Currently enjoying Dust to Dust very much. Great interview, too.
I want a recommendation engine for 'wide open desert' music - stuff like Dust to Dust, the Hired Hand soundtrack, any Scott Tuma, Eyvind Kang's Live Low to the Ground...
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Saturday, March 18, 2017 12:39 PM
Those last three are the biggies, imo, assuming you probably already know the Paris, Texas soundtrack. Do you know a band called Padang Food Tigers? They definitely hit on this vibe quite a bit, despite being about as far from the desert landscape as you can get (UK, iirc). Also, there are a lot of people working this angle from a dronier / noisier angle, like pedal steel guitarist Chas Smith (not to be confused with drummer Ches Smith), William Fowler Collins, and probably a few others.
There are probably people who can direct you to the "right" Calexico records, too (there are instrumental albums that definitely touch on this style) but I'm not really well-versed enough to say
― Wimmels, Saturday, March 18, 2017 1:03 PM
Yes - love the Food Tigers! And, aye, definitely uk based. Paris, Texas is all-time. I'd forgotten Chas Smith. Santa Fe is a hell of a thing. Will check William Fowler Collins, for sure. Cheers.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Saturday, March 18, 2017 1:10 PM
I want a recommendation engine for 'wide open desert' music
See also:
Susan Alcorn - And i await the Resurrection (maybe not her best, but its what I have)Barn Owl - anyRy Cooder - Paris, Texas of course, also look for Trespass, Last Man Standing OSTsDead Texan - eponymous debutBruce Kaphan - Slider: Ambient Excursions for Pedal Steel GuitarLong Desert Cowboy - anyRainer (Ptacek) - Nocturnes
― Sanpaku, Saturday, March 18, 2017 11:14 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
if Live Low To The Earth In The Iron Age is part of this genre, I'm starting a thread
― sleeve, Saturday, March 18, 2017 11:19 PM (0 seconds ago) Bookmark
― sleeve, Sunday, 19 March 2017 06:21 (seven years ago) link
that Eyvind Kang record is one of my favorite things ever.
does Scenic fit in here? it's been a long tiem since I heard those records.
― sleeve, Sunday, 19 March 2017 06:22 (seven years ago) link
thanks in advance thread
― example (crüt), Sunday, 19 March 2017 06:30 (seven years ago) link
I forgot to mention the two Slim Westerns albums by A Small, Good, Thing (aka O Yuki Conjugate).
― Sanpaku, Sunday, 19 March 2017 06:48 (seven years ago) link
I think of Scenic as more western tinged instrumental rock. There's an omnipresent drum kit, which keeps it out of ambient territory.
― Sanpaku, Sunday, 19 March 2017 06:50 (seven years ago) link
Though they include a few songs, the two albums by Maggie Björklund (Coming Home (2010) and Shaken (2014)) may belong here, too.
― Sanpaku, Sunday, 19 March 2017 06:58 (seven years ago) link
most calexico, i think?friends of dean martinez
― mookieproof, Sunday, 19 March 2017 06:58 (seven years ago) link
thx for the A Small, Good, Thing recommendations, I am a big OYC fan and have always meant to check them out.
― sleeve, Sunday, 19 March 2017 07:04 (seven years ago) link
I feel like some specific Dirty Three tracks might fit in here as well, or Tren Brothers?
― sleeve, Sunday, 19 March 2017 07:05 (seven years ago) link
Funny somebody mentioning Scenic which I think was intentionally influenced by the local Arizona scenery.I always get images of the long range desert group driving landrovers across the sahara when listening to tracks from Jamahiriya by Licher's earlier Savage Republic. Which was my immediate response to the title question.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 19 March 2017 07:09 (seven years ago) link
The most recent Daniel Lanois album, Goodbye to Language - a whole album of droney pedal steel. My favorite album of 2016.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Sunday, 19 March 2017 07:22 (seven years ago) link
surprised no one's mentioned earth this side of hex; or printing in the infernal method. or are they outside the boundaries?
― The sandwiches looked quite dank. (contenderizer), Sunday, 19 March 2017 07:56 (seven years ago) link
William Tyler?
― just sayin, Sunday, 19 March 2017 08:27 (seven years ago) link
earth - hex was my second thought
my first thought was the track 'despite the roar' by bardo pond
― an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality (imago), Sunday, 19 March 2017 09:55 (seven years ago) link
black sun ensemble - the self-titled one on reckless with a goldfish flying thru space on the cover
― Benylin Ascent (NickB), Sunday, 19 March 2017 10:09 (seven years ago) link
Yeah was going to mention Mr Acedo and folks. 1st lp got a cd reissue a few years ago but not sure fi it's still around.I came in via Lambent Flame and wasn't sure what track was very deserty but since Acedo came from the desert region I think it is heavily reflected in the music.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 19 March 2017 10:14 (seven years ago) link
gosh lambent flame, that record was not kind to my ears. 2nd s/t is just lovely the whole way through
― Benylin Ascent (NickB), Sunday, 19 March 2017 10:17 (seven years ago) link
Neil Young's Dead Man soundtrack.
― MikoMcha, Sunday, 19 March 2017 11:07 (seven years ago) link
This is magnificent. A day imagining the loneliness, the wind a fibrous wall... I keep thinking of a line from the Monkey Wrench Gang: 'the desert eased his vague anger'.
