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E#100L
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"Yankee Reality. What does it mean? Does it portend that there is some unique, other plain of existence for northerners and/or city folk? Something perhaps alien to, well, everybody else? Virginia cum citizen of London/rambling man Keith Wood knows all about it. Several years ago, he relocated to the city of crumpets and tea, where he, among other things, secured a gig playing guitar for notoriously intense death folk legends Current 93. In the midst of all this excitement, he has managed to write and record a brand new Hush Arbors album, his second for Ecstatic Peace!, and it's his finest to date. With a full band in tow -- multi instrumentalist Leon Dufficy, bassist Jason Ajemian, and drummer Ryan Sawyer -- and none other than J Mascis in the producer's chair, Yankee Reality continues Wood's winning streak while introducing an embarrassment of riches in the way of surprises and curveballs along the way. Yankee Reality is a credit to Keith Wood's vast talents as a songwriter and performer, but also, stands as a shining example of his breadth of focus and versatility. How many fools out there love Merle Haggard, The Dead and Dinosaur, Jr equally? I know one." -- James Jackson Toth, Nashville, TN, August 2009
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E#100H
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"Keith Wood, along with constant foil Leon Dufficy, is Hush Arbors, and while his self-titled Ecstatic Peace! debut is not his first album by any means -- he's been at this almost ten years -- it does provide the perfect introductory point to Hush Arbor's distinctive take on psych folk. Combining the pensive songwriting of John Phillips circa Wolfking, the plaintive honesty of Neil Young, and the fishtank-gazing cacophony of Six Organs of Admittance (Wood is a frequent collaborator), Wood writes classic-sounding songs that sound readymade for AM radio, circa 1968. These songs would play as comfortably over a scene from The Wonder Years as they would piping from a noxious chillout tent at Terrastock. There are songs here that resonate with the minor key melancholy of Bert Jansch or perhaps even Mark Kozelek, while others hint at a Wire subscriber's Siamese Dream, all propulsive rhythms and lysergic electric guitar. Some albums are 'growers' -- not this one. While repeated listens reveal more and more details, as good albums should, this is also an album that commands immediate attention. Try to put it on in a crowded room - just try. You'll have a High-Fidelity-Beta-Band' scene on your hands within two minutes." "Wood/Hush Arbors is a truly remarkable artist, whose songs, voice and guitar work all create some of the most haunting and powerful music I have ever heard. I don't know what else I can say beyond this: that Keith is one of the last unfound treasures of sound." -- David Tibet/Current 93.
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