ON ROTATION

Damien Jurado, Maraqopa
The Seattle Times recently named Damien Jurado Seattle's folk-boom godfather. This title is a bit lofty, but well deserved. Since the mid 90's, Jurado has been enchanting the city and independent music circles with his wonderful lo-fi and hi-fi recordings. On his tenth album, Maraqupa, Jurado once again does not disappoint. Picking up musically where he left off on his last album Saint Barlett, Jurado moves to a darker space with a subtle but noticeable edge. This slightly altered space lends some additional weight to Jurado's lyrics and creates a different kind of emotional connection between his music and the listener than what I have experienced on past recordings. While Working Titles, maybe my favorite song on the album, Nothing Is The 
                                                        News, cannot be missed.
                                                        Nothing Is The News 

Yellow Ostrich, Strange Land
In December of 2010 I stumbled upon Yellow Ostrich's first album, The Mistress. A truely independent effort by Alex Schaaf, I was mesmerized by his complex vocal arrangements and the minimal and spatially interesting music. By the time I had an opportunity to interview him, he was already altering his sound with the addition of musicians Michael Tapper and Jon Natchez. Now, after a big year of touring and national exposure, the band is back with a new release, Strange Land. Once again, minimalism and space are esencial elements of their music. What has changed is that this minimalism has been applied to vocal layering that dominated The Mistress. This lack of layering of Schaaf's vocals allows the music to behave differently than it did on 
                                                       The Mistress. It makes for some wonderful interplay between the music
                                                        and vocals and proves that sometimes less is more. 
                                                        Daughter  

Josh Ritter, Bringing In The Darlings

I had written quite a bit about Josh Ritter's new six song EP, Bringing In The Darlings, and then decided to delete it all. If you are familiar with Josh Ritter, then you know that he is one of the most gifted songwriters of his generation. From one album to the next, Ritter's words and music reminded us of his talent and thoughtfulness. Bringing In The Darlings is simply a stunning collection of songs that is a must have for anyone who has every enjoyed his music...frankly this is a must have for anyone who enjoys....music.
Why