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Sarah Louise
I first became a fan of Sarah Louise’s floral fingerstyle acoustic guitar playing on her albums Deeper Woods and Field Guides, and remained intrigued by her more maximalist turn on 2019’s Nighttime Birds and Morning Stars, but nothing prepared me for Earth Bow. Sarah’s latest album is a sparkling, expansive exploration of meaning and melody, and also Sarah Louise’s most electronic record yet. As an admitted die-hard, erm, curmudgeon about electronic music, this conversation came at a somewhat pivotal time for me. I’m grateful to Sarah for the reminder that humans are after all the ones making electronic music, and that it can certainly…
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Jeffrey Silverstein
Jeffrey Silverstein is an east-coaster turned PNW-er who teaches, writes, runs, meditates, and obviously, makes some extremely cool music. He has a beautiful new EP called Torii Gates that is out tomorrow on Arrowhawk Records. Last year, Jeffrey’s full-length You Become the Mountain made our AOTY list – an album of “effortless meditation” – even the most reluctant ball of stress will find their jaw unclenching and their shoulders descending as they listen to Jeffrey’s grounding vocals accompanied by recordings of guided mindfulness techniques and Barry Walker Jr.’s soaring pedal steel arcs. Torii Gates uses similar elements – soothing tones,…
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Buck Curran
Buck Curran, the prolific singer, songwriter, luthier living in Bergamo, Italy, has a lot going on. Buck’s Obsolete Recording label seems to be endlessly pumping out the jams, in the form of interstellar ambience, ruminative ragas, and melancholy melodies. I thought the best way to cover all the things going on with his label, Obsolete Recordings, would be to hear it straight from him. Hear Buck discuss the ten-year anniversary of the pivotal album Red Planet, from his project Arborea featuring himself and his former partner Shanti. We also discuss his partner Adele’s adaption of Erik Satie’s Gnossienne No. 1. Finally,…
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Josh Kimbrough
We interviewed Josh Kimbrough, the fingerstyle guitarist and composer from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Josh put out his fantastic solo debut record, Slither, Soar, and Disappear last year on Tompkins Square, as well as a Christmas EP entitled Yule Chime. Josh grew up in the Chapel Hill-area and became an integral part of the music scene there at an early age. In the interview, he described how his interests and proclivities shifted from his math rock roots to where he is now as an established acoustic guitar instrumentalist, influenced as much by the classical Fernando Sor and Freddie King albums…
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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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Nashville Ambient Ensemble : Interview
The Nashville Ambient Ensemble, one of the most exciting new projects of Nashville’s continuously burgeoning experimental scene, is releasing their debut tomorrow on Centripetal Force Records. Layers of otherworldly vocal, synth, guitar, steel, delicately mingle and merge into celestial, cinematic soundscapes. The seven-piece ensemble, spearheaded by composer Michael Hix and featuring many of the stars of the scene in their own rite, like Kim Rueger (Belly Full of Stars), Jack Silverman (who penned the album’s title track), Deli Paloma-Sisk (Diatom Deli), Cynthia Cárdenas, Timon Kaple, and Luke Schneider. Although each individual artist’s musical background is unique, the shared vision and…
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Cameron Knowler & Eli Winter
Friends, roadmates, and instrumental guitarists Cameron and Eli are putting an album out tomorrow on American Dreams Records. The record, influenced by a wintry tour in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas, features six transcendent originals, and three interpretations of “folk” songs (using that word loosely – “Cumberland App” is a post-modern arrangement of Cumberland Gap, and Eli’s rendition of Michael Chapman’s “Caddo Lake” with imaginative accompaniments by Cameron is truly stunning). Recording a record together may seem like a natural and intuitive decision – but it was not. Cameron found the idea insurmountable but Eli convinced him that it could…
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Jerry David DeCicca
I’m late to the game when it comes to the music of Jerry David DeCicca, but he’s a true veteran of the modern music world, having lived on the road for many years with his band Black Swans before opting for a “Quiet Life” (get it? that’s a song title) when he moved to Texas with his partner a few years back. In addition to making music, he’s also produced a good handful of albums for the Numero Group and Tompkins Square Records, and authored liner notes and articles for Aquarium Drunkard. His most recent album, 2020’s The Unlikely Optimist…
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Lydia Luce
Nashville-based Lydia Luce is self-releasing a gorgeous new album tomorrow. Dark River showcases Lydia’s captivating voice, with deeply personal lyrics and lush strings played and arranged by Luce herself. Even prior to the pandemic, Luce had quite a year- a painful breakup, followed by a solo trip to the Pacific Northwest where she learned to sit with her emotions, before returning home when the Nashville tornado quite literally ripped through her very home. Despite these challenges, Dark River faces these demons but true to Lydia’s unwillingness to be beaten down, it finds hope, strength and determination. We caught up with…
