Apparently, I buy too many records

My wife Helen, like every other woman i've ever lived with, believes that I buy too many records.

Which, as every record-buying man knows, is a ridiculous belief.

I will concede, however, that I do indeed buy a lot of records and that I don't afford them the same amount of listens and attention that I did 20 or 30 years ago.

To this end, I have decided to blog about the records that I buy, in order to help my appreciation of them - and perhaps to show Helen that I don't buy that many records after all.

Because i'm crap with deadlines the blog posts will be sporadic and probably be about a month or 2 behind but that's just the way i am! The posts will not necessarily be actual reviews (most likely comments, at best) and will generally be pretty damn short due to the reasons outlined above. As a writer in a previous existence i have decided not to worry about writing as art in the pieces but, instead, to attempt to convey feeling over semantic (and often grammatic) perfection.

And 'OCRB'? It stands for 'Obsessive Compulsive Record Buying' - a little known mental health affliction that is potentially damaging to the bank account but ultimately life-affirming. It is sad.......but a nice form of sad.

Friday, 14 October 2011

A Winged Victory for the Sullen: S/T (Erased Tapes)

Adam Wiltzie is a busy chap. Not content with being half of the amazing Sleepingdog, he has also managed to team up with  the hugely talented pianist/composer Duncan O'Halloran - who has managed to hitherto slip past my radar (but not for much longer...) and produce this veritable masterpiece. There's very little i can say about this that hasn't been written about before - it seems to have been universally praised in every review i have read, but i love the way that this project seems to have turned Wiltzie into a more outwardly looking musician. I have always found his music generally quite insular - Stars of the lid, f'rinstance, being a case in point whereby most of the individual sounds seemed submerged into the general morass of the electronic drones. This is no bad thing but this album sees each individual instrument (mostly melancholy piano and keyboard - but also French Horn, Violin, Viola, Cello & Bassoon) given ample space to spread out and make itself heard.

I am frequently emotionally affected by music (as you will read in many other reviews here) but rarely have i heard a piece of music so quintessentially gorgeous yet unremittingly sad. The sounds that make up every perfect second of this wonderful record evoke feelings of love and loss but also evoke an atmosphere that is both solemn and reverential. I can only put these atmospheres down to the myriad of different recording locations - from churches to old radio studios - the effects are so noticeable but seem so natural.
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