One: For The Stranger, Dave Segal on the unclassifiable, enveloping music of Seattle’s Sokai Stillhed. A bit of what it’s about:
Sokai’s two CD-Rs—Sokai Stilhed and Second, both of which she packaged herself in paper left over from her parents’ wedding invitations—sound holy but untethered to any organized religion; pagan, but without the look-at-me-I’m-so-fucking-radical Burner associations.
Two: The esteemed Doug Mosurock now has a blog — essentially, an extension of his Still Single column for Dusted. The phrase “caber toss hardcore” may be the most evocative three-word genre I’ve heard since “clumsy bear jazz”. (Credit for that one goes to Josh Wells.)
Three: Speaking of Dusted, it’s worth mentioning once again the sheer breadth of coverage they have — for my money, probably the best breadth of underground musical coverage out there; as of my writing this, their recent reviews include everything from Neko Case, Julie Doiron, and Obits to Arvo Pärt, Brethren of the Free Spirit, and Faust. And it’s a fine way to be turned on to things you might not have been aware of before — for instance, this review of the Mark Templeton/Aaron Munson collaboration Acre Loss, which has my interest piqued.