I kind of like this one - it reminds me a lot of Archandroid in places, (although I don't like it as much as that) - which makes sense because there was some cross-cooperation. I'd heard some of Montreal before and it never really stuck for me, but seeing the Prince Comparisons from the 17dots review made me curious. Overall not bad.
Be Mine Tonight is easily the most unusual recording New Zealand guitarist Dean Roberts has ever made, and his first since 2000. Admittedly, this is saying a lot, but given that this is Roberts' first real foray into songwriting, the comment is warranted. Recorded in Bologna between December 2000 and December 2002, Roberts collaborated with Italian musicians such as composer/engineer Valerio Tricoli, guitarists Christian Alati and Giuseppe Ielasi, and drummer/percussionist Antonio Arrabbito. Roberts doesn't give up his own guitar chores and, as well as playing them, also participates on piano, bass, harmonium, glass harmonica, and percussion. There are only four tracks on Be Mine Tonight, each of them a song with words coming out of formal structure and syntax and re/un-made by the use of improvisation, wildly varying sonic architectures, genre shifts, and insertions of dynamic elements. As to what kind of music this is, the only word can be used is "good." All of the usual blah-blah-blahs about out-rock and folk and country and whatever don't even matter here. These are songs created for the purpose of making a song something that endures far beyond the terrain where its lyrics run out. Any element that would stretch the notion to its breaking point though never beyond was employed. Hence, this is the most intimate, tender, forward-thinking recording Roberts has ever made. Its modes of improvisation, deft use of space, and the illusion of time shifts is remarkable, as is Roberts' sense of reversed melody a harmonic construction that gives the impression of melody when, in fact, none exists. Be Mine Tonight is a welcome return for Dean Roberts to the recording scene, but opens many doors and creates numerous possibilities in how one might view, write, and record "songs" in the present and future.
Comments
Craig
Half the time I think these guys were geniuses way ahead of their time. The other half I think they were fucking nuts.
One of my absolute favorite pieces.
Battles - Mirrored
- Not cheap @ Amie but excellent.
I aspire to attain a beard of that magnitude.
Thanks for the EMI rec froggie! Fantastic stuff.
Craig
Trying to keep myself chill...
I've never bought an of Montreal album before...
Never had a Walkmen album either...
Craig
I'm really really loving the Walkmen album.
from allmusic:
Only $1.56
Perfect for sunny Sunday late morning/early afternoon.
Craig
Amie is dead. Long live Amie.
And thank you Blue Note, Real World, Vanguard, Sugar Hill, and EMI.
What a great week.
I picked this up over the weekend at "Pine Cone Member Appreciation Day" in Raleigh. Old Hat did a great job restoring these 78s.
Laurent Pernice & Jacques Barberi - Drosophiles et Doryphores
- Does anyone happen to know Jaques Baberi ?