-
neumu
Friday, December 6, 2024 
-
-
--archival-captured-cinematronic-continuity error-daily report-datastream-depth of field--
-
--drama-44.1 khz-gramophone-inquisitive-needle drops-picture book-twinklepop--
-
Neumu = Art + Music + Words
Search Neumu:  

illustration
44.1kHz = music reviews

edited by michael goldbergcontact




Editor's note: We have activated the Neumu 44.1 kHz Archive. Use the link at the bottom of this list to access hundreds of Neumu reviews.

+ Donato Wharton - Body Isolations
+ Svalastog - Woodwork
+ Tim Hecker - Harmony In Ultraviolet
+ Rosy Parlane - Jessamine
+ Jarvis Cocker - The Jarvis Cocker Record
+ Múm - Peel Session
+ Deloris - Ten Lives
+ Minimum Chips - Lady Grey
+ Badly Drawn Boy - Born In The U.K.
+ The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls Together
+ The Blood Brothers - Young Machetes
+ The Places - Songs For Creeps
+ Camille - Le Fil
+ Wolf Eyes - Human Animal
+ Christina Carter - Electrice
+ The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
+ Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
+ Various Artists - Musics In The Margin
+ Rafael Toral - Space
+ Bob Dylan - Modern Times
+ Excepter - Alternation
+ Chris Thile - How To Grow A Woman From The Ground
+ Brad Mehldau - Live in Japan
+ M Ward - Post-War
+ Various Artists - Touch 25
+ The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
+ The White Birch - Come Up For Air
+ Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country
+ Coachwhips - Double Death
+ Various Artists - Tibetan And Bhutanese Instrumental And Folk Music, Volume 2
+ Giuseppe Ielasi - Giuseppe Ielasi
+ Cex - Actual Fucking
+ Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
+ Leafcutter John - The Forest And The Sea
+ Carla Bozulich - Evangelista
+ Barbara Morgenstern - The Grass Is Always Greener
+ Robin Guthrie - Continental
+ Peaches - Impeach My Bush
+ Oakley Hall - Second Guessing
+ Klee - Honeysuckle
+ The Court & Spark - Hearts
+ TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
+ Awesome Color - Awesome Color
+ Jenny Wilson - Love And Youth
+ Asobi Seksu - Citrus
+ Marsen Jules - Les Fleurs
+ The Moore Brothers - Murdered By The Moore Brothers
+ Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope
+ The 1900s - Plume Delivery EP
+ Alejandro Escovedo - The Boxing Mirror
+ Function - The Secret Miracle Fountain
+ Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
+ Loscil - Plume
+ Boris - Pink
+ Deadboy And The Elephantmen - We Are Night Sky
+ Glissandro 70 - Glissandro 70
+ Calexico - Garden Ruin (Review #2)
+ Calexico - Garden Ruin (Review #1)
+ The Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics
+ The Glass Family - Sleep Inside This Wheel
+ Various Artists - Songs For Sixty Five Roses
+ The Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea
+ Motorpsycho - Black Hole/Blank Canvas
+ The Red Krayola - Introduction
+ Metal Hearts - Socialize
+ American Princes - Less And Less
+ Sondre Lerche And The Faces Down Quartet - Duper Sessions
+ Supersilent - 7
+ Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time
+ Dudley Perkins - Expressions
+ Growing - Color Wheel
+ Red Carpet - The Noise Of Red Carpet
+ The Essex Green - Cannibal Sea
+ Espers - II
+ Wilderness - Vessel States

44.1 kHz Archive



peruse archival
snippet
    
artist
The Microphones
recording
Song Islands
K
snippet
rating


The Microphones' Song Islands is a compilation of 21 songs, including many rarities from scattered seven-inches. As such, it's not cohesive like 2001's tremulous masterpiece, The Glow: Part II, a loose concept album that approached the level of opera. Yet, Song Islands is alternately lovely, interesting and noisy, and leader Phil Elvrum's play with form is self-reflexive and appealing, although sometimes obscure. The album will likely be most enjoyable for Microphones and Elvrum completists.

Elvrum's tender, trembly vocals work like a stirring wake-up call. On Song Islands, as with previous works, they're sometimes set to acid post-rock; at others they accompany gentle nylon-stringed guitar that achieves Elvrum's own signature harp-like timbre. Most songs are personal, characterized by experimentation upon traditional forms and themes of romance and nature.

Different sounds and moods range across the compilation. There are deconstructive, poetic experiments with percussion, like "Bass Drum Dream" and "Heavy Eyes." "Moon Moon" is a sugar-sweet duet thick with feedback, while "Wake Me Up" is a jazzy, orchestral jaunt through feedback. "Deeply Buried" is a contemplative, droning wash with bells.

There are also melodic and pretty — yet wonderfully ragged — choral works featuring Olympia, Wash.'s musical lights. These ingénues include K Records recording artists Mirah, Kaela Maricich (The Blow), Kyle Field of Little Wings (one of Will Oldham's top 10 favorite artists) and the Anacortes Knw-Yr-Own label's Karl Blau (D+, Captain Fathom), as well as K Records founder Calvin Johnson (Dub Narcotic Sound System, Beat Happening). Such choral works include the funny, vintage-y "I'm a Pearl Diver," the sexy, downbeat "Lanterns," the yearning, earnest "I Listen Close," and, especially, the lovely, the memorable, the sweet "I Can't Believe You Actually Died," possibly about Elvrum's first musical mentor, his great-grandmother, who was an original settler of Anacortes and a music teacher. Another experimental choral moment, innocent and fresh, is "The Glow: Pt 4."

It's said that Elvrum pulls whoever is at Dub Narcotic into his studio when he's ready to record. You never know exactly who it's going to be — perhaps it's Jason Anderson of Wolf Colonel, Adam Forkner of Yume Bitsu, or Dennis Driscoll! He sets up a mic in the center of the room, briefly teaches his vocalists the song (an approach he employs during live performances as well), and then records in analog in one take. With the wide variety of beautiful and/or textured and/or expressive voices he has to work with, this recording strategy is a success, and the songs breathe with life, like organic beings pumped with air.

Some tracks are embryonic forms of songs that made it onto prior albums, such as "The Moon" on The Glow: Part 2, or "Where It's Hotter Pts. 1, 2, 3" from The Microphones' first LP, 1999's Don't Wake Me Up.

It may take a couple listens and some exploration to hear what's contained in Song Islands. However, it is certainly worth "island hopping" from song to song and sound to sound. Elvrum is a unique conceptualist breaking free of old forms, and The Microphones often achieve a sound that is fresh and free of cliché. While new listeners may be better off beginning with The Glow: Part II, Song Islands has its merits and deserves close listens. Wear headphones.


by Jillian Steinberger




-
-snippetcontactsnippetcontributorssnippetvisionsnippethelpsnippetcopyrightsnippetlegalsnippetterms of usesnippetThis site is Copyright © 2003 Insider One LLC
-