If you’re a Record Exchange email subscriber, check your inbox tonight for the post-game details on Sunday’s Blue and Orange Sale on used CDs, DVDs and vinyl LPs.
If you’re not a subscriber yet and want all the details, email us HERE today or Sunday with the subject “Blue and Orange Sale” and we’ll send you the info. To receive future Blue and Orange Sale updates right after each BSU game, sign up HERE. Go Broncos!
What is a Record Exchange exclusive? It’s a CD, vinyl LP, 7-inch, DVD or other product you can only find at the RX — no big box, corporate record store chain or uncle’s basement will have it.
NEW EXCLUSIVES:
Radiohead Bloom (Jamie XX Rework)/Separator (Anstam RMX)/Lotus Flower (SBTRKT RMX) 12-inch — the sixth in a series of limited-edition (2,000 copies each) indie exclusive 12-inches featuring remixes of tracks from The King of Limbs!
Juliana Hatfield There’s Always Another Girl vinyl LP
Garland Jeffreys The King of In Between vinyl LP
Correatown Pleiades CD and vinyl LP
Jonathan Keevil Bellflower Soundtrack vinyl LP
OTHER RECENT EXCLUSIVES:
Radiohead Good Evening Mrs. Magpie (Modeselektor RMX)/Bloom (Objekt RMX) 12-inch — the fifth in a series of limited-edition (2,000 copies each) indie exclusive 12-inches featuring remixes of tracks from The King of Limbs!
Clem Snide The Ghost of Fashion vinyl LP (one-time limited pressing on colored vinyl, first time on wax!)
Lera Lynn Have You Met Lera Lynn? CD
Primus Green Naugahyde Bootleg Edition hand-numbered green colored vinyl LP (only 750 pressed!)
Juliana Hatfield There’s Always Another Girl CD
Radiohead Give Up the Ghost (Thriller Houseghost RMX)/Codex (Illum Sphere RMX)/Little By Little (Shed RMX) 12-inch — the fourth in a series of limited-edition (2,000 copies each) indie exclusive 12-inches featuring remixes of tracks from The King of Limbs!
Hawthorne Heights Skeletons 12-inch — available in black, white or green colored vinyl!
Matthew Ryan I Recall Standing As Though Nothing Could Fall CD
Radiohead Feral (Lone RMX)/Morning Mr. Magpie (Pearson Sound Scavenger RMX)/Separator (Four Tet RMX) 12-inch — the third in a series of limited-edition (2,000 copies each) indie exclusive 12-inches featuring remixes of tracks from The King of Limbs!
Radiohead Morning Mr. Magpie (Nathan Fake RMX)/Bloom (Harmonic 313 RMX)/Bloom (Mark Pritchard RMX) 12-inch — the second in a series of limited-edition (2,000 copies each) indie exclusive 12-inches featuring remixes of tracks from The King of Limbs!
Guster On the Ocean CD
Stephen Colbert with the Black Belles Charlene II (I’m Over You)/Charlene (I’m Right Behind You) 7-inch
The Features Wilderness CD
Pearl Jam Vs./Vitalogy Collectors Box (remastered CDs and vinyl LPs for both, plus a double live vinyl LP and CD, cassette of Self Pollution radio broadcast and extra goodies)
Rose Hill Drive Americana CD
Seasick Steve You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks CD and vinyl LP
Star Anna Alone in this Together CD
Radiohead Little By Little (Caribou Remix)/Lotus Flower (Jacques Greene Remix) 12-inch — the first in a series of limited-edition (2,000 copies each) indie exclusive 12-inches featuring remixes of tracks from The King of Limbs!
Radiohead Supercollider/The Butcher 12-inch (UK Record Store Day release now available in the U.S. — features two new tracks recorded during The King of Limbs sessions!)
The Dodos All Night 7-inch (features three exclusive tracks)
Candy Golde self-titled 10-inch
Cheap Trick In Color audiophile vinyl LP
Disc Genie Cleaning Cloths
Dispatch EP CD
Eastern Conference Champions Speak-Ahh CD
Garland Jeffreys The King of In Between CD
Graham Cotton Pacific Coast Eyes CD
Joe Purdy 4th of July CD
The Silos Florizona CD
All Time Low Dirty Work Deluxe Edition (indie exclusive with bonus tracks)
Neil Young A Treasure vinyl LP (two versions) READ MORE HERE
Mark Kozelek Live at Union Chapel and Sodra Teatern vinyl LP
Toad the Wet Sprocket All You Want CD
Joe Purdy This American Life CD
Pete Droge A Lot Like You Soundtrack CD
Glasvegas Euphoric/Heartbreak vinyl LP
Foster and Lloyd It’s Already Tomorrow CD
Glitch Mob Drink the Sea vinyl LP
Grand Magnolias Grand Magnolias CD
Tres Mts. Three Mountains CD. A project comprised of Pearl Jams bassist, King’s Xs Vocalist and guitarist and the Fastbacks drummer.
Brendan Benson Lapalco vinyl LP
Vanity Theft Get What You Came For CD
Vanity Theft Anatomy EP
Black Lips/Strange Boys Bruise Cruise Vol. 4 7-inch
Quintron and Miss Pussycat/Turbo Fruits Bruise Cruise Vol. 3 7-inch
Wanda Jackson Thunder on the Mountain/Dust on the Bible 7-inch
Dungen Oga Nasa Mum/Highway Wolf 7-inch
Riley Grandma’s Roadhouse vinyl LP
Booker T and the MG’s McLemore Avenue (Abbey Road covers) vinyl LP
Kate Bush Hounds of Love vinyl LP
Kate Bush The Sensual World vinyl LP
Harry Nilsson A Little Touch of Schmilsson vinyl LP
Dex Romweber Duo Third Man Live 02-04-2010 vinyl LP
Conan O’Brien and the Legally Prohibited Band Third Man Live 06-10-2010 vinyl LP
Pujol Third Man Live 05-21-2010 vinyl LP
Tyvek Third Man Live 09-27-2010 vinyl LP
Gregory Alan Isakov This Empty Northern Hemisphere vinyl LP
Josh Ritter The Animal Years CD reissue – includes bonus CD with live acoustic performance of entire album!
Hellogoodbye Would It Kill You? vinyl LP
Pearl Jam Live on Ten Legs CD and vinyl LP
Josh Ritter The Animal Years vinyl LP (first time on wax – includes CD with live acoustic performance of entire album!)
Band of Horses/Cee-lo Green split 7-inch (Band of Horses covering Cee-lo, Cee-lo covering Band of Horses)
The Decemberists The King is Dead deluxe box set
Bing Crosby and David Bowie Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth 7-inch (red vinyl)
John Fahey Volume One/Blind Joe Death vinyl LP
John Wesley Harding Sings to a Small Guitar Vol. II CD
The Duke Spirit Kusama CD EP
Os Haxixins Noites Brancas 7-inch
Right Now 7 to 10 7-inch
Right Now Carry Me Home vinyl LP
Carbon Leaf Christmas Child CD
The Knife Seeds 12-inch
Fitz and the Tantrums Santa Stole My Lady 7-inch
The Greenhornes Saying Goodbye 7-inch
Laura Marling Blues Run the Game 7-inch
The Raconteurs Broken Boy Soldiers 180-gram vinyl LP
Dead Weather/Third Man vinyl: Tons of new 7-inches, 12-inches and full-length LPs from Jack White’s label, including six Dead Weather titles as well as new cuts from Jack White, Dex Romweber Duo, Conan O’Brien, Carl Sagan, Dan Sartain, Wanda Jackson, Jon Wayne and Secret Sisters.
Keith Richards Life book
DJ Shadow4 Track Era vinyl LP
Widespread Panic Johnson City 2001 3CD set
The Shipping News One Less Heartless to Fear CD
The Answering Machine Another City Another Story CD
Scott Miller Christmas Gift CD
Wingless Angels (Keith Richards) Wingless Angels CD EXTREMELY LIMITED!
