Last year I came across two great albums that both made it into my best of list for 2011 - Eternal Tapestry's Beyond The 4th Door, and Plankton Wat's In Magical Light (read what I thought about both here and here respectively). Funnily enough, both bands include Dewey Mahood, the six-string extraordinaire. And as luck would have it, both his band and his solo venture have releases sorted for release at almost the same time, both through Thrill Jockey!
I'll focus on Plankton Wat's Spirits first. Mahood is a very organic musician, with an excellent ear for melody outside the drone and spiralling guitar frenzies, and this LP is further proof that there are many avenues for growth in this ambient sonisphere. The layers he develops around his excellent guitar improvisations. Definitely one that I'm gonna come back to over the course of the year I think.
Plankton Wat - Fabric Of Life
Whilst not out for a little while, Eternal Tapestry's 4th LP (I think, they have a lot of cassettes out too) Dawn In 2 Dimensions is pure, unadulterated psych rock. The band are a force of nature, all working as one mind in feeling out a sound together. Very rarely does any of their tracks sound premeditated - they exist through playing, finding the groove and expanding as a communal unit. I'm not sure if I like it as much as Beyond The 4th Door yet, it hasn't grabbed me as quickly as that one did, but time will tell. It is a grand release regardless, and potentially could be a real grower of a masterpiece. This opening track is a magnified example of what they do - with a delightful hint of Comets On Fire for added firepower, nothing to sneeze at there at all!
Eternal Tapestry - Wholeodome
Both albums can be pre-ordered here - well worth it.
