Abstract Index Playlist - August 20/08

Though this album doesn't come out until next month, it's about as perfect a late summer release as you're likely to hear this year. Even the cover art has a wistful aura.

Koushik hails from Dundas Ontario, as does his good buddy, Caribou. Recording on Stones Throw, this is his first album length statement, though 2005 saw a compilation of his work over the previous three years.

I didn't listen to the rock and roll much during the nineties, but one band that I always enjoyed was Spiritualized. Their droney, dreamy, dub-friendly haze is the prime ingredient to the atmosphere of this disc (reading up on Mr. K, there are also a few comparisons to My Bloody Valentine, but much to the dismay of certain members of my fellow editors at Exclaim and peers in this music critic game, I never listened to much MBV which seems to be the contemporary equivalent to not paying attention to the Beatles in the 60s and 70s).

But then there's the beats - this is on Stones Throw after all - and the arrangements. At times, these tunes kick hard, as in the track I played this week "Be With", where the gauzy vocals are anchored strongly to the forward momentum of the beats. The album is paced well enough that just when the reverb-soaked ambience and dreamy vocals threaten to swallow up the entire mix, a divine drum break drops from the heavens to keep your body moving, if only to the dockside cooler to fetch another beer.

There's great instrumental variety here, with plenty of well deployed orchestral content. But the 'verb turns the synthesized and natural elements of the this instrumentation into a richly hued blur. With so many airless, aggressive beats dominating the blogosphere, the electric relaxation on display here is very refreshing.

muckefuk - pan/tone (cereal killers)
magenta verver - patron & patron (nonine)
evacuation days - pit er pat (thrill jockey)
t(h)rust - ratchet orchestra (no label)
macho woman - ornette coleman (artists house)
oya - ijinle ilu (atumbi)
dunu kan - issa bagayogo (six degrees)
the little you say - the revolution of st. vincent (strut)
deep in your heart - the young diviners (numero)
i got what you need - mary jane hopper (vampisoul)
floating island - tony wilson/peggy lee/jon bentley (drip audio)
light ships - bulbs (freedom to spend)
perilous straits - raglani (kranky)
be with - koushik (stones throw)
fluglin' at daves - the lions (ubiquity)
sow more love - sizzla (vp)
man next door - george nooks (tad's)
whateva you want - ivana santilli & jamaica to toronto (do right)
unmetered taxi - sly dunbar (taxi)
taxi - amblique feat. brian and tony gold (pressure sounds)
sufferation - tyrone taylor (heartbeat)
i stand accused - joe gibbs & the professionals (pressure sounds)