New Mix: Balmorhea, Hayden Pedigo, Julie Christmas, more
Top row, left to right: Hayden Pedigo, The Aaltos, Bodywash; bottom row, left to right: Balmorhea, Julie Christmas Courtesy of the artists hide caption
On this edition of All Songs Considered, our resident Viking, Lars Gotrich, and I give voice to artists making music on the outer fringes. First, it's Julie Christmas and a voice that can scrape souls asunder. In the past, she fronted noise-rock and post-metal bands like Made Out of Babies and Battle of Mice and collaborated with Cult of Luna, but it's been 13 years since she released music under her own name. We begin with the tense song, "Not Enough."
Knowing Lars' love for sonic adventures, I chose Bodywash. This is the Montreal-based duo of Chris Steward and Rosie Long. The song "Perfect Blue" was inspired by Satoshi Kon's 1997 anime of the same name.
That's followed by Vietnam's Rắn Cạp Đuôi, which Lars says sounds like the inside of an explosion in slow motion. The music collective's new album is no less scattered in its use of noise, electronics and shoegazing textures, yet still finds ways to cohere the chaos. A few needed moments of calm come from Hayden Pedigo, the Amarillo, Texas, finger-style guitarist and his brilliant new album titled The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored. I follow that with the Texas neo-classical ensemble Balmorhea, along with saxophonist Sam Gendel, for the tune "Step Step Step" from their album Pendant World.
Lars closes out the show with something of a personal historical revelation. As the son of a Swedish immigrant raised in the church, he was floored to discover GRAMMOFON - MISSIONEN, a 328-page book filled with 777 private-press album covers of the Christian music scene in Sweden. (See also: last year's Frälst! - Swedish Christian Grooves 1969-1979.) We play a track by The Aaltos from the book's accompanying compilation.