textura

Albums
Bass Clef
William Brittelle
Canaille
Calvin Cardioid
Cex
John Daly
Delta Funktionen
DJ W!ld
Drexciya
Petar Dundov
Kyle Bobby Dunn
Glitterbug
Grouper
Hildur Gudnadottir
Gunnelpumpers
Kristian Heikkila
Stephen Hummel
I've Lost
Jamie Jones
Monika Kruse
Deniz Kurtel
Mere
Mohn
Motion Sickness T. Travel
Maayan Nidam
Alex Niggemann
Padang Food Tigers
Panabrite
paniyolo
The Pirate Ship Quintet
Plvs Vltra
Retina.it
Sankt Otten
Simon Scott
Wadada Leo Smith
Susanna
Robert Scott Thompson
Ursprung
Wes Willenbring

Compilations / Mixes
Air Texture II
Nic Fanciulli
GoGo Get Down
Origamibiro

EPs
Borka
FilFla
Gone Beyond / Mumbles
Gulls
Maps and Diagrams
Time Dilation

Padang Food Tigers: Ready Country Nimbus
Bathetic Records

What an unexpectedly lovely recording this is from Rameses III members Stephen Lewis and Spencer Grady under the Padang Food Tigers name. On Ready Country Nimbus, the duo opts for a pastoral and plaintive sound that's as refreshing as it is appealing. The vinyl disc's fifteen brief songs (only two push past the three-minute mark) are sepia-tinged vignettes imbued with nostalgia, each one like a faded photograph from a long-ago family beach or camp outing.

A number of things give the thirty-one-minute album its soothing character, among them the relaxed and rustic feel of the pieces themselves, which often play like backporch reveries, and the instrumentation, which centers on acoustic guitar, banjo, melodica, strings, harmonium, and piano. Field recordings of the natural outdoors are prominently featured and used in such a way as to enhance the expansive character the tracks already possess (thunder, traffic noise, and bird chirps surface during “Pymers Mead,” while the joyous sound of children laughing appears in “Little Smiler”).

As might be expected from a recording of fifteen songs, moods vary, in this case from mournful (“In My Heart I'm Already Gone”) to peaceful (“Little Smiler”). If there's a downside to the album, it's that lengthier track times would have allowed its pieces to leave an even stronger impression. The lovely title setting, for instance, is long enough at three minutes to make its poignant presence felt without in any way overstaying its welcome. Having said that, though pieces such as “Julliette” and “Lone Carson” are criminally short, they're still long enough to be able to establish their shimmering, heartfelt soundworlds. In a sense, however, the point is moot because Ready Country Nimbus is best broached not at the level of the individual piece but rather as a cumulative whole.

June 2012