I know vocals and drums wreck the spirit of this kind of stuff, but Whitewater by Kyuss is pure desert.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Sunday, 19 March 2017 11:10 (seven years ago) link
I bought a Scenic record once just because of the impressive brown paper packaging. I didn't go back to the music inside very much though.
The Bruce Kaphan slide guitar thing sounds cool
― calstars, Sunday, 19 March 2017 11:17 (seven years ago) link
Probably goes without saying but the new Hired Hand tribute record on Scissor Tail is beautiful and is wide open space music all the way. It's on Spotify if that's your thing.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Sunday, 19 March 2017 11:30 (seven years ago) link
african desert music (made by people who grew up in and live in deserts!) like BARGOU 08, TAMIKREST, TINARIWEN, and BOMBINO isn't half bad, either
― reggie (qualmsley), Sunday, 19 March 2017 15:52 (seven years ago) link
Six Organs of Admittance (especially the albums The Sun Awakens and Shelter From the Ash)
― bernard snowy, Sunday, 19 March 2017 16:18 (seven years ago) link
Would including Gil Evans's arrangements be too much of a stretch? Sketches of Spain and parts of Out of the Cool and Indvidualism of... always evoke the desert for me.
Western Skies Motel are good at this stuff. Settlers from last year is great.
Cheers for the Slim Westerns recommendation.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Sunday, 19 March 2017 16:25 (seven years ago) link
A couple other aesthetics that are distinct but related: I see Dead Texan has been mentioned already, but I want to put in a plug for "Sun Drugs" off the underrated Stars of the Lid release The Ballasted Orchestra, as it totally nails the feeling of laying in a wide-open field under a cloudless sky listening to the rumble of distant jet aircraft. Also, the recent GYBE album with the title beginning Asunder, Sweet... gives me a very strong out-of-the-blistering-midday-heat, into-the-cool-shade-of-the-suq vibe
― bernard snowy, Sunday, 19 March 2017 16:28 (seven years ago) link
Labradford - Mi Media Naranja
^ good twangy morricone vibes, but also twinkly electronics that make me think of satellites flying across a vast starry sky
― Benylin Ascent (NickB), Sunday, 19 March 2017 18:24 (seven years ago) link
^ a midway point between eno and morricone, a desert drifter looking up into the night sky and seeing twinkling satellites sailing across the vastness overhead
― Benylin Ascent (NickB), Sunday, 19 March 2017 18:32 (seven years ago) link
Lol fucking phone playing tricks on me
― Benylin Ascent (NickB), Sunday, 19 March 2017 18:33 (seven years ago) link
― example (crüt), Sunday, March 19, 2017 1:30 AM (twelve hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― jason waterfalls (gbx), Sunday, 19 March 2017 18:34 (seven years ago) link
Should add for anyone who missed it on the Steve Roach thread that the Dust to Dust mentioned up top which started this is his collaborative album with Roger King:
https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/dust-to-dust
It is and remains one of my all time favorite albums.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 19 March 2017 18:36 (seven years ago) link
If people have mentioned Sketches of Spain the Grateful Dead's lift as Spanish Jam should also fit as should other of their stuff.
I was thinking bits of QMS too especially Calvary.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 19 March 2017 18:41 (seven years ago) link
oh yeah and on the QMS tip there are some longer Rangda pieces ("Plain Of Jars", "...Hermetic Museum") that fit in here, and Sun City Girls' Funeral Mariachi album (but not much else of theirs imo)
― sleeve, Sunday, 19 March 2017 19:09 (seven years ago) link
this thread was better when it was a little more specialized and not "this drone band used clean guitars and a slide once"
― Wimmels, Sunday, 19 March 2017 19:45 (seven years ago) link
ah yes the long 13hr lifespan of this thread
― jason waterfalls (gbx), Sunday, 19 March 2017 19:48 (seven years ago) link
Brokeback, Brokeback and the Black Rock
― Wozniak on Kimye's Baby (jaymc), Sunday, 19 March 2017 19:52 (seven years ago) link
― just sayin, Sunday, March 19, 2017 4:27 AM (eleven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Absolutely William Tyler!
― Evan, Sunday, 19 March 2017 19:57 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRGns0huaCM
This is my favorite kind of Calexico and as mentioned above it fits the thread theme very well.
― Evan, Sunday, 19 March 2017 20:01 (seven years ago) link
I could certainly recommend the proper instrumental/experimental Calexico stuff if anyone was actually interested.
― Evan, Sunday, 19 March 2017 20:08 (seven years ago) link
Train Songs by Two Dollar Guitar.
― heaven parker (anagram), Sunday, 19 March 2017 20:13 (seven years ago) link
Brian Grainger – Blue Wheatfield: https://wil-ru.bandcamp.com/album/blue-wheatfieldlots of stuff by Expo '70; e.g., Inaudible Bicoastal Trajectory: https://aguirrerecords.bandcamp.com/album/inaudible-bicoastal-trajectory
― example (crüt), Sunday, 19 March 2017 20:19 (seven years ago) link
https://www.discogs.com/Garlo-Vent-De-Guitares/release/1575820
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jjIhVE7ek4
― Milton Parker, Sunday, 19 March 2017 20:29 (seven years ago) link
man I had forgotten about that Two Dollar Guitar album
thanks to crut for those last two as well
probably everyone here has heard Brightblack Morning Light but they definitely fit
Brightblack Morning Light ... WTF?
