Giant Sand / Howe Gelb P0X

i'd go with '...is all over the map', all four blacky ranchette albums, 'swerve', and 'the love songs'.

The Love Songs. Full stop. There's another thread about this somewhere...

I love the song 'Blue Blue Marble Girl' from his Arizona Amp and Alternator album (which is Howe Gelb and friends). Also the song 'Baby It's Cold Outside' is great for the summer since they interchange cold and hot. Overall, I think Arizona Amp and Alternator is my favorite Howe Gelb work but I need to listen to 'Sno Angel Like You' again. I know pitchfork loved it - which means absolutely nothing.

No idea where else to post this, but Gelb's production on the new KT Tunstall album is great. (heard a track and was all "what/who is this?")

Also, I never would have expected to write that sentence at all.

And I never would have expected to get interested in actually hearing the new KT Tunstall album, but now I am. From Rolling Country 2012, here's my take on Giant Giant Sand's Tucson (not at hand, but think it's the deluxe edition) Made my Nashville Scene Top Ten:

it's not so uncommon to hear albums inviting comparisons to spaghetti western soundtracks, but few really 'ppreciate the possibilties 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) expanding into Giant Giant Sand and offering Tucson--billed as a country rock opera--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 yall--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."

― dow, Sunday, 21 October 2012 02:34 (9 months ago) Permalink

And like an old Giant Sand song mentions, "Baby, it's hot outside."

― dow, Sunday, 21 October 2012 02:41 (9 months ago) Permalink

Yep. It's that "Boys of Summer". It's awesome.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/audio/arts/PressPlay/0730/KTTunstall/KT-Tunstall.jpg
on first listening, seems like this has a double/split title cos it's two albums in one. The first part so far seems too smoothly gliding o'er the reflective surface of imagery, evaluating relationships with particulars undisclosed (at least as noticed so far by this simple male mind). There are at least a couple of exceptions, but the Giant Sand desert moonlight vibe and groove doesn't really show up 'til the second half. When it does, ooo-weee. She really responds; wouldn't be surprised if Gelb co-wrote some of these, but also wouldn't call it a producer's record. Thanks so much for the tip, Elvis!

It's still streaming here with some others I need to check out (didn't know the Times did this)
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/arts/music/pressplay.html?ref=arts&_r=0

I need to check this out

really good album!

somehow i never saw this thread!

10 albums:
giant sand - chore of enchantment
giant sand - center of the universe
op8 - slush
howe gelb - hisser
howe gelb & a band of gypsies - alegrias
giant giant sand - tucson
giant sand - long stem rant
giant sand - valley of rain
arizona amp and alternator - s/t
howe gelb - ogle some piano

10 songs in no special order:
increment of love (from giant sand - provisions)
if i think of love (from op8 - slush)
this purple child (from howe gelb - hisser)
forever and a day (from giant giant sand - tucson)
seeded (from giant sand - center of the universe)
off ramp man (from giant sand - center of the universe)
x-tra wide(from giant sand - chore of enchantment)
wolfy(from giant sand - chore of enchantment)
no reply (giant sand - chore of enchantment)
down on town/love's no answer

this one has always been a fave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrAYjCf8kKs

maybe the all-time classic gelb song ending there, with the pedal steel player asking if howe wants to try recording the song now that they've practiced it.

btw most of the new kt tunstall album is really nice. i had never heard of her before, really.

Sno Angel's good Gelb(incl. Ptacek remakes) too:
http://www.villagevoice.com/2006-05-16/music/rehearsing-his-choir/full/

there is also this psychedelic folly from his first band giant sandworms from 1983:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=k3YwOYjrqbQ

I love that OP8 record

There' a new Howe solo album out in November, too, called The Coincidentalist. Looks good.

