Alexander Tucker (UK): Prog folk (or maybe avant) |
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lastplaneout
Forum Newbie Joined: November 04 2010 Location: Durham, NC Status: Offline Points: 33 |
Topic: Alexander Tucker (UK): Prog folk (or maybe avant) Posted: September 19 2012 at 12:22 |
Alexander Tucker is a British experimental folk/pop musician who is: 1) fantastic and 2) has sufficient prog leanings to be included in the archive (in my opinion, at least). He is a multi-instrumentalist, and his solo work consists of layers of his fingerstyle guitar, cello, electronics, tape loops, and vocals organized into a folk/drone/psychedelic sort of sound. His lyrics are very British and lean towards the the mystical and surreal. He has mentioned Tim Smith of the Cardiacs as a big influence, and I definitely hear a Sea Nymphs/Spratleys Japs sound in his music. I might also make comparisons to Robert Wyatt and Mike Oldfield. He collaborated with Guapo and Stephen O'Malley in various projects, as well.
Bio (as taken from Tucker's facebook page): Alexander Tucker began as the vocalist in post-rock hardcore 5-piece 'Unhome' who released one album "A Short History of Houses" (Unlabel) and a split single with Papa M. Unhome split in late 1999 and Tucker went on to tour with Detroit space-rockers 'Fuxa'. Simultaneously, Tucker had been developing his interest in improvisation using detuned guitars, tape loops, mini disc player and fx pedals. I n
early 2000 Tucker recorded a solo self-titled album of acoustic
finger-picking, experimental electronics, field recordings and spooked
vocals, which was picked up by Tom Greenwood of Jackie-O-Motherf**ker
and released under his U-Sound Archives label. Tuckers' ability to combine compositional song structures, drones, layered vocals and improvisations culminated on his 2005 album "Old Fog" (ATP/R), a collection of spectral moods, eerie landscapes and fragile emotions. His commanding live performance has led to collaborations which include working with Stephen O'Malley (SunnO))), Khanate) on his Ginnungagap side project (Southern Records limited Latitudes series), providing the soundtrack to Lali Chetwynd's performance piece at Tate Britain and playing as a part of JOMF, Duke Garwood, and Little Wet Horse. Tucker's second studio album "Furrowed Brow" (ATP/R) was recorded in his home county of deepest darkest Kent. For this new recording Tucker combined harmonised vocal patterns, layered instrumentation and heavy sonic bliss riffs to create a cross-between David Crosby, doom metal and Terry Riley. It was released in November 2006. Alexander Tucker is also a visual artist, creating artwork for all of his album covers and side projects, including ongoing drawings and comic artwork for 'Sturgeon White Moss' (White Moss Press) and the album cover for Nordic doom-master Wolfmangler'(Aurora Borealis). More recently he has written the soundtrack to art film 'Wordland' (http://www.word-land.info/) sung vocals on the new Guapo song 'Twisted Stems : The Heliotrope' on the album 'Elixirs' (www.guapo.co.uk), and continues to regularly collaborate with Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))). Website: http://www.myspace.com/alexanderdtucker https://www.facebook.com/AlexanderDTucker/info Discography: Alexander Tucker (U-Sound Archive, 2003) Old Fog (ATPR, 2005) Furrowed Brow (ATPR, 2006) Portal (ATPR, 2008) Dorwytch (Thrill Jockey, 2011) Third Mouth (Thrill Jockey, 2012) Sample tracks: http://soundcloud.com/thrilljockey/alexander-tucker-his-arm-has http://www.atpfestival.com/recordings/artist/alexandertucker/view.php http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpnyNb6uATE |
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yam yam
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 5814 |
Posted: September 19 2012 at 18:46 |
A very well put together post, if I may say so. I've no idea whatsoever whether this guy will slot neatly into one of our sub genres though. Rateyourmusic has him listed as 'Psychedelic Folk', which I can fully understand: http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/alexander_tucker, but how that transfers across to this site remains to be seen.
The only thing in your post that could do with just slightly ramping up a touch is the number of audio samples provided - one direct soundcloud link, three on aptfestival.com (via embedded soundcloud player - but if you also search soundcloud itself: http://soundcloud.com/tracks/search?q=alexander%20tucker you will find quite a few more, though there are a lot of tracks by others thrown out amongst the results too, so you'll need to sort through them), and only one different track on myspace ('Poltergeists Grazing'). There are several more songs on YouTube besides the one you posted a link to, but the easiest way to get access to a fair chunk of this guy's music is probably to use grooveshark.com: http://grooveshark.com/#!/artist/Alexander+Tucker/559315/songs - nothing on there off his very latest album, or his very first one, but you should find quite an extensive selection from all the other four albums you list. An interesting suggestion indeed.
Edited by yam yam - September 19 2012 at 18:49 |
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lastplaneout
Forum Newbie Joined: November 04 2010 Location: Durham, NC Status: Offline Points: 33 |
Posted: September 20 2012 at 09:35 |
Thanks for the response! I'll update the post with better sample music.
As far as Alexander Tucker's appropriateness for the site, I agree with he is definitely on the border of things like psychedelic and experimental music. For me, however, that's where some of the most interesting prog happens, on the blurry edges. And to my ears, he isn't really less progressive sounding than a band list Harvester. He also definitely self-identifies as part of a prog lineage (idolizing Tim Smith and all). |
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lazland
Prog Reviewer Joined: October 28 2008 Location: Wales Status: Offline Points: 13240 |
Posted: September 20 2012 at 11:36 |
When we get the samples, decision on eval will follow
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Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org
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yam yam
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 5814 |
Posted: September 20 2012 at 11:41 |
If you want to check this out right now Steve, and get it over and done with, there are plenty of samples on the grooveshark link I gave above: http://grooveshark.com/#!/artist/Alexander+Tucker/559315/songs - you can load them as a playlist if you want to, and let it run in the background while you attend to other things.
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lazland
Prog Reviewer Joined: October 28 2008 Location: Wales Status: Offline Points: 13240 |
Posted: September 20 2012 at 11:52 |
Sorry David, and thanks. Okay, played three tracks.God's Creature reminds me very strongly of early Floyd (post Barrett). This certainly deserves an evaluation, and I think I will send it to my friends at the psych team first.
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Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org
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yam yam
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 5814 |
Posted: September 20 2012 at 11:59 |
^
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lastplaneout
Forum Newbie Joined: November 04 2010 Location: Durham, NC Status: Offline Points: 33 |
Posted: September 20 2012 at 12:59 |
Cool! You all are awesome. I'll definitely keep the sample track suggestions in mind for future suggestions.
Thanks for helping a newbie out. |
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lazland
Prog Reviewer Joined: October 28 2008 Location: Wales Status: Offline Points: 13240 |
Posted: September 20 2012 at 13:58 |
You are very welcome, my dear chap!
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Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org
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DamoXt7942
Forum & Site Admin Group Avant/Cross/Neo/Post Teams Joined: October 15 2008 Location: Okayama, Japan Status: Offline Points: 17455 |
Posted: September 20 2012 at 18:33 |
Let me take a few days for eval.
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