#great lakes swimmers

[lake-lady]

I don't care if you don't want to see my spotify wrapped. HERE IT IS

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 9, Number 11, Part 1

Niecey Blues

Where did the year go?  Seems like only a week or two ago, we were scraping together a list of albums we had somehow missed out on in 2022.  Now we’re about to do it again, I suppose, and the number of misses seems to grow larger every year.  Still, we’re still shoveling away at what 2023 has brought so far—nouveau shoegaze and Vangelis synths, Michigan rap and free-improvised vibraphone.  Check out this month’s Dust, the next to last for 2023, for music you might have overlooked.  Contributors include Jennifer Kelly, Bryon Hayes, Ian Mathers, Bill Meyer, Andrew Forell, Ray Garraty, Justin Cober-Lake, Alex Johnson, Jim Marks, Christian Carey, Patrick Masterson and Tim Clarke. 

Like last month, we'll be doing this in two parts, here's the second one.

Bedroom Eyes — Turned Away (Ala Carte)

Bedroom Eyes, from Boston, balance the churn and drift of shoegaze. This fourth LP (the last was in 2019) floats cool, slow-moving melodies over rackety barrages of feedbacked guitars and drums. Whether cuts like “Around” are still or in furious motion is an open question. It depends on where you focus. The title track manifests itself out of the slow buzz of feedback, bits of singing, guitar and percussion taking form out of a vibrating soup. It sounds, to me, like Simply Saucer or maybe the Telescopes, submerged by fuzz, suggested rather than stated. “Brood” runs harder, the guitar notes bending with volume like MBV’s did, but the singing remains untouched and serene. If it’s calm on the surface, that’s because Bedroom Eyes is paddling furiously underneath.

Jennifer Kelly

Cherry Cheeks — CCLPII (Total Punk)

Cherry Cheeks, from Portland, Oregon, crank a wired, anxiety-ridden garage punk, the short, sharp shock of guitar stabs running through nattering bass lines and the tremulous whinge of keyboard sounds. This second LP captures their rattled energy with more force and clarity than the debut. You can hear the negative space between bursts of aggression. And yet, the sound is much the same, an aura of dread punched up until it seems to dance. “Switch” is maybe the best cut here. It cuts and jabs in antic motion, organ dopplering off from a sing-along chorus. “Explode” is nearly as pop-slanted, hopping up and down on speed, but catchy. Cuts like “Data” and “Ad Shark” make fewer concessions to anthemic-ness, but prickle and clamor with antsy sarcasm. The future is bleak, but maybe kind of fun?

Jennifer Kelly

Buck Curran — The Long Distance (Obsolete Recordings)

Buck Curran is so interconnected with the guitar, it’s easy to forget that he plays other instruments. The Long Distance shows off his skill as a synthesist. Sweeping, Vangelis-like melodies are the focus of these poignant hymns, which rest upon a foundation of sizzling analog modulation. Emotions run deep on these recordings. Leveraging reminiscence as his muse, Curran called to mind familial and foundational memories, channeling them into these moving passages. Particularly effective is “Morning Song with Lucia,” on which he adds a lovely guitar melody inspired by his daughter. The pieces are relatively short, but Curran beefs up the length of the album by offering alternate versions of some tracks. Each take offers a unique emotional angle, and the subtleties evoke an echo-like effect. The Long Distance is a surprisingly pleasant shift in oeuvre from this talented instrumentalist.  

Bryon Hayes

Great Lake Swimmers — Uncertain Country (Pheromone Recordings)

It is a very white Canadian thing to wonder whether our regional equivalent of Americana should be called Canadiana or just folk (or maybe folk rock? indie folk?). Regardless of our typical dithering over local identity, Tony Dekker’s Great Lake Swimmers have been a mainstay and exemplar of the form for 20 years now. They’d be forgiven for resting on their laurels (or around here… pinecones?) but the restless, quietly gorgeous Uncertain Country doesn’t take anything for granted. Whether adding choral vocals on the graceful “Moonlight, Stay Above” or whipping up a surprisingly dense churn on the title track, the band’s eighth album is a showcase of what they do well. The effect is perhaps most powerful on songs like “Riverine” and “Swimming Like Flying” that feel equally at home in the concert hall or sung en masse around a campfire.

