Sufjan Stevens - RUn Rabbit Run

Sufjan Stevens - Enjoy Your Rabbit

I'd kind of lumped Sufjan Stevens in with the Devendra Banhart crowd and in some ways maybe that is fair, on others it’s purely coincidental and probably quite a n a l of me to do so. I fell out with Devendra, so to speak, when i saw him at ATP, around the time of Cripple Crow, when he was prancing around thinking that he was Jesus and singing about little boys. I place him alongside Herman Dune in that it's clear that he has talent but he is far too self obsessed for me to have any time for the said talent.

Sufjan had kind of made his way there in my mind, maybe it was his idea to make an album about every state, and the fact that the first had over 20 songs on and the second had a whole album of surplus tracks, either way i think i was wrong to dismiss him and welcome him back with open arms, although he is pushing all the wrong buttons with me again, releasing two albums prior to his new one, i'm yet to hear the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway one but i will openly admit to being completely won over by the reworking of his debut(?) album Enjoy Your Rabbit, entitled Run Rabbit Run and amazingly packaged:


Quote: Run Rabbit Run is not a new Sufjan Stevens album exactly, and neither is it about John Updike. Instead, it is a version of Stevens' 2001 album Enjoy Your Rabbit, reimagined for the New York string quartet Osso (who provided the strings for Illinoise). Originally commissioned by Bryce Dessner for his Music Now Festival, Stevens, Dessner, and the Osso quarted decided that they needed to document this music on a physical format. The songs, rewritten for strings by such composers as Michael Atkinson and Nico Muhly, among others, comprise a song cycle about the Chinese Zodiac.
Having not heard the original i can't comment on how true it is to that but i can confirm that this is plain beautiful stuff, like Dirty Three and Esmerine at their most accesible and quite possibly a contender for album of the year in my humble opinion. Beautiful string based "post-rock" or maybe "instumental" would be more apt. A delight for the ears.

Sufjan Stevens - Year of the Ox mp3

Source: I Guess I'm Floating

Ekca Liena

Ekca Liena - Drones Between Homes (Under the Spire) / Orb Night (Phantom Channel)

I've for some time been enthralled by the thought of Ekca Liena, a regular poster and self promoter on the After the Post Rock Forum. You can however only trust so many reviews especially when every new drone artist i discover is described as being similar to Stars of the Lid, Tim Hecker and Fennesz, just as the lazy reviewer describes all post rock as being a little but Mogwai, a little bit of Godspeed with a hint of EITS and so on. Whether it be the trick of the small distros to drum up interest and in turn sales or whether they're just that braindead i don't know. What I do know is that Ekca Liena is as great as i had expected. For some unknown reason i had assumed Ekca to be a girl, maybe an heir to Danielle Baquet Longs throne, as it is, Ekca Liena is simply a moniker for the work of Dan McKenzie.


Instead of sounding like everything else, Ekca Liena has a genuinely original and personal sound, it reminds me of Textile Ranch slowed down and intricately taken to pieces, like the cogs that turn inside a pocket watch or the gentle and elegant movements of a clockwork ballerina ,so the notes fall, delicate and graceful, mixing music box melodies with drones so lovely they would cause the sun to rise all by themselves should they be given half a chance.

In places you can hear echoes of Colleen and on the excellent Strange Dusk an ode to Ben Frost's ability to restrain sound from crossing over into brutality but getting as close as possible without touching, can be heard in the deep throbs that bring the track to a finale.

And so it is with a plethora of releases that Ekca Liena has jumped into the limelight, having wowed those in the know last year with the now sold out but soon to be rereleased Slow Music For Rapid Eye Movement, Ekca returns with a release on two of the hottest experimental labels around currently (three it would appear, as he also has a new album on the Dead Pilot label), first up Drones Between Homes on the excellent Under The Spire label, two tracks that stay just shy of 15 minutes, dreamy and reflective in manner, however the real treat is the four track Orb Night and the even more excellent Phantom Channel label, four songs that twinkle like stars in the night sky, drifting like an owl swooping on unsuspecting prey, majestically beautiful yet slightly eerie and spine tinglingly awe inspiring. The title track, Orb Night, itself is simply epic, drifting between twinkles and dark ambient yet never sounding tired or outstaying its welcome over its 20 minute duration. One to watch for sure, hopefully he won't go too Machinefabriek on us.

Ekca Liena - Orb Night

Allo, Darlin' - Henry Rollins Don't Dance

Allo, Darlin' - Henry Rollins Don't Dance

It was a sad time earlier in the year to hear the news that the wonderful, poptastic The Lucksmiths had decided to call it a day, however this did mean one last tour and an excuse for a trip to London to see their very last show on British soil.

