Using little more than a 12-string guitar and a drum kit, Andy and Edwin weave together the gentle headiness of Laurel Canyon and the sweaty pacing of Cologne like a gyroscope, its constant motion produces the illusion of stillness-and that stillness gives it a sense of intimacy and introspection, something that’s further illuminated by the new emphasis placed on the brothers’ vocals. Petunia is the first Tonstartssbandht album to be created in a sustained manner and in a consistent environment, written and recorded in a single place over a focused period of time.Īs a result, Petunia feels like a unified aesthetic statement. With plenty of time on their hands thanks to the lockdown, and no shows to play, Andy and Edwin decided to pack some flesh onto those skeletons and bring them to life on their own. Many of the tracks had been played live, but in extremely rough form (“skeletons of songs,” as Andy puts it), and hadn’t yet developed into any kind of mature stage. Where most Tonstartssbandht albums come together slowly over years, recorded on the fly whenever the Whites have a few spare moments on the road, Petunia was largely written and recorded in their home city of Orlando in 2020. On Petunia, the brothers’ 18th album and second for Mexican Summer, they bring us to the earliest moments of this process, showing off a barn full of hatchlings already decked with splendid plumage. With time, attention, and intention, these songs-long, languid, full of open musical questions and temporary answers-become distinct objects, and the process begins again. Through constant touring, the brothers’ songs both take shape and change shape, becoming something a little different every night as they explore the possibilities inherent within them. Speaking of the song “Saint of Circumstance,” which he’d been playing live for 40 years, Weir said, “I’m just starting to scratch the surface of what I can do with that.” This idea of a song as a living, breathing thing, a liquid portrait that sloshes to the borders of whatever frame is fixed upon it, is at the center of Edwin and Andy White’s work as Tonstartssbandht. Rant over.A few years ago, Bob Weir was telling a writer about his process, and how the notion of constantly becoming-of life being lived in a state of flux-doesn’t just apply to the ever-changing self, but to the things the self creates. Buy CDs, tapes, and records, and support musicians by purchasing their albums at places like Bandcamp. Also, get off my lawn?Īnywho, feast your eyes on PRINT’s Top 30 Album Covers for 2021. What can I say I’m a romantic and a hoarder. Pulling something up on Spotify or Tidal or Apple Music and hitting play will never be the same as holding the real McCoy in your hands. But there’s something to be said for holding a record cover in your hands and poring over the liner notes, studying the front for hidden meanings and details, or comparing Steely Dan session players. Also, I imagine that you don’t have the same problems with clutter or crammed IKEA Kallax shelves that I do, and let’s not even get into vinyl delays or their environmental impact. Look, If you need to keep your listening space minimal and austere, I get it, and how you consume your media is your prerogative-I certainly don’t want to be the kind of person telling someone that they’re doing it all wrong. You’ve got streaming and a tiny little square, and for most folks, that’s OK by them not to sound like the guy yelling at you to get off his lawn, but that’s a shame. Now, the way most people interact with record covers or album art is through their phones. What I can tell you, however, is that not only was it a great year for music, but also some pretty nifty album covers. Go here if you want that, because you’re bound to discover something new. Hell, we even got a ten-minute Taylor Swift song, and I’m not going to say anything negative about that because I don’t need that kind of heat in this lifetime.īut that’s not our beat. From a murderer’s row of excellent jazz releases and guitar soli explorations to polished R&B and the psychedelic, it was further proof that your pal who says there’s no good new music is full of shit. To say that 2021 was a banner year for music is an understatement.
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