Forgive a question that is probably both too narrow, and perhaps already answered by multiple other threads, but: I've been returning to the Chicago-Louisville 90s sound, and remembered a British band, State River Widening, who, although clearly knowing their Tortoise (marimbas and all), provided a kind of rural-pastoral spin on the urban Chicago thing. They recorded a few albums, but I'm mostly interested in their first self-titled record, released on Rocket Girl in 1999. This is illustrative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOvDaQc3Ltw
My question is whether there are other albums, either before or after, that approximate that dense, interlocking, acoustic driving instrumental sound.
I know the first Pullman album, and SRW are clearly drawing on Fahey, O'Rourke, Gastr del Sol, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Six Parts Seven perhaps, etc. Steve Reich is in there of course - I'm not looking for a primer on pretty/upbeat minimalism, necessarily.
But what of since? There's something specific about the way they did it, in a band format, that really appeals, and that, for me at least, isn't quite reached by, say, David Sheppard's solo album or his work with Snow Palms. Maybe it's just the rigor of the drums, preventing the music from dissipating into spaceyness? Sorry, this is vague!
― JonR345, Sunday, 23 January 2022 08:37 (four years ago)
I remember this band from some regular plays on BBC Radio 4's Late Junction in the early 2000s. It could be that they weren't played but seems like they fit. I'm pretty sure I am only familiar with the 2nd album called Early Music. I shelve it (well, my CDs are in boxes at the moment) with Tortoise and associated Chicago-based bands of the time, Stafrænn Hákon's ....Skvettir Edik Á Ref (fewer drums, more shoegaze) and a duo called Corker / Conboy (more beats) who were also British. I don't know if any of those really fit your question..
― mmmm, Sunday, 23 January 2022 12:16 (four years ago)