Wingless Angels (Keith Richards) Volumes I and II CD Box Set
Bad Books Bad Books CD
Bobby Long Stranger Songs vinyl LP
California Guitar Trio Andromeda vinyl LP
The Shipping News One Less Heartless to Fear vinyl LP
Jill Cunniff City Beach vinyl LP, available on red/yellow or orange/pink colored vinyl; both versions come with a bonus 7-inch! Limited to 250 copies (that’s in the entire universe).
Keith Richards Vintage Vinos CD (retrospective from out of print studio albums, plus live tracks)
Matisyahu Shake Off the Dust … ARISE CD (reissue of out-of-print, fan-favorite indie debut!
Biffy Clyro Only Revolutions CD
Broken Spindles Document No. 2 (handmade CD, extremely limited)
Dapose Positive Feedback limited-edition vinyl LP
Touch People Everyone Is Not Alive limited-edition vinyl LP
Brendon Benson Well & Goode 7-inch
Paul McCartney and Wings Band on the Run 7-inch. Taken from the forthcoming Paul McCartney Archive Collection reissue of Band On The Run, this limited-edition, highly-collectible vinyl 7-inch replicates the original U.S. single release that shot to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 back in June of 1974. Housed in a deluxe picture sleeve and digitally re-mastered from the original tapes, this is sure to become a sought after Paul McCartney single release for years to come.
Elvis Costello This Year’s Model 180-gram half-speed master vinyl LP (only 5,000 made!)
Elvis Costello Armed Forces 180-gram half-speed master vinyl LP (only 5,000 made!)
Pixies Bossanova 180-gram half-speed master vinyl LP (only 5,000 made!)
Klaxons Surfing the Void CD
Puscifer “C” is for … vinyl LP
Wingless Angels (Keith Richards) Volume I and II
Shadow Shadow Shade Shadow Shadow Shade CD
Soundgarden Telephantasm 3LP vinyl version. Read more HERE.
Amy Correia You Go Your Way CD
Darden Smith Marathon CD
Fever Ray Mercy Street 7-inch
Lloyd Cole Broken Record CD
Nicole Atkins Vultures 7-inch
Cee Lo F**k You CD single, only 99 cents! Read more HERE
Maroon 5 Hands All Over Indie Store Version with bonus tracks
Weezer Raditude Photos 144-page color photo book
Puscifer Sound Into Blood Into Wine CD
Puscifer “C” is For … CD
Sea Wolf Turn the Dirt Over 7-inch
Hayley Taylor One Foot in Front of the Other CD
Mason Jennings Live at First Ave. CD
Brad Best Friends? vinyl LP
Corinne Bailey Rae The Sea vinyl LP
Paper Bird When the River Took Flight CD
Record Store Days book
Coconut Records Nighttiming vinyl LP
Crooked Fingers Forfeit/Fortune vinyl LP
Josh Ritter Golden Age of Radio CD
Josh Ritter S/T CD
Patton Oswalt 222 CD
Right Away, Great Captain! The Eventually Home CD
Warren Haynes The Lone EP
William Fitzsimmons Derivatives CD
Brad Best Friends? CD
The Coral Butterfly House standard/deluxe CD
The Damnwells Golden Days DVD
John Wesley Harding Sings to a Small Guitar Vol. 1 CD
Kristin Hersh Crooked CD
Neu! Vinyl Box Set
Earl Greyhound Suspicious Package CD
Shonen Knife Live at Mowawk Place 2009 DVD
Donavon Frankenreiter Revisited vinyl LP
Various Artists Eat, Pray, Love soundtrack CD
Beck Sea Change half-speed master vinyl LP
Cowboy Junkies Whites Off Earth Now! half-speed master vinyl LP
Elvis Costello My Aim Is True half-speed master vinyl LP
Faith No More Angel Dust half-speed master vinyl LP
Megadeth Countdown to Extinction half-speed master vinyl LP
Pixies Surfer Rosa half-speed master vinyl LP
Pixies Doolittle half-speed master vinyl LP
Bad Brains Live at CBGB 1982 vinyl LP
Builders and the Butchers Where the Roots All Grow CD
Earl Greyhound Soft Targets CD
Filter Inevitable Relapse 7-inch
Junip (Jose Gonzalez) Rope and Summit vinyl LP
Matthew Ryan Dear Lover Acoustic Version CD
Via Audio Animalore CD and vinyl LP
William Fitzsimmons Derivatives CD
Donavon Frankenreiter Revisited CD
Guggenheim Grotto Universe is Laughing CD
Hurricane Bells Tonight is the Ghost CD
I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody’s Business The World We Know CD
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds The Mercy Seat 12-inch (limited edition white vinyl!)
