A new section of the blog will include presentations of CD compilations (not keen to call them mixtapes) which I have made for friends and myself. Starting this section will be The Guys in the Woods.
The title is inspired from musician Bon Iver, who wrote and recorded his critically acclaimed album For Emma, Forever Ago in a cabin in Wisconsin, after his breakup with his girlfriend. Many other artists have followed similar approach in home recording, be it the bedroom of a teenager in New Mexico (Beirut), an isolated house in the Santa Monica Mountains (Neil Young), or a tiny apartment in Mormartre (CocoRosie). To be honest, not all songs present in the compilation follow that pattern, but the overall feeling ideally I wanted to be conveyed from these songs was that of singer-songwriters locked inside their home, writing and recording their music away from the confines and limitations of a studio.
The title is inspired from musician Bon Iver, who wrote and recorded his critically acclaimed album For Emma, Forever Ago in a cabin in Wisconsin, after his breakup with his girlfriend. Many other artists have followed similar approach in home recording, be it the bedroom of a teenager in New Mexico (Beirut), an isolated house in the Santa Monica Mountains (Neil Young), or a tiny apartment in Mormartre (CocoRosie). To be honest, not all songs present in the compilation follow that pattern, but the overall feeling ideally I wanted to be conveyed from these songs was that of singer-songwriters locked inside their home, writing and recording their music away from the confines and limitations of a studio.
1.Bon Iver - Flume (2007)
It took four months during the winter of 2005 for Justin Vernon a.k.a. Bon Iver to write and record the songs comprising his debut album For Emma, Forever Ago and two years to release them. Locked inside his father's remote cabin in rural Wisconsin, snowing constantly outside, Bon Iver came up with a truly DIY album inspired by the end of his relationship with his girlfriend. It was self-released and it topped many best-of-the-year lists of 2007. This is the definition of lo-fi recording, and a perfect start and mood-setter for this compilation.
2.Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal (2008)
The debut album of Fleet Foxes was recorded in their singer's parent house basement in Seattle but sounds like -as almost everyone ran to note- it was recorded somewhere in the Appalachian mountains. But truth be told: however huge, epic, almost spiritual their music may be, the most striking element of Fleet Foxes is their Beach Boys-inspired multi-vocal harmonies, like a pop prayer to god, best exemplified by this aptly titled song.
3.Arcade Fire - the Woodlands National Anthem (2003)
The Montreal septet are now a household name, playing sold out gigs in Madison Square Garden and headlining big European festivals, but back in 2003 they were still pretty much unknown. This track is from their very first EP, recorded in a barn in Maine, USA. Its raw and unpolished acoustic sound is so different from their epic, orchestral, wall-of-sound songs with which they became famous.
4.Beirut - Postcards from Italy (2006)
19-year-old Zach Condon (a.k.a. Beirut) recorded his debut album Gulag Orkestar in his bedroom in Albuquerque, playing almost all instruments himself (including accordion, percussion, ukelele and trumpet). In the process, he created a sound almost like no other in indie music: joyous pop songs in polka or waltz rhythms, with Eastern European / Balkan folk instrumentation, about life on the Rhein or Bratislava. "Postcards from Italy" is his best track, with its glorious riffs from the trumpets and the French horns and the romantic imagery of the lyrics ("And I will love to see that day, that day is mine, when she will marry me outside with the willow trees and play the songs we made"). However, in the end it's his voice that strikes me as the most impressive thing in the album, so tender and expressive but very controlled at the same time for a teenager, almost majestic.
5.Neil Young - Only Love Can Brake Your Heart (1970)
Perhaps the template singer-songwriter album, Neil Young's After the Goldrush is a major, obvious influence on all artists on this compilation and is widely considered one of the best albums of all time. The album was recorded in his home studio at his house in the Topanga Canyon area in the Santa Monica Mountains. This achingly sad-but-beautiful ballad is its centrepiece.
6.Elliott Smith - Between the Bars (1997)
It's hard to choose one song from Elliott Smith's output: within nine years he recorded and released five albums, plus one (From a Basement on the Hill) released posthumously. He was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Song (Miss Misery from Good Will Hunting). "Between the Bars" comes from his best album Either/Or (the title is derived from Kierkegaard's book of same name) and ranks amongst his best work, having been famous now thanks to its cover by Madeleine Peyroux. His confessional, softly spoken voice is closely mic'd and multitracked to a great effect; his lyrics -like most of his songs- could refer to either a dark, romantic but troubled relationship or to addiction (alcohol being the substance of choice here). It didn't really matter in the end; his horrible, still unresolved death (suicide or homicide?) at 34, made everything tragically relevant.
