Ryley Walker (Jansch-style vocals, finger-picking folk guitar with double bass and violins grooves)

Prolific eh? I quite like his collab with Kikagaku Moyo too. Mmm krauty.

it's great! just got the vinyl in the mail. it's on his label husky pants. beautiful record, lathe cut by Bob Weston of Shellac, sounds great

new one was produced by John McEntire of Tortoise, love Ryley shedding his folk affectations and embracing being a Chicago Rock Dude

I'm not familiar with his solo stuff but I checked out his Kikagaku Moyo collab on a whim and it's just the kind of East-West psych jamming that I can listen to endlessly.

New one is great — maybe his best? Very gastr del sol but with Ryley’s oddball personality all over it. Some really lush moments mixed in with pure weirdness. Band sounds amazing.

Ooo do you have a promo? I'm looking forward to him stepping up the prog on this one given how much he's been raving about Genesis for the past couple years

I'm not familiar with his solo stuff but I checked out his Kikagaku Moyo collab on a whim and it's just the kind of East-West psych jamming that I can listen to endlessly.

― pomenitul, Sunday, February 14, 2021 10:18 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

he's really changed, i think there are things to recommend from every era, but yeah started out as extremely earnest Bert Jansch/Pentangle worship then gradually starts getting weirder and incorporating more mid 90s post rock type vibes and jazzy feels (john martyn influence maybe?)

did a cover of some unreleased (I think?) Dave Matthews Band record that actually turned out way better than it had any right to

Cool, I'm definitely going to start exploring his output. Seems like there's a lot going on here and most of it is to my liking (on paper, at least).

he did a collaboration with Bill MacKay that I never heard, maybe tyler did

I think Deafman Glance is where he started really leaning into the Chicago post-rock vibe and is one of the best rock records of the last few years. It's so damn TASTY

i love all his stuff. rang dizzy is great, excited for new album

i love the album but if you put ‘primrose green’ on for someone who hadn’t heard him before there’s no way they would guess it was from the current century lol

the bill mackay collab is really great

I feel like it's worth noting that RW is a huge Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 fan, speaking of 90s post-rock influences

he did a collaboration with Bill MacKay that I never heard, maybe tyler did

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, February 14, 2021 12:49 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

He did twice actually! Of the two I'm more familiar with Land of Plenty and I return to it ALL the time.

love the dave matthews record. love the thinking fellers t shirt. love the leonard cohen trolling.

i only liked about half of "golden songs" but that aside dude has an impressive hit rate

Ooo do you have a promo? I'm looking forward to him stepping up the prog on this one given how much he's been raving about Genesis for the past couple years

yeah there's definitely a genesis-y flavor at times ...

He's been a really interesting guy to follow for the last 6-7 years. The first time I saw him it felt like more a sum-of-influences, though super talented and energetic. But by 2nd time he was much more sounding like his own thing, and the 3rd time a couple years ago he was, as they say, really on his shit. I loved that album, Deafman Glance. Looking forward to the new one. And need to check out the Kikagaku Moyo too.

Hmmmm. I really struggled with Deafman Glance... maybe I should revisit.

I have one Mackey collab that I enjoy. He was great live. I'll definitely check out this new one.

Looking forward to this one, he’s been in a roll for the past few years. I do like that he’s turning into a full-on Chicago post-rock dude only after moving to NYC.

Little Common Twist with Charles Rumback is fantastic

yeah thats the one i probably listen to the most

I truly love Ryley's music and playing but I admit sometimes his singing style can really get on my nerves. Sorry, I should have said I truly lo-hove Ryley's musi-hic and playing but I admit someti-himes his singing style ca-han really get on my ner-herves.

OK Land of Plenty just happened to come up in shuffle just now and it's still so great and comforting.

His sty-hyle of singing grates with mee-hee as well sometimes.

Yeah I mean it just gets a little distracting for me if I think about it while I'm listening. Wish he did that specific thing a little less often. Only other thing that bothers and distracts me is my jealousy of people like him who can make their guitar do whatever they want effortlessly.

i like his singing but if u don’t i guess the good thing is he has like 4 releases per year of instrumental jammin

his singing is basically on par with bert jansch's singing for me, not a benefit or a detriment generally

he definitely has some ticks, but initially I liked his singing because it didn't fall into the standard indie rock modes.

For me it's literally just that one thing. Once I notice it it's all I hear!

I love Jansch's vocals!

But I also get that they aren't traditionally what you'd consider great esp when contrasted with his playing

I don't dislike either Jansch or Walker's vox, they do the job just fine for me, I just wouldn't ever say wow these guys are great singers

Walter's singing can be annoying because of the si-hi-hinging style. I don't understand why we need to compare him to Jansch.

If anything Jansch can be oddly annoying because he breathes loudly through his nose while playing

Walter's singing can be annoying because of the si-hi-hinging style. I don't understand why we need to compare him to Jansch.

― Duke, Friday, 19 February 2021 00:25

I mean *Walker's* of course. Autocorrect

singing on ‘rang dizzy’ is lovely imho

New one is great — maybe his best? Very gastr del sol

― tylerw, Sunday, 14 February 2021 17:26 (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Apparently he's been playing with David Grubbs for a while now and they have a duo recording coming out soon

Little Common Twist with Charles Rumback is fantastic

The Kikagaku Moyo collab reminds me of La Novia, minus throatsinging. At least until it turns into Gottsching territory.

lol

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

The Walker & Grubbs duo recording (a 24 minute live thing from 2019) is out now on Cafe OTO’s digital label:
https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/shop/david-grubbs-ryley-walker-fight-or-flight-simulato/

the soul patch in the reaction video really brings it home

I don't mind Ryley leaning into comedy now that he's sober. Also thought it was funny that I pre-ordered his new one on CD Thursday and got a shipping notification within an hour.

same thing with the Kikagaku Moyo record I bought - he's on top of things!

I mean, I'm assuming in this case the shipping notification is just the label being printed/created, just never seen it move that quickly. And it's already out for delivery today!

He's always been great at playing characters (has great instincts). Wonder if he's ever done improve or considered it.

half the times i've seen him there have practically been ten minutes of standup material during the set

lol i love that he keeps trying to get his mind around 4/4

just found out he plays psych guitar on the Spiral Galaxy record with Plastic Crimewave folks etc.

Oh wow, I didn't know that either! I've been meaning to check that one out, I'll bump that higher on my list. Thanks.