STS9 Ad Explorata vinyl LP
The Glitch Mob Drink the Sea CD
Mz Streamz It’s Alive CD
Shannon McNally Coldwater CD
Snow and Voices Anything That Moves CD
Toots and the Maytals Flip and Twist CD
Record Store Day exclusives. We still have limited quantities left of select titles!
Nirvana In Utero 180-gram yellow colored vinyl LP
Nirvana MTV Unplugged 180-gram red colored vinyl LP
Nirvana Nevermind colored vinyl LP
Slacktone Warning: Reverb Instrumentals CD
Randall Bramlett The Meantime CD
Lou Reed Satellite Of Love 7-inch
The Replacements I’ll Be You 7-inch
The Ramones California Sun 7-inch
Kate Nash My Best Friend is You Indie Store Version with bonus track.
The Ravenna Colt Slight Spell CD and vinyl LP.
Vampire Weekend Contra indie-store version bundled with a limited-edition bonus CD featuring three exclusive tracks!
BlakRoc BlakRoc CD and vinyl LP, ONLY VERSION WITH LUDACRIS/ODB TRACK “COOCHIE” and it’s going quickly! Get it while you can — very limited quantities remaining of this first pressing!
Old Crow Medicine Show Greetings From Wawa limited-edition CD reissue.
DJ Shadow In L.A. 10-31-09 CD
Jack Johnson Brushfire Fairytales limited-edition CD
Josh Ritter Hello Starling vinyl/double CD reissue
The Beatles Abbey Road vinyl box (w/ t-shirt and poster)
Zac Brown Band Live From Bonnaroo CD EP
BUY THE VINYL HERE
Wilco is exciting because the band seeks to redefine our expectations for it with each record. And their new album, The Whole Love, continues that cycle to often brilliant effect.
The reason it’s constricting to pin Wilco down with definitions is because they are at their best when they pull the rug out from under themselves (and, by extension, us). Opener “Art of Almost” is as jarring as “Misunderstood” or “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”, but it sounds like no Wilco song you’ve ever heard. It’s a clean break, a move to establish a wholly new landscape for this record, and it works. Orchestral flourishes at the start could recall their lush sound on Summerteeth if they weren’t so shadowy and alien. The song blips and squawks behind the bleary-eyed plea of Tweedy’s voice. But if it feels lost, it finds its footing in the fits and freak-outs of guitar that come in crashing squalls at the end. It’s a distinct shift from other dissonant tunes in the Wilco catalog. This doesn’t devolve; it comes together, searching for its shards and knitting them together into one sharp entity. If The Whole Love marks a change in perspective, it’s in this. Tweedy acknowledges the lonesome feeling that’s followed him around his entire musical career, but here he often debunks it. The excellent “Born Alone”, for example, may rest on the line “I was born to die alone,” but the triumphant roll of guitars that follows it belies that sentiment. This is the sound of unification, not isolation. – Pop Matters
OTHER NEW VINYL RELEASES:
Dum Dum Girls Only In Dreams
Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon
Sonia Leigh 1978 December
John Cale Extra Playful
Gem Club Breakers
Face To Face Laugh Now Laugh Later
Mike Doughty Yes & Also Yes
TV On The Radio New Health Rock
Evidence Cats & Dogs
Those Darlins Screws Get Loose/Prank Call
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter will perform live at The Record Exchange (1105 W. Idaho St., Downtown Boise) at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27. As always, this Record Exchange in-store event is free and all ages.
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter also will headline The Record Exchange Alive After Five Season Finale on Wednesday, Sept. 28, on the Grove Plaza in Downtown Boise. The free, all-ages concert kicks off at 5 p.m. Low-Fi will open.