7. Espers - Meadow (2004)
Espers' music is stunningly unique and utterly beautiful, mixing traditional British 60's psychedelic and folk sounds and influences with strategically placed modern touches. In "Meadow", they employ perfectly harmonised male and female vocals as well as complex, intertwined acoustic guitar arpeggios and strings, to transport the listener to the wide open meadows of the English countryside where mystic, psychedelic rituals are performed, in the process creating an acid-folk masterpiece. Espers are criminally underrated and deserve to be discovered.
8. Joanna Newsom - Peach, Plum, Pear (2004)
The first and only female artist on the compilation, Joanna Newsom has been placed as part of a new subgenre created in the 00s named "freak folk", along with other singer-songwriters and bands such as Devendra Banhart, Vetiver and Espers. The movement is more like a circle of peers sharing certain music influences and having a common aesthetic and approach; the musical similarities are loose. Newsom's voice must be heard to be believed: like a small girl singing child songs while playing in the playgroung or a pixie flying around narrating forest myths. Although she is a trained harpist, this song from her debut album features only a harpsichord accompanying her voice, creating a modern fairytale.
9.Vetiver - Amour Fou (2004)
A duet between friends Andy Cabic (Vetiver's principal sonngwriter) and Devendra Banhart, "Amour Fou" is wonderfully quirky, with its only lyrics being "love, love, crazy love... Amour Fou" repeated like a mantra throughout the whole song, guaranteed to bring a smile to your face every time you hear it.
10.Iron and Wine - Free Until They Cut Me Down (2004)
Iron and Wine is singer-songwriter Sam Bean. He gained considerable attention from blogs and internet sites with his debut album The Creek Drank the Cradle; his wonderful cover of Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" made him an indie darling as it was later included in the soundtrack of the film Garden State. The song in this compilation is from his second album Our Endless Numbered Days and is characteristic of his music approach, featuring amazing harmony double-tracked vocals, finger-plucked acoustic guitar and banzo.
11. Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City (1982)
"Atlantic City"'s parent album Nebraska was and still is an anomaly not only in the Boss's recording catalogue, but probably in the rock history. Its songs were recorded by Springsteen in his tape recorder as demos, with the intention of bringing them to the studio to be rehearsed, performed by his regular backing band, the E-Street Band. Springsteen didn't like though the new version of the songs and finally opted to simply release as official album the home recordings; this was thus his actual first solo album without the E-Street Band. The album's influence is enormous and most of the younger artists in this compilation have been linked or compared to either Sprinsgteen or the spirit of Nebraska.
12.The National - About Today (2004)
National could very well reach mainstream status in the future: their song "Fake Empire" was used in its instrumental version as the soundtrack of an Obama campaign video; their 2007 album Boxer was included in many best-albums of-the-decade lists, and rightly so. However, until then they had already released three albums and an EP, being widely praised from critics but still struggling for a wider audience. Their prominent elements are singer's Matt Berninger's rich baritone -his voice often compared to Tindersticks' Stuart Staples- as well as the complex rhythm patterns featured in lots of their songs. "About Today" in particular verifies the Tindersticks comparisons, with its arresting violin line subtly augmenting Berninger's vocal melody.
13.Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I See a Darkness (1999)Espers' music is stunningly unique and utterly beautiful, mixing traditional British 60's psychedelic and folk sounds and influences with strategically placed modern touches. In "Meadow", they employ perfectly harmonised male and female vocals as well as complex, intertwined acoustic guitar arpeggios and strings, to transport the listener to the wide open meadows of the English countryside where mystic, psychedelic rituals are performed, in the process creating an acid-folk masterpiece. Espers are criminally underrated and deserve to be discovered.
8. Joanna Newsom - Peach, Plum, Pear (2004)
The first and only female artist on the compilation, Joanna Newsom has been placed as part of a new subgenre created in the 00s named "freak folk", along with other singer-songwriters and bands such as Devendra Banhart, Vetiver and Espers. The movement is more like a circle of peers sharing certain music influences and having a common aesthetic and approach; the musical similarities are loose. Newsom's voice must be heard to be believed: like a small girl singing child songs while playing in the playgroung or a pixie flying around narrating forest myths. Although she is a trained harpist, this song from her debut album features only a harpsichord accompanying her voice, creating a modern fairytale.
