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canyon whisper
by Sean
Please note: MP3s are only kept online for a short time, and if this entry is from more than a couple of weeks ago, the music probably won't be available to download any more.
BlackMothSuperRainbow - "Vietcaterpillar". For several years I've been listening to BlackMothSuperRainbow continue his trajectory deeper and deeper into his own idiosyncracies. He now has his genre wrapped around his finger - he sounds like a lot of other things sound like, but no one sounds like him. It's thrumming analog IDM that takes bits from folksy psychedelia, bits from school dances in 70s gymnasia, and more still from his own attics and vinyl milk-crates. Easy comparisons are drawn to Air, Manitoba and Boars of Canada - and more importantly, the low-budget documentary soundtracks that inspired BoC's name. This thing squelches out from a hole in a field, sky falling in blue dribbling drips. Dreams blossom with obscene speed - sudden garish flowers, bending in the sun. A vocoder is lost in its own burbles, a lakeside organ remembers long stretches of afternoon. And that stamping clamour of life, never-ending, incessant, stop. (From 2004's Start a People. [buy] Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter - "Your Eyes Told". Pungent goth country from a woman with a husky, dusky voice. At times, Oh, My Girl is like a wispier Sixteen Horsepower, full of darkness and the inevitable. Elsewhere, though - as on this track, - a sense of contentedness glows through; like watching dawn with the curtains drawn. Things are never as barren as on a Giant Sand record - too much lushness in each big violet bat of Sykes' eyes. The long arms of a pedal steel, the strain of Sykes' vocals - it all contributes to a slow, smoky beauty. Magnolias in the desert. [buy] note to self: must update the blog-roll! Y'all have been quiet, lately. Is everything all right? Would you like me to be doing something differently? Posted by Sean at June 22, 2004 12:07 AMComments
FWIW, I've noticed a similar quiet wave over at TTIKTDA. I'm pondering beginning to do something that seemed to work well when I first started and posting a cheesy livejournalesque music meme every weekend. Just to force people to react. Posted by Keith at June 22, 2004 12:18 AMWhat does "cheesy livejournalesque music meme" mean? :) Posted by Sean at June 22, 2004 12:37 AMDigging the BlackMothSuperRainbow. Like the BoC wonky tape vibe but the fuzz bass takes this into a new realm. Love this. gimme more! Their site has some charmingly bad recordings of this song live. Posted by steve at June 22, 2004 7:09 AMI just don't see how you can manage to listen to the volume of new music you do as well as keep up with all of the other bloggers posts as well. shit like "post first 20 songs on a random Itunes playlist" Just to force people to respond. Posted by Keith at June 22, 2004 9:50 AMIt's been quiet all over. I do agree that it is gettting tricky to keep up with all the music whirling around the interweeb. That said, BMSR hits all of my retro-seventies, summer camp, first kiss, run through the Sprinkler sweet spots. Nice album cover too. Posted by chris at June 22, 2004 11:10 AMyou're doing a fantastic job, sean... to me, you are really emerging as the go to guy on these things. keep up the good work. Posted by cody at June 22, 2004 11:46 AMGlad the Black Moth Super Rainbow is well-liked. I'm actually sort of surprised - it's a peculiar sort of music. I'll post some more, from earlier records. :) Thanks also for the kind words (cody!). I'm reassured if things have been slow all around - it's true there's tons of blogs to keep track of. I hardly comment elsewhere any more, because there's so much to listen to... so I suppose I should start! Maybe I'll go the lj-what-kinda-muppet-are-you route as well, Keith. :) Posted by Sean at June 22, 2004 12:16 PMIt always just works out that it takes me a few days to listen to the tracks, and by the time they are soaking in, there's five more to download! No muppets please. Appreciate the writing, and your songs are nicely different from the other mu-blogs. Nice to read pretty reviews. And I'm so damn tired of lj quizzes. Just do a diepunyhumans.com style reader appreciation day and have people send in a. pictures b. fanart pictures c. something else... like pictures and a favorite mp3. pulls people in without much work and then for several weeks you could post their mp3 and picture. And it's fun enough to make ya feel loved. Posted by Beth at June 22, 2004 2:15 PMHaha, "Boars of Canada." Freudian slip? ;) Posted by Eppy at June 22, 2004 4:59 PM*laugh* It's quite likely, Eppy! (That's a good idea, beth.) Posted by Sean at June 22, 2004 5:02 PMI think it's just the general laziness of summer. I haven't touched my blog in days, and I usually find time to download stuff I'm interested in, but for the most part, I'm just too lazy to look into new music right now. Plus, speaking for just me, my brother is now off school so my usual schedule of late-night blog meandering has been changed. We're all still around, keep up the good work. You're generally the last blog I go to, which is a good thing. I usually save the best couple for last. Thanks for all the music. Posted by caley at June 22, 2004 6:39 PMi've just had my head up my ass. Posted by forksclovetofu at June 23, 2004 4:27 PMJust started tuning in not too long ago (and this is the first blog--of any kind--my husband has shown an interest in). I love it! Wonderful writing and some great tracks. Posted by emptywheel at June 23, 2004 4:48 PMCheers, Caley. And i'm not insulted, john, that you pick up great graphic novels insteada me. :) thanks for the generous words, emptywheel. ---- Posted by Sean at June 23, 2004 5:28 PMPost a comment |
 about said the gramophone
this is a daily sampler of really good songs. all tracks are posted out of love. please go out and buy the records!
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all songs are removed within a week or two of posting. said the gramophone launched in march 2003, and added songs in november of that year. it was one of the world's very first mp3blogs. if you would like to say hello, find out our mailing addresses or invite us to shows, please get in touch: montreal, canada: sean toronto, canada: jordan montreal, canada: dan please don't send us emails with tons of huge attachments; if emailing a bunch of mp3s etc, use a service like MailBigFile. if you are the copyright holder of any song posted here, please contact us if you would like the song taken down early. please do not direct link to any of these tracks. please love and wonder. "and i shall watch the ferry-boats / and they'll get high on a bluer ocean / against tomorrow's sky / and i will never grow so old again." we are a member of MBV.
about the authors
Sean Michaels lives in Montreal, where he is writing a novel. His work also occasionally appears at McSweeney's. Follow him on Twitter or reach him here.
Dan Beirne is an actor and writer living in Montreal. He writes fiction fiction fiction on here. It may feel true, but it is never True. He is most proud of his most recent project The Bitter End. Email him here Jordan Himelfarb lives in Toronto, where he is editor in chief of The Mark. Jordan's posts appear at Said the Gramophone only on the last Wednesday of every month. Email him here. Site design and header typography by Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet. The header graphic is randomized: this one is by . 
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