Having listened to Pitch Black Star Spangled several times now and having noted that Westerhus’s debut solo work, Galore, was printed exclusively to…
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Stian Westerhus plays guitar in a band called Puma. Having enjoyed Puma’s latest album, Half Nelson Courtship, a powerful assault on the senses, I was anxious to hear Westerhus’s solo work. I expected something brutal—even something frightening, something perhaps verging on the unlistenable—but Westerhus’s second solo LP, Pitch Black Star Spangled (Rune Grammofon RCD 2099/RLP 3099), is something else, something more.
Returnal (Editions Mego EMEGO 104), the fourth full-length release from Oneohtrix Point Never, explodes into the listening room (or out from the speakers or out from the headphones) with real violence and penetrating force. We are thrust into a heavy storm, a maelstrom; we find ourselves standing beneath an ocean of falling glass, falling sky, falling electronic haze. If instruments could scream, their screams might sound like this, like the opening few moments of Returnal, moments that don’t seem like an opening at all, but someplace else, some other time that escaped us, that started…
The latest 3-CD box in Mosaic Records’ Select series, John Carter & Bobby Bradford, is something of a revelation. I’ve heard several albums over the years by the two musicians separately, but never their collaborations of 1969 (as the New Art Jazz Ensemble) and ’71 (as John Carter & Bobby Bradford, though playing with much the same quartet), both recorded on the obscure Revelation label. Now here they are, reissued with unreleased takes and a whole unissued (unknown) duet session that was laid down in ’79.
The quartets are in the pattern and mood of Ornette Coleman’s quartet, and…
Belle and Sebastian’s new album, Write About Love, is due in stores on October 12. I spied an advance copy in the office of our music editor, Robert Baird. He’s hogging it up for himself, though. Something about having to “write a review.” Whatever. Fortunately, from now until the 12th, NPR will be streaming the entire album, so we can get a cheap fix until we buy the real thing.
The songs I’ve listened to so far are full of sweeping strings and weeping horns and the biggest hooks, and all with a touch of darkness, reminding me of the earliest Belle & Sebastian and…
Me, listening to old MPS songs with the V-MODA Crossfade LP headphones and the HiFiMAN portable music player. Photo by intrepid Ariel Bitran.
Ariel Bitran, our new editorial assistant, has been having too much fun around here, providing a much-needed facelift to the Stereophile Facebook page and spicing up our Twitter feed, infusing both with the local color of our busy office lives. Please check it out. Become a fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to see John Atkinson lounging in our cubicle, see me eating pizza, and find out what music Robert Baird is hoarding to himself…
Photos courtesy Peter McGrath.
On Wednesday, October 6th, John Atkinson and I hurried out of the office, hopped in a cab, and made our way to Innovative Audio, one of New York City’s premier hi-fi dealers. It was my first time at the shop and I was very impressed. Strikingly beautiful women floated around the front room, while the large, open space soon became crowded with press and guests. Along one wall, a long table held all kinds of colorful and curious-looking treats: finger sandwiches carved out of enormous loaves of bread, Thai spring rolls, grilled satee with peanut…
Michael Lavorgna’s October issue “As We See It” generated many more responses than we had space for in our December issue “Letters” section (a great bunch!), so we’ve appended all of the letters to the Web reprint, which you can find right here.
Lots of discussion in the forum, too.
One of my favorite albums of the year comes from Brooklyn-based artist Julianna Barwick. The album is called Florine. Michael Lavorgna told me about it. It was months ago and I remember leaving work that day and rushing over to Other Music to buy the album. I got one of the first 200, pressed on white vinyl. Karen congratulated me and told me that I’d be very happy with the music.
“I’ve been listening all day long,” I said. “As soon as I heard her music, I knew I had to have the album.”
“Oh, that’s so great. I’ll let Julianna know. She’ll be happy to hear that.”…
Tomorrow afternoon, John Atkinson, Jason Victor Serinus, and I will meet in Denver, Colorado, for the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. If you're at the show, please say hello.
If you're not at the show, please keep up with us at the show blog.