2013 in Review
Too early to start posting the best-ofs?
Total vibration has a list of remarkable albums of American Primitive released this year.
Total vibration has a list of remarkable albums of American Primitive released this year.
Chuck Johnson, Crows in the Basilica: Mysterious and cyclonic solo acoustic record.
William Tyler, Impossible Truth: A bold sense of melody thats instantly hummable, like the entirety of Nashvilles Music Row reimagined.
Glenn Jones, My Garden State: Deceptively simple and ever-so bittersweet.
Steve Gunn, Time Off: Intones from many traditions (American, Indian, British, Gnawan) and gives the illusion that that the trio just cooked it all up overnight. Get chooglin.
Mike Gangloff, Poplar Hollow: A perfect blend of Gangloffs work in Pelt and Black Twig Pickers thats far more ambitious than it lets on.
Steve Gunn & Mike Gangloff, Melodies for a Savage Fix: Deep, late-night drones and improvisations for gongs and guitars, gettin at that Lou Harrison vibe.
Nathan Salsburg, Hard for to Win and Cant Be Won: Patient and understated perhaps the most pure in the style this year.
Marisa Anderson, Mercury: Exposes and hides the mysteries of American music in two-minute, one-take tracks.
Bill Orcutt, A History of Every One: Youve never heard Zip A Dee Doo Dah like this ever. The former Harry Pussy member takes novelty songs, work hollers, Disney tunes and hymns, and skewers them to his skittering, frenzied style.
Chris Forsyth, Solar Motel: Pursues the unknown rhythms of rock n rolls rabbit hole instead of dancing around it.
Daniel Bachman, Jesus Im a Sinner: Sweetly and simply Bachmans most straight-forward and spacious record in the tradition.
Cian Nugent & the Cosmos, Born with the Caul: A loose jaunt that feels at home in the countryside as much as it does a dive.
Sean Proper, Design Engine: The kind of rabid hare debut thats messy and mesmerizing, but promising.
Urpf Lanze, Procession of Talking Mirrors: Delta slides and pig grunts.
Jenks Miller, Spirit Signal: Genre-splaying, noise-infected solo electric recordings from Horsebacks main dude. 90s noise John Fahey revisionism in the grandest sense.
Yousei Suzuki, The Scene from a Frame: Raw, warts-and-all solo guitar from Japan.
Gary Lucas, Cinefantastique: Almost a counterpoint to Bill Orcutts A History of Every One with sweet, straight-forward and sometimes caustic takes on film music.
Sam Moss, No Kingdom: Rooted in backwoods campfire songs and foggy dirges, Moss turns singer-songwriter and lands somewhere between the sweetness of Jimmie Rodgers and the urgency of Bill Mallonee.
M. Mucci & B. Grossman, Dangerous Summer: Swirling 12-string prettiness in the James Blackshaw vein, with some tasteful electronics and hurdy gurdy flourishes throughout.
Desert Heat, Cat Mask at Huggie Temple: Steve Gunn, John Truscinski and Cian Nugent in dust bowl boogie mode.
Paul Metzger, Tombeaux: Droning, truly Weird Americana on the 23-string banjo that gets at Faheys Bartok obsession more than any other in this music.
Danny Paul Grody, Between Two Worlds: Unorthodox 12-string guitar record from The Drift/Tarantel member that flits in and out of the tradition with ambient landscapes.
Sarah Henson, Wildwood Hours: My favorite find while digging through the "American Primitive" tag on Bandcamp. Soulful Appalachian guitar and banjo music that almost sounds like a lost Jewelled Antler CDR in that homespun, crunched-leaves way.
James Blackshaw & Lubomyr Melnyk, The Watchers: Two practitioners of endless music meet in a mesmerizing record that refuses categorization.
Ryley Walker, The Bootleg: A better (for now) idea of what this Chicago guitarist is capable of until we get a proper full length. Think Bert Jansch with the swagger of Tim Buckley and youre partly there.
Horrible Houses, Written and Recorded Under the Influence of the Yellow House: Sketches and uncertain melodies from this Swedish guitarist that literally buried these tape recordings under a house.
Hayden Pedigo, Seven Years Late: This kid barely looks 17, but definitely has the technique down and an unfocused, yet infectious approach.
Alex Archibald, Western Life May Suit You Less: The instrumental work is good and seeking, attuned to the quiet Glenn Jones style more than anything.
Luke Hirst, Farewell Adventures: Rather faithful to the first couple Fahey records, but nicely done.
Robin Allender, Foxes in the Foyer: Circular melodies adorned with subtle samples and loops. Its charm makes a lot of sense given that Allender plays in film composer Yann Tiersens live band.
Stara Rzeka, Cien chmury nad ukrytm polem: Starts innocently as Fahey worship, then buries all the melodies under bloated beats, straight-up black metal and whatever else. So bizarre.
B.A. Canning Band, Normal Life: A rather John Zorn-like approach to Americana, drifting from cosmic country to bluegrass to mathy (?) honky-tonk in a delightfully weird and frenzied way.
Comments
"Haftorang" by James Blackshaw & Lubomyr Melnyk IMPREC375
- Excellent, but I can't find it on music . . .
ETA:
- Not bad either . . .