Saturday, July 24, 2010

Record Review: Wovenhand - The Threshingfloor


For Tiny Mix Tapes:

Wovenhand
The Threshingfloor

Sounds Familyre

Gimmickry of any kind will only go so far. Colorado resident and ex-16 Horsepower front man David Eugene Edwards’ Wovenhand returns for its seventh (!) record, the follow-up to 2008’s widely-lauded Ten Stones, with an exploration of a different ethnomusical palette, and it’s one that paints an ambivalent picture. Whereas Ten Stones explored the sounds of middle America — one of mile-high mountains and masculine morality — with an admirable clarity, The Threshingfloor takes up the instruments of Europe and the Middle East, and in the process muddles itself a little...[Read more]

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Record Review: Secret Cities - Pink Graffiti


Guys. This album is magnificent. Go pick it up.

For Tiny Mix Tapes:

Secret Cities
Pink Graffiti

Western Vinyl

Dear Secret Cities,

I know you're all comfortable returning to your Fargo, North Dakota home and stuff, but let me ask you an urgent question real quick. Can you please, PLEASE pull an about-face and come back to Atlanta, Georgia? See, today I discovered Pink Graffiti, your debut album (as Secret Cities, that is, not as Parker and Gokay or as The White Foliage). I mean, it only came out like a month ago, right? I'm not that far behind. And when I heard it, when I realized how magnificent I thought it was, I went and looked you up. That's when I learned you were here in Atlanta two weeks ago, and I didn't know. Goddamnit...[Read more]