Two Hours of Music Picked by Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie presents:

Cause And EffectTwo Hours of Music Picked by Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie

Tonight is an extra special version of Cause & Effect because the musician Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie / The Microphones has picked all two hours of our music this evening. Even better, he has supplied notes on all the songs that aren't written by him so you will have an even better sense of how and why these songs hold great meaning. Click on "READ MORE" to get to the set list and his notes. 

All notes below have been supplied by Phil Elverum:

 

The Ronettes – Be My Baby
I remember being in 2nd grade and hearing music like this (and Leader of the Pack, And Then He Kissed Me, Don't Worry Baby, etc.) and being so spooked and in love with it's sad sweet drama and huge gnarly sound.  Later as a teenager getting into recording I realized how insane the production was in this music.  
 
Beat Happening – Teenage Caveman
To "rock" is a broad term, applicable beyond the standard heaviness of the dominant grunge bands at the time.
 
Sonic Youth– Genetic
Lee Ranaldo as the romantic descendent of the Beats, writing a poem about kicking through leaves and train noise and playing it with insane distorted guitar.

 
Eric's Trip– You're Always Right
This is the band that expanded my understanding of recording.  I hadn't heard home-made sounding stuff that was so immersive before. 
 
My Bloody Valentine– All I Need
Of course this band is always on my mind when thinking about recording.  I am always aiming for that blend of beautiful clarity and weird walls of mush.  This song is as good a representation as any.
 
Gravel– Sand In My Eyes
This band was the cool older guys practicing through the woods at my parents' house outside Anacortes.  They made me realize that cool Nirvana type music was happening all around me and that I could do it with my friends.

 
Karl Blau– Pain Runnin'
Total recording anarchy freedom.
 
Adrian Orange– Fire Dream
I honestly think Adrian's songs are the best songs ever written.  He is gifted and perceptive and the best and I was lucky to have had the chance to know the guy and play together.  Whenever I hear his music again I halfway want to just stop trying to make new songs because what's the point anymore?

 
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy– Grand Dark Feeling of Emptiness
This man has been hugely influential on me.  Almost all of his songs and other social pranks have affected me.  The fact that his records are on Drag City, but also "Palace Records" is what made me want to just make my label be my name.  His style of never singing the song the same way twice, keeping it a living morphing thing, that was an important realization for me.  "The song, not the singer".  Always trying to divert the attention to the content, not the personality.  (When actually this can just increase the mystique of the charismatic mysterious personality making the thing in the first place.)

 
Elevator To Hell– Three More Weeks (from pts. 1-3)
Deeper rawer recordings from Eric's Trip guy Rick White.  Total snowed in eastern Canada loft apartment secret capsulated on a record. 
 
Red House Painters– Have You Forgotten
Starting an album with clean acoustic guitar immersion is something I've tried to do a few times.  (It Was Hot…, Clear Moon, etc.)
 
Little Wings– Shredder Sequel
Kyle and I had a deeply collaborative relationship for a while (2000 – 2002) and were constantly stealing/sharing with each other.  My already pretty anarchic idea of property rights was broadened further.

 
Leonard Cohen– Here It Is 
When I first heard this record I thought it was a hilarious joke because of the "horrible" production and totally digital feeling, but the fact that the magic of the songs themselves transcend all of that and in fact thrive because of it, the song message floating above the MIDI beats, carried along, it's incredible.  It made me reconsider my belief in the sacredness of "cool" production.  It encouraged me to challenge my songs with other translations, like the Casio album I made called "11 Old Songs".
 
Stereolab – Lo Boob Oscillator (from Refried Ectoplasm)
harsh weird extreme drone/beautiful pop
 
Brigitte Fontaine– Moi Aussi
drumming on an acoustic guitar but not playing it, letting the chord ring out.  This is the feeling I was going for with my record No Flashlight.

 
Bjork– Undo 
The production takes this song to epic atmospheric places and then a close voice whispers the secret core message at the moment of greatest vulnerability.  I love this blend of big/small, quiet/loud, happening simultaneously.  It is my constant goal.

 
Julee Cruise– the World Spins
Twin Peaks was very formative for me.  I remember watching it when it was on TV and being so deeply spooked, partially because of how local it felt.  The atmosphere was the same as my world.  The synths and reverbed singings perfectly meshed with the feeling of fog and trees.  I am still stuck on this fact.
 
Popol Vuh – Wewe Khorazin
The biggest sound I've ever heard.  I'm always trying to replicate it.  I've even considered trying to record bass drums from one mountain top to the other for the canyon reverb.

 
Burzum– Belus' Tilbakekomst (from Belus)
Same psychedelic seemingly endless guitar outro.  A wall that becomes soft because of its inevitability. 
 
Angelo Badalamenti – Mr. Roque-Betty Theme (from Mulholland Drive soundtrack)
there's a transitional moment in here from murky synth to a clouds dissipating melody, transitioned by a ringing bell that's a little too loud.  I love this moment.

 
Menace Ruine– One Too Many (from the Die is Cast)
It is not black metal, in an orthodox sense, but it is a wall of darkness with epic ceremonial woman voice and modern distorted synthesizers.  It's developing the orthodox genre into new interesting places.  My song Over Dark Water was aiming for this.

 
Wyrd Visions– Air Conditioning (from Half Eaten Guitar)
Ending an album of "songs" with a seemingly endless web of distorted guitar lines is a thing I've tried recently with Ocean Roar.

 
Xasthur– Prison Of Mirrors (from Subliminal Genocide)
This was the first black metal I heard that sounded authentically dense and black.  The actual "pure" black metal always sounded a little too costumey or trebly. 

 

Song Artist Album Label Year
2012
lightningsgirl

Playlist:

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    August 2nd, 2012

Posted In: Music Shows