In the spirit of Halloween, I'm making this THE THREAD THAT WILL NOT DIE - with my Album 5 selection from the crypt...
Epic Soundtracks - Rise Above
Do any of you have albums that you listen to rarely, yet when you do, you wonder why you don't pull them out more often? Well - this is one of those albums.
From AMG: Epic Soundtracks (real name Kevin Godfrey) was part of a punkish Brit 70's band (Swell Maps) that apparently was influential for Sonic Youth, Pavement, and the Lemonheads among others. In the early 90's, he made a re-appearance as a solo act - Epic Soundtracks - that met with critical (but not commercial) success. Died in '97 (apparent suicide) after releasing a few solo albums. A fitting nomination for Halloween, I suppose.
Rise Above, Epic's debut, is amazing in many ways - not the least of which is his voice. That's not to say it's great, but like Tom Waits, or Bob Dylan, or Randy Newman - there are just some people who draw you in with the world-weariness of their tone. Epic is a crooner of sorts, but in a charmingly flat, cigarette-ravaged, Brit-accented way.
The music (mainly acoustic) is distinctively English - a la Martin Newell or XTC or other fine purveyors. It's sparsely instrumented - mostly ES on the piano, backed by guitar, drums, cello, violin and a few horns.
On the whole, it has a mid-tempo, brooding melancholy that probably comes from standing in the English rain for far too long and drinking far too heavily, punctuated every now and then by a sort of stiff-upper-lip optimism that it'll be alright somehow.
Most Brit Pastoral Pop - "Farmer's Daughter"
60's Retrovibe - "Meet Me On the Beach"
Best late-night-at-the-bar-sound - "Ruthless", "Sad Song", "She Sleeps Alone/Love Fucks You Up"
Music for Doomed Romantics - "I Don't Know", "I Feel Good"
Epic Soundtracks - Rise Above
Do any of you have albums that you listen to rarely, yet when you do, you wonder why you don't pull them out more often? Well - this is one of those albums.
From AMG: Epic Soundtracks (real name Kevin Godfrey) was part of a punkish Brit 70's band (Swell Maps) that apparently was influential for Sonic Youth, Pavement, and the Lemonheads among others. In the early 90's, he made a re-appearance as a solo act - Epic Soundtracks - that met with critical (but not commercial) success. Died in '97 (apparent suicide) after releasing a few solo albums. A fitting nomination for Halloween, I suppose.
Rise Above, Epic's debut, is amazing in many ways - not the least of which is his voice. That's not to say it's great, but like Tom Waits, or Bob Dylan, or Randy Newman - there are just some people who draw you in with the world-weariness of their tone. Epic is a crooner of sorts, but in a charmingly flat, cigarette-ravaged, Brit-accented way.
The music (mainly acoustic) is distinctively English - a la Martin Newell or XTC or other fine purveyors. It's sparsely instrumented - mostly ES on the piano, backed by guitar, drums, cello, violin and a few horns.
On the whole, it has a mid-tempo, brooding melancholy that probably comes from standing in the English rain for far too long and drinking far too heavily, punctuated every now and then by a sort of stiff-upper-lip optimism that it'll be alright somehow.
Most Brit Pastoral Pop - "Farmer's Daughter"
60's Retrovibe - "Meet Me On the Beach"
Best late-night-at-the-bar-sound - "Ruthless", "Sad Song", "She Sleeps Alone/Love Fucks You Up"
Music for Doomed Romantics - "I Don't Know", "I Feel Good"