The Micro, The Macro

Pit Er Pat “Trod-A-Long” – About a year ago, I saw Pit Er Pat open up for the Fiery Furnaces, and was totally knocked out by their peculiar, groove-oriented music, and the way they were able to seamlessly blend recognizable elements from a variety of ethnic musics from around the world into a sound that was simultaneously familiar and skewed. The group lean hard on reggae in particular, but the music itself isn’t quite reggae, but rather some mutant strain particular to the musicians. “Trod-A-Long” is perhaps the most overtly reggae number on their forthcoming album High Time, and also the most upbeat and immediately ingratiating. Its mood may be ideal for today, as we seem to enter a period of severe economic turbulence — the song’s pulse is somewhat jumpy and jittery, but its emotional core is peaceful, resulting in a cool, patient equilibrium. (Click here to pre-order it from Thrill Jockey.)

Fluxcast #11 – The new episode of the Fluxcast is ready for you. This one features music from Sun Ra, Neil Young, Bell, Annie, and others. The tracklisting is included in the metadata, and will be posted in full on the Fluxcast site later this week.