Calvin Johnson - Calvin Johnson & the Sons of the Soil - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Johnson is the founder of K Records and operates the Dub Narcotic Studio where he has recorded such stalwarts as Mirah, Tender Forever, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Fitz of Depression, and more. He released numerous records with Beat Happening, Dub Narcotic Sound System, and the Halo Benders. His second solo effort is a collection of collaborations, with a slate of guest producers including Khaela Marricich (The Blow), Mirah yom tov Zeitlyn, Johnny Jewel (Glass Candy), and Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie) livening things up with their arrangements and textures. Other guests, such as Adam Forkner (Yume Bitsu, VERSION), Jona Bechtolt (Y.A.C.H.T.), Warren Lee and Devin Welch (Chromatics, Shoplifting), add a psychic, dramatizing twist.

Calvin Johnson - What Was Me [COMPACT DISCS] date 07/16/2002

MoonJune stalwart Dennis Rea (Moraine, Iron Kim Style, Zhongyu) continues his series of Inchmusical traveloguesInch with Giant Steppes, a boldly unconventional exploration of Central Asian music that follows on from his acclaimed 2010 MoonJune Views From Chicheng Precipice. Recorded over several years in Seattle and Siberia, Giant Steppes is the ever-unpredictable guitarist/composer/arranger's most ambitious album so far, interpolating Silk Road desert airs, Russian choral songs, Tuvan throat singing, and mutant Tibetan pop with a gleeful yet respectful disregard for genre purity. The album is all over the map both geographically and sonically, mingling jazz, heavy prog, krautrock, surf, electroacoustic soundscapes, and field recordings and showcasing such formidable musicians as Tuvan singer Albert Kuvezin (Yat Kha), celebrated Russian choral ensemble Juliana & PAVA, badass bassist Wadim Dicke, trumpet mage Greg Kelley, Rea's 1970s Earthstar bandmate Daniel Zongrone, and Seattle treasures Steve Fisk, Doug Haire, Stuart Dempster, Dick Valentine, Don Berman, Greg Campbell, Brian Oppel, and Greg Powers.