To Lock17 for Sufjan Stevens. Since he was here primarily to promote the UK release of Michigan, had hoped he might have some of his troop in tow but alas it was the man alone. Not that he had too much difficulty holding the attention of the full house but there's only so much he could do - not being one of nature's born performers - in attempting to represent the complexities of that opus. Hey! perhaps the audience could help, do some of the swelling harmonies and stuff? Er, no. Testing the waters early on, Sufjan was silently reminded he was in 'too cool for school' London. Still, it didn't dent his spirits any and he meandered through ten or a dozen songs still striking in their spareness and interspersed with their backstories, rambling, embroidered childhood reminisences and fun facts about Michigan...

.. and here's someone's report of the similar-sounding Edinburgh show. A bit harsh on poor old Nick 'Gravenhurst' Talbot.. but only a bit...

'[The new record] spans a lot of most everything he's done on the previous records.. But there are definitely a few songs where the guitar is moving a lot more, and it's more stylized and upfront.' Well, Eric Fisher should know since he's provided that stylized upfrontedness for the forthcoming new Damien Jurado record. Interviewed this week here...

Even though her reputation's spreading out like ivy there have only ever seemed to be the same two or three stock 'pixie waif' Joanna Newsom photos available to the press. So well done to the Daily Telegraph for putting a new (Barry Marsden) colour shot on the front of this Saturday's arts section, with another inside next to the interview: 'Generally I'm told that I have a very poor voice; I've always had people tease me about it...'

Unfortunately, can't make Joanna's ICA show this week nor for that matter the sold-out Polyphonic Spree date at the Astoria on Saturday. Opening the latter will be (yet another Denton, TX band) Mandarin whose album Fast future present was picked up by Bella Union for UK release a few months back. Should it have unaccountably escaped your notice, are you missing out? Well, no, not really. reallyrather has been playing bits of it quite regularly - it's best moments get quite close to the only kind of serious-faced blokish indie rock this blog can get along with: Concise, melodic with time sigs showing a slight but distinct post-rocking tendency. But these moments mostly serve to remind you of other, better records. For Eye on time see Broken Social Scene's You forgot it in people; enjoyable though it certainly is, Shadow your shadow sounds like Hope & Adams-era Wheat meets, say, Unwed Sailor...

..whose driving force, Johnathon Ford recently announced his departure from unacceptably straight-faced blokish indie rockers Decahedron to concentrate on his instrumental trio. Hurrah! says reallyrather. '01's Faithful anchor has remained a staple of the rr playlist since aquisition - energetic, blissful, super-melodic stuff. Their most recent release, The marionette & the music box, didn't sound quite so inviting - it just doesn't, does it? - being a story-telling concept album of 17 tracks and accompanying illustrated book. But if the new Tracker album's any guide, maybe we shouldn't judge a book-shaped record by it's cover...

Blankets is a 600-page illustrated novel by Craig Thompson and apparently, of it's type, something of a runaway, word-of-mouth success. rr hasn't read it but the pen&ink drawings which adorn Tracker's Blankets-inspired 'soundtrack' are certainly appealing, the music even more so. In the realms of esteemed alt-indie-folk-rock (M. Ward, Sparklehorse et al), this blog continues to be surprised at the relative lack of aclaim for John Askew's Tracker whose previous two releases, Ames and Polk, are fairly stuffed with grainy, atmospheric goodness. Blankets doesn't have quite so much graininess but Askew's hallmark sonics still lurk beneath it's smoother surface.
It's not 100% satisfying - more-or-less every other track is great, cool-sounding instrumental indie rock, with shorter, more impressionistic and slightly less compelling interludes interspersing - but over it's 42minutes or so it's a fine headphones trip. The low rumble of hammered drums and trilling, nagging guitar lines of opener (We were) the trees doesn't really reach any conclusion but does help to set up the sharper The flurry (pt1) which follows. Soft electric piano, bolt-upright drums and shards of trademark refracted electric guitar chords. As ever, it's a beautiful dynamic and a further refinement of that great Portland sound (see also: Norfolk & Western, Matt Ward). The flurry (pt2)'s light pattering drums, the illuminating zylophone touches in F! is for FILTH!, and The House of Jarius with it's deep plugging bass and knocking percussion, all testament to Askew's ear. Sound judgement indeed, aided and abetted here by Tucker Martine (Laura Veirs, The Long Winters etc) and Adam Selzer. Vocals only occur on the final track, Everything is beautiful, which - for this listener at least - does in one track what the whole of Unbunny's (well regarded) Snow tires fails to. Buy/hear...

Staying with things Portland-related:
-Shelley Short has a definite year-end contender in Oh' say little dogies, why? and now she has her own little website
-and, having being forced to postpone his August London date, Matt Ward happily makes it to the Bush Hall Nov 27...

It's curious to realise that John Peel, Michael Palin and Paul Foot, self-effacing, approachable-seeming counter-cultural good guys, were all boarders together at the same second division public school, Shrewsbury. Foot died earlier this year during a family holiday, Peel similarly last week. (Ironically, perpetual traveller Palin is still going strong.) Even if, like reallyrather, you tended to hear John Peel more via BBC Radio 4 than R1 in recent times you'll understand that a (sadly all too precious) window for new sounds has closed for good. If you missed them, catch these tribute shows while you can:
Andy Kershaw on BBC Radio 3
Roger McGough on Home Truths BBC Radio 4
Steve Lamaque on BBC Radio 1

