ODAWAS
THE AETHER EATER (JAGJAGUWAR)
The Aether Eater is a sort of conventional journey. It has a beginning, an end, and an epochal disposition.
It takes a Camus-type anti-hero and hurtles him into space to watch him mock and finally humble himself before it (but of course, in the most discrete way possible).
Classical speaking does become a bit awkward amongst "Art Bell/sci-fi" fiction, though, and more often than not we choose to not speak at all.
Instead, we let the soundscapes do all the pondering for us. Odawas are nicking all over the place: from Randy Newman's plain-spoken grandeur or Beach Boy story-telling or Angelo Badalamanti's cheesy romanticism or Charles Ives' avant-garde ear or Art Garfunkel's "presence-of-a-blue-whale" harmonies.
But at last, we believe in such things and the bible verse that told us nothing is new as long as it is under a sun.
Michael Stewart, Piano Man producer, once told his son Jamie that you could never go too far over the top.
Sound advice for sure. And we choose to possibly abuse it. The limited edition vinyl version of this record (300 copies) is being done by our friends at Birds and Rockets.