Ianthe's Inferno

Name: Ianthe M. Belisle Dempsey

Age: 17
Favorite philosopher: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Been there
Time travel
And, yes!!
I say that time travel
Really does already exist
But not through the sciences
And through physics
But it exists within the power
Of our own minds
To illuminate our own memories
And now through some
Subliminal hypnotic state of mind
One can recede back
Into one's own previous life
Not to extract precise, minute details
But to re-inhabit vague transcendental experiences of pre-existential... optimism
A time before any ability to reason
Is actually set
A time before logic covers
All the dimensions of our thinking
And if we're lucky
We can even dissolve back
To a time of glorious, superhuman
Space and time
A time when all things seem possible

check these sweet tunes.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

[inferno music recommendation: alt-country influenced]

The second music recommendation post of Ianthe's Inferno comes on the heels of my recent attendance at the 2009 Pitchfork Music Festival. We camped out the A stage for 6+ hours to get good spots for The Flaming Lips on Sunday night, and I got to see all of the bands that played on that stage before the Lips. It was thus through a happy accident that I discovered the awesomeness that is indie-alt-country-electronica band Blitzen Trapper. Here's their recent hit Black River Killer from Furr, their 2008 Sub Pop release:

They're notorious for exploring a variety of incoherent musical styles within one album, but Furr is definitely their most cohesive to date.

My newfound love of Blitzen Trapper led me to discover other bands that have a similar indie-alt-country flavor to them -- specifically, Etienne de Rocher and The Republic Tigers.

Berkeley-based singer-songwriter Etienne de Rocher (www.etiennederocher.com) reminds me quite a bit of Beck, although my favorite track Juniper Rose off of his eponymous album also has quite a Bob Dylan kick to it. He's pretty much unknown -- even his wikipedia is scarcely a few lines, and he rarely tours very far from his native California. Be the first on your block to know all the words to The Lizard Song. Give him a listen over at www.myspace.com/etiennederocher.

The Republic Tigers, by contrast, have been on Letterman and featured on the soundtracks of Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl, Chuck, and Supernatural. Their song "Buildings & Mountains" was even featured as the iTunes song of the week. Yet for all of their talent and polished sound, they have yet to be picked up by the mainstream... so get 'em while they're hot, so you can be that kid who liked them before they were cool. Here's Buildings & Mountains, off of their full-length debut Keep Color: