Fuck Folgers, amirite? I have to drink that shit every day at work. The actual best part of waking up? “Serene Velocity” by Golden Retriever. It’s the new caffeine. Your brain dripping out your earlobes and soaking into your headphones; this is exactly what you need to get your day going — trust me. I count close to one zillion tones by the time this thing hits its peak, the duo of Jonathan Sielaff and Matt Carlson adding layer after layer of melody to create an insanely intense polyphony from very monophonic instruments (fun fact: both the bass clarinet and the analog modular synth the two use for their music, respectively, are only capable of playing one note at a time). The result is an intrepid trip through deep space, an incredible journey of sonic discovery. An exploration of astounding heights and breathtaking lows, newly documented for the listener to follow, bob and weave with, rise and fall with, and basically freak out entirely over. Those highs are so damn high. The lows rumble the guts. And the experience is one of immeasurable psychedelic effects. Every day should start like this. Every single day.
And lo — street date for Occupied with the Unspoken, the Thrill Jockey debut for the group, is July 24. That means you still have time to pre-order and take the label up on its offer to package the LP with an 8 oz. bag of your very own Retriever-approved bean: Stumptown Coffee’s Costa Rica Montes de Oro. All of this is good. Good to the last drop? Oof. Even though it’s true, I really should not have gone there. The Folgers thing was bad enough. Anyway, dig the trip while dodging bitmapped asteroids of electronics and geological formations in this excellently-paced clip from Jamie Potter. WAIT! Are your headphones on? Full volume? Okay.
• Golden Retriever: http://www.myspace.com/goldenretrieversounds
• Thrill Jockey: http://www.thrilljockey.com
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