PRIVACY
SELF-TITLED ONE-SIDED LP/CD
MARRIAGE RECORDS/ANTHEM RECORDS (uhhhh......) CO-RELEASE
USA


listen here.

up next is the sole recording from laurel knapp, aka PRIVACY. about a year and a half ago, my band eternal tapestry played a show with privacy and white rainbow at holocene, here in portland, oregon. i had never heard of privacy before, and had no idea what to expect. i was sitting on one of the couches along the back wall of the venue as ms. knapp took the stage, armed with only an acoustic guitar and a microphone. there were probably 10-15 people in the room during her set, maybe even less, but the sounds she produced were among the most fragile and beautiful i've ever heard. her vocals were so quiet i had to struggle to even hear them, while the guitar was played un-amplified and was more like half aware, barely there strumming. it's not often that i will see or hear music and have such an immediately strong reaction. i sat there, totally petrified, allowing the songs to gently wash over me. it was "folk" music in a way, but had more in common with drone than anything, all of the songs staying the same micro-volume; more than anything, it felt pure and untarnished. after the show i approached ms. knapp and told her how much i loved her set. she was kind enough to give me a copy of her cd, which had yet to be pressed to vinyl. the 12" was limited to only 300 copies and is now sold out, but i'm sure copies are still lurking in some records stores.
more like a collection of lullabies or sketches (in fact, one of the songs pretty much IS a lullabye, "goodnight fox," for her son of the same name), the eight songs on this self titled 20 minute ep amble along, content to lull the listener into a relaxed state of being, ms. knapp's warm voice blanketing the world around you. the closest modern performer i can compare her songs to are japan's AI ASO, particularly her "UMEROMONOIZEN" lp, in the skeletal, intimate nature of the songs. i've heard numerous comparisons to cat power, but her songs tend to rely more on embellished arrangedments and a, um, "soulful" vocal style, while privacy and ai aso use the idea of less-is-more to great effect.
this short release might be easy to toss off at first listen, but under the right conditions and mindset, it possesses some serious power.

so this is where i will start to write stuff. sometimes i will post music, sometimes videos, sometimes various other garbage. after looking at my old livejournal just a few minutes ago (that has laid dormant for over 3 years), i started to miss this whole inter-share-write-about-stuff world, and figured now was as good a time as any to get back into it.

there won't be any specific genres of music posted here, just releases by artists that i feel deserve more exposure than they have been given so far. i will however make a point of only posting releases that are also out of print and cannot be obtained through the usual sources. give me some time to figure this stuff out, as i'm still a novice at posting albums and such.

to start, here is the first lp from new zealand's SNAPPER, who recorded two albums for flying nun records in the late 80s/early 90s, along with a few 7"s. despite the scant recording career, snapper were one of the most original bands of the nz scene, taking the minimalist rock ideads of bands like can and suicide and melding them with a pop sensibility that was all their own. this first lp, SHOTGUN BLOSSOM, was released a full year before the uk's stereolab began, and the snapper influence should be immediately apparent. oh, and mainman peter gutteridge was also an original member of the clean, spent time in both the chills and the great unwashed, and recorded an amazing solo cassette for bruce russell from the dead c's much loved xpressway label. the second snapper lp, ADM, took the repetitive rock structure of their first album even further, adding a nihilistic/black sunglasses/don't give a fuck attitude to the mix, making for a much darker affair. i hope to rip some mp3s of that second lp soon, to showcase the evolution of this great, highly underappreciated band.


SNAPPER - SHOTGUN BLOSSOM
FLYING NUN RECORDS, 1990
NEW ZEALAND
download here.

this blog stuff seems pretty decent.
more stuff coming soon.
comments and such are much appreciated.