Ian Mathers

The Invisible Hands—The Big Minute (Abduction)

The Big Minute, the third official release by the Invisible Hands, comes a full eight years after its predecessor. Yeah, that is one big minute. Blame it on COVID, a revolving drummer’s chair, and the fact that Alan Bishop, the one American in this Cairo-based band, has a lot of other irons in the fire. The LP’s crisp, slightly trippy sound, and wide-open but particular repertoire establishes the Invisible Hands as the biggest fish in a very small pond; can you name any other Egyptian psychedelic garage bands from with a thing for 50-year-old soundtracks? I thought not. While Bishop’s aesthetic clearly points the way, this is a band. For every one of his signature moves, there’s also a moment when it’s Cherif El Masri’s encyclopedic guitar licks, Ayawasqa’s scrappy Arabic singing, and Adham Zidan’s arrangements and production that sells the song. If you have read this far, yeah, you should give it a minute. 

Bill Meyer

The Inward Circles — Before We Lie Down in Darkness (Corbel Stone Press)

Scottish composer Richard Skelton’s previous work as The Inward Circles involves subjecting clean recordings of strings to all nature of electronic and physical destruction to portray decay and environmental collapse. On his first album in six years, Skelton manipulates a six-second fragment of Baroque recorder music taken from the run-out groove of a battered 50-year-old vinyl recording. From this already degraded source he builds haunted soundscapes that to tap into something primordial and timeless. To call them drones does a disservice to the depth of nuance and detail in Skelton’s music. He captures something elemental within layers of sound built like geological strata trapping a record of growth and death, of destruction and recovery. Before We Lie Down in Darkness is a powerfully evocative elegy to the earth and warning to its inhabitants.

Andrew Forell

Lando Bando — Family Business (The Hip Hop Lab Records)

The Hip Hop Lab’s CEO Lando Bando brought together Michigan rappers close to his studio for this tape. Family Business showcases the state of things in Michigan. That state is not great, by the way, but it’s not bad either. Quite a lot of clumsy rapping on here, and a few cuts should have been left out. Still, it shows that all three ShittyBoyz members are in excellent shape, and Lando deserves our highest appreciation for scoring not one but two Rio da Yung Og’s verses. The highlight here is “Dirty Pop,” an unexpected collaboration between Rio and StanWill on a Danny G beat.

Ray Garraty

Lau Nau – Aphrilis (Beacon Sound/Fonal)

Finnish composer Lau Nau (also known as Laura Naukkarinen) tends to make slow-moving music, but, this year at least, she makes it fast. Aphrilis marks her second release of the year, following spring's 5 x 4. She spent years developing that release, focusing on equipment (Buchla 200 modular synthesizer) and time-signature (5/4). With Aphrilis, she returns to a meditation on time and place (something her past field recordings have captured so well) through mostly acoustic instrumentation. The album opens with “April,” as both instruments and vocals suggest the opportunities of that month's bright beginnings. The mood continues into “Kielet on viritetty tuuleen,” with Hermanni Yli-Tepsa's violin providing the linear guide through the accessible yet intricate composition. The album builds off these initial expressions, settling into a sense of home that remains expansive, the unusual instrumentation — including celesta and jouhikko among other unnamed “various instruments” — maintaining a very specific sound. Múm's Samuli Kosminen produces, and the fit makes sense even as Lau Nau captures a melodic ambience in a specific setting, adding flow while mixing synthetic and acoustic sounds. The album closes with “Seitsemäs taivas,” which might mean “seventh heaven” but sounds more like the start of autumn, tracing an emotional arc throughout Aphrilis. The belief in hope lingers, the brightness reshaped into an iterative composition that finally yields to something colder but never foreboding.

