February 6th, 2009 2:42pm
Richard Buckner Digitally Reissued by Merge
Richard Buckner – “Born Into Giving It Up”
Merge is preparing to digitally rerelease three of Richard Buckner’s older, out-of-print albums: Bloomed, The Hill, and one of my favorite records of 2002, Impasse. I always found Impasse to have that raw, jagged, almost-live feel that’s so rarely captured on tape, and that I totally love. “Born Into Giving” is one of my favorite tracks from the record, but to be fair, I’ve really always looked at the album’s entire first half as one long song cycle that should not be broken. But if you don’t want to just take my word for it, grab this digital rerelease when it comes out on 3/10, and see if I don’t speak the truth.
I’m not too familiar with Bloomed or The Hill, but, heck that’s what promo MP3s are for– and Merge has provided them for both of those releases too:
MP3: Richard Buckner – “Gauzy Dress In The Sun”
MP3: Richard Buckner – “Emily Sparks”
2/6/09 5:11 pm
losboats says:Thanks for reminding me about Impasse, Ryan. I always seem to reach for Since, but Impasse has been sounding perfect this afternoon.
I’d highly recommend you check out The Hill. It’s amazing…
9/16/09 4:55 pm
SRitchie says:I feel that Richard creates a world of dark and beautiful contradictions, a crux of mind but more often of heart. He is playing The Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave. Chicago this Saturday, September 19th. And I couldn’t be more excited to see him again. This is what they had to say about him…
“Richard Buckner is a songwriter of uncompromising elegance. His insurgent country twang is the product of a San Francisco/Lubbock association, being born and raised in California but having a strong musical affinity for the likes of Texas country giants TERRY ALLEN and JIMMIE DALE GILMORE. His impressive catalogue of albums move from folk balladry to tawdry guitar rave ups . Pitchfork complimented him thusly: “whether taking on folk, power-pop, country, rock, or gently experimental drones, he produces uniformly gleaming, misty enigmas. He intones elusive lyrics in a smeared voice, artfully skirting the subject.” And we have to agree. The man knows how to craft and perfectly deliver distinctly lovely songs. Leave the ear plugs, bring the girl.”
I am, and I will.