Totally checking out this KT Tunstall album, dow, you make the second half sound great! Wish vinyl copies weren't like $38 and up on eBay, Amazon, etc. I dig that cover art and sorta hate buying CD / mp3

Whoa yeah this is great

OK, yeah, sorry to keep reviving just to add exclamation points, but this is AOTY material for me right now. BTW the Henley cover (and three others) only appear on the 'deluxe' version. Really need to get this on vinyl. Are the prohibitive prices on eBay (seeming to only be shipping from the UK right now) just to do with the fact that this hasn't been released yet? Even the Amazon price for the wax is like $48!

Anyway, this is a pretty special album imo; so sneaky and seductive, like all the best 'growers.'

Sno Angel's good Gelb(incl. Ptacek remakes) too:
http://www.villagevoice.com/2006-05-16/music/rehearsing-his-choir/full/

― dow, Monday, August 19, 2013 5:17 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I love Sno Angel, but everyone I ever play it for seems to hate it for some reason

It's def a Gelb sidetrip; took me a couple of spins, not the gateway drug of choice, but rewards a little patience. Also, you need new friends.
New Gelb, The Coincidentalist, out Nov. 5 on New West.
Oh yeah, this one's good too (comment from from Rolling Country 2008)

digging Giant Sand's proVision (Sept. 2): , perkin' in the heat, bootheelin' past the charred traffic jam and through the ghost town saloon (skeleton of David Bowie calls the steps out there). One mainly for the fan club I reckon, but Gelb and his Danish compadres don't really need excellent guests Isobelle Campbell, Neko Case, M. Ward or so it seems.

― dow, Friday, 11 July 2008 00:12 (5 years ago)

Haven't had time to listen yet, but The Coincidentalist is streaming here for a while (Nov. 5 release)http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/10/30/listen-to-howe-gelbs-the-coincidentalist-album-premiere/

First listening: desert cafe observations, discreetly edited/accessible, with tuneful turns of phrase. For him it's tight, but never uptight. Could eventually seem slight, but HG and friends still have the touch.

really like the feel/sound of this one so far, haven't listened in a context where I could really pay attention to the lyrics yet

Love this album.

But why did I just pay $26.99 retail for a brand new LP (not a double), without even so much as a gatefold sleeve? WTF, New West? Kinda outrageous.

Here's the EPK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXmrtPhPt1U

in the studio w Steve Shelley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtLATaAVl54

here's a dumb review: http://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/howe_gelb_the_coincidentalist/

Imagine describing the music of Leonard Cohen to a friend who has never heard of the Canadian troubadour. Now imagine that friend is a musician who then decides to record an album that sounds like their idea of Leonard Cohen, based on your description. This is the sound of Howe Gelb’s new album: David Byrne did this with Joy Division and the result was Talking Heads 77; The Coincidentalist is hardly as successful.

got that talking heads factoid wrongo but w/e

that kt tunstall LP gelb produced this past year is pretty amazing.

Good "Jumpin' Jack Flash":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCzJgpM4SdU

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BkKDg-rIEAAOATD.jpg

Joan Vich Montaner ‏@joanvich

. @howegelb_ estuvo ayer grabando un dueto con Anna Karina (sí, ¡Anna Karina!). Mañana empieza su gira española.

Also on Twitter, Gelb recently mentioned mastering some new tracks. And he produced the debut album of music journalist Sylvie Simmons; excerpts here are spare, but vibe has Gelb appeal:
http://www.npr.org/2014/11/01/360629440/after-a-life-of-critiquing-others-music-sylvie-makes-her-own-album?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=music

She doesn't mention him here, but on the press sheet (uh-oh, better listen to that promo)

Ah nice---here she talks about working w Gelb, and he got to play on the album some (I better read her L. Cohen bio too): http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/sylvie-simmons-when-dogs-hear-my-album-they-get-soppy-1.1973111

new collabo album w/Radian about to drop as well

Never got too into them/him, but it was nice of this thread to remind me of this great track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-ZK2LC9Uko

Speaking of xpost Radian w Howe, there's also this remix album--release 11/11/2014 according to Forced Exposure, who add:

