Mike Adams At His Honest Weight - Oscillate Wisely (10th Anniversary Edition) - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

On Silver Vinyl. For ten years now, I've understood InchOscillate WiselyInch as a play on the Smiths' instrumental InchOscillate WildlyInch-itself, of course, a pun on Morrissey's muse, Oscar Wilde. This is not to say that anything about Mike Adams and his band reminds me of the Smiths (especially Morrissey), as much as the idea that rock bands like Mike Adams At His Honest Weight take shape more or less as a thesaurus of past ideas-winking at them, borrowing them like a library book, checking them out from across the room, cloning them.But the best stuff is more ineffable, far more than just cut-and-paste. There's a weird grandeur to Adams' music, starting with that fully formed, geekily majestic 2011 debut LP Oscillate Wisely, that I don't hear in anything else, before or since. A sense that Adams is guiding his listeners toward a cosmic joke so personal, so inscrutable, so funny (InchfunnyInch), if you give him your attention. It's in his blood, I think. He's not Oscar Wilde, but a uniquely Midwestern type of deeply sincere romantic and dyed-in-the-wool goofball cast from the mold of Hoosier icons like Letterman and Vonnegut. He doesn't want to believe in anything, he didn't create this body, he loves a parade. It's all in fun, but it gets so personal. Onstage, Adams is gregarious and playfully self-effacing, a college town denizen telescoping backwards to the brief early 90s moment when Inchcollege rockInch entered the corporate suite, and performers forced to become showmen retreated to the comfort of their native tongue irony. And Oscillate Wisely has demonstrated for a decade that earnestness and sarcasm are as intricately bound in rock and roll's lingua franca as hang-ups and chill hangs. I've never heard any musician summon everything I love about being from Indiana so perfectly. And I'm fucking old.- Eric Harvey

New 50th Anniversary edition of Mike Oldfield's landmark Tubular Bells. This edition includes a handful of special bonus tracks. Of particular note on this tracklist is the brand new 8-minute track, InchTubular Bells 4 Intro,Inch which may very well turn out to be the last piece of music Oldfield has ever recorded, according to a press from his tag.

Mustang Island, the third album from Austin-based band Little Mazarn, is a gentle force. Waves of grief crest like surf on the Texas coast. Wild horses break through long-shuttered gates, only to come back around. Lead songwriter, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Lindsey Verrill (she/her) joins bandmates Jeff Johnston (he/him) and Carolina Chauffe (they/them). The ten-song collection continues work with Dear Life Records. A full-throated romp through the capabilities of community-minded songcraft, Mustang Island is both naturalistic and futuristic, completely recasting Little Mazarn's origins in primitive folk. Instead, the band reaches towards sonic experimentation and spacious expansion.Lindsey's heart-opening vocals and Jeff's singing saw, both trademarks of the project, mix with unexpected bombastic drums, dissonant synthesizers, and a chorus of orchestral oddities. This mid-career ode dances confidently in the creative liberties granted by decades in the game - more dazzlingly lively, and honestly somber, than ever before.The band's crossroads branch across prominent Southern outsider music On cello, Lindsey has recorded with Patty Griffin and Dana Falconberry. The longtime side player wouldn't write her first song until age 34. Jeff has played in Bill Callahan's band, as well as with Li'l Cap'n Travis and Orange Mothers. Carolina is known for prolific solo project hemlock. Little Mazarn has also collaborated with Lomelda to their last EP, Honey Island General Store (2023), following past LPs Texas River Song (2022) and Io (2019).Alongside silliness and reverence, including covers from Kate Wolf and Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, grief directs much of Mustang Island. Lindsey left her job of seventeen years teaching cello at a local school. Recording also aligned with the passing of Jeff's father, a career educator in Jeff and Lindsey's hometown of Dallas.I