Mark Eitzel "Hey Mr. Ferryman"
Hey Mr. Ferryman is Mark Eitzel’s latest solo album on Merge Records. You may recall Mark’s work with his original band American Music Club. If If you do not recall that band you have a lot of good listening ahead. This is definitely grown-up rock, a la recent efforts by Jim O’Rourke and Holy Sons. A lot of that “mature” sound comes from Eitzel’s cohort here, Bernard Butler. Beside producing the album, he also played all the electric guitar, bass, and keyboard parts. That immediate sounding confidence mixed with Mark’s inquisitive vocals. This is a tongue-in-cheek, low key masterwork. Check out the lead off track “The Last Ten Years.”
Emptyset "Borders"
Is there such a thing as aggressive ambient music? Imagine if Brian Eno mixed his ambient music through broken, distorted effects. Or don’t imagine, instead, check out the latest from Emptyset. Borders (Thrill Jockey) finds the experimental electronic duo of James Ginzburh and Paul Purgas falling down a rabbit hole of timbre twiddling, energetic ambient music. Yeah, I know, that hardly makes sense. But what does these days? Check out the static-y, nervous energy of the intruder alert that is “Body.”
Ty Segall "Ty Segall"
Oh, hell yes! Who isn’t excited by a new Ty Seagall album? His mix of T.Rex/Black Sabbath/Mudhoney is what we all need when we believe guitar-rock is dead. So all hail Ty! Need a folky ballad? How about a rocker? A 10 minute jam? Ty has you covered! He as something for everyone! Well, almost anyone… Imagine if he called himself Ty Seagull! Oh the album covers he could have! How great would Ty’s take on Jonathan Livingston Seagull be? I guess we will never know… However we do know what “Orange Color Queen” sounds like, so dig in!
