Admittedly, I'd first been intrigued by Mr. Vanderslice because of his name's close proximity to that of my father, John Vanderlee. Howzabout that? They are, indeed, two completely different people, but a few striking similarities exist. John Vanderslice is a well-known four-track traditionalist when it comes to recording, and John Vanderlee prefers all things analog as well, spinning a weekly radio show almost entirely comprised of vinyl, entitled "Pipes'n'Pizzazz" and airing from 11AM-12PM on WVKR 91.3-FM/end familial plug. John Vanderslice is of the opinion that Bill Gates should probably kick it (see "Bill Gates Must Die"), and John Vanderlee gave the proverbial two-finger salute to IBM in 1992. See what I'm getting at? Of course, when I had the fortune to meet Mr. Vanderslice after his 2003 Knitting Factory show with then-unknown Sufjan Stevens (no, really) and Centro-Matic, I could have probably come up with something more clever than "You have almost the same name as my dad! Uh... John Vanderlee!" To his credit, he was quite gracious, but of course, this fact remains much more exciting to me. As does this article, I'm realizing...
Names aside, John Vanderslice's music is pristine and refined and yet refreshingly melodic; the epitome of "tight." Take into account the fact that every one of his albums is produced from analog tape masters, and it's clear that respect is due. This American Four-Tracker owns and operates Tiny Telephone, the last all-analog recording studio in the Bay Area of San Francisco, and its services won't break the bank, neither. 2005's Pixel Revolt didn't quite live up to earlier albums like Cellar Door (2004) or The Life and Death of American Four-Tracker (2002), but this man puts on a hell of a show, painstakingly reproducing the slick quality of his recordings with a little something special.
Take me with you:
