Doom & Gloom Dispatch #27: Lunar Deluxe
Prairiewolf, Emma Tricca, Lou Reed, Gordon Lightfoot, Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet
I mentioned it before — and by god, I’m mentioning it again. Today, Prairiewolf’s self-titled debut album goes on sale via Centripetal Force Records. Vinyl! Compact Disc! Digital! (No cassette this time around, sickos!) Very proud to be a part of this band and I hope everyone who hears it enjoys it.
What does Prairiewolf sound like??? Let’s go to the experts.
Raven Sings The Blues: Prairiewolf’s eponymous LP can’t be as easily contained or codified as simply an ambient country record. The trio employ the open psychedelics of Don Cherry, the mechanical shudder of A.R. & Machines, the Western expanse of Earth’s Hex, and the spiritual yearning of Alice Coltrane. Atop an electronic gallop of rhythm the band layers synth washes, an engrossing aura of effects, and the slow saunter of Stefan Beck’s glycerine slides.
Petal Motel: The entire record is monumental, heady and meditative and rambling yet intentional. More hook and less wook – although there’s truly something for everyone here whether you’re into spiritual jazz, electronic ambient, kosmiche jam, and beyond.
The Boulder Weekly: Prairiewolf tweaks the formula driving much of the region’s improv-heavy guitar music — swapping barn-burner solos and tricked-out trap kits for splashy pools of ambience and the chirping thump of vintage drum machines — to carve space for something more patient, subtle and uniquely thrilling.
Record Crates United: The trio finds where disparate artists such as Sandy Bull and Neu! overlap, and they weave those influences together into hypnotic soundscapes that flow with the ease of a tranquil river. With the help of Mellotrons, Rhodes and vintage drum machines, you can hear elements of spiritual jazz, analogue ambient music and of course Grateful Dead-leaning cosmic Americana in this sunbaked debut.
If that all sounds like something you could get into, then be sure to grab the record tomorrow — it’s Bandcamp Friday, too, so that is cool. We’re also celebrating this Saturday, May 6, with a show at Cellar West Artisan Ales in Lafayette, CO — it’s free! Music kicks off around 6pm. The beer is excellent, let me assure you.
Haven’t seen too much chatter about this one — so let’s fix that! Emma Tricca’s fourth album, Aspirin Sun, is fantastic from start-to-finish. A 21st century folk rock gem! The album’s eight songs showcase the signer-songwriter’s Karen Dalton-esque vocals, enigmatic lyrics and winning way with a melody. These tunes are in no hurry; they slowly unfold and blossom into beautiful shapes. Tricca is joined by some great collaborators, too — Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley is in the producer’s chair and plays drums, and Jason Victor of the Dream Syndicate adds lovely guitar textures. The album reaches its peak with the almost 11-minute “Rubens’ House,” an atmospheric, slow-burn masterpiece.
Lou Reed - Kansas City Memorial Hall, Kansas City, May 2, 1973
According to legend, Berlin producer Bob Ezrin told Lou Reed in early 1973 that he had to fire his backing band, the Tots. They weren’t pro enough, apparently. Uncharacteristically, Lou took Bob’s advice and sent the Tots back to Long Island. One problem, though — he was in the middle of a tour!
Moogy Klingman to the rescue! Thomas Pynchon must’ve kicked himself for not coming up with that name. For a brief spell, the Utopia keyboardist and his slick band (including a drummer called “Chocolate”) backed up Lou. This KC gig, 50 years ago this week, was their off-Broadway debut. And though it’s rough in some spots, Moogy and the gang sound enthusiastic, adding some more elaborate rhythmic accents, funk-pop touches and occasionally ambitious backing vocals. It’s radically different from the garage-y Tots, that’s for sure — especially thanks to the presence of Klingman’s keys. Obviously, Cale and Yule had played keyboards with Velvets, but this is a whole ‘nother thing, a sound that Lou would lean on onstage for the remainder of the 70s. I like Moogy’s elegant intro to the rarely played “Andy’s Chest.” “Piano!” Lou exclaims proudly. “Piano!” So true, Lou.
