Silver Antlers - Black Blood of the Earth

Silver Antlers
Black Blood of the Earth
(2009, Magic Goat/American West Freedom Society)
RIYL = Stag Hare, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Animal Hospital, Mount Eerie by Microphones

Let me start off by saying that there are very few musicians who have established themselves with enough artistic credibility to merit the production of a release that consist of a single album length track. Some of the heavyweights who come to mind on this extremely short list are Keith Fullerton Whitman, Birchville Cat Motel and Gavin Bryars - not exactly beginners when it comes to music composition. There are at least a couple reasons why this is an arena only fit for a very limited few, the first being the value of time. Asking someone to endure an album length track in one sitting requires quite an investment from a listener. This is especially true in an era when most people don’t have forty-five minutes to an hour to give up in a regular work day. Then, when you do find someone with the time and interest to consume a single album length track in one sitting, it usually requires some type of prescription drug to keep them from aborting the task out of a lack of patience or a fill of anxiety. Secondly, who is to say that this forty-five minutes to an hour of music is going to be any good? Even amongst the recordings put to tape by those with a healthy back catalog of consistently great records, the album lengthed track can prove a stumbling block; an artsy, self-conscious striving that fails to maintain interest or intrigue and barely carries the weight of even a single listen. I was a little afriad of listening to this Silver Antlers debut because of these reasons and especially since the album takes a quite a bit of time to pick up and get going. However, I am glad that I did. Turns out Silver Antlers is a fairly adept musician and Black Blood of the Earth is a more-than-impressive debut worthy of many repeated listens. So, if my little preface didn’t clue you in you should understand that Black Blood of the Earth is a single fifty-two minute opus that, against all odds, is engaging and insanely good. Silver Antlers starts things off slowly with a repetitious vocal motif that reminded me a little bit of The Besnard Lakes mumbling over some standard guitar swirls. At about the seven minute mark this vocal arrangement has departed and is replaced some more prevalent guitar patterns and wordless, disembodied vocals. Pretty standard fare so far. It is at this transition that a bit of beauty seeps in to propel you forward. From here, Black Blood rises and swells majestically, harkening moves from the late great Godspeed You Black Emperor. Then things really start to pick up at about the twenty minute mark when some propulsive drumming is added to the mix and the flow turns from lovely river to blistering locomotive. Along with some additional vocal incantations, this drumming and the accompanying guitar seemed to have stolen the essence of Mount Eerie, my favourite album from The Microphones. This is a good thing. Silver Antlers doesn’t seem to be afraid of his influences which helps Black blood of the Earth use these reference points as building blocks for wholly new creation. The album seems to be constructed on a few different movements, each with their own compelling rhythm and instrumentation, each flowing into the next with added strength and beauty. The awesome part about Black Blood of the Earth is that it never stops surprising with continuously climactic moments that progressively one-up the previous high. In fact, the most impressive moments coalesce with a powerful push that begins about thirty-five minutes in and uses the remaining time to fully flesh out its tribal drumming, buzzing guitar attack and gorgeous violins before fizzling and fading away with the wind. Honestly, those final fifteen minutes are among the best musical moments I’ve heard all year. This is an album that is definitely worth the effort required. Still, there are certainly instances here which lend themselves to track separation. I can’t help but wonder what separating this piece into even just two or three tracks would do for Silver Antlers’ listenership, because as it stands, Black Blood of the Earth is one of the most memorable listening experiences I’ve had this year.

-Thistle

Silver Antlers

Navigator - Songs for Mei and Satsuki

Navigator
Songs for Mei and Satsuki
(07.2008, Magic Goat)
Verdict = gritty, wide-eyed pop nuggets pushing into the red

