| $13.41
back in stock as of
december 1st, 2011
first in stock on
august 25th, 2008
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| | | drag city (usa) #dc 266 cd david grubbs “a guess at the riddle” compact disc - knight errant (4:14)
- a cold apple (4:41)
- wave generators (2:25)
- magnificence as such (1:50)
- the neophyte (4:34)
- rosie ruiz (1:15)
- you'll never tame me (2:01)
- your neck of the woods (3:18)
- one way out of the maze (3:15)
- pangolin (1:53)
- hurricane season (8:43)
- coda (breathing) (5:19)
| | drag city press release... |
| david grubbs
a guess at the riddle
dc266 cd
to offer a guess, you have to start with words.
david grubbs has worked simultaneously at records of songs and records of longer, immersive instrumental pieces. a guess at the riddle is a record of songs.
it feels like an unburdening. matching experimentation with articulateness, a guess at the riddle is to david’s other solo records what gastr del sol’s camoufleur was to their preceding records. one finds acoustic instruments (david’s piano and nikos veliotis’s cello) brokering peace agreements with electronics (matmos), one finds full bands going full-bore (adam pierce and thomas belhom kicking ass behind the drums, david returning to the electric guitar, david’s freshest, most lively-sounding production), and one finds david’s strongest collection of songs.
david’s lyrics have always presented a degree of surface difficulty, in an effort to bring the listener to a closer involvement with the music. starting with 2000’s the spectrum between, it’s become easier to say what each of his records is “about.” the spectrum between marked his move from chicago to new york with a collection of songs about a new city and new love. rickets & scurvy was made immediately in the wake of the september 11 attacks, and it feels like it, capturing the leadenness and dread of those months. the comically bleak title rickets & scurvy was itself an acidic reply to post-september 11 pronouncements of the death of irony.
a guess at the riddle finds shock ripened into anger. the task is to find the right words. the record opens with “knight errant,” a song about going awol: “i’ll choose the next / i’ll choose whatever’s next / i’ll choose the nearer stopping place.” “your neck in the woods” reports on insularity: “what’s new in your neck of the woods? / i’m curious because people here don’t care / don’t kid yourself / the thought is it’s an annoyance / unnecessarily pricks the conscience.” “one way out of the maze” is a laundry list of responses to an unnamed conundrum, culminating with the singer again settling in to watch robert bresson’s “a man escaped”: “i watch it when i can’t otherwise do.” “you’ll never tame me” is an anecdote from an iggy pop concert. these are songs of escape, worlds of words unto themselves. novelist rick moody who plays with grubbs and hannah marcus in the wingdale community singers — contributes lyrics to two songs (“wave generators” and “hurricane season”) and collaborates on a third. finally, “magnificence as such” is a cover of one of mayo thompson’s finest and most underrated songs — a song about the staying and slaying power of beauty.
bursting forth with energy, wit, and sudden poignance, a guess at the riddle is the definitive david grubbs record. |
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