Chuck Johnson was a new name to me, though he’s been around for years in bands like Spatula, Idyll Swords, and Shark Quest. His new gig is virtuosic picking of the steel-stringed guitar, and this one is a real beauty. We’ve been covering some great guitar albums lately, this one stands right up there with [...]
Three Lobed Recordings just posted the preorder for the newest album by the Gunn-Truscinski Duo, “Ocean Parkway”. If you were at all a fan of “Sand City”, their last release, you’re going to love this one. It takes their brand of Americana psychedelia even further, as guitarist and percussionist have almost melded into one here. [...]
For her new material, Alicia Merz has taken her Birds of Passage moniker deeper and darker than it’s ever gone before. Taking heavy instrumental influence from drone, ambient, and field recordings, Merz is able to craft these minimal soundscapes into stunningly beautiful outsider-folk/pop masterpieces. The full-length is amazing, the 10″ EP contains a collaboration with [...]
We are more than excited to see a new LP from Ilyas Ahmed – especially on Immune, who did such a fine job with the 2xLP pressing of Between Two Skies/Towards The Night. With Endless Fire sees the artist further solidifying his position as one of the most gifted artists in the droning realms of [...]
Wow. $70 for a 3xLP is always a dubious proposition. It depends mostly upon how much you love said band and especially, said album. Luckily this is easily one of the best feel-good psych albums of our generation… but why the exorbitant price tag? Well, it is the Holidays. And also, this is imported all [...]
Late breaking Tape Tuesday announcement on account of no announcements this morning: this C50 from folked up freaks Sylvester Anfang II just popped into the Brave Mysteries shop. This compiles two previous releases from the enigmatic collective. Funereal psychedelia for graveyard fetishists, limited to 100 at $7 each or score five tapes for $30 (this [...]
We are pretty much constantly blown away by what Thrill Jockey is doing, you should know that by now. They’ve got two even-better-than-usual records out right now, wanted to give the quick heads up. First comes “2013-3102″ from The Skull Defekts. This isn’t your average Skull Defekts record though. In addition to the legendary Daniel [...]
We’ve written about the awesome dark folk of King Dude in the past, and now Dais Records is offering his first proper full-length. From what I’ve heard, these are his best recordings yet, purely genius weirdo songwriting. Limited to 500 copies in die-cut sleeves for $17. Hear a sample and order at DaisRecords.com.
If you’re into virtuosic acoustic guitar jams, its hard to do better than England’s James Blackshaw. Though the instrument list on “Holly” is fairly extensive, the finished sound is decidedly minimal, mostly relying on guitar and piano. These two side-long pieces should keep the finger-picking purists happy, it’s Blackshaw to the core. We’ve expressed enough [...]
Students of Decay have got another winning vinyl platter on their hands, following up on excellent LPs from Caboladies and Aquarelle with this stunning set of guitar-centered pieces from Danny Paul Grody. In Search of Light follows in the tradition of many folks who have come before (probably can’t finish this writeup without dropping the [...]
