Brendon Anderegg - Falling Air

Psych-O-Path Records



Rating: 7/10

Some circles have already labelled him “this year’s Sufjan Stevens.” Maybe Falling Air sells him a bit short, but Brendon Anderegg is still an apprentice whereas Stevens has the matured tricks of a wizard. But, as trends become trends, maybe some day we will be looking forward to the new Anderegg instead.

The legacy of Miles Davis, one of jazz’s most groundbreaking musicians, lives on in the perpetuation of two myths: the one that states Miles plays it simple, and the one that points out he plays it simple and with few notes. For those who still believe in that shit, I suggest they carefully listen to “One For Daddy-O” - where Miles is accompanied by ‘Cannonball’ Adderley, Art Blakey and Hank and Sam Jones - and try to reproduce the trumpet parts as elegantly as he plays them.

So, it’s time to drop another myth that may have popped in your head: however soothing and outstanding Falling Air may sound, it is entirely replicable at home - unlike Mile Davis. Headphone listening will greatly heighten awareness of its glow, but then again most lo-fi folkies were born to live in the intimacy of the sound field created when your ears are covered with that device.

Brendon Anderegg is a singer/songwriter definitely devoted to the acid-folk and low-key electronics, and thus the unplugging of his record playing feels like a disturbingly scorched nightmare. It’s truly amazing how songs like “They’re Still Here” build a new world into which the listener can’t help but be drawn. Therefore, switching all these glowing elements off makes the experience of these record’s latter symptoms all the more painful.

Anderegg’s is music bound to be listened in the closure of a dark, silent bedroom. When the first blips emerge, although they are very welcome, one bluntly feels that form and function somehow lose touch with one another. The musician lacks some sense of literacy and consistency when putting out this handful of songs, although this record contains some of his boldest moves yet recorded.

The funniest and most challenging part arises when trying to distinguish the sound of the acoustic guitar from that of the banjo - both included here - and then when attempting to tell the difference between a piano and an organ, or an accordion, a violin, a computer and all sorts of minimalist instruments. “My Baby Bird” packs a lot into its 4 minutes of whispered annoyance...

This was the year when the press sublimated Patrick Wolf as being an outstanding kid with heaps and heaps of talent, shortly after releasing a record that is merely above average; I will not do the same thing with Brendon Anderegg. He has a lot of potential, and Falling Air possesses a haunting drone that surprisingly amuses, but there is a long way to go before ascending Olympus.

http://www.lostatsea.net/review.phtml?id=1724308254313885bb2a61

Various Artists - Verve Remixed, Vol. 3

Verve Music Group



Rating: 5/10

After a decade of fighting, a medieval knight returns home more battered and sceptical than ever. There’s misery all over, and there’s also the plague, so he blamelessly concludes that there is no God. But our hero is then visited by Death, who wants to take him from the world of the living. He doesn’t concede, however, and challenges Death to a game of chess. This is how Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal begins, casting a revelatory light on cinema. Coupling great minds with flourishing ideas is the best recipe for the advancement of art.

The idea of reworking jazz classics with a beat-infused cover is a tricky decision. In the tradition of the two previous Verve Remixed releases, this third volume feels like we are trapped in a noisy room and a jazz record is heard through the wall of an adjoining apartment. Some of these remixes inevitably sink like a stone and fail to pay an honourable tribute to the classics, instead sounding like distant thunder in your head: you try to separate the new from the old parts of the songs and you often end up starving for the original versions.

Take the Brazilian Girls’ remixing of Blossom Dearie’s “Just One of Those Things”, for instance. You enter a drawn-out wind tunnel that sucks you in and sets a dirty, beat-soaked trail, like crumbs on the floor for you to go after; there is no clue where the mould was left. The only true exceptions are Bent’s reinterpretation of “Speak Low” and “Sing, Sing, Sing,” as addressed by RSL. The former is a beautiful, chilled-out version of Billie Holiday’s track where the British duo refuses to shift an inch off the course they pursued in Programmed to Love, most notably on tracks like the neat “Swollen”. They thus take the original even further in emotional depth. RSL’s take on Anita O’Day benefits from the loads of swing that the original already possesses.

Add to this “The Gentle Rain”, which RJD2 redefines with his lowercase hip hop-scented blips and his reductionist formulae, while Astrud Gilberto’s voice stays crystal clear. And, unlike Postal Service’s reviewing of “Little Girl Blue” which is a real flop, when Nina Simone resurfaces by means of The Album Leaf’s remix of “Lilac Wine”, real magic occurs. That may be due solely to Simone’s ethereal voice – as it goes well with any sound collage - but the resulting track nears perfection. Well, Jeff Buckley did it better, but this one is a fair shot. Overall, only a third of Verve Remixed, Vol. 3 is worth hearing. Just go back to your vinyls for the classics and you won’t regret it.

http://www.lostatsea.net/review.phtml?id=122074030342ecf0ed08b79