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Droneroom – “Mojave Pastoral”
Petal Motel is pleased to premiere “Mojave Pastoral” from our friend on the other side of that same desert, Blake Edward Conley AKA Droneroom. The track is from his upcoming album Whatever Truthful Understanding, out 4/15 on the aptly-titled Desert Records. The track is Morricone on the moon, high dronesome at its finest, painting a vivid landscape with noise featuring a full orchestra of sound manipulators, coming together from afar and culminating in something scenic, resonant, the sound of being alone in the desert and how its quiet is actually constructed of a multitude of soft sounds and creators. Whatever…
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Desert Sandscapes : A Playlist
Those who dwell in the desert tend to strongly identify with their terrain and integrate the landscape into their identity. We are the desert people. There’s a phenomenon I’m noticing in which people who call the desert home leave only to explore other arid zones. I meet people from Tucson who come to Joshua Tree for the month of August, or those who “escape” to Needles for inspiration and rejuvenation, or the truly worldly travelers who explore the deserts of other continents before returning to our corner of the Mojave. Of course, we enjoy our mountains, our tropical canyons, our…
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Tan Cologne
Tan Cologne is Lauren Green and Marissa Macias, two interdisciplinary artists living in Taos, New Mexico. Last year they released their debut album, Cave Vaults on the Moon in New Mexico on Labrador Records, followed by a single “Heretic Porcelain” last October. With their sweeping, kaleidoscopic soundscapes that emulate the New Mexico horizon, Tan Cologne’s music has an intoxicating, visual quality. Lyrics work to invoke sensations, vocals becoming another instrument and words taking on new meaning as through repetition the sound becomes separated, like a more psychedelic Treasure-era Cocteau Twins. Their hazy, dreamy guitar work sounds simple and effortless at…
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Medicine Hat – Take Your Medicine : Playlist
Something about Medicine hat, the Americana duo from Ventura, California, instantly feels like home. The band, comprising of Michelle Votrian and Robert Ramirez, play music that’s both familiar and filtered through a unique, softly psychedelic lens. The single “Rear View Mirror” off their latest album, Fences, exemplifies this sort of obscured nostalgia – capturing the essence of looking back, though hazy memories may be rosier than they appear. They got their name from a Son Volt song, and have embodied the longing, wistful nature of their influences with their “lonesome desert rock” sound. Polly Parsons herself compared the gorgeous steel…
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Tan Cologne – Heretic Porcelain : Listen
The Taos hum is loud on this one. Tan Cologne is made up of New Mexico artists Lauren Green and Marissa Macias who combine forces to create sounds tied to the landscapes that surround them. They released their debut record Cave Vaults on the Moon in New Mexico earlier this year, a sparse, elemental collection of minimal, mystical sounds that really capture the essence of Taos – high desert, looming mountains, moving water. On the hallucinogenic “Heretic Porcelain,” Tan Cologne said, Circling through hypnotic reversals, “Heretic Porcelain” sonically explores terrestrial responses to a tilted, worn, and skewed Earth. Lyrically, the…
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A Dose of the Desert : Playlist
Some songs just sound so much better in certain backdrops. That’s largely what this website is about. Some albums, especially a few in particular that came out this year like NOCONA’s Los Dos, Trummors’ Dropout City, and Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah’s L.A. Yesterday are enough to make you take a very long drive, just to experience them in the habitat that they seem made for. Then we peppered in some other classic high desert songs, kicked off by a disclaimer from Marty Stuart. Since several factors prevent high desert getaways to isolate right at the moment, these songs will…
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Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah – Highway 10 : Video Premiere
Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah released their second full-length record L.A. Yesterday earlier this summer. Recorded at engineer and guitarist Jason Soda’s Palomino Sound studio (Trummors, Miranda Lee Richards), Gallagher’s heady, ageless cosmic rock and roll will hit the listener like a bolt of lightning. Soda’s searing guitar solos, Gallagher’s unique and impassioned voice, Kirby Hammel’s opulent keys, and the hard-hitting, visceral lyrics make this album an instant classic. I’ve been completely obsessed with it. Daily listening. Morgans Brother created an appropriately trippy video for the single, “Highway 10,” premiering here today. The video is a vivid reimagining of the…
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AC Sapphire – Desert Stars : Listen
“Ethereal folk rocker” AC Sapphire’s album Omni-Present was released in February 2020. Her dreamy vocals carry ruminative lyrics and accompany her unique instruments of choice. Produced by Matt Adams of the Blank Tapes, this is some good desert music! Check it out. Buy Omni Present on Bandcamp.
