Sifting

The Morning News went through all 763 mp3s of the acts appearing at SXSW and wrote six-word reviews and rated them. I can't imagine that it was very fun. I'd rather shell 763 pistachios. (And then eat them.) Or make a chain out of 763 paper clips.

I skimmed and listened to like 10 of them. Only Son Lux stuck. Son Lux is Ryan Lott, who apparently is classically trained. I, too, am classically trained. And yet, here I am with all these pistachio shells and paper clips. That sounds like the name of a Joanna Newsom song.

I don't immediately gravitate toward Lott's voice. There's a bit of a brokenness to it, though that adds to the moodscape of his music. And I haven't listened to the lyrics so closely yet, but so far, I really like how his songs are constructed. I think I've heard other artists use or go for similar effects but they often don't have as nice a contextual integration, if that makes any sense.

Here are some songs!
Break

and a remix of Beirut's A Sunday Smile... more broken-ness. Hm.