The Wandering Lake :: In Passage

The Wandering Lake :: In Passage

In short, The Wandering Lake is like a male, slightly cleaner Grouper. Or a washed-out Jeff Buckley. Or a fervent disciple of Panda Bear's Young Prayer. One could call it sacred music.

This is an album to fall asleep to - not at night, but in the afternoon. It's nap music; which is not to say boring music, because it's not. The sound falls in the small space between melodic clarity and drifting, and in many ways is perfectly described by both the band's name and the album title. The music is "in passage" - it's traveling with a vague purpose, but a purpose none the less.

Check out the mesmerizing and beautiful "People" below, and head over to Bandcamp to download the full-length album (pay what you want).

The Book of Disquiet

The Book of Disquiet

Julian Lynch :: Terra

Grouper :: Alien Observer

I see life as a roadside inn where I have to stay until the coach from the abyss pulls up. I don't know where it will take me, because I don't know anything. I could see this inn as a prison, for I'm compelled to wait in it; I could see it as a social centre, for it's here that I meet others. But I'm neither impatient nor common. I leave who will stay shut up in their rooms, sprawled out on beds where they sleeplessly wait, and I leave who will to chat in the parlours, from where their songs and voices conveniently drift out to me. I'm sitting at the door, feasting my eyes and ears on the colours and sounds of the landscape, and I softly sing - for myself alone - wispy songs I compose while waiting.

Night will fall on us all and the coach will pull up. I enjoy the breeze I'm given and the soul I was given to enjoy it with, and I no longer question or seek. If what I write in the book of travellers can, when read by others at some future date, also entertain them on their journey, then fine. If they don't read, or are not entertained, that's fine too.

Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet  

New Grouper

New Grouper

One of my all time favorite musical acts, Grouper, is releasing a rare 7" tour single "Hold/Sick" in October. Listen to "Hold" below. Seriously, I fall asleep to Grouper every night. She is the love of my ear-life.

GROUPER -- Hold by ROOM40

[via GvB]

BCB's Favorites of 2010 Thus Far

BCB's Favorites of 2010 Thus Far

Well its about 2010.5 (actually, its 2009.5 to be technical) and its time for more lists! Brandon and I recently composed our lists of favorite albums and EP's and lo and behold they were quite similar. Instead of just listing out our hierarchical impulses, we are just going to lay out the albums we agreed upon.

Top two albums:
Beach House: Teen Dream
Joanna Newsom: Have One On Me

I (Scott) had Teen Dream atop my list and Brandon had Newsom's triple LP, but we both agree that these are the best albums of the year thus far. I would say future '10 releases from Panda Bear, Radiohead, and Fleet Foxes are the only chances of supplanting this pair.

[mp3] Beach House :: Silver Soul

[mp3] Joanna Newsom :: '81

Other agreements (in no particular order):

The Tallest Man On Earth: The Wild Hunt

[mp3] King Of Spain

Morning Benders: Big Echo 

[mp3] Excuses

Owen Pallett: Heartland

[mp3] Lewis Takes Action

Mountain Man: Made the Harbor

[mp3] Soft Skin

Tame Impala: Innerspeaker

[mp3] Runway, Houses, City, Clouds

MGMT: Congratulations

[mp3] Flash Delirium 

ceo: White Magic

[mp3] Come With Me

Best EP's thus far:

Twin Sister: Color Your Life

Memoryhouse: The Years

Oberhofer: oO0OooOo

Active Child: Curtis Lane

Grouper: Grouper/Roy Montgomery Split