so this is a blog. wonderful. i'm not usually one for technology, the internet, and "blogs" (ok, i'm lying through my teeth. i love reading blogs like mutant sounds and experimentaletc... whatever, kill me i guess), but luddism aside, i gotta do something with all this extra time on my hands. why do i have so much extra time you ask? well, i broke my leg about a month and a half ago and i gots nothing to do with myself and am not allowed to put any weight on this thing i call a leg. awesome. so a friend convinced me to start one of these and post about music. i'm gonna do that. i'm also gonna put up opinions, thoughts, whatever i feel like doing.
so you all need a reason for reading this shit, right? well, here's one.
this is the album "Silver Wilderness" by the amazing and unfortunately short lived band Golden Hotel. some of you may know them from their incredible track on the Jewelled Antler Collective compilation "Heat & Birds," which if you don't have you should search it out because it's amazing. most of you who know of this band will know of them because of Flying Canyon, which was a sort-of offshoot from this band.
basically, Golden Hotel were the Lindner Brothers, Cayce and Sidney. (i'm not personally sure if there were more members, honestly there is very little information about this band anywhere, so if you know something please tell me!) in this band they produced a sort of neo-folk music that was as much concerned with feedback as it was concerned with accoustics. washes of feedback intertwine with down-tempo guitar lines to create a sound like neil young on barbituates with an echoplex or something, though still remaining quiet and personal. The neil young comparison is the most often used one, but really it's the most prevalent sound here, very americana approach to folk. no dylan here folks, just straight acid-baked guitars with bourbon soaked vocals to create a brand of folk that makes you want to sit in the sun with a flask and dream of the good ole' days...
listening to this cd again, it reminds me more of brother Sidney's project Hotel Alexis, which is still putting out albums (i think) and you should go get them. these songs grip you, hold onto you, and leave a mark that just doesn't disappear no matter how much you might want to get rid of it (though i don't know why you'd want to). really, the mood is a depressing one, notwithstanding the other events surrounding the album.
Cayce Lindner took his own life on February 6, 2007. the world will miss his words, his music, and his perspective. this cd has a very personal and spiritual feel, almost like you are listening to a ghost.
you should also go and get the extra-fine Flying Canyon cd (if you can), which was Cayce's other and more personal folk cd (featuring such guest stars as Glenn Donaldson and Shayde Sartin from Jewelled Antler fame! woo hoo!). Flying Canyon was described as "california doom-folk," and i personally think it has a more ethereal and gauzy feel than Golden Hotel, much more of a downer of an album, but totally worth every penny you'd pay for it. If Golden Hotel is a bourbon soaked daydream, then Flying Canyon is your lullabye on pills.
i scoured the internet for years looking for this. trust me, it's worth your time, and i think it's good to make sure that a cd like this doesn't fall by the wayside and be forgotten.
(sorry, no cover scans. if you got em, i want em.)
http://www.mediafire.com/?1zwnqzgztmy'
