New Music 2018 - Part 13 - Ryley Walker - Deafman Glance

Once upon a time almost all artists that I saw at festivals were totally new to me live, if not entirely new to me. Eleven years later and, while I'm still first in line to see new acts live, the situation has changed somewhat. I tend to have a much better knowledge and perspective on what I wish to see, be that new to me or not.
I also have the great pleasure of having seen artists live over multiple years and often at several different festivals. That has turned out to be a pleasure that I had never really anticipated. This post is about one such.

Ryley Walker, Garden stage, End Of The Road Festival, 1 September 2017.

I first saw him play live when he was touring the album 'Primrose Green' in 2015; before that I had not really come across his music and if I had certainly not paid much attention to it. Seeing him live made me take notice.
I saw him play live again this last summer and then he introduced some new songs that have gone on to become part of his forthcoming release 'Deafman Glance', the track-listing of which is as follows:

Ryley Walker - Deafman Glance:

• In Castle Dome
• 22 Days
• Accommodations
• Can't Ask Why
• Opposite Mind
• Telluride Speed
• Expired
• Rocks on Rainbow
• Spoil with the Rest

Ryley Walker - Deafman Glance (Dead Oceans, 18 May 2018).

The lead release take from it is the track 'Telluride Speed' and this is the official audio of it.

It is also available to stream on Spotify here.

It is also a good example of a phenomenon that I have mentioned previously; that of labels that I am confident will release material that in all probability I'm going to like. In this case that label is Dead Oceans, which is based in Bloomington, IN.
I have just been looking at its current roster of artists and, as well as quite a few that I have already seen live, there are many more whose music, recorded or live, I now feel that I should listen to as a matter of some urgency.

New Music 2016 - Part 24 - Julianna Barwick - Will

I seem to have posted a large run of 'New Music' posts just recently. Here is yet another and a sneak preview. I've been listening to this on repeat this evening simply because I can and I wish to do so.

Will is released by Dead Oceans in North America and Europe on 6 May 2016.

It follows her 2013 LP Nepenthe, which I mentioned briefly, and is her third full length recording. I'm minded to think that is is also the one that I might come to like the best. I have seen her play live too, at End Of The Road Festival 2013, and that aspect certainly comes highly recommended. She is confirmed to play at Green Man Festival 2016 so that is an opportunity I intend to take. The other thing that I have been doing is listening to it some more, from start to finish and now several times. I'm not as a rule much inclined to pick a couple of stand-out tracks unless of course I feel them to be all that is of-note on offer and here that is not any concern of mine.
I suppose you might attribute this to my pre-digital roots when there were only two things available - the singles or the album purchased in its entirety.

Here is the track listing:

Julianna Barwick - Will:

• St. Apolonia
• Nebula
• Beached
• Same
• Wist
• Big Hollow
• Heading Home
• Someway
• See, Know

Beautiful, dreamy and led by keyboards, it's going to take a small and intimate stage setting to show this at its best live - unless of course she has a grand 'Plan B' to reveal, which is quite possible at least in principle.
At End of The Road 2013 she played the Tipi stage with just understated electric guitar, courtesy of Scott Powell, as accompaniment beyond her own keyboards.

Here she is back then at EOTR 2013. The Walled Garden stage at Green Man 2016 would work perfectly.

Whilst I have nothing live to offer from the new album here is an extended live set recorded at KEXP in Seattle a couple of months later:

Julianna Barwick live at KEXP, Seattle - November 22, 2013.

New Music - Part 25 - Nepenthe - Julianna Barwick

Well, you can say what you want but UK festivals will always bring surprises! Here is another artist who is to play at End of the Road Festival and, at the moment of writing and in my local time, Julianna Barwick's LP 'Nepenthe' was released in the UK today and will be released in the US tomorrow!
Born in Louisiana, raised in Missouri and now resident in Brooklyn, the album was in large part recorded in Iceland with Alex Somers - Sigur Rós and others - on production duties.
This, I think, says a great deal about the new order in music marketing - and it certainly is not a major label release. Independent US label Dead Oceans is responsible for this and good for them.

The album is available on vinyl of course. If you can wait then you can stream it here.

  

She is performing at End of The Road too, on the Tipi Stage on Friday evening. This is something that I'm not planning to miss.