* Takemitsu,
Hindemith, et al.: Five Pieces (Duo Gazzana) (ECM CD)
*
Luening/Ussachevsky, et al.: Early Modulations: Vintage Volts (Caipirinha CD)
* Miles
Davis: The Bootleg Series Vol.4: At Newport 1955-1975 (d.3-4) (Columbia Legacy
4CD)
* John
Coltrane: Live Trane: The European Tours (d.1-3) (Pablo 8CD)
* Jeanne Lee
& Ran Blake: The Legendary Duets (RCA/Bluebird CD)
* Weather
Report: Sweetnighter (Columbia LP)
* Ray
Anderson: Harrisburg Half Life (Moers LP)
* David
Schnitter: Thundering (Muse LP)
* Wayne
Johnson Trio: Grasshopper (ITI LP)
* John
Scofield: Electric Outlet (Gramavision LP)
* Recoil:
Pardon My Fantasy (Pausa LP)
* Dino
Saluzzi: Vanidad de los Andes (ECM CD)
* Rich
Corpolongo/Doug Lofstrom/Paul Wertico: Spontaneous Composition (Spoco LP)
* Josh
Sinton, Dominic Lash, Ingrid Laubrock, et al.: Signal Gain (OutNow CD)
* V/A: Native
North America Vol.1: Aboriginal Folk, Rock & Country 1966-1985 (Light in
the Attic 3LP)
* Bola Sete:
Ocean: Solo Guitar Vol.1 (Takoma LP)
* Jerry
Garcia Band: Garcia Live Vol.2: Greek Theatre, 8/5/90 (ATO 2HDCD)
* Comus:
First Utterance (Dawn/Get Back LP+EP)
* Amazing
Blondel: Fantasia Lindum (Island LP)
* Deep
Purple: Made In Japan (Warner Bros. 2LP)
* Kevin
Ayers: Yes, We Have No Mananas (ABC LP)
* Gentle
Giant: Civilian (Columbia LP)
* Curved
Air: Airconditioning (Warner Bros. LP)
* Curved
Air: Phantasmagoria (Warner Bros. LP)
* Nektar:
Remember The Future (Passport LP)
* Kayak: See
See The Sun (Harvest LP)
* Kayak:
Royal Bed Bouncer (Janus LP)
* Michael
Hoenig: Departure From The Northern Wasteland (Warner Bros. LP)
* Heldon:
Stand By (Cuneiform CD)
* David
Sylvian: Secrets of the Beehive (Virgin LP)
* BORIS:
Noise (Sargent House 2LP)
* Agalloch:
The Serpent & The Sphere (Profound Lore CD)
* Grails:
The Burden of Hope (Neurot/PSM LP)
* Grails:
Redlight (Neurot/PSM LP)
* Locrian:
Return To Anihilation (Relapse 2-45RPM LP)
* Locrian:
Infinite Dissolution (Relapse LP)
* Pelican:
Forever Becoming (Southern Lord 2-45RPM LP)
*
Pallbearer: 2010 Demo (Twenty Buck Spin 12”)
* Wild
Nothing: Nocturne (Captured Tracks CD)
* Padang
Food Tigers: Running My Habits Clean (Bathetic CS)
†=iPod/iTunes
‡=car
Commentary:
At the end
of Electric Eden (Faber, 2010), the magisterial survey of the UK psych/folk
scene of the 1960s and ‘70s, author Rob Young gamely attempts to trace the thread of
folk music influences through the post-hippie decades, finding traces of Albion
in such unlikely places as Aphex Twin and Radiohead. Of course, “folktronica”
is something of a worldwide phenomenon—but the distinctly British “visionary
music” Young describes in his book continues to be produced to this day, if obscured
by the whims of fashion and commerce.
Padang Food Tigers is one such group that fits the paradigm. The London-based duo of Spencer
Grady and Stephen Lewis combine their guitars, banjos, harmonicas and other
acoustic instruments with evocative field recordings and other bits of audio
ephemera to create bucolic pastorals, hallucinatory visions of a lost Eden. But
they are no throwbacks; eschewing vocals as well as other idiomatic displays of
“authenticity,” Padang Food Tigers conjure up thoroughly modern soundscapes.
The latest
Padang Food Tigers EP, Running My Habits Clean, was released in 2014 as part of
the cassette-only “Dynasty At Ghost Town” series on Bathetic Records and neatly
captures what they are all about. “Calyx Malpractice Suit” features some wistful
trumpet over ringing banjos while “Nurturing Of A Definite Hush” lives up to
its title: gentle strumming and percussive scrapes bathed in a dusky atmosphere
of found sounds and thick, delicious reverb. “Salacious Bee Amputee,” a lo-fi
snippet of laconic banjo and murmuring children, serves as a prelude to the
title track, a subtly nuanced tour de force. With its countrified double-stops
and string bends layered over hazily modulating harmonies, “Running My Habits
Clean” seems to summon up a mythical, rural past amidst our technological,
urbanized present.
Or maybe I am
just so enamored of Young’s book (which I read just recently) that I can’t help
but hear this music through that lens. And perhaps Padang Food Tigers would be
offended by my casting them with the dreaded “folkies.” But I mean it as a
compliment. The more I listen to Running My Habits Clean, the more I want to
track down the rest of their discography. Highly recommended!
