The Power of Music!

Super cold around here. Yesterday I was out in it for much of the day. Got home and was totally exhausted. What did I do? I soaked myself in sound. Washed my brain, my body, with music.

I "rediscovered" Mercury Rev's "Deserter's Songs."  Listening to it is a revelation. And you know it's a great record, because every time you listen, it's like listening for the first time. It came out in 1998, but I didn't discover until 2012. I know, a little late to the party.

It seems like a message from a lost place and time.

It is an extraordinary record. It has some relation to the Flaming Lips "The Soft Bulletin," same Producer - Dave Fridmann, Jonathan Donahue's voice is somewhat reminiscent of Wayne Coyne's voice, but "Deserter Songs," is a much moodier record, more cinematic, oddly ephemeral.

It was mastered on 35 mm film stock! So odd. So weird. So old world. I have never heard of another record using that technology. And it gives the record an amazing sound - soft, rich, slippery, beautiful.

Anyway, I was totally revitalized by the experience. That's the power of music...

** Try this! Put 3 CD's on the carousel - Mercury Rev's Deserter Songs, the Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin, and Tame Impala's Lonerism. Three amazing, beautiful albums. All produced by Dave Fridmann. Major work. Multi-faceted. Like a big shiny diamond. Lots of similarities, lots of differences. These albums go together. Very, very nicely. Dare I say it, Fridmann is the USA version of Eno... another secret agent in music!