Favorite Music of 2013 - Part 2

Favorites from 2013 from nateabels on 8tracks Radio.

1. Javelin, “Hi-Beams” - this upbeat album edged out the excellent "Muchacho" because it is so damn fun and I'm not always in the mood for the often somber tone of Phosphorescent. I'm amazed that this wasn't on more lists this year. 
2. Phosphorescent, “Muchacho” - easily could be number one as well - a exceptional album with a complex variety of instrumentation, big choral introductions, and jangly choruses
3. Kurt Vile, “Waking on a Pretty Daze” - he played an awesome set at the Bluebird earlier this year - nice laid back rock album
4. William Onyeabor, “Who is William Onyeabor?” - a re-issue of 1970s/80s Nigerian electronic music - infectiously energetic -basically functioned as the soundtrack for our December road trip
5. M. Sage – numerous cassette releases from the prolific Ft. Collins based ambient arranger
6. Monster Rally, “Return to Paradise” - a highly recommended beat album full of chill tropical/lounge samples - the kind of thing you can put on during most any event and play it all the way through
7. Willow Beats, “Alchemy” -five organic/robotic glitched out electronic songs make for an excellent ep
8. Jai Paul – demos - not an official release, but it still managed to make it onto tons of lists at the end of the year because these chill dubstep influenced pop gems are so good
9. Black Swan, “Redemption” - not something I play every day, but as far as very dark drone/ambient compositions go Black Swan is one of the best
10. Forest Swords, “Engravings” - strange broken up spare beats and samples - very dark
11. Polica, “Shulamith” - great synth pop - vocalist is awesome
12. Dirty Beaches, “Drifters/Love is the Devil” - a smokey double-album with a lot of tension and mystery - something I think I'll be listening to a lot more in the winter months
13. Deerhunter, “Monomania” - they played a loud, noisey set at the Bluebird this year and I really enjoyed it - this album is more of a noise-rock album than their previous releases that tend to have more atmospherics
14. Julianna Barwick, “Nepenthe” - beautiful choral compositions
15. Shipmate, “Mint”, “Static” -humble 4/4 lo-fi autotuned RnB from Ft. Collins- both albums are a free download

Worth Mentioning:

• No Joy, “Wait to Pleasure” - nice shoegaze album I need to sink my teeth into
• Vampire Weekend, “Modern Vampires” - supposed to be a great album but I really haven't listened to it enough
• The Knife, “Shaking the Habitual” - sometimes hard to listen to, but other times it is exceptionally creative
• Arcade Fire, “Reflector” - a bit on the fence about it - "Reflector" made a big first impression but that has tarnished a little upon further listens...still a not-as-good Arcade Fire album is superior to most other artists better ones
• Invasions, “Invasions” - western-tinged surf! need to listen to it more, but I've enjoyed it quite a bit on initial listens
• Califone, “Stitches” - probably should be on the list above - solid quiet acoustic/rock album
• Midlake, "Antiphon"

I know I forgot some great albums... There are numerous other instrumental albums/tapes that I listed previously as part of my Favorite Ambient Cassettes of 2013 (see below)

Memorable Films:
I didn't see many this year, but these few stood out: 

• Act of Killing (very heavy but powerful)
• Gravity
• The Great Beauty
• Anchorman 2 (could do without about an hour in the middle of this over-long movie but the beginning and end were fun, even if they were mostly reworkings of the first movie)

2013 Concerts

• Califone living room show
• Lake Mary @ Groundswell Gallery
• Julianna Barwick @ Leon Gallery
• Destroyer @ the Larimer Lounge
• Deerhunter @ the Bluebird
• Kurt Vile @ the Bluebird
• Noveller @ Goldrush Festival
• Midlake @ the Larimer Lounge
• Robert Plant/Black Angels @ Red Rocks
• Heinavanker @ St. John’s Cathedral

Favorites from my previous lists:
2012: Sharon Van Etten
2011: The War on Drugs
2010: Beach House
2009: Bill Callahan
2008: The Walkmen

Favorites from 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 , and 2008.

