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
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, 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
I think of Scenic as more western tinged instrumental rock. There's an omnipresent drum kit, which keeps it out of ambient territory.
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
:D
― tylerw, Thursday, 15 August 2024 19:15 (one month ago) link
I was half kidding, but count me in when those Spring 2025 dates drop.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 15 August 2024 20:16 (one month ago) link