Justin Cober-Lake

MJ Lenderman — And the Wind (Live and Loose!) (Anti- )

Not exactly starched and buttoned-up to begin with, Jake “MJ” Lenderman and Co. come out even more ragged and rangy on the new live album And The Wind (Live and Loose!). The 15 tracks, recorded at gigs in Chicago and Los Angeles, are drawn almost exclusively from last year’s Boat Songs and 2021’s Ghost of Your Guitar Solo, and aren’t so much reimagined in front of their audiences as revved up and deepened. A few telling moments: Lenderman’s voice finds a lower pit of wistfulness in the sighing line “I know why we get so fucked up/I do” from “TLC Cagematch”; “Knockin” – in its third recorded iteration – gets an extra few roaring seconds and snarling decibels added to its big, heart-on-sleeve conclusion; the heavy drum fills and pugilistic blasts of guitar that end “SUV” veer closer to chaos. The band’s showcase, though, comes near the end on an extended jam of “You Are Every Girl To Me,” where the players, led by the points of light spinning off of Xandy Chelmis’ pedal steel and shredding lead guitarist Jon Samuels, rip out any remaining seams before easing back down for Lenderman to make introductions. And if you haven’t met them yet, And The Wind is a good place to start.

Alex Johnson

Mac J – I  Shoulda Been Dropped This (TrueStoryEnt)

Mac J’s been lazy lately. His recent tapes sound as if he’s only put one third of his talent in his music. I  Shoulda Been Dropped This, sadly, is no exception. He’s desperately trying to make his sound more mainstream and less street. Instead of crazy punchlines, witticisms and gritty reality, we get banalities and half-assed street ballads with Mac J on Auto-Tune almost on every song. It’s a wonder how “Engine Ina Trunk,” his track with another California resident Philthy Rich, even made it to this tape. It’s the old good rapping-his-ass-off Mac J, hungry for rhymes and punching you in the guts with every line. Except for this song, he shouldn’t been dropped this. 

Ray Garraty

[brennacedria]

Sometimes I just stare at this picture. It's one of my favorite things I've ever gotten myself.

And with your soft fingers between my claws / Like purity against resolve

[vanhelsingapologist]

I saw people doing this and it’s fun so please please please please

Strange Encounter by Father John Misty // Charlotte Sometimes by The Cure // New Slang by The Shins // Palmistry by Great Lake Swimmers // Poor George by James Supercave // What Difference Does It Make? by The Smiths // The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness by The National // NOT ENTIRELY ALONE by The Narcissist Cookbook // The Rake’s Song by The Decemberists // Skin by Marika Hackman

[theartingace]

how would a centaur swim?

I am thinking not super well?

I've only sort of looking into/thought about it a bit and the locomotion would probably be fine but it gets into straight physics with the waterpressure REAL quick so I haven't been able to really fully commit to anything in my head.. think of their double lung situation as a super long esophagus so either they're more like a snorkel situation and they're fine swimmers as long as their head sticks out, or it's like an elephant situation but with just the worse lung-muscle situation which would just.. not be good for pulling air down and they could potentially barely be able to get their lungs inflated due to how far down their main set of lungs gets shoved in the water..

But also given their non-elephant size I don't -think- it would be that dire?? But I think I land in the camp of; okish swimmers. Probably right on par with horses. They move around alright but probably going to want to avoid any rough water and diving is right out.

[garthglaz]

Pixel Weather, "The Inlet"

This illustration is based on any number of inlets along the coast of Lake Michigan. The mood almost tells a story. This is what happens when a new style is evolving and suddenly takes a leap forward. It's a little bit Wizard of Oz, and little bit of the American painters Grant Wood, and Brett Allen Johnson. Definitely an American style.

[musicforants]

With temperatures dropping, colorful foliage and seasonal beverages coming back into season, it’s the perfect time for a mixtape of wistful, melancholy acoustic guitar-heavy sounds. So with no further ado, here's the 13th edition of the Autumn (Or What It Feels Like To Fall) mixtape. Click here to listen to this mix in its entirety via Spotify / Apple Music. Enjoy!

