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Dusted Features
Every Friday, Dusted Magazine publishes a series of music-related lists compiled by our favorite artists. This week: San Fran droners Barn Owl and Athens band Maserati, which is releasing its first record since the death of drummer Jerry Fuchs.
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Listed: Barn Owl + Maserati
Barn Owl
Evan Caminiti (guitars, vocals) and Jon Porras (guitars, vocals, drums, harmonium) met in San Francisco in 2006 and immediately started playing music together, mixing devotional ragas and dusty stomp with atmosphere and production that references shoegaze and black metal influences. Ancestral Star, the duo’s third LP and the first on Thrill Jockey, marks the first time the pair have recorded in a studio, allowing for denser, more varied arrangements that include strings, synths and extensive percussion, in addition to guitar, voice and drums.
1. Dadawah - Peace and Love
I’ll never forget the warm Seattle day I picked this up when we were on tour in July. It hasn’t left the speakers since. So heavy, so soulful. Wonderful guitar playing that avoids cliché Reggae up-strokes in favor of improvised leads. Lyrics that have become impossible not to sing along to. It’s a beautiful think to behold this much spirit being poured into a recording. (Evan)
2. Loren Connors - Hell’s Kitchen Park
For years, I’d heard this was the ultimate Loren Connors record, but it was just impossible to track down. Thank god it was just reissued, on 180g vinyl no less. A serious heartbreaker -- when this record is on, it’s hard to focus on anything else. It unravels slowly, and even though Connors had a specific intention with this album, it feels like a meditation on mortality in a broader sense. For all the gloominess that it may imply, it doesn’t leave me feeling hopeless because it’s just so sincerely beautiful. (Evan)
3. Popul Vuh - Aguirre, Wrath of God OST
Always breathtaking. I’ll forever be stuck trying to capture the amazing sound of the customized choir-organ instrument using vocal samples on my sk-1. Such a wonderful mix of the organic and electronic. (Evan)
4. Roy Montgomery - Scenes From South Island
Roy Montgomery’s musical vocabulary is unique in that it is so visual. All he needs is a guitar, a couple pedals, and a 4-track to paint vivid pictures in your mind: gathering storms, drives down rural roads, and endless other colorful reveries. These tracks are so much more than just songs; they are scenes to be experienced. (Evan)
5. Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Zuma
This album is an essential on the road and an important old spirit of the heavy desert rock vibe. Jon has an ongoing joke about us playing a 30 minute "Cortez the Killer" jam. It hasn’t happened yet. We had the opportunity to see Neil live on this recent solo tour and when asked what song I wanted to hear most, "Cortez" was up there. So I was pretty much in tears when Neil played a version of the song with thundering chords and long streaks of feedback. (Evan)
6. Ash Ra Tempel - Paris Downers
This bootleg captures a concert in 1974, which was a really great time for Ash Ra. I think versions of the songs here ended up on Inventions For The Electric Guitar and New Age of Earth, but these live tracks really do it for me. "Dust in Your Dream" is Ash Ra at its darkest, with deep organ and guitar dialogue that astral projects itself straight into the night sky. (Evan)
7. Brian Eno and Harold Bud - The Pearl
A moody 1984 classic recommended by Danny Paul Grody, it’s become my go-to record for late night, post-work relaxation. Minimal piano gestures embellished with gauzy synth washes and woozy ambience. Ahead of its time and not unlike the recent output of Leyland Kirby or Deaf Center. The perfect nudge into a dreamless sleep. (Jon)
8. Spacemen 3 - Sound of Confusion
We’ve spent a lot of time with the recent reissue of this face-melting, psychedelic classic. Swirling distortion, relentless repetition, gloomy and catchy all at once, this will always be an old favorite. We did a very loose interpretation of "Rollercoaster" for a show in town, probably the closest thing we’ve done to a cover song. (Jon)
9. Bill Frisell - Disfarmer
Disfarmer is the score to a series of photographs taken of the rural south in the late 1930s and early ’40s by Mike Disfarmer. Frisell conjures up an expansive, contemplative offering of somber Americana that somehow perfectly emanates the decaying sepia hues of Disfarmer’s photos. This one has been a close companion on many long drives. (Jon)
10. William Basinski - Vivian & Ondine
Beautifully minimal, yet precise and moving, this is one of my favorite Basinski pieces. Perfect for staring up at grey skies, listening to a single loop unveil itself over and over, each time revealing harmonic depths and layers of decay. Dizzying, hypnotic and emotional, the album walks a thin line between light and darkness. (Jon)
Maserati
Athens’ Maserati has been refining its instrumental post-rock since the early 2000s, churning out gleaming edifices of motorik psychedelia. Pyramid of the Sun, out Nov. 9 on Temporary Residence, includes collaborations with Steve Moore (Zombi) and a bittersweet jam called “By M’Friend, Goodbye”, the final track written and recorded with the great Jerry Fuchs, who died tragically last year.
10 Albums That We’ve Been Really Into Lately
1. Grinderman - Grinderman 2
We rocked the shit outta some Grinderman when the last record came out. I’m sure that Round 2 of Nick Cave’s midlife crisis band will be a staple in the tour van in the coming weeks. Sounds killer so far.
2. ARP - The Soft Wave
Super good, super minimal synth record.
3. Black Meteoric Star - Black Meteoric Star
We followed this guy when he put out a record a few years back as Delia and Gavin. He upped the ante by adding beats to his bag of tricks and it’s one hell of an addictive recipe.
4. Swans - The Great Annihilator
We’ve been wading through the Swans catalogue a lot this year. We’re hung up on this one at the moment.
5. Majeure - Timespan
We liked this record so much that we asked this dude to play drums for us. Sort of a Blade Runner soundtrack for the 21st century.
6. Wipers - Over the Edge
We’ve been on a Wipers kick the last couple of years. Youth of America is a killer record and so is this one. It’s such a driving monster.
7. Danzig - Lucifuge
The first Danzig record is a classic, but this one gets overlooked too often. For some reason, we listen to and discuss Danzig a lot on the road. When we were in New Jersey, we seriously considered going by Dr. Chud’s house. Dr. Chug - Google him, dude.
8. Aphrodite’s Child - 666
We’ve been obsessed with this record for the last few years and we keep coming back to it again and again. This is Vangelis’s first band and it’s just such a creatively amazing record. We’ve taken so many song titles and ideas from this record that we could probably be legitimately sued.
9. Lindstrom - Where You Go I Go Too
An absolutely amazing record from start to finish. Who knew the sequel to Gottsching’s E2-E4 would be created by a Norwegian dude 30 years later?
10. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
Really great neo-psych record made by a buncha Aussie kids from Perth. Addictive as hell.
By Dusted Magazine
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