Preview tracks from Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter’s critically-acclaimed new album Marble Son HERE.
ABOUT JESSE SYKES AND THE SWEET HEREAFTER
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter (jessesykes.com) follow up 2007’s critically acclaimed Like Love, Lust and the Open Halls of the Soul with Marble Son, their fourth release from Paris’s Fargo Records and the first on their own U.S. imprint Station Grey/Thirty Tigers.
Sykes and guitarist/vocalist Phil Wandscher took on full production duties for Marble Son, recorded entirely in and around their hometown of Seattle (engineered by Mell Dettmer and mixed by Martin Fevyear). Marble Son exemplifies a band at their creative pinnacle—heavier and more complex than previous records, the music resonates among the parallel worlds of the avant-garde and the timeless. Sykes’ voice and sometimes-mystical leanings (the former described aptly by Magnet as “sounding less like a performer and more like a sage”) and her band’s incomparable musical rapport culminate in what the New York Times has described as “spellbound music, rapt in fatalism and sorrow.” Syke’s trademark thematic darkness and acclaimed songwriting have never been more present; yet Marble Son speaks of evolution, which Sykes describes as, “a sonic mirror of the most chaotic, turbulent times of our lives, where beauty triumphed, and the tears that spilled became this record.”
The album begins with ‘Hushed By Devotion,’ an 8-minute, swelling, rock opus — reminiscent of 1960’s San Francisco inspired psychedelia, which provides Wandscher (who co-wrote more of this record then previous) the sonic space to explore the depths of his guitar genius. Characterized by an emblazoned guitar solo, ghostly layered-vocal murmurings and trademark lyrical poignancy, it’s a brilliant, ambitious statement of intent that commands attention.
The record is an extension of their previous work, influenced in part by an association with the art-metal movement centered around Los Angeles label Southern Lord. This “unlikely” musical friendship between Sykes and influential underground bands SunnO))) and Boris was immortalized on the 2006 album Altar (in which Sykes sang and co-wrote the much beloved underground classic “The Sinking Belle”) culminating in a headlining performance of Altar at the ATP festival last summer. The band has also toured with Earth, a group commonly acknowledged as one of the major progenitors of heavy-doom (and another member of the Southern Lord roster), psych-rock maestros Black Mountain and recently appeared at Holland’s Roadburn Festival, curated by SunnO))) themselves, this past April.
Their musical kinship is audible in Marble Son — an utterly unique, yet subtle genre crossover. Marble Son is a journey—a gutsy romp laced with moments of shimmering, retro beauty, underpinned by pastoral images of Syke’s interior world unfolding. Listen to the standout track ‘Pleasuring the Divine,’ a gritty roar of a song, fed by Wandscher’s frenetic riffs and sludgy feedback and combined with frantic drumming—it’s entirely unexpected and totally mesmerizing.
That’s not to say that there aren’t moments of hushed acoustic wonder amongst the 11 tracks. ‘Be It Me, Or Be It None’ is a glorious four minutes of hazy, Tim Buckley-esque folk, while album closer ‘Wooden Roses’ is an ethereal meditation on finding love only too late—guitars sparkle, strings stir and Sykes’ voice swells and creaks beautifully right up until the final second.
Marble Son is the sound of a band evolving—urgently expanding to mirror the chaos of modern culture while not forgetting the beauty of the tender and mercurial world that exists within us all—the result is more relevant than ever … and, as Jesse puts it: “We have never been closer to sounding like ‘The Sweet Hereafter’ then we do here.” What a sweet sound it is. V.K.
“I liked the idea of something beautiful that may or may not be appreciated in its own time … of course a statue comes to mind … they seem to last forever in human terms, and they still are considered beautiful and viable even as they disintegrate. Some were built so well that their dissolution is almost more powerful than the pristine form—as it disintegrates, it exposes the creative process, the bare essentials … and in the fragments left — an arm, a torso, speak volumes in their decaying state. There’s a line in the song that goes “Oh marble son, why can’t I love you more? I wish I’d found you beautiful before.” That line reflects where I’m at in life … many things I didn’t appreciate when I was young, I find beautiful now and vice versa. I think about relationships and how people can ‘miss the boat’ in their lifetime, but if we need to wait another lifetime to understand a certain kind of love, then so be it. For some, it might take many lifetimes to discover, for others—well … they luck out and have a love that transcends time! We all have our evolutionary path to understanding our capacity to love and to understand beauty. The idea or image of a marble son just spoke to me on all these levels … strong, forgotten, loved, beautiful, sad … eternal.” — Jesse Sykes
PRAISE FOR MARBLE SON
“Alternative country, no … more like alternative universe … a sprawling psych rock vision …” — Spin
“This is a complex, fascinating record that punches the shoulder for attention. As subtle as it is hypnotic, mixing delicacy with confidence and hope with fear …. unlock your senses, and wrap yourself in this intricate web of aural imagery.” — Consequence Of Sound (4-star review)
“It’s the child of some Faustian pact between Karen Dalton and Jimmy Page born at some secret southern crossroad. The counterculture furies of ‘69 reborn, eternally ‘hiding from the daylight.’ You’ll be drawn to the glow of their bluesy-country embers, but eventually you’ll find yourself miles from home, dancin’ into the flames, out of your head, covered in warpaint and doing a witchdance. It’s true, throughout its hour-long spell, I had the unmistakeable feeling I was being groomed for some devious southern death cult and what’s worse, I liked it. Come, join us.” — Matt James, PopMatters
“A country-western, psych rock, shamanic, folk masterpiece.” — The Stranger
“Flush with cavernous sonics and complex soundscapes, it’s 58 minutes of aural cinema for the ears and mind.” — TONE Audio
“Whether the sonic setting is one of doomy distortion or fragile fingerpicking, Sykes remains a truly unique vocalist whose dusky voice is capable of imparting a transcendent, almost spiritual quality to almost any tune it touches.” — All Music Guide
“Terrific … A roaring, psychedelic tempest.” — Uncut (4-star review)
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter will headline The Record Exchange Alive After Five Season Finale on Wednesday, Sept. 28, on the Grove Plaza in Downtown Boise. The free, all-ages concert kicks off at 5 p.m. Low-Fi will open.
The band also will play a Record Exchange in-store at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27. As always, this Record Exchange in-store event is free and all ages.
Preview tracks from Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter’s critically-acclaimed new album Marble Son HERE.
ABOUT JESSE SYKES AND THE SWEET HEREAFTER
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter (jessesykes.com) follow up 2007’s critically acclaimed Like Love, Lust and the Open Halls of the Soul with Marble Son, their fourth release from Paris’s Fargo Records and the first on their own U.S. imprint Station Grey/Thirty Tigers.
Sykes and guitarist/vocalist Phil Wandscher took on full production duties for Marble Son, recorded entirely in and around their hometown of Seattle (engineered by Mell Dettmer and mixed by Martin Fevyear). Marble Son exemplifies a band at their creative pinnacle—heavier and more complex than previous records, the music resonates among the parallel worlds of the avant-garde and the timeless. Sykes’ voice and sometimes-mystical leanings (the former described aptly by Magnet as “sounding less like a performer and more like a sage”) and her band’s incomparable musical rapport culminate in what the New York Times has described as “spellbound music, rapt in fatalism and sorrow.” Syke’s trademark thematic darkness and acclaimed songwriting have never been more present; yet Marble Son speaks of evolution, which Sykes describes as, “a sonic mirror of the most chaotic, turbulent times of our lives, where beauty triumphed, and the tears that spilled became this record.”
The album begins with ‘Hushed By Devotion,’ an 8-minute, swelling, rock opus — reminiscent of 1960’s San Francisco inspired psychedelia, which provides Wandscher (who co-wrote more of this record then previous) the sonic space to explore the depths of his guitar genius. Characterized by an emblazoned guitar solo, ghostly layered-vocal murmurings and trademark lyrical poignancy, it’s a brilliant, ambitious statement of intent that commands attention.