"A seemingly curious collaboration. A wrangling and grappling, a confrontation, a quarrel. A checking-out, a weighing of compromises. The Viennese trio Radian has recorded an album with songwriter Howe Gelb from Tucson, Arizona. Here the situation is different: Radian Verses Howe Gelb is primarily a Radian release. In four sessions that were rather freely dispersed over time, Howe Gelb, usually devoting himself to a cosmopolitan rethinking of Americana and desert country in his day job, fed acoustic contributions into the microphone for Radian: piano, guitar, above all: voice -- sometimes as a reaction to material prepared by Radian, sometimes pulled liberally and unexpectedly from his own vast and tangled pool of ideas. The tones of Howe Gelb provided further material for Radian: They were dissected, dissolved, reoriented, mutated and made to fit into their own world. Radian Verses Howe Gelb is the first Radian release with guitarist Martin Siewert, who joined the band in 2011 and here also is responsible for processing and sound treatment. As usual, drummer Martin Brandlmayr was in charge of the selection and arrangement of sounds, and John Norman of the bass. As always with Radian, this record resembles a particularly carefully and cautiously-assembled collage: sounds, tones, noises -- the tracks are busy. They are teeming, quavering, vibrating. As before, the kinds of things that Brandlmayr, Norman and Siewert scrape and tease out of their machines and instruments make up an exuberant buffet of ideas and strangeness. The way the sounds are arranged here however creates an aura of fragility, a lean design. The tones appear to be artfully suspended in space, and you can feel the air flowing between them. You can hear Howe Gelb croaking and whining in the process of disintegration, and the entanglement and fusion with this highly-focused free music. The categories and genres crumble away ? whether it's exploring jazz, intricate tinker-electronics, dub, growling, hissing, bubbling, rock, a lot of things wondrously permeate this music, one that is indeed rather post-everything." --Philipp L'Heritier; Howe Gelb (voice, guitars, piano); Martin Brandlmayr (drums, vibraphone, electronics, synths, editing and arrangement); Martin Siewert (guitars, lap-, and pedal steel, electronics, synths, processings); John Norman (bass).

Finally listened to xpost Simmons alb, posted these just now on twitter

Sylvie Simmons, Sylvie: "The sunlight burned your lips," in a voice clear as balm, for her (a) midnight cowboy. Ballads, touched just right. Damn, 140 characters is hard. But yeah,

Sylvie Simmons, Sylvie cont. L. Cohen biographer compresses, distills spare, rich original ballads 4 debut, li'l more punctuation by H. Gelb

Also: Damn, I gotta get me one of them ukeleles. Wonder what kind she uses like that?
And: hope she shows up on a Giant or Giant Giant Sand or HG joint sometime.

Always liked this tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4CIQrLZ6D8

Thanks James! And here's one from Sylvie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wKRD1VrPL4

GIANT SAND MARKS 30th ANNIVERSARY SINCE DEBUT WITH EXCITING

NEW ALBUM, HEARTBREAK PASS, OUT MAY 5, 2015 ON NEW WEST RECORDS

LISTEN: "TRANSPONDER" FEATURING JASON LYTLE OF GRANDADDY
https://soundcloud.com/newwestrecords/giant-sand-transponder

http://press.newwestrecords.com/giant-sand/giantsandcover-72dpi.jpg

FEATURES PAST AND PRESENT MEMBERS AND FRIENDS JASON LYTLE OF GRANDADDY, STEVE SHELLEY OF SONIC YOUTH, GRANT-LEE PHILLIPS, JOHN PARISH, MAGGIE BJORKLUND, THE COMMON LINNETS, LOVELY QUINCES

