Those Mountains

RIP Levon Helm

Really sad to hear of the death of Levon Helm. Music From Big Pink was the next step I took from Dylan when falling for American music. I’ve been listening to The Basement Tapes a lot of late.

The Band - Up On Cripple Creek

Upcoming Those Mountains DJ Sets

I have a couple of live DJ sets coming up at Wayside and Woodland Recordings showcases at Union Chapel, London and Ikon Gallery, Birmingham. It will be different to anything I’ve played in the past, incorporating field recordings, found sounds and unreleased material by artists on the label, as well as music by their contemporaries.

Wayside and Woodland Recordings is an independent record label based in Staffordshire.

April 7th, 12pm – Union Chapel, Islington. More information here and here. This is a free afternoon event.

April 20th, 7.30pm – Ikon Gallery, Birmingham. More information here.

Grandaddy - Fentry
The Broken Down Comforter Collection | 1999 | Out of Print (Buy Used)

Bands just don’t split up like they used to, do they? Today Pitchfork announced that Grandaddy will play together live for the first time in 7 years. The only UK date so far is a headline slot at End of the Road Festival. This reconvening makes a lot of sense - the band originally broke up due to the difficulty of making a living from touring. The indie rock audience that held them dear, if they’re anything like me, is likely to be more nostalgia prone and willing to pay good money to see them.

I’ve been listening to the charming, scrappy The Broken Down Comforter Collection a lot lately. The instrumental ‘Fentry’ comes off as a slacker take on G-funk. As I’ve mentioned before, the older I get, the more this band resonate with me.

Real Estate - Suburban Beverage
Live on the Radio | Underwater Peoples, 2010

Off to see Kurt Vile/ Sonic Boom/ Real Estate tomorrow night at Koko in London. It’s an NME thing, which I’ve never really read - I thought it was more of an outlet for landfill indie than American exports.

Anyway, I’ve been listening to Live on the Radio a lot lately, which sees Real Estate strip back songs from their first album for a campfire singalong vibe. ‘Suburban Beverage’s’ “Budweiser, Sprite, do you feel alright” becomes a beautiful mantra for slacking off, a feel that extends throughout this easygoing set. 

The record is out of print, but you can find the MP3s in the darker corners of the internet.

Modest Mouse - Dramanine
This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About (1996)

One of the most exciting musical journeys is one in reverse, through the back catalogue of a great band. One of my favourites was working back from Modest Mouse’s Good News For People Who Love Bad News, realising this skewed pop album was born out of something more chaotic and unhinged that united ’80s hardcore, Built to Spill riffing, cheap speed and trailer trash wisdom. ‘Dramanine’ kicks off their second full album and feels like the beginning of Modest Mouse proper, where their scrappy early experiments coalesced into a sound as bracing as a toothache, giving urgency to Isaac Brock’s barked, pithy philosophy: “we kiss on the mouth but still cough down our sleeves”.

‘Dramanine’ is a kind of anti-road song, a further perversion of the classic rock imagery Modest Mouse draw on and subvert. I imagine some punchdrunk dude weaving across the road popping anti-sickness pills, churning over a nasty row - “I’ve said what I’d said and you know what I mean / But I still can’t focus on anything”.

Serenity Now! // Those Mountains Mix 01.2012

New music wise, January started off slowly but gathered momentum with a few teaser tracks from veteran artists popping up ahead of full length releases in the coming months. I’m particularly looking forward to Lambchop’s Mr. M, which sees the Nashville collective taking a fresh approach to their well-worn soulful country template, partly inspired by Frank Sinatra and the passing of Vic Chesnutt. Also Sharon Van Etten’s Tramp, a document of a transient 14 month period in the Brooklynite’s life, where the only constant was recording with Aaron Dessner of The National.

This month I’ve been raiding used bins to fill gaps in my ‘mid-period’ indie rock collection, with tracks from Grandaddy’s The Broken Down Comforter Collection and The Flaming Lips’ Clouds Taste Metallic below.I’ve also finally started to get into Guided By Voices, a band I knew were essential but I found their prolific output daunting. I’m starting with Bee Thousand, commonly held to me their masterpiece - I’m smitten. John Sellers entertaining indie rock memoir Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life reminded me to check them out.