Arriving late as usual I found myself glued to the stage, rarely have i been so won over by a band on very first impression, live that is, it happens all the time on record. It was so refreshing to see a band actually enjoying themselves instead of worrying about their hair, getting their cordless straightners out between verses to re-straighten yet again. Allo, Darlin' are no such band, instead a bundle of joy, pop as it should be, stealing choruses from popular songs, we counted Johnny Cash, Weezer and Grease amongst the victims.


On record they do not fail to impress either, Henry Rollins Don't Dance is again one of the tracks of the year popwise, trumpets leading the way into her oh how delightful vocals. There's a hint of Helen Love in there, without the "tack" that is, instead silver service pop that is bound to fill indie disco floors for years to come. Dear Stephen Hawking is as good as the title would suggest, intelligent, yet catchy pop. And finally Heartbeat Chilli, a downbeat Johnny Cash borrowing ballad, so sweet it reminds me of Slow Club.

Listen to Allo, Darlin' here

Look out for the full length album currently being recorded for our faves Fortuna Pop!

Hot Lava - Lavalogy

A pop discovery of the most exquisite type, gloriously essential, horribly catchy and delightfully lo-fi. I read reviews of Hot Lava, all over the top and claiming perfect pop, i could only expect it to be exceptionally poor and on first listen i was far from convinced. However Swine Flu was kind to me and kept me off work for two week, enabling me to discover the Playstation again and thus hours on end of music, most of which ended up being this gem of a record by Hot Lava.

Brilliant, no exceptional, fun, short pop songs that'll have you tapping along and singing sub consciously before you even get past the third track. I honestly feel as passionately about Hot Lava as I did when I first discovered Lacrosse. A band not to be missed.

Each song seemingly a bit better than the last, you'll be fighting over which is your favourite, Apple Option Fire? Blue Dragon? Jpeg in the Sun? o retorno da lovefoxxx? I could go on.

Track it down and let yourself be won over.

Hot Lava - Task Master mp3

Source: Walrus Music

Hot Lava - JPG in the Sun mp3

Source: Kata Rokker

Fergus & Gerinimo - Blind Muslim Girl

Fergus & Gerinimo - Blind Muslim Girl

Snappily titled and catchy as can be, lovely shiny 60's Beach Boy pop, slightly scuzzier but equally as catchy. A bit of Belle and Sebastian can be heard beneath it all, particularly on Harder than It's Ever Been, Belle and Sebastian had they been brought up in the gutters and not a private school. The title track is one of the pop songs of the year. Highly recommended.

Fergus & Geronimo - Powerful Lovin' mp3
Source: Weekly Tape Deck
Fergus & Geronimo - Harder than it's Ever Been mp3

Sources: CatseatBird

Pastels / Tenniscoats, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Asa Chang & 巡礼 Reviewed

I have long had a soft spot for Japan, the country in general to be fair but particularly its music, the awesome Noble label has in more recent times been a favourite of mine with its lush, near perfect releases.

However, my heart was originally won over courtesy of the excellent Geographic Label, an offshoot of the also excellent (at least it used to be) label, Domino, run by Stephen Pastel of all people. Here i was introduced to array of great artists, not least Nagisa Ni Te and the wonderfully ramshackle and always delightful Maher Shalal Hash Baz who have intriguingly just released a 177, yes one hundred and seventy seven track double album entitled C'est La Dernière Chanson. To be honest i'd recommend you try one of their other releases and leave this for the completists, many songs are barely more than a lick and each track seems to have about ten seconds of silence in between, which is normally longer than the actual music on offer. When they do extend past the 30 second mark though, they are normally memorable. If nothing else it serves as a reminder of what a great and intrigueing little band Maher Shalal Hash Baz are.


It seems forever since Geographic released anything, as previously mentioned they were a fantastic label and it turns out that they still are as they return to the scene courtesy of a magical collaboration between The Pastels and Japanese band Tenniscoats. It carries a kind of liquid magic and is fast becoming a contendor for album of the year for me. Just lovely lovely music, exactly the kind of thing i'd expect from the label. Tenniscoats gentle music is the perfect compliment for Stephen Pastels somewhat individual vocals. The contrast of voices on Song For a Friend is just sublime. Lovely stuff.

Pastels / Tenniscoats - About You mp3
Source: The Tape is not Sticky


In no way connected to the label or even the bands mentioned, but equally Japanese and equally magical are ASA-CHANG & 巡礼, probably best known for their near perfect track Hana. On latest release 影の無いヒト, of which i can find no real information, they excel again, more chopped up vocals that form the beats, alongside a two or three songs that recall the loveliness of Nagisa Ni Te and Tenniscoats.

Asa Chang & Junray - Hana mp3
Source: Diary of a Space Traveller

The Okmoniks - Party Fever!!!