BAND CONFIRMED FOR SXSW, PRIMAVERA SOUND AND

UK's END OF THE ROAD FESTIVAL

LOS ANGELES, CA, March 13, 2015 - Giant Sand, the iconic and influential band fronted by luminary Howe Gelb, celebrates 30 years of freewheeling and ever-evolving music making on new album, Heartbreak Pass, due May 5, 2015 on New West Records. The album spans founder Gelb's far-reaching career and mixes the rollicking nature of the band's 1985 debut, Valley of Rain, with the dusty alt-folk, desert-rock and jazzy lounge-piano explorations of his most recent releases. "There are 3 volumes of 15 songs here representing living 2 lives for 30 years. Don't do the math. It doesn't figure," explains Gelb. "The 1st volume is a loud and lucky abandon, as if there's no choice. The 2nd volume is more heady, steady and direct, what they call Americana these days. The 3rd volume is the heart in constant turmoil from the effect of crossing the pond way too often, the blessed curse of the indie transponder."

Giant Sand will unveil the new songs at SXSW in Austin next week at two special shows - the New West day party at Threadgills on Thursday, March 19 and the label's official showcase at the Continental Club Friday, March 20 alongside label mates The Deslondes, Daniel Romano, Buxton, New Madrid and Luther Dickinson. They will then follow with a European tour this spring including appearances at both Primavera Sound in Barcelona and Optimus Primavera Sound Porto in Portugal, This Is Not A Love Song Festival in Nimes, France and several shows throughout the UK including Union Chapel in London and St. George's Hall in Liverpool as well as the End of the Road Festival. When not touring with the band, Gelb will reunite with friend Grant-Lee Phillips for another co-headline tour together. A Spanish tour co-headlining with M. Ward is in the works for September.

Self-produced by Gelb (producing credits include KT Tunstall and Sylvie Simmons) the album was truly a global undertaking and made all across the world in between his ping-ponging from the desert to Europe, where he does most of his touring these days. "It first sprouted in Brussels," Gelb reveals. "Some strings attached in Crete... a choir acquired in Canada... a wall of sound in Berlin... then a little noodling in Italy... and a dash in Nashville... a vocal quotient in Croatia... a couple linnets in it in Holland ... Jason's portal in Portland ... the rest slowly simmered in Tucson... and the whole thing was mixed in one place... bristling in Bristol."

Heartbreak Pass features the current Giant Sand lineup of Thøger Lund, Gabriel Sullivan, Brian Lopez, Jon Villa, Peter Dombernowsky, Nikolaj Heyman, Anders Pedersen, Iris Jakobsen and Asger Christiansen who trade off on instruments from song to song like a game of musical chairs. Frequent collaborators Maggie Bjorklund plays pedal steel on several tracks while Lonna Beth Kelley offers a smoldering counterpoint to Gelb's gravelly warble on a couple of tunes.

The album also features Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth, Grant-Lee Phillips, Croatian indie folk singer Lovely Quinces, Ilse DeLange & JB Meijers of Dutch Americana band The Common Linnets, treasured alumni Paula Jean Brown and frequent PJ Harvey collaborator, John Parish, who also mixed the record. Original Giant Sand drummer, Winston Watson, who went on to play with Bob Dylan, guests on the album and brings things full circle.

"Heaventually" opens the album with Gelb's characteristic clever wordplay and Italian singer Vinicio Capossela's Waitsian recitation and from there moves to the upbeat indie rock of "Texting Feist" and garagey "Hurtin' Habit." "Transponder," a collaboration produced by Jason Lytle, has all of the signatures of his former band Grandaddy - spacey synths, unsettling noise and vocal chorales, and features former Giant Sand member and ex-member of The Go-Gos, Paula Jean Brown, on bass.

The pedal steel of "Song So Wrong" signals both the start of volume 2 and the rootsier side of the album but as with most Gelb records his creative restlessness kicks in and it's followed with "Every Now And Then." What starts with just Gelb and guitar builds to a climax of Mariachi horns, Spanish guitar and the Voices of Praise gospel choir. On "Home Sweat Home," he wrestles with the push and pull of being a touring musician and constantly having to leave family, delivering the genius lyric: "Get that terminal feeling/And they upgrade me to seat 2 B/For too many miles flown/ But 2 B or not 2 B, ain't home." The final third of the record, made for "late night musings," is hushed and plaintive and sees Gelb tickling the ivories like some kind of cosmic lounge singer. The album comes to a close with the touching "Forever and Always," a song written by and featuring Gelb's 12-year-old daughter.

