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December 13, 2001

 songs: ohia - me sei apparso come un fantasma  

Recorded September 2000 in some Italian Cafe, I'm not quite sure if
this bootleg, translated 'You come to me as a ghost', is official or not. I don't really care though, because its recorded straight off the board and sounds really
fucking good.

Jason Molina sings from his heart and plays from his hip.

The plays from his hip analogy obviously didn't come out right. I was
TRYING to sound like 'shoot from your hip' in case you didn't get the hint. But not to cheapen Molina's sound, its got a down home lofi feel. People used to
compare him to Will Oldham and Smog, but in recent albums Molina's outshone both. Sure, Johnny Cash isn't covering his stuff and it doesn't have some sort of twisted
subtext, but try drinking a bottle of makers or knob to each of the three and let me know which one you liked best.

Rating: 3/3
AMZN: 8024365410122

Posted by Jonathan at 1:09 AM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2001

 Nad Navillus - Show Your Face  

Dan Sullivan played backup guitar and vocals for Jason Molina's Songs:Ohia during their
last tour (or two). Show your face is Sullivan's first full length under his own branding -- in which neither Molina (though his brother Rob who also toured with
songs:ohia appears here on bass) nor his style appear here.

Nad Navillus, instead, lies somewhere between Nick Drake and Slint -- as odd as that may sound.
Songs and moments of classical guitar and folk are followed by ones deliberate and intricate as math rock, as vocals retune themselves to the mood.

I picked
this up at Etherea, my favorite record shop in manhattan. The clerk said the album was utterly beautiful and was surprised I bought it. 'Why?' I asked. The shop got
in 5 copies. He's been listening to 1/5 since the day it came in last month. I bought the first of the other 4. :(

Rating: 3/3
AMZN: B00005RTR9

Posted by Jonathan at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)