"wide open desert music" S/D

https://www.discogs.com/Garlo-Vent-De-Guitares/release/1575820

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jjIhVE7ek4

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?

"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.

I'd take a more desert-focussed Calexcio primer, Evan. Cheers. 'Hot Rail' is fantastic.

Date Palms "Dusted Sessions"

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.

I recall Lanterna, who incidentally did a split release with Scenic, being described as "atmospheric desert music" or some such

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

Yawning Man

Meat Puppets debut and second

http://www.bendingcorners.com/2005/desert_moments/ is a good mix of this sort of thing

The Bruce Kaphan is nice as expected. Wide open chords

Some Mazzy Star/Hope Sandoval would probably apply

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

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.

Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger

Jimmie Dale Gilmore's singing always makes me think of the desert southwest.

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

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

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LGt2N5L4JA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6V9vEO76Z8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4S-aE879T0

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

Brian Grainger - Eight Thousander
https://attacknine.bandcamp.com/album/eight-thousander

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

Nice Cocteau Twins cover too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClZnB84DljY

Jon Porras' Black Mesa is the first thing that came to mind

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

That Cocteau Twins cover is great.

Earth - Bees Made Honey

giant sand own this thread. an example from "chore of enchantment", his masterpiece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJtbKgZkpc0

The whole "The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place" by Explosions in the Sky.

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.

*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*

Quit humbly suggesting and actually suggest.

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

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.

all them sahel string instrumental players, hamza el din most especially

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2By_WxnL3AA

O the inhumanity of listening to non-indigenous, see-through romance music whlst driving through the american west, ffs

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.

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!

edited version, wtf this is supposed to be 27 minutes:

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

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

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.

It doesn't have to be cinematic slowcore western. Sometimes it's a particular style of cinematic instrumental guitar. Or krautrock infused country.

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

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

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

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

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.

I live in Phoenix and it is a legitimately great pizza restaurant, I strongly recommend it!

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?

emailed ya... 🙊

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!

Get well soon Ned. I'd happily wheel you around but the pavement in that neighborhood is particularly jagged.

I can guess!

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.

loving this compersion track

Compersion were not only incredible live but were total IRL sweeties. <3

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).