― sleeve, Sunday, 19 March 2017 20:50 (seven years ago) link
"Susan Alcorn - And i await the Resurrection (maybe not her best, but its what I have)"
you need to get her extremely lovely Soledad album, Sanpaku or anyone who digs this aesthetic.
― calzino, Sunday, 19 March 2017 20:56 (seven years ago) link
I'd take a more desert-focussed Calexcio primer, Evan. Cheers. 'Hot Rail' is fantastic.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Sunday, 19 March 2017 21:10 (seven years ago) link
Date Palms "Dusted Sessions"
― daily growing, Sunday, 19 March 2017 21:39 (seven years ago) link
re: Calexico, The Black Light and Spoke are both great for winding/long stretches, southern Utah driving. also, seconding Dirty Three and Tren Brothers. Whatever You Love You Are is a beauty, though it's less propulsive. Bad Timing by Jim O'Rourke is an absolute slam dunk.
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Sunday, 19 March 2017 21:47 (seven years ago) link
I recall Lanterna, who incidentally did a split release with Scenic, being described as "atmospheric desert music" or some such
― a but (brimstead), Sunday, 19 March 2017 22:22 (seven years ago) link
I loved all the Yo La Tengo music in Old Joy--not sure if that fits your definition, but it does recall the Paris, Texas soundtrack, I think, and they do do a lot of driving in the movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcuXOtwZSiw
― clemenza, Sunday, 19 March 2017 22:27 (seven years ago) link
Yawning Man
Meat Puppets debut and second
― Jessie Fer Ark (Mobbed Up Ping Pong Psychos), Sunday, 19 March 2017 22:58 (seven years ago) link
http://www.bendingcorners.com/2005/desert_moments/ is a good mix of this sort of thing
― I hear from this arsehole again, he's going in the river (James Morrison), Sunday, 19 March 2017 23:33 (seven years ago) link
The Bruce Kaphan is nice as expected. Wide open chords
― calstars, Sunday, 19 March 2017 23:39 (seven years ago) link
Some Mazzy Star/Hope Sandoval would probably apply
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Sunday, 19 March 2017 23:47 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAb8NbM8PKU
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Sunday, March 19, 2017 5:10 PM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I would start with both Toolbox and Travelall, as they're both instrumental and have the same vibe as the Hot Rail track. Hot Rail the album however is my favorite straightforward Calexico record (the previous two I recommended were originally tour only CDs). Atmosphere was clearly a number one priority at the time. Later it dropped a little with each subsequent album as they moved closer and closer to more straightforward pop/rock.
Some samples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvv9dQX12kc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQtGHOeflTM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esbtr6LKHdg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxO6kVo5P7E
― Evan, Monday, 20 March 2017 03:06 (seven years ago) link
That being said after driving up and down Arizona this past October I found William Tyler to be the most powerful accompaniment to the sights. I made a desert mix especially for the trip. I should revisit to see what I'm forgetting.
― Evan, Monday, 20 March 2017 03:09 (seven years ago) link
Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger
― that's not my post, Monday, 20 March 2017 03:59 (seven years ago) link
Jimmie Dale Gilmore's singing always makes me think of the desert southwest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGsTrLaDaHQ
― that's not my post, Monday, 20 March 2017 04:12 (seven years ago) link
Harold Budd appears on the last Scenic album, which adds +50 to ambient
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 20 March 2017 07:00 (seven years ago) link
Bruce Licher's bandcamp also has this great 45min piece he and his wife put together for an installation of hers:https://brucelicher.bandcamp.com/track/suspension-of-disbelief
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 20 March 2017 07:03 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LGt2N5L4JA
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 20 March 2017 07:04 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6V9vEO76Z8
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 20 March 2017 07:05 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4S-aE879T0
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 20 March 2017 07:07 (seven years ago) link
Chris Isaak's old guitarist James Wilsey (that's him on "Wicked Game") has an instrumental album out that's well worth tracking down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7XBBRvNkBk
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 20 March 2017 07:09 (seven years ago) link
Brian Grainger - Eight Thousanderhttps://attacknine.bandcamp.com/album/eight-thousander
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 20 March 2017 07:16 (seven years ago) link
Lost in the morass of mid-90s surf rock was this great album by Death Valley.https://www.discogs.com/Death-Valley-Que-Pasta/release/2335153
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86l9awk-VLY
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 20 March 2017 07:30 (seven years ago) link
Nice Cocteau Twins cover too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClZnB84DljY
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 20 March 2017 07:31 (seven years ago) link
Jon Porras' Black Mesa is the first thing that came to mind
― Dinsdale, Monday, 20 March 2017 07:57 (seven years ago) link
And there has to be some Barn Owl as well, I think Lost in the Glare is the one that sounds the most like that
― Dinsdale, Monday, 20 March 2017 08:01 (seven years ago) link
That Cocteau Twins cover is great.