The record is an extension of their previous work, influenced in part by an association with the art-metal movement centered around Los Angeles label Southern Lord. This “unlikely” musical friendship between Sykes and influential underground bands SunnO))) and Boris was immortalized on the 2006 album Altar (in which Sykes sang and co-wrote the much beloved underground classic “The Sinking Belle”) culminating in a headlining performance of Altar at the ATP festival last summer. The band has also toured with Earth, a group commonly acknowledged as one of the major progenitors of heavy-doom (and another member of the Southern Lord roster), psych-rock maestros Black Mountain and recently appeared at Holland’s Roadburn Festival, curated by SunnO))) themselves, this past April.
Their musical kinship is audible in Marble Son — an utterly unique, yet subtle genre crossover. Marble Son is a journey—a gutsy romp laced with moments of shimmering, retro beauty, underpinned by pastoral images of Syke’s interior world unfolding. Listen to the standout track ‘Pleasuring the Divine,’ a gritty roar of a song, fed by Wandscher’s frenetic riffs and sludgy feedback and combined with frantic drumming—it’s entirely unexpected and totally mesmerizing.
That’s not to say that there aren’t moments of hushed acoustic wonder amongst the 11 tracks. ‘Be It Me, Or Be It None’ is a glorious four minutes of hazy, Tim Buckley-esque folk, while album closer ‘Wooden Roses’ is an ethereal meditation on finding love only too late—guitars sparkle, strings stir and Sykes’ voice swells and creaks beautifully right up until the final second.
Marble Son is the sound of a band evolving—urgently expanding to mirror the chaos of modern culture while not forgetting the beauty of the tender and mercurial world that exists within us all—the result is more relevant than ever … and, as Jesse puts it: “We have never been closer to sounding like ‘The Sweet Hereafter’ then we do here.” What a sweet sound it is. V.K.
“I liked the idea of something beautiful that may or may not be appreciated in its own time … of course a statue comes to mind … they seem to last forever in human terms, and they still are considered beautiful and viable even as they disintegrate. Some were built so well that their dissolution is almost more powerful than the pristine form—as it disintegrates, it exposes the creative process, the bare essentials … and in the fragments left — an arm, a torso, speak volumes in their decaying state. There’s a line in the song that goes “Oh marble son, why can’t I love you more? I wish I’d found you beautiful before.” That line reflects where I’m at in life … many things I didn’t appreciate when I was young, I find beautiful now and vice versa. I think about relationships and how people can ‘miss the boat’ in their lifetime, but if we need to wait another lifetime to understand a certain kind of love, then so be it. For some, it might take many lifetimes to discover, for others—well … they luck out and have a love that transcends time! We all have our evolutionary path to understanding our capacity to love and to understand beauty. The idea or image of a marble son just spoke to me on all these levels … strong, forgotten, loved, beautiful, sad … eternal.” — Jesse Sykes
PRAISE FOR MARBLE SON
“Alternative country, no … more like alternative universe … a sprawling psych rock vision …” — Spin
“This is a complex, fascinating record that punches the shoulder for attention. As subtle as it is hypnotic, mixing delicacy with confidence and hope with fear …. unlock your senses, and wrap yourself in this intricate web of aural imagery.” — Consequence Of Sound (4-star review)
“It’s the child of some Faustian pact between Karen Dalton and Jimmy Page born at some secret southern crossroad. The counterculture furies of ‘69 reborn, eternally ‘hiding from the daylight.’ You’ll be drawn to the glow of their bluesy-country embers, but eventually you’ll find yourself miles from home, dancin’ into the flames, out of your head, covered in warpaint and doing a witchdance. It’s true, throughout its hour-long spell, I had the unmistakeable feeling I was being groomed for some devious southern death cult and what’s worse, I liked it. Come, join us.” — Matt James, PopMatters
“A country-western, psych rock, shamanic, folk masterpiece.” — The Stranger
“Flush with cavernous sonics and complex soundscapes, it’s 58 minutes of aural cinema for the ears and mind.” — TONE Audio
“Whether the sonic setting is one of doomy distortion or fragile fingerpicking, Sykes remains a truly unique vocalist whose dusky voice is capable of imparting a transcendent, almost spiritual quality to almost any tune it touches.” — All Music Guide
“Terrific … A roaring, psychedelic tempest.” — Uncut (4-star review)