Monday's Long Song

 

Another week in which I’m featuring a band here that I’d never heard of before. Prairiewolf are a three-piece instrumental band from Denver, Colorado, who recorded their third album a few weeks ago. According to the band themselves, this is a live album, although it was actually recorded in the studio.

The recordings of two live performances were layered on top of one another, collaged and enhanced with overdubs.

The result can be described as psychedelic ambient country, in which electronic guitar chords float above a beatbox and meander off into ethereal heights. To some, this sounds like lift music; to others, it’s the current American response to German electronic music of the early 1970s. Form your own opinion of this music.

Monday's Long Song

 

Over at ‘Bagging Area’, Adam is running a series called ‘Oblique Strategies’. I’m a proud member of the Saturday community. My contribution from last week was a song by Billy Cobham.

Billy Cobham was a jazz/fusion drummer and known for his collaboration with Miles Davis. In 1973 he released his debut album Spectrum, a milestone in this genre. I know this is not everybody's cup of tea but on this record was an outstanding song. Stratus is a little masterpiece starting with a drum solo before really cranking up the guitars, until the keyboards kick in and it all builds to a fabulous groove. The guitar was played by the too early died Tommy Bolin and the keys were played by Jan Hammer, before he decided to compose film music. Decades later Massive Attack remembered this song and sampled it on them classic Safe From Harm.