a r t i s t : Silent Land Time Machine
t i t l e : & Hope Still
d a t e : 2008
l a b e l : Time-Lag (TLR 045)
g e n r e : Folk
r l s. d a t e : Mar/2009
t r a c k s : 07
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 65,2 MB
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*Ripper's note: A joint release by Time-Lag and Indian Queen.
here's something a bit different... a collaborative release
with the band's own indian queen label. pretty hard to pin
this one down, but its a trip for sure. a rather mysterious
one man band solo outing from texas, who builds up layer upon
layer of violin, viola, acoustic guitar, slippery electric
slide, percussion, electronics, accordion, buried vocals, and
found sounds into haunted, rollicking, thick sonic blankets of
sound. many simple parts entwined, looped, and orchestrated
into an undulating whole, like naive bedroom folkrock filtered
through some blissed out minimalist phase experiment.
ecstatic, post-psychedelic chamber rock maybe? really doesn't
sound like much else out there, but its instantly enjoyable,
energized, and grooves freely in its own uplifting way.
packaged in a tri-fold, double sided, offset printed cover.
woven japanese inner sleeves. edition of 500.
http://www.time-lagrecords.com/catalog/
Attention artists: packaging is important. The visual images
and materials you choose to associate with your music can be
paramount to the attitude of your listeners when deciding
whether to buy or even listen to what you have created. Sure,
the internet has provided a powerful argument suggesting the
downfall of physical packaging. To me it is just a wake up
call to artists and labels alike: step it up! (but not like
the movie of the same name.) I would like to provide you with
two contrasting examples. First, Kurt Weisman. Weisman's debut
solo album, Spiritual Sci-Fi, is without a doubt my favourite
singer-songwriter album of the year and will most certainly be
on my top ten list next week when we post our year ends for
2008. The cover of Spiritual Sci-Fi; however, is terrible.
Like, laughably terrible. I apologize to Weisman if there is
some personal resonance associated with the illustration that
adorns the cover of his record, but seriously, it is humorous
at the most. So terrible is this album art that, despite my
consistent and unequivocal ravings concerning the genius of
the record, Sassigrass (my FG cohort/spouse) will not touch
the thing with a twelve foot pole. I'm not sure if she
listened to it that she would like it as much as me, but now
she will never even have the chance because she can't get over
that ridiculous cover. Now for my second example and true
subject of this review, Silent Land Time Machine's & Hope
Still. This album was sent to me by the wonderful folks at
Indian Queen who co-opted with Time-Lag on the packaging and
it is stunning. Here at FG we receive a fair amount of promos.
Some more visually attractive than others, but none that have
held my attention so singularly as & Hope Still. I simply had
to hear what kind of music could be associated with the
luxurious cotton sleeve folded inside a sepia-toned outer
cardstock fold filled with various abstracted images. I could
go into more detail, but I don't have the packaging on hand as
I'm writing this (at my other job that actually pays real
money). Suffice it to say that it was the quickest that I have
ever desired to listen to a promo and the most excited as
well. I guess the second thing to announce to artists is this:
make good music. Novel, huh? Well, fortunately for me, the
packaging of & Hope Still was an absolute spot on
visual/physical introduction to the music of Silent Land Time
Machine. & Hope Still is all shades sepia via sound. Built on
layers of acoustic instrumentation combined with various audio
ghosts and samples, Silent Land Time Machine is a chamber folk
orchestra of beautiful construction. Similarly wonderful, is
the fact that this 'orchestra' has been constructed with only
two hands. It is another nod to an era filled with individual
artists achieving wonderful ends by their own unique vision. &
Hope Still is a vigorous, winding adventure, a ghostly post-
rock mystery and a wonderful summer day wrapped into one
beautiful package; one most definitely worth obtaining a
physical copy of!
-Mr. Thistle
http://forestgospel.blogspot.com/2008/12/silent-land-time-
machine-hope-still.html
http://www.myspace.com/silentlandtimemachine
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01-Everything Goes To Shit [07:50]
02-I Shouldn't Be In School [03:47]
03-The Thing This Doesn't Mean Is Nothing [10:17]
04-The Contours Of Perfect Distance [03:44]
05-Electronic Transmissions [03:54]
06-Down The Hill [04:40]
07-Copper Pot Topography [13:37]
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47:49 min