Paavoharju - Yhä Hämärää (2005)

Take two brothers (Lauri & Olli Ainala); insert them into a born-again Christian commune in the Finnish town of Savonlinna with a bunch of instruments and recording equipment, add generous portions of lo-fi ambient psych-folk and dream pop and that's basically Paavoharju in the most reductive of ways. They're so much more than all of that, they defy any genre pigeonholing by employing an extensive use of electronics (to add a perfect balance between acoustic guitars and ethereal-sounding vocals) it's much easier to just call it "experimental".

Yhä Hämärää loosely translated means "still murky"; as all the song titles revolve around a similar theme (or a poem of sorts): "forever to the world / light oozing through everything / moon consoles concern / depth / gust / air flows / morning sun feels / pure white / I traveled far / it is still murky / black street..."

Yes, I ran all the song titles through Google Translate.

Anyway, this is one of my favorite releases of the last ten years; a real hidden gem full of murky, dense, layered atmospheric folktronica jams from the land of reindeer and cheesy symphonic death metal. Enjoy!

Paavoharju - Yhä Hämärää (2005; Fonal Records)

Hood - Structured Disasters (1996)

Hood's Structured Disasters is a compilation of some of their early stuff, pre-'96. If you're not familiar with Hood, they're a Leeds (UK) based lo-fi/post-rock/IDM/slowcore/shoegaze band that caught my attention for their collaboration work with Oakland's Doseone and Why? (for Hood's 2001 album Cold House).

This record is basically lots of 4-track recorded stuff; un-mastered, un-mixed, very lo-fi. Maybe intended to never see the light of day? I really like it, it sounds like stuff I record on my 4-track.

Check out the tape hiss...

Hood - Structured Disasters (1996; Happy Go Lucky Records)

The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2 (2001)

This album is an absolute treasure- it's one of those records you put on and it transports you to a completely different place, I still have a hard time believing it's only nine years old; I swear it's been around longer, I want to cut it down and count the rings someday so I can say "I knew this was older..."

It exists in a place (genetically) right around Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea; an intensely crafted homage to both the fragility of the soul and warm 4-track recordings, draped in inadvertent fuzz from the levels being too high; all these song "fragments" that leave it sounding unfinished yet it's a ridiculously fully accomplished thesis statement from a self-described loner that doesn't really want to be a loner.

Sort of a lo-fi bedroom folk version of OK Computer from the Pacific Northwest.

The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2 (2001; K Records)

Alexander "Skip" Spence - Oar (1969)

File Skip Spence along with Nick Drake, Syd Barrett and Roky Erickson under the unfortunate category of "mental illness exacerbated by excessive drug use" casualties of the late 1960s; they all got a chance to record wonderful albums before (Drake), during (Barrett & Spence), or after (Erickson) complete breaks from reality.

Skip's story is a tough one; he was the original drummer for Jefferson Airplane, leaving after their first record and trading his drum kit for a guitar and amp. He then went on to have a successful few years as the main songwriter and guitarist for Moby Grape, but during the recording of their second record in New York, Skip had a bum LSD trip and he went off his nuts, trying to attack band mates Jerry Miller & Don Stevenson with an axe, chopping down their hotel door in the process. Then he went to CBS Records' executive offices and tried to attack their producer, David Rubinson. Skip was sent to Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital for six months and pumped full of thorazine, this is the record he wrote while in the asylum. He went to Nashville, recorded this whole album in a few weeks on a three-track and disappeared to the woods near Santa Cruz, where he lived in a trailer until he passed away in '99.

It's a haunting and deeply affected personal statement from a man in the midst of some serious inner turmoil; there's some solace to be taken here in Spence's beautiful honesty and dark confessional lyrics. Listen to this album now!

Alexander "Skip" Spence - Oar (1969; CBS Records)

Butterglory - Crumble (1994)

Some wonderful indie pop from early '90s boy-girl duo Butterglory, hailing from Lawrence, Kansas by way of Merge Records. 

Sounds like a cross between Pavement and Archers of Loaf. 

Enjoy!

Butterglory - Crumble (1994; Merge Records)

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Worn Copy (2003)

Ariel Pink and his Haunted Graffiti project take accessible melodies and render them inaccessible under layers of broken keyboards, human beatboxing and four-track tape hiss; he's the lo-fi psych pop disciple of home-recording pioneer R. Stevie Moore. Pink's influences are as far reaching as The Beatles to Zappa to Roxy Music to cheesy '80s synth music and on and on...

Give this one a try if you're the type that likes to make bedroom recordings on the ol' Tascam 4-track.

Ariel Pink - Worn Copy (2003; Rhystop Records)

Smog - Red Apple Falls (1997)

Bill Callahan, the one-man "band" hiding behind the Smog moniker, is one of my favorite modern-day miserablists. That's not even a word, according to spell check, but fuck it; I'm using it. He's up there with Leonard Cohen, Morrissey and Will Oldham. Of course, they've all softened with their ages; Cohen's art is usually centered around the broken-hearted; Mozza's become too self-aware, his misery is almost comedy these days and Oldham's as well is laughably ironic. But Callahan, you are a miserable sunnuvabitch.

Wilco wrote a song years ago called I Am Trying To Break Your Heart. Bill never had to try to break your heart, he crushes it with this record...

Smog - Red Apple Falls (1997; Drag City Records)