popwreckoning

Despite just releasing his debut solo album, You And Me, Kevin Barker is far from a newcomer to the scene. For the last few years he’s been recording, touring and collaborating with Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, and Antony and the Johnsons, to name just a few. Now he has assembled an unbelievable group of musicians for You And Me. Produced by Thom Monahan (Vetiver, Devendra Banhart), the album features Pat Sansone (Wilco), Joanna Newsom, Jonathan Wilson (Elvis Costello, Jenny Lewis), Eric Johnson (The Shins), and Otto Hauser (Vetiver, Espers).

In college, Baker became interested in the fingerstyle guitar playing of John Fahey and Bert Jansch. He began to write songs and recorded under the name Currituck County for Teenbeat Records, Troubleman Unlimited, and Track and Field Organisation in the UK. He then moved to Brooklyn where he attended film school at Columbia University and began playing with Devendra, Antony, and Vetiver.

Coming in at just under four minutes, the title track of his new album (listen & download below) is a soft and sweet cut showcasing Barker’s smooth vocals as he sweetly sings, “There’s a dream I see / Running down to the sea / It’s you and it’s me.” A great lulling track, perfect for a snowy Saturday night by the fire with a cup of tea.

Kevin Barker – “You & Me”

You & Me will be released by Gnomonsong in January.

Kevin Barker: myspace

Want to know what happens when you take the brown acid? The L.A.-based Black Math Horseman’s debut album– the six-song, 38-minute-long Wyllt–is a case of psychedelia gone horribly wrong. Combining the art house horror vibe of bands like Espers and Ghost Bees with the sludge-metal riffs of Black Sabbath, BMH have arrived at a nightmarish kind of proto-metal-doom-psych that one would imagine the Nazgul would have come up with were they to form a band.

On Wyllt, BMH aim for a deep, cavernous sound, as if you were listening to the processions of a Satanic ritual being performed from the floor above. Vocalist Sera Timms’ may or may not actually be singing words; fact is it’s irrelevant, her reverb-drenched vocals merely serve the music in terms of atmosphere, rather than melody. In fact, BMH appear to be anti-melody, instead forcing the listener to try and make sense out of the haze of riffs and rhythms echoing around Wyllt’s soundscape.

BMH’s “songs” come across as the equivalent of abstract paintings. Their compositional structures are more illusive and open-ended. It wouldn’t be fair to compare them to post-rock or jam-rock, though if one had to pick of the two, the latter would be more accurate.

By the end of Wyllt’s 38-minutes, the album’s six songs take the form in memory of one long one, as each cut simply seems to blend into the next one as part of the same freaky phantasmagoria. Like the drugs that likely inspired Wyllt, some will enjoy finding themselves lost in the void, others will just hope it ends soon.

Wyllt is available now on Tee Pee Records.

Tracklisting:
01. Tyrant
02. Deerslayer
03. A Barren Cause
04. Origin of Savagery
05. Torment of the Metals
06. Bird of All Faiths and None / Bell from Madrone

Black Math Horseman: website | myspace

Eric Bachmann, make up your mind, is it forfeit or fortune? Are you making a pop album? A freak folk album? An Eastern European-influenced album? Do you or do you not have an accent? Neil Diamond!?!?

Albums like The Clash’s London Calling and more recently My Morning Jacket’s Evil Urges managed to be eclectic without sacrificing consistency or coherence. Forfeit/Fortune is an eclectic album that fails where those bands succeeded, principally because Crooked Fingers isn’t always that good at some of the styles they attempt. Sure, their attempt at Espers-esque freak folk in “Luisa’s Bones” is an interesting way to follow Bowie-via-Springsteen opener “What Never Comes,” but who cares when it’s not nearly as good?

Crooked Fingers’ attempt at the multitude of styles on F/F is admirable but without compelling compositions nor a strong overriding voice holding it all together, F/F doesn’t work. Within the murk are gems like “Cannibals” and the beautiful closer “Your Control” (featuring Neko Case who’s beyond good, as always) but you have to wade through boring numbers like the overwrought “Let’s Not Pretend (To Be New Men)” to get to them. And then in the middle of it all is “Run, Lieutenant, Run,” a quiet, folksy number where Bachmann pretends he’s Neil Diamond (and he’s almost as good as this guy) for one-and-a-half minutes. It’s one of F/F’s best songs…until some weird Spanish bit comes out of nowhere for the last minute. And then the song’s done. Yes: WTF indeed.

The album’s not bad; it’s just significantly more interesting than it is actually good. Of course the album’s supporters (and every album has them) will defend it by saying “you just don’t get it.” Perhaps, but who’s writing the review? Ah-ha. Until then, if Crooked Fingers want to succeed on their next album where this one failed, they’ve got a bit of straightening out to do.

Forfeit/Fortune is available now.

Tracklisting:
01. What Never Comes
02. Luisa’s Bones
03. Phony Revolutions
04. Give And Be Taken
05. Let’s Not Pretend (To Be New Men)
06. Cannibals
07. Sinisteria
08. No Me Lo Des!
09. Run, Lieutenant, Run
10. Modern Dislocation
11. Your Control

Crooked Fingers: website | myspace

Written by Marc Z. Grub