Keeping with the holiday tradition established by last year’s Golden Opportunities mixtape, Okkervil River’s Will Sheff and Charles Bissell of the Wrens swap songs on a limited edition, split 7-inch. The local folk songsmith stands in on the Wrens’ “Ex-Girl Collection” while Bissell tries his hand at Okkervil’s “It Ends With a Fall.”
Though not available nationally until late January, David Garza’s latest, Dream Delay, which features contributions from Fiona Apple and Minstry’s Al Jourgensen, can be scored at all local outlets and at Garza’s Tuesday night residency at the Continental Club.
If Brian Eno had created ambient meditations for cubicles instead of Music for Airports, it would have probably come in the form of Buddha Machine. Created by the Beijing-based experimental duo FM3 and inspired by Buddhist prayer boxes, the pocket-sixed speaker plays ambient loops that repeat on end (or until the batteries run out), blurring the distinction between recorded music and musical instrument in a glorious haze of mesmerizing repetition. The first edition sold more than 50,000 units worldwide (Eno was actually the first customer) and the recently released Buddha Machine II boasts nine new loops and a feature that allows the consumer to manipulate the pitch to create their own unique listening experience. Try one out at over at End of an Ear Records.
This article appears in December 12 • 2008.