Laurel Halo – Atlas: I wrote some useless comments about this record last week, so I committed to spending some more time with it. It’s far more intricate than I realized, and the first analogy that comes to mind is a story that is written so superbly it works for multiple audiences on multiple levels. Yes, the record can easily slip into background, but if you pay attention to the compositions, arrangements, instruments, and treatments, you will find a beautiful richness and depth. This is not Music for Airports ambient, nor is it the mass-produced drivel that is drowning Spotify and YouTube, but rather it’s a complex record that reminds me of the best the genre has to offer.
Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She: This is another record that inspired ambivalence in me last week, so I listened a few more times. I was certainly wrong to compare it to bad goth, but it is written and performed with a lack of dimension that I find tedious. The more I listen, though, the more She Reaches Out asks me difficult questions. If the record is tedious, then is Dummy also tedious since they follow similar emotional arcs? How can I claim to want more records with a clear and consistent mood from front to back, then complain because this one is too somber? The jury is still out for this one, but I want to keep digging into it until I can answer some of the questions it raises.
Grateful Dead – Truckin’ up to Buffalo (7/4/89) | Dick’s Picks 27 (12/16/92) | Dick’s Picks 8 (5/2/70) | Ladies and Gentlemen, the Grateful Dead (4/71): A lot of Dead this week, and these four shows sit at two interesting transitional points: before and after Tom Constanten left the band and before and after Brent Mydland’s death. Each of these records has some very strong moments, but the two that stand out to me are Pigpen McKernan’s banter on “Good Lovin’” and “Turn on Your Lovelight” from the 1971 shows and the acoustic opening set from 1970. The former is just fun and the latter is a reminder of how intimate the music could be.