Filed under: first listen, review | Tags: 2009, chris catchpole, marissa nadler, music
Marissa Nadler
Little Hells
[not actual artwork]
Due out on March 2nd through New York-based label Kemado Records, Marissa Nadler’s Little Hells follows the delicate and harrowing Songs III: Bird On The Water, her breakthrough album and easily one of the best records of 2007. This time round the lyrics remain as sad and as sublime as ever, although the involvement of producer Chris Coady (TV On The Radio, Gang Gang Dance), Blonde Redhead drummer Simone Pace and lap-steel pro ‘Farmer’ Dave Scher (formerly of Beachwood Sparks), as well as good friend and frequent collaborator Myles Baer, ensures that Nadler’s fourth record sets out in an interesting direction that’s both new and old. Here’s our track-by-track preview. A full review of Little Hells will be published next month.
Filed under: EP, first listen, review | Tags: 2009, 50 foot wave, kristin hersh, music, tiffany daniels
50 Foot Wave
Power + Light EP
At nearly 26 minutes long and with no production breaks, you’d be forgiven for initially thinking that Power + Light is an alt-rock explosion trying desperately to find its feet in a field of its own shrapnel. But give the record some much-deserved attention and the intense live atmosphere 50 Foot Wave notoriously create seeps through the cracks torn by the driving rhythm section and roaming electric guitar. Fronted by the legendary Kristin Hersh, the EP emerged as a 30-minute live dirge of a demo. It was then divided into seven separate movements that barely give bassist Bernard Georges, drummer Rob Ahlers and guest cellist Victor Lawrence a chance to mop their foreheads.
