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July 04, 2007

Music I've Been Listening To This Month....

Apparat, Walls.
A follow-up to last year's phenomenal Orchestra of Bubbles, recorded with Ellen Allien. The songs are warmer now and more "band"-like. I love the cover, too.

Air Formation, Daylight Storms.
Self-described as "spacerock from Sussex in the south of England." This one is so good I would have included it on that shoegaze list I made a few months back. The opening song "Cold Morning" is gorgeous.

The Field, From Here We Go Sublime.
A Swedish electronic genius named Axel Willner. This cd got a 9.0 rating from the increasingly pretentious Pitchfork, who called it "2007's most luxuriant record" and "Kraftwerk daydreaming they're a soul duo." Anyone who builds songs around sampled Kate Bush, then "I Only Have Eyes For You," and then Lionel Richie's "Hello," has got to be cool.

The National, Boxer.
Fantastic, as usual. Terrific lyrics, as usual (my favorites are in the song "Slow Show"). The National will always remind me of driving around gray, rainy Belgium with my friend Christophe, their music on the car stereo. This new record makes me want to sit in the dark, getting drunk. "I leaned on the wall, and the wall leaned away."

Amiina, Kurr.
This is the Icelandic quartet of ladies who play live with my favorites Sigur Rós. From the description on Amazon: "Like the sound of cooing, aspects of Amiina's music flicker quietly and float softly, content and beautiful. Kurr is full of dazzling moments of that caliber, a wholly original work that is delicate, intricate and dream-like. Their music is genuinely so special, ineffably charming and infused with a sense of cosmic magic."

Maps, We Can Create.
My UK friend Paul Christelis (author of a great novel, Rabbit Season) has been recommending this to me for months, but I only recently bought it (maybe because it's only 5.99 on iTunes). The Slowdive/My Bloody Valentine/Spiritualized influences might be a little obvious, but in my book, that's never a bad thing.

God Is an Astronaut, Far From Refuge.
Instrumental, dramatic stuff in that "post-rock" vein.

Ulrich Schnauss, Goodbye.
I know this hasn't been officially released yet, but I've been listening to the tracks he's put up on his myspace page (as well as a few others that seem to have been leaked over the internet). The songs are utterly lovely and daydreamy--pretty much everything I expected after the absolute genius of A Strangely Isolated Place--but I'm not sure whether I love the new stuff as much as the old. That said, this will doubtlessly be one of my top three records of the year.

The Shebangs, "Maybe Yes, Maybe No" 45.
Some of you might know this is the Lawrence, KS band for which my beloved sister Tamyra sings and plays bass. A few months back, they released their first two-song 45, and it's available at the website for Little Hits, their label. I'm glowingly proud and can't wait for a full-length album.