heart of the country

after returning from Europe i certainly intended to start posting a lot more, but the usual suspects started interfering (laziness, school work, and my recent obsession with the now defunct television series the wire)

anyhow here are a couple exceptional albums that contain similar elements of psychedelic influence (in McCartney's case just listen to the vocals), as well as immediacy that is hard to find on any record. Patto's obscure self titled record contains some wild guitar riffs reminiscent of syd barret era floyd that undoubtedly had a major influence on progressive music. as much as i love to ram (forgive the pun) sir paul for his various exploits (everyone's got to get that paper i guess), this record certainly solidifies his influence on songwriting today (uncle albert-paranoid android much? just to name one example. you could also trace paranoid android to happiness is a warm gun, but i digress).



As far as "gettin' that paper" is concerned, The Wire elaborates on this seemingly simple notion in an intriguing way. Aside from the obvious condemnation of moral, and cultural values in all aspects of American life (be it black or white, rich or poor), the wire, much like a Coen brothers film, often employs dark humor alongside the brutal violence of gang life to elaborate the deep economic and cultural divide in this nation. However it shows how power systems both internally (be it within the police force or news organizations) and externally (social and economic conditions) are to blame. All in all it sounds like a pretty nihilistic take on American life. However, i think it's an interesting call to action at a crucial time in this nation where our educational systems are failing more students than ever, our prison systems are flooded and yet someone is probably turning a profit off of this(i.e. privatization of prisons, soaring costs of college, and the tragedy that is the no child left behind act).

brilliant

Float

I imagine if i was looking out the window of a moving car on a hazy/gloomy day these would be the sounds moving through my head. However, since im no where near as skilled at playing instruments nor do I have the vision to see something like this through. Instead I listen to Peter Broderick he is probably best known for his arrangements of Justin Ringle's tunes, which fall under the name Horse Feathers. I would highly recommend a pair of headphones for this listen because the mix is very delicate. It seems like certain things get lost and low volumes, which could very well be a product of crappy hearing on my part or crappy listening. Either way it is well worth a listen.

if you can't find it let me know in the comments and ill do my best to assist

Drive-By Truckers

Brighter Than Creations Dark wont mess around with you like the way a certain brand of fast food hamburger will. Whatever that means grab this record, hopefully you'll check it out from the library like I did, and enjoy a band whose make no bones about it brand of rock and roll is a rarity these days.

Gabor Szabo

Last time I was in Champaign, my acquaintance from the
record store recommended Gabor Szabo. I checked out
Bacchanal and Jazz Raga; both records are spot on.