Earth - Bees Made Honey
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Monday, 20 March 2017 08:27 (seven years ago) link
giant sand own this thread. an example from "chore of enchantment", his masterpiece.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJtbKgZkpc0
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Monday, 20 March 2017 12:33 (seven years ago) link
The whole "The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place" by Explosions in the Sky.
― satans favourite son, Monday, 20 March 2017 12:48 (seven years ago) link
after moving to Texas, The American Analog Set's 'The Golden Band' suddenly made a lot more sense, striking me as the kind of music you would make after a brutal August day of 100+ degrees.
― campreverb, Monday, 20 March 2017 14:35 (seven years ago) link
*wearily puts on high-vis jacket and gets to work* I can only side-eye the romanticised inhuman aesthetic at work here & wld question the appeal of it, even tho I like some of the music mentioned itt. also I wld humbly suggest that there is quite a bit of music from/indigenous to the desert (or the edge of it, I suppose) which is much better than this stuff *stretches back, sighs heavily, clocks off*
― ogmor, Monday, 20 March 2017 15:30 (seven years ago) link
Quit humbly suggesting and actually suggest.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Monday, 20 March 2017 16:20 (seven years ago) link
I've made a Spotify playlist of sorts, to which I'll add and mess about with the order as and when (Spotify web app is total bumcake).
The desert eased his vague anger
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Monday, 20 March 2017 16:35 (seven years ago) link
Christ, my tortured syntax: I'll change the order and add a few more tracks when I get the chance - ie when I'm not using the Spotify web app, which is shite.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Monday, 20 March 2017 16:37 (seven years ago) link
all them sahel string instrumental players, hamza el din most especially
― ogmor, Monday, 20 March 2017 23:50 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2By_WxnL3AA
― nomar, Monday, 20 March 2017 23:59 (seven years ago) link
O the inhumanity of listening to non-indigenous, see-through romance music whlst driving through the american west, ffs
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Tuesday, 21 March 2017 01:36 (seven years ago) link
unless i'm missing something crucial, the "wide open desert music" under discussion here is, by and large, a genre of contemporary americana, sort of "post-country and western". in its essential form, you get clean, bright, reverb-heavy guitar lines drifting slowly through darkened ambient space. a combination of western twang, blues grit, and surf spaciness drained of vigor to point where it's practically undead, vampire music in cowboy drag (or vice-versa). dragging in hamza el din seems perverse.
― The sandwiches looked quite dank. (contenderizer), Tuesday, 21 March 2017 02:12 (seven years ago) link
I was with you until "drained of vigor", basically I started this thread to get more recommendations as to what else sounds like "Binah" from Live Low To The Earth In The Iron Age. the desert has color!
― sleeve, Tuesday, 21 March 2017 02:48 (seven years ago) link
edited version, wtf this is supposed to be 27 minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cajQehDpbsc
― sleeve, Tuesday, 21 March 2017 02:50 (seven years ago) link
i agree that the non-american stuff doesn't fit with this cinematic staring across a (most often imaginary) desert soaking up the atmosphere vibe, hence just alluding to it initially. deserts in this context are a blank inhuman wilderness for the listener to passively inhabit & think/feel/do graphic design
― ogmor, Tuesday, 21 March 2017 08:50 (seven years ago) link
I was with you until "drained of vigor"
yeah, that was my prejudice showing. i'm not a big fan of the cinematic slowcore western thing.
― The sandwiches looked quite dank. (contenderizer), Tuesday, 21 March 2017 13:19 (seven years ago) link
It doesn't have to be cinematic slowcore western. Sometimes it's a particular style of cinematic instrumental guitar. Or krautrock infused country.
― Evan, Tuesday, 21 March 2017 14:59 (seven years ago) link
As far as the original post(s), the thing that makes this sound so special is that there really aren't too many things that hit these specific buttons. Hired Hand, Tuma, "Binah," etc are singular, which is why this thread jumped the shark as soon as people started suggesting every 90s post rock band that liked Morricone
I do really like that Bruce Licher piece mentioned upthread, and that Garlo thing sounds amazing. But even these have almost nothing to do with the Steve Roach album that inspired this thread
― Wimmels, Tuesday, 21 March 2017 15:03 (seven years ago) link
i did this a while back was pretty happy w/it but if anything too on the nose
http://soundcloud.com/matthew-lee-helgeson/desert-jive
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 21 March 2017 15:24 (seven years ago) link
Nice! Here's a rough little jam I'd done when I was obsessing over Paris, Texas. Improving a little with messy results.
https://soundcloud.com/factual-1/open
― Evan, Tuesday, 21 March 2017 16:19 (seven years ago) link
i like that!
i like this sound but i do get a little suspicious of it, like it's almost too easy to hit those stylistic cues that conjure up desert stuff
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 21 March 2017 16:44 (seven years ago) link
Thanks!
Yeah I feel like you can say that about solo instrumental music or electronica or ambient... It's helpful to have a unique take and not rely too much on gimmicky flare.
