Search Results for: Big Star

Big Bend :: Last Circle In A Slowdown

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The third album from pianist/singer Nathan Phillips’ Big Bend project blends experimental methods with time-tested tradition. Working with avant-jazz master Shahzad Ismaily and a varied ensemble including Jen Powers of Rolin/Powers Duo and violinist Zosha Warpeha, Phillips transforms delicate folk songs into strange collages and elliptical ballads. At times reminiscent of the fluid, gauzy extrapolations of Talk Talk, Last Circle in a Slowdown might have more in common with Joan of Arc’s controversial ProTools workout The Gap. But Big Bend doesn’t embrace the alienation that comes with such studio manipulation and digital disruption, instead finding a lithe grace in the interstices of the regular and the revolutionary. Untroubled but eerie, Big Bend finds its own kind of ambiguous beauty.

King Hannah :: Big Swimmer

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King Hannah juxtaposes the cool, poised narratives of singer Hannah Merrick with the guitar storms of her partner Craig Whittle, a volatile mix that can sound like Dry Cleaning in one track, PJ Harvey the next. The duo, out of Liverpool, have one previous album, an EP and a slew of singles to their credit before Big Swimmer, but this album ups the stakes considerably.

Angel Olsen :: Big Time

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On her stunning new album Big Time, Angel Olsen chronicles a complex couple of years and a resulting sense of rebirth. Filled with country-tinged melodies and sparse arrangements, it features some of the songwriter’s most engaging work.

Tonstartssbandht :: Petunia

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Orlando brothers Andy and Edwin White—a warm, enveloping duo known as Tonstartssbandht—return with Petunia, their follow-up to 2017’s Sorcerer, a record we dug for its dynamic and invigorated orbit of jammy neo-psych-folk, cloud-bound vocal harmonies, and spacey ambient soundscapes. This new work is a bit more song-oriented than its predecessor—it has four more tracks and one that even clocks in at well under two-minutes—but Tonstartssbandht still take their time letting their dreamy melodies and flowery, psychedelic riffs unfurl.

Luka Kuplowsky & the Stardust Players :: Live at the Golden Lion

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Back in January, Luka Kuplowsky assembled an all-star band from the city’s jazz and improvisational community (whose members have performed with U.S. Girls, Martha Wainwright, and Beverly Glenn-Copeland) for a three-song performance embedded inside an atmospheric short film. Collaborating with filmmaker Colin Medley, who also directed Kuplowsky’s video for “Stardust (Reprise)”, the 12-minute mood piece captured live at The Golden Lion dining club is inspired by the minimalist movies of Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki.