Get Rec'd Round 3
Secret Garden, Wild Sweet Orange, Quasi, AF13, Todd Rundgren
I had so much fun listening to your recommendations that I decided to review all of them. Please bear in mind that I’m not familiar with many of the artists and musical styles I’m reviewing, and therefore my opinions are often misinformed and therefore don’t matter.
Secret Garden - Songs From A Secret Garden (1995)
Believe it or not, I’m no stranger to 90s new-age music. When I was much younger, my dad went through a short yet intense period in which he only listened to Celtic and new-age music. I am intimately familiar with the legendary Pure Moods CD, among other popular releases from that era. If you didn’t live through the Celtic culture craze of the late 90s it’s kind of hard to explain, but this stuff was EVERYWHERE. Somehow, though, I don’t think I’ve heard Secret Garden previously.
Technically this isn’t just Celtic, as half of the duo is Norwegian, which I think lends it even more new-age cred. This album itself, cover art aside, is actually quite lovely. Beautiful string and piano arrangements. Many of the songs straddle a line between Titanic music and Lord Of The Rings music. The differences are subtle, and no I will not elaborate. It’s a bit too soundtrack-y for everyday listening, but it’s nice if you’re in the mood for something to sweep you away into fairyland.
Best track: Nocturne
Wild Sweet Orange - We Have Cause To Be Uneasy (2008)
Spotify almost tricked me with this one. This album is listed as being from 2020, but I know mid-00s indie rock when I hear it. Nice try, Spotify!
I’m a little shocked that I missed this when it came out. This is very much my thing. I like their blend of heavier tracks with more laid-back tunes. Kind of reminds me of the story-telling alt-rock of the early Manchester Orchestra albums with a bit of an alt-country twang.
This is a solid album that I think was a casualty of being released at exactly the wrong time. This came out at the tail end of the brit-rock revival, and just a few years before the stomp-clap-hey folk craze that would define the 2010s. As this falls somewhere in the middle, I can see how it got lost in the shuffle.
Best track: Land of No Return
Quasi - R&B Transmogrification (1997)
I was really expecting this to be, you know, an R&B album. It seems that the R&B has been transmogrified into fuzzy 90s slacker rock. Based on a cursory Wikipedia search, the members appear to be better known for the other bands they’ve played in (Bright Eyes, Sleater-Kinney, Built to Spill) than for their main band. That’s some solid indie pedigree.
Unfortunately, this record just isn’t doing it for me. I guess I can appreciate what they were going for. It’s very lo-fi - the production is messy at best. I’m sure this was intentional. I don’t mind poor production on principle (see my review for Brave Little Abacus) but the music just isn’t interesting enough to make up for it. The songs sort of inhabit the same noisy middle ground throughout the album.
Best track: Sugar
AF13, Greg Leisz, Suzanne Ciani - Milan (2021)
You had me at “ambient pedal steel.”
I’ve been making more of an effort recently to get into ambient music. I’ve always struggled with the genre, I suspect mainly due to my ADHD and impatience with music that doesn’t seem to immediately GO anywhere. It’s a tough genre to get into.
Now Milan I can get into. I never would have thought of using pedal steel as the primary instrument for an album like this, but it works. Country and country-adjacent indie music seem to be having a moment right now, so why not throw this into the mix as well? This is an incredibly sparse album, with just a few synth pads and other beeps and boops occasionally breaking through. This is space cowboy music. I can get lost in this one.
Best track: Delayed
Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star (1973)
Todd Rundgren. A mainstay of dad-rock and more recently grandad-rock radio. It’s one of those names that I’ve heard a million times but I don’t think I could name a single track off the top of my head.
Oh man, he’s the dude that wrote the Green Bay Packers touchdown song? I’ve heard this stupid song hundreds of times in my life and never knew it was Todd Rundgren.
But this isn’t about the Packers. This is about the 1973 LP “A Wizard, A True Star.” This sounds pretty proggy right off the bat. Apparently a shit-ton of drugs were involved in the making of this album and yeah I can hear that. I appreciate the variety from track to track. It’s disjointed and messy, but freaky in all the right ways. Many of these tracks are barely over a minute in length. It’s like whiplash moving from track to track. Todd is clearly embracing the Shorts lifestyle.
Probably not an album I’d revisit often, but kudos for going all-out with this one.
Best Track: Tic Tic Tic, It Wears Off