Getting Back to Things

Summer is almost over, and I'm starting to get back into a more predictable routine.  This of course means more time for music musings!!

So to catch up - What am I listening to right now?

1.) Deerhunter - Microcastle

A near-perfect continuation from the Cryptograms - Fluorescent Grey - Atlas Sound - Jay Reatard releases, Microcastle is the first great guitar-based album of the year.  To quote a friend of mine from Calgary on Bradford Cox -  'I've never seen someone so interested in the sounds his guitar makes".  On Cryptograms this interest came out through extended jams that would at times try the interest of the listener.  On Mircrocastle, this infatuation is relocated to the cracks and undercurrents of more clearly structured pop songs.  The result is an album that is catchy, yet without undermining the exploratory nature of the band, and thus lives up to all the hype surrounding it.  I can't recommend this one enough, so if you haven't downloaded it from iTunes yet (before you also buy a hard copy in November) do so NOW!

2.) Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane

Don't have much to say about this one yet, as I've only listened to it a few times.  However, the first listens have been a success, as those songs on previous VanGaalen releases that seemed out of place are gone on this one.  Soft Airplane could turn out to be my favorite record of his yet (although I reserve the right to retract this statement at a later time).

3.) Joe Henderson - Power to the People/In Pursuit of Blackness/Joe Henderson in Japan

I owe Michael Elves a big thank you on this, as he tipped me off on these releases.  Part of Henderson's Milestone period (1969-1976), this trilogy is yet another reminder that those people who think good Jazz ended with Bitches Brew (1969) clearly don't like Jazz.

4.) David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything that Happens will Happen Today

Easily the biggest disappointment of the year so far.  I mean really!  Is this what has happened to one of the greatest musical collaborations of the last 35 years?  I understand that the Byrne and Eno of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts are long gone, but when you decide to collaborate with someone you haven't done so for 27 years, knowing full well that people (ie. ME!) have been waiting eagerly for you to do so, at least try to make some references to your previous efforts together.  Probably for the first time in his career, Byrne has made an album that I just can't get behind.  The fact that he's done so with his best producer/collaborator makes this even harder to take.  All is not well in the land of The New Decay!

That's all for now ...