‘I Was Just Another West-Coast Maximalist, Exploring the Blues…’

Some things I listened to recently:

The Microphones, The Glow Pt. 2: There’s something astoundingly breathtaking about this record in how it almost silently devastates you. The yawning gaps in this record that practically make your hair stand on end waiting for Phil Elvrum’s innocent voice and messy guitar to penetrate the expansive soundscapes. Not to mention, there never has been a record as well produced in lo-fidelity. Listen to this spot on headphones and you’ll be completely incapacitated for the duration, especially by those ominous foghorns.

Another thing too, I’ve never listened to this record in when it was light outside. Something about the night makes the perfect setting for tales of the infinite.


Destroyer, Destroyer’s Rubies: I’m not going to say that I know what the hell Dan Bejar, Destroyer’s head honcho/New Pornographers mainstay, is saying, but the wordsmith is pretty convincing. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is going to be one of those records that just completely takes over my life like The Dismemberment Plan’s Emergency & I or Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Now keep in mind, I’ve only heard this once, but near everything sounded perfect to these ears (except for the last track). The music is really well-recorded indie music, ornate on some tracks, stripped down on others, with lots of intricate instrumentation and those quivery yipped vocals that are popular these days, but not by proximity, only by coincidence. I can’t wait to unravel this one.


Smog’s “Held” at 7:30 this morning, on the incline press: Somehow it’s really nice to feel feminine in the morning (‘For the first time in my life/I let myself be held/Like a big old baby’). Even while trying to meat up.


The Sword, Age of Winters: Not much to say about this. They’re certainly not rewriting the book on Metal, but it’s not awful either. You’ve heard it before, the re-re-recycled Sabbath riffs that crush and smoke, the D&D lyrics, the double bass drum. Yes, all awesome, all necessary.

But something makes me want to listen to High On Fire, Dead Meadow or Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age. Speaking of, has anyone listened to Dave Grohl’s drumming on QOTSA’s Songs For The Deaf? Whew…