I think as a reader you deserve an admission from me on this one. I love Hayao Miyazaki films. Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro (with the original dubbing or Japanese voice overs) are among my favourite films of all time. That may seem like an odd admission in preface to an album review, however, Navigator’s latest outing, Songs for Mei and Satsuki, compiles 10 tracks in ode to the legendary Anime director’s various films. The concept is an utterly geeky and obsessive one to be sure, but the result at the hand of Navigator mastermind, Braden J. McKenna, is nothing short of humble adoration turned into wide-eyed brilliance. I guess it might be good to assure people who haven’t seen a Miyazaki film that it isn’t necessary to enjoy this album (though recommended based solely on their merit as film). Even those who have no particular affinity for the films (I don’t think this is possible, but it just may be) will find that the there is no real necessity of caring any way whatsoever about the director's legacy to become enthralled with Songs for Mei and Satsuki. So, enough about the inspiration/gimmick, the music stands on its own creative legs very sturdily. You know what, lets just get all of the technical stuff out of the way up front, I think that McKenna is marketing this thing as a full length album, but the album is super brief at just under twenty minutes in length. And, again, for the record, this may seem like mark in the negative for Navigator, but it isn’t - the work actually holds up pretty nicely as a “full length” in the breadth of its ideas and movement of its sequenced tracks. Eventually, you’ll become so addicted that you’ll have to burn the album three times over onto a separate CDr in order to take as little time possible skipping back to the beginning. So what is this incredible music I speak of that seems completely unhindered by general standards of length and concept? Being that Navigator is pretty much still a virtual unknown some cheap comparisons might be good. The album is kind of like Microphones/Mt. Eerie filtered through Times New Viking’s pedals and recording equipment or perhaps a poppier, major chord version of the Meneguar side-project Woods. I make those comparisons specifically to the album because Navigator has proved himself as something of a shape shifter between this release, his freely downloadable loop based Ep and his much loved debut album from last year, the lo-fi folk spiritual, Throwing Tongues. The progression has been in long strides and the results have been nothing short of exhilarating. With Songs for Mei and Satsuki, Navigator has pretty much secured our permanent attention to anything with the Navigator tag. You simply can’t burn this one out no matter how many times in a row you play it. The hooks and melodies are platinum strength with the ability to withstand any amount of hypothetical radio play or popular acceptance (regardless of how far fetched). Seriously, if I over heard my mainstream hip hop obsessed sister listening to this I would still have no grounds for denying its genius. My final gasp of utter adoration and praise is this, and it is directed to you Mr. McKenna: how do you create a modern pop opus - about cartoons - in just under twenty minutes?

-Mr. Thistle

Navigator on Virb

Navigator - Loop Dreams

LOCAL REVIEW

Navigator
Loop Dreams
(02.2008, Magic Goat)
Verdict = Reverby, Loop Based Navigator

The second release on the downloadable-for-free-quasi-web-label, Magic Goat, comes from the Magic Goat mastermind himself, Navigator. In the short 6 song foray on Loop Dreams, Navigator moves away from the humble, lo-fi acoustics that appeared on his wonderful debut LP, Throwing Tongues, and into more experimental (but no less satisfying) territory. With his loop pedal in tow, Navigator somehow pulls out a bag of short, engaging sonic messes that translate something like Times New Viking via Mt. Eerie/Microphones . The Mt. Eerie/Microphones reference is apt seeing as how the closing track is a major chord translation of Phil Elverum's "Headless Horseman." Navigator also cover's local blues troubadour, Aye Aye's, "Change" for his opener. Both covers are tasteful, inventive recreations that manage to accomplish what the best covers were always meant to accomplish: to become a completely new song as filtered through the ideas of the artist covering them. As a whole Loop Dreams is a successful (free, AKA you should be downloading this right now) outing and a wonderful display of chameleon depth from Navigator. Here is hoping that the energy of this translates into another wonderful full length album in 2008.

-Mr. Thistle

Download on Magic Goat Music

Paper Cranes & The Iron Eagles - Self Titled

LOCAL REVIEW
Paper Cranes & The Iron Eagles
Paper Cranes & The Iron Eagles
(01.2008, Magic Goat)
Verdict = Ear Melting Rock (In A Good Way)

Check the verdict, this stuff is nuts! A series of ancient Paper Cranes recordings discovered in some prehistoric cave halfway decomposed, halfway fossilized has surfaced. This is absolutely the most rocking thing that my ears have had the chance to be damaged by in some time. For those unfamiliar, Paper Cranes are Salt Lake's seminal experimental post punk saviors that shirked their savior responsibilities almost as soon as it was anointed them. Apparently this mess of blown out speaker shrapnel was the outcome of a jam session recorded on the quaint internal microphone of the band's iMac. The effect is as lo fidelity as you would find on a recording on a homemade cassette. It all adds to the enormous weight that exudes the music. The Paper Cranes have now taken on a seemingly chameleon-esque collective. On this album with The Iron Eagles moniker, the band are torching the ground they have previously paved with blistering instrumental psych rock freak-outs. It sounds a bit like Comets On Fire playing with the heft of The Goslings. There are some seriously deep bass tones here that I haven't heard the likes of since Grandeur of Hair. This is all really exciting for me as I was beginning to wonder if I would ever hear another Paper Cranes album again. Well the second part to this blissful Cinderella tale is that the whole album is downloadable for free! Released by Magic Goat Recordings, Paper Cranes & The Iron Eagles is the first of a series of monthly digital releases that will come from the site at no charge. The incredible idea is curated by none other than FG fave Braden J. McKenna, AKA Navigator, and will hopefully stick around for a long time. Go download the album now; you are in for an awesome ride.

-Mr. Thistle

Download it HERE