The Lonesome Organist:

Collector of Cactus Echo Bags:(1997)

Cavalcade:(1999)

I stumbled across the work of the Lonesome Organist (Jeremy Jacobsen) by artwork accident. Now, this first bit of today's post doesn't apply to a vinyl record, but we'll get back to vinyl in a sec. I was at a music store in 2003, looking for new music the old fashioned way, looking at album art, and taking a chance. I came across this interesting looking greenish-yellow cover with a three-headed crooner, and typeface that said, The Lonesome Organist One Man Band. It was the third album, Forms and Follies, that I took home that day, and fell in love with. 

Ok, so back to the vinyl... While playing shows in Denver in about 2009, I checked out, as I often do, Black & Read. Which is where I picked up these two records. Collector is a wildly cool album from artwork to music. There are elements here that seem to be a bridge from Jacobsen's 5ive Style band to this Lonesome Organist incarnation. Those elements feel completely gone by the time Cavalcade came out. Cavalcade feels like the Organist is fully born into its own thing. 

Overall I'm a big fan of the organic nature of this music, the introduction of a bit of chaos into melodies that seem at once familiar, and to creep in from another era reborn in a dream state. This is atmospheric music. 

Godspeed You! Black Emperor:

F♯ A♯ ∞:(1997)

I love this album. And I love that this piece of vinyl came with so many mysterious little inserts like a flattened penny, and hand drawn card etc., all of which go hand in hand with the cinematic spatial feel of the music. This is top of my list of great car trip albums, especially when driving west as the landscapes widen. 

 

The Curious Mystery:

Rotting Slowly:(2009)

There's a dreamy David Lynch quality to the atmosphere of this album. It kind of wraps itself around you, and makes you think, "If I stare hard enough out this window I might see a different world." The conversational lyrics remind me a bit of Jandek, only sung by smokey voices. The music is like a 60's Indie Rock take on Godspeed You! Black Emperor.