Called "the scruffy master of alt-country eclecticism" by NPR, Gelb has been making music since 1980 and has a long run of indefinable and influential recordings ranging from punk and roots-rock to psych, jazz, gospel and even traditional Spanish music. Since his early lo-fi envelope-pushing recordings with renowned slide guitarist Rainer Ptacek as Giant Sandworms, Gelb has remained one of the most inventive and unique American musicians of the last three decades and has created a body of work that The Guardian hailed as "equal parts dazzling, intriguing, beautiful, maddening, musical and perverse." Guest artists over the last three decades have included Victoria Williams, Neko Case, Juliana Hatfield, PJ Harvey, Vic Chesnutt, Steve Wynn, Vicki Peterson, M. Ward and Isobel Campbell. Giant Sand's incarnation in the '90s included Joey Burns and John Convertino, who went on to form the acclaimed Latinesque unit Calexico. In addition to bestowing the world his own sun-warped music, whether as Howe Gelb or Giant Sand, or one of his other projects like the Band... of Blacky Ranchette, Arizona Amp & Alternator, 'Sno Angel or OP8, he also discovered M. Ward and Grandaddy; he released the former's debut on his own label and helped get the latter signed to V2.

GIANT SAND ON TOUR

March 19 - Austin, TX @ SXSW - Threadgills (New West Records Day Party)

(email for info)

March 20 - Austin, TX @ SXSW - Continental Club - 8 pm (New West Showcase)

May 14 - Lucerne, CH @ Südpol

May 15 -­ Florence, IT @ Viper Club
May 16 - Rimini, IT @ Velvet Club
May 17 - Munich, DE @ Feierwerk
May 18 -­ Heidelberg, DE @ Karlstorbahnhof
May 19 - Nürnberg, DE @ Hirsch
May 20 - Düsseldorf, DE @ Zakk
May 21 - Leuven @ BEL @ Het Depot
May 22 - Utrecht @ Netherlands @ Cloud 9, TivoliVredenburg
May 23 - Schorndorf, DE @ Manufaktur
May 24 - Bern, CH @ Dachstock
May 25 - Basel, CH @ Kaserne
May 26 - Aschaffenburg, DE @ Colos-Saa

May 28 - Barcelona, ESP @ Primavera Sound Barcelona

May 30 - Nimes, FRA @ This Is Not A Love Song Festival

June 1 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club

June 2 - London, UK @ Union Chapel

June 3 - Liverpool, UK @ St. George's Hall

June 5 - Porto, PRT @ Optimus Primavera Sound Porto

September 4-6 - Dorset, UK @ End of the Road Festival

Giant Sand on tour will consist of various clustering: Thøger Lund, Gabriel Sullivan and/or Brian Lopez, Peter Dombernowsky and/or Winston Watson with logistical incarnations that include Nikolaj Heyman, Anders Pedersen, Jon Villa, Iris Jakobsen, Asger Christiansen + Lonna Kelley

HOWE GELB SOLO SHOWS

March 24 - Copenhagen, DK @ Vera *

March 25 - Hamburg, DE @ Knust *

March 26 - Berlin, DE @ Frannz Club *

March 27 - Reutlingen, DE @ Franz K *

March 29 - Freiburg, DE @ Cafe Atlantik *

March 30 - Zurich, CH @ El Lokal *

March 31 - Lausanne, CH @ Le Romandie Club *

April 1 - Cantu, IT @ All'Una e Trentacinque Circa *

April 2 - Bologna, IT @ Bravo Caffe *

April 3 - Turin, IT @ Spazio 211 *

April 4 - Brescia, IT @ Latteria Artigianale Molloy *

April 8 - Bristol, UK @ St. George's Church

(preview of Giant Giant Sand tour movie "Out of the Desert)