― Evan, Tuesday, 21 March 2017 17:25 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6YioCO0n8s
― Max Florian, Tuesday, 21 March 2017 18:24 (seven years ago) link
https://youtu.be/72csh1Zm38A02 Oren Ambarchi - Knots (Touch)
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Tuesday, 21 March 2017 19:15 (seven years ago) link
ffs, it's silly to say this thread "jumped the shark" when it's got me listening to that Eyvind Kang record again (I downloaded it last time someone was raving about it on ILM, and liked it well enough, but it's been been a minute since I listened)
― bernard snowy, Tuesday, 21 March 2017 21:48 (seven years ago) link
it's so good. his book of angels entry is fantastic too
― Mordy, Tuesday, 21 March 2017 21:54 (seven years ago) link
Maybe the thread title could have been something more like 'music that sounds like the thing it's trying to imitate', or 'landscape music alchemy' or 'Richard Skelton plays quavery strings while ghostly children chant the names of lost Cumbrian villages.'
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Tuesday, 21 March 2017 22:02 (seven years ago) link
This video I had not seen before, and it is amazing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYJkH6mdbAY
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Tuesday, 21 March 2017 22:09 (seven years ago) link
The Harold Budd / Clive Wright albums (3 in all iirc) are all very worthwhile
― Wimmels, Tuesday, 21 March 2017 22:22 (seven years ago) link
Does Michael Brooks' HYBRID fit this genre?
― beamish13, Tuesday, 21 March 2017 23:39 (seven years ago) link
I know this thread was CONDEMNED for stepping outside some relatively arbitrary parameters, but I'm still off exploring tangents.
My favourite discovery has been the Padang Food Tigers album from last year, Bumblin' Creed. I loved Ready Country Nimbus (from 2012, I think), but this is something else again. We don't really have a tradition of 'landscape music' as such in the UK*, cos we're too hemmed in and our imaginations are too stunted by post-colonial melancholia to allow us to mythologise the landscape or something, but what these guys do is perfect, evocative 'wide open space' stuff.
*OK, some/most local folk music is arguably landscape music, but not in the sense of trying to evoke or transmute landscape into music.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Thursday, 30 March 2017 15:01 (seven years ago) link
And thanks to Evan for the Calexico primer - lots of those I was unaware of.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Thursday, 30 March 2017 15:02 (seven years ago) link
yeah I still need to dig into those
― sleeve, Thursday, 30 March 2017 15:04 (seven years ago) link
sorry for condemning the thread! landscape music is a clear and interesting way to put it. I think if anything it's a colonial tradition, that is, relating to a place through the atmosphere/impression offered by its landscape is something of an outsider/touristic approach mb. it seems of a piece with national geographic etc. when you said british landscape music i thought of the excellent chris watson, who has made field recordings all over the place but including in the UK (listening to stepping into the dark now). he did a thing with robert macfarlane which is another parallel seam of landscape-art. the relationship or contrast between this stuff and field recordings is interesting. I'm def more into the latter for whatever reason. they feel lighter.
can't think of much that might fit the "british (or old world in general) landscape music" description though, that is curious
― ogmor, Thursday, 30 March 2017 16:07 (seven years ago) link
this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yPnLIwIA1E
― sleeve, Thursday, 30 March 2017 16:08 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-px60iPueEk
― winnebago taco, Thursday, 30 March 2017 17:01 (seven years ago) link
maybe Diamond Mine by King Creosote and Jon Hopkins?
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Thursday, 30 March 2017 17:31 (seven years ago) link
Last year's album Elite Feline by Lotto is a minimalist/mantric guitar trio take. bandcamp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErG7vJ-L5-M
― Sanpaku, Saturday, 8 April 2017 18:44 (seven years ago) link
Must be something in the water: Latest Mojo with cover story on The Joshua Tree has an accompanying CD of "desert songs" that seems very, uh, compiled by British rockists who've never been to the desert
― Wimmels, Monday, 17 April 2017 21:09 (seven years ago) link
Good to see a mention of Giant Sand upthread---here's a little review of their uncrowded expansion I did several years ago---if you don't mind some company way out yonder, more than the occasional lizard etc., it's agreeable:Giant Giant Sand, Tucson: It's not so uncommon to hear albums inviting comparisons to spaghetti western soundtracks, but few really 'ppreciate the possibilities of American and European give-and-take: Latin in the Southwestern and Transatlantic senses, small room jazz a la Weill, Ellington, Arizona highway lounge; steel guitars and twang bars with nothing left to prove, Giant Sand (many of whom have been Danish for some time) are now momentarily expanding into Giant Giant Sand and offering Tucson---which is billed as a country rock opera, uh-huh---without ever being anythang that can't be hitched to s dustcloud drum kit, usually bouncing through stagecoach ruts. Sometimes swinging a little, though a droll drawl and and a tall tale (of love, y'all--it's all very romantic, in a worldly, wide open spacey way). "You're so much like the river/Beautiful, twisted and blue/You appear to be here forever/Passin' through." And baby, it’s hot outside.
Also you might want to check the Giant Sand/Howe Gelb thread, or maybe not.
― dow, Monday, 17 April 2017 22:08 (seven years ago) link
So Floating Points has literally been in the Mojave desert and recorded a load of "wide open desert music" which he is releasing soon.
https://www.floatingpoints.co.uk/
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 18 April 2017 13:15 (seven years ago) link
Oof - that sounds interesting. The Mojo CD, not so much.
