#michael bain

4/29/20.

Jon Mckiel is a Halifax, Nova Scotia musician who has released several albums.  This appears to be his second for You’ve Changed Records (Toronto, Ontario), who have also released several Nap Eyes albums.

I’d never heard of Jon Mckiel, but this records has a pretty cool back story according to the Bandcamp page: 

“True story. In September 2015 Jon bought an old Teac A-2340, a reel-to-reel tape recorder, tapes included. He exchanged a few emails with the online seller while negotiating a deal, but they never met. The first time Jon tested out the machine at home it disclosed a beautiful dream. A single tape of astounding samples from an unknown source. He nicknamed it the Royal Sampler. They began to jam together.”

1/18/20.

You had me at Crystal Stilts.  Kyle Forester (New York) used to be in one of my favorite bands - Crystal Stilts.  He’s also been a member of Ladybug Transistor (whose leader Gary Olson) produced this release. 

This doesn’t really sound much like Crystal Stilts - this is more up-front and orchestrated.  There are many touchstones - Jim Guthrie, Deerhunter, Michael Bain (criminally neglected “Tidal Ways”), and even Lee Hazelwood in places.

That a lot of name dropping, but if you’ll listen I think you’ll hear it all.  I even think if you listen to the Michael Nau post from yesterday (well played Micah) you’ll hear a few similarities (although Forester doesn’t use so many different cool instruments).

6/3/19.

Michael Bain’s songwriting is impeccably crafted.  His piano chops recall some of Joe Jackson’s best work in the 1980s.  The overall feel of the music reminds of the Chris Cohen or J Fernandez.  And it looks like he may share something else with these two aforementioned songwriters:  Bain appears to be criminally unknown.

Frankly, this kind of music makes me want to hang out with my friends and throw some horseshoes.