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DEVIN KING

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Father Murphy | ... And He Told Us To Turn to the Sun

Aagoo (2009)
Harking back to an America where one's own lonely voice was the only radio and a BBQ meant a spit in the middle of the desert, Torino's Father Murphy hide detuned industrial textures within stripped-down, spacy folk instrumentation, like a man in a black hat picking up a bullet-riddled guitar with which to serenade his captives.
By: DEVIN KING  |  July 29, 2009
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Soundcarriers | Harmonium

Melodic (2009)
The first album from this Nottingham-based band is California dippy: whispered female/male harmonies, slack flutes, swinging drums, comping Hammond organs, and a bass player who finds basic funk riffs in every progression.
By: DEVIN KING  |  May 27, 2009
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The moving pictures

Pattern Is Movement reanimate the past
If one way that bands tie themselves to the past is through sonic reference — Fleet Foxes calling forth Crosby, Stills and Nash, or Animal Collective channeling the Grateful Dead — then there's been a number of bands who tie themselves to the past through cultural reference.
By: DEVIN KING  |  May 12, 2009
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Various artists | Open Strings: 1920s Middle Eastern Recordings

Honest Jon's (2009)
Over the past year, Honest Jon's has released three compilations culled from more than 150,000 78s of early music from the EMI Hayes Archive: music from 1930s Baghdad, early West African music recorded in Britain, and a more general compilation that moved across country lines and the first half of the 20th century.
By: DEVIN KING  |  May 06, 2009
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Papercuts | You Can Have What You Want

Gnomonsong (2009)
Hidden under reverb and aggressive analog production, the first sung lyrics on You Can Have What You Want belie what seems to be a cheery record title: "Once we walked in the sunlight three years ago this July."
By: DEVIN KING  |  April 14, 2009
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Wavves | Wavves

Fat Possum  (2009)
Fat Possum  (2009)
By: DEVIN KING  |  March 17, 2009
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Tim Hecker | An Imaginary Country

Kranky (2009)
With his sixth album, Tim Hecker continues his computer-enabled investigations into the ambient music of nebulous distortion.
By: DEVIN KING  |  March 10, 2009
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Gui Boratto | Take My Breath Away

Kompakt (2009)
Gui Boratto's 2007 debut, Chromophobia , was a pop crossover because of its string of 2 am dance anthems.
By: DEVIN KING  |  March 03, 2009
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Loren Connors | The Curse of Midnight Mary

Family Vineyard (2009)
Recorded in 1981, The Curse of Midnight Mary illustrates one genesis story for Loren Connors's affected and distended interpretation of solo blues guitar. Like Robert Johnson.
By: DEVIN KING  |  February 24, 2009
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Sincerely yours,

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart's new homonymous album is filled with well-worn lyrics.
There is a surge in polyglot music, but despite its force, a strain of conservatism (one that has always run through indie rock) is keeping pace.
By: DEVIN KING  |  March 12, 2009
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Various Artists | Money Will Ruin Everything

Rune Grammofon (2009)
Asked to describe his label Rune Grammofon's output, Rune Kristoffersen uncomfortably offers, "It's typically somewhere between improvised, electronic, contemporary . . . ," before fading off.
By: DEVIN KING  |  February 03, 2009
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Review: Humcrush | Rest at World's End

Rune Grammofon (2009)
Replete with bands who weave jazz, modern composition, and electronic music, the Rune Grammofon label captures a thriving scene of Norwegian improvisers and composers.
By: DEVIN KING  |  January 13, 2009
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Review: Various Artists | Instro Hipsters A Go-Go!

Throwback Throwdown
Psychic Circle (2008)
By: DEVIN KING  |  December 15, 2008
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Jacob Kirkegaard | Labryinthitis

Touch (2008)
Labyrinthitis deals with the material science of sound — in particular the Tartini tone.
By: DEVIN KING  |  December 02, 2008
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Susanna | Flowers of Evil

Rune Grammofon (2008)
Flowers of Evil — a covers record, though it includes two originals — lacks power.
By: DEVIN KING  |  November 24, 2008
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Max Tundra | Parallax Error Beheads You

Domino (2008)
It begins with a MIDI organ and Tundra singing like Little Orphan Annie: “I landed in somebody’s lap, between the iPod and yellow trucker cap.”
By: DEVIN KING  |  November 11, 2008
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Luomo | Convivial

Huume (2008)      
Known also for his more ambient work as Vladislav Delay, Luomo is the house-music moniker of Finnish producer Sasu Ripatti.
By: DEVIN KING  |  November 11, 2008
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Wilderness | (k)no(w)here

Jagjaguwar (2008)
This could prove strenuous, but the album is more contemplative than didactic — a (k)no(w)here that’s difficult to study but easy to inhabit.  
By: DEVIN KING  |  October 28, 2008
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School of Seven Bells | Alpinisms

Ghostly International (2008)
School of Seven Bells piece together two points of reference: the electronic music made popular by the Postal Service, Volvo ads, etc.; and the tightly controlled feedback of shoegaze.  
By: DEVIN KING  |  October 27, 2008
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Pedal | Pedal

Staubgold (2008)
Any undergrad who has a few Satie discs in his or her collection — for studying and making out! — would find the same passive ambiance on this album.  
By: DEVIN KING  |  October 15, 2008
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