Favorite Music of 2013 - Part 1 - Ambient Cassettes

2013 was the year of quiet cassettes for me. Not all of these on the list came out in 2013 -a few were from 2012 - but I purchased them or listened to them a lot in 2013. I can bend the rules, because it is my list! I know it sound strange to be mail-ordering short-run cassettes in the 21st century but some of the best delicate bedroom compositions are coming out in this format. As I wrote in this Tome to the Weather Machine review, "cassettes have a lot of the same appeal to me that I find in drawing. Drawing is typically a personal, immediate, and usually low cost medium. There’s nowhere near the degree of material preparation one might have with a painting. In some of the same ways, home-made lo-fi cassettes exemplify an imperfect, direct, and personal medium." The affordability of cassettes can't be understated - typically $5-$10 with shipping. You can find a walkman for a few bucks at most thrift stores, so you can start listening for a minimal investment.

If the idea of stacking up plastic cases doesn't thrill you I would recommend checking out these artists on bandcamp where most of the above albums are available to stream and/or purchase digitally. Most of the releases pictured above came out in editions of 100 or less, so the audience is obviously quite small. However, it is unfair to assume that my reason (or anyone else collecting this music) for listening to these artists is because of their obscurity. I would love for these artists to be better known and supported. When attempting to translate these complex textured sounds into words I will certainly fall short - so listen to the samples below for the best way of appreciating the music. With that intro out of the way, let's talk about these exceptional tapes from 2013:

1. M. Sage - multiple releases (eight pictured above) - I am becoming quite the superfan of Fort Collins-based musician Matt Sage. Most of his releases are on his own aptly titled label Patient Sounds - with a couple exceptions this year on the Moon Glyph and Mirror Universe labels. These tapes are grainy compositions that ebb and flow with washes of guitar and strings. I can't recommend them enough. Listen below:



2. Kevin Costner Suicide Pact - "Container Ship" - also a Colorado-based group making soft arrangements on the Patient Sounds label. On rare occasions when I was in grad school in Savannah, Georgia I would venture down to the touristy River St. area for some food/drink or to visit friends. Inevitably a large container ship would be lumbering down the river and if you were lucky enough to be in one of the shops or restaurants on River St. at the time it would appear as if the whole building was moving because the ship would engulf the entire view out of the windows. It is a phenomenon that's hard to describe, like a lot of ambient music.  This double-tape/download set is spare and quite melodic. There's a lot of beauty here. This just came out at the end of November so a small number of the physical releases are still available. Get on it.



3. Hedia - Wool - These quiet neo-classical/ambient arrangements come wrapped in a stunning little letter-pressed cover. The music is described by the artist Bryce Hample in this way, "WOOL' CULMINATES FROM 2 YEARS AND 3 WINTERS. A FAILED FILM SCORE. A THEME REPEATED IN STOLEN MOMENTS ON GRAND PIANOS IN WISCONSIN, NEW YORK, AND NEW MEXICO. PIANO AS WOOL. VIOLA DA GAMBA, A BORROWED CLARINET,AND DESERT SNOW." It does feel like a film score when listening to the pianos and strings weave among each other, but hardly a "failed" one. I could picture Jep in "A Great Beauty" walking along the Tiber river in Rome to this piano:

.

4. Gimu - "A Silent Stroll on Sombre St.", and "All the Intricacies of an Imaginary Disease" -  these both came out in 2012, but Brazilian artist Gimu has released 8 (!) additional albums/eps in 2013 and if I had those on tape I would include those as well. I have had the pleasure of working with Gimu on album art for one of these tapes and an upcoming release in 2014 and I'm honored to have some of my art accompany such dark, heartfelt, textured arrangements.



5. Aria Rostami - "Decades/Peter"- When compared to a lot of the other releases on this list, this tape is one of the most dynamic. Rostami's songs incorporate EDM, classical, noisey textures, and ambient to form a really enjoyable album. 

 

6. Paw Paw - "Temporalis/Epiphysis"  -more great ambient from Denver - more acoustic than other releases on the list - not a single bad track on this two tape set.