9.Vetiver - Amour Fou (2004)
A duet between friends Andy Cabic (Vetiver's principal sonngwriter) and Devendra Banhart, "Amour Fou" is wonderfully quirky, with its only lyrics being "love, love, crazy love... Amour Fou" repeated like a mantra throughout the whole song, guaranteed to bring a smile to your face every time you hear it.
10.Iron and Wine - Free Until They Cut Me Down (2004)
Iron and Wine is singer-songwriter Sam Bean. He gained considerable attention from blogs and internet sites with his debut album The Creek Drank the Cradle; his wonderful cover of Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" made him an indie darling as it was later included in the soundtrack of the film Garden State. The song in this compilation is from his second album Our Endless Numbered Days and is characteristic of his music approach, featuring amazing harmony double-tracked vocals, finger-plucked acoustic guitar and banzo.
11. Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City (1982)
"Atlantic City"'s parent album Nebraska was and still is an anomaly not only in the Boss's recording catalogue, but probably in the rock history. Its songs were recorded by Springsteen in his tape recorder as demos, with the intention of bringing them to the studio to be rehearsed, performed by his regular backing band, the E-Street Band. Springsteen didn't like though the new version of the songs and finally opted to simply release as official album the home recordings; this was thus his actual first solo album without the E-Street Band. The album's influence is enormous and most of the younger artists in this compilation have been linked or compared to either Sprinsgteen or the spirit of Nebraska.
12.The National - About Today (2004)
National could very well reach mainstream status in the future: their song "Fake Empire" was used in its instrumental version as the soundtrack of an Obama campaign video; their 2007 album Boxer was included in many best-albums of-the-decade lists, and rightly so. However, until then they had already released three albums and an EP, being widely praised from critics but still struggling for a wider audience. Their prominent elements are singer's Matt Berninger's rich baritone -his voice often compared to Tindersticks' Stuart Staples- as well as the complex rhythm patterns featured in lots of their songs. "About Today" in particular verifies the Tindersticks comparisons, with its arresting violin line subtly augmenting Berninger's vocal melody.
This is, simply put, one of the most emotional, powerful, moving songs ever recorded. Will Oldham (a.k.a Bonnie "Prince" Billy) avoided to use any build-ups on the song: the mood and tempo is slow and the mood is dark from the first strums of the guitar and almost never changes up until the end; the music is deeply sad, the arrangement so sparse, the singing so emotive. However, it's the lyrics in the chorus and the way Oldham carries them, that somehow manage to create a strangely uplifting and hopeful feeling: "here's a hope that somehow you can save me from this darkness". Johnny Cash covered the song for his "American Recordings" series, and the Man in Black invited Will Oldham to provide backing vocals on the chorus of his version. Is there a better compliment than this?
14.Nick Drake - Place to Be (1971)
The great, late Nick Drake recorded his third and final album Pink Moon within just two hours in his apartment; he then delivered the master tapes at his record company's receptionist desk and left the building without any other notice. Pink Moon was a radical departure from the lush sound of his two previous albums; where before he used rich instrumentation such as strings and horns, his songs were now stripped down to just his hushed voice and his acoustic guitar. The process of listening to the whole album (just eleven songs in twenty five minutes, including three intrumentals), feels like listening to a demo recording from a friend. Pink Moon would finally be his swansong since three years later he was found dead in his home from an antidepressant overdose. The lyrics on "Place to Be" hint to the sad end that followed: Drake is alternating every two lines in each verse betweens moods (no: more like his whole existence), from young to old, from a green hill to the dark deep sea, from a strong sun to the weak, pale blue. Although largely ignored at his short lifetime, Nick Drake is now revered and adored from his fellow musicians and the music press, having influenced diverse artists, from Paul Weller and Belle Sebastian to Calexico, his popularity only growing.
15.Devendra Banhart - Autumn's Child (2004)
2004 was the year zero for the "freak folk" movement, with debut albums by Joanna Newsom, Vetiver, Espers; however they were all ecliplsed by Devendra Banhart's masterpiece Rejoicing in the Hands. My selection from this is not a typical and characteristic song from Banhart's reportoire, (e.g. "a Sight to Behold"), but "Autumn's Child", the last song of the album; it also makes, not coincidentally, a perfect closer for this compilation too, Banhart dispensing with his guitar almost entirely, preferring to just use simple piano chords to accompany him on this beautiful ballad.
