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On Fillmore in the NY Times


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Nice review of the new On Fillmore album (which I had no idea was even coming out...) in the Sunday NY Times.

 

LouieB

 

Playlist

Moods Unsettling, Reflective, Eerie and Crunchy

By NATE CHINEN

On Fillmore

 

All of the music on “Extended Vacation” (Dead Oceans), out on Tuesday, hews to this duo’s trademark prescriptions: slow development and spooky ambience, rooted in cycles of resonance and decay. For the members of On Fillmore — the bassist Darin Gray, an experimental-music polymath, and the percussionist Glenn Kotche, a member of the rock band Wilco — that’s an ideal as deceptively simple as a Zen koan. The album, evocatively bookended by pieces called “Checking In” and “Clearing Out,” proposes an enveloping journey. Mr. Kotche, chiefly on vibraphone and glockenspiel, joins Mr. Gray in playing melodies of gradual convolution, often against subtle pressures from the outside world. So for instance, “Daydreaming So Early” begins with a drone, accumulates a series of birdcalls by the Brazilian percussionist Dedé Sampaio and eventually succumbs to the encroaching rumble of a drum corps. It all suggests a peculiar update of early-1960s exotica, with a heart of darkness in place of a setting sun.

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By one day - releases typically come out on Mondays in the UK, Tuesdays in the US.

Yea, I do know that. I was sort of joking. Japan got it a week ago Monday, so it could have been released on the 27th right?

 

I think I will hit Laurie's this week and pick it up.

 

LouieB

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Maybe it is the zen theme or maybe they simply dig these guys more than we do...

 

LouieB

 

Maybe it's because European and Asian audiences - I'll just go out on a limb and say it - are typically more welcoming to this type of music than Americans. That's why so many jazz musicians bailed on the US and made their names in other countries...it's sad when practitioners of an American art form are more successful when they do it outside of these borders...

 

Anyway, I gave the track at the On Fillmore website a listen and it's delightfully spooky...

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Maybe it's because European and Asian audiences - I'll just go out on a limb and say it - are typically more welcoming to this type of music than Americans.

That was certainly MY guess as well...

 

LouieB

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According to the On Fillmore site (link above), Japan gets the new CD two weeks AFTER we do.

 

 

UK - Nov 2

US - Nov 3

Japan - Nov 18

 

 

I love this "Master Moon" song streaming now. I will definitely go pick this up tomorrow. :yes :music

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According to the On Fillmore site (link above), Japan gets the new CD two weeks AFTER we do.

 

 

UK - Nov 2

US - Nov 3

Japan - Nov 18

 

 

I love this "Master Moon" song streaming now. I will definitely go pick this up tomorrow. :yes :music

Okay so I guess in addition to everything else the Internet has done, it has made us unable to actually read....

 

LouieB

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Here's the review at All Music Guide: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:avfqxzyald6e

 

"Chances are, Extended Vacation won't rope in fans of Gray's and Kotche's respective bands Wilco and Gastr del Sol, since it's a far cry from alt-country or math rock, but those looking for something that's avant-garde but fairly easy to digest might find this minimalist mood piece strangely soothing."

 

D'oh! He switched around Gray and Kotche's band memberships. Another example of a reviewer who doesn't know much about his subjects or didn't bother to look to deep into their musical affiliations...still referring to Wilco as alt-country.

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I am 99% sure that the site used to say something different. The U.S. was the last country on there.

 

You may be correct since serveral of us recall it being the other way before Wendy dissed our reading skills... :stunned

 

I guess if someone out there wants to still think Wilco is alt-country, so be it....was Darin Gray ever IN Gastr del Sol??? And I don't believe he is based in Chicago, but I could be wrong about this too.

 

LouieB

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You may be correct since serveral of us recall it being the other way before Wendy dissed our reading skills... :stunned

 

I guess if someone out there wants to still think Wilco is alt-country, so be it....was Darin Gray ever IN Gastr del Sol??? And I don't believe he is based in Chicago, but I could be wrong about this too.

 

LouieB

 

I just checked the liner notes for "Camoufleur" and it says Darin Gray played on one track (2) on the album. Sadly, I am not sure if he played on any other album of Gastr because I don't own them, yet. And I think Gray is based in the St. Louis area.

 

Can't wait to get this album though, and of course on vinyl!

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I just checked the liner notes for "Camoufleur" and it says Darin Gray played on one track (2) on the album. Sadly, I am not sure if he played on any other album of Gastr because I don't own them, yet. And I think Gray is based in the St. Louis area.

 

Can't wait to get this album though, and of course on vinyl!

Is it coming out on vinyl? Just curious. The other two On Fillmore's aren't I don't think, but times have changed.

 

Playing on one cut of one album hardly qualifies as being part of a group and St. Louis is nowhere near Chicago. (Maybe it is to some stupid person on one of the coasts.) Now that write up seems even stupider.

 

LouieB

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I just checked the liner notes for "Camoufleur" and it says Darin Gray played on one track (2) on the album. Sadly, I am not sure if he played on any other album of Gastr because I don't own them, yet. And I think Gray is based in the St. Louis area.

 

Can't wait to get this album though, and of course on vinyl!

 

Nice research! And sweet Monk avatar!

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Am I the only one here who doesn't know what "math rock" is?

 

 

Prefix Wilco/Tortoise Review

 

I was just in the 10 Best Albums Resulting from Uncle Tupelo Breakup thread and clicked on the Wilco/Tortoise UIC review on the Prefixmag page.

 

The instrumental quintet Tortoise, 15-year vets who also hail from Chicago, sport many of the trademarks that Wilco have snuck into their last few albums: math-rock time signatures, snarled feedback and a deliberate focus on tone rather than tune.

 

Never heard of the term before yesterday and I though I was up to date on my Tortoise reviews. I have never seen that term applied to Tortoise before. I guess I must be behind in "critic speak".

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Prefix Wilco/Tortoise Review

 

I was just in the 10 Best Albums Resulting from Uncle Tupelo Breakup thread and clicked on the Wilco/Tortoise UIC review on the Prefixmag page.

 

 

 

Never heard of the term before yesterday and I though I was up to date on my Tortoise reviews. I have never seen that term applied to Tortoise before. I guess I must be behind in "critic speak".

 

It all makes sense why Wilco and Tortoise were doing gigs together now. Tortoise needed help with their "math rock," so they went to the "dad rock" for help...hardy har har har.

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