So, a week in olde England, pastoral/coastal Suffolk to be precise. And the soundtrack? Of course, the songs & chants of the indigenous hill tribes of Taiwan. Mundanin Kata is one of those crossover projects - inquisitive western musician seeks out obscure folk music tradition, sits in and, frankly, jams. Always borderline-dubious in concept, cellist David Darling by and large pulls it off in his encounter with the Wulu Bunun people.
There's no doubt about what's going on here: a repetitive accapella native tradition being leavened/sweetened for the foreign ear. Happily, Darling's contributions - accentuating a rhythm here, a simple chord progression there - are mostly judicious and restrained. And actually the Wulu Bunun's close harmony singing often doesn't require much sweetening at all; it's a kind of Polynesian pop, quite movingly joyous-sounding. Heck, Lugu lugu Kan-bi and Malkakiv malvanis could even be hits of a kind.
Alongside these immediately appealing worksongs are a few (slightly) more challenging pieces including the swelling contemplative drone of Pasibutbut which taps into the quasi-spiritual vein of the likes of Tavener and Gorecki, and some short original cello pieces, Darling communing with that upcountry Taiwanese vibe. We're told that most of the music was recorded in situ, right there in the clearing, with a few cello parts added later in the studio. Well there's plenty of birdsong on there. Very occasionally it gets a bit too lush, considered, incongruous; the dubious-ometer starts to flicker. But placing reservations and pleasure on the balance, the latter comfortably outweighs the former. Recommended, in fact...

Dealing in scuffed folk-pop of the choicest order, m.ward is currently out and about sharing a bill with Conor Oberst and Jim James. Consequently, there are interviews. The Willamette Week's piece last week revealed that '[new album] Transistor Radio is scheduled for release next February and includes guest spots from Vic Chesnutt, Rilo Kiley, members of My Morning Jacket, the Decemberists and the Thermals'. Earlier this month he told the Las Vegas Mercury, 'It's sort of a love letter to radio, something I really grew up cherishing, at the possible brink of it's destruction...'

And on the subject of dire circumstances, two of this blog's favourite bands appear to be at varying stages of hoisting the white flag. Despite the release of their strongest set to date in Strange seasons (just buy it) sublime roots-popsters Nadine would seem to be already lost to us. Bandleader Adam Reichmann has a familiar tale to tell: 'We tried for almost ten years to make it a viable, full band experience...nobody made any money, but we thought it might pay for itself...the writing was on the wall and in our bank account balance...so we put it on ice. However, we have four records that will live on proudly'.
Appallingly, equally estimable trio Wheat's heads are now starting to hurt from butting those brick walls: 'We're going to take five and catch our breath and figure out the next step. We realize there are places we may not have been able to get to, but touring is difficult, expensive, and there just aren't big enough crowds right now for us to keep slugging it out in our van for 10 people a night. Clubs get upset about that sort of thing, and it is difficult to justify driving 8 or 10 hours a day to play to an almost empty club, however much the people that are there may love it ( and we do appreciate you!)'. Ten people a night! What a disgrace. Give Ricky & co. some of your money now...

It's seems to have been around for ages but The Last Town Chorus' debut has now been picked up for UK release in Jan05...

A debut available right now is an EP from Suburban Kids With Biblical Names. They're on Swedish label Labrador which has been busy scooping up all the cute homegrown indie-pop it can find. They haven't got this sector's break-out act, The Concretes, though. In an interview in The Stranger last week, Concretes' drummer Lisa talks up 'CocoRosie because they're taking pop music into a new place [and] there's a new band from London who sound a bit like the Mamas & Papas called The Magic Numbers...'

Ah, The Magic Numbers, our very own little party-popper primed to bust out all over. Quite a few chances to see them before the record comes out and rest of the world catches up:
Wed 27 Oct : Koko's, Camden Palace
-Support to Ed Harcourt thru Nov then a headline residency at London's Borderline:
Tue 23 Nov
Tue 30 Nov
Tue 07 Dec
The Magic Numbers / Heavenly Records

'The only fault with the album may be that it is not as surprising as their debut, and since it is simply more of the same terrific music, it doesn't broadside the listener in the same new and fresh way. The Hem project began as an attempt to create something lasting, and Eveningland proves that their debut was no fluke' - Rabbit songs was always going to be a hard one to follow but Allmusic at least reckon they've just about pulled it off. Look for a UK tour in February...

Triple bonus points to Word magazine who feature Rilo Kiley on the covermount CD with this month's edition. Even tho' it's a track from '02's The execution of all things this actually isn't such a bad thing since With arms outstretched is oddly more representative of the superfine new one, More adventurous. Currently on tour in the US, their show on Oct 30 will be opened by a duo called..

..Smoosh. Asya's on keys/vocals, her sister Chloe drums. In the past they've opened up shows for the likes of Death Cab, Jimmy Eat World and Pearl Jam. And? you ask. So what? So, Asya's 11, Chloe's just 9. That's 9 as in nine. See/hear the alarmingly catchy original Rad performed live...
Smoosh / 'Rad' video

Scraps...
Someone's obviously got ahold of The Legends in the US. Lots of reviews for the Swedish eight-piece's '03 debut Up against The Legends suddenly popping up. Not everyone's as taken with their full-on handclaps/tambos/fuzzbox assault as reallyrather was - this blog naturally ignores them and points you to Pitchfork, who are...

..and if you like that check out the squigly synth-pop charmer that is Kite Pilot's
On my lips. "Hey, hey", indeed...

Tracker's John Askew interviewed last week about that comic book soundtrack just out now on...

.. FilmGuerrero, which also has the new Transmissionary Six release, Get down. Hear Happy landings mp3...

'If you listen close to the "silence" at the end of The Book of Right-On—I mean, really turn up the volume for a few moments after the last note has been played—you can hear a bit of that sea of sounds, decaying bit by bit into the ether. It's quite lovely, I think.' Oh it is, it is. TinyMixTapes talks to Joanna...