she's been, living on the wrong side of the tracks"...to... my fav "she looks just like my sister, but feels just like my man."

"The car's on fire, and there's no driver at the wheel..."

#23: F#A#oo - Godspeed You! Black Emperor (1997)


The opening words that would haunt, inspire, and speak of an immediate apocalypse in my life in early 2002. Buildings toppling in on themselves, mothers clutching babies? What? All I knew as I stared out my 20ft. window in Durham was that there was and is something beautiful here. Urgency! This 10-piece 'band', 'orchestra', collective full of anarchists from Canada knows they won't change the world, nor will we, but gets us off of our couches with thundering cataclismic climaxes perhaps asking us to make things better with our time.

My cousin (Hunter/Captain Ultra) introduced me to these guys in the back seat of his ride- hee, hee. Back in Durham I walked down the street to the most kickass record store in this galaxy and found that he had all 3 GYBE albums on vinyl. Well, I started here with the first one. Inside I found a crushed penny from the train tracks outside the 'bands'' studio in Montreal. Also, and as would be the case with all 3 subsequent releases, desperate sketches; this time of a Low/Godspeed flier with a sinking bomb with "Repent" on the side and also a schematic for a ruined tape machine that somehow lays out a manifesto/diagrammnig fear, self-doubt, lack of money/confidence, regret, desire, and hope. Huh?

No song titles on the record. Just two sides of trains rumbling by, looped street preachers, radio hiss, and of course strings/drums/slide anthems. Oh yeah, and some more glockenspiel-im gonna try and have 1 release a day that features the instrument. I don't know of a more influential album on the whole 'post-rock' movement. Those of us who attended their 2003 show around the time of our Invasion,........

".....for sure as the Valley of Death, I opened up my wallet, and it was full of blood"




#22: Handwriting - Khonnor (2004)

It's what you get when you combine a 17 year-old from Vermont armed with cheap equipment with a fan of Jim O'Rourke, My Bloody Valentine, and the Pixies. What Connor Kirby-Long got out of his accoustic, synth, and $10 mic led me to believe that I could make music with what was right next to me. And that's what I did. 2 months after Efrim was born I found this album and it became my 'summer' album. Every morning when he took a nap, I took a trip with these mini-epic songs. Not a lot of cynicism here, just the thoughts of an aged adolescent and some serious skill with the use of space. Anyway, I ended up packing up a crate of cables, pedals, and kids instruments and taking it to PA later that summer to play around with. 3 songs did happen.
There is so much haze goodness on this album. Daylight and Delight is my fav.

25-24

# 25: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, & Thyme - Simon and Garfunkel (1966)

An album 40 years old, yet still so full of hope, exuburance, and pop culture commentary. This one has the entire back side of the sleeve full of dissection/praise for the genius it is. If we could all have someone who adores our compositions pimp us like that. The shimmering "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" is the song which of course brings the album's title to life and is probably the best known. My favorite is the cheery/glockenspiel laden "Cloudy". They employed irony at certain turns as well towards the political/folk situation of the times in "A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd Into Submission)". Today we could change this title to maybe "...Karl Rove'd Into Submission. The "7 O'Clock News/Silent Night" would have to be altered a little too to "5, 5:30, 6, 6:30, 10, 11 O'Clock News". I can't help but feeling joy in hearing "The 59th St. Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)".



# 24: s/t - Shalabi Effect (2000)

I believe this is the second release from Alien 8 Recordings to make the list today...Over 2 hours of spacey, psych, middle eastern influenced drone from Canada. This album is a drug. Like many of my favorites it requires patience and the right mood. Just don't try to dance to to it, well, Shawna does and can. Two of my favorites Mokoondi, On the Bowery (the only vocal track) are each 13 min. in length and take me somewhere. On the 1st disc, opening track "Wyoming", we get to hear the alphabet recited at about the 9 min. mark underneath the drone. Also included-oud, tabla, and scraped metal.