01. Sufjan Stevens - A Running Start 02. Sun June - Get Enough 03. Yo La Tengo - Aselestine 04. Mutual Benefit - Untying a Knot 05. Slaughter Beach, Dog - Engine 06. S. Carey - Steadfast (ft. Gordi) 07. boygenius - Cool About It 08. Andy Shauf - Halloween Store 09. Jess Williamson - Hunter 10. The National - Coat on a Hook 11. Allison Ponthier - Hardcore (Acoustic) 12. Great Lake Swimmers - Peacemaker 13. Courtney Barnett - Different Now (ft. Chastity Belt) 14. The Tallest Man On Earth - Slowly Rivers Turn 15. Blue Lake - Fur 16. Katy Kirby - Cubic Zirconia 17. The Clientele - Lady Grey 18. Kara Jackson - pawnshop 19. Youth Lagoon - Idaho Alien 20. Maybel - Long Road Ahead 21. Hiss Golden Messenger - My Old Friends 22. Madison Cunningham - Anywhere 23. Beirut - So Many Plans 24. Luz - not going anywhere 25. Wilco - A Bowl and A Pudding 26. Boundary Run - Stranger 27. Shannon Lay - From the Morning 28. Nick Mulvey - A Prayer of My Own 29. BEAR DOWN BEAR - Saturnalia 30. Lana Del Rey - Let The Light In (ft. Father John Misty)

Listen to this playlist on Spotify or Apple Music

[retropopcult]

"Chicago, Illinois. Lake Michigan beach." Photographed July 1942 by Arthur Rothstein.

[charmingpplincardigans]

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

The song is Your Rocky Spine by Great Lake Swimmers.

[morningwalksposts]

02.04.2024

tuesday ~ 02.04.2024

liars - a visit from the drum

great lake swimmers - everything is moving so fast

joni mitchell - coyote

pink floyd - shine on you crazy diamond (6-9)

pink floyd - welcome to the machine

[beetroot747]

lyrics that to me are beautifully human

"And it's a long way down, you're hoping for a heart attack. Running around, investing in this and that. And your beautiful wife, keeps your life on a shelf for you. Safe in the bedroom, where there is no dust or mildew. And it's hard to believe you were once a beautiful dancer."

-Uncle Alvarez, Liz Phair

"You should never have to worry, drink whenever you are thirsty. Stay up late and get up early, sleep when you die."

-The Latenight, Bob Hillman

"Woe to thee with fearful eyes, the lighthouse is burning up. And down goes the ship, in which they wasted their whole lives."

-Empress, The Arcadian Wild

"All of the good that won't come out of me. And all the stupid lies I hide behind. It's such a big mistake, lying here in your warm embrace."

-The Good That Won't Come Out, Rilo Kiley

"Waits at the window. Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door. Who is it for?"

"Eleanor Rigby, died in the church and was buried along with her name. Nobody came. Father McKenzie, wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave. No one was saved."

-Eleanor Rigby, The Beatles

"You see by the lines on my hands, I've been carrying a heavy load. You follow them across my hands, where they run like roads.

Won't you come and read the future, turn it on? Won't you tell me how, I will not feel so lonely."

-Palmistry, Great Lake Swimmers

This blog post could go on forever, but I won't make it. Maybe I'll make a second of these at some point.

All of these lyrics resonate with me in one way or another, and they all feel truly human and real.

I recommend all of these songs and all of these artists.

[lesdeuxmuses]

Great Lake Swimmers - Bodies And Minds (Fargo Records, 2005)

[transgender-lyrics]

The sky was dark, but you were clear

-Great Lake Swimmers, "Your Rocky Spine" off Ongiara

[clivechip]

New Year Songs: Part One

Now that Christmas is but a distant memory it is time for me to get back to what passes in my world as ‘normal.’ Around this time of year I have got into the habit of playing some songs which relate to the upcoming New Year, and I now have collection of regulars for this which stretch to two episodes. It feels right to play the first set today and then complete the show on New Year’s Day, so…