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JAMES BLACKSHAW/THE GLASS BEAD GAME/Review
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www.auxiliarymagazine.com / Paul MorinIt is a heady, intellectual album, meant to be studied and contemplated as much as it is to be heard, and there is an incredible depth and beauty to it.www.auxiliarymagazine.com James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game released by Young God Records on 26 May 2009 data : 5 tracks . 49:30 run time . www.myspace.com/jamesblackshaw reviewed by : Paul Morin genre : folk Virtuoso James Blackshaw plays what can loosely be defined as folk music, though the dexterity and stamina with which he attacks a 12-string guitar and piano, giving the feel of a classical recital rather than any images of A Mighty Wind which are usually conjured by that word. It is a heady, intellectual album, meant to be studied and contemplated as much as it is to be heard, and there is an incredible depth and beauty to it. The pieces are generally dark and somber, though not bleak and opaque so much as they are striking and reflective. Strings, woodwinds, and/or light vocals (supplied by Current 93 veterans Joolie Wood and John Contreras) lay down a backdrop of harmonic changes while his fingers dance up and down the instrument in arpeggiated figures for......
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JAMES BLACKSHAW/THE GLASS BEAD GAME/Review
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Culture Clash records Newsletter / by ShaneDespite the fact that he is still compared to other guitar artists such as John Fahey, Robbie Basho, Jack Rose, and their ilk, Blackshaw has really carved out a sound all his own. Culture Clash records Newsletter http://www.thecultureclash.com/2009/05/record-of-the-week-james-blackshaw-gl ass-bead-game-young-god/ Record of the Week: James Blackshaw - Glass Bead Game (Young God) May 26th, 2009 By Shane For the inaugural record of the week we had a rather tough choice to make. So many great new albums are coming out for the May 26th release week between the new Grizzly Bear, Tyvek, Blank Dogs, Sunn O))), Current 93, Khanate, and tons of others. After all was said and done though, one stood much above the others to get the esteemed honor. When James Blackshaw left Tompkins Square for Young God I had a feeling that something great was going to come. Michael Gira(Young God Records) rarely signs any artists that are short of amazing and I have absolutely loved everything that Blackshaw has put out. Admittedly though, I was feeling a little let down by his last effort, Litany of Echoes. Blackshaw has been completely forgiven for any let down on this new album. Despite......
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JAMES BLACKSHAW/THE GLASS BEAD GAME/ Review
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Blogcritics.com / By Jeff PerkinsIf talent is handed out by God then James Blackshaw must have been near the front of the queue. Blogcritics.com http://blogcritics.org/music/article/music-review-james-blackshaw-the-glass/ James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game By Jeff Perkins — Published: May 26, 2009 If talent is handed out by God then James Blackshaw must have been near the front of the queue. Having said that, no matter how vital natural talent is, it isn’t everything. You then need to combine it with totally committed devotion, dedication, and an all consuming passionate drive. Then, and only then, can you even contemplate releasing an album like this. Michael Gira is the man who, as head of Young God Records, had the vision to bring Devendra Banhart to a wider world, myself included. Now he has added the remarkable James Blackshaw to the label. The first album on the label is this, The Glass Bead Game. Consisting of five exquisitely performed pieces, it is a work of extraordinary beauty and complexity. Somehow though, James makes it all sound so damned effortless and yet anyone who has ever picked up a wooden box with six or, in James’s case, twelve strings stretched across it’s face will know,......
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Fire On Fire/Popmatters.com review
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popmatters.com/Matthew FianderThe Orchard is the sound of a group full of life, playing music full of an earthen stomp and a cautious hope. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/70376-fire-on-fire-the-orchard/ Popmatters.com 25 March 2009 Fire on Fire The Orchard (Young God) By Matthew Fiander There’s plenty of new folk floating around these days. Plenty of it is quite good, but most of it tends to mine folk for its melancholy and eccentricity. Some find joy in the transience of the sound, in not being tied down, but few artists use folk to meld any permanence of place with feelings outside of loss and loneliness. That is where Fire on Fire comes in. The collective comes from Portland, Maine and has taken on many different faces over the years. They used to be the electric-noise experimenters Cerberus Shoal, and then they became the more organic Big Blood before morphing into Fire on Fire. After releasing a great self-titled EP on Young God Records, the band has released its first full-length, The Orchard, quickly proving themselves to be a group deserving of more attention, both in folk circles and beyond. The Orchard starts off with “Sirocco” and immediately announces the group’s intentions. Like the rest of the album,......
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Fire On Fire/Popmatters.com review
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popmatters.com/Matthew FianderThe Orchard is the sound of a group full of life, playing music full of an earthen stomp and a cautious hope. If it sounds melancholy in spots, it is because their joy is an honest one, a murkily human one. And if it sounds eccentric, it is because it is unique. These players have made a lot of sounds over the years. But with The Orchard, they might have found the sound they were supposed to be making all along. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/70376-fire-on-fire-the-orchard/ Popmatters.com 25 March 2009 Fire on Fire The Orchard (Young God) By Matthew Fiander There’s plenty of new folk floating around these days. Plenty of it is quite good, but most of it tends to mine folk for its melancholy and eccentricity. Some find joy in the transience of the sound, in not being tied down, but few artists use folk to meld any permanence of place with feelings outside of loss and loneliness. That is where Fire on Fire comes in. The collective comes from Portland, Maine and has taken on many different faces over the years. They used to be the electric-noise experimenters Cerberus Shoal, and then they became the more organic Big Blood before......