3-Dot Lounge

Has anyone else noticed how prolific Robin Guthrie has become? I count at least nine CD/EP releases since 2007. Each and every one is chockablock with his trademark guitar shimmers. It's easy to imagine him constructing all these soundscapes in the hopes that Liz Fraser will drop by the studio and lay down some vocal tracks. Same old same old...so why do I find it necessary to collect the whole lot of 'em? Priceless sound...

Gotta love the British music reviewers: when an artist is considered an acquired taste, you might read of their 'Marmite factor.' Presumably Aussie writers reference the 'Vegemite factor.' Have yet to see Yanks mention a 'Vitameatavegamin factor,' however. There for the taking...

The most recent time I saw the foregoing was in a review of Amy Allison's latest. It applies. Amy is Mose's daughter...she recorded with Parlor James and has since released five solo albums, 'Sheffield Streets' being her latest. If you are unfamiliar, a loose description might make her a sort of female Jimmy Dale Gilmore, although her voice is even more nasal, somehow. But it's adorable, too, and she's a fine songwriter. Have a go here...

What a wonderful country we live in. Fish are jumpin,' cotton's high, and things in general are going so well that Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift at a third-rate self-congratulatory video awards ceremony constitutes real drama. Heck, I wasn't even aware MTV played music videos...

Sooner or later Mark Lanegan is gonna be due a lifetime achievement award. Every project with his involvement sounds great, and the latest Soulsavers album is no exception. Soulsavers is a British electronica duo that somehow roped in Lanegan to handle most of the vocals. Such timbre and grit...he seems to make everything his own when he's a part of it. Not many have that kind of consistent staying power...

Speaking of lengthy careers with interesting arcs, I got thinking about Scott Walker and tried to come up with other long-time performers with roots in mainstream pop who took their art to the outer edges. Walker is about as extreme an example as there is, but David Sylvian and Mark Hollis could be considered footstep-followers. Who else?...

Harkening back a bit to the earlier Robin Guthrie thread...why do certain limited styles hold such long-term allure? Another that never loosens its grip on me is that of the Jesus and Mary Chain. I enjoy all their records, but I always keep an ear cocked for the 'Psychocandy' influence. A very good recently-discovered exponent is a Swedish band called The Legends. If you have a similar soft spot for JAMC, you owe it to yourself...

A final word on the Beatles remasters: worth it, but I still find the earlier stereo mixes distracting. Mono seems the better way to go, pre-Rubber Soul...

The foregoing two lines offer a segue opportunity: the album that was most influential in signposting my future music tastes was produced by George Martin, but it wasn't the Fabs. It was The Paul Winter Consort's 1972 album 'Icarus.' What a lineup: David Darling, Paul McCandless, Ralph Towner, and Colin Walcott. Love of this record naturally brought me to Oregon, but it did much more than that. It led me to to ECM, early worldbeat, fusion, and eventually Windham Hill and the ilk. That one album feels like a whole library. George Martin has been quoted as saying it was the finest album he made. Now there's an encomium for you...

Here we have a lovely rendition of the title track as performed in 2005 by Wolfgang Muthspiel, Slava Grigoryan & Ralph Towner:



If you love music that takes you on interesting global journeys, spend some time with Mamer. He is a dombra player from western China who sings and performs music that is a hybrid of regional folk and western country. His deep voice is easily accessible to rookie ears, and his sound is somehow familiar yet new. His album 'Eagle' was released on Realworld this past spring; you can have an introductory look at Mamer here...

Let us close with Terry Pratchett: "Of course, it is very important to be sober when you take an exam. Many worthwhile careers in the street-cleansing, fruit-picking, and subway-guitar-playing industries have been founded on a lack of understanding of this simple fact."