Needles & Grooves AotM /// Vol. 44 – February 2023 /// Pavement – Wowee Zowee

hatfieldpdx said:
Interlude #10: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

Alright, gonna get the rest of these out there in the next day or so, than pass the baton to @TenderLovingKiller® for the March pick.

Bill Callahan is another national treasure. Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle is probably my favorite of his albums. This one goes in and out of print at Drag City (with prices spiking in between), but it's available at the moment. A good time to check it out and/or add to the collection, if you dig.



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When did you get into Bill’s music? I got into him with his last Smog album A River Ain’t Too Much To love and then went backwards from there. While I enjoy his post moniker change. I still prefer his smog albums a bit more. I am assuming, based on your previous write ups that you were likely a fan of his earlier work too but just curious where you got on the Bill Callahan wagon so to speak.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
When did you get into Bill’s music? I got into him with his last Smog album A River Ain’t Too Much To love and then went backwards from there. While I enjoy his post moniker change. I still prefer his smog albums a bit more. I am assuming, based on your previous write ups that you were likely a fan of his earlier work too but just curious where you got on the Bill Callahan wagon so to speak.
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Yes, A River Ain't Too Much To Love is another favorite. I'm not quite as fond of his more recent albums, but Dream River is another great solo release (along with Apocalypse). I would heartily recommend any of those.
 
Also, wanted to tell a story, probably more for myself than for anyone else but just wanted to get it out of my headspace since I have been thinking about it a bit with the discussion of Silver Jews and and now Smog. Back in the mid 2000s when MP3s and music blog culture were still a thing I was just using my favorite P2P file sharing program, SoulSeek and downloading some albums that had been generating buzz amongst Pitchfork and other indie music blogs I am not sure which album it was in particular but when you go to download off of someone, they can see who is downloading what and essentially send them a direct message. On that day whatever I was downloading was met with some unsolicited recommendations of other artists I would likely enjoy by a woman that went by the handle twinklebell, in chatting a bit I found out she was roughly the same age and from Croatia. Anyways we didn’t chat often but when we did it was mostly about music and I credit this random person from Croatia with introducing me to many of the artists that have shaped my musical taste over the past 17 years give or take. Amongst those artists that I credit her helping me explore were The Silver Jews, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Smog, Songs: Ohia, Cat Power, Nick Cave, The Dirty Three, and more than a few others. I was aware of many of these artists prior but hadn’t explored their music much at all up to meeting her. After awhile understandably we lost touch but I just find it interesting how a random encounter online can lead to a meaningful musical discovery that I may have missed had I not decided to download an album off of a Croat with impeccable taste and a speedy bandwidth.
 
hatfieldpdx said:
Interlude #10: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

Alright, gonna get the rest of these out there in the next day or so, than pass the baton to @TenderLovingKiller® for the March pick.

Bill Callahan is another national treasure. Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle is probably my favorite of his albums. This one goes in and out of print at Drag City (with prices spiking in between), but it's available at the moment. A good time to check it out and/or add to the collection, if you dig.



Click to expand...

I almost chose a Bill Callahan album for my month last year, too! (Probably Dream River, an all-time fave, but Sometimes was my first encounter with Bill.)
 
hatfieldpdx said:
Yes, A River Ain't Too Much To Love is another favorite. I'm not quite as fond of his more recent albums, but Dream River is another great solo release (along with Apocalypse). I would heartily recommend any of those.
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His newest reminds me very much of the sound of the latter two you mentioned, with the mature family man perspective of Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest and Gold Record. Really like it.
 
Interlude #11: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Margo Cilker– Pohorylle

Although she recently relocated to Washington State, Margo and her husband lived for years in Enterprise, Oregon – a small community at the foot of the Wallowa Mountains in the northeast corner of the state. Framed by a spectacular mountain range to the south, and Hells Canyon to the north and east, there is only one way in (and out). It's a remote little corner of the Pacific Northwest with a talented local crew of singer-songwriters that have forged their own sound.

Pohorylle, produced by Sera Cahoone, is emblematic of that sound. A singer-songwriter genre, somewhere in the blurred lines between country and folk. Margo is a great storyteller, and the lyrics evoke the character of the landscape. This album came out a year ago, and it was easily one of my favorites of 2022. I was lucky enough to see Margo and her band play live three times last year. In fact, at Pickathon I gave them all a ride out to a remote stage in a Gator (my annual volunteer gig at the festival), and got to see them record "Flood Plain" in the Pumphouse (not much bigger than a closet – here is Big Thief playing in the same space). Keep an eye out for that Margo video, maybe later this spring?

In any case, it sounds absolutely nothing like Pavement, but I definitely recommend giving this one a listen.



 
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Interlude #12: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Built to Spill – Keep it Like a Secret

I'm going to close it down with Built to Spill. One of my all-time favorite bands. I've seen them live dozens of times over the past 30 years, in countless configurations. I've also seen Doug (Dug) play solo shows in backyards, tiny venues, and other random locales. It's tough picking a favorite album (part of me wanted to choose Perfect From Now On, or There's Nothing Wrong With Love), but Keep It Like a Secret is just endlessly brilliant.

Here is a video of the band playing "Carry The Zero" in Portland about a year ago. The latest configuration of the band, with Melanie Radford on bass and Teresa Esguerra on drums, is one of my favorites. They both play with such a joyous, positive energy, and it seems to bring out the best in Doug. Catch the solo at 5:50 on this one (it goes on for about 3 minutes).



pitchfork.com

Built to Spill: Keep it Like a Secret

I hate talking about press kits, but I'm gonna drop the rule this time\n\ around. Press kits, for ...
pitchfork.com pitchfork.com
 
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hatfieldpdx said:
Interlude #11: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Margo Cilker– Pohorylle

Although she recently relocated to Washington State, Margo and her husband lived for years in Enterprise, Oregon – a small community at the foot of the Wallowa Mountains in the northeast corner of the state. Framed by a spectacular mountain range to the south, and Hells Canyon to the north and east, there is only one way in (and out). It's a remote little corner of the Pacific Northwest with a talented local crew of singer-songwriters that have forged their own sound.

Pohorylle, produced by Sera Cahoone, is emblematic of that sound. A singer-songwriter genre, somewhere in the blurred lines between country and folk. Margo is a great storyteller, and the lyrics evoke the character of the landscape. This album came out a year ago, and it was easily one of my favorites of 2022. I was lucky enough to see Margo and her band play live three times last year. In fact, at Pickathon I gave them all a ride out to a remote stage in a Gator (my annual volunteer gig at the festival), and got to see them record "Flood Plain" in the Pumphouse (not much bigger than a closet – here is Big Thief playing in the same space). Keep an eye out for that Margo video, maybe later this spring?

In any case, it sounds absolutely nothing like Pavement, but I definitely recommend giving this one a listen.



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Such a fantastic record!
 
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