https://midairthief.bandcamp.com
so i don't know a lot about this album but it's one of my favourite things i've heard this year. all gorgeous folk songs with very dreamy harmonies that will suddenly (but smoothly) morph into psychedelic synths. it's reminiscent of 00s indie psych folk like Grizzly Bear, but much prettier, and much much better imo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JQIUWdypG8"Ahhhh, These Chains!" i think best summarises the general approach here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8xJWnKZXaU"Gameun Deut" is probably the most straightforward track on the album
i came across this via the rym charts of all places, where it's somehow (though deservingly) gotten a following
― ufo, Monday, 1 October 2018 14:41 (five years ago) link
to repeat my own sentiments as a result of the RYM hype: it's really good and nearly amazing, although I never quite had my mind blown. really worth a listen though, there are some really lovely moments
― imago, Monday, 1 October 2018 15:12 (five years ago) link
(really!)
this kind of stuff always reminds me of High Llamas. what is wrong w/ me?
― alpine static, Monday, 1 October 2018 17:33 (five years ago) link
Oh, I like this record.
― brontosaur, Monday, 1 October 2018 18:42 (five years ago) link
yeah this shit been tearing up the charts on rym, and for good reason imo
― dub pilates (rushomancy), Monday, 1 October 2018 23:33 (five years ago) link
i don't think high llamas is that off-base, there's a somewhat similar vibe with the vocal harmonies etc?
it does really remind me of jim O'Rourke's song based albums
― ufo, Tuesday, 2 October 2018 02:48 (five years ago) link
a cute lil gem of an album, very nice to accompany my walk last night by the canal as the sun set
will explore it a bit further today
― nxd, Tuesday, 2 October 2018 08:37 (five years ago) link
this is good and no one else is really doing this sound anymore that i'm aware of so that gives it extra points
― na (NA), Wednesday, 3 October 2018 20:20 (five years ago) link
been listening to this a lot lately it's v good
― ciderpress, Friday, 14 December 2018 14:21 (five years ago) link
https://daily.bandcamp.com/2019/01/15/midair-thief-crumbling-review/
this is a great review
still loving this
― ufo, Thursday, 17 January 2019 04:29 (five years ago) link
good writing indeed. i have a hard time understanding mid-air thief as a "cult band" though. maybe there really is a "mainstream" and i'm so totally disconnected and alienated from it i don't even know it exists; to me whenever i find a record with more than 100 ratings on rym i feel like i'm late to the party, like "damn, everybody knows about suss already, i feel pretty clueless for missing out"
― The Elvis of Nationalism and Amoral Patriotism (rushomancy), Thursday, 17 January 2019 15:30 (five years ago) link
lol they're turning this into the new Fishmans
not sure how this didn't get on my radar but I'm 2 tracks in and damn its good
― frogbs, Thursday, 17 January 2019 15:38 (five years ago) link
xp you are definitely not "behind" on this band. they still qualify as unknown, even among music nerds. no doubt.
― alpine static, Thursday, 17 January 2019 17:33 (five years ago) link
In this case, 'cult' works better as an indicator of its relative popularity rather than it's relative obscurity imo
― slack thompson (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 17 January 2019 18:05 (five years ago) link
there does exist a cross section of bands that just suddenly get really popular on RYM even though they're barely discussed anywhere else. I think if something gets like 100 ratings and winds up above a 3.8 or whatever suddenly a ton of people start checking it out, and if the rating doesn't tank immediately then it becomes one of those things
― frogbs, Thursday, 17 January 2019 18:59 (five years ago) link
i'm kind of surprised at how much of a new album's rating on rym can be expressed as the proportion of 3.5 ratings to 4.0 ratings
― The Elvis of Nationalism and Amoral Patriotism (rushomancy), Friday, 18 January 2019 14:46 (five years ago) link
i deeply enjoy this, think i put it at the top of my eoy ballot
― ciderpress, Friday, 18 January 2019 14:48 (five years ago) link
their first album is pretty good too
― frogbs, Thursday, 24 January 2019 22:15 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R19Tfa8FOYA
two new songs, under a different moniker. he's used it in the past for an EP but i haven't seen anyone explain what the distinction between them is
― ufo, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 04:16 (four years ago) link
what are they doing now I wonder. their two albums still sound like nothing else on the planet
― frogbs, Thursday, 10 August 2023 02:29 (eight months ago) link
https://midairthief.bandcamp.com/album/flood-format
he put out this album last year under a different name
― ufo, Thursday, 10 August 2023 02:40 (eight months ago) link
oooh I like that, sounds goofy as hell in spots but overall very fun. I did not realize this was just one guy!
― frogbs, Thursday, 10 August 2023 14:36 (eight months ago) link
listening to crumbling - this is really interesting!
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 10 August 2023 15:33 (eight months ago) link
this stuff really effectively channeled the olivia tremor control etc world in a way that I don't think anyone has been doing, although I happened to catch black country new road a while back and it was a rapt audience of mostly young people. The show sounded like a decemberists arcade fire thing, not my thing at all but was undeniably well done
― Bongo Jongus, Thursday, 10 August 2023 16:45 (eight months ago) link
my point being that the time period of music that this channels is surprisingly (to me) alive and well
― Bongo Jongus, Thursday, 10 August 2023 16:46 (eight months ago) link