A delightful helping of 60's style garage pop, like the second Miss Mary album was meant to sound like, everything you wished from the A-Lines, Comet Gain at their roughest and shiniest simultaneously, The Agenda or The Four Corners if they had singers as good as their music and maybe, just maybe what you may have wanted the third Aislers Set album to sound like, with a splash of Yeah Yeah Yeahs thrown in for good measure. None stop, garage pop, instantly loveable and catchy as can be. I can't recommend this highly enough.

The Okmoniks - Rustle Up Some Action mp3

Tom White - Sight See / A Well-Known Phrase

Tom White - Sight See (Smallfish)
- A Well-Known Phrase (Under the Spire)

It'll be at the end of the year when people are moaning that it’s been another awful year for music when i pipe up as always with a hundred and one recommendations, pretty close to the top of my list though will be Tom White.

The Ambient/Drone/Experimental genre seems to have an endless supply of new artists with endless supplies of material, many of the forerunners of the genre having numerous releases each year, Lawrence English, Taylor Deupree, Machinefabriek. On first impression it’s an incredibly limited field, most songs are barely there, notes decomposed and shredded, recycled and made new, drifting along seemlessly and yet it's the genre that has really grabbed me by the ears this year. It has an ability to pull you in, the wrap itself around your very lobes, the quietly seduce you into soft and dreamy sleep. There are many experts in this field, a number of whom I’ve already mentioned and a handful more that will be strong contenders for album of the year, Molly Berg + Stephen Vitiello if you need names. Right now though, Tom White rules my world. 8 months through the year and two delightful releases so far on a pair of the most reliable labels out there.

First up the wonderfully short Sight See release from Smallfish. All too often i find myself put off by massively long ambient tracks, albeit psychological and maybe due to more than a little Last.fm OCD. How refreshing it is to see tracks of less than five minutes and on a couple of tracks less than two, beautiful pieces mixing both drone and elements of noise while never outstaying their welcome.


I was more than surprised to see the level of quality surpassed on the follow up on up and coming underground label Under the Spire. A Well-Known Phrase is nothing less than a treat, more gritty and more experimental and featuring a healthy nod towards perhaps one of my favourite artists of the genre Ben Frost, balancing the excursions into noise with delicately growing soundscapes.

An album is expected before the end of the year, one can only look forward with eager anticipation.

Sleeping Me - Lamenter / Cradlesongs

Sleeping Me - Cradlesongs /Lamenter(Phantom Channel)

I've come to find myself hating straight forward guitar based post-rock ala EITS, especially EITS, it's been done so many times, please leave it alone. And so it was with slight disappointment that the opening tracks on Sleeping Me's Cradlesongs seemed to be following a slowed down version of that formula. Fortunately only the opening four tracks are noticeably guitar driven and even at that i feel they have enough swelling embellishment that they will grow over time.


Track 5 is where things really start to get interesting, picking up from where Redeemer on the Phantom Channel net release left off or vice versa probably, this is dream inducing stuff, drifting like Stars of the Lid at their very best, going deep and gently massaging the ear, lulling you in with every well placed note. Pride and Fall is likewise excellent.

Let the Phantom Channel one drag you in and then go buy Cradlesongs.

Download Sleeping Me - Lamenter

"Thick, melancholic and evocatively haunting soundscapes created entirely by guitar, the music of Sleeping Me employs a balance of delicacy, power and gentle reverb to present an affecting sound that's resplendent in its warmth and fiery beauty. 'Lamenter', closely following stunning debut full-length 'Cradlesongs' on celebrated Australian imprint Hidden Shoal, proves that Sleeping Me's sound finds peace in even the most heartbreaking of circumstances, rarely has the devil's instrument of choice sounded so heavenly. "

Chubby Wolf - Meandering Pupa

Chubby Wolf - Meandering Pupa

You will by now have no doubt heard the tragic news of Danielle Baquet-Longs premature death. One half of husband and wife duo Celer. It was only the day before i read of her death that i was enviously thinking how lucky Mr Celer (William Thomas Long) was to have found such a wonderful woman, i mean in the least sexist way possible, how many female ambient musicians are there? Here he had found someone to share both his physical and musical passions with, living what must've been a dreamy life. I'll admit to having tried only a few Celer releases, and generally being put off by their post 20 minute track lengths. I'm sure I’ll go back to them when time is less of the essence. Fortunatley for those who can't always cope with long tracks Danielle had a wonderful side project, fully capable of extending a track but generally keeping them much shorter. And so i find myself falling in love with this release, not least the wonderful opener, Annell This Chord of Bliss and the almost quietly ethereal yet bizarrely titled, Before We Get to Grinding.

Danielle you will be sadly missed.

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