Title inspired by re-watching season 9 of Seinfeld and the cover image was taken while visiting the Natural History Museum a couple of weeks back.

 

Cate Le Bon - Puts Me To Work (mp3 at rcrd lbl)
From CRYK | Out Now (US)

Andrew Bird - Eyeoneye
From Break It Yourself | Out 6 March

The Flaming Lips - Placebo Headwound
From Clouds Taste Metallic | 1996

Guided By Voices - The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
From Bee Thousand | 1994

Grandaddy - Fentry
From The Broken Down Comforter Collection | 1999

Lambchop - If Not I’ll Just Die (mp3 at Soundcloud)
From Mr M. | Out 20 February

Palace Brothers - The Brute Choir
From Viva Last Blues | Reissue out 27 February

Damien Jurado - Museum of Flight(mp3 via Secretly Canadian)
From Maroqopa | Out 20 February

Sharon Van Etten - Serpents (mp3 via Jagjaguwar)
From Tramp | Out 7 February

The War on Drugs - Don’t Fear The Ghost
From Come To The City 7” | Out Now

Dirty Three - Rising Below (mp3 at rcrd lbl)
From Toward The Low Sun | Out 28 February

You Will Miss Me When I Burn

This time next month (27 February), Domino will reissue the five albums Will Oldham recorded between ‘93 and ‘97 under the Palace alias he used before Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. All five, including mini album Hope, will be out on vinyl and record sleeve-style digipack CD, featuring new artwork and liner notes.

I came to Oldham’s Palace work via his later, more refined albums under the Bonnie name and was astounded by their raw, ragged intimacy and the way they revel in their lo-fi settings. Can’t wait to drop the needle on ‘The Brute Choir’ from Viva Last Blues in particular.

Below, a Palace session recorded for John Peel, 5 June 1994:

Belated Best Albums of 2011

Click above for the whole thing.

THE WAR ON DRUGS - SLAVE AMBIENT | Come To The City (MP3)
Secretly Canadian | Buy

BILL CALLAHAN - APOCALYPSE | America (MP3)
Drag City | Buy

BON IVER - BON IVER  | Calgary (MP3)
Jagjaguwar | Buy

EPIC45 - WEATHERING | Summer Message (MP3)
Make Mine Music | Buy

REAL ESTATE - DAYS | Easy (Youtube)
Domino | Buy

KURT VILE - SMOKE RING FOR MY HALO
Jesus Fever (MP3) | Matador | Buy

A. A. BONDY - BELIEVERS | The Heart Is Willing (Youtube)
Fat Possum | Buy

JULIAN LYNCH - TERRA | Terra (MP3)
Underwater Peoples | Buy

JULIANNA BARWICK - THE MAGIC PLACE | The Magic Place (MP3)
Asthmatic Kitty | Buy

GRUFF RHYS - HOTEL SHAMPOO | Sensations In the Dark (Youtube)
Turnstile | Buy

KING CREOSOTE AND JON HOPKINS - DIAMOND MINE | John Taylor’s Month Away (Youtube)
Domino | Buy

THE SEA AND CAKE - THE MOONLIGHT BUTTERFLY | Up On The North Shore (MP3 via Epitonic)
Thrill Jockey | Buy

STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS - MIRROR TRAFFIC | Tigers (MP3)
Matador | Buy

MEGAFAUN - MEGAFAUN | Get Right (MP3 via Pitchfork)
Hometapes | Buy

CASS MCCOMBS - WIT’S END | County Line (MP3 via Epitonic)
Domino |Buy

DIRTY BEACHES - BADLANDS | Lord Knows Best
ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER - REPLICA | Replica
THE MOUNTAIN GOATS - ALL ETERNALS DECK | Damn These Vampires
CENTRO-MATIC - CANDIDATE WALTZ | Only In My Double Mind
MOUNT MORIAH - MOUNT MORIAH
WOODS - SUN AND SHADE | Pushing Onlys
THURSTON MOORE - DEMOLISHED THOUGHTS | Benediction
CASS MCCOMBS - HUMOR RISK | The Same Thing
WYE OAK - CIVILIAN | Dog’s Eyes
WILCO - THE WHOLE LOVE | Art of Almost