False Readings On – Eluvium
Lots of artists make ambient music. Few do it well enough to stand out from the crowd. Matthew Cooper’s work as Eluvium is reminiscent in some moments of William Basinski, Gas, and even some bits of Burial’s Rival Dealer EP. However, it avoids being derivative and instead carves out its own place in the landscape of ambient music.
Well worth checking out.
More information: Eluvium
Thought I’d start keeping a list of what I listen to while working each day. Here’s a start:
The Lost Tapes – Can
Released in 2012 by Spoon Records, The Lost Tapes is a 3-CD set of studio outtakes and live records by Can. The included tracks date from 1968 through 1977.
More information: Spoon Records
Outside Closer – Hood
The last album released by Leeds-based Hood in 2005. Great mix of melancholy, glitchiness, and slightly askew indie pop. Worth checking out.
More information: Hood Music
Second in a continuing series.
The Beach and Blue Monday by New Order
New Order’s groundbreaking and influential Blue Monday was released in March 1983. The b-side is a mostly instrumental version of the song titled The Beach.
Sometime in late 1983 or early 1984 my friend and I made our way to the long gone VVV Records, which was located on Cedar Springs in Dallas, Texas. There was on the wall a record that looked like an oversized floppy disc. It was a die-cut sleeve with no artist or track information. I immediately bought it.
I wasn’t really familiar with New Order at that point. I was vaguely aware of Joy Division. I don’t think I even asked the clerk, who would later become MC 900 Ft Jesus, who the artist was.
My friend and I made our way back to the suburban drabness of Duncanville to listen to our new found treasures.
The record label itself didn’t indicate what track was the A-side and what was the B-side. Because the title Blue Monday reminded me of that awful 1950s song, I opted to start with The Beach.
Several minutes later as the song wound down I remarked, “That was pretty cool, but really kind of slow and plodding. Also those robot voices were strange.” My friend nodded in agreement.
So I flipped the record over and with a slight amount of trepidation played Blue Monday. I remember hoping that it wasn’t some sort of cover.
Quickly I learned that it was the same song or at least a version of it. Then the vocals came in. “How does it feel..” stretched out slowly and deeply over the same plodding beat and slightly odd sounding synthesizers. It was then that I realized I’d left the turntable on 33 RPMs instead of 45.
It makes me laugh now to think about the two us dumb, white, suburban punks sitting in a bedroom in Duncanville, Texas listening to what would become the biggest selling 12-inch single of all time at the wrong speed.
Regardless of the speed with which it was played the single kicked off my longtime love affair with Factory Records.
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Special thanks to Ian for melodica on To Thee Oh Spacemen. Thanks also to Colin, Angela, Darin, Jeff, Nick, Rob C., Rob B., Leebert, Mandy, and my parents.
All songs performed and recorded by WALMARTIANS. All songs written by BDCummings. Cover image taken sometime in the 1950s near Abilene, Texas by Jerry Cummings.
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What a year it has been. Here’s to a better 2017. Cheers!
All the Umbrellas in London by The Magnetic Fields
I first heard this song in December 1995. I was lying on the bed in a boutique hotel in Boston’s North End. The window was cracked open to let in the winter breeze as the room was stifling hot.
There was a small radio on the nightstand that was by chance tuned to a college radio station.
This was, as it turned out a year or so later, on the last night of my first honeymoon.
I was hooked immediately by the flanged drum beat and rolling synths of the intro. Then came Stephin Merritt’s deep voice with the opening lines:
If I make it tonight it’ll be all right
It’ll make a good song or something
I’ve been trying to give myself reasons to live
And I really can’t think of one thing
For a little over three minutes I was in a state of melancholic bliss. I still feel that way when I listen to it today.
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The third full-length Walmartians collection for 2015 is Drift.
All songs performed and recorded by Walmartians. All songs written by BDCummings. Cover image taken at Bar Harukiya in Fukuoka, Japan by BDCummings.
Thanks to Nick, Canadian Mandy, Darin, Steve and Jeff for continued support and encouragement. Also thanks to Colin for the title Hard Metal Strings.
Walmartians – Force EP
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A new four-song EP for 2015 from Walmartians.
All songs performed and recorded by Walmartians. All songs written by BDCummings. Cover image by BDCummings taken in Fukuoka, Japan.
Thanks to Colin for the title on Orbit and Beyond.
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The second full-length Walmartians collection of 2015 is Neverending Now. It is sort of a song cycle about the creative development process and the challenges you run into along the way.
Performed and recorded by Walmartians at Down Brown Sound, Evanston, Illinois. All songs written by BDCummings. Cover image taken in Tokyo.