"...by midnight, we had forgotten one another..."

Iron and Wine - Around the Well

(Sub Pop: 2009)

In May 2009, Iron & Wine released Around the Well, a double-disc effort that features all kinds of intricate and intimate tunes, all of which are generally hard to come b(u)y through legal means.  In spite of that fact, there isn’t really anything here that previous Iron & Wine fans haven’t heard, myself included; out of the 23 tracks, only 2 were new to me.

I love this album and that should come as no surprise to regular readers.  In contrast to his immediately previous albums, Around the Well exudes the same cozy, exoteric feel that made his early releases like The Creek Drank the Cradle so amazing.  But that’s not to make one think that it’s all roses and sunshine with Samuel Beam; on the contrary, many of his best songs have a dark hint of the Southern Gothic tradition, made legendary (in my opinion) by artists like Johnny Cash and Will Oldham.  It is not easily tracked and traced, that “Southern Gothic” tradition: it’s just what I call it because it’s easier for me.  (And by "Southern Gothic" I mean loosely the following: the absolute detail in his songs, the distinctively southern feel of his music, the dark and mysterious lyrics, full of death and desolation…Yet with death and desolation automatically come their opposites: life and hope.)  

In this way, by using these realities he’s able to simultaneously make you cry, shiver, dance, hum along, and smile…Whither Apollo?  Whither Dionysos?

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"It's Time to put God Away."

Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle

(Drag City: 2009)

Bill Callahan is one of my favourite artists.  It actually doesn't really matter what song he is singing, I could literally just sit and listen to him.  He's got this huge, rich baritone voice that reeks of authority and emanates a simple, pure beauty with every word.  And the lyrics he writes are amazingly introspective and probing.  I can only liken it to what it might feel like to be friends with your grandfather: him telling you stories and aphorisms of an older age for a new breed.  Does that even make sense?  You might know him as Smog or (Smog) - this is technically only his second album under his own name - but you cannot confuse the voice or music.  Altogether I think this is his thirteenth or fourteenth album (including his work as both Smog and (Smog) ).

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"Fact: F is for fart. G is for Gorilla fart. H is for Huge Gorilla Fart."

Kimya Dawson - Alphabutt

(K Records: 2008)

Kimya Dawson has released an album that....your kid needs to hear!!??!!

It's true.  But come on.  You knew it was coming, I mean, if her work with Antsy Pants wasn't foreboding enough, she was pregnant you know.  It would be weird if she didn't write songs about children now.  Alas, rest your weary musical fears, it's still the old Kimya.

Dawson has been around for a fairly long time, releasing some indie gems with Adam Green as The Moldy Peaches.  Yet while the Peaches did some really great things as a band, for me the driving force in the band was always Dawson’s witty lyrics, rambunctious energy, and simplicity in style and delivery.  Her fame “skyrocketed” with the release of the movie, Juno, for which she allowed several songs to be used (the film features both her solo work and work with her other projects, including The Moldy Peaches and Antsy Pants).  I use the term “skyrocketed” only because in most serious music circles, The Moldy Peaches a.k.a. Kimya and Adam Green had already been digested, along with to an extent, K Records, as one of the great “hidden treasures” of the anti-folk genre.  But I digress...

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