Also thought about Alan Lamb's wire recordings, but I guess once we get into field recordings the whole thing suddenly widens into incomprehensibility.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Friday, 21 April 2017 12:16 (seven years ago) link
Alan Lamb's recordings don't really evoke the desert for me. They're somewhere in the space between the Voyager probe's electromagnetic recordings, Thomas Köner's glacial atmospheres, and contact-mic'd long-string instruments (Alvin Lucier, Ellen Fullman).
― behavioral sink (Sanpaku), Friday, 21 April 2017 12:59 (seven years ago) link
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski)
oh god i thought you meant something else when you said "wire recordings"
― increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), Friday, 21 April 2017 15:52 (seven years ago) link
Like what?!
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Friday, 21 April 2017 18:28 (seven years ago) link
Either wire recording or Wire recordings, I imagine.
― behavioral sink (Sanpaku), Friday, 21 April 2017 19:11 (seven years ago) link
assuming the former :)
― sleeve, Friday, 21 April 2017 19:31 (seven years ago) link
Found this on an old hard drive: https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/left-in-the-desert/
Couple of missteps, but basically full of excellent desert-y goodness (Earth, Lanois, Six Organs, Roach, Ennio etc)
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Monday, 5 June 2017 21:10 (six years ago) link
Ikue Mori w/ Robert Quine and Marc Ribot, "Painted Desert."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjxbU-GlVag
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 5 June 2017 22:27 (six years ago) link
I nominate the severely underrated Steven R. Smith:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsFD4Drgs3s
― pomenitul, Monday, 5 June 2017 23:03 (six years ago) link
Captain Obvious checking in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPVexT6itPA&list=PLs2o_po-FzbF0Z_P-l4bQUDAllxLlFdry
― SlimAndSlam, Tuesday, 6 June 2017 00:22 (six years ago) link
Tinariwen:https://youtu.be/PItnw3Z7WgY
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Monday, 12 June 2017 21:23 (six years ago) link
Harold Budd "The Photo of Santiago McKinn" or pretty much all of Dawn's Early Light
― Hilarity Winner (doo dah), Friday, 16 June 2017 14:35 (six years ago) link
that Mori/Quine/Ribot record is excellent and I had forgotten about it, good call
― sleeve, Friday, 16 June 2017 14:44 (six years ago) link
HI DERE (cross-posted from main Eyvind Kang thread for interested parties
A gorgeous set of new tracks by the brilliant composer and multi-instrumentalist Eyvind Kang. It took him a decade and a half to revisit the vibe concocted on his masterpiece from 2001, Live Low To The Earth In The Iron Age, but the wait was worth it. It features an array of spiritually intoxicating instrumentation: tamboura, electric guitar, organ, trumpet, oboe, trombone, and Korean traditional instruments. Eyvind Kang on Plainlight: "In 2002 I wanted to make a kind of sequel to my first solo record on Abduction, Live Low To The Earth In The Iron Age. I found that the 'weight' of sounds seemed to evaporate the compositions. The last thing I wanted to make was a traditional shoegaze recording. 15 years later, I had a strange dream: a voice said 'Because a plainlight has fallen in Heaven, heartbreak would cease.' This statement then became a kind of guiding image and method. Thus, with Korean traditional instruments playing the ostinato and drone, things fell into place. I would like to thank all the musicians, Randall Dunn, Alan Bishop, and each and every listener." Limited edition, one-time pressing; Edition of 400.
― sleeve, Wednesday, 13 December 2017 19:29 (six years ago) link
That's me well and truly sold - Live Low is magnificent.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Wednesday, 13 December 2017 21:46 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP1G-cdRuCM
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 31 January 2018 20:17 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BZnSC2u7RU
or any Thin White Rope song really...
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 31 January 2018 23:10 (six years ago) link
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0152862597_16.jpg
Admittedly, the resultant wares don’t stray too far from the crafted templates McPhee has used previously but his capable hands continue, with increasing authority, to render bleakly alluring atmospheres that both express the intimacy of a solitary artisan and the desolation of wide empty landscapes. Hence, the opening “The Blood of St John” unfurls as a slow-motion desert-blues with a shimmering inscrutable underlay; “The Devil’s Knell” drifts along in a buzzing shadowy blur; the more sonically linear “The Rule Of Threes” pirouettes as a madrigal-like meditation; “Dance Macabre” curls yearning slide-playing around a pattern of looped melodic low-end parts; and the closing epic 14-minute title-track sprawls e-bow and slide manipulated figures across a heartbeat-pulsing percussive underbelly.
https://deanmcphee.bandcamp.com/album/four-stones
― Dinsdale, Thursday, 1 February 2018 21:43 (six years ago) link
McPhee is brilliant. Been meaning to check this.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Thursday, 1 February 2018 21:50 (six years ago) link
https://barthel-boehm-bauer.bandcamp.com/
― skip, Thursday, 1 February 2018 22:05 (six years ago) link
― Sanpaku, Saturday, April 8, 2017 11:44 AM (ten months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i would just like to say i've really been liking this, thank you
― del griffith, Thursday, 22 February 2018 02:00 (six years ago) link
Would like to nominate “Ain’t Talkin’” by Bob Dylan (Modern Times album) for this thread.
