Phospherescent: Pride

I don't know where to begin with this one. Phosphorescent is one guy, Mathew Houck, and I think the best word to use to describe his music is sweeping. It's slow, it pleads, and it cascades left and right with rich vocal harmony and slow, plodding guitar strums. It has a lot of space. It's an expiremental approach to folk music, but there are still rich melodies at the surface that keep the songs sounding familiar, but just a little out of reach.

Listen to this one at night, when you're sitting at your computer by yourself. This stuff is like lotion-music. It's a little cold at first, but its thick and creazy, and it feels good once it soaks in.

As for the equation, I'm thinking: Mazzy Star x (Crosby, Stills & Nash + + Will Oldham + a pinch Band of Horses)

LINK: Phospherescent: Pride

Alpha: Stargazing

We're overdue for a couple of new posts around here, so here goes a couple of favorite discs from the early '00s.

First up, a truly under appreciated gem from 2004, Alpha's Stargazing. There aren't enough great things to say about this album, if you're got a think for lush, low-key, vocal electronic.

The songs here are almost all downtempo, and many of them feature some gorgeous, and very understated vocal performances (see: "Once Around town", "Lipstick at the Asylum" and "Saturn and Rain"). If you played this album in a dentist's office, no one would need novicaine. It's just straight-up relaxation.

LINK:
Alpha: Stargazing