* With Grant-Lee Phillips

Heartbreak Pass Tracklisting

1. Heaventually

2. Texting Feist

3. Hurtin' Habit

4. Transponder (stream)

5. Song So Wrong

6. Every Now And Then

7. Man On A String

8. Home Sweat Home

9. Eye Opening

10. Pen To Paper

11. Bitter Suite

12. House In Order

13. Gypsy Candle

14. Done

15. Forever And Always

So far not getting into most of the new 'un---a few keepers, but it's not one of yer better old-rocker-looks-at-mortality albums. But there's always something more, like this preview of the new Giant Sand doc:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBfZ2cDtL90

Although xgau's latest new Expert Witness column at or in Vice's Noisey incl. more pos take on Heartbreak Pass than mine, should listen more, anyway. Meanwhile:

howe gelb ‏@howegelb_ 42s43 seconds ago

backstage before the 3 hour set at the Århus Festuge in Denmark
https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/640362546495664128/pu/img/5e3au3sfN6Kv1qiB.jpg

Original of that is a vine, or a gif, or something else that moves a little

stumbled onto this great performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN6h3zT2NRY

Oops forgot to post these comments on Gelb's 2017 releases (from my Nashville Scene ballot comments):

Howe Gelb's Open Road is "a collection of sketches from several different projects over the last five years," but not too sketchy, no start-stop or mumbling in the background, but the pleasure of finding that good note right now, in several related styles overall, and seemingly fully-produced, if not quite what he's looking for yet, and always a thoughtful, intimate approach, even on an Arizona Highways roadside lounge Spaghetti Western trip. Makes me think he's got, not only a tape recorder next to the Gideon Bible in the motel nightstand, but an array of instruments and musos standing by at all times.
Oh yeah, and not all the words may be quite worked out--haven't caught 'em all--but some lines to jump/slip out into memory, like the one about those who don't fall in love are "in love with the safety zone"---not entirely fair/true, but some truth in my case.
http://music.howegelb.com/album/the-open-road

Gelb’s Further Standards is somewhat Country Related if you justify that tag re the amount of the more downhome jazzy lounge-roadhose sounds of this set by the Howe Gelb Piano Trio (with Lonna Kelly in duet and sometimes upfront vocals; guitar octaves occasionally appear). Kind of a speaking-again-of Mose Allison thing, minus the zings and bop excursions--there is MA-worthy wordplay, re word meanings and sounds and ideas, bits of storyline sliding around, but this is not Allison's attitude, it's pretty much all Gelb, writing on cocktail napkins and wondering when it's cool or acceptable or saleable or desirable, for that matter---and like what's the point or is it about a point---be "Presumptuous" or "Irresponsible" or an "Impossible Thing"----no matter how experienced and observant of self and others you are, it's provisional, swirling around in that glass, my my. In a discreet or furtive way, he's got the Country Related romantic preoccupations alright.
(Also re Willie and Leon doing "One More For The Road", sometimes on YouTube, also several of Willie's standards collections and Dylan's also Mose-related "If Dogs Run Free" and some of his Sinatra-related covers, especially on Shadows In The Night, are also from this neck of the woods.)
https://howegelbmusic.bandcamp.com/album/further-standards
"Irresponsible Lovers," that is, the couple from Heaven and/or Hell, ask their bartender.

But this is what I meant to post:
alley of Rain was Tucson’s Giant Sand’s debut album recorded in 1983, and eventually released by 1985. It included Howe Gelb on vocals, guitar and Winston Watson on drums for most of it, Tommy Larkins on drums for some of it and Scott Garber on fretless bass for all of it.