Also: Andean music is pretty much made for this - high desert in particular (e.g., Inti Illimani, Atahualpa Yupanqui)
― never have i been a blue calm sea (collardio gelatinous), Thursday, 22 February 2018 05:17 (six years ago) link
Co-sign the Lotto album. The Instant Classic label is a goldmine right now.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Thursday, 22 February 2018 09:12 (six years ago) link
Bull of Heaven have a (mostly deserved) reputation for being a meme/gimmick/rymbait act, but I must admit that Return of Ghost Sheriff is some of the better desert ambient I've heard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibu4bdRWCZQ
― the yolk sustains us, we eat whites for days (unregistered), Monday, 2 April 2018 01:31 (six years ago) link
Thought this would be about Become Desert
― Moo Vaughn, Monday, 2 April 2018 03:22 (six years ago) link
My son out of the blue asked me if I'd 'ever been to a desert' before and I sort of have (drove from LA to Vegas, Dungeness is classified as a desert, a couple of the Cape Verde islands, particularly Boa Vista) but damn do I want to go to the desert right now. Doing the next best thing and listening to Paris, Texas.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Monday, 20 April 2020 18:36 (four years ago) link
this is more like a fata morgana in the desert:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3YwOYjrqbQ
― walking towards the sun since 2007 (alex in mainhattan), Monday, 25 May 2020 15:25 (three years ago) link
some incredible acoustic psych released a few months ago that i believe fits this mold:https://gardenportal.bandcamp.com/album/beacon
― trapped out the barndo (crüt), Monday, 25 May 2020 17:21 (three years ago) link
I love them!!!!
― sleeve, Monday, 25 May 2020 17:25 (three years ago) link
really happy we have this connection crut, I am in a FB record geek group with Matt and Jen and it has been great to hear their sound develop.
― sleeve, Monday, 25 May 2020 17:26 (three years ago) link
the solo Rolin and the Powers-Rolin duo recs are more post-Fahey but I agree that Cercyz' singing bowls etc. take this to a different wide-scope psychedelic place
― sleeve, Monday, 25 May 2020 17:32 (three years ago) link
nice! I'm friends w/the dude who runs the label :)
― trapped out the barndo (crüt), Monday, 25 May 2020 19:42 (three years ago) link
Beacon is a pretty cool record
― weekly shopper helper (Drugs A. Money), Tuesday, 26 May 2020 05:28 (three years ago) link
been lucky to play a handful of times with matt and jen, they are some of nicest people i've ever met and the real deal. happy to see them getting more reknown. true underground stalwarts
― global tetrahedron, Tuesday, 26 May 2020 18:59 (three years ago) link
they've also been putting on shows at a laundromat in cleveland, and i think it might be the coolest venue in the country. well, was, with covid. you get the idea. imagine seeing bitchin bajas at a laundromat!
― global tetrahedron, Tuesday, 26 May 2020 19:10 (three years ago) link
SUSS posted the playlist for their recent Ambient Country mix and it's pretty great:
1. Swimming in a Western Hotel - PanAmerican2. Body in a Room- Bing & Ruth3. Thresholds ( through a hole in the fence) - Walt McClements4. News About Heaven- Marisa Anderson, William Tyler 5. Ending- Bruce Langhorne6. Love Scene - Jerry Garcia7. When You Sleep - Japancakes8. Welcome - Harmonia & Eno9. Desert Rose - Daniel Lanois10. Anteludium - Luke Schneider11. Wichita - SUSS12. Clouds - Bruce Kaphan
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 21 April 2022 06:27 (two years ago) link
Thanks Elvis - this feels right up my alley. Going to check out everything here I've not heard before.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 22 April 2022 20:16 (two years ago) link
Thinking that Bruce Langhorne's Hired Hand soundtrack is to ambient country as Paul Giovanni's Wicker Man soundtrack is to acid folk
― doug watson, Saturday, 23 April 2022 00:04 (two years ago) link
About half of that playlist is new to me and I’m thrilled to find them. Lots to dive into as this is my exact sweet spot these days.
By coincidence I’ve been fiddling around with a playlist to scratch this itch - not just the ambient but also some more traditional songs that rise and fall out of the moodier bits. There is no order to it, and I’m still adding and subtracting as I hone it. But in any case folks on this thread might enjoy this as a kind of radio station. Shuffle away: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1hfogoxEEmNfs3b8eG4u3X?si=rJI-IObaShi0kY4KxuXU9A
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Saturday, 23 April 2022 00:25 (two years ago) link
This playlist is great pgwp! Thanks for the share.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Sunday, 24 April 2022 10:34 (one year ago) link
Thank you! Glad you’re enjoying it.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Sunday, 24 April 2022 13:37 (one year ago) link
Cross post from the Fahey thread: the latest Imaginational Anthem compilation, featuring latest pedal steel excursions totally fits this thread's remit: https://tompkinssquare.bandcamp.com/album/luke-schneider-presents-imaginational-anthem-vol-xi-chrome-universal-a-survey-of-modern-pedal-steel (on Spotify too, if that's your thing).
