Hi, friend. Thank you for being here. What's new? is something we started to get some quick thoughts out about music we had recently listened to. As we became more aware of ourselves and became even more split, it became too difficult to try and continue. We never stopped checking out music of course, as it is the most important thing that presently exists. It has been brought to Andy's attention that I still have a lot to say about music and that perhaps it would be beneficial to start things up again. It would be impossible at this point to run down all of the things we have checked out and have been deeply into during the interim, but if you look through the archives of the column, I don't think it would be any surprise to hear that it's been a little bit of everything. As such, we will be going through the past year or so of acquisitions over the next little while. So, on we move. Please excuse the interruption. Time, as a smarter man than myself once said, makes fools of us all.
Going to look at some New Americana today.
It's hard to know what to say about an album like this. It is definitely better as a whole and feels absolutely like the individual songs form to make the complete piece. In more recent times, WT went for a larger, decidedly Technicolor presentation of his tunes. But, on this surprise release, he goes back to a more stripped down, one-man approach that recalls Behold the Spirit or Deseret Canyon. It was released in the final weeks of a brutal 2020 summer and it's hard to think of it as anything other than an album created by the COVID-19 pandemic. It's meditative and stirring, lo-fi and often hauntingly beautiful. More than one of the song titles makes reference to an afterlife of some sort and it doesn't strike Andy as anything except a very melancholy record overall. Definitely recalls some of the most resonating sounds of WT's biggest influences, but also manages to incorporate the Krautrock accents of his more recent work. Very singular vibe throughout; the sound of a guy sitting alone and just playing while trying to sort out some rather difficult thoughts. Extremely comforting music, in that sense. Junior called it one of the parts of "the soundtrack to the beautiful apocalypse" and Andy finds that a pretty good summary. Where it succeeds is in its hope. Initially released as a digital-only album, it was "reissued" about six months later on vinyl for Record Store Day. Key track: "Four Corners"
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Part of the Three Lobed label's Parallelogram series, this finds WT sharing a 12" with sympathetic fellow traveler Ben Chasny. I've always enjoyed the Six Organs stuff I've heard in passing, and his sidelong multi-movement lo-fi dronescape "Lsha" is no different. It's a good indicator of what he does, as far as I know, but it doesn't really get me excited to check out more. WT's side of the record is taken up by two of his vintage longform multi-layered pick sessions. Feels like he was purposely going for a "trippier" sound with these two tunes and I have to say that it all sits extremely well as extra material for when Andy just can't get enough of Impossible Truth. "No Marigolds in the Promised Land" gets a little more intense towards the end, while "Southern Living" paints a very bright picture of a lifestyle that feels simultaneously ancient and futuristic. Extremely nice while it's playing and one for the completists who just have to have more. Key track: "Southern Living"
William Tyler + Marisa Anderson — Lost Futures (2021)
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Another pandemicwave creation, this finds WT teaming up for a proper collaboration with Pacific Northwesterner Marisa Anderson and the results are just about as eerily pretty as New Vanitas. There seems to be a bit more tension at work in these songs when compared with that album and I have to wonder just how much has passed me by in Marisa Anderson's previous catalogue (this is our introduction to their music). This definitely feels like the soundtrack to something intense and unlike anything WT has laid down in the past — how much of that is MA's personality coming through? The songs all have a very defined theme and progress accordingly; not a whole lot of meditating on moods (except for the noise drone "Something Will Come", which is probably the one track I'd toss out). For WT, it's a very unique move and a completely unseen one. However, again: this could be the standard for MA. Whatever the case, it's good, very satisfying, and is bookended by two of WT's best tunes thus far. Makes me interested to see what will happen next. Key tracks: a fully fleshed out revive of "News About Heaven" (originally appearing on New Vanitas) and "Haunted by Water", as genuine a Grateful Dead pastiche as they come I'd say
