Posted on Friday, May 08, 2009 2:45 PM
Karl Christenson (l.) and Nick Whetro. Photo: Chris Moore
Icarus Himself started out as a side project for the solo cravings of National Beekeepers Society frontman Nick Whetro. Mostly acoustic spiced with loops and samples and the indispensable aid of Karl Christenson Coffins is an album that feels comfortable in the vicinity of the output of Robyn Hitchcock and Syd Barrett. Hints of early seventies Bowie (Flatwoods, WV)) and dark country a la Johnny Dowd (35 To Life) this album sounds muffled and lo-fi, which is fitting for songs dealing with ennui.
Coffins can be labeled as neo-pyschedlic freak folk music. Musicians can have fun figuring out the tunings, mere mortals may have trouble digesting it and should start with a a song like Precedents, where Icar Himself sounds like the Everly Brothers from Hell.
Icarus Himself:
Nick Whetro: vocals, guitar, sampler
Karl Christenson: baritone guitar, sampler, loop pedal noise-a-rama
Coffins is released on Compound Fracture Recordings. Buy it from CD Baby.
Tracks:
- Pigg
- Coffins
- Flatwoods, WV
- Precedents
- Scars
- This Means Nothing
- Sometimes I Can't Stand You, But That Doesn't Mean I Don't Want You Around
- 35 to Life
- January (Tennessee)
- Lessons From the Flood
- Untitled
Live dates:
- 06/19 The Frequency (w/ Jeremiah Nelson and and Cedarwell), Madison, WI
- 08/07 Public Space ONE, Iowa City, Iowa
- 08/08 Mixtapes!, East Moline, IL
- 08/9 TBA, Chicago, IL
- 08/10 Booby’s, Carbondale, IL
- 08/11 TBA, St. Louis, Missouri
- 08/12 Vertical Violet (ALL AGES), Wichita, KS
- 08/13 Box Awesome w/ Thunder Power, Lincoln, Nebraska
- 08/14 TBA w/ Thunder Power, Omaha, Nebraska
- 08/15 Vaudeville Mews, Des Moines, Iowa
- 08/22 Mickey’s Tavern (free shows w/ Sabertooth Man), Madison, WI
- 09/04 Frank’s Powerplant, Milwaukee, WI
MP3: Icarus Himself - Precedents
MP3: Icarus Himself - Sometimes I Can't Stand You, But That Doesn't Mean I Don't Want You Around
» myspace.com/icarushimself
HCTF review of Pawn Shop Etiquette (National Beekeepers Society).