― Shard-borne Beatles with their drowsy hums (Chinaski), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 21:08 (one year ago) link
oo la la, thanks for the cross post
― ꙮ (map), Thursday, 19 January 2023 02:54 (one year ago) link
Speaking of SUSS, the new self-titled one, a compilation of four different EPs, is really incredible. I love the vibe.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 30 January 2023 22:53 (one year ago) link
seems relevant
https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/ambient-country-list
― broken breakbeat (sleeve), Sunday, 4 June 2023 20:16 (ten months ago) link
so I guess this stuff is called "ambient country" now, ok
Uncut included this Ambient Americana compilation CD with the Velvet Underground issue they put out a couple of years ago, might be relevant:https://www.discogs.com/release/17866393-Various-Ambient-Americana-A-Road-Trip-Across-Psychic-State-Lines
― brimstead, Sunday, 4 June 2023 20:23 (ten months ago) link
There was a nice NTS show back in February: https://www.nts.live/shows/the-nts-guide-to/episodes/the-nts-guide-to-ambient-americana-16th-february-2023
― Stars of the Lidl (Chinaski), Sunday, 4 June 2023 20:33 (ten months ago) link
I've been slowly putting together a playlist of 'wide open desert' and adjacent stuff. It's called Vaulted Ceiling, Vaulted Sky as some of it is in cathedrals and resonating chambers but chambers/canyons who's counting? Fill yer boots if it's your thing.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/504idjJNXjNKl2xajh8Pbv?si=b5fed292a37f4e41
― Stars of the Lidl (Chinaski), Sunday, 4 June 2023 20:41 (ten months ago) link
i know the stuff in this thread is more of an 'ambient' focus, but easter everywhere always sounds great in the desert ime
― ꙮ (map), Sunday, 4 June 2023 20:56 (ten months ago) link
They were mentioned before upthread, but last week I took a road trip through the desert and can confirm that this album is a playlist must.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5ZmZd6fRRQ
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 5 June 2023 07:35 (ten months ago) link
New Boxhead Ensemble!
https://boxheadensemble.bandcamp.com/album/ancient-music
― daily growing, Tuesday, 1 August 2023 16:37 (eight months ago) link
This band from Tuscon is on tour and I'm feeling their wide open desert vibe:
https://compersionmusic.bandcamp.com/track/kitchen-mirror
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 2 August 2023 16:05 (eight months ago) link
Swell's 41
― Cow_Art, Wednesday, 2 August 2023 16:33 (eight months ago) link
That's a favorite!
― But his face would not turn into hot Kirby (Evan), Wednesday, 2 August 2023 16:34 (eight months ago) link
This JAB release is very wide, very open
https://johnalsobennett.bandcamp.com/album/out-there-in-the-middle-of-nowhere
― ionjusit (P. Flick), Wednesday, 2 August 2023 18:59 (eight months ago) link
that JAB record is incredible, love it.
w/o being too self-promo here, my band's stuff definitely fits into this zone
https://prairiewolfcf.bandcamp.com/album/prairiewolf
― tylerw, Friday, 4 August 2023 16:55 (eight months ago) link
it does and it's good!
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 4 August 2023 17:30 (eight months ago) link
*looks up a few entries* Steve S I'm seeing that Compersion band playing at a venue called the Warehouse in SF next Wednesday but googling for it is impossible. (They're not talking about the bar out at Port Costa, are they?)
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 5 August 2023 00:13 (eight months ago) link
It is a uh... "low-key venue" that's been shut down a few times for obvious reasons.
I've only been 2x, Spiritual Cramp last year and then Fentanyl last month.
That said: not sure I feel posting the details on this thread, what is the best way to get a hold of you in a private manner?
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Saturday, 5 August 2023 05:20 (eight months ago) link
How did I not hear about a new, 90 minute Boxhead Ensemble album? They strike me as the sweet spot for this thread. Listening now, and it's predictably gorgeous. I had no idea Michael Krassner now runs a pizza restaurant in Phoenix.
― JonR345, Saturday, 5 August 2023 05:31 (eight months ago) link
I live in Phoenix and it is a legitimately great pizza restaurant, I strongly recommend it!
― intheblanks, Saturday, 5 August 2023 22:43 (eight months ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 6 August 2023 04:28 (eight months ago) link
emailed ya... 🙊
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Monday, 7 August 2023 19:26 (eight months ago) link
Thank ya. In 'well that's irony' territory, though, I've suffered a slight sprain around my left knee so I'm mostly not moving for a few days, so hopefully next time!
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 7 August 2023 20:08 (eight months ago) link
Get well soon Ned. I'd happily wheel you around but the pavement in that neighborhood is particularly jagged.
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 15:39 (eight months ago) link
I can guess!
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 16:30 (eight months ago) link
What with one thing and another, I've barely listened to music in the last two weeks. To be a fresh lawn on which the new Boxhead Ensemble falls like the first leaves of autumn makes the whole thing entirely worth it.
― (picnic, lightning) very very frightening (Chinaski), Friday, 11 August 2023 22:34 (eight months ago) link
loving this compersion track
― budo jeru, Friday, 11 August 2023 22:48 (eight months ago) link
Compersion were not only incredible live but were total IRL sweeties. <3
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Friday, 11 August 2023 23:32 (eight months ago) link
Compersion track is lovely. Making me think of 'Constant Craving', played by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Love the metal shirts, obvs (even if one is a Sade shirt, masquerading as a metal shirt).
― (picnic, lightning) very very frightening (Chinaski), Friday, 11 August 2023 23:39 (eight months ago) link