William Tyler + Luke Schneider — Understand (2021)
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And one more collaborative effort from WT, this time with fellow Tennessean Luke Schneider. This one was released as a limited cassette (okay, sure- insert "lol" emoji) on the experimental Los Angeles-based label Leaving Records. The music is easily the most cosmic and starbound WT has yet been associated with and it finds him sitting down at the keyboard for a few turns, while LS adds wonderfully atmospheric pedal steel and banjo accents. Although only four songs and clocking in at a too-brief 24 minutes, this is (as of this writing) the most recent material WT has recorded and it is about as promising as I would imagine it could get at this juncture. The pandemic has done us all in and this is the kind of music you put on your headphones, turn all the way up, and just fuck off for a walk to. Heck, there's even an update of WT's now-classic "Highway Anxiety" that completely bubbles over with good vibes (it's appropriately retitled "No Trouble" here). Proof that the darkest times need the most beautiful soundtracks. Am perhaps setting myself up for disappointment, but I do hope this isn't a one-off collaboration. Probably my favorite thing he's done since Lost Colony. Can WT miss? Key track: "No Trouble"; I mean dang, that's a tune
Sam Prekop — Comma (2020)
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Sam Prekop seems to have entered a later phase where he just does whatever, whenever, and however he feels like. After the unsurprisingly strong Any Day, the Sea and Cake has been on hold for some years now; their releases were slowing down significantly anyway. Sam's own albums have been strictly modular synth-based ever since Old Punch Card just flew in from nowhere over a decade ago (I'm old). Check in on him via social media these days and he's taking his beautifully idiosyncratic photographs or wading through a spaghetti pile of patch cables and showing off his found sounds from his arsenal of synth gear. Comma continues along the more accessible path first hinted at on The Republic and I have to say: besides his first solo album, this is probably his best work under his own name. It sounds nothing like the Sea and Cake and is totally instrumental. If I had to liken it to something, it very much reminds Andy of the pleasantly weird mid-70s albums by Cluster or maybe the famous 5 EP by Slowdive. Where Sam's synth stuff has been more on the reflective, fully ambient side of things in the past, Comma focuses a lot more of its energy on drum tracks and proper rhythms. When that four-to-the-floor stomp finally lands on the opener "Park Line" it feels like a wholly natural and totally rewarding progression from where he last left off. It's extremely pleasant music and I often think of it as the kind of music I hear in my best dreams. His creative spirit and drive to just continue making some of the damned prettiest music around are truly something to behold, especially in these times. Key tracks: "September Remember", "Summer Places", and the closer "Above Our Heads" which sounds like the epic end credits theme to a lost Nintendo 64 game
~~~~A SHORT INTERLUDE~~~~
Sam was busy over the past year. In addition to Comma and its little brother discussed below, he also released the digital-only twenty-five minute track "Spelling", via the Australian Longform Editions label: Bandcamp Spotify YouTube. It's a bit of a departure, as it's just one long vamp with a lot of doodling. Still no less pleasant than anything else he's done recently.
~~~~BACK TO THE PROGRAM~~~~
Sam Prekop — In Away (2021)
Bandcamp
A digital-only release everywhere except Japan, this CD version features an extra track not available elsewhere (mine also came with a glossy postcard print of the cover art; okay Andy is done gloating about my cool CD now☺). Recorded immediately after Comma was released, there aren't any drastic stylistic turns away from that material, so it sits very nicely as a related companion piece. Both records back-to-back run just over an hour, so that's how I find myself listening to this stuff most of the time. That said, I definitely prefer the three closing tracks (one of which is the Japan exclusive "Sunset"; okay that's the last of my gloating, I promise☺). All three are easily highlights of Sam's synth material so far and some of his most soothing songs to date. Wonderful music. Endlessly enjoyable. Key tracks: "Community Place", "So Many", and "Sunset"
We'll try to be a bit more frequent about these going forward. Thank you.💙
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