The Man Who Died In His Boat is a collection of outtakes from 2008’s Dragging a Dead Deer up a Hill, which saw Grouper setting aside electronics for acoustic instruments and reverb. But none of that really matters, because knowing who Grouper is or hearing Dragging… aren’t prerequisites for enjoying this record.
ambient
Record #194: Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (2000)
While critics of post rock often hold up Explosions in the Sky as the face of the genre’s more overly sentimental tendencies, Godspeed You! Black Emperor is cited as its overly ambitious, abstract dark side. And while this is true, like most criticisms of post rock, it also can serve as great praise.
They have more in common with classical symphonies than movie soundtracks, their narratives are more abstract than visual. Likewise, their presence is closer to that of an orchestra than a rock band,
And on Lift Yr. Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven, the strength of the work matches the height of their ambitions. The record is two discs, and each side is a single work with several movements. While much of the album arranges and rearranges the same eerie, droning textures, guitar-based post rock, and vocal samples, Lift Yr. Skinny Fists… mostly showcases the vastness of GY!BE’s template.
The opening minutes present the some of the purest jubilance that post rock has ever offered the world. Later, mourning violins and a screwdriver-fretted guitar weep under a pastor’s homily. “When you penetrate the most high God, you will believe you are mad. You will believe you’ve gone insane,” he proclaims. And as the record traffics through neo-classical, downtempo guitar jazz, sludging stoner rock, thrash metal, it seems that perhaps GY!BE really has seen the face of God. And it is their duty as artists to show what they have seen.
And on Lift Yr. Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven, the strength of the work matches the height of their ambitions. The record is two discs, and each side is a single work with several movements. While much of the album arranges and rearranges the same eerie, droning textures, guitar-based post rock, and vocal samples, Lift Yr. Skinny Fists… mostly showcases the vastness of GY!BE’s template.
The opening minutes present the some of the purest jubilance that post rock has ever offered the world. Later, mourning violins and a screwdriver-fretted guitar weep under a pastor’s homily. “When you penetrate the most high God, you will believe you are mad. You will believe you’ve gone insane,” he proclaims. And as the record traffics through neo-classical, downtempo guitar jazz, sludging stoner rock, thrash metal, it seems that perhaps GY!BE really has seen the face of God. And it is their duty as artists to show what they have seen.
Record #174: Animal Collective – Sung Tongs (2004)
For a while, I held the assumption that everything Animal Collective did before Strawberry Jam was impenetrably avant garde, stomping along like some pagan ritual that had more to do with hollering through synth noises than making anything concerned with the traditional definition of music, let alone pop music. Then, it came to my attention that they had at one point made an acoustic album, and curiosity bade me to seek it out.
Record #115: The Antlers – Undersea (2012)
Pete Silberman, frontman and former soloman of the Antlers made his releasing cathartic folk wrapped in ambient textures. Hospice, the project’s breakthrough, was heart wrenching, concept heavy, whisper quiet, and sonically (minus the track Bear) and lyrically devastating. Last year’s Burst Apart, however, saw him, following the addition of another multi-instrumentalist and drummer, shifting from that lyric-heavy catharsis and more fully into the ambience.
Record #103: Cocteau Twins – Victorialand (1986)
Somewhere between Treasure and Victorialand, the Cocteau Twins’ drummer quit.
Rather than hire a session guy or put an ad out in the paper, they decided to make their record without one. Continue reading
Record #71: Brian Eno – Ambient 1: Music for Airports (1978)
There are a handful of records that I put on if I just want to drown in texture, without being barraged by coherent lyrics or rhythms. Those records are Victorialand by Cocteau Twins, In a Silent Way by Miles Davis, Loveless by My Bloody Valentine, and this, Brian Eno’s first effort of creating ambient music that is, as he says, “as ignorable as it is interesting.”
Record #21: Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel (2008)
Bradford Cox is, for lack of a better word, prolific. Not only does he manage to fill the role of primary frontman and guitarist in Deerhunter, he also maintains an equally impressive solo project at the same time.
Between his main band and his Atlas Sound moniker, Cox has released new material every year since 2007. 2008 saw four releases, with Deerhunter’s double-release of Microcastles and Weird Era, Cont., and this LP/EP set.
