TBTS Eustachian Ruminations, 4/7/10 Edition

Hey there kids, it’s good to see you all.  Johnny, I see you finally shaved that goatee.  No offense but I always thought it looked kinda dorky on you anyway.  Oh, no I didn’t mean that you’re a dork, just that you looked fairly dork-like.  Nevermind.  Angie, I looove the new hair color, it makes you look ten years younger!  No, I didn’t mean to say you were old…uh I just meant to say you look young.  Drat, that didn’t come out right either!  Lovers, it’s just been one of those days.  Uncle Caleb can’t seem to string more than two words together right and I’m really tempting the wrath of the blogging gods by even attempting this post.  So, without further ado and before I’m struck down by a mob of angry Lilliputian-like pixels, I’m gonna give you some of the music that’s been spinning here at good ole Brown Tweed Manor lately in the hopes of improving your musical diet.  No, I didn’t mean that the music you listened to before was bad necessarily, but it can always be improved right?  Hey, I liked that new Daniel Merriweather album too…sort of…well not really.  But that’s OK if you did, we don’t all have to like the same things.  (I should just quit while I’m behind)

First up is the new release from Germany’s own Hendrik Weber, also known as Pantha du Prince.  Pantha is an electronic musician who just released a critically-acclaimed Black Noise on February 9 on Matador.  This is the first du Prince record I’ve owned and I can tell you as only a casual fan of electronic music this is a gem.  Du Prince paints a soundscape with this songs that are enthralling while still maintaining a melodic core.  This isn’t elevator or ambient music, but the song structures are not exactly what you’d hear in dance or techno music either.  I highly recommend this as late-night winding-down music.  You can check out some cuts here.

In more of a rock vein, I’ve looked forward to the new Whigs album for quite a while, especially after I heard they were recording last year in Athens with Ben Allen (Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavillion).  In the Dark was released on March 16 on ATO Records and it is a solid, if not spectacular, album.  If you liked Mission Control, you’ll like this record and the Whigs certainly rock out on it.  I’ll need a few more listens before I can comment on the subtleties, but this is a perfectly acceptable early-year rock release that should keep Whigs fans happy for a while.

Ah, Aretha.  I first learned of you at a tender young age when you took me riding on the freeway of love.  Little did I know then of your illustrious history and your status as a true Goddess of Soul.  I picked up the Atlantic Years box set almost six months ago, and it has sit unused until this past week.  Now, I’m kicking myself for not listening to this sooner as it’s probably my favorite listen of the year so far, beating out every new release that I’ve heard.  And I’ve only listened to the first freaking disk!  But wow, it is amazing to hear Aretha in her full glory belting out “Never Loved A Man” and “Do Right Man” (which is also one of my favorite Flying Burrito Brothers songs).  This, along with my Sam Cooke box set, has given me an amazing education in soul music.

Boys and girls, I didn’t get around to the new Drive-By Truckers or These New Puritans releases, but believe me they’re solid.  We’ll see you next time, when hopefully I will have performed enough rag doll sacrifice to please the blog gods.  Until then, Chris can I talk to you in private about that shirt?