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LP
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FTR 751LP
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"Having listened to this disk 20 or so times over the past week, I have been struck time and again by the gently naif quality of Dan Beckman-Moon's songwriting. I keep thinking of Neil Young's earliest solo tunes, particularly 'Sugar Mountain,' as a sort of spiritual touchstone, although truthfully the music doesn't really sound anything like that. Still, the emotional core of the material has a similar sweetness and simplicity, while managing to steer clear of mawkishness with a nimble delicacy that parallel's Neil's early work. I have come to think of Valley of Spaces as a collaborative effort between Dan and his partner, Amy Moon, but this album often feels much more like Dan's solo effort. Amy definitely shows up in spots, but I miss the weird edge she brings to everything she does. I mean, there's a reason she was one of the first people Chris Corsano picked when he was putting together the original Ecstatic Yod crew back in the '90s -- her off-kilter perspective adds depth and subtle strangeness to her entire oeuvre. The same is often true of Dan as well (he was in Impractical Cockpit, after all), but That's Understanding has a purist hippie quality that owes karmic debts to the waves and hills of Santa Cruz, where Villages was based for the Plague Years (the years during which this music was written and recorded.) Most of Villages's avant proclivities are put on-hold this time. And whether or not that was the plan, this decision provides a folky balm for the last few lost years. Amy, Caleb Mulkerin (Big Blood), Don Godwin (Impractical Cockpit), and others -- especially violinist Kaethe Hostetter -- add to the gentle vibes that abound on this album. It's a set of music that bears up to many repeated spins. A very charming slice, for sure." --Byron Coley, 2023
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CD
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FTR 751CD
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"First off, there will be an LP of this coming along, but as with Wednesday Knudsen's solo material, the analog manufacturing process is slower than the digital one. In the meantime, here's a CD for play in cars and kitchens everywhere. Having listened to this disk 20 or so times over the past week, I have been struck time and again by the gently naif quality of Dan Beckman-Moon's songwriting. I keep thinking of Neil Young's earliest solo tunes, particularly 'Sugar Mountain,' as a sort of spiritual touchstone, although truthfully the music doesn't really sound anything like that. Still, the emotional core of the material has a similar sweetness and simplicity, while managing to steer clear of mawkishness with a nimble delicacy that parallel's Neil's early work. I have come to think of Valley of Spaces as a collaborative effort between Dan and his partner, Amy Moon, but this album often feels much more like Dan's solo effort. Amy definitely shows up in spots, but I miss the weird edge she brings to everything she does. I mean, there's a reason she was one of the first people Chris Corsano picked when he was putting together the original Ecstatic Yod crew back in the '90s -- her off-kilter perspective adds depth and subtle strangeness to her entire oeuvre. The same is often true of Dan as well (he was in Impractical Cockpit, after all), but That's Understanding has a purist hippie quality that owes karmic debts to the waves and hills of Santa Cruz, where Villages was based for the Plague Years (the years during which this music was written and recorded.) Most of Villages's avant proclivities are put on-hold this time. And whether or not that was the plan, this decision provides a folky balm for the last few lost years. Amy, Caleb Mulkerin (Big Blood), Don Godwin (Impractical Cockpit), and others -- especially violinist Kaethe Hostetter -- add to the gentle vibes that abound on this album. It's a set of music that bears up to many repeated spins. A very charming slice, for sure." --Byron Coley, 2023
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LP
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FTR 421LP
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"Brilliant new album from Village of Spaces, a combo once described as, 'Dan and his raggle taggle band of hippies' by Michael Hurley, a guy who knows about such things. The Dan in question is Dan Beckman-Moon who, along with his partner Amy Moon Offermann-Sims, is the central core of this constantly evolving, psychedelically-inclined, folk juggernaut. V.O.S. has had many name variations and members in the 17 years since Dan and Amy formed this more perfect union, but all of their recordings are possessed by a singular sense of rurality and otherness. They've been based everywhere from Santa Cruz to New Orleans to Belfast (Maine), and this album was recorded in expectedly nomadic fashion. Using various players and rooms from their network of collusionists, Shaped by Place offers a smoother ride than some of its predecessors. The two covers they do of songs by Gordon Bok (the legendary Maine folksinger/woodworker who was Dan's mentor when he was coming up) have a very sweet traditional swing. On 'Shoreline Birds,' the way Dan's voice interacts with the pedal steel puts me in mind of Mike Nesmith's classic collabs with Red Rhodes (like 'The Great Ennui' off Nevada Fighter (1971)). Other parts move like some unreleased Raccoon label album, with the same mix of straight and weird that whole crew managed to conjure up so effortlessly. Players on Shaped include members of Big Blood, Amps for Christ, Dire Wolves, and all manner of stylistic drifters. Sorta like what Hurley said, but better. A true feast of the mind, ears and soul. Dig in now or be forever hungry for something you can't quite put your finger on. Mystery is rarely served up so neat." --Byron Coley, 2019 Edition of 300.
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LP
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TRDWD 023LP
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"Having changed their name from Uke of Phillips, to Uke of Spaces Corners, this time around, on their fourth full length album, we see another moniker shift, to Village of Spaces. Collaborating with Michael Hurley, Big Blood, Ancestral Diet and Caethua, Alchemy and Trust might be this crew's most potent release to date if not their most deliberate and un-compromising. Recordings made over the last three years make up this 34 minute LP, which was recorded at The Pool Recording Studios in Portland, Oregon, Big Bloods Tank 26 studios in So. Portland, Maine, and by Nemo Bidstrup at the band's home in MidCoast, Maine. Neo-traditional, butter fried homesteader volk, with extended vamps the g chord and beyond." Includes a silkscreened, cardboard insert.
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