What’s even more remarkable than his great prolificacy is his consistency. Every album released in the past five years has been truly great, even as far as his musical center has traveled in those years.
Between his main band and his Atlas Sound moniker, Cox has released new material every year since 2007. 2008 saw four releases, with Deerhunter’s double-release of Microcastles and Weird Era, Cont., and this LP/EP set.
What’s even more remarkable than his great prolificacy is his consistency. Every album released in the past five years has been truly great, even as far as his musical center has traveled in those years.
With this in mind, it’s just about impossible to talk about Atlas Sound without talking about Deerhunter. Unlike other main band/solo project relationships, there is a constant dialogue between Cox’s full-time job and his hobby.
This album, his first official solo release (he had recorded under this nom-de-plume since he was a teenager) finds him delving once more into the ambient meanderings of Deerhunter’s excellent Cryptograms. But, while that LP featured hazy atmospherics that would recede to punk-tinged pop songs, here those atmospheres serve as the basis of those songs instead of transitional pieces. It’s an incredibly laid back record. When necessary, tape loops and drum machines are called in to add a beat to swirling drone of heavily effected guitar and synth pads that serves as the focal point of most of the songs.
Cox’s use of his voice supplements the haunting textures. Whether he’s singing single vowels or stretching his words across measures, he takes his time to say what he wants to say, which is unclear–the lyrics are ambiguous and the vocal track is drowned in the mix. Instead, the emphasis is on the wash of sound flowing out of the speakers, and it is an excellent wash of sound, to say the least.
Another Bedroom EP, included on the vinyl version of the release, is very much in the same vein. However, this time around the wooshing guitars and ambient vocalizations are paired with softly played drums and the occasional acoustic guitar. Unlike most other EPs, the non-lead tracks don’t feel like filler. Rather they are all fully fleshed ideas that flourish in the same way as the single (even the loop-based Spring Break).
Previous listens to this album (all digital, as I procured the physical copy less than an hour ago) rolled over me like a warm breeze; it was a pleasant experience, but I wasn’t left with too much of substance. This closer listen reveals much to latch onto. It’s a subtly wonderful record that exists in the realm of ambient without falling into the realm of boring. But what is important to remember is that this is primarily a bedroom record–Cox performed, sang, and recorded every sound here himself–and while it maintains certain elements of DIY, the record never forces you to listen through the limitations of the recording process. Instead, it is a beautiful and pleasing affair that I’m certain will become a frequent visitor of my turntable.
This album, his first official solo release (he had recorded under this nom-de-plume since he was a teenager) finds him delving once more into the ambient meanderings of Deerhunter’s excellent Cryptograms. But, while that LP featured hazy atmospherics that would recede to punk-tinged pop songs, here those atmospheres serve as the basis of those songs instead of transitional pieces. It’s an incredibly laid back record. When necessary, tape loops and drum machines are called in to add a beat to swirling drone of heavily effected guitar and synth pads that serves as the focal point of most of the songs.
Cox’s use of his voice supplements the haunting textures. Whether he’s singing single vowels or stretching his words across measures, he takes his time to say what he wants to say, which is unclear–the lyrics are ambiguous and the vocal track is drowned in the mix. Instead, the emphasis is on the wash of sound flowing out of the speakers, and it is an excellent wash of sound, to say the least.
Another Bedroom EP, included on the vinyl version of the release, is very much in the same vein. However, this time around the wooshing guitars and ambient vocalizations are paired with softly played drums and the occasional acoustic guitar. Unlike most other EPs, the non-lead tracks don’t feel like filler. Rather they are all fully fleshed ideas that flourish in the same way as the single (even the loop-based Spring Break).
Previous listens to this album (all digital, as I procured the physical copy less than an hour ago) rolled over me like a warm breeze; it was a pleasant experience, but I wasn’t left with too much of substance. This closer listen reveals much to latch onto. It’s a subtly wonderful record that exists in the realm of ambient without falling into the realm of boring. But what is important to remember is that this is primarily a bedroom record–Cox performed, sang, and recorded every sound here himself–and while it maintains certain elements of DIY, the record never forces you to listen through the limitations of the recording process. Instead, it is a beautiful and pleasing affair that I’m certain will become a frequent visitor of my turntable.