Now some 30 years later, This new re-recording of that first album will be toured by the band this summer, playing only those Valley of Rain songs. GIANT SAND RETURNS TO VALLEY OF RAIN.
Live Dates

04 May: Mercado Block Party Concert @MSA Annex, Tucson, AZ, United States
24 May: Tower Musikclub, Bremen, HB, Germany
25 May: Batschkapp, Frankfurt On Main, Germany
26 May: Rätschenmühle e.V. Geislingen, Geislingen An Der Steige, Germany
27 May: Dachstock, Berne, Switzerland
28 May: Feierwerk / Hansa 39, Munich, Germany
29 May: Kulturladen Konstanz, Constance, Germany
30 May: Druckluft, Oberhausen, Germany
31 May: Musik & Frieden, Berlin, Germany
02 Jun: Vega (Small Hall), Copenhagen, DK
04 Jun: Parkteateret, Oslo, NO
05 Jun: Under the Bridge, London, UK
06 Jun: Concorde 2, Brighton, UK
07 Jun: The Fleece, Bristol, UK
09 Jun: Whelans, Dublin, IE
10 Jun: The Oran Mor Glasgow, UK
11 Jun: The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, UK
02 Oct: Roots On The Rails, Chicago, IL, United States
(Sorry, would have posted sooner if I'd thought to check for it.)

releases October 8, 2018

Only one track streaming on this Bandcamp page so far, but whole thing's already on Spotify.

xp Giant Sand Returns To Valley of Rain is indeed the title.

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1318240966_10.jpg

Newly remastered double LP* beautifully repackaged gatefold sleeve with new artwork and expanded liner notes.
* Second disc includes Mad Dog Studio sessions from 1991

A firm fan favorite, Giant Sand’s essential 1991 album ‘Ramp’ was the second of three revered albums the band released in the early 90s. Now set for a remastered special indie store exclusive, the new edition released on 17th July comes beautifully repackaged in a gatefold sleeve with new artwork and expanded liner notes from MOJO’s Dave Henderson.

‘Ramp’ is a magical trip with a host of guests including Victoria Williams, Rainer and Pappy Allen. Featuring piano lounge music for an off-world colony interrupted by an onslaught of guitar when needed. Reverb on, fuzz friendly. Up to 11, it’s light and dark and the better for it, a musical journey on a road less travelled. All sounds are welcome; banjo, dobro, pedal steel, plaintive harmonica, whistling all wrap themselves around the flow of consciousness; those truly memorable words.
With Gelb’s lyrical invention to the fore: “His thoughts unfold in long, rolling sentences that don't always follow conventional rules of grammar or syntax.” (The Quietus).

The Tucson sound at its very best. *Also on CD, digital, and/or stream it all here:
https://giantsandmusic.bandcamp.com/album/ramp-2 (several other GS albs there as well, and of course https://howegelbmusic.bandcamp.com/)

his only 2020 solo release so far (older ones here too)--haven't listened yet, but as described, it's not an unfamiliar kind of thing from him:
Cocoon
A meander of instantaneous aural sketches of improvised ponder.

: .
It should be duly noted that no one is depressed or exhibiting any residual effects of the lyrical involvement herein. These are momentary possessions that passed by like glimpses of passengers on fleeting trains amongst the tracks in the evening here with soft glowing windows offering a blurred snippet.
.: .
The piano was cocked & loaded at all times for the possible capture of any compelling notion and / or melody that should erupt per any hour to reel in this 90s TEAC CD recorder sheerly for the sake of its own slipstream banter that might make sense weeks later .. . if ever.
:.:
These doodles were never built to be played again, and some that were left off here, were never even meant to be played at all.
:
So.
Enjoy at will this isolationist soundtrack for a time when time didn't matter.
.
Your pal,
Howe
credits
released May 7, 2020 https://music.howegelb.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byP8iwbg_V0

Cool, thanks!
So fine: "Welcome To My World," feat. Pappy Dailey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLXo2B4g0E4

Nice. Pappy Allen?

(though Pappy Daily would be cool)

Yeah, Pappy Allen, sorry!
https://pioneertownsun.com/pappy-allens-legacy-a-master-human-being/

op8 — "cracklin water" (1997)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqDy1WfIrsI

Here on earth
With the bends and the rust
You hide from the rain and the winds you mistrust
Here on earth
It's all dust to dust