Weirdest of all is the closing “Sister Ray,” which is light years away from White Light. Almost disco-ish at times, with Chocolate holding down the beat mercilessly, everyone else vamping like their life depends on it. Whip it on me, Chocolate!
More Lou? There’s this little essay I wrote about Loaded over on Aquarium Drunkard (it originally appeared in a Rhino Records promo item a few years ago). And how about an AI-assisted remix of the Velvet Underground? Fuck it, why not.
Gordon Lightfoot - Wherefore And Why (1968)
RIP GORD! This is a tough one — Gordon Lightfoot is one of those artists that just seems to sound better and better the older you get. And I’m pretty old now! Even though I liked him when I was a kid, I always thought of him as very uncool. Now, he seems like the coolest: a songwriter of almost breathtaking economy, a singer who cuts to the quick and a rad guitarist. These days, I can hear why the world’s best songwriters knelt at the altar of Lightfoot.
Plenty of Gord to get into, of course — at the recommendation of Jason Woodbury, I was checking out Gord’s Gold, Volume 2 yesterday, which boasts some dangerous late 1980s vibes. Or how about the man’s first U.S. gig at the legendary La Cave coffeehouse in Cleveland? You can also check out this charming CBC doc from the late 1960s, presenting kinda impressionistic proto music videos for several of Lightfoot’s finest tunes up to that point.
“I guess every man has two lives — the one he lives and the one he wants to live,” Gordon says. “When you write songs, you’ve got a thousand lives. And one by one, you just pin them to your lapel and hope they bounce off a million ears. Some of them are happy and some of them are not so happy. And a few of them, I guess, are just a little bit strange.”
Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet - Roulette, Brooklyn, New York, March 27, 2023 / Tiny Desk Concert
Here’s what I wrote about Bill Orcutt’s Music for Four Guitars for Aquarium Drunkard’s year-end roundup: “A multitracked electric guitar masterpiece, [it] offers a richly layered trip. As with everything Orcutt does, there’s a wild intensity at work, but the interlinked compositions here could also work as meditation soundtracks. Orcutt continues to surprise.”
Most surprising, perhaps, is that Orcutt managed to take Four Guitars on the road this year. He brought with him some serious underground ringers to bring this stuff to life: Shane Parish, Ava Mendoza and Wendy Eisenberg. Thanks to Parish’s scoring skill, the quartet hews closely to the original compositions, but in a live setting, things open up and flow, creating a truly heady listening (and viewing) experience. Knotty, gnarly, totally beautiful. The musicians also seem to be having a blast playing together — especially in the more improv-heavy second half — which is always a plus in my book.
And hey, the Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet is playing in Los Angeles TONIGHT. I’d go if I were you.
From The Doom & Gloom Archives
A stellar compilation of solo performances from Neil’s 2003 European tour. After spending the first set debuting the then-unreleased Greendale, Neil rewarded fans with lengthy second sets packed with deep cuts – including a rare outing for his autobiography in drugs “Hitchhiker” (which was finally released in altered, electric form on Le Noise a few years back). But wait, there’s more: an “On The Beach” that misses a few lyrics but makes up for it in pure moodiness; piano versions of “Expecting To Fly” and “Dangerbird;” a lovely rendition of “Feel Your Love,” a forgotten track rescued from CSNY’s misbegotten American Dream; and maybe best of all, a 10-minute, 12-string take on “Cortez the Killer,” that features a strange (perhaps improvised) verse missing from any other performance of the song I’ve heard. Wild.
Currently Reading: The Visionary State by Erik Davis
orcutt quartet performances have been insane - rocked my world at big ears in knoxville
nodding my head along to the Prairiewolf album this morning. well done, gents!