7. Forming, "Variations of the One Essence" - sampled tape loops - soft repeats



8. Kyle Landstra, "The Illusion of Becoming", and "Sage" -big new age synth-scapes with dramatic crescendos




9. Olli Aarni - Pohjoisen kesä - this came out in 2012 - reviewed by myself on Tome in 2013


 
10. Pines, "A Spirit"  - perfect soundtrack for a winter in a log cabin

 

11. Stag Hare, "Angel Tech" -hazy hippie house music - a really enjoyable and upbeat listen



12. Foothills, "A New World" - Patient Sounds says this about Foothills, "Chase Hudson brings to us a shimmery unveiling of ambient and pop structures refracted through a psychic crystal, projected into the future, and shone brightly onto the wasted past. Glittery synths, drum machines, radio wobble and lush soundscapes."

13. Tuluum Shimmering, "Islands of the Moon and Sun" - I played this in drawing class over the summer and one student said, "does this just repeat for a half hour?" - yes, it does more or less. That's what I like about it.


14. Former Selves/The Original Flowering Earth, "split" - I am more inclined to like the less-abrasive Former Selves side of this tape but it is a solid release as a whole on Denver's own Planted Tapes.



15.  Sky Stadium, "Setting Vision" -mellow synth-based new age ambient



16. Journey of Mind, "Oil Burner" - dark loops

Finished Painting, "Desert Sage"

Nathan Abels, "Desert Sage", Acrylic on Linen, 24x36"

Scroll down to see the process of how this developed.

Painting progress

getting closer...

Gimu + Pilgrimage

A nice mention of the lost "Pilgrimage" project at Decoder magazine. I found Gimu's statement, "Music makes me feel less useless and small." to be quite poignant. You can stream "Pilgrimage" here:

Little farther

Making progress:

Painting Process Update

New Painting process part 1

 Been a long time - but I will try using this blog again occasionally - this time at the request of some new painting students that were asking about my personal process... Here's a few process photos from recent paintings - beginning with a Utah-based work.

The process here began with a 3x4' raw canvas onto which I projected my photo and sketched in a few of the basic shapes. From there I wet most of the raw canvas and poured/painted very thin washes of acrylic paint into the cotton. This stage works similar to a watercolor as the paint diffuses and stains the raw canvas.

 From there, I sealed the absorbent canvas with many layers of clear gesso and self-leveling clear gel (by Golden).  After it is adequately sealed, I begin building up the acrylic with layers of glazed paint.

After those stages, I switched to oil paint to soften some edges and lay in big tones (mostly blues/grays). The photo below may not be the best representation of the finished work but gives you an idea:

The work on the easel right now is also inspired by the desert as well as a previous work (the tree painting above titled "Lumen Vitae", Acrylic on Canvas, 42x60"). This painting focuses on one of my favorite plants: desert sage.


This painting process is more direct - again starting with simple outlines of the forms, I am laying in a lot of the larger background shapes first:

From there I'm building up the acrylic on the sage in the foreground. This photo shows the daylight coming through the linen in my studio. The process from here will continue filling in the larger shapes and proceed to layer more glazed paint to pronounce the warm glow of the setting sun.

New Painting

 "First Light", Acrylic on Canvas, 36x48", 2013

"First Light", Acrylic on Canvas, 36x48", 2013 (DETAIL)

Growing Up Gamer

My nerdy Nintendo collection pictured above - to coincide with a exhibit of gaming at the Aurora History Center called, Growing Up Gamer.

A Hicory Handled Hatchet

Been awhile... I haven't had much to post lately. My time has been spent trying to experience more real, tangible things - like the smell of burning juniper wood, getting my boots dusty, or the satisfactory feel of chopping wood for the campfire with a hickory-handled hatchet in my hand (recent flea-market score pictured above).

In the studio I'm finishing up a commission. A smoother weave of canvas and more fluid Golden-brand "Open" acrylics have yielded a nice velvety surface to these recent works - something I enjoy immensely when topped by a smooth satin varnish. My afternoons between classes have been spent taking short hikes in the foothills or walking down to the art museum and library in downtown Denver. Of course walking isn't the most efficient form of transportation, but I tend to agree with Edward Abbey when he says,

"There are some good things to be said about walking. Not many, but some. Walking takes longer, for example, than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. Thus it stretches time and prolongs life. Life is already too short to waste on speed. I have a friend who's always in a hurry; he never gets anywhere. Walking makes the world much bigger and thus more interesting. You have time to observe the details. The utopian technologists foresee a future for us in which distance is annihilated and anyone can transport himself anywhere, instantly. Big deal, Buckminster. To be everywhere at once is to be nowhere forever, if you ask me."

