Thursday, May 31, 2018

Steve Tibbetts - Northern Song (1982)


Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Steve Tibbetts - Steve Tibbetts (1977) + Yr (1980)
Steve Tibbetts - The Fall of Us All (1994)
Steve Tibbetts & Knut Hamre - Å (1999)

Beautiful, elemental third album from one of my all-time favorite artists. Airy, delicate, fragmented acoustic guitars resonate into infinity, cushioned by kalimba, atmospheric tape loops, and percussion courtesy of Tibbetts' ever-present right-hand man, Marc Anderson. Often considered his masterpiece, Northern Song is the most clear early antecedent to Tibbetts' later, more minimal work -- including his achingly gorgeous new album, Life Of, which I've been listening to on repeat for the past week.

[Note: Some of my Zippyshare links are giving people warnings about the site trying to steal your info. I've seen this before and the problem has fixed itself -- I've always assumed that it's related to malware from one of their advertisers -- so if a link's not working, try to wait it out. If you can't and you need that shit right now, leave a comment on the post in question and I'll try to get a new link up.]

Track listing:
1. The Big Wind
2. Form
3. Walking
4. Aerial View
5. Nine Doors/Breathing Space

A clear day and no memories

You should also hear:
Terje Rypdal -
After the Rain (1976)
Bill Connors -
Swimming with a Hole in My Body (1979)

15 comments:

  1. Ey men i appreciate a lot what you do in this blog, really like a lot of your posts, im simply a Colombian dud that loves music (electronic,metal,ambient,jazz,hiphop, a lot of shit) and im always asking myself if you have a top 10 albums all time, i know is a tough and awkward question, but i see that you got a really extended taste and vocabulary, you dont have to respond if u don´t want to, just leaving a really long comment hea, good vibrations men

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    1. Glad you've gotten some enjoyment out of the blog. As far as a top 10 goes, if I were to take the question literally, at least five of them would be David Bowie records. But that would be boring. So I'm going to just start naming albums that come to mind, no more than one per artist:

      1. David Bowie - Station to Station
      2. Jesus & Mary Chain - Darklands
      3. Svartsyn - His Majesty
      4. Rome - Flowers from Exile
      5. Sonic Youth - Bad Moon Rising
      6. Mobb Deep - Hell on Earth
      7. Coil - Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2
      8. Steve Roach - Structures from Silence
      9. Cat Power - Moon Pix
      10. Boris - Amplifier Worship

      Obviously not a 'definitive' list, but these are definitely some of my absolute favorite records.

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    2. Coming back to this to provide links for the few that I've posted on here:

      Svartsyn - His Majesty
      http://opiumhum.blogspot.com/2014/09/svartsyn-his-majesty-2000.html

      Rome - Flowers from Exile
      http://opiumhum.blogspot.com/2017/12/rome-flowers-from-exile-2009_21.html

      Boris - Amplifier Worship
      http://opiumhum.blogspot.com/2017/06/boris-amplifier-worship-1998.html

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  2. Thank you for this! I have the first two Tibbetts albums and "Safe Journey" (1984), and I am looking forward to hearing this one! Nice list, too.

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  3. I found so many great records using your impromtu list as a jump off point, it's crazy.

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  4. I wish I liked LIFE OF more than I do.

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  5. I have enjoyed a lot of the records in the list men, never heard before "Bad Moon Rising" by sonic youth, amazing experience, in music share stuff goes to both sides, so here some recommendations (not a top ten list, ma top ten is buring as shit, but really good albums for sure):
    - Sun Ra - Astro Black
    - Pure - Fetor
    - Third sight - The golden shower hour
    - Institute - Subordination (was in a concert of this guys, amazing punk energy really talented vocalist )

    PD: sorry if my english is bad in structure and some words...

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  6. Very nice, thank you!

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  7. Moon Pix. Love that record. I would put Dirty Three's album from that year, Ocean Songs on there too. For the other artists...I love them, but might pick a different album (Sister, Rainbow, psychocandy...)

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  8. Darklands over Psychocandy all the life!

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  9. Don't know the artist; but thanks for providing the oppotunity to listen...

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