Datura - Visions For The Celestial: Beneath The Desert - VINYL LP

Matthew Doty didn't set out to write a solo album. His first batch of weightless and brightly lit material under the name Deserta began to take shape in 2017. Shortly after finding out he was going to be a father, Doty started working on a batch of songs inspired by the joy and the unknown of the world he was about to enter. That inspiration is the sonic and emotional backbone of debut album Black Aura My Sun. Like a hot air balloon headed straight for the stratosphere, Deserta reveals yet another side of the songwriting Doty has spent decades refining. As experimental as it is enthralling, Black Aura My Sun applies the vapor-trailed production values and sublime dynamics of Doty's previous group projects (including post-rock band Saxon Shore and the synth-laced post-punk of Midnight Faces) to a shoegaze-y sound that splits the difference between Slowdive and Sigur Rós. Doty began finding his own musical voice in the early '00s with the sky-piercing efforts of Saxon Shore. While it was initially a collaboration with Josh Tillman (a.k.a. Father John Misty), Doty was Saxon Shore's only consistent member over the course of five acclaimed records. His responsibility spilled over into everything from booking shows to the songs themselves. He was never completely alone in his pursuit of post-rock perfection, however, so Deserta is very much a new endeavor a trial-by-fire that was written, recorded, and mixed in total solitude. Deserta expands and contracts, with chords that drift like clouds, drums that drag and dissipate, and hooks that hang in the air for what feels like forever. That doesn't mean Black Aura My Sun is a subtle or soft record. It actually whips up quite a racket and is particularly heavy when piped through a pair of headphones. Deserta is Doty's main creative outlet right now and a one-way ticket to another dimension entirely.

Joachim Held - Merry Melancholy English Lute Music 16th Century [COMPACT DISCS] date 06/29/2010

Falling somewhere between Soulside, Ignition, and The Chocolate Watchband, Vile Cherubs were a short-lived and puzzling band that for a brief window in 1986-88 man- aged to captivate, confuse, and annoy the D.C. punk scene.Consisting of high school classmates Tim Green, Jesse Quitlsund, and Ben Wides-along with Green's childhood friend Seth Lorinczi-the Vile Cherubs were more focused on the then-forgotten sounds of '60s garage rock and psychedelia than on Minor Threat. Being minors themselves, they likely would've remained trapped in the school-dance circuit were it not for Geoff Turner (Gray Matter / 3), who took an interest in the band and recorded their two demos.That first tape caught the ear of d.c. space booker Cynthia Connolly, who despite her initial skepticism paired them with Didjits, Cynics, and other noteworthy bands. Rumors of a potential Dischord album built all through 1987, ending with mysterious suddenness after tag co-owner Jeff Nelson dropped in on a rehearsal to find a miasma of LSD, alcohol, feedback, and vomit.Though the band released a posthumous LP in 1988, the original Geoff Turner demos explain why the D.C. scene briefly lost it's S**t over these teen ne'er-do-wells. Lovingly and exhaustively resuscitated by audio maestro Tim Green from the original multitrack tapes, InchLysergic LamentationsInch is the Vile Cherubs at the height of their brief existence.