One could easily also compare the internet to being "everywhere at once" and "nowhere forever"- so I'm trying to be more present, and to slow down. The internet seems increasingly trivial.

All the best to everyone out there checking in at "minutiae",

Nathan

For the Love of Utah

A mix of photos I've taken in Utah over the years...

Spring Break!

Soon... some Desert Solitaire. Currently preparing by reading up on Cold Splinters, the Non-Technical Canyon Guide to the Colorado Plateau,  gathering supplies, and making playlists. Music of choice for long drives in the West this Spring will be:

• Phosphorescent, "Muchacho" 
• Morriconez, "Cloud of Dust Cry of Death"
• Songs: Ohia, "Magnolia  Electric Co"
• Music from Saharan Cellphones
• Handsome Furs, Plague Park (every road trip)
• Neil Young
• Javelin, Hi Beams
• Charlie Parr
• Jack Rose
• Daniel Bachman
• M. Sage

and probably several episodes of Mysterious Universe, The Extraenvironmentalist, 99% Invisible, This American Life, and Radiolab podcasts.

 Photo from Natural Bridges National Monument from last year - taken by me.

Zine by Terence Hannum

 While a lot of the zine appears to be pretty standard style tumblr-influenced collages - the spread above is great. Check out the whole thing by Terence Hannum at Kiddiepunk.

That cathedral/amp combo above definitely brings to mind this awesome photo of the band Sunn O))).

From yesterday's hike:

Wednesday Wind-down

I had the priveledge of seeing both of these musicians perform at Groundswell Gallery on Sunday - both are exceptional ambient musicians based in Colorado:

Above is his free album from a couple years ago - but you can find more recent work of his here bandcamp and here:

Beatiful soaring soundscapes with vocal overlays - brings to mind Julianna Barwick and Grouper a little.

Photo of the Day

Painting of the Day: Degas

Edgar Degas, Landscape, Monotype in oil colors, heightened with pastel, 1892 via the Metropolitan Museum

Abstractions at Groundswell Gallery

My three untitled small abstractions (above) can be seen at Groundswell Gallery as part of the "Provisional" group show for just a few more days before the new exhibition opens at the beginning of March.

Wednesday Wind-down

Nice shoegazed-out guitar instrumentals with a bit of a Twin Peaks vibe



Ambient soundscapes from Boulder's Radere - performing at Groundswell Gallery this Sunday with several other notable sound/video artists.

New Kaye Donachie

Kaye Donachie
From the compassion that was I, 2013
oil on canvas, 51 x 41 cm

Hare in the Snow

Photo and video by me - snowshoe hare in the fresh Rocky Mountain National Park snow - discovered while snowshoeing in the park yesterday.

and here's a grainy video of some coyotes playing in the park as well:

New Kaye Donachie, Glenn Sorensen, Hiroshi Sugito

Galerie Zink

Wednesday Wind-down

Great, somewhat eerie soundtrack-style instrumental tracks - the description given says, "An exercise in epic introspection."



 I'll follow that up with the very pleasant neo-classical official soundtrack to the norwegian documentary "Nordfor Solen".

Remember - you can stream most bandamp releases in their entirety -so give these a listen and enjoy your Wednesday wind-down.

New drawing

I made a new 8x10" drawing (as yet untitled)

New writing/review venture

I'm writing reviews of cassette/independent releases at Tome to the Weather Machine now. You can read my first review of M. Sage here.

Estate Sale Score

I got this 1800s coverlet at an estate sale in East Denver today. Awesome designs!

Two with Text

 CHRIS CACCAMISE

Under the Paving Stones the Beach, 2010
flashe + enamel on bristol paper
32 x 4 x 19 inches
 

My photo of a vintage fortune teller arcade machine in Manitou Springs