soft times

Get it

1. "Pntps 3" by Bill Wells & Stefan Schneider  from Pianotapes (2010).
Beautiful, delicate experimental piano work. Wells plays piano and Schneider "records them on two old reel-to-reel tape machines and plays the recordings back at altered speeds" in real time, which I find quite impressive. It sounds like music composed in dreams haunting and nostalgic.







2. "Riser" by Fieldhead from the Riser EP (2010).
This whole EP isn't solid, but there are some great ideas presented here, the title track being the best realized, in my opinion.

3. "Destroying Angel" by Bardo Pond from Ticket Crystals (2006). Bardo Pond, if you are not familiar, is a psychedelic doom drone behemoth that's been around since the early '90s. I missed this one somehow, back when it was originally released, and only picked it up recently. They sludge through the densest of psychological swamps to fight the demons we all fear to face. They journey through dreams, past the mountains of madness and on into the maw of the gaping void. Let them annihilate your mind.

4. "Another Language" Blank Dogs Land and Fixed (2010).

Yes. Been looking for an early Bauhaus/Cure inspired band? This is some tight shit.

5. "Cold Room" by Deathday Party from Ghost Pains (2010).
Coldwave influenced gothy, jams. Full of icy synths and bitter laments.












6. "Two Forms of Anger" by Brian Eno from Small Craft on a Milk Sea (2010).I read an absolutely scathing review of this album on Dusted, which I feel totally missed the point. While this isn't Eno's best work, it's a good representation of the majority of his styles through the years. It has a nice build and flow and gives the impression of being on a train, viewing sections of different landscapes. The only complaint I have is that the production is too clean which makes the experience feel a little two-dimensional.





7. "Catholic for Rent" by AIDS Wolf from March To The Sea (2010). When I think of the general genre of "noise" this is the sound I hear. Not to imply that AIDS Wolf is generic, by any means. If you can deal with the acerbic quality of this music, it's interesting to pick apart all of the different things that are going on and how the band puzzels them together. Definitely not for the faint of ear.
They also make some pretty amazing art and posters.

8. "Taleva Panzer Waltz" by Begnagrad from Jodlovska Urska (1979).
Weird experimental jazz from Slovenia. This was their only album, which was recorded in 1982. I love the Baltic influence.

9. "Cool Waves/Bad Days" by Dada Trash Collage from Cool Waves/Bad Days (2010). I wasn't too taken with the majority of this album, but this song makes me think that DTC might

be on to something. An interesting combo of the chillwave aesthetic and AnCo's approach. 

10. "Shadows In Bloom" by Games from That We Can Play (2010).

This is Oneohtrix Point Never and one of his friends trying to make '80s dance jams. I wouldn't categorize this as chillwave (or glow-fi or whatever the fuck it's called). They definitely seem to be trying to recreate that Duran Duran, Tears For Fears, Japan sound. I think it works, you?

11. "Come To Berlin" by Barbara Morgenstern from Fan No. 2  (2010). Morgenstern has been doing her thing for quite a while now, playing in a lot of different bands and with many different musicians (including the two guys on the first track of this mix). I'm not really sure how to describe it, but it's infectious, so take a listen. Also, her website is weird.








12. "Cherry Chapstick" by Yo La Tengo from And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (2000). Just revisiting this amazing album from 10 years ago. It's just fucking amazing. 

I was going to put the super-bummer "Tears Are In Your Eyes"

on the mix, but then this song popped up and made everything better.









13. "Right as Rain" by The Minders from Golden Street (2001). It's a shame these guys split up, such amazing songs they made. The Minders were one of the most ignored bands in the Elephant 6 roster. Folks say they sound like they're just copying The Apples (In Stereo), but I don't hear that. And I honestly think The Minders were a much better band.








14. "Deep Under" by Sawako from Bitter Sweet (2008).

Yet another compelling ambient artist! Sawako's warm drones topped with gentle burbling electronics make for very subtle but utterly fascinating deep listening. I recently came across Sawako's work along with several other excellent "lowercase" ambient projects on Taylor Deupree's 12k record label. Check them out if you like this minimal approach.

15. "Apres la guerre" by Areski & Brigitte Fontaine from L'Incendie (1974).
Wow. Amazing french psych-folk.











16. "Gbomei Adesai" by The Psychedelic Aliens from Psycho African Beat (2010). This reissue of psychedelic African funk from early '70s Ghana is pretty amazing if you're into jammy freak outs. Combines the best of several genres seamlessly.










17. "10 Reflections of Passion" by Beck's Record Club from Yanni: Live at the Acropolis (2010). I think this might be the most criminally overlooked album of the year. Seriously. Hands down the best thing Beck has done since One Foot In the Grave. Beck's experimental ventures with Thruston Moore and Tortoise on this disk prove to be some of the most listenable in the genre, currently. This is the only "song" on the disc with Thurston paying tribute to what sounds like VU's "The Black Angel's Death Song" while Beck sing-speaks some of his better stream of conscious lines. The whole album is phenomenal. Yes.




18. "Fjord" by Jannick Schou from Against a Backdrop Of Blue Hills, They Were As Beautiful As a Lullaby (2010). Waves upon waves of reverb drenched drones. One of my favorite new musicians this year. He has three albums available for free download on his site and they're each fairly different.









19. "From a Balcony Overlooking the Sea" by Arp from The Soft Wave (2010).
Arp is a more playful and not quite as inspired version of Oneohtrix Point Never. I'm not totally sold on his sound, but I like where he's heading. This is the only track from his new album that really spoke to me, and, still, it's a very obvious nod to Eno's "Everything Merges With the Night." The swells of keyboard or guitar in the middle are really sweet though.






20. "In a Landscape" by Brooklyn Rider from Dominant Curve (2010).
Now, this is a proper tribute. NYC string quartet Brooklyn Rider (really stupid name, btw) present an excellent cover of John Cage's In A Landscape, originally for solo piano. In their rendition, BR manage to add wonderful depth to what was a perfect minimal piece. The rest of the album is also excellent.








I happened to catch Barn Owl last minute at the Hideout. Scott Tuma also played and that was spectacular. Mike Weis played drums for Barn Owl (as well as Scott), who were so loud there was really no reason for a drummer. They rocked, it was a blistering performance. go see them if you can! Here's a photo of Mike. Barn Owl dudes are in the shadows.