Black as midnight on a moonless night: Twin Peaks & Witch House

Like many, I was initially bewitched(!) by the sounds of witch house-y bands like SALEM, White Ring, oOoOO, and have fond memories of driving around South St. Louis at night, blasting dark, oozing bass and pretending that I’m a cold-hearted badass. It was nice … in that dark, cold, make-believe way. Some have criticized the trend, calling the music derivative and its makers overprivileged hipsters with too much time on their hands.** I just got bored.

Enter Phantasma Disques and their non-profit compilation: A Witch House and Occvlt Guide to Twin Peaks. This is the perfect application for this genre — a culturally-significant anchor that draws a little more fanfare than White Ring’s sampling of the gunshot sound effect from “Thug Love.”

Via Welcome to Twin Peaks:

The tribute compilation was released on Cosmotropia de Xam’s Phantasma Disques last month, in a limited edition of just 125 copies (only about 20 are left so hurry and order yours). The CD comes with impressive, flipside cover art and a bizarre but to Twin Peaks fans extremely appealing tracklist:

1. MATER SUSPIRIA VISION feat. HOW I QUIT CRACK – (These are the last 7 days in the life of) Laura Palmer
2. ANDRAS – Half Heart
3. DEATHCOAST – The Nightingale
4. § (SILVER STRAIN) – A Blue Rose
5. Kim Cascone and Ceremonial Dagger – through the darkness
6. OS OVNI – Just you and I
7. AAIMON – Into the Night
8. UNISON – Questions in a World of Blue
9. MULHOLLAND DRIVE – Burst into fire and the angels wouldnt help you
10. I†† – X-RAYS
11. \\\^?^/// – Are you Laura Palmer?
12. Zombelle – Dweller on the Threshold
13. ANGST – Keep The Fear From Your Mind
14. Die Hexen – Inside the black Lodge
15. Julee Cruise – Mystereees of Love (Excepter Remix)
16. Ghostrider – Traces to Nowhere

Note that Kim Cascone, who collaborated on track five, was David Lynch’s assistant music editor on Twin Peaks and Wild At Heart!

As far as I can tell, the listing for Volume 1 on Phantasma Disques has disappeared, but Volume 2 was just released and is available for order.

The Silver Strain video below is by far my favorite track from the collection.

§ – A Blue Rose [Twin Peaks] from § on Vimeo.

** One critic of SALEM made a brilliant “anti-witch house” mix. A Ben Frost track followed by Waka Flocka Flame? Yes, please.

Best Week Ever Part II: Lyonnais

Also contributing to my enthusiasm for this week is the fact that my friends in Lyonnais are in town to play a few shows. Lyonnais (say: lee-OH-nay) is a quartet out of Atlanta that play brooding, epic jams full of doom and gloom, with occasional glimmers of hope (see: “Modern Calvary” — my personal favorite). While the group has some cassettes and CD-Rs floating around, they have yet to release the LP they recorded in Brooklyn with Ryan Rasheed (Prefuse 73, Leb Laze) late last year. For now, appease your ears by listening to their tunes on MySpace or a more-recently mixed version of “Transitive Properties of Youth” posted on Creative Loafing. Fans of Factory Records, post-rock, and psych will all find something to like.

If doubts remain as to the awesomeness of these dudes, check out band members Farzad Moghaddam and Farbod Kokabi’s record label, Geographic North. Their track record consists of a vinyl re-release of Belong’s October Language, a 12″ EP by Warm Ghost (Paul Duncan), and a 7″ series with limited color vinyl and original artwork by Kokabi, featuring acts such as A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Soft Circle, Landing, Psychic Powers and more. The name of the series? You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever. An Orange Juice-referencing 7″ series? I rest my case.

Thursday, April 14 – 9 p.m.
Union Pool – $8
w/ Helado Negro
McDonalds

Friday, April 15 – 8 p.m.
Glasslands Gallery – $10
w/ Eternal Summers
Golden Dogs
Dream Diary
Oberhofer (DJ set)

P.S. Happy Poem in Your Pocket Day.

Best Week Ever Part I: Angel Olsen.

Some of my most favoritest human beans are in New York this week playing shows. My heart is swelling with joy, and all I really wanna do, baby, is share this with you. First on deck: Angel.

My dearest darling, my bosom friend, Angel Olsen, brings her stirring, soulful, haunting folk to New York for not one but THREE shows this week, so there can be no excuse for missing her while she’s here. With two cassettes, a new 12″, and months of touring in Will Oldham’s supporting band under her belt, Olsen is poised for great things. Look out, Marissa Nadler. The rest of you, mark your calendars:

Thursday, April 14 – 8:30 p.m.
Glasslands Gallery – $15 (adv)
w/ Timber Timbre, Snowblink, and Baby Alpaca

Saturday, April 16 – 6 p.m.
Kim’s Video and Music – FREE
in-store performance for Record Store Day

Sunday, April 16 – 7 p.m.
Zebulon Cafe – FREE
w/ Lichens, Inlets (solo)

Order her 12″, Strange Cacti, fresh off the presses, and peep a newish video at Bathetic Records.

Here she is performing “Always Half Strange” on Nomadic Reverie in the KDHX studios, circa July 2009.

“Best of” 2010

Best-of lists stress me out.  Making them always causes me such anxiety … it’s as if I’m afraid of offending someone by leaving their album off the list or putting them in the wrong spot, which is rather egotistical–and just plain silly.

That being said, I would like to extend my apologies to all the bands and records that I didn’t get to listen to in 2010.  This year marked a major disconnect between myself and the music world, as it was the first time since 2004 that I wasn’t working in the radio industry (outside of hosting NR).  I didn’t know until today, for instance, that The Alps and Max Richter had releases this year.  I’ve already begun a list of albums I need to catch up on.

The list below features, in alphabetical order, the top 10 albums and EPs released in 2010 that I spent a lot of time with and loved in their entirety.  My first podcast will highlight my favorite tracks of the year, but this will have to do until I get more settled.

Hello, and Goodbye!

I’ve lived in St. Louis for seven years, which is longer than I’ve been anywhere before.  I love the city with a passion and can see myself returning to it at some point, but I’ve been feeling restless and in need of a change of scenery.  I’m moving in about a week to New York City to do my practicum at Abrons Arts Center, and will be there at least through May–probably longer.

Leaving KDHX behind is one of the things that makes me the saddest about this move.  I’m so proud to have been a part of this organization.  I started out volunteering at the station in 2005, then became an intern, and then, following my graduation in 2007, became the youngest person ever to join staff.  Although I loved my work behind the scenes, I was still itchin’ for the airwaves, so I substituted for Rene Saller’s show, Suffragette City, for several months in 2008.  In August of that year, Nomadic Reverie was born.  Thursday, December 23, 2010 will be the last broadcast of the show.

But fear not, friends, fam, and fans!  Nomadic Reverie will live on through this site.  I’m going to do my derndest to keep this site updated with weekly podcasts and other goodies, as time and technological know-how allow.  I hope you’ll continue to listen and share your thoughts with me.

Back to packing!  Check back soon!